Interpreting Company Reports and Accounts guides the reader through the conventions and complexities of company accounts, explaining how to assess the financial and trading position of a company from year to year, how to spot undue risk taking and ‘‘cosmetic accounting’’ and where to look for clues on the quality of management. 

Packed with interesting real world examples, this is a highly practical book which shows readers how to analyse company reports and accounts, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The analysis is illustrated with over 200 extracts/examples from published accounts

It is increasingly being recognised across society that the preservation of our natural environment should shape political, economic and social policies. This book delves into the partnership of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Environmental NGOs (ENGOs), their communities, and their governmental counterparts in responding to this need. Providing extended research on environmentalism and the NGOs' roles in promoting environmental accountability, the chapters present a comprehensive overview of the interaction between the two themes both regionally and internationally. Topics include the accountability of Environmental NGOs (ENGOs), impact of NGOs on environmental sustainability, NGOs and sustainable development goals, NGOs and social reporting quality, and the role of NGOs in urban and rural environmental governance. The authors present these insights within the context of developing economies, continental and global perspectives, as well as the transformational angle. This book provides readers with a truly comprehensive snapshot of the environmental accountability of NGOs.

Despite their broad scope and importance, publications related to public sector accounting and auditing have a limited framework, and do not account for the significant variances in public sector accounting and auditing systems between countries and different subsectors of government. The editors of this book have filled this gap by compiling a collection that combines different aspects of public sector accounting and auditing within a single book. Pooling together existing public sector accounting and auditing practices between countries and preparing a comparative analysis of those practices, the authors analyze the role of the public sector accounting and auditing holistically, and provide a platform to enable financially sustainable policy making and proper assessment of the relevance of accounting frameworks across the globe. The chapters chronicle the strength and weakness of public sector accounting, auditing and systems, and also critically examine the approaches, recording methods, and international regulations which determine how they operate. Providing a comprehensive account which brings a wide range of countries to the forefront in terms of both comparability and accountability, this study shines a light on the differences in accounting systems between states, and provides timely and accurate information to equip readers to minimize those differences.

Mistrust in big business and major politicians, coupled with recent scandals in international development, grew from a blatant lack of accountability between decision-makers and recipients. Remedies seem to lie within the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the rise of social entrepreneurship, and the demand for responsible practices, all key drivers for social, rather than merely financial, returns on investments. Yet accounting for such returns remains scattershot and unevenly implemented. With contributions from world-leading scholars and practitioners, Generation Impact brings together lessons from both developed and developing economies, shares current best practice and suggests future trends in impact accounting. The book analyses social and environmental capital protocols, the international convergence in impact investing, organisational management and capacity-building and best practice in assurance and training, and offers reflections on policy directions. Through its case-studies it provides insights into a growing global community of practitioners, academics, impact investors, policy-makers and organisations of all kinds working to cement the central importance of accounting for social value. For its unique blend of scholarly research and boots-on-the-ground insights, Generation Impact is a must-read for development scholars and students interested in social and environmental accounting, practitioners, senior managers, and executives concerned with organisational practice and its real impact on wider social and economic development.

This book presents an empirical analysis on how the new lease accounting model of IFRS 16 affects financial statements and performance of Italian companies. It discusses the theoretical framework of the off-balance sheet financing with a particular focus on the off-balance sheet lease contracts. Previous research provided controversial results about the potential impacts on the companies' financial statement and performance deriving from leases capitalization. The application of different methodological approaches based on estimation of the expected effects resulted in inconclusive results. This book aims to measure the real impacts deriving from the post-implementation of the new lease accounting standard (IFRS 16) on companies' financial statements, economic and financial performance, on market reactions and on financial statement' users.

How do public spaces generate accountability and advance social equity? Stimulating the conversation, the articles in this volume explore the creation of meaning, the increasing confrontation between regulators and the community they are purported to serve, and the prevalent conflicts in seeking a balancing of social and economic interests. How are communities served in hospitals and schools by accounting standards and administrators? Are shareholders protected from managers' opportunistic behaviors? How is professional status supported or denied for women in Columbia and other regions of the globe? Accounting's role in producing worldviews, creating visibilities and in impacting our quality of life stimulates our engagement in these significant issues, reinvigorating what it means to provide accountability. We follow the legacy of public interest and critical accounting research in this volume, uncovering the discipline's relationship to power and symbolism and its impact on our security and well-being as a challenge to conventional accounting.

