Suggestions for reforming the governance of global accounting standards. Bruegel Policy Contribution 2011/04, May 2011

Public authorities overseeing the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, through the Monitoring Board in place sinceearly 2009, should encourage the Foundation to make itself more directlyaccountable to the global investment community. The Monitoring Board should re-examine its own role, composition andprocesses in the same spirit, one option being its enlargement to includeinvestor representatives, and transformation into a statutory body of theIFRS Foundation. The IFRS Foundation’s funding framework should be better aligned with itsgovernance and accountability arrangements. This Policy Contribution is an adaptation of a letter sent on 12 April 2011 fromthe author to the Monitoring Board of the IFRS Foundation, whose members are public authorities including the European Commission, as a response to the public consultation on the Monitoring Board’s Consultative Report on the review of the IFRS Foundation’s governance.