John Flower - Böcker

Focussing on the dominance of the Big Four auditing firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – this concise volume provides an authoritative critical assessment of the state and future of the audit market, currently the subject of much debate and the focus of significant government enquiries. Drawing on extensive research and a vast collection of evidence from interviews with insiders, experts and users, it explores the key issues of audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap.Just as disruptive technologies are overturning other established sectors, this book explores their impact on accounting, financial reporting and auditing. It questions whether the Big Four-dominated audit market is prepared not only for the inevitable disruption of new technologies, but also the challenges of negative public perceptions, cynicism about regulation and demands for greater transparency.In the context of increasing high-profile corporate failures, this book provides a compelling scrutiny of the industry’s failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption. At this crucial time, it will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as policy makers and regulators.

This concise volume evaluates the cause and significance of recent corporate failures and financial scandals, and how they reflect on the fitness for purpose of the external auditors, financial reports, financial watchdogs, boards, directors and senior management. Failures like the disastrous collapse of Carillion, examined at length, have ultimately led to a crisis of confidence not only in the audit process but in the entire process of financial reporting.Revealing the shortcomings in audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap, Financial Failures and Scandals questions if the profession, its regulators or government watchdogs, are adequately prepared for the challenges of increasing regulation, public outcry and political scrutiny in the face of inevitable future financial failures. The fundamental structures of financial reporting, annual reports, boards of directors and senior management are often found to have failed. Tighter regulation and new requirements for reporting will inevitably result.Drawing on extensive research and interviews with insiders, users and experts, this unique book provides a compelling account of the profoundly disruptive impact of financial failures on corporate and financial accountability. Topical and readable, this book will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as to policy makers and regulators.

Since the global financial crisis of 2007–8, new laws and regulations have been introduced with the aim of improving the transparency in financial reporting. Despite the dramatically increased flow of information to shareholders and the public, this information flow has not always been meaningful or useful. Often it seems that it is not possible to see the wood for the trees. Financial scalds continue, as Wirecard, NMC Health, Patisserie Valerie, going back to Carillion (and many more) demonstrate. Financial and corporate reporting have never been so fraught with difficulties as companies fail to give guidance about the future in an increasingly uncertain world aided and abetted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This concise book argues that the changes have simply masked an increase in the use of corporate PR, impression management, bullet points, glossy images, and other simulacra which allow poor performance to be masked by misleading information presented in glib boilerplate texts, images, and tables. The tone of the narrative sections in annual reports is often misleading. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with insiders and experts, this book charts what has gone wrong with financial reporting and offers a range of solutions to improve information to both investors and the public. This provides a framework for a new era of forward-looking corporate reporting and guidance based on often conflicting multiple corporate goals. The book also examines and contrasts the latest thinking by the regularity authorities.Providing a compelling exploration of the industry’s failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption, this timely, thought-provoking book will be of great interest to students, researchers, and professionals as well as policy makers in accounting, financial reporting, corporate reporting, financial statement analysis, and governance.

Accountancy as presently practised is tied to the paradigm of modern financial capitalism with its reliance on market solutions and the maximization of the firm’s profits, which are the fundamental causes of most these problems.The Social Function of Accounts argues that accountancy, as currently organized and practised, is failing society, both in Britain and in the world as a whole. Examining the current problems afflicting the world: financial crises and instability, global warming, degradation of the environment, growing inequality, this book asks the question - what contribution does accountancy make to the solution of these problems? The book argues that the accountancy profession does not serve the public interest, notwithstanding its claim to this effect. The Social Function of Accounts argues that the moral responsibility of the accountant is analysed with reference to the principal theories of ethics continuing that the individual accountant has a moral responsibility to consider the impact of his actions on other people and on society as a whole. This responsibility is then analysed in a series of chapters dealing with four specific aspects of the matter: Distributive Justice, Sustainability, Financial reporting & the Accountancy Profession.Concluding with a call for the accountancy profession to adopt a new ethic of service to the public The Social Function of Accounts redraws the boundaries of current accounting literature and will be vital reading for academics, researchers and policy makers in accounting and related disciplines.

