Press Conference by the Commissioner

(Excerpt)

February 16 , 2004

Q.

For the review of the Constitution of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), together with the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA), Japan Federation of Economic Organizations and other private institutions, sent a public comment letter of suggestions for the review of the governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on February 10. What are FSA's views on the governance of the IASB?

A.

Let me first explain the background. The Trustees of the IASC Foundation, which is the governing body of the IASB, published a written invitation to public comments on the review of the IASC Foundation Constitution last November. In response to this, FSA sent its comment letter on February 10.

As this is concerned with accounting standards, we consider that the views of members of the private sector and market participants should be respected primarily. I have heard that the interested parties in Japan have concerns as to whether the composition of IASB members is well-balanced, and whether they are listening carefully to opinions of market participants in the standard-setting process. FSA regards that it is extremely important for IASB's International Accounting Standards to be accepted by broader range of market participants. From this point of view, we submitted the letter suggesting the review of the composition of IASB members and standard-setting process dated February 10.