Audit and Assurance Case Study(SANCTUARY GROUP PLC) Essay

Audit and Assurance Case Study(SANCTUARY GROUP PLC) - Essay Example The Company's subsidiary, Bravado International Group Limited, operates as a merchandising company that specializes in exploiting intellectual property rights for more than 100 artists and brands. Live Agency even represents over two hundred twenty acts for live performance. Also, its business is carried out by the Company's subsidiary, Helter Skelter Agency Limited. This company operates as a booking agency. The following paragraphs will explain how audit strategy is related to the fairness of the financial statements of the. An audit(Pickett, 2006) is defined as the evaluation of an organization, process, system, project or product. In accounting, an audit is the independent assessment of the fairness where a company's financial statements are presented by its mangers or board of directors. It is done by competent, independent and objective person or persons, known as auditors or certified public accountants, who then issue a report on the results of the audit(Whittington, 1995). And, the audits are performed to determine the validity and reliability of financial information. Also, it provides an assessment of a company or a business' system of internal control. The accounting and related recording systems must adhere to generally accepted standards set by governing bodies that regulate how businesses should presented in terms of balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows. The audit should be based on random sampling and it should not be an assurance that financial statements are error free. Auditing also provides assurance for third parties or external financial statement users that such statements present 'fairly' a company's financial condition and results of operations.Further, effective risk management(Frame, 2003) will not happen overnight. Managers who want to enable their organizations to be better at managing risk must recognize that the road to effective risk management is definitely long, twisting, and occasionally hazardous. Beginning the journey is not as difficult. It may be even be triggered by a one-page directive issued by the chief operating officer of the organization following a small disaster, exhorting the organization to implement good risk management practices. But after the uninitiated, when the confetti has settled and the cheerers have been thrown away, the journey toward effective risk management is an uphill battle. In some way, what happens at this point is typical of many high-sounding corporate decisions. When light shines on the initiative, everyone scrambles to support it. When the senior managers turn their attention to other issues, the initiative begins to lose momentum, and without active support from top management, it falters. It may even hang on for a while until it dies and is buried. The risk related approach to external audit in the audit of Santuary Group Plc is based on control risk, audit risk and inherent risk. Audit risk is used to describe what is usually applied when in case of an audit of the financial statements of an entity. The first objective of the audit of the balance sheet, in

Executive Leadership discussion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Executive Leadership discussion - Research Paper Example A good plan can be implemented only by a person who has the knowledge, skills and leadership abilities (Ammons and Newell, 1989). A good leader is the driver for a business to reach the destination of success. Thus, executive leadership is what the business depends upon for success. All business organization will have multiple level of employees, and employees at higher levels make decisions while the employees at lower levels implement the decisions. The success of any organization is entirely dependant on the leadership qualities exhibited at the top level (Elliott,  Clement &   Lessem, 1994). If the organization has a good executive at the top, the management will be good. Good management transfers its effects to all levels of employees and this in turn improves output or production and the quality of the product. Rhonda Abrams (1991) believes that executive leadership is required for the effective growth of an organization. All managers in the organization should have leadership accountability and this accountability needs to be discharged by the leader for the overall growth of the organization. Executive leadership provides a practical approach for improving the decision making capacity of the managers at all levels. Decision making forms the basis of achievement of targets and overall development of the organization. The executive leaders have to take up the responsibility of building the organization. They make fundamental changes in the organization and implement them. They motivate the managers to accept the change in the best interest of the organization (Elliott,  Clement &   Lessem, 1994). According to Wyne R. Davis, these are a few requirements of an executive leader. An executive leader, who has the ability to carry out the above responsibilities, will make the organization successful in terms of business. The executive leaders are responsible to bring an overall positive change to the organization. They set the right goals and aims

