Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (USA)
Encyclopedia
In the U.S., Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are accounting rules used to prepare, present, and report financial statements
Financial statements
A financial statement is a formal record of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity. In British English—including United Kingdom company law—a financial statement is often referred to as an account, although the term financial statement is also used, particularly by...

 for a wide variety of entities, including publicly traded
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...

 and privately held
Privately held company
A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...

 companies, non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

s, and governments. The term is usually confined to the United States; hence it is commonly abbreviated as US GAAP or simply GAAP. However, in the theoretical sense, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles refer to the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in any given jurisdiction; generally known as accounting standards...

 encompass the entire industry of accounting, and not only the United States. Outside the academic context, GAAP means US GAAP.

Similar to many other countries practicing under the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 system, the United States government does not directly set accounting standards, in the belief that the private sector has better knowledge and resources. US GAAP is not written in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that it be followed in financial reporting by publicly traded companies. Currently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board
Financial Accounting Standards Board
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles within the United States in the public's interest...

 (FASB) is the highest authority in establishing generally accepted accounting principles for public and private companies, as well as non-profit entities. For local and state governments, GAAP is determined by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board
Governmental Accounting Standards Board
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is currently the source of generally accepted accounting principles used by State and Local governments in the United States of America...

 (GASB), which operates under a set of assumptions, principles, and constraints, different from those of standard private-sector GAAP. Financial reporting in federal government entities is regulated by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board is a United States federal advisory committee whose mission is to develop generally accepted accounting principles for federal financial reporting entities....

 (FASAB).

The US GAAP provisions differ somewhat from International Financial Reporting Standards
International Financial Reporting Standards
International Financial Reporting Standards are principles-based standards, interpretations and the framework adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board ....

 (IFRS), though former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox set out a timetable for all U.S. companies to drop GAAP by 2016, with the largest companies switching to IFRS as early as 2009.

The FASB expressed US GAAP in XBRL
XBRL
XBRL is a freely available, market-driven, open, and global standard for exchanging business information. XBRL allows information modeling and the expression of semantic meaning commonly required in business reporting. XBRL is XML-based...

 beginning in 2008.

History

Auditors took the leading role in developing GAAP for business enterprises.

Accounting standards have historically been set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Founded in 1887, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants in the United States, with more than 370,000 CPA members in 128 countries in business and industry, public practice, government, education, student...

 (AICPA) subject to Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. The AICPA first created the Committee on Accounting Procedure
Committee on Accounting Procedure
The Committee on Accounting Procedure was the first private sector organization that had the task of setting accounting standards in the United States. It was a committee run by the American Institute of Accountants...

 in 1939, and replaced that with the Accounting Principles Board
Accounting Principles Board
The Accounting Principles Board is the former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants . It was created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1959 and issued pronouncements on accounting principles until 1973, when it was replaced by the...

 in 1951. In 1973, the Accounting Principles Board was replaced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board
Financial Accounting Standards Board
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles within the United States in the public's interest...

 (FASB) under the supervision of the Financial Accounting Foundation
Financial Accounting Foundation
The Financial Accounting Foundation is located in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was organized in 1972 as a non-stock, Delaware Corporation. It is an independent, organization in the private sector...

 with the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council serving to advise and provide input on the accounting standards. Other organizations involved in determining United States accounting standards include the Governmental Accounting Standards Board
Governmental Accounting Standards Board
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is currently the source of generally accepted accounting principles used by State and Local governments in the United States of America...

 (GASB), formed in 1984, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is a private-sector, non-profit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, a 2002 United States federal law, to oversee the auditors of public companies. Its stated purpose is to 'protect the interests of investors and further the public interest...

 (PCAOB).

Circa 2008, the FASB issued the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, which reorganized the thousands of US GAAP pronouncements into roughly 90 accounting topics

In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a preliminary "roadmap" that may lead the U.S. to abandon Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the future (to be determined in 2011), and to join more than 100 countries around the world instead in using the London-based International Financial Reporting Standards. As of 2010, the convergence project was underway with the FASB meeting routinely with the IASB. The SEC expressed their aim to fully adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in the U.S. by 2014. With the convergence of the U.S. GAAP and the international IFRS accounting systems, as the highest authority over International Financial Reporting Standards
International Financial Reporting Standards
International Financial Reporting Standards are principles-based standards, interpretations and the framework adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board ....

