On May 6, Yvon Charest, CEO of Industrial Alliance and Financial Services, called for a "reconsideration" of the conversion to International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS.

The accounting profession - in line for plump fees as corporations rework their bookkeeping - has decreed that IFRS will replace Canadian generally accepted accounting principles at the start of 2011 for all publicly accountable enterprises.

But Charest told the insurer's annual meeting that International Financial Reporting Standards "risk exacerbating problems caused by accounting at fair market value, and also risk creating even greater fluctuations in company results."

The annual meeting also included an announcement that the Industrial Alliance board will allow future meetings to vote on executive compensation. The non-binding advisory voting is similar to say-on-pay arrangements enacted recently at other major Canadian financial institutions. The votes start with next year's shareholder meetings.

Charest, whose total compensation for 2008 was reported at $1.85 million, called for a thorough examination of executive compensation, which he said is "excessive in some cases, which is not always tied to risk, and which should take into account internal fairness in a company, as well as fairness between peers."