Does a USA bookkeeping or accounting app have to be certified by a regulatory body?
<p>If an accounting/bookkeeping app is developed in the US, and released for use in the same country, is it required by law that it first be certified or reviewed by a regulatory body, for instance to ensure that it performs basic ledger entries correctly or calculates gross or net correctly? </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>If an accounting/bookkeeping app is developed in the US, and released
  for use in the same country, is it required by law that it first be
  certified or reviewed by a regulatory body, for instance to ensure
  that it performs basic ledger entries correctly or calculates gross or
  net correctly?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The app doesn't require regulatory approval in advance. But, the person who uses that app will be held responsible for accurately following tax accounting, or generally accepted account principals (GAAP) in financial accounting circumstances.</p>

<p>A certified public accountant auditing books with data collected based upon this app might not be comfortable confirming that the data are accurate without somebody's representation (not necessarily a governmental party) that the app is accurate or their own testing of the app. Similarly, an excuse that the mistake was due to an error in the app might not be a good defense to a tax audit or securities fraud lawsuit if the maker of the app did nothing to established its accuracy and correctness.</p>

united-states software accounting