BA Accounting & Finance: Pandemic Impact and Accounting Regulations

This report critically evaluates several key ideas in accounting and finance, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of digital technologies. It examines how businesses have changed and adapted to the 'new normal' created by the pandemic, focusing on strategies like redirecting investments, online marketing, and adopting appropriate operating systems. The report also explores the increasing use of digital assets and blockchain technology, emphasizing the need for global accounting standards convergence to address the trans-border nature of digital business operations and services, highlighting the benefits of IFRS. Furthermore, it assesses the necessity for stricter regulations surrounding environmental and social accounting, considering theoretical and practical aspects to promote sustainable practices and responsible business conduct, ultimately underscoring the importance of integrating sustainability into accounting practices and corporate strategies.

Accounting and
Finance Theories and
Issues

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Critically evaluate the idea that businesses have changed and that the global pandemic has
created a new normal...................................................................................................................1
2. Critically evaluate the idea that the use of digital assets and blockchain is increasing. Also
research the need of global accounting standards convergence in relation to the trans-border’s
nature of digital business operations and contemporaneous digital products and services.........2
3. Critically evaluate the need for more stringent regulation around environmental and social
accounting by considering the theoretical and other aspects pertinent to this area.....................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Accounting is an important aspect for each and every business firm as it helps in analysing,
calculating, as well as summarising all the information and facts and that too in a very precise
format so that it can add value to the company in the long run scenario so that it can stand well
ahead of all its competitors in the market for a prolonged time period (ABU-TAPANJEH and
AL-SARAIRAH, 2021). This report covers a variety of aspects which includes various ideas and
concepts that are very crucial to take so that the pandemic which is COVID-19 due to which
almost all of the economies of each and every country experienced a downfall and thus the
measures that can be taken are evaluated and analysed in a detailed manner in the report
presented below.
1. Critically evaluate the idea that businesses have changed and that the global pandemic has
created a new normal
The pandemic wrecked havoc in the international market in the late 2019 and thus in the first
half of 2020 it made most of the nations to operate in a digitalised format and mostly shut the
industry irrespective of the sector and thus as a result many economies saw a downward trend of
falling growth and development in the long term. although there were many positives too for that
as individuals find out ways to create and make their mark in the industry so that they can
survive and thrive in the market but still most of the people found themselves in a sort of deep
trouble all throughout the pandemic. In fact, the worldwide epidemic has made its mark on the
usual functioning of enterprises and that too in a very negative way. As a result, companies must
use efficient ways to integrate into the new routine. The following are prominent examples of
these techniques:
 Transferring money is among the most effective tactics which has enabled numerous
businesses thrive throughout the Covid 19 period. These businesses recently redirected
significant investing money to a variety of industry categories. Basically, this is what has
aided these businesses in efficiently blending into the new routine and potentially
optimising their competitive position in the marketplace (Bassani and Cattaneo, 2019).
 Marketing qualities over the internet in current times, numerous firms have decided to
promote their principles via different modern networking channels. Surprisingly, this
method has assisted these organisations in reaching out to a large variety of prospective

clients, hence increasing revenue. As a result, these companies have been enabled to
efficiently thrive in the new regular environment whilst maximising profits.
 Choosing the most appropriate operating system as the epidemic has recently created a
significant downturn in the economy. As a consequence, the vast majority of consumers
now decided to purchase digitally. In this respect, it is critical to capitalise on the
circumstance. Surprisingly, this could be accomplished by determining the most popular
technology among clients. EBay, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart are examples of these
platforms. Crucially, it can assist these companies in increasing overall revenues and
potentially surviving in the normal way of life.
2. Critically evaluate the idea that the use of digital assets and blockchain is increasing. Also
research the need of global accounting standards convergence in relation to the trans-
border’s nature of digital business operations and contemporaneous digital products and
services.
The information which is held on an online world is referred to as electronic resources.
Photographs, tables, graphics, documents, and recordings are examples of technological
resources (Burnett and Merchant, 2020). They're a combination of digital bits that really is
straightforward to recognise and could be used to calculate a quantity. As a result of the advent
of many modern electronic forms, the concept of a virtual monetary unit is expanding. The
introduction of electronic property is the breakthrough phase in block chain, following the first
breakout of coins and following corporate application of block chain technology. The
reinvention of how wealth is transferred and handled is exerting a major impact already today,
and it would fundamentally alter the composition of several businesses. Free access network
technique's way of representing commodities on a virtual database and perform payments is
creating additional marketplaces for previously risky investments whilst still cutting potential
costs in post-trade processes. At its foundation, block chain technology is a system of
information systems. Anybody who has accessibility to the dataset can verify and supervise
every activity. They are therefore used in the authentication procedure for normal processing to
ensure that previous activities have still not been tampered with. They could establish a plan that
ensures the state's authenticity everybody maintains visibility to that information and operations.
Only the proprietor has the capacity to update the information, thanks to advances in electronic
encoding (Herawati, Dewi and Dewi, 2020). Other individuals, on either hand, could read whole

