An Executive Guide to IFRS: Content, Costs and Benefits to Business

Monitoring the IASB

The IASB sets its standards in public, so it is relatively easy to monitor what is said. You can do this in a number of ways:

The IASB sets its standards in public, so it is relatively easy to monitor what is said

(1) Go to the offices in London and sit in on the meeting that discusses your subject. The agenda is published a few days before the meeting and you have to register to attend.

(2) Listen to a webcast of the meeting, either live or some time in the weeks following the event. Both these methods are effective but time-consuming, and physical presence in London may be expensive, depending on where you are based.

(3) Subscribe to IFRS Monitor (www.ifrsmonitor.com), which provides a subscription service that reports on the substantive debate. This is cheaper than attending the meeting and faster than listening to the webcast, as well as providing a written record.

(4) If you subscribe to the IASB’s electronic update service, you will receive a summary of the decisions taken at each meeting, but this gives no information about the debate.

(5) Each of the Big Four international audit firms offers some form of IFRS update service, although this may be at too general a level to be useful.

(6) If you want a wider overview of IFRS and the regulatory environment, you can subscribe to World Accounting Report, an expensive monthly publication dedicated to the needs of those who are concerned with international financial reporting.