Contemporary Issues in Accounting - The Culture of Accounting - Starbucks Accounting and Tax Minimisation Avoidance - Accounting Assignment Help

Contemporary Issues in Accounting Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

1. The Culture of Accounting

“Accounting has been created and developed to accomplish various desired objectives and, therefore, it is not based on fundamental laws or absolute precepts”

Choose to respond to one of the following questions:

a) What does the quote mean to you and how does that relate to how you have previously understood accounting?

b) What is the impact of the culture of accounting?

c) We are often told that in accounting there is one 'truth', but this quote suggests that there are 'truths in accounting'. What is the impact of that for accounting practice?

 

2. The Partiality of Accounting

Here are two quotes from Hines. Choose one of them and reflect on what that might mean for accounting practice and what that might mean in relation to your previous learning in accounting:

a) 'History creates past reality for us. The past is always being reinterpreted' (Hines, 1988, p. 253).

b) 'The fence does not designate the organization. We do that. We designate it, by deciding what things will be part of the organization ...' (Hines, 1988, p. 253).

 

3. Accounting Stereotypes

There are a range of accounting stereotypes relevant to the profession.

These include appearance and personality stereotypes. Please choose one of these stereotypes (such as accountants are boring; accountants are conservative or pessimistic - there are many others).

Evaluate why your chosen stereotype has become attached to accounting and why this stereotype is relevant or persists in the profession.

4. The Value of Life

The Ford Pinto case is an important insight into corporate practice and the use of accounting.

Please choose one of the following questions to reflect on what you have learned from this case study:

a) What lessons can we draw from the use of accounting by the Ford Motor Company?

b) How do you feel about Ford choosing to pay for life insurance and 'death' rather than recalling the vehicle? Are you comfortable with organisations making that choice or should accounting have greater respect for humanity?

c) How is the Ford Pinto case study similar to Morgan's Hospital example in Accounting for Reality Construction?

 

5. Accounting and Regulation

For many, the idea of 'accounting regulation' is a fairly boring, mundane topic. It is something that exists. We are aware of accounting standards, we need to follow them. In some senses, the idea of accounting regulation is effectively taken-for-granted.

There has, however, been a growing research focus on the International Accounting Standards Board (the IASB, how they operate, what they do and how they do it). I, for example, have published a couple of papers this year on activities of the IASB (we will look at one of these papers next week on how the IASB defines the public interest). A lot of this research has suggested that the IASB as a group of technocratic experts, have significant power and influence, but also operates to function in different types of politics.

Please choose one of these questions to develop a response:

1) What should the objective of accounting regulation be and does the current approach to regulation suffice (is it sufficient)?

2) What does comparability mean? Is it an appropriate objective for international accounting regulation? If yes, why? If no, why not?

3) Evaluate: "But what is 'the full picture'? There is no full picture. We make the picture. That is what gives us our power: people think and act on the basis of that picture!"

 

6. Accounting and the Public Interest

We have discussed the concept of the public interest this week. We examined it in relation to its meaning and in relation to regulation, we discussed it in relation to professional ethics and in relation to how the IASB understands and defines the public interest.

Choose one of these questions:

a) In accounting, we suggest that the client is important. Does the obligation to act in or maintain the public interest potentially raise a problem? If so, how? If not, how not?

b) Many people believe that the public interest means helping markets to function effectively. Is that sufficient?

c) What did you learn in looking at the article 'Metonyms and Metaphor'?

 

7. Reporting on Social and Environmental Accounting

We have discussed much about the issues of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and the interface with business and the economic system of capitalism.

I have a set of questions for you. Please respond to one:

a) The Corporation documentary suggests that businesses are 'externalizing machines'. What does that mean to you? Does it concern you when it comes to businesses self-reporting on CSR or sustainability activities? If CSR or sustainability is about organizations taking responsibility, should we 'trust' what organizations disclose to us?

b) Are there any business practices or philosophies in our South East Asian neighbors that Western businesses could adopt or learn that would lead advanced economy businesses more towards sustainability?

c) Discuss whether, in your opinion, business can be sustainable? How? How are you defining sustainability?

 

8. Relationship between Capital and SEA (Social and Environmental Accounting)

The purpose of this discussion is to consider the relationship between capital (the system of capitalism) and SEA (Social and Environmental Accounting).

Choose one of these questions to develop a response:

a) The Corporation illustrates a set of examples of the science of exploitation (how advanced economies use emerging economies for cheap labor and cheap resources) with respect to the emerging economy. What does that tell us about the challenges of sustainability and CSR?

b) If the system of capital is about growth of the organization and sustainability is about limiting that within the capacity of current systems, then what does that mean for sustainability or CSR?

c) Organisations tend to disclose positive stories about CSR. They tend to exclude negative stories. What does this tell us about social and environmental accounting? Please see this link in developing your answer:

9. Enron, Accounting and Failure

In this module, we examine the interrelationship between accounting techniques and their use by different organizations. Our focus this week is Enron. You may wish to watch the California chapter from the linked Enron movie in the Modules section before answering these questions.

Choose one of these questions:

a) What accounting techniques were employed by Enron in the California Energy Crisis? What lessons can we learn from this?

b) Who benefits and who suffers as a result of Enron's actions?

c) Why was Enron focused on the short-term? How does this relate to Hines' (1988)? Could Enron be an example of stretching the truth too far?

d) Evaluate the similarities between Enron and the Ford Pinto case?

10. Starbucks, Accounting and Tax Minimisation/Avoidance

In this class, we examine the interrelationship between accounting techniques and their use by different organisations. Choose one of these questions:

a) What accounting techniques were employed by Starbucks in relation to minimising taxation? Media commentators suggest these were literally impossible for the public to understand - do you agree?

b) The Australian Government has made a concerted effort to tax income earned in Australia by multi-nationals. I believe this is more rhetorical than real - are there any similarities in language between Starbucks and the Australian Government? If so, what are they and why does that matter?

c) What lessons can we learn from Starbucks? Who benefits and who suffers as a result of Starbucks' actions?

 

11. The Global Financial Crisis and Accounting

The GFC is a complex event and we are still, in some ways, suffering consequences from it. Some are concerned that we have learned little from the GFC and conditions for another GFC continue to build.

Choose one question:

a) Evaluate fair value accounting. What do some commentators support GFC, but others are concerned about it?

b) What was the role of the rating agencies in the GFC? How is the role of ratings agents different or similar to audit?

c) Do you believe there is an ethical issue when you sell a product to customers, while at the same time taking insurance against that product failing? You may wish to watch the section from Inside Job on responses of banks to the Congressional Inquiry before answering this question?

 

2. Accounting for the Global Financial Crisis

To conclude our conversations about the GFC, please choose one of these questions:

a) Why did the GFC have a global impact?

b) There is a long history of significant corporate failures and accounting seems to be implicated in those failures. However, the public seems to forget fairly quickly about the risks associated with accounting. In your opinion, why is it that the public forget?

c) In early 2018, President Trump repealed the Dodd-Frank Act, which was the only substantive legal change post the GFC.

 

This Accounting Assignment has been solved by our Accounting experts at My Uni Paper. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.

Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose one between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turnitin file), expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.