Comparison of Financial Reporting Systems

Comparison of Financial Reporting Systems Comparison of financial reporting systems:  UK, France, Germany and Poland Introduction Although recent moves have been made towards the harmonisation of accounting and financial reporting systems within the European Union (EU), there are some differences between the ways that member states treat this issue (Ann Tarca, 2002). This paper compares the systems used in four member states, being the UK, France, Germany and Poland. In addition, it will also provide an evaluation of the harmonisation movement. Financial reporting systems The financial reporting systems of EU member states have evolved from their political, culture histories, and have different levels of regulatory control and responsibility. UK The accounting and financial reporting system in the UK has been developed in the main by accountants (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.485), although in latter decades the state and EU have had a significant influence upon its rules. Accountants have also been involved with the main legal regulations that apply to audits and reporting, such as the Companies Act 1989 and later amendments, including that of 2006. Historically, the UK reporting system has been geared towards meeting the needs of investors and therefore has a high level of transparency and disclosure. As such, the impact of the taxation system is of less importance than in other EU countries. This has led to some differences between taxable and accounting income (Blake and Amet, 2003, p.213). The thrust of the system is to achieve financial reports that show a true and fair value. Statements confirming this, and that â€Å"applicable accounting standards† have been used, or explanations for deviation from this, must be included within the report (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.287). Following the introduction of increased legal and regulatory rules of corporate governance, and the formation of the Financial Reporting Council (2004), responsibility for accuracy falls on auditors, directors and shareholders. â€Å"From 2005 UK listed companies must use IFRS for their consolidated statements† (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.103) France France has a much smaller accounting profession than the UK, with only 45 compared with 352 accountants per hundred thousand of the population (Saudagaran, 2003, p.10). Historically, its accounting system has been dominated by a macroeconomic central system and geared to providing information for government control purposes (Blake and Amet, 1993, p.114). Tax Law is the dominant influence and auditors are responsible to, and regulated by, the Ministry of Justice (Nobes and Parker, 2005, p.236). French accounting falls under the â€Å"National Accounting Plan† regulation, which is administered by the CNC (National Accounting Council). However, a peculiarity of the French accounting system is that the regulations apply to individual companies, but not to groups (Nobes and Parker, 2005, p.226). The regulation requirements call for a uniform chart of accounts with standard bookkeeping procedures, account title and classification numbering. For example, all individual companies must report salary and associated costs under account 641. Similarly, there are standard accounting statement formats as laid down by EU directives and a uniform procedural treatment for items such as fixed asset valuation and creation of legal reserves (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.301). There are also strict regulations with regard to the methods of depreciation and expense calculation for use in reducing tax liabilities. At present, the detail between French and IFRS reporting details and procedures differs significantly. Germany Like France, the accounting professions influence in Germany is low. Accounting rules are mainly determined by Tax law and Federal fiscal Courts, although these incorporate EU directives. The keeping of books and records is a statutory requirement of the German Commercial Code (HGB 1985) and historical cost accounting is operated with strict revaluation restrictions (Choi and Meek, 2005, p.79). Unlike the UK, the German accounting reporting system is heavily geared towards the protection of creditors and therefore, accruals and provisions tend to be high (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.301). The income results are also aimed at a conservative position. Asset valuation tends to be reported on a forced sale basis and the financial results must equate to the taxable position. In addition, there is a requirement for a value of one tenth of nominal capital to be held in legal