Keep it simple...

IASB Chairman Sir David Tweedie recently delivered the 2007 Ken Spencer Memorial Lecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia. The title of the paper is: “Keep it simple, stupid! Can global standards be principle-based?” In his opinion, a good principles-based standard must pass four tests: (1) Is the standard written in plain English? (2) Can the standard be explained simply in a matter of a minute or so? (3) Does it make intuitive sense? (4) Does management believe it helps them to understand and describe the underlying economic activity? The lecture is also available as an MP3 audio presentation or slides.