Chair of the Trustees speaks about Asia and IFRS Standards

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Jan 30, 2019

On January 30, 2019, the International Accounting Standards Board (the Board) released a speech given by the Chair of the Trustees Erkki Liikanen at a stakeholder event in connection with the meeting of the IFRS Foundation Trustees taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Liikanen talked about the contribution of Malaysia and the Asia-Oceania region to the IFRS Foundation’s work and outlined the key priorities for the Foundation.

In his speech, Mr. Liikanen noted that voices from across the Asia-Oceania region are well represented at all levels of the IFRS Foundation and the various advisory bodies. As an example of valuable contributions from the region, Mr. Liikanen cited the MASB’s work on how to value specific biological assets that led to amendments to IAS 16 and IAS 41.

Turning to future challenges for the IFRS Foundation, Mr. Liikanen made out three key priorities:

  • The Foundation needs to consolidate and build upon the achievements of recent years. He warned against movements away from global achievements and in this context mentioned the recent European Commission's Fitness Check (which, however, showed that a large majority of respondents were against an EU set of standards).
  • The Foundation also needs to ensure that IFRS® Standards remain relevant in a changing world. In this context, Mr. Liikanen noted that investors are not only interested in the pure financial statements anymore but also want to know about non-financial information.
  • And finally the Foundation is faced with the question of remaining relevant in a digital world. Mr. Liikanen notes that the Foundation will continue to explore how technological developments affect the way financial information is consumed and how technology-related innovations affect the standard-setting process.

Review the full transcript of the speech on the Board's website.

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