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Eight Years with the Accounting Principles Board HOW IT FEELS TO BE A GORED OX By DONALD J. BEVIS / Retired Partner Risks and Rewards "My greatest experience in 40 years of public accounting/' says Donald Bevis, "was my tenure on the APB, from 1965 until the Board's demise in 1973, when it was succeeded by the Financial Accounting Standards Board." As a measure of his experience, he cites the number of Board pronouncements during that eight-year period: • 26 Opinions (Nos. 6 through 31) and approximately 200 Accounting Interpretations of these Opinions; • 3 Statements; • 7 Accounting Research Studies; • 19 Industry Audit and Accounting Guides. (The stated accounting principles and practices of these guides required the approval of the APB.) "During that period/' he says, " I conversed with the most knowledgeable and capable accountants in the profession—in practice, industry, government, and the academe. These discussions, plus others with people in the financial community, greatly influenced my decisions on accounting issues. An initial conclusion was not necessarily the final one. I also learned to appreciate that there is more than one informed opinion on any accounting principle or its application. "Considering the fact that APB work was voluntary," he says, " i t was amazing to note the amount of time spent. For many members, including myself, it became almost a full-time duty: board meetings, committee meetings, night sessions, reams of correspondence, public hearings, draft pronouncements, and other activities. To this must be added the volunteered time of observers and advisers to Board members and those working on Industry Audit and Accounting Guides and Board-authorized research studies. In addition, one cannot overlook the time freely given by personnel of the SEC and other government bodies, together with the efforts of industry and accounting organizations, in developing information and commentary on proposed pronouncements. Finally, invaluable service was rendered by the AICPA staff. I would estimate that in the last several years, when the output was greatest, the annual cost was close to $2.5 million. This compares to a proposed annual cost of $3.5 million for the FASB." All of the material accumulated by the Board concerning its unfinished business has been made available to the FASB. These include Industry Audit and Accounting Guides and Accounting Research Studies in process. Some of the unfinished APB items are on the first priority list of FASB. Criticisms of the Board It is often said that the Accounting Principles Board did not deal with fundamental issues but spent too much time "putting out fires." I believe, however, that a rereading of the Opinions and Statements will demonstrate that the APB did deal with many fundamental issues on accounting principles and financial reporting.* Furthermore, because of the rapidly changing business and economic environment, it was necessary to put out fires, ignited in some cases by *Good examples are the Opinions on Accounting for Income Taxes, Reporting the Results of Operations, and The Equity Method of Accounting for Investments in Common Stock. 45
Object Description
Title |
How it feels to be a gored ox: Eight years with the Accounting Principles Board |
Author |
Bevis, Donald J. |
Subject |
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Accounting Principles Board |
Abstract | Photograph not included in Web version |
Citation |
Tempo, Vol. 21, no. 1 (1975), p. 44-49 |
Date-Issued | 1975 |
Source | Originally published by: Touche Ross, & Co. |
Rights | Copyright and permission to republish held by: Deloitte |
Type | Text |
Format | PDF page image with corrected OCR scanned at 400 dpi |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Library. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2010 |
Language | eng |
Identifier | Tempo_1975_Spring-p44-49e |