...Chapter 3: The Regulation of financial accounting Why examine theories of regulation? Better placed to understand why some accounting prescriptions become part of legislation while others do not. Accounting standard – setting is a very political process While some proposed requirements may be technically sound and logical, they may not be mandated due to political ‘power’ or influence of some affected parties What is regulation? The Oxford Dictionary defines regulation in terms of a “prescribed rule” Macquarie Dictionary defined regulation as “a rule of order, as for conduct, prescribed by authority; a governing direction or law”. On the basis of these definitions can say that regulation is designed to control or govern conduct Hence, when we are discussing regulations relating to financial accounting, we are discussing rules that have been developed by an independent authoritative body that has been given the power to govern how we are to prepare financial statements, and the actions of the authoritative body will have the effect of restricting the accounting options that would otherwise be to an organisation. ‘Free Market’ perspective Accounting information should be treated like other goods, with demand and supply forces allowed to operate to generate an optimal supply. Arguments supporting ‘free – market’ perspective Private economic – based incentives ‘Market for managers’ ‘Market for corporate takeovers’ ‘Market for lemons’ Private economic – based...
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...Chapter 4 The economics of Financial Reporting Regulation The case for unregulated markets for accounting information * Support for unregulated marketing all relate to the incentives for a firm to report information about itself to owners and to the capital market. * Agency theory explains why incentives exist for voluntary reporting to owners. * Wider voluntary reporting to the capital market is explained by signaling theory * The arguments supporting unregulated markets for accounting information are largely deductive in nature. Agency Theory * Predicts and explains the behavior of parties involved with the firm. * It conceives of the firm itself as a nexus of agency relationship and seeks to understand organizational behavior by examining how parties to agency relationships within the firm maximize their own utility. * One major relationship is between the management group and the owners of the firm. * Managers are hired to administer the firms’ activities. * Owners and Managers may have different goals and may not be in perfect agreement. While owners are interested to maximize return of investment and security prices, managers have a wider range of economic interests and psychological needs. Because of this conflict, owners communicate with managers in such a way as to minimize conflict between the goals of two groups. * Costs relating to monitoring management reduce managers’ compensation. Therefore managers have an...
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...Full Disclosure Full Disclosure is a principle which calls for the reporting of significant financial facts that influence the decisions made by those reading the information (Kieso, 2007). The principle was adopted in 1933 as a byproduct of the 1929 economic crises, and created the full disclosure system. This system provides users of financial statements with material information, greatly improves the timeliness and quality of the disclosed information, reduces costs of raising capital, supports orderly markets, and discourages fraud in the public market. With the creation of the full disclosure principle regulations were formed on the technical and non-technical financial data that have an effect on the financial performance. These regulations have evolved rapidly in the past decade. These changes have been made due to the many examples of inadequate or poor data quality reporting standards that have so greatly affected the economy and the businesses involved. Technology and business have been evolving at a tremendous rate, so the regulations that once worked no longer sufficed. A gap was created between the reporting standards and business activity which resulted in poor economic conditions. The recent economic crisis in 2008 highlighted the need for more transparency if the reporting of financial data and the full disclosure principle. It became clear that as the market evolved, the reporting standards needed to evolve as well. The world is shrinking and the...
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...Generally Accepted Auditing Standards ACC/490 June 25, 2012 Generally Accepted Auditing Standards The auditing and accounting profession has various standards and regulations that must be followed. The standards and regulations were put into place to ensure that reports are unbiased and accurate. The Generally Accepted Auditing Standards create stipulations on the accuracy, consistency, and verifiability of the information. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has standards in place to regulate financial reporting and ensure accuracy. The Generally Accepted Auditing Standards is “a set of systematic guidelines used by auditors when conducting audits on companies’ finances, ensuring the accuracy, consistency and verifiability of auditors’ actions and reports” (Investopedia, 2012. p. 1). Following the guidlelines set forth by the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards allows auditors to reduce the chance of overlooking information. The Generally Accepted Auditing Standards are divided into three sections: general standards, standards of fieldwork, and standards of reporting. Each of these three sections has specific standards an auditor must follow for each step in the auditing process. The general standards address the auditor’s qualifications and the standards that are required. The general standards require that the audit must be performed by a qualified individual who has received the proper training. The auditor...
