...the Securities Act of 1933 to create accounting standards and determine the accounting disclosures (M.E. Sharpe, 2006). The SEC deferred to the accounting profession the task of creating auditing standards. The New York Stock exchange and the now American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) together published guidelines for audits. In 1971, the AICPA created a committee which was chaired by Francis M. Wheat and comprised of seven members to make recommendations on how to better the accounting principles ("US Financial Accounting Standards Board FASB; IASB and US FASB Complete First Stage of Conceptual Framework," 2010). This committee recommended that a full time board be developed to create set accounting standards. This led to the development of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in 1973 within the Financial Accounting Foundation ("US Financial Accounting Standards Board FASB; IASB and US FASB Complete First Stage of Conceptual Framework," 2010). The function of the FASB is to establish and publish the accounting principles. The FASB issues three major types of pronouncements: 1) Standards, Interpretations, and Staff positions 2) Financial Accounting Concepts 3) Emerging Issues Task Force Statements (Kieso, Weygandt, & Warfield, 2007). A research and technical staff supports and assists the FASB with research and setting its agenda priorities. FASB is currently based out of Norwalk, Connecticut. The International Accounting Standards...
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...practice does not meet the information needs of capital market in the 21st century ’(View Point, 2007:1). To meet the diversified needs and expectations of the users a single framework of financial reporting is essential. Payne and Raagan (2008:15) also consider that 'A universal financial reporting standard would help participants in the world's capital markets and other users make economic decisions'. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND ACCOUNTING STANDARDS Barth (2006) explains that the definitions of financial statement elements along with the objective and the qualitative characteristics of financial reporting are set by the conceptual framework. It is aimed at the current and prospective equity and debt capital providers to help them in their capital allocation decision. Consequently, the conceptual framework ensures relevant and reliable financial reporting and thus meets the need of shareholders and other users. It is an important element, which forms the frame of reference for financial reporting. It also establishes a theoretical basis for providing and evaluating new accounting standards. Stowley and Lebas (2002) believe that these standards should include ‘specific principles, bases, conventions, rules and practices necessary to prepare the financial statements’. ACCA F7(2009) explains that the framework not only...
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...Explain why principles-based standards require a conceptual framework. A: Conceptual framework can be defined as “an attempt to define the nature and purpose of accounting” (Team, 2015). Conceptual framework is essential for principle-based standards because it lays out a fundamental structure for principles-based standards. Setting the standard on and relate to an established body of concepts and objectives, enable FASB and IASB to “issue more useful and consistent standards over time” (Essays, 2013). For any future developments or armaments on the standards, the framework will ensure the changes will be within its fundamental concepts and will not get to a personal or an inconsistent standard. ACCA has mentioned “the availability of a conceptual framework could lead to ‘principles-based’ system whereby accounting standards are developed from an agreed conceptual basis with specific objectives” (Team, 2015), which in other words, a consistency on the principle-based standards and agreed on a common ground. Without a sound conceptual framework, principle-based standards could lead to inconsistency for users internally (accounting practitioners) and externally (report readers); bias on the use of standards and standard settings, which leads to misdirection on financial statements; and the difficulty of future developments on the standard itself (not been bounded by any concepts or ideas. Conceptual framework can be seen as the “root” and the principles can be seen as...
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...How to measure the quality of voluntary disclosure in annual reports The goal of voluntary disclosure is to give more information than required of reporting standards. This to create more disclosure (Scott, 2009, p.109). Although voluntary disclosure provides more information than required, the earnings quality can be questionable. Earnings quality can be defined as the extent to which reported earnings faithfully represent Hicksian income (Schipper and Vincent, 2000). The Hicksian income corresponds to the amount that can be pay out as dividend without damaging the firm (Hicks, 1939, p.176) and the definition of faithfulness means “correspondence or agreement between a measure or description and the phenomenon that it purports to present” (FASB Concepts Statement, No. 2, para. 63). The quality of the financial reporting are interesting for investment decision making. Low-quality earnings provide an incomplete allocation of resources. Also contracting of decisions based on low-quality will induce unintended wealth transfers (Schipper and Vincent, 2000). Schipper and Vincent (2000) consider four earnings quality constructs: - Time-series properties of earnings - Relations among income, accruals, and cash - Selected qualitative characteristics in the FASB’s conceptual framework - Implementation decisions Time-series properties of earnings Time-series properties of earnings include persistence, predictive...
