11.brown 0089www.iiste.org call for_paper-103

Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting
Vol. 2, No. 1 June 2008
Pp. 89-103

The Extent of Membership Representation
and Non-Representation on the IASB
Alistair Brown
School of Accounting
Curtin University of Technology, Australia

Abstract

Status groups abound in financial markets and none more so than in the global accounting mar-
ket. One such group is the powerful and closed International Accounting Standards Board
(IASB). This study empirically examines the social control of IASB membership by consider-
ing the country affiliation of members, Internet access, and gender composition over a five-year
period. The results of the study show that over the period 2001-2005 representation on all four
IASB committees was dominated by male members from high Internet access regions of the
United States of America.

Keywords: IASB, closure and membership

INTRODUCTION ternational Accounting Standards Board
(IASB) for the benefit of elite multina-
The deep-seated occupational practice of tional funding organisations (Porter et
closure1 has occurred amongst occupa- al., 2006) and privileged first-world ac-
tional sets for some considerable time counting practitioners (Chand and
(Macdonald, 1985). Past studies show White, 2007) including Group of Four
how elite domestic accounting associa- (G4) and US exertion of ‘soft power’
tions are closed to all but a narrow range over the IASB (Street, 2006; De Lange
of individuals whose social backgrounds & Howeison, 2006). Few studies, how-
reflect the most powerful groups in soci- ever, have empirically considered the
ety (Kirkham & Loft, 1993), at times supranational IASB’s sustained non-
legitimising claims for special privilege equilibrium membership conditions
(Macdonald, 1985; 1984). Past studies (closure) over a long period of time.
also show how closure occurs at the In- This study addresses this shortcoming
by considering the composition of the
1
A philosophical definition of closure is presented in membership of the four committees of
the following way: “a set is closed with respect of an the IASB over the period 2001-2005 by
operation if the result of applying that operation to a way of each member’s national repre-
member of the set is itself a member of the
set” (Blackburn, 2005; p. 64). sentation, Internet access, and gender.

Alistair M. Brown is Associate Professor, Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility Research, School of Ac-
counting, Curtin University of Technology, Australia, email: Alistair.Brown@cbs.curtin.edu.au

90 A. Brown / Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting 1 (2008) 89-103

This study is important because it pre- The aim of this study, therefore, is to
sents a quantitative picture over time of examine the magnitude and extent of
the main players and non-players of the closure on each of its four committees.
international standardising and harmo- This paper is organised as follows. The
nising accounting set. There is consider- next section examines the IASB mem-
able literature which sees the IASB as bership in terms of its US affiliation,
advancing the public interest Internet access and gender type. A sepa-
(Camfferman and Zeff, 2007) and its rate section is devoted to explaining the
International Financial Reporting Stan- research method, which is then followed
dards as improving investor communica- by descriptive and inferential results.
tion, enhancing comparability, increas- The study ends with a conclusion about
ing reporting transparency, lowering the about the characteristics of the mem-
costs, facilitating cross-border listings bership of the IASB, and a discussion of
and improving investment opportunities the assumptions and limitations of the
(KPMG, 2003). But all these benefits study.
ring hollow if the IASB is effectively
represented by a narrow range of power-
ful players to the restriction and exclu- LITERATURE REVIEW
sion ‘economically weaker stake-
holders’ (Unerman & Bennett, 2004, p. The accounting profession is awash with
690). practices of exclusion, closure, and mo-
nopoly (Kim, 2004; Annisette, 2003;
What is vitally important here is to pre- Chua & Poullaos, 1998; Walker, 1995;
sent a study which shows the extent of Chua & Poullaos, 1994; Kirkham &
hegemonic power enjoyed by the ‘closed Loft, 1993; Kedslie, 1990; Wilmott,
set’ and the magnitude of non- 1986; Macdonald, 1985; 1984). Self-
representation by most countries of the selected occupational elites are able to
world, not only on the main boards of use exclusionary practices to keep
the IASB but also on its committees. By ‘others’ out of the profession. They de-
analysing the preponderance of country ploy closure practices to close off oppor-
membership, this study alerts us to a tunities to ‘others’; to enjoy the profes-
broader lesson: that while the measure- sion’s economic, political, and social
ment of hegemonic membership is in- fruits (Annisette, 2003). Such practices
structive to understanding the extent of may be based on credentialism, ethnicity
power enjoyed by a few, the measure- (Kim, 2004; Annisette, 2003), financial
ment of absence of country membership resources (Mitchell et al., 2001) and im-
underlies the extent of powerlessness perialism (Annisette & Neu, 2004), but
suffered by the many. This has consider- ultimately they lead to an asymmetry of
able policy relevance, particularly in wealth and power (Graham & Neu,
terms of developing accounting policies 2003).
across the globe. It is difficult to second
guess policy makers’ needs around the US affiliation
world but if many potential policy mak-
ers are effectively excluded the problem The IASB describes its structure as
of ascertaining their needs becomes ‘independent’ (IASB, 2007b). The IASB
more difficult. has two main bodies, The Trustees1 and

