Regulatory Frameworks for Financial Reporting

Regulatory Frameworks for Financial Reporting Discuss the reasons why we need a regulatory framework for financial reporting. What are the advantages and disadvantages of making accounting rules by law as opposed to using IASB standards? The body of rules which determine how financial accounts will be compiled in any particular situation are known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); these are drawn from a number of sources. The first of these are legal; the main sources of these include the Companies Act 2006, as well as EU Law and the remainder of the UK common law. The second strand of this includes national and international accounting standard such as the ASB and IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) standards, as set by the Accounting Standards Board and their international equivalent; they will also work to establish public opinion on proposed new standards, and use seminars to discuss issues within accounting. The third strand is comprised of the rules of the Stock Exchanges, though these are only applicable to companies listed on the LSE or AIM. The major argument in favour of a regulatory framework is that standardisation is encouraged and, through this, we are able to make an accurate assessment of financial health. As Alexander and Britton point out, before the introduction of these standards, different firms in similar situations were following different accounting standards, leading to different and incompatible results (Alexander and Britton, 2004). Indeed, when takeovers occurred, different valuations taken by accountants could potentially generate vastly different results, given the uncertainty as to what to include: this, in turn, was bad fro the reputation of the accounting profession. The framework, in the shape of both law and accounting standards, allows for the element of subjectivity to be lessened. Further advantages of the current regulatory framework include increasing level of information for the end user, through stipulating minimum standards of disclosure; in addition, the current system benefits through input both from government (in statute, for example), and from the accountancy profession, which arguably works to ensure a balance of interests. However, within this, we then face a choice between regulation by statute and regulation through accounting standards, each with their relative merits and demerits. I shall discuss these in turn. The first advantage is that accounting standards act as a way of reducing the disparate methods by which one may create accounts; this, in turn, makes the account of greater benefit to the end user, given that they have a document which is easily comparable to others of the same kind. Without such a standardisation, there is a risk that different firms of accountant may have chosen to classify a particular type of asset or debt in a different way. Alexander and Britton (2004) demonstrates this through the example of property how is this to be valued? We might argue that it should retain the value for which it is bought; alternatively, we could say that the value should be this, minus depreciation; or thirdly, we could say that the value (given that prices of property will almost always be rising) should be the original price plus an inflationary multiplier. This is just one example, and taken over a large company, the potential for fluctuations is substantial. In an internationalise d economy, this value is correspondingly increased; Zeff (2007) remarks that the introduction of international standards has led to a very great increase in global comparability in relation to what we had before, namely, every country using its own national standards, which differed considerably from country to country. Indeed, Haller and Walton (2003) describe this as the nub of the international accounting problem. How do companies that want to operate across national (and therefore usually cultural) boundaries convey economic information appropriate for business decisions? Secondly, they provide a focal point for debate over what accepted practice should be. At present, it has occasionally been argued that accounting standards are not based on any coherent conceptual framework, but rather exist simply as rules in themselves (Alexander and Britton, 2004). The IASB is a body well-poised to correct such a problem: thus, in recent years, the IASB has launched a project to develop an improved common conceptual framework that provides a sound foundation for developing future accounting standards. It is difficult to imagine Parliament giving time to such a broad yet arguably essential task. Thirdly, on much the same basis, it may be argued that accounting standards are much less rigid than relevant legislation; each change to legislation will require a separate bill to proceed through Parliament, in contrast to accounting standards. Thus, the maintenance of accounting standards provides a body of rules that create standardisation while simultaneously lacking a legalistic rigidity. In addition, the true and fair view can be used when justifiable to override other accounting standards which may apply (Fearnley and Hines, 2003). Fourthly, it can be seen that the introduction of accounting standards have encouraged companies to make available more information than they otherwise would have. Examples of this can be seen in, for example, Robins remarks that FRS 3 (on reporting financial performance), requiring companies to highlight a range of different financial performance indicators (such as the results of continuing operations and discontinued operations) which allow a greater level