scholarly journals Accounting For OPEBs: Does Better Accounting Serve The Public Interest?

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Pearson ◽  
Scott I. Jerris ◽  
Richard Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Sfas 106 ◽  
Accounting Standard Setting

In 1992, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issues Employers Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions (SFAS 106). SFAS 106 requires public companies to account for postretirement benefits other than pensions (e.g., health care) on an accrual basis. While SFAS 106 is good accounting, it provides corporations with an excellent excuse to amend or terminate health care coverage for retirees. This paper discusses the economic and social consequences of SFAS 106 as well as the politics of the accounting standard setting process.

The Accounting Standard-Setting Due Process, Corporate Consensus, and FASB Responsiveness: Employers' Accounting for Pensions

1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia R. Saemann
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Accounting Standard Setting

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) uses a due process to ascertain the views of its constituents and to build consensus while setting standards based on a sound conceptual framework. This study examines the responsiveness of the FASB and its success in building consensus among corporations in the due process on Employers' Accounting for Pensions. The findings indicate that the FASB is influenced by the number of opposing comments filed by its corporate constituents. Further, there is evidence that consensus was built throughout the due process for the highly controversial standard.

scholarly journals FASB's Not-for-Profit Financial Reporting Project: Analysis of Letters to ASU 2016-14 Exposure Draft

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-75
Author(s):  
Donald R. Deis ◽  
Arpita Shroff
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
The Public ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit

ABSTRACT In 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an Exposure Draft (ED) as part of its first significant project in over 20 years on financial reporting by Not-for-Profit organizations (NFP). In this study, we categorize the 264 letters received on the ED by the type of respondent and analyze the responses using ANOVA, multiple comparisons tests, and multidimensional scaling. Ultimately, as Phase 1 of its NFP project, FASB issued accounting standards update (ASU) 2016-14 containing proposed changes supported by a majority of the respondents to the ED. The Board deferred recommended changes with less support from respondents to Phase 2 of the project. Although constituents often accuse accounting standard setters of standards-overload and for being unresponsive to their comments (Herz 2003), our findings indicate otherwise. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G00; L31; M40.

scholarly journals Cost/Benefit Tradeoffs Relating To Reductions In Postretirement Health Care Benefits In The SFAS 106 Environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Bunsis ◽  
Susan Riffe
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Sfas 106 ◽  
Health Care Benefit ◽  
Health Care Benefits ◽  
Primary Contribution

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; tab-stops: -.5in .5in; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Batang;">We investigate what factors help explain postretirement health care benefit (PRB) reductions around the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 106 (SFAS 106). We find that firms with more motivation to make benefit cuts because of larger PRB-related obligations were more likely to decrease benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Our primary contribution comes from examining the <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">cost/benefit</strong> <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">tradeoffs</strong> of making these reductions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>For example, we find a trade-off between reductions in PRB and increases in pension obligations, consistent with firms offering higher alternative forms of compensation to make up for the loss in PRB. In addition, firms with greater unionization among employees are somewhat less likely to reduce benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Finally, we document that firms involved in more extensive efforts to reduce capacity and cut costs through firm restructurings are more likely to reduce benefits.</span></span></span></p>

Accounting Standard-Setting Institutions and the Governance of Incomplete Contracts

1994 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-605
Author(s):  
Ronald King ◽  
Gregory Waymire
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Incomplete Contracts ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Accounting Standard Setting

“A constant problem of the accounting profession lies in the development of procedures to keep pace with changing economic conditions.” Charles Couchman, President, American Institute of Accountants, 1932.1 “New and extremely difficult problems are constantly arising in the wake of innovative business techniques.” The Wheat Committee, 1972.2 “The Board recognizes that financial reporting must adapt to a world in which change is a continuing, even accelerating process.” Dennis Beresford, Chairman, Financial Accounting Standards Board, 1991.3

Response to the FASB Invitation to Comment Identifiable Intangible Assets and Subsequent Accounting for Goodwill

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana Clor-Proell ◽  
Nerissa Brown ◽  
Stephen Stubben ◽  
Brian White ◽  
Elizabeth Blankespoor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Intangible Assets ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Business Combination ◽  
Accounting Standard Setting

In October 2019, the Financial Reporting Policy Committee of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the American Accounting Association submitted a comment letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board regarding the accounting for certain identifiable intangible assets acquired in a business combination and subsequent accounting for goodwill. This paper summarizes the content of the comment letter and discusses opportunities for future research on intangible assets that may inform accounting standard-setting decisions.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE US FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD AND THE INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARD SETTERS: 1973–2008

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Kirsch
Keyword(s):  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
International Accounting ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT Utilizing archival materials as well as personal interviews and correspondence with personnel of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Committee/Board (IASC/B), including former Board chairmen and staff members, this paper examines the development of the working relationships between the FASB and the IASC/B from their earliest interactions in 1973 through the transformation of the IASC into the IASB and the Convergence Program rooted in the 2002 Norwalk Agreement up to 2008.

scholarly journals A Note On The Reliability Of Accounting Lobbying Studies

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Dale Buckmaster ◽  
David Durkee ◽  
Frederic M. Stiner
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Rater Reliability ◽  
Extreme Caution ◽  
The Public ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
Public Record

Studies that are based on content analyses of portions of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Public Record have appeared regularly in accounting and business literature since 1978. Inter-rater reliability is a crucial determinant of the validity of content analyses, yet none of the studies based on content analysis of the Public Record report any measure of inter-rater reliability. This study provides some evidence of the degree of inter-rater reliability of these studies. Krippendorffs coefficient of agreement, a measure of inter-rater reliability is derived for each of eight issues from four raters performing a content analysis of respondent letters in the Public Record volume, Exposure Draft: Accounting for Certain Acquisitions of Banking or Thrift Institutions. In general, the coefficients indicated that extreme caution should be exercised in making inferences from studies based on content analyses of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Public Record.

Articulating accounting principles

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Accounting Principles ◽  
Accounting Theory ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Accounting Standard Setting

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a soundly based epistemological underpinning for the kind of theorisation in which many classical financial accounting researchers engaged and thus to support a renewal of this programme. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on pragmatist philosophy and, in particular, on Jules Coleman’s theory of “explanation by embodiment”. The applicability of this theory to the world of financial reporting is discussed. Various theorists and schools within classical accounting theory are examined from the perspective of Coleman’s ideas, focusing particularly on A.C. Littleton’s Structure of Accounting Theory. Findings – The paper finds that classical accounting research works such as Structure of Accounting Theory can be interpreted as the search for Colemanian explanation by embodiment and that this provides them with a soundly based pragmatist underpinning for their theorisation. Research limitations/implications – This paper supports the resumption by academics, qua academics, of work to contribute to accounting standard-setting by offering argumentation that addresses accounting principles and methods directly, rather than only via the social scientific investigation of behaviour in the accounting arena. Practical implications – Such a resumption would contribute positively to future standard-setting. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the defence of classical financial accounting research from the charge of lacking theoretical rigour.

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