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Ernst & Young LLP Helps Universities Modify Accounting Curricula to Address International Accounting Standards

Ernst & Young LLP took another significant step in supporting faculty through the Academic Resource Center (EYARC) with the release of the second phase of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) curriculum and teaching materials, as well as a national training session for professors.

EYARC, which represents a $1.5 million investment for the firm, is a collaboration of faculty and professionals dedicated to helping the next generation of accounting professionals meet the fast-changing needs of the global financial markets. The first phase of IFRS curriculum was released in January of this year. The second phase of curriculum provides additional IFRS resources intended to supplement typical US university financial accounting coursework. EYARC’s curriculum is unique as it includes comprehensive and flexible materials that compare IFRS with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), including a user guide, lecture notes, presentation slides, homework problems, illustrative disclosures, case studies and international spotlight features.

EYARC held its first national IFRS training session in Cleveland last week for more than 60 faculty attendees from across the country. Key speakers at the training included Ken Marshall, Americas IFRS Markets Leader at Ernst & Young LLP, EYARC faculty members Jana Raedy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Irene Wiecek, University of Toronto, who recently published an IFRS primer textbook; and Tim Eaton, Miami University, Ohio, as well as retired Ernst & Young LLP partners John Kiss, Nick Kissel, Peter Nurczynski and Bob Riley.

James Wahlen, Professor of Accounting and Chairman of the MBA Program at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University said, “The EYARC IFRS faculty training was an outstanding experience. Several accounting faculty and retired partners assembled a comprehensive and detailed set of materials that will help me and accounting faculty members all over the country incorporate an understanding of IFRS into our courses. This training is a great example of how practice and academia can partner for the benefit of our students, our teaching and research, and our profession.”

Judy Rayburn, Chair of the Accounting Department at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota said, “EYARC IFRS training was a great experience that saved me a lot of time and provided many resources that I will easily be able to assimilate into my classes. The training team was focused and fun, seasoned, and internationally knowledgeable.”

Jennifer Blouin, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business said, “Making an effort to maximize pedagogical flexibility, EYARC offered faculty extensive training and materials useful for developing IFRS curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The class notes, cases, and high level spotlights on convergence issues created by EYARC’s team of academics and practice professionals will be invaluable as I incorporate IFRS into my syllabus.”

Currently, the US is the only industrialized country to not yet adopt IFRS or have a “date certain” for adoption. In the Americas, for example, Canada and South America have adoption dates ranging from 2011 to 2014. In November, the SEC issued a roadmap proposing the adoption of IFRS in the US beginning in 2014. This roadmap is currently open for comment before mandatory adoption is initiated.

“Given the roadmap issued by the SEC and the probability of mandatory adoption of IFRS in the US in the relatively near time frame, we believe it’s a matter of when — not if — schools will need to realign their educational programs to address IFRS learning,” said Ellen Glazerman, Ernst & Young LLP, Americas Director of University Relations. “Even though IFRS is not currently mandated in the US, most of our multinational clients report under IFRS in some capacity, therefore demanding that knowledge from our professionals and the new campus recruits that we hire. We, along with universities, have a shared responsibility in accounting education.”

Catherine Banks, EYARC Program Director added, “Students who have an understanding of IFRS will distinguish themselves in the hiring process and will likely have increased career and mobility opportunities. Learning IFRS requires students to build more critical-thinking skills to better understand the substance of transactions, which should make them better accountants.”

Source: PRNEWSWIRE

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For the first time, Pinoys in US sending home less

Remittances down 10.4 percent in Jan-April

Money sent home by Filipinos based in the United States has dropped for the first time in memory.

For the first four months of 2009, remittances from the US stood at $2.287 billion, a $300 million or 10.4 percent decline from the January-April 2008 inflow of $2.553 billion.

The US is the country’s biggest source of remittances, accounting for 41 percent of inflow in April.

The slowdown indicates that US-based Pinoys were starting to feel the effects of the American economic crisis.

Cumulative remittances during the first four months stood at $5.5 billion, up by 2.6 percent from the same period in 2008.

While this bucked forecast of a downturn, the growth was way below the double-digits rates in the past.

Money sent home by overseas Filipinos based in the United Kingdom also went down by 9.45 percent, from $294 million to $266 million.

