HI.
I am studying for ACCA and have a question which forms part of a larger assignment asking;
'Discuss why accounting standards on their own are not a complete regulatory framework'
I have answered that legal and market regulations are needed but the question is asking for 450 words.
Can anyone help to point me in the right direction to expand on this please?
Replies (4)
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Have you discussed the specific legal regulations (Companies Act, Listing rules etc) and their requirements?
Presumably there is more to the question than you quote - companies are subject to considerable regulation that has negligible bearing on financial reporting - health and safety, PAYE, environmental, money laundering, export controls.
I would think that the question is leading towards the concepts underlying the preparation and presentation of financial statements, needs of users, objectives, accounting concepts, fundamental characteristics etc.
450 words isn't that much. See JPK's answer above, throw in a bit about tax, and jobs a goodun?
They're probably also getting at subjectivity and principle based rules systems - you could spend a bit of time talking about the requirement for accountants to operate in an ethical way and how any regulatory system has to encourage this.