IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/advacc/v43y2018icp1-13.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Moving toward a principle-based approach to U.S. accounting standard setting: A demand for procedural justice and accounting reform

Author

Listed:
  • Bailey, Wendy J.
  • Sawers, Kimberly M.

Abstract

In the wake of numerous accounting scandals in the early 2000s, the U.S. began considering a move away from a more rule-based approach to accounting standard setting and toward a more principle-based approach to accounting standard setting. Although it is often assumed that this move toward a more principle-based approach is driven by stakeholder preferences, we examine whether this move is driven by demands for procedural justice. Specifically, we analyze one hundred and two comment letters submitted in response to the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) proposal for principle-based standards. We find respondents from different stakeholder groups (preparers, accounting professionals, regulators, users, and academia) do not express a unified preference for rule-based or principle-based standards. We do, however, find that respondents identify benefits and costs of principle-based standards that map into the six elements of fair procedures (representativeness, accuracy, bias suppression, consistency ethicality, correctability). These elements are significantly associated with both the respondent's degree of support for the FASB proposal and the perceived quality of principle-based standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Bailey, Wendy J. & Sawers, Kimberly M., 2018. "Moving toward a principle-based approach to U.S. accounting standard setting: A demand for procedural justice and accounting reform," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:advacc:v:43:y:2018:i:c:p:1-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.adiac.2018.07.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0882611018301032
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.adiac.2018.07.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Siew Hong Teoh & Ivo Welch & T.J. Wong, 1998. "Earnings Management and the Long-Run Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 1935-1974, December.
    2. Georgiou, George, 2010. "The IASB standard-setting process: Participation and perceptions of financial statement users," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 103-118.
    3. David C. Burgstahler & Michael J. Eames, 2003. "Earnings Management to Avoid Losses and Earnings Decreases: Are Analysts Fooled?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 253-294, June.
    4. Ann Jorissen & Nadine Lybaert & Raf Orens & Leo Van Der Tas, 2012. "Formal Participation in the IASB's Due Process of Standard Setting: A Multi-issue/Multi-period Analysis," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 693-729, December.
    5. Alain Burlaud & Bernard Colasse, 2011. "International Accounting Standardisation : Is Politics Back ?," Post-Print halshs-00665494, HAL.
    6. Sondak, Harris & Tyler, Tom R., 2007. "How does procedural justice shape the desirability of markets?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 79-92, January.
    7. Holthausen, Robert W. & Larcker, David F. & Sloan, Richard G., 1995. "Annual bonus schemes and the manipulation of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 29-74, February.
    8. Tessa Melkonian & Guillaume Soenen & Maureen Ambrose, 2016. "Will I Cooperate? The Moderating Role of Informational Distance on Justice Reasoning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(4), pages 663-675, September.
    9. Alan Richardson & Burkard Eberlein, 2011. "Legitimating Transnational Standard-Setting: The Case of the International Accounting Standards Board," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 217-245, January.
    10. Beatty, A & Chamberlain, Sl & Magliolo, J, 1995. "Managing Financial Reports Of Commercial-Banks - The Influence Of Taxes, Regulatory Capital, And Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 231-261.
    11. Sweeney, John T. & Quirin, Jeffery J., 2009. "Accountants as layoff survivors: A research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 787-795, August.
    12. Liu, Cc & Ryan, Sg, 1995. "The Effect Of Bank Loan Portfolio Composition On The Market Reaction To And Anticipation Of Loan Loss Provisions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 77-94.
    13. Raymond Loi & Long Lam & Ka Chan, 2012. "Coping with Job Insecurity: The Role of Procedural Justice, Ethical Leadership and Power Distance Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 361-372, July.
    14. Jeffery Abarbanell & Reuven Lehavy, 2003. "Can Stock Recommendations Predict Earnings Management and Analysts’ Earnings Forecast Errors?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 1-31, March.
    15. Hongwei He & Weichun Zhu & Xiaoming Zheng, 2014. "Procedural Justice and Employee Engagement: Roles of Organizational Identification and Moral Identity Centrality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 681-695, July.
    16. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    17. Foster, G, 1979. "Briloff And The Capital-Market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 262-274.
    18. Ambrose, Maureen L., 2002. "Contemporary justice research: A new look at familiar questions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 803-812, September.
    19. Martha Andrews & K. Kacmar & Charles Kacmar, 2015. "The Interactive Effects of Behavioral Integrity and Procedural Justice on Employee Job Tension," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 371-379, February.
    20. Carcello, Jv & Palmrose, Zv, 1994. "Auditor Litigation And Modified Reporting On Bankrupt Clients," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32, pages 1-30.
    21. Robert K. Larson, 2007. "Constituent Participation and the IASB's International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 207-254, December.
    22. Collins, Jh & Shackelford, Da & Wahlen, Jm, 1995. "Bank Differences In The Coordination Of Regulatory Capital, Earnings, And Taxes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 263-291.
    23. Alain Burlaud & Bernard Colasse, 2011. "International Accounting Standardisation: Is Politics Back?," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 23-47, June.
    24. Kimberly M. Ellis & Taco H. Reus & Bruce T. Lamont, 2009. "Erratum: The effects of procedural and informational justice in the integration of related acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1-1, February.
    25. Parker, Robert J. & Kohlmeyer, James III, 2005. "Organizational justice and turnover in public accounting firms: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 357-369, May.
    26. Beaver, William H. & Engel, Ellen E., 1996. "Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 177-206, October.
    27. Moyer, Susan E., 1990. "Capital adequacy ratio regulations and accounting choices in commercial banks," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 123-154, July.
    28. Hirst, DE & Hopkins, PE, 1998. "Comprehensive income reporting and analysts' valuation judgments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36, pages 47-75.
