With the advent of some form of IASC‐type harmonized accounting standards likely, it has been suggested that they are likely to be based to a large extent on U.S. accounting standards promulgated by the FASB. This study of the content of comments filed on twenty controversial FASB accounting standards by four institutions in the United States is timely. Those comments are assumed to represent the views of financial‐statement users, attestors and preparers: FEI, IMA, AIMR, and AICPA. The adopted standards’ requirements are also examined in the context of these comments to provide insights about accounting characteristics on which the FASB has aligned with different interest groups. These characteristics include uniformity in accounting methods, disclosure, volatility in financial reporting, and conservatism. The results indicate that AIMR, in representing users, is the most constant in its positions. The two preparer organizations (FEI and IMA) took user‐oriented positions on some issues, but showed a strong tendency to oppose costly disclosures and requirements associated with volatility. Comments from the AICPA were diverse but the study revealed an overall bias toward user views. Overall, the FASB aligned most closely with users and the AICPA. FASB tended to adopt standards that led to greater uniformity but compromised on costly disclosures and requirements associated with volatility and conservatism.
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.
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) project was designed for use by an accounting information systems (AIS) class. Along the tasks in the SDLC, this project integrates students’ knowledge of transaction and business processes, systems documentation techniques, relational database concepts, and hands-on skills in relational database use. After completing this project, students will comprehend major steps in the process of designing, developing, and implementing a database application. Instructors can add additional and/or modify any requirements and elements based on their emphases in the process, as well as align the tasks according to the systems design approach used in the textbook. This project is constructed on the Systems Understanding Aid (SUA) manual case of Arens and Ward (2001). However, instructors can adopt any case by using the project as a template. This project can be used as a semester final project, split into parts, worked along with the systems development topics covered in class, or assigned to a second AIS course.
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