The International Accounting Standards Board Structure

The International Accounting Standards Board Structure There is overwhelming demand for high quality accounting standards that are internationally accepted. It is of the utmost importance that the IASB delivers these as quickly as possible. Required: a) Outline the current structure of the IASB, highlighting the major influences and controls on it. (30%) b) Explain the main advantages of high quality, internationally accepted accounting standards and the main challenges the IASB faces in developing them. (50%) c) Comment on the quotation above and give a conclusion on its validity. (20%) ANSWER a) The International Accounting Standards Board (hereafter â€Å"IASB†)[1] replaced the International Accounting Standards Committee on April 1 2001. This represented the culmination of a restructuring project based on the recommendations of the report Recommendations on Shaping IASC for the Future.[2] The IASB, which is based in London, is constituted by fourteen board members drawn from nine different countries, of whom twelve are full-time and 3 are part-time. The composition of the membership is as follows: a minimum of five former auditors, three former users of accounts, three former preparers of accounts, and one academic. The remaining two can be drawn from any of these backgrounds or from a different background. The IASB is entrusted with the responsibility to establish International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and its goal is to create conformity and compatibility around the world.[3] Its mission statement is to provide â€Å"high quality, understandable and enforceable global accounting standards†[4]. This is a substantial task, given that the accounting principles generally accepted in each individual country can in practice differ significantly between national jurisdictions. The IASB is organised on the following lines. Its parental body, the IASC Foundation is an independent entity having two main arms, namely, the Trustees and the IASB, and in addition it incorporates the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee and a Standards Advisory Council. The 22 Foundation Trustees of the IASC are empowered to appoint members to the IASB, to exercise general oversight and administrative and managerial supervision, and to generate the funds needed to finance the operation. However it should be stressed that the IASB has sole and exclusive responsibility for establishing accounting standards. The focus of the IASB is on the pursuit of a rolling work plan. The work plan is determined and updated at regular IASB meetings and reflects the objectives and broad timetable of the Memorandum of Understanding[5] between the IASB and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (hereafter â€Å"FASB†) which lays down the so-called Roadmap for Convergence between IFRSs and US GAAP between 2006 and 2008.[6] The Memorandum of Understanding establishes goals that the IASB and FASB have agreed to achieve so as to facilitate the convergence of accounting standard-setting.[7] The long-term strategic priority of both the IASB and FASB remains the establishment of a common set of high quality global standards. b) The overarching goal of the IASB is the creation and maintenance of a set of understandable, enforceable and effective accounting standards for consistent application around the world. The object of this exercise is to attempt to guarantee both equivalence and transparency in certain universal financial statements compiled in different national jurisdictions across the globe by engineering a commensurate and smooth convergence of previously diverse national standards of accounting reporting..[8] It is manifest that the achievement of such an end would facilitate international business and investment, reduce commercial risk and increase transparency, and improve the general quality of financial reporting around the world. The IASB has resolved that if consistently reliable and effective financial reporting infrastructure is to be established it must both embody and reflect four essential characteristics:[9] 1. It is deemed essential that settled accounting standards are consistent, comprehensive and founded on a transparent set of general principles which strive to guarantee that financial reports fairly and accurately reflect all background and underlying financial realities. 2. Functional mechanisms must be put in place to ensure the adoption of efficient and effective corporate governance practices, and that in turn these should incorporate a condition for strict systems of internal control which serve to apply common accounting standards. 3. Auditing practices must be established in which the diverse users and prepares of accounts in the outside world can invest confidence and trust, and which categorically establish that undertakings produce reports which represent a true and fair view of their economic performance and overall financial state. 4. It is necessary to implement a cogent surveillance and enforcement regime which ensures that the fundamental rules and principles as determined by the universally prevailing auditing and accounting standards are both respected and applied.. The Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements[10] was published by the IASB’s predecessor, the International Accounting Standards Committee in 1989. Popularly known as the Conceptual Framework, this document lays down the essential concepts to be adhered to in the production of financial statements for external appraisal and usage. The Framework deals with such matters as: qualitative characteristics of financial information; fundamental assumptions; objectives of financial statements; elements of financial statements; core components of financial statements; measurement of the items of financial statements; capital maintenance issues.