Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative

The AAA meeting in Denver had a number of interesting panel sessions.  One that I found enlightening concerned financial reporting and the financial crisis.  The panelists were Greg Waymire, Mary Barth, and Shyam Sunder.  I was not sure what to expect.  The punchline was that none of the panelists felt financial reporting was a prime [...] Read more > >

If someone had asked me this question, my quick response would have been 19. (Well, it might have been something more nuanced like, “I think around 18 or so.”)  But a recent post by Tom Selling on the Accounting Onion points out how in many of the IFRIC’s decisions not to provide an interpretation (i.e., [...] Read more > >

I’ve just finished reading the IASB/FASB exposure draft on revenue recognition, and I have all kinds of questions running through my head. But before I get to those questions, let me first say that I am very impressed with this document. In fewer than 90 paragraphs of guidance (ignoring application guidance), the IASB/FASB have laid [...] Read more > >

Richard Mergenthaler has a paper on SSRN titled “Principles-Based versus Rules-Based Standards and Earnings Management.” When I read the title I thought for sure the article would argue that principles-based standards lead to more earnings management because there was more flexibility. To my surprise, the paper presents arguments that rules-based standards lead to more earnings management. [...] Read more > >

An interesting article was posted on SSRN last month titled Rules-Based Accounting Standards and Litigation by Dain Donelson, John McInnis, and Richard Mergenthaler. The article discusses the association between rules-based standards and litigation and whether rules serve more to convict or to defend firms. In the conclusion, the authors write: Overall, we find support for the [...] Read more > >

In my technical accounting research class and in recent consulting work, I often have been reminded of the need for reasoned judgment in our profession. With the general move toward more objectives-based standards (using the SEC parlance), the need for professional judgment only will increase.  Recognizing the need to teach and understand what professional judgment [...] Read more > >

I hope everyone is refreshed and ready for the new year — and a challenging one it will be for standard setters, with the convergence deadlines rapidly approaching.  To get you started, here are some thoughts on Principles vs. Rules, from Paul Miller and Paul Bahnson, academics who have a regular column (The Spirit of [...] Read more > >

For most of this decade, the Financial Reporting Issues Conference has been my favorite accounting event of the year.  Taking a Bayesian perspective, I also view it as the most informative:  every year, what I learn changes my beliefs more than any other conference. I will be writing some posts about the substance of the conference, [...] Read more > >

I just read the abstract of a forthcoming paper (Kvaal and Nobes 2010) that compares the accounting policies of blue chip companies in the largest five stock markets that use IFRS. By comparing the policy disclosures in annual reports, the authors find “significant evidence that pre-IFRS national practice continues where this is allowed within IFRS.”  [...] Read more > >

One of the topics that came up in last week’s Round Table on Alternative Conceptual Frameworks was a discussion of the true and fair override. It came up when we were talking about one difference between US GAAP and IFRS being that the FASB’s conceptual framework is not authoritative. Even though IFRS requires [...] Read more > >