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 advocacy organization for the accountancy profession; mainly for the financial accounting and auditing professions. Founded in 1977, IFAC has more than 175 members and associates i ...

(IFAC) and seeks to improve the quality and

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

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, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...

and

WorldCom MCI, Inc. (subsequently 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 telecommunic ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

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 The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets. Members are typically primary securities and/or futures regulators in a national jurisdi ...

(IOSCO) Technical Committee. The first chairman was Stavros Thomadakis, a professor of finance at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

who was formerly chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission. The new board was welcomed by regulatory bodies such as the

Financial Reporting Council The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and ...

(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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, 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 The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) is an independent standards body that issues standards, like the International Standards on Auditing, quality control guidelines, and other services, to support the international a ...

(IAASB), the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) and the

International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) develops and promotes the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards). The IESBA also supports debate on issues related ...

(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

, 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 grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

and 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 after the G20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Foru ...

. 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