COVER STORY

Zero-based Budgeting : A Step Towards Competitive Strategy

- - Santanu Ray

Zero-based Budgeting (ZBB) is a financial planning tool which integrates management structures with the budgeting exercise. In conventional budgeting, the current year's budgets are prepared based on past performance. ZBB, on the other hand, questions set assumptions and provides a tool for systematic review of the planning parameters. The ZBB process consists of identifying decision packages and then ranking them in order of importance through a cost-benefit analysis. Therefore, ZBB can be used for activities, functions or operations where a cost-benefit relationship can be identified, even if this evaluation is highly subjective.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

ACCOUNTING

Accounting of Service Tax and Cenvat in the Case of Service Providers

- - KSR Murthy

This article deals with accounting of service tax, availment and utilization of service tax input credit in the books of account in line with the accepted accounting practices citing the references in the statutory provisions in service tax Regulations. An attempt has been made to suggest the accounting of service tax input credit with gross method vis-a-vis the net method suggested for Cenvat on inputs by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in the Guidance Note on Cenvat issued in September 2000.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

FINANCIAL REPORTING

Third Generation (G3) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines

- - Praveen Kumar GN

Over the years, hundreds of organizations have used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines as the basis for their reporting, and thousands of stakeholders have used information presented in these reports issued by the reporting organizations. This article presents the Third Generation (G3) of GRI guidelines, which is projected to be released in October 2006, and primarily focuses on the reporting principles.

©2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

La Langue Internationale : Making Accounting Standards Work Globally

- - Rose Marie L Bukics and Mary Jeanne Welsh

The authors delve into the emerging importance of international accounting standards and the ways that accounting rules from outside our borders affect Pennsylvania businesses.

© 2006 Pennsylvania CPA Journal. A publication of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Reprinted with permission.

ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

Accounting for Arrangements - Part II

- - Elmar Venter and Tania Tomes The purpose of this article is to consider the application of SIC 27 (AC 427) and how this interpretation interacts with IAS 17 (AC 105) and other accounting principles.

© 2006 Elmar Venter and Tania Tomes. This article first appeared in the August 2006 issue of Accountancy SA (www.accountancysa.za). Reprinted with permission.

ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

AS 9 : Revenue Recognition and Disclosure Practices

- - A Naga Ratna

This article presents how revenue is recognized from various circumstances of an enterprise operations and how disclosure of this revenue is made under the Accounting Standard (AS) 9, issued by the Council of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Revenue is the total amount of money received by a company for the sale of goods or services before deducting the expenses. In business terms, revenue is recognized as the amount of money that the company actually receives from its activities like, from the sale of products or services to the customers. In the investor terms, revenue weighs less importance than profit or income, which is documented as the amount of money that the business has brought in or earned after the deduction of all the (business) expenses.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

Making Sense of Revenue Recognition

- - Glenn A Cheney

Revenue "mis-recognition," the leading cause of restatement, has been soaring, likely due to the myriad of more than 200 pronouncements by standard-setters. FASB has revenue recognition on its agenda for 2007.

© 2006 Financial Executives International (www.fei.org). First published in July/August 2006 issue of Financial Executives International. Reprinted with permission.

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Corporate Social Responsibility : The New Performance Measure of Corporates

- - Pradip Kumar Chakraborty

Corporates have a responsibility to the various stakeholders to which they are related in some form or the other. All these stakeholders have some expectations from the corporates. It is the commitment of the corporates to satisfy the stakeholders' expectations for their money value or other sacrifices and sufferings they might have made towards the benefit of the corporations. This is called corporate social responsibility. Different facets of this movement along with the initiatives of some reputed corporates have been highlighted in this article.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

BANKING

VRS in Public Sector Banks : A Strategy for Restructuring

- - Navdeep Kaur

Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) is an innovative concept evolved in India in the post economic reform environment. It is an attempt to synthesize an operation aimed towards downsizing the workforce of overstaffed Public Sector Banks (PSBs), with employees' willing acceptance and participation. The high cost wage component and low productivity had been making PSBs less competitive in the market. This article evaluates VRS as a strategy for restructuring the PSBs, focusing upon its rationale and merit as manpower planning strategy and also to review its financial implication as a cost reduction measure.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

TECHNOLOGY

Making the Change to Continuous Auditing

- - Lisa A Beach

Understanding the benefits and challenges of implementing continuous audit methodologies can help internal audit functions transition into a new audit paradigm.

© 2006 Lisa A Beach. Originally published in ITAudit, Vol. 9, August 10, 2006 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Inc. (www.theiia.org/itaudit). Reprinted with permission.

TECHNOLOGY

Digital Accounting : Future Solution?

- - R Subramanian

Digitalization has become the pathway for the development in a growing economy. In the information explosion era, with the introduction of Cyber Law and Information Technology Act, B2B through e-commerce trade is increasing. The question is whether it is going to replace accountants or enhance their operations.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

SPEECH

Speech by SEC Chairman : Cross-border Exchange Mergers in the Context of Global Trade

- - Christopher Cox

This speech focuses on the increasingly international character of businesson issues such as the way technology is shrinking the world and integrating markets as never before.

© 2006 US Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Speech by Christopher Cox, Chairman, US Securities and Exchange Commission, delivered on June 22, 2006 in Washington DC, USA.