Financial reporting is a communication between governments and financial report users. The GASB’s goal is to set accounting standards that yield information that users need to assist them in making decisions about a government and to assist them in assessing whether it has been accountable for the resources that have been entrusted to it.
While we believe sound financial reporting helps financial report users to make informed decisions, it is important to note that the GASB always carefully weighs the cost of making changes against the benefit of those changes to users.