The formation and objectives of the IFAC

The formation and objectives of the IFAC IFAC the (international federation of accountants) is a non governmental and a global organization for accountancy professional, formed in 1977 in Munich -Germany at the 11th world congress of accountants. Currently there are 164member bodies in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing over 2.5 million accountants. Source: Q FINANCE The complex world of international auditing regulation. Objectives of IFAC The main functions of IFAC are to guard the interest of the public by developing international standards, promoting international convergence and contributing to the development of the accountancy profession worldwide. Source 16th Jan 2008.Allen Blewitt, ACCAs chief executive, goes head to head with Ian Ball, IFACs chief executive, in a wide-ranging discussion of IFACs work and the added value it offers both to its members and to accountancy professionals worldwide .What does IFAC actually do for me ? (http://www.accaglobal.com/members/publications/accounting_business/archive/2008/january/3059282). Formation of IFAC From a very long period of time, it was believed that accountancy showcased itself as an international profession, but it was only during the early 1960s that initiatives regarding the international standardization in accounting and auditing practices bechanced. In the year 1962, the 8th global congress conducted in New York conceptualized the idea of setting the international standards that would govern the accounting and auditing practices worldwide. However during the year 1967 in order to examine the needs of accounting profession, the 9th global congress constituted the international working party and to report back to the next international congress held in Sydney (1972). In the 1972 congress an International Co-ordination committee for accounting profession (ICCAP) was formed, following the report of the international working party. Apparently the ICCAP had also been given the remit to recommend changes for widening its work, but opinions continued to be divided, at times there were discussions about the expansion of ICCAP to become an INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS. Thus after due consideration the final report of ICCAP declared the proposed constitution of IFAC. Source THE FORMATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS by Prof Christopher Humphrey, Manchester Business School, England and Anne Loft, Lund University, Sweden. (http://www.ifac.org/download/ifac_history_article_2-2007.pdf ) Setting Standards, Making History: The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), 1977-2007 by Prof Christopher Humphrey, Manchester Business School, England and Anne Loft, Lund University, Sweden. Transparency and alliance with member bodies is the main aim with which the organizational structure of IFAC has been designed. The IFAC council consists of 15 National representatives (a president, deputy president and 2 vice presidents).The main objectives of the IFAC council and the board is to look after the overall governance and the management of the organization. The council and the committee members are country representatives (if there are two or more member bodies in the country they will be collectively represented by the appointed national representative). Source http://www.ifac.org/About/2009-annual-report/ifac/structure/index2.html PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY IFAC INFLUENCING THE FINANCIAL REPORTING /AUDITING PRACTICES WORLDWIDE Introduction to the general standard setting initiative taken by IFAC Development, promotion and enforcement of globally recognized standards are the only fundamental way to protect public interest. The above mentioned criteria are also the only means to ensure the prospect of information upon which investors and other stakeholders rely on. The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), International Ethics standards board for accountants (IESBA), International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) are collectively referred to as the public interest activity committee and they follow a rigorous process in a transparent, efficient and effective manner that supports the development of high quality standards in the public interest. These independent standard setting boards have consultative advisory groups which include public member and the publics perspective. Another initiative taken by IFAC with regard to the standard setting process is the Compliance program established by the IFAC board that evaluates the quality of the IFAC members and associates as to whether they use the best possible criteria to initiate a standard. The Compliance Advisory Panel (CAP) oversees the implementation and operation of the IFACs compliance program. IFAC initiates standard setting boards not only highlighting to the professional accountants (Professional Accountants in a Business committee) and public interests but also several initiatives have been taken to address the issue of the small and medium business and the developing nations. Such as the formation of Small and Medium practice committee that ensures standards produced are applicable to Small and medium practices (SMPs) and Small and medium entities (SMEs).The Developing Nations Committee which oversees the interest of the developing nations and the Transnational Audit Committee that deals with the needs of the members of Forum of Firms(FoF). BACKGROUND ON THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS (Pg 4- 6)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦web.ifac.org/media//d/international/background-information-on-t.pdf