reserves. Whilst the effect of the German accounting reporting system is to protect creditors, because of the impact on results, it has also led to a position that does not encourage outside investment into German Businesses. Whilst IFRS rules apply in Germany, it is only applicable to a limited number of organisations. The majority still use German regulations for financial reporting purposes (Nobes and Parker, 20-06, p.290). Poland Historically Poland, which is the largest ex-communist country to join the EU (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.229), came from a state dominated economy, where enterprises were not autonomous, with all aspects of business controlled by the state. The accountancy profession was not very strong (Sucher and Kosmala-MacLullich, 2004, p.484) and there is a lacked of skilled professionals that is still being addressed. Since returning to a market economy, Poland has introduced accounting regulations, embodied within the Accounting Act 1994 and subsequent amendments, which are regulated by the Accounting Standards Committee, set up in 1997. Under these regulations, all businesses are required to adopt an accounting plan. Whilst these regulations incorporate parts of the EU directives, it is primarily geared to the protection of the state and tax policies. Like France, the Polish state is the main instigator and influence on accounting reforms (Sucher and Kosmala-MacLullich, 2004, p.438) and, because of this their system is not inherently geared as much towards attracting investors as more market based economies like the UK. Similarly, although IFRS is widely used, there are significant differences in the Polish system (Nobes and Parker, 2006, pp.236-8). Summary As can be seen from the above individual country analysis, whilst accounting reporting systems may all have similar aims, namely to provide financial information to end users, there are a range of factors that influence and create differences in accounting reporting systems between nations. From an internal viewpoint, the differences are driven primarily by cultural, political and economic factors. Added to these are the influence of the accountancy profession, which is greater in some countries than others, and the domination of state taxation requirements. Externally, individual reporting systems may respond to perceived dominant position of the United States and growing stature of the European Union in international trade. From an investment stance, the growth of share ownership that has resulted from the global expansion of financial markets has also had an effect (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.6). Lastly, the changing face of commercial organisation because of the continuing globalisation of trade has affected their need for differing accounting reporting systems. As has been seen, multinational corporations require a significantly higher level of control in these areas than do nationally focused organisations. As Nobes and Parker (2006) earlier publications (1980 and 1998) have shown over the years, this has resulted in differing reporting classes of nations, between those who are driven by business or state and who have weak or strong equity markets. Harmonisation Historically the EU opposed international reporting standards, partially out of fear of the US dominance in this area. However when, by the early 1990’s it was shown that EU attempts at harmonisation was failing, it took on board international standards and became the most dominant force for change in this area (Nobel and Parker, 2005, p.105), certainly within its own community. Among the areas that the EU has dominated are the legalisation of enforcement, such as those used to support its 4th and 7th directives and the requirement for all corporations to adhere to international standards. By using EU regulations as a vehicle for this legislation, it is incumbent upon member states to incorporate these within domestic legislation. Although such legislation is not compulsory for multinational organisations for reporting, the EU â€Å"transforms them into EU standards,† (Flowers, 2002, p.273). The EU regulation has met with mixed reactions. Sir David Tweedie (2003, p.15) states that it provides the opportunity to â€Å"unite its [the EU’s][1] many national markets.