Creating more rules and regulations is no way to fix the governance flaws and management failings exposed by the financial crisis, the architect of the European Union’s governance framework has warned. That would only fuel a growing “compliance culture” and make the situation worse. Instead, companies should focus on changing the behavior of individual employees, […]
Europe
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Brussels Looks to Break Open Audit Market
Brussels officials are looking for ideas to break open the European Union audit market, which the Big 4 accounting firms dominate. The European Commission has been worried for some time about the lack of auditor choice for large companies and says the recent financial turmoil might actually widen the gap between the four biggest firms […]
Posted inEurope
Commission Hammers Ratings Agencies
The European Commission has published its plans to impose tougher regulation on credit rating agencies, including restrictions on the kind of services they can provide. Most rating agencies already followed a voluntary code agreed on in 2004 by the International Organization of Securities Commissions, but this self-regulation had failed, Commission officials say. Legal supervision was […]
Posted inEurope
IASB Chief Nearly Quit on Fair-Value Pressure
Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, considered resigning last month after coming under intense pressure from European Commission officials to retreat on fair-value accounting rules. The Commission wanted IASB to ease its rules relating to the valuation of financial instruments, to help banks weather the financial crisis. The Board did make […]
Posted inEurope
God Save the Queen
Who knew they still had it in them? Forty-three years after Winston Churchill passed from the scene and at least 15 years since the Rolling Stones put out a respectable single, the Brits are back at the helm of world leadership! First, Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposes to combat the credit crisis by direct government […]