The BBB states its purpose is to act as a mutually trusted intermediary between consumers and businesses to resolve disputes, to facilitate communication, and to provide information on ethical business practices. Its website lists BBB's core services as:

• Business Reliability Reports
• Dispute Resolution
• Truth-in-Advertising
• Consumer and Business Education
• Charity Review

Medical quackery and the promotions of nostrums and worthless drugs were among the most prominent abuses which led to the establishment of formal self-regulation in business and, in turn, to the creation of the NBBB."

Better Business Beauru's inception has been credited to the court case initiated by the government against a number of firms, including the Coca-Cola Company, in 1906, after the Pure Food and Drug Act had been become law. The trial found the legal charges to be unfounded, and as a result Samuel Candler Dobbs, sales manager of Coca-Cola and later its president, took up the cause of truth in advertising.

In 1909, Dobbs became president of the Associated Advertising Clubs of America, now the American Advertising Federation (AAF), and began to make speeches on the subject. In 1911, he was involved in the adoption of the “Ten Commandments of Advertising", one of the first codes of advertising developed by groups of advertising firms and individual businesses. Similar organizations in succeeding decades, such as the National Better Business Commission, Inc. of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World (1921), and the National Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (1933) merged to become the Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc in 1946 . In 1970 it was merged into the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

The Better Business Bureau name and torch logo are federally registered trademarks. Use of the logo is limited to the Accredited Business Identification (ABIP) logo for printed materials and is not for online use. Online use accredited businesses must join the BBBOnline Security Seal program.
 

Dispute Resolution
Companies that are invited to join the BBB as accredited busineses are required to pay annual dues and to meet and maintain requirements of accreditation. Businesses who agree to the BBB dispute resolution procedures may identify themselves as accredited. If accredited busineses fail to meet these standards, their accreditation will be revoked.

Dispute resolution procedures are regulated by the Council of the Better Business Bureaus. All BBBs are required to be members of this council; there is no independent Better Business Bureau. At a local level, the bureaus are governed by a board of directors. Though all bureaus are regulated by the Council, the Council is controlled by local BBB representation.

Complaints about the practice of professions like medicine, law and accounting are not handled by the BBB and are referred to agencies regulating those professions.