Question

1.   What organization is aiming for a global tax agreement this year?  When is the next major deadline for the effort to forge the global deal?  And who requested the blueprint to be completed by the deadline?
2.   What are five suggestions based on proven experience to manage or to harness the positive potential of cross-cultural diversity in finance?
3. The Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in significant volatility in the financial and commodities worldwide.  One issue that has arisen is how the accounting function deals with Covid-19’s impact on IFRS, which focuses on the financial effects an entity has experienced in the preparation of its financial statements. What other five standards referring to financial instruments are affected?
4. Big data!  The 4^th industrial revolution!  What does automation really mean and how will it affect your career.  The AICPA wants you as an accountant to be empowered with the knowledge you need to stay relevant.  What can RPA do for you?  List five time-consuming tasks that RPA can handle.  And list the benefits of using RPA?
5. Although US public companies are not currently required to adopt IFRS, the IFRS affects US businesses in multiple ways.  Companies will be affected at different times and to a different degree, depending on size, industry… geographic makeup, M&A activity and global expansion.  List the three main challenges or impacts that merit companies’ attention.  

Answer 1

Ans:

• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a Paris based Organization is aiming to overhaul Global tax rules and agreements this year to address how big technology companies are taxed. The group was initially working to reach a consensus July 2020 but due to COVID-19, it has been delayed as it involves International Politics. The G20 Finance Ministers requested the Blueprint on both parts of its global tax to be completed by October 2020, because they want that the agreement on taxing the digitalized economy to be finalized by the end of 2020.
• To cope up with cultural differences, frequently spoken common languages were used and unified behaviour were formed especially on sensitive topics involving culture. This unity helped in creating team spirit, fostering collective expertise and facilitating interactions. However, the change has become permanent in Business environment and finance function. Lack of coordination and communication introduces another risk factor that can seriously impact finance deliverables for e.g., Reporting. Following are the five suggestions based on proven experience to harness the positive potential of cross cultural diversity in finance.

1. Common Identity- Create an identity and way to work as a team. Create a specific togetherness, complemented and accepted by all but do not supersede cultural specificities. This can be done by arranging meetings, Programmes and workshops.
2. Encourage collaboration and empowerment- Build a firm and diverse leadership team with people with common cross-cultural project. This will help in collective learning, and it will help to build a collective emotional intelligence. Take the initiative, take their viewpoints into consideration, involve them in your activities, and encourage your team members to proactively interact in as many ways as possible.
3. Offer support- Take routine feedback from employees and line managers. Creating a transformation can help in that respect, providing local support for the multiple activities being undertaken by various people. Organize a monthly session with line managers under pressure from the transformation process to get better perspective and find ways to support them.
4. Rotation of work and experience sharing- Expose your people to diversity. Engage your team members in various global activities whenever possible. It will benefit their career development and networking, but it also helped bring attention to the region's specificities.
5. Active Listening- Even with experience, you cannot always understand all the cultural aspects; your own thought process will differ your judgement. To cope up with that, spend time with your people in one-to-one open conversations with no mind set. Reading reports is not enough. You need to meet people, experience their cultural, challenge your own judgements in the field, interact with people in their context, and get a sense of it. The best way is to be curious, observe, listen, learn, and be respectful.

• COVID-19 has impacted IFRS which addresses the financial effects the entity has experienced in preparartion of its financial statements. Covid-19 may or may not have a direct impact on IFRS financial statements. In the preparation, disclosure and communication of IFRS financial statements for annual and interim reporting periods, reporting entities need to determine the appropriate accounting treatment under IFRS.

Other IFRS standards with potential financial effects from the Covid-19 outbreak are: referring to financial instruments, impairment of assets (IAS 36), government grants (IAS 20), income taxes (IAS 12), fair value measurement, revenue recognition (IFRS 15) and events after the reporting period (IAS 10). Significant judgment and continual updates to the assessments may be required for accounting and IR functions given the evolving nature of the outbreak.

• the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants is here to empower you with the knowledge you need to stay relevant. Robotic process automation (RPA) is especially important for CPAs. Realizing that everyone is at different places along the adoption curve. An RPA “bot” is a software application that performs automated tasks and only follows a human’s instructions. It doesn’t think or learn, and isn’t a physical robot.

Time-consuming tasks that RPA can handle are:

• Data entry
• Auditing high-dollar transactions
• Verifying and processing invoices
• Accounts payable & receivable
• Inventory management
• Tax compliance and preparation
• Regulatory compliance and reporting

The benefits of using RPA are:

• Speeds up manual processes
• Reduces errors
• Works alongside your current systems
• Improves audit quality and compliance
• Frees staff from labor-intensive tasks to focus on more profitable, high-value work.