Before HR there was a Personnel department, and before Accounting there was a comptroller, accountant, or some other person doing the books (even if it was the

Before HR there was a Personnel department, and before Accounting there was a comptroller, accountant, or some other person doing the books (even if it was the President of the company. GAAP based on my reading is as much an outgrowth of regulation post 1929 as it is anything else. It's less about standardization and more about accountability. Even now though, with good reason one does not have to comply with GAAP, so long as you have a good reason to depart from it.