Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

The accounting standard-setter for companies in the United States, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year—and for all 40 years of the FASB’s existence, I have been practicing as a certified public accountant (CPA), both in public and industry accounting. I currently author this blog and work on a consulting basis with companies to help them understand the accounting rules as well as the way in which they are developed and issued by the FASB and other standard-setters. From this perspective, I will provide a mix of historical facts and some of my own personal views on the development of U.S. accounting rules.

For the foreseeable future, the accounting standard setter in the United States, also known as the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), will continue to set generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for private companies. The trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the oversight body of the FASB, recently rejected the concept of establishing a separate accounting board that would prescribe GAAP for private companies, sometimes termed “baby GAAP.” They concluded that the FASB should continue to set GAAP for all companies that report financial results in the United States.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is in the final stages of updating its generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) for financial statement audits of companies in the United States that are not subject to the rules and regulations established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Several years ago the AICPA decided its auditing standards should be updated to make them clearer, and at the same time strive to conform them to the standards issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.