Monday, December 30, 2019
What Is Wellness As A Quality And State Of Being Healthy
Merriam-Webster defines wellness as a quality or state of being healthy. In common, wellness is defined as the motion of changing oneââ¬â¢s lifestyle and embracing health enhancing behaviors. The notion of improving the state of health has a long history in an American culture. Common themes of eating the right foods, exercising, weight control and quitting smoking have been wildly spread in the last century and are echoed in every health promotion and disease prevention program. Wellness programs have been incorporated into law in forms of exceptions to promote health and reduce costs associated with absenteeism, healthcare spending and insurance premiums. The author of the article ââ¬Å"Critical Perspective on Wellnessâ⬠published in Journal of health politics, policy and law in 2014, argues that todayââ¬â¢s workplace wellness programs give provision for discrimination. Moreover, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act further facilitate discriminatory treatment of employees based on their health status. The corporate wellness programs have been criticized by many due to its tendency to be moralistic and capricious. Many sociologists like, Peter Conrad, Howard M. Leichter argue that those programs despite of focusing on improving employeeââ¬â¢s health statue, are more of a form of corporate control and give rise to discrimination based on health, weight, pregnancy and so on. According to the author recent policy changes and an increase in corporate wellness programs that areShow MoreRelatedWellness Is An Important Aspect Of Wellness1342 Words à |à 6 PagesWellness is the state of being in optimal health and well-being. It encompasses the body, mind, and spirit which are integrated by an individual to live life more fully within the human and the community or else the environment. Being in a state of well-being individualââ¬â¢s joy and happiness is seen in the lives of the people. Less stress is experienced when wellness prevails. Wellness is an indication of an individualââ¬â¢s quality of life which has been used to show how individuals are satisfied withRead MoreSix Dimensions of Health1418 Words à |à 6 Pageshealth are the keys to living a quality and prosperous life. My objective is to identify three of the six dimensions of health, and explain why theyre my strongest. Next, choose one of the remaining six dimensions of health and explain why it needs improvement. In addition, I will discuss how I will make changes to improve that health dimension in the future. Finally, I will discuss what I want to learn in this course to help me lead a healthy lifestyle. Emotional Wellness The first dimension Im goingRead MoreAffordable Care Act Brief : Placing Emphasis On Prevention And Wellness1423 Words à |à 6 Pages Affordable Care Act Brief: Placing Emphasis on Prevention and Wellness U.S. Health Care System Health Policy (PBHL-H 501) Summer 2016 Executive Summary Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) got enacted, many Americans did not receive the preventative care that they needed to stay healthy, prevent or delay the commencement of disease, and reduce health care cost. Generally because of the cost, Americans used preventative health care services at about half the recommended rate. In orderRead MoreUnhealth in the United States, a Serious Issue977 Words à |à 4 Pagesthe United States has become a serious issue. With about six in every 10 people suffering from either being overweight or obese in addition to other unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, heavy drinking or lack of exercise. These lifestyle choices have caused a number of chronic illnesses to skyrocket to high rates. ââ¬Å"These chronic conditions have become a major burden, as they lead to decreased quality of life, premature death and disability, and increased health care costâ⬠(pg xiii). What the workplaceRead MoreHealth Promotion975 Words à |à 4 Pagesencourage family unity, community commitment, and traditional spiritually that makes positive contributions to their health status (Definition of wellness.Com). It is our job as providers to promote health by any means necessary to improve community wellness. The purpose of health promotion in nursing practice is to deliver health information to individuals and the community. The goal is to enlighten the community of all available services to prevent illness. Many people, families, and/or the communityRead MoreHealth / Wellness And Illness1551 Words à |à 7 PagesHealth and wellness is a state of well-being when an individual is completely capable physically, psychologically, and socially. Everyone has a different view of what healthy means due to their age, gender, race, beliefs, and the environment they live in. Comparing Health/Wellness and Illness/Disease When comparing health and wellness to disease and illness there are various differences and some similarities. Illness and disease is when a person cannot partially or completely function mentally,Read MoreFitness For Life : Physical And Emotional Wellness1031 Words à |à 5 Pagesgain a better understanding of overall wellness and physical activity, while balancing life expectations. Fitness for Life helped me be a healthier person. Wellness is more than the absence of illness. It is a constant and deliberate effort to stay healthy and achieve the highest potential for well being. My personal wellness pie chart right now is extremely unbalanced. My physical and emotional wellness are the only thing that are equal. The larger two wellness aspects are social and intellectualRead MoreCharacteristics Of Emerging Industries1738 Words à |à 7 Pagesthe industries has somewhat matured. Wellness as an emerging industry Wellness is can be described as an active practise of becoming more aware of and the making of choices regarding a healthier, fitter and fulfilled life. The World Health Organisation (2012) comments on wellness saying that ...a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. and the National Wellness institution (2015) states that a conscious, self-directed and evolvingRead MoreCritical Issues Paper: Health and Wellness1730 Words à |à 7 Pages organizations with significant wellness programs remain a minority. Demographic evidence suggests that the current laissez-faire attitudes toward workplace wellness found in many organizations will soon need to change. Its important to understand those needs to tailor a wellness program to the organization and its people. To be successful, wellness programs must be employee driven and management supported. (Walker, 2004) For the state of workplace wellness the question has been asked, IsRead MoreThe Importance Of Safety And Health Program1113 Words à |à 5 Pagesthese programs. Industry jargon that most people have never heard is not helpful. Be very clear on what is expected to proactively avoid any issue from arising. For instance, this could cover the operation of a piece of equipment or working in a location with excessive height. Whatever the topic, lay out what is expected in a way that can be easily understood. This also applies to documenting what should be done in the event something does happen. Employers should be prepared to learn and be flexible
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Native American Education Essay - 1368 Words
Through the years minority groups have long endured repression, poverty, and discrimination. A prime example of such a group is the Native Americans. They had their own land and basic way of life stripped from them almost constantly for decades. Although they were the actual ââ¬Å"nativesâ⬠of the land, they were forced by the government to give it up and compelled to assimilate to the white manââ¬â¢s way. This past scarred the Native Americanââ¬â¢s preservation of culture as many were discouraged to speak the native language and dress in traditional clothing. Because of this cultural neglect, among other things, Native Indians have not been able to come up on top in many ways. Until recently there have not been many improvements in their socialâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦However, boarding schools disregarded this and severely beat and even killed some students as discipline. These policies at school clearly demonstrated how the native way of life was attacked. Accordi ng to Barry Pritzker, those who attended the Indian boarding schools experienced attempts to destroy their native culture. They were taught that they were incapable of learning and succeeding. For them, with education came repression and violence. So because of previous unfortunate experiences in boarding schools mainstream education is often frowned upon. The Native Indian history of violence and corruption changed their views and self image as well. This change later affects how they adapt to American culture and education after being pushed away from embracing their own for so long. The violence and indifference shown towards the Native Americans during the ââ¬Å"Trail of Tearsâ⬠may have contributed to this change. In this dreadful journey, Natives of all kinds were forced off their land and into a thousand mile trek during which about 4000 Cherokee Indians died (The Trail of Tears). Similarly the Natives were done yet another great disservice with the Dawes Act or General Allotment Act in 1887 which encouraged the separation of tribes and advocated assimilation. Whites controlled the land allotted to Indians, and the Indians received very little compensation for it (The Dawes Act: 1887). In fact it isShow MoreRelatedThe Education Of Native Americans Essay1317 Words à |à 6 Pagesaccomplishment compared to that of a college degree or getting a first job. Though it is just as important to have, it is seen as basic and necessary, with 82% of public education students graduating high school during the 2013-14 year (nces.ed.gov, 2016). However, for a variety of reasons, many students drop out of high school. Native American students have the lowest high school graduation rate of any non-White group in the U.S. Granted that reasons may vary from drug issues, work, family, or just disinterestRead MoreNative American Education Essay1530 Words à |à 7 PagesNative American Education Through the years minority groups have long endured repression, poverty, and discrimination. A prime example of such a group is the Native Americans. They had their own land and fundamental way of life stripped from them almost unceasingly for decades. Although they were the real ââ¬Å"nativesâ⬠of the land, they were driven off by the government and coerced to assimilate to the white manââ¬â¢s way. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Natives was primarily based on the prevalentRead MoreEarly Education of Native Americans830 Words à |à 3 PagesNative Americans put up a good fight in defending their homelands against foreign invaders. Unfortunately, they suffered defeat and realized they would have to adapt to a new way of life. The battle for their lands was over, but the battle for their identities would just begin. However, it would not be the hardened warriors engaging in this conflict. Instead, the young Native American children would witness first-hand the American governmentââ¬â¢s solution to the Indian problem. Boarding schools wereRead MoreNative American Education Essay907 Words à |à 4 PagesThe modern American society is best defined by its education. The ââ¬Å"American dreamâ⬠is founded on going to school, getting a good job, and becoming successful. Ironically, the actual native peoples of this country are actually the least likely to attain this dream. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples is not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutionsRead MoreNative American Education Essay2273 Words à |à 10 Pagescivilize Native Americans. They sent children to these schools against their will. Native American children were educated like Americans and they had to change their native ways to be more like whites (Cayton 266). Teachers abused their students and beat their native ways ou t of them. They were not allowed to see their families so they would try to escape, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The United States governmentââ¬â¢s Boarding Schools of the mid-late 1800s irreparably changed Native American cultureRead MoreIssues with Native American Education Essay1528 Words à |à 7 PagesEducation has been a topic of controversy for many years now, and will continue to be for years to come. The modern American society is best defined by its education. A good part of the average personââ¬â¢s life is spent at school, going to school, and paying for school. However, even though education is so obviously very important, there are many groups in America that are getting shorted. The Native Americans are a key group that has struggled the most. The largest obstacle they face is lack ofRead More Special Education Implementation For Native American Girls Essay1712 Words à |à 7 PagesSpecial Education Implementation For Native American Girls Quality education for children has been an ongoing issue for todays society. There has also been an increasing concern for the education of students with special needs. The effect of these concerns has been noted in many communities, such as the Native American community. The population of special education students in the Native American communities is not necessarily higher than others, however, their community is effectedRead MoreMy People The Sioux And The Lives Of Native Americans Essay1627 Words à |à 7 PagesStanding Bearââ¬â¢s account of his life growing up as a Sioux Native American amidst a nation flourishing with change is a powerful and poignant narrative that draws us deeper into the history of The United States. My People the Sioux and the life of Luther Standing Bear are both crucial in examining the positive connotations of Indian Boarding Schools and the use of education to challenge the inferiority complex surrounding Native Americans. Luther Standing Bear was born in December of 1868 and thisRead MoreCultural Values Of Cultures, Navajo, Laguna, And Euro American Culture1003 Words à |à 5 PagesThis essay will explore the cultural values of three different cultures; Navajo, Laguna, and Euro-American culture. Two of the cultures that I will be exploring are the Native communities that I have been well exposed to since I was a child. The values that I will be discussing are gender, education, and money. Growing up on a reservation in New Mexico, I have a closer insight on the similarities and differences of those values. The first value I will be analyzing is gender. Gender is a topic thatRead MoreLiberty And Education For All America, The Land Of Opportunity1531 Words à |à 7 PagesLiberty and Education for All America, the land of opportunity. Many people imagine of making their dreams a reality in the country of the United States, some do succeed but for others it is out of their reach. Many people do not think of the fight for education to be an issue in America, especially since America is called ââ¬Å"the best nation on Earthâ⬠. It is like when Malala from Pakistan fought for rights that everyone should have the right to education. Education is said to be the key to success
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Arguments against CSR Free Essays
Corporate Social Responsibility While there may be people who are for the idea of corporate social responsibility, there are also others who oppose to it. One of whom, as we all know, is Milton Friedman. He believes that only individuals can have social responsibilities and that the purpose of a corporation Is to provide the highest possible returns to shareholders while obeying all the laws and regulations. We will write a custom essay sample on Arguments against CSR or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are 5 mall arguments against CARS. First of all, it lowers economic efficiency and profits. CARS also imposes unequal costs among competitors and imposes hidden costs which are passed on to stakeholders. Also, more often than not, carrying out these social responsibilities require skills which businesses may lack. Lastly, it places responsibility on business rather than individuals. A business may have to allocate a certain amount of resources Just to meet the needs of the people and environment. Suppose the firm currently has an unproductive operation in a certain country and it would definitely be better for the company if it closes this operation down but this will also mean that al the employees will lose their Jobs and Income. This will affect their livelihood and probably their families as well. For the firm to have corporate social responsibility, this will mean that the firm will have to keep It going so as to ensure their well-being Is taken care of. However, this results In costs that are higher than necessary which ultimately leads to lower profits. Stockholders get a smaller return on their investments, making it more difficult for the firm to acquire more capital to sustain the company in the long run. Another example will be when a firm invests more in a reticular technology so as to ensure that environmental concerns are met but this may backfire especially if there is only a handful of consumers who actually care about these environmentally-friendly products. They may not be willing to pay a slightly higher price for such products. This again reduces profits and lower economic efficiency. Money used in attaining greener technology can otherwise be invested elsewhere to yield higher returns that will be more beneficial to the company. Even though corporate social responsibility Is well-intended, such social costless lower businesses efficiency, thereby depriving society of higher levels of economic productivity needed to maintain everyoneââ¬â¢s standard of living. Moving on, the reason why it imposes unequal costs among competitors is because the more responsible companies would have incurred higher costs, putting them at a competitive disadvantage compared to other companies in the same industry. In a highly competitive market, the more responsible companies are even at risk of being out of business since their less responsible opponents will attempt to capture a larger market share. How to cite Arguments against CSR, Essays
Friday, December 6, 2019
Auditing and Assurance for Transparency and Accountability
Question: Discuss about theAuditing and Assurance for Transparency and Accountability. Answer: Introduction. Auditing and assurance is a very critical aspect in development and accountability of any company or a firm. It is a key aspect in management of all undertakings in achieving a complete firm in terms of transparency and accountability. The purpose of this report is to critically analyze key steps in planning the new client of one of the company listed under Australian security exchange. According to the standards set by auditing and assurance requirements, financial records and data need to be fully scrutinized in order to assess the viability and vulnerability of a particular company in terms of financial management and resource allocations. This is typically done by calculation of financial ratios of a company. The present and most recent financial recorded documented in annual reports are very useful in audit process. As a senior auditor in the firm of NY partners aim at forming a team of auditors to assess the new clients audit by use research analysis and computation of financia l ratios. This report aim at critically analyzing AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited(Chopra, 2012). This is one of the companies listed under Australian Security Exchange with ASX code ACW and GICS industry group of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and life science. Therefore my team of auditors aims at analyzing annual reports of this company so as to scrutinize the new clients audit. Steps in planning the new clients audit. Typically, there are four main steps in planning the new clients audit. These procedures will form a clear base of an audit process in relation to clients expectations for his or her company or firm for this case. These steps include acceptance of client and performance of initial audit process, understanding the business and industry of the client, assessment of client business risk and performance of preliminaries analytical procedures. Auditing process involves audit planning, control and recording (ISO 300) that will form basis of these four steps. Acceptance of client and performance of initial audit planning. This is a very crucial procedure in audit planning. The main reason for this step involves accepting the client need for conducting auditing process. It is a fact that many companies limit the auditing of their companies for no apparent reasons. They fear auditing their companies as if they are anticipating some irregular and illegal undertakings within their firms that need not be revealed. Therefore accepting the clients wish to audit their companies is a very great progress for auditing firms. An initial audit planning need to be performed to as to form as base line of what to be anticipated in the entire audit process of the company(Nickels, 2015). For the purpose of this report, audit planning typically means development of a general strategy with highly documented approach for anticipated nature, timing and expected extent of the audit. For this case, the senior auditor need to brief his team so as to plan their work to enable the team in conducting effective audit in a timely manner with a lot of efficiency. This step will be included in auditing AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited. In addition, the form and nature of performance of initial audit planning will be affected highly by the complexity and size of the company (Bragg, 2015). AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited is a complex company with huge commercial environment of operation. Therefore, performance of initial audit planning process involves well established methods of processing transactions and significant reporting of requirements to which AFT Pharmaceuticals limited or the new clients is subjected to. Advantages of accepting the client and performance of initial audit planning. A good audit planning enhances proper division of labor and specialization between the interim and the final audit. This is very important in eliminating any repetition of tasks that have been done. It also put into consideration times in which information is needed for audit plan(Saloner, 2009). This will promote cooperation by limiting disruptions of clients work. Again, it assists in completion of work via efficient use of time and acute allocation of tasks to audit team. It enhances devotion of attention to crucial audit areas by identification of potential problematic areas within the audit affecting a particular client. It also helps ion active utilization of junior auditors in coordination of tasks done by senior auditor and other team members. It helps in control and direction of audit tasks by senior auditor. Lastly, it brings forth the anticipated channels of attaining the objectives of the audit. Understanding the clients business and industry. This step is crucial in audit planning. To have proper scrutinization of audit of any client, the business enterprise and industry ventured is of great importance. This will help the audit team in understanding the various terminologies in preparation of annual reports to avoid any loophole during the actual audit process(Wild, 2014). It is also important in understanding the standard rules and regulations bidding that particular business or industry. This will enable audit team to understand quality control and to conduct peer review. For the purpose of this step, quality control is described as procedures and policies that are critically put into consideration by the auditor to make sure that the audit conducted by the audit team adheres to the quality standards established by the accounting profession as well as quality standards of audit firm. Like in this case AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited deals with biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Therefore the auditor will prepare on that field. Therefore, by knowing quality control and peer review concerning the client business and industry, an independent review based on auditing practices and accounting standards will be conducted by audit firm (Miller, 2015). This section also indicates the various sources of information on clients nature of business and industry. Various sources of information on clients nature of business and industry. It is important for audit team to obtain an understanding concerning the information systems of any client. This would include the related business and industry process as well as all the relevant financial reports in annual report. This is clearly asserted by ISA 315. Therefore, in order to perform an audit of financial records, audit team need to obtain knowledge on clients business and industry so as to understand transactions, events and practices that brings significant effects on those financial records or audit report generated from audit team judgment(McGregor, 2016). Before accepting an engagement, it is very important for audit team to obtain a preliminary knowledge of the industry ventured by the client and any management, ownership as well as operations of business entity under audit. To fully understand clients business and industry, the following sources are very important and relevant. Business and industry experience in the previous proceedings. Engaging into discussion with community within the business. Researching information from other auditors and legal advisors who have provided services to the business previously. Scrutinizing publications and various journals of the industry and the business entity. Visits to plant facilities and any other relevant places of business. Scrutinizing all relevant documents including budgets, operations and system manuals, annual financial reports as well as minutes of meeting conducted within the auditing timing. Finally, it is a duty of senior auditor to ensure that audit assistants obtain any relevant and enough knowledge of clients industry and business entity so as to carry out delegated tasks. Assessing clients business risk. It is important to assess the business risks of clients in planning audit process so as to include those risks in the audit report. In assessing the clients business risk, senior auditor needs to set out audit approach