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...Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Teresa Lucas HCS/405 04-13-2015 Elizabeth Caissie The key to understanding finance is learning the four elements of financial management and their relationship to one another. It is important that all financial records are up to date because this helps keep track of how an organization, so they know if they have a profit or a loss. There are four elements of financial management are planning, controlling, organizing and decision making. The first one is planning it allows an organization to set goals and guidelines to ensure success and accomplishments in set goals. The second element of financial management is controlling. Controlling allows an organization to ensure that all rules and regulations within the organization are being followed. The third element of financial management is organizing. Organization is important because it guarantees that the organization is working at its best and it is organized while directing the medical office to work and fix problems that may come. The last element of financial management is decision making. All decision relies on information, and evaluation. Decision making works along with the planning, controlling and organizing...
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...The Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting Ioannis Ioannou London Business School George Serafeim Harvard Business School Abstract We examine the effect of mandatory sustainability reporting on several measures of socially responsible management practices. Using data for 58 countries, we show that after the adoption of mandatory sustainability reporting laws and regulations, the social responsibility of business leaders increases. We also document that both sustainable development and employee training become a higher priority for companies, and that corporate governance improves. Furthermore, we find that companies implement more ethical practices, reduce bribery and corruption, and that managerial credibility increases. These effects are larger for countries with stronger law enforcement and more widespread assurance of sustainability reports. We conclude with thoughts about mandatory sustainability and integrated reporting. Keywords: sustainability reporting, mandatory reporting, corporate social responsibility, integrated reporting Assistant Professor of Strategic and International Management, London Business School, Regent’s Park, NW1 4SA, London, United Kingdom. Email: iioannou@london.edu, Ph: +44 20 7000 8748, Fx: +44 20 7000 7001. Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Soldiers’ Field Road, Morgan Hall 381, 02163 Boston, MA, USA. Email:gserafeim@hbs.edu, Ph: +1 617 495 6548, Fx: +1 617 496 7387 (contact...
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...INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ON AUDITING 700 FORMING AN OPINION AND REPORTING ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2009) Introduction Scope of this ISA 1. This International Standard on Auditing (ISA) deals with the auditor’s responsibility to form an opinion on the financial statements. It also deals with the form and content of the auditor’s report issued as a result of an audit of financial statements. 2. ISA 7051 and ISA 7062 deal with how the form and content of the auditor’s report are affected when the auditor expresses a modified opinion or includes an Emphasis of Matter paragraph or an Other Matter paragraph in the auditor’s report. 3. This ISA is written in the context of a complete set of general purpose financial statements. ISA 8003 deals with special considerations when financial statements are prepared in accordance with a special purpose framework. ISA 8054 deals with special considerations relevant to an audit of a single financial statement or of a specific element, account or item of a financial statement. 4. This ISA promotes consistency in the auditor’s report. Consistency in the auditor’s report, when the audit has been conducted in accordance with ISAs, promotes credibility in the global marketplace by making more readily identifiable those audits that have been conducted in accordance with globally recognized standards. It also helps to promote the user’s understanding...
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...Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Importance of Transparency 7 What Regulation Typically Covers 7 Regulatory Agencies 8 Accounting Reform 10 Conclusion 13 References 15 Abstract Within the accounting profession there are many complex ethical issues that must be dealt with quite often. It is important that the people working within the industry provide high quality financial statements and always pay close attention to ethical concerns that may arise. Since ethics is such a major concern in the accounting industry, a rules based system is in place for enforcing ethical concerns. There are many regulating bodies that exist that enforce many highly detailed regulations that people within the industry must follow at all times. Throughout history there have been several major accounting scandals that have been followed by new regulation to ensure that these problems do not come up again. CLERP 9 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are just a couple of acts that have caused significant changes to the accounting world in recent times. This paper will look at some of the different issues that accountants face as well as some of the regulations that seek to end unethical behavior. Ethical Standards in Accounting Introduction The accounting industry is an always changing and constantly growing industry. Accounting plays a vital role in society and business and up until recently accounting was considered to have some of the highest standards...
