An Executive's Guide for Moving from US GAAP to IFRS

Chapter 6

The Origins of the IASB

The IASB, as we know it today, started with a telephone call at a hotel in Sydney, Australia, in November 1972. That telephone call triggered the rapid formation of the IASC, which metamorphosed into the IASB nearly 30 years later.

This chapter will provide some background to the IASB, starting with the formation of the IASC and its early years, then its transformation into a body focused on the capital markets, then the tough decade of the 1990s, and, last, the first decade of the IASB.

Creating the IASC

The IASB story goes back to a world conference of accountants held in Sydney in 1972. Douglas Morpeth, a partner in Touche Ross, was head of the delegation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England ...