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...Conceptual Framework A conceptual framework establishes the concepts that underlie financial reporting. Conceptual framework includes objectives, qualitative characteristics, elements, measurement, and recognition concepts. The FASB Concepts Statements guide the board in developing accounting principles and provide understanding. These concept statements are non-authoritative and do not establish generally accepted accounting principles. Entities do not use the FASB Concept Statements in routine preparation of financial statements. (8,2) The IASB and the Interpretations Committee use conceptual framework when developing new or revised International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and interpretations or when amending existing IFRSs. It is used as a point of reference to help preparers of financial statements in applying IFRSs or when no specific guidance is given. The IASB’s Conceptual Framework is not an International Financial Reporting Standard and does not override any specific IFRS. However, the Conceptual Framework is used in development of future standards and the IASB is reviewing IFRSs and the Conceptual Framework to eliminate all conflicts between them. (2,7) Basis of Accounting Both U.S. GAAP and IFRS use a modified historical cost basis with a growing emphasis on fair value when preparing financial statements. When non-U.S. entities operate in a highly inflationary environment and prepare GAAP financial statements; they have the choice to either report price-level...
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...financial statements prepared in accordance with principles that had no substantial authoritative support would be considered inaccurate. This prompted the CAP to expand from 7 members to 21 members and increased its activity. b. Structure – The Committee on Accounting Procedures was committee formed by the American Institute of Accountants after the SEC delegated to it the responsibility of issuing pronouncements on accounting principles without government council. Initially, the CAP wanted to create guidance for solving accounting problems, but did not believe they had enough time. Instead, they began attacking specific problems and recommended accounting methods. c. Strengths – Although the CAP did not produce an accounting framework, they set the stage for how accounting policies would be made, in the private sector. They also had more power than was granted to any committee prior to their existence. d. Weaknesses - The committee did not have...
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...Property, Plant and Equipment Property, Plant and Equipment I- Nature of Accounting Issues Businesses purchase and use a variety of fixed assets, such as equipment, furniture, tools, machinery, buildings, and land. These fixed assets are long-term or relatively permanent assets. Also, they are tangible assets because they exist physically. They are owned and used by the business and are not offered for sale as part of normal operations. Perhaps the most descriptive titles these assets are known under are plant assets or property, plant and equipment. Depending on the industry, the plant assets of a business can be a significant part of its total assets. That is why the accounting for these long-term assets has important implications for a company’s reported results. In this paper, we discuss the proper accounting for the acquisition, use, and disposition of property, plant, and equipment. Before going over a brief overview of the nature of accounting issues, we ought to take a deeper look at what plant assets really are. The major characteristics of property, plant, and equipment are as follows: * They are acquired for use in operations and not for resale. Only assets used in normal business operations are classified as property, plant, and equipment. For example, an idle building is more appropriately classified separately as an investment. Also, land developers or sub dividers classify land as inventory. * They are long-term in nature and usually depreciated...
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...appear far and wide; they are commonplace throughout the business and accounting frontiers. Accounting for leases, however, is not so clear cut. Since there are various ways to account for leases, many companies pick and choose which they feel best suits their situation, even when this sweeps dirt under the rug along 3 the way. The financial procedures for dealing with leases should entail benefits as well as limitations to ensure each company is fairly representing all of its financial information. Off-balance sheet financing is one of the hot topics in accounting for leases because of the implications it imposes on financial reporting. This thesis will discuss these implications, as well as the continuing search for convergence of FASB and IASB as they strive to make leases as transparent and honest as possible. OFF-BALANCE SHEET FINANCING Leases: Off-Balance Sheet Financing and the Strive for Transparency Today Historical Perspective Lease accounting dates back well into the early...