† However, others state, â€Å"the reality is disparity and muddle† (Amat and Blake, 1993,p.5) The International standards are extensive and aimed to cover all aspects of financial reporting within corporations (Flowers, 2002, p.263). In general, they cover five main areas. These include treatment of assets and revenue; liabilities; accounting for groups; the context within which reporting takes place and disclosure statements (Nobes and Parker, 2000, p.6). In reality, the regulations have the effect of moving accounting away from the historical cost accounting format to a more current fair value system. Currently the international accounting and financial reporting system is subjected to thirty seven different standards (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.6), although this is likely to change in the future as further harmonisation and clarification is sought. Conclusion Despite IFRS and its joining with US GAAP in 2002, individual nations financial reporting differences remain (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.19). Attempts to harmonise the EU position across its member states are continuing but, until or unless the influences that attach to individual nations are addressed both internally and nationally, it will be difficult to achieve. As Gregoriou and Gaber’s (2006) publication reveals, internationally there are still numerous accounting systems in place. In the opinion of the author, the relevant national and international regulatory and legal bodies will need to be cognisant of national differences as they seek improvements and further harmonisation of the global accounting reporting systems that currently exist. However, it is apparent from the current direction of international standards that they will lead to the end of individual nations reporting standards and influences (Nobes and Parker, 2006,p.103) References Blake, John and Amat, Oriol (1993). European Accounting. FT Prentice Hall. Choi, Frederick D.S and Meek, Gary K (2005). International Accounting. 5th Ed. FT. Prentice Hall. UK. Feature (2003). IAS Who’s Who – setting the pace. Accountancy Age, UK 4th September 2003, p.15. Flower, John (2001). European Financial Reporting: Adapting to a Changing World. Palgrave Macmillan. UK. Gregoriou, Greg N and Gaber, Mohamed (eds.) (2006) International Accounting: Standards, Regulations, Financial Reporting. Butterworth-Heinemann. UK. Nobes, C. and Parker, R. (2006). Comparative International Accounting. 9th Edition. FT Prentice Hall. UK. Saudagaran, Shahrokh M (2003). International Accounting: A User’s Perspective. 2 Rev. Ed. South Western College Publishing. UK. Sucher, Pat and Kosmala-MacLullich, Katarzyna (2004). A Comparative Analysis of Auditor Independence in Economies in Transition. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, UK. Tarca, Ann. (2002). Achieving International Harmonisation through Accounting Policy Choice. University of Western Australia – Department of Accounting and Finance. Australia Footnotes [1] Brackets added by author

My Summer Vacation in Florida Essays -- Summer Vacation Essays

Have you ever been on a vacation? To me a vacation is a time to be with friends or family. When I think of vacations, I think of packing, the flight or drive, and relaxation. Not only is it very exciting to go on a vacation, but you get closer to the people that go with you. Linda, my best friend's mom had asked me if I would want to go with their family to Florida. When she asked me I thought she was kidding, but when she said, "I need to know because if you are I need to get you a airplane ticket," I knew she was serious. I was so excited I could have kissed her. I was going to Florida with my best friend, Lisa, and her family. The people from Lisa's family that were going were Tina, Randy, Ashley, and Linda. Tina is Lis'?s sister, Randy is Tina?s husband and Ashley is Tina?s daughter. Linda is Lisa?s mom and she was the only one out of all Lisa?s family I knew. Going on a trip packing is defiantly a priority. The whole week before the trip I had began packing. I didn?t realize how many things I was going to need until I started packing. I packed two suit cases full of clothes, but I figured I?d rather have more clothes because you never know what the weather will be like. I packed cards, connect four, guess who, I pod, and food so we wouldn't be bored on the flight. When I was done packing my mom asked ? Are you moving out?? The night before leaving I couldn't sleep. When I woke up that morning it was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining brightly, and the clouds in the sky looked like giant marshmallows. I was so excited because this was my first time going on a vacation. I had already put my suitcases and bags in my car the night before. After I said my goodbyes to my family, I was on my way. I met with Lisa a... ...icking because we didn?t want to miss our flight. Randy called the company where he had rented the van from and they came to pick us up. We made it to the airport just in time because when we walked in the airport they called our flight. This made us very relieved. The flight home went just as well as the flight there except this time I didn't have the butterflies. Overall going on a vacation is something I want to do more in the future. I learned many things from this vacation such as even though you go with some people you don't know as well, you get to know them and by the end of the vacation it's like you have known them your whole life. This vacation brought my friend Lisa and I closer because we experienced things together. Going on a vacation with someone makes your relationship stronger and you find out many different likes and dislikes about each other.

