Accounting and Auditing Research and Databases: Practitioner's Desk Reference

Governmental Accounting Sources (FASAB and GASB)

Remember that when researching U.S. federal government entities’ accounting issues, use The FASAB Handbook of Accounting Standards and Other Pronouncements, As Amended (FASAB Handbook) by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB). This document is found at the FASAB's website under the “Standards” tab (see Exhibit 4-1 showing the FASAB's website).

Exhibit 4-1 FASAB Website

While the FASAB Handbook is available for free downloading, the document is in a nonsearchable PDF file. However, it contains extensive cross-referencing and indexing. The current FASAB Handbook is the most authoritative source of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for federal entities. The table of contents of the current FASAB Handbook is provided in Exhibit 4-2.

Exhibit 4-2 FASAB Codification

Federal GAAP consists of a four-level hierarchy of accounting authorities. The highest level consists of FASAB Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFASs) and interpretations. The interpretations are narrow in scope and attempt to clarify the original meaning of the Standards. FASAB Technical Bulletins and external sources cleared by the FASAB are in level B. Technical Bulletins are released when the nature of an issue does not ...