to indicate how financial records need to be audited within the budget of audit work. It is important to get a summary indicating full terms of engagements that are highly needed to set out the nature of audit to be conducted by audit team(Arens, 2016). Again, a time schedule needs to be provided indicating preferred dates of the timing of the audit. In that case, risks need to be assesses by recording any changes concerning a particular client since the last audit was conducted. The AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited will be subjected to risks of medical regulations and diagnosis of various terminal illnesses. There will be financial report on the same by AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited. Audit assistant need to gather information about the client and details of clients contracts. In assessing clients business risk, there are difficulties faced in implementation of audit plan. The firm may have numerous clients with corresponding year ends. This risk makes allocation of audit team difficult as well as timing required. Any abrupt shifts in the business and industry of the client need more allocation of time that need to allocate outside the planned time. Some clients lack co-operation by declining to offer necessary information and explanations in appropriate time(Loughran, 2010). This will place the clients business in risks. Lastly, there could be shortages of audit staffs due to low turnover during the actual audit process. This will affect the timing of the arranged audit thus putting the clients business into risks. Performing preliminary analytical procedures. This is the very last step in planning a new clients audit. However, it is very crucial as well. In carrying out preliminary analytical procedures and in planning audit of a new client, the senior auditor together with his audit team needs to carry out a set of procedures(Fletcher, 2012). They are analyzed into detailed chronological ways. The auditor and his time should carry out a preliminary review of the client and his business entity. This procedure will involve gathering a clear understanding of the nature of the clients industry and business entities. The audit team need to engage into a discussion with management with an aim of obtaining an understanding of their structure and a clear realization of the current circumstances in operations of the client and other aspects that would critically impact the internal control system and accounting standards of the new client. There should be appropriate and effective communication with previous auditor of the client so as to gather information that seems relevant to the audit of the new client. It is also good to gather preliminary understanding of the nature of the clients accounting and internal control system(Whittington, 2015). This will highly help in finding out the level by which the auditor will depend on the internal control system of the client. The audit team needs to put into considerations any legislations and accounting standards that could have implications towards the new clients audit. The senior auditor needs to scrutinize the nature and timing of reports and relevant communications of the client so as to accommodate the timings in the audit plan. The senior auditor needs to find out the number of audit team members need and the timing of the audit visit. Lastly, the senior auditor need to prepare an audit planning memorandum that sum up the scope of the tasks under the engagement and the strategic plan to be cultivated so as to meet the clients requirements. Australian Security Exchange listed company under analysis. The company under analysis in this section is AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited. This is one of the companies listed under Australian Security Exchange with ASX code ACW and GICS industry group of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and life science(Daft, 2015). Therefore my team of auditors aims at analyzing annual reports of this company so as to scrutinize the new clients audit. By use of most recent annual reports, the team wishes to calculate the financial ratios under consideration. The assessment of the new firm by researching information from academic sources, news, and newspaper and industry magazine will be used to generate the annual reports of AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited. The team has extracted the financial record of AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited so as to calculate the related financial ratios. The financial entries of AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited as at 31st December 2016. Item Amount Current assets 400,000 Current liabilities 320,000 Stock 200,000 Total long term debt 320,000 Capital employed 650,000 Gross profit 280,000 Sales 1,200,000 Earnings attributed to equity shareholders 960,600 Equity 1,460,000 Credit sales 840,000 Average debtors 360,000 Credit purchases 720,000 Average creditors 260,000 From the above entries extracted from annual report of AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited, the following ratios are calculated. Current ratio = current assetscurrent liabilities. 400,000320,000 = 1.17647059. The interpretation of this ratio is that AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited has more current assets than liabilities thus high ability to meet short term maturity obligations as and when they fall due. Acid test ratio = (current asset stock) current liabilities = (400,000-200,000) 320,000 = 0.625. The interpretation of this ratio indicates that the company is in poor liquidity position when stocks form most of the total current assets. Debt ratio = (total long term debt capital employed) 100 = (320,000 650,000) 100 = 49%. A company is highly geared if the debt ratio is more than 50%. The 49% indicate that the company is partly geared. Gross profit margin = (gross profit sales) 100 = (280,000 1,200,000) 100 = 23.3333. The interpretation indicates that the company cost of production has been controlled perfectly in relation to distribution and administration costs. Return on equity = (earning attributed to equity shareholder equity) 100 = (960,600 1,460,000) 100 = 65.79. This value indicates high efficiency by which AFT company other suppliers funds generate returns to shareholders. Debtors turnover = credit sales average debtors = 840,000 360,000 = 2.3333. This ratio indicates number of times debtors pay within the year. There is high efficient management of credit by the company. Creditors turnover = credit purchases average creditors = 720,000 260,000 = 2.769. The interpretation of the ratio shows that creditors are paid approximately three times by the company during the year. The above represent the required financial ratios as at 31st December 2016 extracted from AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited annual reports. Audit tests. There are audit tests that need to be performed when handling audit and evidence collection. Inspection: this involves examination of tangible assets, documents and financial and annual records for purpose of audit process. Observation: this is based on analyzing procedures that are performed by other auditors such as counting of stock of client personnel. Inquiry and confirmation: this involves gathering information from the company such as debtor circularization. Recalculation and re-performance: it is concerned on scrutinization of arithmetic accuracy of accounting records by performance of independent calculations. Analytical procedure: this indicates consistency between financial data and anticipated patterns under investigation. Conclusion. In conclusion, the audit team is now in a position to plan the new client audit. This process is very important in ascertaining the accountability of companies and firms on maintaining tenacity in their methods of operation and promote adherence to the set accounting and auditing and assurance standards altogether. References. Arens, A.A. (2016). Auditing and Assurance Services, Student Value Edition. Pearson. Bragg, S.M. (2015). Accounting for Inventory. Accounting Tools. Chopra, S. (2012). Supply Chain Management. Pearson Education. Daft, R.L. (2015). Management. South Western College Pub. Fletcher, F. (2012). Business Problem Solving. Routledge. Loughran, M. (2010). Auditing For Dummies. For Dummies. McGregor, D. (2016). The Human Side of Enterprise. McGraw-Hill Education. Miller, T.L. (2015). Horngrens Financial and Management Accounting. Pearson. Nickels, G.W. (2015). Understanding Business (Irwin Introduction to Business). McGraw-Hill Education. Saloner, G. (2009). Strategic Management. Wiley Publishers. Whittington, R. (2015). Principles of Auditing Other Assurance Services (Irwin Accounting). Rental Book. McGraw-Hill Education. Wild, J.J. (2014). Fundamental Accounting Principles Handcover. McGraw-Hill Education.
Friday, November 29, 2019
April Morning by Howard Fast Essay Example
April Morning by Howard Fast Essay Example April Morning by Howard Fast Paper April Morning by Howard Fast Paper When I turned back to the house, my father called after me and asked me did I figure I was finished. l figure so, I said, and then my father said, in that way he has of saying something that cuts you down to half of your size or less: Slow to start and quick to finish. So went the character Adam about his life, and so went the book, April Morning, by Howard Fast. Throughout the book, an underlying theme of starting a task slowly and flinching the task quickly. The character Adam is slow to start his chores, but quick to finish his responsibilities; Dams father, Moses Cooper is slow to begin to let his son try and rove himself as a man, but Moses is deadly quick to finish that process, literally; the beginning of the American Revolutionary war is slow to start on April 19, 1775, but the battle at Lexington Green is over in a matter of minutes; and as a whole, the book April Morning is slow to start, but ends in the period of one day. Adam Cooper Is a boy of fifteen, who wants nothing more than to feel loved and respected as young man Instead off boy by his father. He receives his chance and receives his fathers affection for the first and last time the morning of April 19, 775, the day the British Army marched to Lexington Green where his father perished in the first battle of the American Revolutionary war. With the death of his father, Adam is literally turned into a man during the course of the day. As a boy, Adam runs as soon as the first shot is fired on the Green, which is the shot that kills his father, and he hides in a smokehouse and cries for hours before gaining the courage to run away from the British army and the town in which he lives. As a man, Adam helps the Revolutionary cause to fight the British all day long as they march down Monotony Road to and from Concord. Adam cracks the door to manhood by signing the muster book at dawn; by dusk he has stepped through and slammed the door behind him. Moses Cooper has always maintained that his eldest son, Adam, was a dreamy, fool-hearted, and Immature boy. Moses begins to see that his son is becoming a man when Adam steps up to sign the muster book In the town hall, and by only looking his father in the eyes, Said more than all the words that ever passed between us. Moses Cooper takes the first step in allowing his son to embark on his own journey, by allowing Adam to sign the muster book and join the rest of the men n the common at Lexington that morning. Little does Moses know at the time that he will only be allowed to make this one gesture for Adam to become a man. However, as Moses is never able to allow his son to take another step towards manhood, this gesture is also his first and his last. The American Revolution was a long time brewing here In what used to be the colonies, but with one shot fired at Lexington Green, the Revolution was in full swing. Six men died for their country and their cause In the period of about ten minutes at Lexington, and after that over a thousand British troops were killed over the period of about twelve hours. Although the war Itself lasted over a period of years, the battle of Lexington and Concord were sitting in anticipation for hours waiting for the British to earlier. Although at ten Declining tender was no Intention AT a war, ten Americans started a war with one simple act of defiance by standing on their common and refusing to move, thereby provoking the British Army to fire upon the men. The book April Morning begins at dusk on the evening of April 18th, 1775, and continues on for 202 pages to the evening of April 19th, 1775. During that 24-hour period, a boy becomes a man, the greatest Revolution of all time starts, and the story of the United States begins. However, up until page 50, or h of the book, not one of the above events has taken place. Adam speaks about things that mean very little in the scheme of the book, and not until page 55 that anything significant in the scheme of the book occurs. However, after page 55, Howard Fast throws you into the story like a bullet being shot out of a gun, and in order to fully comprehend everything that happens, you have read those 150 pages at least twice. The book is highly interesting and informative, but the author brings you into the story slower than a snail.
Monday, November 25, 2019
Left Brain - Right Brain Essays - Cerebrum, Neuroscience
Left Brain - Right Brain Essays - Cerebrum, Neuroscience Left Brain - Right Brain Psychology Right Brain, Left Brain. The article in which I chose to examine is called Right Brain, Left Brain: Fact and Fiction, written by Jerre Levy. In the past fifteen years or so there has been a lot of talk of left brain and right brain people. Levy's reason for righting this article was clearly to stop the misconceptions and show the truth about how our brain hemispheres operate. Levy first explores the myth of the left brain and right brain theory. She states that generally people see the left hemisphere of the brain controlling logic and language and the right, creativity and intuition. In addition people differ in their styles of thought, depending on which half of the brain is dominant. She believes that most of what these notions state is farce. Next the article explores the history of this fascination of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Apparently the study of this aspect of the brain traces back to time of Hippocrates. Levy weaves in and out of the various theories and prominent people known for contributing to the confusion. It wasn't until 1962 when Roger W. Sperry began experimenting on certain aspects of the brain that contribute to the truth of the left and right brain theory. Sperry studied people who had undergone surgical division of the corpus callosum, the bridge between the two hemispheres. His studies showed that, an object placed in the right hand (left hemisphere) could be named readily, but one placed in the left hand (nonverbal right hemisphere) could be neither named nor described. Next to branch off of Sperry's studies was psychologist Doreen Kimura. Kimura developed behavioral methods which involved presenting visual stimuli rapidly to either the left or right visual fields. Another important method developed was dichotic listening which centered around the use of sound to study the hemispheres. Through these tests and the continual study the theory that the left brain controlled ended. Instead a new theory was born known as the two-brain theory. This said that at different times one of the two hemispheres would be operating. An example of this is that the right hemisphere is in control when an artist paints but the left hemisphere was in control when a novelist wrote a book. This theory failed because of one physical studies showed that people with hemispheres surgically disconnected could operate in everyday life. Also, research demonstrated that each hemisphere had its own functional expertise, and that the two halves were complementary. Next, the article states its worth. The author shows the up to date agreed upon theory of the two hemispheres in five simple points. 1. The two hemispheres are so similar that when they are disconnected by split-brain surgery, each can function remarkably well, although quite imperfectly 2. Although they are remarkably similar they are also different. The differences are seen in contrasting contributions. Each hemisphere contributes something to every action a person takes. 3. Logic is not confined to the left hemisphere. Although dominant in the left logic is present in the right hemisphere. 4. There is no evidence that either creativity or intuition is an exclusive property of the right hemisphere. Same theory as #3. 5. Since the two hemispheres do not function independently, and since each hemisphere contributes its special capacities to all cognitive activities, it is quite impossible to educate one hemisphere at a time in a normal brain. Levy comes to the conclusion that people are not purely left or right brained. There is a continuum in which the hemispheres work together in harmony. Often the left or right hemisphere is more active in some people but it is never the sole operator. She concludes, We have a single brain that generates a single mental self. This article showed that we are not left or right brained but merely somewhere on the scale between left and right brain. Some of us were extreme left, few extreme right and most in the middle leaning left a bit (this is where I fell). I could not agree more with what I read in this article. The author wrote a fabulous complete article. In my summary, I feel I
Thursday, November 21, 2019
The business of logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
The business of logistics - Essay Example The acquisition was aimed to invest in future infrastructure, increase industriy syngeries, leverage scale of economics, improve competitive positioning and thereby reduce operational and management costs. The business of airlines being very volatile and Toll's competitor having the majority shareholding in Virgin Blue,overcapacity in the shipping business and problematic rail business it was difficult for Toll to establish a firm foothold toward leadership position in the logistics industry. Toll had only two alternatives to either to merge with some bigger international transport company to achieve its strategic goal or acquire related business of high standing to get business opportunities to expand further and consolidate its position. Toll had the vision to get advantage by acquiring Patrick but still there were several internal risk involved. Whether the acquisition would generate synergy and integrated cost saving. Whether investment in an aging infrastructure of Patrick corporation would prove productive or turn negative in future. Will the acquisition build competitive advantage for Toll's business in the logistic industry. Patrick corporation themselves needed to be reorganized and restructured with injection of massive funds of $1.1 billion to stablize. These were challenging questions for the leadership to answer. However, the oportunity in the industry after acquisition was great to hold about 15% of the market share with the revenues of both the transport giants that was about $5.1 billion in 2005. This market share would transform them to formidable position in the domestic and international transport and storage market. Toll and Patrick both had massive transport and storage assets which is likely to be over $7.3 billion after consolidation. This asset strength would put them into strategic and competitive advantage position to command leadership in the industry. Patrrick had a massive asset worth $4.6 billion. They had 14 major operating divisions to earn regular revenues: Patrick Terminal as the largest operator of container terminal to provide high technology logistics movement. Patrick Autocare- that offers an integrated service of processing, distribution and storage of motor vehicles that operates in partnership with Patrick Stevedoring. Patrick Port Services- that offer a national network of land based services to importers and exporters, shipping lines, freight forwarding agents, and customs brokers. Patrick PortLink- the interface provider between Patrick's road, rail and stevedoring services - Patrick Intermodal operates a national network of interstate transport, warehousing, distribution and wharf cartage services. - Patrick Defense Logistics provides logistics support services to the Defense sector, including commercial and government organizations with specialist project management requirements - Patrick International Freight services to Australian importers and exporters. - Patrick Air Services is the airline ground handling business of Patrick Corporation Toll Holdings will be able to utilize
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Critical Thinking Exercises Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Critical Thinking Exercises - Essay Example As a consultant, the data that should be reviewed and analyzed to determine whether the Ford Motor Company is discriminating against their employees because of age is the following: the age of the employees, the year the employees was hired, and whether the employees have reached or is approaching the age of retirement. First, the age of the employees would be evaluated because the lawsuits were claiming that the Ford Motor Company is discriminating against age. Should the Ford Motor Company be discriminating against age, the ages of most employees should range within the younger age brackets, depending on the age after which the Ford Motor Company considers employees to be "older." Second, the year the employees were hired is important because, in the Title VII class action age and reverse discrimination suit, President Jacques Nasser was accused of eliminating older employees because he wanted to build his management team with younger employees. The year the employees were hired would help determine whether the employees were employed on with the Ford Motor Company during Nasser's presidency. Lastly, whether employees have reached or are approaching the age of retirement is important because it would settle the reason why older employees who have reached or are approaching the age... Additionally, the Ford appraisal system is fair in that it rates the employees on job performance. Employees should perform their job well in order to maintain their position at the company. Ford has much to offer their employees, and they probably adopted the forced-discrimination approach to eliminating their employees because they needed to eliminate the employees that were employed but not performing their jobs well. 8.1 - Workplace Diversity Training The diversity program that will be designed for incoming freshman will, first, consist of training towards all of the ethnicities of the university. Further, all ethnicities of the university will be represented because the freshman will, most likely, encounter all of the ethnicities at least once during their term as a student at the university. Second, the diversity program will consist of training for both male and female students. Women are not the only ones that have problems with racial comments or sexual harassment in the workplace. Men are also subjected to this treatment. As a result, the training should be geared towards both men and women. Third, the freshman will be entered into groups where they will role-play situations in which they might find themselves. All ethnicities of the university might not be represented in the students present, but the role-plays will include a script for all ethnicities.Males will discover diversity and harassment in the workplace from a female's perspective, and the females will get to portray the males. The different ethnicities will have a chance to portray another ethnicity and realize the situations with which they are presented. The diversity program will also have training
Monday, November 18, 2019
Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Supply Chain Management - Essay Example Value creation through global supply chain management is achieved through strategic integration of all members of the supply chain under the scope information exchange and understanding of the changing global consumer (Flint, 2004). According to McAdam and McCormick (2004) value creation occurs when organizations develop new ways of better addressing the customersââ¬â¢ needs and customer satisfaction; the supply chain which acts as a source of information can increase value creation. Especially in the case of global supply chains, effective management of the flow of processes and functions indicates a better coordination of resources (including learning), which in turn provide the potentials for accumulating greater information on the global marketplaces. Given that global markets are underpinned by different cultures, different institutions and different structures, management of the global supply chain becomes the most important tool for effective operations. Value creation is t herefore achieved through global supply chain management through greater synergies and integration of the supply chain partners in communication and information exchange, which allow faster response to the global changes in consumer behaviour.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Hackers And Ethical Hackers