Development is dynamic

The goal can be reached only if the progress is checked and monitored at every stage so that immediate goals are appropriately realized which in turn will ensure the realization of the final goal. This verification of the progress is attempted by immediate feedback leading to knowledge of results and is intended to identify or detect a variety of factors.On the basis of this detection, ifficulties can be spot out and remedial measures can be taken to overcome these difficulties. Goal or Objective is being tested. explain how in th elesson taught each objective had a form of evaluation. For deffrentiating family types the worksheet was used. 3. Placement Function: Evaluation may conduct to determine whether the student can be promoted to a further stage, based on the realization o of the expected level. This function of the final evaluation is called the placement function.How they progress in the long term and short term. Short term the teacher must esure that the student is comforta ble with the topic taught before moving on to another. Long term the teacher must not only excel in social studies but all subject areas to move up in grade/standard. 4. Prediction Function: Another important function of evaluation is to predict whether the student is capable to undertake the anticipated objective or not. If a student succeeds in the evaluation it can be predict that he will be a successful candidate.On the other hand, if a student is found to be too poor, it can be predict that he will be a failure. or example if a student has to participate in an interschool competition the teachers must assess potential candidates to ensure they are up to par for the comoetition. example

Case Study Jyske Bank Essay

Jyske Bank was established in 1967 after merging four Danish banks operating in Jutland. Jyske Bank had been considered as a typical Danish bank, which is prudent, conservative, well managed and undifferentiated till the late 1990s. However, with the new strategy, the bank developed to guide differentiation from the mid of 1990s among great amount of Danish banking customer satisfaction. Q1. What is Jyske Bank’s new positioning or competitive differentiation strategy? Base on the case, Jyske Bank’s new positioning strategy is strongly believed to be developed from its core values and Jyske Differences by the managers. In order to achieve Jyske Differences, which comes from Jyske Bank’s core values, the bank’s managers just became overt about values they had long held. The core values allow managers to reevaluate how the bank operate and service its consumers. Therefore, managers decided to have some specific practices that deliver service differently from both how it had in the past, and how other banks delivered service. In other words, they would have to change their conservative position of the past and become a service driven and customer innovative bank within the competitive banking sector. With the assistant of Dutch consultant that the research findings showed the target market consisting mainly of Dutch families (60% retail) and small Danish businesses (40% commercial), were favorable towards the idea of bank that had a persona and believed in what it stood for. Additional research was also conducted in more difficult areas concerning the banks 4P’s- Product, Place, Price and Promotion from a customer orientated standpoint. In contrast, soft factors such as customer relationships with the bank, served as the bank’s differentiation. From Exhibit 1, which indicates that Danish Banks were in intensive competition, Jyske Bank’s managers should reestablish its competitive position, it went through a major transformation and positioned itself as a highly customer-focused bank, eager to foster relationships with customers, understand their needs and sell solutions accordingly. Jyske Bank’s new positioning is only targeted less risky customers who could afford its premium pricing and were comfortable with the banks candid personality and portrayed image. Although after that the bank  is only about 6% of the market, but that is what call personality, some people should dislike them. Jyske Bank’s competitive differentiation strategy was born out of its ‘values and differences’ discussed in the case Exhibit 4, which emphasized equality, transparency, honesty, respect and efficiency. The aim was to have these values embedded in each of the external customer-facing and internal aspects of its business and operations and distinguish itself from competition. Jyske Bank differentiated itself on the service delivery aspect and invested in tools that would improve its employee’s ability to deliver solutions and increase the time spent with its customers. Thus, the competitive differentiation strategies mainly contain a shift from traditional product focused selling to a customer- solution approach and the way the bank’s core financial product to deliver so as to give customers a different banking experience. Q2. What changes did the bank make to gat to its new position? What effect did these changes have? In order to successfully implement its new customer- focused strategy, Jyske bank had to make both tangible and intangible changes in their business operations, as well as how they delivered service to its customers, where necessary not only to influence the outcome of the business but also to provide guaranteed customer satisfaction. These changes were made to reflect Jyske Differences in every possible way. The tangible changes they made were changes to the account teams, branch design, and details. To be more specifically, account teams were created to work