Erp as Software as a Service (Saas) for Smes

ERP as Software as a Service *(*SaaS*)* for SMEs Table of Contents Page Abstract The main barriers for implementing ERP systems in SMEs were constraints in terms of resources and information, implementation time escalations, poorly defined organisational structures, weak formalisation of procedures or processes, unclear and also confused understanding amongst the employees and management. There are various methods to overcome the barriers of implementing ERP solutions in SMEs. This include coming up with a realistic value-adding processes required to be incorporated in the proposed ERP system, providing effective education on ERP systems, making sure as a vendors, they do not just provide lip service and to involve everyone in the whole system’s lifecycle. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is an online delivery of softwares (Dubey & Wagle 2007). The model is uncomplicated and appealing wherein companies signs up to the use the solution which is hosted by the vendors that sells and/or develops the software rather than spending large sums on an application such as ERP and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and installing this software on individual machines (Dubey & Wagle 2007; Banham 2008). All of the major software vendors are now offering its solution on SaaS model basis – SAP, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Salesforce. com are all staking their claims. Introduction SME Definition â€Å"companies with less than 250 employees, total assets under 27 million Euros,_ independent privately held_ and _ _owner-managers or their families manage the company personally (Loecher 2000; Sogorb 2002)†. _ Why ERP vendors are focusing on SME’s Barriers to implementation of ERP systems in SME’s It was found that the main barriers for implementing ERP systems in SMEs were: constraints in terms of resources and inf ormation, implementation time escalations, poorly defined organisational framework, informal and also non-orderly procedures or processes, unclear and also confused understanding amongst the employees and management. Each of these factors is now discussed in turn. _Figure 1: ERP implementation issues (source: Bernroider & Leseure 2005)_ How ERP vendors can overcome these barriers SaaS Technology Some other advantages of working with SaaS models include: low introduction and subscription costs and faster initiating speed (Kaplan 2005; Torbacki 2008), elimination of license and upgrade costs (Torbacki 2008), predictability of costs (Torbacki 2008), ow TCO costs (Total Cost of Ownership) due to lack of necessity of major investments in servers, databases and maintenance (Torbacki 2008), generating a greater ROI than traditional software packages (Kaplan 2005) no requirement of installing any software on a workstation (Torbacki 2008), online access from any location with an Internet connection (Torbacki 2008), continuous opportunity to the newest software versions and business technologies (Torbacki 2008), customers no longer require the large support staff for applications (Bontis & Chung 2000; Kapl an 2005) {draw:frame} Figure 2: Types of SaaS used or considering of using (source: Kaplan 2009)_ An example of one vendor’s SaaS offering Nationwide Express Farwest Steel Corporation SaaS alternatives have become more pervasive and observed fast development, and their cost-effectiveness, operational reliability become more obvious and there are a growing number of enterprises of all sizes that are generating performance improvements and measurable cost savings as a result of adopting SaaS. For SaaS vendors, they must focus on make possible easier deployments to avoid the need for pricey consultation support. Also they should truly deliver lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and offer more robust strategies for integration that acknowledges the current volatile environments and also in the near future. Finally, the SaaS solutions offered must be simpler, more agile, more robust, and more intuitive and worthy of all the investments allocated. References Banham, R 2008, ‘Up and Away – Companies are feeling a little less trapped by spreadsheets these days’, CFO Magazine, viewed 19 October 2009, Bernroider, E. W. N & Leseure, M. J 2005, ‘Enterprise resource planning (ERP) diffusion and characteristics according to the system’s lifecycle: A comparative view of small-to-medium sized and large enterprises’, Working Papers on Information Processing and Information Management, Institute of Information Processing and Information Management, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. http://epub. wu. ac. at/dyn/virlib/wp/eng/mediate/epub-wu-01_84b. pdf? ID=epub-wu-01_84b Bontis, N & Chung, H 2000, ‘The evolution of software pricing: from box licenses to application service provider models’, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 246-255. Christodoulou, M 2009, ‘How big is an SME? Confusion over size could complicate international rules’, Accountancy Age, pp. 7 http://www. accountancyage. com/accountancyage/analysis/2246584/big-sme-confusion-size Deep, A, Guttridge, P, Dani, S & Burns, N 2007, ‘Investigating factors affecting ERP selection in made-to-order SME sector’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 430-446. Dubey, A, Wagle D 2007, ‘Delivering Software as a Service’, The McKinsey Quarterly. http://www. mckinsey. de/downloads/publikation/mck_on_bt/2007/mobt_12_Delivering_Software_as_a_Service. pdf European Commission 2009, ‘SME Definition’, viewed 17 October 2009, Gartner 2009, Gartner Sur vey Shows Many Users are underwhelmed by Their Experiences of SaaS, viewed 17 October 2009, Harindranath, G, Dyerson, R & Barnes, D 2008, ‘ICT Adoption and Use in UK SMEs: a Failure of Initiatives? , _The _Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation, Volume 11, Issue 2, pp. 91 – 96. IBM 2009a, Software as a Service, viewed 17 October 2009, IBM 2009b, ‘Managed server services’, viewed 17 October 2009, IBM 2009c, Software as a Service from IBM and Innovative Computing Corp. delivers speedy customer service for Nationwide Express, IBM Software as a Service, viewed 18 October 2009, Jacobson, S, Shepherd, J, D’Aquila, M & Carter, K 2007, ‘The ERP Market Sizing Report, 2006–2011’, AMR

