The Global Environment and the Accounting Profession Essay Example

The Global Environment and the Accounting Profession Paper This impact comes from the creased amount of spending that people are doing due to the higher unemployment rates, higher inflation and interest rates and overall lack of finances. Because of this it has been causing a huge strain on accountants, as they are seeing revenues decrease and costs increase. There have been some signs that the economy is on the mend and there have been some slow improvement with the unemployment rate, but it is still a huge work in progress and it will likely take a lot more time to get completely back on track. Problem Statement For over a decade the economy has been a constant concern for most of the world. It has decreased the amount of jobs available and it has caused a serious decrease in the amount of financial spending being done by everyone, as it has gotten to where people would rather save their money for the more important things. This has taken its toll on the accounting profession. Accountants are seeing less business, as it has become easier and cheaper to use other methods for completion of taxes. With the decreases in income this will probably continue to be true. Since they are seeing a decrease in business, it is causing a financial strain on them as well. We will write a custom essay sample on The Global Environment and the Accounting Profession specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Global Environment and the Accounting Profession specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Global Environment and the Accounting Profession specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Overhead expenses for operating the businesses are increasing, so without he income coming in, it is causing difficulties. There are ways to help with this problem and in turn help avoid some of the strain and difficulty that they are seeing and dealing with. I will discuss some different solutions that could be utilized later in this paper. Comparison Throughout the accounting profession there are a few other major issues that also affect the profession as a whole. A couple of them are new financial reporting guidelines and retaining current clientele. Financial reporting standards have become a lot stricter since the scandals in the early sacs that rocked the accounting profession. The accounting profession has seen a lot of new guidelines that they must abide by or there are severe consequences and penalties. One of the regulations that must be followed is the formation of a board that is in charge of reviewing and auditing statements. Upper management, such as the CEO and SCOFF are also to sign off on any and all financial statements that they complete. This will hold them accountable for all information that they report. Having both of these guidelines in place has made the accounting field better from an honestly stand point, and has also made it easier to reprimand any financial snootiest on anyones part. With everything that is going on with the economy accountants are seeing a decrease in the amount of clients that they are seeing. This is due to there being other less expensive methods for completing taxes and business finances. Turbo Tax and H;R online are two of the programs that can be bought or downloaded in order to complete required financial business, and at a fraction of the cost of going to an accountant. And even as the economy improves, it still might continue to be an issue for accounting practices. Consumers today are in the mind set of peeping as much of their money as they are able to, and only spending it on the objects and services that are absolutely necessary. And unfortunately, seeing an accountant is not one of the items at the top of most consumers lists since they feel that they can now do the work themselves with the new software available for the public to purchase. Impacts The biggest impact that accounting firms are seeing is the decrease in clientele. With all of the available software that can be bought or downloaded, consumers and small business are not in as big of a need for an accountant as they have been in the past years. This is partly due to businesses and consumers viewing it as a luxury item and not a necessity. The economy has also affected how the audit funds of companies are directed. A lot of companies are moving their resources in order to cover any risks that have risen from the down economy. Therefore, this has led to a smaller budget for audit services within a company. With the various budget cuts, some companies have had to reduce the number of auditors that they staff as well as review the external auditors that are used. Consequences Currently there is a larger supply of accountants than there is for the emends of accounting services. If the economy does not improve, then one of the biggest consequences that will be seen is the lack of qualified individuals in the accounting field. You could see less college students getting degrees in the accounting filed due to the current lack of jobs that are available for graduating students. This would turn into a major issue when the economy would finally improve as there would not be anyone to fill the needed accounting and auditing positions. And again, loss of jobs would be a consequence of the downward economy. With the loss of clientele there is sees revenue coming in, which then leads to job cuts within organizations. A lot of companies have seen downsizing lately, and the unemployment rate has seen drastic increases in the past years because of it. Research on Issue When researching the issues, qualitative research should be performed. This type of research method helps with getting quality information rather than just a bunch of data that may or may not be of any use. One of the easiest ways to research the impacts of the downward economy is to do a survey. A survey of companies who are downsizing is the first place to start. By looking t who is eliminating accounting positions, it will help to give a better idea of how hard the accounting profession has been hit. Another way a survey could be used for research is to see your current clientà ¨les opinion on the services being rendered as well at the current pricing. This could also help to determine how many people and companies now feel that they can do the work themselves in house verses paying a professional to do the work. Research reasons The reason would choose to use surveys for the research method is because it is easy, inexpensive and less time consuming. Surveys are also useful cause you are able to take a sample of the population in order to get your findings. Plus finding out what customers want can be extremely beneficial and possibly make it easier to find ways to bring in new clients. Relevant Information The information that is most relevant to the research that is being performed is what effect the global economy is having on the accounting field. Until the global economy gets turned back around, the accounting industry will continue to struggle since most