Carpenter and feroz (1992, p. 613) argue that the state of new york's decision to adopt accrual-based accounting, as opposed to cash-based accounting, was an attempt to retain legitimacy for the state. they add that new york financial crisis in 1975 led many parties, such as the accounting profession, regulatory agencies and users of accounting reports, to question the adequacy of the state's cash-based accounting practices. accordingly, government officials elected to implement accrual-based accounting (gaap) in order to retain legitmacy for the state's accounting practices. carpenter and feroz (1992, p. 637) sate: