Harmonization of Accounting Standards - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 19 Words: 5677 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/24 Category Advertising Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Vol. 2, No. 2 International Business Research Harmonization of Accounting Standards through Internationalization Nikhil Chandra Shil, ACMA (Corresponding Author) Department of Business Administration East West University 43, Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka – 1212, Bangladesh Tel: 9887989(Off. ) ext 253, 01819289589 (M) Dr. Bhagaban Das P. G. Department of Business Management, Fakir Mohan University P. O. : Balasore, Pin. : 756019, Orissa, India E-mail: [emailprotected] com Alok Kumar Pramanik Department of Commerce, Bhatter College P. O. Dantan, Pin. : 721426, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India E-mail: [emailprotected] com Abstract The journey to have a common set of accounting standards started long before to give it a professional shape and essence. And accountants all over the world feel the necessity to shorten the gap among different streams of accounting practices through harmonization. Still, we have a couple of strong variants of accounting practices (say, for example, US GAAP, UK GAAP, IAS etc. ) over the world existed and practiced simultaneously. These variants are working as threats towards harmonization of accounting practices. However, the profession has also witnessed some improvements in recent years in the process of global convergence putting some ray of hope. International and even local standard setting bodies have come up with projects of harmonization and in most of the cases became successful. The day is not far away when we will observe that accounting world is controlled and guided by a single set of standards giving it a status of legal discipline in true sense. The paper focuses on this harmonization issue, its current status, challenges with special reference to Indian perspective. Keywords: Harmonization of Accounting Standards, International Accounting Standards, International Financial Reporting Standards, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Securities and Exchange Commission, International Accounting Standards Committee, Convergence of accounting standards. 1. Introduction Harmonization of accounting standards has become a highly demanded issue of discussion and debate among accounting professionals around the globe. Accounting Standards are the authoritative statements of best accounting practices issued by recognized expert accountancy bodies relating to various aspects of measurements, treatments and disclosures of accounting transactions and events, as related to the codification of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). These are stated to be the norms of accounting policies and practices by way of codes or guidelines to direct as to how the items, which make up the financial statements, should be dealt with in accounts and presented in the annual accounts. In fact, such statements are designed and prescribed to improve and benchmark the quality of financial reporting. They bring about uniformity in financial reporting and ensure consistency and comparability in the d ata published by enterprises. These are aimed at furnishing useful information to different users of the financial statements, such as shareholders, creditors, lenders, management, investors, suppliers, competitors, researchers, regulatory bodies and society at large. The process of harmonization gives the global community a single entity. The diversity of stockholding doesn’t matter today if the accounting system can generate general purpose financial statements in real sense. Thus, along with the process of globalization, the awareness of investors in capital markets has increased manifold and the size of investors 194 E-mail: [emailprotected] com International Business Research April, 2009 is multiplying. Foreign institution investors (FIIs) are investing in significant volume globally, as also are several Indian companies through GDRs (Global Depository Receipts) and ADRs (American Depository Receipts). Hence, the need for harmonization of accounting standards has b een strongly advocated globally in order to faster the economic decision-making process. Accounting has already bagged the status of the’ language of the business’ that requires reporting of the affairs in a commonly understandable way. At the World Bank Conference held in 1999, Jules W. Muis aptly states â€Å"†¦. power to control the language of business is important. Standard setters will come ahead as the world grows smaller, and economic independence is no longer an ption but a reality. So it happens that today a good observer can see the preparations of battle for the control of the international language of business slowly unfolds†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In this context, the statement of Harvey Pitt, US SEC Chairman at SEC Conference, (2002) is worth mentioning, â€Å"High quality global accounting standards are needed to improve the ability of investors to make informed financial decisions. Companies must keep pace with this progress in order to promote and protec t their business credibility in the international market place. It is for this reason that the convergence of accounting standards is so important. The process of convergence is accepted as the key factor to implement a single set of accounting standards across the globe. The paper follows a scholarly search approach to discuss the recent status of harmonization in accounting practices. 2. Objectives The objectives of current study are very straight forward. The very basic issue is to explain the need of harmonization in practices. Later on, it focuses on the regulatory authorities who are working actively to bring the convergence into practice. The paper also presents the success stories in the process of harmonization with the challenges ahead. Indian status has been addressed separately to report the situation of a developing county. 3. Rationales of Harmonization of Accounting Standards To allow the gains from the global economy to be fully realized, it is argued that account ing policy should be standardized among nations. This harmonization of accounting standards will help the world economy in the following ways: by facilitating international transactions and minimizing exchange costs by providing increasingly perfect information; by standardizing information to world-wide economic policy-makers; by improving financial markets information; and by improving government accountability. However, some specific points are presented below addressing the rationality of harmonization. A harmonization of accounting policy would help provide a level playing field globally. Regulators and auditors will be receiving the same information, facilitating the evaluation process. In the absence of free trade, international accounting standards will allow nations tariffs, quotas and other trade restraint mechanisms to be more accurate and less risky for those engaged in trade. Investors and managers will be able to make more valuable decisions. World resources will be better managed and allocated. The recent expansion of international capital markets and availability of instantaneous global communication have placed on accounting the onus to provide useful and comparable information across international boarders (Rivera, 1989). On many stock exchanges, currently, foreign listings are a large percentage of total listings (https://www. fibv. com). As per ICAI estimates, 20% of total listing on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is of foreign origin. In case of London Stock Exchange, this is 16% and in Luxembourg, the percentage is 82%. On 12 March 2002, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the EU Commission’s proposal that all EU listed companies must follow standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in their consolidated financial statements starting no later than 2005. Over 7,000 EU listed companies are directly affected by this proposal (Samir, 2003). The rapid growth of international trade and internationalization of firms, the developments of new communication technologies, and the emergence of international competitive forces is perturbing the financial environment largely. Under this global business scenario, the residents of the business community are badly in need of a common accounting language that should be spoken by all of them across the globe. A financial reporting system of global standard is a prerequisite for attracting foreign as well as present and prospective investors at home alike that should be achieved through convergence of accounting standards (Hati and Rakshit, 2002). ICAI president K. S. Vikamsey (2001) is of opinion that ‘People who invest overseas naturally want to be able to keep track of the financial health of the securities issuers. Convergence of accounting standards is the only means to achieve this. Only by talking the same language one can understand each other across borders. ’ With the absence of harmoniza tion in accounting standards the additional cost of financial reporting along with the difficulties that multinational groups faces in the manner in which they undertake transactions becomes critical. It is quite possible for a transaction to give rise to a profit under one accounting standard, whereas it may require a deferral under another standard. Thus, multinationals working in both the US and the UK face a good deal of trouble to prepare consolidated financial statements. When a multinational company has to report under the standards of both of the 195 Vol. 2, No. 2 countries it might lead to some extremely odd results. For instance, International Business Research Daimler Benz, who was the first German to secure stock market listing in the United States, reported a net profit of DM 158m for the six months to June 1998 based on German GAAP. The U. S GAAP reconciliation statement revealed that the company had incurred a loss of DM. 949m. Similarly, British Telecom Inc. re ported a net profit of ? 