ABSTRACT
The period from the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s was one of major ferment in the accounting principles programs in the USA, Canada, and the UK. In the USA, the Accounting Principles Board gave way to the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 1973 amid criticisms that the former had lost its way. In Canada, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants unveiled its CICA Handbook in 1968 and then, in 1972, following an embarrassing case in which a major audit firm had used unwarranted discretion in interpreting generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the provincial securities commissions publicly declared that the CICA Handbook would be accepted as GAAP for their purposes. And in the UK, criticism in the press of the undue flexibility of accounting principles led the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to announce a completely reorganized and strengthened program of setting accounting standards.
