Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Whether Fair Value Should Be Retained In Financial Accounting Essay Example for Free

Whether Fair Value Should Be Retained In Financial Accounting Essay Fair value may also be called the justified or unbiased price. It is applied in both Economics and Accounting. Fair value accounting refers to the rational or unbiased estimate for the possible good’s, service’s and asset’s market price. Fair value in Accounting is aimed at presenting financial data in the most utilizable way possible. Financial statements will therefore represent the true and reasonable view of the financial information relating to any financial entity. Stakeholders will hence be able to make their investment and relationship decisions based on Accounts statements that have utilized the Fair Value Accounting principle. The Body: Fair value in Accounting considers objective factors like;   The acquiring, producing or distributing costs, replacing and costs for the closest substitutes, the exact utility for a particular level of social productive capacity development is of importance and the supply against the demand for any particular good, service or asset. Subjective factors to be considered include; Characteristics of risk, cost for and return or benefits on capital and the individual utility perception. Fair value accounting is essential in estimating the market value for assets or liabilities whose true value may not be determined due to lack of a sincere established asset’s or liability’s market. (Stephen, 2008 p.3-18) As per the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Financial Accounting Standards (FAS) 157 dictates that, fair value is the sum of money for which assets can be purchased at a current transaction with willing parties   or moved to an equal or equivalent party, in a situation other than a liquidation case. All the direct and indirect production and operational expenses will be given consideration when trying to determine the most reasonable price for both the buyer and the purchaser. Traders will be expected to have all the information that is necessary for their transaction to be clear to all the related parties. (James, 2009 p.6-13) Fair value accounting is applicable to assets with a carrying value that is determined by market to another market valuation. For assets recorded at historical cost, the asset’s fair value may not be applicable. An example would be a university store whose cost of four million dollars was constructed ten years ago. In case the management was to give a fair value measure on the store, it will be a subjective measurement due to lack of an active market for this particular asset or assets that are close to this one. A different example would be, incase DEF Ltd bought a go down in nineteen ninety, for two million dollars, the financial statement in respect to historical cost will record the go down at two million dollars on its balance sheet. If GHI Ltd bought a similar go down in two thousand and ten for four million dollars, then the GHI Ltd will report the go down at four million dollars. Although the two assets are similar, DEF Ltd will report the asset at half the GHI’s asset value. Historical cost can not identify the two assets being similar. This issue   is compounded incase similar assets or liabilities are recorded historically, resulting in an undervalued balance sheet. Although if both DEF and GHI Ltd recorded the financial information as per fair value accounting the two would record the asset of four million dollars. (Gerald, 2009 p.24-31) The idea in fair value accounting is to represent the figures in the financial statements at amounts that they would fetch just in case an entity was to purchase them afresh. This is exactly that willing buyers are able to pay for the acquisition of such commodities. Adjustments made in determining fair values should consider the depreciation charge that the assets would attract. The disposable value is always of great interest in accounting at fair values. Fair value accounting produces information to investors whose interest is on the assets’ or liabilities’ current value but not their historical cost. It is known that stakeholders in a company use financial statements to make decisions as to whether their investments in the enterprise are worthwhile or not. Unbiased figures represented on the financial statements help investors predict their expected returns on their shares. Such reasonable figures will be helpful in determining the expected company’s growth and how their shares may increase in value in future. It will also be of use to investors to determine the extent of their rewards in case a company goes into liquidation or a receivership in future. The making of both short term and long-term decisions is made easy by the use of the true and fair view represented on the trial balance and balance sheet.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