or incomplete information if the administrator permits it. Such rights might be time-sensitive,
which means they would invalidate until a certain amount of moment has passed.
Electronic Resources' Benefits:
 Information Breakdown control as it is a common misconception that perhaps the major
function of network block chain ledger is to avoid breakdown. In reality, it's primarily
regarding avoiding technical glitches or software defects against causing damage to the
network. This can have been needed for precise actual information duplication through
one repository to the next. When one of the machines serving information fails, someone
else might pick over wherever the first stopped out, guaranteeing that no information is
transferred.
 Data breaches are one means through that cybercriminals attempt to undermine networks,
and they require more protection and resilience. Because systems attempt to accept a
large number of requests, DDoS shielding could indeed be costly. DDoS attacks aim for a
dedicated processor, resulting in a node failures which does not present with a block
chain network. Exclusive DDoS protection systems which conserve throughput and thus
minimise expenses are being considered by several enterprises (Lepistö and Ihantola,
2018).
 A dataset is also utilised by specialised Online Privacy Administration services to handle
unprecedented access. The primary challenge is figuring out how to deal with the varied
users are allowed and confirming possession. Conventional companies allow mechanical
oversight, whereas block chain technologies do not. Those take use of non-fungible
currency and application of smarter agreements. This clarifies possession, and self-
executing settlements could be used to award media assets. This could have significant
ramifications for DAM customers, as managing ownership and trademark is among the
most challenging issues which enterprises face.
 Economic systems rely on the unlimited immigration of multinational cash and cross-
border commerce. The frequency of cross-border monetary operations is steadily
increasing. Investing and variety possibilities are pursued by individuals all around the
globe, and corporations obtain funds and undertake operations. The companies function
on a global scale and also have operations in a variety of countries. Traditionally, cross-
border transactions were hampered by the reality that each country had its own set of

bookkeeping regulations. These bookkeeping laws commonly increased cost, difficulty,
and, ultimately, risk to both the companies that produce income reports and their
investors. Statistics in income accounts might well be determined by calculating the
difference due to the practise of accountancy and auditing rules. Trying to untangle this
issue necessitated a thorough understanding of international bookkeeping norms, as even
slight differences in regulations will have a big impact on a corporation's economic status
and efficiency. A company could make money underneath one wide range of
international reporting requirements whilst losing money under another series of
principles (Mukhametzyanov, Nugaev and Muhametzyanova, 2017).
Global Monetary Accounting Guidelines Have the Following Benefits: The Global
Financial Reporting Requirements address this issue by establishing a set of quantitative,
globally renowned financial reporting. They provide finance economies around the globe with
responsibility, openness, and performance. By increasing the comparability and content of
accounting information, IFRS improves visibility, enabling buyers to understand better informed
monetary choices. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) increase
responsibility by bridging the knowledge asymmetry among material providers and individuals
to who’s their wealth has been committed (Oesterreich and Teuteberg, 2019).
Such guidelines provide the understanding required to hold administration accountability.
The Global Financial Reporting Regulations are also important to governments around the globe
because they provide a foundation for globally comparative data. Moreover, the International
Financial Reporting Standards contribute to economic effectiveness by assisting shareholders in
identifying possibilities and dangers around the globe, thereby improving investment strategies.
The implementation of an unified, recognized financial statements reduces the price of
equipment as well as other expenditures associated with financial statements for businesses.
Throughout many sectors, products and services are losing their significance and efficacy. New
term electronic company strategies are increasingly displacing them. Although online indigenous
firms being early adopters of communications technology, the epidemic has highlighted the
necessity for established organisations to rethink how they operate.
The following are crucial parts for creating a future-proof business capable of dealing
with marketplace interruptions:

