Tax Guru-Ker$tetter Letter

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Falling Through The GAAP
Another call for changes to the GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) that have been used since 1921 in order to make the information provided to investors more practical. This debate, especially the focus on past data and lack of forward looking info, has been going on for decades. We discussed this 30 years ago in my college accounting classes. The conclusion then seemed to be that, until they can come up with the perfect answer to providing future information, such as a crystal ball or a time machine, it's best to just stick with what we have, which is really a mish-mash (technical accounting term) of methods of reporting past financial performance. I'm not very optimistic that these current calls for reform will be any more productive than those same demands 30 years ago.
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 6/25/2003 10:44:00 AM Send this post: