IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v22y2011i6p567-580.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Repoliticalization of accounting standard setting—The IASB, the EU and the global financial crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Bengtsson, Elias

Abstract

Since its inception, the IASB has been able to set standards with relatively little political influence in its governance or standard setting process. But this changed with the outbreak of the global financial crisis. Political bodies began to view accounting standards as a contributing factor that amplified the consequences of the crisis on banks, financial markets and the overall economy. Regaining control over accounting standard setting was seen as imperative. In this article, we investigate how the EU sought to gain control over the IASB and how the global standard setter responded to limit political influence. Our findings show that a re-balancing of power in favor of political interests has occurred between the stakeholders of international accounting standard setting. Further research in this area looks promising. We suspect that the heightened influence of political actors may lead to further power struggles and efforts to cope with on-going changes in the institutional environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Bengtsson, Elias, 2011. "Repoliticalization of accounting standard setting—The IASB, the EU and the global financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 567-580.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:22:y:2011:i:6:p:567-580
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2011.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235411000578
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2011.04.001?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. Chiapello, Eve & Medjad, Karim, 2009. "An unprecedented privatisation of mandatory standard-setting: The case of European accounting policy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 448-468.
    2. Ojo, Marianne, 2009. "The role of the IASB and auditing standards in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 Financial Crisis," MPRA Paper 17164, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Leuz, Christian & Pfaff, Dieter & Hopwood, Anthony (ed.), 2004. "The Economics and Politics of Accounting: International Perspectives on Trends, Policy, and Practice," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199260621.
    4. Botzem, Sebastian & Quack, Sigrid, 2009. "(No) Limits to Anglo-American accounting? Reconstructing the history of the International Accounting Standards Committee: A review article," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 988-998, November.
    5. Perry James & Nöelke Andreas, 2005. "International Accounting Standard Setting: A Network Approach," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(3), pages 1-34, December.
    6. Michel Magnan, 2009. "Fair Value Accounting and the Financial Crisis: Messenger or Contributor?," CIRANO Working Papers 2009s-27, CIRANO.
    7. Perry, James & Nöelke, Andreas, 2005. "International Accounting Standard Setting: A Network Approach," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 1-32, December.
    8. Michel Magnan & Daniel Thornton, 2009. "Fair Value Accounting," CIRANO Working Papers 2009s-47, CIRANO.
    9. Laux, Christian & Leuz, Christian, 2009. "The crisis of fair-value accounting: Making sense of the recent debate," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 826-834, August.
    10. Martinez-Diaz, Leonardo, 2005. "Strategic Experts and Improvising Regulators: Explaining the IASC's Rise to Global Influence, 1973–2001," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Arnold, Patricia J., 2009. "Global financial crisis: The challenge to accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 803-809, August.
    12. Eve Chiapello & Karim Medjad, 2009. "An unprecedented privatisation of mandatory standard-setting: The case of European accounting policy," Post-Print hal-00466513, HAL.
    13. Plantin, G. & Sapra, H. & Shin, H S., 2008. "Fair value accounting and financial stability," Financial Stability Review, Banque de France, issue 12, pages 85-94, October.
    14. Blake E. Ashforth & Barrie W. Gibbs, 1990. "The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 177-194, May.
    15. Cooper, David J. & Robson, Keith, 2006. "Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 415-444.
    16. Suddaby, Roy & Cooper, David J. & Greenwood, Royston, 2007. "Transnational regulation of professional services: Governance dynamics of field level organizational change," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 333-362.
    17. Ms. Jodi G Scarlata & Mr. Juan Sole & Alicia Novoa, 2009. "Procyclicality and Fair Value Accounting," IMF Working Papers 2009/039, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Michel L. Magnan, 2009. "Fair Value Accounting and the Financial Crisis: Messenger or Contributor?," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(3), pages 189-213, August.
