The Financial Accounting Standards Board is board of seven independent members who are accounting professionals that was developed in 1973. This seven member group is responsible for communicating the standards that are in place for financial accounting and reporting that takes place in the United States. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are the standards that are used by the FASB to govern the way in which corporations prepare their financial reports. This process of utilizing these standards to maintain and report accounting files is the only method that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will accept. The members include; Michael Crooch, CPA, George Batavick, CPA, Edward Trott, CPA, Leslie Seidman, CPA, Donald Young, CFA, Robert Herz, CPA and Thomas Linsmeier, CPA .
The US Securities and Exchange Commission was created in 1934 at the same time that the Securities Exchange Act was passed. The law was “designed to restore investor confidence in our capital markets by providing investors and the markets with more reliable information and clear rules of honest dealing.” (US SEC Website) There are five presidentially appointed Commissioners with a five year term and each member’s term is staggered off the other. “One of them is designated by the President as Chairman of the Commission — the agency's chief executive. By law, no more than three of the Commissioners may belong to the same political party, ensuring non-partisanship. The agency's functional responsibilities are organized into four Divisions and 18 Offices, each of which is headquartered in Washington, DC. The Commission's approximately 3,800 staff are located in Washington and in 11 Regional Offices throughout the country.” (US SEC Website) The SEC’s responsibilities are broken d ...