(Political Motivations for Policies) Ever since the unethical actions of some employees of Enron Corp. first came to light, ethics in accounting has been in the news with increasing frequency. The unethical actions of the employees essentially involved their selection of certain accounting policies for the company. In many instances, GAAP does allow firms some flexibility in their choice of legitimate accounting policies. This is true, for example, in choosing an inventory cost formula. However, the company's choice of policies may ultimately be influenced by several specific factors.

Instructions

State three of these factors and explain why each of them may influence an accounting policy choice.