{"id":68401,"date":"2019-07-13T13:15:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T11:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.test\/en-za\/blog\/?post_type=sage_glossary&#038;p=68254"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:39:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:39:52","slug":"generally-accepted-accounting-principles-gaap","status":"publish","type":"sage_glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/generally-accepted-accounting-principles-gaap\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)?"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Glossary definition<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat are Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"What are Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)?\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/generally-accepted-accounting-principles-gaap\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, commonly abbreviated to GAAP, are the set of standardised principles accountants are required to follow in the preparation of financial documents. GAAP accounting practice is mandatory for CPAs in all publicly traded companies and are commonly-followed in the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specific GAAP standards vary between jurisdictions, but typically require basic compliance in the following three categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>general assumptions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>rules or principles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>constraints or restrictions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>GAAP principles are set in place to ensure consistency and transparency across organisations and to eliminate the potential for misleading financial reporting practices. These general accounting principles promote uniformity between organisations and allow for the accurate comparison of financial documents.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice enewsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-84fe79b5-668d-41f8-a0cc-6229018c4ac9\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1181404518-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1181404518-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, commonly abbreviated to GAAP, are the set of standardised principles accountants are required to follow in the preparation of financial documents. GAAP accounting practice is mandatory for CPAs in all publicly traded companies and are commonly-followed in the private sector. Specific GAAP standards vary between jurisdictions, but typically require basic compliance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":708,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[312,321,203],"class_list":["post-68401","sage_glossary","type-sage_glossary","status-publish","hentry","tag-audit","tag-compliance","tag-regulation"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice South Africa","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/68401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/sage_glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/68401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}