GAAP Policies and Procedures, Second Edition

Chapter 1. Researching GAAP Implementation Problems

Overview		1
	The GAAP Hierarchy	1
	Researching GAAP	3
	Researching Accounting Terminology	4
	Researching Accounting Policies and Procedures	5
	Researching Accounting Controls	5
	Researching Accounting Forms and Reports	6
	Researching Accounting Footnotes	7
	Researching Accounting Journal Entries	7
	Researching Accounting Recordkeeping	8

Overview

This chapter is designed to give pointers to additional information in areas besides GAAP concepts. Though there are Concepts and Examples sections in each of the following chapters that give summarized versions of the relevant GAAP issues, the primary focus of this book is to provide information about ancillary topics that allow one to implement GAAP, such as accounting policies and procedures, controls, and reporting footnotes. Unfortunately, there are no authoritative sources for these GAAP implementation topics. Instead, the sections of this chapter devoted to each implementation topic list some organizations that can provide additional information, as well as key books that summarize or discuss related topics, including the name of each book’s author, publisher, and date of publication. But first, we will address the GAAP hierarchy of accounting standards and rules, followed by the general approach for researching GAAP-related issues.

The GAAP Hierarchy

Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are standards and rules for reporting financial information, as established and approved by the Financial ...