The Positive Effects of Globalization
Globalization has a relatively new idea that the world has been embracing. The positive effects of globalization are numerous and extremely beneficial for everyone in all countries. It has been the most successful prosperity and anti-poverty movement in modern history.
The Advantages Include…
Forces businesses to compete on a global scale. This allows the market place to really work and gives consumers a better advantage. No long will businesses be able to corner markets because politicians protect them. They’ll now to compete with foreign businesses that may or may not be able to do business more efficiently. Countries move to market sectors that they are better at. This simply means that the labor in a country is going to do what it’s best at. There is no need for Americans to do manufacturing when someone in China can do it better. Our labor is better served doing something beneficial. The consumer is the real winner. Despite the desire from some politicians to protect workers, there are far more consumers than there are workers, but no one wants to seem to protect them. Consumers should not be forced to buy over priced goods from American buyers when you can get the same quality for less if it is made in China. Now consumers can get the best products for the best prices. Everyone grows more prosperous. Just look at China and India. Before globalization they were very poor countries. The standards of living were extremely bad. Now these people are becoming more prosperous. These countries having mega economic booms. People that could never afford a car are now getting them. Not to mention the fact from the consumers side that are benefiting from saving money which can be used to save or spend on other things.
These are the positive effects of globalization. It is a movement that is pro-free trade, pro-prosperity and anti-poverty. It is helping the developing world raise it’s standard of living as well as raising the standard of living in the developed world.
Classification of Accounts – Hints for Journalizing – Advantages of Journal
Personal Accounts
Accounts recording transactions relating to individuals or firms or company are known as personal accounts. Personal accounts may further be classified as :
(1) Natural person’s personal accounts: The accounts recording transactions relating to individual human beings e.g., Anand’s A/c, Remesh’s A/c, Pankaj’s A/c are classified as natural person’s personal accounts.
(2) Artificial person’s personal account: The accounts recording transactions relating to limited companies. bank, firm, institution, club. etc. e.g. Delhi Cloth Mill; Hans Raj College; Gymkhana Club are classified as artificial persons’ personal accounts.
(3) Representative personal accounts: The accounts recording transactions relating to the expenses and incomes are classified as nominal accounts. But in certain cases due to the matching concept of accounting the amount, on a particular date, is payable to the individuals or recoverable from individuals.
Such amount (a) relates to the particular head of expenditure or income and (b) represents persons to whom itis payable or from whom it is recoverable. Such accounts are classified as representative personal accounts e.g. “Wages Outstanding Account”, Pre-paid Insurance Account. etc.
Real Accounts
The accounts recording transactions relating to tangible things (which can be touched, purchased and sold) such as goods, cash, building. machinery etc., are classified as tangible real accounts.
Whereas the accounts recording transactions relating to. intangible things (which do not have physical shape) such as goodwill, patents and copy rights. trade marks etc., are classified as intangible real accounts.
Nominal Accounts
The accounts recording transactions relating to the losses, gains. expenses and incomes e.g., Rent, salaries, wages, commission, interest, bad debts etc. are classified as nominal accounts. As already discussed, wherever a nominal account represents the amount payable to or receivable from certain persons it is known as representative personal account.
Rules of Debit and Credit (classification based)
1. Personal Accounts: Debit the receiver, Credit the giver (supplier)
2. Real Accounts: Debit what comes in, Credit what goes out
3. Nominal Accounts: Debit expenses and losses, Credit incomes and gains.,
Hints for Journalizing
The following discussion will help in diagnosing the transaction with a view to find out which accounts are relevant for passing the journal entry.
1. Treatment of cash/credit transaction.
Read carefully the following transactions:
(i) Purchased goods for Rs. 1,200 cash. .
(ii) Purchased goods for Rs. 1,200.
(iii) Purchased goods for Rs. 1,200 from Arun.
(iv) Purchased goods for Rs. 1,200 from Arun on cash.
Transaction (i) and (iv) are clear as it has been specifically stated that purchases have been made on cash. Thus the entry is :
Purchases account Dr. 1,200 To Cash account 1,200
Transaction (ii) and (iii) are not specific as to whether the purchases are for cash or on credit. However transaction (ii) does not mention any name of the supplier; therefore it implies that the purchases are for cash. Similarly transaction (iii) mentions the name of the supplier but is silent regarding cash-it implies that purchases are on credit: Thus the entry for transaction (iii) is
Purchases account Dr. 1,200 To Amex 1200.
