Oral conversational topics on business English language

But the European Commission is anxious to ensure that the EU as a whole reduces debt in relation to GDP by running balanced budgets or surpluses. A particular reason for this is concern about the future impact of Europe's ageing populations. This will lead to big increases in spending on pensions and health, resulting in likely deficits and higher debt. This could in turn undermine monetary union as the more heavily indebted countries lobby for inflationary policies to erode their debts. Hence the need to use the next ten or so years, before population ageing gathers momentum, to lower the public debt burden.

That policy may be legitimate for the EU as a whole, but not for Britain. This is the second way in which a one-size-fits-all fiscal policy creates a particular problem because of British exceptionalism. For one thing, Britain's debt is the third lowest in the EU as a share of GDP. More important, Britain does not face the same pressures to raise public pensions as other European countries, partly because population ageing will be less intense but also because big private schemes bear much more of the strain of pension provision, and they, unlike state pensions, are funded. Worries about the adequacy of pensions have led the British government to boost poorer pensioners' income, but this will not change the broad picture.

Over the next few years, then, there is a mismatch between Britain's need for higher investment and the euro area's need for lower debt. One way round this would be to interpret the stability pact more flexibly to meet the interests of individual member states. Treasury sources say that the commission has no monopoly of wisdom in interpreting the pact and criticise the commission for a narrow, legalistic approach. The chancellor will press Britain's case at the next meeting of finance ministers on February 12th, arguing that his budgetary projections are consistent with a prudent interpretation of the stability pact. The commission does not want a confrontation but fears that allowing one exception will open the door to special pleading by other countries.

If the stability pact were to become binding—as early membership of the euro would entail—then this will create real problems for Mr Brown as he tries to find the money to pay for improvements in the public services. He has already been preparing the ground for tax increases in this year's budget. But these would have to be a lot bigger—possibly as much as £10 billion—for Britain to comply with the pact.

Tony Blair wants Britain to join the euro. He also wants to rebuild the public services without upsetting taxpayers. Those two aims may be incompatible.

to asses – work out the (tax) to be paid by (someone) ledger – a book in which the accounts of a business are kept accrued – increased by being added to to wade through – read (something long or boring) to forge – make a copy of something written in order to deceive compliance – when someone obeys a law or rule, keeps an agreement

ACCOUNTING

Some people mistakenly think of accounting as a highly technical field which can be understood only by professional accountants. Actually, nearly everyone practices accounting in one form or another on an almost daily basis. Accounting is the art of interpreting, measuring, and describing economic activity. Whether you are preparing a household budget, balancing your checkbook, preparing your income tax return, or running General Motors, you are working with accounting concepts and accounting information.

Accounting has often been referred to as "the language of business." This language finds expression in profit and loss statements, balance sheets, budgets, investment analysis, and tax analysis. Accounting information is the means by which firms communicate their financial position to the providers of capital—investors, creditors, and government. It enables the providers of capital to assess the value of their investments, or the security of their loans, and to make decisions about future resource allocations. Accounting information is also the means by which firms report their income to the government, so the government can assess how much tax the firm owes. It is also the means by which the firm can evaluate its performance, control its internal expenditures, and plan for future expenditures and income. Thus it is no exaggeration to say that a good accounting function is critical to the smooth running of the firm.

Developing and communicating accounting information is the role of the business organization's accounting system.

