MEDIA ADVISORY 06/16/09
FAF and AAA to Provide FASB Codification to Faculty and Students
Norwalk, CT, June 16, 2009—On July 1, 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is instituting a major change in the way accounting standards are organized. On that date, the FASB Accounting Standards Codification™ (FASB Codification) will become the single official source of authoritative, nongovernmental U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). After that date, only one level of authoritative U.S. GAAP will exist, other than guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). All other literature will be nonauthoritative.
As part of its educational mission, the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the oversight and administrative body of the FASB, in a joint initiative with the American Accounting Association (AAA), will provide faculty and students in accounting programs at post-secondary academic institutions with the Professional View of the online FASB Codification.
Accounting Program Access—No Cost to Individual Faculty or Students
The Professional View of the FASB Codification will be accessible at no cost to individual faculty and students, through the AAA’s Academic Access program, available to Registered Accounting Programs. The Professional View will provide advanced search functions with special utilities to assist in the navigation of content, representing the fully functional view of the FASB Codification that will be used by auditors, financial analysts, investors, and preparers of financial statements. All of the features that have been available with the verification version currently at http://asc.fasb.org are included with the Professional View.
AAA Academic Access
The AAA will provide direct services to accounting departments through its Academic Access program; issuing authentication credentials for faculty and students through Registered Accounting Programs, at a low annual institutional fee of $150. Information about this program is available on the AAA website at http://aaahq.org/FASB/Access.cfm.
Transitional Access—from July 1 through August 31, 2009
The AAA will provide credentials to individual faculty and students, at no charge, during the transition period before the beginning of the fall semester when faculty and students will receive credentials for access through their Registered Accounting Programs.
The FAF, FASB, and AAA are enthusiastic about this new initiative and understand the value of this program to accounting education and scholarship, in addition to its benefit to faculty and students to have access to the advanced view of U.S. GAAP that will be used by accounting professionals.
About the Financial Accounting Foundation
The FAF is responsible for the oversight, administration, and finances of both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and its counterpart for state and local government, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. The FAF also is responsible for selecting the members of both Boards and their respective Advisory Councils.
About the Financial Accounting Standards Board
Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.
About the American Accounting Association
The American Accounting Association (AAA) brings together the academic community to further accounting education and research and to advance the discipline and profession of accounting; achieving its mission through expanding knowledge and idea development, promoting effective learning, advancing faculty careers, and informing and influencing policy and practice. For more information about the AAA, visit http://aaahq.org/.