There are general rules and concepts that preside over the field of accounting. These general rules, known as basic accounting principles and guidelines, shape the groundwork on which more thorough, complex, and legalistic accounting rules are based. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) uses the basic accounting principles and guidelines as a foundation for their own comprehensive and complete set of accounting rules and standards.
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 company's financial statements. And even though variations might exist, one can make realistically confident conclusions when comparing one company to another, or when comparing one company's financial statistics to the statistics for the industry as a whole. Over the years the generally accepted accounting principles have become more multifaceted because financial transactions have become more intricate (Accounting Principles, 2011).
One theory that is used in accounting is that of Conservatism. This notion states that all liabilities should be accounted for even if there is a possibility that they will never take place. This same principle applies to liabilities but not to revenues. The only revenues that can be accounted for are the ones that have already taken place. Any liability that might happen should be recorded and at the higher possible amount. For instance, if a company is sued for any reason and the legal department determines that the possible liability to pay claims will be somew...
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...things are supposed to be done. In my research I hope to use these theories and principles to develop new ways of doing things so that the entire accounting field can benefit. But in order to do this I have to be aware of what the rules are and how they are applied so that anything I discover will be sure to adhere to the already accepted principles.
In order to advance a field and develop new concepts it is vital that one understands what has already been proposed and looked at in the past. This is why understanding the theories and principles that are already in place are so very important. There is no point in trying to reinvent the wheel if it is really not necessary. A good researcher should be able to develop what has already been done in order to move forward the thinking within the discipline. This is what I hope to be able to do with my research.
For example, the Revenue and Expense Recognition Principle, in which companies recognize revenues and expenses in the period of time when these are earned, these are the basis of Accrual Accounting. Another important concept considered is the Cash-Basis in Accounting, in which companies should recognize revenue once cash is taken and expense when cash is paid, but this is not always accepted. After analyzing both sides (the owners and the players), and considering the two versions of Income Statement we can realize that they agree in many points but the dispute is fundamentally in the following
The majorities of financial advisers do not have a formal accounting or tax background and thus have some challenges to overcome when reading tax returns of their clients. However they are still asked to help their clients in future planning. Since most accounting is to be done based on compliance with GAAP it would make sense to think that tax accounting should also be done this way, however both the IRS and the courts have stated that compliance with GAAP is of little significance when dealing with the objectives of tax accounting. The objectives of both accounting methods are simply different, because the primary goal of financial accounting is to provide useful information to all stakeholders and the primary goal of the income tax system is the equitable collection of revenue. Because of these differences it can be said that the users of accounting information are different for both methods. The assumption for financial accounting is the going-concern and the tax accounting system ignores this assumption. These differences give us the concept of timing differences and permanent differences. Understanding...
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Accounting Standards Codification TM. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), 2010. Web. 16 May 2014.
Include as discussion of the topic, subtopics, sections and subsections in your answer. The new Codification does not change GAAP, but all existing ...
To help accounting professionals easily navigate through 50-plus years of unorganized US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and standards the Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation approved the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (Codification.) By codifying authoritative US GAAP, FASB will provide users with real-time and accurate information in one location. Concurrently, FASB developed the FASB Codification Research System; a web-based system allowing registered users to electronically research accounting issues. Since 2009, the codification became the single source of nongovernmental authoritative GAAP.
Wolk, H., Dodd, J., & Tearney, M. (2003). Accounting Theory: Conceptual Issues in a Political and Economic Environment (6th edition ed.). South-Western College Pub.
In the world of international finance there are two major accounting systems; GAAP, which stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and IFRS, which stands for International Financial Reporting Standards. The United States prefers GAAP while the European market, as well as many other countries, prefers IFRS. By 2015 the Securities Exchange Commission is anticipating a total transfer to IFRS in the United States. Though the differences between GAAP and IFRS are few, they could affect accuracy of financial reporting throughout the world. It is important to understand the differences and similarities between both GAAP and IFRS if one is to globalize ones market (Logue).
In researching the topic of Non GAAP vs. GAAP Reporting, Group 6 was able to understand the effects that reporting has on the company and how it affects overall market conditions. We were able to find that the guidelines companies follow for reporting can be influenced and portrayed in a more appealing way if Pro Forma reporting is chosen.
