Accounting Standards Board Paper

Accounting Standards Board Paper

Accounting Standards Boards
Jennifer Watson
ACC/541 Accounting Theory and Research
Shonda Meadows
August 1, 2011

Accounting Standards Boards
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are currently working on a joint venture referred to as the convergence project. By combining efforts IASB and FASB will adopt compatible and high-quality solutions to the existing and future accounting issues. In this paper the subject to describe is the brief history and relationship between IASB and FASB, detail the IASB equivalent to the FASB pronouncements along with how the MSA program prepares the student to enter the accounting vocation.
Brief History and Relationship
Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting that govern the preparation of financial reports by nongovernmental entities (Financial Accounting Standards Board, n.d.). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants recognize those standards as authoritative. Such standards are important to the efficient functioning of the economy because decisions about the allocation of resources rely heavily on credible, concise, and understandable financial information (Financial Accounting Standards Board, n.d.). The main objective, mission, of Financial Accounting Standards Board is “to establish and improve standards of financial accounting in the presentation of audited financial statements and to promote their world-wide acceptance and observance” (Rao, n.d.).
Originally, the FASB issued two types of pronouncements, Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFASs) and Interpretations. SFASs conveyed required accounting methods and procedures for specific accounting issues and officially created Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey,...