Accounting — is the process of recording, classifying, reporting and analyzing financial data. And while the accounting requirements of every business vary, all organizations need a way to keep track of their money. Unfortunately, there's very little that's intuitive about accounting. Many small businesses hire accountants to set up and keep their books. Other companies use accounting software like QuickBooks, CheckMark Multi-Ledger and M.Y.O.B. Accounting and keep their accounting functions in house. Using a system of debits and credits, called double-entry accounting, accountants use a general ledger to track money as it flows in and out of a business. They record each financial transaction on a balance sheet, which provides a snapshot of a business's financial condition. Accountants record every financial transaction in a way that keeps the following equation balanced: Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity (Capital). Accounting is based on the periodic reporting of financial data. The basic accounting cycle includes: 1) Recording business transactions. Businesses keep a daily record of transactions in sales journals, cash-receipt journals or cash-disbursement journals. 2) Posting debits and credits to a general ledger. A general ledger is a summary of all business journals. An up-to-date general ledger shows current information about accounts payable, accounts receivable, owners' equity and other accounts. 3) Making adjustments to the general ledger. General-ledger adjustments let businesses account for items that don't get recorded in daily journals, such as bad debts, and accrued interest or taxes. By adjusting entries, businesses can match revenues with expenses within each accounting period. 4) Closing the books. After all revenues and expenses are accounted for, any net profit gets posted in the owners' equity account. Revenue and expense accounts are always brought to a zero balance before a new accounting cycle begins. 5) Preparing financial statements. At the end of a period, businesses prepare financial reports — income statements, statements of capital, balance sheets, cash-flow statements and other reports — that summarize all of the financial activity for that period.

International businesses are confronted with a number of accounting problems. One of these problems—the lack of consistency in the accounting standards of different countries.

Let's examine the problems arising when an international business with operations in more than one country must produce consolidated financial statements. These firms face special problems because, for example, the accounts for their operations in France will be in francs, in Italy they will be in lira, and in Japan they will be in yen. If the firm is based in the United States, it will have to decide what basis to use for translating all these accounts into U.S. dollars.

Accounting is shaped by the environment in which it operates. Just as different countries have different political systems, economic systems, and cultures, so they also have different accounting systems. In each country the accounting system has evolved in response to the demands for accounting information in that country.

Despite attempts to harmonize accounting standards by developing internationally acceptable accounting conventions a myriad of differences between national accounting systems still remain. These differences make it very difficult to compare the financial performance of firms based in different nations.

Due to the combined impact of the variables, very few countries have identical accounting systems. Notable similarities between nations do exist however, and three groups of countries with similar standards can be identified. One group might be called the British-American-Dutch group. Great Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands are the trend-setters in this group. All these countries have large, well-developed stock and bond markets where firms raise capital from investors. Thus these countries' accounting systems are tailored to providing information to individual investors. A second group might be called the Europe-Japan group. Firms in these countries have very close ties to banks, which supply a large proportion of their capital needs. So their accounting practices are geared to the needs of banks. A third group might be the South American group. The countries in this group have all experienced persistent and rapid inflation. Consequently they have adopted inflation accounting principles.

The diverse accounting practices have been enshrined in national accounting and auditing standards. Accounting standards are rules for preparing financial statements; they define what is useful accounting information. Auditing standards specify the rules for performing an audit—the technical process by which an independent person (the auditor) gathers evidence for determining if a set of financial accounts conforms to required accounting standards and if it is also reliable.

Substantial efforts have been made in recent years to harmonise accounting standards across countries. Perhaps the most significant body pushing for this is the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC)

Other areas of interest to the accounting profession world-wide—including auditing, ethical, educational, and public-sector standards—are handled by the International Federation of Accountants (IFA).

By the mid-1990s the IASC had issued over 30 international accounting standards.

The main hindrance to the development of international accounting standards is that compliance with the IASC standards is voluntary; the IASC has no power to enforce its standards. Despite this support for the IASC and recognition of its standards is growing around the world.

Five Great Tips for Keeping Your Bookkeeping Accurate

Sign All Your Own Checks in a small business, people — especially full-charge bookkeepers — can bamboo/.le you too darn easily. By signing all the checks yourself, you keep your fingers on the pulse of your cash outflow. This practice can be a hassle — and you can't easily spend three months in Hawaii — you have to wade through paperwork every time you sign a stack of checks. Finally, if you're in a partnership, you should have at least a couple of the partners co-sign checks.

