Generally accepted accounting principles

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

The overall conventions, rules, and procedures that define accepted accounting practice at a particular time in the U.S.

---

generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)

Guidelines and rules for use by accountants in preparing financial statements. These principles, which evolved over a period of years, are designed to help ensure that financial data are presented fairly and are comparable from firm to firm and from industry to industry. In expressing an opinion on financial statements, certified public accountants are required to stipulate whether their statements have been prepared according to generally accepted accounting principles.

---

Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which are the basis for financial reporting by the private sector in the United States, have been codified by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) into a single authoritative source.

The codification is designed to strengthen the economic system by organizing standards from various sources into approximately 90 accounting topics and providing uniform criteria for communicating data. The code is scheduled for final adoption at the end of 2008 following a one-year verification period.