Hierarchy Of GAAP vs. IFRS The Case Of Bankruptcy Accounting

With increased movement toward convergence of major accounting principles between U.S. GAAP and IFRS, the issue of which authoritative source should be referenced becomes increasingly important. An important question is: what is the hierarchy of authority for pronouncements and documents under U.S. GAAP and IFRS? FASB Accounting Standards Codification is the single official source ofauthoritative U.S. GAAP. The hierarchy under international standards is less clear. The IASB promulgated a hierarchy in IAS 8, but interpretation concerning many issues is required. There are several issues not addressed at all by IFRS and one of these is bankruptcy accounting. ASC 852 is the guidance for bankruptcy accounting under U.S. GAAP. This study will investigate whether companies in countries which use IFRS are influenced by the guidance of ASC 852 when confronted with bankruptcy. A review of the financial statements of bankrupt companies in countries using or converting to IFRS was conducted into the reporting of reorganization-type bankruptcies

Evaluating Service Departments As Value Streams

Evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of service departments in a lean accounting environment is a subject that has received little attention. The cost of service departments is usually a substantial portion of the total costs of operating a business or other entity. This paper proposes a unique method of evaluating service departments in a lean accounting environment by recasting them as value streams. The Internal Auditing department is used as an example, although these techniques are applicable to all service departments of entities that use the lean accounting model

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) - A Case Study

Numerous scandals have occurred in not-for-profit organizations in recent years which could have been prevented by the application of sound business practices such as the use of effective internal control practices and the installation of an audit committee. This study discusses a scandal that occurred in the Oklahoma CASA organization and discusses how the situation could have been prevented. The lessons of this case study are a practical example for practitioners and accounting students

Incorporating Sustainability Issues Into The Financial Accounting Curriculum

Changes in the views that society holds of capital allocation suggest that sustainability reporting needs to be incorporated into the financial accounting curriculum. This paper reviews the background and history of corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting and discusses formation of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The development of the SASB provides us with a framework to enhance the credibility and provide assurance for corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting. A suggested outline for including sustainability reporting in a financial accounting course is presented

Coatings and weathering rinds at Gusev crater, Mars, investigated by depth selective Mossbauer spectroscopy

The miniaturised Mössbauer spectrometer (MIMOS II) is part of the scientific payload of the two Mars Exploration Rovers, “Spirit” and “Opportunity” (Klingelhöfer et al., J Geophys Res 108(E12), 2003). MIMOS II can obtain 14.4 keV γ-ray spectra and 6.4 keV X-ray spectra simultaneously in backscattering geometry. Comparing 6.4 keV and 14.4 keV spectra yields depth selective information about a sample and allows for the detection and characterization of thin coatings or weathering rinds. Laboratory measurements and a Monte Carlo simulation were used to study the influence of coatings of varying thickness and composition on backscattering Mössbauer spectra. The thickness of thin surface layers on natural samples can be estimated by comparing measured and the corresponding simulated spectra

An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils

The mineralogical and elemental compositions of the martian soil are indicators of chemical and physical weathering processes. Using data from the Mars Exploration Rovers, we show that bright dust deposits on opposite sides of the planet are part of a global unit and not dominated by the composition of local rocks. Dark soil deposits at both sites have similar basaltic mineralogies, and could reflect either a global component or the general similarity in the compositions of the rocks from which they were derived. Increased levels of bromine are consistent with mobilization of soluble salts by thin films of liquid water, but the presence of olivine in analysed soil samples indicates that the extent of aqueous alteration of soils has been limited. Nickel abundances are enhanced at the immediate surface and indicate that the upper few millimetres of soil could contain up to one per cent meteoritic material.Additional co-authors: Thanasis E Economou, Amitabha Ghosh, Brian C Hahn, Kenneth E Herkenhoff, Larry A Haskin, Joel A Hurowitz, Bradley L Joliff, Jeffrey R Johnson, Göstar Klingelhöfer, Morten Bo Madsen, Scott M McLennan, Harry Y McSween, Lutz Richter, Rudi Rieder, Daniel Rodionov, Larry Soderblom, Steven W Squyres, Nicholas J Tosca, Alian Wang, Michael Wyatt, Jutta Zipfe