FASB and Social Reality—An Alternate Realist View

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard V. Mattessich
Keyword(s):  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Federal Debt ◽  
Economic Reality ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Realist View

ABSTRACT: This paper follows up on the discussion on “advising” the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) about social and economic reality. It began with Lee (2006a), was commented upon in Macintosh (2006) and Williams (2006), and closed with a reply to both papers in Lee (2006b). All three authors criticized, in one way or another, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the fashion in which it attempts to incorporate principle-based accounting standards into its conceptual framework (CF). The main thrust of these four papers is a critique directed toward the FASB, which has been more concerned with “comparability and consistency” than with “identifying improved ways of recognizing and representing social-constructed reality and truthful correspondence in the light of principle-based accounting standards” (Lee 2006a, 1). Thereby, Lee promotes Searle's (1995) theory of constructing social reality. The primary purpose of the current paper is to show that the methodology of the “onion model of reality” (OMR, developed in Mattessich 1991, 1995, and 2003) offers several advantages over Searle's (1995) approach. Above all, the results of the OMR are less confusing and much closer to accounting terminology as well as that of everyday language (e.g., saying: “The U.S. federal debt is a social reality,” instead of the cumbersome formulation: “The U.S. federal debt is ontologically subjective”—the text discusses additional advantages of the OMR). The backbone of the OMR is the fact that each reality level is endowed with its very own emergent properties, hence with its specific kind of reality.

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.

scholarly journals The Theoretical Defenses Of The Last In First Out Inventory Methods

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Peter Harris ◽  
William Stahlin
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Complete Elimination ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
The U.S

The Last in First out Method (LIFO) is presently under severe scrutiny from the financial community which may soon culminate in its repeal as an acceptable accounting method. There are pressures from the SEC in conjunction with the International Financial Accounting Standards Board (IFRS) to standardize accounting standards worldwide. In addition, there is political pressure imposed by the U.S. administration to raise additional revenues. Both groups strongly oppose LIFO, raising a strong possibility of its complete elimination. This paper addresses the reasons defending LIFO as an acceptable accounting method strictly from a financial reporting perspective.

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.

scholarly journals Revising the Conceptual Framework of the International Standards: IASB Proposals Met with Support and Skepticism

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
International Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Accounting Standard ◽  
Other Comprehensive Income ◽  
The U.S

This article analyzes the current financial reporting issue regarding the updates proposed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. Since accounting standard-setters have embraced the notion of concepts as a guide and foundation to developing accounting standards, the IASB has concluded that there should be more importance place on developing a solid framework. Based on current literature and the fact that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the U.S. has a solid framework in place, the IASB has designed proposed updates to their framework and requested comments from the general public regarding those updates. This article evaluates the comments made by 72 respondents and tabulates the responses based on agree, disagree, or no comment. These results concluded that 66% of the responses were positive toward the updates, but 29% were negative. The disagreement was focused around four main topics: (1) prudence; (2) statement of profit or loss; (3) statement of other comprehensive income; and (4) rebuttable presumption for recycling. The IASB hopes to assimilate, deliberate, and disseminate the suggestions, comments, and the updates in 2016.

AN ACCOUNTANT'S EDUCATION

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J. Staubus
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Decision Usefulness ◽  
Market Simulation ◽  
Broad Field ◽  
The University

This is a review of how various experiences in my career have contributed to my understanding of accounting. I recall the circumstances surrounding several of my efforts towards the development of accounting theories, viz. (1) decision-usefulness theory, (2) activity costing, and (3) market simulation accounting, as well as my excursion into (4) market association research in seeking to validate decision-usefulness theory and (5) a search for the effects of firms' economic environments on the development of enterprise accounting in the 2nd millennium, C.E. I give my impressions of several of the important players in the evolution of accounting thought in the 20th century with whom I was closely associated, such as Vatter, Moonitz, Chambers, and Sterling, as well as other prominent figures in the broad field of accounting. Some of my gains from associations with three institutions—the American Accounting Association, The University of Chicago, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board—are identified. I conclude with a few summary thoughts on what I have learned.

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.

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 Constructive Capitalization of Operating Leases in the Hong Kong Fast-Food Industry

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Y. Tai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Balance Sheet ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Financial Accounting Standards Board ◽  
Return On Assets ◽  
Fast Food Industry ◽  
Operating Leases ◽  
Lease Contracts

The current study is undertaken to investigate the potential problems resulting from the proposed adoption of a new accounting standard concerning mandatory capitalization of all lease contracts.  In 2010, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a joint exposure draft (ED2010/9) on accounting for leases.  Under the new standard, lessees are required to capitalize all lease contracts as assets and liabilities.  The distinction between operating leases and capital (finance) leases will no longer exist.  The long-standing off-balance sheet treatment of operating leases will be prohibited.  After the adoption of the proposed standard, companies with significant operating leases are likely to experience an increase in assets, increase in liabilities, and decrease in equity, resulting in the deterioration of their return-on- assets and debt-to-equity ratios.  This research examines two large fast-food restaurant chains based in Hong Kong; and through constructive capitalization, demonstrates how the companies’ key financial ratios are negatively impacted if the new standard is implemented.  The results indicate that both the return-on-assets and debt-to-equity ratios of the two companies, under various discount rates assumptions, suffer serious deterioration when their operating leases are capitalized.

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