Copy the page URI to the clipboard
van Mourik, Carien
(2010).
URL: http://congress.iaaer.org/
Abstract
According to the IFRS Foundation’s Constitution, the IASB develops its Conceptual Framework and IFRS in the public interest. This paper analyses the IFRS Constitution and the IASB Conceptual Framework to investigate how the IASB interprets 'the public interest' with respect to the purposes of accounting and reporting regulation. It argues that prioritising usefulness for making economic decisions over the protection and reconciliation of conflicting economic interests does not support legitimacy of the IASB’s claim to the public interest in an international environment characterised by great institutional diversity. This paper explores how the Conceptual Framework could reconcile the economic and social functions of accounting in order to serve the public interest across national, ideological and institutional boundaries.