Tweedie lined up for top role at Icas in 2012

Tweedie will stand down as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on 30 June, 2011, but Icas said the post of vice-president was unpaid "and will not interfere in any way" with his current duties.

He was appointed as chairman of the IASB in January 2001, having previously served as the first full-time chairman of the then newly created UK Accounting Standards Board since 1990.

Tweedie was knighted for his services to the accountancy profession in 1994.

Douglas Nisbet, the current Icas president, said: "Sir David is a global leader in the accounting profession.

"His work at the IASB has been instrumental in moving towards the first truly global, high-quality and comparable accounting standards.

He will be an outstanding president for Icas after he stands down from the IASB chairmanship in 2011."

Niall Lothian, a professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and a past-president of the institute, added: "What a catch for Icas and what a figurehead to be leading us in Olympic year.

"Despite operating globally for so many years in such a public and powerful job, David has never lost his affection for, and affinity with, his own institute."

After lecturing at Edinburgh University between 1973 and 1978, Tweedie served as Icas's technical director from 1978 to 1981.

Tweedie yesterday said: "I have been a member of Icas since 1972, and I greatly appreciate the honour being bestowed upon me.

"Although not the world's biggest accounting body, the worldwide impact of Icas is highly influential.

"It continues to advance the public interest development of accounting by contributing some of the best-quality ideas and thinking within the profession."

Icas, which has almost 18,000 members globally, is the world's oldest professional body for accountants, having received its royal charter in 1854.