Activity-Based Costing (ABC) is an innovative and well-known method in the process of cost cutting and performance improvement of the firm. It is used as a tool for strategic planning and control, enabling responsibility accounting and facilitating estimation on the basis of activities for either products or services. However, establishing such systems demand huge amount of resources in terms of information systems and human resources for support and implemention. In the paper, "The Activity-Based Costing Method: Developments and Applications", an attempt is made to emphasize the importance of the method in the process of strategic planning and control. The paper also makes an effort to present the applications of the method and examine in detail, the widening of the analysis perimeter and the relevant level of details to analyze the costs, providing further scope to the method in the directions such as Customer-Driven ABC, Interorganizational Cost Management (IOCM), Resource Consumption Accounting (RCA) and Time-Driven ABC (TDABC). Finally, it describes the experience of ABC implementation in an IT Supply European division of an international group.

Performance evaluation of a corporate in the business is not a simple task, particularly when the stakeholder is in the course of a decision making involving some investment or relationship with the business. On the other hand, due to globalization, competition skyrocketed in the markets imposing intense pressure on the firms to perform better. A large number of scholarly publications exist on this topic with different angles. The paper, "The Use of Financial and Non-Financial Performance Measures in the Malaysian Manufacturing Companies", is an addition to the existing literature and provides further empirical evidence that the division between financial and non-financial performance measures have an association with size of the company and ownership, enabling awareness in the academicians and the public at large in terms of performance measurement issue in Malaysia.

Further, regarding the performance evaluation of firms listed on the stock exchanges, there exists unique businesses like urban cooperative banks. Urban cooperative banks are one of the vital segments of the banking industry, contributing to the equitable development of the country. The paper, "Performance Appraisal of Urban Cooperative Banks: A Case Study", makes an attempt to examine the working and financial performance of the urban cooperative banks. To make the analysis simpler and presentable, the paper analyses the working of a leading urban cooperative bank in West BengalContai Co-operative Bank Ltd.as a case study. The paper throws light upon the problem of swelling NPAs and offers meaningful suggestions for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the bank.

Accounting is the language used to communicate the information compiled and presented as per the accounting standards from the corporate to the shareholders, and from stakeholders to the company. The asymmetry of information between the managers and the stakeholders can be bridged and a fair picture can be brought forward for the shareholders, stakeholders and the potential investors only when the accounting is compatible for comparison. To enable comparability of the financial statements presented by the companies, accounting standards are framed by the regulatory bodies and implemented prescribing to disclose as to how the treatment of fixed assets, depreciation, inventory, etc., have been carried on by the corporate in the due course of preparation of financial statements. Accounting standards appear with a set of authoritative statements of how particular types of transactions, events and other costs should be recognized and reported in the financial statements. The paper, "A Review of Indian and International Accounting Standards and Practices in India", attempts to exhibit the disclosure practices by Indian companies by dividing them into three levels as per the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India (ICAI) norms using a questionnaire survey method. The paper identifies to what extent the Indian companies are complying with the Indian as well as international accounting standards.

- Vunyale Narender
Consulting Editor