"How can you argue with the core principles of Lean, that you focus on what provides value to your customer and eliminate work that is not necessary (muda)? Internal auditors need to understand not only who their primary customers are, but what is valuable to them - which in most cases is assurance that the risks that matter to the achievement of objectives are properly managed. We need to communicate what they need to know and not what we want to say. This incessant focus on the customer and the efficient production of a valued product should extend to every internal audit team. How else can we ensure that we optimize the use of our limited resources to address the dynamic business and risk environment within which our organizations operate?" Norman Marks, GRC Thought Leader Using lean techniques to enhance value add and reduce waste in internal auditing Lean Auditing is a practical guide to maximising value and efficiency in internal audit through the application of lean techniques. It is an ideal book for anyone interested in understanding what progressive, value adding audit can be like. It is also ideal for anyone wondering whether audit activities can be streamlined or better co-ordinated with other activities. The book contains practical advise from the author's experience as CAE of AstraZeneca PLC; from his work as a consultant specializing in this field; as well as insights from leading CAEs in the UK, US and elsewhere. In addition, there are important insights from thought leaders such as Richard Chambers (IIA US) and Norman Marks (GRC thought leader) and Chris Baker (Technical Manager of the IIA UK). Increasing pressure on resources is driving a need for greater efficiency in all areas of business, and Internal Audit is no exception. Lean techniques can help streamline the workflow, but having only recently been applied to IA, lack the guidance available for other techniques. Lean Auditing fills this need by combining expert instruction and actionable advice that helps Internal Auditors: * Benchmark their efficiency against lean ways of working * Understand warning signs of waste and lower added value * Understanding practical ways of working that improve added value and reduce waste * Gain confidence about progressive ways of working in internal audit * Understand how improved ways of working in audit can positively impact the culture of the wider organization One of the keys to the lean audit is finding out exactly what the stakeholder wants, and eliminating everything else. Scaling back certain operations can delineate audit from advisory, and in the process, dramatically improve crucial outcomes. To this end, Lean Auditing is the key to IA efficiency.

More than a third of start-ups fail due to founders having a poor understanding of financial management. Become financially savvy with this easy to understand guide and learn how to effectively grow your business, communicate with investors and progress to the next level. Start-ups face many challenges but managing the finances does not need to be one. Financial Management for Technology Start-Ups offers a complete financial toolkit on how to use this area of your business to your advantage. This book contains invaluable tools and insights designed specifically for tech start-ups, with a concentrated focus on what is important in financial terms for technology-based and innovation focused entrepreneurial businesses. The fully updated second edition offers greater analysis of financial statements directly from real-world start-ups, charts the success of businesses that went from start-up to scale-up with all new case studies and covers new digital technologies, emerging opportunities in the ecosystem, developing markets and much more. For entrepreneurs and tech innovators, this is a must-have book to help take your idea from concept to company with clear and effective financial insights.

This book examines key methodological and organizational questions with regard to assessing the quality of internal audits. By studying the status quo of these audits in the public sector, including municipalities, it identifies relevant weaknesses, loopholes and issues. In addition, the book assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the approved control system to explain the reasons why, and conditions under which, internal audits are ineffective, and proposes new metric and non-metric indicators to improve the quality of internal auditing. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable guide for anyone responsible for financial controls and internal audits, and will appeal to students and financial practitioners alike.

This book provides not only practical guidance on how to manage resources but also a critical examination of the conventional techniques of financial planning and control through the introduction of new approaches. Additional chapters have been added to introduce Strategic Management Accounting, Activity Based Costing and the Balanced Scorecard, New Performance Measures, Venture Capital, Knowledge Management and Outsourcing, and Financial Considerations of eBusiness. In this third edition, the book has been revised to encourage the reader to think about and reflect upon the emergence of recent principles and practices related to financial planning and control. While it is addressed primarily to business managers with an interest in financial planning and control, the range of subjects covered and the breadth of approach adopted by many of the contributors will make the Handbook of Financial Planning and Control especially useful to those managers in non-financial functions (as well as students of management) who must reconcile theory with the everyday reality of modern business practice.

