Accounting Profession Essay

1336 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Benefits of global harmonization of accounting standards

The accounting profession, along with its standards and regulatory sources, have changed dramatically in recent years. The accounting profession and its standards once consisted of standardized financial reporting compliance; however, it has now evolved into a specialized profession influenced by its constantly evolving standards resulting in accounting and legal technicalities. Many factors constituted the change, in addition to factors that constituted the need for its change; for example, corporate scandals and a global set of accounting standards respectively. The latter enticed its global trend for accounting harmonization among various private and governmental sectors that work cohesively to obtain its purpose. The various regulatory …show more content…

The FASB and the SEC, historically, worked exclusively on developing and implementing United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) for public and private companies and not-for-profit organizations. The SEC was formed through the 1934 Securities Exchange Act due to the 1929 stock market crash, which instilled it as a regulatory agency. The SEC previously set US GAAP accounting standards until it transferred authority to the FASB, but maintains legislative jurisdiction and is a key component in overseeing the FASB accounting standards. The SEC’s purpose is to ensure regulatory compliance of financial accounting reporting by protecting US and foreign investors of securities sold in the US (Palmon, Peytcheva & Yezegel, …show more content…

Cash accounting is straight-forward, recognizing revenue and expenses when cash is received; however, entities that apply accrual accounting fall into the discrepancy in the manner revenue and expenses are recognized based upon the entity’s binding standard. US GAAP treats revenue recognition based upon industry specific guidelines of which IFRS lacks. Both standards have yet to be converged and its future plans are set to be addressed in 2018. However, as an initial movement, both organizations have established revenue recognition guidelines for revenue from contract with customers through IFRS 15 by applying a five-step

Show More
Related

  • FASB Accounting Standards Codification

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, goodwill is “An asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination or an acquisition by a not for profit entity...” (glossary). Goodwill is measured by the premium price we pay for a company; we calculate premium price by subtracting the amount we paid by the estimated price (Fair value) of the company and if we paid more goodwill is created. Goodwill is an intangible asset so it has an indefinite life because it cannot lose value over a specific amount of time. We test for impairment to find out if goodwill has kept its value or if it has declined and we test for impairment on an annual basis. However, goodwill in FASB Accounting Standards

    Read More

  • Why Was Codification Needed?

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    The goal of the Codification is to simplify the organization of thousands of authoritative U.S. accounting pronouncements issued by multiple standard-setters. To achieve this goal, the FASB initiated a project to integrate and topically organize all relevant accounting pronouncements issued by the U.S. standard-setters including those of the FASB, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF)

    Read More

  • The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    To help accounting professionals easily navigate through 50-plus years of unorganized US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and standards the Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation approved the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (Codification.) By codifying authoritative US GAAP, FASB will provide users with real-time and accurate information in one location. Concurrently, FASB developed the FASB Codification Research System; a web-based system allowing registered users to electronically research accounting issues. Since 2009, the codification became the single source of nongovernmental authoritative GAAP.

    Read More

  • Accounting Fraud, the Investor and the Sarbanes Oxley Act

    1981 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the past several years major corporate scandals have rocked the economy and hurt investor confidence. The largest bankruptcies in history have resulted from greedy executives that “cook the books” to gain the numbers they want. These scandals typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of assets or underreporting of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations (Medura 1-3). In response to the increasing number of scandals the US government amended the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 to mitigate these problems. Sarbanes Oxley has extensive regulations that hold the CEO and top executives responsible for the numbers they report but problems still occur. To ensure proper accounting standards have been used Sarbanes Oxley also requires that public companies be audited by accounting firms (Livingstone). The problem is that the accounting firms are also public companies that also have to look after their bottom line while still remaining objective with the corporations they audit. When an accounting firm is hired the company that hired them has the power in the relationship. When the company has the power they can bully the firm into doing what they tell them to do. The accounting firm then loses its objectivity and independence making their job ineffective and not accomplishing their goal of honest accounting (Gerard). Their have been 379 convictions of fraud to date, and 3 to 6 new cases opening per month. The problem has clearly not been solved (Ulinski).

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Ethical Accounting Ethics

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many highly publicized scandals about corporations getting caught using unethical and illegal accounting practices. Whether a whistle blower who is an insider with knowledge of illegal goings on at their company, a news reporter covering a story about a company ?? or an audit that might uncover financial irregularities noticing a company that is not using the generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP), a company not using the accounting standards set forth by governing oversight committees is bound to unravel.

    Read More

  • Private And Public Accounting: The Aspects Of Private Company Financial Reporting

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Private and public accounting has long been discussed and disputed in regards to financial reporting. Since the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was created in 1973, accountants have called for different accounting regulations for private and public accounting sectors, as private companies do not have the resources to meet the complex requirements of public companies. Private companies currently are not required by law to issue annual or quarterly financial statements (James, 2012). Private companies do, however, have the option to apply the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), cash basis, or accrual accounting to their financial statements (James, 2012).

    Read More

  • Revenue Recognition Essay

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a significant step towards convergence, the FASB and IASB (“the Boards”) issued the Exposure Draft, Revenue from Contracts with Customers in 2010. The goal was to create a single joint revenue recognition standard that companies could apply consistently across industries and capital markets thereby improve financial reporting. The Boards highlighted a number of improvements in the proposed standard - removing inconsistencies, improving comparability, requiring enhanced disclosures and clarifying the accounting for contract costs. Instead of focusing on “realized/realizable” and “earned” the Exposure D...

