...ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORK History of Accounting That's Summa Story! From the oaves to Cafe Paoioli By Derry Cotter, FCA Accountants are generally recognised as making a valuable contribution to society, by providing the information that allows entrepreneurship to flourish, business to operate efficiently, stakeholders' interests to be protected, shares to be fairly priced, and taxation and audit requirements to be satisfied. Accounting, however, has not always enjoyed such an established position, and today there is often a tendency to take our profession's status for granted. It is interesting, therefore, to examine the factors that have brought accounting to the preeminent place that it occupies today. Our story begins in primitive times, when cave dwellers collected enough food to satisfy their daily requirements. Before long, the more enterprising among them would set aside some for future use. In effect that was surplus capital, and it represented the first step towards the accumulation of wealth. Soon, they 50 were exchanging their surplus for commodities owned by different cave dwellers. This exchange, which constituted a form of barter, was the first step in the development of a system of commerce.' Record keeping is thought to have begun around 4,000 BC in Babylonia and Assyria. Chatfield- describes the Babylonians as obsessive bookkeepers, with records being kept by scribes, who are regarded as the predecessor of today's accountants. Hundreds of scribes were...
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...Accountancy is the production of financial records for organizations and shows readers in money terms the economic resources the company has under its control and represents it in terms of relevance and does this faithfully. Accounting is called “the language of business” because it acts as a vehicle for a business entity to report their financial information to groups of people outside of the company’s day to day activities. Some researchers believe the earliest instance of accounting was from a cave engraving in South Africa that was dated 76,000 years old. However the earliest proven accounting records have been dated back 7,000 years ago and were found in Mesopotamia. The people of the time relied on its primitive practices to record the growth of crops and herds. In Iran during the 4th and 3rd century, socioeconomic situations led to unequal distributions of wealth and so the leaders and priests appointed people to look after the financial matters. Godin Tepe, an archaeological site in western Iran, scripts only containing tables with figures were found. In Tepe Yahya, an archaeological site found in the Kerman Province in Iran, the scripts contained geographical representations as well. In both sites buildings containing large rooms for storage crops had tokens that were used for bookkeeping purposes on clay scripts which represented a cognitive leap for mankind. (Accountancy, n.d.) These early practices of record keeping were used mainly for the record keeper and...
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...ICAB The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) is the national professional accountancy body in Bangladesh. It is the sole organization in Bangladesh with the right to award the Chartered Accountant designation. It has around 1,400 members. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) is the National Professional Accounting Body of Bangladesh established under the Bangladesh Chartered Accountants Order 1973 (Presidential Order No. 2 of 1973). Top of Form Bottom of Form Establishment: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) is the National Professional Accounting Body of Bangladesh established under the Bangladesh Chartered Accountants Order 1973 (Presidential Order No. 2 of 1973). ICAB's Administrative Ministry: The Ministry of Commerce, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is the administrative Ministry of ICAB. ICAB's Vision: To meet the ever-changing global economic demands dominated by WTO regime, the ICAB is fast becoming a body of professionals whose expert services will be highly sought after- - To anticipate, meet and exceed the rising expectations of the society - To better use of opportunities to face the challenges of fiercer global competition - To recognize the changes in economy/ business and recognize the path to success by adopting changes in knowledge management and acquiring skills - To recognize its role as a regulatory body to equip its members (Chartered Accountants) with top-quality...
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...THE RELEVANCE OF MY ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION TO THE ECONOMY Introduction Accountancy is the foundation of accountability in public and corporate governance. Accounting entails capturing financial activities, summarize and interpret them for its various users, because financial information is necessary for informed decision to the management, employees, regulatory bodies, potential investors and other stakeholders. Accordingly, accounting is often referred to as the language and soul of business for the fact that it produces and keeps pertinent financial information of business entities. The profession strives to protect its core values of integrity, competence and objectivity which remains the time tested building blocks for what has been a truly successful and honoured profession. For the study of accountancy in Africa, Nigeria is important for several reasons. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has crude oil as her main export and she has remained a rentier state in terms of revenue generation. The need for legal regulations for exercising accounting profession came to reality on September 1, 1965 by the enactment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Act (ICAN). Some decades later the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria was established by law. For the accountants to truly play a leadership role in their field, they must be proactive participants in the development process. Nigeria became independent in 1960 at the crest of a global wave...
