Taking Stock - IFAC philosophises about stools.
As philosophies go, TS reckons the International Federation of Accountants’ is beautiful in its simplicity. Less complexity equals less confusion.
And well if one is working on a scale as large as IFAC’s then better to keep things straightforward.
Picture it – IFAC’s aim is to nurture a stable and solid stool.
Since the last decade has been dedicated to focusing almost exclusively on the development of international accounting standards, IFAC’s stool is very one-sided or rather high-sided.
And as Graham Ward, IFAC board member, recently said: ‘If you don’t get them all you fall over!’ The four cornerstones of IFAC are ethics, compliance and the harmonisation of auditing and accounting standards.
That of accounting is the only fully grown leg of the stool. The body now has to concentrate on the other three or IFAC could face an uncomfortable life span.
TS hopes it won’t take as long in the development of the three remaining legs as it did for a set of global accounting standards.
