Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - GAAP

Categories: Accounting, Regulations

See: GAAP.

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Finance: What is GAAP?21 Views

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Finance allah shmoop what is a gap Yeah not this

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Nor this Nor this gap is an accounting term that

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stands for generally accepted accounting principles And it is basically

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the accounting code of hammurabi or the ten commandments that

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is There are lots and lots and lots of ways

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that clever bean counters could define and or account for

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the notion of profits lots of ways to recognize revenues

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versus sales and lots of ways to think about how

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much that ten commandment frisbee factory is appreciating in value

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each year Well the world according to gaff outlines the

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structure under which accountants must you know count beans the

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basic idea Well sort of in the vein of the

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golden rule that is do unto others as you'd have

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them do unto you Gap requires that accountants always present

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their numbers in the most reasonably conservative manner possible such

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that they never overstate how profitable or how well the

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company is doing Gap is the framework the map the

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religion and the destinations we want to go inside this

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neck of the accounting woods are three income statement cash

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flow statement balance sheet will none of these three key

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elements mean anything however unless they all follow the same

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rules they're linked like gears in an overpriced swiss watch

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and the eighteen zillion individual rules on their own mean

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nothing like what is revenue Is it a dollar you

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collect in cash at a video game arcade booth Is

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it the promise to pay that dollar in a year

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Well there are lots of ways to account for this

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notion of revenue so don't think of gaff isa siri's

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of rules rather think of it as this you know

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key mathey kind of finance e a county religion it's

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all about quote doing right unquote and part of that

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issue is a natural conservatism that has to come with

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it kind of amish you'd think would be a good

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gap Accountants Well if you're thinking about how to account

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for five dollars promised to you in a year well

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you have to recognize that there is risk you won't

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collect it and that money a year from now is

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worth less than its face value and well that you

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should categorise those revenues way off in the distance differently

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from how you'd categorize collecting the five dollar bill in

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cash that day and putting it in your cigar box

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there right So gap is basically the force in accounting 00:02:26.44 --> [endTime] May it be with you

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