Following is a list of initialisms and acronyms commonly used by ANAB and the conformity assessment community.
| Initialism/Acronym | Definition |
| AAQG | Americas Aerospace Quality Group |
| AB | Accreditation body |
| AC | Accreditation Council |
| ACC | American Chemistry Council |
| ACLASS | Former ANAB brand for accreditation of calibration and test laboratories, inspection bodies, RMPs, and PT providers |
| ANAB | ANSI National Accreditation Board |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute, owner of ANAB |
| APAC | Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (joined APLAC and PAC 2019/01/01) |
| APLAC | Former Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, now APAC |
| ASQ | American Society for Quality |
| ATFS | American Tree Farm System, program for forestry management systems |
| CAB | Conformity assessment body |
| CASCO | ISO’s Committee on Conformity Assessment |
| CB | Certification body, also known as a registrar |
| CD | Committee draft, a stage in the development of a standard |
| CEPD | Counterfeit Electronics Prevention for Distributors |
| DIS | Draft International Standard, a stage in the development of a standard |
| DoD | U.S. Department of Defense |
| DoE | U.S. Department of Energy |
| EA | European Cooperation for Accreditation, association of European accreditation bodies |
| ELAP | Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (of DoD) |
| EMS | Environmental management systems |
| EnMS | Energy management systems |
| EPA | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
| e-Stewards® | Recycling standard |
| EU | European Union |
| FAA | U.S. Federal Aviation Administration |
| FBI QAS | U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Quality Assurance Standards |
| FCC | U.S. Federal Communications Commission |
| FDA | U.S. Food and Drug Administration |
| FDIS | Final Draft International Standard, a stage in the development of a standard |
| FOE | Field of experience |
| FQA | U.S. Fastener Quality Act |
| FQS | Former ANAB brand for accreditation of forensic testing labs and forensic inspection agencies |
| FSMO | Field sampling and measurement organization |
| FSMS | Food safety management systems |
| GFSI | Global Food Safety Initiative |
| GHG | Greenhouse gas |
| GSA | Gaming Standards Association; U.S. General Services Administration |
| HACCP | Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (for food safety) |
| IAAC | InterAmerican Accreditation Cooperation |
| IAAR | Independent Association of Accredited Registrars |
| IAF | International Accreditation Forum |
| IAQG | International Aerospace Quality Group |
| ICOP | Industry controlled other party (aerospace program) |
| IEC | International Electrotechnical Commission, with ISO and ITU constitutes major international standards developing organizations |
| IIOC | Independent International Organization for Certification, an association of CBs |
| ILAC | International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation |
| ILC | Inter-laboratory comparisons |
| IQNET | International Quality Network, association of CBs |
| ISMS | Information security management systems |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization, with IEC and ITU constitutes major international standards developing organizations |
| ISRI | Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (responsible for RIOS) |
| ITSMS | Information technology service management systems |
| MLA | Multilateral recognition agreement or arrangement |
| MOU | Memorandum of understanding |
| MRA | Mutual recognition agreement or arrangement, multilateral recognition arrangement |
| NACE | Nomenclature des activités économiques (common statistical classification of economic activities) |
| NACLA | U.S. National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation |
| NADCAP | U.S. National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program |
| NAICS | North American Industry Classification System (replaced SIC system) |
| NEFAP | National Environmental Field Activities Program |
| NGO | Non-governmental organization |
| NIST | U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NLLAP | EPA’s National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program |
| NRC | Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
| NRTL | U.S. Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory |
| NVLAP | U.S. National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program of NIST |
| NWIP | New work item proposal (at ISO) |
| OHSMS | Occupational health and safety management systems |
| OSHA | U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
| PAC | Former Pacific Accreditation Cooperation, now APAC |
| PEFC | Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes |
| PT | Proficiency testing |
| QMS | Quality management systems |
| QuEST Forum | Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications Leadership Forum |
| RC | Responsible Care® program of ACC |
| RCMS | Responsible Care® management systems |
| RIOS | Recycling Industry Operating Standard |
| RMC | Registrar Management Committee of AAQG |
| RMP | Reference material producer |
| R2 | Responsible Recycling standard |
| SCSMS | Supply chain security management systems |
| SDO | Standards developing organization |
| SIC | Standard Industrial Classification system (replaced in 1997 by NAICS) |
| SFI | Sustainable Forestry Initiative |
| SME | Small and medium-sized enterprises |
| TBT | Technical barriers to trade (see also WTO) |
| TC | Technical committee |
| TF | Task force |
| TG | Task group |
| TNI | The NELAC Institute |
| UNCTAD | United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |
| UNIDO | United Nations Industrial Development Organization |
| WD | Working draft |
| WG | Working group |
| WTO | World Trade Organization |