Since the global financial crisis of 2007–8, new laws and regulations have been introduced with the aim of improving the transparency in financial reporting. Despite the dramatically increased flow of information to shareholders and the public, this information flow has not always been meaningful or useful. Often it seems that it is not possible to see the wood for the trees. Financial scalds continue, as Wirecard, NMC Health, Patisserie Valerie, going back to Carillion (and many more) demonstrate. Financial and corporate reporting have never been so fraught with difficulties as companies fail to give guidance about the future in an increasingly uncertain world aided and abetted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This concise book argues that the changes have simply masked an increase in the use of corporate PR, impression management, bullet points, glossy images, and other simulacra which allow poor performance to be masked by misleading information presented in glib boilerplate texts, images, and tables. The tone of the narrative sections in annual reports is often misleading. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with insiders and experts, this book charts what has gone wrong with financial reporting and offers a range of solutions to improve information to both investors and the public. This provides a framework for a new era of forward-looking corporate reporting and guidance based on often conflicting multiple corporate goals. The book also examines and contrasts the latest thinking by the regularity authorities.Providing a compelling exploration of the industry’s failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption, this timely, thought-provoking book will be of great interest to students, researchers, and professionals as well as policy makers in accounting, financial reporting, corporate reporting, financial statement analysis, and governance.

Accounting and Distributive Justice challenges the basic assumptions on which the current practice of financial reporting is based. It argues that the objective of financial reporting should be to contribute to the achievement of distributive justice and not the optimal allocation of resources as in the traditional capitalist paradigm. It explains in non-technical terms the principle philosophical theories of justice and argues that a firm has a moral responsibility to seek distributive justice in its dealings with its shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, and other people with whom it has dealings, who are considered to be the firm’s stakeholders. The book introduces concepts of distributive justice to accountants and provokes them into reflecting on how the discipline of accounting can best serve the cause of justice. Accounting and Distributive Justice provides both a philosophical foundation and a practical game plan for the future of a more sustainable accounting practice.

Accounting and Distributive Justice challenges the basic assumptions on which the current practice of financial reporting is based. It argues that the objective of financial reporting should be to contribute to the achievement of distributive justice and not the optimal allocation of resources as in the traditional capitalist paradigm. It explains in non-technical terms the principle philosophical theories of justice and argues that a firm has a moral responsibility to seek distributive justice in its dealings with its shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, and other people with whom it has dealings, who are considered to be the firm’s stakeholders. The book introduces concepts of distributive justice to accountants and provokes them into reflecting on how the discipline of accounting can best serve the cause of justice. Accounting and Distributive Justice provides both a philosophical foundation and a practical game plan for the future of a more sustainable accounting practice.

Almost all of us know French literature, even if we don’t know French, because it is probably the second largest and certainly the most translated into English. And, even if we don’t read, we would have seen film and television versions (think Count of Monte-Cristo) and even a musical rendition (Les Mis). So this is a particularly interesting volume in the literature series, since it covers French literature from the earliest times to the present. It is also a particularly rich literature, espousing ever genre from poetry, to novel, to biography, to drama, and adopting every style, including realism and surrealism, and expressing the views of all classes and political stands, with recently strong feminist and gay strains.Obviously, the core dictionary section includes among its panoply of often substantial and detailed entries, hundreds of authors, dozens of significant works, the various styles mentioned above and many others, events that have impacted literature such as the Dreyfus Affair and the Algerian War, and literary prizes. The chronology manages to cover about 1,200 years of literary output. And the introduction sets it all out neatly from one historical and literary period to the next. The bibliography, broken down by period and author, directs us to further reading in both French and English.

Examines aspects of Mauriac's work and career that have been unduly neglected and suggests new critical approaches.

François Mauriac is one of France's most read and consistently studied modern writers. For more than a decade Mauriac's work has been increasingly subjected to analyses drawing their inspiration in one way or another from psychology. Most of the essays in this collection are written from a psychobiographical or psychocritical viewpoint, drawing on the work of Freud, Marthe Robert, Klein, Lacan and Mauron. In some cases they investigate recurrent themes, motifs or preoccupations in Mauriac's work as a whole, in others they focus their attention on individual texts. Brought together they indicate the richness of this kind of approach as well as of the material at which it is directed.The essays are presented in the language of original composition (English or French) with a complete set of summaries in the alternate language in an appendix.

Short fiction in France has made a major contribution to French culture and literature. This volume provides new insights into some of the best examples of this form of writing in the twentieth century and also includes a chapter which explores ways in which the genre is evolving as the century draws to a close.Each chapter has been written by specialists in their particular field; their interpretations are backed by the experience of teaching and writing about these authors. They invite the reader to go beyond the immediate context or circumstances of what is related in the story under scrutiny and illustrate some of the many ways in which short stories may be narrated. In some cases stories are revisited and subjected to new interpretations; in others those perhaps less well known are revealed as being no less rewarding. The book offers stimulating reading for those already familiar with some of the works under discussion as well as for those coming to them afresh.

