Financial Statements Are Important For Investors And Creditors Accounting Essay

Financial Statements Are Important For Investors And Creditors Accounting Essay You are required to discuss and comment on the above statement with reference to academic books, papers, and other published sources that you have read. Consider all the following in your response: Critically evaluate financial statements in terms of its importance, reliability and relevancy to the key users. Response: As stated by Atrill McLaney, the financial statements objective is to provide a snapshot of the financial position and performance of a business ( Atrill McLaney, 2008). The Financial Accounts of a company describe the performance of the company in financial terms. They are summary of the extensive activities of a business designed to provide true and accurate pictures to stakeholders (Woelfel, 1994). In todays world, the financial accounts of a company will be of interest to wide variety of users called stakeholders (DL MBA Material, 2003). As discussed in DL MBA material, some of stakeholder of a company can be owners, lenders, investment analysts, managers, employees, customers, suppliers, competitors and government agencies. The following briefly discuss characteristics of financial reports which would be interested to each party (DL MBA Material, 2003). Owners The shareholders of companys are ultimate owners. The shareholders invest their money into company hence they are concern with profitability, dividend and future prospects of the company. Their main concern is reliability of information available to them to decide their future expectations or course of actions (DL MBA Material, 2003). Lenders They are the financial institutions who lend money to a company for its regular operation or business expansions. They perform detailed analysis of company accounts and make decision to lend money. It helps them to understand the financial leverage of the company by analysing the different leverage ratios like debt-to-equity ratio etc. They determine the fixed assets of the company in order to cover up any eventuality. They decide the repayment ability of companies towards borrowings (DL MBA Material, 2003). Investment Analyst They are risk-appetite traders, individual investors, and financial institution looking for business opportunity to invest money into a company. They often use companys account to evaluate the future growth and profitability of a business. One of their main concerns is growth potential of the company their share price performance in stock market (DL MBA Material, 2003). Managers A companies managers intention is to analyse the financial accounting and find the direction of the efforts being put to achieve corporate objectives. They usually determine the company performance based on exhaustive internal accounts. Their individual performances get judged by the producing good accounting figures (DL MBA Material, 2003). Employee They would be concern about future of company stability and would be looking at accounts from company profitability, growth, long term business and truthfulness of information (DL MBA Material, 2003). Customers- They often sees companys account to determine the strength of the potential vendor to satisfy their commitments (DL MBA Material, 2003). Supplier- They often sees companys accounts to determine the credit facilities payment terms (DL MBA Material, 2003). Competitor- will be interested to see the accounts to gain any advantage which they can make use of (DL MBA Material, 2003). Government agencies- Tax authority will take closer look into a companys account to identify any discrepancy in the account by overstating or under standing profits. Hence the key criteria would be to check accuracy, verifiability truthfulness (DL MBA Material, 2003). The different users of accounts got different motive to look at it and they got different requirement like fairness, truthfulness, performance, repayment capacity, financial leverage, liquidity and cash flow of a company. Question 2 : Review the shortcomings of HCA model when prices are rising and explain why financial reports under the HCA are subject to some major limitations (e.g. inventory is undervalued, the depreciation charge to the income statement is understated, balance sheet values are understated, and periodic comparisons are invalidated). Response: The historical cost accounting is a convention in which asset values are based on the actual amount paid for the assets with no inflation adjustments. The historical cost conventions mention that the value of assets should be accounted on their acquisition cost (Atrill McLaney, 2008). It does not take into account inflation though there are certain adjustments like depreciation, depletion and impairments (www.money terms.co.uk, 2010). It relies on an assumption that the purchasing power of money is constant through out and does not change with time. Under historical cost approach, the inventories are reported in balance sheet at cost. However, there may be reduction in realisable value of the inventories due to obsolescence, deterioration or saleable price changes; hence historical cost approach does not account for this change (Hawawini Viallet 2007). It is often said that the weighing assets at their current value would provide a more