International Standard Setting on the Public Interest
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) - of which CPA Australia is a full member - has issued a policy position paper describing the international standard setting process, and how it is undertaken in the public interest. Given that Australian auditing standards conform to international auditing standards (issued by the IAASB; part of IFAC) and our Code of Ethics for professional accountants conforms with the international code (issued by the IESBA; part of IFAC), you might be interested to read about how IFAC Boards go about their business of developing standards. The paper outlines the key objectives in designing arrangements for standard-setting, including discussion of public interest, legitimacy, independence, transparency and performance.