Accounting in British Petroleum Scope, Aims, and Objectives

The research project proposed herein will examine the role of accounting in the past progression and current situation of British Petroleum, the company that came under intense public scrutiny last year due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico (Urbina 2010). In the ensuing year since the accident in the Gulf, however, interest in BP and its internal practices seems to have waned considerably, reducing the likelihood that useful and practical regulations in accounting and strategy practices for the industry can be developed from this spill. The aims of the study are to provide an in-depth analysis of accounting procedures at BP, how they affected/were affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill, and how these accounting practices and adjustments compare to industry standards and regulations. The objective will be to determine the strength of BP as a company and the rigor of its internal accounting procedures, in order to form a more accurate view of the company's current position and its future potential in the oil and gas industry.

Chapter Breakdown

The first chapter will contain detailed information about BP's history in the first decade of the twentieth century through its rise to become one of the largest petroleum extractors and refiners in the world (BP 2011). This will be utilized to demonstrate basic principles and procedures in the company, impacting on the implications...

The second chapter will take a more detailed look at the company's current position, including an assessment of basic quantitative figures as well as including a brief qualitative assessment. Key ratios, asset assessments, and other accounting elements will be calculated and presented as part of an internal and comparative analysis.
Chapters three and four of the research project will focus on the management of the company, with chapter three detailing the accounting management of the firm and chapter four turning to look at financial management. In some ways these can be seen as the upstream and downstream sides of the same issue, though there are also significant differences in the two areas of management and their impacts on British Petroleum and the oil industry at large. The personnel and procedures that have been put in place at the company in terms of providing accurate accounting information and ensuring compliance with legislation and regulations will be assessed alongside current issues the company is facing, in order to determine if there is any correlation or potential causal relationship that exists between these elements of the company. Financial strategies employed by the company will also be examined in light of overall business strategies that are apparent in the company, in order to determine how financial strategy and external actions are linked and if this linkage might have contributed to or allowed for the…