Publisher's Synopsis
Considerable changes in company law and accounting standard setting since 1985 have necessitated a major reworking of this popular textbook. The profession's retreat from current cost accounting as a mandatory requirement, the Companies Act 1989 and the considerable output of the Accounting Standards Committee, are now incorporated in the text. Many chapters have been rewritten within a new framework, which divides the book into four parts.;The first part provides in three chapters, an introduction to accounting theory and the sources of authority for accounting practice, as well as an examination of the different ways of measuring profit.;The second part contains nine chapters covering tangible and intangible assets, liabilities and related issues, off and on the balance sheet, taxation, business combinations and goodwill, inter-company investments, overseas involvement, expansion of the annual report, and capital reorganization, reduction and reconstruction.;The third part examines in two chapters, financial analysis and the valuation of securities and businesses.;Finally, the last part emphasizes the shortcomings of traditional historical cost accounting and examines the main possible reforms available.;The textbook may be of interest to second and third year undergraduate courses in financial reporting and for professional courses in advanced financial accounting of the CACA, CIMA and ICAEW. The text includes questions taken from the examinations of the professional bodies.
