The FASB’s Approach Toward Reviewing, Conducting and Sponsoring A cademic Research and to Engaging Academics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Zeff
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Setting Process

This is a historical account of the various approaches which the Financial Accounting Standards Board has used since 1973 in making use of academic research and in bringing academics into the standard-setting process.

Accounting for leases – lessons from COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Reporting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Setting Process

Purpose The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) have given relief to lessees in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, it is not clear why any relief from the requirements in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) should be necessary. The purpose of this paper is to highlight weaknesses in how the IASB and FASB developed their leases Standards, and why those Standards are not robust enough to cope with a shock to the economic system. Design/methodology/approach The COVID-19 relief suspends some features of the leasing requirements rather than changing them. What if other economic or regulatory events cause the same circumstances to arise? Findings Have COVID-19 exposed weaknesses in the leasing standards that should have been avoided when they were developed or is COVID-19 the problem? Originality/value Analysis of actual board discussions and staff papers is unusual and provides insights into the standard-setting process.

An Examination of Voting Behavior of the ASB

1994 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. McEnroe
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Auditing Standards ◽  
Audit Standard ◽  
Parent Organizations

The system by which auditing standards are promulgated has resided in the private sector since 1939. The members of the Auditing Standards Boards (ASB), unlike the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), retain formal affiliations with their parent organizations during their tenure on the ASB. As a result, this process has been criticized by the late Senator Metcalf and others. One of Metcalf s allegations was that large accounting firms dominate the audit standard-setting process through their employees that serve on the ASB. Accordingly, this study examines certain voting behavior of the ASB in an effort to determine if the board members are acting as agents of their parent organizations or, rather, as independent rule makers. The results do support the proposition that in casting certain votes, the board members are acting in an agency capacity.

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.

Academic Research and Standard-Setting: The Case of Other Comprehensive Income

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn L. Rees ◽  
Philip B. Shane
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Comprehensive Income ◽  
Other Comprehensive Income ◽  
Income Reporting ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Accounting Standard Setting

SYNOPSIS: This paper links academic accounting research on comprehensive income reporting with the accounting standard-setting efforts of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). We begin by discussing the development of reporting other comprehensive income, and we identify a significant weakness in the FASB's Conceptual Framework, in the lack of a cohesive definition of any subcategory of comprehensive income, including earnings. We identify several attributes that could help allocate comprehensive income between net income, other comprehensive income, and other subcategories. We then review academic research related to remaining standard-setting issues, and identify gaps in academic research where hypotheses could be developed and tested. Our objectives are to (1) stimulate standard-setters to better conceptualize what is meant by other comprehensive income and to distinguish it from earnings, and (2) stimulate researchers to develop and test hypotheses that might help in that process.

Standard-Setting Issues and Academic Research Related to the Accounting for Financial Asset Transfers

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Schipper ◽  
Teri Lombardi Yohn
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Balance Sheet ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Financial Asset ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board

A large number and cross-section of firms undertake financial asset transfers. The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have been grappling with the appropriate accounting for financial asset transfers, especially with respect to derecognition—that is, when the assets should be removed from the transferor's balance sheet. This paper discusses the financial reporting issues surrounding financial asset transfers and summarizes the related academic research. It also discusses potentially useful future research that could provide insights for standard-setters and suggests some impediments to that research.

Insights from Academic Participation in the FAF's Initial PIR: The PIR of FIN 48

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Blouin ◽  
Leslie A. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Governmental Accounting ◽  
Fin 48 ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Governmental Accounting Standards Board

SYNOPSIS In 2009, the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) determined that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) standard setting process required a formal review to monitor and address issues that can arise after the implementation of accounting standards. The FAF selected FASB Interpretation No. 48 (FIN 48), Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, as the initial post-implementation review (PIR) standard. This paper informs the academic community about the PIR process and provides an academic perspective on the initial PIR of FIN 48. In particular, we demonstrate the role of the academic literature using the FIN 48 literature review prepared as part of the PIR process.

scholarly journals Expanding The Accounting Education Horizon: Sensitizing Students To The Professions Societal Obligations

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Carpenter ◽  
Daniel P. Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Teaching Pedagogy ◽  
Alternative Teaching ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Topical Area

This paper presents an alternative teaching pedagogy that goes beyond the learning of complex rules to provide accounting students with a better appreciation for their profession’s societal obligations.  The proposed pedagogy presents students with the evolution of accounting standards in a given topical area, and challenges them to evaluate the extent to which the different stages of evolution succeeded in meeting the profession’s obligations to society.  These obligations are defined in terms of the financial reporting objectives set forth in the Concepts Statements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.  The proposed pedagogy is offered as a means of addressing problems with respect to the more conventional “memorize these rules” method of accounting instruction.  Our aim is to develop students who take a greater interest in the standard setting process and in fulfilling its promise of meeting the financial reporting needs of society.

The American Accounting Association’s Financial Reporting Policy Committee’s Response to the Preliminary Views on Financial Statement Presentation

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bradshaw ◽  
Carolyn Callahan ◽  
Jack Ciesielski ◽  
Elizabeth Gordon ◽  
Mark Kohlbeck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Discussion Paper

SYNOPSIS: The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board (hereafter, the Boards) issued the discussion paper Preliminary Views on Financial Statement Presentation in late 2008. The Boards propose to significantly reconfigure the presentation of financial statements to offer parallel statements with standardized partitions of each financial statement into five categories: business activities, financing activities, income taxes, discontinued operations, and equity. The allocation of transactions within these partitions will depend crucially on management’s assessment of each transaction (i.e., the management approach). In this paper we comment on the proposal, with particular emphasis on empirical evidence and relevant theories from academic research. We highlight benefits of the proposed changes as well as some possible concerns. We conclude that the objective of providing a cohesive picture of activities through a uniform standardization of each financial statement by activity is desirable, but the proposed criteria for how activities are categorized results in potentially aberrant or confusing outcomes. Thus, any dissatisfaction with the current financial statement format may be replaced with other criticisms. Finally, the current proposal relies on the effectiveness of the management approach, which can only be successful if managers embrace the proposed structure.

Inconsistencies in U.S. GAAP: Accounting for Executory Contracts

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy B. Forsyth ◽  
Michael T. Dugan
Keyword(s):  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Legal Form ◽  
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ◽  
Case Research ◽  
Accounting Principles ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Cpa Exam

This instructional case provides four different scenarios that illustrate the inconsistent treatment of various executory contracts under current generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The purpose of the case is threefold. First, it provides students an opportunity to use the Financial Accounting Research System (FARS) to resolve several accounting issues related to long-term executory contracts. Familiarity with FARS is essential, both for “real-world” use when students enter the accounting profession and for success on the computerized CPA exam, which includes case research. Second, as the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) attempts to move toward principles-based standards (as opposed to rules-based standards), the case provides students an opportunity to observe that GAAP seems to be rules-based and theoretically inconsistent in the case of executory contracts. Third, the case can be used as a premise for discussing the standard-setting process and exploring differences between the economic substance of a transaction and its legal form.

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

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