Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Intellectual Property Rights And Competition Law - 1304 Words

AIM Critical analysis on when the use of intellectual property rights turns into abuse of intellectual property rights and further analysis on the trend of European competition authorities towards Intellectual property rights with specific reference to what is reiterated in the Magill cases. Introduction Intellectual property rights and competition law both seem to intervene at different junctures; however they work for attainment of one common goal that is consumer welfare. The reasons for this contravention in most cases is that the reward given to creators and innovators is the right to use and exclude others whereas when these rights are abused , competition law comes into the scene. So there has always been a tiff between the both,†¦show more content†¦This essay firstly for a better understanding deal with what is intellectual property and what constitutes intellectual property rights and then briefly deals with the competition policy and European Union competition law and then analyse the conflict between intellectual property and competition law and what are the common goals which both seeks to achieve and later deals with interface of both within the legislation and then we will critically analyse the concept of abuse of intellectual property rights as this is main conflict which revolves between both and further analyse this concept in depth with the help of case study on the Magill cases and the trend followed by the courts after that. 1. Intellectual Property For much of human history the concept of intellectual property did not exist however due to the wide spread progress and extension of international trade need for protection of intellectual property is felt and this led to the â€Å" Paris Convention for protection of industrial property† followed by Berne Convention and which led to the establishment of World Intellectual Property Organisation. Intellectual property in common parlance means property other than physical property which is a result of human intellect. 1.1 Intellectual Property Rights Are those which guarantee and grants certain rights to the creator of the intellectual property for a certain period of time. Intellectual property rights can be classified into copyrights and related rights,

Monday, December 9, 2019

Applying international financial reporting standard - Free Samples

Questions: Within your firms latest annual report 1. From your firms financial statement, list each item of equity and write your understanding of each item. Discuss any changes in each item of equity for your firm over the past year articulating the reasons for the change. 2. What is your firms tax expense in its latest financial statements? 3. Is this figure the same as the company tax rate times your firms accounting income? Explain why this is, or is not, the case for your firm. 4. Comment on deferred tax assets/liabilities that is reported in the balance sheet articulating the possible reasons why they have been recorded. 5. Is there any current tax assets or income tax payable recorded by your company? Why is the income tax payable not the same as income tax expense? 6. Is the income tax expense shown in the income statement same as the income tax paid shown in the cash flow statement? If not why is the difference? 7. What do you find interesting, confusing, surprising or difficult to understand about the treatment of tax in your firms financial statements? What new insights, if any, have you gained about how companies account for income tax as a result of examining your firms tax expense in its accounts? Answers: Requirement i) Items of equity are listed under liabilities section of the balance sheet profile of company. Analysis of financial statements of freedom food group limited depicts that the items of equity comprise of issued capital, non controlling interest, retained profits and reserves. Amount of equity capital for the financial year 2017 and 2016 stood at $ 249954 million and $ 169106 million respectively indicating that there has been increase in figures. Non controlling interest amounts to $ 8234 million in year 2016 and there is no amount attributable to this section in year 2017. Reserves value has increased from $ 2274 million in year 2016 as against $ 56397 million in year 2017 indicating increase in reserves generated by company (ffgl.com.au 2018). However, value of retained earnings has reduced in the current year 2017 to $ 127879 million as against $ 128527 in year 2016 respectively (ffgl.com.au 2018). Issued capital represents the amount that is invested and nominal value of shares that are held by shareholders of company (Tran and Zhu 2017). It incorporates shares that have been sold to shareholders in return for some considerations or cash. Non controlling interest is one of the elements of equity ownership that are not attributable to parent company having controlling interest in company. It is a type of investment where investors do not have any control (Kaya and Koch 2015). Retained earnings are the profits generated by company that is reinvested in business and they are not distributed to shareholders. Each organization has different reason by reinvesting and this might be to repay debts and for financing any new project. Reserves are one of the portions of retained earnings that is kept aside by business for particular purpose (Picker et al. 2016). Requirement ii) It has been ascertained from the observed figures of the financial statement of Freedom food group limited that the income tax expense has reduced in the current year. Value of income tax expense for financial year 2017 and 2016 stood at $ 6483 million and $ 1809 million respectively (ffgl.com.au 2018). Requirement iii) As depicted from