GASB Objectives
State and local governments in the United States must use generally accepted accounting principles in their financial reports. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) provides these principles. The GASB is a private, non-governmental organization like most entities involved in creating GAAP. The vision of the GASB is to provide greater accountability and discernment by meeting or exceeding standards in public-sector financial reporting. The GASB's mission is to establish and improve standards of state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting ("GASB-Governmental Accounting Standards Board", n.d.).
The GASB accomplishes its mission by encouraging broad participation. The board considers the diverse views of its stakeholders in developing the guidelines issued. The Financial Accounting Foundation’s Board of Trustees oversees the board and its activities ("GASB-Governmental Accounting Standards Board", n.d.).
FASB Objectives
The FASB develops and interprets the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for public and some privately-held businesses in the United States. The FASB focuses on public and some privately-held businesses. It is the main mission of the FASB to provide firms with the GAAP guidelines by creating these standards and making them available for use ("FASB-Financial Accounting Standards Board", n.d.).
The FASB addresses various issues associated with the interpretation of the GAAP and publishes formal statements, reports and bulletins regarding changes in its policies and procedures. The FASB currently issues a set of pronouncements that address the standards, concepts and interpretations in detail for the general public. These pronouncements include: The Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts; Statements of Financial Accounting Standards; the FASB Interpretations and clauses; and FASB Technical Bulletins and Abstracts ("FASB-Financial Accounting Standards...