Compare the scandal involving President Clinton with Nixon's Research Paper

Compare the scandal involving President Clinton with Nixon's Watergate. What were the key similarities and differences - Research Paper Example In June 1995, a scandal began during the latter half of his second term involving Monica Lewinsky, 21, who came to the White House as an unpaid intern in the office of White House Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta. In November 1995, she got involved in a sexual relationship with President Clinton. Barely a month into the relationship, Lewinsky was moved to a paid position in the Office of Legislative Affairs, handling letters from members of Congress. She frequently ferried mail to the Oval Office. Around April, 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to a job as an assistant to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon, by Evelyn Lieberman who was then the Deputy White House Chief of Staff. Lieberman told the New York Times later that the move was due to â€Å"inappropriate and immature behavior† and that Lewinsky demonstrated a lack of attention to work. At the Pentagon, Lewinsky met Linda Tripp, a career government employee. Around summer 1996, Lewinsky began telling Tripp during casual conversations about her relationship with President Clinton. Tripp reported these conversations to literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, who advised her to secretly record them. Tripp convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts she received from the President and the dress that got stained during one of her sexual encounters. About a year later, in the fall of 1997, when the relationship was over, Tripp secretly began taping the conversations with Lewinsky in which she explicitly talked about her alleged affair. Around October 1997, Tripp, with help from Lucianne Goldberg, met with Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, Kucianne & Jonah Goldberg at Jonah’s apartment in Washington, where they listened to a tape with the Tripp/Lewinsky conversation. In October 1997, Lewinsky interviewed with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson for a low level public affairs position in New York. She was offered a job but she declined. In early December that year, Lewinsky left the Pentagon. Later that month, Bett ie Currie, President Clinton’s personal secretary, got in touch with Vernon Jordan, a friend of Clintons, to place Lewinsky in New York. Vernon Jordan obliged and introduced Lewinsky to several leads. Lewinsky allegedly had over 9 sexual encounters with the President in the Oval Office during the period between November 1995 and March 1997. On December 17, 1997, Lewinsky was subpoenaed by lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the President on sexual harassment charges. She submitted an affidavit in which she declared that she never had any sexual relationship with the President. She also, allegedly attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in the Jones case. Tripp, instead, gave the tapes to Kenneth Starr, who was the Independent Counsel investigating the Whitewater & Paula Jones case. Lewinsky made her final visit to the White House on December 28, 1997, when she and the President had a private meeting. During this meeting, the President allegedly encouraged Lewinsky to be as evasive as possible in her responses to any of the questions in the Jones’ lawsuit. On January 16th 1998, Kenneth Starr contacted United States Attorney General, Janet Reno, seeking permission to expand his probe to investigate possible impropriety on the part of the President. The Attorney General gave her consent and submitted a request to a panel of three Federal judges. The judges agreed to allow Kenneth Starr to formally investigate the possibility of subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice

Hallstead Case Essay Example for Free

Hallstead Case Essay 1.)The breakeven point in number of sales has risen along with the breakeven point in sales dollars from 2003 to 2006. The margin of safety has decreased as well. Every year they have to increase the number of sales tickets then the previous year to meet their breakeven point. After 2004 when expansion of the store begun, Hallstead’s fixed cost have grown each year. The decrease from 2004 to 2006 is far less substantial than from 2003 to 2004. This damage is cause by the stores expansion. It is renting a much larger space down the street from its previous location. This has incurred much lager expenses each year then in than prior to 2004. 2.)Yes, the company’s income would increase. The new breakeven point in sales dollars would be approximately $6.03 million. 3.)Eliminating sales commission would have a huge effect on the breakeven volume. If they follow through with Gretchen’s idea of eliminating sales commission their expenses would decrease a great deal each year. They would not have to make nearly as many sales to breakeven. Although this could have an adverse effect on the sales volume. Employees will not be nearly as aggressive in making sales because it will not affect their personal income. Employees could act disapprovingly towards this new measure, affecting the bottom line negatively in the long run. 4.)If Hallstead added an additional $200,000 to advertising each year they would have to increase the sales volume considerably, that’s if they decide not to do away with sales commission. 5.)Average sales would have to increase over $24 to break even if fixed costs remained the same. 6.)I would recommend that Hallstead Jewelers listen to the consultant that suggested price reduction to increase sales. I believe this would be a smart move because with the new store they have room for more sales then the previous location so upping sales numbers is an important step. If reducing sales doesn’t help improve the bottom line, I would then suggest that they eliminate sales commission. Although this as been an important part of business, eliminating sales commission would greatly decrease their yearly expense. I think adding advertising after their recent move is extremely important. Although it is a $200,000 expense, it could increase sales significantly. These are my suggestions for Hallstead Jewelers

Y2K Bug :: essays research papers

Y2K – The Big Issue Abstract and Executive Overview What is the Y2K issue? This paper will describe the problems associated with Y2K and how Industry, Government, and Small Businesses are handling the problem. The first chapter introduces the Y2K issues. Chapter 2 will define how this affects the different businesses and Government agencies. Chapter 3 will develop an overall plan on how to attack the problem and recommendations. The majority of this paper will develop a plan on how each of the businesses and Government agencies should attack the Y2K problems. There should be a logical approach to planning how to investigate, test, validate, and if required, develop a contingency plan for Y2K. The job is to either form a team of personnel or hire a consulting firm to assess your situation. The team should employ the following steps: assess the system, renovate the system if necessary, validate the renovation if necessary, implement the renovation if necessary, test the renovation if necessary, and finally have a contingency plan in the event that renovating the system is not feasible and/or is too late. The only necessary or required action is to assess the system. This will be discussed in detail in my paper. The real issue is that less than a year remains before the year 2000 problems are here. The recommendation is to begin working this issue now. It may be too late, but that is when the contingency plan comes in handy. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What are the Y2K Issues? 2. What impacts are they’re to Government, Industry, and Small Business? 3. What can Government, Industry, and Small Business Do to Combat the Y2K Issues? 4. Recommendation 5. References 6. Glossary Chapter 1 What are the Y2K Issues? There are actually more dates than just the year 2000 date. There are dates that can impact the leap year algorithms; Julian dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. The top dates that need to be checked are: 1. 9 September 1999. This date can be read in code as 9999. In computer language, specifically ASCII code, this translates into a request for the processor to stop processing. 2. 1 October 1999. This is the start of the new Fiscal year for the Government (FY00). The algorithm for this may not be able to go from FY99 to FY00. 3. 31 December 1999.

High School and School Counseling Interventions Essay

Introduction and rationale for the research In the fields of counseling, education, and psychology, there has been a strong emphasis placed on evidence-based practices to determine the effectiveness of school counseling interventions. In this article, two types of Meta-Analysis interventions were used during this study. Meta-Analysis 1 involved treatment-control comparisons and Meta-Analysis 2 involved pretest-posttest differences. The overall average weighted effect size for school counseling interventions was . 30. This study determined how effective moderator variables influenced effect size of, guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support. Analyses of moderator variables are designed to determine the effectiveness of school counseling program activities in this article. Major strengths/weaknesses in the article The overall school counseling interventions produced an average effect size of . 30 which is significant. However, in this article, the average effect size of Meta-Analysis 2 intervention was not significant, only . 07. Previously research has found that meta- analyses using pretest-posttest typically produces a higher effect size compared to the more traditional treatment-control group comparisons. It’s difficult to determine the non-significant mean effect size for pretest-posttest meta-analysis. Additional analyses in the pretest and posttest form will need to focus on specific interventions and additional information regarding the effectiveness of specific strategies in school counseling. One of the common criticism of meta-analytic approaches is that studies with weak methodological rigor may artificially inflate average effect sizes(M. W. Lipsey,2003). M. W. Lipsey (2003) also argued that methodological moderator variables that often are assumed to be independent are not necessarily independent and carefully conducted meta-analytic reviews should explore methodological relationship patterns. The effect size of . 30 was based on 117 experimental studies that involved 153 interventions, which is a significant increase from the six studies used by Sprinthall (1981). Many more studies were conducted with elementary school students; however, school counseling interventions included in this meta-analysis appeared to be slightly more effective with middle or junior high students followed by high school students. Thus, these studies show a significant effect on school counseling interventions for all levels of K-12 education. There are also some limitations when meta-analytic techniques are used. The validity of effect size largely depends on the quality of studies that were included in the review. Some major limitations in school counseling research could not be addressed statistically. Also there are few studies that address the issues of treatment integrity. Only a handful of studies used treatment manuals or well-developed curricula. It was difficult for researches to determine what was effective because researchers could not determine what interventions were implemented with students. Another limitation was the elimination of 111 studies that had insufficient data or missing information. Another limitation from this article concerns the dominance of non-standardized outcome assessments in school counseling research. Meta-analysis also lacked long-term follow-up data. The lack of longitudinal data allows for the measurement and analysis of only short-term effectiveness. Another issue with meta-analysis research is that interventions focused mostly on specific interventions rather than comprehensive school counseling programs. There has been very few research studies conducted on comprehensive school counseling programs. Summary of research outcome.  There were 118 studies that used meta-analysis 1, involving treatment-control comparisons and 153 school interventions; however, two studies were considered one study because of the same simple. Out of the 117 studies, 81 were published in journals and 36 were theses or dissertations. This meta-analysis study had 16,296 participants and the sample ranged from 8 to 5, 618, with the average study involving 139. 28 participants. From these studies, 50. 4% were elementary school students, 17. 9% were middle or junior high school students, and 24. 8% were high school students, and 6% had a mixture of ages, and one study did not report the age of the student participants. There was an overall weighted effect size of 27% for students that received school counseling intervention compared to those students that did not receive school counseling intervention. The average effect size was significant. Also, there were a total of 33studies that used meta-analysis 2, involving pretest-posttest design; however, two effect sizes were eliminated from one study. Therefore, 31 studies that involved 51 school counseling interventions were used. The effect sizes calculated from these 31 studies involved 2,015 participants and the average study involving 62. 97 students and the sample ranged from 9 to 283. Out of the 31 studies, 17 were published in journals, 13 were theses or dissertations, and one study was an ERIC document. From these studies, 29% involved elementary school students, 12. 9% were middle or junior high school students, and 54. 8% were high school students, and 3. 2% had a mixture of ages and grade levels. There was only a . 07% weighted effect size on pretest and posttest meta-analysis which indicates the average effect size was not significant. Two methods of applying this research to practice Firstly, my goal as an aspiring school counselor is to implement a comprehensive school counseling program for all students. I would provide a variety of interventions and activities using the four components of the delivery system of a school counseling program, guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support. I would then, conduct studies in my school, collecting data, and determine which services students and the school will benefit from the most. This will help me determine what type of programs and activities are most effective for our students and school. Secondly, I would consider taking additional research courses to prepare me to contribute to the knowledge base of school counseling, while conducting research projects related to school counseling. Simply, there needs to be more and better research in the area of school counseling. â€Å"Without additional empirical support, some schools may eliminate professional school counseling programs†(Erford, p 68). Conclusion. From this research on meta-analyses not all school counseling interventions were equally effective. Additional research is needed to examine the impact these studies had on students from diverse backgrounds. Although more research is often a recommendation after completing a meta-analysis (e. g. , Ehri et al. , 2001; Swanson, 1999; Whiston, Brecheisen,& Stephens, 2003; Xin, Grasso, Dipipi-Hoy, & Jitendra, 2005), we contend that lack of methodological rigor and dearth of studies make the calls for additional sound research in school counseling particularly important. Also, the issues of treatment integrity and increasingly use standardized outcome assessments will enhance future school counseling interventions. From this study, one would learn that additional research is needed, however, from this research; data shows that school counseling interventions have a positive effect size on student outcomes. Furthermore, there were significant effect sizes for interventions at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. School counselors’ were able to increase students’ ability to solve problems while decreasing discipline problems. However, the researchers were unable to identify specific programs or approaches that produce positive outcomes. Additional research is needed to address what interventions for school counseling works, with what students, and under what circumstances. References Erford, B. T. (2011). Transforming the school counseling profession (3rd Ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Whiston, Tai, Rahardja, and Eder. (Winter 2011 Volume 89). School Counseling Outcome: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Interventions. Journal of Counseling.

