vol. 10 núm. 19 (2012)

The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of organic certification and contextualize the process to obtain it in Colombia, in order to indicate the characteristics that allow its accounting recognition as an intangibleasset. Thus, a comparison is made of the concept of organic certification established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the concepts of asset and intangible stipulated in the national and international standard. From this, it is concluded that organic certification should be recognized accounting-wise as an intangible, since it meets the essential  characteristics of an asset: future economic benefit, controlled resource and cost assessment.The paper raises a number of issues that allow progressing on new research problems, surrounding the problems that present for organizations the management of intangible assets their non-recognition, particularly in the context of a dynamic framework where the environment is becoming increasingly more important it becomes a problem of enormous productivity and competitiveness.

Currently the information related to cost, reported by the manufacturing companies, does not ensure a total association of the environmental costs of their production activities. The accumulation cycle cost, processing and circulation of the finished product does not reflect the environmental impacts because of they are not considered when designing a product or process and ensures traceability throughout the value chain among other considerations . This situation coupled with the lack of an environmental management system that links the company's costs with activities and initiatives for environmental improvement response needs generated from accounting information systems.

This article brings together a set of reflections of the author about the characteristics of Public Accounting students, issue that will serve as theoretical foundation to know and build the appropriate methodology to identify the mentioned characteristics. Knowing these elements, allows showing the major educational needs expressed by students, point out common elements in them and better understanding of the aspirations they have when studying Public Accounting. Likewise, it gathers concepts students aim to interpret from complementary categories such as academics community, educational processes, teaching and learning theories. Its importance is that by understanding the category “student” it is possible to improve the educational process, mediated by a deep reflection by all stakeholders, which ultimately allows taking action to improve the quality and acceptability of the programs, resulting in better accounting professionals and therefore an improvement in the quality of information they produce.

The work develops a reflection on the relationship between accounting “doing” and “knowing”, which has been a constant tension issue in the field of accounting academia in Colombia.The paper discusses the importance of breaking the imagery whereby the accounting concept is technical and instrumental. is article presents the most representative schools of accounting thought and shows how all this knowledge is mainly derived from serious accounting research processes, which have set eyes on practical accounting problems that have occurred in the economic and organizational world throughout history, and how the accounting concept and theoretical framework has evolved, has presented new solutions for measurement, valuation, control among others. The above shows that accounting doing and knowing are two knowledge fields that have developed alongside.

This paper presents the arguments that justify the development and operation of the Colombian Observatory in Accounting Education (OCEC). The OCEC is an academic eort that seeks to create a space that fosters and supports the dynamics of research around the development, location and characterization of accounting education in the country from an approach to the main problems and situations it faces. Among these issues can be highlighted the number of institutions oering accounting training programs, the quality implicit in the development of these programs, the specific regulation in educational processes, the pedagogical dilemma between theory and practice, the influence of academic and professionals bodies, among others to be the subject of study and reflection of the observatory, in order to contribute to the construction of the accounting discipline in the Colombian context.The paper presents the basic elements of reflection on the main problems of accounting education in Colombia, and the main reflections the observatory will address throughout its work.

Reviewing the connections between management accounting and corporate social responsibility is relevant, since the former supports planning and management of the company and how it may be aected by the pressures such responsibility generates on the economic entity. is paper examines the relationships that each stage of management accounting (cost, managing and management as such) can have on corporate social responsibility, noting  its limitations and strengths with respect to the various understandings of responsibility, whether this is based on the company or on society.The paper proposes that all forms of accounting can contribute to purely entrepreneurial approaches, but also to social approaches, although it is evident their prominence and use in the views of corporate social responsibility focused on the company. is article of theoretical type is based on a preliminary review of the academic literature and associated regarding corporate social responsibility and management accounting, and may contribute to further works of the same style, as well as to empirical works.

This research applies the net present value philosophy to build a useful indicator for the evaluation of a country’s economic performance, adding value in any decision-making in international business matters. is indicator is called the net present value per capita. For this purpose it is essential to use strategic economic variables involved in the calculation of net present value, as consideration of the initial investment, periodic flow, discount rate, growth rate and inflation rate, supporting strongly the origins of these variables and their sources of information as well as the appropriateness of their use to be applied to the measurement model in question.A calculation is made of the net present value per capita in the major economies of the world and for that a representative sample was selected of the following countries and economic zones which congregate the global economic engine: the region of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the European Union and, in addition, the economies of Colombia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Venezuela and Iran.Finally, it is determined the value of the net present value per capita of the representative sample of selected countries and a ranking is established showing, according to the proposed approach, an overview of the economic performance of the countries under analysis, interpreting the trend of this indicator from 2009 to 2011.

This article aims to systematize certain appreciations with respect to the recent international financial crisis (from 2008 to the present), describing some of its causes and consequences, without making recommendations for future situations. Emphasis is placed on the relationships that develop between the international financial crisis and the discipline and exercise of the accounting profession. For this purpose, a study of literature on the topics under study is conducted, from the review in journals and databases, national and international. It ends with some questions, with reflections and with a call to rethink the accounting discipline, the lack of protection of the public interest, international trends in accounting and reality as a social construction, the result of human action.Thus, the international financial crisis has had an impact on accounting developments and has been caused partly by the trajectories of international accounting regulation.

Letter to friend Juan Carlos Ángel or the discovery of a Julio Cortázar professor 

Editorial