the statement of comprehensive income and profit and loss, the accounting income for both the financial year 2017 and 2016 is recorded at $ 9348 million and $ 57114 million respectively. Income tax expense for both the years stood at $ $ 6483 million and $ 1809 million respectively (ffgl.com.au 2018). Effective tax rate applicable to Freedom food group limited stood at 30%. Figures for the accounting income times the tax rates for both the years are Accounting income times the tax rate for 2017= ($ 9348 million * 30%) = $ 2804.4 million Accounting income times the tax rate for 2016= ($ 57114 million * 30%) = $ 17134.2 million Now, looking at the figures for the tax expense and accounting income times the tax rate, it can be seen that there is difference between them. Income tax expense is higher than the above computed figure for financial year 2017. On other hand, income tax expenses are considerably lower than the above figures for year 2016. Differences between these two figures are attributable to differences in accounting treatment of tax accounting and financing accounting. The rules of financial and tax accounting is different and net income is not always same as taxable income (Popovic et al. 2015). Requirement iv) The balance sheet of Freedom food group limited has recorded deferred tax for both the financial year 2017 and 2016 at $ 1835 and $ 3720 million respectively (ffgl.com.au 2018). The reason why deferred tax has created or recorded in the balance sheet is taxes that have been paid or carried forward and they are not yet recognized in the income statement. Creation of deferred tax is also because of recognition of expenses and revenue at different times of accounting standard and taxation authorities. Deferred tax assets have been recorded attributable to differences between tax base for tax liabilities and tax assets and their carrying amount in the financial statements. Tax base for liabilities and assets are the amount that is attributable to liability and assets for the purpose of taxation (Florou and Kosi 2015). Recognition of the same is done to the extent there is availability of sufficient taxable amounts that is deductible from unused tax offsets and tax losses that can be util ized. It also arises from relevant tax credits of tax consolidated group members. Requirement v) Yes, Freedom food group limited has recorded income in the liabilities section of balance sheet. The amount of income tax payable is recorded at $ 11642 and $ 11568 respectively (ffgl.com.au 2018). Income tax expenses are the amount that appears on the income statement of company and it increases the expenses account of company. Income tax payable appears in the liability account of balance sheet. It appears as liability because it is yet to be paid by organization. Income tax payable is calculated based on the difference between income tax liabilities and income tax expenses of company and computation of income tax expenses is done based on total income generated by the organization within any particular financial year (Nastase et al. 2016). In certain situations, net income reported by company that is prepared under general accepted accounting principles is not equal to the taxable income that is reported under the tax return. Requirement vi) Total amount of income tax paid by Freedom food group limited is reported in the cash flow statement and the amount for the financial year 2017 and 2016 stood at $ 1381 million and $ 2675 million respectively. On other hand, income tax expenses for both the year stood at $ 6483 million and $ 1809 million respectively (ffgl.com.au 2018). These figures depicts that there is difference between income tax paid and income tax expenses attributable to company. Income tax paid by organization is calculated based on actual earnings for any particular financial year. On other hand, income tax expense is calculated based on the estimated income of company. Difference in the figures of income tax paid and income tax expenses is also attributable to computation of tax based on standard business accounting rules and tax accounting (Doukakis 2014). Requirement vii) After evaluating the treatment of taxation of Freedom food group limited, it can be said that there was nothing so surprising so far. However, users will be able to gain some insights regarding the treatment of taxation under different standard of accounting and taxation. Operating tax rate of company is reflected in income tax expense of approximately 19.4% (Bamber and McMeeking 2016). However, organization has the changed their effective taxation rate that has led to increase in claim of research and development. Taxation rate that was effective in previous year incorporated one off tax adjustments relating to sales transactions of a2 Milk Company. There were no deferred tax liabilities for the current financial year. New insights that have been gained from the evaluation of the financial statements of company are that the income tax expenses in both the financial year is different from that of accounting income times the taxation rate. However, tax expense in year 2017 is more tha n accounting income times the income tax rate. On other hand, in financial year 2016, income tax expenses is less than accounting income times the taxation rate. Company has recognized deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities that are arriving from relevant tax credits and unused tax losses. References list: Bamber, M. and McMeeking, K., 2016. An examination of international accounting standard-setting due process and the implications for legitimacy. The British Accounting Review, 48(1), pp.59-73. Bassemir, M., 2017. Why do private firms adopt IFRS?. Accounting and Business Research, pp.1-27. Camfferman, K. and Zeff, S.A., 2015. Aiming for global accounting standards: the International Accounting Standards Board, 2001-2011. Oxford University Press, USA. Camfferman, K. and Zeff, S.A., 2015. Aiming for global accounting standards: the International Accounting Standards Board, 2001-2011. Oxford University Press, USA. Capkun, V., Collins, D. and Jeanjean, T., 2016. The effect of IAS/IFRS adoption on earnings management (smoothing): a closer look at competing explanations. