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The role of conceptual framework in accounting and financial reporting
Essay on the conceptual framework for financial reporting
The role of conceptual framework in accounting and financial reporting
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2- Theoretical literature 2-1- The Nature of Conceptual Framework of Financial reporting Financial reporting is the final product of financial accounting . Providing financial information to different users, either internal or external users of an entity, is done in the form of accounting reports. Those accounting reports that are prepared and presented with the aim of meeting the information needs of external users of an entity are within the scope of financial reporting. The Conceptual Framework sets out the concepts that underlie the preparation and presentation of financial statements. Its purpose is to assist the accounting standard setters in identifying the concepts which can be continuously used for development and correction of financial …show more content…
Therefore, the conceptual framework, apart from the standard setters, plays an important role in helping other parties such as preparers and users of financial statements and …show more content…
In the framework based on decision-usefulness, the main objective of financial reporting is to prepare useful information for economic decisions. Reliable and relevant information, provided that it is cost-benefit, would be desirable. This approach is focused on users of financial reports with emphasis on investors and creditors and their decisions, informational requirements, and ability for analysis and application of information. In the conventional conceptual frameworks of financial reporting that are often based on the approach of decision-usefulness, measurement system is merely monetary and the basis of valuation is the historical cost. Disclosure in this approach leads to financial position reporting, financial performance, and financial flexibility. This framework stresses the behavior of decision-makers in various accounting choices, whether in person or by a group. Individual decision-maker makes use of studying behavior correction using psychological techniques and so on, while group decision-maker takes advantage of securities market research, stock prices, and buying and selling
Financial Accounting is ‘Asset valuation, accounting record completeness and accuracy, accounting estimates, reporting transparency, fair value accounting issues, convergence of accounting standards, evolution of accounting standards, audit efficiency and effectiveness’, as suggested by Accounting Dictionary (2014).
The objective of financial reporting/statements is to provide information about the reporting entity’s financial performance and financial position that is useful to a wide range of users for assessing the stewardship of the entity’s management and for making economic decisions.
The Conceptual Framework (CF) is not a standard or interpretation and does not override any specific standard or interpretation (CF discussion paper). A CF is a coherent system of inter-related objectives and fundamentals that should lead to consistent standards that prescribe the nature, function and limits of financial accounting and financial statements. The CF was formed with the intention of providing the backbone for principle-based accounting standards (...
According to the conceptual framework, the potential users of financial statements are investors, creditors, suppliers, employees, customers, governments and agencies, and the general public (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2006). The primary users are investors, creditors, and those who advise them. It goes on to define the criteria that make up each potential user, as well as, the limitations of financial reporting. The FASB explicitly states that financial reporting is “but one source of information needed by those who make investment, credit, and similar resource allocation decisions. Users also need to consider pertinent information from other sources, and be aware of the characteristics and limitations of the information in them” (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2006). With this in mind, it is still particularly difficult to determine whom the financials should be catered towards and what level of prudence is necessary for quality judgment.
Traditionally, companies collect information regarding past transactions. These are then converted to statements which are used for analysis and regulatory requirements. Financial accounting has been revolving around these financial transactions and ignoring qualitative factors that may contribute to a company’s profit. Nowadays, managers recognize the impact of such qualitative factors since these contribute to the company’s future performance.
Financial and Managerial accounting are used for making sound financial decisions about an organization. They provide information of past quantitative financial activities and are useful in making future economic decisions. (Albrecht, Stice, Stice, & Skousen, 2002) The same financial data is used to derive reports for each accounting process yet they differ in some ways. Financial accounting primarily provides external reports for external users such as stock holders, creditors, regulating authority and others. (Garrison, Noreen, & Brewer, 2010) On the other hand Managerial accounting is concern with providing information that deals with the internal viability of the organization and is tailored to meet the needs of an individual organization. (Albrecht, Stice, Stice, & Skousen, 2002)
It outlines the interconnection of a company’s financial and non-financial elements and aims to combine them and show value creation and maintenance. It identifies resources and their effective and responsible usage. It intends to create a dialogue between the shareholders and other stakeholders and provides them with detailed information.
A financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time - usually a fiscal quarter or year. These records provide informat...
The NZ Framework is an accounting conceptual framework based on the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Conceptual Framework. The key objective of the framework is to provide a complete and updated set of accounting concepts to use ...
Financial accounting is the analysis, classification, and recording of financial transactions and reporting such information to respective users especially external users who use the information to make decisions about their engagements with the entity. In financial accounting general purpose financial statements are used for external reporting. The public by standards imposes the development of the statements through respective national professional bodies, International Accounting Standards Board and respective company Acts for various nations.
The definition of key terms that follow are commonly used terms by accounting professionals and experts in the accounting industry that are not commonly known, used, and/or understood by the general populace. Some of the following definitions used by the accounting industry, in particular auditors, hold different meanings and thus are clarified below, as related to their application in this study.
"The objective of financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and changes in financial position of an enterprise that is useful to a wide range of users in making economic decisions."[Financial statements should be understandable, relevant, reliable and comparable. Reported assets, liabilities and equity are directly related to an organization's financial position. Reported income and expenses are directly related to an organization's financial performance.
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:
If the purpose of the information given is to affect user’s decision in a particular way then it could not be reliable. It is more ideal for financial reporting to produce both more relevant and reliable information. However, it may be essential to give up some of one quality for a gain in another. The potential conflicts do usually exist between relevance and reliability.
The Financial Accounting Standards Boards (FASB) defined conceptual framework as a consistent of underlying concepts and the ideas that describe the nature and general purpose of financial reporting which may lead to consistent standard in accounting (Deegan 2010). The role of the conceptual framework is to ensure that financial statements in accounting are free from bias and to provide useful information that is useful for user’s decision making. The standard-setting board also formulated a range of perceptions and theories related to accounting to trigger the objectives of financial reporting. The standard-setting board keeps issuing the conceptual framework over time to ensure that the conceptual framework’s objectives are improving to provide useful financial information. The innovative work on conceptual framework was embraced in the United States by the FASB in the early 1970s. The FASB accomplished disappointment in attempting to generate a standard that at the outset might not appear to present, especially testing theoretical issues. Regardless, while attempting to achieve concession on Statement of Financial Accounting Standard, tending to the theoretical issues produced critical matter for the board members. In this manner, throughout the outset the FASB understood the requirement for an obvious conceptual framework. Based on Hines’s argument, the conceptual framework is mean to provide the ability to increase self-regulate of a profession in order to neutralizing government interference from arising. Whether this argument has been accepted or not will be discussed in more detail with supported evidence to clarify the main point about Hines’s argument. Further details about this argument will discuss below.