Following a recent position paper by EuroFinUse on Philippe Maystadt’s Draft Report on IFRS Standards, an article appeared today 9 October in Accountancy Age. The article points out to the fact that the EP’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has concerns regarding the funding arrangements for the IASB and Efrag. MEP’s object to the undue influence players from the financial sector are able to wield over these bodies and believe measures should be taken to counter this influence in the future. In this respect they seek to replace the financial support for both bodies – currently based on a guaranteed payment of €60m for the period ranging from 2014 to 2020 - with renewable annual payments contingent on the adherence to conditions set by the European Parliament.
The article further mentions that "strong support for the parliament's initiative comes from the retail shareholders' interest lobby” and quotes EuroFinUse managing director on the fact that “Efrag, which benefits from public funding, should have a more balanced representation. At present, of the 17 current members of its supervisory board, only four represent the "user" side, three from banks, only one from asset management, and none representing "true" investors.”
Read the full article here.