Sir David was educated at Edinburgh, obtaining his BCom in 1966 and PhD in 1969.
He qualified as a Scottish Chartered Accountant in 1972 and was the first Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, serving from January 2001 until June 2011.
Sir David began his career teaching accounting at Edinburgh.
He was appointed Technical Director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland (ICAS) in 1978 and became National Technical Partner of Thomson McLintock & Co in 1982.
He was Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the Auditing Practices Committee from 1986 to 1990 and the UK’s representative on the International Auditing Practices Committee from 1983 to 1988.
Sir David was then appointed as the first full-time Chairman of the newly created Accounting Standards Board (UK) in 1990.
He is a Fellow of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge and a visiting Professor of Accounting in the Management School at Edinburgh.
Previously he held visiting professorships at the Universities of Lancaster and Bristol.
He has received honorary degrees from nine British universities, including a DSc (Soc Sci) from Edinburgh.
He has won many accolades for services to the accounting profession, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ Founding Societies Centenary Award for 1997 and the 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award at the Scottish Accountancy Awards.
He was President of ICAS from April 2012 to April 2013.
Sir David is currently Chairman of the International Valuation Standards Council’s Board of Trustees.
He was knighted in 1994.