High quality cost estimating gives a business leader confidence to make rational financial decisions. Whether you are a business leader or a cost estimating manager, you have a vested interest in understanding whether you can depend on your organisation's ability to generate accurate cost forecasts and estimates. But how can business leaders have confidence that the cost information that they are being provided with is of high quality? How can a cost estimating manager be sure that their team is providing high quality cost information? QinetiQ's Cost Engineering Health Check is used as a capability benchmarking tool to identify improvement opportunities within their clients' cost estimating capability, enabling them to focus on areas that have the potential to increase their competitiveness. High quality estimating leads to accurate budgets, a reduced potential for cost growth, accurate evaluation of risk exposure, and the opportunity to implement effective earned value management (EVM). The Cost Engineering Health Check employs a standardised competency framework that considers all aspects of cost estimating capability, and provides an objective assessment against both best practice and the industry standard. This framework is based on QinetiQ's long established, tried and tested, Knowledge Based Estimating (KBE) philosophy comprising Data, Tools, People and Process, with additional consideration given to cultural and stakeholder assessments.

Managing Finance is developed from tried and tested materials that are easy to read and work is written from a managerial perspective for general managers on executive or MBA courses. The text focuses on accounting from the viewpoint of the needs of managers for financial information and understanding. Scenarios and examples are included that demonstrate a socially responsible approach. Business Scenarios are presented at the opening of each chapter and this is then used to explore the topics covered given at the start of the chapter. This approach is very appealing to people with business experience There is supplementary material with this text for the website with additional exercises, cases, multiple choice questions, Powerpoint presentations, and tutorial material. This will be kept up-to-date and provide links to other resources.

****This is a pocket-sized version of the A4 pictorial guide***Whatever the shape or size of a business, they all have one thing in common - they hope to make money. A major factor in determining success is the ability of management to control its finances. Business Finance painlessly demystifies the process of accounting and the understanding of business finance. Follow the adventures of a small-time entrepreneur and his finance director as she helps him turn his business from a potential casualty of the 'Death Valley Curve' into an efficient, profit-making success story. Balance sheets, profit and loss statements, cash flow, working capital, depreciation, cash flow forecasting, budgeting, and gearing are all explained making this the book to guide readers safely through the jargon jungle of financial management.

Multinational corporate managers, financial analysts, and accountants disagree on what constitutes the appropriate process of translating and consolidating foreign financial statements into US financial statements. In this book, first published in 1993, the author examines financial accounting regarding foreign currency translation for and by multinational corporations by developing: (a) an historical background for the topic, (b) a comparative analysis of two foreign currency translation accounting standards, (c) a topical review of relevant prior research, and (d) a study of multinational corporate managers' actions when they face a choice between two accounting standards. This title will be of interest to students of business studies.

This book goes beyond traditional financial institutions textbooks, which tend to focus on mathematical models for risk management and the technical aspects of measuring and managing risk. It focuses on the role of financial institutions in promoting social and economic goals for the communities in which they operate for the greater good, while also meeting financial and competitive challenges, and managing risks. Cooperman divides the text into seven easily teachable modules that examine the real issues and challenges that managers of financial institutions face. These include the transformative changes presented by social unrest, climate change and resource challenges, as well as the changes in how financial institutions operate in light of the opportunities that rapid innovations and disruptive technologies offer. The book features: Up-to-date coverage of new regulations affecting financial institutions, such as Dodd Frank and new SEC regulations. Material on project financing and new forms of financing, including crowd funding and new methods of payment for financial institutions. New sustainable finance models and strategies that incorporate environmental, social, and corporate governance considerations. A new chapter on sustainable financial institutions, social activism, the greening of finance, and socially responsible investing. Practical cases focusing on sustainability give readers insight into the socioeconomic risks associated with climate change. Streamlined and accessible, Managing Financial Institutions will appeal to students of financial institutions and markets, risk management, and banking. A companion website, featuring PowerPoint slides, an Instructor's Manual, and additional cases, is also available.

Focusing on auditing as a judgment process, this unique textbook helps readers strike the balance between understanding auditing theory and how an audit plays out in reality. The only textbook to provide complete coverage of both the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Auditing reflects the contemporary evolution of the audit process. New additions to the book include expert updates on key topics, such as the audit of accounting estimates, group audit, and the Integrated Audit. Supplemented by extra on-line resources, students using this established text will be well-equipped to be effective auditors and to understand the role of auditing in the business world.