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...PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING A. Institutional Framework for Public Sector Accounting 5. The institutional framework should include adherence to IFAC-issued International Accounting Standards. And it should support the groundwork for qualified accounting staff to provide the timely, relevant, and reliable financial information needed to support all fiscal and budget management, decisionmaking, and reporting processes. The diagnostic questionnaires that were used in this assessment collected information on the current arrangements and the apparent gaps in Maldives for accounting laws and regulations; education and training of public sector accountants; application of a code of conduct; and numbers and characteristics of public sector accountants. (1) Accounting Laws and Regulations 6. The Public Finance Act and the Financial Regulations are prescriptive about the maintenance and compilation of accounts but make no mention of International Accounting Standards. The Public Finance Act (see Annex C) should require conformance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). However, under the Public Finance Act, there are proposed rules that would promulgate the allowance of IPSAS to be followed. The future accounts should be based on Cash Basis IPSAS with notes providing other information on assets, liabilities, and contingent liabilities as required by the Public Finance Act. Progression to accrual-based statements would occur as adequate computerized accounting systems...
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...Accounting Practice: It is the routine manner in which the day-to-day financial activities of a business entity are gathered and recorded. A firm’s accounting practice refers to the method by which its accounting policies are implemented and adhered to on a routine basis, typically by an accountant and auditor or a team of accounting professionals. Accounting in Bangladesh: In Bangladesh, the profession of Accountancy developed during the British colonial period. Today it is represented by two professional bodies, the Institute of Cost and Management Accountant of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB). Chartered Accountants complete their training in practicing firms and specialize in financial accounting, financial audit and tax. CMAs receive particular training in cost audit, management audit and management accounting as well as general accounting and taxation. Both the ICMAB and ICAB are under the administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce. The government of Bangladesh considers both type professional accountants equal in respect of employment in government services. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in Bangladesh is based upon standards set by the ICAB which has stated its intention to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) It is the only institution in the country dedicated to Cost and Management Accounting...
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...TABLE OF CONTENT 1.0 Introduction | | 2.0 Issues Surrounding the Professionalism of Accounting | | 3.0 Literature Review | | 4.0 Presentation of the main Idea about the Professionalism of Accounting | | 5.0 Analysis and discussion | | 6.0 Conclusion | | 7.0 Reference | | 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 ISSUES SURROUNDING THE PROFESSIONALISM OF ACCOUNTING Twenty years ago, Briloff (1986) alerted the profession to the crisis of credibility being faced because society perceived accountants to have lost their commitment to public service. The credibility of the profession is threatened when the ideals of integrity, independence, public service and ethical standards come under suspicion. Well-known scandals of one of the major leading accounting firms in the United States Arthur Andersen coupled with alleged unethical acts committed by Enron have arouse the conscious of the public and stakeholders as to the moral decline and unethical posture of public accountants unveiled a decline in moral reasoning and ethical standards of public accountants (Dellaportas, 2006; Esmond-Kiger, 2004). Over the last few years, the accounting profession has been beaten up badly in the media, somewhat justifiably. The forces at work were numerous and complex and a variety of phenomena created the entire profession had its reputation tarnished. Some forces were not new: delivering services that acted to impair independence; becoming too cozy with clients, active participation...
