The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has agreed to give the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) more say in the process governing appointments to the group, which sets accounting rules for thousands of public and private U.S. companies. The move was first outlined in a recent letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox but the SEC's role is not clearly spelled out. Many investors are hoping that the FASB will work towards reducing the number of arcane rules that are causing some U.S. companies to move offshore in order to save on costs. While the new arrangement with the SEC is far from perfect, investors now know who can be held accountable if positive changes aren't made. The main argument, however, is that changed appointments may raise the risk of political interferance; after all, it's not unheard of for Congress to muscle the FASB into making changes (read: options). Whether or not there will be problems remains to be seen; however, this is definitely an important development that investors should watch carefully.