[11] That said, it is worth emphasising that the Conceptual Framework is not accorded the full status of an accounting standard. The same can be said of the Statement of Principles of the UK Accounting Standards Board. This obviously constitutes a practical challenge because it renders application less certain and can result in a dilution of the principles it endeavours to entrench. Despite this difficulty, the Framework guides the current work of the IASB in its development of contemplated International Financial Reporting Standards and it influences the IASB’s rolling review of established International Accounting Standards.. It is submitted that this modus operandi should encourage the harmonisation of accounting standards, and hone those procedures and regulations relevant to the presentation and substance of financial statements by setting down an underlying conceptual rationale for reducing the number of different accounting treatments allowed under international standards. The IASB faces a huge challenge in catering for the all the different classes of users of financial statements, who may seek to use those financial statements for a wide number of purposes. Given that users may include classes as diverse as, suppliers, lenders, trade creditors, investors (current and potential), employees, customers (current and potential), the general public and Government agencies, it is clear that the IASB has to take a vast array of different and sometimes competing interests into account in determining the appropriate rules of accounting.[12] c) It is very hard to argue with the quote under review, because there is manifestly considerable demand among, in particular accounts users, who rely upon accounts to guide a multiplicity of business and investment decisions, for high quality accounting standards that are both internationally accepted and respected and universally applied. Given that unarguable truth the second part of the quote is also clearly well founded. Of course it would be desirable to deliver improvements to accounting standards as soon as possible. This commentator can conceive of no reason to delay the introduction of what would represent a significant improvement in conditions of finance and trade, in particular given the increasing globalisation of business and commerce and the relative growth in the number of international transactions as opposed to national transactions with each passing year. In simple words, business is becoming ever more global and accounting standards must consolidate to reflect t hat new environment and practice. The demand and determination to achieve high quality and internationally accepted accounting standards is perhaps best evidenced by the focused cooperation between accounting standard setting bodies witnessed in recent years. In 2004 the IASB started work on a project in partnership with the US FASB which is aimed at the development of a so-called common conceptual framework, in the hope of that such would facilitate the convergence and refinement of the existing frameworks of both accounting standards Boards.[13] Demand for tighter and more consistent accounting standards has also been fuelled by analysis of the high profile corporate collapses of companies like Enron and WorldCom in recent years.[14] Accountants were widely criticised for auditing errors in these cases, which have already proved the catalysts for a raft of new corporate governance regulations.. These huge corporate collapses and others of their ilk have not only given rise to increased demand for accounting standard improvement and consolidation but also underline the very real need for concerted action in this field. In sum, it is submitted that the quote under review is well founded in both its primary assertions.. THE END WORD COUNT: 1574 (excluding footnotes) BIBLIOGRAPHY Recommendations on Shaping IASC for the Future: A Report of the International Accounting Standards Committee’s Strategy Working Party, Recommendations to the IASC Board, 30 November 1999: http://www.iasb.org/uploaded_files/documents/8_210_swp_rep.pdf Mirza and Epstein, IFRS: Interpretation and Application of International Accounting Standards, (2006) Wiley Horngren, â€Å"Uses and Limitations of a Conceptual Framework,† Journal of Accountancy, April 1981 Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements, http://www.iasplus.com/standard/framewk.htm. Alfredson et al., Applying International Accounting Standards, (2005) Wiley. Lewis and Pendrill, Advanced Financial Accounting, (2004) Prentice Hall International Accounting Standards Board website: http://www.iasb.org/Home.htm Inman, UK accounting firms enjoy  £1bn bonanza in wake of Enron, The Guardian, 28 June 2006. Memorandum of Understanding between the FASB and the IASB 27 February 2006: http://www.iasb..co.uk/. The IASB Conceptual Framework An Introduction, Dr Philip Dunn, AccountingWeb, 9 May 2005: http://www..accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=140805d=448h=0f=0. International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) (1998); â€Å"Shaping IASC for the Future†, Discussion Paper, December, 1998 1 Footnotes [1] The non-profit organisation IASC Foundation, incorporated in March 2001 in Delaware, US is the parental body of the IASB. [2] Recommendations on Shaping IASC for the Future: A Report of the International Accounting Standards Committee’s Strategy Working Party, Recommendations to the IASC Board, 30 November 1999: http://www.iasb.org/uploaded_files/documents/8_210_swp_rep.pdf. And see: International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) (1998); â€Å"Shaping IASC for the Future†, Discussion Paper, December, 1998. [3] For an insightful overview see: Alfredson et al., Applying International Accounting Standards, (2005) Wiley. [4] See: http://www.iasb.org/Home.htm. [5] Memorandum of Understanding between the FASB and the IASB 27 February 2006: http://www.iasb.co.uk/. [6] See: http://www.iasb.co.uk/. [7] This is an integral part of the process towards removal of the duty owed by foreign registrants with the SEC to converge their financial statements to the US GAAP model. [8] See for general background and insightful comment: Lewis, R. and Pendrill, D. 2004 Advanced Financial Accounting 7th edition. [9] Statement of Sir David Tweedie, Chairman of the IASB, Before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the United States Senate, Washington DC, 9 September 2004: http://www.iasb.org/uploaded_files/documents/8_129_040909-dpt.pdf. [10] See: Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements, http://www.iasplus.com/standard/framewk.htm. [11] The IASB Conceptual Framework An Introduction, Dr Philip Dunn, AccountingWeb, 9 May 2005: http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=140805d=448h=0f=0. [12] Horngren, Charles T., â€Å"Uses and Limitations of a Conceptual Framework,† Journal of Accountancy, April 1981, p. 90. [13] See: http://www.iasb.org/current/active_projects.asp?showPageContent=noxml=16_107_116_30112004.htm [14] Inman, UK accounting firms enjoy  £1bn bonanza in wake of Enron, The Guardian, 28 June 2006.

Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange Essay -- Anthony Burgess Clockwork

Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange Choice and free will are necessary to maintain humanity, both individually and communally; without them, man is no longer human but a â€Å"clockwork orange†, a mechanical toy, as demonstrated in Anthony Burgess’ novel, â€Å"A Clockwork Orange†. The choice between good and evil is a decision every man must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and control his future. Forcing someone to be good is not as important as the act of someone choosing to be good. This element of choice, no matter what the outcome, displays man’s power as an individual. â€Å"A Clockwork Orange† starts with Alex posing the question: â€Å"what’s it going to be then, eh?†. Burgess begins the story by demonstrating that Alex and his gang are free to do as they choose. Alex and his â€Å"droogs† are rebellious modern youth in an oppressive society. The â€Å"droogs† are tempted like all humanity by sin and try to show their hatred for the government with acts of extreme violence. The violent and rebellious behavior is a result of free will, but without the presence of evil, there would be nothing for humanity to choose. Throughout part one of the novel the droogs’ choices often result in violent actions harming innocent people. Examples of their â€Å"ultra-violence† are rampant: Alex and his droogs choose to rob and assault a man, Alex rapes young girls, and the droogs rob an old â€Å"ptitsa† who later dies from Alex’s assault. As Burgess says : â€Å"evil has to exist along with good, i n order that moral choice may operate†¦Unfortunately there is so much original sin in us all that we find evil rather attractive†. God gave individuals free will, and they are responsible for their actions. The government has no right to interfere with human nature. A person can choose to be good or evil as Alex tries to demonstrate when he says: â€Å" what I do I do because I like to do†. With this statement, Alex clearly demonstrates that he is responsible for his actions and he chooses to act out against society simply because he likes to, because he is attracted to sin. When Alex and his gang attack F. Alexander and his wife, we again witness horrible acts of violence that are ultimately the result of Alex’s choice. This appalling scene is another example of Alex using his free will and his temptation towards evil. Evil is not only part of Alex’s life but the government’s as well. Th... ...at it’s going to be, brothers†. Alex willfully chooses to change his ways; he decides to be productive, and chooses love over sin. He realizes that what he did in the past was wrong, as well as the immorality of his ways. It is through free moral choice that Alex arrives at this conclusion, not through a government technique forcing him to make the â€Å"right† decision. As part of the process of maturity, Alex would have likely selected this path naturally. However, the interference of the government and F.Alexander’s interference with Alex’s moral choice ultimately drove him to attempt suicide to escape the evil ways they chose for reform. Moral choice can lead to violence, but without the risks, there would be nothing for humanity to choose. The government and F.Alexander’s faction control Alex’s free will to justify their own political agenda. They control his ability to choose without realizing that interfering with humanity’s ability to exercise free will is evil. Both the government and F.Alexander’s faction claim to be â€Å"the good guys† when they are the true faces of pure evil. One has to remember that evil is a master of disguise. It often hides behind the mask of the hero.

