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The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) within the United States in the public's interest. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U.S. It was created in 1973, replacing the Accounting Principles Board and the Committee on Accounting Procedure of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The FASB's mission is "to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information."

The FASB is not a governmental body. The SEC has statutory authority to establish financial accounting and reporting standards for publicly held companies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Throughout its history, however, the Commission’s policy has been to rely on the private sector for this function to the extent that the private sector demonstrates ability to fulfill the responsibility in the public interest.^{[citation needed]}

The FASB is part of a structure that is independent of all other business and professional organizations. Before the present structure was created, financial accounting and reporting standards were established first by the Committee on Accounting Procedure of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (1936–1959) and then by the Accounting Principles Board, also a part of the AICPA (1959–73). Pronouncements of those predecessor bodies remain in force unless amended or superseded by the FASB.

The FASB is subject to oversight by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), which selects the members of the FASB and GASB and funds both organizations. The Board of Trustees of the FAF, in turn, is selected in part by a group of organizations including:

• American Accounting Association
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• CFA Institute
• Financial Executives International
• Government Finance Officers Association
• Institute of Management Accountants
• National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers
• Securities Industry Association

The FASB is in the middle of a convergence project with the International Accounting Standards Board to make it easier for companies to report financial statements on an international level, so that separate financial statements are not needed for U.S. and international markets. As part of the convergence project, the FASB has started transitioning from the principle of historical cost to fair value.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: List of FASB Pronouncements

In order to establish accounting principles, the FASB issues pronouncements publicly, each addressing general or specific accounting issues. These pronouncements are:

• Statements of Financial Accounting Standards
• Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts
• FASB Interpretations
• FASB Technical Bulletins
• EITF Abstracts

• FASB Interpretation Number (FIN)
• International Public Sector Accounting Standards
• International Financial Reporting Standards
• FASB 133

• Pooling of interests (Links to the IAS rules on pooling, which are not the same as FASB's)
• Stock option expensing

• International Accounting Standards Board

• FASB Official Website
• Lawrence A. Cunningham, Private Standards in Public Law (Article on FASB's Policy of Copyrighting and Selling its Materials Despite Being Funded by Public Company Fees), Michigan Law Review (2005)