Diwali – Festival of Lights

Diwali  (also spelled  Devali  in certain regions) or  Deepavali,[1]  popularly known as the â€Å"festival of lights†, is an important five-day festival in  Hinduism,Jainism, and  Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in  India,[2]  Nepal,  Sri Lanka,  Myanmar,Mauritius,  Guyana,  Trinidad & Tobago,  Suriname,  Malaysia,  Singapore,[3]  and  Fiji. The name â€Å"Diwali† is a contraction of â€Å"Deepavali† (Sanskrit:  Dipavali), which translates into â€Å"row of lamps†. [4]  Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas  or  dipas) in  Sanskrit:   ) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks wit h family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali. Diwali commemorates the return of  Lord Rama, along with  Sita  and  Lakshman, from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king  Ravana.In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of  Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen  diyas  (oil lamps) and burst firecrackers. [5] In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of  moksha  or  nirvana  by  Mahavira  in 527 BC. [6][7]  In Sikhism,  Deepavali  commemorates the return of  Guru Har Gobind Ji  to  Amritsar  after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort  Gwalior  by defeating Emperor  Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as  Bandi Chhorh Divas, â€Å"the day of release of detainees†.The festival starts with  Dhanteras  on whi ch most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival,  Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the vanquishing of the demon  Naraka  by  Lord Krishna  and his wife  Satyabhama. Amavasya, the third day of Deepawali, marks the worship ofLakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord  Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the  Bali, and banished him to  Patala.It is on the fourth day of Deepawali,  Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali went to  patalaand took the reins of his new kingdom in there. The fifth day is referred to as  Yama Dvitiya  (also called  Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes. ————————————————- Spiritual significance In each legend, myth and story of Deepawali lies the signi ficance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope.From darkness into light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities. 5] While Deepavali is popularly known as the â€Å"festival of lights†, the most significant spiritual meaning is â€Å"the awareness of the inner light†. Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the  Atman. The celebration of Deepavali as the â€Å"vic tory of good over evil†, refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite,  immanent  and  transcendent  reality.With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings  ananda  (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light. While the story behind Deepavali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying Reality of all things (Brahman). Diwali – Festival of Lights Diwali  (also spelled  Devali  in certain regions) or  Deepavali,[1]  popularly known as the â€Å"festival of lights†, is an important five-day festival in  Hinduism,Jainism, and  Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. Deepavali is an official holiday in  India,[2]  Nepal,  Sri Lanka,  Myanmar,Mauritius,  Guyana,  Trinidad & Tobago,  Suriname,  Malaysia,  Singapore,[3]  and  Fiji. The name â€Å"Diwali† is a contraction of â€Å"Deepavali† (Sanskrit:  Dipavali), which translates into â€Å"row of lamps†. [4]  Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas  or  dipas) in  Sanskrit:   ) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks wit h family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali. Diwali commemorates the return of  Lord Rama, along with  Sita  and  Lakshman, from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king  Ravana.In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of  Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen  diyas  (oil lamps) and burst firecrackers. [5] In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of  moksha  or  nirvana  by  Mahavira  in 527 BC. [6][7]  In Sikhism,  Deepavali  commemorates the return of  Guru Har Gobind Ji  to  Amritsar  after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort  Gwalior  by defeating Emperor  Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as  Bandi Chhorh Divas, â€Å"the day of release of detainees†.The festival starts with  Dhanteras  on whi ch most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival,  Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the vanquishing of the demon  Naraka  by  Lord Krishna  and his wife  Satyabhama. Amavasya, the third day of Deepawali, marks the worship ofLakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord  Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the  Bali, and banished him to  Patala.It is on the fourth day of Deepawali,  Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali went to  patalaand took the reins of his new kingdom in there. The fifth day is referred to as  Yama Dvitiya  (also called  Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes. ————————————————- Spiritual significance In each legend, myth and story of Deepawali lies the signi ficance of the victory of good over evil; and it is with each Deepawali and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope.From darkness into light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity. During Diwali, lights illuminate every corner of India and the scent of incense sticks hangs in the air, mingled with the sounds of fire-crackers, joy, togetherness and hope. Diwali is celebrated around the globe. Outside India, it is more than a Hindu festival, it's a celebration of South-Asian identities. 5] While Deepavali is popularly known as the â€Å"festival of lights†, the most significant spiritual meaning is â€Å"the awareness of the inner light†. Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the  Atman. The celebration of Deepavali as the â€Å"vic tory of good over evil†, refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite,  immanent  and  transcendent  reality.With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings  ananda  (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light. While the story behind Deepavali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying Reality of all things (Brahman).

Radium Facts and Chemical and Physical Properties

Radium Facts and Chemical and Physical Properties Atomic Number: 88 Symbol: Ra Atomic Weight: 226.0254 Electron Configuration: [Rn] 7s2 Word Origin: Latin radius: ray Element Classification: alkaline earth metal Discovery It was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898 (France/Poland). It was isolated in 1911 by Mme. Curie and Debierne. Isotopes Sixteen isotopes of radium are known. The most common isotope is Ra-226, which has a half-life of 1620 years. Properties Radium is an alkaline earth metal. Radium has a melting point of 700Â °C, boiling point of 1140Â °C, specific gravity estimated to be 5, and valence of 2. Pure radium metal is bright white when freshly prepared, although it blackens upon exposure to air. The element decomposes in water. It is somewhat more volatile than the element barium. Radium and its salts exhibit luminescence and impart a carmine color to flame. Radium emits alpha, beta, and gamma rays. It produces neutrons when mixed with beryllium. A single gram of Ra-226 decays at the rate of 3.7x1010 disintegrations per second. [The curie (Ci) is defined to be the quantity of radioactivity which has the same rate of disintegration as 1 gram of Ra-226.] A gram of radium produces around 0.0001 ml (STP) of radon gas (emanation) per day and about 1000 calories per year. Radium loses about 1% of its activity over 25 years, with lead as its final disintegration product. Radium is a radiological hazard. Stored radium requires ven tilation to prevent the build-up of radon gas. Uses Radium has been used to produce neutron sources, luminous paints, and medical radioisotopes. Sources Radium was discovered in pitchblende or uraninite. Radium is found in all uranium minerals. There is approximately 1 gram of radium for each 7 tons of pitchblende. Radium was first isolated by electrolysis of a radium chloride solution, using a mercury cathode. The resulting amalgam yielded pure radium metal upon distillation in hydrogen. Radium is commercially obtained as its chloride or bromide and tends not to be purified as an element. Physical Data Density (g/cc): (5.5) Melting Point (K): 973 Boiling Point (K): 1413 Appearance: silvery white, radioactive element Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 45.0 Ionic Radius: 143 (2e) Specific Heat (20Â °C J/g mol): 0.120 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): (9.6) Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): (113) Pauling Negativity Number: 0.9 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 509.0 Oxidation States: 2 Sources CRC Handbook of Chemistry Physics, 18th Ed.Crescent Chemical Company, 2001.Langes Handbook of Chemistry, 1952.Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2001.

ocean water essays

ocean water essays 1. Introduction to open water waste disposal. 2. Introduction of oil into marine environments. 3. Introduction of plastics/pollutants into marine environments. 4. Possible solutions to waste disposal into our water systems. The oceans and the life they sustain have had enough. They can no longer endure the unwanted pollution of careless, inconsiderate people worldwide. The societies of this world need to wake up, and not only listen to, but understand that it is time to find better ways of dealing with wastes, rather than nonchalantly dumping it into our oceans. For decades people in societies worldwide have taken advantage of the Earth=s waters simply by dumping whatever they do not want into them. Apparently our time of easy disposal has run out, the oceans and the life within our showing distinct signs of poor health. The continuous dumping (or traditional dumping) of industrial wastes as well as sewage and garbage into the oceans is beginning to show definite signs of pollution caused stress. The National Research Council recently published information stating that human intervention has begun to take its toll on the marine environment. The ecological balance of oceans worldwide are at a dan gerously unstable state, the effects of man-made pollutants introduced into the waters and seas are having severe consequences upon the marine life living there. There is much that needs to be accomplished before scientists can fully understand how bad our oceans and seas really are. Even more importantly, is the fact that environmental action must be taken now to reduce the oceans growing plight. Arguably the most contributing polluters to our oceans are the major industries of the world. Industrial ocean pollution has incorporated a wide variety of polluters, ranging from major oil spills dispersing toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons (the resultant of the breakdown of petroleum) to PCB=s (polychlorinated biphenyls) as well as D...

