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).

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).

List of the Accounting Research Bulletins

General Principles

ARB No. 1: Disclosure of Accounting Policies (1939)
ARB No. 2: Unusual and Infrequently Occurring Events (1939)

Revenue Recognition

ARB No. 3: Revenue Recognition on Long-Term Contracts (1939)
ARB No. 43: Restatement and Revision of Accounting Research Bulletins (1953) - Consolidated multiple bulletins including revenue recognition principles.

Inventory and Costing

ARB No. 7: Inventory Pricing (1940)
ARB No. 29: Inventory Valuation for Income Taxes (1947)

Depreciation

ARB No. 18: Depreciation of Tangible Assets (1941)

Income Taxes

ARB No. 23: Income Taxes - Accounting and Reporting (1944)

Business Combinations and Consolidations

ARB No. 5: Consolidated Financial Statements (1939)
ARB No. 24: Consolidation of Parent and Subsidiary Companies (1944)

Liabilities and Contingencies

ARB No. 8: Treatment of Contingent Liabilities (1940)
ARB No. 39: Contingent Liabilities (1950)

Investments

ARB No. 21: Reporting of Investments (1943)

Extraordinary Items

ARB No. 32: Extraordinary Items and Prior Period Adjustments (1947)

Foreign Transactions

ARB No. 24: Foreign Exchange Adjustments (1944)

ARB No. 43, issued in 1953, consolidated and revised many of the previous bulletins into one comprehensive document. It provided guidance on:

Inventory valuation
Depreciation methods
Revenue recognition
Consolidations and business combinations

All of the accounting positions in the bulletins have since been superseded, but some of the text in the bulletins has been integrated into the successor accounting standards, which are part of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles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).