Big GAAP and Little GAAP: has this idea's time come?

Accounting Today,  November, 2003  by Glenn Cheney

Tags: accounting, FINANCE, Financial Accounting Standards Board, GAAP, Qualitystandards

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BARON ROUGE, LA. -- The concept has been kicking around for years: the idea of one set of generally accepted accounting principles for big companies, and another for small companies. Or maybe the better division is between public companies and private companies.

Or maybe all companies--from the corner Mom-and-Pop shop to the ponderous multinational conglomerate--should use the same accounting methods, as they always have.

Earlier this year, Barry Melancon, chair and president of the American Institute of CPAs, called for "a very open discussion" over the wisdom and expediency of "differential accounting," the concept that was once ...