Chemistry Scavenger Hunt Clues and Answers

Chemistry Scavenger Hunt Clues and Answers One of the more popular chemistry assignments is a scavenger hunt, where students are asked to identify or bring in items that fit a description. Examples of scavenger hunt items are things like an element or a heterogeneous mixture. Are there additional items you would add to a scavenger hunt or that you have been asked to find for an assignment? Chemistry Scavenger Hunt Clues First, lets start with the clues. You can print this page out to start your own chemistry scavenger hunt or try to find the answers. These same clues plus possible answers are found at the bottom of this page. An elementA heterogeneous mixtureA homogenous mixtureA gas-liquid solutionA malleable substanceA solid-liquid solutionA substance which has a volume of 1 cm3An edible example of a physical changeAn edible example of a chemical changeA pure compound which contains ionic bondsA pure compound which contains covalent bondsA mixture that can be separated by filtrationA mixture that can be separated by some other method than filtrationA substance with a density of less than 1g/mLA substance with a density of more than oneA substance which contains a polyatomic ionAn acidA metalA non-metalAn inert gasAn alkaline earth metalImmiscible liquidsA toy which demonstrates a physical changeThe result of a chemical changeA moleA substance with tetrahedral geometryA base with a pH greater than 9A polymer Possible Scavenger Hunt Answers An element: Aluminum foil, copper wire, aluminum can, iron nameA  heterogeneous mixture: Sand and water, salt and iron filingsA homogenous mixture: Air, sugar solutionA gas-liquid solution: SodaA malleable substance: Play-doh or modeling clayA solid-liquid solution: Maybe  an amalgam of silver and mercury? This is definitely a tough one.A substance which has a volume of 1 cubic centimeter: Standard sugar cube, cut a cube of soap the proper sizeAn  edible example of a physical change: Melting  ice  creamAn edible example of a chemical change: Seltzer tablet (barely edible), candies that fizz or pop when dampA pure compound which contains  ionic bonds: SaltA pure compound which contains  covalent bonds: Sucrose or table sugarA mixture that can be separated by filtration: Fruit cocktail in syrupA mixture that can be separated by some other method than filtrationSaltwater- salt and water can be separated using  reverse osmosis  or  an ion exchange columnA substance wi th a density of less than 1g/mL: Oil, ice A substance with a density more than one: Any metal, glassA substance which contains a  polyatomic ion: Gypsum (SO42-),  Epsom  saltsAn acid: Vinegar (dilute  acetic acid),  solid citric acidA metal: Iron, aluminum, copperA non-metal: Sulfur, graphite (carbon)An inert gas: Helium in a balloon, neon in a glass tube, argon if you have access to a labAn alkaline earth metal: Calcium, magnesiumImmiscible liquids: Oil and waterA toy which demonstrates a physical change: A toy steam engineThe result of a chemical change: AshesA mole: 18 g of water, 58.5 g of salt, 55.8 g of ironA substance with tetrahedral geometry: Silicates (sand, quartz), diamondA base with a pH greater than 9: Baking sodaA polymer: A piece of plastic

Not sure Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Not sure - Research Proposal Example This was a triggering event for me, and I decided to research more. My research gave me a lot of literature about the mechanics of the SLR camera, and its preferred advantages over other forms of camera. I also gained a lot of resource material on the different brands of SLR and digital SLR (DSLR). However, when I was viewing the disadvantages of SLR I found out that one of the disadvantages of the SLR is that the mirror system can cause noise. I researched more on it, but could not get enough information. One of the reasons why noise came into the images was because of the thermal effect. Therefore it struck me if using a sensor cooling system in consumer grade DSLRs can reduce noise. I tried to find more literature if such cooling sensors are being used in consumer grade models. There was some information available on the usage of CCD sensors in DSLR for use in astrophotography; however, there was no literature or trial models in the market which used cooling systems for SLR in consumer grade models. Therefore I decided to base my research on the scope of developing a consumer grade SLR that integrated cooling systems to reduce noise. My research paper reviews the DSLR mechanics, and its merits and demerits over other forms of cameras. In the later part, the paper explores the science behind noise, and how it is overcome. It then goes on to justify that why cooling sensors can decrease noise. The paper outlines an experiment that could be performed in order to assess if cooling sensors can decrease noise. The paper also provides safety precautions that need to be taken and the scope, if the experiment is successful, of such DSLR models in the market for cameras today. As mentioned above, one of the disadvantages of consumer-grade DSLR is that the signal to noise ratio is high. Therefore the experiment is designed to investigate how one a certain type of sensor can reduce this ratio. The first step

Aesthetic Style in Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Aesthetic Style in Writing - Essay Example They enlighten and portray the preciseness of what is being communicated. Characters have been exceptionally represented in reference to their high ranking roles, to bring out the extent of the superiority of white people. She puts in place politicians, board members of the Canterbury Club, a doctor, jurist, theologian, college president among others. They are representatives of the larger majority of the Americans. They express enthusiasm about the matters surrounding their well-being and that of the nation. At the same time, they are more oriented in their own social progress, hence, the formation of their Club. Words articulated by these characters have been specially chosen by Pauline to highlight their own self-interests. Talma Gordon was a symbol of great things that can come out of the intermingling between the black people and other races. She is described to have a wonderful smile and a face full of delight â€Å"like the heart of a flower† (Elizabeth 2). This represents wealth, happiness and some of the good things that the intermarriage relation can bring. Jeannette is compared to her father who is dark and stern while Talma is said to have a similarity with her mother. This is discriminative since Mrs. Gordon was richer than Mr. Gordon as she possessed much of the family’s wealth in which she, in turn, left to her daughters after her death. Talma was as genius as a dead mother who was light. This portrays the aspect of the light skin color overshadowing the dark skin color thus raising the controversy in their intermingling. It presumes that in case of intermarriage, some parties will over depend on others for survival. This is a form of discrimination. Some visitors were given a warmer welcome than others were. The writer thought that she and she accompany will be â€Å"welcomed to a banquet that would feast both eye and palate† (Elizabeth 3) but to their surprise, they were not even looked at by the hostess.

Operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Operations management - Essay Example lity goals; and the people assigned to the project receive the motivation, direction, and information needed to do their jobs†. (from the text, p.49) The Project Manager will have to consider the pros and cons of different features and options and will have to decide to retain some while discarding others. Once the design is approved, detailed planning begins. At this stage, â€Å"business benefits, project objectives, requirements, governance, scope and project management methodology are all agreed upon†.(www.businessperform.com, 2011) The PM also sorts out common ethical issues faced by project teams at this stage, and prepares the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). During the Scheduling phase, sequences and time allotment are given to all project activities. The PM decides the optimal time allocation for each activity/task and will accordingly delegate people and resources towards its execution.

The Launching of Credit Card in Romania Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Launching of Credit Card in Romania - Essay Example The bank which is launching the card is Alpen bank. The objective of the research is to find out whether the launch of credit card into the country will be worth and whether such a launch will be able to generate the sufficient amount of revenues so that the feasibility of the new product is proved in terms of entry-decision. SWOT analysis is carried out to find out the relevant opportunities and issues about the establishment of new credit card business. Market positioning of the bank is analyzed for the successful establishment of the credit card business. SWOT Analysis Strengths The strength of the bank comes from its affluent customers. Majority of customers of the bank belong to the upper strata of the society. Having affluent customers also means that they are more frequent with the use of credit card and the purchase amount is also high. Weaknesses The major weakness of the credit card business comes because of the low growth potential. The growth potential of credit card busi ness is very low in Romania compared to other emerging markets. Lack of consumer experience in terms of management of credit card and related monetary transaction is another weakness, because of which majority of customers opt for cash transactions. The country has suffered a three year long recession which has affected the life style of the common people. Consumers have become price sensitive and opt for cutting budgets with the objective of saving money. This is a weak link for the credit card business because it is a general perception among consumers that holding credit cards leads to higher amount of purchases as compared to cash purchases. Another issue in credit card business is that, most of the times credit card is used for exclusive cash withdrawals rather than using it for real purpose that it purchase. Apart from this, since credit card business is relatively new and unknown to the customers of Romania, huge investments will be needed with respect of advertising, direct marketing and support infrastructure. Opportunities The opportunities from this credit card business can be explained in terms of the political, social and other related factors affecting the country and the credit card industry as well; Political- legal policies, procedure and other corporate obligations in the country are not very stringent, which will help in the smother transaction of the business. Economic- the economic environment of Romania has improved since 2006, after the country entered into the European Union. Since then, the microeconomic trends have been positive and with the increasing income, the disposable income of the households has also increased. This shows the opportunity of the credit card business to bank on the increased economic conditions of the country. Socio-cultural- with the increase in the economic status, it is expected that one third of the Romanian population will prefer branded products. This will increase the overall use of credit cards in the co untry. Technological- with the advent of globalization, more are more companies have stated to market their products and services into more emerging and developing markets. As the availability of technology has become cheaper and readily available, the credit card business can tap on this opportunity. Since credit card business will need technological assistance, the company can use the latest technology available to gain a sustainable competitive advantage over the competitors. Environmental- the use of credit cards is totally free from creating environmental hazards. The use of online transactions will also decrease the use of paper which will influence the environment in a positive manner. Threats Similarly, the threats from this credit

Analyses of Youths Working in Fast Food Industries Essay

Analyses of Youths Working in Fast Food Industries - Essay Example The essay "Analyses of Youths Working in Fast Food Industries" presents an overview of the article "Working at McDonald's" by Amitai Etzioni who emphasizes that there is little learning in terms of skills development taking place. This article is well written and the author tries to portray his argument in a clear and succinct way. The author substantiates his arguments with factual information that has been drawn from other studies related to this particular problem. For instance, the author quotes the Charper-Freser Study which posts to the effect that teenagers often work for about 30 hours per week and only 20% of them work for 15 hours or less. A critical reading of the article also shows that the teens often finish work very late and this is likely to impact negatively on their school work. Obviously, by the time they get home late at night, they will be tired so they cannot be in a position to complete their school work. In terms of academic development, these teens are likely to lag behind and they may not be in a position to get better-paying jobs. The other important point that has been portrayed by the author is that most teen work these days is not providing early lessons in the work ethic. It fosters escape from school and responsibilities and it provides a shortcut to the consumerist aspects of adult life. This is very bad for youth development since they will fail to concentrate on their studies in pursuit of earning quick money which may negatively impact on their career development. Indeed, the teens need to learn to be self reliant from a tender age but they often find themselves in a trap where they fail to balance their academic life and the need to earn extra income while they are still at school. The result is that most of these people will drop out of school in order to concentrate on these part time jobs that can offer them quick money. Once this has happened, career development suffers and these people end up doing low paying jobs throughout their lives as a result of the fact that they will be lacking requisite skills to perform other professional jobs that are better paying and secure. The other interesting point raised by the author is that â€Å"there is no father or mother figure with which to identify to emulate to provide a role model and guidance,† (283). It can be observed that these teens have little room for skills development since they do not have anyone to guide them so that they can improve in their work. It can also be noted that there are less adult values that are transmitted to these teens since they are forced to supervise themselves at work. This is a strategy by some of these fast food restaurants like McDonalds that intend to cut costs by avoiding hiring experienced supervisors. These in turn can impart vital knowledge among the youths but this is not the case. at the end of the day, it can be seen that there is no development taking place among the youths but they are exposed to a situation where youth delinquency thrives. Whenever there is no adult leadershi p or guidance, the problem that is likely to be

