This work investigates why the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Conceptual Framework Project (1973-1985), which sought to set down financial reporting standards for accounting, attracted so much criticism. The author suggests that a CF is expected to bear too heavy a load, but that it cannot furnish the answer to all financial accounting ills. He believes that the best contribution that a CF can offer is that it can provide a focus to the debate that leads to a new financial reporting standard.