Financial Analysis of Foreign Operations: The Effect of Foreign Currency Translation

Financial statement analysis of multinational corporations (MNCs) is becoming increasingly complex, due to the further globalization of MNCs and the development of a world economy. MNCs are expanding their markets overseas to become globally competitive. No longer is the international dimension of their businesses only a mere portion of their total activity. The economic organization of Western Europe and the creation of a new market in Eastern Europe are two forces augmenting the world economy. Couple with existing competition from the Far East, U.S. MNCs are entering world markets at an accelerated pace. This is both an opportunity and a necessity for U.S. MNCs

The Erratic Equity Position May Be Caused by FAS 52: An Investigation of the Results of Unrecognized Gains and Losses from Foreign Currency Translations

Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 52 (FAS 52) replaced FAS 8 in 1981 and the new guidelines have been accepted widely for providing noncontroversial and adequate disclosure of foreign currency matters. The nine years since the adoption of FAS 52 have seen erratically fluctuating exchange rates, however, and the equity positions of many firms have responded accordingly. This article provides an investigation into the erratic equity positions and recommends actions that can be taken currently that may avoid future embarrassments for the profession

Some Concerns in Implementing the New Education Requirements for Accounting Graduates

Graduates in accounting expecting to enter the profession of public accounting in the United States will soon be required to have five years of college education. While the education of accounting graduates may be enhanced, there are several repercussions of this requirement on colleges and universities as well as on the accounting profession in general. Some of these consequences may actually impair accounting education for those entering fields other than public accounting, as college and university resources will be unable to support the needs of all accounting fields

A Performance Model for Staff Auditors in an Internal Audit Environment

Understanding individual traits associated with successful performance in internal auditing is needed to enhance efficiency in personnel policies affecting staffing, career development and retention of auditors. This study attempted to ascertain salient characteristics of individuals which may be associated with successful performance, by examining traits of successful and less successful auditors of a large manufacturing firm. The results show that individual levels of job satisfaction and motivation are most closely associated with performance. The results also show that other variables may have the potential to be associated with performance

A Performance Model for Staff Auditors in an Internal Audit Environment

Labor turnover, especially at the staff level, is a pervasive problem throughout the accounting environment. The related costs can be substantial to the organization. While turnover is not necessarily dysfunctional, managing it is crucial to the success of organizations. Much of this turnover is due to unsuccessful performance of auditors. This study empirically examined selected variables of staff members in the internal audit environment in an attempt to associate them with successful auditor performance. The results showed that motivation to perform and job satisfaction were most strongly related to successful performance

A Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Attitudes About the Relevance of Current Consolidation Accounting Procedures

Consolidation accounting has not materially changed since APB Opinions 16 and 18. Only minor changes have been made such as the new rules requiring financial subsidiaries to be consolidated (FAS 94, 1989). The recent trend of mergers and acquisitions, however, represents a significant change in business environment from that which existed when consolidation accounting as we know it was formalized. Accordingly, there is concern that current consolidation practices may be less appropriate or relevant than before

Advancing tools to promote health equity across European Union regions : The EURO-HEALTHY project

Population health measurements are recognised as appropriate tools to support public health monitoring. Yet, there is still a lack of tools that offer a basis for policy appraisal and for foreseeing impacts on health equity. In the context of persistent regional inequalities, it is critical to ascertain which regions are performing best, which factors might shape future health outcomes and where there is room for improvement. Under the EURO-HEALTHY project, tools combining the technical elements of multi-criteria value models and the social elements of participatory processes were developed to measure health in multiple dimensions and to inform policies. The flagship tool is the Population Health Index (PHI), a multidimensional measure that evaluates health from the lens of equity in health determinants and health outcomes, further divided into sub-indices. Foresight tools for policy analysis were also developed, namely: (1) scenarios of future patterns of population health in Europe in 2030, combining group elicitation with the Extreme-World method and (2) a multi-criteria evaluation framework informing policy appraisal (case study of Lisbon). Finally, a WebGIS was built to map and communicate the results to wider audiences. The Population Health Index was applied to all European Union (EU) regions, indicating which regions are lagging behind and where investments are most needed to close the health gap. Three scenarios for 2030 were produced - (1) the 'Failing Europe' scenario (worst case/increasing inequalities), (2) the 'Sustainable Prosperity' scenario (best case/decreasing inequalities) and (3) the 'Being Stuck' scenario (the EU and Member States maintain the status quo). Finally, the policy appraisal exercise conducted in Lisbon illustrates which policies have higher potential to improve health and how their feasibility can change according to different scenarios. The article makes a theoretical and practical contribution to the field of population health. Theoretically, it contributes to the conceptualisation of health in a broader sense by advancing a model able to integrate multiple aspects of health, including health outcomes and multisectoral determinants. Empirically, the model and tools are closely tied to what is measurable when using the EU context but offering opportunities to be upscaled to other settings

Financial Statement Analysis And The Harmonization Of Foreign Current Translation

The harmonization of foreign currency translation accounting has lead to global acceptance of the temporal and current or closing rate methods. These methods have the potential to alter financial statement analysis from that done on untranslated information. This paper demonstrates the differences in financial results from these models and calls for revisiting the issue of foreign currency translation to develop a single method for comparability in financial statement analysis