'The primary condition of revenue recognition is transfer of risk and reward from the seller to the buyer'

‘Accounting guidance needed on revenue recognition in layaway sales’

Not only is the retail sector in India seeing a number of new entrants, but also new and interesting formats like home shopping via television channel and online portals (e-commerce).
Layaway sale — a popular concept in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada, with big retailers and small-time stores, alike, promoting such sales and attracting customers through this model — is gaining momentum in India and one is li kely to hear a lot more of this in the future, says Mr Rajiv Goyal, Director, Ernst & Young India Pvt. Ltd.

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'Economics in the university is dominated by mathematical modelling'

Shut the revolving door between investment banks and Government

This is the time of greatest danger for ordinary people, cautions Ms Lila Rajiva. "Considering the way it has misled the public, the banking industry should be treated with the greatest scepticism," she adds, in an email interaction with Business Line, a day after Lehman Brothers went belly up.
Ms Rajiva is the author of The Language of Empire: Abu Ghraib and the American Media, (Monthly Review Press, December, 2005) and the co-author of Mobs, Messiahs and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics, (Wiley, September, 2007). "When the higher math and the greater greed come together, watch out below!" cautioned the latter book, "a light-hearted journey through history, politics and finance to show group think at work in an improbable array of instances, from medieval crusades to the architectural follies of hedge-fund managers."

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'Bankers are becoming choosy in their funding for M&A'

Negotiations and due diligence are taking longer than usual

What is the outlook for cross-border deals in the coming 12-15 months? "There is likely to be a decline in cross-border deals," feels Mr Ranjan Biswas, National Director, Transaction Advisory Services, Ernst & Young. "Outbound deals (Indian firms acquiring overseas), which has so far been very strong for Indian companies, will be a challenge in the coming times, given the low business confidence and the rising cost of funding," he explains, during the course of a recent email interaction with Business Line.

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