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...means of conveying financial information to investors, creditors, and other external users is through financial statements and related notes. In this chapter you explore important topics such as the FASB’s conceptual framework that serve as a foundation for a more detailed study of financial statements, the way the elements of these statements are measured, and the concepts underlying these measurements and related disclosures. Learning Objectives LO1–1 Describe the function and primary focus of financial accounting. LO1–2 Explain the difference between cash and accrual accounting. LO1–3 Define generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and discuss the historical development of accounting standards, including convergence between U.S. and international standards. LO1–4 Explain why the establishment of accounting standards is characterized as a political process. LO1–5 Explain factors that encourage high-quality financial reporting. LO1–6 Explain the purpose of the conceptual framework. LO1–7 Identify the objective and qualitative characteristics of financial reporting information, and the elements of financial statements. LO1–8 Describe the four basic assumptions underlying GAAP. LO1–9 Describe the recognition, measurement and disclosure concepts that guide accounting practice. LO1–10 Contrast a revenue/expense approach and an asset/liability approach to accounting standard setting. LO1–11 Discuss the primary differences...
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...Development Of A Conceptual Framework Accounting Essay ‘Developing a conceptual framework is an impossible possibility ‘it is hard to say that this statement is wrong or not. First, there is no accurate or definitive view of what constitutes a conceptual framework, but there is no doubt that conceptual framework helping a development of academic theory, meanwhile, it is also provide a great deal of prescription. Developing a conceptual framework is feasible and promising. In this issue, I explain what is the conceptual framework? Who needs them? And list the importance of conceptual framework to financial report prove my view. NEED FOR A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Why do we need to develop a conceptual framework? Of course, it is be useful, the body of concepts should to make rules and relate to financial report; a soundly developed conceptual framework enables the IASB to issue more useful and consistent pronouncements over time. It means a coherent standard should result. So, if framework have no a soundly development, the guidance by it will influent standard-setting based on individual concepts. In other words, standard-setting cannot base on personal conceptual frameworks; it will lead to wrong conclusions about identical or similar issues than it did previously. As a result, past decisions is not treat as future ones, standards cannot be consistent with one another. Furthermore, the conceptual framework should be paying attention to users’ understanding about financial reporting...
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...CHAPTER 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK UNDERLYING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING Show Me the Earnings! The growth of new-economy business on the Internet has led to the development of new measures of performance. When Priceline.com splashed onto the dot-com scene, it touted steady growth in a measure called “unique offers by users” to explain its heady stock price. To draw investors to its stock, Drugstore.com focused on the number of “unique customers” at its website. After all, new businesses call for new performance measures, right? Not necessarily. In fact, these indicators failed to show any consistent relationship between profits and website visits. Eventually, as the graphs below show, the profits never materialized, and stock prices fell. The lesson here: Although the new economy may require some new measures, investors need to be careful not to forget the reliable traditional ones. PRICELINE.COM Net unique offers by users 3.0 million 2.0 1.0 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 DRUGSTORE.COM Unique customers 2.0 million 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 Stock price $120 a share 80 40 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 2000-IV close $2.13 Stock price $40 a share 30 20 10 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 2000-IV close $1.03 Source: Story and graphs adapted from Gretchen Morgenson, “How Did They Value Stocks? Count the Absurd Ways,” New York Times (March 18, 2001), section 3, p. 1. 34 Copyright ©2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Preview of Chapter 2 ...
