What are Accounting Research Bulletins?

Accounting Research Bulletins are issuances of the Committee on Accounting Procedure (CAP), which was part of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The bulletins were issued during the 1939 to 1959 time period, and were an early effort to rationalize the general practice of accounting as it existed at that time. Some of these issuances dealt with topics that were highly specific to the era, such as Accounting for Special Reserves Arising Out of the War (ARB 13) and Renegotiation of War Contracts (ARB 15).

All of the accounting positions in the bulletins have since been superseded, but some of the text in the bulletins has been integrated into the successor accounting standards, which are part of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The best known of the accounting research bulletins was ARB No. 43, which aggregated the information found in the earlier bulletins.

The CAP was replaced by the Accounting Principles Board, which in turn was later replaced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The FASB continues to issue accounting standards on a variety of topics, most of which are aligned with the standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).