...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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...Bachelor of Science in Accountancy as an in Demand Course in De La Salle Lipa A Term Paper Presented to Ms. Imelda Marquez English Language Area De La Salle Lipa In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for COMSKI2 Term 2, School Year 2012-2013 by Pasia, Trishia A. Sumilong, Melissa Mei D. Abstract Many students take up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy in De La Salle Lipa. In this research paper, the being in demand of the course and the effect of having job opportunities after graduating in college in the career choice of the students, the difficult situations they face, how they deal with them and their expectations of their career were being studied. This was done with the use of qualitative method. The researchers interviewed twenty-two (22) Accountancy students about their perceptions on their course. They summarized and concluded their answers to obtain the needed results and they found out that career opportunities really matter in choosing a course because the Accountancy students considered their future in doing this. Though they faced challenges in taking their course, they did their utmost to overcome these and obtain their wanted profession. In addition, they expected to have a good job in the future through this career. This paper further concluded that the students were motivated to study harder and to perform better despite of the difficult situations because of the nice future that was waiting for them and because of their high expectations...
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...Ethics Case One ethical lesson from this article, is when something is wrong, one should speak up and let their voice about the issue be heard. A second lesson from this case is that a lot of times middle management does not report all of the facts to top management in order for critical decisions to be made. Finally, a third ethical lesson from this case is to tell the truth about effects of decisions or information being presented, so that way it is true and unbiased. All three of the above listed lessons are relevant to someone who decides to enter into the accounting profession. This is because as accounts, one of our duties is to provide accurate and timely information in order for decisions by investors, creditors, and internal managers to be made. Most all of the ethical lessons that were discussed in the case were based on misleading information, or information that was inaccurate when trying to make a final decision. The decisions discussed in the case were not made in order to help make decisions; rather top managers were trying to save themselves and their reputations. The first ethical lesson pulled from the case was that when there is information that is misrepresented or wrongly described, one should not hesitate to speak up. Whether you are looking over information from peers on your own level or information from top-level management or anyone higher in a company than you, one should be able to speak up to misrepresented information. As someone going...
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...1. Accounting as mythology * The rigid discipline / procedure in gathering and processing accounting information e.g. double bookkeeping, ledger posti 2. Accounting as distortion – “noise” in accounting information * Manipulation, misrepresentation, fraudulent reporting of information 3. Experimentation realty - exploring various after … of presenting accounting information e.g. deprecation methods, inventory valuation 4. Numeracy reality – Accounting information is essentially presented in numbers e.g. profits, assets, liabilities, reverse & expenses. Influences on accounting practices Rules and regulation relate to: recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure. 1. Economic & political system: Business ownership Financing systems Because it influences the purpose of preparing financial statement i.e. to protect shareholders or protect creditors and loan provides 2. The degree of competition - e.g. how vibrant is the stock exchange would mean providing interim financial statement. 3. Educational factors - User education will influence extent of disclosure CCAB(consullaton ) CCAB(consullaton ) - Will influences the status of the accounting profession, prosuting enhanced exercise of professional judgment. 4. Level of inflation -Will influence measurement of assets, liabilities and determine the relevance of their value 5. Taxation * in some countries such as Germany the tax depreciation...
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...Chapter Four Professional Accounting in the Public Interest, Post-Enron Purpose of the Chapter When the Enron, Arthur Andersen, and WorldCom debacles triggered the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), a new era of stakeholder expectations was crystallized for the business world and particularly for the professional accountants that serve in it. The drift away from the professional accountant’s role as a fiduciary to that of a businessperson was called into question and reversed. The principles that the new expectations spawned and renewed resulted in changes in how the professional accountants are to behave, what services are to be offered, and what performance standards are to be met. These standards have been embedded in a new governance structure and in guidance mechanisms, which have domestic and international components. The influence of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) will be as important as that of SOX in the long run. This chapter examines each of these developments and provides insights into important areas of current and future practice. Building upon the understanding of the new stakeholder accountability framework facing clients and employers developed in earlier chapters, this chapter explores public expectations for the role of the professional accountant and the principles that should be observed in discharging that role. This leads to consideration of the implications for services to be...