Hackers And Ethical Hackers Cyber security is one of the most critical aspects of security that any organization in the modern world must be concerned with. Why? Mostly because of Black-hat Hackers. The following review is a general discussion about hackers and its best countermeasure, Ethical Hacking. The reason I chose this topic is because it is of great interest to me, as I someday want to be an Ethical hacker as well. Review The word hacker in the past was defined as a person who loves playing a around with software or electronic systems. They wanted to discover new things on how computers operate. Today the term hacker has a different meaning altogether. It states that a hacker is someone who maliciously breaks into systems for personal gain. Technically, these criminals are crackers (criminal hackers). Crackers break into (crack) systems with malicious intent. They are out for personal gain: fame, profit, and even revenge. They modify, delete, and steal critical information, often making other people miserable. (Kevin Beaver, Stuart McClure 2004, p10) Most of the literature I read give the definition of the word hacker as previously stated or to mean mostly the same thing. The history of hacking dates back to the 1960s when a group of people in MIT hack the control systems of model trains to make them run faster, more effectively or differently than they were designed to. (Peter T. Leeson, Christopher J. Coyne, 2006). Because of such activity by these individuals computer owners and supervisors took away their access to computers. As a result the hacking community came up with their own code known as the hacker ethic: 1. Access to computers -and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works should be unlimited and total. Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative! 2. All information should be free. 3. Mistrust Authority Promote Decentralization. 4. Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race or position. 5. You can create art and beauty in a computer. 6. Computers can change your life for the better. (Paul A Taylor, 2005) The above code is still followed today and not only by hackers but by others as well. Not all hackers today have the same level of expertise. Depending on the psychology and skills of a hacker they can be put into four groups.(M.G. Siriam) Old School Hackers is one group and they believe that the internet should be an open system. Script kiddies is another and they are computer novices that use tools created by professional hackers to hack systems. Most of the hackers today fit into this group. The next group is professional criminals or crackers. They break into systems for the purpose of stealing and selling information they gathered.. The final group is coders and virus writers. They are elite individuals with a very high skill in programming and operating systems that write code and use other people in charge of releasing their code to the wild. Organizations and institutions today are under a lot of stress to protect their information from external as well as internal security threats to their computer systems. As such most of them have come up with the solution of hiring Ethical Hackers. To catch a thief, you must think like a thief. Thats the basis for ethical hacking. Knowing your enemy is absolutely critical (Kevin Beaver, Stuart McClure, 2004, p13). In other wards Ethical hackers (white-hat hackers) are experienced security and network experts that perform an attack on a target system with permission from the owners, to find loop holes and vulnerabilities that other hackers could exploit. This process is also known has Red Teaming, Penetration Testing or Intrusion Testing. (www.networkdictionary.com) The end goal of ethical hackers is to learn system vulnerabilities so that they can be repaired for community self-interest and as a side-product also the common good of the people.(Bryan Smith, William Yurcik, David Doss, 2002) Every Ethical hacker should follow three important rules as follows: Firstly Working Ethically. All actions performed by the ethical hacker should support the organizations goals that he works for. Trustworthiness is the ultimate tenet. The misuse of information is absolutely forbidden. Secondly Respecting Privacy as all information that an ethical hacker gathers has to be treated with the utmost respect. Finally Not Crashing Your Systems. This is mostly due to no prior planning or having not read the documentation or even misusing the usage and power of the security tools at their disposal. (Kevin Beaver, Stuart McClure, 2004, p16-17) The main attacks or methods that an ethical hackers or even hackers perform are of as follows: Non Technical Attacks: No matter how secured an organization is in terms of software and hardware, it will always be vulnerable to security threats because securitys weakest link are people or its employees. Social engineering is a type of non technical attack where hackers exploit the trusting nature of human beings to gain information for malicious purposes. Other attacks can be of physical nature such as stealing hardware equipment or dumpster diving. Operating-System Attack: Hacking an operating system (OS) is a preferred method of the bad guys. OS attacks make up a large portion of hacker attacks simply because every computer has an operating system and OSes are susceptible to many well-known exploits.(Kevin Beaver, Stuart McClure, 2004, p15) Distributed denial of service attacks(DDoS): This is the most popular attack used by many hackers to bring down systems. Its a type of attack that overloads the network or server with a large amount of traffic so that it crashes and renders any access to the service. Internet Protocol (IP) spoofing: It is a way of disguising the hackers real identity. This method allows a hacker to gain unauthorized access to computers by sending a message to a computer with an IP address showing that the message is from a trusted host. To accomplish this, a hacker must use different tools to find an IP address of a trusted host, and then alter the packet headers so it appears that the packets are coming from the host. (Tanase 2003). The process of ethical hacking contains many different steps. The first thing that is done is to formulate a plan. At this stage getting approval and authorization from the organization to perform the penetration test is extremely important. (Kevin Beaver, Stuart McClure, 2004, p15). Next the ethical hacker uses scanning tools to perform port scans to check for open ports on the system. Once a cracker scans all computers on a network and creates a network map showing what computers are running what operating systems and what services are available, almost any kind of attack is possible (Bryan Smith, William Yurcik, David Doss, 2002) This method is used by hackers as well but for mainly for malicious purposes. After scanning has been done the ethical hacker selects the tools that are going to be used to perform certain tests on the target system. These tools can be used for password cracking, planting backdoors, SQL injection, sniffing etc. The tests need to be carefully performed bec ause if they are done incorrectly they could damage the system and could go unnoticed. (Bryan Smith, William Yurcik, David Doss, 2002) Finally the plan needs to be executed and the results of all the tests then need to be evaluated (Kevin Beaver, Stuart McClure, 2004, p22) Based on the results the ethical hacker tells the organization about their security vulnerabilities as well as how they can be patched to make it more secure. A grey hat hacker is a type of hacker that has the skills and intent of a ethical hacker in most situations but uses his knowledge for less than noble purposes on occasion. Grey hat hackers typically subscribe to another form of the hacker ethic, which says it is acceptable to break into systems as long as the hacker does not commit theft or breach confidentiality. Some would argue, however that the act of breaking into a system is in itself unethical.(Red Hat, Inc, 2002) Grey hats are also a form of good hackers that usually hack into organizations systems without their permission, but then at a later stage send them information on the loop holes in their system. They also sometimes threaten to release the holes they find unless action has been taken to fix it. (Peter T. Leeson, Christopher J. Coyne, 2006) Conclusion Testing the security of a system by breaking into it is not a new idea but is something that is practised in all aspects of industry. For example if an automobile company is crash-testing cars, or an individual is testing his or her skill at martial arts by sparring with a partner, evaluation by testing under attack from a real adversary is widely accepted as prudent.(C.C. Palmer, 2001) Since the security on the Internet is quite poor at present, ethical hacking is one of the only ways to ways to proactively plug rampant security holes. Until such time a proper social framework is founded, to differentiate the good guys (white hats) from the bad guys (black hats), a law must not be brought into effect, as this may risk taking away our last hope of stabilizing defense and not realize it until it is too late. In the end, it is up to the society to consider the social and ethical standards to apply to the ever-changing technology, so valuable information does not fall into the wrong han ds for the wrong purposes.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Criminal Acts in Sport :: essays research papers
Criminal Acts in Sport; Getting Away With Murder Introduction The amount of crimes that occur in and around sports has been a growing topic of conversation over the last decade in our society. Sports participants and spectators alike have been committing crimes on far more frequent basis over the last few years and in the minds of some, this is an issue that is getting or has gotten out of hand. There is a question that is asked by many, ââ¬Å"Where does part of the game become a crime?â⬠as well as; ââ¬Å"Why are sports the cause of so much aggression?â⬠This and many other questions relating to crime, in and around sports, are seeking an answer that may never be completely resolved. When examining the issue of criminal acts in sports it is easy to realize that there are many places where these acts occur. The range of these acts is far more vast than just in the professional arenas. This is, however, what the public sees and hears about most often. While this is one of the major topics of this paper, criminal acts are found in all of sport ranging from professionals, to college, high school, and in youth sports, including the reaction of the fans. This paper will take an in-depth look at the four major points regarding criminal acts in sport: the acts themselves; the consequences of those acts; the possible reasons for the acts occurring; an analysis of a few major events that have occurred and the possible solutions to the problem of criminal acts in sport. In the section about fan reaction to sport, there will be an overall account of the individual acts and not personal cases due to the overload of personal events that occur. During the evaluation of the events in each topic area there are some legal terms that may need to be defined. These terms may also be defined differently depending on the state that the event occurs in. At the end of this paper there is a list of definitions that describe what a certain legal action could mean. All forms of government view these definitions similarly, however, each state may have differing consequences for each of the crimes. Professional Sports INTRODUCTION In the world of professional sports there are many criminal acts that are committed both on and off the playing surface. In this section we are going to look at a few cases where criminal acts have occurred. Criminal Acts in Sport :: essays research papers Criminal Acts in Sport; Getting Away With Murder Introduction The amount of crimes that occur in and around sports has been a growing topic of conversation over the last decade in our society. Sports participants and spectators alike have been committing crimes on far more frequent basis over the last few years and in the minds of some, this is an issue that is getting or has gotten out of hand. There is a question that is asked by many, ââ¬Å"Where does part of the game become a crime?â⬠as well as; ââ¬Å"Why are sports the cause of so much aggression?â⬠This and many other questions relating to crime, in and around sports, are seeking an answer that may never be completely resolved. When examining the issue of criminal acts in sports it is easy to realize that there are many places where these acts occur. The range of these acts is far more vast than just in the professional arenas. This is, however, what the public sees and hears about most often. While this is one of the major topics of this paper, criminal acts are found in all of sport ranging from professionals, to college, high school, and in youth sports, including the reaction of the fans. This paper will take an in-depth look at the four major points regarding criminal acts in sport: the acts themselves; the consequences of those acts; the possible reasons for the acts occurring; an analysis of a few major events that have occurred and the possible solutions to the problem of criminal acts in sport. In the section about fan reaction to sport, there will be an overall account of the individual acts and not personal cases due to the overload of personal events that occur. During the evaluation of the events in each topic area there are some legal terms that may need to be defined. These terms may also be defined differently depending on the state that the event occurs in. At the end of this paper there is a list of definitions that describe what a certain legal action could mean. All forms of government view these definitions similarly, however, each state may have differing consequences for each of the crimes. Professional Sports INTRODUCTION In the world of professional sports there are many criminal acts that are committed both on and off the playing surface. In this section we are going to look at a few cases where criminal acts have occurred.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Harry Potter and Traditional Spiritual Values
This becomes a somewhat silly argument because there is not evidence of the Harry Potter series undermining traditional values. That is to say, while the books have become incredibly popular and sold millions of copies (to say nothing of the millions of tickets sold to the cinematic adaptations of the novels), American society has not changed. In other words, the books and the films have not set in motion a radical change in American civilization nor have they led to any conversions to witchcraft.Furthermore, the Harry Potter series are very traditional in their approach to ââ¬Ëgood and evil. ââ¬â¢ Harry Potter is not an anti-hero. He is an adolescent trying to find his place in the world while struggling with the fact that he is a warlock and this sets him apart from much of society. However, underlying Harry Potterââ¬â¢s actions are a desire to do good deeds in the world and, in the primary theme of Harry Potter and the Sorcererââ¬â¢s Stone, develop solid relationships with peers and avoid capitalizing on his warlock skills in an unfair way.Unfortunately, there will be those who will get ââ¬Ëhung upââ¬â¢ on the magic and witchcraft angle of the series, but to do so is to take life just a little too serious. It is, after all, a harmless childrenââ¬â¢s book series that contains solid moral messages and not an attempt at undermining values and indoctrinating the youth. To a great extent, many of the negative feelings towards the series will be developed by individuals who have not actually read the series or have developed a pre-existing opinion that has already drawn a negative conclusion.
