accounting principle

The auditor should evaluate whether the comparability of the financial statements between periods has been materially affected by a change in accounting principle or by adjustments to correct a material misstatement in previously issued financial statements.

A big part of the problem is the myriad of standards--a complicated and unclear mishmash of over 200 pronouncements issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Accounting Principles Board (APB), the U.S.

The objective of this Statement is to incorporate the hierarchy of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for state and local governments into the Governmental Accounting Standards Board's (GASB) authoritative literature.

The company said that this compares to a profit before the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle of USD28m or USD1.29 per diluted share for the same period last year.

Retrospective application means that a change in accounting principle is treated by restating comparative financial statements to reflect the new method as though it had been applied all along.

Statement 154 requires retrospective application to prior periods' financial statements of a voluntary change in accounting principle unless it is impracticable.

Statement 154 also requires that a change in method of depreciation, amortization or depletion for long-lived, nonfinancial assets be accounted for as a change in accounting estimate that is effected by a change in accounting principle

Category (a) consists of FASB Statements and Interpretations, Accounting Principle Board (APB) Opinions and AICPA Accounting Research Bulletins.

When full retrospective application is not practical, the new approach improves comparability between periods by requiring that a new accounting principle be applied as of the earliest date possible.

The income effect of the change in accounting principle was taken from the annual report footnote describing the accounting change.

154 PROVIDING rules for how companies should treat changes in accounting principle. The statement requires retrospective application in all comparative financial statements for prior years.

TEI submits that, where recovery of an amount is highly speculative, the proper tax treatment, consistent with the generally accepted accounting principle of matching current expenses with current income, is to permit a current deduction for the levied charge.

Under the second part, a company that has initially adopted an accounting policy with a material impact would have to disclose information that includes: what gave rise to the initial adoption; the impact of the adoption; the accounting principle adopted and method of applying it; and the choices it had among accounting principles.

Adoption of FAS 116 is a change in accounting principle for financial statement purposes that may be applied retroactively or as a cumulative change adjustment.