Accounting Research Bulletins

Accounting Research Bulletins were documents issued by the Committee on Accounting

Procedure between 1938 and 1959 on various accounting problems. They were discontinued with the
dissolution of the Committee in 1959 under a recommendation from the Special Committee on Research
Program. In all, 17 bulletins were issued; however, the lack of binding authority over AICPA's
membership reduced the influence of, and compliance with the content of the bulletins. The Accounting
Research Bulletins have all been superseded by the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC).
With the permission of the AICPA, the full text of Accounting Research Bulletins has been posted on the
website of the J.D. Williams Library of the University of Mississippi.

List of Accounting Research Bulletins

No. Official title Issued on

1 General Introduction and Rules Formerly Adopted 1939 September

2 Unamortized Discount and Redemption Premium on Bonds Refunded 1939 September

Quasi-Reorganization or Corporate Readjustment—Amplification of Institute Rule No. 2

3 1939 September
of 1934

4 Foreign Operations and Foreign Exchange 1939 December

5 Depreciation on Appreciation 1940 April

6 Comparative Statements 1940 April

7 Reports of Committee on Terminology 1940 November

8 Combined Statement of Income and Earned Surplus 1941 February

9 Report of Committee on Terminology 1941 May

 No. Official title Issued on

10 Real and Personal Property Taxes 1941 June

11 Corporate Accounting for Ordinary Stock Dividends 1941 September

11 Revised Accounting for Stock Dividends and Stock Split-ups 1952 November

12 Report of Committee on Terminology 1941 September

13 Accounting for Special Reserves Arising Out of the War 1942 January

13
Limitation of Scope of Special War Reserves 1951 July
Addendum

14 Accounting for United States Treasury Tax Notes 1942 January

15 Renegotiation of War Contracts 1942 September

16 Report of Committee on Terminology 1942 October

17 Post-War Refund of Excess-Profits Tax 1942 December

18 Unamortized Discount and Redemption Premium on Bonds Refunded (Supplement) 1942 December

19 Accounting under Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee Contracts 1942 December

20 Report of Committee on Terminology 1942 November

21 Renegotiation of War Contracts (Supplement) 1943 December

22 Report of Committee on Terminology 1944 May

 No. Official title Issued on

23 Accounting for Income Taxes 1944 December

24 Accounting for Intangible Assets 1944 December

25 Accounting for Terminated War Contracts 1945 April

26 Accounting for the Use of Special War Reserves 1946 October

26
Limitation of Scope of Special War Reserves 1951 July
Addendum

27 Emergency Facilities 1946 November

28 Accounting Treatment of General Purpose Contingency Reserves 1947 July

29 Inventory Pricing 1947 July

30 Current Assets and Current Liabilities; Working Capital 1947 August

31 Inventory Reserves 1947 October

32 Income and Earned Surplus 1947 December

33 Depreciation and High Costs 1947 December

34 Recommendation of Committee on Terminology; Use of Term "Reserve" 1948 October

35 Presentation of Income and Earned Surplus 1948 October

36 Pension Plans; Accounting for Annuity Costs Based on Past Services 1948 November
 No. Official title Issued on

37 Accounting for Compensation in the Form of Stock Options 1948 November

37 Revised Accounting for Compensation Involved in Stock Option and Stock Purchase Plans 1953 January

38 Disclosure of Long-Term Leases in Financial Statements of Lessees 1949 October

Recommendation of Subcommittee on Terminology; Discontinuance of the Use of the

39 1949 October
Term "Surplus"

40 Business Combinations 1950 September

41 Presentation of Income and Earned Surplus (Supplement to Bulletin No. 35) 1951 July

42 Emergency Facilities—Depreciation, Amortization, and Income Taxes 1952 November

43 Restatement and Revision of Accounting Research Bulletins 1953

44 Declining-Balance Depreciation 1954 October

Declining-Balance Depreciation (Supersedes Accounting Research Bulletin No. 44

44 Revised 1958 July
issued in October 1954)

45 Long-term Construction-type Contracts 1955 October

46 Discontinuance of Dating Earned Surplus 1956 February

47 Accounting for costs of Pension Plans 1956 September

Business Combinations (Supersedes chapter 7(c) of Accounting Research Bulletin No.

