Corporate Accounting: Regulations, Disclosures, and Analysis of Public Listed Companies

CORPORATE ACCOUNTING

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The trust as well as confidence of the general public is not the same as before in the fields of
accounting and auditing because of the numerous scams that has taken place. In order to
regain the trust of public a special importance is given to enhance the quality and quantity of
the financial reports. The accounting standard board set up various regulations so that the
financial reports that are delivered is transparent and of good quality. These initiatives were
taken up by the board to win the trust and confidence of the users of such financial
statements. In this report, we will talk about the regulations which have to be followed while
preparing the financial reports and the disclosures that are required to be made. A brief
discussion about certain standard setting bodies has also been done. A comparative analysis
of the debt and equity structure of four public listed companies of Australia has also been
discussed.

Contents
CORPORATE REGULATIONS...............................................................................................3
ACCOUNTING STANDARD SETTING.................................................................................5
OWNERS EQUITY...................................................................................................................6
DEBT EVALUATION..............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................9
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................10

CORPORATE REGULATIONS
The financial statements prepared by the companies require the knowledge of an expertise to
maintain consistency. This will help in incorporating standardization. This results in
reduction of litigation risk from the view point of the auditor (Berry, 2009). It was observed
that many companies such as Enron and WorldCom was engaged in various scams which
forced the standard boards as well as the regulators to set such standards that would enhance
transparency and quality of the financial statements. We all know regulation is not a simple
process but it helps in promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of the financial economy.
The regulators must always check the impact of the regulations set up by them because this
affects the global growth. The main purpose to bring regulation reforms was for the sake of
the stakeholders of the company (Edwards, 2014). There are various users of the financial
statements such as shareholders, creditors; debtors etc who use this financial report for in
order take important decisions. Each of them is dependent on the information provided in the
financial statements differently. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the management to
prepare a financial report that gives true and fair view of the company to the stakeholders. It
is the responsibility of the organizations to follow the regulations that are set up by the
regulators but it is the responsibility of the regulators to analyze the financial reports prepared
by the companies and check whether it is standardize or not (Girard, 2014).
VOLUNTARILY DISCLOSURES
The transparency of the financial reports is closely related with the disclosure made in the
financial reports. The companies prefer disclosing information in the financial reports
voluntarily because this helps them to compete well with their competitors. If the company
makes sufficient disclosures, then the risk of hiding information reduced. So, the
organizations see disclosures as an opportunity. It is not possible for the company to survive
in the long run if it does not keep its stakeholders satisfied. In order to keep them satisfied the
company must make voluntary disclosure of a high quality. Voluntary disclosures help the
company in building its image and maintaining its reputation in the market. However, this
may also create suspicion in the minds of the people (Kuhn, 2013).
The disclosures that are not required to be compulsorily made because of the regulations but
the management disclose certain information itself, and then such disclosures are called
voluntary disclosures. The management of the company wants to provide a clear picture