The development of comment letters on FASB proposals by the AICPA Accounting Standards Executive Committee

The Accounting Standards Executive Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is the senior technical committee of the Institute responsible for determining the Institute's policies regarding financial reporting matters. AcSEC is authorized to make public statements on behalf of the Institute on financial reporting matters without the clearance of the Board of Directors of the Institute. AcSEC is also authorized to clear public statements of other Institute committees that include references to financial reporting positions. AcSEC considers its comment letters important in supporting the private-sector standard-setting process. It is the AcSEC's goal to respond to all significant accounting proposals issued by the FASB and the IASC. A paper summarizes: 1. the objectives AcSEC seeks to achieve in providing feedback to the FASB, 2. the process the AcSEC follows in conceptualizing, drafting and debating the positions taken in its comment letters on FASB proposals, and 3. the underlying factors that AcSEC considers implicitly while developing its positions.