| COVER
STORY Auditing
in Private Sector Banks
- - T R Shastri
Auditing
bank books has always been a challenge. The complexity of banking products, the
intensified automation and enhanced reliance of the regulators on external auditors
under the Basel norms have cast additional responsibility on the auditors. Public
and new private sector banks are run professionally with transparent procedures
and reasonably good corporate governance practices. However, old private sector
banks have a long way to go to adopt true corporate governance. This article summarizes
the challenges, the grey areas and the additional responsibilities auditors may
have to bear in the future.
© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved
COST
ACCOUNTING ABC
for the Dyeing Industry
- - Ramya Sundararaman This
industrial sector of Tirupur accounts for more than 90% of cotton knit exports
from India. Wet processing/dyeing is one of the major activities which involve
fixing of appropriate color in the knitted fabric. Earlier, the process was fully
manual but now it's aided by the advent of the latest technologies. The performance
of this industry is subjected to seasonal fluctuations. Traditional costing system
is mostly based on assumptions and estimates that subsequently affect its output.
This article studies the defects of the traditional costing system as brought
out by Activity Based Costing (ABC) with reference to a dyeing unit in the textile
industry at Tirupur.
© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved
ACCOUNTING
Human
Resources Accounting: A bird's eye view
- - Ajaya Kumar Mohanty
The
most crucial aspect of human capital is that the value gets appreciated, whereas
other physical assets of the organization get depreciated over a period of time.
Human Resource Accounting (HRA) endeavors to measure both the cost as well as
value of people in the organization and has contributed in the form of human resource
balance sheet. It attempts to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the existing
workforce and helps the management take decisions regarding the proper use of
human capital, but at the same time has its own limitations. This article focuses
on the concept of HRA highlighting the objectives, benefits and limitations of
the same.
© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved
ACCOUNTING
New
Accounting Rules for Postretirement Benefits: How SFAS 158 May Affect a Company's
Financial Statements
- - Jalal Soroosh and Pouran Espahbodi
This
article discusses the FASB exposure draft titled SFAS 158, Employers' Accounting
for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, issued in September
2006. In its initial phase, FASB evaluated footnote disclosure versus recognition
of the net funded asset (liability) of postretirement benefit plans. In the second
and more comprehensive phase of the pension accounting project, FASB reconsiders
all issues for postretirement benefit obligations.
© 2007 The CPA Journal. This article first appeared in the January issue of The
CPA Journal with permission from the New York State Society of Certified Public
Accountants. Reprinted with permission. ACCOUNTING
Accounting
for Inventories
- - Stephen Spector
An AcSB exposure draft provides guidance on inventory reporting.
© 2007 Stephen Spector. This article first appeared in the January-February 2007
issue of CGA Magazine. Reprinted with permission. ECONOMIC
EMPOWERMENT Empowerment
Value Added!
- - Gerhardus Burger
This
article takes a look into an innovative way of financing black shareholders, where
they are in line for a cut in preference dividend. This preference dividend is
directly proportional to the equity portion of the preferential shares that are
converted into ordinary shares.
© 2007 Accountancy SA. This article was first published in the February 2007 issue
of Accountancy SA published by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Reprinted with permission. BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT Incidence
of Accounting Frauds: Failure of Accounting or Corporate Governance?
- - B Sujatha
The
new millennium did not augur well for the accounting profession. Early 21st Century
witnessed a series of accounting scandals in high-profile companies like Enron,
Worldcom, Tyco International, Parmalat and AIG. The exposure of corporate failures
in quick succession led to serious public concerns on the quality of financial
reporting, the adequacy of accounting standards and corporate governance. The
collapse of one of the Big Five Accounting firms, Arthur Andersen, only reflects
the enormity of the issues confronting corporate financial reporting. Public confidence
on the accounting profession has waned. This article discusses to what extent
accounting scandals can be attributed to failure of accounting or financial governance.
© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT Customers'
Triumph
- - Deb Kumar Mukherjee
In highly competitive markets, retaining customers and achieving sustainable
growth in profits has become more important. Companies have exhausted cost-cutting
as a source of profit growth and are now segmenting the potential customers in
a new way based on their willingness to pay and configure the right products or
services according to their requirements. The bottom line is, if the customers
are satisfied, they will pay for the products and services. In this race, private
players are way ahead of government organizations. Public sector banks in India
should change their mindset towards customer satisfaction and add value to remain
in the race.
© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT Paving
the Way for Nonaccelerated SOX Filers
- - Gerald F Stussy
This
article discusses the obstacles that small-cap companies face on being compliant
with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.
© 2007 Pennsylvania CPA Journal. This article was first published in the winter
2007 issue of Pennsylvania CPA Journal, a publication of the Pennsylvania Institute
of Certified Public Accountants. Reprinted with permission. BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT Invite
to Partner
- - John Lorinc
Some hot-shot CAs get to the top at a very young age. So, how do they do it?
Do they have a winning formula others can copy?
© 2007 CA Magazine. This article first appeared in the January-February 2007 issue
of CA Magazine by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Toronto. Reprinted
with permission. TECHNOLOGY
11
Steps to an Effective FTP Audit
- - Scott Myers
Identifying
and automating file transfer protocol activities are two of the steps organizations
can take to protect sensitive data that is transmitted through this increasingly
used technology.
© 2007 Scott Myers. This article was originally published in ITAudit, Vol. 10,
January 10, 2007 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Inc. (www.theiia.org/audit).
Reprinted with permission. SPEECH
Speech
by SEC Staff: "Agency, Disclosure and the Nature of Shareholdings" National Investor
Relations Institute E-Learning Forum
- - Chester S Spatt
The
speech focuses on the specific disclosure issues and the nature of shareholdings
and the rights of shareholders.
© 2006 US Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Speech by Chester
S Spatt, Chief Economist and Director, Office of Economic Analysis, US Securities
and Exchange Commission, delivered at the National Investor Relations Institute
e-Learning Forum, on December 12, 2006. Reprinted with permission. | 
