Financial Reporting Policy Committee of the American Accounting Association's Financial Accounting and Reporting Section: Accounting Standard Setting for Private Companies
The Financial Reporting Policy Committee of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the American Accounting AssociationMark Bradshaw(Chair)DanielBens(principal co-author)Carol Ann Frost(principal co-author)Elizabeth GordonSarahMcVayGregory MillerRay Pfeiffer(principal co-author)Marlene Plumlee(principal co-author)Catherine ShakespeareWayne ThomasFranco Wong(principal co-author)
Corresponding author: Mark Bradshaw. Email: mark.bradshaw@bc.edu
We gratefully acknowledge helpful information provided by Kevin Catalano (FASB), Robert Durak (AICPA), Lynn Rees (FASB 2011-2012 Research Fellow), and two anonymous referees. We also benefited from presentations on Private Company Standard Setting made by Daryl Buck (FASB) and Gavin Cassar at the Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative (FASRI) Roundtables (November 1 and 8, 2011, respectively).
SYNOPSIS
In this paper, we (the Financial Reporting Policy Committee of the American Accounting Association's Financial Accounting and Reporting Section) consider the 2011 Plan to Establish the Private Company Standards Improvement Council authored by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF). The FAF's proposal called for a standard-setting approach more sensitive to the needs of private companies, with the likely outcome being different accounting and disclosure standards for these companies than for public companies.
Members of the committee have differences of opinion about the FAF's proposal. Five members generally support the FAF's plan (though raising significant implementation issues), while six oppose it and instead argue against different reporting standards for private companies.
In this paper, we discuss three issues and present points and counterpoints for each, along with other related standard-setting concerns. This approach is designed to present our differing views on these issues clearly, to help standard setters, preparers, users, and academics form their own views on this highly controversial matter.
Isseu 2
Audit and Tax Career Paths in Public Accounting: An Analysis of Student and Professional Perceptions
Derek W. DaltonSteve BuchheitJeffrey J. McMillan
Derek W. Dalton is an Assistant Professor at Clemson University, Steve Buchheit is an Associate Professor at Texas Tech University, and Jeffrey J. McMillan is a Professor at Clemson University.
Corresponding author: Derek W. Dalton Email: dalton5@clemson.edu
We acknowledge helpful comments and suggestions provided by Arnold M. Wright (editor), two anonymous reviewers, Nancy Harp, Hannah Slater, and seminar participants at the 2013 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting.
SYNOPSIS
Upper-division accounting students frequently direct their public accounting careers toward audit or tax “tracks” based on what appears to be limited information. Surprisingly, prior research has not investigated the factors that affect this fundamentally important career decision. We conduct two surveys to investigate the relevant factors of the audit-tax decision from the perspectives of upper-division accounting students and experienced public accounting professionals. Our student survey documents the underlying factors that influence the audit-tax decision. For example, accounting students who plan to pursue careers in audit believe that they will have more client interaction, better future job opportunities (i.e., industry positions), and greater knowledge of business processes if they work in audit (as opposed to tax). In contrast, accounting students who plan to pursue careers in tax perceive that they will have a more stable daily routine, develop more specialized skills, and build more collaborative client relationships if they work in tax (as opposed to audit). While our public accounting respondents agree with many of the students' perceptions, professionals also disagree with several of the students' perceptions, suggesting misimpressions of practice. Our results should be of interest to the accounting professionals, firm recruiters, and accounting professors who advise future accounting professionals.