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The history of accounting
History and evolution of accounting
The history of accounting
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This essay is about demonstrating appropriate examples of how stewardship changed into accountability throughout history of accounting. According to STEWARDSHIP Definition. (n.d.), Stewardship is an obligation for taking good maintenance of resources delegated to one individuals or group of individuals. For example, boards of directors must display good stewardship towards the company for which they are a board member. The notion of stewardship can be applied to the economics, environment, health and information. Accountability is an obligation of an individual or organization to account for its actions, bear responsibility for them, and to reveal the outcomes in a transparent way. Furthermore, it also includes the obligation for money or other delegated estate. The conversion from an oral custom of stewardship to accountability is one of the key developments in accounting. This essay will cover the conversion from oral tradition of stewardship to accountability by using historic examples. The Concept of Stewardship The transformation from oral tradition of stewardship to accountability was commenced in medieval England according to Davey, Hay, Hooper and John (1999). Many stewards took the responsibility for estate supervision and maintenance also perceived as proxy of the ruler. This significant role has often been given to aspiring clergy or law graduates and they were members of lord central council claimed by Davey et al. (1999). The role of stewardship was further assigned in each manor to a reeve who was perceived as a type of under steward, the subject of the yearly autumn audit. The written accounts and knowledge of standards levels of achievement started become more popular in mid fourteen century and a result of the ... ... middle of paper ... ... will enhance accountability to all stakeholders: the funding bodies, the professional associations, and the service users. Furthermore, key performance indicators go further in fulfilling the requirements for accountability to several types of stakeholders. In modern society, the annual reports and key performance indicators which are produced by organization and companies can be used to improve relations between companies and stakeholders since are being accountable of themselves. This is relevant because accountability is becoming more developed and it is slowly replacing older concept of stewardship. In conclusion, there are various examples throughout history that there has been shift from stewardship to accountability. The modern society is becoming reliant on companies and organisation being accountable so they can have better relations with stakeholders.
With the correct metrics in place information can be gathered and reported on in order to form knowledge. Data is raw numbers, information is data with context, and knowledge is the information with understanding, which leads to decisions (Hunter Whitney, 2007). Basing decisions on every metric is a waste of resources and time. As a result, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) distill the vast amount of data into information that is pertinent to the decision making. Some KPIs could be the items per hour, visitors per day, customer retention rate, conversion rate, etc. However, not all companies need to know all of the indicators, that is why KPIs are based on the business model and needs of the company.
Using these pillars, with a sense of intentionality, he posited, serves as a roadmap to help businesses build and enhance accountability from within, resulting in a more effective and productive business. The Seven Pillars of Accountability Bustin’s Seven Pillars of Accountability for building a culture of accountability
Accounting Theory: Conceptual Issues in a Political and Economic Environment (6th edition ed.). South Western College Pub.
As per Harvard Mentor Review, measuring performance of companies is important for the following reasons:
Solomon, J (2013). Corporate Governance and Accountability. 4th ed. Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. p.7, p9, p10, p15, p58, p60, p253.
Accounting ethics has been difficult to control as accountants and auditors must keep in mind the interest of the public while that they remain employed by the company they are auditing. The accountants should take into account how to best apply accounting standards when company faces issues related financial loss. The role of accountant is crucial to society. They serve as financial reporters to owe their primary constraint to public interest. The information provided is critical in aiding managers, investors and others in making crucial economic decisions. An accountant is responsible for any fraudulent financial reporting. Some examples of fraudulent reporting are:
As numerous business valuation approaches rely on an accurate estimate of the cost of capital. The outlook based on the history stated in the book “The reckoning financial accountability and the rise and fall of nations” provides an influential and motivating history of the interaction between financial acumen, focusing on accounting abilities and the vitality and sustainability of nations at the state level and the level of the corporate enterprise.
The aim of this paper is to provide the framework of the current professional accounting code of ethics. What are the ethics and how we define them? In this report we try to determine the main ethical principles that will establish the right and
However, BSC is not a template that can be applied to businesses in general. In this circumstances, different market situations, product strategies, and competitive environments need different scorecards. The businesses must devise customized scorecards to fit their vision, mission, strategies, technology, as well as their culture. On the other hand, the Performance Prism is an alternative for the BSC which is worth considering for companies looking for a system to measure and manage their performance. Based on a stakeholder approach, it is more flexible and more integrative than other systems.
Performance management is a process that guarantees an organisation and all of its available resources are working collectively and effectively towards achieving the organisation’s mission or goal. Performance management affords an understanding of what drives an individuals, and even organisations, performance at all levels. An understanding of performance management allows for the identification and minimisation of unproductive areas of an organisation, as well as an ability to predict future performance. It is a powerful tool that can be used by managers at all levels of an organisation to help improve a company’s productivity.
Main view of this report is to explain how the accounting plays a major role in banking, finance and other sectors of business. To decide this, the following questions are explained as follows:
Auditing has existed since the beginning of human society. Auditing was used mostly for the detection of fraud and was done through extensive detailed examination from ancient times until the late nineteenth century (Lee, 1988). Fraud was a great concern during the early history of auditing, because internal controls were not used or not used effectively until the twentieth century. The late nineteenth century was a turning point in auditing history, when laws like the English Companies Act of 1862 were enacted.
Accounting has been a living part of history since the Neolithic period and remains a prevalent and ever-evolving profession still to this day. This essay therefore proposes to look at the significance and role of history specifically related to the accountancy field. In order to substantiate this claim of the importance of accounting history, numerous benefits of accounting history will be presented. Factors such as the use of historical research and its availability thereof to constantly develop accounting policies will be discussed as well as how historical accounting practices can be used to understand current practice and assist in the training of individuals in the accounting field. Lastly, the importance of history in the development
There are hundreds of definitions of corporate social responsibility, or CSR. The one we think says it the best comes from the International Organization for Standardization’s Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility, ISO 26000, published in 2010. It says:
Responsibility accounting is the practice that focuses on providing financial information useful in evaluating efficiency and effectiveness of managers or department heads, on the basis of financial performance directly under their control. Responsibility accounting is also based on the assumption that every cost incurred must be the responsibility of one person somewhere in the company. Examples could include; the cost of rent being assigned to the person who negotiates and signs the rental agreements; or the cost of an employee’s salary being the responsibility of that person’s direct manager, or human resources manager (S. Bragg, 2010).