How should the FASB be judged?

The challenges to the FASB over the past several years, including the unprecedented lobbying campaign as a result of the FASB's proposal on accounting for stock options, suggest that many constituents hold the FASB accountable for producing accounting standards that they find acceptable. It is critical that the profession take time, now, to ask how important is private-sector standard setting. Moving the accounting standard-setting process into the political arena would likely lead to less consistency and conceptual underpinning in accounting standards. That would be the most significant reversal of the progress that the FASB has made in the past 2 decades. The success or failure of the FASB must be measured in relation to how well it is achieving its mission. The FASB's stated mission is to improve financial reporting by issuing standards the enhance the relevance and reliability of information used in investment and credit decisions.