ASC stands for what in U.S. accounting standards?

• A. American Standards for Corporate Accounting
• B. Accounting Standards Guide
• C. Accounting Standards Codification
• D. American System of Corporate Auditing

Answer: (C)

In U.S. accounting standards, ASC stands for Accounting Standards Codification. It is the single, authoritative source of U.S. GAAP, created by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to bring thousands of GAAP pronouncements into one integrated, easily searchable structure. The codification groups guidance into topics, subtopics, sections, and paragraphs, which makes it much easier to locate the specific rules that apply to a given accounting issue. This streamlined framework replaced the previous mix of standards, opinions, and interpretations, consolidating them under one umbrella. Updates to GAAP are issued as Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) that amend the codification, keeping the framework current. For example, you might see ASC 606 for revenue from contracts with customers or ASC 842 for leases.