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We report on a case study of high Japanese student failure rates in an online MBA programme. Drawing on interviews, and reviews of exam and assignment scripts we frame the problems faced by these students in terms of a "language as social practice" approach and highlight the students' failure to understand the specific language games that underpin the course assessment approach. We note the way in which the distance learning and online context can make the challenges faced by international students less immediately visible to both students and institution.

The 2015 International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Conceptual Framework Exposure Draft (2015 IASB CF ED) proposes a mixed valuation and transactions approach to income determination. Nevertheless, it does not clearly choose between single or dual concepts of profit, which renders the 2015 IASB CF ED’s financial accounting model somewhat incoherent. The 2015 IASB CF ED proposes a rebuttable presumption that profit or loss should be all-inclusive. Only the IASB can rebut this presumption, but the 2015 IASB CF ED provides no clear conceptual basis on which to rebut this presumption. In spite of considering dual measurement, the IASB believes that it is neither possible, nor necessary, to distinguish between profit or loss and other comprehensive income (OCI) on a conceptual basis. This paper suggests that the 2015 IASB CF ED’s approach to measurement can be improved by introducing a deprival value measurement rule in cases where fair value and historical cost are not appropriate. Furthermore, it argues that under dual measurement it is both necessary and possible to make a conceptual distinction between the realised items of income and expense in profit or loss and those recognised by accretion in OCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the creation and development of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), a key part of the EU endorsement mechanism for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which was probably the first example of a dedicated IFRS endorsement system. We discuss the historical background to the EU approach and we analyse how EFRAG evolved over its early years up to the Maystadt reform. Our analysis addresses its remit, its operational structure and financing and the key decisions made in the endorsement process over this period. We find that while national standard-setters had a limited role in the early stages, and EFRAG had limited resources, over time the pressure to find more resources and to try to achieve a unified voice in the creating of international standards have resulted in national standard-setters playing an ever-greater role. Nonetheless, a single voice for Europe is not likely to be attained [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates that, despite their general agreement on the decisionusefulness objective of general purpose financial reporting, the Accounting Standard Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)'s conceptual frameworks are based on two different concepts of financial performance. By identifying and contrasting the two financial performance concepts and their impact on the rest of the frameworks and by explaining the thinking that underpins the ASBJ's chosen financial performance concept, it contributes to a debate about the role of financial performance concepts in fulfilling the decision-usefulness objective. Such a debate is pertinent to the revision of the IASB's Conceptual Framework, which is scheduled for completion in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) staff members ‘recommend that the IASB confirm its view that financial statements should be presented from the perspective of the entity as a whole’ [IASB (2014)Agenda Paper 10E Project – The Conceptual Framework. Reporting Entity – Perspective. London: The International Accounting Standards Board. May 2014. Available at:http://www.ifrs.org/Meetings/MeetingDocs/IASB/2014/May/AP10E-Conceptual%20Framework.pdf(accessed 9 July 2014), para. 28], which implies adoption of the Entity Theory. This paper explains the value judgements and arguments supporting the main equity theories and their perspectives on financial performance and financial position. It identifies Residual Equity Theory, instead of Entity Theory, as the dominant equity theory in the 2010 IASB Framework and the 2013 IASB Exposure Draft. Hence, there is a discrepancy between the perspective from which the IASB thinks financial statements should be presented and the perspective actually underlying the definition, recognition and measurement of the elements of financial statements in the IASB's Framework and Exposure Draft. Finally, this paper argues for a careful reconsideration and justification of the equity theory the IASB chooses as the basis for its Conceptual Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews accounting literature in the English language on proprietary and entity theory in order to understand their implications for financial accounting and reporting. Although there is a lack of agreement on the definition and accounting implications of the various equity theories, the literature indicates clear differences between pure proprietary and pure entity perspectives of the firm. These differences particularly relate to the purpose of accounting and financial reporting, the distinction between debt and equity and its accounting implications for the analysis and recording of transactions and recordable events, and the definition, determination, disclosure and distribution of income. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it explains in operational terms why an entity perspective of the company is theoretically irreconcilable with the asset-liability approach to the determination of income. Second, it makes clear that there is always an implicit perspective to financial reporting. Inconsistency in accounting standards results if the implicit perspective is not the same as the perceived focus of decision-usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]