Abebe Manaye(አበበ ማናዬ)

Financial Accounting

Consider that financial accounting is targeted toward a broad base of external users, none of whom control the actual preparation of reports or have access to underlying details. Their ability to understand and have confidence in reports is directly dependent upon standardization of the principles and practices that are used to prepare the reports. Without such standardization, reports of different companies could be hard to understand and even harder to compare.

Standardization derives from certain well-organized processes and organizations. In the United States, a private sector group called the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is primarily responsible for developing the rules that form the foundation of financial reporting. The FASB’s global counterpart is the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The IASB and FASB are working toward convergence, such that there may eventually be a single harmonious set of international financial reporting standards (IFRS). This effort to establish consistency in global financial reporting is driven by the increase in global trade and finance. Just as standardization is needed to enable comparisons between individual companies operating within a single economy, so, too, is standardization needed to facilitate global business evaluations.

Financial reports prepared under the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) promulgated by such standard-setting bodies are intended to be general purpose in orientation. This means they are not prepared especially for owners, or creditors, or any other particular user group. Instead, they are intended to be equally useful for all user groups. As such, attempts are made to keep them free from bias (neutral). Standard-setting bodies are guided by concepts that are aimed at production of relevant and representationally faithful reports that are useful in investment and credit decisions.