Short fiction in France has made a major contribution to French culture and literature. This volume provides new insights into some of the best examples of this form of writing in the twentieth century and also includes a chapter which explores ways in which the genre is evolving as the century draws to a close.Each chapter has been written by specialists in their particular field; their interpretations are backed by the experience of teaching and writing about these authors. They invite the reader to go beyond the immediate context or circumstances of what is related in the story under scrutiny and illustrate some of the many ways in which short stories may be narrated. In some cases stories are revisited and subjected to new interpretations; in others those perhaps less well known are revealed as being no less rewarding. The book offers stimulating reading for those already familiar with some of the works under discussion as well as for those coming to them afresh.

Jean Paulhan’s Lettre aux directeurs de la Résistance was an important and contentious statement about the influence of communism in intellectual and literary circles. On publication in 1952, the pamphlet revived debates over collaboration with the Nazi authorities that had dominated French society since the Liberation, and that still have important echoes today.In this new edition, John Flower provides a full contextualising introduction. He also examines Paulhan’s evolution during the period and assesses his postion alongside that of other key figures: in particular Mauriac and Camus. The volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of this turbulent period and provides a documentary history of the post-war political and literary debates in Paris.

PHRASAL VERB ORGANISER is a comprehensive practice book which makes phrasal verbs easier to understand and learn. It does what its title promises: it organises this difficult but essential area of English.

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS VOCABULARY contains graded vocabulary exercises in a huge range of business areas: banking, social, presentations, insurance, law, management, personnel, product, and sales. This is the ideal complement to most business courses.

This concise volume evaluates the cause and significance of recent corporate failures and financial scandals, and how they reflect on the fitness for purpose of the external auditors, financial reports, financial watchdogs, boards, directors and senior management. Failures like the disastrous collapse of Carillion, examined at length, have ultimately led to a crisis of confidence not only in the audit process but in the entire process of financial reporting.Revealing the shortcomings in audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap, Financial Failures and Scandals questions if the profession, its regulators or government watchdogs, are adequately prepared for the challenges of increasing regulation, public outcry and political scrutiny in the face of inevitable future financial failures. The fundamental structures of financial reporting, annual reports, boards of directors and senior management are often found to have failed. Tighter regulation and new requirements for reporting will inevitably result.Drawing on extensive research and interviews with insiders, users and experts, this unique book provides a compelling account of the profoundly disruptive impact of financial failures on corporate and financial accountability. Topical and readable, this book will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as to policy makers and regulators.

Focussing on the dominance of the Big Four auditing firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – this concise volume provides an authoritative critical assessment of the state and future of the audit market, currently the subject of much debate and the focus of significant government enquiries. Drawing on extensive research and a vast collection of evidence from interviews with insiders, experts and users, it explores the key issues of audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap.Just as disruptive technologies are overturning other established sectors, this book explores their impact on accounting, financial reporting and auditing. It questions whether the Big Four-dominated audit market is prepared not only for the inevitable disruption of new technologies, but also the challenges of negative public perceptions, cynicism about regulation and demands for greater transparency.In the context of increasing high-profile corporate failures, this book provides a compelling scrutiny of the industry’s failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption. At this crucial time, it will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as policy makers and regulators.

Accountancy as presently practised is tied to the paradigm of modern financial capitalism with its reliance on market solutions and the maximization of the firm’s profits, which are the fundamental causes of most these problems.The Social Function of Accounts argues that accountancy, as currently organized and practised, is failing society, both in Britain and in the world as a whole. Examining the current problems afflicting the world: financial crises and instability, global warming, degradation of the environment, growing inequality, this book asks the question - what contribution does accountancy make to the solution of these problems? The book argues that the accountancy profession does not serve the public interest, notwithstanding its claim to this effect. The Social Function of Accounts argues that the moral responsibility of the accountant is analysed with reference to the principal theories of ethics continuing that the individual accountant has a moral responsibility to consider the impact of his actions on other people and on society as a whole. This responsibility is then analysed in a series of chapters dealing with four specific aspects of the matter: Distributive Justice, Sustainability, Financial reporting & the Accountancy Profession.Concluding with a call for the accountancy profession to adopt a new ethic of service to the public The Social Function of Accounts redraws the boundaries of current accounting literature and will be vital reading for academics, researchers and policy makers in accounting and related disciplines.

With the possible exception of Great Britain, France can justifiably lay claim to possess the richest literary history of any country in Western Europe. This book covers the authors and their works, literary movements, and philosophical and social developments that have had a direct impact on style or content, and major historical events such as the two world wars, the Franco-Prussian War, the Algerian War, or the events of May 1968 that are directly reflected in a substantial body of imaginative writing. Historical Dictionary of French Literature, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries on individual writers and key texts, significant movements, groups, associations, and periodicals, and on the literary reactions to major national and international events such as revolutions and wars. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about French literature.