The Launching of Credit Card in Romania Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Launching of Credit Card in Romania - Essay Example The bank which is launching the card is Alpen bank. The objective of the research is to find out whether the launch of credit card into the country will be worth and whether such a launch will be able to generate the sufficient amount of revenues so that the feasibility of the new product is proved in terms of entry-decision. SWOT analysis is carried out to find out the relevant opportunities and issues about the establishment of new credit card business. Market positioning of the bank is analyzed for the successful establishment of the credit card business. SWOT Analysis Strengths The strength of the bank comes from its affluent customers. Majority of customers of the bank belong to the upper strata of the society. Having affluent customers also means that they are more frequent with the use of credit card and the purchase amount is also high. Weaknesses The major weakness of the credit card business comes because of the low growth potential. The growth potential of credit card busi ness is very low in Romania compared to other emerging markets. Lack of consumer experience in terms of management of credit card and related monetary transaction is another weakness, because of which majority of customers opt for cash transactions. The country has suffered a three year long recession which has affected the life style of the common people. Consumers have become price sensitive and opt for cutting budgets with the objective of saving money. This is a weak link for the credit card business because it is a general perception among consumers that holding credit cards leads to higher amount of purchases as compared to cash purchases. Another issue in credit card business is that, most of the times credit card is used for exclusive cash withdrawals rather than using it for real purpose that it purchase. Apart from this, since credit card business is relatively new and unknown to the customers of Romania, huge investments will be needed with respect of advertising, direct marketing and support infrastructure. Opportunities The opportunities from this credit card business can be explained in terms of the political, social and other related factors affecting the country and the credit card industry as well; Political- legal policies, procedure and other corporate obligations in the country are not very stringent, which will help in the smother transaction of the business. Economic- the economic environment of Romania has improved since 2006, after the country entered into the European Union. Since then, the microeconomic trends have been positive and with the increasing income, the disposable income of the households has also increased. This shows the opportunity of the credit card business to bank on the increased economic conditions of the country. Socio-cultural- with the increase in the economic status, it is expected that one third of the Romanian population will prefer branded products. This will increase the overall use of credit cards in the co untry. Technological- with the advent of globalization, more are more companies have stated to market their products and services into more emerging and developing markets. As the availability of technology has become cheaper and readily available, the credit card business can tap on this opportunity. Since credit card business will need technological assistance, the company can use the latest technology available to gain a sustainable competitive advantage over the competitors. Environmental- the use of credit cards is totally free from creating environmental hazards. The use of online transactions will also decrease the use of paper which will influence the environment in a positive manner. Threats Similarly, the threats from this credit

Engineering ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Engineering ethics - Essay Example As such, the disaster was a result of an engineering oversight arising from the underestimation on the strength and capability of the lift slab. Every major constructions have a core pillar, the pillar that traverses the entire length of the building offering a core for the inclusion of the elevator is always a determining factor on the strength of the building. The L’Ambiance Plaza was to have two of such pillars in the form of rectangular pillars at both ends of the building. The collapse occurred when the intense pressure placed on the west tower proved overwhelming. Apparently, construction on the west wing of the building had reached the eight floor with slabs for the successive three floor slabs placed at stage IV directly over the twelfth floor. This resulted in the placement of intense stress on the pillar thereby instigating the collapse. At the time of collapse, workers were in the floors below completing various categories of construction work in different floors be low the roof. Twenty-eight of the workers died instantly as the floors buried them. The ninth, tenth and eleventh floor slabs caved in with the crane through the west pillar, the stress caused by the western side of the building intensified the pressure on the eastern wing thereby resulting in the collapse of the entire building. The entire building eventually collapsed thereby compounding the loss of capital at the site of construction. More alarmingly was the fact that the entire building collapsed in less than six seconds.

