Federal Government Financial Accounting and Reporting Entities

Under the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950, the General Accounting Office (GAO) is responsible for establishing accounting standards for Federal agencies. To carry out this responsibility, GAO first established standards in 1952 and has revised them periodically. Since recent years have seen many advances in accounting theory and practice, we have decided to reexamine these Federal Government standards first in concept and then in practice to see if changes are needed or desirable. Our first goal is to develop a conceptual framework within which consistent Federal accounting requirements can be maintained. Once this framework is completed, we will reevaluate the accounting, reporting , and operational requirements to determine the needed changes. We expect the long-range benefit of this effort to be more useful information in financial reports.