The Intermediate Employee Benefit Plans Audit Certificate exam tests your knowledge related to auditing employee benefit plans, including defined contribution, defined benefit, and health and welfare plans, in accordance with AICPA standards and DOL rules and regulations. This exam is offered in a timed online format and consists of 100 multiple choice questions. In order to successfully pass the examination, you must understand and apply the core concepts related to client acceptance, engagement planning, engagement analysis, concluding an engagement and guiding principles for employee benefit plan audits. Some of the topics that will be tested on the exam include: Planning and general procedures Internal control Investments and investment issues Types of plans Key compliance elements Limited scope issues Financial statement presentation, disclosure, and regulatory reporting Online Access Instructions A personal pin code is enclosed in the physical packaging that may be activated online upon receipt. Once activated, you will gain immediate online access to the product. Your Certificate and Digital Badge After passing the exam, you will be awarded with a certificate in the form of a digital badge. Digital badges allow you to distinguish yourself in the marketplace and show your commitment to quality. The badge can be posted to your social media profiles and linked to your resume or email signature, providing maximum visibility to your achievement. You will receive your official score and certificate or retake information 5 business days after completing the exam. Important note: Your exam purchase entitles you to one exam and one re-take if you do not pass the exam. Prior to using your re-take, the AICPA recommends you study any topics identified in your initial exam results. If you do not pass either the initial exam or the re-take, you must purchase the exam again, in order to take it again. Exams passed outside of these purchase and re-take rules will not result in the issuing of a digital badge. If you have any questions regarding the completion of your exam or re-take, please contact [email protected] to verify your results. By making this purchase, you must understand and agree that the AICPA has the absolute and unrestricted right to revoke or suspend any rights to use the digital badge image, or any representation thereof, if you are (a) convicted of any crime punishable by more than one year in prison or for any crime related to dishonesty, or (b) disciplined by any governmental or non-governmental authority that regulates, or enforces a code of conduct related to, your professional activities, including but not limited to, a state board of accountancy, AICPA, IRS, SEC, or PCAOB, or (c) a peer reviewer restricted from performing peer reviews by the Peer Review Program. System Requirements AICPA's online CPE courses will operate in a variety of configurations, but only the configuration described below is supported by AICPA technicians. A stable and continuous internet connection is required. In order to record your completion of the online learning courses, please ensure you are connected to the internet at all times while taking the course. It is your responsibility to validate that CPE certificate(s) are available within your account after successfully completing the course and/or exam. Supported Operating Systems: Macintosh OS X 10.10 to present Windows 7 to present Supported Browsers: Apple Safari Google Chrome Microsoft Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Required Browser Plug-ins: Adobe Flash Adobe Acrobat Reader Technical Support: Please contact [email protected].

Returning to its roots in activism and economic justice, this issue exposes accounting practice as a contested terrain by examining its role as a social force encompassing issues of value, governance, ethics, politics, and class. Arguing that the view of the discipline as objective and fair is a myth, these papers illuminate the detrimental social consequences of failing to recognize accounting??'s role in the social environment. Investigating accounting's use of ???independence??? as a protective shield in obscuring winners and losers regarding financial activity, the papers illustrate accounting??'s contribution to the failures of free markets worldwide: systemic global poverty, questionable privatization of public enterprises and public goods, and greater divides between so-called first and third world nations. Revealing the integrated nature of regulation, accounting, and ethics, the papers in this volume question the logic of merely fine tuning current systems proposing instead visionary and innovative change by probing deeply into our beliefs, social practices, and consciousness.

