Accounting Rules and Joint Ventures in Europe

Accounting Rules and Joint Ventures in Europe Bridging the GAAP The International Accounting Standards (IAS) was supposed to be a unifying conceptual framework which would bring accounting practices of various firms and industries under a single umbrella of standards. No matter if it is a Greek shipping magnate or an Italian fish processing plant, the EU envisioned that they would work within a single standard to better facilitate trade amongst various nations. Indeed, the EU attempted to achieve this through the means of directives, which were soon abandoned. Directives, aimed at forcing compliance with EU accounting standards and practices were discarded because of complaints such as those voiced by the 2003 Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes with regards to the Czech Republic that â€Å"The wording of primary and secondary legislation suggests that the Czech Republic’s real priority is compliance with EU directives, rather than adoption of IAS.† Indeed, these two seemed to be not only different goa ls, but mutually exclusive ones- companies could either sate the directives issued or the requirements of the IAS, but rarely both, especially in Eastern Block nations where both concepts were fairly new. Now, however, a new complication is on the horizon in the form of bilateral trade with the U.S. and U.S.-E.U. joint ventures. Obviously the directives, which have been scrapped in any case, would have no force of law in U.S. courts. But nevertheless, there has been considerable movement on this issue as of late. In 2006, the IASB issued a paper called â€Å"A Roadmap for Convergence between IFRSs and US GAAP- 2006-2008 Memorandum of Understanding between the FASB and the IASB†. The memorandum, based upon work done during a 2002 meeting between the FASB (U.S.) and the IASB, as well as subsequent meetings in 2005, stated that â€Å"the FASB and the IASB reaffirmed their commitment to the convergence of US generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) and International Fi nancial Reporting Standards (IFRSs).† Nevertheless, this is bound to be a complicated venture because it can not be resolved by boards or government agencies. As the memorandum itself recognized, â€Å"the ability to meet the objective set out by the roadmap depends upon the efforts and actions of many parties—including companies, auditors, investors, standard-setters and regulators.† In other words, bridging the gaap is not merely a matter of ironing out a combined framework of accounting practices. It is a matter of a company in Los Angeles following the same accounting standards and practices that a company in London would. It is also a question of training assessors and auditors in this new standard so that they can ensure compliance with it. For these reasons, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently put forth a proposal which would allow U.S. listed companies to choose between IFRS and the U.S. GAAP. While some in Europe and the U.S. fear that a llowing companies to make this choice would hinder the process of converging the two systems (Johnson, 2007) it is nevertheless a practical solution which should be given serious thought and consideration. The European Union, an offspring of NATO, was fifty years in the making. The idea that uniform standards can be achieved on both sides of the pond between thousands of individual companies is fanciful. As a pragmatic matter as well, people are often leery of change- especially change that is being forced upon them, which was another reason the Directives approach previously discussed failed. While the ultimate goal of uniformly adopting the IFRS may well be desirable, it is certainly not something that can or will happen overnight. Allowing a choice between GAAP and IFRS for U.S. companies should not be viewed as an effort to â€Å"halt or slow the convergence process† (Johnson, 2007) but rather as an acknowledgement of the real world difficulties inherent to any large-scal e transitions.

HCM367-0801B-01 The Health Care Organization - Phase 2 Project Essay

HCM367-0801B-01 The Health Care Organization - Phase 2 Project - Essay Example own lovingly as Doc Vinny is well respected and admired by both the board of directors and the other senior leaders of Vitruvian health plan and Vitruvian physician partners. A change in the environment brought along with change in the senior management is always hard to accept at first; however it becomes easy if the change brings out more positive outcomes than negative consequences. Doc Vinny is a very pleasant and affable person, which makes it easier for the patients and the workforce to get along wit him. He seems to be the type that will allow everyone to perform their tasks with their control and allow freedom of decision making but under a strict eye. A lot of success and growth of Vitruvian Health plan can be accredited to his personalized of way of dealing with people. When it comes to being a leader, your human skills are as important as your technical knowledge. Doc Vinny fulfills both criteria at par. As a CFO, I know how important business clients are to this organizat ion; it is not only the patients but people who invest in the company that matter. Dr. Durro’s leadership style appeals to all and he has used his style to make relationships and ties that have helped him to build a several related companies that contributed to his "healthcare for all" philosophy that he has believed in ever since has graduated from medical school. His leadership style is more participative and democratic, which I think in today’s world is the key to success. His leadership style will have a positive impact on the people of VH as well people from VPP as his easygoing nature and people skills will keep the team close to each other. he is capable of creating an open and friendly organizational culture. (Clark, 1997) Doc Vinny, unlike Dr. Montenegro is completely inspired by technology. Dr. Montenegro did not believe in investing in expensive technology and investing in the computer systems. He was used to working with more traditional methods of management. Since

