Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (United States)

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP or U.S. GAAP) is the accounting standard adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While the SEC previously stated that it intends to move from U.S. GAAP to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the latter differ considerably from GAAP and progress has been slow and uncertain. More recently, the SEC has acknowledged that there is no longer a push to move more U.S companies to IFRS so the two sets of standards will 'continue to coexist' for the foreseeable future. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP or U.S. GAAP) is the accounting standard adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While the SEC previously stated that it intends to move from U.S. GAAP to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the latter differ considerably from GAAP and progress has been slow and uncertain. More recently, the SEC has acknowledged that there is no longer a push to move more U.S companies to IFRS so the two sets of standards will 'continue to coexist' for the foreseeable future. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has published U.S. GAAP in Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) beginning in 2008. 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 (AICPA) subject to Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. The AICPA first created the Committee on Accounting Procedure in 1939 and replaced that with the Accounting Principles Board in 1959. In 1973, the Accounting Principles Board was replaced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) under the supervision of the Financial Accounting Foundation 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 (GASB), formed in 1984; and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), formed in 1990. Circa 2008, the FASB issued the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, which reorganized the thousands of U.S. GAAP pronouncements into roughly 90 accounting topics. In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a preliminary 'roadmap' that may lead the United States to abandon Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the future, 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, the International Accounting Standards Board is becoming more important in the United States.