of information than if simply profit were indicated (Robins, 1999). Through requiring enhanced disclosure of information, it can be argued that accounting standards create a greater standard of information to the end user, and thus the value of accounting in general. Fifthly, it may be viewed as an advantage that the guidelines are created by people with a strong connection to the industry; that is, professional accountants. Statutes such as the Companies Act are inevitably subject to party political pressures: and, in despite their best intentions, Members of Parliament are unlikely to have the same level of expertise as people with vast experience in their field. A further point is that when Parliament drafts legislation, it will intend for it to be applied by the courts; it would therefore be more difficult to create comprehensive standards in such a way than it would be to do so through a body comprised of accountants, creating standards for accountants. We may conclude that a system based on professional considerations is more likely to provide an accurate assessment of an institution. On the other hand, there are a number of corresponding criticisms. Firstly, requiring additional information, and for institutions to comply with certain standards, will inevitably lead to an increase in costs; checking that a set of accounts adheres to a particular set of standards will be require more work than simply taking an ad hoc approach. In addition, each new set of standards will entail its own costs for example, in re-training accountants who had become used to different standards. Secondly, it may be argued that these guidelines are increasing in volume and complexity. Indeed, a letter from the International Corporate Governance Network to the IASB asked whether some instruments are so complex and unstable that not only is portraying things by one number insufficient, but the users of accounts and stakeholders would be better served by the recognition that there may not an answer. Thus in certain areas, complexity will firstly make the standards more difficult to enforce , but also perhaps create inappropriate results, as they are inappropriate to the particular context. This is a particularly strong criticism if we consider that the economic case for the regulatory framework is perhaps unproven: The case for uniformity in accounting is not based on any settled body of evidence, or literature (Bell, 2005). Thirdly, the fact that the guidelines are both set and disciplined by the accounting profession means that there may be no effective method of enforcing the standards this is in contrast to any statutory system, which will be enforceable through the courts. Where professional accountants are involved, the only sanction for breach of these guidelines would appear to be through professional bodies, which have been slow to do so (Lewis and Pendrill, 2003). This is a particular problem, considering that (as seen above), part of the argument for accounting standards is in fact to uphold the reputation of the profession. In addition (and as Lewis and Pendrill point out), many accounting standards deal with issues which in a democratic society, should arguably be subject to democratic controls: the example given is that of FRS 17 (Retirement Benefits), which stated that deficits in a company pensions scheme were to be treated as expenses on the profit and loss account. This is an issue of national importance. Finally, requiring further standardisation means that there will be a trend towards rigidity in financial reporting; it has long been feared that this will lead to accounting becoming a process of rote learning of rules, without searching for any meaning within them. (Baxter, 1962) Thus, although there will be a standardised system, this will not necessarily be one in which these rules have principled bases; at the same time, such standards remove any opportunity for individual judgment or discretion.. In addition, a rigid set of standards will not be appropriate in every situation to which they might be applied; for example, the property industry protested the application of SSAP 12 to property since its introduction (Andrew and Pitt, 2006; SSAP19 was later introduced to cover this). It may even be that an emphasis on rules over judgment distorts the realities of a given situation the experience of FRS5 has shown that judgement-based accounting can operate successfully to report ec onomic reality in a situation where previously there had been an over-reliance on rules (ICAS, 2006). In conclusion, while there is a clear value in standardisation (in that accounts, through being created from the same standards, are more reliably comparable), it would appear that there are certain conflicts. The first is between expertise and control: to what extent should Parliament allow standards boards to create their own rules, benefitting from their own experience, and to what extent should their own political persuasions have a role? The same problem applies in enforcement allowing the accounting industry the opportunity to enforce their own rules gives them the independence to enforce them using their own expertise, but otherwise could lead to charges of indifference to their own wrongdoing. Secondly, there is a conflict between standardisation and complexity; though the aim of standardisation would perhaps be best served by standards covering every possible eventuality, these would be so lengthy and comprehensive as to be unworkable; to some extent, we must rely on broade r principles. The relative merits of each of the relevant methods will therefore depend on the approach we take towards each of these conflicts.