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge

The National Wildlife Refuge Service is the worlds largest collection of protected areas dedicated to wildlife preservation, more than 150 million acres of strategically located wildlife habitat protecting thousands of species. There are wildlife refuges in all 50 states and U.S. territories, and most major U.S. cities are no more than an hours drive from at least one wildlife refuge. But how did this system of wildlife preservation begin? What was Americas first national wildlife refuge? President Theodore Roosevelt created the first U.S. national wildlife refuge on March 14, 1903, when he set aside Pelican Island as a sanctuary and breeding ground for native birds. Location of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is located in the Indian River Lagoon, on the Atlantic coast of central Florida. The nearest town is Sebastian, which lies just west of the refuge. Originally, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge included only 3-acre Pelican Island and another 2.5 acres of surrounding water. Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge was expanded twice, in 1968 and again in 1970, and today comprises 5,413 acres of mangrove islands, other submerged land, and waterways. Pelican Island is an historic bird rookery that provides nesting habitat for at least 16 species of colonial water birds as well as the endangered wood stork. More than 30 species of water birds use the island during the winter migratory season, and more than 130 bird species are found throughout the entire Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge also provides critical habitat for several threatened and endangered species, including manatees, loggerhead and green sea turtles, and southeastern beach mice. Early History of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge During the 19th century, plume hunters, egg gatherers and common vandals exterminated all the egrets, herons and spoonbills on Pelican Island, and nearly destroyed the population of brown pelicans for which the island is named. By the late 1800s, the market for bird feathers to supply the fashion industry and adorn ladies hats was so lucrative that plume feathers were worth more than gold, and birds with fine plumage were being slaughtered wholesale. The Guardian of Pelican Island Paul Kroegel, a German immigrant and boat builder, established a homestead on the west bank of the Indian River Lagoon. From his home, Kroegel could see thousands of brown pelicans and other water birds roosting and nesting on Pelican Island. There were no state or federal laws at that time to protect the birds, but Kroegel started sailing to Pelican Island, gun in hand, to stand guard against plume hunters and other intruders. Many naturalists became interested in Pelican Island, which was the last rookery for brown pelicans on the east coast of Florida. They also took a growing interest in the work Kroegel was doing to protect the birds. One of the most influential naturalists who visited Pelican Island and sought out Kroegel was Frank Chapman, curator of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a member of the American Ornithologists Union. After his visit, Chapman vowed to find some way to protect the birds of Pelican Island. In 1901, the American Ornithologists Union and the Florida Audubon Society led a successful campaign for a Florida state law that would protect non-game birds. Kroegel was one of four wardens hired by the Florida Audubon Society to protect water birds from plume hunters. It was dangerous work. Two of those first four wardens were murdered in the line of duty. Securing Federal Protection for the Birds of Pelican Island Frank Chapman and another bird advocate named William Dutcher were acquainted with Theodore Roosevelt, who had taken office as President of the United States in 1901. The two men visited Roosevelt at his family home in Sagamore Hill, New York, and appealed to him as a conservationist to use the power of his office to protect the birds of Pelican Island. It didnt take much to convince Roosevelt to sign an executive order naming Pelican Island as the first federal bird reservation. During his presidency, Roosevelt would create a network of 55 wildlife refuges nationwide. Paul Kroegel was hired as the first national wildlife refuge manager, becoming the official guardian of his beloved Pelican Island and its native and migratory bird populations. At first, Kroegel was paid only $1 per month by the Florida Audubon Society, because Congress had failed to budget any money for the wildlife refuge the president had created. Kroegel continued to watch over Pelican Island for the next 23 years, retiring from federal service in 1926. The U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System The national wildlife refuge system that President Roosevelt established by creating Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and many other wildlife areas has become the worlds largest and most diverse collection of lands dedicated to wildlife preservation. Today, the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System includes 562Â  national wildlife refuges, thousands of waterfowl protection areas and four marine national monuments throughout the United States and in U.S. territories. Collectively, these wildlife areas total more than 150 million acres of managed and protected lands. The addition of three marine national monuments in early 2009—all three located in the Pacific Ocean—increased the size of the National Wildlife Refuge System by 50 percent. In 2016, public land advocates nationwide were shocked when armed gunmen took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. This action at least had the benefit of bringing to the publics attention the importance of these lands, not only for wildlife but also for people. Edited by Frederic Beaudry

