Through history, countries have had their own standard setters, and after all these years, we’ve almost got our act together, and narrowed the standards down to 2 major groups, US GAAP (used by the US and its former colonies) and the IFRS (used by mostly the rest of the world). So the 2 bodies FASB and the IASB have got together and agreed to embark on this Commitment to Enhance Consistency, Comparability and Efficiency in Global Capital Markets convergence project so that financial statements can in future by prepared based on only 1 set of recognised standards. Because of the hugeness of this task, they have broken up the task force into smaller committees, each in charge of the topic it’s assigned. You can read all about this convergence project and its updates in the links below.

The International Accounting Standards Board is an independent, private-sector body that develops and approves International Financial Reporting Standards. The IASB operates under the oversight of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation. The IASB was formed in 2001 to replace the International Accounting Standards Committee.

Under the IASCF Constitution, the objectives of the IASB are:

(a) to develop, in the public interest, a single set of high quality, understandable and enforceable global accounting standards that require high quality, transparent and comparable information in financial statements and other financial reporting to help participants in the world’s capital markets and other users make economic decisions;

(b) to promote the use and rigorous application of those standards; and

(c) in fulfilling the objectives associated with (a) and (b), to take account of, as appropriate, the special needs of small and medium-sized entities and emerging economies; and

(d) to bring about convergence of national accounting standards and International Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards to high quality solutions.