Understand financial accounting principles and techniques, and develop the skills to make informed business decisions. Financial Accounting for Decision Makers, 10th Edition by Peter Atrill & Eddie McLaney, is an accessible introduction to the subject, focusing on the ways in which financial statements and information improve the quality of decision-making. Written by two highly regarded accounting authors, the text is ideal for those who study Financial Accounting modules in Undergraduate and MBA courses. This latest edition has been thoroughly updated with examples, showing the pressure facing industries as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Maintaining its clear and friendly style throughout, the book regularly illustrates the outworking of financial accounting in real business issues, allowing you to experience the decision-facing environment. The commentary from real company reports and survey data in the form of illustrative extracts further supports your understanding of the basic concepts surrounding the subject and challenges both your individual thinking and group discussion in class. With its step-by-step approach, activities, and real-world examples, this textbook is an essential reading resource whether you are on an accounting degree or studying financial accounting modules within other disciplines. Instructors personalise learning with MyLab (R) Accounting By combining trusted author content with digital tools and a flexible platform, MyLab (R) personalises the learning experience and improves results for each student. MyLab Accounting for this edition includes over 1200 questions that you can assign to students. If you would like to purchase both the physical text and MyLab Accounting, search for: 9781292409153 Financial Accounting for Decision Makers 10th edition with MyLab (R) Accounting Package consists of: 9781292409184 Financial Accounting for Decision Makers 10th edition 9781292409122 Financial Accounting for Decision Makers 10th edition MyLab (R) Accounting 9781292409139 Financial Accounting for Decision Makers 10th edition Pearson eText MyLab (R) Accounting is not included. Students, if MyLab Accounting is a recommended/mandatory component of the course, please ask your instructor for the correct ISBN. MyLab Accounting should only be purchased when required by an instructor. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information.

This book provides an assessment of public financial management (PFM) reforms in developing countries using Turkey as a case study. Volume II elaborates on asset and liability management, intergovernmental fiscal relations, accounting, financial reporting, and auditing. Bringing together academics and practitioners, the book analyzes the PFM reforms in the light of theoretical explanations and practices to reveal the achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of PFM.

The Handbook of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities is a cornerstone reference in this emerging sector of the structured finance market. This Second Edition provides updated coverage of the market, the instruments, the tools used to assess these securities, and tax accounting issues.
In addition to an overview of the commercial real estate finance and commercial property markets, this book also covers property-market framework for bond investors, the role of the servicer, an investor's perspective on commercial mortgage-backed coupon strips, defaults on commercial mortgages, assessing credit risk, an options approach to valuation and risk analysis, legal perspectives on disclosure issues, and federal income taxation.

This handbook showcases the broad spectrum of diverse approaches to environmental accounting which have developed during the last 30 years across the globe. The volume covers a range of physical issues such as water, carbon and biodiversity, as well as specific accounting matters such as management control, finance and audit. Moreover, seven chapters present environmental accounting issues that arise in the regions of Africa, Asia, Europe, MENA, North America, the Pacific and South America. The handbook also highlights future challenges in all the topic areas addressed as well as introducing new topics, such as links between environmental accounting and the circular economy, and the issues associated with animal rights. Edited by leading scholars in the area and with key contributions from across the discipline, and covering a diverse range of perspectives and locations, the volume is divided into five key parts: * Part 1: Framing the issues * Part 2: Financial accounting and reporting * Part 3: Management accounting * Part 4: Global and local perspectives * Part 5: Thematic topics in environmental accounting This handbook will act as a significant publication in drawing together the history of the field and important reference points in its future development, and will serve as a vital resource for students and scholars of environmental accounting and environmental economics.

Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations publishes both non-empirical and empirical articles dealing with accounting pedagogy. All articles explain how teaching methods or curricula/programs can be improved. Non-empirical papers are academically rigorous, and specifically discuss the institutional context of a course or program, as well as any relevant tradeoffs or policy issues. Empirical reports exhibit sound research design and execution, and develop a thorough motivation and literature review, including references from outside the accounting field, where appropriate.

Due to the developments in the role of governments, the importance of government accounting and financial reporting is increasing. This led to changes in Government Accounting all over the world. For institutional, public finance and other reasons this has not always been done for central governments and regional and local governments in the same way. Some countries maintain the cash basis, some changed over to the accrual basis. Many of them started at first with lower government levels, only few changed over completely. Comparative Issues in Government and Accounting aims to give insight in the array of different patterns the world shows with respect to government accounting and financial reporting. Of course a complete overview would have been too ambitious a goal. This book brings together an interesting number of academics coming from a representative number of countries to get an impression of the situation and especially of the existence and the backgrounds of similarities and differences. Thirty-five authors and co-authors produced 21 chapters reflecting on the situations in 16 countries on 4 continents. Countries dealt with are Albania, Australia, Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

This textbook presents concepts and applications of Management Accounting, one of the main approaches used by management to support future organisational performance. It covers methods and instruments of management and cost accounting, cost management, and management control and is based on the German textbook "Interne Unternehmensrechnung" by Ralf Ewert and Alfred Wagenhofer (Springer). The authors describe the managerial uses of accounting information, both for decision-making and decision-influencing, and provide a broad perspective on the subject combining the academic foundations of the field with recent cutting-edge research results. Moreover, traditions of German accounting theory and practice that are little known outside of the German-speaking countries are reflected in the book. With its unique approach based on information economics, the textbook offers a comprehensive and innovative presentation to a global audience.