    29. Sweeney, Amy Patricia, 1994. "Debt-covenant violations and managers' accounting responses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 281-308, May.
    30. Durocher, Sylvain & Fortin, Anne & Cote, Louise, 2007. "Users' participation in the accounting standard-setting process: A theory-building study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 29-59.
    31. Kennedy, J & Kleinmuntz, DN & Peecher, ME, 1997. "Determinants of the justifiability of performance in ill-structured audit tasks," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35, pages 105-123.
    32. Theresia Dwi Hastuti & Imam Ghozali & Etna Nur Yuyetta, 2016. "The Effect of International Financial Reporting Standars on the Real Earnings Management and Internal Control Structure as a Moderating Variable," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 1807-1814.
    33. Ozer, Gokhan & Yilmaz, Emine, 2011. "Effects of Procedural Justice Perception, Budgetary Control Effectiveness and Ethical Work Climate on Propensity to Create Budgetary Slack," Business and Economics Research Journal, Uludag University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 2(4), pages 1-1, October.
    34. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    35. Kimberly M. Ellis & Taco H. Reus & Bruce T. Lamont, 2009. "The effects of procedural and informational justice in the integration of related acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 137-161, February.
    36. Xu-Dong Ji & Wei Lu, 2014. "The value relevance and reliability of intangible assets," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(3), pages 182-216, August.
    37. Beaver, W & Eger, C & Ryan, S & Wolfson, M, 1989. "Financial-Reporting, Supplemental Disclosures, And Bank Share Prices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 157-178.
    38. Jeffrey S. Harrison & Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips, 2010. "Managing for stakeholders, stakeholder utility functions, and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 58-74, January.
    39. Burgstahler, David & Dichev, Ilia, 1997. "Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 99-126, December.
    40. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7512 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Tessa Melkonian & Guillaume Soenen & Maureen L. Ambrose, 2016. "Will I Cooperate? : The Moderating Role of Informational Distance on Justice Reasoning," Post-Print hal-02313301, HAL.
    42. Scholes, Myron S & Wilson, G Peter & Wolfson, Mark A, 1990. "Tax Planning, Regulatory Capital Planning, and Financial Reporting Strategy for Commercial Banks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(4), pages 625-650.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emilio Abad-Segura & Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar, 2020. "Research Analysis on Emerging Technologies in Corporate Accounting," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-29, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    2. Dung Viet Tran & M. Kabir Hassan & Reza Houston, 2020. "Discretionary loan loss provision behavior in the US banking industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 605-645, August.
    3. Maureen F. McNichols & Stephen R. Stubben, 2018. "Research Design Issues in Studies Using Discretionary Accruals," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(2), pages 227-246, June.
    4. Adams, Brian & Carow, Kenneth A. & Perry, Tod, 2009. "Earnings management and initial public offerings: The case of the depository industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 2363-2372, December.
    5. Bamber, Matthew & McMeeking, Kevin, 2016. "An examination of international accounting standard-setting due process and the implications for legitimacy," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 59-73.
    6. Emrah Arbak, 2017. "Identifying the provisioning policies of Belgian banks," Working Paper Research 326, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. Cornett, Marcia Millon & McNutt, Jamie John & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Corporate governance and earnings management at large U.S. bank holding companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 412-430, September.
    8. Emrah Arbak, 2017. "Identifying the provisioning policies of Belgian banks," Working Paper Research 326, National Bank of Belgium.
    9. Stratopoulos, Theophanis C. & Vance, Tom W. & Zou, Xiorong, 2013. "Incentive effects of enterprise systems on the magnitude and detectability of reporting manipulations," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 39-57.
    10. Asokan Anandarajan & Iftekhar Hasan & Cornelia McCarthy, 2007. "Use of loan loss provisions for capital, earnings management and signalling by Australian banks," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 47(3), pages 357-379, September.
    11. Pandey, Ashish & Guhathakurta, Kousik, 2022. "Value relevance of loan loss provision components and the choice of model specification," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Timothy W. Koch & Larry D. Wall, 2000. "Bank loan-loss accounting: a review of theoretical and empirical evidence," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 85(Q2), pages 1-20.
    13. Abdullah Mamun & Md Didarul Alam & George Tannous, 2019. "Did the regulatory changes of 1999 and 2001 affect income smoothing behavior of US banks?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1011-1041, May.
    14. Iftekhar Hasan & Larry D. Wall, 2004. "Determinants of the Loan Loss Allowance: Some Cross‐Country Comparisons," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, February.
    15. Shaharudin, Roselee, 2004. "A Review on Accounts Manipulation Via Loan Loss Provisions to Manage Regulatory Capital and Earnings Along Business Cycle," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 38, pages 99-123.
    16. Mary E. Barth & Javier Gomez-Biscarri & Ron Kasznik & Germán López-Espinosa, 2017. "Bank earnings and regulatory capital management using available for sale securities," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1761-1792, December.
    17. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2003_033 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Iftekhar Hasan & Larry D. Wall, 2004. "Determinants of the Loan Loss Allowance: Some Cross‐Country Comparisons," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, February.
    19. Van Thuan Nguyen & Li Xu, 2010. "The Impact of Dual Class Structure on Earnings Management Activities," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3-4), pages 456-485.
    20. Anandarajan, Asokan & Hasan, Iftekhar & McCarthy, Cornelia, 2006. "The use of loan loss provisions for capital management, earnings management and signalling by Australian banks," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 23/2006, Bank of Finland.
    21. Samindi Ishara Hewa & Rajni Mala & Jinhua Chen, 2020. "IASB's independence in the due process: an examination of interest groups’ influence on the development of IFRS 9," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2585-2615, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:advacc:v:43:y:2018:i:c:p:1-13. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/advances-in-accounting/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.