Former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
The Accounting Principles Board (APB) is the former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). It was created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1959 and issued pronouncements on accounting principles until 1973, when it was replaced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).[1]
The APB was disbanded in the hopes that the smaller, fully independent FASB could more effectively create accounting standards. The APB and the related Securities Exchange Commission were unable to operate completely independently of the U.S. government.[2] According to the SEC, "the overall record of the APB was a reasonably good one, but it seems likely that a smaller full-time body directly in control of its research holds promise of more success".[3] Among others, Abraham Briloff was critical of some actions of the Accounting Principles Board. In response to APB 17, Briloff referred to the APB as the "Accounting Pragmatics Board".[4]
Of the 31 APB opinions and 4 statements, several were instrumental in improving the theory and practice of significant areas of accounting. Many have been superseded by FASB pronouncements; 19 opinions still stand as part of generally accepted accounting principles:[5]
Opinion Number
Subject
Description
Date Issued
2
Accounting for the Investment Credit
Discusses the Revenue Act of 1962 and provides accounting standards for the "investment credit."
December 1962
4
Accounting for the Investment Credit
Clarifies whether the “investment credit” should be considered as part of net income.
March 1964
6
Status of Accounting Research Bulletins
Reviewed the ARB and incorporated needed revisions.
October 1965
9
Reporting the Results of Operations
Discusses the reporting requirements of 1) net income and extraordinary items and 2) computation of earnings per
November 1966
10
Omnibus Opinion—1966
Provides authoritative guidance on consolidated financial statements, tax allocation accounts, taxes payable, and activities related to stocks.
December 1966
12
Omnibus Opinion—1967
Provides authoritative guidance on allowances, depreciation, deferred compensation, capital changes and debt.
December 1967
14
Accounting for Convertible Debt and Debt Issued with Stock Purchase
Provides authoritative guidance related to accounting and reporting for convertible debt.
March 1969
16
Business Combinations
Provides guidance regarding the appropriate accounting and reporting of business combinations.
August 1970
17
Intangible Assets
Provides accounting guidance for reporting goodwill and other intangible assets.
August 1970
18
The Equity Method of Accounting for Investments in Common Stock
Provides guidance for determining when the equity method should be applied to common stock.
March 1971
20
Accounting Changes
Defines various types of accounting changes and establishes guidelines for determining the appropriate reporting of each type.
July 1971
21
Interest on Receivables and Payables
Clarifies when interest should be applied to receivables and payables.
August 1971
22
Disclosure of Accounting Policies
Provides guidance related to the disclosure of accounting principles in the financial statements.
April 1972
23
Accounting for Income Taxes—Special Areas
Establishes accounting and reporting guidelines for subsidiaries, intangible development costs, and various
April 1972
25
Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees
Establishes accounting and reporting guidelines for stock provided as compensation to employees.
October 1972
26
Early Extinguishment of Debt
Provides guidelines for accounting for the differences between debt issues.
October 1972
28
Interim Financial Reporting
Clarifies accounting principles related to interim financial reporting.
May 1973
29
Accounting for Nonmonetary Transactions
Verifies that nonmonetary transactions should be valued based on their fair values, except in a limited number of cases in which nonmonetary exchanges are not considered to be the culmination of an earnings process.
30
Reporting the Results of Operations
Discusses the proper disclosure of discontinued operations, as well as the reporting of gains or losses from business disposals. It also defines those transactions that should be categorized as extraordinary items.
^Vangermeersch, Richard. "Accounting Principles Board (1959-1973)." History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia, edited by Michael Chatfield and Richard Vangermeersch. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996. Pp. 11-15.full-text
^Horngren, Charles T. "The marketing of accounting standards". The Journal of Accountancy (October 1973): 61–66.
^John C. Burton. "Some general and specific thoughts on the accounting environment". The Journal of Accountancy (October 1973): 40–46.
^Briloff, Abraham J. 1972. Unaccountable Accounting. New York: Harper & Row.
^Bragg, Steven M. (2003). The Ultimate Accountants' Reference: Including GAAP, IRS & SEC Regulations, Leases, and More. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-77155-4.
and 23 Related for: Accounting Principles Board information
some actions of the AccountingPrinciplesBoard. In response to APB 17, Briloff referred to the APB as the "Accounting Pragmatics Board". Of the 31 APB opinions...
(AICPA) Accounting PrinciplesBoard (APB) on July 1, 1973. The FASB is run by the nonprofit Financial Accounting Foundation. FASB accounting standards are...
AccountingPrinciplesBoard Opinions, Interpretations and Recommendations were published by the AccountingPrinciplesBoard from 1962 to 1973. The board...
accountingprinciples (GAAP) are accounting standards issued by national regulatory bodies. In addition, the International Accounting Standards Board...
Accepted AccountingPrinciples ( Canada) China – Chinese Accounting Standards (Zhōngguó qǐyè kuàijì zhǔnzé 中国企业会计准则) France – Generally Accepted Accounting Practice...
used for management accountingprinciples for these purposes is managerial costing principles. The two management accountingprinciples are: Principle of...
CAP is the predecessor of the AccountingPrinciplesBoard, itself a predecessor to the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Its formation and activities...
States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). It is maintained by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The codification is effective...
Inflation accounting comprises a range of accounting models designed to correct problems arising from historical cost accounting in the presence of high...
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is the source of generally accepted accountingprinciples (GAAP) used by state and local governments...
international accounting standards. Generally Accepted AccountingPrinciples (GAAP) is the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in...
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is a non-profit organization, founded in 2011 by Jean Rogers to develop sustainability accounting standards...
commonly called IFRS, are accounting standards issued by the IFRS Foundation and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). They constitute a...
(TV series), an American television series that aired in 2017 AccountingPrinciplesBoard, the former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified...
Review Board ARB assembly language, for GPU instructions ARBs, Accounting Research Bulletins, documents on accounting issues revised by the Accounting Principles...
Accounting Standard (abbreviated as Ind_AS) is the accounting standard adopted by companies in India and issued under the supervision of Accounting Standards...
(primarily Statements of Financial Accounting Standards), and are considered part of U.S. Generally accepted accountingprinciples. As of September 2006, 48 interpretations...
Carbon accounting (or greenhouse gas accounting) is a framework of methods to measure and track how much greenhouse gas (GHG) an organization emits. It...
establishing a seven person Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to replace the AccountingPrinciplesBoard, which had been making rules for the...
accepted accountingprinciples (US GAAP). 48 interpretations have been published as of September 2006. U.S. Generally accepted accountingprinciples Financial...
either of two accounting methods: accrual accounting, or cost accounting, or a combination of the two (OCBOA). A complete set of chart of accounts is also used...