The setters of international financial reporting standards have new bosses. Last Friday, the IASC Foundation announced that its trustees would from now on, in effect, be appointed by a ‘monitoring board’, which thus gains ultimate if indirect power over the International Accounting Standards Board.

The new group includes representatives of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the European Commission, Japan’s Financial Services Agency and two other members of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, with the Bank for International Settlements as observer.