Former IASB vice chair Ian Mackintosh has died

Ian Mackintosh, an influential accounting standard-setter who was vice-chair of the International Accounting Standards Board, has died at the age of 77.

Mackintosh formerly chaired the U.K. Accounting Standards Board and the International Federation of Accountants’ Public Sector Committee, which became the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board. He was also a member and deputy chair of the Australian Accounting Standards Board, chief accountant of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and a financial management manager at the World Bank. Mackintosh died last Thursday and was born in New Zealand before moving to Australia, according to the Australian news site, the Mandarin.

He served as chair of the IFAC Public Sector committee from 2000 to 2003 and while there, led the development of accrual accounting in the public sector, including a number of the foundational accrual based International Public Sector Accounting Standards, as well as some significant public sector-specific projects related to social benefits and non-exchange revenue.

Toward the end of his tenure chairing the Public Sector Committee, he was a member of the Likierman Review, which led to the formal establishment of the IPSASB as the independent international standard-setting board for the public sector. He continued to play a major role in standards development, becoming chair of the U.K. Accounting Standards Board, vice-chair of the IASB and, more recently, chair of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, a precursor to the International Sustainability Standards Board that brought together a group of standard-setters in the environmental, social and governance space to develop a common set of ESG standards.   

“Ian Mackintosh was truly unique among international standard setters, in having made a significant contribution to the development of both the public and private sector standards,” said IPSASB chair Ian Carruthers in a statement. “He was a dedicated and passionate leader who had an enormous impact on the international financial reporting landscape. We at the IPSASB extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and former colleagues around the world.”