A. Brown / Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting 1 (2008) 89-103 91

the International Accounting Standards instance, the restructuring of the
Board. The IASB also has a Standards IASC into the IASB in 2000
Advisory Committee (SAC) and an In- expressly reflects the thinking of
ternational Financial Reporting Interpre- the SEC and has resulted in an
tations Committee (IFRIC). Further, it organizational form traditionally
explains that ’the international conver- opposed by continental Euro-
gence of accounting is the irreversible pean countries.The FASB now
trend and direction of develop- also plays an active role in the
ment’ (IASB, 2007b); and that: IASB’s activities,and five of the
IASB’s twelve full-time and two
Emerging markets and transition part-time board members are
economies are important partici- American. Two of those full-
pants in the global capital market time IASB board members sat
and users of IFRSs, thus they will on the FASB board until re-
play an important role in IFRSs cently. If this influence grows
setting (IASB, 2007b). unchecked, it may bias the na-
ture of the IFRS in favor of US
However, much appears in the past lit- markets and consequently re-
erature to suggest that the IASB is not duce the global benefits of con-
independent at all, with domination by tinued convergence (Carnachan,
the Financial Accounting Standards 2003, pp. 39-40).
Board of the United States of America
(De Lange & Howeison, 2006), G4 na- US representation on the IASB is em-
tional accounting standard setting bodies pirically tested by posing the following
(Street, 2006), and the presence of a hypothesis:
general ‘US/UK hegemony’ Chand and
White (2007, p. 610). Hypothesis 1: There is significant US
representation on IASB
Indeed, the imposition of North-
American-centric accounting on global- Internet access
ised markets is recognised by some com-
mentators (Camfferman and Zeff, 2007; Another form of closure practised by the
Zarb, 2006; Cooper, Neu and Lehman, IASB is to overlook members from
2003, p. 360). Some commentators sug- countries with limited Internet access
gest there is too much U.S. influence on (Brown, 2007). The IASB devotes con-
IASB (EFRAG, 2006; Carnachan, siderable resources to extensible busi-
2003). ness reporting language (XBRL) (IASB,
This concern about potential US 2007c) and business reporting on the
hegemony over the international Internet (IASC, 1999) which necessi-
accounting standard-setting tates a reliance on the Internet but does
process is not without founda- little to extend these resources to coun-
tion. There is already evidence tries with little Internet access.
of a growing US influence over
IFRS, despite the ‘due process’ The potential for the Internet to advance
safeguards built into the IASB’s discourses depends on the existing insti-
standard-setting procedures. For tutionalised structures and dominant po-


litical philosophies (Sikka, 2006). In erts 2004; McNicholas et al., 2004; Gall-
terms of institutional structures, Kenis- hofer, 1998) and business organisations.
ton (2004), Swaminathan (2001) and Certainly, in a developed country set-
Warschauer (2002) found that a lack of ting, Still (2006), found that despite con-
access to the Internet2 is an obvious im- siderable legislative, policy, and social
pediment to Internet use. However, in change in the equity area, women did
terms of dominant political philosophies, not attain leadership positions in any
this paper argues that these institutional significant numbers in Australia. Higgs
barriers may confer legitimacy to the (2003) found that women in the UK did
privileged IASB group, a high-level of little better.
Internet access acting as a prerequisite
for IASB membership. The notion of There are of course, compelling reasons
promoting social differentiation by way` to broaden gender diversity on the
of Internet access helps advance digital board, as it:
kudos for the occupational elites but re-
stricts those members with less sophisti- …increases board independence
cated Internet structures from advancing. because with a different gender,
The idea of selecting members from ethnicity, or cultural background
countries with high levels of Internet might ask questions that would
access as against those members who not come from directors with
come from countries with low levels of more traditional backgrounds
Internet access is presented in the fol- (Carter, Simkins and Simpson,
lowing hypothesis: p.37).

