Hans Hoogervorst Gets Second Term as IASB Chairman

Hans Hoogervorst has been re-appointed as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board for a second five-year term, but his vice-chairman, Ian Mackintosh will not be seeking a second term.

[IMGCAP(1)]The trustees of the IFRS Foundation, which oversees the IASB, announced Hoogervorst’s re-appointment Friday. His second term overseeing International Financial Reporting Standards will take effect July 1, 2016. Mackintosh, however, will step down as IASB vice-chairman when his first term ends on June 30.

It is not clear if there will be a successor, as the IFRS Foundation is currently reviewing the structure of the organization, which may include possible changes to the composition and the size of the IASB and its work in the coming years.  In that context, Mackintosh proposed that he retire from the board this year.  The IFRS trustees plan to discuss the review of structure and effectiveness in the coming months.

“Hans and Ian have provided strong and effective leadership of the IASB during these last five years, introducing major new improvements to financial reporting while overseeing continued progress towards global adoption of IFRS standards,” said IFRS Foundation chairman Michel Prada in a statement. “I am delighted that Hans will serve a second term, and I wish him success in addressing the future challenges confronted by the IASB. Equally, on behalf of the Trustees I wish to express my deep thanks to Ian for his exceptional contribution to the work of the IASB during his time as vice-chairman and also in his preceding roles. He has a legacy to be proud of.”

Under Hoogervorst and Mackintosh’s leadership, the IASB has finalized the IFRS versions of three major long-awaited convergence projects with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board: revenue recognition, leases and financial instruments. FASB released a mostly converged version of the revenue recognition standard in 2014, and it is expected to issue U.S. GAAP versions of the somewhat different leasing and financial instruments standards this year.

[IMGCAP(2)]However, the two boards have drifted apart in recent years and have not managed to fully harmonize U.S. GAAP with IFRS, nor can U.S. companies yet use IFRS, although the Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing a proposal to allow supplemental use of IFRS information together with U.S. GAAP.

However, Hoogervorst and Mackintosh have overseen the acceptance of IFRS in more than 100 countries. There has been a significant increase in the number of countries applying IFRS standards and the smaller set of IFRS for SMEs aimed at small and midsize enterprises, as well as positive evaluations on the use of IFRS standards by the European Union and other jurisdictions.

During their tenure, the IASB has also rolled out several major innovations and initiatives, including a research project to provide accurate and reliable information on the use of IFRS standards around the world, the introduction of the Investors in Financial Reporting program along with a new mission statement.

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