News Release – World’s leading accounting bodies push for more simplicity and usefulness in financial reporting

The Global Accounting Alliance, of which ICAS and the ICAEW are founding members, has issued a report summarising its New York, Beijing and London roundtables discussing financial reporting, Making financial reporting simpler and more useful.

The report concluded that a single set of globally accepted and principles-based accounting standards focusing on transparency and capital market needs would be ideal for all stakeholders.

Rules-based accounting outdated and inadequate

The roundtables, held in 2009, were held with world-renowned accounting and financial reporting authorities, such as Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board and Dr. Liu Yuting, director general of the accounting regulatory department of the Chinese Ministry of Finance.

“After more than a year of testing the views of accounting’s key decision-makers around-the-world, we are pleased to bring the results of these views into the public arena,” says Kevin Dancey, chair of the Global Accounting Alliance.

The recent financial crisis proved that rules-based accounting is outdated and inadequate, and that principles-based accounting is the way forward, according to Dancey.

The report Making financial reporting simpler and more useful is available at the GAA’s web site: http://www.globalaccountingalliance.com/

Issued:10 February 2010

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