Dear Group

I thought that it would be a good idea to set up a blog for the ICFE preparation course and I welcome relevant contributions that will help the group to share information and to communicate in English on a daily basis.

Using this blog should also cut down on the amount of paper content during the course!

If you have any problems using this blog please let me know.



Thursday 30 September 2010

background research for unit 4 page 49

Look at the website for EFRAG and identify 4 of their objectives. We will be doing an exercise on page 49 based on this topic.
http://www.efrag.org/content/default.asp?id=4103

You could also look at their 2009 annual review.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

The heated debate continues on international standards

Check the meaning of the phrases that are underlined

ICAEW: US standards proposal complicates convergence

Institute takes a pop at the US standards setter's proposal for fair value accounting
Written by Kevin Reed
A proposal by the US accounting standards setter to use fair value for all assets will increases complexity and complicate the strategy to converge with international rules, claims the ICAEW.
Dr Nigel Sleigh-Johnson, head of the ICAEW’s Financial Reporting Faculty, said that FASB's strict model for measuring financial instruments will make statements harder to read and information more difficult to understand for investors.
"Simplification of the standards for financial instruments accounting is a key priority, and is an objective endorsed by the G20 governments. The FASB’s proposals are surely pulling in the wrong direction," said Sleigh-Johnson.
The IASB's model contains 'mixed measurement': which results in financial instruments being stated at either amortised cost or fair value in the primary financial statements (with fair values for all financial instruments disclosed in the notes).
The ICAEW has been the most vocal accounting institute on the convergence debate. In February the ICAEW said the US Securities and Exchange Commission had failed to provide certainty on US plans to adopt international standards.
Further reading:


Read more: http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2270588/icaew-standards-proposal#ixzz10wROIi5q
Accountancy Age - Finance, business and accountancy news, features and resources.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

News from Accountancy Age

Try reading this article aloud to practise saying numbers.
Check that you are familiar with all the acronyms!

Worldwide membership of ACCA has overtaken the ICAEW for the first time.
The latest survey of accountancy by the Professional Oversight Board reveals that ACCA had 137,233 members worldwide in 2009, up from 131,398 a year earlier. The ICAEW saw member numbers increase to 134,698 from 132,411.
Compound annual growth across the six main institutes was 3.4% between 2004 and 2009.
The ICAEW's growth during that period was 1.2%, ACCA grew 5.6% and CIMA 4.2%. ICAS' compound growth was 2.8% across the period, while CIPFA grew 0.4%.
UK membership for the ICAEW grew 1.5% to 2009 (114,468) from a year earlier, while ACCA climbed 1.9% over the year to 68,907.


Read more: http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2265969/acca-membership-overtakes-icaew#ixzz10qB1RVns

Monday 27 September 2010

Reading Test Part 2 and introduction to Part 3

Dear Group
 This week I would like you to look at the tasks that you need to be familiar with in order to score highly on this part of the test. Please read page 6 carefully in the coursebook as we will be doing a workshop on Part 2 in class this week and will do an introduction to Part 3 to practise word-building  for the word formation task.

Finally, I hope that you have all registered for the ICFE exam.

Unit 4Assets and Auditing


Check how many phrases are similar to the listening exercise on Page 45.
This is from Sky News:
Audit firms are not doing enough to check that British financial services firms protect their clients' money and tougher rules are needed to ensure that they improve their scrutiny, the industry watchdog said on Monday.
A review of auditors' reports on client assets uncovered "serious failings," the UK's Financial Services Authority said, adding that it had referred some of the auditors responsible to their professional body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
"We have repeatedly emphasised the importance of firms segregating client money and assets effectively," Richard Sutcliffe, the FSA's client assets sector leader, said in a statement.
"It is ultimately a firm's responsibility to ensure that they have adequate systems in place, but they, as we, rely on their auditors to provide the necessary assurance."
The failings identified by the FSA include auditors providing "clean" reports despite a company having committed breaches of client asset rules, auditors submitting reports several months late, and basic errors such as not signing off on reports.
The accounting industry, still under pressure after audit firm Arthur Andersen failed to spot problems at failed U.S. energy trading company Enron in 2001, has faced renewed scrutiny in the wake of the credit crisis.
Regulators have questioned why auditors signed off on assets that turned toxic in the credit crunch, requiring taxpayers to bail out banks.
The FSA set out a series of proposals aimed at clarifying the standards required of client asset audits and increasing the amount of information that auditors must put in their reports. The proposals are open for consultation until December 31.

Friday 24 September 2010

Some free listening exercises

http://www.audioenglish.net/english-learning/efl_accounting.htm
There is quite a lot of free stuff on this site to practise listening.

Alejandro thank you for the brilliant word formation exercise

ICFE

Verb – Noun/person – Adjective – Adverb Matrix



Verb
Noun/person
Adjective
Adverb
Economize
Economics/Economist
Economical (save money) Economic (policy government)
Economically



Analyze
Analysis/Analyst
Analytic, Analytical
Analytically

Capitalize
Capitalization/capitalist
Capitalistic
-

Advise
Advice/advisor
Advisable (negative = inadvisable)
Advisably, advisedly


Manage (negative= mismanage)
Management/manager
Managerial (unmanageable)
Manageably (unmanageably)



·         We need to analyze the data before advising our Finance Manager.

·         The economist has strong managerial skills analyzing economic trends in order to capitalize on profitability.

·         I would like to give some advice, capitalize your interest gain on the capital. The capitalization of money and management resources is a key factor to obtaining a profit.

Thursday 23 September 2010

AAA rating

From CUP resources:

What is it?