1767 for the year ended 31-3-1994 under the UK GAAP but under the US GAAP reconciliation, the net profit reduced to ? 1476. Harmonization is not an end by itself, but it is a means to an end. Adoption of different accounting standards causes difficulties in making relative evaluation of performance of companies. This phenomenon hinders the valuation and consequently the decision making process. There are numerous instances in India and around the world of bad accounting practices leading to corporate failures. Corporations wish non-recurrence of another Enron and like. Another significant benefit that is expected to accrue from global convergence of accounting standards relates to cross–boarder mergers and acquisitions facilitation. Last though not the least, it improves the quality of financial reporting throughout the globe. 4. Institutional Efforts of Harmonization A number of international organizations are working to reduce the differences in accounting standards between nations and trying to eliminate all necessary differences (Nair and Frank, 1980). The concept of convergence of accounting standards relates back to 19th century when the idea of â€Å"International Accounting Standards† was germinated in the first International Congress of Accountants held at St. Louis in 1904. Again in 1957, when 7th International Congress of Accountants held in Amsterdam, Mr. Jacobkraayenhof, spoke on the need of international accounting cooperation and standardization. Latter in 1966, discussions were made among the various professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and Association of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of America. The discussions were led by Sir Henry Benson, the then President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and ultimately a study group was ormed to conduct comparative studies on the accounting thoughts and practices among participating countries. It conducted about twenty studies on accounting and auditing topics during its eleven years lifetime. Ultimately, the senior officers of the study group decided to establish international standards. The meeting was held in 1972, and in the 10th International Congress of Accountants at Sydney, the International Coordination Committee for Accounting Profession (ICCAP) was formed to lay the groundwork for the establishment of a formal organization for the International Accounting Standards. The International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), now International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) came into existence as a result of an agreement by 16 accounting bodies representing 9 nations, i. e. , Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States of America on 29th June 1973, with its secretariat and head quarters at London (https://www. iasplus. com). At pre sent IASC has 153 accounting bodies representing 112 countries. It has so far issued 41 standards to harmonize the diverse accounting standards and policies at present in use in different countries. Barring Canada, Japan and the US, all countries have accepted these standards. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has approved a code of conduct for multinational enterprises for harmonization of national and international bodies. The UN Commission on Transnational Co-operation made efforts to establish disclosure standards for multinational corporation operating in the Third World Countries. The Accountants International Study Group (AISG) publishes fifteen comparative studies in order to harmonize financial accounting practices. The international Federation of Stock Exchanges has recommended that its members make compliance with the IASC accounting standards as a condition for listing stock (Most, 1984). These are undoubtedly some milestones on the way of harmonization. 5. Fast Facts in the Process of Convergence The International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), constituted in 1973 has passed through many phases of its journey to come to this present stage. It is felt pertinent to discuss all these here briefly for the knowledge of our esteemed readers. In the year 1995, IASC entered into an agreement with International Organization on Securities Commission (IOSCO) on a mission to complete â€Å"comprehensive core set of Standards† that could be used for cross-boarder and national listings. In fact, this was due to growing recognition of the need for global accounting standards. To give proper direction on how to interpret these standards led to the setting up of the Standards Interpretations Committee (SIC) in 1997. In December 1999, the board of the International Accounting Standards Committee has approved proposal to make changes in the structure of the committee with a view to achieve global convergence . On May 2000, one most important breakthrough was reached when the International Organization on Securities Commission (IOSCO) accepted 30 core International Accounting Standards. This backing by IOSCO for the use of International Accounting Standards by member stock exchanges led to the acceptance and recognition of the 196 International Business Research April, 2009 International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) as a worldwide standard setter. Further, it was followed by the reformation of IASC to International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in 2001. Consequently, IAS is now renamed as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), have brought into limelight. Consequently, in the same year the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggested the acceptance of IAS for use in cross-border listings in the US, without reconciliation to results under the US-GAAP (Madan, 2002). In 2001, the international fraternity of accountants took stock of the situation and constituted the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to evolve and prescribe norms for treatment of several items in the preparation and presentation of financial statements. IASB adopted all the 41 standards issued by the IASC till 2001. These standards were thoroughly revised and updated in view of the changes in industry and the need for rationalization. In October 2002, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the IASB and the FASB, the two major players in the accounting standards arena, which is well known as Norwalk agreement. The two grand bodies agreed to put their best efforts to make their financial reporting standards fully compatible. The Norwalk agreement was welcomed throughout the accounting circles including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) was constituted to replace the SIC. This committee meets periodically to discuss and spell out their interpretation s. It deals with matured as well as emerging issues. The former are those covered by existing standards but not satisfactorily practiced, and the latter are new topics relating to an existing IAS but not considered while developing the standard. The last milestone in the process of convergence was done on 12 March 2002, when the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the EU Commission’s proposal that all EU listed companies must follow standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board in their consolidated financial statements starting no later than 2005. This put an â€Å"end to the current Tower of Babel in financial reporting†. This decision also seems to have placed IAS firmly in the driver’s seat as the eventual global standard. Canada, Australia, and a number of other countries have announced intention to adopt IAS. United States, which has shown a preference for maintaining its independent standards setting body for a pr etty longer period, is evidencing interest in convergence of accounting standards. 6. Present Global Scenario The countdowns to the harmonization of national and international accounting standards and an improvement in the quality of financial reporting at a global level are best tracked chronologically. The current world scenario on the subject of harmonization gets going on 12 March 2002, when the EU Commission directed all European companies trading in the European Securities Market to adopt IAS in 2005, and all non- European companies (following US GAPP or any other standards) up to 2007. In June 2004, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) had issued standards and interpretations that all accounting standards of Australia that are equivalent to International Financial Reporting Standards (A IFRS) must be adopted from 2005 in their country. Many countries like Korea, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Malta, and Uganda are adopting IAS. The inform ation about accounting principles applicable in Syria and Tunisia indicates that they are similar to international accounting standards. At present, all companies and banks in Russia are required to prepare their financial statements in accordance with IAS. New Zealand’s Accounting Standards Review Board (ASRB) and Financial Reporting Standards Board (NZ FRSB) have adopted 36 new accounting standards and 12 interpretations in January 2005. And these formed New Zealand’s equivalent of the International Financial Reporting Standards (NZ IFRS). It is going to implement IASB standards with effect from 1st January 2007. Hong Kong is an important international financial hub. Its stock market ranks second largest in Asia and eight largest in the world in terms of market capitalization. The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), the standard setting body of Hong Kong has been pursing the policy of aligning its standards with IAS since the early 1990s. Most recently, HKICPA has further committed time and resources to support convergence. Philippines have also adopted national standards that are identical to IFRS from 2005. Singapore has adopted many accounting standards from IFRS that essentially word for word. Now these are known as Singapore’s equivalents of IFRS (S IFRS). Japan, the major player in the global capital market and the second largest capital market in the world, is a strong supporter of IASB. The Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants is now working in collaboration with the IASB to make the Japanese standards essentially equivalent to international standards. Japan too has undertaken a joint project in collaboration with IASB to remove the differences between Japanese Accounting Standards (JAS) and IFRS by January 2005. 