Public international law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Public international law - Essay Example In establishing whether a political entity can be considered a state, these elements have to be primarily considered. Applying these elements to the assessment of Kosovo, however, is not as simple due to a host of issues involved in its bid for statehood. Nevertheless, these primary elements shall first be considered in assessing Kosovo’s claim to statehood. One of the elements of statehood is population. Population refers to the â€Å"a group of people that live in the same land or region† . In order for an entity to fulfil this requirement of statehood, its people must settle themselves at a definite place. There is an element of permanency to this population where the people are not likely to fall apart but can be expected to persist for a period of time . As far is Kosovo is concerned, it fulfils this requirement of statehood as it has a group of people living in a specific place and their population is sufficient to support state processes. Shared ethnic traditions and religions are not important elements within this group of people for as long as there are sufficient commonalities in terms of language, traditions, values, and beliefs to support harmonious relations with each other. As far as Kosovo is concerned, they share common beliefs, languages, and values as a people, with majority of the people being Albanians, speakin g in the Albanian, Serbian, Turkish, and Roma languages. Some of them are Muslims, Serbian Orthodox, and Catholics. These qualities provide sufficient groupings and commonalities among the people, groupings which are normally expected of any state or political entity. Population as an element of statehood has to be evaluated in terms of territory and government. Scholars highlight the fact that population is one of the more important elements of the state because territory and government elements are present only as a means of serving the population4. Territory defines an area which is well-defined, an area which is inhabited by the people of a state. It is usually defined by its physical borders which have long been defined by kings, emperors, and other significant government officials5. The Encyclopedia of Public International Law also defines territory as a crucial element of statehood because government authorities are endowed with the right and authority to â€Å"take measures in that specific area†6. Governments have exclusive control over their territories, one which cannot legally be intruded on by other states and political entities and states. As far as Kosovo is concerned, it also fulfils this element of statehood, as it has a defined territory where its population is based and upon which it can support its people. Government is also another element of statehood. In general, governments are made up of individuals who have been chosen by the people or by other authorities to carry out political functions and to manage state affairs7. Based on the international perspective, governments are independent entities which enforce authority over a certain population living in a territory8. Governments are usually decided by the general population and in areas where democratic processes are in place, these government officials represent the interests of the people, enforce rules, and implement policies. Various states have varying governments, and each of these types of government is mostly fashioned to fit the needs of the people. Governments have end goals in mind and most of these goals relate to providing common goods to

Using foreign financial statements Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Using foreign financial statements - Article Example The article is about a very important field in contemporary financial world,the skills' requirements to read financial statements of foreign companies and extracting information of interest from these financialsThe article presents some techniques that organizations usually employ when their financial statements are provided to foreign users. This ranges from doing nothing (in which case the financial statements might be in non-English language with figures shown in local currency and might not follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - GAAP, or International Financial Reporting Standards - IFRS) to a completely new set of statements, explicitly prepared for United States. Known as secondary statements, these are developed to provide statements in United States English, with the use of either US GAAP or international standards on Accounting. The purpose is to give users a similar sort of statement that they are used to deal with in United States.The article moves on to identif y the differences in financial statements' presentation layout and style that might appear in financial statements of a foreign company based on its particular location, usage of accounting standards, and norms in the country. A CPA or financial analyst must be equipped with relevant skills and necessary expertise to be able to deal with these differences in the financial statements presentations.... The article, too, describes the importance of being able to read and understand the financial statements of a foreign firm. Similarly, as per CON 2, the information that should be provided in financial statements should have a comparability aspect; that is, it could be compared with information from other entities to make an informed decision. As noted in the article, one of the purposes of developing a secondary statement is to enable the readers to compare statements of one company in one country with statements of others that might be in some other countries. If the currency, form and presentation, and standards of which the financial statements are developed are similar, it will provide an ease in comparing apple to apple. Otherwise, one might end up comparing US Dollars with Japanese Yen. Similarly, other elements of the coursework like financial accounting environment, financial statements like balance sheet and income statements and their forms, and the reporting standards are discussed in the article with a perspective of foreign financial statements and international reporting. 3. Learning Lessons The article provides common approaches the companies take when they provide their financial statements to foreign users. These approaches include doing nothing (explained above), developing primary statements using United States GAAP, translating the financial statements into English for easy reading, some might also change the currency to US dollars to provide the ease of comparability that might be required (convenience statements), others might include the details of this conversion and show the rate at which currency is converted (limited restatement). In addition, companies might completely redo their statements to align these