Financial Accounting Study Guide or Evolution of International Institutions in an Integrating World Economy

Financial Accounting, Study Guide: A User Perspective

Author: Frances Ayres

Work more effectively and gauge your progress along the way! This Study Guide is designed to accompany Hughes’ Financial Accounting: A Valuation Emphasis. It allows students to review and apply their understanding of important concepts discussed in the main text. In addition to a detailed chapter review, this study guide contains true/false questions, multiple-choice questions, and exercises of varying degrees of difficulty. Detailed solutions are provided for all questions and exercises.

A company is worth only as much as its accounting information.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board recently issued an exposure draft providing guidance on how to measure fair value. Some observers anticipate future pronouncements requiring more extensive use of fair value in accounting disclosures. In the absence of market prices, determining fair values requires the application of various valuation concepts.

Financial Accounting: A Valuation Emphasis integrates an understanding of valuation concepts with accounting principles. The authors place considerable emphasis on the economic consequences of accounting practices. You’ll develop a solid background in basic accounting processes and disclosures, and the critical role of accounting in valuation.

Features

• Highlights the valuation and economic consequences of core accounting concepts.

• Emphasizes the construction of accounting information and how that information affects the value of the firm.

• Offers an inviting and accessible presentation, with real-world examples and transactions.

• Provides anearly treatment of statement of cash flows and financial statement analysis.

• Illustrates key concepts, including valuation models through an integrated example of a hypothetical company.

• Helps you appreciate the significance of accounting information to managers, investors, regulators, and others with an interest in the firm's affairs.

Interesting book: Holidays in Hell or Blood Money Power

Evolution of International Institutions in an Integrating World Economy

Author: Miles Kahler

Dynamic changes in international institutions have been a striking feature of international politics in the post-cold war world. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has been transformed into the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have assumed new roles in the transitional economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and regional arrangements have proliferated. With deepening economic integration, these institutions play an increasingly important role. In this book, part of the Integrating National Economies series, Miles Kahler examines both global and regional institutions and their importance in the world economy. Kahler explains the variation in these institutions and assesses the role they play in sustaining economic cooperation among nations. With greater tensions arising between an economy that is more integrated and a political order that remains highly fragmented, international institutions face many hurdles in supporting policy coordination and harmonization. The core global institutions - the IMF, World Bank, and GATT - have redesigned their roles in response to the new realities of economic integration. Kahler explains the evolution of these institutions, compares their strengths and weaknesses, and analyzes their efforts to deal with deeper integration. He then considers the array of regional institutions - the European Union, North American Free Trade Agreement, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation - and the tensions they must confront between national desires to maintain political autonomy and, at the same time, benefit from intensified economic exchange. International institutions confront common dilemmas of widening scope and larger memberships. Kahler concludes that no single institutional model guarantees successful international collaboration. He argues that institutional variety is inevitable and even desirable, and highlights the advantages of flexible institutions.

Booknews

Kahler (Council on Foreign Relations) examines global and regional institutions, such as the IMF, the World Trade Organization, and NAFTA, and their importance in the world economy. He chronicles the evolution of these institutions and discusses the tensions between national political autonomy and intensified economic exchange. He assesses the problems institutions face while the gap widens between integrated economies and fragmented political orders, and concludes that variation among regional institutions is desirable. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)