197 Vol. 2, No. 2 International Business Research The Canadian Accounting Standard Board (CASB) has also announced its intention to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in five years. Canada’s decision to adopt IFRS means that out of original G4 nations, US is the only member that has not gone over to international standards. In Egypt, Egyptian Accounting standards have prepared to comply with international accounting standards except for certain minor differences to adopt Egyptian economic environment. Therefore, all companies listed in the Cairo Stock Exchanges must follow IAS. Kuwait adopted IAS as its national standards. Therefore, all Kuwaiti companies are following IAS for the purpose of listing. All companies in Jordan, both domestic and foreign, listed in the Amman Stock Exchange must follow IAS. However, in Turkey, oreign companies may follow any one out of three standards, such as, International Accounting Standards, UK GAAP and US GAPP for listing in Istanbul Stock Exchange. In the Middle East, most of the countries have welcomed the International Accounting Standards. For cases in point, Bahrain, Qatar, Leban on, and Oman are considering IAS as the replacement to their domestic standards. Of course, Iran and Israel had shown reluctance for the use of International Accounting Standards. In Iran, all companies to be listed in Iranian Stock exchange must have to follow Iranian accounting principles. Similarly all companies must have to follow Iranian accounting principles, if they want to be listed in Tel Alive Stock exchange. On January 1, 2007, more than 1,100 Chinese companies switched to new accounting standards that brought their books in line with international norms. From next year, the companies will have to apply a new set of 38 standards, under the China Accounting Standards System, that are basically in line with IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) norms. But, there is far more at stake than improving accounting practices at China’s listed firms. Chinese companies are increasingly looking overseas for funds and acquisitions. Adopting international standar ds will make this easier by increasing their transparency and credibility. In Bangladesh, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) set standards for the country through its Technical and Research Committee. Till date, it has adopted all eight IFRSs and twenty six IASs. In terms of standards, the gap between IASs and the standards as followed in Bangladesh is insignificant though some national laws give contradictory prescription in single situation. Another milestone reached by Bangladesh is that it has enacted the Financial Reporting Act 2008 to control financial reporting activities and, at the same time, to do the watchdog function of the accounting and auditing profession that will further strengthen the harmonization process. From above deliberations, it can be believed at this moment that, the IOSCO’s endorsement of the IASC standards has paved the way for unification of accounting standards globally and emergence of the true artificial language de signed for global use in the field of accounting (Srkant, 2005). Today the world of accounting feels that International Accounting Standards should be that language, as it is the only set of standards that has been prepared through wide international consultations and participations. 7. What will happen if USA does not adopt IAS? Now it is realized that, barring very few, almost all countries of the world are interested to follow IAS as their accounting standards. USA is the only main country reluctant to adopt it. Now question arises what will happen if super-power of the world and a highly developed economy like USA does not adopt IAS? Executive search firm, Russell Reynolds’ survey of chairmen across 145 European companies has found: (a) over half the chairmen of companies with US listings said they would consider de-listing because of Sarbanes-Oxley, in spite of the difficulties in taking shares off the US exchanges; (b) 70% of those heading companies not yet listed in the US said Sarbanes-Oxley would dissuade them from seeking a US listing. With the relatively tighter regulation in the US, several large companies are understood to be evaluating other capital markets that accept IFRS (Memani, 2006). While such situations provide an opportunity for IFRS to flourish, it would still be inappropriate to stay limited to that perspective. This is because IFRS stands a fair chance on its own, with its acceptance by EU, and also given the fact that many countries have traditionally followed IFRS or IFRS-inspired national accounting standards. 8. Harmonized Accounting Standards: Issues and Challenges In spite of all, achieving global convergence in accounting standards is not an easy task. There are a number of issues to overcome. First of all, there seems to be a reluctance to adopt the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) norms in the US. This is definitely a problem. The US is the largest market and it is important for IASC stan dards to be harmonized with those prevailing there. The US lobby is strong, and they have formed the G4 nations, with the UK, Canada, and Australia (with New Zealand) as the other members. IASC merely enjoys observer status in the meetings of the G4, and cannot vote. Even when the standards are only slightly different, the US accounting body treats them as a big difference, the idea being to show that their standards are the best. However, except US all other members of G4 has adopted the IAS more or less to some extent. 198 International Business Research April, 2009 Second, accounting standards have been developed in different countries under different legal, economic, social and cultural environments. For this reason there exists such diversity in accounting standards among the countries through the globe. If convergence is to be achieved, it is first necessary to arrive at an agreement as to the central objective of financial reporting. The IASB standards are oriented to s erve the needs of investors and capital markets. Countries that have a different financial reporting philosophy would find it extremely difficult to harmonize their domestic standards with International Financial Reporting Standards. Third, the quality of financial reporting depends on the quality of accounting standards as well as the effectiveness of the process by which those standards are implemented. Adequate regulatory and other supports are necessary to ensure proper implementation of standards. Implementation of accounting standards is not an easy task. In spite of convergence, there is no assurance that they will be implemented with same amount of vigor in every jurisdiction. Last, convergence of accounting standards with international approach will inevitably raise the questions of rules versus principles. IASB standards are principles-based. Thus the countries that have rules-based standards are expected to experience considerable difficulty in harmonization of their s tandards with IFRS. There are challenges that IASB and nations adopting IFRS need to address in the coming days. One big challenge for countries adopting IFRS is the shortage of manpower and more particularly, IFRS-trained manpower. For case in point, with just six months to go before China’s listed companies adopt IFRS, demand for accountants is rising and could run into millions in the coming years, if the new standards are rolled out for all of the country’s companies and not just the listed ones. Accountants say that the challenge for China, as it scrambles to meet the accounting shift deadline, will lie in getting its over-1,100 listed companies to establish the appropriate financial reporting systems and in training enough qualified accountants by January. The risk is that some of these companies may fail to make the transition on time. Estimates reveal that China has a shortfall of 300,000 qualified accountants and is likely to require a further three mill ion over the coming years to keep pace with its current rate of economic growth. . Status of Indian Accounting Standards India is a member of IASC. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the apex body of accounting and auditing, constituted an Accounting Standards Board (ASB) on April 21, 1977, to pronounce standards on various items of the financial statements. The current Indian accounting standards are of good quality in most instances and in fact, are practically the same as IASs. The statutory audit was the only enforcement mechanism till 1999. It was in 1999 when the Government of India constituted the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS), an advisory body on accounting standards by inserting Section 210A in the Companies (Amendment) Act 1999. So far, the NACAS has advised the adoption of 27 accounting standards developed by ASB. In support of its commitment to adopt IAS; the ASB is examining the various standards revised by IASB to i nitiate revision in its corresponding. This Board has been releasing standards from time to time. Certain of the standards have also been revised/deleted/curtailed in the light of new and additional standards as well as the experience of the industry. Moreover, the Board has also prepared a comparative statement listing the IAS with corresponding Indian Accounting Standards, and also the standards which are irrelevant in the context of present economic and business scenario (Chowdhury, 2000). Till now, 29 Accounting Standards have been issued by the ICAI as against the 41 International Accounting Standards. There are also five International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In India, since the ASB is not yet functional, the accounting standards as pronounced by the ICAI are adaptable by every entity whose financial statements are subject to audit. 