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.