What Is the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB)?

The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is a private non-governmental organization that creates accounting reporting standards, or generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), for state and local governments in the United States.

Understand the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB)

The Government Accounting Standards Board is an independent, non-political organization founded in 1984, to promote clear, consistent, transparent and comparable financial reporting for state and local governments — while the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASB) does the same for the Federal government. Taxpayers, holders of municipal bonds, legislators and oversight bodies rely on this financial information to shape public policy and make investments.

The GASB’s mission is achieved through an open and independent process that encourages broad participation from all stakeholders and objectively considers and analyzes all their views. For example, in January 2018, GASB issued an Invitation to Comment for public feedback on the development of a comprehensive revenue and expense recognition model for state and local governments.

The GASB is subject to oversight by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) Board of Trustees, which selects its board members, and the FASB, both of which it funds. In turn, the GASB is funded primarily by accounting support fees paid by brokers and dealers who trade in municipal bonds. This funding mechanism was established by Section 978(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.