...21st century was marked by major corporate collapses that jeopardised the reputation of the big Accounting and Auditing firms, questioning the very foundations of financial reporting and corporate governance. In a very short period of time, millions of dollars were wiped off the financial statements of major corporations, and the world saw giants collapse as large amounts of money were proven to exist only in paper. Even though fraud was found to be the constant variable in each case, the causes of the main collapses were determined to be related to corporate governance in general, and corrective measures were taken to improve that. However not many people questioned the fact that most of the money that existed only in paper was in those financial statements as a result of accounting practices that were legitimate and professionally accepted, meaning that auditors were not able to see the realities of these companies as they happened to be hidden under financial statements that strictly complied with accounting standards. The aim of this essay is to discuss why auditors are not able to read a company’s true financial position and performance from the financial statements since all they are able to do is state whether or not those statements comply with the Accounting Standards. The purpose of financial reporting and accounting information will be discussed, as well as the reason why the profession believes standards are necessary. It will also be proven that complying with the standards...
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...Implementing Empowerment in an IT Organization By Student X GM591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Dr. Ron Stone Keller Graduate School of Management Introduction 3 Problem Statement 5 Literature Review 5 Causes 14 Solutions 16 Reflection 19 Appendix 21 Introduction The organization I chose to study is Software Engineering (SE) in the Internal Information Services (IIS) unit of Defense Contractor X’s Information Technology (NGIT) Sector. The mission of the organization is to conceive, develop and maintain software engineering solutions for the IT Sector of Defense Contractor X. SE is comprised of a Director, Tens Level Managers, Unit Level Manager, Team Leads and Software Engineers. The Director and Tens Level Managers have three to eight people reporting to them. The Unit Level Managers have from fifteen to twenty people reporting to them. In order to manage such large numbers of people, the Unit Level Managers are encouraged to empower their employees to take ownership of their jobs. The Team Lead role is used as a substitute for a Unit Level Manager, with increased responsibilities, but there is no increase in pay or grade when someone assumes the job. Often managers use the Team Lead role to groom future managers of NGIT. Many of the Team Leads are motivated, self-directed individuals who have a certain amount of autonomy in their current roles, which pre-disposes them for managerial work in the organization. OCI...
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...this could happen and discovered a myriad of factors. Many factors combined to create a culture where small changes to the financials were overlooked and over time those small changes accumulated into larger changes, and bigger issues. Eventually the once small changes became too large to ignore any longer and resulted in collapse. One major factor uncovered by Congress was the effect of auditor conflicts of interest might be having on auditor independence. Auditors were performing tax, consulting and attestation services, to name a few, in addition to the audit. Often time the fee from the other services was greater than their audit fee. The auditor had a conflict of interest in keeping the large client, and its enormous fees, or reporting crooked financials and losing a large account. Congress took notice of the...
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...businesses as they now had to handle the filing of taxes for businesses. Although many people don’t see how important CPAs are to business, industry, and the economy, as well as, society. With the many changes over the centuries that government and CPA societies have put on CPAs, there have been some big changes in educational requirements, as well as governmental regulations. But in today’s society ethics has become the biggest problem that CPAs have to deal with and yet have more control over in the economy, and especially in business and industry. History has shown just how business and industry has needed CPAs, from controlling payroll and taxes, auditing accounting journals at the local mom-and-pop stores, to auditing financial papers of big corporations in order to let the investors at banks and Wall Street have some sort of an idea of how sound a Corporation is. America moved from an agricultural to an industrial society, creating a complex society requiring the knowledge in a year great insight. Talks about the efforts to organize the profession first in New York City in 1896, and in 1921 the passage of the New Mexico law helped to create the accounting profession to every state in the nation. In the 20s the...
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...I. Audit Quality The primary role of accounting is to reduce information asymmetry by providing investors with relevant and reliable information in order to create an efficient allocation of resources. However, there is often a tradeoff between relevance and reliability that needs to be considered when imposing regulations (Scott, 2012). When information asymmetry is present, investor faith decreases, compromising the efficiency of the market. In order to prevent market failures, it is critical to maintain investor confidence; this can be done by achieving high audit quality. Definition The PCAOB defines audit quality as providing “independent and reliable audits” regarding management’s financial statements, internal controls and potential threat for going concerns (PCAOB, 2013). Four key aspects of audit quality include independence, objectivity, skepticism, and competence. Maintaining and improving the four elements is critical to increasing audit quality and the usefulness of the information provided. Independence According to the PCAOB Auditing Standards, auditors should maintain independent mental attitudes. Independence is defined by the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct as independence of both, mind and appearance. Independence of mind requires the auditor to act with integrity, free of outside influence whereas independence of appearance requires the avoidance of situations leading to potential conflict of interests. Unless, the auditor is truly independent, the...