Drugs A Dominant Dilemma - 2393 Words

For numerous generations now, drugs have been a dominant dilemma in our society. The fact that not only drug issues increased rapidly but drug related problems are on the rise. Using drugs increases the risk of injury. Car crashes, falls, burns, drowning, and suicide are all linked to drug use These substances affect the body in many ways, including the exchange of information within the brain, is slowed. The usage of drugs ruins the users looks, makes them depressed, and contributes to slipping grades. Although it is illegal for someone to purchase, possess, or consume alcohol under the age of 19, many teenagers do. In addition to breaking the law, these teenagers put themselves into vulnerable situations, that can change their lives†¦show more content†¦Most people that use these illegal substances go on to doing more serious crimes such as rape, murder, and suicide. Drugs and alcohol have damaging effects on the mind, body, and personality, it is advisable to stay away fr om them. Most of teens are getting help from family members to get drugs, which is a huge part of the problem. As stated in the article Drugs Even Affect Kids, 65% of drug addicts get access to the drink via there closes family and friends. This is causing teens to think that it is okay to do drugs, and this is also showing lack of parental support. If teens see that other people are doing something, or people they look up to such as parents doing something then they are going to think it is okay. Being in high school, you are opened up to some of the teens and parents that are doing this for their children, so you see it going on. A major cause of doing drugs is because of all the stress teens are dealing with. They are doing drugs in this case so they can create a way to escape from their problems. Red Ribbon week explains, quite a few have similar feelings that that the go through, for instance, depression or stress that can be caused by problems at school or with family friends. This has a tremendous impact on their decisions with drugs and alcohol.† Nowadays teens are exposed to a lot more school work and job related things that they feel they have no time to get any of it done, so it builds up a large amount of