    Read More

  • A Critical Component Of Any Accounting Theory Course

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most debatable topics in the accounting industry today is the extent in which we should make the financial statements understandable to the general population. The FASB currently gears its reporting standards toward...

    Read More

  • Role and Evolution of The International Accounting Standards Board

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    The International Accounting Standards Board, (IASB), began life as the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) in the 1973. The IASC was created in June 1973 as a result of an agreement by the accountancy bodies of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland and the United States. These countries constituted the Board of IASC at that time.

    Read More

  • The Purpose of Accounting

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to business, or any organization, Accounting plays a major role in developing and growth of the business. Financial standards of the organization expected as the complexities of business growth and expansion. Hence determining the implementation of the standards can vary according to the type of industry, business or organization.

    Read More

  • Essay On Challenges Of Accounting

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    Accounting dates back as far as first centuries, is the language of business. As everything has gone through many changes, accounting has also changed many times through out the centuries. It went from the use of abacus to the most advanced softwares, and computers. With these drastic improvements nowadays accounting, financial accounting and management are facing big challenges. From the presentation of the reports to communication to the users, investors, and owners, the accounting field has gained totally a new shape from two decades ago. Today with the dynamic change in every aspect of life, the accounting field has to act fast and be able to adapt these new changes and challenges in order to survive.

    Read More

  • Personal Statement: Accounting And Finance

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    I have applied the IFRS to audit half-year income statement and statement of finical position from domestic sub-company or oversea branches. This allows me to understand the difficultly of dealing with accounting report form different nations. For example, we have to negotiate each report from the U.S. with their reporter by phone. It would take incredibly long time to explain the difference in order to adjust the figures in the reports. During the stuff training, we have been taught that to be professional at everywhere and anytime. Moreover, I realise that the most important feature to be a professional accountancy is responsibility. This is because that a unit of misallocation will cost other team number a huge amount of work to correct it. The experience of taking notes of weekly conferences between senior managers and PWC partner has indicates that how does change in financial policy influence the accounting treatment. For instant, since vice-perminster Mr Le Ke Qiang who visited China Construction Bank at earlier May. He point out that the Rate of Non-Performing Loans could not exceed 7% in the “BIG Four” Chinese bank. This has led Chinese bank to relax its accounting standard of credit rating. It allows me to understand the relationship between government and financial

    Read More

  • Accounting Education: The Future Of The Accounting Future

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    What does the accountant of the future need to be successful? A sturdy education that while is based on traditional accounting practices, also prepares future accountants for the plethora of changes happening in the accounting universe. Frequently, most of the institutions responsible for educating professionals fail to evolve as rapidly as the professional practice itself (Bedford et al. 4). In every way, accounting is expanding and in order for the future to have competent accountants, accounting education must expand as well. Major changes occurring in the world of accounting include the expansion of services and products, changes in competition, an increase in specialization, and an increase in and an advancement of technology. It is up to academic institutions to find proactive ways in which to prepare students for such changes. Accounting education of the future will require more breadth to cover the inevitable expansion of services and products, increased knowledge of economics, marketing, management and information systems to increase competitive advantage, a balanced course load that provides a general accounting knowledge as well as increased knowledge of a specialization, and also a greater, proactive focus on the use of continuously advancing accounting technologies (Bedford et al. 8). Also in play is the chance of change in accounting standards, the move from US GAAP to IFRS. While there are no certainties surrounding the threat of such change, students in the U.S. should acquire at least a general, basic feel for the practices used in regards to IFRS. The future health of the accounting profession depends, to a great extent, on the health of our students (Gormon and Hargadon 4). Reorganization of curriculums would surely be difficult and assumedly time-consuming, but nevertheless, completely

    Read More

  • The History of Auditing

    3399 Words  | 7 Pages

    The evolution of auditing is a complicated history that has always been changing through historical events. Auditing always changed to meet the needs of the business environment of that day. Auditing has been around since the beginning of human civilization, focusing mainly, at first, on finding efraud. As the United States grew, the business world grew, and auditing began to play more important roles. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, people began to invest money into large corporations. The Stock Market crash of 1929 and various scandals made auditors realize that their roles in society were very important. Scandals and stock market crashes made auditors aware of deficiencies in auditing, and the auditing community was always quick to fix those deficiencies. The auditors’ job became more difficult as the accounting principles changed, and became easier with the use of internal controls. These controls introduced the need for testing; not an in-depth detailed audit. Auditing jobs would have to change to meet the changing business world. The invention of computers impacted the auditors’ world by making their job at times easier and at times making their job more difficult. Finally, the auditors’ job of certifying and testing companies’ financial statements is the backbone of the business world.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Accounting In Our Modern Society

    2459 Words  | 5 Pages

    Accounting is a very important term to our modern society. It is the career for men and women who at the start have their eyes set on top positions in industry, management, government, and general business. Accounting is a basic need of every businessman, from the operator of a filling station to the government of the United States. It's so important to our society. None of the business organization can operate without is. They are there-somewhere-in every business. In small business, people use pen, ink and skill keep the records. In large business, modern accounting machines are used to operate. Men and women are directing these machines in the accounting process. Wise businessmen enter business must have some accounting knowledge.

    Read More

More about Accounting Profession Essay

Open Document