In the banking industry, inaccurate record keeping can generate negative consequences. By developing solutions to address such issues, financial reporting initiatives can be optimized. Accountancy and the Changing Landscape of Integrated Reporting is a pivotal reference source for the latest research findings on the development of a framework for integrated reporting within the accountancy profession. Featuring extensive coverage on relevant areas such as corporate social responsibility, financial performance, and corporate reporting, this publication is an ideal resource for academics, researchers, graduate-level students, and professionals across the fields of management, economics, and finance.

In an era of fierce international competition, manufacturing firms must have a thorough understanding of their cost structure and how that structure relates to pricing and product mix decisions. Two competing conceptual approaches to designing product cost systems that support decision making are Activity-based Costing and the Theory of Constraints. Rather than argue in favor of one to the exclusion of the other, Robert J. Campbell presents a new approach to cost system design that combines the strengths of each school of thought, thereby overcoming the significant limitations of each. The need to price the product mix in order to exploit constrained resources is advocated by the Theory of Constraints, while the need to examine resource consumption from activities, both value adding and non-value adding, to support the principles of JIT is advocated by Activity-based Costing.

After examining the nature of a firM's cost structure as it relates to the activities performed by various functional areas, Campbell discusses the development of activity-based cost systems through an extensive example. Activity-based costing can lead to building excessively complex accounting systems that lack focus and provide confusion about short-run versus long-run changes in the cost structure. After a chapter examining short-run cost behavior and cost relationships, an in-depth discussion of the Theory of Constraints and how it is contrasted to, and complemented by, activity-based costing follows. In these middle chapters the strengths of each methodology are identified and combined into a unified approach to product cost systems. Later chapters provide discussion on pricing strategies, customer profitability analysis, and providing cost measures that recognize either loss of learning or volume-related efficiencies in machine-paced organizations. This book is an important resource for executives or consultants seeking to implement new cost management systems that lead to improved decision making, as well as for educators seeking to reconcile and understand Activity-based Costing and the Theory of Constraints.

The scope of service provided by professional accountants is influenced by legislation and case law as well as the dictates of a variety of government and private sector agencies; including State Boards of Accountancy, Academic Accreditation Bodies, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, independent standard setting bodies such as the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board [US], the Financial Accounting Standards Board [US], and self-regulatory organizations such as State Societies of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. There are equivalent and emerging national and international bodies, such as the International Accounting Standards Board [IASB] that exist in most developed and developing countries. These attempt to coordinate the activities among nations. It is important for academics, students, practitioners, regulators and researchers to consider, study and understand the role and relationship of such bodies with the practice and content of their discipline. "Research in Accounting Regulation" is a refereed annual serial that seeks to publish high quality manuscripts, which address regulatory issues and policy affecting the practice of accountancy, broadly defined. Topics of interest include research based upon: self-regulatory activities; case law and litigation; government and quasi-governmental regulation; and the economics of regulation, including modelling. This research series aims to encourage the submission of original empirical, behavioural or applied research manuscripts that consider strategic and policy implications for regulation, regulatory models and markets. It is intended for individual researchers, practitioners, regulators and students of accountancy who desire to increase their understanding of the regulation of accountancy.

With more than 140 countries in the world now using international financial reporting standards (IFRS (R) Standards), knowledge of the standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB (R)) is vital to students' success in financial accounting. Melville's International Financial Reporting employs a practical, applied approach in exploring and explaining the key international standards. With a focus on how to implement the standards, this text delivers a focused, user-friendly introduction to international financial reporting. Renowned for clear and concise language, this seventh edition brings the book completely up-to-date with international standards issued as of 1 January 2019.

