Political Influence in the Standard Setting process

Abstract

This thesis is about the political influences over the accounting regulation process. After an introductory chapter, the focus of the paper moves to analyse more deeply the politics and the lobbying activities that occur and have occurred over the year in the account environment. At first it is explained what is the political influence and who are the main actors that affect the regulators. Then is highlighted how they manipulate the decisions, with a further focus on the different characteristics of the standards and the framework. The diversity of the standards, their issuance process and their nature entail that some peculiarities give to standards a stronger resistance over the political influence. In the final part, the conclusions are drawn, highlighting the situation of the lobbying and trying to understand how much the politics and the interest of lobbyist have modified the intended outcomes of the standards setting process.