AAA is the top bond credit rating awarded by independent rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Fitch and Moody’s, to assess the creditworthiness of a corporation’s debt issues. In simple terms, a corporation with a good rating, such as AAA, is considered extremely safe for lenders to invest their money in. Lenders are reassured by such ratings that a borrower will be "good for the money" and will not default on the debt. When a rating agency downgrades a corporation’s rating, it can trigger severe problems for the corporation (e.g. lenders may demand repayment or higher interest rates, it may be harder and more expensive to borrow money from other lenders, share prices may fall, etc.), which can lead to further downgrades. This type of chain reaction has played an important part in the current financial crisis.

Why is it in the news?

Countries also issue bonds to borrow money, so they too have credit ratings. S&P has recently revised its outlook of the UK’s credit risk from stable to negative, and warned its rating may be downgraded from AAA to AA. This is still extremely high (the lowest rating is D: see Wikipedia article below), but the downgrade is likely to damage confidence. There is also speculation that the US government may also lose its AAA rating, as a result of the huge amounts of money it has used to bail out banks and stimulate the economy.
Discussion:
  • How do you think credit ratings are calculated?
  • What are the dangers of relying on credit ratings? (e.g. A corporation with a good rating may be able to borrow much more heavily than others, so may actually be more vulnerable to major economic changes. The problems with AIG stemmed partly from overconfidence in its AAA rating).
  • Think of some countries you know well. What do you think are their credit ratings? (NB See Standard and Poor's website for a complete list).
  • Given that rating agencies have so much power to boost or damage a corporation or country, is it right that it is left to independent companies?

Where can I read more about it?


Speaking skills

Here is a link to the BBC business English skills
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/talkaboutenglish/2009/02/090211_tae_bltg.shtml

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Brazil

http://sites.cantos.com/economist-intelligence-unit/10/eiu-july-2010/public/
Watch and listen and note useful language.

Escrow account

Escrow  Escrow account

This is from CUP online resources:

What is it?

An escrow account is an account held in trust by an agent where funds, documents, etc. are held, to be released upon the fulfillment of some condition. A well-known example comes from real estate transactions: the buyer and seller place all the money and essential documents for the sale into an escrow account, from which they can only be released once the transaction is completed. The term escrow can sometimes be used to refer to the property deeds held in the account, the escrow agent who holds the account or the escrow account itself. It can also be used as a verb meaning ‘put something into escrow’.

Why is it in the news?

In the wake of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, US senators have proposed forcing BP to place up to $20 billion in an escrow account to guarantee that the company can meet its obligations to clean up the damage and compensate the victims of the spill. Many politicians are alarmed that BP is planning to pay dividends of around $1.8 billion to its shareholders, but BP is confident that it can afford to do both. BP is said to be considering placing £1.75 billion into another escrow account in order to ensure that it can be paid out as a dividend.

How can I use it in class?

Discussion
Discuss the rights and wrongs of the two proposed escrow accounts in the BP story: the account to cover costs and compensation and the account to cover dividends. Consider the following sides of the story: legal (e.g. Does the US Government have the right to do this?), financial (e.g. What impact will this have on BP’s viability as a company?), political (e.g. To what extent is this about politicians trying to sound tough?), marketing/PR (e.g. Should BP consider backing down in order to preserve some of its reputation?) and moral (e.g. What is the right thing to do?).
Reading
Students could then read either the Times or Guardian story below to see if it changes their opinions on any of these questions.

Where can I read about it?

  • BP shares dive amid US senators’ £20bn escrow plan, Times, June 14th 2010.
  • Q&A: BP's dividend, Guardian, 10th June 2010.
  • Obama Wants BP to Set Up Funds for Claims, Associated Press / YouTube, 13th June 2010.
  • BP Shares Sink After Senators Call for Escrow Fund, ABC News, June 14th 2010.
  • Escrow, Wikipedia.

Bull/Bear market

This was from the CUP online resources:
Bear market

Bear and bull

What is it?

A market condition in which the prices of securities are falling and widespread pessimism causes further falls in the market. As investors anticipate losses in a bear market, selling continues, which then creates further pessimism. Although figures can vary, a downturn of 20% or more in a share index, such as the Dow Jones or FTSE over at least a two-month period, is considered a sign that a bear market has begun.

Why is the term in the news?

In the US, commodities slumped as signs of slowing global growth sent an index of 24 raw materials into a bear market as crude oil, gold and silver tumbled and Asian markets have entered the worst bear market conditions in 35 years.
Discussion:
  • Have your country's financial institutions entered a bear market?
  • Is there anything a government can do to reverse a bear market?
  • How can a bear market affect a nation's economy?
  • What is the opposite of a bear market? (A bull market)

Monday 20 September 2010

Unit 4 Forecasting

http://www.accaglobal.com/documents/where_next_2030.pdf
Check this report and also the website has a lot of relevant information.

Excellent Listening materials

http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/video/2269916/video-small-plcs-struggle

Try and watch this and the website's other excellent videos

Reading Part5

http://www.deltapublishing.co.uk/development/icfe-reading-part-5

The author of Absolute Financial English posted this exercise on her blog.

Tips for the Oral Exam

http://www.splendid-speaking.com/exams/icfe_speaking.html
This site has lots of good advice to help with the Oral Exam

unit 4 financial performance

https://www.google.com/bookmarks/url?url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8013617/Austerity-plan-helps-UK-retain-top-AAA-rating.html&ei=vJuXTNmKHIv2wgWH3tGvDQ&sig2=JDukc_b-uZlOFXJBjM0vjw&ct=b

sharing information

Dear Group
I thought that it would be a good idea to set up a blog for the ICFE preparation course and I welcome relevant contributions that will help the group to share information and to communicate in English on a daily basis.
Using this blog should also cut down on the amount of paper content in the second half of the course!
If you have any problems using this blog please let me know.