he Mission of the Financial Accounting Standard Board
(In Part)
The mission of the Financial Accounting Standards
Board (FASB)is to establish and
... [Show More] improve standards of
financial accounting and reporting for the guidance
and education of the public, including issuers,
auditors and users of financial information.
Accounting standards are essential to the efficient
functioning of the economy because decisions about
the allocation of resources rely heavily on credible,
concise, transparent and understandable financial
information. Financial information about the
operations and financial position of individual
entities also is used by the public in making various
other kinds of decisions.
To accomplish its mission, the FASB acts to:
· Improve the usefulness of financial
reporting by focusing on the primary
characteristics of relevance and
reliability and on the qualities of
comparability and constancy;
· Keep standards current to reflect
changes in methods of doing business and
changes in the economic environment;
· Consider promptly any significant areas
of deficiency in financial reporting that
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might be improved through the standardsetting
process;
· Promote the international convergence of
accounting standards concurrent with
improving the quality of financial
reporting; and
· Improve the common understanding of the
nature and purposes of information
contained in financial reports.
b Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council
An Overview
The Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council,
FASAC or “the Council” for short, was formed in 1973
concurrent with the establishment of the Financial
Accounting Standards Board (the FASB or the Board).
The primary function of FASAC is to advise the Board
on issues related to projects on the Board’s agenda,
possible new agenda items, project priorities,
procedural matters that may require the attention of
the FASB, and other matters as requested by the
chairman of the FASB. FASAC meetings provide the
Board with an opportunity to obtain and discuss the
views of a very diverse group of individuals from
varied business and professional backgrounds.
The members of FASAC are drawn from the ranks of
CEOs, CFOs, senior partners of public accounting
firms, executive directors of professional
organizations, and senior members of the academic and
analyst communities, all disclosure.
Carrying Out the Mission
It is the job of the FASB to establish the “generally
accepted accounting principles,” or GAAP, to which
public financial reporting by U.S. corporations must
conform and to keep those principles current.
In conducting its activities, the Board strives to
carefully weight the views of its users, preparers,
and auditors of financial report. The Council
provides an important sounding board to help the FASB
understand what constituents are thinking about a
wide range of issues.
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FASAC’s role is not to reach a consensus or to vote
on the issues that it considers at its meetings.
Rather, FASAC operates as a window through which the
Board can obtain and discuss the representative views
of the diverse groups the FASB affects. Thus, FASAC
provides the forum [Show Less]