Issues in Human Capital and Its Measurement

Question: Discuss about the Issues in Human Capital and Its Measurement. Answer: Introduction A nations culture influences and modifies all the aspects of life which consequently counts in accounting. Culture and the issues associated with it have a significant influence on the judgments of an accountant while interpreting or applying their accounting skills in the field. Culture has the capacity to permeate the values and attitudes within a human mind, and therefore is able to govern the aspects of human behavior, affecting accounting choice behaviors. Cultural values influence and restrain the application and enforcement of accounting standards. It can also determine the choices of behavior and techniques that accountants adopt in discharging their duties. Cultural values influence the way auditors execute audit assignments. Instead of sacrificing the quality to be delivered by an accountant it is important for the adoption of favorable IFRS/Global Reporting Standard by the AASB. Implications of this issue include transparency, conservativeness in measuring accounting value s, and secrecy in disclosure (Nurunnabi 2015). Accounting systems are at the same time affected by the background where different entities function and by the organizational culture present in each business unit. Apart from the standards and different accounting policies applicable in different countries, everything else is supposed to be the same; however, that is not the case. The accounting standards and rules written as practices are implemented differently across different cultures because of the different ways in which businesses develop. Business relationships, on the other hand are built differently due to the both internal and external factors that vary from country to country. Since laws across different countries vary according to the political and economic climate, the development of accounting standards and accounting practices is extremely shaped and directed by the culture in which it is practiced (Tartaraj and Hoxha 2014). A competence based approach towards the accounting profession would help the professionals meet the relevant knowledge and capabilities expected from them in their profession. It is important for every accounting to be able to enunciate and elucidate the requirements of the profession. Competitiveness would be a good tactic to sustain valuable and high-performing employees at their high always. Additionally, a strategic performance reward system would help accounting professionals with motivation and grow profits for the organization. Defined desired performance objectives in terms of actionable items and tangible goals from the managements side would drive an accountants performance and satisfaction level. Moreover, accounting tools and software like Xero, QuickBooks and Sage One would help them further (Ward 2012). The benefits and values of accounting tools and techniques are huge, and comes with assured effectiveness. It is the responsibility of accountants in an organization to take part in the monitoring and designing of polices, and auditors deal with providing assurance about the implementation of supply chain standards. Proficient accountants going about as auditors are probably going to find that it is useful to survey the application and consequences of the engagement procedure, without essentially getting to be straightforwardly included in such discussion. It is their responsibility to maintain benchmarking via reliable and relevant data (Ng, Leung and Lo 2017). References Ng, A.W., Leung, T.C. and Lo, J.M., 2017. Developing Sustainability Competence for Future Professional Accountants: The Integrative Role of an Undergraduate Program. InHandbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education(pp. 119-136). Springer International Publishing. Nurunnabi, M., 2015. The impact of cultural factors on the implementation of global accounting standards (IFRS) in a developing country.Advances in Accounting,31(1), pp.136-149. Tartaraj, A. and Hoxha, E., 2014. Culture, an important factor in determining the accounting system.Interdisciplinary Journal of Research and Development,1(1pp), pp.31-36. Ward, K., 2012.Strategic management accounting. Routledge.