truthful picture of the financial position of a company and would be more meaningful to wide range of audiences for decision making. But at the same time it has got reliability problem (Atrill McLaney, 2008). With rise in price, HCA will not be able to capture the change in valuation of underlying assets as it records the value of assets as historical cost. Hence, increase in the value of assets will not be reflected in a company balance sheet. Due to this the balance sheet will not present the true financial position. As a result, in the time of high inflation, profits will be overstated and tax liability will increase. Again with price fall, similar problem will be observed but this time real asset value will be less than the historical cost hence overstating the assets on the balance sheet undermining the profits the tax liability will decrease. The depreciation adds more complication to the problem. The cost of assets generally spread out over a number of years of its usability life time at the price paid at the execution of a transaction. The depreciation affects the carrying value of the asset. HCA does not consider the real value and hence depreciating original value does not show true picture. Question 3: Why has the HCA model survived in spite of its limitations in times of inflation? Response: The HCA model is traditional accounting model and there are many reasons for its survivals. It is straightforward, simple and reliable. There are certain limitation with net market value, depreciation, price rise fall and inflations but at the same time other accounting systems largely faces concerns around reliability, appropriateness, quality truthfulness of information (Johnson, 2005). As per Johnson, the historical costs though not fair but much more reliable. Hence many instances, the importance is given to trade-off between historical costing and other advanced fair value practices in much larger perspective (Johnson, 2005). The foundation of HCA is a real transaction which has happened and the money has been paid for that transaction. Hence the cost value is a real not fictitious and has its root in that transaction. It is not about calculating somewhat imaginary or hypothetical cost. The main advantage of using historical cost accounting is simplicity and certainty. The other advantage is it gives managers ability to forecast future operational costs. Hence in spite, many experts argue that the fairness of the method is far from real value, it still continue to dominate the accounting world. Question 4: Discuss the features of current income and value models (e.g. Current Purchasing Power Accounting (CPPA) and Replacement Cost Accounting (RCA) models) that have been suggested to replace or operate in tandem with the HCA convention. Response: As per Nobes, current purchasing power or general purchasing power accounting systems are based on historical cost accounts adjusted with general price index numbers (Nobes, 1992). In case of current purchasing power accounting, the original purchasing costs are corrected by correction factor based on some general index like retail price index. The corrected purchase cost is then used to calculate the balance value of the assets in order to record in the balance sheet for that year. Hence it represents more realistic value for non-monetary assets. Ahmed argues that the replacement cost accounting measures replacement cost in units of money. He argues that the replacement cost income is equal to the difference between realised revenues and their corresponding replacement costs in units of general purchasing power (Riahi-Belkaoui, 1996). As per Drummon stickler, the replacement cost is the amount of cash or cash equivalent that would be needed presently to acquire equivalent assets which can provide same function as the original asset. The method consists of estimating the cost of a new asset as argued by Christina (Drummon stickler, 1983). The important characteristic of replacement cost accounting is to capture the effects of changing prices and ultimate changing value of the items. The key feature of both techniques is to capture the loss or gain in the value of non-monetary items such that the effects of inflation or deflation can be captured in the balance sheet to make it more accurate. Question 5: Critically evaluate the virtues and defects of these alternative models. Response: The main characteristic of the alternative models like current purchasing power accounting or replacement cost accounting is a mechanism to capture the loss or gain in the value of non-monetary items on the current valuation basis. It helps to record assets on the balance sheet with realistic values. The balance sheet can portrait true picture of financial position of an organisation (DL MBA Material, 2003). It can accommodate the effects of inflation or deflation make financial statement more economically relevant. The main drawback of the alternative models is changes in the prices are captured but these are not based on actual real transaction. These models are complicated and values are subjective. It may happen that the general Consumer Price index or inflation has gone up but the impacts on assets have been reverse or not that significant. In such case, the resultant value will be erroneous. Hence they lack in reliability.

