TY  - JOUR
TI  - Unreliable Accounts: How Regulators Fabricate Conceptual Narratives to Diffuse Criticism
AU  - Ramanna, Karthik
PY  - 2021
PB  - Walter de Gruyter GmbH
LA  - eng
AB  - Abstract<br />               In 2010, the U.S. accounting rulemaker (FASB) updated its longstanding constitution to eliminate "reliability" as a fundamental accounting property. FASB argued that "reliability" was misunderstood in practice and that this amendment clarified its original intent. Drawing on primary archival resources and field interviews with regulators, I provide evidence that the change also sought to legitimize the rise of fair-value accounting. By eliminating the need for accounting to be "reliable," the change attempted to neutralize concerns about the subjectivity in fair-value estimates. Such subjectivity can facilitate accounting manipulation, and some fair-value rules can be attributed to lobbying by managers who stand to benefit. The change illustrates "conceptual veiling," wherein regulators, seeking to diffuse criticism, including suspicions of capture, manufacture costly conceptual narratives for justifying their actions.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1515/ael-2021-0002
DO  - 10.1515/ael-2021-0002
T2  - Accounting, Economics, and Law: AEL ; a convivium
VL  - 12
IS  - 2
SN  - 2152-2820
SN  - 2194-6051
SP  - 81-151
UR  - https://www.pollux-fid.de/r/cr-10.1515/ael-2021-0002
H1  - Pollux (Fachinformationsdienst Politikwissenschaft)
ER  -