Companies Poised to Lobby Accounting Boards Harder Over Tax Pact

If global taxes are going to be based on corporate income as calculated under accounting rules, then companies are liable to lobby much harder to shape those rules to their liking.

The new 137-nation global tax agreement will use income as measured by accounting rules, as opposed to taxable income, to help calculate companies’ taxes. The boards that set accounting rules already face corporate lobbying, but if every decision had tax consequences, the lobbying is liable to grow even more intense, from companies hoping to reduce their taxes, say former members of the boards and other critics.

“This would make ...