Guide to Finding
Accounting Information
Accounting standards - electronic access | Accounting standards - print access
How to retrieve a FAS | What if I do not know the FAS number?
The rules and pronouncements used to determine the correct United States financial accounting treatment is referred to as GAAP, short for generally accepted accounting principles. A number of different entities, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA),the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) work together in order to set financial accounting standards. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) sets financial accounting standards for state and local governmental entities.
Database: Accounting Research Manager
Database with on-campus and remote access
Contains the full text of all the FASB, AICPA, PCAOB, GASB and IASB authoritative literature, as well as most semi-authoritative pronouncements. Also provides plain-English summaries of GAAP.
Database: Financial Accounting Research System (FARS)
Available in Bruno Library
This electronic database contains the complete text of all FASB pronouncements; including those which have been superseded; current text of General Standards and Industry Standards; abstracts of issues discussed by the Emerging Issues Task Force; staff implementation guides; and a comprehensive topical index.
Web: Financial Accounting Standards Board website
http://www.fasb.org
The full text Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (FAS), Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC) and FASB Interpretations (FIN) in pdf format are available on FASB's web site. The Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) Abstracts are also available. To access these, click on "Pronouncements and EITF Abstracts", located in the left-hand column of the home page.
Printed editions of most of the official pronouncements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants are also available at the reserve desk in the Bruno Library. These include:
Financial Accounting Standards Board
Invitations to Comment (Reserve HF 5661 .F55x)
Discussion Memoranda (Reserve HF 5601 .F53b)
Exposure Drafts (Reserve HF 5601 .F53a)
Interpretations (Reserve HF 5681 .B2 F55a)
Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (Reserve HF 5601 .F53c)
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Technical Practice Aids (Reserve HF 5616 .U5 A585)
Industry Audit Guides (Reserve, various call numbers)
AICPA Audit and Accounting Manual (REF HF 5667 .A4)
Professional Standards (Reserve HF 5667 .A55)
Statement of Audit Standards (Reserve HF 5667 .C62x)
Accounting Trends & Techniques (REF HF 5681 .B2 A35)
The highest level accounting standard in the United States is the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (FAS) issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). These are available in several different sources.
Web: Financial Accounting Standards Board website
http://www.fasb.org
Click on "FASB Statements & Interpretations", located in the left-hand column of the home page. Standards are listed in numerical order.
Database: Financial Accounting Research System (FARS)
Available in Bruno Library
Open FARS and click on "Original Pronouncements." Scroll down to "Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (FAS)" and click on the red dot.
Database: Accounting Research Manager
Database with on-campus and remote access
Click on "FASB" in the Standards column.
Often when trying to locate the correct GAAP treatment of a financial accounting situation, the correct FAS number is not known. Several sources provide overviews of generally accepted accounting principles and can provide a citation to the correct FAS(s).
Database: Accounting Research Manager
Database with on-campus and remote access
Click on "Accounting Standards" for summarized guidance by financial accounting topic.
Print: Miller GAAP Guide
Available at the Bruno Library reserve desk, call number HF 5616 .U5 M5
Provides explanations to generally accepted accounting principles. Updated every year.
Database: Financial Accounting Research System (FARS)
Available in Bruno Library
Click on "Current Text" for explanatory material. Or click on "Topical Index" to find an alphabetical listing of accounting terms with links to where the term is defined in the GAAP accounting literature.
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