Zimbabwe’s Present (Post Z$) Economic Recovery Programmes Essay Example for Free

Zimbabwe’s Present (Post Z$) Economic Recovery Programmes Essay Introduction The beginning of 2009 marked the end of over a decade of economic decline in Zimbabwe. The economic indicators decline cut across all key sectors, despite Zimbabwe’s rich resource endowment. Inflation, initially at 100 percent annually between 2001 and 2006, increased to over 1500 percent (McIndoe, 2009). According to IMF estimates, real GDP growth recorded a cumulative contraction of 48% (nearly 5% per year) between 2000 and 2009. Agriculture value added contracted by 86% during the period 2002-2008. Gross national income per capita in 2008 was estimated to be US$360 (compared to sub-Saharan Africa average of US$1,428), making it one of the poorest countries in the world (African Development Bank, 2010). The poverty rate which was already on an increase since 1995 (42 percent) was recorded at 63 percent in 2003 and was estimated to be over 70 percent in 2010 (African Development Bank Group, 2011). According to the economic policy reform proposals announced by the coalition government formed in February 2009, other symptoms of the economic crises as negative GDP growth rates, low productivity capacity, loss of jobs in the formal sector, food shortages, massive deindustrialization and general despondency (STERP, 2009). This paper uses ‘developmental state theory’ as a basis of assessing economic reform policies proposed and currently being implemented by the Zimbabwe’s coalition government after the demise of the Zimbabwe dollar (Z$) in 2009. The paper considers STERP in March 2009, Medium Term Plan (MTP) in July 2010, and the Three Year Macro-economic Policy and Budget Framework 2010-2012 (STERP II) in the context of this economic theory with a view to assessing the extent to which they bring Zimbabwe closer to the key elements of a develop-mental state. This is taken from the premise on which these policies are anchored. For example, the sixth point in STERP says: â€Å"STERP is an emergency short term stabilization program, whose key goals are to stabilize the macro and micro-economy, recover the levels of savings, investment and growth, and lay the basis of a more transformative mid-term to long-term economic program that will turn Zimbabwe into a progressive developmental State,† STERP, 2009: point no. 6) The paper begins with a summary of the key elements of the economic reform proposals. It then looks at the key elements of a developmental state after which it assesses the extent to which Zimbabwe’s key reform proposals would enable it to meet the minimal requirements of a develop-mental state. The paper concludes by offering an assessment of the chances of success for the economic reform measures. Key elements of Zimbabwe’s economic reform measures All reform programs are anchored on economic stabilization, increasing productivity and turning Zimbabwe into a developmental state. In the key policy pronouncements announced in STERP (February 2009) and the Medium Term Plan, Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) had two principal objectives. First, it set out to use domestic savings and foreign finance to carry out public investment projects and to mobilize and channel scarce resources into areas that can be expected to make the greatest contribution towards the realization of long term economic objectives. These include measures â€Å"to stabilize the macro and micro-economy, recover the levels of savings, investment and growth, and lay the basis for transformation from mid-term to long-term economic programs that will result in economic growth and reduction of poverty levels. In so doing, the reform programs, as espoused in article 3 of the September 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) seek to address the key issues of economic stabilization and national healing, whilst at the same time laying the foundation of a more comprehensive and developmental economic framework. The second is to ensure that economic policy (e.g. taxation, industrial licensing, the setting of tariffs and the manipulation of wages, interest rates and prices) stimulates direct and in some cases control private economic activity to ensure harmonious relationship between the desires of private business operators and the social objectives of government policy. Some of the key features of the policies include the adoption of a cash budgeting system; use of multiple currencies as legal tender and adoption of the rand as a reference currency; and the dismantling of foreign currency controls among other measures. Theoretical framework A starting point in exploring the theory of a developmental state is the ‘developmental state’ literature that gained currency following the phenomenal economic performance of the East Asian countries in the 1970s. Meredith Woo-Cumings (1999: 1) describes the theory of develop-mental state as the explanation for the East Asian industrialization. This theorizing represents one of the first attempts to integrate government and private sector decision making. Earlier theorists such as Downs (1957) had noted a trend in economic theorizing which treated government action as an exogenous variable determined by political considerations that lie outside the purview of economics. The earlier view represented a carryover from the classical premise that saw the business as a self regulating mechanism. Any government action beyond maintenance of law and order was seen as undesirable interference. Edigheji (2005) has analyzed a number of variations of the literature on the developmental state and notes two strands of theorizing. The first set of theories focus exclusively on the developmental goals of the state (e.g. Castells, 1992). These theories argue that state is developmental when it establishes as its principle of legitimacy its ability to promote and sustain development (understood as the combination of steady and high rates of economic growth and structural change in the productive system) both domestically and in its relationship with the international economy. Thus a developmental state is seen as one which is able and willing to create and sustain a policy climate that promotes development by fostering productive investment, exports, growth and human welfare (Ponk, in Edigheji, 2005). The second strand of theorizing looks beyond the objectives to focus on the institutional characteristics of the state and draws attention to the ideological character of the development state. Mkandawire (2001) has referred to this as the ‘state-structure nexus’ that enable the state to be able to achieve growth and development while others cannot. A premium thus has to be placed on the institutional/organizational configurations of the developmental state. This is primarily because what sets a developmental state apart from others is that not only is it able to clearly set its development objectives; it also establishes institutional structures in order to achieve the objectives. Locating the role of the state In this paper, a developmental state is defined by its objectives and its institutional characteristics. It is â€Å"one whose ideological underpinnings are developmental and one that seriously attempts to construct and deploy both administrative and political resources to the task of economic development† (Mkandawire, 2001:296). The role of the state needs to be clarified given the contradictory nature of the literature on the East Asian cases. Earlier theorizing initially conceived a developmental state in terms of the state imposing its will over society and suppressing civil society. Thus they argued that the developmental state paid no heed to the democratic aspect of the developmental state. This is partly because some scholars regarded the repressive nature of the state as one of the factors that enhanced its developmental capacity. For some scholars, the â€Å"soft authoritarian character† of the state was the source of its autonomy which spurred growth (e.g. Johnson, 1982, Wade, 1990). This is because a developmental state has existed in authoritarian Korea and Taiwan as well as in democratic Japan. In fact, Japan was the first East Asian state to be considered a developmental state (Bolesta, 2007:107). Despite the nature of government, in a ‘true developmental state, the bureaucratic rulers possess a particular kind of legitimacy that allows them to be much more experimental and undoctrinaire (accommodative of new ideas) than in the typical authoritarian regime’ (Johnson 1999: 52). However, Leftwich (1995: 405) has identified six major components that define the developmental state model. These are a determined developmental elite; relative autonomy; a powerful, competent and insulated bureaucracy; a weak and subordinated civil society; the effective management of non-state economic interests; and legitimacy and performance. The characterization of the democratic elements in Leftwich’s model closely mirrors the situation in Zimbabwe prior to 2009 and may not be helpful looking forward. Zimbabwe had an increasingly authoritarian governance style since the late 90s (Sachikonye, 2002) yet its economic policies saw a continuing decline in key economic indicators. In analyzing the economic reforms policies in Zimbabwe this paper therefore draws more from theories that have stressed the cooperative dynamism of the developmental state. For example, following a detailed analysis of the state’s relationship with business, Linda Weiss (1998: 258) came up with the concept of â€Å"governed interdependence† where she conceptualized that there are collaborative relationships between government and business in pursuit of transformative projects. She noted: â€Å"In this relationship, each party retains its independence, while government remains the ultimate arbiter of the rules and goals of interaction in which information is exchanged, resources are pooled and tasks shared,† (Weiss, 1998: 258). Zimbabwe’s neighbour, Botswana, is an illustration of a state that has pursued certain policies in the construction of what might be regarded as a â€Å"developmental state† i.e. a state that pursues policies that co-ordinates investment plans; has a national development vision- implying that the state is an entrepreneurial agent that engages in institution-building to promote growth and development; and†¦plays a role in domestic conflict management (Chang, 1999: 192-199). Assessment of Zim’s post Z$ economic reform policies The economic reform policy measures are assessed in relation to how the enhance Zimbabwe’s progress towards the attainment of ‘developmental state’ status. It is necessary to point at the onset that the key policy reform measures announced by the GoZ have been formulated and are being carried out within the framework of a mixed economy i.e. some of the productive resources are privately owned and operated while some are controlled by the public sector. As Todaro and Smith (2010) have noted, the mere existence of such an institutional setup means that neither the private nor the public sector can be considered in isolation from each other. This acknowledgement of the interdependent role of the state and business is one of the few positive outcomes (discussed later) of the reform measures. However, a number of factors in the policy measures do not meet the minimal elements required for the country to attain development state status. These include the lack of a clearly and coordinated role of State institutions and weak premises for global re-engagement, both of which are critical for the success of the economic reform measures. Unclear role of the State According to the MTP (2010), the policy measures seek to â€Å"establish a platform for Zimbabwe to emerge as a vibrant Private Sector driven economy that is growing and transforming from a producer of primary products to a producer of diversified manufactured quality products laying the foundation of a competitive global player.† The State will thus â€Å"provide a conductive policy environment that will ignite Private Sector initiatives, entrepreneurship as well as promote a saving and investment culture.† This statement sounds noble but there is nothing that has been said about coordinating the role of the many state players in the economic reform measures. The Ministry of Economic Planning is coordinating 13 sectors in a framework that in reality has shown to be independent of the other key ministries such as the Youth, Indigenization and Empowerment ministry, the Mines Ministry and the Local government ministries, to cite but a few. The country’s indigenization policy, supervised by the youth ministry, has been viewed as a threat to foreign investment in the nation. Whilst government has made assertions about the enforcement of the Act, several transactions have been concluded which show inconsistency in policy implementation. A case in point is government ‘sale of above 50% of its shareholding in Ziscosteel to Essar Energy in Mauritius in 2010 despite the conditions of the Act, which state that 51% of all businesses must be indigenously owned. (IH Securities, 2011) Exacerbating this lack of coordination is the past record of State regulation which has in the past failed to facilitating a conducive environment for business by sections of the previous government. This has the effect of promoting rent-seeking behaviours and corruption in both government and the private sector. International financial institutions have noted this as a hindrance to the success of the economic reform measures. For example, in statement at the Conclusion of the 2011 Article IV Consultation Mission to Zimbabwe (IMF, 2011) the IMF noted that while â€Å"stronger policies, a favorable external environment, and sizeable off-budget donor grants supported a nascent economic recovery and a notable improvement in the humanitarian situation during 2009-10,† the â€Å"macroeconomic outlook for 2011 remains highly uncertain,† (IMF, 2011). The IMF cites among other things, an inefficient composition of public expenditure, persistent financial sector vulnerabilities, and weaknesses in the business climate, including the recently announced fast track indigenization of the mining sector. The State, which prior to the coalition government had become an arena for private capital accumulation, cannot extricate itself from excessive private sector regulation which has, in some cases, resulted in the violation of private property rights. A recent example of these excesses is the recent case that will be heard in the International Court in Paris. The case involves the GoZ and South Africa based Amari Platinum following the former’s cancellation of joint mining ventures in 2010. The South African company had invested over $35 million into the project where it partnered the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation. According to media reports, the company is demanding compensation of $200 million, (Sunday Times, October 9th 2011). Autonomy, which is a crucial element that supports growth in a developmental state, means the ability of the state to behave as a coherent collective actor capable of identifying and implementing developmental goals (Edigheji, 2005).There is therefore need for structural reforms. These would include alignment of indigenization and empowerment objectives with respect for private property rights and the need to attract domestic and foreign investment. While these recommendations appear individually, they point to the failure by the reform policies to clearly spell out the role of the State in the economic reform process. Crucially, and related to the role of the State, is the fact that there has not been any systematic attempt to elaborate the concept of the developmental state in Zimbabwe. Besides passing reference in the objectives of all plans, government has not specified the sources of its capacity, other than regular lamentation about the need to build the skills capacities of the public sector. Thus crucial institutional elements that would enable the developmental state to act in a coherent fashion and, on that basis, successfully engage with its social partners have been either taken for granted at best or ignored at worst. Weak to zero premises for global re-integration The policy measures recognize the level of debt currently besetting the country and its impact on badly needed financial inflows, yet it is not clear how this debt will be cleared. According to the MTP: â€Å"the success story that Zimbabwe is becoming will in itself unlock other sources of funds. The few investments funds already in the country will soon become a multitude. Investors like a place where a dollar can be made and Zimbabwe provides such an opportunity.† This in itself sounds like a work of faith. Whilst trust plays a crucial role in policy implementation, the assumption that only success can unlock lines of credit and provides a stimulus for the productive sector is not based on evidence. The huge debt which will result in high future taxes if the country’s major sectors of the economy do not increase their operating capacity against a background of inadequate foreign aid. It could be that it is a carrot in the stick for those elements of government that are likely to derail reforms, yet experience in the past has shown that it is not success that drives politicians, but the ability to create and generate enough wealth prior to the next elections. Reducing poverty under such policies becomes a farfetched dream that will not be recognized. There is need to strengthen internal revenue generation and collection in areas such as tourism, agriculture and mining to finance internal and external debt while also providing resources f or the productive sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. Alternatively, the country could attain Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) status to enable international debt relief. The experience of Zambia shows that total external debt reduced significantly by 8.9 percent from US$7.12 billion in 2001 to US$6.49 billion in 2002 as a result of the HIPC Initiative (Zulu, 2003). HIPC status could be tied in with the strengthening of open trade policies. Despite being a signatory to numerous trade pacts, Zimbabwe has maintained numerous import controls as reflected by the high tariffs relative to other countries in the region (Hurungo, 2010). The country’s reluctance to reduce tariffs is due to its over reliance on the revenue generated (Biti, 2010) Economic literature on the relationship between restrictive or open trade policies and economic progress has been inconclusive. Multilateral institutions such as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regularly promulgate advice predicated on the belief that openness gener ates predictable and positive consequences for growth. According to the IMF, for instance, â€Å"policies toward foreign trade are among the more important factors promoting economic growth and convergence in developing countries,† (IMF, 1997:84). This view is supported by a vast array of literature on trade. For example, Stiglitz (1998:36) noted that â€Å"most specifications of empirical growth regressions find that some indicators of external openness- whether trade ratios or indices or price distortions or average tariff level- is strongly association with per-capita income growth.† Others have made similar observations noting that â€Å"integration into the world economy is the best way for countries to grow,† (Fischer, 2000). Thus Zimbabwe’s strategic reintegration with traditional trade partners could spur growth if value addition is considered for some export products. History has shown that there is no positive relationship between exports and growth in Zimbabwe. For much of the period when Zimbabwe experienced negative growth rates (between 1997 and 2009), it experienced a trade surplus with South Africa, the European Union and the United States (ZimTrade, 2009). Such trade surpluses need to be tapped into in a new economic and political environment fostered by the coalition government so as to spur economic growth and equity. However, there is no acknowledgement of these facts. Stabilization as a success story It should be noted that a significant proportion of the policy measures have had a positive effect- which has resulted in economic stabilization. The adoption of multiple (excluding the Zimbabwe dollar) had the immediate impact of eliminating hyperinflation. Annual inflation declined from an official figure of 231 million in July 2008 to 0.5 percent in December 2009 and 3.5 percent in July 2011, according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO). According to the IMF (April 2011), the Governing Board of the RBZ (which was appointed in May 2010) has achieved a significant improvement in central bank governance, reporting, and organizational restructuring although further steps are needed to accelerate financial restructuring of the financially-distressed RBZ. There was also a significant improvement in product availability in retail and wholesale outlets, with capacity utilization having markedly improved which also witnessed an improvement in the performance of the overall economy. For instance, in 2009 the economy was estimated to have grown by 5.7 percent and the average for SADC was 2.4 percent and 2 percent for Sub-Saharan Africa. While this stabilization, within the theoretical framework of the developmental state, can be seen as progress, it is easy to see that the economic decline had hit rock bottom and the desire is to bring levels of productivity to 2000 levels. The World Bank has estimated that it will take another decade with a growth rate of 10 percent per annum to bring rates to 2000 levels. In June, the IMF said Zimbabwean growth is set to slow sharply in 2011and the countrys recovery from a decade-long deep economic contraction remained fragile (IMF, 2011). An IMF review of Zimbabwes economy projected that economic growth would drop to 5.5 percent in 2011 from 9.0 percent in 2010. It said the country was in debt distress with a large unsustainable external debt stock of 118 percent of gross domestic product as of the end of 2010, the bulk of which was in arrears. Conclusion This paper has provided a framework for understanding Zimbabwe’s economic reform policies within the framework of a developmental state. Though not exhaustive, the developmental state has been defined based on its institutional attributes of being autonomous and coherent. In addition, the developmental state is one that forges broad-based alliances with society and ensures popular participation in the governance and transformation processes. Elements of the Washington Consensus and other classical economic theory have been brought to bear on previous economic reform programs and there is evidence that these continue in current reform policies. The classical theories do not take into account the unique circumstances of a country, especially the different types of government. In spite of the type of government, a developmental state is guided by the goals of coherence and authoritative governance, accountability, inclusiveness, stability, ability to generate consensus and popular participation- none of which are visible in Zimbabwe’s political and economic outlook. Much of the work towards the attainment of a developmental state hinge on Zimbabwe providing and implementing a clear definition of the role of the key players- the state, private sector and civil society- in the proposed economic reform measures. Other measures include forging a clear partnerships with local and international players- with parameters of engagement with the latter based on realistic economic policy measures as well as an engagement path that takes into consideration Zimbabwe’s trade surplus with the major international economic blocks such as the European Union, SADC and the United States. Without this, as seen in current reform policies the chances of success of the reform measures are limited. References African Development Bank Group, 2011, Infrastructure and Growth in Zimbabwe- An Action Plan for Sustained Strong Economic Growth, Tunis, Tunisia African Development Bank Group, 2010, Zimbabwe Country Brief, Regional Department, South Region A, January 2010. Biti, T 2010 â€Å"2010 Budget Speech. Ministry of Finance (28 January) Castells, M., 1992 ‘Four Asian Tigers with a Dragon Head: A Comparative Analysis of State, Economy and Society in the Asian Pacific Rim.’ in Applebaum R, Henderson J (eds). State and Development in the Asian Pacific. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. Chang, H-J (1999) ‘The Economic Theory of the Developmental State’ in M. Woo-Cumings (ed.) The Developmental State New York: Cornell University. Downs, A., 1957, An economic theory of political action in a democracy. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 65, No. 2, April 1957 Edigheji, O., 2005, A Democratic Developmental State in Africa? Centre for Policy Studies, Research Report No. 105, May 2005 Hurungo, J.T. 2010 Trade Policy Review: Zimbabwe. Stellenbosch: Tralac Medium Term Plan, 2010, Medium Term Plan January 2010- December 2015, July 6, Harare: Government Printers IH Securities, 2011, Zimbabwe Equity Strategy: Bullish macro story amidst potential turbulent waters, Equity Research, March 2, 2011. Johnson, C., 1982, MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford: Stanford University Press Leftwich, A., 1995, ‘Bringing Politics Back In: Towards a Model of the Developmental State’, Journal of Development Studies, vol. 31, no. 3. McIndoe, T., 2009, Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe: money demand, seignorage and Aid shocks. IIIS Discussion Paper No. 293, July 2009. Mkandawire, T., 2001, ‘Thinking About the Developmental States in Africa.’ Cambridge Journal of Economics, Pp 289- 314 Sachikonye, L. M. 2002 Whither Zimbabwe? Crisis and Democratization. Review of African Political Economy, No. 91, 13. P 13- 20. Roape Publications Limited. Todaro, P.T. Smith, C. S., 2010 Economic Development (10th edition), Boston: Pearson/ Addison Wesley Wade, R. 1990. Governing the Market. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990. Weiss, L. 2003 Guiding Globalization in East Asia: new roles for old developmental states. In Linda Weiss (Ed), States in the global economy: bringing domestic institutions back in. UK: Cambridge University Press Zulu, J.J., 2003, Leaning Against Economic Winds: Zambia’s Problems with HIPC, Lusaka: Jubilee- Zambia Debt Project

