Back in the early days of the International Accounting Standards Board, (IASB), its Chairman, Sir David Tweedie, knew what represented the frontline in protecting the independence of the Board. It was a person, a very large person, six foot seven inches tall and big with it. He was Paul Volcker, the Chairman of the Trustees. Volcker had been Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the US and was then, as now as President Obama showed, a go-to person if heavy-lifting was required somewhere in the financial and business world. Tweedie used to refer to him as "a superb second-row", a reference to a key man in the scrum in a game of rugby who provides the shove which would deter, then overpower, and finally defeat the opposition.
But as time went on and the work of the IASB extended across Europe, then out across the rest of the world, and even into the heartland of US corporate life the need for a rather more sophisticated, urbane, but still effective governance system became necessary. It needed the strength to protect the Board's independence. But it needed to show real accountability acceptable to all.
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