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...Finance Assignment Names: ABRAR MOHAMMAD MAHA MOHAMMAD Student I.D.’s: 7611, 7422 Class: C-17 Course Title: Principles of Finance Course Code: FIN211 Introduction Financial Statement: It is a formal record of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity. In British English—including United Kingdom company law—a financial statement is often referred to as an account, although the term financial statement is also used, particularly by accountants. For a business enterprise, all the relevant financial information, presented in a structured manner and in a form easy to understand, are called the financial statements. They typically include four basic financial statements, accompanied by a management discussion and analysis: 1. Statement of Financial Position: also referred to as a balance sheet, reports on a company's assets, liabilities, and ownership equity at a given point in time. 2. Statement of Comprehensive Income: also referred to as Profit and Loss statement, reports on a company's income, expenses, and profits over a period of time. A Profit & Loss statement provides information on the operation of the enterprise. These include sale and the various expenses incurred during the processing state. 3. Statement of Changes in Equity: explains the changes of the company's equity throughout the reporting period 4. Statement of cash flows: reports on a company's cash flow activities, particularly its operating...
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...C H A P T E R 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you should be able to: •1 •2 •3 •4 Describe the usefulness of a conceptual framework. Describe efforts to construct a conceptual framework. Understand the objective of financial reporting. Identify the qualitative characteristics of accounting information. Define the basic elements of financial statements. •6 •7 Describe the basic assumptions of accounting. Explain the application of the basic principles of accounting. Describe the impact that constraints have on reporting accounting information. •8 •5 What Is It? Everyone agrees that accounting needs a framework—a conceptual framework, so to speak—that will help guide the development of standards. To understand the importance of developing this framework, let’s see how you would respond in the following two situations. SITUATION 1: “Taking a Long Shot . . . ” To supplement donations collected from its general community solicitation, Tri-Cities United Charities holds an Annual Lottery Sweepstakes. In this year’s sweepstakes, United Charities is offering a grand prize of $1,000,000 to a single winning ticket holder. A total of 10,000 tickets have been printed, and United Charities plans to sell all the tickets at a price of $150 each. Since its inception, the Sweepstakes has attracted area-wide interest, and United Charities has always been able to meet its sales target. However, in the...
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...FASB due process versus IASB due process * Introduction The wave of globalization has reached the beachhead of accounting field. International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) little by little surpasses Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in dominance over accounting framework. There are more than 100 countries have adopted or have permitted to use or have been converging with International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), instead of following Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (GAAP) and Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS). For example, the United States, who requires foreign firms listed on America should compile financial statements under IFRS or SFAS, declares its specific adoption road-map for local firms. The European Union requests its member states starting to take up IFRS at 2005. When it comes to Asia, China has already announced to adopt IFRS since 2007. Over the last few decades, the fruitful areas of research have focused on the variation that arises from disparity between IFRS and GAAP. The two accounting systems have many constitutional differences, such as IFRS is principle-based standard while GAAP is ruled-based one, the former is fair value accounting while the latter is conservative. * Background of the FASB’s due process The FASB claims that, “The FASB is committed to following an open and orderly process for setting standards. It designed its comprehensive due process...
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...Financial Accounting Standards Board ORIGINAL PRONOUNCEMENTS AS AMENDED Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157 Fair Value Measurements Copyright © 2010 by Financial Accounting Foundation. All rights reserved. Content copyrighted by Financial Accounting Foundation may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Financial Accounting Foundation. FAS157 Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157 Fair Value Measurements STATUS Issued: September 2006 Effective Date: For financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007, and interim periods within those fiscal years Affects: Amends APB 21, paragraphs 13 and 18 Deletes APB 21, footnote 1 Amends APB 28, paragraph 30 Amends APB 29, paragraphs 18 and 20(a) Deletes APB 29, paragraph 25 and footnote 5 Amends FAS 13, paragraph 5(c) Amends FAS 15, paragraphs 13 and 28 Deletes FAS 15, footnotes 2, 5a, and 6 Amends FAS 19, paragraph 47(l)(i) Amends FAS 35, paragraph 11 and footnote 5 Deletes FAS 35, footnote 4a Amends FAS 60, paragraph 19 Deletes FAS 60, footnote 4a Amends FAS 63, paragraphs 4, 8, and 38 through 40 Amends FAS 65, paragraphs 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, and 29 Amends FAS 67, paragraphs 8 and 28 Deletes FAS 67, footnote 6 Amends FAS 87, paragraphs 49 and 264 and footnote 12 Deletes FAS 87, footnote...
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