A Character Sketch of Mustapha Mond in Brave New World

Mustapha Mond Character Sketch It is said that a great leader must always lead by example. This is not always true, a leader must sometimes partake in some negative activities in order to protect the interests of the populous. An excellent example of this is Mustapha Mond. When one first meets Mustapha Mond, it is obvious that he is distinctly different from the other alpha plusses; Mond is unique, wise, and authoritative. Mustapha Mond is unique in part because he reads prohibited literature. Unlike the other denizens of Brave New World, Mond has read the classic works of Shakespeare, the Bible, and other remnants of the old world.Additionally, he believes in the presence of god. This is a concept unknown to most of the populous, because society has made god unnecessary; when no one is ever alone or unhappy, they do not need to request things from god. Mond used to be an inquisitive scientist; he was smart enough to realize that the so-called science they practiced was not real inno vation, thus he started to experiment on his own or in Mond's words, † ‘I started doing a bit of cooking on my own. Unorthodox cooking, illicit cooking. A bit of real science' â€Å"(226).Doing things in private, let alone doing science in private is something unheard of in Brave New World. Although, being the only man in a world full of sheep, can be a good trait to a leader. Mond is wise, thus a good leader. He understands the big picture. One example of this ability, is that he recognizes that the high arts cannot exist without strife. The current society has nearly no pain, no sorrow, no loneliness, and none of the detrimental negative emotions that are necessary to understand works of high art, such as Othello.He recognizes that the populous would no longer understand classics like Romeo and Juliet. Additionally, he recognizes that however much workers may request for shorter hours, the truth is, they are happier working the longer work days. This is because, worke rs have nothing to do in their â€Å"spare time† as was exemplified by Mond, † ‘Ireland was put on to the four-hour day. What was the result? Unrest and a large increase in the consumption of soma' † (224). In fact, Mond claims that the Invention office is stuffed with labor saving ideas; however, for the sake of stability, he uses his authority as the ResidentWorld Controller to hold back change that would be detrimental to society. Authority is a requirement for people in positions of power, and as the Resident World Controller, Mond is not afraid to use his power. A stable society cannot have dissenters, thus, all nonconformists are sent to sub centers including Bernard Marx and Helmholtz. However, he does not allow John to leave Brave New World, with his fore mentioned friends Bernard and Helmholtz, because the experiment, being the introduction of a â€Å"savage† into civilization, must go on.Mond's authority is best summarized in his own words: † ‘I make the laws here, I can also break them. With impunity, Mr. Marx, Which I'm afraid you can't' † (219). In the words of Vincent Thomas Lombardi, â€Å"The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. † Mustapha Mond is an excellent example of this, Mond is a wise, unique, and authoritative leader with traits that distinguish him from the other alpha plusses. He is one of the few conscious people in a world full of glassy eyed automatons.

Employee Remuneration - 13571 Words

Chapter I INTRODUCTION 1. MEANING OF WAGE/ COMPENSATION PAYMENT: Wage is a monetary payment made by the employer to his employee for the work done or services rendered. It is a monetary compensation for the services rendered [1]. A worker may be paid Rs. 100 per day or Rs. 4500 per month. This is wage payment. The worker gives his services and takes payment called wage payment. Industrial workers are paid remuneration for their services in terms of money called wage payment. Wages are usually paid in cash at the end of one day, one month or one week. Money wage is the monetary compensation or price paid by the employer to his employee for the services rendered. Such compensation is also called wage or salary or reward†¦show more content†¦This is due to poverty, rising prices, mass unemployment and rising population. Wage payment indeed a vexatious problem and needs to be tackled from economic, social and humanistic angles. 1.2 CONCEPT OF FAIR WAGES: Fair wages is the wage which is above the minimum wage but below the living wage. Obviously the lower limit of the fair wage is the minimum wage and the upper limit is set by the ability of the industry to pay. Between these two limits, fair wages should depend on the factors like – 1. Prevailing rates of wages in the same occupation 2. Prevailing rates of wages in the same region or neighbouring areas 3. Employers ability to pay 4. Level of national income and its distribution 5. Productivity of labour 6. Status enjoyed by the industry in the economy Hence it can be said that fair wages are determined on industry cum region basis. When fair wages are paid employees enjoy higher standard of living. It is accepted fact that wages must be fair and reasonable. Wages is fair when the employee is able to meet its essential needs and enjoy reasonable standard of living. †Equal pay for equal work† serves as base of fair wage [4]. 1.3 FACTORS INFLUENCING WAGE AND SALARY STRUCTURE [5] †¢ The organization’s ability to pay: Wage increases should be given by those organizations which can afford them. Companies that have good sales and therefore high profits tend to pay higher wages than those which areShow MoreRelated8.7.1. Employer And Employee Benefits . †¢Remuneration Package1732 Words   |  7 Pages8.7.1. 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