Will the new IASB head help usher in IFRS global standards without too much of a fair value battle?

Continuing the reshuffling of world accounting standards mandarins, the IASB today introduced its new replacement of outgoing Chairman Sir David Tweedie. The new head, Hans Hoogervorst, said he will continue the push toward convergence. Will he be able to finally marry GAAP and IFRS?

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation named Mr. Hoogervorst, currently head of the Dutch financial regulatory authority, after a year-long search. Trustees named Ian Mackintosh, currently chair of the UK’s Accounting Standards Board, as the vice chairman.

The appointment comes at a critical time as the current state of the project to converge generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) into International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rules seems a bit muddled. Recently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) named Russell Golden to replace Bob Herz’s position on the Board (currently Leslie Seidman is interim chair). The Board will also expand to seven members from the current five. There has been speculation that Mr. Golden, a former Big Four accountant, and the expanded Board will lean more toward more lenient IFRS standards and away from the stricter “fair value” course for which former FASB Chairman Bob Herz pushed so hard (see related story here).

Writing on financial reporting site Accounting Onion, Tom Selling said that certainly the FASB’s actions signal this. The recent appointments fed his “concern that the FAF [Financial Accounting Foundation] might do whatever it needed to do to ensure that fair value would be defeated, and that IFRS adoption would get back on track – despite the many voices against it.”

The fact that IASB has now named Mr. Hoogervorst, who is not an accountant, perhaps reinforces this theory (Vice Chair Mackintosh reportedly has the accounting chops).

Mr. Hoogervorst said in a statement that he strongly believes in a global set of accounting standards and that they will “remain my priorities,” which may mean cajoling his American counterparts to get a move on – something that would be easier with a more amenable, anti-fair value FASB. He is also said to be more outspoken and known for speaking his mind, not to mention being a paparazzi favorite in supporting his causes: on the internet one can see him as Dutch Health Minister eating a raw fish or gagging himself with his finger over proposals he doesn’t support; he’s also been photographed cuddling up with giant stuffed animals and drinking wine.

So with the coming convergence, the IASB may have been promoting an assertive pitchman to finally push through less restrictive standards not popular with regulators rather than having a quiet bean counter try to do it.