Phoenix Jones Character Analysis Essay

They say with age, comes wisdom. They say a tough life will build tough people. That the world, no matter how terrible it may seem or how bad things get, is only what you make of it. This has never been shown more so by Phoenix Jackson from Eudora Welty’s â€Å"A Worn Path†. Encumbered with age and poverty, Phoenix shows fortitude, cleverness, and a child-like view of the world while traveling to the city for medicine. Welty’s love of literature from her mother, and classic writing style with African American characters (Marrs) is clearly displayed in â€Å"A Warn Path†. Eudora Welty, whose life spanned most of the 20th century, represented the world of the deep American South in multiple genres. In stories, novels, and photography, the Pulitzer Prize winner was especially interested in the relationship of place to character. Her art explores the impact of place on the life of the individual depending on race, gender, and economic status, as well as the reverse influence of the individual character on environment, which is exeptionally displayed in â€Å"A Warn Path† (Marrs). In â€Å"A worn path† an elderly african-american woman, named Pheonix Jones, is up against the world on her way to town. Armed with nothing but her cane, she maneuvers through obstactle after obstacle, showing perseverence in the highest fashion through every disincentive that inhibits her journey. As such, her story depicts the Depression in the United States from the vantage point of a victim insufficiently represented in art—though a victim who, like the mythological phoenix her name evokes, resists annihilation, Phoenix transcends the abuse she experiences. This essay will explore Eudora Welty’s character Phoenix Jones’s most exemplary traits. It will shine light on her fortitude, ingenuity, and light hearted view of the world. Provided along with Phoenix’s traits is examples in which she shows each trait, with direct reference to â€Å"A worn path†. Imagine, having every bone in your body weakened with over seventy plus years of aging. You now have the bones of Phoenix Jones. Weakened, she struggles to get to town. Yet, still she keeps trecking over every obstacle thrown at her. This calls to merit her outstanding fortitude. At one point she encounters a barbed wire fence. With barbs glaring at her, hungry to put a halt to her journey, â€Å"There she had to creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps. But she talked loudly to herself: she could not let her dress be torn now, so late in the day, and she could not pay for having her arm or her leg sawed off if she got caught fast where she was. At last she was safe throught the fence and risen up out of the clearing,† (Welty 850). This is a fine example of her phenominal perseverance and fortitude, showing she was not only going to get through, but she refused to let that fence make even a scratch on her dress. And even before that, at the start of her journey, she already had shown her tremendous amount of determination. As she starts out on her journey she exclaims with a fiery attitude â€Å"Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals! Keep out from under theses feet, little bob whites. Keep the big wild hots out of my path. Don’t let none of those come running my direction. I got a long way† (Welty 849-850). This shows that her mind is already set on getting to town and nothing is stopping her. These fine examples show the true, raw determination and fortitude within Pheonix Jones, showing that she may be frail, but she is anything but weak. There are few things that make true â€Å"good character†. Imagination is one of them. No one has better imagination than a child. A child sees the world as something different†¦ something better. Phoenix Jones clearly holds her inner-child within herself after all these years. After traveling a piece she decides to rest. â€Å"Up above her was a tree in a pearly cloud of mistletoe. She did not dare to close her eyes, and when a little boy brought her a plate with a slice of marble cake on it she spoke to him. â€Å"That would be exceptable,† she said† (Welty 850). Her imagination peeking forth, this shows even through her journey, she imagines a little boy giving her a slice of delicious cake, presenting that everything does not have to be serious. A little piece onward, she shows her enlightening imagination running wild again as she runs up on a menacing scarecrow that she gazes at from a distance. â€Å"Ghost,† she said sharply, â€Å"who you be the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by. †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ She found a coat inside that an emtiness, cold as ice. â€Å"You scarecrow† she said†¦ †Dance, old scare crow† she said, â€Å"while I dancing with you. † She kicked her foot over the furrow, and with mouth drawn down, shook her head once or twice in a little strutting way,† (Welty 851). Her fun loving child-like nature is highlighted through this passage, showing that she took a fear, and enlightened it when she found out it was a scarecrow, dancing with it, showing the trophy of imagination and optimism. Welty shows through Pheonix that imagination will never die, and that it is a precious tool to get over any obstacle. Further down the warn path, Phoenix is greeted by a discourteous hunter helping her up after she fell in a ditch in the wake of a nosy dog coming to investigate this strange intruder. This point is where she shows her cleverness and wit. As she is talking to the hunter, â€Å" Without warning, she had seen with her own eyes a flashing nickel fall out of the man’s pocket onto the ground† (Welty 843), and she said nothing. As it continues the hunter runs off and she wittily bent over in his absence and â€Å"The yellow palm of her hand came out from the fold of her apron. Her fingers slid down and along the ground under the piece of money with the grace and care they would have in lifting an egg from under a setting hen†(Welty 843). As he later lies about having money to spare, this presents her wit, as she gained five cents from this brash traveller who has the audacity to later hold a gun to her head as a joke, which does not intimidate her, and only shows once again the fortitude previously stated in the last paragraph. As she gets to her destination, a clinic that she gets medicine from, she meets an attendant when she first walks in. She came to claim a bottle of medicine through charity for her grandson, which may just be a guise to get free medication, which in itself is a example of clever planning, the example I am using is of her interaction with the attendant. â€Å"It’s Christmas time, Grandma,† said the attendant. â€Å"Could I give you a few pennies out of my purse? † â€Å"Five pennies is a nickel,† said Phoenix stiffly† â€Å"Here’s a nickel,† said the attendant† (Welty 856). She persuades the attendant to give her a nickel, which in total gives her a dime, showing her witty resourcefulness. Whether she uses this ten cent for her grandson a windmill, or something else she wishes to buy, her adept skill and dexterity is presented as she uses wit and expierence to claim these precious boons. Pheonix Jones is a woman of many traits. From her perseverance to her sly inginuity, she uses all her characteristics to get through â€Å"A Warn Path†. She shows her child like perception in a way that eases the burdon of travelling. To the hills and back again seven times fold, her fortitude and will is an object of pure sovereinty over obstacles in her way and in her head. And with just a little bit of quick thinking and bamboozlement she was able to obtain a secondary reward from her journey, a skill that comes in handy throughout her life. Pheonix Jones is a pure, text book definition of strong.