10. Grounds of Diversity between Indian Accounting Standards and IAS India is slowly entering into the arena of accounting stan dards. But the progress of formulation of accounting standards has been very slow as compared with the developments at international levels. However, some of the accounting standards in India conform to the International Accounting Standards. Still there are significant variations between these two. Efforts are on to counterpart Indian accounting standards with the IAS. A study of their variations would be crucial for bridging the gaps (Reddy, 2000). For India, the multiplicity of standard setters leads to delay and lack of direction. The increased complexity of the fair valuation models as prescribed by international standards requires extensive valuation/objective professional judgments, integrity and uniformity of approach, which may not be easily achievable across all countries—particularly in the emerging economies like India. It may be noted that in several important areas, when the Indian Standards are implemented, the accounting treatment in these areas could le ad to differences in the restatement of accounts in accordance with IAS. Some of these areas include: a) Consolidated financial statements, b) Accounting for income taxes, c) Financial Instruments and d) Intangible Assets. Another reason for the prevailing divergent accounting practices in the Indian Accounting Standards is the provisions of 199 Vol. 2, No. 2 International Business Research he Income Tax Act 1961 and Indian Companies Act 1956. They do not go together. Sometimes, the prescriptions are contradictory on a similar issue. 10. 1 Company law and Accounting Standards In India, though accounting standards setting is presently being done by ICAI, one could discern a tentative and halfhearted foray by company legislation in to the making of accounting rules of Measurement and reporting. This action by itself is not the sore point but the failure to keep pace with the changes and simultaneously not allowing scope for some one else to do it is disturbing. A study of the requi rement of company law regarding the financial statements reveal several lacunae like earning per share, information about future cash flows, consolidation, mergers, acquisitions etc. 10. 2 Income Tax Act and Accounting Standards The Income Tax Act does not recognize the accounting standards for most of the items while computing income under the head Profits Gains of Business or Profession. Section 145(2) of the I. T. Act has empowered the Central Government to prescribe accounting standards. The standards prescribed so far constitute a rehash of the related accounting standards prescribed by ICAI for corporate accounting. On a close scrutiny of these standards one is left wondering about the purpose and value of this effort. Examples are application of prudence substance over form, adherence to principles of going concern etc. 10. 3 Other regulations and accounting standards In respect of banks, financial institutions, and finance companies the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pronou nces policies among others, revenue recognition, provisioning and assets classifications. Similarly the Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (FEDAI) provides guidelines regarding accounting for foreign exchange transactions. Since the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is an important regulatory body it would also like to have its own accounting standards and in fact, it has started the process by notifying cash flow reporting format. It is also in the process of issuing a standard on the accounting policies for mutual funds. It appears as if several authorities in India are keen to have a say in the matter of framing accounting rules of measurement and reporting. The tentative and half-hearted legal and regulatory intervention in accounting in India has come in the way of development of robust, continuously evolving and dynamic accounting theory and standards (https://www. icai. org). In spite of this, India’s adoption of IAS is inevitable. When the whole world is adopting one language, it will be simply impossible on the part of India to hold it out for a too long period. 11. The Conclusion Harmonization is the process by which differences in practices among countries are reduced (Doupnik, 1987). The case of harmonizing accounting practices and principles at the international level is stronger today that it has ever been (McComb, 1982). Even, the IASC itself is concerned with removing unnecessary differences in accounting principles and practice throughout the world (McComb, 1982). Overwhelmingly, the harmonization of accounting practices suffers from a lack of synchronization between the issuance of standards at the national level in different countries and the formulation of standards by the IASC (Rivera, 1989). At the same time, both success and failure exists in the process of harmonization. For example, the American Institute of Chartered Accountants (AICPA) adopts the view that US GAAP being superior to IASs and its member mu st necessarily comply with the former (Most, 1984). As we know that it is an age of globalization, there is no conceptual boundary among the nations. And this is not difficult at all to choose superior standards through the current process of setting the standards. The attainment of a single set of accounting and reporting standards is the demand of the time. We will fall behind if this harmonization process takes more time. Many of the initial hurdles in the process of harmonization have been overcome and much progress towards convergence of accounting principles and procedures among countries has already been achieved. Convergence initiatives are now working much more effectively than ever before. Differences are still there but they are narrowing. It is expected that the pace of progress in the sphere of convergence will accelerate further in the coming years. In Indian perspective, it will continue to adopt IASs/IFRSs in the near future with few modifications to cater to t he requirements of local climate. Setting IFRS under new regulatory framework is also a notable success in harmonization. IAS permits some alternative practices that has been reduced in IFRS to make the prescription common to all so that following same standards cannot generate varying practices. We expect that this process will ultimately set new benchmark for achieving harmonization in both national and international level. References Chowdhury, A. K. (2000). Compliance with accounting standards in India, why and how? Management accountant, ICWAI, March 2000. 200 International Business Research April, 2009 Doupnik, T. S. (1987). Evidence of International Harmonization of Financial Reporting. International Journal of Accounting, 23(1), 12-27. Hati, W. J. and Rakshit, D. (2002). Integrating accounting standards — A step towards harmonization. Management accountant, ICWAI, May 2002. https://www. fibv. com (Retrieved on 19. 05. 2007). https://www. iasplus. com (Retrieved on 12. 7. 2007). https://www. icai. org/resource/o_ac_standard. html (Retrieved on 27. 09. 2007). Madan V. (2002). Re-Statement under US GAAP. India Infoline Newsletter, IMT Ghaziabad. McComb, D. (1982). International Accounting Standards and the EEC Harmonization Program: A Conflict of Disparate Objective. International Journal of Accounting, spring, 35-48. Memani, R. (2006). Accounting a Milestone for Global Markets. The Financial Express, July 27, 2006. Most, K. S. (1984). International Conflict of Accounting Standards, A Research Monograph, No. 8. The Canadian Certified General Accountants Research Foundation. Reddy, K. R. (2000). Accounting standards and Gaps in Practices in India. Management accountant, ICWAI, April 2000. Rivera, J. M. (1989). The Internationalization of Accounting Standards: Past Problems and Current Perspectives. International Journal of Accounting, 24(4), 320-342. Samir, M. S. (2003). Harmonization of Accounting Standards. Chartered Accountant, ICAI, Januar y 2003. Srkant, S. (2005). Accounting Standards – will the World be talking same language? Chartered Accountant, ICAI, February 2005. 201 Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Harmonization of Accounting Standards" essay for you Create order