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...The Role of Corporate Law in Preventing a Financial Crisis: Reflections on In re Citigroup Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation Franklin A. Gevurtz* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. II. CITIGROUP AS A CASE STUDY IN EXCESSIVE RISK-TAKING .............................. III. TOOLS FOR CURBING EXCESSIVE RISK-TAKING AND THE ROLE OF CORPORATE LAW ............................................................................................... A. The Tools for Curbing Excessive Risk-taking ............................................. 1. Regulation of Business Activities .......................................................... 2. Capital Requirements ........................................................................... 3. Compensation Rules ............................................................................. 4. Liability for Unreasonable Risks .......................................................... 5. Selection of Management (Rules of Corporate Governance) ............... B. Dividing the Tools Between Banking and Corporate Law .......................... IV. WHY IT MATTERS: CITIGROUP AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE LIMITATIONS OF STATE CORPORATE LAW ........................................................ A. Citigroup As a Case Study In Weak Corporate Law................................... 1. Overview ..................................................
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...Peter Secord, Saint Mary’s University) A Canadian company prepares two sets of financial statement: one based on Canadian GAAP, and the other on U.S. GAAP. The reasons for some of the differences in numbers are investigated. Case 4 This case is based on Homburg Invest Inc.’s 2006 financial statements. A reconciliation of differences between two sets of financial statements is required along with a brief note explaining why differences exist. Case 5 This case is adapted from a CICA case. It provides details regarding a company`s activities as well as financial details that were revealed as part of planning and interim work performed in the context of an audit of the financial statements. It places the student in the role of CA, reporting to the audit partner, and asks for a memo on the results of the interim audit work as well as any issues that should be raised in an upcoming meeting between the partner and the client. PROBLEMS Problem 1 (40 min.) A single asset is acquired, and students are asked to prepare and compare financial statement numbers during the life of the asset using both a historical cost and a current value model. Problem 2 (40 min.)...
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...Introduction From 1894 to 1899, Captain Albert Dreyfus, an Alsatian Jewish artillery officer, languished in prison on Devil's Island after the French Army General Staff wrongfully convicted him of treason and espionage. The campaign for his release, organized by his family and supporters, along with revelations of an army cover-up, saw the so-called “Dreyfus Affair” become the major focal point of French public discourse at the turn of the century. Partisan camps of “Dreyfusards” and “anti-Dreyfusards” waged a war of words against each other as they debated Dreyfus' innocence and, implicitly, what it meant to be French in the Third Republic. Marked by an effusion of antisemitic vitriol, this debate has been characterized by Frederick Brown as a polarizing battle between two rival visions of France.[1] This battle at times extended to the streets, as it did in response to the publication of Émile Zola's 1898 “J'accuse.” Zola's open letter indicted the Army General Staff for antisemitism and cover-up, and prompted reactionary riots across France, the most violent of which occurred in French colonial Algiers. There, the burning of Zola in effigy sparked a riot in which 158 shops were destroyed, six Jews were assaulted (two fatally), and 9 rioters, 47 police, and a large but unknown number of Jews were seriously injured.[2] As the site of some of the only murderous violence during the Affair, colonial Algeria deserves particular attention. Examining the Dreyfus Affair from the...
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...Public Disclosure Authorized 62696 Public Disclosure Authorized CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE Responding to an Urgent Agenda Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J. Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Belinda Yuen, editors blic Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE The Urban Development Series discusses the challenge of urbanization and what it will mean for developing countries in the decades ahead. The series delves substantively into the core issues framed by the World Bank’s 2009 Urban Strategy, Systems of Cities: Harnessing Urbanization for Growth and Poverty Alleviation. Across the five domains of the Urban Strategy, the series provides a focal point for publications that seek to foster a better understanding of the core elements of the city system, pro-poor policies, city economies, urban land and housing markets, urban environments, and other issues germane to the agenda of sustainable urban development. Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda is the first title in the Urban Development Series. CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE Responding to an Urgent Agenda Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J. Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Belinda Yuen, editors Washington, D.C. © 2011 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 14 13 12 11 This volume is a product...
