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COVER
STORY
Environmental
Reporting in India : A Case Study of Tata Steel Limited
-- H K Singh and Amrendra Kumar
Environmental
challenges like global warming, ozone depletion and sea level
rise are the most debatable issues in the 21st century. Inevitably,
a great deal of environmental pollution is man-made and generated
by industries. Since companies are treated as corporate citizens,
they are equally responsible for environmental protection.
In most of the countries, environmental accounting and reporting
is becoming popular, under which, companies are required to
provide environmental information consisting of environmental
costs and benefits in their annual reports. In India, progress
of environmental reporting is very slow.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
ENVIRONMENTAL
ACCOUNTING
Practice
of Environmental Accounting in India : An Overview
-- Jaynal Ud-din Ahmed
Developing
countries like India are facing the problem of protecting
the environment and promoting economic development. An appropriate
trade-off between environmental fortification and economic
development is the need of the day. A careful estimation of
the benefits and costs of environmental compensation is necessary
to find the safe and sound limits of environmental degradation
and the required level of development. The accountants in
India are aware of the fact that environmental issues will
affect business and industry, and have thus started the practice
of the use of environmental accounting along with the final
accounts.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
IFRS
IFRS
: An Overview
-- Sridhar
International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have no doubt influenced
most companies and organizations to adopt new accounting standards.
The IFRS, formerly known as International Accounting Standards
(IAS), were issued by International Accounting Standards Board
(IASB). This changeover is beneficial if proper cooperation
exists between auditors and clients. Further into the global
financial arena, there is a need for transparency and consistent
financial reporting, internationally. Therefore, the knowledge
of IFRS is vital for all professionals who are in the field
of accounting and auditing.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
IFRS
Changing
Times
-- Gundi Jeffrey
With the move to IFRS well under way, has Canada's business
community waited too long to get going? When planning for
IFRS conversion, leadership needs to have human resources,
information technology, tax, legal and numerous other functions
involved.
© 2008 CGA Magazine. Originally published in cga-canada.org,
September-October 2008. Reprinted with permission.
IFRS
IFRS
Promises Change for CFOS and Finance Departments
-- Ellen M Heffes
Is it back to square one for finance chiefs and their
departments? Deloitte's Leader of Global IFRS Services dispels
myths of what IFRS is and isn't, how finance and accounting
will change and what you need to do right now to prepare,
even before the SEC announcement is made.
© 2008 Financial Executive Magazine. Originally published
in www.financialexecutive.org, June 2008. Reprinted with permission.
HRA
Human
Resource Accounting Policies and Practices : A Critical Assessment
-- Ashok Kumar Panigrahi and Pratibha Barik
"Our
employees are our greatest assets, and the ability to attract
and retain them is the key driver of our future success".
This is one of the familiar dialogs of modern corporate world.
Human resources-the most important intangible asset of every
organization, often faces the problem of improper valuation,
lack of perfect accounting system and practical difficulties
in disclosing their value in financial statements. In this
article, an attempt is made to focus on the accounting aspects
of human resources as an asset, and the problems associated
with it.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
FORENSIC
ACCOUNTING
Forensic
Auditing or Forensic Accounting? : Forensic Auditing : Justification
for the Emerging Concepts
-- PC Tulsian and Aditya P Tripathi
Financial frauds have become a usual phenomenon, and many
a time, accountants are finding smart and unique ways to indulge
in illegal and irregular activities characterized by intentional
deception. This practice has caused another major extension
in the responsibilities of the auditors in terms of detecting
and predicting the financial frauds, popularly known as Forensic
Accounting. This article makes an attempt to highlight this
emerging concept of Forensic Accounting, which the authors
feel, is Forensic Auditing and share the various issues involved
in it.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT
Outsourcing
of Finance and Accounting Activities : A Strategic Weapon
of Change
-- Padma Srinivasan
Cost management has become a way of life and directive
of organizational activities. Now most of the executives are
increasingly turning to outsourcing to reduce costs, improve
productivity and differentiate their functional working as
the service-providers are providing it cheaply and efficiently
than companies can do on their own. It also helps a particular
firm to concentrate more on its core business. In today's
competitive world, one should focus on revenue growth and
fundamentals of value creation and some companies consider
outsourcing as a strategic weapon for change. This article
shows how outsourcing finance and accounting offers a powerful
tool for newly privatized companies like Magyar Oil and Gas
Company.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
Disclosure
of Corporate Governance Building Investors' Confidence : Case
of Infosys Technologies Limited
-- Sandip Bhatt and Hetal Jhaveri
Corporate
governance focuses on three aspects, viz., fairness, transparency
and accountability. This article explains the need for disclosure
of corporate governance with a special focus on Infosys Ltd.,
a company well-known for its disclosure practices. It was
awarded the National Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance
in 2000, by the Government of India, and the company's disclosure
and corporate governance practices are now being taken up
as a role model by companies in the US.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
MERGERS
AND ACQUISITIONS
Will
the Deals Keep Up?
-- Philip Symmonds and Andrew Prodanyk
How
will the government's change in tax policy coupled with the
rise of troubled trusts, affect M&A activity for income funds?
M&A transactions typically range from 2% to 3%, but can be
higher or lower depending on the size and complexity of the
transaction.
© 2008 CA Magazine. Originally published in www.CAmagazine.com,
March 2008. Reprinted with permission.
SPEECH
A
Focus on Making Disclosure More Useful for Public Company
Directors
-- Christopher Cox
The
system of financial reporting is more responsive to the interests
of preparers and auditors than to the needs of investors.
The biggest challenge to directors using financial statements
in the global economy is the lack of comparability. SEC is
correcting the financial statement errors for the benefit
of investors. The speech focuses on the problems faced by
the investors and directors while using it in preparing today's
financial reports. The CIFiR committee is setting up new standards,
with the help of a new Agenda
© 2008 US Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov).
Speech by Christopher Cox, Chairman, Conference co-sponsored
by Stanford Campus, California, June 23, 2008. Reprinted with
permission. © 2008 IUP . All Rights
Reserved. © 2008 CA Magazine. Originally published in www.CAmagazine.com,
March 2008. Reprinted with permission. |
