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Article: Accounting alphabet soup: can software keep up in moving from FASB and GAAP to IASB and IFRS?(SPECIAL REPORT)
- Article from:
- The NonProfit Times
- Article date:
- January 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 NPT Publishing Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Nonprofits in the United States are required to manage and report financial activity according Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP). That they are not called Carved in Stone Accounting Principles (CISAP) is an acknowledgement that the organization of financial statements is as much art as science.
Many financial professionals prefer to exercise their creativity by following the rules with precision and elegance. Once a problem is solved, the solution is repeated as required and the underlying principles are seldom re-examined. "Why did the auditors cross the road?," asks one of the few jokes about the profession. ...