According to Spiceland, Sepe, and Tomassini (2007), “accrual accounting is the financial reporting model used by” most corporations; which in turn, enables “investors and creditors … to make their resource allocation decision” (Financial Reporting Case, para. 1). In other words, due to organizations using the same standards for financial reporting, external parties are able to compare the financial condition between businesses (Spiceland, et al., 2007). Although accounting standards have evolved over the decades, there have been recent changes that affect revenue recognition, expense recognition, and other financial reporting standards for nonprofit companies. The development of accounting standards and financial reporting in the United States can be traced to the Industrial Revolution, when the railroad industry sought to raise capital from private and public investors (Accounting Standards, n.d.). However, the stock market crash of 1929 subsequently led the United States into a depression, and increased the demand for expanded government regulation of corporations (Kieso, Weygandt, & Warfield, 2013). The public felt “that insufficient and misleading financial statement information led to inflated stock prices” (Spiceland, et al., 2007, Historical Perspective and Standards, para. 1). As a result, the United States Congress enacted the 1933 Securities Act that required disclosure for initially offered securities (Spiceland, et al., 2007). On the other hand, the 1934
Carry Yoki’s Lounge consists of the following. Carry, the owner believed that people would come to hear a band play on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening. During the remainder of the week, she believed her customers would watch sporting events on several television sets located throughout the lounge. Carry employed two bartenders, three servers, two assistant servers, two cooks, one dishwasher and a clean-up person. She had a bar, 15 barstools, 4 tables, 40 chairs, 4 television sets, and one satellite dish. She had an oven, stove, grill, refrigerator, sinks, dishes, and glassware. Carry started this business with $50,000 of her own money, and she borrowed $150,000 from the bank. From this
SFAC No. 8 addresses the cost constraint on useful financial reporting, “Cost is a pervasive constraint that standard setters, as well as providers and users of financial information, should keep in mind when considering the benefits of a financial reporting requirement.” (SFAC No. 8 BC 3.47) However, the ability to place a dollar value and fully enumerate a cost or benefit is almost an impossible task for standard-setters. Additionally, there is no way to successfully identify and measure all of the economic consequences associated with a new standard. The FASB should be applauded though for advancing uniformity in accounting standards, however; uniform financial reporting suggests a one size fits all approach. “Smaller, non-publicly listed firms (and their auditors) argue that accounting standards are formulated mainly for larger, publicly traded firms” and that “compliance costs are disproportionately higher and the
The Report describes a proposal for the group of 20 of doctors with regard to the creating a hospital. Due to the 500,000 population of the city $100 million dollars would actually be a great start. Because the facility would be located 30 miles from the downtown area it would allow the facility to attract patients without being crowded. On the downside this affects its financial position and market condition because of distance. A lot of patients are not able to get to the doctor due to the high gas prices. Using various strategies, such as looking into ways to connect with public transportation to deal with this problem and gain
The information found in financial statements outlines the financial activities of that company, and can help managers, creditors, and investors make many important decisions.
The FASB mission is to “establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting that foster financial reporting by nongovernment entities that provides decision- useful information to investors and other users of financial reports.” (www.FASB.org)
The accounting system we use today started in Venice in renaissance period over 520 years ago. The trade business increased hugely during this time and all the financial recordings had to be written down to help people see how their business is doing. During that time in 1494 the first book about was published in accounting by Luca Paciolli and was called “The Collected Knowledge of Arithmetic, Geometry, Proportion and Proportionality”. He was called “The father of Accounting” and most of his described principles have been used up until this day.
Baruch Lev and Feng Gu authors of “The End of Accounting and The Path Forward for Investors and Managers” indicate that over the past 110 years, the structure and content of financial reports has not changed, and that the role that these reports play in influencing the decisions of investors has greatly diminished. Lev and Gu make a case that non-transaction events that are not captured by the financial reports such as those disclosed through 8-k filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) have a greater impact on stock prices, and thus more useful to investors. In addition, they suggest that one of reasons for the decline in usefulness of financial reports stems from the increase of estimates that has made its way into these reports (Lev and Gu 2016).
The purpose of this research paper is to discuss what governmental and nonprofit accounting is and what types of entities are required to use these accounting standards, describe technical details related to the accounting standards and the overseeing bodies, and describe unique differences between for-profit and nonprofit accounting.
The mission of FASB is to “improve reporting, focus on traits that are important and reliable and on quality of comparison and consistency, to keep up to date with current trends to reflect modifications in methods used and economic changes, and to improve the common understanding of the purpose and content within financial report” (FASB, 2008). The FASB has an obligation to uphold ethical standards as well as to ensure rules and regulations are followed in the way of financial reporting. The FASB uses input from other agencies when developing or amending standards such as the SEC. Before the Great Crash of 1929, little was done to regulate the securities market (SEC, 2008). Two laws were created to help improve investor confidence: “Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934” (SEC, 2008). According to SEC (2008) the purpose of these laws is to make sure companies display accurate data about their financial accounts, the securities that are sold and involved risks and for the brokers who sell and trade to treat investors with respect by being fair and honest. A more recent law signed in by President Bush in 2002, was the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002” (SEC, 2008). This act created changes in improving responsibility, disclosures and
1. A brief history of the two organisations, and their objectives, in as far as they
Often, the rules and regulations created by governing bodies are reactions to societal events and pressures. This pattern certainly holds true in regards to financial reporting. The first financial reporting regulations were set in place during the Great Depression in reaction to the stock market collapse of 1929. These regulations were The Securities Act of 1933 and The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and became the foundation for future financial reporting regulations. While addressing Congress, President Roosevelt said that the 1933 Act “…puts the burden of telling the whole truth on the seller. It should give impetus to honest dealing in securities and thereby bring back
Corporations are often the victims of the most common white-collar crimes that occur in corporate America. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (cfenet.com), “abuse and fraud by employees cost U.S. organizations more than $400 billion annually…[which equals] $9 per employee per day.”
Property rights in long-term assets are generally acquired through purchases funded by either internal resources or funds borrowed form external sources. Nevertheless, a time line of the business and accounting issues are associated with the purchase of long-term assets. And these accounting issues include, in addition to the difficult financial decision, the valuation of the original acquisition cost, determining the amount of expense or periodic write-off, treatment of subsequent expenditures, and recording the disposal of the assets (Stice & Stice, 2014) , and have led to leasing as an alternative means to acquire long-term assets to be used by firms.
First, The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issues The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on U.S securities and exchange companies listed.
Financial Statements basically show the historical performance or record of the company at some previous point of time. By the time when financial statements are made public, changes are many economical areas such as market conditions, currency exchange rate and inflations can change the values of assets and liabilities. In this case there often exist discrepancies between book value of assets and their market values.