Cost Accounting Standards Board

1311 Words3 Pages

The importance of cost accounting plays a major role in our society, setting retail prices for merchandise and goods used by the consumer. Billions of dollars are spent each year on goods and services that the average consumer may rely heavily upon, so it is only in good moral standing to regulate and restrict the amount paid for such materials. In many countries including the United States the levels of income very from person to person. Regardless of the amount of money earned per individual, the costs for available products should be fair and not subject to dramatic exponential increases or decreases. Thus, the creation of a committee that determines a set price on all consumer goods, and devises a set of concrete standards that are to be lawfully followed by large corporations and businesses to the single individual. Realizing the usefulness of regulating cost accounting, a board to do just that, was formed, the Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB) was founded.

The CASB consists of five members, which are the following; a Representative from the Department of Defense (DOD), an Officer from the General Service Administration (GSA), two individuals from the private sector, one from the industry, and the other an expert in the field, and the "Chairman", the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP). "The OFPP Administrator serves as Chair of the Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB), an independent board which has exclusive authority to establish standards for use by contractors and subcontractors to achieve uniformity and consistency in the measurement, assignment and allocation of costs to government contracts. The CASB's cost accounting standards are promulgated as regulations. OFPP provides staff support to the CASB."

All members of the CASB except for the Chairman have four year terms. The Representative from the DOD and the Officer from the GSA can be appointed for additional terms. Both of whom, are subjected to dismissal if they are no longer employed within their distinguished agencies. Vacancies are inevitable, the DOD and GSA seats are filled no different than the appointees before them. "A vacancy on the Board shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made. A member may be reappointed for a subsequent term(s). Any member appointed to fill an interim vacancy on the Board shall serve for the remainder of the term for which his or her predecessor was appointed.

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