Competition among Pressure Groups over the Determination of UK Pension Fund Accounting Rules

This chapter analyzes competition among pressure groups for political in uence over the development of accounting rules and examines its implications for understanding the form and content of legally enforceable regulations that govern nancial reporting by U.K. pension fund managers. Pension management, auditors, and accounting standard setting bodies are predicted to apply political pressure in order to a ect the nal form of government regulation of the accountability of pension funds. ese pressure functions, in turn, are applied to secure political in uence over the form and content of nancial reporting that is incorporated into government legislation in two separate reporting periods. We discriminate between private interest and public interest explanations for the determination of nancial reporting rules. Consistent with a private interest perspective, the audit profession and pension management exert most pressure in the adoption period. Consistent with a public interest perspective, the accounting standard setter applies most pressure in the retention period.