Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

The AICPA published the generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS). GAAS are those guidelines which auditors must follow while conducting an audit of a company's financial statements. It must also be stated in the audit report that the audit was conducted following GAAS.

1) Determining whether amounts are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles addresses the proper measurement of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses, which includes all of the following EXCEPT the

B. An examination of financial statements and underlying records for conformance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) allow companies wide latitude in the choice of accounting policies. After a firm chooses a set of accounting policies, current accounting rules permit changes from one alternative policy to another at the discretion of the management. Since reported accounting figures are widely used by a number of external parties, managers of firms have incentives to choose accounting policies in order to influence the behavior of these parties. A variety of managerial motives for

Another GAAP is the full disclosure principle. This principle states that it is imperative to include all information in a financial statement of an entity that would affect the reader’s understanding of the statements. This principle also includes the reporting of any current accounting policies as well as any changes of them.

GAAP is implemented through measurement principles and disclosure principles. Measurement principles recognize and determine the timing and basis of items that enter the accounting cycle and impact the financial statements, such as the period in which transactions will be recorded. Disclosure principles determine what specific numbers and other information are essential to be presented in financial statements. Basically, GAAP is concerned with:

I. As discussed many times in ACC 310, the FASB is the current accounting standard setters in the U.S. as they are empowered by the SEC. Visit the FASB website at www.fasb.org and answer the following questions: (Do not cut and paste but answer in your own words. Any material quoted should be cited).

GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. This is a key component to know in any business. GAAP is based on established concepts, objectives, standards and conventions to guide how financial statements are prepared and presented. GAAP’s objective is to provide information that is useful to investors, lenders, or others that provide resources to a company or not-for-profit organization. GAAP includes principles on a few things. One is recognition. Recognition is defined as what items are to be listed on the financial statements. This includes assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. The next is measurement. This refers to the amounts that need to be reports of each part of the financial statement. Another is presentation. This refers to what is displayed and listed on the statement and how they are organized. And lastly there is disclosure. This includes the specific information that is the most important to the people that utilize the financial

21. Rules adopted by the accounting profession as guides in measuring, recording, and reporting the financial condition and activities of a business:

There are two sets of accounting standards that are used worldwide. One is the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). There is a huge desire for there to one set of accounting standards worldwide with the increase of companies performing business in many different countries and global expansion.

GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) determine the content and format of financial statements. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) requires publicly traded companies to issue annual audit. Concerns are about adequacy of disclosure; and behavioral implications are secondary.

The accrual basis of accounting conforms to the GAAP financial statements preparation provisions for external users. The US GAAP website describes financial guidelines, provides an understanding of the financial guidelines, and describes management's general flexibility. You must understand the flexibility in the GAAP standards and relate it to the individual company and its industry. Regulators view earnings quality as high when generally accepted accounting principles are adhered to.

Confidentiality – This calls upon any professional accountant to ensure that they do not disclose the accounting information of one company to any unauthorized parties. Such information should only be disclosed if the professional or legal right is granted by the relevant authority. Information obtained from a company should therefore not be used for any personal benefit by a professional accountant (Nobes, 2015).

GAAP is exceptionally useful because it attempts to regulate and normalize accounting definitions, assumptions, and methods. Because of generally accepted accounting principles one is able to presuppose that there is uniformity from year to year in the methods that are used to prepare a

The US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is a set of international accounting rules which originated from the United States. US GAAP can be defined as a set of accounting principles, standards and procedures that companies use to compile their financial statements (Elliott & Elliott, 2008). The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the other hand are accounting rules originating from the United Kingdom. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a set of accounting rules designed with a common global language for business affairs so that financial accounts of companies are understandable and comparable across international boundaries (Devinney, Pedersen & Tihanyi, 2010).