Accounting standards

The qualification of cooperative member shares as equity or liability has been an international accounting issue for long time. With the IFRIC 2 interpretation a compromise was reached in 2003; however, the convergence process between IASB and FASB, the two international accounting standards setters, has lead to further discussions.

Altlhough debates on the whole convergence are currently focusing on other irmes, the reflextion on the cooperative member shares as well as on other norms concerning cooperative enterprises is essential. Cooperatives Europe has an expert working group which is following closely this issue, preparing position papers and defining an advocacy strategy, asking the international accounting standards setters to keep in mind the knowledge of the cooperative issues that they acquired.