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 in ...

(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 companies. ...

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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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 Michel Prada (born 2 April 1940) is a lawyer and administrator who became a French civil servant, holding a number of senior positions. Background Prada was born on 2 April 1940 in Bordeaux. He attended the Institut d'études politiques de Bordea ...

, 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 jurisdic ...

(IOSCO) Technical Committee. The first chairman was

Stavros Thomadakis Stavros Thomadakis is a Greek economist who served as chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, Professor of Finance at the University of Athens and chairman of the Public Interest Oversight Board. Academic career Thomadakis was born i ...

, 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 Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC; el, Επιτροπή Κεφαλαιαγοράς), established as a legal entity by Greek Law in 1991 and organized by the Greek Law 2324 of 1995, aims to "ensure the protection and the orderly and ef ...

. 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

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 aud ...

(IAASB), the

International Accounting Education Standards Board The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) is an independent organisation within the fold of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The board develops guidance to improve standards of education in accountancy. The ...

(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 Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is a committee of banking supervisory authorities that was established by the central bank governors of the Group of Ten (G10) countries in 1974. The committee expanded its membership in 2009 a ...

, the

International Association of Insurance Supervisors The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is a voluntary membership organization of insurance supervisors from over 190 jurisdictions, constituting 97% of the world's insurance premiums. It is the international standards-sett ...

, 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 Interna ...

, 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 o ...

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 Forum ...

. 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