Agenda formation and the Financial Accounting Standards Board

The objective of this dissertation was to improve our understanding of why some accounting issues emerge onto the FASB agenda. This necessary condition for the issuance of accounting standards has received no attention in the accounting literature. This paper employs a regulatory space metaphor (Hancher and Moran, 1989) as an organizing framework for seven studies of agenda formation. The use of the regulatory space metaphor recognizes the complexity of the standard-setting and agenda formation processes. The studies of agenda formation also form a basis for initial efforts to develop the theoretical contours of the regulatory space in which accounting standard-setting occurs. In particular, these studies suggest two ways to refocus our thinking about the standard-setting and agenda processes. (1) Accounting problems are not obvious. Accounting issues are interpreted as problems. (2) Agenda formation is not a simple yes/no decision. Agenda formation is a process in which the standard-setter may take many actions. These actions are at least partially the result of an assessment of "appropriateness" of action (March and Olsen, 1989) by the standard-setter.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio