The World Council of Credit Unions asked an International Accounting Standards Board panel during a Londonforum this week to ease compliance burdens on credit unions andimprove member disclosures.

Michael Edwards, World Council vice president and chief counsel, told the groupof international accounting standards representatives Monday thatcomplex financial disclosures are often difficult to understand forthose who are not financial professionals.

In response, panelist Russell Picot, HSBC group chief accountingofficer and recent co-chair of the Financial Stability Board'sEnhanced Disclosure Task Force, said disclosure simplificationwould be useful and companies should have regulatory leeway toeliminate unnecessary disclosures, reduce the use of accountingjargon and use disclosure language that key stakeholders cancomprehend easily, the World Council said.

IASB Board Member Patricia McConnell said some aspects offinancial disclosures, such as footnotes on accounting policies,are not very useful in practice because retail investors do notusually read them, and accounting practitioners are familiaralready with the accounting policies in question.

“All credit unions would benefit from reduced accountingcompliance burdens,” said Brian Branch, World Councilpresident/CEO.

“Easily understandable financial disclosures will be most usefulto credit union members in developing countries where shares anddeposits are often not protected by savings guarantee schemes andmany members do not have a university education,” Branch said.

The panel will report to the full IASB within the next twomonths about the World Council and others' comments on how toimprove financial disclosure requirements.

The IASB sets International Financial Reporting Standards, whichapply to credit unions in a growing number of jurisdictionsincluding Australia, Brazil and Canada.

The IASB and FASB are also in the process of converging IFRSwith U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP),which will make U.S. credit unions subject to accounting rules thatare the same as IFRS in most respects.

In April 2012, IASB and FASB issued a report predicting thatthey would jointly issue final accounting standards regardingfinancial instruments, leases and insurance contracts bymid-2013.