Philip Larkin Poetry Analysis

Philip Larkin Poetry Analysis Introduction Meaning of the Term Movement The Movement is related to the work and concept of a group of poets of the nineteen-fifties entirely. The poets were Donald Davie, Kingsley Amis, Thorn Gunn, and many more. Philip Larkin (1922-1985), who was also one of the poets greatly believed to be closely related to it. These poets believed to have casted a rebellion against the raised romanticism and sensuousness from the nineteen-thirties to nineteen-fifties. The work of these poets was regarded and regarded as victorious of common sense and clarity over obscurity and mystification. It was regarded as a verbal restraint over stylistic excessive. Philip Larkin subtly deflates the familiar romantic childhood idyllic associated with other writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Dylan Thomas. Such characteristics were a source of enduring popularity for readers of that time. Stark and Naked Realities in Philip Larkins Poetry The nineteen-fifties was filled with a time when the universal attitude of the people and the writers was highly anti-romantic and largely anti-heroic. The World War II had come to a halt in 1945 and the euphoria caused over the defeat of the Nazi including fascist nations, and also of imperialist Japan too soon ended.This gave ways to a feeling of despondency and rejection over the impairment which even the victorious Allies had to suffer in great. Worldly, the Germans bombing raids over Britain had inflicted enormous damage on the country including the territories and thousand and millions of lives had been already lost. As a result, there was an air of disillusionment and disenchantment among the commoners as well as among the writers, poets, authors and artists of that time. A writer like Philip Larkin was more committed to a realistic and naturalistic display of life and the actual conditions of life over the country could not have contributed a romantic a real halo or a heroic quality to the life which he necessarily depicted in his poems. The city was clearly more than a place of comic disparagement for this writer. He could not have really portrayed heroes andtheir heroismon the face of the miseries, constraints and the financial problems which the country was experiencing at that time. The Welfare State was established but the results of that were not to satisfying and comforting. It had been accepted by many critics through their criticisms that the poets of that time during Movement did not at all existed as a literary group. But it has also been acknowledged that these poets basically operated in a significant cultural and social influence. The Movement was the product of the specific views about both literature and society and it in its turn helped to establish and to circularize and comment on such views. Philip Larkin wanted only to show the stark, crude, blunt realities of life in his poems and emerged as an extreme kind of all anti-heroes. He mocked at himself and also mocked at the people as well as the conditions that surrounded him. Wherever he found any chances of reinventing feature in social, economical and political life of the country he did not close his eyes to it but he instead was even keener and gloomily much aware of the sordidness of the commercialized, commodifiedand consumerised society. Many of his poems are based on self-awareness and most of them also contain also sharp criticisms on the society encompassing him. The unwillingness to tell lies, accuracy and fidelity to the actual state of affairs were the three most governing principles of Philip Larkins poetry. His poetry is truthful, and he does not try to impart any glamour or glitter to life as he saw it. He does not try to romanticize human relationships, not even the love relationship between men and women . To conclude, he does not depict himself as main protagonist of any sort and he does not depict any heroic individuals with codes of honor as seen in Greek literatures. In his poetry,there are no warriors and no knights-at-arms in his poetry. There are also no Romeos and Juliets of Shakespeare in his poetry. There are no war-like deed in his poetry, and there is no tendency at all forthe glorification of human beings or human relationships. We observe much of stark and naked realities in his poetry. CONTENT No Romance for Larkin in Love and Marriage An Arundel Tomb'(published in 1964) is a poem consisting of 7 verses with 6 lines each which is about an Earl of Arundel and his Countess or second wife. The poet here recognizes the feelings of mutual attachment between them in a way the sculptor has depicted them as holding hands of each other. But Larkin does not romanticize and bring out the feelings of joyfulness ofthis attachment and bonding between them. In the reversal, he expresses the view that this beautifully holding of hands was necessarily the sculptor’s discovery and not a representation of an actual or momentary moment. Henceforth, Philip Larkin witingly looks at the relationship between the Earl of Arundel and his second wife with the rationality and not emotions. In Dockery and Son .Philip Larkin says that, while a person of his same age had married early in life and has a son. He himself had never married and had no son or daughter. But he does notregard Dockery as high ranking to himself because of this sit uations in life. In other words, he does not comment much on marriage and of children. In Poetry of DeparturesPhilip Larkin expresses a desire to leave and travel but then eventually drops upthis idea or view. He does not romanticize travelling in the name of adventures or the gathering of knowledge its own sake. In all these poems we find Philip Larkin adopting an attitude to the most crucial aspects of life. Love, Relationships, marriage and travel are not in his notions something worth experiencing, rejoicing, marvelous and wonderful. A heroic life is necessarily also a romantic life but Philip Larkin finds no heroism, greatness, magnificense and no romance in love affairs and marriage. Individuals in Larkins Poems in a Heroic Mold The individuals portrayedby Philip Larkin in his poems are certainly in the heroic mold. The main character or the protagonist in his dramatic monologues is the poet Philip Larkin himself. In these poems he does not proclaim himself in any way. And in poems where he portrays some other persons, theyare not presented as a heroic figure. The poem Mr. Bleaney’ which he uses in his other novel as well ‘Jill’the speaker is he himself. Both of them have not been depicted as a figure of heroism in this following poem. Mr. Bleaney is and ordinary kind of manual worker who is modest, humble and unassuming leading a poverty stricken. Philip Larkin speaks about Mr. Bleaneyas an exposing his shallowness and his uninspiring life. But Larkin does not speak of himself in any of such manners. He certainly establishes his superior nature over Mr. Bleaney because of his higher spiritual and intellectual interests but instead he jokes at himself in the same manner while mocking at M r. Bleaney. In fact Philip Larkin irony is often directed against himself only. The poem titled I Remember, I Remember is the most appropriate example. Here he attacks the romantic notions of his childhood which in other poems he has described as a forgotten boredom. The Evangelist in Faith Healing Is Pulled Down from his pedestal In the poem Faith Healing , the Evangelist is not considered as an ideal or rather not been idealized. On the other side, Philip Larkin has given us a satirical picture of the Evangelist. The evangelist is the one who has great strength, courage and a God equal figure in the eyes of his women guests but Philip Larkin drags this false divine power down to the ground from the high pedestal which he occupies in the eyes of his women deities. No heroic attitude towards work In Toads and Toads Revisited, 1954 Philip Larkin does not necessarily permits a heroic attitude towards work and compares it to the Satan described as toad. He does not say Work is worship but rather he says that work is a toad(not wanted) squatting on his life and others. Work is the way which takes a human being to his grave and immortality. Thus Philip Larkin barely adjusts himself to a life of work instead of claiming that work uplifts a man. Nowhere in his work of poetry does Philip Larkin present to our eyes views of a struggle against or a resistance to the misfortunes of life. William Butler Yeats had certainly upholds and applauds the idea of a heroic struggle but Larkin does not do any such thing his poetry. Larkins Unheroic Attitude towards Death Larkin is an anti-hero in its own writing. He does not even adopt a heroic attitude towards death which is the major theme in his poetry. Larkin was haunted, preoccupied with the thought of death itself and in his poems he recollects us of the high inevitability of death. The poems Coming, Going, and Days are about death and the climax and culminate of his treatment of death comes in the poem Aubade. But nowhere does he defies death. He does not follow John Donnes lead where he had said: Death, be not proud . But Larkin does not make any such assumptions. He fears death as he flinches at the thought of death. He certainly does not show any fearlessness and audacity towards death. In one his poem, namely The Explosion which is about British class working people where does he exalts death as a means of bringing honour to a greater extent to the people who were killed in the Explosion or the blast. In general, he harbours the fearfulness of death and immortality. CONCLUSION Elements of Modernism; and Larkins Opposition to Them In his introduction to his anthology The New Poetry (1962), Alfred Alvarez attached the Movement poets of the nineteen-fifties, accusing them of an exaggerated provincialism, insularity, dullness, and a blunt refusal to learn anything from the imaginative excitements and the artistic aims associated with T.S. Eliot and modernism. Philip Larkin was the most distinguished member of the Movement, other names connected with the Movement being Thorn Gunn, Donald Davie, John Wain, D. J. Enright, and Kingsley Amis. Larkin was therefore the chief target of Alvarezs condemnation. In his early poetic career, Larkin had been much influenced by the symbolist poetry of W.B. Yeats but afterwards he rejected Yeats in favour of Thomas Hardy. In other words, from being something of a modernist, he subsequently became a traditionalist, and a critic of modernism. It was as an opponent of modernism that he declared his support to poets to whom technique seemed less important than content, and who accepted the styles and forms which they had inherited and through which they expressed their own content or ideas. It was not simply experimentation which Larkin deplored but the fact that some artists had begun to cultivate a relationship with their material rather than with their audience: and he deplored this fact because such artists in his opinion became easy prey to two principal trends, namely modernism and mystification. He said that his essential criticism of modernism, whether exemplified by Charlie Parker, Ezra Pound, or Picasso was due to the fact that modernism helped people neither to enjoy nor endure this kind of art. Modernist art, he further said, did not have any lasting power. Such art mystified or outraged the p eople. Every modernist in his opinion felt compelled to sink deeper and deeper into violence and vulgarity so far as art was concerned. Furthermore, Larkin seemed to think that modernist art, whether music, painting, or poetry, was complex and difficult to explain. In this view he was right because such modernist works as The Waste Land and Ulysses contain quotations from other texts thereby making themselves into complex and many-layered literary palimpsests. In Larkins opinion this sort of thing had encouraged a view of poetry which was almost mechanistic, namely that every poem must include all previous poems. Larkin held that every poem must be its own sole freshly-created universe and must, therefore, have no belief in a common myth-kitty. Larkin rejected the evolutionary view of poetry adopted and promoted by the modernists. His anti-modernism attracted him to the traditional poets such as Wordsworth and Tennyson. Larkin also admired John Betjeman even though this poet was not directl y associated with the Movement. Philip Larkin has much in common with all these earlier English poets. They all used a moderate tone of voice and accessible language-a language such as men do use. Besides, all these poets were centrally concerned with the relationship between themselves and to the landscapes and they habitually expressed a sense of communion with their surroundings in exalted terms. In other words, they were all intensely patriotic poets. And yet we must acknowledge at this point the fact that, although Philip Larkin has flatly rejected Modernism in theory, he is in practice a remarkably wide-ranging poet whose last volume of poems, entitled High Windows shows distinct modernist and symbolist leaning which he was supposed to have discarded quite early in his career. Nor can we claim that there is no obscurity at all in his poetry. Illustrations of Larkins Rejection of Modernism: His Raw Material We have now to turn to Larkins poetry in order to find out in what way or ways he has rejected modernism in his work. Rejecting the complexity and obscurity of Modernist poetry and rejecting the element of mystification in it. Larking chooses only familiar subjects and matters of daily interest for treatment in his poems. He does not deal with abstractions. He deals with the concrete realities of life. The subjects in his poems relate to common occurrences and daily happenings. In the poem At Grass, he meditates upon a number of retired race-horses whom are a concrete reality which anybody could have witnesses. Besides, anyone looking at those horses would have speculated upon their present status and its contrast with their past glory. There is nothing transcendental about the subject of the poem or Philip Larkins treatment of it even though some critics have said that the poem symbolically deals with human beings in their state of retirement from their life of activity and achievem ent. Lilies on a young Ladys Photograph Album is again a poem in the anti-modernist mode. It has as its theme a contrast between the past glamour and charm of a lady and her present condition. The glamour and the charm have now considerably declined; but the poet still cherishes a memory of them, and treasures them in his heart. Nothing could be more realistic than this contrast and the wistful feelings of the poet. WORK CITED Primary Sources Larkin, Philip. Collected Poems: Philip Larkin London: The Marvell Press, 1988 – The North Ship, London: Fortune Press, 1945 – The Less Deceived. York shire Marvell Press, 1955 – The Whitsun wedding. London Faber, 1964 – High Windows. London Faber and Faber, 1974 Secondary Resources Rajamouly.K. The poetry of Philip Larkin. A critical study, Prestige Books

