AAA Definition

AAA is American Accounting Association, Association of Accounting Administrators, or see ACCUMULATED ADJUSTMENT ACCOUNT.

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DEVOLVED BUDGETING follows from devolving managerial responsibility, and assumes that those who are closest to the point of delivery of product/service and other activities will normally be in the best position to make informed choices between alternative courses of action. For devolved budgeting to be fully effective, the budget holder should maintain proper control of the costs being charged to him or her and be accountable for performance against budget. The budget structures are being scrutinized continuously, the aim being to establish what further scope exists for useful devolution of authority and responsibility

ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE refers to the application of income tax laws, i.e., the substance of the transaction, rather than its form, determines the tax consequences, with few exceptions. The "form" of a transaction is only the label the interested parties attach to their arrangement. For instance, an arrangement might be called a compensation agreement, loan, lease or sale. Documents may support the form, but the courts are not concerned with these labels or papers that purport to govern the transaction -- they focus on its substance. The "substance over form" analysis is used to dissect self-serving transactions between parties, including loans and payments to family members; transactions between related corporations and their shareholders, partnerships and their partners; and between trusts and their beneficiaries. For instance, sale of a home by a parent to a child may be re-characterized by the court as a gift, if the child never pays for it. Related-party transactions provide fertile territory for self-dealing, with the tax benefit as the real motivating purpose, disguised by the form of the transaction. In contrast, arms-length transactions with independent third parties are far less vulnerable.

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