Voting patterns of big eight representatives in setting accounting and auditing standards

The “Big Eight” accounting firms are alleged to dominate the setting of accounting and auditing standards. This paper identifies the recent criticisms and reviews the standard setting procedures of the APB, FASB, and the ASB. The results of five empirical studies designed to investigate the alleged domination issue are summarized. The conclusion drawn is that there is no empirical evidence to indicate that the Big Eight collectively govern the accounting and auditing standard-setting process.