THE INFLUENCE OF PRICE WATERHOUSE & CO. ON THE CAP, THE APB, AND IN THE EARLY YEARS ON THE FASB

Price Waterhouse & Co., for decades the premier public accounting firm in the United States, which audits a large number of "blue chip" companies, has, directly and indirectly, been a large and frequent presence in the U.S. standard-setting arena. It is the purpose of this paper to document this presence and to determine whether it had a discernible effect on the outcomes of the standard setters' deliberations. The conclusion is that, appearances notwithstanding, there has been no evidence of a noticeable effect.