If you kill your bookkeeper, who will write the bail check?Are you paying good money for an accountant and bookkeeper, but still lack enough confidence in your company's financials to answer critical money questions? Do you sit up at night processing and reprocessing unresolved questions about how to keep your business on a solid financial footing or nurture it to the next level? Do you feel like you're flying blind and fast with your finances and have no sense of the terrain ahead? Your First CFO is a step-by-step blueprint for using the tools and people you've already paid for to shine a spotlight on your business finances so they make sense to you. YYour First CFO will transform your current stress and uncertainty about bookkeepers, accounting, and finance into a foundation of steady confidence about the future of your business.

Accountancy encompasses much more than is normally considered, especially from a social responsibility point of view. This book brings fresh ideas and an innovative approach to accountancy theory and practice as well as critical views about professional thinking in accountancy. The reader will find advanced approaches regarding usiness objectives with social responsibility principles. A new role of accountancy is founded for a sustainable society. The responsibility of individuals is emphasized through behavioural analysis. The book has an interdisciplinary character and will be interesting for students, doctoral students, academics and practitioners as well. The real thread of the book is the risk and responses to the feelings of risk in organizations and also of individuals. On this basis a new role and a new structure of accountancy is offered.

Gain a deeper understanding of Asian financial reporting and how to detect irregularities The Asian region, and particularly China, is becoming a hotbed of investment activity. There have been quite a few accounting scandals in Asia in the recent years now rivaling those we have seen in the Americas and Europe. Assessing potential or active overseas investments requires reliance on financial statements, the full parameters of which may vary from region to region. To effectively analyze statements, it is necessary to first understand the framework underlying these financial statements and then lay out a protocol for detecting irregularities. It's impossible to create and implement a practical plan without a deeper knowledge of the various factors at play. Asian Statement Analysis: Detecting Financial Irregularities provides a framework for analysis that makes irregularities stand out. Authors Chin Hwee Tan and Thomas R. Robinson discuss international financial reporting standards, including characteristics particular to the Asian region. Tan and Robinson's combined background in academia and Asian finance give them a multi-modal perspective and position them as top authorities on the topic. In the book, they address issues such as: * Detection of irregularities independent of particular accounting rules * The most common irregularities in the Asian market * Similarities and differences between U.S. and Asian accounting techniques * An overarching framework for irregularity detection The book uses real-world examples to illustrate the concepts presented, with the focus on Asian companies. As the first ever in-depth study on manipulation and irregularities in the Asian market, Asian Financial Statement Analysis: Detecting Financial Irregularities is uniquely positioned to be a valuable resource in the move toward the next phase of global reporting standards.

The factors determining the formation of accounting principles in different countries have long been studied. Cultural conditions have been identified as one of the reasons for national variations. This issue is particularly important when there is an effort to harmonise and standardise accounting principles, in order to create a uniform system, which may be adopted globally. This book explores the impact of cultural conditions on the financial reporting quality of public companies preparing financial statements according to International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It discusses the main trends in the theory of capital and earnings in the economy. The book focuses on the relationship between the cultural dimensions under analysis, such as power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/feminity, strong uncertainty/weak uncertainty, short/ long time orientation and indulgence/restraint, and the properties of the financial results; persistence, predictive value, accrual adjustments and earnings smoothing. It identifies the determinants - cultural conditions that have a statistically material impact, either positive or negative, on various attributes of the quality of the financial results of public companies. The book contains an up-to-date, in-depth description of the financial statements of public companies, across of variety of countries and sectors. The publication is addressed to researchers and students concerned with the functioning of capital markets and financial reporting quality and those who would like to expand their knowledge in the field of behavioural finance, as well as investors in capital markets.

