Essay from the year 2001 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: A+, University of Warwick (Warwick Business School), 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The spectacular breakdown of Polly Peck impressively demonstrated the role of creative accounting in the 1980s. Although many companies were not doing well, creative accountants could easily deceive shareholders by manipulating figures. The Companies Act requires financial statements ′to give a true and fair′ (i.e., factual and unbiased) ′view′. This enables user groups to properly assess a company′s financial position. If, however, accountants are free to arbitrarily manipulate figures, this becomes impossible. Therefore efforts had to be made to confine the extent of creative accounting. By defining creative accounting (section 2), a critical evaluation of measures (section 3) and the conclusion (section 4), this essay will show that the measures introduced by the ASB are powerful to contain present creative accounting. However, they will not prevent future creative accounting.

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: A+, University of Warwick (Warwick Business School), language: English, abstract: The spectacular breakdown of Polly Peck impressively demonstrated the role of creative accounting in the 1980s. Although many companies were not doing well, creative accountants could easily deceive shareholders by manipulating figures. The Companies Act requires financial statements ′to give a true and fair′ (i.e., factual and unbiased) ′view′. This enables user groups to properly assess a company′s financial position. If, however, accountants are free to arbitrarily manipulate figures, this becomes impossible. Therefore efforts had to be made to confine the extent of creative accounting. By defining creative accounting (section 2), a critical evaluation of measures (section 3) and the conclusion (section 4), this essay will show that the measures introduced by the ASB are powerful to contain present creative accounting. However, they will not prevent future creative accounting.

Since the inception of the Financial Reporting Council in May 1990, the Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Reporting Review Panel have featured prominently in the financial press. Creative Accounting questions whether the new regime is likely to improve financial reporting practices in the United Kingdom. Do financial statements contain useful information? Is the new profit and loss account a reliable measure of financial performance? What significance should be attached to the balance sheet and the gearing ratio? Are UK companies guilty of using financial techniques to improve their reported results? Does the stock market pay any attention to company financial statements? Is there such a thing as creative accounting? What is the role of the auditor? Will the recommendations of the Cadbury Committee help to restore public confidence in financial reporting? In addressing these issues, Creative Accounting highlights the complexities and limitations of company financial statements. It is essential reading for all users of these statements.

Ethical Issues in Accounting offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction for students and teachers of business studies and accountancy as well as the practicing accountant. The book covers the ethical implications of several aspects of accounting: * ethics and taxation * creative accounting * ethics in accounting regulation * ethical dilemmas in the public sector * whistleblowing * various aspects of social accounting, including environmental accounting. The fitness of the accounting profession as guardians of accounting and auditing ethics is also discussed in detail.

Business scandals are always with us from the South Sea Bubble to Enron and Parmalat. As accounting forms a central element of any business success or failure, the role of accounting is crucial in understanding business scandals. This book aims to explore the role of accounting, particularly creative accounting and fraud, in business scandals. The book is divided into three parts. In Part A the background and context of creative accounting and fraud is explored. Part B looks at a series of international accounting scandals and Part C draws some themes and implications from the country studies.

In the late 1980s, financial accounting in Britain was in disarray. ‘Creative’ accounting was rife. The authority of the industry’s standard-setters had been drastically compromised when their rules for inflation accounting were first ignored by many firms and then abandoned. There were calls for government to replace the accountants’ self-regulation with a tough regulatory regime close to the American model. Also, rapid change in the financial industry was generating complex new financial schemes for which existing accounting standards were inadequate. This book tells the story of the next decade: the problems the standard-setters faced, both technical and political, the resistance they met, the solutions they developed, and the durability of their work. Innovations they developed have become part of global accounting standards. The story is told in the words of three board members, all of whom had spent their careers in accounting, one as a senior technical partner of a Big 4 audit firm, one as an executive in major multinational businesses, one as a university professor: respectively, the Chairman, Sir David Tweedie; the Technical Director, Allan Cook; and the academic board member, Professor Geoffrey Whittington. The medium is for the most part conversation, with the standard-setters questioned by Cambridge Professor Geoff Meeks, recorded over three years producing a more vivid picture of motivations and events. Also, in this technically demanding subject, it has the advantage of a simpler, more informal, and engaging conversational style and language. The book will appeal not just to accountants interested in the origins of the rules they are following and students learning why those rules were adopted, but also to anyone interested in how, in spheres beyond accounting, to harness the expertise and support of business regulatees without suffering regulatory capture.

This concise and informative guide to the financial statements of companies has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new edition. The language of accounting and finance is presented in a clear and accessible manner. No previous knowledge of accountancy is assumed and the emphasis is on analysis and interpretation rather than accounting techniques. Referring throughout to the financial statements of actual companies, Professor Parker shows not only how to read a balance sheet but also what investors should look out for. He explains many important financial and accounting concepts, and deals with taxation, audit, profitability and return on investment, liquidity and cash flows, sources of funds and capital structure.