Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1987

Publication Source

Virginia Accountant Quarterly

Abstract

Over the past fifteen years, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued numerous pronouncements designed to narrow the differences in accounting practice and thereby increase the usefulness of financial statements by making them more comparable among different enterprises. Though questions have often been raised over the years about the complex and prescriptive nature of these pronouncements, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 33, “Financial Reporting and Changing Prices” (SFAS 33), has perhaps been the most controversial. The above statement required subject companies to generate and publish information that was radically different from that produced in accordance with conventional financial reporting practices.

As a consequence, such companies could be expected to have devoted considerable resources to the implementation of the requirements and to rely on outside resources such as consulting firms for expertise which did not exist internally.

This study reports the results of a questionnaire survey of companies subject to SFAS 33. The results of the survey show that, contrary to expectations, these companies have generally devoted relatively few employees and man hours to the development of the required information and frequently have used less refined and cheaper methods for producing it. The study also provides some data indicating that, for the most part, companies had little commitment to the implementation of the statement, which may account for the lack of resources assigned to constructing the required information.

Inclusive pages

35-38

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

Document is made available for download from this repository with the permission of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants; any content used from this article must be cited appropriately.

Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants

Volume

39

Issue

4

Place of Publication

Richmond, VA

Peer Reviewed

yes


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