Labor Law Cases and Materials Essays -- employee union, national labor,

1. In the case Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 502 U.S. 527 (1992), Lechmere was a large retail store located in a plaza that also contained several smaller satellite stores. In this case the union filed an unfair labor practice against Lechmere for violating Section 7 of the NLRA for not allowing its non-employee organizers to distribute literature on the companies parking lot. There was not sufficient area for on public property for these organizers to be able to speak with employees. In this case the NLRB ruled in favor of the union stating that â€Å"The right to distribute is not absolute, but must be accommodated to the circumstances, where it is impossible or unreasonably difficult for a union to distribute organizational literature to employees entirely off the employer’s premises, distribution on a nonworking area, such as the parking lot and the walkways between the parking lot and the gate, may be warranted.† In the case of Republic Aviation Corp. v. NLRB, 324 U.S. 793 (1945), the employer fired four employees in total for violating the company’s policy stating, â€Å"Soliciting of any type cannot be permitted in the factory or offices.† One employee was soliciting union membership in the plant by passing out application cards to employees on his own time during lunch, and three other employees were discharged for wearing UAW-CIO union steward buttons in the plant after being requested to remove them. The NLRB ruled in favor of these employees having the reinstated and had the company remove its no solicitation rule because it violated Section 8(1) of the NLRA. You can see by these two cases that there is a difference between employee and non-employee union organizers. The main difference being in where they ... ...intention of entering in to a collective bargaining agreement. â€Å"Section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act states that â€Å"to bargain collectively is the performance of the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, or the negotiation of an agreement, or any question arising there under, and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession† (Cox, Box, Gorman, Finkin, 2011). Works Cited Cox, A., Bok, D. C., Gorman, R. A., & Finkin, M. W. (2011). Labor law cases and materials. (5th ed.). New York, NY: Thompson Reuters/Foundation Press.

Personal Responsibility Essay

Practicing personal responsibility in every aspect of our lives is the safest way to guarantee personal success. Personal responsibility is as simple as managing our life and making our own decisions without giving others the opportunity to dictate the outcome of our future. As the architects of our academic future, we must understand that only we can lay the foundation for our success. It is also important to recognize that having a strong preliminary plan to practice personal responsibility in our education is essential in achieving our academic goals. Dr. Ron Haskins with the Annie E. Casey Foundation defines personal responsibility as â€Å"the willingness to accept both the importance of standards that society establishes for individual behavior and to make strenuous personal efforts to live by those standards†. According to Dr. Haskins â€Å"personal responsibility also means that when individuals fail to meet such expected standards, they do not look around for some factor outside themselves to blame†. Dr. Haskins is saying that by accepting our role in society we are accepting the responsibilities that come with that role. That if our responsibilities become overwhelming, we will make the necessary sacrifices or changes to fulfill those responsibilities and we will not blame our faults on others. When it pertains to your education, you must understand that it is your responsibility to always seek improvement in order to become a valuable member of our society. Personal responsibility and college success will always go hand in hand. The moment we decide to seek an education we make a huge commitment to ourselves and others. We become part of a small group of individuals who believe that self-improvement and the pursuit of excellence are the keys to achieving success. As we embark on our educational journey we will be faced with many obstacles that can prevent us from achieving our academic goals.  It is important to identify these obstacles and find balance in our lives by setting priorities and limitations. Always seek help when needed and use your family and career aspirations as motivation rather than challenges in the path towards academic success. Remember that your academic success will always be the result of your work and determination. In 2009 President Barak Obama gave a speech on the importance of education at the Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. In his speech President Obama stated that â€Å"we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter, unless all of us fulfill our responsibilities†. I believe President Obama was highlighting the importance of fulfilling our responsibilities if we wish to achieve academic success. President Obama was trying to teach the students of Wakefield High School that although you can be provided with a blank canvass and supplies, it is up to you to create the master piece. Having a preliminary plan to fulfill your responsibilities and achieving your goals is essential if you wish to create that master peace. You need to manage your time by setting periodic goals and making responsible decisions. You must also recognize your limitations and ensure that your expectations are realistic. Never put more than you can eat on your plate and do not hold other people accountable for your decisions. By following these steps you will ensure a smooth process through your academic journey. Personal responsibility can perceive differently by many people. Your background, culture or morals can be key influential factor in your interpretation of the term. However, although there are several factors that can influence the decisions we make in life, personal responsibility lays with each individual. We must embrace our failures and learn from our past to ensure a better future. We must also ensure that our personal and academic choices are responsible and guided by firm principles, and we must always strive towards excellence in every aspect of our life. Most importantly, we must understand that the choices we make today will follow us for the rest our lives. References Barack Obama’s speech on education. 2009. President Barack Obama. Retrieved from http://www.upi.com/Obamas-speech-on-importance-of-education. The Sequence of Personal Responsibility. 2009. The Brookings Institution. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2009/07/09-responsibility-haskins.

