Geographical and Stakeholder Diversity in Constituents’ Formal Participation in the Due Process of International Accounting Standard Setting: A Longitudinal Analysis over the Period 1995-2007

Abstract

The IASB is well underway to become the global accounting standard setter. For the IASB, being a private organization, diverse constituents' participation in its due process of standard setting is a key element to reinforce its credentials as a legitimate standard setter. Therefore the research objective of this paper is to analyse constituents' formal participation in the due process of the international accounting standard setter in terms of stakeholder diversity and geographical diversity. In order to detect developments in this participation, we undertake the analysis over the period 1995-2007. Based on an analysis of 6444 comment letters sent over that time period, we find an increasing participation of preparers and standard setters over time and a loss of interest of users in formal participation over time. Constituents(except for preparers) from countries with a common law background, and therefore being more familiar with private standard setting. The geographical origin of the participating preparers on the other hand is significantly associated with the adoption status of the IASs in their country.