FASB Plans Different Views for GAAP Codification

The Financial Accounting Standards Board plans to provide two different views of its new online FASB Accounting Standards Codification when it launches July 1.

The codification, which aims to provide a single source of authoritative, nongovernmental U.S. GAAP, will be available in both basic and professional views. The basic view of the FASB Codification will be available at no charge. It will include topically organized access to all of the standards, a utility to identify the location of the original standards, and basic print functionality.

The professional view, available for $850 per year for a single concurrent subscription, will provide the basic features, along with a sophisticated text search engine, a “go to” feature for quickly accessing content at a desired location, and a cross-reference feature for identifying the location of the original standards, with links to the proper sections.

In addition, the professional view will include a printer-friendly utility for viewing source references at the paragraph level. Archive features will allow users to access any previous version of the content. “Joining” features will be available for viewing or printing any user-selected excerpts. A glossary display feature will allow users to view definitions of accounting terms. A “what’s new” feature will point the way to recently issued content.

Another feature in the professional view, known as “what links here,” will identify content related to a specific paragraph. An e-mail feature will be available for sending comments to colleagues, and a personal annotation feature will let users keep notes about relevant standards. In addition, a “current location” feature will help users quickly assess where they are in the codification.

FASB also plans to sell a four-volume bound edition of the codification by the end of August.

For more information, visit http://asc.fasb.org.

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