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...Legality and Ethicality of Financial Reporting Jacqueline Carr ETH/376 December 17, 2012 Samuel Hinton Legality and Ethicality of Financial Reporting Excello Telecommunication is a very successful business; however, just recently they have been experiencing some heavy competition in the businesses industry. Terry Reed the businesses CFO has realized the business is not going to meet the years estimated earnings, which can cause problems meeting financial responsibility to the stakeholders. Terry Reed found a transaction which can help the business meet the financial responsibility; however, in order to apply the transaction, he must first find a legal and ethical way off reporting the transaction on the financial report. The transaction in question, the product was sold on December 20, 2010 for $1.2 million; however, the receiver of the product is not able to take control of this product until January 11, 2011. Terry Reed needs to find a way to record the transaction before December 31, 2010 in order to meet their obligations. The accounting principle for reporting on the financial statements is the product must be posted in the quarter the product leaves the warehouse. (Mintz, S., Morris, R.E, 2011). In the accounting world, there are several different agencies, which regulate the reporting of financial statements. These rules and regulations protect the stakeholders and public from any wrong, fraudulent reporting and unethical behavior. The main agencies are (SOX),...
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...Accounting regulation The Learning Objectives for this lecture: Regulatory framework Role of a conceptual framework Current state of play of conceptual framework for international standards Different approaches to accounting regulation •Free-market approach EMH Agency theory •Regulatory approach market mechanisms will not be able to achieve a socially optimal equilibrium price for accounting information Theory of efficient markets • The forces of supply and demand influence market behaviour and help keep markets efficient This applies to the market for accounting information and should determine what accounting data should be supplied and what accounting practices should be used to prepare it • Theory of efficient markets Cont • • • • • • The market for accounting data is not efficient The „free-rider‟ problem distorts the market Users cannot agree on what they want Accountants cannot agree on procedures Firms must produce comparable data The government must therefore intervene Theories Of Regulation • • • Accounting information is a „public good‟ Therefore some argue it is likely to be underproduced without regulation Others suggest supply would exist without regulation • There are competing theories regarding the need for and intention of regulation Defining Regulation “[R]egulation is the policing, according to a rule, of a subject‟s choice of activity, by an entity not directly party to or involved in the activity.” • Elements of...
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...CHAPTER 2: REGULATION IN FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING Chapter 2 regulation in Financial accounting LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completion of this chapter you should be able to understand: • The difference between management and financial accounting. • Why accounting regulations are important and required. • The need for and the structure of professional regulation, company law, stock exchange legislation and EU Directives. • How the different aspects of regulation work together and complement each other. • The process through which an accounting standard comes into being. REVISION RESOURCES EXAM QUESTIONS: Sample and Past papers are available from the website of Accounting Technicians Ireland and are essential aids when studying Advanced Financial Accounting topics. 7 Chapter 2 : Regulation in Financial Accounting 2.1 Advanced Financial Accounting the FunCtion oF FinanCial aCCounting and reporting The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in their Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting state that ‘the objective of general purpose financial reporting is to provide financial information about the reporting entity that is useful to existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors in making decisions about providing resources to the entity. Those decisions involve buying, selling or holding equity and debt instruments, and providing or settling loans and other forms of credit’. This Conceptual Framework...
