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Why is it important to have an established system of accounting and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles...

Why is it important to have an established system of accounting and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or rules that everyone must follow?  (Answer this question in 1-2 brief, well-developed paragraph(s))

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The Principles of GAAP Generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP for short, are the accounting rules used to prepare and standardize the reporting of financial statements, such as balance sheets, income statements and cashflow statements, for publicly traded companies and many private companies in the United States. GAAP-based income is measured so that the information provided on financial statements is useful to those making economic decisions about a company, such as potential investors and creditors. GAAP is implemented through measurement principles and disclosure principles. Measurement principles recognize and determine the timing and basis of items that enter the accounting cycle and impact the financial statements, such as the period in which transactions will be recorded.Disclosure principles determine what specific numbers and other information are essential to be presented in financial statements. Basically, GAAP is concerned with:

  • the measurement of economic activity;
  • the time when such measurements are to be made and recorded;
  • the disclosures surrounding this activity; and
  • the preparation and presentation of summarized economic information in financial statements.

Why GAAP?

Without GAAP, companies would be free to decide for themselves what financial information to report and how to report it, making things quite difficult for investors and creditors who have a stake in that company. Because financial statements prepared under GAAP are intended to reflect an economic reality, GAAP makes a company's financials comparable and understandable so that investors, creditors and others can make rational investment, credit and other financial decisions. In order to be useful and helpful to users, GAAP requires information on financial statements to be relevant, reliable, comparable and consistent.

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