Worldcom, Enron, Parmalat...a succession of financial scandals have made front page news throughout the world in recent times. In this book, the author investigates the origin of creative accounting and explains how and why some companies use these shortcuts to cover different needs. "Creative Accounting Exposed" is written in a clear, enjoyable style with a wealth of case studies.

The food industry faces an unprecedented level of scrutiny. Consumers are not only concerned with the safety and quality of food products but also the way in which they are produced. At the same time the food industry has developed new ways of assuring appropriate standards for its products and their methods of production, developing systems such as TQM and HACCP to identify and manage key steps in production. These new methods require new skills in auditing. Auditing in the food industry provides an authoritative guide to the range of standards and the auditing skills they demand.
Part one sets the scene with an introductory chapter reviewing developments in standards affecting the food industry. There then follows chapters on how retailers audit their suppliers and how governments have moved from a traditional inspection role to one of 'regulatory verification' with its emphasis on auditing the robustness of a business's own systems for managing safety and quality.
Part two examines the key aspects of safety and quality. A first chapter reviews the ways retailers assess supplier HACCP systems. There is then a chapter reviewing TQM systems that provides a context for a discussion of auditing techniques for HACCP-based quality systems. A final chapter looks at standards governing the analytical methods used in safety and quality control.
Part three considers newer standards that are becoming increasingly important in the food industry. There are chapters on benchmarking an organisation against others as a way of improving performance, auditing the impact of food processing operations on the environment and auditing organic food processing.
Auditing in the food industry is a valuable guide to the range of standards facing the food industry and the ways it can audit, and thus improve the quality of its performance.

Hardbound. This series rose out of the belief that the international accounting literature should devote more attention to the study of the accounting problems and issues of emerging economies (developing and newly industrialized countries).The desire of the series is to raise the level of interest in the specific problems of accounting in emerging economies and raise the awareness of the real issues, so that accounting in these countries will not be seen as a matter of copying what is done in industrialized countries. Through an increasing awareness of the real issues and the accounting practices advocated in it, the annual has become relevant to actual needs, and is making a real contribution to the accounting development process of emerging economies.

Once considered an intruder into the academic community, accounting has developed into a full fledged social science, with fierce competition among its different paradigms. Riahi-Belkaoui explains that these paradigms, each striving for primacy through publications, conferences, and other means of self-exposure, are characterized by their exemplars, their image of the subject matter, their theories, and finally the methods they use. In doing so they have given accounting a certain, new cachet. Riahi-Belkaoui thus provides a critical examination of each of these paradigms in an effort to guide researchers and policymakers in their search for proper interpretations and positionings of the products of accounting research. A stimulating discussion for academics and knowledgeable professionals alike.

In six chapters each devoted to a specific paradigm, the book elucidates each paradigM's contribution to accounting thought and practice. Covered are the anthropological/inductive paradigm, the true income/deductive paradigm, the decision usefulness/decision model paradigm, the decision usefulness/decision maker/aggregate market behavior paradigm, and the decision usefulness/decision maker/individual user paradigm. The result is a book that makes unique use of philosophy of science concepts in accounting, and a book that will also have applications in university graduate-level courses in research methodology and accounting theory.

Managing for Results is a model of organizational reform that utilizes performance indicators, strategic planning, and benchmarks. The model focuses on linking these systems to improve performance and public accountability. This book studies the implementation of Managing for Results on six states identified by the U.S. General Accounting Office as leaders of internal reinvention efforts. Government and business practitioners, as well as scholars and researchers of public administration and policy, will find this book useful in assessment, selection, and measurement of state-level reform efforts.

This work explores how reshaping budget rules and how they are applied presents a preferred means of public sector budgeting, rather than simply implementing fewer rules. Through enhanced approaches to resource flexibility, government entities can ensure that public money is used appropriately while achieving the desired results. The authors identify public budgeting practices that inhibit responses to complex problems and examine how rule modification can lead to expanded budget flexibility. Through a nuanced understanding of the factors underlying conventional budget control, the authors use budget reforms in Australia to show the limits of rule modification and propose "rule variability" as a better means of recalibrating central control and situational flexibility. Here, policy makers and public management academics will find a source that surveys emerging ways of reconciling control and flexibility in the public sector.iv>

This is a well-written treatment of the subject that will help increase the auditor's understanding of the beneficial use of a wide range of analytical procedures.