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...Andersen remain puzzles. How could the accounting and audit failures associated with Enron and Arthur Andersen happen in the US where auditing is sophisticated, accounting principles are strong, and disclosure is emphasized? This is a teaching case for persons outside the US to review the financial reporting and auditing issues related to Enron and to explain the regulation of accounting and auditing in the US. It has broad implications for corporate governance and accounting regulation in other countries as well. n the years after the Enron Corporation declared bankruptcy in 2001 and Arthur Andersen failed in 2002, people are still asking, especially those outside the US, how could this happen? What went wrong? The US has a well-developed set of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that requires extensive disclosures in audited financial statements, and a well-established federal agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that monitors financial reporting. This case is written for accounting students and others, who are outside the US, to explore the financial reporting and auditing issues related to the debacles at Enron and Andersen and to explain the financial reporting environment in the US. The case is presented in four parts. Part I presents general information about Enron and Andersen. In Part II, the government and legal system I 27 28 Cunningham, and Harris of the US,...
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...Andersen remain puzzles. How could the accounting and audit failures associated with Enron and Arthur Andersen happen in the US where auditing is sophisticated, accounting principles are strong, and disclosure is emphasized? This is a teaching case for persons outside the US to review the financial reporting and auditing issues related to Enron and to explain the regulation of accounting and auditing in the US. It has broad implications for corporate governance and accounting regulation in other countries as well. n the years after the Enron Corporation declared bankruptcy in 2001 and Arthur Andersen failed in 2002, people are still asking, especially those outside the US, how could this happen? What went wrong? The US has a well-developed set of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that requires extensive disclosures in audited financial statements, and a well-established federal agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that monitors financial reporting. This case is written for accounting students and others, who are outside the US, to explore the financial reporting and auditing issues related to the debacles at Enron and Andersen and to explain the financial reporting environment in the US. The case is presented in four parts. Part I presents general information about Enron and Andersen. In Part II, the government and legal system I 27 28 Cunningham, and Harris of the US,...
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...229, 230, 240, 244 and 249 [RELEASE NOS. 33-8982; 34-58960; File No. S7-27-08] RIN 3235-AJ93 ROADMAP FOR THE POTENTIAL USE OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS BY U.S. ISSUERS AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is proposing a Roadmap for the potential use of financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board by U.S. issuers for purposes of their filings with the Commission. This Roadmap sets forth several milestones that, if achieved, could lead to the required use of IFRS by U.S. issuers in 2014 if the Commission believes it to be in the public interest and for the protection of investors. This Roadmap also includes discussion of various areas of consideration for market participants related to the eventual use of IFRS in the United States. As part of the Roadmap, the Commission is proposing amendments to various regulations, rules and forms that would permit early use of IFRS by a limited number of U.S. issuers where this would enhance the comparability of financial information to investors. Only an issuer whose industry uses IFRS as the basis of financial reporting more than any other set of standards would be eligible to elect to use IFRS, beginning with filings in 2010. DATES: Comments...
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...Financial Accounting and Reporting March 2015 Maldives Business School Cover Page ASSIGNMENT BRIEF BTEC HND/Associate Degree in Business (Management/HR/Marketing) The student must fill the relevant parts of the following table. Student Date Student First Name Student Last Name ID Task No. submitted Date issued Mohamed 1 8th March 2015 Statement of authenticity I, the above named student, hereby confirm that this assignment is my own work and not copied or plagiarized. It has not previously been submitted as part of any assessment. All the sources, from which information has been obtained for this assignment, have been referenced in the Harvard format. I further confirm that I have read and understood the Maldives Business School rules and regulations about plagiarism and copying and agree to be bound by them. Assignment summary information Unit 10 Financial Accounting & Reporting Unit Assignment reference 1 Assignment type This is an individual assignment. Task Submit on Do on Task 1: LO1, LO3, LO4, M1, M2, D1, D2, D3: Report 11 April 2015 NA Task 2: LO2, M3: Class assessment NA 23 March 2015 An extension must be applied for in writing by individual students and will only be granted Extensions for valid reasons. Late submissions Late submissions will be marked for all grades but will incur a fine of MVR 500. Assessor(s): Internal verifier: Assessor(s) please fill the table below AFTER the evaluation. Assessment Feedback ...
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