Development of financial accounting standards
Several organizations are considerable in the establishment of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for businesses or governmental organizations. These are the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Accounting Association, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Executives Institute, and the Institute of Management Accountants. Every organization has contributed in a different way to the development of GAAP and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is a professional organization of CPAs. Numerous of these CPAs are in public accounting practice. Until recent years the AICPA was the main organization in the development of accounting standards. In a period of 20-year ending in 1959 the AICPA Committee on Accounting Procedure issued 51 Accounting Research Bulletins recommending certain principles or practices. From 1959 throughout 1973 the committee's successor the Accounting Principles Board (APB) issued 31 numbered Opinions that CPAs commonly are required to follow. Through its Journal of Accountancy, the monthly magazine, its research division, and its other divisions and committees. The AICPA keep on influencing the development of accounting standards and practices. Two of its committees 1) the Accounting Standards Committee and 2) the Auditing Standards Committee are particularly influential in providing input to the Financial Accounting Standards Board the current rule-making body and to the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory agencies.