Friday, November 8, 2019
How Males Are Socialised Into Traditional Masculinities Essays
How Males Are Socialised Into Traditional Masculinities Essays How Males Are Socialised Into Traditional Masculinities Essay How Males Are Socialised Into Traditional Masculinities Essay Explain and briefly measure how males are socialised into traditional malenesss Hegemonic maleness describes the patriarchal on the job category males. those who have laboring or manual occupations. He has to be physically tough and dominant to asseverate his maleness. He is decidedly heterosexual. technically competent. is sexist and aggressive. Males are socialised into traditional malenesss by a assortment of socialization agents. The school is instrumental in the socialization of males into traditional hegemonic functions. Becky Francis ( 2000 ) found that. although they were more harshly disciplined than the misss. boysââ¬â¢ behavior was tolerated more by the instructors. This encourages the male childs to show the traditional malenesss. Capable pick is besides an of import factor in male socialization as they were traditionally gender biased. This was studied by Grafton in a comprehensive school in which he showed that there were merely a limited figure of arrangements available for those who wanted to analyze non-traditional topics for their gender. This reduces involvement in those topics and ushers males into the more traditional. trade topics. Males are canalized significance they are directed into playing with certain playthings and activities. For illustration. male childs may play football while the misss play houseââ¬â¢ . While the instruction system is really of import in the socialization of males into traditional malenesss. the household is the chief socialization agent. Parents may promote and honor behavior that they deem appropriate and discourage that which they think is inappropriate. For illustration. parents may promote their girls to concentrate on their visual aspect and their boies to watch and back up athleticss. Besides. Oakley referred to the labels ( For illustration. princessââ¬â¢ and prettyââ¬â¢ for misss ; and brave soldierââ¬â¢ and strongââ¬â¢ for male childs ) as verbal denomination and says they teach the kids societyââ¬â¢s outlooks. Children besides imitate their parents because they are their important others. They learn norms and values through this procedure. In add-on. kids learn of import messages about gender designation through frock up games where they pretend to be their function theoretical accounts. While it is assumed that parents are successful agents in the socialization of kids. non all grownups get the necessary accomplishments for fostering their kids. Palmer ( 2007 ) suggested that childhood socialization is non every bit effectual as it was in the yesteryear. He proposed that this is because parents no longer pass adequate quality clip with their kids and are trusting on electronic babysittersââ¬â¢ . like the telecasting. which produce a toxic ch ildhoodââ¬â¢ . The equal group. on the other manus. consist of people of similar position who come into regular contact with one another ( for illustration. groups of friends and school kids in the same twelvemonth ) . It is and agent of secondary socialization and is arguably the most influential for immature people during adolescence. The equal group frequently impact gender-role socialization. Skelton and Francis ( 2003 ) . said that boys dominate resort area infinite playing football while misss are on the borders. skipping or speaking. This encourages boys into the traditional malenesss of noisy. laddishââ¬â¢ behavior. Frosh et Al ( 2002 ) said that male childs identified features such as hardnessââ¬â¢ . keeping anti-school values and being clean as those to draw a bead on to. These were features of hegemonic nature that would give them popular position. He besides found that male childs wanted to do their heterosexualism really clear to avoid being teased or bullied. Judith Rich Harris ( 1998 ) said that male childs need to cognize which groups are popular. which are feared. and which are pitied. They need to understand what they can state and how they can move within their group. This shows that maleness has to be carefully negotiated as they can non afford to be excessively different. Each socialization agent can be criticised but they all have a function in the socialization of males into traditional malenesss but it seems they play their portion at different times in the maleââ¬â¢s life. Family is the primary socialization agent which affects kids the most at a immature age. The equal group affects males in their adolescence and can frequently be more influential to the males than instruction and household at this clip.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Free Essays on American Revolutions Compared
Revolutions Compared The times between 1776 and 1828 were an extremely active time for the Americas. During those years nearly all of the colonies sought independence from their imperial masters. The question is why did some of these revolutions fare better than others? What factors caused one country to succeed where another had failed? What events caused or incited the revolutions? Anthony McFarlane describes this in detail in his article ââ¬Å"Independence and Revolution in the Americas.â⬠He explains about what effects race, politics, and location had on the developing colonies and their respective revolutions. What were the differences between Latin and British America, and why was the resulting government in Washington more stable than its counterparts in Latin America? The various revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th century took many different forms, and by exploring those differences and similarities we can better understand the resulting nations. The first thing to look at when comparing the different colonial states is to look at what form colonization took in a various area. What types of colonial governments were formed? The main factor in early colonization I believe was wealth. The Spanish found gold and silver in Mexico and the Andes, the French and Portuguese found sugar, and the English found dirt, dirt and hostile Indians. The entire idea of establishing colonies was to exploit riches for the mother country or Metropolis as McFarlane calls it. The fact that Spain and the other continental European countries found that wealth led them to establish strict and militaristic colonial governments in order to protect that flow of wealth. The English didnââ¬â¢t find the wealth they were seeking in the new world and their North American colonies were not very appealing to anyone. So the English had a very lax view about their American colonies. They allowed the colonists to govern themselves for th... Free Essays on American Revolutions Compared Free Essays on American Revolutions Compared Revolutions Compared The times between 1776 and 1828 were an extremely active time for the Americas. During those years nearly all of the colonies sought independence from their imperial masters. The question is why did some of these revolutions fare better than others? What factors caused one country to succeed where another had failed? What events caused or incited the revolutions? Anthony McFarlane describes this in detail in his article ââ¬Å"Independence and Revolution in the Americas.â⬠He explains about what effects race, politics, and location had on the developing colonies and their respective revolutions. What were the differences between Latin and British America, and why was the resulting government in Washington more stable than its counterparts in Latin America? The various revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th century took many different forms, and by exploring those differences and similarities we can better understand the resulting nations. The first thing to look at when comparing the different colonial states is to look at what form colonization took in a various area. What types of colonial governments were formed? The main factor in early colonization I believe was wealth. The Spanish found gold and silver in Mexico and the Andes, the French and Portuguese found sugar, and the English found dirt, dirt and hostile Indians. The entire idea of establishing colonies was to exploit riches for the mother country or Metropolis as McFarlane calls it. The fact that Spain and the other continental European countries found that wealth led them to establish strict and militaristic colonial governments in order to protect that flow of wealth. The English didnââ¬â¢t find the wealth they were seeking in the new world and their North American colonies were not very appealing to anyone. So the English had a very lax view about their American colonies. They allowed the colonists to govern themselves for th...
Monday, November 4, 2019
Intellectual property law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1
Intellectual property law - Essay Example matic tale making from time to time use of Lionelââ¬â¢s suggestions as to how to depict the characters and how to give more poignancy to the atmosphere. Brad is awarded the first prize, and pays for a round of beer for his mates. By popular request, he eventually sings Killing me Softly composed by Roberta Flack. Fiona, a regular customer of the Red Lion, makes a video recording of the nightââ¬â¢s events. She downloads the 123 minute long recording on to her computer and, using this material, produces a 12 minute video showing the best parts of the literary improvisations and the whole performance of Killing me Softly. She eventually uploads the video onto Metube, a very popular video file-sharing website on the internet. Afterwards she makes a transcription of Bradââ¬â¢s improvisation and saves it as word document on her computer. Over the next few days Fiona becomes more and more convinced that Bradââ¬â¢s tale is a really good tale, and that it is worth spending time working on it. She develops the tale and writes a grotesque science fiction novel. She presents the resulting novel at a writing competition. Although she doesnââ¬â¢t win, a publisher is very enthusiastic and offers her a contract to publish the novel. Fiona signs the contract and submits the manuscript. A few months later Brad shows up at the Red Lion carrying a copy of Fionaââ¬â¢s book. After having read parts of the book, the audience realises that there are striking similarities with the tale that was developed during the contest. Brad feels it has been plagiarised. He scans the book and uploads a large amount of it on to his personal website, posting rude ironic comments on Fionaââ¬â¢s creativity. Review in detail all the potential copyright infringements. Your answer should include discussion of the nature of the infringements concerned. In addition, you should identify who allegedly owns the copyright, and who allegedly infringed
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Analyis of financial objectives. financials projecttions and Essay
Analyis of financial objectives. financials projecttions and investment decisions - Essay Example Being employed in the finance department at Aztec Catering, this report analyses the tasks that Ms. Field, the Chief Financial Officer at Aztec Catering, has given and this report is aimed to review the three current objectives of the company, prepare and analyse the three year financial plan of Aztec Catering as well as evaluate the capital investment decision that the company can take and how this decision can add the value to the company. The report has been divided into three sections and each section aims to accomplish the three tasks that have been provided. The first section of the report critically evaluates the suitability of the current objectives of Aztec Catering. Moreover, this section analyses and compares the objective of the competing firm, Compass with the Aztecââ¬â¢s objectives. The second part of the report analyses and predicts whether the company would face any financing problem in the next three years. Moreover, this section also justifies the solution that t he company can implement in order to help itself from such problems. The third section of the report analyses and evaluates the capital investment decision that the company can take. This section analyses how this investment decision can be helpful in increasing the wealth of the shareholders of the firm and different investment appraisal techniques have been used in order to analyse whether investment should be made or not. Some of the techniques that have been used in order to analyse the investment decisions are: Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Accounting Rate of Return (ARR), and Economic Value Analysis (SVA). Section 1: Critical Analysis of the objectives of Aztec Catering and Compass Group The first section of the report cortically analyses the objectives of Aztec Catering and its competitor Compass Group. It is important to know that Compass Group is an international brand and it is not only operating and serving the clients of United Kingdom but it ha s presence in different parts of the world. Therefore the objectives of Compass Group should be considered as the benchmark and the company should and can use the objectives of Compass Group to achieve more success in United Kingdom and even then expand its offerings to other parts of the world. The current objectives of Aztec Catering that have been decided at the end of 2012 board meeting are as follows: a. To maintain a profit margin of around 24% b. To ensure the current strong financial position is maintained c. To satisfy the shareholders by maintaining a dividend payout ratio of 50% It can be found that all the three objectives of Aztec Catering have been focusing and emphasizing on profitability and financial position of the company. The first objective of the company focuses on maintaining a minimum profit margin (Tucker, and Lean, 2003). Profit margin of the company is the ratio of net profit after to sales. Or it is the ratio that the company earns after deducting all the expenses and paying of interest expense as well as taxes to the revenue (Cravens, and Piercy, 2008).. Therefore, the first objective encourages the management to focus on achieving higher profitability regardless of how it has to be done. In order to meet the first objectiv
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 21
Report - Essay Example The data for the analysis of the situation was collected through interviews and administration of questionnaires. The criteria for decision making was based on a comprehensive comparison of the information given by the various participants in the study. However, the entire process for the investigations was not that smooth. For instance, some interviewees were unwilling to respond to questions presented, and some confessed that they were afraid of giving information due to the repercussions that might follow. This report focuses on evaluating the problem of drug abuse among the companyââ¬â¢s employees and provide the way forward in solving the problem. Apparently, the report seeks to survey the addiction challenge among the companyââ¬â¢s employees. The illegal use of drugs has resulted in dwindling performance of the companyââ¬â¢s employees. As a result, the profits have reduced significantly following a reduction in the quality of output. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the causes of the increased cases of illegal and institute policies that will facilitate the formulation of effective policies that can counter the issue of illegal use of drugs. Most employs of the company have been reported to engage in the illegal use of drugs. In essence, a recent survey revealed that the performance of individual employees has fallen below average. Most employees advocate for drug testing for joining the companyââ¬â¢s workforce. However, a substantial number to the survey participants advocated for drug testing once an employ is suspected to be under the influence of drug abuse. An analysis of the companyââ¬â¢s workforce situation reveals that the failure by the management to establish effective policies for monitoring employeesââ¬â¢ behavior while within the companyââ¬â¢s premises (Fernando, et al.à 7). In essence, the established
