| Professional Societies: |
 AICPA |
American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants: the professional organization of CPAs in the
U.S. It is a private organization of CPAs, not an arm of the government.
Each state issues CPA certificates, not the AICPA. Since each state
makes its own laws, each state could prepare and grade their own CPA
examination. However, each of the states does use the uniform CPA
examination which is prepared and graded by the AICPA. |
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| AAA |
American Accounting
Association: a professional association of college and university
accounting faculty. |
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| FEI |
Financial Executives
Institute: a professional association for senior financial
executives from corporations throughout the United States and Canada. |
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| IMA |
Institute of Management
Accountants: an association that certifies management accountants
and corporate financial managers. |
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| Accounting Standard Setters: |
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| APB |
Accounting Principles
Board: a former authoritative committee of the AICPA that was
responsible for identifying generally accepted accounting principles from
1959 to 1973; predecessor to the FASB. |
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| AcSEC |
Accounting Standards Executive
Committee: a committee of the Accounting Standards Division of the
AICPA. It is made up of unpaid practitioners and academicians who meet monthly
to discuss various issues related to accounting and financial reporting.
The AcSEC issues its finding in Statements of Position. |
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| CAP |
Committee on Accounting
Procedure: issued 51 Accounting Research Bulletins from 1939 to
1959, this committee. |
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| FAF |
Financial Accounting
Foundation: has Sixteen trustees that appoint FASB and FASAC members
and raise money for funding FASB |
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| FASAC |
Financial Accounting Standards
Advisory Council: was formed in 1973 along with the FASB to advise
it on issues related to projects on the Board's agenda, possible new
agenda items, project priorities, procedural matters that may require
the attention of the FASB, and other matters as requested by the
chairman of the FASB. The members of FASAC are drawn from the ranks of CEOs,
CFOs, senior partners of public accounting firms, executive directors of
professional organizations, and senior members of the academic and analyst
communities. |
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| FASB |
Financial Accounting Standards
Board: the private seven-member nonprofit board that currently has
the authority to identify generally accepted accounting principles. |
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| IASB |
International Accounting Standards
Board: an international organization based in London, UK that
promotes uniform accounting standards
among countries and to narrow areas of divergence. Similar to the
FASB, the ISAB is independent, privately-funded accounting
standard-setter. |
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| Governmental Accounting Standard
Setters: |
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| GASB |
Government Accounting Standards
Board: according to Rule 203 of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct,
generally accepted accounting principles for government entities include
(in a conflict the source earlier in the list prevails):
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GASB Statements and Interpretations, AICPA and FASB pronouncements if made
applicable to governments by GASB.
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GASB Technical Bulletins, AICPA Guides and AICPA Statements of Position if
made applicable to governments by the AICPA.
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Positions of the GASB Emerging Issues Task Force and AICPA Practice Bulletins
if made applicable to governments by the AICPA.
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GASB staff "Qs and As", and widely recognized industry practices.
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Other accounting literature, such as GASB Concepts Statements, textbooks,
articles.
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| IRS |
Internal Revenue Service:
the federal agency that has the duty of collecting federal taxes
and otherwise enforcing tax laws. |
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| SEC |
Securities and Exchange
Commission: the federal agency created by Congress in 1934 to regulate
securities markets, including the flow of information from companies to the
public. It is important to understand that the SEC delegated only the
responsibility, not the authority, to set standards. The power still lies
with the SEC. If the SEC does not agree with a particular standard promulgated
by the private sector, it can, as in the past, force a change in the standard. |
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| Authoritative Accounting
Publications: |
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| ARB |
Accounting Research
Bulletins: published by CAP, dealt with specific accounting and reporting problems before the theoretical framework for financial accounting was established. This ad hoc approach of dealing with individual issues without a framework led to stern criticism of the accounting profession. |
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| FRR |
Financial Report Releases: issued
by the SEC starting in 1982, these pronouncements contain
interpretations of regulations and guidance for filing financial
statements with the SEC. |
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| SFAS |
Statements of Financial Accounting Standards: pronouncements published by the FASB to promote the transparency, credibility, and understandability of financial reports. |
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| SOP |
Statements of Position:
published by the Accounting Standards Division present the conclusions of
the Accounting Standards Executive Committee, which is the senior technical
body of the AICPA authorized to speak for the Institute in the areas of financial
accounting and reporting. |
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GAAP Hierarchy Level
|
Publication
Title
|
| A |
- SEC's FRR
- FASB's SFAS
- FASB Interpretations
- APB Opinions
- AICPA's Accounting Research Bulletins
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| B |
- FASB Technical Bulletins
- AICPA Industry Audit and Accounting Guides
- AICPA Statements of Position
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| C |
- Consensus Opinions of the FASB Emerging Issues
Task Force
- AcSEC Practice Bulletins
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| D |
- AICPA Accounting Interpretations
- FASB Implementation Guides
- Widely recognized and prevalent industry practices
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| Other Terms: |
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| ASP |
Auditing Standard Board:
the authoritative committee of the AICPA that promulgates generally accepted
auditing standards. |
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| CPA |
Certified Public Accountant:
the only type of accountant that can practice in the tax court,
has limited accountant-client privilege, and can perform audits for companies
with publicly traded stock. |
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| GAAP |
Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles: accounting principles that have been given formal
recognition or authoritative support |
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| GAAS |
Generally Accepted Auditing
Standards: auditing standards that have been given formal recognition
or authoritative support |
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