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...NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 1. Introduction. Pakistan is located in a region which is prone to number of natural disasters. Due to its diverse range of terrain and existence of fault lines, the country is susceptible to wide ranging hazards from earthquake to droughts and floods to cyclones. Pakistan has suffered floods almost every year as monsoon rains cause rivers to outflow from their banks. The country also experiences earthquake regularly ranging from moderate to severe in intensity. We have been suffering from drought like situation of varying degrees from many years and the coastal areas are prone to cyclones. There is no comprehensive, integrated disaster management policy at national level for dealing with major disasters like earthquake of 2005 and floods of 2010 and 2011 partially due to limited resources, economic instability and partially due to absence of well trained and equipped disaster management infrastructure. We also lack proper system for disaster prevention and preparedness that could ensure effective mitigation to reduce the loss of life and property damage in the face of a natural disaster. 2. Disaster management is unfortunately seen as provision of relief rather than the management of all of its phases and long term management of risk. We therefore need a comprehensive preparedness, prevention and mitigation strategy with a view to better manage and coordinate activities of various line ministries, departments and civil society. Pakistan...
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...BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS AND CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS IN COMMUNICATION MARKETS A report prepared for the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in connection with the public inquiry “Reconnecting the Customer” by Dr Patrick Xavier* Adjunct Professor of Economics & Finance, Curtin University Business School. May 2011 * Dr Patrick Xavier BEc (Hons), M.A., M.Ec, PhD is Director of Info-Comm Strategies and Adjunct Professor of Economics, Curtin Business School, Curtin University of Technology, Australia. Dr Xavier has published widely and has had extensive experience as a consultant to national and international agencies on regulatory reform in the (tele)communications sector, including the OECD, ITU, World Bank and APEC. He was part of the OECD’s regulatory reform team that visited a range of countries to advise on regulatory reform in major industrialised and emergent economies. He has undertaken work in Hong Kong and in a range of developing countries, including Lao PDR, Romania, Armenia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Pacific Islands, Thailand, Bhutan and China. He can be contacted at: poxavier@gmail.com Disclaimer. The views in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ACMA. © BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS AND CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS IN COMMUNICATION MARKETS Executive summary 4 1. INTRODUCTION 10 1.1 Purpose of this report 10 1.2 Customer complaints in the telecommunications sector 11 1.3 Structure...
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...Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA First edition 2009 Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved No part of this publication may 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 publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone (144) (0) 1865 843830; fax (144) (0) 1865 853333; email: permissions@elsevier.com. Alternatively you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN–13:...
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...THE LEGAL REGULATION OF THE EXTERNAL COMPANY AUDITOR IN POST-ENRON SOUTH AFRICA Hannine Drake THESIS PRESENTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LAWS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH Supervisor: Prof A.H. van Wyk March 2009 ii DECLARATION By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: 25 February 2009 Copyright © 2009 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In acknowledgement to all who have contributed to this work in some form: writing this thesis would have otherwise been like swimming through mud. To my supervisor, Professor Andreas van Wyk, thank you for your leadership, patience, and academic skill in guiding me through the research process. To Adéle Mulder and Charl Marais, thank you for your continuous insight and perspectives, both academic and otherwise. And finally to Hilda and Gerrie Steyn, who have been absolutely crucial throughout all my years of study, thank you for your indispensable support, in all its forms. iv SUMMARY The worldwide increase of corporate failures on the scale of Enron and WorldCom has sparked a renewed international trend of corporate governance review...
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...A Handbook for Development Practitioners Ten Steps to a 29672 ResultsBased Monitoring and Evaluation System Jody Zall Kusek Ray C. Rist THE WORLD BANK A Handbook for Development Practitioners Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System A Handbook for Development Practitioners Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System Jody Zall Kusek Ray C. Rist THE WORLD BANK Washington, D.C. © 2004 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 Telephone 202-473-1000 Internet www.worldbank.org E-mail feedback@worldbank.org All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 07 06 05 04 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The World Bank encourages dissemination...
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...MULTISTATE CORPORATE TAX COURSE John C. Healy | Michael S. Schadewald 2014 EDITION CPE CoursE! BONUS Earn CPE Credit and stay on top of key Multistate Corporate Tax issues. Go to CCHGroup.com/PrintCPE 2014 EDITION MULTISTATE CORPORATE TAX COURSE John C. Healy | Michael S. Schadewald ii Contributors Authors ........................................................... John C. Healy, MST, CPA Michael S. Schadewald, PhD, CPA Technical Review ....................................................... Sharon Brooks, CPA Production Coordinator ................................................... Gabriel Santana Production ......................................................................... Lynn J. Brown Layout & Design..................................................................Laila Gaidulis This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. © 2013 CCH Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. 4025 W. Peterson Ave. Chicago, IL 60646-6085 800 344 3734 CCHGroup.com No claim is made to original government works; however, within this Product or Publication, the following are subject to CCH’s copyright: (1) the gathering, compilation...
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