A Portrait Of Duke Ellington By Tracy Frech Essay -- essays research p

A Portrait of Duke Ellington By Tracy Frech Duke Ellington is considered to be one of the greatest figures in the history of American music. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born in Washington D.C. on April 29, 1899. His parents were James Edward and Daisy Kennedy Ellington. They raised Duke as an only child, until his sister, Ruth, was born when Duke was sixteen years old. Duke, even as a teenager, had a great talent for music. In the beginning of his musical life, Duke began to take a promising interest in a new type of music that would later be called jazz. Choosing to base his career on a new idea may not have been smart, but Duke did take this chance and in turn became one of the most famous musicians in America. Duke's first job was at a government office. He was a clerk who received the minimum wage and was barely getting by. He would arrange dance bands for weddings and parties for extra money. His mother taught him how to play the piano. Sometimes he put this knowledge to use and played at a few of the dance parties and weddings. After Duke's first job, he became more interested in painting and the arts. For a few years he painted public posters. Duke then decided to put together his own band. At this point in his life things started to change for the better for Duke, but not for long. In those days, this new music was just beginning to develop and would later be given the name of jazz. In that time it was considered to be low and vulgar because it was music that grew directly out of the Black culture. In those early years, segregation was at one of its all time worst points in history. I think that is why Duke Ellington was one of the most important individuals to the growth and development of jazz. During Duke's long career, the new music slowly spread out of bars and saloons, to dance and night clubs and then eventually onto the concert stage. In time, jazz became a universally recognized form of art and has been said that it is the only real form that has originated from the American soul. By the 1960's Duke traveled the globe so many times that he became known as the unofficial ambassador to the United States. Duke's band had played in Russia, Japan, Latin America, the Far East, the Middle East, and Africa. Duke, himself, was an elegant man. When the white people looked down on the black man and his music, Duke managed to brin... ...6 that boomed with popularity as the demand for big bands playing this new swing music was in intense demand. Later on Duke hired a lyrical writer named Billy Strayhorn that led a premature death in 1967. But when Strayhorn was with the band he wrote many compositions that often went into the band's book of music. Then in 1942 Duke hired one of the best tenor saxophonists ever and let him play the first tenor sax solo ever arranged by Duke Ellington. In 1951 Saxophonist Johnny Hodges, trombonist Lawrence Brown, and Sonny Greer left the band together and formed their own band but then in 1955 Sonny Greer returned to the band and stayed with Duke until his death in 1970. And then by the 1950's the Ellington band was carrying on almost alone. By 1972 the times and styles of the world no longer fit the old time style of Duke' s band. The band was not known like it used to be and that could be the point in time I suppose you could say that the band broke up. Duke Ellington's career spanned the whole history of the birth of the music called jazz. And nowhere in that glorious history is there a man who had more love for music, more respect for his art, than the man they called the Duke.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Analyse the effects of domestic and global free trade Essay

Analyse the effects of domestic and global free trade and protection policies on the Australian economy Free trade is the unrestricted purchase and sale of goods and services between countries without the imposition of protection such as tariffs and quotas. This enables economies to focus on their core competitive advantage(s), thereby maximizing economic output and fostering income growth for their citizens. Australian exports rose from $66.6 billion in 1990-91 to $300.4 billion in 2012-13, with an average growth in export volumes of 4.6 per cent per annum since 1990-91. This is reflective of Australia’s proactive actions to phase out protection since the 1970s. The major effects of domestic and global free trade and protection policies on the Australian economy are structural change, competitiveness and efficiency, unemployment, living standards and economic growth. A move to trade liberalisation since the 1970s in Australia has drastically changed the structure of the economy. Structural change involves changes in the patterns of production that reflect changes in technology, consumer demand, global competitiveness and other factors. Protection polices affect the natural change in the structure of an economy, often leading to a decline in globally competitive industries. In 2011-12 Australia’s net tariff assistance was $1.1 billion, a very small percentage of GDP (less than 0.1%). Tariff levels in Australia have fallen from a massive 36% in 1968-9 to 1.8% in 2011, thus illustrating why Australia is one of the most open economies in the world. However, this has caused both positive and negative effects; the positive being that Australian industries have become more competitive and efficient as they are forced to focus on their comparative advantage; the negative is that heavily protected industries have suffered decline and job losses. Australia’s rural and manufacturing industries have suffered sustained negative growth over the past decade due to a reduction in domestic protection policies. On the contrary, the minerals and metals industry has grown significantly over this period. The removal of protectionism can jeopardise employment, especially in import competing industries and low-skilled labour industries. For example, Toyota and Holden will close their manufacturing operations partly due to tariffs on imported cars being reduced from a previous 50% to 5% in 2010, ending Australia’s car manufacturing sector by 2017. However, removing protectionism should lead to new employment opportunities and up-skilling of  the workforce into new and emerging growth sectors such as Biotech and Green Engineering industries etc. Australia’s composition of exports was relatively equal in 1989-90 with 33% being minerals and metals, rural 23%, services 20% and manufacturing 13%. As of 2012-13, minerals and metals dominated Australia’s composition of exports at 57%, whilst rural exports dropped to 12%, with a general decline in others. This not only shows the large impact of the mining boom on the Australia’s composition of exports, but also how a move to free trade has influenced the structure of the economy, especially agriculture and manufacturing. Globalisation has been both a benefit and a hindrance as regional trade blocs and other agreements work on a ‘most favoured nation’ principle, making export-competing industries suffer all around the world in small economies, and limiting the advancement of global free trade. Because Australia has a high level of agricultural trade (12% of total exports), and is a relatively small economy, they suffer disadvantages as a result of protectionist policies of other nations and trading blocs. One of the most infamous trading blocs in relation to agriculture is the European Union. The EU for several decades has subsidised agricultural production through the Common Agricultural Policy. Additionally, farmers receive significant subsidies in other areas of the world, such as the US, Japan, Korea and Switzerland. In 2012, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) estimated that the removal of China and Korea’s wine tariffs would increase the export revenue of the Australian wine industry by $47 million. Unfortunately, there has been poor progress in reducing agricultural protection in recent years. In fact, if global trade liberalisation was achieved by the WTO’s Doha Round, it could have boosted Australia’s agricultural exports by US$9 billion by 2020; thus displaying how highly protectionist economies and trade blocs adversely affect the Australian economy. Since Australia’s first free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand in 1983, Bilateral and Multilateral FTA’s have been a great advantage and focus in securing economic prosperity for Australia. Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services was A$616 bn in 2012. Australia has seven FTAs currently in force with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, US, Chile, ASEAN (with New  Zealand) and Malaysia. Together, these countries account for 28% of Australia’s total trade, which displays the great benefit of bilateral FTAs to the Australian economy. Additionally, there are four bilateral FTA negotiations currently in place, two of which are substantial trading partners; China, being Australia’s largest export market (A$78.7 bn) and Japan, being Australia’s second largest export market (A$49.8 bn). The Japanese Free Trade Agreement has been negotiated, and will be a great benefit to the Australian economy, especially the agricultural sector, for example tariffs on beef and dairy exports will be reduced from 38% to 23.5% over 20 years. Australia’s main multilateral agreement is the AANZFTA which came into effect in 2010, and covers 20% of Australia’s trade in goods and services and effectively creates a free trade area of over 600 million people. This agreement is forecast to boost the Australian economy by US$19 bn during the decade following its implementation in 2010. These examples of Australia’s FTAs show the positive effects of global free trade on the Australian economy. As Australia continually lowers protection levels and trade barriers, there will be both positive and negative effects, leading to a long term decrease in the current account deficit. When protection is lowered, there will be a short term increase in the CAD, as tariffs and quotas wil l be waived leading to higher export volumes. However, since less protection leads to a more competitive economy, the CAD will decrease in the longer term as exports will generally increase. The government’s reluctance to lower trade barriers up until the 1970-80s is arguably the reason for Australia’s lower competiveness and higher CAD, being a deficit of $23 bn in 2012, and $10 bn in the fourth quarter of 2013. Australia’s growth in exports reached 6% in 2012, double the average rate over the last 10 years. However, this has not contributed to any decrease in the CAD, as export prices declined by 10.2%, and Australia’s terms of trade decreased by 10.7% mainly due to the slowing of the mining boom. As protection levels reduce, hopefully the competitiveness of the Australian economy picks up during this period of structural change, leading to a long term decrease in the CAD. The effects of domestic and global free trade, although mostly negative in the short term, will increase Australia’s competitiveness and benefit the Australian economy in the long term. Unfortunately, many regional and unilateral protection polices still remain in p lace, disadvantaging the  economy in many ways, and limiting the advancement of global free trade.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Evidence for Changes in the Body and Brain from...