48 1957 January
43)
No. Official title Issued on

49 Earnings per Share 1958 April

50 Contingencies 1958 October

1959 August
51 Consolidated Financial Statements
SAMPLE OF AN ARB (Accounting Research Bulletin)

Accounting Research Bulletin (ARB) No. 43

Accounting Research Bulletin (ARB) No. 43

a. Restatement and Revision of Accounting Research Bulletins
b. Issued in June 1953

Chapters of ARB No. 43

Chapter 1: Prior Opinions

Section A: Rules Adopted by Membership

Unrealized profit
--> NOT credited to income.

Profit is assumed to be realized

--> when a sale is completed
--> in the ordinary course of business

Capital surplus
--> should not be used to offset
income account losses.

Notes or accounts receivable

from officers, employees, or affiliated companies
--> must be shown separately.

Section B: Opinion Issued by Predecessor Committee

Profits and Losses on Treasury stock

--> should be reflected in capital surplus.

Chapter 2: Forms of Statements

Section A: Comparative Financial Statements

Comparative financial statements

--> make financial statements more useful.

It is desirable that
--> financial statements
be given for one or more preceding years
(as well as for the current year)

Section B: Combined Statement of Income and Earned Surplus

--> Chapter 2B: deleted by APB Opinion No. 9 (December 1966)

Chapter 3: Working Capital

Section A: Current assets and current liabilities

Working capital
= current assets - current liabilities
 Working capital (also called net working capital) APB Opinion No. 9
--> represents the liquid portion of capital
--> a margin for meeting obligations
(within the ordinary operating cycle)

Current assets
--> assets that are reasonably expected
to be realized in cash (or sold or consumed)
within one-year or normal operating cycle,
whichever is longer.

Current liabilities
--> obligations that are reasonably expected
to be liquidated
within one-year or normal operating cycle,
whichever is longer.

Funds to be used to pay debts

--> Funds to be used for liquidation of long-term debts are
excluded from current assets.

--> Funds to be used for liquidation of current liabilities are

reported as current assets.

Current liabilities do NOT include:

--> debts to be liquidated by funds
not classified as current assets.

Section B: Application of U.S. Government Securities against Liabilities for

Federal Taxes on Income
--> Chapter 3B: replaced by APB Opinion No. 10 (December 1966)

Chapter 4: Inventory Pricing

Statement 1
Inventory refers to
--> tangible personal property
a. held for sale in the ordinary course of business,
b. in process of production for such sale, or
c. are to be currently consumed in the production.

Statement 2
Objective of accounting for inventories
--> to properly determine the income
(through the process of matching costs against revenues.)

Statement 3
Primary basis of accounting for inventories
--> is cost.
 Cost of inventories
--> sum of expenditures incurred
to bring inventories to its current condition (and location).

Statement 4
Cost may be determined
--> under any one of several assumptions
about the flow of cost factors.

Examples of cost flow assumptions

--> first-in first-out
last-in first-out
average

Objective of selecting a cost flow assumption is

--> to choose the one which most clearly
reflects periodic income.

Statement 5
Lower of cost or market
--> A departure from the cost basis is required
--> when the utility of goods is less than cost.

Statement 6
Market means current replacement cost except that:
--> a. Market should not exceed the net realizable value
(i.e., estimated selling price - cost of completion and disposal)

--> b. Market should not be less than net realizable value

reduced by an allowance for normal profit margin.

Statement 7
Lower of cost or market may be applied
--> a. to each item or
b. to the total of each major category or
c. to the total of inventory.

Statement 8
The basis of inventory valuation
--> must be consistently applied and
--> should be disclosed in the financial statements.

Statement 9
Inventories may be stated above cost
--> only in exceptional cases (e.g., precious metals)

Statement 10
Accrued net losses on
firm purchase commitments for inventories
--> measured in the same way as inventory losses,
--> should be recognized in the accounts and the amounts
separately disclosed in the financial statement.
Chapter 5: Intangible Assets

--> Chapter 5: deleted by APB Opinion No. 17 (August 1970)

--> APB Opinion No. 17: superseded by SFAS No. 142 (June 2001)

Chapter 6: Contingency Reserves

--> Chapter 6: deleted by SFAS No. 5 (March 1975)

Chapter 7: Capital Accounts

Section A: Quasi-Reorganization or Corporate Readjustment

Section B: Stock Dividends and Stock Split-up

Stock Dividend
--> Issuance of its own stock to shareholders
without consideration
--> to distribute retained earnings to shareholders.

