We examine the lobbying behavior of state governments and their financial statement users in the development of public pension accounting standards GASB 67 and 68. We find that states' opposition to liability increasing provisions is increasing in the severity of pension plan underfunding,...

We develop a database of the characteristics of the financial reporting function for all 482 California cities from 2013 to 2018, including the name and title of the individual who prepares the financial statements and the resources devoted to administrative duties. We find that financial...