By the time a FASB or PCAOB update shows up as a trade-press headline, it’s often been public for weeks and already interpreted (sometimes loosely) by whoever wrote the summary. If you want the earliest and most accurate read, the standard-setters themselves publish everything directly — you just have to know where to look and how their release cadence works.
FASB: Where New GAAP Actually Starts
The Financial Accounting Standards Board publishes Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs), exposure drafts open for public comment, and technical agenda decisions directly on its website, with a free email subscription for new releases. The exposure draft stage is worth watching closely if a proposal affects your industry — by the time it becomes a final ASU, the comment period (and your chance to weigh in) has closed. FASB’s technical agenda page also shows what’s actively in development, which is the earliest possible signal of where standards are heading.
GASB: Don’t Skip It If You Touch Government or Nonprofit Work
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board runs on a similar structure to FASB — exposure drafts, statements, implementation guides — but covers state and local government entities specifically. If your practice touches municipal, school district, or other government clients, GASB updates matter even though they get a fraction of the trade-press attention FASB does. GASB’s website has its own free subscription option, separate from FASB’s.
PCAOB: Audit-Specific and Increasingly Active on Technology Risk
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board publishes auditing standards, staff guidance, inspection reports, and increasingly, commentary specifically addressing technology and AI risk in the audit process. Its Information for Audit Committees resources — including its “Conversations With Audit Committee Chairs” series — are a particularly useful read even for practitioners who aren’t doing public company audits, since they preview where inspection focus is heading before it shows up in an actual inspection report. Our post on what audit committees are asking about AI covers the most recent one in detail.
How to Actually Keep Up Without Checking Three Sites Daily
All three organizations offer free email subscriptions for new releases — sign up for all three and let them come to you rather than checking manually. Route them to a dedicated folder so they don’t get lost in general inbox noise, and review that folder on a fixed weekly cadence rather than as each email arrives — the same batching approach covered in our piece on how busy accountants stay informed. Most releases won’t be urgent enough to need same-day attention, but you want to see them within the week, not months later when a client or auditor asks about something you missed.
Key Takeaways
- Go directly to FASB, GASB, and PCAOB rather than relying on trade-press summaries, which lag and can misread nuance.
- Watch exposure drafts, not just final standards — that’s your window to actually comment before a rule is set.
- Don’t skip GASB if you touch government or nonprofit clients — it gets far less press coverage than FASB despite being just as binding.
- Subscribe directly to all three and review on a fixed weekly cadence, routed to a dedicated folder so nothing gets buried.
Related Reading
- The Best Sources for Accounting News in 2026
- Where to Find Reliable AI News for Accountants
- What Audit Committees Are Asking About AI
EverydayCPE regularly breaks down what standard-setter updates actually mean for practitioners — in plain language, with CPE credit attached.
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