U.S. GAAP standards have been cobbled together and revised by various parties for more than 50 years. Their patchwork nature has made it time consuming and complex to research accounting/financial reporting issues. In this course, we will discuss how the FASB ASC presents all relevant U.S. accounting and financial reporting literature in a single authoritative offering.
Join Lynn Fountain, CPA, CGMA, CRMA, as she examines concepts critical to use the Codification in critical real-world applications. Before the Codification, accounting standards lacked a consistent and logical structure.
For the last 50 years, U.S. GAAP consisted of thousands of standards with multiple standard setters. Old U.S. GAAP were difficult to interpret, and complexity of the standards made it hard for users to stay up to date. Problems with the old standards increased financial reporting risk and led to inefficiencies that increased cost.
Generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) are a set of rules that encompass the details, complexities, and legalities of business and corporate accounting. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) uses GAAP as the foundation for its comprehensive set of approved accounting methods and practices. GAAP incorporates key concepts that should be employed when developing financial information and financial statements.
Publication Date: May 2019
Designed For
Accountants and Finance professionals, CFOs, CEOs, Legal and Compliance professionals,
Board members and Audit Committee members, and any professional having a need to research FASB standards.
Topics Covered
- About the Codification
- Simplifying Codification
- Standard Setters
- Codification Research System
- Codification Structure
- Using the Research Codification System
- Critical Codification concepts using real-world applications
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the history behind GAAP and the Codification project
- Describe how to simplify the Codification
- Differentiate the various standard setters
- Identify the benefits and application of the Codification Research System
- Recognize how to navigate the Codification Structure
- Identify how to use the Research Codification System
- Recognize and apply research processes through an example
- Describe the result of the FASB Codification process
- Identify the FASB Interpretation Statements (FIN)
- Recognize the purpose of a Staff Accounting Bulletin issued by the SEC
- Describe the term "topic" related to the Codification system
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Accounting (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Lynn Fountain
Lynn Fountain has over 38 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 20 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing and risk management. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Lynn has held two Chief Audit Executive (CAE) positions for international companies. In one of her roles as CAE, she assisted in the investigation of a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme perpetrated by a vendor that spanned 7 years and implicated 20 employees. The fraud was formally investigation by the FBI and resulted in 5 indictments estimating a $13M fraud loss.
Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own consulting and training practice. She is a highly sought-after trainer and international speaker. In addition, Ms. Fountain has assisted numerous companies with enterprise risk management frameworks, internal audit processes and financial accounting. She also serves as a discussion leader for the AICPA for numerous classes finance, accounting and risk management topics.
Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. Her first book released in 2015 by the Institute of Internal Auditors Foundation is entitled “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations”. Her second book “Leading the Internal Audit Function” was released in October 2015 by Taylor & Francis Publications. This book serves as the initial launch for a series of leading practice internal audit and information technology publications. Her third book “Ethics and the Internal Auditor’s Dilemma” was released in December 2016.
Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CPA, CGMA, CRMA credentials.