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The Argument about the War on Iraq The United States attacked Iraq on March 20, 2003, after months of threats and a long military buildup. It cooperated with more than thirty-one countries for this invasion. One of the biggest events of the past decade, the Iraq war has been dominating news outlets, especially in the Middle East. This war has caused the biggest casualties of civilians in the history of Iraq and the US Army for several decades. According to the The Invasion of Iraq: A Balance Sheet by Brian Jenkins, The Iraq War cost the lives of 4,480 U.S. soldiers and at least 3,400 U.S. contractors. In addition, 31,928 American soldiers were wounded in action, many suffering serious disabilities that will impose a continuing burden†¦show more content†¦The war in Iraq lasted for eight years and resulted in many casualties; the cost of the war was tremendous. The reason for the war changed as time went by, starting with getting rid of weapons of mass destruction and then, when the weapons of mass destruction were not found, the name changed to Iraqi Freedom. A debate between two writers that emerged of the war in Iraq shows different perspectives. Writer John Mueller, who holds the Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies at Ohio State University, makes the case against war on Iraq. Also, writer Brink Lindsey, who is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is in favor of this war. This paper will examine the perspectives as reported by both John Mueller and Brink Lindsey as they argue about the case of the United States invading Iraq. I will conclude from the evidence that the war on Iraq was unnecessary and counterproductive because it increased not decreased the terrorism, refugee crises, cost lives and money without achieving any of its objectives. John Mueller explains his opinion in his article, and he is against this war. The reasons that led to this war are the weakness of the Iraqi military and the lack of support by the regime. Mueller clarifies that it was unlikely that Hussein would attack the United States because any conflict with a Western country would lead to weakening his control over the nation. According to the article What s the Rush? by Mueller, The Kurds have

What Is The Interaction Between Solid And Lenient Law

Interactions between Solid and Lenient Laws There is a relationship between lenient and solid standards, and they are built into the flow with the transnational legal standards. However, there are multiple levels of these standards. First, there is the interaction between the United Nations and the FARF recommendations; next is the main role played on a national level to enforce laws firmly. The first international treaty to be released as the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988. It was created to formally take measures against drug trafficking including provisions against money laundering. The 1988 Convention came to power in November of 1990. Bureau of Justice Statistics.†¦show more content†¦banks in their dealings with foreign correspondent banks. The Act also strengthened laws responding to the problem of terrorist financing and its connection with money laundering and reinforced asset forfeiture laws in matters involving funding of terrorist activities. Public and Private sectors The communication between private and public sector helped to create some of the laws against money laundering, directed at the financial sector with the combination of national strategies from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. One of the key issues to point out between sectors is that it is often assumed that the monitoring roles developed in the private sector might never be successfully accomplished directly by the states alone, and with so much assumption it leaves room for doubts. Banks careless associations with criminals have often undermined the public’s confidence in banks stability of the entire financial system. Although new laws were enforced, the creation of the patchwork only created an increase of competition and arbitrage between both sectors; as a result, this permits the money launderer to profit from these inconsistencies between the various financial centers. The miscommunication between public and private sectors during the 1970’s did not function well because every state wanted control over the policies. AmongShow MoreRelatedIs Georgia A Criminal Justice Major?1921 Words   |  8 Pagesmales more likely to commit crime? Are more African American males being incarcerated due to social class? Are more African American males being incarcerated due to their family cycle? Are more African American males being incarcerated due to racism? What affect does African American Males being incarcerated have on their families? Literature Review Crimes statistics show that as many as 75% of Georgia juvenile offenders eventually become involved in the adult corrections system. 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Pre Departure Programs

Question: Discuss about thePre Departure Programs. Answer: Pre-Departure Programs and their Overall Impact Pre-departure programs are the events that are focused on preparing the students for who are selected into the study programs in foreign countries. These programs provide the valuable information to the students during their sessions, which will help the students in managing their lives in foreign countries. Information related to culture differences, medical and money issues, visas, plane tickets, etc are being imparted to the students in the predeparture programs. The pre-departure program helps in providing the opportunity to the students for receiving accurate, as well as, realistic information prior to their beginning of study programs (Wallace and Webb, 2014). The objective of the pre-departure program is to develop the skills in the students that will help them to adjust and cope up with any kind of challenges in a successful manner. However, it is believed that for succeeding in these pre-departure programs, students have to adjust to their personal lives and have to give up several aspects of their life. As pre-departure programs are focused on developing the understanding of different cultural, social, as well as, intellectual experiences that the students will experience in the foreign country. These programs are too vast and different from the personal beliefs, culture, values, as well as, attitudes that the student finds it difficult to manage these programs in their daily life (Herbst de Cortina et al., 2016). As a result, the students start isolating himself with the leisure activities and the social activities to devote more time to the understanding of these programs for gaining success in the pre-departure programs. There are so many sessions in pre-departure programs that are meant for the intellectual development involving language learning and knowledge, expansion of the international perspectives, as well as, for personal development. The overarching aim and objectives for developing the intellectual level of the student including personal development and promoting and expanding the social change create so much burden and stress on students for implementing these things successfully (Danaher, Bowser, and Somasundaram, 2008). Hence, students avoid spending time in leisure activities and isolate them from social life. In order to meet the main goals and objectives of the pre-departure programs, the students focus on developing skills and concentrate most of the time on these sessions and their learnings. They start isolating themselves from all other activities, which also include less family time, no social activity, and other extra-curricular activities. They are focused on expanding their perspectives and learnings gained in the pre-departure programs and its sessions that they sometimes start ignoring the other aspects of life (Jiang, 2016). There are so many things that are being included in the session of the pre-departure programs that students used to spend most of the time of their day attending those sessions. As a result, the students feel so overloaded as the curriculum of these programs are so large in comparison to the ones they used to have. Moreover, the students tend to lose their own cultural values and beliefs in order to adapt themselves to the culture of the foreign country. For instance, since the focus of the pre-departure programs is to teach the culture learning of the country to the students, they used to spend most of their time in learning about the culture of their destination country, which in turn, takes the student away from their own culture. Moreover, they start spending less time with their previous social life and culture in an attempt to adopt the culture and social life of their destined country as the students are trained to adopt that in such kind of programs (Bankston, 2004). As a result of having no leisure, as well as, lost social life, the students develop a habit of leading a lonely life and cut them off from the entire social circle, which in turn can lead to the development of stress and anxiety. As a result, due to inefficient management of the programs, the students tend to have more adjustment problems in abroad (Liu and Rook, 2013). The lost social life and no time for personal activities will have a serious implication on my life. It is very important to have a balance between the professional or academic and personal life. The incapability of the student to handle this burden and over the stress of succeeding in these pre-departure programs actually leads to loss of personal life. Hence, it is very important to balance ones personal life and effective management of the sessions and learnings of this kind of programs without having negative impacts on ones life. References Bankston, C. (2004). Social Capital, Cultural Values, Immigration, and Academic Achievement: The Host Country Context and Contradictory Consequences.Sociology of Education, 77(2), pp.176-179. Danaher, P., Bowser, D. and Somasundaram, J. (2008). The student departure puzzle: do some faculties and programs have answers?.Higher Education Research Development, 27(3), pp.271-280. Herbst de Cortina, S., Arora, G., Wells, T. and Hoffman, R. (2016). Evaluation of a Structured Predeparture Orientation at the David Geffen School of Medicine's Global Health Education Programs.American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 94(3), pp.563-567. Jiang, X. (2016). Effect of Pre-Departure Culture Preparation Courses on Student Learning during International Fieldwork.Creative Education, 07(09), pp.1237-1243. Liu, B. and Rook, K. (2013). Emotional and social loneliness in later life: Associations with positive versus negative social exchanges.Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(6), pp.813-832. Wallace, L. and Webb, A. (2014). Pre-departure training and the social accountability of International Medical Electives.Education for Health, 27(2), p.143.

