The Importance of Accounting Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Importance of Accounting Standards - Essay Example They are the ones responsible for listing and analyzing every figure that comes in and out of the company's pocket. The main tool used by company's to determine their financial condition is the financial statement. It aims to supply important information concerning a company's financial position. Accounting practitioners have recognized the need to formulate accounting standards to be followed by every organization. They realized that it is of utmost importance not only to them but to all individuals who are engaged in business Part I Purpose and Significance of Financial Accounting Standards There are three considerations that Accounting Practitioners refer to when asked about the purpose of Accounting Standards. First is that it aids in sustaining the effectiveness of various accounting policies by getting rid of the discrepancies in financial statements. Second, it provides assistance to efficiently present credible and comparable data found in the financial statement of companies . Lastly it functions as an accounting alternative that lessens the notion of subjectivity in financial statements (Chandra, 2011). Accounting practitioners follow a set of guidelines while in the process of gathering financial information. They refer to it as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). In the United States, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) prepared by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) serve as the primary basis for entries that are required to be present in financial statements of private companies (Kuppapally, 2008). So that organizations can sustain and expand their operation, internationally accepted accounting standards were formulated, also known as the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The existence of IFRS in the global market made possible the reduction of incompatibilities in capital flows, leading to an increasing rate of investment in the global market. The International Accounting Standards Board (I ASB) is the body in charge of regulating the standards that are listed under IFRS (Chandra, 2011). Last October 29, 2002, FASB and IASB entered into a covenant known as "The Norwalk Agreement," which has recognized their duty to establish accounting standards that are adaptable to both domestic and international financial reporting. The two standard governing bodies of financial accounting made a deal to finally reconcile their differences in order to attain the objective of the agreement, which is to establish internationally accepted standard suited to the needs of the different companies in nations around the world. The signed memorandum of understanding focused on the convergence of the two. The gradual process of eliminating the differences with the help of joint projects will eventually result to an enhanced comparability of financial statements not only in the US but also in other nations (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2002). Independent auditors strictly follow the G enerally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS). These auditing standards supply the benchmark on the quality of audit that auditors must comply with. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) made possible the implementation of GAAS in auditing nonpublic companies. Auditors are obliged to know all the statements on auditing standards (SAS) because the basis of making the final decision in auditing financial reports is their judgment on what standard

How Social Media affects the way we live Assignment

How Social Media affects the way we live - Assignment Example Rhetoric is the way in which we use languages and images to persuade. The media through several endeavors asks the people in many ways to buy something, influence in their own way through several product differentiating strategies and mould the consumers behaviors. Rhetorical analysis of the social media helps the user of the social media to become perfectly informed. At the same time evaluation of the ethical messages can be analyzed in order to test the effect on the common public and the way they affect the society (Bolin Carroll, 2010, p.46). Social media and its features The social media in the present world can be thought to be of a group of online media with the array of primal activities including participation, openness, conversation, and community (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Participation: The social media social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Openness: The nature of social media basically serves as an open plat form where the feedback and the participation are widely invited. It also helps in the encouragement in the voting, comments and the sharing of information. The barriers of access to the contents present in the social media platform are minimal (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Conversation: The traditional media is basically concerned with the broadcasting methodology which ensures the content transmission or distribution. But the social media acts as a two-way conversation (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Community: The social media allows the communities to form quickly and communicate effectively where exchange of information along with the sharing of common interests among the people in topics like photography, any political issues, or it may be any TV shows (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Connectedness: One of the fundamental agendas of the social media is the emphasis on the connectedness among the people. They try to maintain this connectedness among the public by connecting to the different websites and pertaining links between various people and valuable resources of the society (Mayfield, 2008, p.6). Current forms of the social media There are some well known widely prevalent forms of social media. They are mainly social networking, blogs, wikis, online encyclopedia, podcasts, Forums, content communities, and micro blogging. The social networking allows people to build personal web pages and subsequently maintain connection and sharing content and communication among the people. Some of the popular social networking sites are Face book, My Space, Twitter. The blogs are usually online journals where any news is almost posted at the first instance. The Wikis are those websites which acts as a communal document or database which permits the people to add the contents or edit the information on them. A widely known wikis is the Wikipedia4 which is an online encyclopedia consisting of over 2 million English language articles. The podcasts are audio and video files which can be access ed by people through subscription mechanisms. A widely existing podcast is the Apple iTunes. This creates an indigenous platform for the fusion of several cultures of the globe. The