From personal experience, mindfulness meditation gives me a feeling of obtaining a healthy mind and body from the attention and peace I obtained. Such feelings resulting from proper practice of mindfulness meditation is not limited to my own testimony though. According to the Satipatthana Sutra, those who practice such in-and-out breathing become â€Å"ardent, aware, and mindful† (â€Å"Satipatthana Sutra,† Accessed on 2010). However, it is unclear whether such reported experience is genuine or has effect, or if such mindfulness meditation is similar to a placebo effect. As psychological field of study advances with its technologies to investigate changes in the mind, using such technology to look at effects of mindfulness meditation would†¦show more content†¦Generally, it has been found by researchers that mediators have decreased sympathetic nervous system activity and increased parasympathetic activity (Cahn Polich, 2006; Harrison, Manocha, Rubia, 2004). Decreased sympathetic nervous activity implies decreased fight and flight mechanisms, and increased parasympathetic activity implies relaxation and rest mechanisms. One study had mixed results about the effects of mindfulness meditation and the nervous system, because they found increase in both cardiac parasympathetic and sympathetic activity with their participants who went through a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (Ditto, Eclache, Goldman, 2006). Yet, this study was limited because its comparison level was a waitlisted group, and the study also used a within study des ign in which novel reading and mindfulness training was randomly sequenced. Therefore, the lack of effect found in the study may have been affect by individual differences and a comparison with an improperly matched group of control participants. One study looked at cardiovascular changes from practicing mindfulness meditation, with health participants and participants with asthma conditions practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation (Rai, Seti, Singh, 1988, as cited in Rubia, 2009). Sahaja Yoga Meditation is a type of meditation that promotes to evoke thoughtless awareness on a daily basis. In the two groups of participants, it was found that those practicing SahajaShow MoreRelatedMeditation Replacement For Patients With Depression Essay1401 Words   |  6 Pages I: Main topic = Meditation replace medication in terms of treating depression. A.Introduce main topic, thesis, terms, etc (Introductory Paragraph) i. Hook: The recognition of depression as a common mental illness should lead to studies regarding what form of treatment is best for a patient, but antidepressants seem to be the unimpressive go-to. ii. 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