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...INTRODUCTION The learner brings an accumulation of assumptions, motives, intentions, and previous knowledge that envelopes every teaching/learning situation and determines the course and quality of learning that may take place Biggs’s understanding of the determining influences students may have on the teaching/learning environment . and it said to be that assumptions, motives, intentions, and previous knowledge that the students have may influence student success. Many students face considerable difficulty in successfully completing accounting. The amount of material typically covered is substantial and the course requires of the student a significant increase in motivation, analytical ability, and academic effort over the usual principles. Factors that are beyond the control of students but may affect their academic performance include institutional issues such as fast changing environment, large class size and heavy teaching load for the instructor. There may also be limited availability of supplemental instruction or tutoring assistance. All of these factors may adversely affect the probability of student success in understanding accounting. The purpose of this study is to investigate some of the factors that may influence student academic performance in accounting. Identifying the factors that are positively related to performance should enhance faculty understanding of the problems related to student failure in accounting. In addition, identifying these factors...
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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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...Jacqueline Murphy AC504 Unit 2 Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy is commonly referred to in the English community as Leo Tolstoy was a Russian novelist, a social reformer, a pacifist, a Christian anarchist, and a moral thinker (Contributors, 2008). He was born on September 9, 1828 on his family’s estate in the Tula Province of Russia. He is the youngest of four boys. His mother Princess Volkonskaya, died in 1830 when he was very young. His father County Nikolay Tolstoy died seven years after his mothers’ death. After his fathers’ death his aunt was appointed legal guardian of him and his siblings (Leo Tolstoy, 2013). Tolstoy is broadly considered as one of the utmost of all novelists. He is particularly well-known for his works of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. In those writings he showed that he had insight into human motives. Tolstoy found the pacifist doctrine of nonresistance in the Christian Gospels. He rejected all forms of coercion from both the government and the church. He suffered a spiritual crisis and grew depressed. He struggled to uncover the meaning of life, he came to believe that Christian churches were corrupt and, in lieu of organized religion, developed his own beliefs (Contributors, 2008). Tolstoy should be recognized as a crusader for social justice. He was a constant thorn in the side of the Russian Orthodox Church, the czarist government, and local authorities. His work was banned in the Soviet Union because of his resistance to violence and...
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...Accounting Policies for Reporting Income Strayer University Intermediate Accounting 1 – ACC 303 February 6, 2012 Professor Elizabeth Hewitt Accounting Policies for Reporting Income Examining accounting standards and policies information from various sources such as FASB Accounting Standards Codification (Financial Accounting Standards Board), AICPA (American Institute of CPA’s) and FASAB (Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board) I can give a overview of how these items are defined in various resources. The FASB Accounting Standards Codification is the single source of authoritative nongovernmental U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Looking at the online FASB site it offers the most GAAP generally accepted accounting principles. The site is set up so that you can access the topics you’re looking for in a sort of drill down menu type of search. The site is somewhat user friendly in that it offers a tutorial on how to use the site. It also offers several useful functions such as cross-referencing and join-sections. The AICPA sets ethical standards for the accounting profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies, non-profit organizations and federal, state and local governments. This resource offers tabs with drop down menus; one of which is marked Research under this tab you can find Standards that will take you to the Standard page offering a list of topics on Professional Accountant Standards such as ‘Audit and Attest Standards’...
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...1.0 Introduction This report talks about china s accounting systems and how it has developed and changed continuously till present. It looks into the history of Chinese accounting, followed by explaining how the institutional factors have had an impact and is backed up by 2 theorist, Hofestede and Grays model. It identifies the significant changes that occurred during its journey in adapting to the IFRS standards starting from 1949. Culture is a main aspect of china and has been incorporated into its accounting systems as well. To conclude it explains future problems that may arise and whether or not china will fully adapt to the IFRS system. 2.0 Brief history of accounting Previously there was no real accounting system in china with the exception of providing financial reports, therefore the Chinese government wanted to implement an accounting system. In 1949 the people Republic of China (PRC) a communist party came into power and adopted a communist accounting approach from Russia to achieve socio economic development without the reliance on developed nations. 2.1 Significant changes that have taken place 2.2 Great Leap Forward The regime of the Great Leap Forward 1958 – 59 was an effort to strengthen china’s economy, and catch up with the western world, but ended during the Cultural Revolution. A series of natural disasters like shortage of water, starvation led to the worst period in china’s history. 2.3 Cultural Revolution However the Cultural Revolution...
