IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v50y2014i4p369-385.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Monopoly versus Competition in Setting Accounting Standards

Author

Listed:
  • Karim Jamal
  • Shyam Sunder

Abstract

type="main"> Financial accounting standards are set by organizations granted a significant degree of monopoly power by various governments. While there has been considerable debate on the merits of national (e.g., US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)) versus international (International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)) monopolies, little attention has been paid to the merits of using competing standard-setting organizations (SSOs) for setting accounting standards. We compare the standard-setting processes of the FASB/IASB to the processes of four technology-oriented SSOs to assess the role of competition. We also provide a case study of monopoly and competitive standards in telephony. Both telephony and accounting yield some gains from coordination, and similar arguments are used (under the labels of comparability and consistency of accounting) in debates about granting a monopoly to their respective SSOs. Our results show that a group of volunteers competing with the government-sanctioned monopoly of International Telecommunications Union transformed the telephone industry. Thanks to this standards competition, we enjoy free video internet calling and massive cost savings. Implications for accounting standard setting are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Karim Jamal & Shyam Sunder, 2014. "Monopoly versus Competition in Setting Accounting Standards," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(4), pages 369-385, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:50:y:2014:i:4:p:369-385
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/abac.12034
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Cooper, David J. & Sherer, Michael J., 1984. "The value of corporate accounting reports: Arguments for a political economy of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(3-4), pages 207-232, October.
    2. Sunder, Shyam, 2002. "Regulatory competition among accounting standards within and across international boundaries," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 219-234.
    3. Karim Jamal & Michael Maier & Shyam Sunder, 2005. "Enforced Standards Versus Evolution by General Acceptance: A Comparative Study of E‐Commerce Privacy Disclosure and Practice in the United States and the United Kingdom," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 73-96, March.
    4. Barth, Mary E. & Clinch, Greg & Shibano, Toshi, 1999. "International accounting harmonization and global equity markets1," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1-3), pages 201-235, January.
    5. Shyam NMI Sunder & Ronald A. Dye, 2001. "Why Not Allow the FASB and IASB Standards to Compete in the U.S.?," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm192, Yale School of Management.
    6. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1985. "Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 424-440, June.
    7. Shyam Sunder, 2011. "IFRS monopoly: the Pied Piper of financial reporting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 291-306, August.
    8. Sunder, Shyam, 2005. "Minding our manners: Accounting as social norms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 367-387.
    9. Cooper, David J. & Robson, Keith, 2006. "Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 415-444.
    10. Benston, George J. & Bromwich, Michael & Litan, Robert E. & Wagenhofer, Alfred, 2006. "Worldwide Financial Reporting: The Development and Future of Accounting Standards," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195305838, Decembrie.
    11. Young, Joni J., 2006. "Making up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 579-600, August.
    12. Gregory Waymire & Sudipta Basu, 2011. "Economic crisis and accounting evolution," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 207-232, August.
    13. 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.
    14. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    15. Bushman, Robert M. & Piotroski, Joseph D., 2006. "Financial reporting incentives for conservative accounting: The influence of legal and political institutions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 107-148, October.
    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. Gao, Pingyang & Jiang, Xu & Zhang, Gaoqing, 2019. "Firm value and market liquidity around the adoption of common accounting standards," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1).
    2. Braun Eduard, 2019. "The Ecological Rationality of Historical Costs and Conservatism," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-30, March.
    3. Sunder Shyam, 2017. "Financial Regulation for a Better Society," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 51-58, July.

    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. Kothari, S.P. & Ramanna, Karthik & Skinner, Douglas J., 2010. "Implications for GAAP from an analysis of positive research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 246-286, December.
    2. 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.
    3. De George, Emmanuel T. & Li, Xi & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. 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.
    5. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    6. Emmanuel T. De George & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 898-1004, September.
    7. Francesco De Luca & Jenice Prather-Kinsey, 2018. "Legitimacy theory may explain the failure of global adoption of IFRS: the case of Europe and the U.S," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(3), pages 501-534, September.
    8. Todd A. Gormley & Bong Hwan Kim & Xiumin Martin, 2012. "Do Firms Adjust Their Timely Loss Recognition in Response to Changes in the Banking Industry?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 159-196, March.
    9. Shizuki Saito, 2011. "Accounting Standards and Global Convergence Revisited: Social Norms and Economic Concepts," The Japanese Accounting Review, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, vol. 1, pages 105-117, December.
    10. Zhang, Ying & Andrew, Jane, 2014. "Financialisation and the Conceptual Framework," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 17-26.
    11. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Shyam Sunder, 2005. "Social Norms versus Standards of Accounting," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2525, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Sep 2005.
    14. 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).
    15. Basu Sudipta & Waymire Gregory B., 2019. "Historical Cost and Conservatism Are Joint Adaptations That Help Identify Opportunity Cost," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, March.
    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. Mbawuni, Joseph, 2018. "Perceived Benefits and Challeges of IFRS Adoption in Ghana: Views of Members of Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG)," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(1), pages 99-114, January.
    18. Shyam Sunder, 2011. "Paradox of Writing Clear Rules: Interplay of Financial Reporting Standards and Engineering," The Japanese Accounting Review, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, vol. 1, pages 119-130, December.
    19. Jamal, Karim & Sunder, Shyam, 2011. "Is mandated independence necessary for audit quality?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 284-292.
    20. Ramanna Karthik, 2013. "The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-46, January.

    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:bla:abacus:v:50:y:2014:i:4:p:369-385. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    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.