2. Treatment of payment on personal/expenses account.
When payment is made to a person against amount due to him as per his ledger account-the personal account of the creditor should be debited. However if the payment is being made to a person representing business expenditure then the particular expenditure (nominal) account should be debited.
3. Treatment of receipt on personal/ income account.
When amount is received from a person against amount recoverable from him as per ledger account-the personal account of the debtor should be credited. However if the amount received represents business income, then the particular income (nominal) account should be credited.
4. Treatment of trade discount.
In many cases the seller allows to the buyer deduction off the list price. Such deduction is known as ‘trade discount’. Trade discount as such is not recorded in the books. The transaction is recorded with only the net amount i.e. (list price -trade discount).
5. Treatment- of cash discount (full settlement).
In some cases creditor may allow some concession to his debtor to prompt him to make the payment within the period of credit allowed. Such concession is known as ‘cash discount’. It is allowed by the person receiving the payment and represents, expenditure. It is availed by the person making the payment and represents income.
6. Treatment of Bad debts (debtor becoming insolvent).
An amount due from a debtor may become irrecoverable either partially or wholly. Reason may be that he has been declared insolvent or any other. Such irrecoverable amount represents loss to the business and is debited to Bad debts amount.
7. Treatment of Bad debts recovered
It is evident from the above entry that whenever irrecoverable amount is written off the personal account is credited. If after some time any paymentis received against a debt previously written of then it represents income and as such should be credited to an account styled as ‘Bad debts recovered account’. Personal account must not be credited.
8. Treatment of personal expenses of the owner
It is quite common for the proprietor to withdraw cash or goods from the business for personal or domestic use. Sometimes premium on the life policy of the owner may also be paid by the business. Similarly income tax payable by the proprietor may be paid by business. All this represents owner’s personal expenses and are debited to his personal account viz. Drawings account.
9. Treatment of payment/ receipt on behalf of customer or supplier.
In some cases business might pay expenses on behalf of its customers. Such payments do not constitute the expenditure of business. Hence it should be debited to the personal account of the concerned customer.
10. Treatment or exchange or new asset with old one.
Sometimes business may exchange its old asset with new one-only the difference in value is paid in cash. In such cases asset account needs debit only with the actual amount paid.
11. Treatment of goods given as charity/ advertisement.
Business might distribute goods as ‘free samples’ to advertise its products. In some cases it may also distribute goods as charity to boost its image. Both ‘advertisement’ and ‘charity’ are expenses of the business, hence should be debited and purchases account should be credited.
12. Treatment of goods lost in accident/ fire.
In certain case a business might suffer loss of goods due to some accident or fire etc., destroyed or damaged goods might have been insured also. In such cases total value of goods lost or destroyed is credited to purchases account and the (i) insurance claim admitted is debited to Insurance Company (ii) balance is debited to loss by accident/ fire account.
13. Treatment of depreciation charged on fixed assets.
Fixed assets are those properties/ possessions of the business which are used for carrying on of business viz. plant, machinery, building etc. Depreciation is the permanent decrease in the value of an asset due to wear and tear, passage of time and obsolescence. Depreciation is treated as a business expenditure. Depreciation account is debited and the respective asset account is credited.
14. Treatment of payment/ receipt of representative personal accounts.
At the close of the previous accounting year a business might have incurred expenditure which remained unpaid. It is known as ‘Outstanding expenditure’. It is a representative personal account. When actual payment is made in current accounting period the concerned account is debited and cash account is credited.
Advantages of Journal
(1) Transactions are recorded in the chronological order, thus reducing the chances of omitting any transaction.
(2) Transactions, invariably, are accompanied by narration. Thus, the entry is supplemented with basic information regarding the transactions.
(3) Debit and credit amounts are written side by side. It minimizes the chances of entering wrong amount.
Restricted use of Journal
Originally the system of recording the financial transactions developed consisted of (1) writing each transaction, with narration, in the book of original entry,
i.e.. Journal and then (2) posting therefrom to the respective accounts in the principal book, i.e., ledger. As the number of transactions’ grew the system was modified and the transactions of similar
nature say purchases, sales, cash etc. were recorded in sub-journal instead of journal for the following
reasons:
(i) If too many transactions are recorded in journal it will be unwieldy.
(ii) In every business cash balance is required to be ascertained at frequent intervals, say, everyday: therefore it was found convenient to use a separate book for recording cash
transactions.
