Professor Eamonn Walsh:

If I could answer that question I would be very happy with myself. When I hear the term "true and fair" I think of the City of London in 1750 where everybody knows everybody else, my word is my bond and we engage in true and fair reporting. As I would understand it now, largely the term "true and fair" has become synonymous with reflecting international financial reporting standards. It is a legacy term that is used in Britain and Ireland, the idea of a true and a fair view, but it has largely been superseded by detailed accounting standards, which we did not have 50 years ago. The notion that somehow, there is a principle of the true and fair view that would guide one on the right way to account for a particular transaction becomes largely redundant when there are many rules governing guidance, as there are today. If the Chairman is interested, there is a legal opinion that was prepared about a year ago which explains how a true and fair view should be interpreted under UK law.