Twelve members selected for IASB advisory group
Twelve national and regional standard-setters will participate as inaugural members of a group that has been formed to provide technical advice to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
The group, known as the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF), was formed to improve cooperation among standard-setters across the globe and advise the IASB as it develops International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The membership of the ASAF was announced Tuesday and will include the:
- South African Financial Reporting Standards Council, supported by the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA).
- Accounting Standards Board of Japan.
- Australian Accounting Standards Board.
- Chinese Accounting Standards Committee.
- Asia Oceania Standard Setters Group (AOSSG), represented by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
- Accounting Standards Committee of Germany.
- European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG).
- Spanish Accounting and Auditing Institute.
- United Kingdom Financial Reporting Council.
- Group of Latin American Standard Setters (GLASS), represented by the Brazilian Committee of Accounting Pronouncements.
- Canadian Accounting Standards Board.
- US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
Four members are from Asia-Oceania, four are from Europe, three are from the Americas, and one is from Africa. Asia-Oceania and Europe each received one of the two at-large positions on the forum. The first meeting of the ASAF is scheduled to take place April 8th and 9th in London.
The IFRS Foundation reviewed 25 nominations for membership of the ASAF on the basis of geographical balance, membership criteria and other factors.
FASB was selected to participate even though the US Securities and Exchange Commission has not yet decided whether to accept use of IFRS for financial reporting for public companies in the United States. Although some language in the initial ASAF proposal appeared to make FASB’s participation uncertain, changes were made that did not preclude FASB’s membership in the forum.
ASAF members have been asked to support and contribute to the IFRS Foundation in its mission to develop a single set of high-quality, globally accepted financial reporting standards. But ASAF members will be able to be independent in the sense that they operate under their own specific national mandates.
Michel Prada, who chairs the IFRS Foundation’s trustees, said in a news release that the creation of the ASAF will allow the foundation to replace the multiple, bilateral agreements it has had with different jurisdictions. The ASAF instead will be a single forum based on an agreement signed by its members.
“The ASAF is a complement to the IASB’s ongoing dialogue with the international standard-setting community in pursuit of its central mission to develop a global language for financial reporting,” Prada said.
Membership in the ASAF will be reviewed after two years.
—Ken Tysiac (ktysiac@aicpa.org) is a CGMA Magazine senior editor.