Editorial

In September, IASB chairman Andreas Barckow gave his inaugural speech at the Board’s annual conference for standard-setters from around the world, which this year was, once again, held virtually. The new chairman is no stranger to the event, as for many years he attended it in his former capacity as chairman of the German national standard-setter. He noted that the key difference between the new role and his previous one was the fact that the IASB serves a much broader community, so that building consensus and developing standards that work globally across different economic backgrounds present more of a challenge. The Board’s consultation on items for inclusion in its future agenda closed on the opening day of the conference, and three consistent themes have already emerged: to take into consideration the number of consultations and the extent of change that the Board imposes on its stakeholders; to allow time to work with the International Sustainability Standards Board, which is likely to be established in the near future; and to work on intangibles. Dr Barckow said he saw the need to collaborate and develop requirements from joint principles and concepts as being a necessity, although he noted that it was too early to be more specific about what would need to be done, not least because the Trustees still had some key decisions to take.