There are two commonly followed accounting principles, GAAP and IFRS.
General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
A common set of accounting rules, standards, and procedures issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). In the U.S. any Public Company must follow GAAP rules when compiling their financial statements.
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
A set of accounting rules for the financial statements of public companies intended to make them consistent, transparent, and easily comparable around the world. The IFRS is issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
The four basic tenets of the IFRS are
- Clarity
- Relevance
- Reliability
- Comparability