China's economy, which continues to grow rapidly, is having an ever greater impact on the rest of the world. This impact is likely to be felt increasingly in the financial sector where China's foreign currency reserves, fuelled by the huge trade surplus, are a very significant factor in world financial markets. This book, based on extensive original research by a range of leading experts, examines many key aspects of current reforms in China's financial sector and China's increasing integration into the international economy. Subjects covered amongst many others include: the derivatives market in China; stock market liberalisation; the internationalization of accounting standards in China; the impact of international foreign direct investment by Chinese firms; and a discussion of the likely long-term economic effects of the Beijing Olympic Games.

In the critically acclaimed first edition of A Social Critique of Corporate Reporting, David Crowther examined the perceived dialectic around traditional and environmental reporting to show it to be a false dialectic. Corporate reporting continues to change rapidly to incorporate more detail and especially environmental and social information. At the same time the mechanism for reporting has changed and the internet now enables more information to be provided to an ever wider range of stakeholders and interest groups. The perceived conflict between financial performance representing the needs of investors and other dimensions of performance representing the needs of other stakeholders still however continues to exist. In this updated edition, this perceived conflict is re-examined along with the wider purposes of corporate reporting. These are examined in the context of web based reporting and a greater concern for all stakeholders. The conclusion is that, although recent developments have produced changes, the essential conflict is still professed to exist, but remains a largely imaginary one. The analysis in this book makes use of both statistics and semiotics and in so doing develops a semiology of corporate reporting that offers an alternative to other research that is largely based on econometrics. Researchers, higher level students and others with an interest in or responsibility for corporate reporting, corporate social responsibility, accounting research, or semiotics will find this book essential reading.

Effective Document and Data Management illustrates the operational and strategic significance of how documents and data are captured, managed and utilized. Without a coherent and consistent approach the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization may be undermined by less poor management and use of its information. The third edition of the book is restructured to take this broader view and to establish an organizational context in which information is management. Along the way Bob Wiggins clarifies the distinction between information management, data management and knowledge management; helps make sense of the concept of an information life cycle to present and describe the processes and techniques of information and data management, storage and retrieval; uses worked examples to illustrate the coordinated application of data and process analysis; and provides guidance on the application of appropriate project management techniques for document and records management projects. The book will benefit a range of organizations and people, from those senior managers who need to develop coherent and consistent business and IT strategies; to information professionals, such as records managers and librarians who will gain an appreciation of the impact of the technology and of how their particular areas of expertise can best be applied; to system designers, developers and implementers and finally to users. The author can be contacted at [email protected] for further information.

Especially since the 2003 SARS crisis, China's healthcare system has become a growing source of concern, both for citizens and the Chinese government. China's once praised public health services have deteriorated into a system driven by economic constraints, in which poor people often fail to get access, and middle-income households risk to be dragged into poverty by the rising costs of care. The New Rural Co-operative Medical System (NRCMS) was introduced to counter these tendencies and constitutes the main system of public health insurance in China today. This book outlines the nature of the system, traces the processes of its enactment and implementation, and discusses its strengths and weaknesses. It argues that the contested nature of the fields of health policy and social security has long been overlooked, and reinterprets the NRCMS as a compromise between opposing political interests. Furthermore, it argues that structural institutional misfits facilitate fiscal imbalances and a culture of non-compliance in local health policy, which distort the outcomes of the implementation and limit the effectiveness of insurance. These dynamics also raise fundamental questions regarding the effectiveness of other areas of the comprehensive New Health Reform, which China has initiated to overhaul its healthcare system.

The accounting provisions of the Companies Act 1948 (CA48) represented a major change from the provisions of preceding company legislation, the Companies Act 1929 (CA29). CA48 contained radically different accounting and auditing provisions from those of any previous enactment and represented a substantial stride forward in generally accepted accounting standards. Until the publication of this book the explanation of the changes in CA48 was one that had remained relatively unexplored. This book examines the historical process which brought these regulatory changes about.

Operational Auditing: Principles and Techniques for a Changing World, 2nd edition, explains the proven approaches and essential procedures to perform risk-based operational audits. It shows how to effectively evaluate the relevant dynamics associated with programs and processes, including operational, strategic, technological, financial and compliance objectives and risks. This book merges traditional internal audit concepts and practices with contemporary quality control methodologies, tips, tools and techniques. It explains how internal auditors can perform operational audits that result in meaningful findings and useful recommendations to help organizations meet objectives and improve the perception of internal auditors as high-value contributors, appropriate change agents and trusted advisors. The 2nd edition introduces or expands the previous coverage of: * Control self-assessments. * The 7 Es framework for operational quality. * Linkages to ISO 9000. * Flowcharting techniques and value-stream analysis * Continuous monitoring. * The use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs). * Robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML); and * Adds a new chapter that will examine the role of organizational structure and its impact on effective communications, task allocation, coordination, and operational resiliency to more effectively respond to market demands.

