The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) is an international body that oversees the

International Federation of Accountants The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is the global organization for the accountancy profession. Founded in 1977, IFAC has 180 members and associates in 135 jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public prac ...

(IFAC) and seeks to improve the quality and

public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

focus of the IFAC standards in the areas of audit, education, and ethics.

Formation

Creation of the PIOB in 2005 was triggered by a series of corporate scandals including the collapse of

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

and

WorldCom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and of Parmalat in Europe. These undermined public confidence in the conduct and competence of audit practitioners, leading to demand for an overhaul of the IFAC including an independent oversight body to ensure that all standards are in the public interest. The board was established through a collaborative effort by members of the international financial regulatory community, working with IFAC, led by Michel Prada, Chairman of the French Financial Markets Authority and Deputy Chairman of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Technical Committee. The first chairman was Stavros Thomadakis, a professor of finance at the University of Athens who was formerly chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission. The new board was welcomed by regulatory bodies such as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Activities

The PIOB oversees the public interest activities of three independent standard-setting boards supported by IFAC: the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). The PIOB also oversees the IFAC's Compliance Advisory Panel, which evaluates member body compliance with IFAC Statements of Membership Obligations. The Chair of the PIOB has the right to attend and to speak at IFAC Board meetings.

Oversight

The PIOB is accountable to the Monitoring Group, which is composed of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, the

Financial Stability Board The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established in the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh Summit as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) ...

and the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators. The first four organizations nominate the eight members of the board, while the European Commission nominates two observers to the board.

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.iasplus.com/ifac/piob.htm , title=IFAC Public Interest Oversight Board , publisher=Deloitte Global Services Limited. , accessdate=2011-06-07 {{cite web , url=http://www.ipiob.org/index.php/what-is-the-piob , title=What is the PIOB? , publisher=PIOB , accessdate=2011-06-07 Organizations established in 1984 Accounting organizations Organisations based in Madrid