Corporate and Financial Accounting Report: International Standards

This report provides an overview of corporate and financial accounting from an international perspective. It begins by discussing the importance of financial reporting regulation and the role of voluntary disclosure. The report then explores accounting standard setting, focusing on the role of the AASB in the global standard-setting process and the reasons why IFRS is not compulsory for all IASB member countries. Finally, the report analyzes the owner's equity and debt-to-equity positions of four companies listed on the ASX: ANZ Bank, Bank of Queensland, Commonwealth Bank, and ASX Limited, providing insights into their capital structures and financial leverage over a four-year period. The analysis includes the debt-to-equity ratios of the selected companies and their implications for financial health and investment strategies.

Running head: CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
Corporate and Financial Accounting
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The main aim of this report is to provide a brief account of the accounting standard, corporate
regulation and the owners equity from the world perspective. As per reports, it is found that
the managers may not be willing to share the financial information that is relevant to all users
of the financial statements. This is the main reason why regulation and financial reporting is
necessary while preparing financial statements. It is well documented that all nations have
their own accounting standards. The organisations like IASB have made attempts to develop
a single standard that should be acceptable to most countries.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Corporate regulation...................................................................................................................4
Answer to question I..............................................................................................................4
Accounting standard setting.......................................................................................................5
Answer to Question II............................................................................................................5
Owner’s equity...........................................................................................................................7
Answer to question III............................................................................................................7
Answer to Question IV...........................................................................................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
This report is made with an intention of providing a brief account of the owners
equity, corporate regulation and accounting standard from the international perspective. The
first section would provide a brief account of the importance and necessity of regulation in
financial accounting . It also provides a brief account of the voluntary disclosure of financial
accounting information. In the second section of the report it would emphasise on the role of
AASB and its helpfulness in setting the international standard setting process which is called
the IFRS. It would also discuss the reasons why IFRS is not compulsory for the member
nations of IASB to follow. Finally the report would shed some light on selecting four
companies from the companies that are listed in ASX and an evaluation would be made in
relation their owner’s equity position as well as the equity debt position of these companies.
Corporate regulation
Answer to question I
Favourable points for regulation of financial accounting and reporting
There exists a basic need so that it can regulate financial reporting due to numerous
reasons. First of all if the information is not regulated, the information published by the
business organisation might be selective. It could be manipulated by the individuals
accountable to reveal the same information to the public. Hence the organisations need to
fulfil various requirements for aligning the public interest of both current and potential
investors. The regulation authorities formulated the criteria for assuring information quality at
minimal or zero cost . It helps in shielding the public from hidden, fraudulent and misleading
disclosures(Leuz and Wysocki 2016 ) Secondly there is an increasing demand for actual and
true accounting information for prospective investors. When business entities make
investments, it becomes necessary for the regulating authorities to intervene . They intervene

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to make sure that the formats f accounting and reporting fulfil the investors needs by
answering their questions.
When an organisation finds that its shares are listed in a stock exchange . It wold be
appropriate for the organisation to publish such information in standardised formats. This
would help in evaluating whether both shareholders and investors have equal knowledge of
information or not(Goodhart, et al. 2013). Hence from the overall discussion it can be said
that the necessity of regulation is increasing the standard of the profession.
Favourable points for voluntary disclosure of financial reporting and accounting
When managers are given the chance of disclosing voluntary financial information ,
they would conduct the work in a fair and responsible manner . Managers have knowledge
about internal activities of the organisations. Hence they have knowledge about actual
financial conditions as well. This would help them in providing a certain non standardised
financial information to the market. When such information is revealed by managers of
companies , the share price of these companies would increase n a substantial manner .
Businesses outside would also be ensured about the financial conditions(Beatty and Liao
2014)
The managers may be unwilling to disclose the internal financial information to all
users of the financial statements. They might distort such information to the investors for
maximising their profits because they fear that they could lose their job. As per the demand
of the regulators, the information should not be made more public. Hence regulation on
financial information and reporting is preferred over voluntary disclosure of financial
information. This is done in order to avoid manipulation and frauds in the financial reports.

