下面是八个广泛接受的会计原则:

历史成本原则。历史成本原则是指企业的各种资产应按照其取得时所实际支付的现金及其他等价物入账并在财务报表上反映。例如，某项资产可能是通过偿还债务而取得。在这种情况下，取得该项资产的成本等于未来将要支付吸纳进的现值。历史成本原则为初始确认日提供指南。

收入实现原则。收入实现原则规定在什么时候应当将收入入账并在财务报表上反映。收入用所取得的资源或所提供产品或服务的市场价值来计量。收入实现原则要求把所有的折扣视为收入的调整。例如，在确定含有销售折扣的销售收入时，销售净收入等于销售总收入减去销售折扣。

配比原则。会计的一个主要目标是通过将费用与收入相配比，确定会计期间的净收入。配比原则认为收入稳定地流入企业，它要求①在会计期末“截止”收入;②计量会计期间的收入;③确定为获得这些收入而发生的费用;④总收入减去费用等于期间的净收入。

客观性原则。客观性原则坚持会计核算应当以客观证据为依据。产生于本企业以外的可验证的商业文件是证明合同交易的最客观的证据。只要可能，会计资料应该以这些可验证的文件为依据。

完全披露原则。完全披露原则要求企业财务报表应该清楚地报告企业经济活动的所有相关信息。完全披露原则基于相关性的主要特征。完全披露原则要求报告有利于做出不同决策的所有信息且会计信息必须易于理解。完全披露原则还要求企业在财务报表的注释里披露所采用的主要会计政策和特殊会计政策。

一致性原则。在许多情况下，同一会计目标可以有两种或更多种会计处理方法或会计程序。为了确保不同会计期间会计资料的高度可比性，在确定不同环境下不同跨级处理方法的有效性时，仍有必要坚持一致性原则。任何不符合一致性原则的跨级处理方法和会计程序都应该在财务报表里进行披露。

谨慎性原则。谨慎性原则要求会计人员在估计、评价和选择会计程序时应当保持谨慎小心的态度。谨慎性原则通常导致过分保守，从而导致低估资产和所有者权益或高估成本。

重要性原则。对于一些不重要的会计事项，严格坚持会计原则是不必要的。因此，会计人员必须在遵守会计原则与保持精确性之间进行权衡。在会计核算的成本相对很大，而且不完全遵守会计原则对会计报表并无实质性影响的情况下，完全遵守会计原则是不必要的。从周围的环境来看，如果忽略某个会计事项会改变或影响一个人的理性判断，那么这个会计事项就是重要的。

Reading Material

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

In the U.S.，Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are accounting rules used to prepare，present，and report financial statements for a wide variety of entities，including publicly traded and privately held companies，non-profit organizations，and governments.The term is usually confined to the United States; hence it is commonly abbreviated as U.S.GAAP or simply GAAP.However，in the theoretical sense，Generally Accepted Accounting Principles encompass the entire industry of accounting，and not only the United States.Outside the academic context，GAAP means U.S.GAAP.

Similar to many other countries practicing under the common law system，the United States government does not directly set accounting standards，in the belief that the private sector has better knowledge and resources.U.S.GAAP is not written in law，although the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC)require that it be followed in financial reporting by publicly traded companies.Currently，the Financial Accounting Standards Board(FASB) is the highest authority in establishing generally accepted accounting principles for public and private companies，as well as non-profit entities.For local and state governments，GAAP is determined by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board(GASB)，which operates under a set of assumptions，principles，and constraints，different from those of standard private-sector GAAP.Financial reporting in federal government entities is regulated by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board(FASAB).

The U.S.GAAP provisions differ somewhat from International Financial Reporting Standards(IFRS)，though former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox set out a timetable for all U.S.companies to drop GAAP by 2016，with the largest companies switching to IFRS as early as 2009.