The approved accounting standards for the financial statements that companies file with the SEC. GAAP standards either are developed and approved by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or are simply the standards in common use. Non-GAAP measures, i.e. those differing from GAAP standards, are permissible within certain limits, but to avoid suspicion from the SEC they must not be misleading, overused, or more prominent than the corresponding GAAP figures. Compare International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).