, the International Accounting Standards Board
International Accounting Standards Board
The International Accounting Standards Board is an independent, privately funded accounting standard-setter based in London, England.The IASB was founded on April 1, 2001 as the successor to the International Accounting Standards Committee...

 is becoming more important in the U.S.

Basic objectives

Financial reporting should provide information that is:
  • useful to present to potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and other financial decisions.
  • helpful to present to potential investors and creditors and other users in assessing the amounts, timing, and uncertainty of prospective cash receipts.
  • about economic resources, the claims to those resources, and the changes in them.
  • helpful for making financial decisions
  • helpful in making long-term decisions
  • helpful in improving the performance of the business
  • useful in maintaining records

Basic concepts

To achieve basic objectives and implement fundamental qualities GAAP has four basic assumptions, four basic principles, and four basic constraints.

Assumptions

  • Accounting Entity: assumes that the business is separate from its owners or other businesses. Revenue and expense should be kept separate from personal expenses.
  • Going Concern
    Going concern
    A going concern is a business that functions without the threat of liquidation for the foreseeable future, usually regarded as at least within 12 months.-Definition of the 'going concern' concept:...

    :
    assumes that the business will be in operation indefinitely. This validates the methods of asset capitalization, depreciation, and amortization. Only when liquidation is certain this assumption is not applicable. The business will continue to exist in the unforeseeable future.
  • Monetary Unit principle: assumes a stable currency
    Currency
    In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

     is going to be the unit of record. The FASB accepts the nominal value of the US Dollar as the monetary unit of record unadjusted for inflation.
  • The Time-period principle implies that the economic activities of an enterprise can be divided into artificial time periods.

Principles

  • Historical cost
    Historical cost
    In accounting, historical costs is the original monetary value of an economic item. Historical cost is based on the stable measuring unit assumption. In some circumstances, assets and liabilities may be shown at their historical cost, as if there had been no change in value since the date of...

     principle
    requires companies to account and report based on acquisition costs rather than fair market value
    Fair market value
    Fair market value is an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer would probably pay to a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured seller in the market. An estimate of fair market value may be founded either on precedent or...

     for most assets and liabilities. This principle provides information that is reliable (removing opportunity to provide subjective and potentially biased market values), but not very relevant. Thus there is a trend to use fair values. Most debts and securities are now reported at market values.
  • Revenue recognition
    Revenue recognition
    The revenue recognition principle is a cornerstone of accrual accounting together with matching principle. They both determine the accounting period, in which revenues and expenses are recognized...

     principle
    requires companies to record when revenue is (1) realized or realizable and (2) earned
    Earnings
    Earnings are the net benefits of a Corporation's operation. Earnings is also the amount on which corporate tax is due. For an analysis of specific aspects of corporate operations several more specific terms are used as EBIT -- earnings before interest and taxes, EBITDA - earnings before...

    , not when cash is received. This way of accounting is called accrual basis accounting.
  • Matching principle
    Matching principle
    The matching principle is a culmination of accrual accounting and the revenue recognition principle. They both determine the accounting period, in which revenues and expenses are recognized. According to the principle, expenses are recognized when obligations are incurred The matching principle...

    . Expense
    Expense
    In common usage, an expense or expenditure is an outflow of money to another person or group to pay for an item or service, or for a category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition is an expense. Buying food, clothing, furniture or an automobile is often...

    s have to be matched with revenue
    Revenue
    In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....

    s as long as it is reasonable to do so. Expenses are recognized not when the work is performed, or when a product is produced, but when the work or the product actually makes its contribution to revenue. Only if no connection with revenue can be established, cost may be charged as expenses to the current period (e.g. office salaries and other administrative expenses). This principle allows greater evaluation of actual profitability and performance (shows how much was spent to earn revenue). Depreciation and Cost of Goods Sold are good examples of application of this principle.
  • Full Disclosure principle. Amount and kinds of information disclosed should be decided based on trade-off analysis as a larger amount of information costs more to prepare and use. Information disclosed should be enough to make a judgment while keeping costs reasonable. Information is presented in the main body of financial statements, in the notes or as supplementary information

Constraints

  • Objectivity principle: the company financial statements provided by the accountants should be based on objective evidence.
  • Materiality principle: the significance of an item should be considered when it is reported. An item is considered significant when it would affect the decision of a reasonable individual.
  • Consistency principle: It means that the company uses the same accounting principles and methods from year to year.
  • Conservatism principle: when choosing between two solutions, the one that will be least likely to overstate assets and income should be picked (see convention of conservatism
    Convention of conservatism
    In business, investment, and accounting, the principle or convention of conservatism has at least two meanings.In investment and finance, it is a strategy which aims at long-term capital appreciation with low risk...

