How can we measure the costs and benefits of changes in financial reporting standards?

摘要

This paperfirst describes the components of a conventional cost-bene fi t analysis, a decision tool that is widelyrnused to evaluate large public-sector projects such as dams. It then compares a conventional cost-bene fi t analysis to thernapproaches used by financial reporting standard-setters and others to evaluate the costs and bene fits of changes inrnauthoritative accounting guidance. The last portion of the paper describes how accounting research provides analyses ofrneffects of changes in accounting standards and describes how these effects-analyses differ from, and are similar to, arnconventional cost-benefit analysis.