Hypothesis 2: There is a positive rela- Broader board diversity is also associ-
tionship between national levels of Inter- ated with stronger orientation toward
net access and membership of IASB corporate social responsiveness (Ibrahim
& Angelidis, 1994), higher levels of so-
Gender cial performance (Siciliano, 1996) and
an increase in diversity of opinions and
Yet another way of closing off member- perspectives to board discussions. Of
ship is to exclude people according to course, these benefits come at the ex-
their gender. Even though gender diver- pense of diluting male hegemony. Thus,
sity on committees can improve effec- for the purposes of this study the follow-
tiveness of organisation’s decisions by ing hypothesis is posed:
tapping broader talent pools (Adams &
Ferreira, 2004) there is a considerable Hypothesis 3: There is significant male
literature that points out that women representation on IASB
continue to be excluded from accounting
(Everett et al., 2007; Kirkham & Loft,
1993; Hopwood, 1987; Dwyer & Rob- RESEARCH METHOD
2
Together with the high costs of Internet subscription, The main methods of inquiry are secon-
shortages of internet service providers and hard-wired
direct lines, lack of hardware (computers), high prices
dary analysis of cross-sectional data
in administration, installation settings, maintenance and from the most recent data from IASB
peripherals, and lack of electricity to drive available annual reports on membership of the
information technology.


IASB Trustees IASB, IFRIC and SAP, Actual membership over the period did
members’ country affiliation and mem- not always accord with the numbers
bers’ country Internet access. Statistical stated in the constitution. The initial
analyses used in the study include de- population of aggregated membership of
scriptive techniques, trend analysis, and the Trustees, IASB, IFRIC and SAC over
multiple regression analysis. the period 2001 to 2005 was 423. Table
1, Panel A shows that The Trustees’ had
The main data sources used in this study 18 members, except for 2003 when
were the 2001-2005 annual reports of membership was 19. Total membership
the IASB (IASB, 2005; 2004; 2003; of The Trustees for the period 2001 to
2002; 2001), online IASB documenta- 2005 was 91. For each year IASB and
tion for 2006, and internet access data IFRIC membership was 14 and 12, re-
for the years 2001-2005 from Interna- spectively. For the period 2001 to 2005
tional Telecommunications Union (ITU, the IASB and 60 IFRIC had 70 member
2007). positions. SAC membership for each of
the years between 2001 and 2004 ranged
Sample selection from 41 to 43, but in 2005 this fell to 33
members. There were 202 SAC mem-
The IASCF Constitution (2007) states bership positions for the period 2001 to
that The Trustees shall comprise 22 indi- 2005. Country affiliation data of mem-
viduals (para. 4) who are normally ap- bership positions of Trustees, IFRIC and
pointed for a term of three years, renew- SAC was gathered from the online the
able once (para. 8). IASB also comprises IASB annual report sites (IASB, 2007b).
14 members (para. 18) to be appointed Country affiliation of IASB members
for a term up to five years, renewable was gleaned from curriculum vitaes
once. IFRIC comprises 12 members ap- posted on the IASB websites (IASB,
pointed for renewable terms of three 2007b). Information on Gender was
years (para. 33), and SAC comprises 30 checked by two academics.
or more members appointed for renew-
able terms of three years (para. 48). Table 1, Panel B shows the number of
countries used in the sample.. The World

Table 2: Breakdown of country membership
Panel A: Number of board’s membership
Year Trustees IASB IFRIC SAC Total
2001 18 14 12 43 87
2002 18 14 12 42 86
2003 19 14 12 43 88
2004 18 14 12 41 85
2005 18 14 12 33 77
Total 91 70 60 202 423
Panel B: Number of countries
Total number of countries 209
Less: Countries without internet access data (5)
Total number of countries used in sample 204