people deem it as a luxury. With the global market expanding and companies moving operations overseas, the accounting profession is having to adjust and make some changes so that accounting professionals satisfy the new needs and requirements. All of these changes are making it so that GAP is not as dominant as it once was in this country. There has also been an increase in the amount of management accountants that are being utilized as becoming competitive in todays market is vital for all companies. And by using management accounting it is making it easier to enhance financial performance. It is also important that accounting professionals are aware of what they need to do in order to stay p to date and be able to succeed in the fast changing global market. It is the belief that when it comes to financial reporting, that it is in the best interest of everyone and public interest to develop a set of universal rules and regulations that consist of high-quality standards. Having a new set of rules that are recon sized and utilized globally will make it easier to maintain the interests of the global community. GAP has always been deemed as the highest-quality set of guidelines and regulations in the world. But even though that is true, they have not exactly been accepted globally. And because of the quickly evolving global economy, it has become possible for other standards to assume a level of importance that is set to possibly surpass GAP. The changes in guidelines have produced three implications for accountants in the US. The first one is that the rules of GAP have changed and will continue to change as needed so that international standards continue to be covered. The second implication is that international accounting is going to quickly become more relevant and GAP will decrease in relevance with the domestic companies as well as global. And he last implication is that accounts in the US will be at a severe disadvantage to the international accountants who have more time learning and adjusting to the new guidelines. Managerial accountants have typically not been in as high of demand and financial accountants. This is because the US used to have such a big global market and little competition from other countries. But here of late there has been a surge of global competition and there has been pressure on the US to start utilizing the talents of managerial accountants to see where improvements can be made and how they compare to other companies globally. They are interested in ways to improve the business based on how factors outside the control of the company, rather than just the financial side of the business. There has become a strong movement to get the set of international financial reporting standards (FIRS). The goal is to get this accomplished so that there is only one set of globally accepted accounting standards for everyone to follow and abide by. This thought has gained the approval and motivation by such organizations as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the World Bank. The international financial reporting standards are currently being used in over 00 countries globally. It was stated by 201 1 the international financial reporting standards WOUld be used by almost everyone globally. One of the biggest results from implementing these standards is the benefit of an increase in global capitol, and higher confidence in the global economy. With the global world being like it is, it gives more opportunities for international students to come to the US to attend school and major in accounting. This can be looked at as both a good thing and a bad thing. A benefit of it is that they can go back home and share what they have learned and implement it into their accounting practice. However, any international students who may choose to stay and work here in the US will create an off supply and demand in the job market, as the more accountants that there are, the fewer jobs that will be available. And because of the global market flourishing as it has been, accounting careers in the future are dependent on having enough knowledge and education. There is also a chance that if they work for one of the big international companies, accountants need to be prepared to work in an international workplace. The International Accounting Standards Committee is in charge of setting the global principles. The main idea was to determine a set of guidelines that could be adapted by those countries that did not have a set already to abide by. And over the last decade the majority of countries in the world have adapted to international accounting guidelines. One of the biggest downsides for countries to accept the new set of guidelines is that they will lose any of the traditional ways that they had been using. Another downside to making the transition is the cost to do so. The costs can be incurred when the companies bring in outside accountants to ensure that they are following the guidelines correctly. And any county that changes to he new guidelines will have the financial cost of passing new legislation for it as well as passing on the changes to all businesses and their stock market. And last, there is the cost for business for them to have to train everyone to the new principles, as well as additional costs for all universities who will have to add the appropriate curriculum. Based on these articles, they say a lot of the same information, and some take the issue into a different direction. But the overall thought for all of them is that the accounting profession is ever changing and we will all be using the same guidelines and regulations. This recess is not a quick one and is time and cost consuming, but in the end will be worth all of the hassle and headaches. The insight to adding more managerial accountants will be beneficial for new up and coming accountants as well as any current managerial accountants. Factors Up until now there have been differences when it came to financial reporting. But now there is an international consensus that the financial reporting should consist of only high quality, consistent financial information that can best serve the needs of the investors. Within the last ten years there has been a merging of global accounting practices. And with this there have been several factors that have contributed to the merge. The first one is that large, multi-national businesses have started to apply standards from the county that they originate in. This can help to allow more than one approach be applied to an issue in a manner that is consistent with such guidelines as GAP. The second factor is that is has been encouraged of the SASS to develop specific guidelines that would allow transparent financial reporting that can be applied consistently globally. The last factor is that regulators and setters for national accounting standards continue to look for approached for eating accounting standards that are as consistent as those of other setters. Some of the national standard setters participate in global projects in order to have a bigger range for accounting issues. Causes