Some Simpler Methods of Accounting for the Effects of Changing Prices

The complexities of accounting for the effects of changing prices on financial statements could be lessened with the use of simpler accounting methods. Because of existing complexities, even industrialized countries require only their larger business entities to provide inflation-adjusted information. Such information is prepared by making numerous adjustments to the traditional, historical cost-based data. For example, in the United Kingdom, inflation-adjusted income is calculated in two stages: operating profit and profit attributable to shareholders. These calculations are based on the concept of value to the business and require complicated adjustments with respect to cost of goods sold, depreciation, monetary working capital, and financial leverage. In the United States, requirements are even more extensive; selected items must be reported under two different methods: current cost and restatement of historical cost in constant dollars. Absence of sophisticated accounting systems to produce the inflation-adjusted information and fear of excessive costs to develop new accounting systems are the main reasons smaller corporations in industrialized nations and business entities in most developing countries are not being asked to report inflation-related information. Furthermore, it is often observed that when inflation rates are rather low, the interest in inflation accounting declines to a low level. The distorting effect of inflation, whether high or low, on the financial statements of all kinds of businesses, large or small, in all countries, creates the necessity for financial statement users to assess the impact of inflation. It is essential, therefore, that business entities in developing nations, as well as in industrialized countries, possess techniques that allow the reporting of the effects of changing prices on their financial statements to be both feasible and accurate, regardless of the extent of such changes. In the accounting literature, several simple methods based on one-line adjustments of net income and owner’s equity have been proposed. Although such methods are claimed to be quite effective, they have received little exposure or attention. In his dissent to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 33, David Mosso refers to one such method as deserving more support than it has thus far received. Similarly, in his dissent to Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC) No.5, John March suggests that “income must first deduct a provision for maintenance of capital in real terms” and further states that “complex implementation should not be necessary to provide for the erosion of capital caused by the effects of inflation.” This paper explores and evaluates one-line adjustments as a possible alternative to the more complex methods used previously. The primary purpose of inflation accounting is discussed first, followed by an attempt to develop criteria for the evaluation of inflation accounting methods. Three one-line adjustment methods are then explained, and each is evaluated in terms of these criteria

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

New tectonic discrimination diagrams for basic and ultrabasic volcanic rocks through log-transformed ratios of high field strength elements and implications for petrogenetic processes