Bank (2005; 2004; 2003; 2002; 2001) Proxy for Internet access
lists 209 countries in the world. Five
countries were excluded from the sam- Internet access data provides informa-
ple because of insufficient Internet ac- tion on the number of Internet users per
cess data figures for the five-year period. 100 inhabitants of a country for a par-
These countries were American Samoa, ticular year. This information was gath-
Liberia, Myanmar, North Korea and ered from ITU (2007).
Northern Mariana. Thus a total sample
of 204 countries were used in the study. Yet again, each of the 423 memberships
positions were classified by affiliation to
Proxy for IASB membership divide one of the possible 204 countries. The
number of membership positions for
The main dependent variable, account- each of the 204 countries was tallied and
ing divide (DV1), is the average yearly then multiplied by that country’s Inter-
number of membership positions on all net access of the respective year (2001-
four committees (Trustees, IASB, IFRIC 2005) that the member was in office.
and SAC) by country affiliation for the The aggregated Internet access score of
period 2001 to 2005. each country was then divided by five
(the number of years of the study) to
Each of the 423 memberships positions give a mean annual Internet access
were classified by affiliation to one of scores. These Internet access scores sat-
the possible 204 countries (a member- isfied tests for non-normality and non-
ship position could not have more than skewness. The study uses the Internet
one country affiliation – see the section access data from 2001 to 2005 from the
Assumptions and Limitations). The num- data-sets of the International Telecom-
ber of membership positions for each of munications Union (ITU, 2007).
the 204 countries was tallied for each of
the five years of the study and then di- Gender
vided by five to give an average yearly
membership score for each country. Gender was used as a control variable.

Figure 1 Conceptual Schema


Unlike the country related proxies used membership on at least one of the four
for the dependent variable and the inde- IASB committees over the study period.
pendent variables (US affiliation and In all, 169 countries did not have any
Internet access), gender was a demo- membership at all.
graphic related characteristic of the indi-
vidual members. Each of the 423 mem- Panel B of Table 2 shows descriptive
bers was classified according to gender. statistics for 2001-2005 of IASB mem-
As Figure 1 shows, gender falls outside bership of the four committees
the oval containing country classifica- (Trustees, IASB, IFRIC or SAC) with an
tion but provides additional evidence of overall annual mean membership of 0.42
divides outside the country context. members per country with a large stan-
dard deviation of 1.77 members per
country. The US had a staggering annual
RESULT average of 21.40 members on the four
committees of the IASB, while the other
Descriptive Statistics 203 had an average of 0.37 members.
Independent sample T-test (t-critical
Panel A of Table 2 shows the break- one-tail score of 1.65) shows a highly
down of country membership on each of significant difference between US and
the four committees of the IASB for non-US means for membership (p-value
2001-2005. Thirty-five countries had of .000). Panel B presents descriptive

Table 2: Breakdown of country membership
Panel A: Countries with board membership
No. Country 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Average 2001-2005
T M I S T M I S T M I S T M I S T M I S T M I S Total
1 Argentina 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 2
2 Australia 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 3.6
3 Bahrain 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 0.4
4 Belgium 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 0.4
5 Brazil 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2
6 Cameroon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.2 0.2
7 Canada 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.8 2.8
8 China 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
9 Denmark 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.8 1.8
10 Estonia 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.8 0.8
11 Finland 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.8 0.8
12 France 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2.2 5.8
13 Germany 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 1.2 3.2
14 Hong Kong, 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1.2 2.8
China
15 India 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
16 Israel 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
17 Italy 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 3 1 0 1 1.8 3.6
18 Japan 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 6
19 Kenya 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.8 0.8
20 Korea (Rep.) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.8 0.8
21 Malaysia 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.4 1.4
22 Mexico 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
23 Netherlands 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 3
24 New Zealand 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.8 1.2
25 Norway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.2 0.2