There are several reasons that could pin point the cause of all oftenest issues. One reason is because the United States did not pay a lot of attention to the companies that they competed with in the global market, as they didnt see a lot of competition from anyone. However, by the time that the assays hit, the United States was at a major disadvantage to the companies globally who had en working to enhance their competitive edge due to necessity. Another cause is due to the normal accounting style that was usually taken by American businesses which was not centered around being a team or being up to date on information. Instead of making logical, information based decisions, they were going with gut feelings or personal feelings. This led to a lot of business issues and changes in the way that managers ran companies and organizations. This researcher has read a lot of articles about this particular topic and have found some more reasons for the causes and effects of the global economy. One of the biggest reasons that was found that it stems from the governments of country who enact all of the rules that tell everyone how and when they can do business and how they are to report all of their finances. And with each additional year, more and more regulations are put into place in order to protect their shareholders and investors, consumers and employees. However, with all of these regulations that are put into place to protect investors and everyone else, the companys and businesses are not protected. Now an upside to all of this is that with GAP and FIRS merging together, there is a higher demand for professionals o fill the accounting and financial needs just to keep up with all of the regulations. One Of the biggest causes for this situation is based on all of the corporate scandals and financial crises that we have seen up to this point. Because of these, rules and regulations have become stricter in the financial sections of business. Along with this, lending standards have become a lot tighter which then leads to an increase in audits, leading to proof of a companys credit worthiness. With the changes in standards, it is also producing new curriculum in colleges and universities in order to meet the emend for the new graduates in the accounting and finance fields. This researcher plans to measure the current state by looking into the practices of our business and see the methods that are currently being used and if they are adhering to the guidelines that have been put in front of them. With the way businesses are changing for globalization, we need to make sure that we have a good managerial accounting practices as well as financial accounting practices. We need to make sure that we are looking at what our opportunities are for our company and watch what our competitors are doing ore closely, so that we can keep an upper hand on our market share. We need to do our research and make sure that we are making informed decisions that are best for our company and not relying on what we think might be a good idea. We need to make sure that we are planning ahead and budgeting accordingly so that we can make the right choices to advance Our companys global presence. All of these things will help us to be a more global company and stay ahead of the curve in our markets. This researcher would measure the success of the solution by analyzing the changes that have been made and compare them against where they should be at. The methods would also be analyzed to ensure that they are still being utilized and that they are working correctly. There would also be a committee set up to monitor periodically to ensure that the guidelines are still working and being followed. Data Collection When the collection of data is done, this researcher will be analyzing it to see how well the company is taking to the new accounting procedures as well as if everything is being followed as expected. When implementing new rules and regulations, it is vital to ensure that they are understood completely and that there are not any issues remaining that need to be taken care of. For the data collection for before and after the new regulations and procedures there will be a few methods that will be utilized that will be helpful in getting the information that is needed. The methods that will be utilized are surveys, interview and observation. A survey can be used to find out what the feelings are for the methods that were currently being used prior to the new regulations and procedures. Surveys are also a good tool that can be used to see how the employees and upper management are feeling with the comfort of the new procedures as well as any areas that they personally feel that they loud use help with. The interview process, like the survey, is also a great tool for seeing how everyone is feeling before and the new regulations are implemented. But interviews are a little more in depth when compared to surveys, and researchers can go beyond the survey questions and get more detailed on how the employees are feeling about everything. And lastly, observation is key to seeing first-hand how everything is being handled. By using observation, it is possible to see how well the regulations are being implemented and if they are going as well as stated in the interviews and revues. When this researcher went to analyze the data, all of the information collected from before and after the implementation of the regulations and was organized and prepared. The information was looked at to see how effective the prior methods were with the business functions. This gave an idea of what the strengths and weaknesses were, and where they were at. After that information was analyzed and documented, the data for the methods used after the new procedures were put into place was looked at. With this information, strengths and weaknesses were also analyzed and tote so that they could be discussed with management. Research analysis Once the research has been completed, a data analysis plan will be decided and this researcher will analyze and organize the information so that it can be reviewed with the company later on. It is extremely important to analyze the findings very carefully to ensure that everything is looked at and thoroughly examined. This information is what important business decisions are based on as well as future ideas for improvement and expansion. These results can also be used as an example for other businesses that are going thought the AMA process. After analyzing the collected information, this researcher found that the company worked well with the prior accounting procedures and everyone who was involved with using them were very skilled with the methods. The new regulations and procedures took a lot of training and teaching to get everyone doing the same thing. After observing the new procedures in place, this researcher found that everyone involved was able to make a smooth transition, and have since been able to abide by the new rules without much incident. It is the opinion of this researcher that this company s ready to move forward with the