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Continue to Full Project Information Concepts Statements do not affect practice directly. They do not change existing generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Certain aspects of existing GAAP conflict with the framework. For example, museum collections meet the Concepts Statements definition of an asset, but existing GAAP does not require those assets to be recognized in the financial statements. The framework affects practice over time because of its influence in the development of new accounting standards. The FASB is the most direct beneficiary of the framework. The framework provides the FASB with a foundation for setting standards and concepts to use as tools for resolving accounting and reporting questions. The FASB staff is guided by pertinent concepts that might provide guidance in developing its analysis of issues for consideration by the FASB, as well as in making its recommendations to the FASB when developing accounting standards. Consequently, those concepts are an important aspect of the FASB’s discussions of issues and for making its decisions about a specific standard. The framework provides a basic reasoning on which to consider the merits of alternative solutions to complex financial accounting or reporting problems. Although it does not provide all the answers, the framework narrows the range of alternative solutions by eliminating some that are inconsistent with it. It thereby contributes to greater efficiency and consistency in the standard-setting process by avoiding the necessity of having to redebate fundamental issues such as “what is an asset?” time and time again. A guiding principle of the Board is to be objective in its decision making and to ensure, insofar as possible, the neutrality of information resulting from its standards. The use of an agreed-upon framework reduces the influence of personal bias on standard-setting decisions. Without the guidance provided by an agreed-upon conceptual framework, standard-setting would be quite different because it would be based on the personal frameworks of individual members of the Board. A framework also should reduce political pressures in making accounting judgments. The FASB is not the only beneficiary of the framework. The credibility of financial reporting is enhanced when objectives and concepts are used to provide direction and structure to financial accounting and reporting. The framework helps by leading to the development of standards that are not only internally consistent but also consistent with each other. As a result, both preparers and users of financial statements benefit from financial statements that are based on a body of accounting requirements that are more internally consistent. The framework further helps users of financial reporting information to better understand that information and its limitations. It also provides a frame of reference for understanding the resulting standards. That frame of reference is useful to preparers who apply those standards and to auditors who examine the resulting reports, as well as to students who study accounting and the faculty who teach it. Continue to Full Project Information The framework is not complete. For example, matters of financial presentation, derecognition, disclosure, and the definition of a reporting entity are not addressed. Furthermore, certain aspects of the framework that were addressed, such as recognition and measurement, remain incomplete. The FASB’s framework was, for the most part developed three decades ago. Since then, business and financial activities have become increasingly complex. As a result, many of today’s standard-setting issues are different and more complex than those that were contemplated when the framework originally was developed. For that reason, some updating of the framework may be both desirable and necessary to enable it to continue to contribute toward the FASB’s solutions for future issues. After performing a comprehensive review of the framework, the Board decided to add a project to its agenda to address presentation and measurement concepts. The Board concluded that those areas were the most deficient and could provide significant benefits in addressing current and future financial reporting problems. The lack of concepts in these areas has led to inconsistent decisions in the presentation and measurement requirements in GAAP. The Board also is developing a framework for disclosures. The objective of that project is to improve the effectiveness of disclosures in notes to financial statements by clearly communicating the information that is most important to users of a reporting organization’s financial statements.
Continue to Full Project Information A conceptual framework is an analytical tool with several variations and contexts. It can be applied in different categories of work where an overall picture is needed. It is used to make conceptual distinctions and organize ideas. Strong conceptual frameworks capture something real and do this in a way that is easy to remember and apply. Isaiah Berlin used the metaphor of a "fox" and a "hedgehog" to make conceptual distinctions in how important philosophers and authors view the world.[1] Berlin describes hedgehogs as those who use a single idea or organizing principle to view the world (such as Dante Alighieri, Blaise Pascal, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Plato, Henrik Ibsen and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel). Foxes, on the other hand, incorporate a type of pluralism and view the world through multiple, sometimes conflicting, lenses (examples include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, James Joyce, William Shakespeare, Aristotle, Herodotus, Molière, and Honoré de Balzac). Economists use the conceptual framework of "supply" and "demand" to distinguish between the behavior and incentive systems of firms and consumers.[2] Like many conceptual frameworks, supply and demand can be presented through visual or graphical representations (see demand curve). Both political science and economics use principal agent theory as a conceptual framework. The politics-administration dichotomy is a long-standing conceptual framework used in public administration.[3] All three of these cases are examples of a macro level conceptual framework. OverviewThe use of the term conceptual framework crosses both scale (large and small theories)[4][5] and contexts (social science,[6][7] marketing,[8] applied science,[9] art[10] etc.). Its explicit definition and application can therefore vary. Conceptual frameworks are particularly useful as organizing devices in empirical research. One set of scholars has applied the notion of conceptual framework to deductive, empirical research at the micro- or individual study level.[11][12][13][14] They employ American football plays as a useful metaphor to clarify the meaning of conceptual framework (used in the context of a deductive empirical study). Likewise, conceptual frameworks are abstract representations, connected to the research project's goal that direct the collection and analysis of data (on the plane of observation – the ground). Critically, a football play is a "plan of action" tied to a particular, timely, purpose, usually summarized as long or short yardage.[15] Shields and Rangarajan (2013) argue that it is this tie to "purpose" that make American football plays such a good metaphor. They define a conceptual framework as "the way ideas are organized to achieve a research project's purpose".[13] Like football plays, conceptual frameworks are connected to a research purpose or aim. Explanation[16] is the most common type of research purpose employed in empirical research. The formal hypothesis of a scientific investigation is the framework associated with explanation.[17] Explanatory research usually focuses on "why" or "what caused" a phenomenon to occur. Formal hypotheses posit possible explanations (answers to the why question) that are tested by collecting data and assessing the evidence (usually quantitative using statistical tests). For example, Kai Huang wanted to determine what factors contributed to residential fires in U.S. cities. Three factors were posited to influence residential fires. These factors (environment, population and building characteristics) became the hypotheses or conceptual framework he used to achieve his purpose – explain factors that influenced home fires in U.S. cities.[18] TypesSeveral types of conceptual frameworks have been identified,[13][14][19] and line up with a research purpose in the following ways:
Note that Shields and Rangarajan (2013) do not claim that the above are the only framework-purpose pairing. Nor do they claim the system is applicable to inductive forms of empirical research. Rather, the conceptual framework-research purpose pairings they propose are useful and provide new scholars a point of departure to develop their own research design.[13] Frameworks have also been used to explain conflict theory and the balance necessary to reach what amounts to resolution. Within these conflict frameworks, visible and invisible variables function under concepts of relevance. Boundaries form and within these boundaries, tensions regarding laws and chaos (or freedom) are mitigated. These frameworks often function like cells, with sub-frameworks, stasis, evolution and revolution.[21] Anomalies may exist without adequate "lenses" or "filters" to see them and may become visible only when the tools exist to define them.[22] See also
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