Archive for Management Accounting
November 19, 2008 at 6:02 am · Filed under Management Accounting
Elsevier announced today that the paper ‘CEVITATM: the valuation and reporting of strategic capabilities’, published in Management Accounting Research (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/mar), has received the Management Accounting Section (MAS) of the American Accounting Association (AAA) Greatest Potential Impact on Practice Award.
The article, published in Volume 15, Issue 1, March 2004, was written by Janek Ratnatunga, Norman Gray, and Kashi R. Balachandran. The award is sponsored by the Management Accounting Section (MAS) of the American Accounting Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Certified Management Accountants-Canada (CMA-Canada).
The “new types of measurements” that are needed for both tradable and non-tradable assets in order for organisations to meet the challenges present at the corporate, national and international levels, especially in the areas of strategic decision-making and valuation are explored in this article. The article states that the focus of attention in recent studies has been mainly on the valuation of intangibles, and argues that such a focus misses the point that it is the combination of both tangible and intangible assets that provide an organisation a true ‘capability’ that ultimately drives its economic value.
The approach proposed is to calculate the Capability Economic Value of Intangible and Tangible Assets (CEVITA) of an organisation, by leveraging its capability enhancing expenses to economic values by using specific Expense Leveraged Value Indexes (ELVIs). The authors illustrate a technique that will not only make these strategic valuations more relevant, but also shows how to report these tangible and intangible asset combinations in an organisation’s financial statements.
The Editor of Management Accounting Research, Professor Robert W. Scapens of Manchester Business School, United Kingdom commented “This paper and the award it has received demonstrate the potential for bridging the gap between academic research and professional management accounting practice. I’m delighted Management Accounting Research has published this award winning paper.”
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More information about the journal and submission of papers can be found on the journal homepage.
About the Award
The Greatest Potential Impact Award is one of two new awards sponsored by AICPA, CIMA, CMA-Canada and MAS-AAA. The award is presented annually at the Midyear Meeting of the Section to the author, or authors, of a single article with the greatest potential impact on practice. The article must have been published within the previous five years, and is selected by practitioner representatives from the organizations involved.
About Management Accounting Research
Published quarterly, Management Accounting Research aims to serve as a vehicle for publishing original research in the field of management accounting. Its contributions include case studies, field work, and other empirical research, analytical modelling, scholarly papers, distinguished review articles, comments, and notes. It provides an international forum for the dissemination of research, with papers written by prestigious international authors discussing and analysing management accounting in many different parts of the world.
Editor-in-chief Robert Scapens is emeritus professor in the Manchester Business School and professor of management accounting at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Authors are invited to submit their work to Management Accounting Research by uploading their manuscript to the journal’s on-line submision site at http://ees.elsevier.com/mar/, where they will find step-by-step instructions guiding them through the process. More information on submission can be found on the journal homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/mar).
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier’s 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.
Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier’s ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/e-mar111708.php
November 17, 2008 at 7:17 am · Filed under Management Accounting
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You may approach any of the outsourcing bookkeeping NYC firms to take responsibility of the accounting transactions of your firm. Supervising the work of an accounting department is quite a tedious and time consuming job. This is especially advisable for large firms who have huge turnovers and need many accounting experts to handle their tasks. Also, this helps them to cut down on their expenses that are spent on the in-house accounting department due to basic manpower requirements and handsome salaries that are demanded by these professionals. However, if yours is a small business, another alternative available is to look for individual bookkeeping NYC experts.
Timely and accurate management of work is mandatory to when it comes to bookkeeping NYC professionals. So, you can go through customer’s testimonials of the professional you are planning to hire, irrespective of the fact if he is an individual accounting professional or an accounting firm. Needless to say, asking for references from friends and family is also a good idea to find a reliable and efficient solution for the bookkeeping needs of your company. So, do not delay this anymore and initiate your quest for a suitable bookkeeping NYC professional today! After all, delaying bookkeeping tasks is like giving an invitation to problems in future. Hence, there is a lot that bookkeeping NYC professional has to handle and their role in the organization cannot be ignored at any cost.
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http://internetbusinesshub.blogspot.com/2008/11/bookkeeping-nyc-for-easy-management-of.html
November 10, 2008 at 8:06 am · Filed under Management Accounting
For those who have despaired of getting through MAFA (management accounting and financial analysis), the November 2008 paper should have come as a relief.
Question 1 (20 marks) — on capital budgeting: A question on capital budgeting after a long time.
Has inflation in it, suggesting that money discount rates are to be applied. All cash flows and discount rates are to be taken as being in money terms unless stated otherwise. Compute cash flows associated with continuing with existing operations only. Compute cash flows associated with running with new machine. Ascertain incremental cash flows and discount at 20 per cent.
If NPV (net present value) is positive, get new machines else continue with old machine. Whether the given labour cost of existing machine is of three years ago or is as of today is unclear. It could be considered as of now because the number stacks up with that on retrenchment pay. Other numbers begin three years ago. That’s a novelty for sure.
A lengthy but not difficult question that requires a few assumptions to be clearly stated.
