ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Statutory accounting principles

Statutory accounting principles are rules that people who work with money have to follow. Just like how you have rules to follow at school or at home, professionals who work with money have rules too! These rules help make sure that everyone who works with money is on the same page, so they can all communicate with each other easily.

These rules are different than the rules that people use when they do their taxes or report their financial information to the government. Statutory accounting principles are private rules that help people understand how different organizations are doing financially.

Say you're playing a game with your friend and you have different rules for what counts as a win. Maybe you play until the first person to get 10 points wins, but your friend plays until the first person to get 15 points wins. If you're trying to play together and both win, it would be really confusing and frustrating for everyone because you're not on the same page. Statutory accounting principles are like the rulebook everyone has to follow to make sure they're all playing the same game together.

Perhaps the best way to understand statutory accounting principles is to think of them as a set of rules that accountants can use to figure out how much money a company has and whether they're doing well. These rules cover things like how much money companies have, how much money they owe, how much their inventory is worth, and how much their buildings and equipment are worth. Accountants use these rules to make sure every company is reporting its financial information in a clear and standardized way.

So if you ever work with money when you grow up, you'll know that you'll have to follow these rules just like you have to follow rules at school, home, or on the playground!