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Accounting standard setting
Answer to Question II
The process through which AASB participates in the global standard setting process
The AASB has the vision of magnifying its reputation in the form of a leading national
state setter for gaining recognition in international excellence setting. This would be made
sure by maintaining greater quality standards of financial reporting for all Australian
economic sectors by contributing enough talent and leadership(Al-Janadi, Rahman and Omar
2013). AASB takes part in the setting process as follows:
 The standard amendments as well as accounting standards made by IASB are in line
with the legislative drafting protocols of Australia
 The accounting compilations or standards are file on “ Federal registration Legislative
instruments” and are disclosed on the website of AASB.
 The adequate responses are made to all the important drafts of IASB and
IPSASB(Allegrini and Greco 2013).
Reason as to why IFRS is not compulsory for the member countries of IASB
The IASB is a private and independent group. It formulates and approves IFRS. This
group functions under the direct supervision of the IFRS foundation. It is involved in
overseeing the operations conducted by IASB. The IASB was established way back in 1901
to replace the” International Accounting Standards Committee” . Currently, the IASB has
fourteen member nations and in accordance with the constitution of the IFRS foundation.
IASB has full accountability for all technical aspects of the foundation(Brüggemann, Hitz
and Sellhorn 2013). These include complete discretion to pursue its technical goal , which is
subject to needs with the public and the trustees. It takes into account the issuance and

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formulation of IFRS as well as exposure drafts following the due procedure that is mentioned
in the constitution. Finally, it considers the issuance and approval of interpretations. This is
developed from the end of the committee of IFRS interpretation.
All nations have their respective accounting standards. This helps in bringing
comparability and standardisation . The IASB have made attempts to develop a single
acceptable standard that is acceptable for most countries. Inspite of such attempts , it is not
compulsory for the nations to converge into IFRS. This is because the IFRS have their own
groups of accounting standard(Brochet, Jagolinzer and Riedl 2013) . Hence the IFRS
convergence is not occurring in phases.
Owner’s equity
The four organisations that are selected for this section include ANZ bank , Bank of
Queensland , Commonwealth Bank and ASX limited.
Answer to question III
In the statement of financial position of an entity, the three significant items are
apparent and the equity capital is one of them. According to this statement, the main items of
equity include share capital, reserves and retained earnings. The issued capital is part of the
equity capital of the business organisations. From the annual report of ANZ bank , the issued
capital of the company has risen from $ 28, 765 million to $ 29,088 million between the
years 2014 to 2015. It has remained constant in both years 2016 to 2107. The issued capital
of the Commonwealth bank has fallen from 36,218 $ million to 34217 $ million in the yaers
2014 to 2015 but has risen to $36817 to 37920 $ million in the years 2016 to 2017. For bank
of Queensland , the issued capital has risen from $4213 million to $4516 million in the years
between 2014 and 2015. It also reduced in the years 2016 and 2017. They were reported at
$4266 million and $ 4210 million in the years 2016 and 2017. The issued capital of ASX

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limited has risen from $ 2907 million to $ 3013 million between 2014 and 2015. It again
decreased to $ 2971 million to $ 3027 million in the years 2016 to 2017.
The next item of equity that is included in this report is retained earnings. This
amount reflects the additional earnings of an organisation that is available to an organisation
after paying out dividends to its shareholders (Sytnik 2014). The retained earnings of the
company ANZ bank has been found to be in decline for the years . The same would be
witnessed for the companies for bank of Queensland and ASX limited. The retained earnings
for the company Commonwealth bank has been found to show an increasing trend over the
years. Therefore from this it can be interpreted that the company Commonwealth Bank
accumulates more equity than all the three companies , since its net assets base is the most
among the four organisations in the banking sector of Australia(Babalola and Abiola 2013).
Answer to Question IV
To get a better understanding of the debt and equity position of the four chosen
organisations, debt to equity ratio is used. With the help of this ratio, it is possible to gain an
insight into the capital structure of an organisation in relation to its optimality. The debt
equity ratio of these organisations is briefly represented as follows:
Debt and equity position of ANZ bank
Particulars 2014 2015 2016 2017
Net debt $9,220.00 $8,900.00
$11,545.0
0 $9,113.00
Net equity
$45,780.0
0
$51,220.0
0
$54,675.0
0
$60,980.0
0
Debt to equity
ratio 0.20 0.17 0.21 0.15
(Source: Anz.com 2018)

