The IFRS Foundation recently issued an update on the appointment of its new chair:

• The IFRS Foundation Trustees’ Nominating Committee has provided an update on the recruitment for the next Chair of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to succeed Andreas Barckow when his term ends on 30 June 2026.
• The Committee initiated the search to find the next leader of the IASB in October 2025 with support from an executive search firm. The recruitment has progressed well and is in the final stages.
• The Committee expects to conclude this process with a new Chair in place by 1 October 2026 and has asked IASB Vice-Chair Linda Mezon-Hutter to serve as Acting Chair during the transition period.

But if it’s going so well, you might ask, why the gap in transition? My understanding, based on information received from my mole in the organization, is that the chosen successor was initially reluctant to assume the post, and that it took a candid conversation with outgoing Chair Barckow to tip the balance. Here now is an exclusive transcript of a portion of the exchange. Rather than spill the beans, I’ll identify the soon-to-be-announced individual only as X:

X You know Barcky, I’m just not feeling it…

AB Well of course a job like this involves some sacrifice. I for instance had to give up my regular participation in the church choir.

X  Yes, but I’m talking about situations where other people would regret my absence. For example, who would take over my role as lead judge in the local poetry slam?

AB I wouldn’t know, but you can inject your poetic streak into leading the IASB. I’ve often thought our product might benefit from a little more artistic panache.

X  I’m not one to try putting lipstick on a pig. Although I could tell you a story about my dealings with Deloitte …

AB As a man of at least relative culture, you should appreciate all that London has to offer – the music, the theatre…

X It’s true that I’d have a better chance of seeing my favourites Echo and the Bunnymen in London. But what with all the travel and the meetings, I might miss the gigs I’m interested in.

AB As the Chair, my friend, you don’t need to do a single thing you don’t want to. If you accept a symposium in China and then find out the date clashes with Eckart and the whatever you said, send the vice Chair, that’s literally one of the only two reasons for that position.

X I don’t want to look bad right out the gate though.

AB As the Chair, my friend, you might be viewed as the official biggest accounting geek in the world, so inevitably you’ll look bad to some. But you can’t worry about that, you just stay in your lane.

X Do you really think that’s what people want?

AB If you ask the Chairman of the SEC, he’ll tell you not just to stay in your lane but to press your face right into the ground and never dare look up.

X You’re saying he doesn’t want the IASB doing anything that seems radical or progressive.

AB If it was up to him, we’d be commuting to work in horse-drawn carriages and hanging our three-cornered hats at the door. We’d still be able to invest in crypto though, Trump told them that’s fine.

X I don’t have much appetite for such a messy political environment. And talking of commuting, isn’t that another downside of London?

AB It’s true that the superficially handsome salary doesn’t go as far as it would elsewhere. But you should still be able to afford to rent a nice one-bedroom within a stone’s throw of the office. Not that I have the strength, after five years in this job, to throw any stones.

X The job feels more like you than me. I could never bring myself to wear those ugly sweaters you made a part of your image. Truth is, I wish I could still get away with being a punk.

AB I told you already, you don’t have to do anything the way I did it. I certainly didn’t follow in the footsteps of my own predecessor. But then, I could hardly locate his footsteps, under all the detritus of his non-stop partying.

X No one will say that about you Barcky, you’ve conducted yourself in an impeccably boring manner. The most exciting words you ever uttered in a speech were ‘in closing…’

AB Well, in that vein, let me say in closing this conversation that notwithstanding my earlier remarks, Chair of the IASB is a position one can never regret occupying, bestowing upon the holder a cherished place in history.

X They used to say that about being Prime Minister of the UK…

AB Fortunately, this job isn’t quite that heavily scrutinized…

X Not until someone screws it up royally…

AB But then you can pin it on the vice chair, that’s the second reason.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author, when not those of AB and of X, whoever X is…