(l. to r.) FAF Chairman Jeffrey J. Diermeier, GASB Chairman David A. Vaudt, FAF President & CEO Teresa S. Polley, FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden
The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) have developed a strategic plan that articulates the long-range vision and mission of the organization.
The strategic plan affirms that the principal objective of developing the highest-quality financial accounting standards is to promote financial reporting that affords investors and other users of financial statements a clear window into the financial condition of companies—both public and private; not for profit organizations; and state and local governments. The plan also recognizes that a second critical element of our mission is to foster better understanding among all of our stakeholders as to how those standards should be applied and implemented.OUR MISSION IS TO ESTABLISH AND IMPROVE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING STANDARDS TO PROVIDE USEFUL INFORMATION TO INVESTORS AND USERS OF FINANCIAL REPORTS AND EDUCATE STAKEHOLDERS ON HOW TO MOST EFFECTIVELY UNDERSTAND ANDIMPLEMENT THOSE STANDARDS.
From the President's Desk
December/January 2015
There´s a song on George Harrison´s last album – posthumously released – that features a thought-provoking refrain. It goes like this: "If you don´t know where you´re going, any road will take you there."
The point, of course, is that if you don´t plot a carefully considered course for the future, you could, literally, wind up anywhere. That´s true for individuals. And it is certainly true for organizations.
And that is the central reason that the Financial Accounting Foundation, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board earlier this year began working with the FAF Board of Trustees to develop an updated strategic plan for the organization.
The goal was to establish clearly articulated, easily understood statements of our vision and our mission, accompanied by a short list of our top priorities. Our plan was to use this as an opportunity to initiate an in-depth dialogue about these issues, not only internally, but also with our stakeholders, and then craft a high-level planning document to guide us as we move forward in the months and years ahead.
After several months of work, we´re at a point where we would like to share a draft of this plan with you, our stakeholders – and we would welcome your comments.
To read the full column, click here.