Compliance with non-Rule 203 Pronouncements before SAS 69: The Case of Accounting for Greenmail Payments.
研究了SAS 69实施前，企业是否遵循非强制性会计公告（如FASB技术公告85-6）对绿票支付进行会计处理，发现许多企业未遵循，表明SAS 69的合规性理由成立。
Abstract Before the adoption of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 69 (SAS 69) in 1992, not all accounting pronouncements were mandatory under the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct As a result, auditors were not obligated to quality opinions on financial statements that did not comply with certain pronouncements. This paper examines the extent to which firms complied with one non-mandatory pronouncement, FASB Technical Bulletin 85-6 (FTB 85-6) on accounting for greenmail, prior to SAS 69. Because FTB 85-6 is subject to several interpretations, compliance can only be judged relative to an interpretation of the rule. I document a number of firms that did not comply with even a very liberal interpretation and more that did not comply with an interpretation that I argue is consistent with the purpose of the pronouncement. The results indicate that SAS 69 can be justified from a compliance point of view and that an accounting rule that allows for discretion by reporting firms may give rise to interpretations that were unintended by rulemakers and that are inconsistent with the purpose of the rule.