Federal GAAP Hierarchy

FASAB Contact: Melissa Batchelor, BatchelorM@fasab.gov

Project Objective

SFFAS 34, The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Federal Entities, Including the Application of Standards Issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, incorporated the hierarchy of GAAP into FASAB’s authoritative literature. SFFAS 34 generally carried forward the hierarchy as set forth in Statement of Auditing Standards 91, Federal GAAP Hierarchy. SFFAS 34 provides the sources of accounting principles and the framework for selecting the principles used in the preparation of general purpose financial reports of federal entities that conform with GAAP.

As part of FASAB’s overall reexamination of existing standards, the Board will consider ways to improve, simplify, clarify, and streamline the federal GAAP hierarchy to ensure it is effective.

History of Board Deliberations