Theories of Accounting and Accounting Operations

Aspermont Limited is a company which offers various content services using events, conferencing, print and digital media in continents such as Europe, Asia, and Australia. The operations of the company are carried out via conferencing and publishing segments (Wallace, 2015 p.4). Often Aspermont develops and maintains different websites and other daily news services which cover a variety of sectors such as energy, construction, and mining among others. Moreover, the company deals in online publications which offers information and news in smartphones, desktops and print media (de los Reyes, 2017 p.255).  

The conceptual framework of accounting system brings together all the theories of accounting. The managers of Aspermont Limited use the accounting theories in the prediction of various accounting methods in an effective manner. Additionally, the accounting theories motivate the employees of the company including support of the lobby regulators in the application method. Besides, the accounting theories avail information concerning capital markets including certain relevant information to the company.

 The assets of Aspermont Limited are valued using the accounting theories. One of the accounting theories called normative theory is used in the prescription of various accounting information which is provided to the relevant stakeholders of the company (Henderson et al.2015 p.50). An example of the normative accounting theory is the conceptual framework which aids in the prescription of the basic principles relating to the financial statements of the firm. According to the IASB conceptual framework, the assets and incomes are evaluated using the normative accounting theories. The users in the decision-making process obtain common information from the going concern assumption which is a fundamental principle of the conceptual accounting framework.

Measurement is another contemporary issue in accounting. It is used in the determination of the monetary amounts including the various elements in the financial statements. Aspermont Limited displays their measurements in the balance sheet and the income statements for every particular accounting period (Walters, 2015 p.1). Often during the measurement of assets of the company, numerous resources are required, and they are typically controlled by the company from the past events which are done on the basis of the future economic benefits on an overall way. The company moreover exhibits their present value which has potential services by valuing its assets. Measurement in accounting also represents the ability of the company to exchange its products and services with cash.

The theories on classification on regulatory bodies are categorized into three in the accounting process and systems. One of the theories is the public interest theory which aids in the identification of the underlying assumptions which are indicated in the financial statements of the company (Henderson et al.2015 p.50). With the regulation of the accounting system and process, there are wide benefits which are obtained by a particular society, and this is because the markets will be compelled to achieve a certain level of efficiency. The interest of the public is identified by the regulatory bodies who also act as neutral arbitrator.

Measurement in Accounting

The other theory on the regulatory bodies is the capture theory whose main focus is on regulation which is done independently by the regulator (Buchheit et al.2015 p.50). Additionally, there is the economic interest group theory which is the regulatory body aids in the motivation of the retention of a particular position or rather an authority in the company. The regulation of accounting generally helps in acting in the interest of various groups in the society in an effective manner especially those in the political form (Danver, 2015 p.1). The Australian Securities Exchange regulates the accounting practices and processes of Aspermont Limited Company to ensure that it has adopted the best and right accounting standards during the preparation of financial reports and information.

Corporate social responsibility in every particular organization plays a crucial role in the provision of relevant information used in the decision-making process — the above contemporary accounting issue aids in the description of various companies in environmental and social impact in an efficient manner (Walters, 2015 p.1). The corporate social responsibility is usually an initiative of an organization on the well-being in regards to both the social and environmental impacts. Consequently, the various regulators and environmental protection groups use it to make decisions relating to the activities of an organization (Craig and Amernic, 2015 p.250). Further, the activities of the corporate social responsibility often refer to the use of short-term costs and also the corporate citizenship. However such costs are never contained in the action plan of a company.

The policies of the corporate social responsibility of Aspermont have been consolidated in their culture and core values which enables the company to carry out business activities across the globe (Conway, 2018 p.20). The CSR has been considered as an integral part of the sustainable shareholder value. Thus the ethical, environmental, financial drivers and social impacts are properly managed with the aim of developing a resilient and stable company.

Corporate governance refers to procedures, rules, and practices used by a particular organization. The different interests of a variety of stakeholders such as shareholders, community, managers, and customers are usually balanced using the corporate governance. With corporate governance, the balances of internal as well as external firms can be easily verified. There are various theories of corporate governance which include, stakeholder theory and agency theory (Tingey-Holyoak, 2015 p.10). The stakeholder theory focuses on the accountability and transparency of a variety of stakeholders. The agency theory, on the other hand, focuses on the disclosures as well as practices of a particular business enterprise. There has therefore been a regulatory intervention which entails code of practices and policy documents.

Regulation of Accounting

The corporate governance of Aspermont Limited contains a board of directors whose primary role entails protection and enhancing of the value of the shareholders on a long-term basis. The company uses the principles of good governance and best practice recommendations of the Australian Securities Exchanges which is a critical governance framework (Thompson, 2018 p.130). The key recommendations in line with the corporate governance are that a firm should do the following to encourage good corporate governance;

• Recognize the interests of the stakeholders
• Promote enhanced performance
• Respect the various rights of shareholders
• Remunerate fairly the employees.
• Structure its board to add value

According to Schaltegger and Burritt (2017 p.100), the theory is used to provide highlights on the fundamental accounting concepts relevant to various researchers in accounting for future references. The main concern of the critical accounting theory entails the provision of sufficient knowledge which questions the social arrangements on vital terms. Moreover, it involves the recognition of social status, support of the capitalist, power as well as the distribution of wealth in an economy. However, the primary aim of the theory is to obtain solutions to social inequities, and this is based on the fact that the process of accounting tends to favor the individuals who control the capital structure.

Financial accounting is typically a mechanism which is used by various companies to manipulate financial figures and legitimization of financial reports (Byrne, 2018 p.10). It can, therefore, be concluded that the groups with wealth and power in the society are favored by the financial accounting, and this was a similar case in Aspermont Limited. According to one of the financial reports which had been published by the company, there was a manipulation of the financial figures to meet the different requirements of the few individuals with power and wealth.

Conclusion

To conclude, the various contemporary issues in accounting helps in shaping up the different operations of an organization. Such issues additionally, aids in the provision of accounting information used for decision making by different users such as investors, customers, shareholders, and the community. The critical contemporary issues in accounting include, critical accounting theory, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, theories of accounting, measurement in accounting and the regulation of accounting among others. Based on the contemporary issues in accounting in the case of Aspermont Limited, the company should improve on its corporate governance and corporate social responsibility by recognition of the interests of the stakeholders, promoting enhanced performance, respecting the various rights of shareholders, remunerating fairly the employees and restructuring its board to add value among others.

References

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