Accounting and Financial Statements (Ethics)

Accounting and Financial Reporting is a rather board topic being defined in many ways. This report will refer to accounting and financial reporting as the way companies record their business transactions and report that information to their investors through Financial Statements. The topics covered will demonstrate how laws affecting accounting and financial reporting play a key role society today and the ethics behind these decisions. With the recent changes being made to the accounting profession, it is important to understand the new laws being enacted with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the new role of the SEC, and AICPA Rule 101 on independence. There are many ethical issues arising due to the behaviors of companies; especially in the way they display information to their investors and the rest of the public stakeholders.
GAAP – Accounting Foundations
The main guidelines for accounting and financial reporting are contained in the GAAP Hierarchy. The SEC has allowed va...