<P> In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a preliminary "roadmap" that may lead the United States to abandon Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the future, and to join more than 100 countries around the world instead in using the London - based International Financial Reporting Standards . As of 2010, the convergence project was underway with the FASB meeting routinely with the IASB . The SEC expressed their aim to fully adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in the U.S. by 2014 . With the convergence of the U.S. GAAP and the international IFRS accounting systems, as the highest authority over International Financial Reporting Standards, the International Accounting Standards Board is becoming more important in the United States . </P> <P> Financial reporting should provide information that is: </P> <Ul> <Li> Useful to present to potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and other financial decisions </Li> <Li> Helpful to present to potential investors and creditors and other users in assessing the amounts, timing, and uncertainty of prospective cash receipts about economic resources, the claims to those resources, and the changes in them </Li> <Li> Helpful for making financial decisions </Li> <Li> Helpful in making long - term decisions </Li> <Li> Helpful in improving the performance of the business </Li> <Li> Useful in maintaining records </Li> </Ul> <Li> Useful to present to potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and other financial decisions </Li>

Who maintains gaap rules why is this separate from the responsibilities of government