UK standards setter pushes for full implementation of IAS 39

The UK’s Accounting Standards Board (ASB) believes UK companies should implement International Accounting Standard 39 in its entirety, despite a European Union decision to water down the hedge accounting rule across Europe.

The European Commission ruled on October 1 that European companies would not have to use IAS 39 in it entirety once the new European International Financial Reporting Standards are introduced at the start of next year. But it left it open for individual member countries to force their own companies to comply with full IAS 39 should they so desire.

The ASB admitted it may not have the power to push through the decision at present, but plans to “explore all possible means of mandating compliance” with the hedging requirement “as soon as possible”.

The decision by the European Commission was widely viewed as a victory for French financial institutions that had vigorously protested against IAS 39.