With easy-to-understand explanations and real-life examples, Management & Cost Accounting For Dummies provides students and trainees with the basic concepts, terminology and methods to identify, measure, analyse, interpret, and communicate accounting information in the context of managerial decision-making.

Major topics include: * cost behaviour * cost analysis * profit planning and control measures * accounting for decentralized operations * budgeting decisions * ethical challenges in management and cost accounting

Traditionally, control in organizations is concerned with top-down approaches, where executives attempt to direct their employees' attention, behaviors, and performance to align with the organization's goals and objectives. This book takes a new approach by turning the problem of control upside down as it focuses on control of executives who find white-collar crime convenient. The bottom-up approach to executive compliance focuses on organizational measures to make white-collar crime less convenient for potential offenders. Rather than focusing on the regulatory formalities and staged procedures of compliance and audits, the book emphasizes the organizational challenges involved in compliance work when trusted corporate officials exhibit deviant behavior, refining, and advancing knowledge in this field by reference to contemporary international case studies and associated original evaluative research. The themes and cases covered are carefully selected to provide the reader with an insight into professional conduct and procedural practice - the organization of corporate compliance success, failure, and corruption - with the theory of convenience placed at the fore. It is the bottom-up approach by application of convenience theory that makes the proposed book unique compared to other books on corporate compliance. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and upper-level students researching and studying in the areas of business administration, organizational behavior, corporate and white-collar crime, as well as business ethics and auditing.

The importance and influence of accountancy have increased incredibly rapidly in the post-war period, although it remains an institution about which relatively little is known. Studies which incorporate insights from social and behavioural science are long overdue. The value of such analyses have been increasingly recognized within the accountancy profession in recent years as a compelling, provocative and fruitful complement to the conventional education and training process. "Sociological Perspectives on Modern Accountancy" is the first book to draw on developments in academic sociology and apply them in an accessible way for the accounting student. Written by a sociologist who is also a trained accountant, this book analyzes the structure and processes of accountancy in a entirely novel way. He considers the profession, its work roles and employment experiences, and the ideological nature of accountancy. This book should be of interest to undergraduates and postgraduates in sociology and accountancy.

* Challenging and provocative book * Shows how management accounting techniques can be integrated into the strategic decision making process * Extensive use of practical examples from a variety of contexts.An introduction to business strategy for management accountants, financial accountants or managers with an accounting orientation. The book places management accounting clearly within the context of strategic management of the business. Offers qualified accountants a sound introduction to strategic management, and with practical examples and mini-cases provided throughout, this book is comprehensive yet concise.
Keith Ward addresses strategic management accounting as a continuous process of analysis, planning and control. Management accounting is about supplying the right information to the right people at the right time, and this can only be expressed in the context of the business strategy and strategic plan. The implementation of appropriate management accounting systems to complement different strategies is discussed in detail. Applications and examples include multinational organizations, non-profit organizations and varying organizational structures. Finally the author covers methods of using management accounting for strategic advantage.
Challenging and provocative book
Shows how management accounting techniques can be integrated into the strategic decision making process
Extensive use of practical examples from a variety of contexts

The primary aim of this basic book is to familiarize students in (international) English-language programmes with the basics in the fields of finance, finance management and accounting. No prior knowledge of business economics is required. This book is user-friendly, accessible, and yet comprehensive in its approach. It takes an in-depth, integrated look at the principles of management accounting, financial accounting and finance. Examples and case studies from newspapers and professional journals encourage the practical application of the material. Study questions reinforce and test the student's understanding of the key concepts. A glossary of key terms is included at the end of each chapter. The book also contains multiple choice questions and other assignments designed to stimulate thinking about the topics that are discussed. Further self-test materials are available at www.basicsfinancialmanagement.noordhoff.nl including interactive multiple choice questions, exercises, cases and teachers manual.

Foundations in Accountancy (FIA) awards are entry-level, core-skill focused qualifications from ACCA. They provide flexible options for students and employers, and as an ACCA Approved Content Provider, BPP Learning Media s suite of study tools will provide you with all the accurate and up-to-date material you need for exam success.

In the UK today the form and content of accounts published by limited companies are closely regulated. In the 19th century the position was different: the popular view was that such matters were for private negotiation between owners and management. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of discussion of the need for regulations, which were actually imposed in a number of areas. This book provides readers with the essence of the many debates that took place, the conclusions reached and the action taken to regulate company accounts.