    ).

Required departures from GAAP

Under the AICPA's Code of Professional Ethics under Rule 203 - Accounting Principles, a member must depart from GAAP if following it would lead to a material misstatement on the financial statements, or otherwise be misleading. In the departure the member must disclose, if practical, the reasons why compliance with the accounting principle would result in a misleading financial statement. Under Rule 203-1-Departures from Established Accounting Principles, the departures are rare, and usually take place when there is new legislation, the evolution of new forms of business transactions, an unusual degree of materiality, or the existence of conflicting industry practices.

Setting GAAP

These organizations influence the development of GAAP in the United States.
  • United States Securities and Exchange Commission
    United States Securities and Exchange Commission
    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...

    (SEC)

    The SEC was created as a result of the Great Depression
    Great Depression
    The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

    . At that time there was no structure setting accounting standards. The SEC encouraged the establishment of private standard-setting bodies through the AICPA and later the FASB, believing that the private sector had the proper knowledge, resources, and talents. The SEC works closely with various private organizations setting GAAP, but does not set GAAP itself.
  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
    American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
    Founded in 1887, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants in the United States, with more than 370,000 CPA members in 128 countries in business and industry, public practice, government, education, student...

     (AICPA)

    In 1939, urged by the SEC, the AICPA appointed the Committee on Accounting Procedure (CAP). During the years 1939 to 1959 CAP issued 51 Accounting Research Bulletins that dealt with a variety of timely accounting problems. However, this problem-by-problem approach failed to develop the much needed structured body of accounting principles. Thus, in 1959, the AICPA created the Accounting Principles Board (APB), whose mission it was to develop an overall conceptual framework. It issued 31 opinions and was dissolved in 1973 for lack of productivity and failure to act promptly. After the creation of the FASB, the AICPA established the Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC). It publishes:
    1. Audit and Accounting Guidelines, which summarizes the accounting practices of specific industries (e.g. casinos, colleges, airlines, etc.) and provides specific guidance on matters not addressed by FASB or GASB.
    2. Statements of Position, which provides guidance on financial reporting topics until the FASB or GASB sets standards on the issue.
    3. Practice Bulletins, which indicate the AcSEC's views on narrow financial reporting issues not considered by the FASB or the GASB.
  • Financial Accounting Standards Board
    Financial Accounting Standards Board
    The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles within the United States in the public's interest...

     (FASB)

    Realizing the need to reform the APB, leaders in the accounting profession appointed a Study Group on the Establishment of Accounting Principles (commonly known as the Wheat Committee for its chair Francis Wheat). This group determined that the APB must be dissolved and a new standard-setting structure be created. This structure is composed of three organizations: the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF, it selects members of the FASB, funds and oversees their activities), the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC), and the major operating organization in this structure the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). FASB has 4 major types of publications:
    1. Statements of Financial Accounting Standards - the most authoritative GAAP setting publications. More than 150 have been issued to date.
    2. Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts - first issued in 1978. They are part of the FASB's conceptual framework project and set forth fundamental objectives and concepts that the FASB use in developing future standards. However, they are not a part of GAAP. There have been 7 concepts published to date.
    3. Interpretations - modify or extend existing standards. There have been around 50 interpretations published to date.
    4. Technical Bulletins - guidelines on applying standards, interpretations, and opinions. Usually solves some very specific accounting issue that will not have a significant, lasting effect.

In 1984 the FASB created the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) which deals with new and unusual financial transactions that have the potential to become common (e.g. accounting for Internet based companies). It acts more like a problem filter for the FASB - the EITF deals with short-term, quickly resolvable issues, leaving long-term, more pervasive problems for the FASB.
  • Governmental Accounting Standards Board
    Governmental Accounting Standards Board
    The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is currently the source of generally accepted accounting principles used by State and Local governments in the United States of America...

