Railroad Regulatory Accounting In An Era Of Rail Deregulation

Abstract

The environment in which railroads operate has changed significantly over the past century.  As the regulation of railroads changed in response to the environment, the requirements of rail regulatory accounting changed as well.  This paper discusses these various changes and indicates how rail regulatory accounting has moved in the direction of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for financial reporting purposes.  In addition, significant changes which have taken place in the cost accounting area are addressed.  These changes have been made in both the data used and the systems used to process the data.