Honor :: essays research papers

HONOR CAN BE DEFINED IN SO MANY WAYS CAN mean respect and esteem shown to another. HONOR may ALSO apply to the recognition of one's right to great respect or to any expression of such recognition IN SOME SITUATIONS IT implies profound respect mingled with love, devotion.There is a priceless respect that everyone in the world possesses, and that is the. respect of a person?s honor. A person?s honor is something that can not be bought, sold,. or traded it?s something that must be gained by the respect of your peers. An example of. how honor is seen in everyday life in through a persons word. The standard dictionary definition of honor first lists public regard and esteem under the word, with ethical conduct or high standards of justice and responsibility appearing much further down the list. This is reflected in the way the modern world treats the issue of honor. In ancient times, honor was the manner of being that we now describe as having integrity. In plain language, an honorable p erson avoids deception whenever possible, treats others with respect and sticks to her beliefs no matter how others think or act. People generally do not seem to behave very well toward each other any more.Honor determines the hierarchy of an individual while revealing his loyalty and true intentions. Reward comes for those at the top whose honor does not diminish, while a false or fleeting honor of a lesser mortal causes destruction. Exploring and discussing how to act honorably toward each other is a place to start.The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. How can you be a person of integrity? First, figure out what integrity (honor) is. My mother used to say to treat others the way you wanted to be treated. Does anyone do that these days? Well, I know that I don't want to be cut off in traffic, or yelled at, or bumped into rudely at the grocery store, or left picking up garbage all over my yard from the street. So I could try not to do thos e things to other people. I won't cut off others in traffic, or yell, or act rude at the grocery store, or throw garbage in the street. That's just a place to start. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Audit – Solutions for Chapter 2

