The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has defined the following elements of financial statements of business enterprises: assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses, gains, losses, investment by owners, distribution to owners, and comprehensive income. According to the FASB, the elements of financial statements are the building blocks with which financial statements are constructed—the broad classes of items that financial statements comprise. In its "Elements of Financial Statements of Business Enterprises," the FASB defined the interrelated elements that are directly related to measuring performance and the financial position of a business enterprise as follows:

* Assets include any items of monetary value owned by a company with current or probable future economic benefits.
* Comprehensive income is the change in equity (net assets) of an entity, from transactions and other events and circumstances from nonowner sources, during a particular period. It includes all changes in equity during a period except those resulting from investments by owners and distributions to owners.
* Distributions to owners are decreases in net assets of a particular enterprise resulting from transferring assets, rendering services, or incurring liabilities to owners. Distributions to owners decrease ownership interest or equity in an enterprise.
* Equity refers to the value of a company after deducting a company's liabilities from its assets.
* Expenses are outflows or payments of assets, or obligations to pay liabilities, during a period, from delivering or producing goods or rendering services as well as from carrying out other activities that constitute part of a business's ongoing or central operation.
* Gains are increases in equity (net assets) from peripheral or incidental transactions of an entity and from all other transactions and other events and circumstances affecting the entity during a period, except those that result from revenues or investments by owner.
* Investments by owners are increases in net assets of a particular enterprise resulting from transfers to it from other parties of something of value to obtain or increase ownership interest (or equity) in it.
* Liabilities are current or probable future debts arising from present obligations of a company to transfer assets or provide services to other entities in the future as a result of past transactions or events.
* Losses are decreases in equity (net assets) from peripheral or incidental transactions of an entity and from all other transactions and other events and circumstances affecting the entity during a period, except those that result from expenses or distributions to owners.
* Revenues are sales or other enhancements of assets of a company or settlement of its liabilities (or a combination of both) during a period from delivering or producing goods, rendering services, or other activities that constitute the entity's ongoing major or central operations.