Reflective Paper On MAA 310 Accounting And Society (Coursework Sample)

REFLECTIVE PAPER ON MAA310 ACCOUNTING AND SOCIETY
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Prompt One
By nature, business transactions require regulations, which may come from the government or from various agencies. Ideally, in most countries including Australia, accounting transactions are regulated by a set of accounting standards. In Australia, the company’s financial reporting and disclosure requirements are based on the Australian Accounting Standards (AAS), which have been developed, issued and maintained by Australian Accounting Standards Board (Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand 2016). The standards apply to both public and private entities in Australia. The regulation of accounting practices, particularly on listed companies, is important in maintaining transparency, accountability and accuracy of transactions. Besides, as it can be deducted from the public interest theory of regulation, such standards will be essential in protecting the interests of external stakeholders such lenders, creditors and investors who have direct financial interests in an entity.
In my view, the accounting standards in Australia are neither too lenient nor too tight. To be specific, I believe the country’s accounting practices are moderately regulated. Over the last decade, the degree accounting regulation in Australia has apparently been modified and relaxed. For instance, from 1st July 2013, AASB allows business enterprises to elect to use reduced disclosure requirements in their financial reporting. The changes in regulation from tight to moderate was arguably aimed at increasing the level of compliance among entities by reducing compliance costs, and creating a favorable business environment that could promote the efficiency of business activities and financial transactions. In addition, the move could have been made in response to the need to serve the self-interests of the companies, as illustrated by the private interest theory of regulation, which play a key role in the Australian economy.
Prompt Two
The recording and measurement of transactions has been practiced for a long time even during the periods of the early man. Today, recording and measurement is increasing occupying a considerable part of our daily affairs. This can be apparently seen in banks, capital and financial markets, shopping malls, learning institutions, and even in our homes.
Just like other technical professions, the practice of accounting is rounded on particular predetermined set of principles, assumptions and concepts, which have been broadly discussed in the underlying accounting literature. Drawing from the knowledge that I have learnt in this course, I can confidently argue that the recording and measurement of most business transactions are based on the historical cost concept. Here, an asset or liability is primarily recorded at its original cost; the fair value consideration surrendered (or received) in full exchange of that asset or obligation. Although widely used, the historical cost concept may result to understatement or overstatement of accounting profits (Cunningham et al. 2015). As an attempt to observe the qualities of accounting (relevance, comparability, understandability and especially on faithful representation), some firms have now opted for an alternative measurement approach: fair value, which is the price paid to handover a liability to another party or sell an asset in an orderly transaction carried out on the measurement date between two or more market participants.
Although some accounting concepts, assumptions and principles may seem confusing to many, it is possible to easily grasp and apply them. There is no one best way to understanding them since degree of understanding (in my view) depends solely on an individual. In my case, I am planning to start by mastering all the accounting terms through the use of acronyms (such as AR-Accounts Receivable, CR-Credit, DR-Debit, among others). Then, I will relate these terms with the underlying principles, assumptions and concepts in order to understand them better.
Prompt Three
The world is fast changing, and the profession of accounting must adopt to change with it. Ideally, today’s business environment has now been typically transformed from a local to a global village comprising of individuals from different social-cultural backgrounds. This state of transformation has been best be described by the concept of global citizenship, which recognizes the world as comprising of complex web o...