Homing In and Plain Honing

Homing In and Plain Honing Homing In and Plain Honing Homing In and Plain Honing By Maeve Maddox Kristi Landis writes: When one wants to get more detail on something is it called â€Å"homes in† or â€Å"hones in†? Until I researched this question, I knew of only two uses of hone as a verb: the literal meaning of â€Å"to sharpen,† as on a whetstone (also known as a â€Å"hone†), and the figurative meaning â€Å"to improve,† as in â€Å"to hone one’s skills.† Hone Your Skills: Become A Better Data Center Manager Honing Skills: This section is devoted to articles on honing and improving your writing skills, by editing, critiquing or discussion. Tomko looks to hone his skills during â€Å"lull† in WWE career Surgeons Hone Skills on Nintendo Wii The OED also gives these dialect meanings for hone as a verb: to delay, tarry, hesitate; to whine or pine for; to hanker after. I’ve heard and read the expression â€Å"to hone in† used with the sense of focus on or get closer to, but always assumed that it was a mistake for â€Å"to home in.† Ive always assumed that the expression to home in originated with â€Å"homing pigeons that return to the place they were hatched. However, in the OED examples of early use, â€Å"home† is used without the â€Å"in†: 1875 Live Stock Jrnl. 23 Apr. 57/3 Pigeons home by sight and instinct. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 12 Apr. 9/1 The first [pigeon] homed at nine oclock. The homing habits of pigeons may have caused aircraft technology to adopt the verb: 1920 Wireless World Mar. 728/2 The pilot can detect instantly from the signals, especially if ‘homing’ towards a beacon. 1956 Amer. Speech XXXI. 228 A good officer could even ‘home in on a bottle of whisky’ placed on the landing field. This use of â€Å"home in on’ is used figuratively to describe other ways in which one comes closer to an object or subject of importance: 1971 New Scientist 16 Sept. 629/1 Mexicos Professor S. F. Beltran homed in on education as a critical need. Substituting â€Å"hone† for â€Å"home† in the expression may have begun as an eggcorn, but it has become common enough for the OED to give it its own entry: intr. to hone in. To head directly for something; to turn ones attention intently towards something. Usu. with â€Å"on†. Cf. HOME Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What is the Difference Between "These" and "Those"?Driver License vs. Driver’s LicenseAffect vs. Effect

Strong Report Card Comments for Language Arts

Strong Report Card Comments for Language Arts A comment on a report card is meant to provide additional information about the students progress and level of achievement. It should give the parent or guardian a clear picture of what the student has accomplished, as well as what he has to work on in the future. It can be hard to think of a unique comment to write on each students report card. To help you find the right words, use this compiled list of language arts report card comments. Positive Comments Use the following phrases to make positive comments regarding students’ progress in language arts. Reads eagerly during silent timeMakes good use of our classroom libraryUses text and pictures to predict and confirmElects to read or look at books during free timeChooses to write during classroom free timeTakes home books from our classroom libraryShares his written work with the whole classAnalyzes characters actionsAnalyzes story plotsCompares books to others by the same authorHas many interesting story ideasHas well-developed characters in her storiesHas a good attitude about booksRecognizes high-frequency wordsProduces oral reports that demonstrate knowledge and research skillsShows increasing confidence and competence in...Uses approximations for spelling, which is very appropriate at this timeUses beginning and ending sounds to identify wordsSpells many difficult wordsUses correct grammarWrites legiblyWorks to make her handwriting legibleContributes at our brainstorming sessionsListens as well as shares during classroom discussionsCommunicates with accuracyCompares and contra sts similar and dissimilar ideas Chooses suitably challenging reading materialRetells stories in correct sequenceReads with expressionWorks on the editing processSelf-corrects Needs Improvement On those occasions when you need to convey less-than-positive information on a report card, use the following phrases. Cannot predict story outcomes with confidenceHas difficulty with high-frequency wordsDoes not use our classroom libraryDoes not choose books or writing as an activity for free timeDoes not edit work carefullyUnwilling to rewrite or make changes in written workHas trouble sitting while listening to a storyReluctant to speak in front of the group or whole classShows some attention to print, but mostly makes up meanings from picturesHas trouble sitting while listening to a storyReluctant to speak in front of the groupGets discouraged when...Has a limited vocabularyDoesn’t seem to enjoy books or stories to readLacks sight vocabularySpeech development may be hindering correct spellingHesistant to read stories to the classWants to talk instead of listen to others share their ideasStill making many reversals of letters, words, and phrases