Monday, October 28, 2019
To Find Common Identifying Factors in different financial scandals Essay Example for Free
To Find Common Identifying Factors in different financial scandals Essay Financial scandals are known for their adverse effects on businesses. They can cripple a business entity or lead to total collapse. Thus, the value of looking into the issue of scandals constitutes a study area of great value both to the academic discourse and the general knowledge. This paper looks into financial scandals with a view to finding common factors underlying them. Through a case study approach, the Amaranth Advisors, Allfirst Group, and Soceite Generale are examined. Through the use of relevant literature review, it is established that though scandals are different in the nature of their emergence, there are a host of common factors that occasion them. The study finds that poor regulating posed by both internal and external mechanisms are to blame for this phenomenon. It is also established that issues such as rogue trading, office politics, laxity in rule application and sluggish responding constitute the other common factors underlying the scandals. The paper concludes by calling upon the tightening of measures, updating technologies, de-politicizing organizational business, and the adoption of stringent regulation to tame the vice. Introduction Financial scandals involve business and political misdeeds by executives entrusted with large public and private institutions. These schemes entail complex methodical application of schemes with a view to misdirecting and/or misusing funds. Other forms of scandals may pertain to understating expenses, underreporting business liabilities, overstating of revenues, overstating of assets, etc. This is normally done by officials and subordinates of businesses. In public enterprises, this kind of action constitutes fraud. In cases where scandals have been detected or reported, the norm is always to launch investigations with a view to unearthing the issues underlying the engagement of such criminal activity. The oversight agencies like Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States are responsible for investigating the emergence of this kind of crime. Scandals typically present a seriously dangerous scenario as most investigations point that such scams are nothing but a ââ¬Ëtip of an icebergââ¬â¢. As this paper finds out scandals are often led by officials within organizations. The officials are given support by either laxity or complacency by relevant organs. Literature review In any research, the use of literature review is of undisputed value. Literature review enables a researcher to find the status of an issue area. This is possible as literature review offers what other researchers have done on the study issue. On this basis, this study is no exception as it heavily relies on the works of other scholars towards raising important findings. The case of Societe Generale The scandal involving Societe Generale went on for a long period of time. It was first reported via an email on November 7th of 2007. A surveillance office stationed at Eurex raised the mater before a compliance officer of the bank. It was revealed that a trader; Jerome Kerviel, had engaged in a number of transactions which were suspicious in nature (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). The bank bid its time and launched its own response in 20th of November. In this response, a risk control expert at the bank purported that there was nothing irregular in the transactions executed between the bank and the client; Jerome Kerviel. In his response, the bank official claimed that the then ongoing volatility in the financial markets especially in the United States of America and Europe stocks, was the reason behind the bankââ¬â¢s requirement of after-hours trading (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). The office at Eurex did not stop there. On November 26, it sent a second email to the bank explaining its displeasure at the way the matter was handled by the bank. This explains what led the bourse to demand further information regarding this issue. The bank, Societe Generale provided further information on 10th of December. On this basis, the two parties; Societe Generale and the Eurex office let the issue disappear (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). When Kerviel raised another alarm, coming five weeks later, it proved too little too late. He made a lot of profit based on the surreptitious trading amounting to around two billion US dollars. However, this gain was soon to evaporate as a loss in the region of seven billion US dollars. The bank basically unwound the financial standing of Kerviel on 21st and 22nd of January (Clark and Jolly, 1). A spokesperson of Societe Generale declined to comment on the warning issued earlier by Eurex claiming an internal inquiry led by a special committee composed of independent directors was underway. It is hypothesized at this stage that ignoring the red flag raised by Eurex was a serious misstep in aiding this scandal. The loss suffered by the bank is almost wholly attributable to the actions of ignorance on the side of the bank (Sage, 1). The bank, despite being in business for over one hundred and forty four years, it failed by allowing a culture of risk taking to flourish within its ranks. Simply put, this seriously exposed the bank as it allowed for major flaws to characterize its operations. It is hypothesized that it is this allowance that paved way for the rogue businessman to rock the bank and make away with a good amount of money while leaving the bank with gaping holes in its financial status. The manner in which Kerviel was let to undertake his mischief undetected by a bank of Societe Generale stature serves to underscore this realization (Gregory and Anne-Sylvaine, 1). Instead of discouraging the making of big bets by clients, the Societe Generale group rewarded traders who made such risky investments. It is further revealed that it was never uncommon for traders to exceed the limits put on trading momentarily before holding back. This was however against controls limiting this (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). During January 2008, Societe Generale lost over 4. 9 billion euros as it closed positions in three days. At this time, the market was experiencing a big drop in equity indices. It is claimed by the bank that these positions were fraudulent creations of one, Jerome Kerviel, a rogue trader. However, more surprises were sprung up as the police claimed they did not have the evidence to charge the culprit with fraud instead preferring abuse of confidence charges against Jerome Kerviel. Jerome Kerviel claimed that his actions were well known to the superiors at the bank and the major reason behind the collapse of the bank was based on panic selling (Sage, 1). It is claimed by bank officials that throughout the year 2007, Jerome Kerviel was trading profitably anticipating a fall in market prices. This was however done beyond authorized levels. The culprit is accused of engaging in trade totaling almost 50 billion, a figure way above the bankââ¬â¢s sum market capitalization. It is further revealed that Jerome Kerviel attempted to hide this engagement by intentionally creating losing trades in a bid to offset the early gains he had made. In addition to the above allegation, Jerome Kerviel is thought to have made over 1. 5 billion US dollars in hidden profits (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 14). The case of Allfirst John Rusnak, a former currency businessman at Allfirst bank, at the time an affiliate of AIB Company was given a 71/2 years jail term in connection to his role in the disappearance of six hundred and one US million dollars. This sum of money was lost due to the banking systemââ¬â¢s encouragement of bad bets. The bad debts were later to snowball leading to a monstrous scam ever witnessed in the banking industry. The culprit, Rusnak John was transferred from prison to his house in June of 2008 to be under house detention until September the same year and later let free in 5th January 2009. This meant that in total, Rusnak served less than six years in incarceration (Robert, 45). If the original sentence could have been adhered to the later, Rusnak could have been held in prison for a period of over 30 years. However, the original sentence was a presentation of a plea bargain hammered in collaboration with the US prosecutors. While being released, it was alleged that Rusnak had earned good behavior and completed a drug treatment module. On his release, Rusnak was expected to begin paying one thousand US dollars a month to cater for his time in probation (Robert, 45). Though Rusnak was held responsible for the loss of six hundred and ninety one million US dollars, the case prosecutors claimed whatever amount to be paid was to depend on what the culprit was able to make after being freed. The fraudulent activities engineered by Rusnak were very harmful to the entire stakeholder ship as over one thousand and one hundred Allfirst employees lost their jobs during the sale of the company (Robert, 45). Early on at the discovery of the fraud, the executives at Alllfirst and AIB believed that there was no any form of conspiracy between Rusnak and any other member or official of the bank (Brian, 54). This finding may absolve the bank of any blame in the eyes of the public. However, this is a devastating finding since it paints a grisly picture on the part of the bank. That is to say if one bank official would carry out a fraud of this magnitude, then things were quite wrong. Simply put, the bankââ¬â¢s monitoring and self regulating mechanism was in tatters to say the least. The Ludwig report confirmed that the bankââ¬â¢s back office did not make attempts towards confirming the bogus options alongside their Asian counterparts. The negligence fronted by the companyââ¬â¢s middle and back offices from confirming the foreign exchange rate from an independent source also puts the bank on the spot. It is also alleged that the internal audit done in 1999 did not bring out the real picture. Later in 2000, an audit carried only examined a single transaction to determine whether indeed there was impropriety. These failures of the bank only present actions that appear in support of graft (Brian (a), 34). The back office at the treasury had issued a warning regarding the events at the bank. The fact that the bank chose to let the opportunity points to gross misconduct by leadership. The treasury, backroom office had raised a host of issues regarding Rusnakââ¬â¢s personality concerns and confirming trades conducted by Rusnak. The culprit seemed excellent in playing organizational politics to his advantage. This is reflected by the fact that the back office desisted from reporting the actions of the trader as the management was behind Rusnakââ¬â¢s activities. If the back office had received support from the top management, then the rogue activities could have been curtailed (Brian, 54). Foreign exchange rules require that suspicious activities should be discouraged (Brian (a), 34). The two prime brokerage provision banks failed to uncover what Rusnak was undertaking. This was a notable omission on the part of the two banks. The Historical Rate Rollovers should never have been used to uncover fraud deals as it happened. The trading system at Allfirst was literary flawed as one employee was trying to run a hedge fund. Rusnak had no knowledge, diversification, skills, and other requisite attributes necessary to run the trading system (Brian (a), 35). The case of Amaranth Advisors The year 2006 was one of the most devastating in reference to the history of the Amaranth group. It is during this year that Amaranth Advisors lost in excess of two billion US dollars over a span of few weeks (Robert, 37). Amaranth Advisors engaged in a very risky venture in regards to trading. This left the business entity hugely exposed to the frugalities that characterise the business world. Liquidity is an aspect that should be closely monitored if businesses ae to be safe. But taking risks as this business did implies a readiness in the business to test the waters of uncertainty. Launched as a hedge fund business, Amaranth operated a very risky venture as its portfolio could change up to 80 percenty in reflection of the energy trade. As this soared, the group, Amaranth changed tack and put onside the concept of diversification with a view to mitigating the risks that were emerging. the group traded on Credit Arbitrage, Convertible Bond Arbitrage, Merger Arbitrage, Energy Arbitrage, etc. Initially, the the amount in Convertible Arbitrage reflected sixty percenty of te worth of the company. however, by september 2006, this had shifted to almost two percent. Such is the volatility that characterised the company activities (Robert, 37). One factor emerges at this point; there were no limits concerning the regulation of concentration. Leverage was also unrestricted. when leverage is unrestricted, it means that a company can engage in trading beyond the set limit or outside the confines of its budget. this portends ill for a business as in the case of a loss, the company can easily go under (Robert, 37). Brian Hunter who was hired in 2004 takes blame for the financial fiasco experienced by this group. Brian Hunter had already cut a niche for himself in the corridors of wall street. While trading in energy futures, Hunter had achieved great success and it is perhaps on this basis that Amaranth hired him. The trader was so renowned such that When he threatened to quit in 2004, his perks were adjusted upwards to tie him there. Hunter was also given the oportunity to trade separately from the group boss and awarded adittional compenation. Equally of note rests on the fact that the individual was given the privilege of relocating o his hometown and trade from there (Robert, 38). On the basisof the United States Senate Permanent Subcommitte on Finance, Amaranth lost money in the region of two bilion US dollars beginning the first week of August. This loss was attributed to the trading in natural gas which led to high liquidity in the entire company portfolio. The John Marthinsen estimates put the losses at around 6. 