Accounting for Stock Dividend

--> Retained earnings is transferred
to capital stock and additional paid-in capital
--> for the amount of
fair value of additional shares issued

Stock Split
--> Issuance of its own stock to shareholders
without consideration
--> to reduce per share price
by increasing number of outstanding shares.

Accounting for Stock Split

--> Retained earnings is not transferred to capital stock.

Issuance of additional shares of more than 25 percent

--> Recorded as stock splits.

Section C: Business Combinations

--> Chapter 7C: deleted by ARB No. 48 (January 1957)
--> ARB No. 48: superseded by APB Opinion No. 16 (August 1970)
--> APB Opinion No. 16: superseded by SFAS No. 141 (June 2001)

Chapter 8: Income and Earned Surplus

--> Chapter 8: deleted by APB Opinion No. 9 (December 1966)

Chapter 9: Depreciation
 Section A: Depreciation and High Costs

Section B: Depreciation on Appreciation

--> Chapter 9B: replaced by APB Opinion No. 6 (October 1965)

Section C: Emergency Facilities: Depreciation, Amortization and Income Taxes

Chapter 10: Taxes

Section A: Real and Personal Property Taxes

Section B: Income Taxes

--> Chapter 10B: deleted by APB Opinion No. 11 (December 1967)
--> APB Opinion No. 11: superseded by SFAS No. 96 (December 1987)
--> SFAS No. 96: superseded by SFAS No. 109 (February 1992)

Chapter 11: Government Contracts

Section A: Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) Contracts

Fees under CPFF contracts

--> may be credited to income
on the basis of partial performance
(with reasonable assurance of realization)

Fees may be accrued

--> as they are billable.

Reimbursable costs and fees are

--> included in sales or other revenue accounts.

Unbilled costs and fees are

--> receivables.

Section B: Renegotiation

Section C: Terminated War and Defense Contracts

Chapter 12: Foreign Operations and Foreign Exchange

Chapter 13: Compensation

Section A: Pension Plans: Annuity Costs Based on Past Service
--> Chapter 13A: deleted by APB Opinion No. 8 (November 1966)
--> APB Opinion No. 8: superseded by SFAS No. 87 (December 1985)

Section B: Compensation Involved in Stock Option and Stock Purchase Plans

--> Chapter 13B: amended by APB Opinion No. 25 (October 1972)
--> APB Opinion No. 25: superseded by SFAS No. 123 (Revised)
--> Chapter 13B: deleted by SFAS No. 123 (Revised) (December 2004)
Chapter 14: Disclosure of Long-Term Leases in Financial Statements of Lessees

--> Chapter 14: deleted by APB Opinion No. 5 (November 1966)

--> APB Opinion No. 5: superseded by SFAS No. 13 (November 1976)

Chapter 15: Unamortized Discount, Issue Cost, and Redemption Premium on Bonds
Refunded

--> Chapter 15: deleted by APB Opinion No. 26 (October 1972)

Accounting Research Bulletins (ARB) No. 43-51

Accounting Research Bulletins (ARB)

No. 43: Restatement and Revision of Accounting Research Bulletins (June 1953)

No. 44: Declining-Balance Depreciation (October 1954)

--> ARB No. 44: superseded by revised version of ARB No. 44 (July 1958)

No. 44 (Revised): Declining-balance Depreciation (July 1958)

--> ARB No. 44 (Revised): superseded by SFAS No. 96 (December 1987)

No. 45: Long-Term Construction-Type Contracts (October 1955)

No. 46: Discontinuance of Dating Earned Surplus (February 1956)

No. 47: Accounting for Costs of Pension Plans (September 1956)

--> ARB No. 47: superseded by APB Opinion No. 8 (November 1966)
--> APB Opinion No. 8: superseded by SFAS No. 87 (December 1985)

No. 48: Business Combinations (January 1957)

--> ARB No. 48: superseded by APB Opinion No. 16 (August 1970)
--> APB Opinion No. 16: superseded by SFAS No. 141 (June 2001)

No. 49: Earnings per Share (April 1958)

--> ARB No. 49: superseded by APB Opinion No. 9 (December 1966)
--> APB Opinion No. 9 (Section II, EPS portion): superseded by SFAS No.
128 (February 1997)

No. 50: Contingencies (October 1958)

--> ARB No. 50: superseded by SFAS No. 5 (March 1975)

No. 51: Consolidated Financial Statements (August 1959)