The statistically correct handling of compositional data requires log-ratio transformation whereas the multivariate technique of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) assumes a normal distribution of the transformed variables. In addition to other requirements, both these aspects were considered for proposing five new discriminant function diagrams based on log-ratios of five high-field strength elements � (TiO2)adj, Nb, V, Y, and Zr. A representative world database of 1877 analyses of basic and ultrabasic magmas from four tectonic settings of island arc, continental rift, ocean-island, and mid-ocean ridge, was used. After identifying discordant outliers in log-transformed ratios using single outlier tests, 1793 analyses proved to be normally distributed in terms of the following four variables: ln(Nb/(TiO2)adj), ln(V/(TiO2)adj), ln(Y/(TiO2)adj), and ln(Zr/(TiO2)adj). Use of LDA of the complete dataset of 1877 analyses divided into 1477 analyses for training set and 400 for testing set provided high success rates of 78.5�92.2% and 81.7�93.0% for the discrimination of the four tectonic settings based on the training and testing sets, respectively. However, using LDA of the normally distributed 1793 analyses divided into 1393 for training set and 400 for testing set, we obtained new diagrams that showed still higher success rates of 80.2�93.5% and 84.0�94.0%, respectively. The advantage of fulfilling the requirement of normal distributions of log-ratio variables resides in the observation that an overall net gain in success rates of 0.5�3.3% was achieved when the LDA was correctly applied to discordant-outlier-free log-transformed ratios (1793 analyses) than to the complete data set (1877 analyses). The application of these discrimination diagrams to ophiolites from Taitao Peninsula (southern Chile), Gabal Gerf complex (northeastern Africa), Jormua (northeastern Finland) and Macquarie Island (southwest Pacific) indicated tectonic setting of mid-ocean ridge, transitional between island arc and mid-ocean ridge, mid-ocean ridge and continental rift, respectively. Although only a few rock samples from a study of south-central Sweden could be identified as mafic, the present diagrams indicated an arc setting for this area. The application to three case studies from Turkey, being a country with highly complex geological history, suggested continental rift setting for Kula Quaternary basic volcanic rocks, inconclusive evidence for Jurassic volcanic rocks from eastern Pontides, arc setting for Tauride belt ophiolite, and continental rift setting for East Anatolian and Dead Sea fault zones, the latter application being based on probability calculations for each sample without any need to plot the samples in the discrimination diagrams. The use of normal discordant outlier-free samples of log-transformed ratios from each area in our new discrimination diagrams reinforced these conclusions for all areas, providing somewhat better discrimination in those cases in which such discordant observations were observed. We suggest that the new diagrams be used for tectonic discrimination of basic and ultrabasic rock samples that are confirmed to have discordant outlier-free normally distributed log-transformed variables. Basic and ultrabasic character of the rock samples could be determined from computer program SINCLAS and the discordant outliers of logtransformed variables identified from DODESSYS, whereas the use of new diagrams proposed during 2004-2011 would be facilitated from program TecD.El manejo estadísticamente correcto de datos composicionales requiere transformaciones logarítmicas de relaciones de composiciones, mientras que la técnica multivariable de análisis discriminante lineal (LDA) supone una distribución normal de las variables transformadas. Adicionalmente a otros requerimientos, ambos aspectos fueron tomados en cuenta para proponer cinco nuevos diagramas de funciones discriminantes basados en relaciones-log de cinco elementos de alta fuerza de campo � (TiO2)adj, Nb, V, Y y Zr. Una base mundial representativa de datos de 1877 análisis de magmas básicos y ultrabásicos de cuatro ambientes tectónicos de arco de isla, rift continental, isla oceánica y cresta midoceánica, fue empleada. Después de identificar valores discordantes en las relaciones log-transformadas mediante pruebas de discordancia de tipo sencillo, 1793 análisis demostraron ser distribuidos en forma normal en términos de las cuatro variables siguientes: ln(Nb/(TiO2)adj), ln(V/(TiO2)adj), ln(Y/(TiO2)adj) y ln(Zr/(TiO2)adj). El uso de LDA con el conjunto de datos completos de 1877 análisis divididos entre 1477 análisis para el entrenamiento y 400 para la prueba proporcionó altos valores de éxito de 78.5�92.2% y 81.7�93.0% para la discriminación de los cuatro ambientes tectónicos basados en los conjuntos de entrenamiento y prueba, respectivamente. Sin embargo, usando LDA de los 1793 análisis distribuidos normalmente divididos entre 1393 análisis para el entrenamiento y 400 para el de prueba, obtuvimos diagramas nuevos que demostraron aún más altos valores de éxito de 80.2�93.5% y 84.0�94.0%, respectivamente. La ventaja de cumplir con el requerimiento de distribuciones normales de las variables log-transformadas reside en la observación de que se obtuvo una ganancia neta de 0.5�3.3% en los valores de éxito cuando el LDA fue aplicado correctamente a relaciones log-transformadas libres de valores discordantes (1793 análisis) en comparación con el conjunto completo de datos (1877 análisis). La aplicación de estos diagramas discriminantes a ofiolitas de la Península de Taitao (sur de Chile), complejo Gabal Gerf (noreste de África), Jormua (noreste de Finlandia) e Isla Macquarie (suroeste del Pacífico), indicó el ambiente tectónico de cresta mid-oceánica, transicional entre el arco de isla y cresta mid-oceánica, cresta mid-oceánica y rift continental, respectivamente. Aunque solamente pocas muestras de rocas de un estudio sobre Suecia sur-central pudieron ser identificadas como máficas, los diagramas propuestos indicaron un ambiente de arco para esta área. La aplicación a tres estudios de Turquía, siendo un país con un historial geológico sumamente complejo, sugirieron el ambiente de rift continental para las rocas volcánicas cuaternarias de Kula, evidencia inconclusa para rocas volcánicas jurásicas de Pontides oriental, ambiente de arco para ofiolitas de cinturón de Tauride y rift continental para zonas de este de Anatolia y las fallas del Mar Muerto, la última aplicación se basó en los cálculos de las probabilidades para cada muestra sin la necesidad de graficar los resultados en los diagramas de discriminación. El uso de las muestras de relaciones log-transformadas libres de valores discordantes de cada área en nuestros nuevos diagramas discriminantes confirman estas conclusiones para todas las áreas, proporcionando una discriminación mejor en todos aquellos casos en donde se observaron estos valores discordantes. Sugerimos que los diagramas nuevos sean usados para la discriminación tectónica de muestras de rocas básicas y ultrabásicas con una distribución normal de las variables log-transformadas, libres de valores discordantes. La naturaleza básica y ultrabásica de las muestras a utilizar deberá ser determinada con el programa computacional SINCLAS y los valores discordantes de las variables log-transformadas identificadas con el programa DODESSYS, mientras que el uso de los nuevos diagramas propuestos entre 2004 y 2011 podría ser facilitado por el programa TecD