29th May 2009:

The week that was and the week ahead..

In one of my recent posts, I mentioned that whilst on a trip to South Africa I spoke about why the FASB relaxed the rules on mark-to-market and the potential impact this would have for the finance industry. With this in mind I was interested to read that the IASB has agreed to speed up the decision to reform fair value accounting rules. It is however vital that the changes they make are both appropriate and "robust" and not just a response to political pressure.

Regular readers of this blog will know my views on this matter. It is an issue that I have spoken about at great length and it is pleasing to see other accountancy firms now expressing their views; conversation and debate will help to promote the importance of transparency.

Looking to the month ahead, the EU's response to Europe's current economic position is of importance not only in the region, but also globally. On 11 June there will be a meeting in London discussing the EU's response to the issues we face, in which the role of accountants may be discussed following last week's report from the UK Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons. I'll be greatly interested to hear the outcome.

Here's to another interesting week.

 Mark to Market  4 Comments May 29th, 2009