Accounting: Business Reporting for Decision Making 7th Edition by Jacqueline Birt Solution manual

Over the past decade, Australian employers have had to navigate substantial changes to the Australian industrial relations legislative framework, particularly with the introduction and subsequent repeal of the WorkChoices laws and the introduction of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act). Enterprise agreements and modern awards contain minimum entitlements for wages and conditions of employment. Some employees are not covered by an award or an enterprise agreement. For these employees, a national minimum wage order provides a safety net of minimum wages. The National Employment Standards (NES) are minimum standards that cannot be overridden by the terms of enterprise agreements or awards.
c.  If some people have more than others, then they must have worked harder and deserved it. The system is based on opportunities and everyone has to look out for themselves.
 
Having more than some people does not necessarily mean you have worked harder and therefore deserve it. For example, you may have inherited your wealth. Certainly, the capitalist system is based on opportunities and those willing to take advantage of them and work hard. It becomes unfair when those opportunities may not be available to all. Specifically, if political favours are involved. Legislation exists to ensure basic human rights are not violated by businesses in developed countries such as Australia. The Australian Government believes that business and respect for human rights go hand in hand. As such, businesses must comply with all Australian laws.
 
 
1.29      International convergence
It is argued that the convergence of our accounting standards with international standards and their subsequent adoption has brought great benefits to the Australian economy. What are the benefits in relation to international trade?
 
The adoption of international standards should have a number of benefits for the Australian economy including the following.

• A global language will be achieved for financial reporting. IFRS are now developed in consultation with countries around the world.
• Business, investors and other stakeholders will more effectively communicate, understand and engage.
• With an increase in understanding of global financial reporting this should lead to more informed decision making by entities and their stakeholders.

 
International trade will also benefit greatly from the adoption of international standards as with IFRS there is a global language which enables consistency in financial reporting. It also reduces costs for individual entities as they no longer have to produce two sets of financial reports. A global language also increases transparency in financial reporting.
 
 

 
1.30      IFRS adoption
Go to the IFRS Foundation website, www.ifrs.org. Select ‘Around the world’ then ‘Use of IFRS standards by jurisdiction’. Comment on the jurisdictions that have adopted IFRS. Which countries are yet to adopt IFRS? Can you think of reasons why certain countries have not adopted IFRS?
 
There are 166 profiles from jurisdictions commenting on whether they have adopted IFRS. Please note: this is not the full list of IFRS adopters. Profiles are included from countries such as Albania, Austria, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Singapore and South Africa. Some of them have adopted IFRS and some have not. The profiles discuss the following issues.
 

1. Commitment to a single set of global accounting standards. Nearly all of the jurisdictions (156 of the 166) have made a public commitment supporting a single set of high-quality global accounting standards. Only Albania, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Egypt, Macao, Paraguay, Suriname, Switzerland and Vietnam have not.

 

2. Commitment to IFRSs. The relevant authority in all but 8 of the 166 jurisdictions (Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Egypt, Macao, Suriname, Switzerland and Vietnam) has made a public commitment to IFRSs as the single set of global accounting standards. However, IFRS Standards are commonly used by publicly accountable entities in Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

 

3. Adoption of IFRS Standards. 144 jurisdictions (87 per cent of the profiles) require IFRS Standards for all or most domestic publicly accountable entities (listed companies and financial institutions) in their capital markets. All but one of those have already begun using IFRS Standards. Bhutan will begin using IFRS Standards in 2021. Some comments on the remaining 22 jurisdictions that have not adopted: