Closing the GAAP: Copyright, Fair Use, and Public Access to FASB's Accounting Standards Codification

abstract

Should a teacher need permission to put an accounting rule on a lecture slide? Should an attorney be barred from linking to the text that supports their advice? The Financial Accounting Foundation's access terms impose such restrictions on generally accepted accounting principles, even though U.S. law requires public companies and many private businesses to follow them. This article examines the Codification's role in public law and argues that fair use and decisions concerning standards adopted into law support sharing the complete text.

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citation

Bommarito, M. J., II (2026). Closing the GAAP: Copyright, Fair Use, and Public Access to FASB's Accounting Standards Codification. SSRN. A legal and accounting policy article arguing that the public must be able to access, preserve, share, study, and explain the complete accounting standards that U.S. law requires people and organizations to follow..