Accounting Practices Within Businesses

There are nine major regulatory bodies used to monitor accounting practices within businesses. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is one of these bodies. The function of the SEC is to protect investors. The SEC does this by ensuring that all investors have access to the financial statements that they need. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is another regulatory body. The AICPA was created to ensure that "accountants" pass a test insuring the government that they know what the laws of accounting are. They also keep track of accountants' professional ethics and their acts of conduct to make sure that the accountant is not doing anything illegal. The AICPA also creates a standard at which a company is audited. The third regulatory body for accounting is The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). This board manages and maintains all rules and regulations for any company that is not within the government. This board also establishes guidelines that ensure companies report their accounts properly. The fourth major regulatory body in accounting is the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). This body regulates the accounting practices for state and local government offices. The GASB allows for the financial reporting to be made to the public so that the state and local citizens know exactly what is going on.

The IRS is also one of the major regulatory bodies. This department was established to monitor the internal revenue laws of the country. It is supposed to help citizens to understand their responsibilities to pay taxes. The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) is one of the nine major bodies. This body is a touch different as it overseas two other bodies. The FAF created the FASB as well as the GASB and oversees both of these bodies. The Federal Accounting Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) is the seventh of the nine regulatory bodies. This body was created to make known the financial and budgetary needs for the American citizen as well as government bodies. The last two bodies are the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The IASB body creates and maintains the GAAP practices internationally through consultant practices. The PCAOB was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and oversees the auditors of public companies in order to protect investors as well as the public interest in a company.