Prem Sikka has a blog column on the Guardian site. Today he argues:

International accounting standards are colonialism in another guise, allowing tax avoidance while foisting failed practices without oversight or democratic control.

Prem has been one of the most consistent, and correct, commentators on the course of accounting for the last 15 years or more, so I don't need to reiterate his case for him. I agree with it.

It's worth however repeating the follwoing comment though, simply because so few people realise it is true and are incredulous when it is pointed out to them:

The IASB claims to advance business accountability and transparency, but is itself a highly secretive organisation. It is the offshoot of a private company registered in the US state of Delaware, a place well known for corporate secrecy. It is funded by the "big four" accounting firms - PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young - and major corporations. The same interests dominate all its structures and committees.

Prem asks the questions we have often debated in private - why is it, and how is it that the public interest has been passed to such a body that is so powerful that the EC is not sure it can contradict it even when it gets something like IFRS 8 so obviously wrong?