diff --git a/lib/create_or_update.rb b/lib/create_or_update.rb
index 58272da..0a03531 100644
--- a/lib/create_or_update.rb
+++ b/lib/create_or_update.rb
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@ class ActiveRecord::Base
     validate = options.delete(:perform_validations){|k| true}
     record = send("find_by_#{primary_key}", id) || new
     record.id = id
-    record.attributes = options
     if validate
+      record.attributes = options
       record.save!
     else
+      options.each do |key, value|
+        record.send("#{key}=", value)
+      end
       record.save(false)
     end
     record
diff --git a/test/db_populate_test.rb b/test/db_populate_test.rb
index 57b10b4..ee60dd4 100644
--- a/test/db_populate_test.rb
+++ b/test/db_populate_test.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ require 'rubygems'
 require 'mocha'
 
 class User < ActiveRecord::Base
+  attr_accessible :name
 end
 
 class Customer < ActiveRecord::Base
@@ -16,43 +17,70 @@ class DbPopulateTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_creates_new_record
     User.delete_all
     User.create_or_update(:id => 1, :name => "Fred")
-    assert_equal User.count, 1
+    assert_equal 1, User.count
     u = User.find(:first)
-    assert_equal u.name, "Fred"
+    assert_equal "Fred", u.name
   end
   
   def test_updates_existing_record
     User.delete_all
     User.create_or_update(:id => 1, :name => "Fred")
     User.create_or_update(:id => 1, :name => "George")
-    assert_equal User.count, 1
+    assert_equal 1, User.count
     u = User.find(:first)
-    assert_equal u.name, "George"
+    assert_equal "George", u.name
   end
   
   def test_creates_new_record_with_nonstandard_pk
     Customer.delete_all
     Customer.create_or_update(:cust_id => 1, :name => "Fred")
-    assert_equal Customer.count, 1
+    assert_equal 1, Customer.count
     c = Customer.find(:first)
-    assert_equal c.name, "Fred"
+    assert_equal "Fred", c.name
+  end
+  
+  def test_creates_new_record_respects_attr_accessible
+    ActiveRecord::Base.logger = ActiveSupport::BufferedLogger.new(STDERR)
+    User.delete_all
+    ActiveRecord::Base.expects(:log_protected_attribute_removal)
+    User.create_or_update(:id => 1, :name => "Fred", :admin => true)
+    u = User.find(:first)
+    assert_equal false, u.admin
+  end
+  
+  def test_creates_new_record_skipping_attr_accessible
+    User.delete_all
+    ActiveRecord::Base.expects(:log_protected_attribute_removal).never
+    User.create_or_update(:id => 1, :name => "Fred", :admin => true, :perform_validations => false)
+    assert_equal 1, User.count
+    u = User.find(:first)
+    assert_equal "Fred", u.name
+    assert_equal true, u.admin
   end
   
   def test_updates_existing_record
     Customer.delete_all
     Customer.create_or_update(:cust_id => 1, :name => "Fred")
     Customer.create_or_update(:cust_id => 1, :name => "George")
-    assert_equal Customer.count, 1
+    assert_equal 1, Customer.count
     c = Customer.find(:first)
-    assert_equal c.name, "George"
+    assert_equal "George", c.name
+  end
+  
+  def test_creates_new_record_respects_validation
+    Customer.delete_all
+    assert_raise ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid do
+      Customer.create_or_update(:cust_id => 1, :name => "Me")
+    end
+    assert_equal 0, Customer.count
   end
   
   def test_creates_new_record_without_validation
     Customer.delete_all
     Customer.create_or_update(:cust_id => 1, :name => "Me", :perform_validations => false)
-    assert_equal Customer.count, 1
+    assert_equal 1, Customer.count
     c = Customer.find(:first)
-    assert_equal c.name, "Me"
+    assert_equal "Me", c.name
   end
   
 end
diff --git a/test/schema.rb b/test/schema.rb
index b24a850..5250837 100644
--- a/test/schema.rb
+++ b/test/schema.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(:version => 0) do
     
   create_table "users", :force => true do |t|
     t.string   "name"
+    t.boolean  "admin", :default => false
   end
     
   create_table "customers", :primary_key => 'cust_id', :force => true do |t|
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 12fffe9..8e8984a 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ end
 require 'action_controller'
 require 'active_record'
 require 'action_view'
+require 'mocha'
 
 config = YAML::load(IO.read(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/database.yml'))