The gross estate may consist of CONJUGAL and EXCLUSIVE properties of the decedent; or COMMUNITY

and EXCLUSIVE properties of the decedent, depending upon the property regime that governs the
property relations of the spouses – either conjugal partnership of gains or absolute community property
regime. The property is determined whether exclusive or not depending upon the property regime that
governs the property relations of the spouses – either conjugal partnership of gains or absolute
community property regime. 3. Exclusive properties under conjugal partnership of gains (CPG) The
following shall be considered exclusive properties of each spouse: a. That which is brought to the
marriage as his or her own; b. That which each acquires during the marriage by gratuitous title (i.e.,
inheritance or donation); c. That which is acquired by right of redemption or by exchange with property
belonging to only one of the spouses; d. That which is purchased with the exclusive money of the wife,
or of the husband. 4. Exclusive properties under absolute community property regime (ACP) The
following shall be considered exclusive properties of each spouse: a. Properties acquired during the
marriage by gratuitous title by either spouse, and the fruits as well as the income thereof, if any, unless
it is expressly provided by the donor, testator or grantor that they shall form part of the community; b.
Property for personal and exclusive use of either spouse; however, jewelry shall form part of the
community property; c. Property acquired before the marriage by either spouse who has legitimate
descendants by a former marriage, and the fruits as will as the income, if any, of such property

2.1 Organizational Structure

The structure of an organization reflects the distribution of responsibility, authority, and
accountability throughout the organization. Firms achieve their overall objectives by
establishing measurable financial goals for their operational units. Understanding the
distribution pattern of responsibility, authority, and accountability is essential for assessing
user information needs.
BUSINESS SEGMENTS
Business organizations consist of functional units or segments. Firms organize into
segments
to promote internal efficiencies through the specialization of labor and cost-effective
resource
allocations. Managers within a segment can focus their attention on narrow areas of
responsibility to achieve higher levels of operating efficiency. Three of the most common
approaches include segmentation by: (Business segmentation promotes operational
efficiency)
1.Geographic Location.
Many organizations have operations dispersed across the country and around the
world. They do this to gain access to resources, markets, or lines of distribution. A
convenient way to manage such operations is to organize the management of the firm
around each geographic segment as a quasi-autonomous entity.
2. Product Line.
Companies that produce highly diversified products often organize around product
lines, creating separate divisions for each. Product segmentation allows the
organization to devote specialized management, labor, and resources to segments
separately, almost as if they were separate firms.
3. Business Function.
Functional segmentation divides the organization into areas of specialized
responsibility based on tasks. The functional areas are determined according to the
flow of primary resources through the firm. Examples of business function segments
are marketing, production, finance, and accounting.
2.2 THE ACCOUNTING FUNCTION
The accounting function manages the financial information resource of the firm. In this
regard,
it plays two important roles in transaction processing:
1. First, accounting captures and records the financial effects of the firm’s
transactions.
2. Second, the accounting function distributes transaction information to
operations personnel to coordinate many of their key tasks.
The Value of Information
The value of information to a user is determined by its reliability. We saw earlier that the
purpose of information is to lead the user to a desired action. For this to happen,
information
must possess certain attributes—relevance, accuracy, completeness, summarization, and
timeliness. When these attributes are consistently present, information has reliability and
provides value to the user. Unreliable information has no value. At best, it is a waste of
resources; at worst, it can lead to dysfunctional decisions.
Accounting Independence
Information reliability rests heavily on the concept of accounting independence. Simply
stated, accounting activities must be separate and independent of the functional areas that
maintain custody of physical resources.
For example, accounting monitors and records the movement of raw materials into
production
and the sale of finished goods to customers. Accounting authorizes purchases of raw
materials
and the disbursement of cash payments to vendors and employees. Accounting supports
these functions with in- formation but does not actively participate in the physical activities.