The typical accounting department offers from one to two dozen courses for the study only of American accounting. Now consider the problem of covering the accounting of all the remaining countries of the world in a single course. The magnitude of the subject effectively precludes any attempt at a purely descriptive or analytic approach. Instead, the writer has attempted to develop and present coherent patterns of international accounting variation. Emphasis has been placed on the forces and conditions which create international differences, rather than upon the differences themselves, and upon the varying responses to these forces in different countries. It is this framework, described below, that has suggested the course as a vehicle for the study of general theory. The common problems created in different countries by taxation of income provides another point of departure. Particular emphasis is given to the effects on accounting of tax devices which are more related to economic goals than to pure revenue production, such as the Swedish investment stabilization reserves and the now suspended investment allowances in Great Britain.

ABSTRACT: This article is intended as an illustration of the results obtainable from close scrutiny of publicly available information about a particular company. The analysis contained in the article is based solely upon a review of Natco Industries, Inc.'s published annual reports to stockholders, a prospectus, Securities and Exchange Commission registration statements, filings with the SEC in satisfaction of the periodic reporting requirements, and other public documents. Inquiry of a company's management (and/or its outside auditors, legal counsel, or others) with respect to accounting or other issues that an analyst finds troublesome or unusual is a common and useful tool of financial analysis. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the nature and extent of what can be generated by the financial statement user himself, purely from public sources.

Reviews the book, "Business Schools and the Challenge of International Business," edited by Stephen A. Zeff.

Reviews the book "The Bottom Line: Inside Accounting Today," by Grace W. Weinstein.

ABSTRACT: This study attempts to determine if the language of Form 10-K, the press release, and the annual report were consistent in reporting year-end results. A general semantics model was used to analyze linguistic qualities such as completeness, qualification, facts versus generalizations, appositives and references versus evaluations, signal, and propagandistic words. The Form 10-K and the press release sections were not significantly different when describing the same topics. The language of the annual report was significantly different from both Form 10-K and the press release. The results suggest that when describing the same topics, the language of the press release may be more similar to Form 10-K than may have been assumed by professional and governmental groups. Other reporting elements such as format requirements may play a greater role in influencing the perception of readability of disclosure documents than may have been commonly assumed. The press release may be more useful in providing 10-K topics which not only are more timely but also are consistent with the 10-K in the qualities of language employed.

ABSTRACT: The information about corporate income taxes disclosed in annual reports has changed significantly since the issuance of Accounting Series Release No. 149 in 1973. Several important issues remain unresolved, however, including the measurement of income tax expense for multiple corporate entities, the application of the indefinite reversal criteria for certain differences between book and taxable income, and the disclosure of current income taxes when the deferral method of accounting for the investment credit is used. Examples from corporate annual reports are used in this article to identify underlying reasons for these reporting concerns, and proposals for improved disclosure are offered.

Five years ago, Congress established The Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs to study public philanthropy in the U.S. One of the Commission's most significant findings was that accounting methods employed by nonprofit organizations were not codified, were outdated, and could result in abuses of financial disclosure. In response to these findings, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants established a group to study the problem and ultimately to codify new rules of accounting and disclosure. This group, the Non-profit Organizations Subcommittee of the Accounting Standards Executive Committee, published a discussion draft in February 1977. The Subcommittee received and reviewed some 300 responses from individuals and organizations to the discussion draft. An exposure draft containing revisions of the original discussion draft was published in April 1978. Some may wonder why accountants had not written such rules earlier. It was because most attention had been focused on commercial enterprise accounting. Also, the nonprofit area was not recognized as large enough to warrant attention, nor was it perceived that significant abuses could occur or were occurring.

This article reviews the application of present value techniques by several real estate companies to satisfy the requirements of SEC Accounting Series Release No. 190 and suggests that in the particular circumstances of this industry, the results may be more valid than in the usual industrial situation. Real estate companies tend to bemoan the conventional financial accounting requirement for depreciation of properties. Certain sayings, such as real estate tends to appreciate, not depreciate and a well-maintained property never depreciates, are taken as axiomatic in the industry. The conventional requirement that a provision for depreciation of properties be made in financial statements is a key point of contention. Properties are shown at constantly declining historical cost net book values in the balance sheet, when they are often worth considerably more than cost. Reported income is understated because of the same requirement. These two impacts combine to mislead investors in the opinion of the managements, and tend to cause share prices to be unduly depressed.

ABSTRACT: Actuarial cost methods designed for funding decisions about pensions are not necessarily designed for use in accounting reports about pensions. Various actuarial cost methods are explained and illustrated, with particular attention to varying treatment in these methods of "actuarial accrued liability," formerly called "prior service cost." Some actuarial cost methods generate actuarial accrued liability, while others do not. The FASB has required pension plans to use an actuarial cost method that in many cases reports a lower present value for the pension obligation in the early years of a pension plan than had been reported by the actuarial cost method formerly used by the employer. The degree of reduction in net present value of the pension obligation is reported for a sample of companies.