This book discusses the theory, methods, and applications of flow of funds analysis. The book integrates the basic principles of economic statistics, financial accounts, international finance, econometric models, and financial network analysis, providing a systematic and comprehensive introduction to the interconnection between these research fields. It thus provides the reader with the intellectual groundwork indispensable for understanding the workings and interactions of today's globalized financial markets. The main focus of the book is how to observe the flow of funds in macroeconomics, how to measure the global flow of funds (GFF), and how to use GFF data to carry out an analysis. Based on the statistical framework for measuring GFF under the System of National Accounts, the book identifies the systematic relationship of financial linkages among economic sectors and with the rest of the world while integrating data sources that include stock data, geographically broken down by country-region, and selected financial instruments. It sets out the GFF concept and constructs a GFF matrix (metadata) on a from-whom-to-whom basis within a country-by-country pattern. Lastly, an established GFF matrix table is used to conduct an empirical study including an econometric model and financial network analysis.

Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research promotes research across all areas of accounting, incorporating theory from, and contributing knowledge to, the fields of applied psychology, sociology, management science, ethics and economics. Focusing on research that examines both individual and organizational behavior relative to accounting, the series provides a unique opportunity for the exchange of peer reviewed knowledge across all areas of accounting behavioral research and the development, discussion and expansion of theories from psychology, sociology and related disciplines. Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research encourages research that tests theory, explains theory, and develops theory that can be applied to better understand accounting domains. Accordingly, reviews of established theory and how that theory has and could be used in accounting are also strongly encouraged.

Series Information:
New Works in Accounting History

This book examines current topics and trends in strategic auditing, accounting and finance in digital transformation both from a theoretical and practical perspective. It covers areas such as internal control, corporate governance, enterprise risk management, sustainability and competition. The contributors of this volume emphasize how strategic approaches in this area help companies in achieving targets. The contributions illustrate how by providing good governance, reliable financial reporting, and accountability, businesses can win a competitive advantage. It further discusses how new technological developments like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersystems, network technologies, financial mobility and smart applications, will shape the future of accounting and auditing for firms.

Since the global financial crisis of 2007-8, new laws and regulations have been introduced with the aim of improving the transparency in financial reporting. Despite the dramatically increased flow of information to shareholders and the public, this information flow has not always been meaningful or useful. Often it seems that it is not possible to see the wood for the trees. Financial scalds continue, as Wirecard, NMC Health, Patisserie Valerie, going back to Carillion (and many more) demonstrate. Financial and corporate reporting have never been so fraught with difficulties as companies fail to give guidance about the future in an increasingly uncertain world aided and abetted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This concise book argues that the changes have simply masked an increase in the use of corporate PR, impression management, bullet points, glossy images, and other simulacra which allow poor performance to be masked by misleading information presented in glib boilerplate texts, images, and tables. The tone of the narrative sections in annual reports is often misleading. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with insiders and experts, this book charts what has gone wrong with financial reporting and offers a range of solutions to improve information to both investors and the public. This provides a framework for a new era of forward-looking corporate reporting and guidance based on often conflicting multiple corporate goals. The book also examines and contrasts the latest thinking by the regularity authorities. Providing a compelling exploration of the industry's failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption, this timely, thought-provoking book will be of great interest to students, researchers, and professionals as well as policy makers in accounting, financial reporting, corporate reporting, financial statement analysis, and governance.

Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research promotes research across all areas of accounting, incorporating theory from, and contributing knowledge to, the fields of applied psychology, sociology, management science, ethics and economics. Focusing on research that examines both individual and organizational behavior relative to accounting, the series provides a unique opportunity for the exchange of peer reviewed knowledge across all areas of accounting behavioral research and the development, discussion and expansion of theories from psychology, sociology and related disciplines. Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research encourages research that tests theory, explains theory, and develops theory that can be applied to better understand accounting domains. Accordingly, reviews of established theory and how that theory has and could be used in accounting are also strongly encouraged. Coverage includes, but is not restricted to: Individual judgement/decision making Group decision making Organizational behavior Inter-organizational relationships Technology integration Strategic management/organizational theory Theory development Theory review This volume includes chapters on emerging theory, methods, and applications towards behavioral research in accounting and audit.