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As per the above table, a decrease in debt to equity ratio could be observed from 2014
to 2015, followed by an increase in the year 2016 and with an increase in 2017. A ratio with
0.5 or lower is considered to be the optimal situation for capital structure. In this case the
ratio is less than 0.5 for all the years. This implies that the financial leverage of ANZ Bank
has not been that high because it shows that it has shifted its focus on raising more funds
through issue of equity shares in the market.
particulars 2014 2015 2016 2017
Net debt $14,554.00 $11,234.00 $15,645.00 $16,786.00
Net equity $52,134.00 $54,876.00 $53,098.00 $52,314.00
debt to equity ratio 0.28 0.20 0.29 0.32
Debt and equity position of Commonwealth Bank
( Source: Commbank.com.au 2018)
In accordance with the table , it could be noticed that the debt equity ratio has
shown more or less a standard pattern over the four years, except it shows a steep reduction
in debt equity ratio to 0.2 in the year 2014. It is also below the ideal standard below 0.5. This
signifies the organisation relies on equity investments from shareholders.
particulars 2014 2015 2016 2017
Net debt $1,235.00 $1,546.00 $1,337.00 $1,457.00
Net equity $4,876.00 $4,675.00 $4,789.00 $4,700.00
Debt to equity ratio 0.25 0.33 0.28 0.31
Debt and equity position of Bank of Queensland
(Source: Boq.com.au 2018)
The above table shows that although there has been a fluctuation in the debt equity
ratio in the years 2014 to 2018, it is still below the prescribed industry standard of 0.5.This
signifies that the firm raises its finance from equity shareholders as well.

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Particulars 2014 2015 2016 2017
Net debt $1,378.00 $1,451.00 $1,167.00 $1,564.00
Net equity $3,489.00 $3,567.00 $3,576.00 $3,451.00
Debt to equity ratio 0.39 0.41 0.33 0.45
Debt and equity position of ASX limited
(Source: Asx.com.au 2018)
From the above table, the debt equity ratio of the organisation has fluctuated
much in the years from 2014 to 2018. There was a significant drop in the years 2016 and
then further made a steep rise in the year 2017. This implies that the company has raised its
finance from equity to debt in the year 2017 , after a drop in 2016. Hence it tries to maximise
his financial leverage(Ajide and Aderemi 2014)
Based on the above analysis, it can be said that ASX limited is placed favourably in terms of
solvency in the Australian banking sector , since the ratio is near to the ideal average of 0.50.
Conclusion
The above discussion makes it clear that reporting and financial accounting is
not regulated. The information published by the business organisations might be selective and
could be manipulated by individuals for their own unselfish purposes. When managers are
provided with the opportunity of disclosing voluntary financial information, they would
conduct the work in a fair and responsible manner. However the managers might not be
willing to disclose the internal financial information to all users of the financial statement.
Instead they might distort such information to secure their own jobs.
It has been further assessed that all nations have their respective accounting
standards. This is done in order to facilitate comparability and standardisation. Organisations
like IASB have made a lot of efforts to develop a single standard. This single standard would
likely be applicable in all countries. Despite of such measures, it is not compulsory yet for

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member nations to converge their own accounting standards with that of IFRS. Finally it is
found that ASX limited is placed in a better position in the Australian banking sector in terms
of its debt and equity.

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