Question 2(a) (12 marks) — on mergers and acquisition: Numbers identical to problem that are solved in classes to explain the art associated with deciding swap ratio. Five quick ratios need to be computed. Based on that, the financially stronger company is to be identified. Based on given swap ratio EPS of merged entity is to be computed. To ascertain the gain for the target company, the adjusted EPS needs to be computed.
In computing market price PEM of acquiring company is to be taken. To assess the gain for the target company, the adjusted market price is to be computed. If one forgets that he can kiss his marks goodbye.
Question 2(b) (8 marks) — on mutual funds: Similar to a question that appeared in May 2005. Should be easy to solve. Reinvestment dividend has to be converted to units at given NAV. For bonus scheme there will be no dividend.
Question 3(a) (6 marks) — on international finance: Identical to a question that appeared in a former exam even the number and exchange rates are unchanged. Is 18 per cent per annum cheap? Or is 2 per cent per annum plus 2 per cent LC charge plus currency appreciation/depreciation cheap? This is the crux of the question. The exchange rates are heavily dated.
Question 3(b) (6 marks) — on portfolio management: Basic question on risk, return and dominance. Anyone who has read the subject should not have difficulty cracking it.
Question 3(C) (8 marks) — on international finance: Short notes on GDR and interest rate swaps. Easy to write
Question 4(a) (8 marks) — on leasing: Elementary question on leasing vs. borrowing and buy decision. The present value method can be adopted. The after-tax cost of debt is the appropriate discount rate under this method. The short-cut method can be used to arrive at present value of borrow and buy option.
Question 4(b) (6 marks): Question on CAPM
Elementary question requiring computation of cost of equity using CAPM. Finding out fair market price using dividend valuation model with cost of equity from CAPM.
Question 4(c) (6 marks) — international finance: Short notes on financial engineering. Nice question but unsure how many would have written it with élan. No offence meant.
Question 5(a) (6 marks) — international finance: Very interesting question on triangular arbitrage, normally worked in most classes. Use cross-rate concept to arrive at the fair exchange rate and compare it with actual rate to decide arbitrage. Alternatively progress with the given dollars convert to rupees, then to pound and back to dollar to check arbitrage gain. Further convert dollar to pound, then to rupees and then to dollars to check arbitrage gains. Yes, two checks need to be done.
Question 5(b) (8 marks) — financial services: An old exam question on factoring with numbers changed. The question had also appeared in PCC earlier. Straight arithmetic. Would have been done in most classes being an exam question.
Question 5(c) (6 marks) — on greenfield privatisation: Relevant practical question in today’s context.
Question 6(a) (5 marks) — on derivatives: Involves computing fair future price. The cost of carry model is to be applied. Either continuous compounding is to be done or calculation can be through just adding cost and deducting revenue. Some issues arise in this question. Borrowing rate for 1 month is said to be 15 per cent per annum where as the contract period is 3 months. You may have to assume same rate. Further dividend yield is given as 25 per cent. Dividend yield is a percent on current market price. At that rate the arbitrage is huge. Given the fact that face value is given, perhaps the questioner means 25 per cent on face value. At that rate the numbers are reasonable. An easy question but for the above needless confusion.
Question 6(b) (5 marks) — on bond valuation: Very simple question. Need to identify the discount rate. Computation of YTM, intrinsic value and current yield should be a walk through.
Question 6(c) (10 marks): Theory question on assumptions of CAPM and on forward vs. futures. Both should be cake walks. While one question (20 marks) can be considered lengthy, it’s conceptually easy to solve. With one question being a novelty (12 marks) from an exam perspective it’s a question that would have been done in most classes. With 22 marks coming from questions nearly identical to those in past exams, I guess a student cannot really complain. 90 out of 120 marks are from problem solving which is as it should be. All the chapters barring risk analysis have been covered which is one nice way of setting a paper. In retrospect, a balanced paper one in which a can score lots of marks.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/mentor/2008/11/10/stories/2008111050510700.htm
November 8, 2008 at 1:55 am · Filed under Management Accounting
Job Description
* Based in Hong Kong and reporting to the Finance Director of the one of our Listed Companies
* Responsible for budgetary control and management accounting of Business Units within the Listed Company
* Develop and implement efficient internal controls for respective Business Units
* Responding to ad-hoc / special projects
* Frequent travel to the PRC
Requirements
* Qualified Accountant with minimum 10 years experience in China is preferred
* Be analytical thinker with excellent communication skills and strong business acumen
* Possess extensive exposures in China business environment as well as JV operations and be familiar with PRC banking, taxation, legal and government regulation and practice
* Excellent interpersonal skill
* Self motivated, independent, proactive and adaptable
* Excellent command of English and Chinese, fluent in Putonghua
Application
Interested parties please mail your application to HR Director, 28/F Bank Of China Tower, Central, Hong Kong or e-mail to hr@sch.com.hk
http://classifiedpost.scmp.com/jsregular.php?adjobid=J2286395&jobno=K01&lcid=HK.EN&comid=6484
