The FASB's Dissenting Opinions

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Bradbury ◽  
Julie A. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Over Time

SYNOPSIS This paper provides a commentary on the results of a content analysis of dissenting opinions in Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standards. During 1973 to 2009 the FASB issued 171 financial accounting standards. Half of these standards contained dissenting opinions. We identify and classify dissenting opinions based on whether the arguments are conceptual (conceptual framework-related or non-framework-related) or non-conceptual (e.g., scope, due process). We examine whether the types and frequencies of arguments change over time in response to the development of the FASB's conceptual framework and provide a commentary on the role of these opinions and the usefulness of analyzing them for research and practice. Our main finding from our analysis is that conceptual arguments are the most frequently used in the dissenting opinions, both before and after the introduction of the conceptual framework. However, of note is that many of the arguments raised, while conceptual in nature, are not from the conceptual framework. We suggest this indicates either a need for the conceptual framework language to be more widely used by the authors of dissenting opinions and/or the emergence of new conceptual arguments that may be relevant for future revisions of the conceptual framework.

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.

Selecting Railway Investments in 1890s America

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-93
Author(s):  
Joel E. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Data ◽  
Rational Decisions

ABSTRACT The purpose of financial reporting is to provide information to investors and creditors to help them make rational decisions (Financial Accounting Standards Board [FASB] 2010). Tracing the development of investors' methods should help with understanding the role of financial accounting. This study examines investment practices involving railways in 1890s America. As such, it furthers our knowledge about the development of investment methods and their necessary information. Moreover, it shows that as investment methods grew in sophistication, there was an enhanced demand for greater comparability in accounting data to make meaningful analyses. Competing investment strategies, largely devoid of accounting information, are also discussed.

Viewing the 1996 FAF Restructuring as Policy Making without a Formal Due Process

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. W. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Sole Source ◽  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Public Accounting

In 1996, a major financial reporting controversy emerged, escalated, and was resolved without substantial exposure or a formal due process. Specifically, a committee of the Financial Executives Institute (FEI) sent a letter to the chair of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) asserting that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) “process is broken and in need of substantive repair.” When Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Arthur Levitt determined that neither FAF nor public accounting leaders were dealing with the FEI proposals to his satisfaction, he acted to defeat this perceived threat to FASB's independence, focusing on the composition of the FAF. In response, the FAF trustees resisted because they viewed his intervention as a threat to FASB's independence. When the trustees did not voluntarily change, Levitt proposed reconsidering Accounting Series Release No. 150, which designates FASB as the sole source of GAAP for SEC filings. Eventually, Levitt prevailed. This paper describes this intervention as a case of policy making without a formal due process and adds to the already weighty evidence that accounting standards are political.

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.

scholarly journals Ontwikkelingen in het conceptual framework

2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (9) ◽  
pp. 355-364
Author(s):  
Dick Van Offeren ◽  
Joop Witjes ◽  
Tim Verdoes
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
International Accounting ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Reporting Framework ◽  
International Accounting Standards Board

De International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) heeft recent het conceptual framework-project als kernproject aangemerkt. Het oorspronkelijke Framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements (framework 1989) was aan een fundamentele herziening toe. Samen met de Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) heeft de IASB de eerste fase van het Conceptual framework for financial reporting (framework 2010) voltooid. In deze eerste fase worden twee onderwerpen besproken. Dit zijn het doel van financiële verslaggeving en de kwalitatieve kenmerken van financiële verslaggeving. Wij bespreken deze twee onderwerpen en gaan in op de verschillen tussen het framework 2010 en het framework 1989. Wij benadrukken het verschil in toepassingsgebied van de twee frameworks. Het framework 2010 is gericht op het ruimere begrip financial reporting, financiële verslaggeving en het framework 1989 was beperkt tot financial statements, jaarrekeningen.

scholarly journals Impact Of IASB & FASB On Financial Statements

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Paz ◽  
Thomas Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
International Accounting ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
The Impact ◽  
International Accounting Standards Board

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of material differences in the conceptual framework of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on the financial statements.

