The Grasshoppers and the Great Cattle: Participation and Non-Participation in the ASB's Standard-Setting Process

This paper presents the results of a research study of participation in the accounting standard-setting process in the United Kingdom. The study considers the 1,519 responses to the Accounting Standards Board's ('the ASB') proposals for accounting standards. Consistent with the findings of other studies in the USA and Australia, the present paper finds that there is a high level of participation by the preparers of financial statements in the ASB's consultation process. The paper then examines the size of the preparer firms which formally lobby the ASB. The evidence confirms that those firms which become involved in the lobbying process in the UK tend to be larger than non-lobbying firms, and the paper concludes that, as elswhere, the standard-setting process in the UK appears to be a discourse of the powerful.