- Title
- A philosophical analysis of the functions and operation of due process in accounting standard setting in Australia
- Creator
- Mehta, Surinder
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Text; Thesis; Masters
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/165511
- Identifier
- vital:13311
- Identifier
- https://library.federation.edu.au/record=b2743545
- Abstract
- The setting of accounting standards in the Australian context has undergone significant change over the past few decades because of both the introduction of international accounting standards and the outcomes of the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (CLERP). One major thrust of these reforms was to widen the breadth of participation and to introduce new voices into the Australian accounting standard setting regime. Though there have been recent changes to Australian accounting standard setting arrangements, due process still remains as the underlying procedure for incorporating stakeholder participation. Standard setting resides within a socio-political and economic realm which lies between a capitalistic economic individualism premised upon self-interest and interest group preferences, and an idealistic paradigm of the public interest (common good). Both notions are espoused within modern civil society and present in the formulation of policy and regulation through participation. Recent times have seen the promulgation of accounting standards given over by delegated legislation to private sector interests who compete for desired outcomes and more recently this has been entrenched within the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) which produces International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This research presents a two-fold investigation of the due process which is applied when developing accounting standards in Australia. Firstly, this study questions whether such standards provide an adequate avenue for incorporating both appropriate attributes of participation and accountability in line with the historical understanding of due process as developed through common law. Secondly, this study questions whether such standards provide an appropriate vehicle for widening participation by introducing new voices into the Australian accounting standard setting process. On the former question, common law due process resonates within a paradigm that supports fair dealing and equity between individuals with themselves and with government. On the latter question, this research identifies low and declining stakeholder participation within the due process of accounting standard setting. This is accompanied by the declining interest of previous major participants. In examining the longitudinal participation trends of submitters to the accounting standard setting regime, this research contends that the due process finds itself embedded within the confines of a procedural construct to the detriment of accommodating natural justice through a more enlightened substantive approach. As such, when considered in light of its common law roots, it fails both to provide an adequate level of openness along with accommodating only a limited opportunity to participate, specifically when taking into account opinions and interests. The very construct of common law due process rests upon its ability both to subsume participation within the decision-making process, and for that participation to be substantive in the outcome of the process. That is, such participation gives meaning to the outcome. Instead the current due process as applied within the accounting standard setting environment resonates such participation through abolitionist type approaches. Here self-interested parties compete for advantages from property rights and private benefits in line with the more modern interpretation of the public interest. The approach taken in this thesis is to consider the due process from a philosophical perspective by assessing the questions of accountability and participation within the due process in terms of civil society, the public good, economic individualism, libertarianism, liberalism, and agency, rather than to embed the discussion within the expansive existing studies concerning due process in the accounting standard setting process. The conclusion from this perspective is that due process is clearly a process past its due date.; Masters by Research
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- Copyright Surinder Mehta
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Due process; Accounting standard setting; Australia; Corporate Law Economic Regorm Program (CLERP)
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Courvisanos, Jerry
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