(iil) By recording transactions of similar nature. in one sub journal, say, purchases of goods in purchases journal saves time and efforts in recording and posting.
Because of the reasons listed above, nowadays, journal is used to record only such transactions which are infrequent. Now a days computerized accounting has made the entry of journal very easy and accurate.
Double Entry System
In the 15th century a Franciscan Monk, Lucas Pacioli, described a method of arranging accounts in such a way that the dual aspect (present in every account transaction) would be expressed by a debit amount and an equal and offsetting credit amount.
Double Entry system is the system under which each transaction is regarded to have two fold aspects and both the aspects are recorded to obtain complete record of dealings. Double Entry system of book keeping adheres to the rule. that for each transactions the debit amount (s) must equal the credit amount(s). That is why this system is called Double Entry.
Advantages of Double Entry System
(i) It enables to keep a complete record of business transactions.
(ii) It provides a check on the arithmetical accuracy of books of accounts based on equality of debit and credit.
(iii) It gives the results of business activities either profit or loss during the accounting period.
(iv) It tells the financial position of the business at a point of time. Total resources of the business, claims of the outsiders, amount due by outsiders etc. are revealed by a statement known as Balance Sheet.
(v) It makes possible comparison of the current year with those of previous years helping the owner to manage his business on better lines.
(vi) It reduces the chances of errors creeping in the accounting records because of its equality principle. .
(vii) It helps to ascertain the details regarding any account easily and accurately. Other systems of book-keeping. In addition to the double entry system, there is also single entry system.
The single-entry system is “a system of book-keeping in which as a rule only records of cash and of personal account are maintained; it is always incomplete double entry varying with circumstances. Such system may be economical but it is incomplete, unscientific and full of defects.
Compound Journal Entries
If in a journal entry only one account is to be debited and only one account is to be credited then such an entry is ‘Simple Journal Entry’. However, in some cases the entry may require more than one debit or credit or both. Such entries are known as compound entries. Compound entries should be created where
(i) Transaction occur on the same day
(ii) One aspect of these transactions is common; and
(iii) Accounts involved are more than two In fact compound entry is the combination of two or more simple journal ntries.
Understanding the Importance of International Business
International business is all business transactions-private and governmental-that involve two or more countries. Why should one be interested in studying international business? The simplest answer is that international business comprises a large and growing portion of the world’s total business. Today, almost all companies, large or small, are affected by global events and competition because most sell output to and/or secure suppliers from foreign countries and/or compete against products and services that come from abroad.
More companies that engage in some form of international business are involved in exporting and importing than in any other type of business transaction. Many of the international business experts argue that exporting is a logical process with a natural structure, which can be viewed primarily as a method of understanding the target country’s environment, using the appropriate marketing mix, developing a marketing plan based upon the use of the mix, implementing a plan through a strategy and finally, using a control method to ensure the strategy is adhered to. This exporting process is reviewed and evaluated regularly and modifications are made to the use of the mix, to take account of market changes impacting upon competitiveness. This view seems to suggest that much of the international business theory related to enterprises, which are internationally based and have global ambitions, does often change depending on the special requirements of each country.
Another core issue is the company’s growth and the importance of networking and interaction. This view looks at the way in which companies and organisations interact and consequently network with each other to gain commercial advantage in world markets. The network can be using similar subcontractors or components, sharing research and development costs or operating within the same governmental framework. Clearly, when businesses formulate a trading block with no internal barriers they are actually creating their own networks. Collaborations in aerospace, vehicle manufactures and engineering have all sponsored the development of a country’s or a group of countries’ outlook based on their own internal market network. This network and interaction approach to internationalisation shows the substance of being able to influence decisions when knowing how the global network players work or interact.
For example, a crucial market network is that of the Middle East. Middle East countries are rich, diverse markets, with a vibrant and varied cultural heritage. This means that although there has been a harmonisation process during the past few years, differences still exist. Rather than business being simpler as a result, it should be recognised that because of regulations and the need those countries have to restructure as they enter the global market, performing any kind of business can be highly complex. It should be remembered though that the Middle-Eastern countries have a low-income average and like to have their cultural differences recognised. Those firms that will or have recognised these facts have a good chance of developing a successful marketing strategy to meet their needs. Fortunately some firms have realised these important differences and reacted adequately when strategic decisions had to be made regarding their penetration to this kind of markets.