Tax Law and Accounting In today's society, income taxes are something that almost everyone is familiar with. However, the tax law and general purpose of income taxes is something in which the general society gives little thought. In addition, few tax preparers are aware that differences exist between the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and tax accounting, not to mention the ramifications of avoiding or evading to properly complete the reporting of income taxes. This paper will discuss the objectives of modern tax law, the differences between Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and tax accounting, as well as the differences between tax evasion and tax avoidance.
This essay will discuss the influence NZ Framework brings to financial reporting standards that included NZ GAAP based on the debate between principles-based and rule-based. In particular, it will portray: (1) the nature and orientation of financial reporting framework and GAAP; (2) the main improvement of NZ Framework and the applications framework guided in NZ GAAP.
Private and public accounting has long been discussed and disputed in regards to financial reporting. Since the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was created in 1973, accountants have called for different accounting regulations for private and public accounting sectors, as private companies do not have the resources to meet the complex requirements of public companies. Private companies currently are not required by law to issue annual or quarterly financial statements (James, 2012). Private companies do, however, have the option to apply the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), cash basis, or accrual accounting to their financial statements (James, 2012).
Positive accounting theory is arguably an explanatory of accounting practice; economic based theory. RL Watts and JL Zimmerman developed positive accounting theory in 1980s at the William E School of Administration at the Rochester University. People do not know what they want at times. So there are different options available to accountants. There are some logical facts to choose one specific method. On choosing one specific method, accountants will maximize their own benefit first, and then company benefit, shareholder benefit and at last social benefits. A specific method will allow accountants to feel better to do their work as they like them the way they know and they way they are best at doing (Jayne Godfrey). For instance, accountant will write accumulated depreciation on asset value side for big company whereas when a poor balance sheet, it is better to put accumulated depreciation on credit side, so the company will have extra money in their debit (Ken Leo, John Hoggett, 2012). Accountants will use choice of accounting method depending on the situation. Positive accounting theory consists of different types of hypothesis such as bonus plan, political cost and debt hypothesis, which allow the managers to choose one specific method over another. It is accountants’ theory and it is descriptive and accountants will tell what to record.
Accounting is the pillar of every company to measure its growth, loss, revenue , capital, its really specify the real terms in foam of figures and sometimes in tables, in accounting there are certain rules are obtained to make more accuracy while playing with figures.
Different types of theoretical perspectives have been used over the years to justify why business organizations involved in CSR activities and voluntarily disclose of CSR information (Patten 1991; Arman& Siti-Nabiha 2009; Bayound et sl.2012). These CSR theoretical perspectives can be categorized into positive accounting theory and normative accounting theory. Normative accounting is a theory to prescribe how an accounting particular practices should be undertaken (Deegan and Unerman 2011). Kristian (2013) argued that normative theories lacking empirical background because they are not based on observations. In contrast, positive accounting theory is based on logical deduction (empirical observations).Therefore, it concentrates on the relationships between individuals who provide resources to a company (stakeholders) and how accounting is used to these relationships (Deegan and Unerman, 2011).
The Financial Accounting Standards Boards (FASB) defined conceptual framework as a consistent of underlying concepts and the ideas that describe the nature and general purpose of financial reporting which may lead to consistent standard in accounting (Deegan 2010). The role of the conceptual framework is to ensure that financial statements in accounting are free from bias and to provide useful information that is useful for user’s decision making. The standard-setting board also formulated a range of perceptions and theories related to accounting to trigger the objectives of financial reporting. The standard-setting board keeps issuing the conceptual framework over time to ensure that the conceptual framework’s objectives are improving to provide useful financial information. The innovative work on conceptual framework was embraced in the United States by the FASB in the early 1970s. The FASB accomplished disappointment in attempting to generate a standard that at the outset might not appear to present, especially testing theoretical issues. Regardless, while attempting to achieve concession on Statement of Financial Accounting Standard, tending to the theoretical issues produced critical matter for the board members. In this manner, throughout the outset the FASB understood the requirement for an obvious conceptual framework. Based on Hines’s argument, the conceptual framework is mean to provide the ability to increase self-regulate of a profession in order to neutralizing government interference from arising. Whether this argument has been accepted or not will be discussed in more detail with supported evidence to clarify the main point about Hines’s argument. Further details about this argument will discuss below.