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...ACCT 5100 Professional Development Challenges Faced by Accounting Profession ACCT 5100 Professional Development Challenges Faced by Accounting Profession Introduction Accounting has evolved, like many other professions, over time and is playing an increasingly significant role in today’s business environment. The key accounting practices are still identify, measure and communicate the economic condition of an entity with both inside and outside stakeholders. Accounting professionals have widened their attention beyond technical skills to incorporate social implications over the past several decades. Over the past few years, the whole world witnessed the impact of modern advances in information technology, globalization, and many other factors, all of which increased the public awareness of changes in global business environment and also brought many challenges to this profession. In response to these difficulties, modern accountants must develop a broader range of knowledge and skills to better perform their financial responsibilities. This paper examines several key challenges concerning the profession: 1) independence, 2) globalization and IFRS, 3) knowledge and skills gap. Challenges faced by accounting profession Independence and objectivity Independence is not a new issue faced by accountants; however, it has been and always will be one of the biggest challenges faced by this profession. Accounting to the research...
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...Romandi, Pristine Primrose M. Sir Roberto Dacanay It is both disappointing and interesting to know. Disappointing because accountants are misusing such huge funds, reporting understated earnings and double-dealing with their investors and shareholders even until these days. On the other hand, it is also interesting to know how they do it, what courage they have to do that and why they are doing such things like that. I know that it is good to have money to live but for what reason do they have to have that great amount of money if having just enough or a little more of what they have is enough to live? It is really obvious they aren’t contented of what they have. They may think of their children’s future but just like Madoff’s case, he trusted his sons but they even let their father get caught. If it is me, I won’t even know what to do in the first place but it is good to know that the sons did what is right. The results of the scandals are different. Some had their corresponding penalties and some are freed after the hearing or investigation. I hope that everyone involved was only given enough years in their sentence and was given a chance to live outside the jail. But maybe there are some reasons why some still live normally outside the prison after all and some like Madoff who was sentenced for 150 years of imprisonment. I really hope that accountants and future ones will d their jobs as what the program taught while studying. Being honest and responsible for the...
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...Bernard Mitchell Jr. Forensic Accounting Prof. Steffel May 23, 2013 The Forensic Accountant What is a forensic accountant? There are many attributes that are needed to be a forensic accountant. Bolgna and Linquist (1995) defined forensic accounting as the application of financial skills and an investigative mentality to unresolved issues, conducted within the context of the rules of evidence. In 2011, a definition in Accountancy Ireland, noted: “Forensic accounting has been defined as "the science of gathering and presenting financial information in a form that will be accepted by a court of jurisprudence against perpetrators of economic crimes". The field integrates accounting, auditing and investigative competences to detect and prevent financial irregularities in business. (Idowa, 2011). This is a growing field so the definition will grow continuously over time. There is a great deal of gathering information included in being a forensic accountant. The biggest skill is having above average skill when it comes to looking for details. Each detail has to be exact in order when being presented during a case. In order to be successful you have to have a drive that keeps you thirsting for the truth. Anytime that you have to go looking through documents and other financial information you have to pay close...
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...THE RISE OF ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES The impact of accounting reports on decision making may be the most challenging accounting issue of the 1970s. by Stephen A. Zeff Since the 1960s, the American accounting profession has been aware of the increasing influence of "outside forces" in the standardsetting process. Two parallel developments have marked this trend. First, individuals and groups that had rarely shown any interest in the setting of accounting standards began to intervene actively and powerfully in the process. Second, these parties began to invoke arguments other than those which have traditionally been employed in accounting discussions. The term "economic consequences" has been used to describe these novel kinds of arguments. By "economic consequences" is meant the impact of accounting reports on the decisionmaking behavior of business, government, unions, investors and creditors. It is argued that the resulting behavior of these individuals and groups could be detrimental to the interests of other affected parties. And, the argument goes, accounting standard setters must take into consideration these allegedly detrimental consequences when deciding on accounting questions.* The recent debates involving foreign currency translation and the accounting for unsuccessful exploration activity in the petroleum industry have relied heavily on economic consequences arguCopyright © 1978 by Stephen A. Zeff. *Ed. note: For the opinion of an accounting standard setter, see Oscar...
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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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