Review phone lines not in use. will terminate them in oreder to save Essay

Review phone lines not in use. will terminate them in oreder to save the HQ money - Essay Example We've formulated the results of some unused telephone lines in the form of a list for our cherished customers’ perusal. We request you to please look up the attached appendix 1 and see if any of the phone numbers listed in it belong to you. The phone numbers listed in this appendix are subject to being terminated after a period of 15 days from now. Kindly notify us within a week of receiving this letter if any of the numbers belong to you. This would save them from being terminated uselessly. You can call us directly at our toll free number 1-800-OFFICES or you can e-mail us directly at support@hq.com to notify us. Effective after two weeks, this act of terminating unused telephone line connections would save HQ approximately $110K per year in telephone line costs. Thanks for helping us help you. This change will increase the overall revenue of the company and would help us focus more on providing high quality services with added motivation. Have a good day! Sincerely, [Your N ame] Services Manager HQ. Note: Appendix 1 attached overleaf. APPENDIX # 1. LIST OF UNUSED TELEPHONE NUMBERS. 1. (505)987-1123 2. (541)123-7786 3. (860)760-0098 4. (925)888-6543 5. (262)432-2234 6. (907)876-5511 7. (319)887-9987 8. (985)112-3123 9.

Corporate Governance Mechanisms Essay -- Business Administration

INTRODUCTION The relationship between the owners of a company and those who run the company is classified as an agent/principal relationship. In most cases this kind of relationship gives rise to a potential problem called the agency problem. This agency problem usually will occur where there is a conflict of interest between the desires of the principal and that of the agent. This is not a rare occurrence. It has been predominantly found to occur in companies where the directors are the agent and the shareholders who are the owners of the company is the principal. It is not unusual for managers to sometimes want to pursue their own interests at the expense of the company to whom they have a duty to act in its best interest. Certain decision-taking may not be in the interest of the company for example, excessive risk taking without foresight of the long term consequences. Most times the action and inactions of management may have dire consequences on the company which may in the long run stigmatize a company as an underperforming one. Consequently, managers who pursue their own interests rather than that of the company may underperform its duties. The following corporate governance mechanisms can play a major role in preventing managers from engaging in activities that lower firm value thereby incentivizing management to perform excellently. This essay will briefly consider three of those mechanisms that gear management towards excellent performances. Board Composition: This is a principal mechanism through which the shareholders can check managerial performance. If a management team is not performing well, the shareholders could direct the board of directors to fire the incumbent team and replace them with better perfor... ...eves that it â€Å"has changed the attitudes and practices of U.S managers†, stating that â€Å"it represents the most effective check on management autonomy ever devised. And it is breathing new life into the public corporations†. Works Cited Scharfstein David, ‘the Disciplinary role of Takeovers’ [1988] 55 the review of economic studies 185 accessed 27 November 2009 p 185. Julian Franks, Collin Mayer, ‘Hostile takeovers and the correction of managerial failure’ [1996] 40 Journal of Financial Economics 163 accessed 27 November 2009 p163. Ibid