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...of many distinct trading ventures at different stages of completion. In 1657, the company ruled that stock was to be valued, and four years later the governor of the company stated that “future distributions would consist of the profits earned (dividends) and not “divisions” as in the past”. Many guides for investors and accountants were written during this development period. Examples include Stock Exchange Accounts; with an appendix of forms which details stock exchange bookkeeping, Haight and Freese Co’s Guide to Investors which lists the stock prices for various companies between 1890-1900 18th Century Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of famous pottery manufacturer Wedgwood is considered by many to be a pioneer in cost accountancy. After examining business accounts, Josiah Wedgwood discovered that his head clerk had been embezzling from the company 19th Century The early evolution of accounting was dominated by advances in bookkeeping practice. There are numerous books chronicling this progression. The century following the industrial revolution saw great progress from the “method of systematically recording [financial] exchanges into a means of giving business management an effective control over its affairs”. 1816 - John Croaker, a bank clerk from England, was caught and charged with embezzling from the bank...
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...PBL 5: ROLE OF THE ORGANIZATION Bursa Malaysia (http://www.bursamalaysia.com) Bursa Malaysia is the frontline regulator of the Malaysian capital market and has the duty to maintain a fair and orderly market in the securities and derivatives that are traded through its facilities. As an integrated exchange, Bursa Malaysia also has the duty to ensure orderly dealings in the securities deposited with Bursa Malaysia, and orderly, clear and efficient clearing and settlement arrangements for transactions cleared and settled through its facilities. In furtherance of these duties, Bursa Malaysia has put in place a comprehensive and effective regulatory and supervisory framework to regulate the market and its participants, including the listed issuers and their directors and advisers, Participating Organisations, Trading Participants, Clearing Participants, Authorised Depository Agents and Authorised Direct Members. In this respect, Bursa Malaysia has issued various sets of rules to stipulate the requirements that need to be met by the regulated entities either upon admission and/or on a continuing basis. It administers and monitors compliance with these rules and takes strict, prompt and objective enforcement action for breaches of these rules. Bursa Malaysia actively supervises the listed issuers and the brokers. It also undertakes surveillance over the trading activities in the marketplace. Bursa Malaysia’s overriding objectives, in addition to discharging its statutory...
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...providers of financial information. FASB has been around throughout the years trying to keep up to date with all of the accounting standards and forming them around what everybody finds understandable. The Accounting Principles Board was always superseded by the FASB statements, that were recognized as accepted practices and constituted as the requirements to be followed by all business. Statements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board are currently represented by the accounting profession’s authoritative pronouncements on financial accounting and reporting practices. How politics influence the creation of accounting standards? The accountancy profession has been setting international accounting standards under the pressure from all political parties. This has which led to an increasing concern by the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) on the political interference in the accounting standard setting process. The political view in setting of accounting standard argues that the best solution varies from group to group and from person to person. Policy decision have always...
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...AAAJ 12,3 ``Interests'' and accounting standard setting in Malaysia Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Keywords Accounting profession, Malaysia, Standards Abstract This paper offers insights into the conflicts and tensions within the Malaysian accounting profession and the power struggle therein to dominate the accounting standard setting process, within the context of a rapidly developing country. It shows how interest groups and parochial interests, along with issues of self-protection, affected the process of standard setting, which was controlled by different interests over the period under study. At one time the profession dominated. But far from being a monolithic body, it was in turn split according to various interests: the Big Six behind the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) and the smaller firms behind the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). At other times big business prevailed. These conflicts and power struggles are revealed through an analysis of the case of the Goodwill Accounting Standard. Selvaraj D. Susela 358 Introduction This paper offers an understanding of the struggle within the accounting profession for control of the standard setting process, in the context of a developing nation. The focus on standard setting is specially geared to reveal the impact of that process on the profession, market, state and community, and vice versa. Susela (1996) illustrates that...