"Journal of Accountancy"

This handbook is intended to help auditors at all experience levels in financial, operational, and compliance audits. It presents and discusses 16 analytical auditing procedures in detail. The author comprehensively discusses evidence theory that will enable auditors to appropriately combine evidence form analytical auditing with evidence from more traditional audit procedures.

"Business Information ALERT"

Analytical auditing--or the generation of audit evidence from an analysis of the relationships among financial and nonfinancial data--is now a widely used technique in audit practice. This volume is intended to help auditors at all experience levels by providing a better understanding of the range of available analytical auditing techniques, the underlying theory supporting these techniques, and the solutions to practical problems in applying these techniques. Sixteen different practical analytical auditing procedures are discussed and illustrated in detail, including the graphical, average change, and weighted average methods of simple time series analysis; simple reasonableness tests; various structural modeling; and ratio analysis techniques.

In addition to thorough coverage of key analytical auditing techniques, McKee also presents a comprehensive discussion of evidence theory that will enable auditors to appropriately combine evidence from analytical auditing with evidence from more traditional audit procedures. He reviews the relevant professional auditing standards for all types of auditors, including international auditing standards, those of the American Institute of CPAs, internal auditing standards, and governmental auditing standards. Especially valuable is an extended discussion and illustrations of computer applications of analytical auditing techniques. Throughout the book, tables and figures facilitate the reader's understanding of the techniques and concepts presented. An indispensable handbook for use in financial, operational, and compliance audits, this volume belongs on the bookshelf of every CPA, internal auditor, and governmental auditor.

A new form of accounting statement--the value added statement--is gaining popularity in the corporate annual reports of the largest companies in the United Kingdom. This new statement can be viewed as a modified version of the income statement. Like the income statement, the value added statement reports the operating performance of a company at a given point in time, using both accrual and matching procedures. Unlike the income statement, however, it is interpreted not as a return to shareholders but as a return to the larger group of capital and labor providers. Riahi-Belkaoui shows that the value added statement can be easily derived from the income statement and is therefore easily adaptable to the needs of U.S. companies.

To illustrate the usefulness of the value added statement, Riahi-Belkaoui devotes Chapter 1 to a thorough discussion of its many benefits. He then analyzes the usefulness of the value added concept in understanding the characteristics of corporate takeovers in the United States, and in Chapter 3 he discusses the relationship between the value added concept and the systematic risk of U.S. companies, concluding in Chapter 4 with a discussion of value added statements in financial analysis. His book will thus interest not only accountants, teachers, and students who follow trends in international and multi-national accounting but also those who want to prepare themselves for the development of value added techniques and procedures that might reasonably be expected in the United States.

James Allen was one of our finest thinkers. In this five-in-one omnibus edition Allen shows you the power of positive thinking and a path to prosperity with dignity. These teachings are as timeless today as they were when they were written. Many of todays best sellers, such as The Power of Positive Thinking, Laws of Attraction, and The Science of Success, owe a deep and abiding debt to these great works. Now you can read the words of the master directly and not distilled through another who is merely recycling them. This edition includes: As a Man Thinketh, The Way of Peace, Above Life's Turmoil, Byways to Blessedness, and The Path of Prosperity.

For introductory courses in managerial finance. Help students apply financial concepts to solve real world problems with a proven teaching and learning framework The Teaching and Learning System -- a hallmark feature of Principles of Managerial Finance, Brief -- weaves pedagogy into concepts and practice, giving students a roadmap to follow through the text and supplementary tools. The 8th Edition, Global Edition, concentrates on the material students need to know in order to make effective financial decisions in an increasingly competitive business environment. It allows students to make the connections between a firm's action and its value, as determined in the financial market. With a generous amount of examples, this text is an easily accessible resource for in- and out-of-class learning.

This volume describes the construction method for a global accounting framework, referred to as the world accounting matrix (WAM). The WAM allows for the consistent presentation of international trade and finance figures in relation to domestic saving and investment. The book aims to show how a WAM can be used for the analysis of trade and finance in a global context. It also seeks to show how WAM can contribute to the solution of the large statistical problems in national and global macroeconomic data.