The academic community's participation in standard setting: Submission of comment letters on SFAS Nos. 1-117

FASB Chairman Beresford (1991) and others (Wyatt 1990, 1991; Burton and Sack 1990) have called for increased participation by the academic community in the standard-setting process. Academicians can play a unique role in FASB deliberations since they are economically independent and they should have the theoretical understanding necessary to evaluate issues. This article describes the academic community's participation in the FASB's standard-setting process. Few academicians submitted comment letters on Discussion Memorandums and Exposure Drafts tor SFAS Nos. 1-117, with the majority participating only once. Results indicate that the frequency of responses and participants' characteristics changed somewhat over time. Survey responses indicate that participants submitted comment letters primarily when they were concerned about the topic or had conducted related research and felt that they could contribute to FASB deliberations. Conversely, participants and nonparticipants agree that participation is deterred by low expectations of affecting FASB decisions, lack of time or resources, inadequate rewards for this activity at their universities, and the technical nature of the issues. We discuss possibilities for overcoming the barriers to participation and recent efforts from both the FASB and academicians toward "bridging the gap."