Remittances from Canada, in contrast, surged by 65 percent from $344 million to $567 million.

Remittances from Saudi Arabia were also up by 17.6 percent to $483 million from $411 million.

Overseas Filipinos in Japan also sent more money home, increasing by as much as 53 percent from $164 million to $251 million.

In April, remittances stood at $1.4 billion, up.2 percent year on year.

BSP said the 2.6 percent growth registered in the first four months of 2009 was supported by higher remittances from both sea-based and land-based workers of 2.5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

A report from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said demand for Filipino workers abroad remained broadly strong.

As of end-May 2009, a total of 758,412 active job orders had been reported, of which 37 percent had been processed while 63 percent were still to be filled up.

POEA said the bulk of the job orders was in the production, services, and professional skill categories.

“Demand for Filipino workers abroad is expected to be sustained by employment opportunities gained from hiring agreements forged between the Philippines and host countries in need of Filipino manpower for their development and construction needs, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Australia, among others,” PEOA said.

While weaker global economic conditions continued to pose some risk to the continued strength of the deployment of Filipino workers abroad, the government remains focused on job generation programs to help displaced overseas workers find alternative jobs in emerging markets and in countries that are not severely affected by the global financial meltdown, it said.

Source: Jimmy C. Calapati

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Ranks of jobless down to 7.5% in April

MANILA, Philippines—Government and private sector efforts to provide jobs amid a global downturn helped pare down the unemployment rate to 7.5 percent in April from 8 percent in the same month last year.

The April figure was also slightly lower than that of January, when unemployment was reported at 7.7 percent.

Based on the National Statistics Office’s latest Labor Force Survey, the number of new jobs created outpaced the number of those who joined the country’s horde of workers.

There were some 1.37 million people 15 years and older who had joined the labor force—beefing it up by 3.8 percent to 37.82 million—in April from 36.45 million in the same month of 2008.

Of these, 34.99 million have jobs—about 1.458 million more than the 33.54 million seen last year.

Also, the unemployed numbered 2.83 million in April, or some 84,000 less than the 2.914 million jobless reported a year ago.

“It is worth noting that the unemployment rate in April this year was almost as good as the April 2007 unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, the year when the economy had posted a 7.1-percent growth,” Economic Planning Secretary Ralph G. Recto said.

However, the underemployment rate—those with jobs but want to work more—climbed slightly to 18.9 percent in April against 18.2 percent in January.

Analysts said the rise in the underemployment rate pointed to mounting pressures on the labor market, aggravated by returning Filipino workers who lost their jobs overseas due to the global recession.

“There is clearly pressure on the labor market, not just due to economic slowdown, but also going forward with remittance growth showing further downside,” said Simon Wong, economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong.

The underemployed workers climbed to 6.62 million from 6.24 million in the same period. Of the total underemployed, 62.6 percent worked less than 40 hours a week in April, higher than 60.8 percent in January.

“While people seem to be busy, it is not the full 8 hours or 40 hours a week, so that is where the weakness of the recent statistics may come in,” said Jun Trinidad, economist at Citigroup. “This suggests that it can still encourage people not to spend.”

Also, the Philippines has the second highest jobless rate among the biggest Southeast Asian economies. It is behind Indonesia which reported an unemployment rate of 8.14 percent as of February.

Thailand’s jobless rate was at 1.9 percent in February, below Malaysia’s 3.3 percent at end 2008. Singapore’s first quarter seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 3.3 percent, a three-year high.

Job cuts and reduced work hours in the Philippines have been on the rise, mainly in the electronics sector, which account for over half of the country’s exports, with demand still weak.

Officials said last month the economy’s 2.3 percent contraction in the first quarter was partly due to weak personal spending as people saved their money due to the uncertainty on the depth of the global downturn.

At least 6,500 Filipino workers returned from abroad, mainly Taiwan, since October as the global recession hit the manufacturing sector, based on data from the overseas workers welfare agency.

Data from the Department of Labor and Employment show that from October 2008 to March 2009, the global financial crisis took its toll on a total of 109,429 domestic workers.

The Department of Labor and Employment was heartened by the slight dip in the unemployment rate, saying it showed that the government’s effort to mitigate the effects of the crisis on labor were effective.

Source: Ronnel Domingo

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