The FASB and Accounting for Economic Reality

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Accounting Numbers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Reality

The proposal by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in 2002 to produce principles-based accounting standards is an explicit commitment to use its conceptual framework to improve financial accounting. In effect, it is a proposal to assist accounting for economic reality. However, an evaluation of the proposal and related FASB communications reveals a global strategy more concerned with achieving comparability and consistency than identifying improved ways of recognizing and representing socially-constructed reality by accounting numbers. The paper examines the philosophical notions of social reality and truthful correspondence in light of principles-based accounting standards and suggests that the FASB's superficial use of its conceptual framework in this respect is consistent with a history of conceptual frameworks as means of legitimating standard setting activities. As such, the FASB proposal would be no more than a short-term palliative to the long-term ills of financial accounting world-wide. The paper recommends a better understanding of the construction and representation of social reality by all concerned with the world of financial accounting.

The State of Segment Reporting by US Public Entities: 1976-2017

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Botosan ◽  
Adrienna Huffman ◽  
Mary Harris Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Segment Reporting ◽  
Depth Data ◽  
Sfas 131 ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Segment Disclosures ◽  
Over Time

This paper offers an in-depth data driven overview of the history and status as of 2017 of segment reporting by public entities trading in U.S. capital markets. Our analysis focuses on the perceived issues identified in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) 2016 Invitation to Comment on FASB's Agenda - the extent of disaggregation into reportable segments, the stability of segmentation over time, the line-items disclosed, and the reconciliation of segment to consolidated totals. We document the trends in and status of segment reporting as of 2017 as another round of efforts to improve segment reporting proceeds. The paper concludes with a discussion of several unanswered questions suggested by the data. Keywords: Segment disclosures, SFAS 131, SFAS 14, ASC 280.

scholarly journals An analysis of fundamental concepts in the conceptual framework using ontology technologies

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthinus Cornelius Gerber ◽  
Aurona Jacoba Gerber ◽  
Alta Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Formal Language ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards

The interpretation of financial data obtained from the accounting process for reporting purposes is regulated by financial accounting standards (FAS). The history and mechanisms used for the development of ʻThe Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting’ (the Conceptual Framework) as well as the financial accounting standards resulted in impressive volumes of material that guides modern financial reporting practices, but unfortunately, as is often the case with textual manuscripts, it contains descriptions that are vague, inconsistent or ambiguous. As part of the on-going initiatives to improve International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) promotes the development of principle-based IFRS, which aim to address the problems of vagueness, inconsistency and ambiguity. This paper reports on the findings of a design science research (DSR) project that, as artefact, developed a first version ontology-based formal language representing the definitions of asset, liability and equity (the fundamental elements of the statement of financial position as defined in the Conceptual Framework) through the application of knowledge representation (ontology) techniques as used within computing. We suggest that this artefact may assist with addressing vagueness, inconsistencies and ambiguities within the definitions of the Conceptual Framework. Based on our findings, we include suggestions for the further development of a formal language and approach to assist the formulation of the Conceptual Framework. The project focuses on the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting after the incorporation of Phase A in the convergence project between the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and IASB.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN THE UNITED STATES

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Zeff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
The United States ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Decision Usefulness ◽  
Business Enterprises ◽  
The U.S

Institutional efforts in the U.S. to develop a conceptual framework for business enterprises can be traced to the Paton and Littleton monograph in 1940 and later to the two Accounting Research Studies by Moonitz and Sprouse in 1962–1963. A committee of the American Accounting Association issued an influential report in which it advocated a “decision usefulness” approach in 1966, which was carried forward in 1973 by the report of the American Institute of CPAs' Trueblood Committee. All of this laid the groundwork for the conceptual framework project of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which published six concepts statements between 1978 and 1985. A seventh concepts statement is likely to be published in 2000. It is still not clear how the FASB's conceptual framework has influenced the setting of accounting standards, and some academic commentators are skeptical of the usefulness of all normative conceptual framework projects.

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