together and provide personalized service to each customer to foster customer intimacy and increase understanding of customer needs. The branch interiors were remodeled to make the customers feel welcomed and cared for. The round table design, similarity in chairs and customers sitting near the employees’ workstations was deliberate as it helped in the effective use of IT programs designed to structure interactions between account team members and consumers, that facilities the employee’s ability to deliver solutions and save time. Settle a cafà © inside the branch that provides homely environment to consumers. Those visible screens also reinforced the portray openness of information with the customer. The intangible changes were training involved  teambuilding and consumer service, empowering the branches as well as throughout the bank, management style, and human resources. The effect of these strategic changes as lead to an increase in customer satisfaction based on data collected by independent third parties and has the highest customer satisfaction level among its major competitors. Q3. Analysis Jyske Bank’s success using the Service Quality gaps Model. (e.g. what are Jyske Bank’s strategies for closing each of the 5 gaps in the model?) Service Quality gaps ModelJyske Banks’s success The customer gapThe bank was able to close this gap because providing customer with their superior services. They had only targeted the premium customer’s to whom the price did not matter. As a result of which they were able to provide the customers high quality services and were able to achieve minimum customer gap and highly satisfied customers. The listening gap (Not knowing what customer expect)Refer to competitive positioning of the bank; the â€Å"soft factors† relating to individual customer relationship are relatively important. Jyske Bank changed the way they deliver services and had come out with IT tool to first figure out the customer’s problem and expectations. They had dedicated a team of 4 employees per customer to get a better understanding of customer’s problems. A good marketing research orientation also benefits to decline the listening gap. They conducted surveys to detect customers’ expectations. Thus they highlighted that customers’ expectations had changed: factors like price, product or location had become â€Å"basics† for customers, who focused more on differentiating factors like bankers’ behavior and interest toward customers. Finally, the firm developed an effective relationship focus on what consumers need. They first decided to specialize only on t wo customer segments, Danish Families and Small-to-medium-sized companies, and to focus only on people sharing the Jyske Bank values. This strategy made it easier to understand customers’ expectations and to build long- term relationship with them. The service design and standards gap (Not selecting the right service quality designs and standards)To close the poor service design, absence of customer- driven standards and inappropriate physical evidence, the bank assigned a small team of branch bankers to serve each customer, which provided its customer with the best in class service in terms of the customer solutions and also provided customers with the best infrastructure facilities to make them feel at home, e.g. cafà ©, fruit juice, openness of banker’s screen. The service performance gap (Not delivering to service designs and standards)In human resource policies, the bank has an effective recruitment that looking for social abilities instead of banking skills. Jyske Bank was successfully able to retain its employees and provide them with adequate trainings. Jyske was not only the leader in customer satisfaction but was also a leader in employee satisfaction as well. The employees were provided with good incentives and were kept happy so that they could work. The communication gap (Not matching performance to promise)The bank provided interactive marketing communication plan to the customers that all the possible information that the customer required all the solutions are delivered to consumers. Jyske Bank also implemented a good upward communication to employees. According to their re-organization of the structure (dissolution of headquarters), which leaded to less layers between top management and front-line employees, and thanks to a good intern communication between managers and contact employees, customers’ expectations were transmitted easily and quickly trough the firm. Most employees like working for Jyske and appreciate to Jyske Difference. Q4. In your opinion can Jyske Bank’s sustain its growth and success? Would you invest in Jyske Bank? I think Jyske Bank can continue its growth and success and I am willing to invest in Jyske Bank. Because the bank already has its own competitive positioning that they made a lot of changes on service delivery in both tangible and intangible sides. Secondly, the leadership that Jyske Bank  established is also an important reason, Jyske was the largest and most richly- priced bank in Demark in 2003, and they achieved the leadership in customer and employee satisfaction, which enable Jyske to step further. According to the net income increased considerably, shareholders could receive growing annual return in coming years. Besides, Jyske Bank’s core value is to gain the balance among their three stakeholders: employees, customers and shareholders. â€Å"They were more interested in determining how the bank could remain in a position of leadership while still keeping the interests of its key stakeholders in balance.† Reference: http://thefinancialbrand.com/2893/jyske-bank-branch/