 An electronic strategy as a technological strategy is based on the principles of
digitalization and efficiency. The effective information system must have been to digitise
all functional departments, particularly marketing, administration, and human resources.
 Create equally advantageous collaborations as in a world when enterprises are
undergoing continual and multifaceted transitions, the conventional collaboration
paradigm would not function.
 Utilize the information to respond to changing consumer and stakeholder demands as the
latest fuel injection system that is propelling the transformation journey is information.
Businesses which have ensured good information and analytics have indeed been capable
of predicting and react quickly to changing consumer and stakeholder requirements
(Sudacevschi, 2016).
3. Critically evaluate the need for more stringent regulation around environmental and social
accounting by considering the theoretical and other aspects pertinent to this area
After seeing the intensity and the magnitude of the pandemic that caused each and every
one of the individual who are living in the society think and retrospect about their works that
they are doing in the community and thus it made all realise the importance of making the
environment clean and sustainable so that it can add to the value of the life of the living beings in
the long run. The discipline of combining sustainability protection and sustainability concepts
into disclosure procedures and cost-benefit calculations is known as environmentalist
accountancy. It helps a company to track the impact of environmentally friendly operations
across the board, from distribution network to capacity growth. It enables accounting
professionals to communicate to clients on the fiscal implications of such choices, allowing for
consideration the concept of concerning procedures which also satisfy sustainability protection
laws. Sustainable development is defined as the process of avoiding depleting a commodity,
while sustainable accountancy and measuring is defined as the practise of allowing a company to
track and evaluate its carbon footprint. Environmental assessment provides a numerical
foundation for managing sustainable actions. Whenever a company decides to utilise eco -
friendly packaging (a responsible practise), it must consider how the high price is compensated
by lower trash management expenses or rising customer demand, as well as the long term
consequences. Environmental accountancy and assessment could also be extended to forms of
community effect, particularly for organisations that engage in global trade wherein commodities

and labour issues are scrutinised by the community. Responsible Demand and Consuming was
the label given by the World Headquarters to an academic curriculum dedicated to encouraging
responsible activities. This initiative encourages operational efficiencies whilst still providing
work opportunities in emerging and developing sectors (Zhong and Fan, 2021).
Societal accountancy is a relatively new concept, dating back to the mid-1950s. The
collecting of data regarding a firm's interactions with all of its participants is known as societal
accountancy. Shareholders are defined as any individual or institution which is affected by the
organisation in societal accountancy. This comprehensive description results in an accountancy
and documentation approach which considers a company's effect on organizations, the
surrounding area, the financial industry, and other factors, as well as the company's effect on
them. While standard accountancy may overlook the beneficial economic effect of a town's
contentment with a company as an employment, cost responsibility would recognise such effect
and seek to quantify the fiscal consequences of communal engagement.
There are 3 major parts of social and environmental accounting which are discussed
below-
 Corporate Social Responsibility- It entails having prepared to account for and justify
one's societal behaviour. CSR is defined by the Global Corporate Commission for
Sustainable Progress as a company's ongoing pledge to operate in a contribution to
financial management whilst enhancing the standard of care of its employees and
associated dependents, and also a surrounding residents and community in general. CSR
focuses on the non-financial social workings to which a firm participates. CSR is
becoming increasingly incorporated into company values and principles as a result of its
significance.
 Sustainability Reporting- Sustainable Monitoring looks to already have taken the role of
Society and Ecological Accountability. Viewing the environment as if we plan on staying
implies handling it with care. It's a vital notion that will aid humanity's ongoing
relationships with the ecosystem. Sustainable considers both the function of ecological
variables on a business and the effect of the business on the ecosystem. The notion is
gaining traction due to the fact that environmental challenges could have a significant
impact on a profitability of the corporation, the requirement for openness and visibility

across users, and the necessity for businesses to react appropriately to problems of
environmental sustainability practises (Серая and Слабая, 2016).
 Triple Bottom Line- It is a term used to describe a corporate ecological methodology
which focuses on 3 elements of productivity: economical, societal, and ecological. The
reasons for TBL disclosure are such that company disclosure must not be restricted to
monetary success, but must additionally include non-fiscal elements. TBL accounting had
also emerged as a means of disseminating that data, with the concept that by tracking and
disclosing societal, economical, and ecological progress, businesses could effectively
plan for potential risks and problems. TBL encompasses financial, societal, and
ecological accountancy. CSR is sometimes utilized interchangeably with TBL monitoring
because it entails certain type of TBL disclosure. TBL is a formalised and strengthened
platform for communicating with essential parties other than investors, like the financial
industry, vendors, and the society.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above that there are a lot of issues in the market which arose
due to the pandemic and there are many loop holes too that each and every business firm saw
when the pandemic came in the late 2019 and thus it can be said that a lot of focus must be put
on various theories and concepts in the industry so that the company can perform well in an
unexpected situation. Apart from that it can be concluded that there are various factors of
environment and societal aspects which has to be analysed in detail so that the business can
operate in a smooth manner in the industry in which it is operational and cannot become
contender of various infringement of various laws and regulations.

REFERENCES
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