In the UK today the form and content of accounts published by limited companies are closely regulated. In the 19th century the position was different: the popular view was that such matters were for private negotiation between owners and management. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of discussion of the need for regulations, which were actually imposed in a number of areas. This book provides readers with the essence of the many debates that took place, the conclusions reached and the action taken to regulate company accounts.

This study, originally published in 1987, addresses the question of small firm performance. Drawing on an extensive database containing financial, employment and ownership data for several thousand small firms, the book examines whether small firms do actually provide jobs, whether they grow and why small firms fail. Guidance is given on how to spot the signs of impending failure in a small business, which is of use to accountants small business PR actioners and government grant providers.

In the new economy where value drivers are shifting from tangible to intangibles resources, brands are the most familiar asset. They are well known by consumers, perceived as a critical component of enterprise value and often motivate large mergers and acquisitions. Yet, brands are a complex intangible asset, and their valuation is a difficult task requiring a variety of expertise: legal, economic, financial, sector-specific and marketing. Using rigorous methodologies, an analysis of the world of the new economy and an inquiry into the limits of modern valuation technics, this book offers empirical and theoretical background to the key issue of brand valuation. It provides answers to the many questions that arise when attempting to value a brand: How to understand the origin of brand value? How to assess its value objectively? Why valuations of some brands by consulting firms differ so widely? How to understand that some brands are valued millions of euros when the companies that own them are losing money? Brand Valuation explains the economics and finance factors explaining the value and volatility of brands and presents the most commonly used methodologies to value brands such as the cost methods, the excess earnings approach, the relief-from-royalty method or the excess revenue approach. The methodologies covered are illustrated with numerous examples allowing the reader to grasp the advantages and limits of each valuation techniques. The book presents the relevant context of brand valuation including the applicable existing accounting and valuation standards and also discusses the models developed by consulting firms.

The book gives practical instruction and guidance in the use of accounting for effective control and higher profit in hotel and catering operations. The author covers all aspects of the subject, setting arguments and examples in a real context.

Capitalism is historically pervasive. Despite attempts through the centuries to suppress or control the private ownership of commercial assets, production and trade for profit has survived and, ultimately, flourished. Against this backdrop, accounting provides a fundamental insight: the 'value' of physical and intangible capital assets that are used in production is identically equal to the sum of the debt liabilities and equity capital that are used to finance those assets. In modern times, this appears as the balance sheet relationship. In determining the 'value' of items on the balance sheet, equity capital appears as a residual calculated as the difference between the 'value' of assets and liabilities. Through the centuries, the organization of capitalist activities has changed considerably, dramatically impacting the methods used to value, trade and organize equity capital. To reflect these changes, this book is divided into four parts that roughly correspond to major historical changes in equity capital organization. The first part of this book examines the rudimentary commercial ventures that characterized trading for profit from ancient times until the contributions of the medieval scholastics that affirmed the moral value of equity capital. The second part deals with the evolution of equity capital organization used in seaborne trade of the medieval and Renaissance Italian city states and in the early colonization ventures of western European powers and ends with the emergence in the market for tradeable equity capital shares during the 17th century. The third part begins with the 1719-1720 Mississippi scheme and South Sea bubbles in northern Europe and continues to cover the transition from joint stock companies to limited liability corporations with autonomous shares in England, America and France during the 19th century. This part ends with a fundamental transition in the social conception of equity capital from a concern with equity capital organization to the problem of determining value. The final part is concerned with the evolving valuation and management of equity capital from the 1920s to the present. This period includes the improvement corporate accounting for publicly traded shares engendered by the Great Depression that has facilitated the use of 'value investing' techniques and the conflicting emergence of portfolio management methods of modern Finance. Equity Capital is aimed at providing material relevant for academic presentations of equity valuation history and methods, and is targeted at researchers, academics, students and professionals alike.

Digital Transformation in Accounting is a critical guidebook for accountancy and digital business students and practitioners to navigate the effects of digital technology advancements, digital disruption, and digital transformation on the accounting profession. Drawing on the latest research, this book: Unpacks dozens of digital technology advancements, explaining what they are and how they could be used to improve accounting practice. Discusses the impact of digital disruption and digital transformation on different accounting functions, roles, and activities. Integrates traditional accounting information systems concepts and contemporary digital business and digital transformation concepts. Includes a rich array of real-world case studies, simulated problems, quizzes, group and individual exercises, as well as supplementary electronic resources. Provides a framework and a set of tools to prepare the future accounting workforce for the era of digital disruption. This book is an invaluable resource for students on accounting, accounting information systems, and digital business courses, as well as for accountants, accounting educators, and accreditation / advocacy bodies.