Don't Sign a Check the Wrong Way If you sign many checks, you may be tempted to use a John Hancock-like signature. Although scrawling your name illegibly makes great sense when you're autographing baseballs, don't do it when you're signing checks. A clear signature, especially one with a sense of personal style, is distinctive. A wavy line with a cross and a couple of dots is really easy to forge.

Review Cancelled Checks Before Your Bookkeeper Does Be sure that you review your cancelled checks before anybody else sees the monthly bank statement. A business owner can determine whether someone is forging signatures on checks only by being the first to open the bank statement and by reviewing each of the cancelled check signatures. If you don't examine the checks, unscrupulous employees — especially bookkeepers who can update the bank account records — can forge your signature with impunity. And they won't get caught if they never overdraw the account. Another point: If you don't follow these procedures, you will probably eat the losses, not the bank.

Choose a Bookkeeper Who Is Familiar with Computers and Knows How to Do Payroll Don't worry. You don't need to request an FBI background check. Just find people who know how to keep a checkbook and work with a computer. A bookkeeper who knows double-entry bookkeeping is super-helpful. But, to be fair, such knowledge probably isn't essential. I will say this, however: When you hire someone, find someone who knows how to do payroll - not just the federal payroll tax stuff but also the state payroll tax monkey business.

Choose an Appropriate Accounting System Cash-basis accounting is fine when a business's cash inflow mirrors its sales and its cash outflow mirrors its expenses. This situation isn't the case, however, in many businesses. A contractor of single-family homes, for example, may have cash coming in (by borrowing from banks) but may not make any money. A pawnshop owner who loans money at 22 percent may make scads of money even if cash pours out of the business daily. As a general rule, when you're buying and selling inventory, accrual-basis accounting works better than cash-basis accounting.

QUESTIONS

1.   What is the expression of accounting as ‘the language of business’?

2.   How can the government control tax discipline?

3.   What is the essence of accounting?

4.   What main operations does the basic accounting cycle include?

5.   Why do accounting problems exist in international business? What problems do you know?

6.   Name three groups of countries with similar accounting standards?

7.   Give the definition of auditing and auditing standards?

8.   What organizations are involved in harmonizing accounting standards?

9.    Does Ukraine use national or international accounting and auditing standards?

10.             What in your opinion is more important accounting or auditing? Give your reasons.

tripartite – having three parts of groups to mint – make coins overdraft – a situation in which you draw more money from a bank account than you have in it merger – joining of two commercial companies

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BANKS

Today the English banking is a complicated tripartite system like a three-layer cake. The system is headed by the Bank of England.

This bank was established under a royal charter in 1694. The head of the Bank is Governor of the Bank appointed by me Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Queen also appoints Deputy Governor and the Court of Directors, which consists of 16 directors.

The Bank of England is a central bank of a national bank. It controls the British banking system, issues banknotes and mints coins. It lends and borrows money for the government, manages the national debts and is in the control of the nation's gold reserve. The others two layers are:

·     the commercial or joint stock clearing banks;

·     specialized banking institutions such as the discount houses and merchant banks.

The commercial or joint-stock banks deal with the general public. The four large English commercial banks are known as the Big Four. They are Barclays, Lloyds, the Midland, and the National Westminster. Together they have upwards of 10,000 branches. Commercial banks render various services to companies and individuals. Some of the services are:

·     to receive or accept from their customers the deposit or money;

·     to collect and transfer money both at home and abroad against deposit and current accounts;

·     to provide overdrafts to both personal and business customers;

·     to lend loans to their customers;

·     to exchange money;

·     to supply economic information and to prepare economic reviews to be published;

·     to make foreign exchange transactions, including spot transactions, forward transactions and swap transactions;

·     to issue various banker's cards.

Merchant banks and discount houses deal only with special customers providing funds for special purposes. They accept commercial bills of exchange and offer quite a lot of commercial services. They provide advisory services about new issues of securities, mergers, take-overs and reorganizations. They also arrange financing for their customers and provide fund-management services.