    19. Martinez-Diaz Leonardo, 2005. "Strategic Experts and Improvising Regulators: Explaining the IASC's Rise to Global Influence, 1973-2001," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(3), pages 1-28, December.
    20. Nicolas Véron, 2008. "Fair value accounting is the wrong scapegoat for this crisis," Policy Contributions 19, Bruegel.
    21. Geoffrey Whittington, 2005. "The adoption of International Accounting Standards in the European Union," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 127-153.
    22. Anthony G. Hopwood, 1994. "Some reflections on 'The harmonization of accounting within the EU'," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 241-254.
    23. Philippe Touron, 2005. "The adoption of US GAAP by French firms before the creation of the International Accounting Standard Committee: an institutional explanation," Post-Print hal-03002955, HAL.
    24. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4af62emkjr92jr3kjt4lvjbiip is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Palea, Vera, 2015. "The political economy of fair value reporting and the governance of the standards-setting process: Critical issues and pitfalls from a continental European union perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-15.
    2. Palea, Vera & Biancone, Paolo Pietro, 2017. "Which Accounting Rules for Economic and Social Sustainable Development? Engaging Critically with IFRS Adoption in the EU," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201733, University of Turin.
    3. Crawford, Louise, 2019. "Exploring the emancipatory dimensions of globalisation: The struggle over IFRS8 and country-by-country reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Daniel Mügge & Bart Stellinga, 2015. "The unstable core of global finance: Contingent valuation and governance of international accounting standards," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 47-62, March.
    5. Tamás Szücs & József Ulbert, 2017. "Role and Measurement of Fair Valuation in the Hungarian Credit Institution Sector," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 16(3), pages 51-73.
    6. Aburous, Dina, 2019. "IFRS and institutional work in the accounting domain," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-15.
    7. Mantzari, Elisavet & Georgiou, Omiros, 2019. "Ideological hegemony and consent to IFRS: Insights from practitioners in Greece," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 70-93.
    8. Kettunen, Jaana, 2017. "Interlingual translation of the International Financial Reporting Standards as institutional work," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 38-54.
    9. Oehr, Tim-Frederik & Zimmermann, Jochen, 2012. "Accounting and the welfare state: The missing link," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 134-152.
    10. Smith-Lacroix, Jean-Hubert & Durocher, Sylvain & Gendron, Yves, 2012. "The erosion of jurisdiction: Auditing in a market value accounting regime," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 36-53.
    11. David Procházka, 2011. "The Role of Fair Value Measurement in the Recent Financial Crunch," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2011(1), pages 71-88.
    12. Crawford, L. & Ferguson, J. & Helliar, C.V. & Power, D.M., 2014. "Control over accounting standards within the European Union: The political controversy surrounding the adoption of IFRS 8," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 304-318.
    13. Pucci, Richard & Skærbæk, Peter, 2020. "The co-performation of financial economics in accounting standard-setting: A study of the translation of the expected credit loss model in IFRS 9," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Palea, Vera, 2018. "Financial reporting for sustainable development: Critical insights into IFRS implementation in the European Union," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 248-260.
    15. Nicoleta Farcane & Delia Deliu & Maria Gheorghian, 2011. "Auditing Fair Values In A Sensitive Socio-Economical Context," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 2(13), pages 1-19.
    16. Volkova, O., 2018. "Fair Value in Finance: Fifty Shades of Fairness," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 85-109.
    17. Botzem, Sebastian & Quack, Sigrid, 2009. "(No) Limits to Anglo-American accounting? Reconstructing the history of the International Accounting Standards Committee: A review article," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 988-998, November.
    18. Botzem, Sebastian, 2014. "Transnational standard setting in accounting: Organizing expertise-based self-regulation in times of crises," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(6), pages 933-955.
    19. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Le Manh, Anne, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Hervé Kohler & Christine Pochet & Anne Le Manh, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Post-Print hal-03337420, HAL.

    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:crpeac:v:22:y:2011:i:6:p:567-580. 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/critical-perspectives-on-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.