Analyse Ways Essay

The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto has five main themes or concerns. They are; History and Memory, Power and Control, Heroism and Relationships and War and Atrocities. John Misto explores all these ideas while telling the story of Bridie and Shelia’s reunion fifty years after they last saw each other. The play is about the histories of the women and the nurses that were captive of the Japanese during World War Two; their individual histories and joint suffering. The stories of these women were never made official and there is no government recognition of their plight and few, if any, official records. These painful memories are not part of any ‘official’ history and this is made clear in the play. â€Å"The British didn’t want anyone to know about us. They’d have lost prestige if people found out how women of the Empire had lived in the war. So for the sake for King and Country, they burned out diaries. Every last one.† Shelia, Scene Thirteen. Misto makes it clear in the course of the play that the memories of the women are accurate. The oral stories from these fictional characters have juxtaposed over them the factual images to confirm and extrapolate the stories of the women. The visual images of the thin, starving people are very strong and clear to an audience, for example, Scene Seven opens with a photo of some women POW’s Ââ€" â€Å"emaciated, haggard and impoverished†. This is shown while Bridie explains how thin Sheila and herself got while at the Japanese camps, â€Å"The lightest I got was exactly five stone…† The visual images show exactly what the women are talking about and add to the sense of theatre around the play. They heighten the audience’s understanding of the enormity of the issue. There is use of background sounds throughout the play, for example in Scene Five when Bridie explains what happened on Radji Beach on Banka Island there is â€Å"sounds of machine gun fire and cries of women on the soundtrack†. The dues ex machine effect of these amplified sounds further highlights the theme of memories and history, linking both the action and the memories of the two women on stage. The Shoe-Horn Sonata explores power relationships at a number of levels. The most obvious power play on stage occurs between the interviewer and the women he is interviewing. This power play has an ambiguous moment in which the women are uncertain as whether Rick has overheard a ‘private’ conversation in Scene Ten. This is also explained in the stage directions: â€Å"Bridie and Shelia look up, startled. Then they both realise they are wearing small microphones. They both wonder whether every word has been overheard…† Rick also has the power to choose what questions to ask, and what to edit out of his documentary film. On another level we can see the role of power between the prison guards and prisoners. The guards abuse their power physically, sexually and emotionally and many seemed to enjoy the pain they inflicted. Lipstick Larry’s comment in Scene Eight, â€Å"Plenty of room in the graveyard for her…† is typical of the cruelty the guard’s exhibit. The prisoners had little choice but to cooperate and be humiliated and abused, this in turn had a large physiological effect on both women. This is shown when Shelia explains that she still has nightmares about Lipstick Larry in Scene Ten â€Å"[haunted] Every night when I fall asleep, Lipstick Larry’s waiting. He calls to me and I go to him Ââ€" and no one can change that. Not even you.† The Japanese dominated the women in every aspect; they even made them bow to the Japanese flag every morning. In Scene Nine, the two characters are reminded of this power by the presence of the Japanese flag that is being projected on the back screen. It doesn’t move and dominates the stage; a continuing reminder of how the women lived their lives in the camp and the power and control that continues to affect them. This emphasises to the audience just how horrible the camps really were for the women and how they continue to affect them today, fifty years on. Misto’s play revolves around the heroic deeds and relationships that are up held by the women during the war. The heroic deeds were acts of physical courage of the highest order. For Sheila, the supreme sacrifice of selling her body to the Japanese in order to obtain the necessary drugs for her friend’s survival is all the more poignant as we understand the cultural and social background that she had come from. Misto focuses on the ‘unsung’ hero’s of the war, for example the Australia nurse that washed the bed pans of the women on the way to Belalau. â€Å"It was the bravest act I have ever seen. She didn’t get a medal for it butÂ…all of us loved for of that…† (Sheila) The stories of the two women are expanding the conventional view of heroism to include acts of sacrifice beyond simple physical courage. The Shoe-Horn Sonata shows clearly that relationships are able to survive the toughest of times. The relationship of Bridie and Shelia survives not only the horror of the prisoner of war camps but also the pain of their reunion decades after the war. Misto uses a variety of theatrical techniques to convey this relationship to the audience and show that survival and growth are features of the relationship. Misto gives evidence of how tough times were in the camps with a combination of dialogue and screen images being used to illustrate what had happened to these people, for example, the slides of the women POW’s at the open of Scene Seven. These slides portray the starving bodies, rough conditions and brutality yet through all this the relationship gets stronger. The music played throughout the play symbolises the stage at which Bridie and Sheila’s relationship is. For example, Scene Ten closes with Anne Shelton’s â€Å"I’ll walk alone† displaying to the audience that at this point in the play Bridie and Sheila’s relationship is at its most fragile point because the truth about Sheila’s sacrifice has just been revealed. The play highlights the horrors of war particularly for women and civilians. The atrocious way in which human beings treat fellow human beings in a wartime situation is not restricted to the Japanese, but seen to be central to war itself. The atrocities are seen to have affected both women’s lives ever after. For example Bridie’s fear of the Japanese people in David Jones. What is particularly significant for these women is the requirement to ‘keep  smiling’ (Scene Nine) and to repress the memories. For these women the memories of the atrocities are tinged with guilt and shame. In some respects this amount to an even worse atrocity to plague the lives of these women after the war. The humour used by Misto in the play, derives not only from the way in which the women used the power of the human spirit to laugh at adversity, but also from the way in which the playwright has juxtaposed those moments of recounting of comic events with the horrors of the memories of the reality. The light and dark in this play allows us to be both horrified and entertained. As in any great tragedy, the comic allows not simply relief from the pain, but help us to question the reasons for the horror. John Misto believes that the women victims of this defeat of the British deserve to have their stories told and their sufferings recognised by a wide audience. Having talked to ‘real survivors’ he wrote the play in the hope that more people would be exposed to their suffering and above all to their courage. The dialogue, music, the sound effects and the projected images work together to shape the audiences response and to tell the powerful story of the women’s memories, raw vulnerability, strong relationships and heroism.

Similarities Between Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs - 615 Words

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Hiv/Aids Essay - 1086 Words

HIV/AIDS BSHS302 May 21, 2012 Faye Flanagan HIV/AIDS Social issues facing HIV/AIDS today are as diverse as the people that are affected by the disease. Advocating for a large group of people takes action at the macro human service practice. The goals and intervention strategies will be similar to micro human service and will involve the same strategies to bring justice to human rights for all members of society. One strategy is including a broader range of other diversity in research in gender studies, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people (GLBT). Men and GLBT people have not been addressed in mainstream research. These groups make up a large contingent of the population that is affected with HIV/AIDS today.†¦show more content†¦By working together the group can achieve more. HIV/AIDS first appeared in the homosexual/bisexual community in various urban centers in North America and spread rapidly in these groups. 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