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 35(4), pp.352-394. De George, E.T., Li, X. and Shivakumar, L., 2016. A review of the IFRS adoption literature. Review of Accounting Studies, 21(3), pp.898-1004. Doukakis, L.C., 2014. The effect of mandatory IFRS adoption on real and accrual-based earnings management activities. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 33(6), pp.551-572. Feldmann, B. and Le, T.K., 2017. The Effect of International Accounting Standards on Management Behavior: A Study on Earnings Management Behavior in Countries with High Investor Protection. In Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship as Driving Forces of the Global Economy (pp. 411-422). Springer International Publishing. Florou, A. and Kosi, U., 2015. Does mandatory IFRS adoption facilitate debt financing?. Review of Accounting Studies, 20(4), pp.1407-1456. Kaya, D. and Koch, M., 2015. Countries adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs)early empirical evidence. Accounting and Business Research, 45(1), pp.93-120. Lucchitti, A. (2017).Annual Report 2017 - Freedom Foods. [online] Freedom Foods. Available at: https://ffgl.com.au/release/annual-report-2017/ [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018]. Mullinova, S., 2016. Use of the principles of IFRS (IAS) 39" Financial instruments: recognition and assessment" for bank financial accounting. Modern European Researches, (1), pp.60-64. Nastase, G., Calin, A.M. and Margina, O., 2016. INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARD NO. 16 TANGIBLE ASSETS AND ITS PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION. Calitatea, 17(S1), p.285. Picker, R., Clark, K., Dunn, J., Kolitz, D., Livne, G., Loftus, J. and Van der Tas, L., 2016. Applying international financial reporting standards. John Wiley Sons Popovic, S., Majstorovic, A. and Grubljesic, Z., 2015. Valuation of facilities in use and application of international accounting standards. , (3), pp.379-387. Tran, A. and Zhu, Y.H., 2017. The impact of adopting IFRS on corporate ETR and book-tax income gap. In Australian Tax Forum (Vol. 32, No. 4, p. 757). Tax Institute.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Leadership of a Consultancy Group Project Planning and Organising

Introduction Background Information Effective coordination among the group members of a consultancy team is indispensible for working out effective strategies for managing change within an organisation. Being a leader of a consultancy group, the rational allocation of responsibilities and obligations among the team members was highly important to facilitate the problem identification aspects and understand the drawbacks of the organisation’s performance.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership of a Consultancy Group: Project Planning and Organising specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While preparing the group for the project accomplishment, I realized that being a leader implies possessing a wide experience in allocating roles within a team and making important decisions connected to planning and organising subsequent steps of project accomplishment. Identifying the Key Concept and Rationale Judging from t he above-presented evaluation of our team performance, specific reference has been made to the importance of roles allocation, the conceptual framework presented by McClelland Need Model – introducing the basis for exploring the main needs of a manager. Hence, greater analysis of the model guides effectively the group members to understand the people’s driving force, including their behaviors and different situations. The model greatly contributed to understanding psychological needs of group members. Apart from the above-presented framework, the team cooperation and interaction was achieved through understanding the 5 key variables of team performance, which are team leadership, mutual control of performance, back up behavior, adaptability, team coordination and orientation, and mutual trust. Main Body Introducing the Basics of Corporate Strategy and Analyzing Techniques and Strategic Options It is important for a leader to learn the main aspects of effective performa nce management within a project team. In particular, specific psychological, ethical, cultural, and motivational theories and backgrounds should be carefully considered to achieve the highest results. Regarding the team functioning, it should be stressed that a team leader should provide approaches â€Å"†¦to improve strategic focus and organisational effectiveness through continuously securing improvements in the performance of individual and teams† (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2006, p. 289). While working within a team, the diversification strategy has been introduced, which is also an important element of effective team performance because can significantly foster the goals accomplishment.