John Hegarty, a global financial reporting expert who held a number of senior positions with the World Bank, has died at the age of 55.

A previous head of the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform in Vienna, Hegarty's most recent role was as an adviser to the vice president and controller. During a 14-year career with the organisation he held a number of senior positions, including nine years in Washington where he specialised in corporate governance, market regulation and the liberalisation of international trade in professional services.

Hegarty was the World Bank's observer at the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) and served on the consultative advisory groups to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and was a member of the supervisory board of the Prince of Wales accounting for sustainability project.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Hegarty worked as a Secretary General at the Federation des Experts-comptables Europeens (FEE), at the Union Europeenne des Experts Comptables (UEC) as technical director, and at Arthur Andersen as audit manager. He qualified as an associate of the ICAEW in Ireland, and in 1992 was admitted as a fellow of that institute.

Sean McGrath, vice president human resources at the World Bank said: 'John was a very committed accounting professional with an extraordinary understanding of global financial reporting issues. John was a thoughtful gentleman who was well liked and greatly respected by his colleagues and by his many counterparts all across the global financial standard setters.'