The origins of public health in the UK free essay sample

Public health was best described by the Yale professor Winslow in 1920 who described it as ‘the art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing services for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of the social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health’. Public health covers a range of areas, and is constantly having to be changed to keep up with the changing health needs of the public. (Fleming, M. and Parker, E. (2009) An introduction to Public Health Churchill Livingston Elsevier: Australia) During the Victorian Era, public health was not an issue that was dealt with by the government. We will write a custom essay sample on The origins of public health in the UK or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There weren’t public hospitals, and only those from a wealthy background were able to access medical care. There was no such thing as vaccinations as there was very few educated on health, and many people died from diseases and infections in all classes, that now a day are easily treated. The people of this time were very uneducated about personal hygiene care and knew nothing about the spread of diseases. The people based their beliefs on their interpretations of what they saw going on around them. Due to the lack of knowledge it was believed if someone died it was because they were, for example, possessed by a daemon or they were a witch. In today’s society we have the understanding and science to allow us insight into the real reasons that people die and get unwell, we know that illness are not caused because someone is a witch. During the 19th century there was many factories built which offered jobs to many people, so many people moved from the country to be near the factories as the transport systems were so poor. This meant that there was large numbers of people living in small areas. Though when the people began work in the factories, they soon realised that all was not as good as they had hoped for. In today’s world we have a far better transport network which means people can live in less confined areas, and they can travel easily to reach their places of work. Long working hours, poor wages and bad nutrition meant that people’s health started to decline, and it was in fact the more rural living people that lived longer. People were paid such bad wages and there was no benefits system in place, so when people were unable to afford a house for them and their families they were sent to the workhouse which was a last resort, in the workhouse people never got out alive, all dying shortly after they entered due to the vast amount of sickness that was there. Children went to work in the factories as soon as they were old enough, about 8 years old, and the woman also went to work in the factories as well as caring for the sick. This meant that the death rate in woman and children was especially low. In 1833 the Factory Act was put into place. This act was to regulate the working hours of woman and children, it took a long time to be implemented but it was a step towards the regulation of working conditions. (victorianweb. rg 2006) Today is it illegal for a child to work until they reach the age of 16, and woman get paid leave from their jobs when they have a baby, this has meant that children are able to go to school and get an education and grow physically and intellectually instead of going to work from they can walk. During this time there was no such thing as building controls, so the homes in which people lived were of bad conditions, they were overcrowded and did not have any sanitation such as running water or sewage facilities. A six bedroom house would have had 6 large families living in it, one family per room. This meant that people had to take turns sleeping and infection spread easily, due to lack of sanitation. In today’s society we have building control who ensure that ll homes are fit for purpose and most people have their own bedroom, rather than one family to a bedroom. The life expectancy of someone living at this time and working in one of these factories was around the age of 22. The life expectancy for tradesmen was 27, men had a higher life expectancy that woman, and the upper class had a life expectancy of 45 as they were not subjected to the reality of the slums and factories. In today’s society the life expectancy of woman is 5 to 10 years longer than it is for men. This is mainly due to the fact that woman look after their health better and are more regular users of going to the doctors than men are. Woman are also more likely to talk to their friends if they think that they have something wrong where as men are not big talkers when it comes to their health. During the Victorian Era 60’000 to 70’000 people during every decade from tuberculosis and the numbers dying from it decreased and in recent years it was thought to completely be eradicated. The health service then made the decision not to vaccinate people for the disease because there had been no numbers of death from it, but this has not been the case and people have begun to tract it again and there are people dying from it. (bbc 2011) In 2011, 8,963 cases of TB were reported in the UK. (NHS 2012) No toilet facilities or sewage system meant that people chucked their waste out to the street, not knowing the consequences that untreated waste would have on their health. The water that the waste was thrown into was the same water that vermin and other animals lived in; this water was also used by the families for cooking and drinking which meant there was a serious spread of infections. Cholera is a water born disease which claimed the lives of thousands of people living during the 19th century, the symptoms include; stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhoea and the skin turning blue. Dr John Snow, who is now a famous figure in history, was the first person to make the connection that cholera spread through the water. He was a working class man, and he went on to study the people and how they were becoming ill, and discovered how cholera was spreading, and so epidemiology began. Epidemiology is the study of the spread of diseases and it is something that is ongoing today with the many new diseases that are being found. (bbc) Cholera is a disease was thought to have been eradicated but due to the recent weather disruptions across the UK and Ireland, the government are concerned that there could be another breakout. Thousands of homes have become flooded and the sewage from these homes is running up and down the streets, this being a vast resemblance to the 19th century. Microbiologists testing water in Moorlands, Somerset, found it contains 60,000 to 70,000 bacteria per 100 milliliter. Water should contain no more than 1,000 per milliliter, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The towns and cities were not a pleasant place to be, the streets were filthy, and the drains and sewers which ran in the streets were blocked and overflowing. Rubbish was also just threw out to the street which meant there was a lot of vermin attracted, which also carried many diseases, this caused national concern. More and more housing was being needed, so poorly built houses were erected on top of rubbish piles, this rubbish did not provide solid founds, and made the houses very dangerous for living in. The poor people could not get help, the middle class saw them as immoral as they were all living in such cramped housing. There were charities set up, such as the Peabody Trust in 1862 and The Guinness Trust in 1890 which aimed to help the people but these failed to meet the needs of the people most desperate in society. In 1866 after a fourth case of cholera killed 6000 people; the government put the first piece of legislation in place that actually made changes to the peoples lives, The Sanitary Act. This law meant that authorities had to provide fresh water, sewage and waste disposal. This law took a long time to be implemented into all houses within Britain but it meant that life expectancy was slowly on the rise. All of the towns had to have a Sanitary Inspectors and the Home Secretary was empowered to take proceedings for the removal of nuisances where local authorities failed to act. Today all homes in Britain benefit from the Sanitary Act as they have running water and sewage facilities, and also a better knowledge on personal hygiene. By the end of the Victorian Era, treatment of illness started to become more advanced and surgery became more effective as there was a better knowledge. Moving into the 20th century there was still many of the problems which existed during the 19th century. These on-going problems included housing and slums, poverty, lack of hospitals, nutritional issues, and the same sanitation problems. One piece of legislation that ensured a better quality of life for the people was the House of the Working Class Act, this began the building of council houses, a development which is still being used in present day, especially sue to the recessionary times that we are currently in and the increasing amounts of people that are becoming homeless due to reduced jobs and opportunities. In today’s society we still have problems with many of these issues. In the recent economic climate and the recession, people have become unemployed and living has started to back track to these times, a lot of people have not been able to keep up repayments on their mortgages and homelessness has become a booming issue. This homelessness has meant that there has been a small rise in the numbers of council houses being built. Another problem which is still ongoing in today’s society is peoples nutrition. In the 19th and 20th centuries people suffered from bad nutrition as they did not know about vitamins and nutrients and people were badly malnourished and underweight which added to many health problems such as rickets, and in today’s society we still have nutritional problems. Fast food and fatty foods are so easily accessible and people find them to be handier than cooking nutritious meals and so people are becoming increasingly overweight and many suffer from obesity. