Measuring Lobbying Influence Using the Financial Accounting Standards Board Public Record 1

Abstract

In this study we investigate the influence of lobbying groups on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Our data base was a content analysis of lobbying letters in seven volumes of the FASB Public Record. Earlier studies of lobbying influence have also used this source and results have been mixed. Our results show that there is no measurable influence on the FASB by accounting firms or non-accounting lobbyists. Moreover, we argue that studies with other objectives based upon content analyses of the FASB Public Record as well as studies of lobbying influence are generally not statistically powerful because of specific theoretical and methodological problems which we identify.