Accounting Standards Board Paper

Accounting Standards Board Paper

Dawn Church

ACC/541

November 18, 2013

Sonja Wilson

Accounting Standards Board Paper

As more businesses begin to operate on a global level, it is important that the rules and regulations that must be adhered to are accepted in every country. Right now, there are two different boards that regulate the accounting principles used, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board. These two boards are working on ways that they can converge and create universal standards that will be accepted everywhere. To successfully operate in the accounting profession, students must prepare to follow all rules and regulations. The master’s of science in accountancy program must be able to prepare students for the tasks they will be required to complete in the accounting profession.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, FASB, was created in 1972. The FASB became the official group in charge of issuing accounting standards in the United States (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, Chapter 1, 2011).  The mission set forth by the FASB is to, “establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information” (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2011, Chapter 1). The International Accounting Standards Board, IASB, was formed in 1973 with the purpose of simplifying the process of reconciling financial statements. The FASB is not a member of the IASB, so its standards have no authority within the United States. There was a move to align the FASB and IASB accounting standards during the first decade of the twenty first century. In 2002 the two boards announced their commitment to the creation of accounting standards that could be used both in the United States and worldwide for financial reporting. In 2004 the FASB and IASB also announced two other projects. The first project was to...