International Federation of Accountants

The International Federation of Accountants is the global organization for the accountancy profession, established on October 7, 1977, and headquartered in New York City. It has grown to encompass more than 180 member and associate bodies across roughly 135 to 140 jurisdictions, representing more than three million accountants working in public practice, education, government, industry and commerce. The organization supports the development, adoption and implementation of international standards for accounting education, ethics, and the public sector as well as audit and assurance, and it maintains four independent standard setting boards covering ethics, auditing and assurance, accounting education, and public sector accounting. It is not an accreditation body itself; membership requires application and sponsorship from an existing member organization, and in 2005 it created an international Public Interest Oversight Board to help maintain public accountability over its standard setting work.