     (GASB)

    Created in 1984, the GASB addresses state and local government reporting issues. Its structure is similar to that of the FASB's.
  • Other influential organizations (e.g. American Accounting Association, Institute of Management Accountants, Financial Executives Institute)
  • Other influential organizations The Government Finance Officer's Association (GFOA) also influences financial policies for governments. Disagreements between the GFOA and GASB are rare, but can continue for many years.

Precedence of GAAP-setting authorities

In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, GAAP derives, in order of importance, from:
  1. issuances from an authoritative body designated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
    American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
    Founded in 1887, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants in the United States, with more than 370,000 CPA members in 128 countries in business and industry, public practice, government, education, student...

    (AICPA) Council (for example, the Financial Accounting Standards Board
    Financial Accounting Standards Board
    The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles within the United States in the public's interest...

     Statements, AICPA Accounting Principles Board
    Accounting Principles Board
    The Accounting Principles Board is the former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants . It was created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1959 and issued pronouncements on accounting principles until 1973, when it was replaced by the...

     Opinions, and AICPA Accounting Research Bulletins);
  2. other AICPA issuances such as AICPA Industry Guides;
  3. industry practice; and
  4. into para-accounting literature in the form of books and articles.

Codification in Accounting - FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM

The Codification is effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. All existing accounting standards documents are superseded as described in FASB Statement No. 168, The FASB Accounting Standards CodificationTM and the Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. All other accounting literature not included in the Codification is nonauthoritative.

The Codification reorganizes the thousands of U.S. GAAP pronouncements into roughly 90 accounting topics and displays all topics using a consistent structure. It also includes relevant Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), guidance that follows the same topical structure in separate sections in the Codification.

To prepare constituents for the change, the FASB has provided a number of tools and training resources.

While the Codification does not change GAAP, it introduces a new structure—one that is organized in an easily accessible, user-friendly online research system. The FASB expects that the new system will reduce the amount of time and effort required to research an accounting issue, mitigate the risk of noncompliance with standards through improved usability of the literature, provide accurate information with real-time updates as new standards are released, and assist the FASB with the research efforts required during the standard-setting process.

House of GAAP

  • Note that the House of GAAP is no longer authoritative. Please reference the codification above**


The term "House of GAAP concept" derives from an article by Steven Rubin in the Journal of Accountancy June 1984 issue, and is commonly used to illustrate the hierarchy of pronouncements, standards, and similar literature which establish US GAAP.























House of GAAP
Category (A)
(Most authoritative)
FASB Standards and Interpretations Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinions Accounting Research Bulletins (ARBs)
Category (B) FASB Technical Bulletins AICPA Industry Audit and Accounting Guides AICPA Statements of Position (SOPs)
Category (C) FASB Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) AICPA AcSEC Practice Bulletins
Category (D)
(Least authoritative)
AICPA Accounting Interpretations FASB Implementation Guides (Q and A) Widely recognized and prevalent industry practices


Category A and B are considered authoritative. Category C and D are considered marginally authoritative, thoughts on interesting and unique issues, but could be invalid given a large level of materialism. Category C and D are considered a talking and reasoning phase of bringing issues to an authoritative level of GAAP.

See also

  • Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
    Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
    Generally Accepted Accounting Principles refer to the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in any given jurisdiction; generally known as accounting standards...

  • International Financial Reporting Standards
    International Financial Reporting Standards
    International Financial Reporting Standards are principles-based standards, interpretations and the framework adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board ....

  • Other Comprehensive Basis of Accounting
    Other Comprehensive Basis of Accounting
    Other comprehensive basis of accounting in United States accounting refers to a system of accounting other than GAAP. As explained in the Journal of Accountancy,Under Statement on Auditing Standards , an OCBOA is any one of...


  • Philosophy of Accounting
    Philosophy of accounting
    The philosophy of accounting is the conceptual framework for the professional preparation and auditing of financial statements and accounts. The issues which arise include the difficulty of establishing a true and fair value of an enterprise and its assets; the moral basis of disclosure and...

  • Statutory accounting principles
    Statutory accounting principles
    The Statutory Accounting Principles are a set of accounting rules for insurance companies set forth by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. They are used to prepare the statutory financial statements of insurance companies...

    for US insurance companies


External links

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