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2008 there was 1. 4 billion adults over 20 who were classified as obese and in 2011 there was over 40 million children suffering from obesity also. (WHO 2013) Free school meals for children were also introduced in 1906; these free meals are still available to some children today. They ensure that the children are getting the proper nutrients and vitamins that is necessary to encourage growth and to also help them concentrate and learn. The health and wellbeing of children was one of the main aspects of public health that the Ministry of Health were trying to protect, and in 1907 a school nurse was assigned to all schools, and her main role to begin with was to check the children’s heads for nits. The role of the school nurse then developed to carry out examinations on all aspects of the children’s health, growth and development. In 1911 National Insurance was first introduced. This new system meant that working people had a small amount taken out of their wages which was put into the health care system, and if the worker was to fall ill then they would be able to avail of free health care, this was only for the worker though and not their spouse or children. (bbc) The First World War was one of the key events in the 20th century that highlighted the poor health of people living in Britain. The war put in place a need for an army of healthy young men as recruits, but this proved hard. The recruits were sent to war malnourished, meaning that they did not last long, and if they suffered an injury they were not strong enough to live. As no one knew how long the war was going to last there was a concentration on the health of pregnant woman and young men’s, as these would be the military of the future if the war was to continue. There were not many hospitals available for the people who needed them and it was only the wealthy that had access to them, as there no health care service like we have today, and the people had to pay for their medical care. The military were starting to come back from the war so there was an expansion in the number of hospitals being built as the conditions were still very poor in Britain, but these were solely for the use of the military soldiers. The Prime Minister at the time, Lloyd George promised a ‘home fit for heroes’ in 1918 and so the government set out the building of half a million homes by 1933. (bbc) A year later in 1919 the Ministry of Health was set up to look after the sanitation, health care and disease as well as the training of doctors, nurses, midwives and dentists. Dental care at the time was a huge issue, due to the malnourishment, people’s teeth were very poor and dental care did not really exist especially for the poorer people in society. Malnutrition continued to be a huge public health concern up until the Second World War with the introduction of rationing. This was a huge change to people’s lives and was implemented by the Ministry of Food in 1940. Rationing meant that each person could only buy a fixed amount of certain foods each week, and you had to hand over coupons from the family’s ration book. This reason behind rationing was because most of the food consumed in the UK and Ireland were imported from other countries, and this war proved to cause problems to this happening. During this war planes were used to drop bombs on ships and quite often the ships importing the fresh foods were bombed and the food destroyed, so this new rationing idea meant that everyone was able to gain access to the same amounts of fresh foods. Rationing is a concept that is still widely used today throughout the world by the army soldiers. bbc) The use of planes to drop bombs also caused a lot of destruction to people’s homes, many of them being destroyed, sometimes whole towns or cities were destroyed. During these troubling times people were expecting for their homes to be bombed so the government put in place a scheme for the children to be sent to the country where it would be safer for them. This was organised through ‘billeting officers’ and the children’s new homes were called ‘billets’. The children went to school and lived together until the war was over. The destruction, as bad as it was, gave the cities the opportunities to rebuild their homes to a better standard. In 1941 the British government commissioned a report into the ways that Britain should be rebuilt. William Beveridge, the director of the London School of Economics, was put in charge of the rebuilding. His report which was published in 1942 identified that there were five giant evils which would have to be overcome, these included; squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. The Beveridge report has since formed much of the social legislation that we use today. bbc) Beveridge wanted to create a ‘cradle to grave’ health care system. The working people and the employers would still pay national insurance and for the service to be sustained more jobs would have to be created. In 1948 the NHS which we still have to this day was established. The NHS was an ambitious plan to bring healthcare to all people regardless of their social class or wealth or gender, and the healthcare would be free at the point of delivery. This was the first time that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists would all work together. (NHS 2012) The 20th and 21st centuries saw a huge decline in the number of infectious diseases mortalities, and an increased life expectancy. One of the main reasons for this was the discovery of antibiotics in 1929, and the use of these in the 1940’s showed their true potential. Immunizations also came into practice and people had a better understanding of foods, and what foods improved health all contributing factors to people having better health. The NHS is still working to improve the health of its service users and it is working with many researching companies to find cures for the new diseases hat are developing. Although it is a great concept which has been active for over 60 years, the NHS is under a lot of stain and financial pressure. Due to the economic downturn there is less people working and so there is less national insurance being paid so there the NHS has less funding to provide the outstanding services that it does to the UK for free. The doctors and nurses are under a lmost intolerable pressure, and this is due to cuts in hospital beds, growing admissions and staff shortages. On 24th February, the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast became under so much pressure in its emergency department that extra staff had to be called in to deal with the escalating number of people seeking treatment, at one point there was more than 100 people waiting. This does not conquer the goals that the NHS had initially set out to achieve in 1948.

Rock Story essays

Rock Story essays I am a calcite mineral. I have changed a lot in the last few thousand years. I have been in many different types of rocks. Let me tell you about it. I started out in a metaphoric rock. I was a mineral in garnet, along with quartz and hematite. I became that way when I worked my way into the Earths surface and met quartz and hematite. We became very good friends and decided to form a rock together. So we went further into the earth surface and got heated by magma to become garnet. Then I got into a fight with quartz and hematite and we all thought it was best to go our separate ways. I worked my way up to the earths upper mantle where I melted and cooled in magma. I was now an igneous rock. After a very long time I worked my way up to the surface of the earth. It was so good to finally see the sun again! I was an igneous rock for thousands of years, and I liked it that way. I was in the wind so much though that I became a sedimentary rock. I formed limestone with aragonite. When I was a sedimentary rock I eventually got washed away down a river and into the ocean. After thousands of years I settled on the ocean floor and other layers of minerals formed on top of me. We were all pressed together and I was once again sedimentary rock. But this didnt last as long as I though it would because there was an earthquake and I got pushed down far into the earths crust. From the pressure of the earths crust colliding and the heat of the magma I turned into a metamorphic rock again. Now I sit in the earths crust waiting until I change once again. I hope that I will soon see the sun again, so I wont be so cramped down here with all these other minerals. The heat down here makes everybody a little irritable. It may take thousands of years but one day I will change again and become a different type of rock. ...

