Wednesday, 20 June 2018

BEST CPA REVISION KITS IN KENYA KASNEB

If you need the best CPA notes and their revision kits with answers to most recent questions. visit www.someakenya.co.ke

For

CPA PART I

SECTION 1
Financial Accounting
Commercial Law
Entrepreneurship and Communication

SECTION 2
Economics
Management Accounting
Public Finance and Taxation

CPA PART II

SECTION 3
Company Law
Financial Management
Financial Reporting

SECTION 4
Auditing and Assurance
Management Information Systems
Quantitative Analysis

CPA PART III

SECTION 5
Strategy, Governance and Ethics
Advanced Management Accounting
 Advanced Financial Management

SECTION 6
Advanced Public Finance and Taxation
Advanced Auditing and Assurance
Advanced Financial Reporting

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

CPA PILOT PAPERS



FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
https://goo.gl/6WKjBY
COMMERCIAL LAW
https://goo.gl/VW1RyS
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
https://goo.gl/HO7Zvw
ECONOMICS
https://goo.gl/oGbL1e
PUBLIC FINANCE AND TAXATION
https://goo.gl/HDIAyr

COMPANY LAW
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
https://goo.gl/D7n6o8
FINANCIAL REPORTING
https://goo.gl/Yimz79

AUDITING AND ASSURANCE
https://goo.gl/3j5jY2
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
https://goo.gl/pG0w8x

STRATEGY, GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS
https://goo.gl/RAFepa
ADVANCED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
https://goo.gl/96SLcE

ADVANCED FINANCIAL REPORTING
https://goo.gl/3LAOex
ADVANCED PUBLIC FINANCE AND TAXATION
https://goo.gl/ACruSi
ADVANCED AUDITING AND ASSURANCE
https://goo.gl/v4OVml

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Equity Investment analysis-CIFA SECTION 4



CHAPTER TWO

INDUSTRY AND COMPANY ANALYSIS


Introduction
Industry analysis is a type of investment research that begins by focusing on the status of an industry or an industrial sector.

Why is this important? Each industry is different, and using one cookie-cutter approach to analysis is sure to create problems. Imagine, for example, comparing the P/E ratio of a tech company to that of a utility. Because you are, in effect, comparing apples to oranges, the analysis is next to useless.

In each section we'll take an in-depth look at the different valuation techniques and buzz words used in a particular industry, complete a 5-forces analysis on the state of the market and point you in the direction of industry-specific resources.
Porter's 5 Forces Analysis
If you are not familiar with the five competitive forces model, here is a brief background on who developed it, and why it is useful.

The model originated from Michael E. Porter's 1980 book "Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors." Since then, it has become a frequently used tool for analyzing a company's industry structure and its corporate strategy.

In his book, Porter identified five competitive forces that shape every single industry and market. These forces help us to analyze everything from the intensity of competition to the profitability and attractiveness of an industry. Figure 1 shows the relationship between the different competitive forces.
  1. Threat of New Entrants - The easier it is for new companies to enter the industry, the more cutthroat competition there will be. Factors that can limit the threat of new entrants are known as barriers to entry.
  2. Power of Suppliers - This is how much pressure suppliers can place on a business. If one supplier has a large enough impact to affect a company's margins and volumes, then it holds substantial power. Here are a few reasons that suppliers might have power:
·         Existing loyalty to major brands
·         Incentives for using a particular buyer (such as frequent shopper programs)
·         High fixed costs
·         Scarcity of resources
·         High costs of switching companies
·         Government restrictions or legislation
  1. Power of Buyers - This is how much pressure customers can place on a business. If one customer has a large enough impact to affect a company's margins and volumes, then the customer hold substantial power. Here are a few reasons that customers might have power:
·         There are very few suppliers of a particular product
·         There are no substitutes
·         Switching to another (competitive) product is very costly
·         The product is extremely important to buyers - can\'t do without it
·         The supplying industry has a higher profitability than the buying industry
  1. Availability of Substitutes - What is the likelihood that someone will switch to a competitive product or service? If the cost of switching is low, then this poses a serious threat. Here are a few factors that can affect the threat of substitutes:

·         Small number of buyers
·         Purchases large volumes
·         Switching to another (competitive) product is simple
·         The product is not extremely important to buyers; they can do without the product for a period of time
·         Customers are price sensitive
  1. Competitive Rivalry - This describes the intensity of competition between existing firms in an industry. Highly competitive industries generally earn low returns because the cost of competition is high. A highly competitive market might result from:
·         The main issue is the similarity of substitutes. For example, if the price of coffee rises substantially, a coffee drinker may switch over to a beverage like tea.
·         If substitutes are similar, it can be viewed in the same light as a new entrant.

USES OF INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Company analysis and industry analysis are closely interrelated. Company and industry analysis together can provide insight into sources of industry revenue growth and competitors' market shares and thus the future of an individual company's top-line growth and bottom-lin profitability.
Industry analysis is useful for:
·         Understanding a company's business and business environment
·         Identifying active equity investment opportunities.
·         Formulating an industry or sector rotation strategy.
·         Portfolio performance attribution.
There are three main approaches to classifying companies:
1. Products and/or service supplied.

