Accountancy Age online published an
April 2010 article called “Profile:
Paul Pacter, international standard setter.” The article states that, although
some people may not recognise his name, Paul Pacter is one of the most
influential men in the history of international accounting standards." Since 2000, he has played a variety of roles
including director of standards for small and medium-sized entities at the
International Accounting Standards Board and director at the global IFRS office
for Deloitte in Hong Kong. During the 1990s, he served as staff member at the
International Accounting Standards Committee working on projects including
financial instruments, interim financial reporting, segment reporting,
discontinuing operations, extractive industries, agriculture, and electronic
financial reporting. From 1984-1989, he was vice chairman of the advisory
council to the US Governmental Accounting Standards Board.
On July 12, 2011, an Interview
with Paul Pacter was conducted in New York City by James Stocker for the Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society’s virtual museum and archive on the
history of financial regulation. A 53-page transcript of that interview notes
that, during the 2000s, he also set up a very popular website (www.iasplus.com) for accountants involved in
international accounting standards. Pacter comments that: “This was done for
Deloitte. We just had an idea that there ought to be someplace out on the Internet
where all sorts of information about international accounting standards was available.
The old IASC didn’t have much of a website, although I did that too, I taught myself
the HTML and the graphics and how to do FTP. Deloitte said, “Why don’t you set
something up for IASs?” We opened shop as a free site. We opened the door in December
2000. Visitor numbers grew dramatically. When I left Deloitte in June 2010, we
were getting 60,000 to 70,000 visitors a week – unique visitors. We had about
1,000 webpages. We had 4,000 downloadable PDF files. It was, and still is, the
biggest website in a very narrow area of interest, international accounting
standards.”
Looking back at a long career, Pacter comments: “...I must
just say out of respect for the U.S. SEC, they’ve been a great contributor to
accounting standards. They have stayed out of the development of the standards.
They’ve encouraged and prodded and commented. They’ve insisted on high quality
implementation. For that, I say I have the greatest respect for the commission
and for their counterparts around the world. We don’t want politics setting
accounting standards. We don’t want politicians setting accounting standards
any more than I want them telling my surgeon how to do my surgery. Set the
broad principles and let the private sector do the job. The commission has done
that, and I thank them for that.”