26 Russia 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.2 1.2
27 Singapore 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.6 0.6
28 South Africa 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 3
29 Spain 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1.2
30 Sri Lanka 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.6 0.6
31 Swaziland 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 0 0 0.2
32 Sweden 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.4 0 0.8 1.2
33 Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0.4 0 0.2 0.8
34 United Kingdom 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 6.8
35 United States 5 5 4 10 5 5 3 10 5 5 3 9 5 5 3 9 4 5 3 4 5 5 3 8.4 21.4
Total 18 14 12 43 18 14 12 42 19 14 12 43 18 14 12 41 18 14 12 33 18 14 12 40.4 84.6
169 countries did not have membership on any of the committees.
Panel B: Descriptive Statistic of Independent and dependent
variables
Variable Num- Mean Std Dev
ber
(IV 1) US Member- 1 21.40
ship
Non-US 203 0.37 0.99
Membership
(DV 1)Total Mem- 204 0.42 1.77
bership
(IV 2) Internet 204 11.34% 13.42%
Access

statistics for the independent variable of in the study. In other words, there is no
Internet access which has a mean of high correlation between US member-
11.34% of a country’s population, and a ship and Internet access independent
standard deviation of 13.42. variables with a correlation of 0.175.
The lack of multicollinearity partly satis-
Correlations fies the condition for running multiple
regressions.
Table 3 shows no multicollinearity prob-
lems for the independent variables used Multivariate main results
Table 3: Pearson correlation matrix

DV-1 Total IASB IV-1 US v Non-US IV-2 Internet Access
DV-1 Total IASB - .832* .372*
IV-1 US v Non-US .832* - .175
IV-2 Internet Access .372* .175 -
*Correlation is significant at the 1% level (two-tailed)

For sensitivity analysis, regression was predictors of each of the four commit-
conducted on the dependent variables of tees of the IASB with adjusted R-
membership on each of the four commit- squares ranging between .555 (IFRIC)
tees of the IASB: Trustees (DV-2); Main and .735 (IASB Main).
IASB (DV-3); IFRIC (DV-4) and SAC
(DV-5) over the same time period. Additional analysis was conducted on
gender of members of all four commit-
Table 5 shows that US membership and tees of the IASB over the period 2001-
Internet access are highly significant 2005 (see Table 6). Over the period


Table 4: Multiple regression model results IASB membership (2001-2005)

Beta t-statistic Significance
(Constant) -0.360 .000***
IV-1 US Representation .792 21.901 .000***
IV-2 Internet Access .233 6.443 .000***
Model Summary
R-Squared .863
Adj. R-Squared .745
F-Statistic 294.380
Sample Size 204
*** Highly Significant

Table 5 Multiple Regression Results for Trustees, Main IASB, IFRIC and SAC
Panel A Trus- Panel B Main Panel C IFRIC Panel D SAC
tees IASB
Beta t-statistic Beta t-statistic Beta t-statistic Beta t-statistic

[Constant] -.776 -.637 -.676 .400
US Respre- .728 17.179* .813 22.144** .680 14.294** .774 20.654*
sentation ** * * **
Internet .243 5.747** .168 4.586*** .215 4.517*** .245 6.529**
Access * *
Model Summary

R-Squared .651 .737 .559 .726
Adj. R- .647 .735 .555 .723
Squared
F-Statistic 187.138 282.168 127.601 266.441
Sample Size 204 204 204 204
*** Significant at the 1% level

2001-2005, all committees had less than IASB membership divide exists both in
20% female representation. The low rep- terms of US affiliation, levels of Internet
resentation of women on each of the access and gender orientation. US influ-
committees provides support for H3. ence of global accounting is, of course,
generally well- known in the accounting
literature. However, this study’s empiri-
LIMITATIONS, DISCUSSION AND cal evidence of US representation on the
CONCLUDING REMARKS IASB and each of its four committees
indicates the broad extent of US domi-
The support of all hypotheses makes nance. The finding of closure to the
concrete the idea that an overwhelming ‘digitally weaker stakeholder’ is an im-