new plan in place and the future of the accounting with this company well on its way to being compliant. Ethical Concerns A company being ethical is one of the smartest things that they can do. Having actions and behaviors that are deemed appropriate will help to ensure that the company maintains a good outlook with the community, because one of the fastest things to go for a company who is not honest is their reputation. Having a reputation of being unethical can also have effects on other companies who feel that they could be affected by the bad publicity ND unethical reputation. An example of this is Enron. After the scandal in 2001 their reputation took a drastic nose dive and they have not been looked at the same since. The first big ethical issue that we see with globalization is problems with jobs. Jobs in first world countries such as the US have seen a decrease in the number Of positions that are available. O jobs require laborers and manual labor are seeing a lot of their jobs going overseas to third world countries where it is cheaper to have the work done. This in turn causes hardships on the workers in this country and other first world countries. Natural resources are a really big ethical issue that is in desperate need of being addressed. With all of the manufacturing, production and every other business that is being operated in this world, the natural resources that are needed to make them run are quickly becoming depleted, as the ecological capacity is not sufficient enough to maintain it. Also, the tropical rainforests are being cut down so that they can be used for fuel and pastured for cattle grazing. With the loss of the tropical rainforests, it is having a huge effect on the entire plants oxygen levels. The third big ethical issue that stems room globalization is the health issues that can result from it With the fact that traveling around the world from country to county, it is leading to the easier spreading of highly infectious diseases. Of course this issue isnt a new one as diseases have been spread like this since the Black Death in the 14th century. An example of a disease today that has been an issue is the swine flu, which has been spread through air travel. The last major ethical issue that is a result of globalization is financial issues. Because the world is becoming increasingly globalizes, there is a rapidly growing global market ND financial interdependency between countries. The US has also seen a collapse in the supreme mortgage, which ultimately had a worldwide effect which included depression. It is extremely important to identify the ethical concerns that may arise at some point. A company needs to be aware of where any issues that they have lie so that they can be taken care of before they get out of hand. It is also important to know what issues are possible so that the company can work to prevent those problems from happening. This can also be beneficial because if a company is aware of the biggest usual ethics issues, then it is possible that they could also be able to spot the little ones as well. The relationship between globalization and the ethical concerns are that all of those four topics are commonly found during this process. With the expansion of companies overseas, they typically look at the ways that they can save money, and therefore make more money. And the concerns that have come up are several of the ways that this can be accomplished for them. It is an unfortunate situation, but it is happening with a lot of countries and a lot of companies. The ethical concerns have a deep impact because whichever direction they go will have profound implications. If they proceed with the issues that are a concern and there are job losses or cause further depletions in natural resources, then it looks badly on the company and they get bad reputation. However, if the fix any issues that prevents the concerns from taking place then they get a great reputation of being an ethical company and continue to look great to the public and shareholders. This company has taken appropriate steps in order to try to lessen the ethical issues. Such Steps include recycling paper, bottles and NAS, and conserving energy. This step will help with the depletion of natural resources, as these steps aide in that effort. When it comes to the health issues, vaccinations are required as well as limiting the amount of overseas travel that takes place. This action will help with the spread of any diseases that could come over from other countries. After observing and researching the steps and efforts, it has been discovered that the efforts have been successful and the company is doing a great job with limiting any ethical concerns that could be had. This researcher, after analyzing and evaluating he steps and efforts put forward by this company feel that the rules, regulations and procedures have begun to be implemented successfully and this company is abiding accordingly. Also after researching the ethical concerns of this company and the steps that have been taken have also shown that they are not a lot of risk of concern. This researcher feels that this company is in a place that keeps them in good standing with the public as well as their stockholders. Conclusions The new methods that have been put into place have been successful and the employees are working well with them. The company has had workshops for he workers to train them with the new procedures and regulations and there has been a lot of Success seen. A couple more training sessions have been set, so that any residual issues can be taken care of and any last minute issues or questions can be answered. The progression with the recycling has also been successful and the company is also looking at other ways to save energy and resources. There are also steps that have been put into place that will help to maintain a low risk of unethical behaviors and concerns. A mandatory rule has also been implemented requiring anyone who travels for ark to have a yearly flu shot as well as any other immunization that may be necessary. This has made a huge difference with the amount of people who are sick as well as the viruses that are being spread to everyone. There are a couple of changes that can be made in order to ease the transition of globalization. The first change that can be made is the way competition is viewed. In order to stay competitive in the global market this company will need to look at how products are made and sold. One of the first things that can be analyzed with this how the companys pricing compares with those of intention in the market. By looking at this pricing can be altered if necessary. The quality of product compared to others on the market can also be looked at. This is one of the biggest and most important aspects that can make or break a product and can give a company a competitive edge. The next change that can be made has to do with technology. With globalization, technology has become a necessity. And with that, companies have to stay up to date with the newest and best technology that is on the market.