Accounting and Auditing Research and Databases: Practitioner's Desk Reference

The FASB Accounting Standards Codification Research System (the Codification)

The Codification enables comprehensive, but not complete, research on accounting issues for the private sector. The Codification includes essential⁸ content and implementation guidance from the highest four (levels A–D) of the five-level GAAP hierarchy previously referenced and organizes it into approximately 90 topical areas described later in this chapter. A master glossary is also contained in the Codification.

To provide users with a more comprehensive database, the Codification team included limited SEC content (Regulation S-X, Financial Reporting Releases, Accounting Series Releases, Interpretive Releases, Staff Accounting Bulletins, EITF Topic D, and SEC Staff Observer comments) in the Codification. SEC Codification content is labeled with the letter “s.” The included SEC literature is for user convenience only and the researcher should be aware that SEC sources follow a traditional legal hierarchy.

Upon adoption, the Codification superseded all preexisting nongovernmental accounting and reporting standards. The Codification replaced the prior five-level GAAP⁹ hierarchy with two levels: authoritative and nonauthoritative. Thus the Codification supersedes the previously discussed standards and implementation guidance issued by the FASB and prior standard setters.