Table 6: Additional analysis - Breakdown by female ratio
Trustee Fe- IASB Female IFRIC Fe- SAC Female Total Female
male Ratio (Total male Ratio (Total Ratio (Total
Year Ratio (Total IASB Mem- Ratio (Total SAC Mem- Boards’
Trustee Mem- bers) IFRIC Mem- bers) Members)
bers) bers)
0 0.143 0.167 0.163 0.125
2001
(18) (14) (12) (43) (88)
0 0.143 0.167 0.167 0.126
2002
(18) (14) (12) (42) (87)
0 0.143 0.083 0.186 0.122
2003
(19) (14) (12) (43) (90)
0 0.143 0.250 0.195 0.149
2004
(18) (14) (12) (41) (87)
0 0.143 0.250 0.152 0.128
2005
(18) (14) (12) (33) (78)
0 0.143 0.183 0.173 0.132
2001-2005
(91) (70) (60) (202) (56)

portant one, as it demonstrates how the tion process. Nevertheless, this study is
relatively new globalised social fruit— purposefully constitutive to draw out
the Internet and its access—is used to empirically the trends and extent of
differentiate between the haves and board membership closure.
have-nots and confer legitimacy on Second, the study ignores many social
IASB membership. Few readers will be factors such as religion, racism, and eth-
surprised by the closure to women on the nicity as possible explanatory factors of
four boards of the IASB; it has proved a the closure. Some prior accounting stud-
fraught exercise trying to break up prac- ies looked at these factors for national
tices of female closure, exclusion, and standard setting bodies and certainly
monopoly by many institutions. future research might separately con-
sider their impact on the membership of
The study has a number of limitations. this global accounting organisation.
First, it focuses on constitutive, rather
than rhetorical (or the nexus of constitu- Third, the concept of country affiliation
tive and rhetorical) aspects of the IASB, is problematic, particularly given the
and thereby ignores how this powerful multiple work locations of many of the
global accounting authority uses rhetoric IASB members. While this study recog-
to implement and shape control of mem- nises the shifting geographical work pat-
bership. When artfully used to persuade, terns of these affluent IASB members,
rhetorical techniques, in the hands of the and the possibility that members may
powerful, make for interesting investiga- possess more than one citizenship, their
tion. Indeed, the IASB has a set of writ- predominant country affiliation is con-
ten criteria on IASB’s appointments; sidered important not only because the
further research using rhetorical analysis IASB publishes this information itself on
may shed additional light on their selec- its web pages and in its annual reports


but also because it gives an expression Notes
1
of the general terrain and source of The Trustees appoints IASB, IFRIC
privileged country IASB membership. and SAC members, oversee operations
and raise funds while the IASB sets ac-
Fourth, there is a growing body of litera- counting standards and IFRIC interprets
ture that is cautious about the IASB and them.
the universal adoption of its Interna-
2
tional Financial Reporting Standards It also claims that emerging economies
(IFRS) (Hopper & Hoque, 2004; Gra- are represented on the IASCF Trustees
ham & Neu, 2003). Some commentators and Standards Advisory Council (SAC)
have recognised that these standards and play an important role in IFRSs set-
convert complex realities into recognis- ting (IASB, 2007b)
able information (Saravanamuthu, 2004)
but efface cultural (Baskerville, 2003),
political (Graham & Neu, 2003) and References
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tions. IFRS may also fail to recognize AASB (2004) Framework of the Prepa-
impacts on local communities (Lehman, ration and Presentation of Fi-
2005) and the natural environment nancial Statements. Retrieved
(Porter et al., 2006). A limitation of the Aug. 11th. 2007, from http://
study, therefore, is that if the output of www.aasb.com.au
the IASB is inappropriate to regions out- Adams, R. B., & Ferreira, D. (2004)
side the IASB power-base, then the issue "Gender Diversity in the Board-
of IASB exclusion, closure, and monop- room", ECGI Finance Working
oly becomes less relevant. Nevertheless, Paper, No. 58 (November), pp.
as noted earlier, the study is important 1-31.
because there is a body of expertise that Annisette, M. (2003) "The Colour of
suggests the IASB advances public in- Accountancy: Examining the
terest (Camfferman and Zeff, 2007) and Salience of Race in a Profes-
serves the international community sionalisation Project", Account-
(KPMG, 2003). Indeed, Zeghal and ing, Organizations and Society,
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