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...Services by CA An important phenomenon of recent times is the rapid growth of the accountancy profession. The vast changes occurring in the economy of the country have been placing great responsibilities on the Chartered Accountants. It also constitutes a challenge to the profession to bring to bear their knowledge and skill in their specialised fields of activity. The types of functions generally performed by the Chartered Accountant are varied. The more important ones amongst them are discussed below. Accountancy This includes the writing up of accounts and the preparation of financial statements. It encompasses a wide area ranging from simple Book keeping to complex financial analysis. Auditing Possibly one of the most important functions of a Chartered Accountant, it is here that his specialised training, skill and judgment are most often called into play. The purpose of auditing is to satisfy the users of financial statements that the accounts presented to them are drawn up on correct accounting principles and that they represent a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the organisation. Taxation With a number of taxes on the statute book, current and continuing tax information has become vital to the effective economics of business management. The assessment of taxes is very closely linked with financial accounts. The Chartered Accountant with his experience in accounts is in an advantageous position for preparing the returns for tax purposes, representing...
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...THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION IN NIGERIA By: Idongesit Efiong Utah ABSTRACT This research focuses on assessing the impact of information technology on the Nigerian Accounting profession by examining four areas: Impact on the public and private sector, the challenges and reaction to the challenges posed by information technological innovation and information technologies enhancing effect on the Accounting profession. INTRODUCTION It is evident that we are in information driven age where information technology is a driving tool in the public and private sectors. The replacement of mainframe computers with personal computers which were affordable to most users has ushered us into an era of proliferation of information, speed of assess to and ability to disseminate information. The information technology revolution has brought about a drastic change in the business environment, its structure and the business process. Information technology has become a strategic tool that drives the strategic initiatives of organizations and businesses. Manual processes have been replaced with automated processes, routine bookkeeping and recording of financial information is being done electronically, and the ease and speed of transacting business has greatly increases. The accountant as a major player in the public and private sectors cannot afford to be left out. To function properly and competently the accountant must take the changes brought about by information...
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...Bachelor of Science in Accountancy as Major Charlotte Jhiza A. Beleno Adamson University Abstract The need for accounting graduates continually grows in this decade. The US Bureau of Statistics projected that there will be a 15.7% increase in the number of accounting jobs between 2010 and 2020. This increase in demand gives the importance to study and understand the factors that motivate and encourage students to take up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy as their college course, so that quality graduates will meet the demand in the field of accounting profession. This paper also helps high school teachers, parents and guidance counselors on how they can influence students to take up BS Accountancy in their tertiary level. On the other hand, it also informs the students on the advantages of being accountancy major and an accountant in the future. Factors Affecting Students’ Choice of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy as Major A Review of Related Literature and Studies Accounting as defined by Webster is the system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying and reporting the results. On the other hand, Accountancy is the profession or practice of accounting. Bachelor of Science in Accountancy prepares students for careers in accounting firms, financial institutions, public sectors, and financial departments of companies. It is an in demand course since there is an upward trend and opportunities to accountancy graduates and these...
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...a) INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Praise to Allah for six (6) months I undergo my internship that begins on early February this year till end of July, I finally successfully completed my Industrial training report. For the remaining days that I have to continue my training in order to complete my course, I pray to Allah hoping my journey is in His bliss. I also would like to extend my thankfulness to the most precious persons in my life, my father and mother for all their moral support, financial support and also to my friends for never ending reminding me to always be honest and trustworthy during my training here. As for my supervisor from Universiti Teknologi Mara Kampus Seri Iskandar Perak, Puan Naimah Binti Zaini. I thank you for all the reprimand and guidance as it is very helpful for me in completing my report. Last but not least I would like to extend my appreciation to my industrial supervisor (k.cik/) and (k.ika ) for their advices and patiently guiding me through while I working here as a trainee. Not forgotten for all the staffs working at Khatulistiwa Corporate Services Sdn Bhd, I am obliged to staff members of Khatulistiwa Corporate Services Sdn Bhd for the valuable information provided by them in their respective fields and I very much appreciate for their entire kindness helping and teaching me when I’m working there. I am very lucky to have such a helpful colleagues and I never felt left out in any situation. I am entrusted to undergo...
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