This is a single-volume guide for anyone responsible for managing credit, risk and customers. It has been revised to reflect changes in practice and technology and is the set text for the Insitute of Credit Management (ICM) examinations.

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

This special edition of Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis offers twenty-three chapters by invited participants in the International Applied Social Science Congress. In these chapters chronical a wide variety of important issues such as: Volatility spillover between conventional stock index and participation index; The Interplay Between Experience, Satisfaction and Positive Word of Mouth: A Study on City Marketing in Afyonkarahisar and more. This international and wide-ranging exploration on different economic systems provides 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 systems between states, and provides timely and accurate information to equip readers to minimize those differences.

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.

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.

This volume analyzes the legal and practical issues that arise in cross-border transactions involving the taking and enforcement of security over movable and intangible property. Having analyzed the domestic law of security in the UK, US, France and Germany, it then focuses upon the private international law and insolvency law issues. Contributions come from leading legal, insolvency and banking specialists drawn from the relevant jurisdictions, providing a comparative perspective on each topic discussed. Coverage includes a focused, practical, case-study plus input from banking and insolvency professionals.

Public corporations and private businesses operate in an increasingly complex, uncertain, and interconnected world. When evaluating investment decisions, business managers can no longer base their decisions primarily on expected financial return. They now must now consider a host of performance value measures (i.e., criteria) pertaining to issues such as environmental and social governance, sustainability, and stakeholder satisfaction. In addition, corporate managers must ensure that their investment decisions are aligned with the company’s vision, mission, and values in order to maintain investor confidence and protect brand image. Lastly, to be truly successful, business managers must assess the risks associated with each performance measure and manage their impacts during project implementation. This book takes a pragmatic business and economics view towards evaluating competing investment alternatives and/or capital project strategies. It provides a practical step-by- step process using a structured decision analysis framework to evaluate, understand, quantify, and measure project invesment strategies in light of multiple stakeholder objectives and success criteria. This process assists in helping stakeholders (internal and external) achieve a shared understanding of project issues and to facilitate convergence towards a mutually acceptable solution. The approach considers available choices, identified uncertainties, constraints, necessary tradeoffs, and preferences so as to identify solutions that maximize overall benefits while minimizing overall costs and risk. A real world case study is presented in the early chapters and the process steps are demonstrated through application to this case study. Recent advances in technology allow for investment strategies to be evaluated against multiple criteria within one integrated platform. This book guides the reader in performing multi-criteria decision analysis, including the use of Monte Carlo simulation, within an MS Excel environment using native MS Excel and as well as add-in programs such Palisades Decision Tools suite. Example model structures, screen shots, formulas, and output results are provided throughout the book using an illustrative case study.

This special edition of Contemporary Studies in Economics and Financial Analysis offers a selection of carefully curated chapters from invited participants in the International Applied Social Science Congress 4-6 April 2019. In these chapters, expert authors tackle issues across a variety of economic and financial disciplines. Chapters include: the role of bankruptcy risk prediction in assuring the financial performance of Romanian industrial capitals; the effects of female employment on economic growth; perceived exchange rates and exchange rate management techniques; the European Union's anti-discrimination laws in sport; bank stability in Latvia; and many more. With vigorous academic rigour, the authors and editors to this volume bring to life a wide variety of economic and financial discussions, from theory to practice. For any financial or economic researcher, student, or practitioner, this is an unmissable volume of research.

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.

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.

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.

Series Information:
New Works in Accounting History

Accounting is the language of business, increasingly standardized across the world through powerful global corporations: a technical skill used to reach the correct, unquestionable answer. Yet, as recent corporate scandals have shown, a whole range of financial professionals (auditors, bankers, analysts, company directors) can collectively fail to question dubious actions. How can this be possible?
To understand such failures, this book explores how accountants construct the technical knowledge they deem relevant to decision-making. In doing so, it not only offers a new way to understand deviance and scandals, but also suggests a reappraisal of accounting knowledge which has important implications for everyday commercial life.
The book's findings are based on interviews with chartered accountants working in the largest accountancy practices in London. The interviews reveal that although accounting decisions seem clear after they have been made, the process of making them is contested and opaque. Yet accountants nonetheless tend to describe their work as if it were straightforward and technical. Accountants' Truth digs beneath the surface to explore how accountants actually construct knowledge, and draws out the implications of that process with respect to issues such as professionalism, performance, transparency, and ethics.
This important book concludes that accountants' technical discourse undermines their ethical reasoning by obscuring the ways in which accounting decisions must be thought through in practice. Accountants with particular ethical perspectives more readily understand and construct particular types of knowledge, so the two issues of knowledge and of ethics are inseparable. Increasingly technical accounting rules can therefore counterproductive. Instead, our best approach to avoiding future scandals is to redefine and reinvigorate professional ethics in the financial world.

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.

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.

Advances in Accounting Education is a refereed, academic research publication whose purpose is to help meet the needs of faculty members interested in ways to improve accounting classroom instruction at the college and university level. We publish thoughtful, well-developed articles that are readable, relevant, and reliable. Articles may be either empirical or non-empirical, and should emphasize pedagogy, i.e., explaining how faculty members can improve their teaching methods or how accounting units can improve their curricula and programs.

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.