The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Essay

The FASB Accounting Standards Codification® is the source of authoritative generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) recognized by the FASB to be applied by nongovernmental entities.

The visual hierarchy in a map relates to the visual importance of the different layers of data. Information in the foreground should have a more prominent symbolization and the supporting information in the background should not be visually standing out.

In 1973 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was established to set the financial accounting standards in the United States of America for nongovernmental entities. These standards are collectively called U.S. Generally accepted Accounting Principles, or U.S. GAAP. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants acknowledge the authority of these standards (FASB, n.d). A “proven, independent due process” is used to collect the viewpoints of the financial statements prepares and users for the constant improvement of these standards. An Accounting Status Update(ASU) is not an authoritative source however documents the amendments to communicate the changes in the FASB Codification for a user to understand the reason and future of those changes (FASB, n.d).

The purpose of this research paper is to summarize research on codification topic 410 based on the information found in different academic databases. The first part of the paper will focus on the FASB Codification database. The second part of the paper will compare and contrast three other databases on the same codification 410 within the RIA Checkpoint databases: AICPA: Auditing and Accounting Guides, SOX Reporter, and GAAP Practice Manual. A summary of benefits and issues with the searches of each database will also be discussed.

The FASB accounting codification is an advanced system that allows certified public accountants and other users to quickly access non-SEC authoritative content, perform relevant research, and submit timely and appropriate feedback. The FASB codification research system is a real-time, online database that allows users to access codification whose primary aim is to simplify the accessibility and structure of all authoritative generally accepted accounting principles, reduce the time and effort invested when researching accounting-related issues, decrease the risk of non-compliance with the generally accepted accounting principles, provide access to all authoritative information from a single place, facilitate the updating of accounting standards, and foster research and convergence efforts for the FASB (Wiley, 2017).

The FASB Accounting Standards Codification® is the source of authoritative generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) recognized by the FASB to be applied to nongovernmental entities.

In 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was created and their mission is “to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information.” (FASB.org, 2009a). The FASB is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) within the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U.S. Therefore, the FASB plays a vital and important role in protecting the financial well being and the overall stability of our

The hierarchy. Putting in order a list of things. An example in a letter would be " We have three floors and a Three Tiered System. The Top floor is for Higher management.

The documents that comprise GAAP vary in format, completeness, and structure. As a result, financial statement preparers sometimes are not sure whether they have the right GAAP; determining what is authoritative and what is not becomes difficult. In response to these concerns, the FASB developed the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification. The FASB’s primary goal in developing the Codification is to provide in one place all the authoritative literature related to a particular topic. Professional accountants pay for access to the FASB. The OU Accounting Department has paid for academic access to the FASB Codification. Our Login information is:

The Codification’s goal is to clarify the company of thousands of U.S. authoritative accounting announcements published by diverse standard-setters. Therefore, to accomplish this objective, the FASB sponsored a project to incorporate and typically adapt all related accounting publication announced by the standard-setters of the U.S. in conjunction with those of the FASB, the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

The FASB process includes five steps to develop generally accepted accounting principles. The first step involves meeting and issuing a discussion memorandum. “A discussion memorandum is a document intended to encourage discussion and debate amongst accounting and financial professionals in regards to a current issue relating to the accounting industry” (“Discussion Memorandum”, n.d.). These are the ideas that will harm or benefit accountants. Next, they will obtain responses to this memorandum. After this is done FASB will create an exposure draft. Exposure drafts are basically an open blog about the new changes FASB is trying to implement. “The FASB issues a variety of different types of exposure documents to solicit input on its standards-setting

36. When objectives become more specific at lower levels of the organization they are said to be structured in a unified hierarchy.

Identify whether or not the categories can be linked in any way and list them as major categories (themes) or minor categories (themes).

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued for public comment two Exposure Drafts related to its disclosure framework project. The first exposure draft proposes amendments to Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts - Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, Chapter 3 – Qualitative Characteristics of Useful Financial Information. The purpose of this proposed amendment is to clarify the concept of “materiality”. FASB defines materiality as, information is material if omitting it or misstating it could influence decisions that users make on the basis of the financial information of a specific reporting entity. In other words, materiality is an entity-specific aspect of relevance based on the nature or magnitude or both of the items to which the information relates in the context of an individual entity’s financial report. Consequently, the Board cannot specify a uniform quantitative threshold for materiality or predetermine what could be material in a particular situation.

First, The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issues The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on U.S securities and exchange companies listed.