Evolution of the conceptual framework for business enterprises in the United States

Institutional efforts in the U.S. to develop a conceptual framework for business enterprises can be traced to the Paton and Littleton monograph in 1940 and later to the two Accounting Research Studies by Moonitz and Sprouse in 1962-1963. A committee of the American Accounting Association issued an influential report in which it advocated a decision usefulness approach in 1966, which was carried forward in 1973 by the report of the American Institute of CPAs\u27 Trueblood Committee. All of this laid the groundwork for the conceptual framework project of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which published six concepts statements between 1978 and 1985. A seventh concepts statement is likely to be published in 2000. It is still not clear how the FASB\u27s conceptual framework has influenced the setting of accounting standards, and some academic commentators are skeptical of the usefulness of all normative conceptual framework projects

SEC preempts the Accounting Principles Board in 1965: The classification of the deferred tax credit relating to installment sales

In 1959, the Accounting Principles Board (APB) replaced the Committee on Accounting Procedure because the latter was unable to deal forthrightly with a series of important issues. But during the APB\u27s first half-dozen years, its record of achievement was no more impressive than its predecessor\u27s. The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Manuel F. Cohen, criticized the APB\u27s slow pace and unwillingness to tackle difficult issues. This article discusses the circumstances attending the SEC\u27s issuance of an Accounting Series Release in late 1965 to demonstrate forcefully to the APB that, when it is unable to carry out its responsibility to narrow the areas of difference in accounting practice, the SEC is prepared to step in and do so itself. In this sense, the article deals with the tensions between the private and public sectors in the establishment of accounting principles in the U.S. during the mid-1960s. The article makes extensive use of primary resource materials in the author\u27s personal archive, which have not been used previously in published work

In memory of a statesman: David Solomons (1912-1995)

David Solomons died of cancer on February 12, 1995, at his home in Swarthmore, PA. His presence and words of counsel will be sorely missed. He was truly a statesman in our field and a craftsman of the English language who performed all of his many assignments: lecturing, research, writing and advising policy makers: at a uniformly high level. He argued vigorously and persuasively for the principles in which he believed

Work of the Special Committee on Research Program

This article begins by recounting the circumstances that led to the AICPA\u27s decision in 1957 to appoint a special committee to recommend a stronger research program to support the process of establishing accounting principles. It then proceeds to examine in depth the committee\u27s sometimes difficult deliberations that eventually led to a unanimous report, in which it recommended the creation of an Accounting Principles Board and an enlarged accounting research division within the Institute. In the course of the article, the author brings out the strong philosophical differences among several of the Big Eight accounting firms that had been impeding the work of the Committee on Accounting Procedure and that also intruded into the Special Committee\u27s deliberations

A Evolução do IASC para o IASB e os Desafios Enfrentados

Este artigo apresenta uma revisão dos principais desenvolvimentos e marcos na evolução do International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), seguida pela evolução do International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Na conclusão, são sugeridos cinco desafios enfrentados pelo IASB

1992 Accounting Hall of Fame induction : David Solomons; Accounting Hall of Fame membership [1992]

1992 Accounting Hall of Fame Induction: David Solomons with introduction by Stephen A. Zeff (Herbert S. Autrey Professor, Jones Graduate School of Administration, Rice University); Induction citation by Thomas J. Burns (Professor and Chairman, Committee on Accounting Hall of Fame, College of Business, The Ohio State University); Response by David Solomons (Ernst & Young Professor Emeritus, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)