The FT has reported that Gerrit Zalm, who will on Thursday be announced as the new chairman of the trustees of the International Accounting Standards Board has said:

Europe should not develop its own version of accounting standards or it will risk torpedoing the global effort to produce a single standard.

As the FT notes, this could put the board on a collision course with European policymakers, who have defended their right to alter standards where they see fit.

And so they should. Accounting standards have the force of law. A private company registered in the tax haven of Delaware, which is what the International Accounting Standards Board is has no right to threaten the countries of Europe about their rights to create the laws they want.

The comments reflect the arrogance of the accounting profession - a profession that now believes itself beyond control by anyone but itself - as the similarly arrogant action of the UK's Financial Reporting Council reported here yesterday also shows.