Besides there is a big group of banks in the United Kingdom made up of foreign banks. All the major foreign banks are represented in the U.K. by subsidiary, branch, representative offices or consortium. They provide finance both in sterling and in other currencies and offer a wide range of financial services.

Lombard Street is the symbol of English banking. This is a place where the first bankers coming from Italy settled.

The English commercial banks have branches in all the major towns and a similar structure and mode of working is common to them all. The owners are the shareholders. At the outset they provide the necessary capital. They are all organised on the joint stock principle and are registered public companies.

The Chairman and Board of Directors are elected by the ordinary shareholders at the Annual General Meeting and are responsible for the efficient management of the bank. The Board is concerned with the over-all policy of the bank and the major decisions which put that policy into effect.

The Board will appoint a Managing Director who is directly responsible to them and a member of the Board. They will also appoint the most senior executives who in turn appoint the rest of the clerical staff who will be responsible in different capacities for the day to day running of the bank.

At the end of each business year the Directors recommend and the Annual General Meeting decides how much of the profit should be distributed to the shareholders as dividend, and how much should be retained in the business. In preparation for the Annual General Meeting, a bank publishes its Report and Accounts. These must be sent to every shareholder and are also available for anyone with an interest in the affairs of the bank. From the published accounts shareholders can easily determine the total profit the bank has earned and how much is available for distribution.

Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States of America, set up by the Federal Government in 1913. On account of the vast area of the country, and the greater difficulties of travelling at that time, the country was divided into twelve Federal Reserve Districts, each with its own Federal Reserve Bank.

There are also twenty five branches of the Federal Reserve Banks to serve particular areas within each district. The activities of the Federal Reserve Banks are coordinated through the Federal Reserve Board of governors in Washington. The Board exercises general supervision over the Federal Reserve Banks.

The Federal Reserve Banks hold the reserves of the member banks, i.e. the commercial banks which are members of the Federal Reserve System. The FR Banks supply the member banks with currency if necessary and act to them as lenders by rediscounting bills. The Board determines the reserve requirements of the commercial banks. The Board too really determines discount-rates. The Board discount rate corresponds in nature to the English Bank rate, though the Federal Reserve Banks do not always have the same discount rate.

The Federal Reserve System, in collaboration with the Government of the U.S.A., determines monetary policy and, aided by the Federal Reserve Banks, carries it out.

All national banks must be members of the Federal Reserve System. Incorporated state banks including commercial banks, mutual savings banks, trust companies, and industrial banks, may also join the System.

Incorporated state banks are those which have a charter from the state to act as an individual.

Mutual savings banks are savings banks owned by their depositors. Industrial banks make loans for the purchase or manufacture of industrial products.

QUESTIONS

1.   When was the bank of England established?

2.   What are the layers of English banking system?

3.   Name the services commercial banks render in England?

4.   What can you say about foreign banks in England?

5.   Who is elected and who is appointed in the English banks?

6.   How can shareholders get the dividends?

7.   What are specific features of the Federal Reserve System of the USA?

8.   What are its functions as the central banking system of the USA?

9.   In what way is the English bank connected with the FRS?

10.             Describe types of American incorporated banks.

contraction - getting smaller or shorter tremendous growth – huge growth afloat – having enough money to operate and stay out of debt fee – a payment made for special service street vendors – persons who sell something in the street refuge – protection from troubles to impoverish – make poor to lodge – to place on the assets lucrative – bringing a good profit to evade – avoid (doing something) by cunning

THE COMMERCIAL BANKS

In the conditions of contracting output that dominated the first five years of Ukrainian independence any significant accumulation of capital into private hands could only be achieved by redistributing the already existing capital, be it productive assets or circulating money capital.

If the state's way of holding back the pace of economic dislocation and contraction was to subsidize the costs of heavy industry production and to print money in an effort to recoup these costs from the disposed income of consumers, the resulting inflationary spiral was also conducive to the diversion and private accumulation of social wealth by commercial banks.

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