This is the main approach to industry classification. Companies are categorized based on

- Application of ICT in taxation: iTax, samba system



iTAX is a modern computer-based assessment and collection software used by (local) governments. It is a computing and accounting system for state revenues (levies, taxes) which stores all relevant (credit and debit) data in individual accounts in a data base, and thus helps monitor and control all tax transactions. iTAX provides a convenient and efficient way to improve revenue collection, transparency in fiscal administration and management of local and national tax authorities. In conjunction with a personalized taxpayer identification number, the tax authority using iTAX can automate most of the levying processes and minimize the scope for tax fraud.

Technically, iTAX is a completely integrated modular system for taxation with an open source database, which can handle all types of taxes. iTAX supports the revenue authority in registration, assessment, collection, accounting, debt management, auditing, tax monitoring, and reporting.

Introducing an IT-based tax administration and information system

iTAX is a comprehensive package, but any system needs customization and adjustments. This chapter describes what it takes to make iTAX successful and sustainable.

Making iTAX work includes those processes that establish the capabilities for change management, the necessary capacity development, and corresponding institutional reforms.

The actual approach to introducing a system like iTAX has to be based on the situation at hand. Therefore, any effort to “make iTAX work“has to begin with an individual project design


iTAX can be implemented as a pilot project, starting first in a special region/pro-
vince or only for some specific taxes. It may also be tested first in an institutionalpilot project, such as a Large Taxpayer Department. Depending on the IT infra- structure and the IT literacy of operators, piloting can be done within a time frame of about three months. Since the basic functionality of iTAX has already been developed, future implementations will mainly be limited to the customization ofthe software. This might further speed up the process.

The introduction of an IT solution in general and of iTAX in particular, as well as any related institutional and administrative reform, requires foremost political will.
All relevant stakeholders have to be involved and should have an actual say in the process.

Sunday, 30 August 2015

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: CHAPTER 11 - ISLAMIC FINANCE


History of Islamic finance
The financial industry has historically played an important role in the economy of every society. Banks mobilize funds from investors and apply them to investments in trade and business. The history of banking is long and varied, with the financial system as we know it today directly descending from Florentine bankers of the 14th – 17th century. However, even before the invention of money, people used to deposit valuables such as grain, cattle and agricultural implements and, at a later stage, precious metals such as gold for safekeeping with religious temples.

Around the 5th century BC, the ancient Greeks started to include investments in their banking operations. Temples still offered safe-keeping, but other entities started to offer financial transactions including loans, deposits, exchange of currency and validation of coins. Financial services were typically offered against the payment of a flat fee or, for investments, against a share of the profit.

The views of philosophers and theologians on interest have always ranged from an absolute prohibition to the prohibition of usurious or excess interest only, with a bias towards the absolute prohibition of any form of interest. The first foreign exchange contract in 1156 AD was not just executed to facilitate the exchange of one currency for another ata forward date, but also because profits from time differences in a foreign exchange contract were not covered by canon laws against usury.
In a time when financial contracts were largely governed by Christian beliefs prohibiting interest on the basis that it would be a sin to pay back more or less than what was lent, this was a major advantage.
Islamic banking is banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of sharia (Islamic law) and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. As such, a more correct term for Islamic banking is sharia compliant finance.
Sharia prohibits acceptance of specific interest or fees for loans of money (known as riba, or usury), whether the payment is fixed or floating. Investment in businesses that provide goods or services considered contrary to Islamic principles (e.g. pork or alcohol) is also haraam ("sinful and prohibited"). Although these prohibitions have been applied historically in varying degrees in Muslim countries/communities to prevent unIslamic practices, only in the late 20th century were a number of Islamic banks formed to apply these principles to private or semi-private commercial institutions within the Muslim community.
As of 2014, sharia compliant financial institutions represented approximately 1% of total world assets By 2009, there were over 300 banks and 250 mutual funds around the world complying with Islamic principles and as of 2014 total assets of around $2 trillion were sharia-compliant. According to Ernst & Young, although Islamic Banking still makes up only a fraction of the banking assets of Muslims,  it has been growing faster than banking assets as a whole, growing at an annual rate of 17.6% between 2009 and 2013, and will grow by an average of 19.7% a year to 2018

Islamic capitalism
Islamic Finance and banking is as old as the religion itself with its principles primarily derived from the Quran.  An early market economy and an early form of mercantilism, sometimes called Islamic capitalism, was developed between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The monetary economy of the period was based on the widely circulated currency the gold dinar, and it tied together regions that were previously economically independent.
A number of economic concepts and techniques were applied in early Islamic banking, including bills of exchange, partnership (mufawada, including limited partnerships, or mudaraba), and forms of capital (al-mal), capital accumulation (nama al-mal),  cheques, promissory notes,  (Muslim traders are known to have used the cheque or ṣakk system since the time of Harun al-Rashid (9th century) of the Abbasid Caliphate., trusts, transactional accounts, loaning, ledgers and assignments. Organizational enterprises independent from the state also existed in the medieval Islamic world, while the agency institution was also introduced during that time. Many of these early capitalist concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.
Usury in Islam
The word "riba" has been defined as interest, usury, excess, increase or addition, which according to Shariah terminology, implies any excess compensation without