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In particular, â€Å"†¦establishment of priorities between projects, periodic review of project team members’ performance and the exi stence of planning and control processes† are among the main attributes of fruitful cooperation within the team (Saee, p. 261). In this respect, the strategic options proposed by the Project Board were not fully directed at optimizing the work of the organisation’s team, which hampered the process of option implementation. Introducing Theoretical Frameworks Discussing McClelland Need Concept While applying to McClelland Need concept, I was able to evaluate the motivations and needs of each member of the team, including my abilities and needs. Judging from the results, most of the group participants had higher need for affiliation, but less need for achievement. In contrast, my achievement need was higher than the affiliation which struck the balance between the team members. More importantly, greater control of performance was carried out through a strong need of power, a tool necessary for enhancing behavior of other people. In the course of project management, I reali sed that fruitful cooperation within a team was possible to achieve if appropriate behavioral limits were established (Chapmoux, 2010, p. 160). However, a team leader should be more oriented on expressing personal dominance through interpersonal influence and persuasion. â€Å"Big Five† of Team Functioning While taking into consideration the framework within which the main team leadership variables were identified, there were five key components of successful team functioning, which are team leadership, mutual performance monitoring, back up behavior, adaptability, and team orientation. Looking from the perspective of team leadership, the team motivation was sufficiently developed through introducing a competition element within a team. At the same time, the team worked toughly in cooperation with each other. According to Zaccaro et al. (2001), â€Å"a team failure may reside not only in member inability, but also in their collective failure to coordinate and synchronize the ir individual contributions† (p. 451).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership of a Consultancy Group: Project Planning and Organising specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this respect, team management should first be considered as a process, but not as an event. Apart from team interpersonal communication, teams should pay closer attention to external factors revealing dynamic and complex environments. In this respect, the need for member coordination was the core for successful accomplishment of team goals. Back up behavior and adaptability are closely connected concepts. Porter et al. (2003) believe that a back up behavior model should be based on team inputs focused on the nature of team’s goals, as well as the team composition. Being involved into the decision-making process, the team introduced effective collaborative techniques to make important decisions and solutions to the existing probl ems (Marks et al., 2000). Adaptability, in this case, is one of the techniques contributing to fostering the decision-making because it enhances the group ability to modify behaviors. Because a team is a group of individuals undertaking specified roles and interacting dynamically and adaptively toward a common goal, the matter of adaptability contributes to recognizing changes within the team and defining the team member roles. Team orientation is more associated with the analysis of individual efforts within a team. Being a team leader, I realized that I could not effectively manage the team project without assistance provided by my team members. In this case, the effective allocation of roles contributed to greater effectiveness of the project accomplishment. Evaluation of Team Working and Decision Making Capacity Judging from the result of project management, our team has succeeded in producing sound solutions to the problem through effective cooperation. The effectiveness of the team’s work was marked by the rational allocation of responsibilities. In particular, because the main project perspectives were identified, I believe that our team corresponded to the existing requirements. It also implied that I managed to effectively allocate the responsibility and give orders to the group participants. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the decision-making process during the project accomplishment, the team managed to analyze the interview materials to define the gaps in management and identify the problem by the rational decision-making model. Conclusion An overall evaluation of team performance has revealed that our team has succeeded in implementing its decision-making models and strategic management concept. While leading the group, I have also realized the major shortcomings of leadership. In particular, more emphasis should be placed on striking the balance between coordinative working and individual efforts implementation.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On the one hand, project management requires effective coordination and monitoring of effective team functioning. On the other hand, a leader should provide other group members with a space for creating and analytical thinking. In such a manner, it is possible to creative a sound competition within a group and foster goals accomplishment. Reference List Chapmoux, J. (2010) Organizational Behavior: Integrating Individuals, Groups, and Organizations. UK, Taylor Francis. Marks, M., Zaccaro, S. J., Mathieu, J. (2000). Performance implications of leader briefings and team interaction training for team adaptation to novel environments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 971–986. Pilbeam, S., and Corbridge, M. (2006) People Resourcing: Contemporary HRM in Practice. London, Pearson Education. Saee, J. (2007) Contemporary Corporate Strategy: Global Perspectives. London, Routledge. Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., Marks, M. A. (2001). Team leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 12(4), 451 -483. This essay on Leadership of a Consultancy Group: Project Planning and Organising was written and submitted by user Emmett Hewitt to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.