5 billion. The Amaranth group was deeply engaged in various types of contracts that captured futures, options, and swaps. The company position remained hugely independent on the future prices of natural gas (Robert, 38). Historically, natural gas prices rose during the winter times. This was held as natural gas is commonly used as a heating source at tis tme. so it was commonsense that gas prices would rise during te time. Amaranth was banking on this norm to enable the company reap profits. However, this is an instinctive way of runing business which cannot be relied upon though it wored previously. this ponts to a lack of well oiled strategies in running the business (Robert, 38). Allfirst hired John Rusnak as a currency trader with a view to help in the proprietary exchange of foreign currency. This was a costly acquistion as the fellow cost the bank around 691 million dollars. Through the use of various methods, Rusnak overstepped his mandate and traded beyond limits putting the bankââ¬â¢s fortunes at stake in the process (Robert, 38). The wild derivatives were the first error towards the financial meltdown. It appears like Brooksley Born, the then chairperson of Commodity Futures Trading Commission had foreseen the danger posed by deregulation of derivatives. The idea to extend the regulation mandate as proposed by Brooksley was rebuffed by the officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department. While it remains debatable whether the regulation could prevent or alter the financial trend, few dispute the idea that such control would have slowed the emergence of the problem. Financial analysts believe if this was introduced 10 years or earlier, the control would have mitigated the rise of the problem (Blinder, 1). Wild derivatives have adverse effects on any business, the deregulation of derivatives at Amaranth, Allfirst, and Societe Generale point to the fact that such a precedent is dangerous as it portends ill for a business. Blinder has observed that the alarm bells signaling the financial credit crunch went long ago and individuals in positions of influence refused to act rather preferring to protect huge business interests. The innermost government sanctums were basically to blame as they chose to protect few businesses at the expense of the common good (Blinder, 1). Brooksley, while serving at CFTC made it clear to congress that controlling the financial markets was necessary. The financial instruments commonly known as derivatives were the focus point. It is little surprise that ultimately the collapse of the derivatives market served as a trigger towards the 2008 financial crisis. Brooksley was overly concerned about the ââ¬Ëswapsââ¬â¢ unregulated trading (Blinder, 1). This unregulated trading led to the near collapse of the economy. Similarly the unregulated nature of activities of the three companies presented the necessary conditions for the scandals to take place. For an efficient market operation, there are no illusions, regulation by an independent body is necessary. On the basis of Blinderââ¬â¢s observation ââ¬Ësky high leverageââ¬â¢ an issue that arose in 2004 leads to serious effects on businesses (1). During this period, the S. E. C allowed securities firms to up their leverage to levels unmatched before. Prior to this instance, leverage stood at 12 to 1. After this event, the leverage sky rocketed to 31 to 1 (Blinder, 1). This is a pointer to madness on the side of the S. E. C and firmsââ¬â¢ heads. It is known that at 33 to 1 leverage, a small decline, for example a three percent decline in assets valuation can lead to a wiping out of a business company. If the authorities had ensured that the leverage was kept at 12 to 1, then the firms would have remained stable as they would not have grown that big or exposed to vulnerability. The firms being examined in this study equally let their officials exceed their normal leverage explaining why the effects were lethal. Findings When Eurex issued a warning, the Societe Generale officials did not respond adequately, instead they took to time wasting with a view to getting the issued buried. Warnings are expected to serve an entity to refocus or correct something going wrong. The Societe Generale group did not heed this, nor did Amaranth do. The officials of Societe Generale affirmed that there was nothing wrong with the transactions executed by Kerviel. This is an indication that Kerviel must have been operating under the protection of big officials at the institution or that the institution checking mechanisms were amiss. The internal self regulating and checking mechanism were in a total mess. This explains why Kerviel was able to wage such criminal activities without being noticed. However, this may point to another issue concerning politics of organization. Accomplices must have been used from the highest levels of management. For Kerviel to engage in this act, he must have been damn aware that there was some form of protection that would come his way. Risk ventures hold huge potential both in reference to loss and profit making. Societe Generale encouraged traders to continue engaging in such ventures. Jerome Kerviel claimed that superiors were aware of his actions. The losses incurred by Societe Generale were reflected in a very short time; three days. This does not however imply that prior to this; the business was in a sound position. This is because before such a position is reached, there must have been factors at play. The senior management based in Dublin and Baltimore failed to focus on the happenings at Allfirst. The role of any management team in all organizations is and remains one of overseeing the transactions executed. Simply put, the management should sanction all activities. Activities which carry the importance as the one carried out by Jerome Kerviel should have been closely monitored. However, this was not done. The betting business is a risky business venture which Allfirst bank encouraged. It is a fact that profits can be made in this business. However, it is also possible to make huge losses which may lead to collapse of a business entity. On this basis, there are regulative measures always put in place to guide in the setting the right amount to be gambled. Laxity in rules comes into the fore as Rusnak was given a relatively big sentence at the beginning but this was watered down to a mere 7 years though the culprit ended up serving even less. The amount payable back; 1 000 US dollars presented a slap in the face of justice considering the amount of losses the person had led Allfirst into incurring. The foreign exchange rules requiring the disapproval of suspicious ventures was also discarded as Rusnak continued with his business unhindered. Internal mechanisms at Allfirst and AIB at first claimed there was nothing sinister about Rusnakââ¬â¢s engagements. All other bank officials were cleared of any wrong doing claiming that there was no form of collusion between Rusnak and any member at the bank. The middle and the back office must have slept on the job. They did little to seek valid information from independent sources regarding exchange rates. In addition to this, the audit carried out by the bank examined only a single transaction involving the activities of Rusnak. How fair was this? The back office at the treasury issued a warning of impropriety at the bank concerning Rusnakââ¬â¢s activities, but this was either unheeded or ignored. The senior management monitoring and control system like auditing were overrated as they miserably failed on the very aspect they were there for. Just like Allfirst and the Societe Generale group, Amaranth Advisors engaged in a very risky trading system. Thus the uncertainty in the bank was bound to reflect on its financial and business health. Unregulated leverage was the crucial issue that brought down the bank. Brian Hunter the fellow behind the scam at Amaranth Advisors was given special treatment. Rusnak overstepped his mandate and traded beyond Amaranth Advisorsââ¬â¢ limits. While Rusnak was doing this, the Amaranth Advisors just like the other two companies had internal mechanisms of regulating and monitoring activities within the organization. Outside regulators were also in place. The fact that both internal and outside sources of regulation failed to act puts such bodies or departments on the spot. Comparison of findings Poor rules and regulations regarding business operations are found to be reflected by the three business entities. Rules and regulations play a very pivotal role in the running of a business. Such rules and regulations stem from either within or from outside a business. The regulations relating to trading limits were flouted. Internal and external mechanisms equally failed to unearth these events. Where they were unearthed by external offices, the establishments at the three companies poured cold scorn on the advice. It appears like engineering episodes that were bound to happen. In the three cases, there are single individuals masterminding huge scandals. What baffles scholars and the public alike is the manner in which the events proceeded undetected for a long period of time. With the current levels of technology, it also leaves a lot to be desired why institutions like these could not use such technological assistance. Office politics, a regular phenomenon in most public offices also rears its ugly head again. The revelation by the former chief economist, Yves-Marie Laulan that what happened at Soceite Generale was inevitable offers strong support to this position. Yves-Marie Laulan further claimed that some things are hard enough and thus difficult to control, an implication that the economist could have well been aware the scam was in the making. The fact that when red flags were raised in these scandals nothing of note was taken by the companies serves as a pointer that senor and powerful individuals were behind the scams. Only that, they were achieving their goals through proxies. The proxies in the cases include the three individuals mentioned as the perpetrators of the scam. Rules regarding business operations were flouted. If rules and regulations are not obeyed things are bound to go awry at some point. The trading limit rules were ignored by these companies. Risk ventures which were suspect in nature were let tom thrive. As if that wasnââ¬â¢t bad enough, warnings issued were ignored. Where they were heeded, the approach was truly sluggish in nature. The companies; Amaranth, Allfirst, and Societe Generale presented cases of flouting expected levels of leverage. It is crucial that leverage levels be kept at the right level if businesses are to remain afloat. In the cases of the three businesses, this was never observed. The failure to observe set rules and regulations serves to point to impropriety in handling the businesses. Discussion On the basis of findings, it is discernable that there was laxity in rule implementation. Every trade has its regulations which aid operations in day to day transactions. The three entities examined in this survey exhibit an unwillingness or sluggish nature in implementing the regulations of business. In the three cases, the three culprits wee found to have operated way beyond the limits set by their businesses. System weakness and other failures are equally found to have served as impediments in the success of business. The scandals raised or rather examined in this paper are of big magnitude. However, despite calls for investigations and the raising of alarm bells in reference to the scandals at their initial stages, nothing worthy was engineered to curtail the explosion of the scandal. Every system is supposed to regulate itself fully. A system that fails this test is out of sorts and lacks the legitimacy of being in operation. Assuming that there was no abetting of these criminal activities in the respective scandals, then the systems regulation and control mechanisms were a total mess. Such systems should e replaced and completely done away with. Technology plays a critical role in present day business activities. For example, it aids the flow of transactions in a very expedient and efficient manner. Thus each company is encouraged to employ latest and up to date technologies in order to move a business forward in tandem with present trends. However, the scenario at Alfirst points to a different direction. The use of the Crossmar Matching System to monitor trade should have been used, working as a group would have equally helped. Instead of applying this latest technological support, Allfirst was employing the use of telephone and fax. The use of spreadsheets to feed information regarding exchange rates to the business is also another shortcoming attributable to the inability of the business from taking important and necessary steps in addressing business requirements. Simply put, it is a shame that a company of Alllfirstââ¬â¢s stature could be using the methods mentioned above. Whichever explanation is given in support of this position is unacceptable and unwelcome to level headed individuals. One of the greatest mistakes of the companies though not expressly captured in the paper relates to office politics. Office politics is almost commonplace in every business as human beings often tend to align themselves to different cocoons at the work place. However, it is the duty of the top management to focus on this aspect and ensure that office politics does not work to the detriment of an entity. If a business leadership fails on this, then there is no good in the office leadership being in office. A closer look at events in the three scandals implies an absence of good leadership characterized by political intrigues. When warnings were issued at initial stages of the scandal, the top leadership in the organizations seemed to brush aside the allegations. They equally failed to investigate and either authenticate or dispel the rumors in total. This, in my considered view, was an act outlining a possibility of role playing in which case the top leadership was an accomplice in the scandals. In the case of Allfirst, the preferential treatment of one employee illustrated by receiving extra perks and being allowed to work from home also underscores the point. The key to success in any business rests on good management practices (Barrett, 51). This points to the ability of the management to set achievable goals and embarking on a mission towards realizing them. For success to be attained, the management must outline the necessary tasks in setting up and managing the business. The goals set for the business must be measurable in performance terms. Towards that end, major goals should be broken into smaller goals. These sub goals should have timelines which must be observed. This is an area in which the businesses failed leading to the witnessed scandals. After setting goals and the sub goals, the individual owner or manager must move into action and make the necessary steps towards attaining them. The efforts required in achieving the different goals and sub goals are different, then the deviations should be reflected in the actions or the steps taken towards the achievement. The required effort must remain reasonable so as not to discourage the manager. Caution should be taken to avoid chasing too many goals as such pursuit may scuttle the success of a business (Wright, 75). In this regard, priorities must be set. The businesses studied in this research should prioritize vigilance and caution while trading. The planning and setting of goals must be done well in advance. This enables the manager to understand what to expect in most circumstances. As the business grows the set goals should gradually be achieved as such achievement is expected to motivate the manager. Normally, obstacles will be on the way of any business venture, this should be anticipated and provided for in terms of arrangements to counter or mitigate the effects (Wright, 75). The businesses mentioned in this study should have done this to avoid such scandals.
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