Reference no: EM132303394

Question no. 1 -150 words with reference.

I do believe that the main goal of accounting harmonization is to have one set of international accounting standards. It seems that it would make sense for every company just to follow one set of international accounting standards because in order for businesses to grow and continue to be successful they must focus on globalization. "In a rapidly globalizing world, it only makes sense that the same economic transactions are accounted for in the same manner across various jurisdictions (Choi. F.D.S, 2003, Pg. 16.3)." To have multiple foreign subsidiaries that have multiple ways of reporting their financial statements could cause increased confusion when it comes to consolidating statements and could lead to the increased risk of misrepresenting financial statements. In our reading for this week the book referred to how Coca Cola has subsidiaries in more than 40 countries, how chaotic would it be to do a consolidated statement if each of those countries reported in their own local standard GAAP.

For companies that want to sell stock or borrow within a foreign company, that foreign country might want that company to present their financial statements in accordance to their standards. Companies have spent millions of dollars reconciling their statements so that they are in compliance with the foreign country's reporting standards. As far as U.S. GAAP goes, companies that report in accordance with IFRS no longer have to reconcile their statements, which saves time and money. If a company still wishes to follow the local reporting style of their country, they have no other choice but to reconcile to U.S. GAAP. After 2008 this rule was put into place as an incentive for companies to report using IFRS method so that they would not have to be concerned with the cost of reconciling their statements to U.S. GAAP.

Another reason why there should be a push for companies to follow one international accounting standard is that it would make it easier for foreign investors to compare financial statements between foreign companies. An investor would have to spend the time understanding the different financial standards of each company which could lead to increasing risk of the investor choosing the wrong company to invest in or it could lead to investors not choosing not to invest at all because the local standards may be to complex. This reason shows how both the companies and the investor lose by not having only one standard for international reporting.

I think that ultimate of goal of accounting harmonization should be to have all companies follow one uniform set of accounting principles. I believe that it does make accounting reports more transparent and allows investors to be able to compare financial information across companies easier. It is more efficient to have one set of standards versus multiple which cost companies more and increase the risk of inaccurate reporting or bad decision making. The negative of accounting harmonization is that it may force companies to rules that may go against domestic rules or laws. In reporting with IFRS companies may lose out on some advantages that it has with its local reporting standards.

Question No. 2 -150 words with reference

In order for one to grasps the concept of harmonization of accounting reporting; one would have to take a closer look at the reporting options that a business have. The two that are often used in the United States is generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and businesses that operate on an international level would use the international financial reporting standard (IFRS). GAAP is a common set of accepted accounting principles, standards, and procedures this criterion must be used by companies that operate in the United States (Kenton, 2019). IFRS set common rules so that financial statements can be consistent, transparent and comparable around the world; this practice is commonly used by other countries outside of the U.S. (Palmer, 2019).

I do agree with the statement to call forth a harmonization of accounting reporting. With the assumption that it would be combining both GAAP and IFRS to give a holistic view of what both entities have to offer. Each of the accounting reporting has similarities and difference that allow companies to thrive in their industry-specific markets. When looking at the performance elements of GAAP a company would have to report their revenue or expenses, assets or liabilities, gains, losses, and comprehensive income (Diffen, n.d). Whereas the IFRS performance elements include revenue or expenses, assets or liabilities (Diffen, n.d). The harmonization of both performance elements would look in into the importance of each performance elements and focus on the simplicity of each and how it could be integrated to a combine's performance element operating under one accounting reporting entity. Just thinking from an investor point of view if I was investing in a company overseas; I would want to know more about their gains, losses, and comprehensives income. This information, in particular, can show the financial health of the company. An investor would be able to see when the company is at its peak and when it's not.

I stand by the harmonization of accounting reporting but others might not support the idea. I say this because individuals have a hard time changing their ideas. As human beings individual get stuck in the way they do things and rarely like to be disruptive from a natural practice that comes easy to them. The one issue I could see with the harmonization would be the amount of errors within the first year incorporating both the GAAP and IFRS in to one entity can cause a bit of stress among those that process the financial statements.

In conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages would coincide with my ideas of why harmonization would work and why not. One main advantage would be to make the account reporting practice a little more simple for companies in the U.S. and globally to communicate with each other and would be a more centralized understand for investors. The disadvantage would be those that think "if it's not broken; why change it". Which be the Security Exchange Commission push back.

Question No. 3

Assessment Question: Prior Knowledge

As we move forward, please take a minute to share some of your prior knowledge.
What do you already know about statistics?
What did you learn about statistics in module 1?
What do you want to learn more about in statistics?
Your participation in this assignment will also count in your participation in the class.

Question No. 4 - Sub: Applied statistics of health care professionals.

Assessment Question: Value of this Course...

Take a minute and tell me what you think the value of this class will be for you. Please be completely honest with me and with yourself. There is a reason why this is part of your program of study, even though you might be asking yourself "why does a nurse have to learn statistics?"

Please write at least 2 sentences describing specific reasons related to the current or previous topics of random sampling, central tendency, and misrepresentation.

Your participation in this assignment will also count in your participation in the class.