Battle of Wilsons Creek - Civil War - Missouri

Battle of Wilsons Creek - Civil War - Missouri Battle of Wilsons Creek - Conflict Date: The Battle of Wilsons Creek was fought August 10, 1861, during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Armies Commanders Union Brigadier General Nathaniel LyonColonel Franz Sigelapprox. 5,400 men Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin McCullochMajor General Sterling Priceapprox. 12,000 men Battle of Wilsons Creek - Background: As the secession crisis gripped the United States in the winter and spring of 1861, Missouri increasingly found itself caught between the two sides. With the attack on Fort Sumter in April, the state attempted to maintain a neutral stance. Despite this, each side began organizing a military presence in the state. That same month, Southern-leaning Governor Claiborne F. Jackson covertly sent a request to Confederate President Jefferson Davis for heavy artillery with which to attack the Union-held St. Louis Arsenal. This was granted and four guns and 500 rifles secretly arrived on May 9. Met at St. Louis by officials of the Missouri Volunteer Militia, these munitions were transported to the militias base at Camp Jackson outside the city. Learning of the artillerys arrival, Captain Nathaniel Lyon moved against Camp Jackson the next day with 6,000 Union soldiers. Compelling the militias surrender, Lyon marched those militiamen who would not take an oath of allegiance through the streets of St. Louis before paroling them. This action inflamed the local population and several days of rioting ensued. On May 11, the Missouri General Assembly formed the Missouri State Guard to defend the state and appointed Mexican-American War veteran Sterling Price as its major general. Though initially against secession, Price turned to the Southern cause after Lyons actions at Camp Jackson. Increasingly concerned that the state would join the Confederacy, Brigadier General William Harney, commander of the US Armys Department of the West, concluded the Price-Harney Truce on May 21. This stated that Federal forces would hold St. Louis while state troops would be responsible for maintaining peace elsewhere in Missouri. Battle of Wilsons Creek - Change of Command: Harneys actions quickly drew the ire of Missouris leading Unionists, including Representative Francis P. Blair, who saw it as a surrender to the Southern cause. Reports soon began reaching the city that Union supporters in countryside were being harassed by pro-Southern forces. Learning of the situation, an angry President Abraham Lincoln directed that Harney be removed and replaced with Lyon who was to be promoted to brigadier general. Following the change of command on May 30, the truce effectively ended. Though Lyon met with Jackson and Price on June 11, the latter two were unwilling to submit to Federal authority. In the wake of the meeting, Jackson and Price withdrew to Jefferson City to concentrate Missouri State Guard forces. Pursued by Lyon, they were compelled to cede the state capital and retreated into the southwestern part of the state. Battle of Wilsons Creek - Fighting Begins: On July 13, Lyons 6,000-man Army of the West encamped near Springfield. Consisting of four brigades, it was comprised of troops from Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa as well as contained contingents of US Regular infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Seventy-five miles to the southwest, Prices State Guard soon grew as it was reinforced by Confederate forces led by Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and Brigadier General N. Bart Pearces Arkansas militia. This combined force numbered around 12,000 and overall command fell to McCulloch. Moving north, the Confederates sought to attack Lyons position at Springfield. This plan soon unraveled as the Union army departed the town on August 1. Advancing, Lyon, took the offensive with the goal of surprising the enemy. An initial skirmish at Dug Springs the next day saw Union forces victorious, but Lyon learned that he was badly outnumbered. Battle of Wilsons Creek - The Union Plan: Assessing the situation, Lyon made plans to fall back to Rolla, but first decided to mount a spoiling attack on McCulloch, who was encamped at Wilsons Creek, to delay the Confederate pursuit. In planning the strike, one of Lyons brigade commanders, Colonel Franz Sigel, proposed an audacious pincer movement which called for splitting the already smaller Union force. Agreeing, Lyon directed Sigel to take 1,200 men and swing to the east to strike McCullochs rear while Lyon attacked from the north. Departing Springfield on the night of August 9, he sought to commence the assault at first light. Battle of Wilsons Creek - Early Success: Reaching Wilsons Creek on schedule, Lyons men deployed before dawn. Advancing with the sun, his troops took McCullochs cavalry by surprise and drove them from their camps along a ridge which became known as Bloody Hill. Pushing on, the Union advance was soon checked by Pulaskis Arkansas Battery. Intense fire from these guns gave Prices Missourians time to rally and form lines to the south of the hill. Consolidating his position on Bloody Hill, Lyon attempted to restart the advance but with little success. As fighting intensified, each side mounted attacks but failed to gain ground. Like Lyon, Sigels initial efforts achieved their goal. Scattering Confederate cavalry at Sharps Farm with artillery, his brigade pushed forward to Skeggs Branch before halting at the stream (Map). Battle of Wilsons Creek - The Tide Turns: Having halted, Sigel failed to post skirmishers on his left flank. Recovering from the shock of the Union attack, McCulloch began directing forces against Sigels position. Striking the Union left, he drove the enemy back. Losing four guns, Sigels line soon collapsed and his men began retreating from the field. To the north, a bloody stalemate continued between Lyon and Price. As the fighting raged, Lyon was wounded twice and had his horse killed. Around 9:30 AM, Lyon fell dead when he was shot in the heart while leading a charge forward. With his death and the wounding of Brigadier General Thomas Sweeny, command fell to Major Samuel D. Sturgis. At 11:00 AM, having repulsed a third major enemy assault and with ammunition dwindling, Sturgis ordered Union forces to withdraw towards Springfield. Battle of Wilsons Creek - Aftermath: In the fighting at Wilsons Creek, Union forces suffered 258 killed, 873 wounded, and 186 missing while the Confederates incurred 277 killed, 945 wounded, and around 10 missing. In the wake of the battle, McCulloch elected not to pursue the retreating enemy as he was concerned about the length of his supply lines and the quality of Prices troops. Instead, he withdrew back into Arkansas while Price embarked on a campaign in northern Missouri. The first major battle in the West, Wilsons Creek was likened to Brigadier General Irvin McDowells defeat the previous month at the First Battle of Bull Run. During the fall, Union troops effectively drove Price from Missouri. Pursuing him into northern Arkansas, Union forces won a key victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862 which effectively secured Missouri for the North. Selected Sources Civil War Trust: Battle of Wilsons CreekNPS: Wilsons Creek National Battlefield CWSAC Battle Summaries: Wilsons Creek