An accounting standard is a specification of requirements that defines how economic, fiscal and legal matters that affect the activity of a company or an organization, must be accounted for to be compliant with the principles and their interpretation that prevail in the vision of the regulator that issue those standards.

Different sectors have different regulator: commercial companies, non-profit organisations, states and federal and governmental organisations, public sector entities.

Each country has its own regulators that supervise how companies, organisations, and entities operating in the country must record their accounting.

Regulators also exist at international level:

International regulators were established primarily for commercial companies to have a common accounting language, so businesses and financial statements can be understood from company to company across countries.

In countries that don’t have a long history of national regulation of accounting, or engaged in a simplification of such regulation, the local regulators directly implement, or adapt, the international standards.

Otherwise, most of the international companies must maintain two accounting: one compliant with the local standards, and one compliant with the international standards.

In the United States:

All commercial companies that are listed in stock exchange markets regulated in countries part of the European Union (Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam) must apply IFRS for their financial statements, as the European Union fully endorses those standards issued by the IASB.