This paper employs three British case studies to examine the nature of creative
compliance and the way in which it may be implicated in preparers' and
standard-setters' behaviour in the face of proposed and adopted mandatory changes in
accounting policy. The period before the implementation of the Dearing reforms is
chosen because standardisation was then a relatively new phenomenon and enforcement
powers limited, so that there is an opportunity to observe relatively
unsophisticated and unconstrained behaviour. It is suggested that the scope for
creative compliance, sometimes quite subtle and elusive in character, may play a
part in explaining preparers' and standard-setters' behaviour and that as parties
come better to appreciate the scope for creative compliance, their behaviour and
lobbying position may change. It is argued that "political" models of the lobbying
process need to incorporate both the scope for creative compliance and the way in
which the parties concerned come to appreciate and manipulate it.
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