How would the likely discovery of aliens strike controversy among Research Paper

How would the likely discovery of aliens strike controversy among religions - Research Paper Example their existence, the fact that an alien visit may occur or human-alien encounter may be a possibility has led to panic from different quarters including religion. Movies and fictions films have continued to portray different picture of the events that may precede the invasion and how human and the aliens may relate during the process. Movies like the Independence Day and the visitors point at a negative image towards the encounter as the two forms of life may be keen to outdo each other on warfare and intelligence (Smith-Christopher 15). Apart from the war and intelligence impacts of alien strike, the impacts of such a possibility on religion has remained raw on theologizes and faithful alkies. According to the biblical teaching, man created human beings in his own likeness and no other forms of life are mention. This possibility could affect the faith of people in their religion and impact significantly to a shift especially in if the intelligence of the aliens is beyond that of human beings. In this paper, the impacts of an alien strike on religion across the globe will be examined. The paper will evaluate available theoretical discourse on the topic and how films and movies have depicted the reactions of Christians to alien invasion (Smith-Christopher 15). Within different religious groupings, the belief that a spiritual being out there is tasked with the role of ensuring our wellbeing has dominated since the history of man. The actions of religious leaders are believed to be under the command of the Supreme Being and this enable them to tell us the nature of the spirits and their impacts on life. The catholic church for, for example, has always expressed its zeal to impose monotheism in the world which is based on the trinity (Dunning 21). To achieve this, the church adopted a ruthless approach that suppressed the polytheists in Europe and the smaller kingdoms in the region. Among the Judeo-Christian, the possibility of the presence of a small but powerful

As a Spiritual Leader, a Member approaches you in Private with the Term Paper

As a Spiritual Leader, a Member approaches you in Private with the following questions. How do you take on Leadership in answering their Questions Scriptures provided to assist if needed - Term Paper Example he church that rise to the occasion of leadership through either appointment to an office within the church or merely by showing that they have leadership qualities that naturally puts them in the position of confident and mentor. When a leader of a church is presented with the question â€Å"What does a Christian do when their pastor sins?†, the first answer should always be to forgive them as God would forgive their sins. However, Timothy 5:19-21 gives us further insight in that accusations against an elder should not be entertained unless there are two or three witnesses. The passage states that if sin is proven, accusation should be made in public. However, Mathew 18:15 suggests that one should approach in private, bringing in others if the person does not listen to the advise that suggests giving up the sinful activity. If they will not listen, then it should be brought to the church, and finally treated as if they were a pagan or a tax collector. However, the best advise would be to tell the member to be very sure before making an accusation and if they feel uncomfortable, to speak to someone with whom they can approach the pastor for a dialogue about the subject. â€Å"Our pastor has sinned and the elders do not want to take action. How do you approach your pastor?† When this question is posited, the first question will relate to finding out why the elders choose not to act. A member should always feel comfortable in approaching a pastor as they are the spiritual leader to whom they should first look to for guidance. Even if the issue concerns the pastor, the topic should be brought forward in a manner that shows continued respect until the issue is confirmed as a reason to withdraw that respect. If the pastor chooses to keep the issue between himself and God and the elders choose not to act, then a choice must be made by the member as to whether or not to remain under the spiritual guidance of those who have sinned in his or her eyes. There is a difference