Improving Current System Of Police Reporting - 1160 Words

5.5 Improvement to Current Situation According to five factors that have been proposed, we had suggested some recommendations to improve current system of police reporting in Malaysia which is the Police Reporting System (PRS) to ensure that the function of the PRS will definitely helped to record and transfer the report in a better and easier way. 5.5.1 Role As mentioned above, role is very important factor in police reporting in order to make the report, received statement from complainant, and most important thing is to transfer the report to another police officers. As a recommendation, police organization in Malaysia can organize or provide a training program for police personnel on duty at the enquiry office about the use and maintenance of the PRS so that they can write the report quickly and also they know the function for every single menu and button of the PRS. Plus, if the PRS are breakdown, the police personnel will know how to fix the problem. Thus, it wills not wasting time to wait for the technical team to fix the problem and also they no need to write the report manually in POL 55 and re-type it once the PRS was fixed. Besides that, enquiry officer also are encourage to more than one language. For instance, if the complainant who come over to lodge a report does not know to speak Bahasa Malaysia, the enquiry officer are able to speak another language like English, Mandarin, Tamil or any language that easy to understand by the complainant. 5.5.2Show MoreRelatedThe Violence Of Police Brutality1046 Words   |  5 Pagesor story of police brutality. These stories fill the news and cog everyone’s social network feeds. At the same time the president is giving a speech on the topic, thousands of people are marching with â€Å"Black Lives Matter† as their battle cry. We all know the names Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray. How can our society continue with this devastation done to us by the people meant to protect us? 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The Relationship Between Abuse And Addiction - 965 Words

The relationship between Abuse and addiction in adolescence is growing a rapid rate and defining to two seems to have a different affect, but the two can become harmful and dangerous if parents do not do their part and intervene as soon as they find out what is taking place with their kids. If not brought to subjection in time, it can become very deadly thing for adolescence. Abuse is such a wide spectrum and depending on the adolescent and the friends they have it can be introduced to adolescence in many ways and that can be in the form of drinking, smoking, gambling and grow to the point of illegal drug use. Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use (National†¦show more content†¦In this part of the adolescent life span they fill that more responsibilities should be given to them and if not, they would rebel against their parent and turn to their friends and that’s when the introduction of drugs will begin, because they will fill as if they are a part of something special. A healthy spiritual development will not only make a positive effect on the life of adolescence, it will also show them that having faith in God and living by His command will make life better for them. Furthermore, they will not have to listen to everyone who is trying to introduce drugs to them, but they can be a witness and let their friends know that drugs will not get you anywhere in life. Furthermore, security, unlike insecurity, of attachment is associated with generally favorable outcomes and hence, seems to foster continuity of adaptation throughout adolescence (Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener, L., Benson, 2016). Adolescence can grow up and have a healthy spiritual and according to Luke 1:80(ESV) â€Å"And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.† No matter how much parent try and protect their k ids, they will have to face some type of wilderness in life, but the key is they must know that their life belongs to Jesus Christ and He can give them all they ask of Him. In the local pilotonline.com, you still have communities who trying