Accounting Principles Board and prospective developments in accounting principles;

              The Accounting Principles Board and Prospective Developments in Accounting Principles
by JOHN W. QUEENAN Partner, Executive Office
Presented before the University of Southern California College Accounting Educators Conference, Graduate School of Business Administration, Los Angeles—February 1964
IT is a pleasure for me to participate in this discussion with Maurice Moonitz who has contributed so substantially to accounting thought. The fact that the Moonitz-Sprouse study of broad accounting principles was not accepted by the Accounting Principles Board does not reflect on the quality of his work, but rather results from a lack of reconcilement of presently accepted principles with those proposed by him. Nor should he be criticized for this, since he was not charged by the Board with the rsponsibility for such reconcilement. The Board now recognizes the need for reconcilement and is cataloging existing practices as a background for a comprehensive statement of principles to be followed in the future. Every­one
here I am sure is interested in the further development of accounting principles. I think we all see the need for a comprehensive statement of principles. Several attempts to develop one have failed, but that is no reason why we should not succeed in the future. I, for one, think we will succeed.
There are many interesting and challenging approaches to the develop­ment
of accounting principles. One concerns the role of the Institute and the philosophy of its leadership in advancing the written expression of generally accepted accounting principles. In this regard the profession faces a decision that is without question the most important decision in its history—whether to abandon persuasion in favor of compulsion as the basis of our leadership. The issue is clear: Is the profession to persuade or is it to force? Are we to guide or to dictate?
As all of you undoubtedly know, in September last year the Executive Committee of the Institute approved a resolution requesting the Council to declare that upon issuance, a pronouncement of the Accounting Prin­ciples
Board is generally accepted, unless and until rescinded by Council.
The present Executive Committee recently made some changes in the details of the Resolution, but retained its compulsive effect. The Resolution now proposes that eighteen months after issuance a pronounce­ment
of the Board becomes the only generally accepted accounting prin­ciple
in the subject area for the purpose of expressing opinions on financial statements, unless Council changes the effective date, sends the pronounce-
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