The International Accounting Standards Board and Evidence-Informed Standard-Setting

This commentary describes some of the steps that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is taking to develop its research programme and draw on the work and people in the broader research community. I think it is important that we move even further away from decisionmaking based on assertions to more evidence-informed standard-setting. However, such a move has risks, including potentially giving IASB members an unjustified sense that they have 'proof' that they are making the right decisions. The IASB is aware of those risks and the limitations in using the extant literature in standard-setting. The IASB is developing ways to reduce these risks and overcome these limitations. However, real progress also needs the accounting research community to make some changes, and they need to want to change.