Tag: Financial Literacy

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman Mr. G.D. Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas. It is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in India. It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, including SMEs and MNCs. The chamber has an indirect membership of over 250,000 companies from various regional chambers of commerce. It is involved in sector-specific business building, business promotion and networking. It is headquartered in the national capital New Delhi and has a presence in 12 states in India and 8 countries around the world.

FICCI is India’s sole national issuing & guaranteeing association for ATA Carnets ATA Carnets are used by TV/Film crews, journalists, engineers, musicians and industry for temporary moving equipment across borders. FICCI issues and endorses carnets, guarantees the payment of duties and taxes to customs (both domestic and foreign) authorities.

Functions:

Jointly works with similar associations of foreign countries:

Works with joint business councils and private industrial alliances situated across the globe in the areas of trade enhancements, industry partnerships to voice the opinion of the Indian industry on global forum.

Role in policy making:

FICCI plays a pivotal role in formulation of economic and finance policies. By engaging with the policy makers, government and civil society Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry influences the policies by way of articulating the views and suggestions of industry.

Provides guidance and education:

Provides guidance and education to its member organizations by way of publishing informative journals useful to the business community. And acts a conflict resolver among them by way of mutual discussion on the problems.

Assistance to government:

Assist the government in the areas of the trade negotiations with foreign countries and sends their experienced personnel to the abroad to study the economy and business environment.

Conducts various programs and events:

Conducts workshops, seminars, business meets and conferences to discuss, debate various upcoming and existed policies of the government.

Assists its members:

Assist its members in the areas of policy improvement, suggestions to the management.

Invites and arrange the talks with foreign business delegates:

Plays crucial role in inviting foreign business delegations of public and private levels which are very vital in improving the foreign trade and foreign investment.

Provides information on exports:

Provides credible and valuable information on potentials and new developments in foreign trade by studying the trade environment and imports regulations of many foreign countries.

Accounting Standards simply refers to guidelines to be followed in the accounting system. It means rules & regulation that are to be followed while recording accounting & financial transactions. It governs the manner in which financial statements are prepared & presented.

As a business owner, you understand that accounting has to be accurate, but you may not know why accounting standards the rules with acronyms such as GAAP and IFRS are such a big deal. If you were the only one who ever needed to see your accounting, they wouldn’t be, but investors and regulators may go over your ledgers, too. When you follow accounting standards, outsiders can understand what they’re reading.

The main aims of accounting standards are to bring uniformity & reliability in the whole accounting system. Accounting standards standardize the whole accounting procedure of the economy. All companies after adopting these accounting standards follow the same manner of recording transactions.

Significance:

Determining Managerial Accountability

The accounting standards help measure the performance of the management of an entity. It can help measure the management’s ability to increase profitability, maintain the solvency of the firm, and other such important financial duties of the management.

Management also must wisely choose their accounting policies. Constant changes in the accounting policies lead to confusion for the user of these financial statements. Also, the principle of consistency and comparability are lost.

Assists Auditors

Now the accounting standards lay down all the accounting policies, rules, regulations, etc in a written format. These policies have to be followed. So, if an auditor checks that the policies have been correctly followed, he can be assured that the financial statements are true and fair.

Improves Reliability of Financial Statements

There are many stakeholders of a company and they rely on the financial statements for their information. Many of these stakeholders base their decisions on the data provided by these financial statements. Then there are also potential investors who make their investment decisions based on such financial statements.

So, it is essential these statements present a true and fair picture of the financial situation of the company. The Accounting Standards (AS) ensure this. They make sure the statements are reliable and trustworthy.

Attains Uniformity in Accounting

Accounting Standards provides rules for standard treatment and recording of transactions. They even have a standard format for financial statements. These are steps in achieving uniformity in accounting methods.

Prevents Frauds and Accounting Manipulations

Accounting Standards (AS) lay down the accounting principles and methodologies that all entities must follow. One outcome of this is that the management of an entity cannot manipulate with financial data. Following these standards is not optional, it is compulsory.

So, these standards make it difficult for the management to misrepresent any financial information. It even makes it harder for them to commit any frauds.

Comparability

This is another major objective of accounting standards. Since all entities of the country follow the same set of standards their financial accounts become comparable to some extent. The users of the financial statements can analyze and compare the financial performances of various companies before taking any decisions.

Also, two statements of the same company from different years can be compared. This will show the growth curve of the company to the users.