The ICA IAS working group was established in December 2004 by the ICA Board. This working group is chaired by Jean-Claude Detilleux, President of the French cooperative APEX organisation, GNC, which is a member of the ICA Board.

The aim of this working group is to bring together representatives of the co-operative movement from all the regions of the world, and from all cooperative sectors, in order to work together on the international accounting standards issues, exchange information and coordinate, as much as possible, actions and positions promoted by cooperatives to the international accounting standard setters, the IASB (the London based international standard setter) and the FASB (the American based standard setter).

More precisely, the terms of reference adopted by the ICA Board and the members of the working group stipulate that this working group shall :

- examine ways of improving coordination within the global co-operative movement in dealing with the International Accounting Standards Board

- ensure full recognition and understanding of the special nature of the co-operative enterprise by the International Accounting Standards Board at the highest level

- establish with the International Accounting Standards Board a method of corresponding and liaising and ensure the participation of cooperatives in the elaboration and implementation of IAS

- report regularly to the ICA board on the conclusions of the working group.

This group includes today representatives of the co-operative movement from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Pacific.

The ICA IAS working group has mainly focused its activities and discussions on IAS 32 and the Equity-Liabilities distinction. This issue is particularly important for co-operatives as the nature of their member shares, which constitute their capital, is at stake. Co-operatives must work together on this issue on a worldwide basis, as the differences between their various statutes and national legislations can be very important and can bring unexpected problems if they are not taken into account.

For more information about the ICA IAS working group:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Recent positions elaborated by the ICA IAS working Group: