IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/aosoci/v40y2015icp13-40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Twisting words”? A study of the construction and reconstruction of reliability in financial reporting standard-setting

Author

Listed:
  • Erb, Carsten
  • Pelger, Christoph

Abstract

Qualitative characteristics serve to operationalise the objective of financial reporting and aim at shaping accounting discourses of standard-setters and their constituents. In the recent revision of their conceptual frameworks, the IASB and FASB decided to replace “reliability”, arguably one of the most important properties of accounting, with “representational faithfulness”. The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the boards’ decision through a historical analysis of how reliability appeared in standard-setting and by tracing its abandonment in detail. Our study reveals that the standard-setters’ construction and reconstruction of reliability attempted to undermine traditional practitioner understandings along the lines of objectivity/verifiability in order to extend the boundaries of appropriate financial reporting in the direction of current/fair values. However, as the introduction of more abstract concepts raised difficulties in reconciling the new terminology with everyday accounting practice, this turn created confusion among constituents and board members. Our paper also contributes to further our understanding about decision-making processes in standard-setting. In particular, we show how a group of board and staff members was able to establish the replacement of reliability in spite of (and partly taking advantage of) constituents’ concerns and widespread confusion about the terms.

Suggested Citation

  • Erb, Carsten & Pelger, Christoph, 2015. "“Twisting words”? A study of the construction and reconstruction of reliability in financial reporting standard-setting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 13-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:40:y:2015:i:c:p:13-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2014.11.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368214001007
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.aos.2014.11.001?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. McKernan, John Francis, 2007. "Objectivity in accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 155-180.
    2. Ann Jorissen & Nadine Lybaert & Raf Orens & Leo Van Der Tas, 2012. "Formal Participation in the IASB's Due Process of Standard Setting: A Multi-issue/Multi-period Analysis," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 693-729, December.
    3. Basu, Sudipta & Kirk, Marcus & Waymire, Greg, 2009. "Memory, transaction records, and The Wealth of Nations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 895-917, November.
    4. Alan Richardson & Burkard Eberlein, 2011. "Legitimating Transnational Standard-Setting: The Case of the International Accounting Standards Board," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 217-245, January.
    5. Trueblood, Rm, 1966. "Accounting Principles - Board And Its Problems," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4, pages 183-191.
    6. Allen, Abigail & Ramanna, Karthik, 2013. "Towards an understanding of the role of standard setters in standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 66-90.
    7. Andrew Lennard, 2007. "Stewardship and the Objectives of Financial Statements: A Comment on IASB's Preliminary Views on an Improved Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting: The Objective of Financial Reporting and Qual," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 51-66, June.
    8. Ijiri, Yuji, 1983. "On the accountability-based conceptual framework of accounting," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 75-81.
    9. Mattessich, Richard, 2003. "Accounting representation and the onion model of reality: a comparison with Baudrillard's orders of simulacra and his hyperreality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 443-470, July.
    10. Sterling, Rr, 1967. "Statement Of Basic Accounting Theory - Review Article," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 95-112.
    11. Whittington, Geoffrey, 2008. "Harmonisation or discord? The critical role of the IASB conceptual framework review," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 495-502.
    12. Bayou, Mohamed E. & Reinstein, Alan & Williams, Paul F., 2011. "To tell the truth: A discussion of issues concerning truth and ethics in accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 109-124, February.
    13. Macintosh, Norman B., 2003. "From rationality to hyperreality: paradigm poker," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 453-465.
    14. Young, Joni J., 1994. "Outlining regulatory space: Agenda issues and the FASB," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 83-109, January.
    15. Young, Joni J., 2006. "Making up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 579-600, August.
    16. Stephen A. Zeff, 2013. "The objectives of financial reporting: a historical survey and analysis," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 262-327, August.
    17. Ravenscroft, Sue & Williams, Paul F., 2009. "Making imaginary worlds real: The case of expensing employee stock options," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 770-786, August.
    18. 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.
    19. Shapiro, Brian P., 1997. "Objectivity, relativism, and truth in external financial reporting: What's really at stake in the disputes?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 165-185, February.
    20. Georgiou, Omiros & Jack, Lisa, 2011. "In pursuit of legitimacy: A history behind fair value accounting," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 311-323.
    21. Joyce, Ej & Libby, R & Sunder, S, 1982. "Using The Fasbs Qualitative Characteristics In Accounting Policy Choices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 654-675.
    22. Marcia Annisette & Alan J. Richardson, 2011. "Justification and accounting: applying sociology of worth to accounting research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 229-249, February.
    23. Stephen Zeff, 2007. "The SEC rules historical cost accounting: 1934 to the 1970s," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(S1), pages 49-62.
    24. 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.
    25. Young, Joni J., 1996. "Institutional thinking: The case of financial instruments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 487-512, July.
    26. Hines, Ruth D., 1991. "The FASB's conceptual framework, financial accounting and the maintenance of the social world," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 313-331.
    27. Solomons, David, 1991. "Accounting and social change: A neutralist view," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 287-295.
    28. Macintosh, Norman B. & Shearer, Teri & Thornton, Daniel B. & Welker, Michael, 2000. "Accounting as simulacrum and hyperreality: perspectives on income and capital," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 13-50, January.
    29. Paul André & Anne Cazavan-Jeny & Wolfgang Dick & Chrystelle Richard & Peter Walton, 2009. "Fair Value Accounting and the Banking Crisis in 2008: Shooting the Messenger," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 3-24, June.
    30. 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.
    31. Mary Barth, 2007. "Standard-setting measurement issues and the relevance of research," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(S1), pages 7-15.
    32. Edgley, Carla, 2014. "A genealogy of accounting materiality," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 255-271.
    33. Zhang, Ying & Andrew, Jane, 2014. "Financialisation and the Conceptual Framework," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 17-26.
    34. Edwards, John Richard & Dean, Graeme & Clarke, Frank & Wolnizer, Peter, 2013. "Accounting academic elites: The tale of ARIA," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 365-381.
    35. Murphy, Tim & O’Connell, Vincent & Ó hÓgartaigh, Ciarán, 2013. "Discourses surrounding the evolution of the IASB/FASB Conceptual Framework: What they reveal about the “living law” of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 72-91.
    36. Vatter, Wj, 1963. "Postulates And Principles," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 179-197.
    37. Young, Joni J., 2003. "Constructing, persuading and silencing: the rhetoric of accounting standards," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 621-638, August.
    38. Begoña Giner & Miguel Arce, 2012. "Lobbying on Accounting Standards: Evidence from IFRS 2 on Share-Based Payments," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 655-691, December.
    39. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5008 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. Sutton, Timothy G., 1984. "Lobbying of accounting standard-setting bodies in the U.K. and the U.S.A.: A Downsian analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 81-95, January.
    41. Michael Power, 2010. "Fair value accounting, financial economics and the transformation of reliability," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 197-210.
    42. Geoffrey Whittington, 2008. "Fair Value and the IASB/FASB Conceptual Framework Project: An Alternative View," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 44(2), pages 139-168, June.
    43. Tinker, Tony, 1991. "The accountant as partisan," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 297-310.
    44. Norman Macintosh, 2009. "Accounting and the Truth of Earnings Reports: Philosophical Considerations," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 141-175.
    45. Humphrey, Christopher & Loft, Anne & Woods, Margaret, 2009. "The global audit profession and the international financial architecture: Understanding regulatory relationships at a time of financial crisis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 810-825, August.
    46. Sebastian Botzem, 2012. "The Politics of Accounting Regulation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13992.
    47. Peter Walton, 2009. "Les délibérations de l'IASB en 2002 et 2003 : une analyse statistique," ACCRA, Association francophone de comptabilité, vol. 15(1), pages 35-53.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Himick, Darlene & Brivot, Marion, 2018. "Carriers of ideas in accounting standard-setting and financialization: The role of epistemic communities," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 29-44.
    2. 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).
    3. Jérémy Eydieux & Stéphanie Tillement & Benoît Journé, 2017. "A pragmatist approach of audit practices : safety demonstration and safety assessment through technical dialogue," Post-Print hal-01558978, HAL.
    4. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Zhang, Ying & Andrew, Jane, 2022. "Financialisation and the Conceptual Framework: An update," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Roberts, John & Wang, Timothy, 2019. "Faithful representation as an ‘objective mirage’: A Saussurean analysis of accounting and its participation in the financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Cascino, Stefano & Clatworthy, Mark A. & Osma, Beatriz Garcia & Gassen, Joachim & Imam, Shahed, 2021. "The usefulness of financial accounting information: evidence from the field," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107569, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Christoph Kuhner & Christoph Pelger, 2015. "On the Relationship of Stewardship and Valuation—An Analytical Viewpoint," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(3), pages 379-411, September.
    9. Christian Blecher, 2019. "The influence of uncertainty on the standard-setting decision between fair value and historical cost accounting under asymmetric information," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 47-72, July.
    10. Durocher, Sylvain & Georgiou, Omiros, 2022. "Framing accounting for goodwill: Intractable controversies between users and standard setters," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Pantic, B., 2016. "Comparability of financial reports: A literature review of most recent studies," Working Papers 6451, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.
    12. 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.
    13. Ugochukwu J. Nwoye & Emma I. Okoye, 2018. "Integrity Trend Assessment of Pre and Post IFRS financial disclosures in Nigeria," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 4(3), pages 177-186, September.
    14. Spears, Taylor C., 2018. "The Price of an Uncertain Promise: Fair Value Accounting and the Shaping of Bank Counterparty Risk Valuation Practices," SocArXiv kcja3, Center for Open Science.
    15. Huikku, Jari & Mouritsen, Jan & Silvola, Hanna, 2017. "Relative reliability and the recognisable firm: Calculating goodwill impairment value," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 68-83.
    16. Christoph Pelger & Nicole Spieß, 2017. "On the IASB’s construction of legitimacy – the case of the agenda consultation project," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 64-90, January.
    17. Jérémy Eydieux & Stéphanie Tillement & Benoît Journé, 2020. "A pragmatist approach to audit practices: two cases of technical dialog from nuclear risk governance in France," Post-Print halshs-03721410, HAL.
    18. 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.

    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. Barker, Richard & Schulte, Sebastian, 2017. "Representing the market perspective: Fair value measurement for non-financial assets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 55-67.
    2. Roberts, John & Wang, Timothy, 2019. "Faithful representation as an ‘objective mirage’: A Saussurean analysis of accounting and its participation in the financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Stenka, Renata, 2022. "Beyond intentionality in accounting regulation: Habitual strategizing by the IASB," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Murphy, Tim & O’Connell, Vincent, 2017. "Challenging the dominance of formalism in accounting education: An analysis of the potential of stewardship in light of the evolution of legal education," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-29.
    6. Himick, Darlene & Brivot, Marion, 2018. "Carriers of ideas in accounting standard-setting and financialization: The role of epistemic communities," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 29-44.
    7. 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).
    8. Yasmine Chahed, 2021. "Words and Numbers: Financialization and Accounting Standard‐Setting in the United Kingdom," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 302-337, March.
    9. Christoph Pelger & Nicole Spieß, 2017. "On the IASB’s construction of legitimacy – the case of the agenda consultation project," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 64-90, January.
    10. Huikku, Jari & Mouritsen, Jan & Silvola, Hanna, 2017. "Relative reliability and the recognisable firm: Calculating goodwill impairment value," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 68-83.
    11. 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.
    12. Bhimani, Alnoor & Bond, David & Sivabalan, Prabhu, 2019. "Does greater user representation lead to more user focused standards? An empirical investigation of IASB’s approach to standard setting," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91196, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Hayoun, Shaul, 2019. "How fair value is both market-based and entity-specific: The irreducibility of value constellations to market prices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 68-82.
    14. Tiago Cardao-Pito & João Silva Ferreira, 2018. "‘Fair Value’ accounting as the normative Fisherian phase of accounting," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 149-179, September.
    15. Baudot, Lisa & Cooper, David J., 2022. "Regulatory mandates and responses to uncomfortable knowledge: The case of country-by-country reporting in the extractive sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Murphy, Tim & O’Connell, Vincent & Ó hÓgartaigh, Ciarán, 2013. "Discourses surrounding the evolution of the IASB/FASB Conceptual Framework: What they reveal about the “living law” of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 72-91.
    17. Jannis Bischof & Holger Daske, 2016. "Interpreting the European Union’s IFRS Endorsement Criteria: The Case of IFRS 9," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 129-168, May.
    18. 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).
    19. Okamoto, Noriaki, 2017. "Norm entrepreneur lobbying and persuasion: A case study involving the IASB's modification of an exposure draft," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 129-138.
    20. Michael Power, 2010. "Fair value accounting, financial economics and the transformation of reliability," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 197-210.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:aosoci:v:40:y:2015:i:c:p:13-40. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aos .

    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.