A discussion paper based on the British Accounting Association Financial Accounting and Reporting Special Interest Group (FARSIG) Colloquium, 9 January 2009.
The theme of the future of financial reporting at a time of global crisis was very topical. The papers and discussion, well captured in this summary, set out the main thoughts at that point, both on the role of accounting in the crisis and the impact of the crisis on accounting. The factors which provoked a crisis on that scale and the issues that needed to be thought about were then becoming clear and agreed upon, but the longer-term changes and preventative measures were only just starting to be mapped out.
It is very helpful to bring together accounting academics and those in the profession with more practical perspectives to consider these sorts of issues and the FARSIG colloquiums have been a great example of this. ACCA was therefore very happy to sponsor FARSIG and to host this event.
The symposium enabled five key presentations to be delivered followed by discussion. These five papers were:
1. Ian Mackintosh, ASB – The Future of Financial Reporting in a time of Global Uncertainty.
2. Peter Holgate, PricewaterhouseCoopers – Organisational Politics: the IASB, the FASB, the EU et al.
3. Ken Peasnell, Lancaster University – Asset Securitization, Fair Values and the Credit Crunch.
4. Alan Teixeira, IASB – The International Spread of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): Challenges and Opportunities.
5. Paul Moxey, ACCA – Corporate Governance and the Credit Crunch.
The five papers and subsequent discussion expressed a range of views on the financial crisis and accounting and reporting from accounting practitioners, standard setters and academics.