* Solutions for Chapter 2 * Corporate Governance Review Questions: 2-1. Corporate governance is defined as: â€Å"a process by which the owners and creditors of an organization exert control and require accountability for the resources entrusted to the organization. The owners (stockholders) elect a board of directors to provide oversight of the organization’s activities and accountability back to its stakeholders. † The key players in corporate governance are the stockholders (owners), board of directors, audit committees, management, regulatory bodies, and both internal and external auditors. -2. In the past decade, all parties failed to a certain extent. For detailed analysis, see exhibit 2. 2 in the chapter and repeated here: Corporate Governance Responsibilities and Failures Party | Overview of Responsibilities| Overview of Corporate Governance Failures| Stockholders| Broad Role: Provide effective oversight through election of Board process, approve major initiativ es, buy or sell stock. | Focused on short-term prices; failed to perform long-term growth analysis; abdicated all responsibilities to management as long as stock price increased. Board of Directors| Broad Role: the major representative of stockholders to ensure that the organization is run according to the organization charter and there is proper accountability. Specific activities include: * Selecting management. * Reviewing management performance and determining compensation. * Declaring dividends * Approving major changes, e. g. mergers * Approving corporate strategy * Overseeing accountability activities. | * Inadequate oversight of management. * Approval of management compensation plans, particularly stock options that rovided perverse incentives, including incentives to manage earnings. * Non-independent, often dominated by management. * Did not spend sufficient time or have sufficient expertise to perform duties. * Continually re-priced stock options when market price decline d. | Management| Broad Role: Operations and Accountability. Managing the organization effectively and provide accurate and timely accountability to shareholders and other stakeholders. Specific activities include: * Formulating strategy and risk appetite. * Implementing effective internal controls. * Developing financial reports. Developing other reports to meet public, stakeholder, and regulatory requirements. | * Earnings management to meet analyst expectations. * Fraudulent financial reporting. * Pushing accounting concepts to achieve reporting objective. * Viewed accounting as a tool, not a framework for accurate reporting. | Audit Committees of the Board of Directors| Broad Role: Provide oversight of the internal and external audit function and the process of preparing the annual accuracy financial statements and public reports on internal control. Specific activities include: * Selecting the external audit firm. Approving any non-audit work performed by audit firm. * Selecting and/or approving the appointment of the Chief Audit Executive (Internal Auditor), * Reviewing and approving the scope and budget of the internal audit function. * Discussing audit findings with internal auditor and external auditor and advising the Board (and management) on specific actions that should be taken. | * Similar to Board members – did not have expertise or time to provide effective oversight of audit functions. * Were not viewed by auditors as the ‘audit client’. Rather the power to hire and fire the auditors often rested with management. Self-Regulatory Organizations: AICPA, FASB| Broad Role: Setting accounting and auditing standards dictating underlying financial reporting and auditing concepts. Set the expectations of audit quality and accounting quality. Specific roles include: * Establishing accounting principles * Establishing auditing standards * Interpreting previously issued standards * Implementing quality control processes to ensure audit quality. * Educating members on audit and accounting requirements. | * AICPA: Peer reviews did not take a public perspective; rather than looked at standards that were developed and reinforced internally. AICPA: Leadership transposed the organization for a public organization to a â€Å"trade association† that looked for revenue enhancement opportunities for its members. * AICPA: Did not actively involve third parties in standard setting. * FASB: Became more rule-oriented in response to (a) complex economic transactions; and (b) an auditing profession that was more oriented to pushing the rules rather than enforcing concepts. * FASB: Pressure from Congress to develop rules that enhanced economic growth, e. g. allowing organizations to not expense stock options. Other Self-Regulatory Organizations, e. g. NYSE, NASD| Broad Role: Ensuring the efficiency of the financial markets including oversight of trading and oversight of companies that are allowed to trade on the exchange. S pecific activities include: * Establishing listing requirements – including accounting requirements, governance requirements, etc. * Overseeing trading activities,| * Pushed for improvements for better corporate governance procedures by its members, but failed to implement those same procedures for its governing board, management, and trading specialists. Regulatory Agencies: the SEC| Broad Role: Ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and fairness of public reporting of financial and other information for public companies. Specific activities include: * Reviewing all mandatory filings with the SEC, * Interacting with the FASB in setting accounting standards, * Specifying independence standards required of auditors that report on public financial statements, * Identify corporate frauds, investigate causes, and suggest remedial actions. * Identified problems but was never granted sufficient resources by Congress or the Administration to deal with the issues. | External Auditors| Broa d Role: Performing audits of company financial statements to ensure that the statements are free of material misstatements including misstatements that may be due to fraud. Specific activities include: * Audits of public company financial statements, * Audits of non-public company financial statements, * Other accounting related work such as tax or consulting. | * Pushed accounting concepts to the limit to help organizations achieve earnings objectives. Promoted personnel based on ability to sell â€Å"non-audit products†. * Replaced direct tests of accounting balances with a greater use of inquiries, risk analysis, and analytics. * Failed to uncover basic frauds in cases such as WorldCom and HealthSouth because fundamental audit procedures were not performed. | Internal Auditors| Broad Role: Perform audits of companies for compliance with company policies and laws, audits to evaluate the efficiency of operations, and audits to determine the accuracy of financial reporting pr ocesses.Specific activities include: * Reporting results and analyses to management, (including operational management), and audit committees, * Evaluating internal controls. | * Focused efforts on ‘operational audits’ and assumed that financial auditing was addressed sufficiently by the external audit function. * Reported primarily to management with little effective reporting to the audit committee. * In some instances (HealthSouth, WorldCom) did not have access to the corporate financial accounts. | 2-3.The board of directors is often at the top of the list when it comes to responsibility for corporate governance failures. Some of the problems with the board of directors included: * Inadequate oversight of management. * Approval of management compensation plans, particularly stock options that provided perverse incentives, including incentives to manage earnings. * Non-independent, often dominated by management. * Did not spend sufficient time or have sufficient expe rtise to perform duties. * Continually re-priced stock options when market price declined. 2-4.Some of the ways the auditing profession was responsible were: * Too concerned about creating â€Å"revenue enhancement† opportunities for the firm, and less concerned about their core services or talents * Were willing to â€Å"push† accounting standards to the limit to help clients achieve earnings goals * Began to use more audit â€Å"shortcuts† such as inquiry and analytical procedures instead of direct testing of account balance. * Relied on management representations instead of testing management representations. * Were too often ‘advocates’ of management rather than protectors of users. 2-5.Cookie jar reserves are essentially liabilities or contra-assets that companies have overestimated in previous years to use when times are tougher to smooth earnings. The rationale is that the funds are then used to â€Å"smooth† earnings in the years when earnings need a boost. â€Å"Smooth† earnings typically are looked upon more favorably by the stock market. An example of a cookie jar reserve would be over-estimating an allowance account, such as allowance for doubtful accounts. The allowance account is then written down (and into the income statement) in a bad year. The result is to increase earnings in the subsequent year. 2-6.Users should expect auditors to have the expertise, independence, and professional skepticism to render an unbiased and justified opinion on the financial statements. Auditors are expected to gather sufficient applicable evidence to render an independent opinion on the financial statements. 2-7. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was designed to â€Å"clean-up† corporate America, especially in the realms of financial reporting. The overall intent was to encourage better corporate governance; to make the audit committee the auditor’s client; encourage the independence and oversight of the board, a nd improve the independence of the external audit profession.There were certainly many factors that led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but the failures at Enron and WorldCom will probably be pointed to in the future as the major factors that led to the act being passed when it was. The Congress intended to develop a new reporting process that would provide just cause for the public to again trust financial statements and the audit processes leading up to the audit opinion. 2-8. The PCAOB is mandated by Congress to set standards for audits of public companies and perform quality control inspections of CPA firms that audit public companies.In order to carry out these responsibilities, the PCAOB requires all firms that audit U. S. listed (public) companies to register with it. It performs annual inspections on all audit firms that audit more than 100 public companies each year. It performs less frequent inspections, usually once every three years, for audit firms that audit less than 100 c ompanies annually. The PCAOB issues Inspection Reports for each inspection that is performed. The first part describes problems they encountered in their reviews of audits and that part is made public.The second part describes problems that the firms have with their quality control process. The second part is not issued publicly unless the firms fail to address the problems pointed out within a reasonable time frame – usually no more than a year. 2-9. Management has always been responsible for fairness, completeness, and accuracy of financial statements, but the Sarbanes-Oxley Act goes a step further by requiring the CEO and CFO to certify the accuracy of financial statements with criminal penalties as a punishment for materially misstated statements.The CEO and CFO must make public their certifications and assume responsibility for the fairness of the financial presentations. It thereby encourages organizations to improve their financial reporting functions. 2-10. Whistle bl owing enables violations of a company’s ethical code to be reported to appropriate levels in an organization, including the audit committee. Because of its presence, potential violators know that there is a real possibility and simple avenue by which inappropriate actions may be revealed.As such, it contains a preventive component that is indirectly helpful to the audit committee in fulfilling its corporate governance role. 2-11. There are a number of provisions that are designed to increase auditor independence. First, Rule 201 of the Act prohibits any registered public accounting firm from providing many non-audit services to their public audit clients. Second, the audit committee became the â€Å"client† instead of management, and only the audit committee can hire and fire auditors. Third, audit partners are required to rotate every five years.Finally, the auditors are expected to follow fundamental principles of independence that have been enacted by the SEC (more details in Chapter 3). 2-12. Management is responsible for issued financial statements. Although other parties may be sued for what is contained in the statements, management is ultimately responsible. Ownership is important because it establishes responsibility and accountability. Management must set up and monitor financial reporting systems that help it meet its reporting obligations. It cannot delegate this responsibility to the auditors. 2-13.An audit committee is a subcommittee of the board of directors that is composed of independent, outside directors. The audit committee has oversight responsibility (on behalf of the full board of directors and its stockholders) for the outside reporting of the company (including annual financial statements); risk monitoring and control processes; and both internal and external audit functions. 2-14. An outside director is not a member of management, legal counsel, a major vendor, outside service provider, former employee, or others who may have a personal relationship with management that might impair their objectivity or independence.The audit committee is responsible for assessing the independence of the external auditor and engage only auditors it believes are independent. Auditors are now hired and fired by audit committee members, not management. The intent is to make auditor accountability more congruent with stockholder and third-party needs. 2-15. The primary point of this question is for students to understand that the audit committee’s role is one of oversight rather than direct responsibility. For example, management is responsible for the fairness of the financial statements.Auditors are responsible for their audit and independent assessment of financial reporting. The audit committee is not designed to replace the responsibility of either of these functions. The audit committee’s oversight processes are to see that the management processes for financial reporting are adequate and the audito r’s carry out their responsibilities in an independent and competent manner. 2-16. The audit committee has the ability to hire and fire both the internal auditor and the external auditor.However, in the case of the internal audit function, the audit committee has the ability to hire and fire the head of internal audit as well as set the audit plan and budget. The audit committee does not control regulatory auditors, but should meet with regulatory auditors to understand the scope of their work and to discuss audit findings with them. 2-17. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act applies only to public companies. Therefore, the Act does not require non-public companies to have audit committees. That is not to say that it does not happen or is not a good idea, however.Most stakeholders want an independent party to ensure that their interests are being considered. The AICPA recommends audit committees for smaller public companies. 2-18. The external auditor should discuss any controversial accou nting choices with the audit committee and must communicate all significant adjustments made to the financial statements during the course of the audit. In addition, the processes used in making judgments and estimates as well as any disagreements with management should be communicated.Other items that need to be communicated include: * All adjustments that were not made during the course of the audit, * Difficulties in conducting the audit, * The auditor’s assessment of the accounting principles used and overall fairness of the financial presentation, * The client’s consultation with other auditors, * Any consultation with management before accepting the audit engagement, * Significant deficiencies in internal control. 2-19. The audit committee needs to ensure that the auditor is independent with respect to the annual audit.In order to ensure that independence, the audit committee must consider all other services that might be performed by the external auditor and app rove any such services, in advance. If the audit committee approves the services, they are in essence saying that the provision of the services will not impair the auditor’s independence. 2-20. Good governance is important to the external auditor for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to the following. Good governance * usually leads to better corporate performance, reflects a commitment to a high level of ethics, integrity, and sets a strong tone for the organization’s activities, * requires a commitment to financial reporting competencies and to good internal controls, * reduces the risk that the company will have materially misstated financial statements. If a client does not have good governance, there are greater risks associated with the client. For example, their poor performance may lead to financial failure and lack of payment of the audit fee.Or their poor governance may lead to improprieties in financial reporting, which puts the auditor at risk in terms of litigation (if the improprieties go undetected by the auditor). 2-21. The auditor might utilize the following procedures in determining the actual level of governance in an organization: * observe the functioning of the audit committee by participating in the meetings, noting the quality of the audit committee questions and responses, * interactions with management regarding issues related to the audit, e. g. * providing requested information on a timely basis, quality of financial personnel in making judgments, * accounting choices that tend to ‘push the limits’ towards aggressiveness or creating additional reported net income, * the quality of internal controls within the organization. * review the minutes of the board of directors meetings to determine that they are consistent with good governance, * review internal audit reports and especially determine the actions taken by management concerning the internal auditor’s findings and recommendations , * review the compensation plan for top management, review management expense reimbursements to determine (a) completeness of documentation, (b) appropriateness of requested reimbursement, and (c) extent of such requests. * review management’s statements to the financial press to determine if they are consistent with the company’s operations. 2-22. Good corporate governance is correlated with increased corporate performance as measured by return on equity, or return on capital. Generally, good corporate governance reduces audit risk as it is less likely that the organization will suffer from problems of management integrity, or would have an environment that might allow or permit fraud.Less audit risk implies that the amount of work to render an opinion on the financial statements would also be less than that required for a company with poorer corporate governance. 2-23. The three categories of audit standards are general standards, fieldwork standards, and reporting standards. General standards cover the characteristics of the auditor – technical training and proficiency, independence, and due professional care. Fieldwork standards provide guidance concerning planning and performing the audit.Reporting standards cover the essential elements of the auditor’s communication, including the opinion, the criteria against which the assertions were tested, and an explanation of the basis for the attestor’s opinion. 2-24. Due professional care is the expectation that an audit will be conducted with the skill and care of a professional. The standard of due professional care plays a role in litigation against auditors. Plaintiffs will try to show that the auditor did not do what a reasonably prudent auditor would have done.To evaluate the standard, a third-party also decides whether someone with similar skills in a similar situation would have acted in the same way. 2-25. There are three important dimensions identified in Exhibit 2. 5 : * Scope of Information on which assurance is provided, * Nature of Organizations on which assurance is provided, * Domicile of Company being audited. These three dimensions influence the identification of applicable auditing standards as follows: * A U. S. public company filing annual reports follows PCAOB standards. A U. S. non-public company issuing financial statements, follows AICPA standards, * A foreign company filing financial statements in a different country follows International Standards or the standards of that country, * U. S. companies reporting on other than financial information follows AICPA Attestation or Assurance Standards. 2-26. For the most part, the standards issued by the IAASB are quite similar to that of the two U. S. based audit standard setters. They differ in the following major ways: The auditor must assess the appropriateness of the accounting framework against which the audit opinion will be given (U. S. standards require only that the auditor commu nicate if the accounting is not consistent with U. S. GAAP. ) * IAASB utilizes a concept of Professional Skepticism rather than independence. * The IAASB utilizes a concept of ‘reasonable assurance’ compared with the U. S. evidence on sufficiency of audit evidence and due professional care, * The IAASB standards include both audit standards and assurance standards. 2-27.The IAASB Audit Standards are quite consistent with that of the PCAOB as well as that of the AICPA. Most of the concepts are the same, but are stated differently. They are very similar in the following ways: * Requirement of independence, * Gathering and evaluation of sufficient evidence, * Documentation of audit work, * Audit designed to minimize audit risk, * Due professional care vs. reasonable assurance, * Nature of the audit report The AICPA and the IAASB have announced a plan to work towards convergence of existing and future standards. The PCAOB has not yet announced a plan for convergence. 2-28.A n audit engagement applies to the development of an opinion on an organization’s financial statements. It is planned that the financial statements will be used by third parties who do not have direct access to client data. The audit engagement is a form of ‘positive assurance’ in which an opinion must be rendered. An assurance engagement differs from an audit in a number of important dimensions: * It can apply to almost any assertion that management wants to make as long as there is agreed-upon criteria by which to test management’s assertion. It is preferable that the criteria are generally accepted. An assurance engagement generally requires a third party (although assurance can also be provided to the audit client), but it is an identified third-party as opposed to a potential user of financial statements, * Assurance can be given on individual items of a company’s financial statements, rather than the full set of statements. 2-29. Assurance enga gements are designed to provide ‘positive assurance’, i. e. the item being attested to is either properly presented, or is not properly presented. For example, one of the Big 4 firms provides assurance to the audience that the votes are properly maintained and counted for the Emmy Awards.A ‘limited assurance engagement’ does not contemplate a full audit or assurance engagement such that sufficient information (evidence) is gathered to warrant a positive statement about whether the item being assured is, or is not, properly presented. Rather, based on a more limited amount of work, the auditor either states that ‘nothing came to his or her attention – based on the limited procedures – that indicates something is not fairly presented’. This is often referred to as ‘negative assurance’. An even more limited assurance engagement is one in which the accountant expresses ‘no assurance’ whatsoever on the item be ing reported. -30. * Auditing Standards apply to the auditor’s task of developing and then communicating an opinion on financial statements and, where applicable, independent opinions on the quality of an organization’s internal control over financial statements to the board, management, and outside third parties. * Assurance Standards apply the auditor’s task of developing and communicating an opinion on financial information outside of the normal financial statements, or on non-financial information to management, the board, and outside third-parties.Assurance services are engagements in which a practitioner expresses a conclusion designed to enhance the degree of confidence of the intended users about the outcome of the evaluation or measurement of a subject matter against criteria. * Attestation Standards is a term used by the AICPA to describe assurance services that involve gathering evidence regarding specific assertions and communicating an opinion on th e fairness of the presentation to a third party. Compilation and Review Standards refer to AICPA Standards that apply only to non-public companies where the board or a user has requested some assurance on the fairness of presentation of financial statements. These are referred to as negative assurance standards because the auditor does not gather enough evidence to support a statement as to whether the financial statements are fairly presented. 2-31. Independence means objectivity and freedom from bias. The auditor can favor neither the client nor the third party in evaluating the fairness of the financial statements The auditor must be independent in fact and in appearance.Independence in fact means the auditor is unbiased and objective. An auditor could be independent in fact if he or she owned a few shares of common stock in an audit client, but might not appear independent to a third party. Independence in appearance means that a third party with knowledge of the auditor’ s relationship with the client would consider the auditor to be independent. Professional skepticism, as used in the standards promulgated by the IAASB, has a broader meaning in that it refers to all of the factors that would affect an auditor’s ability to exercise proper skepticism in an audit engagement.The factors to be considered vary from those associated with the individual, such as objectivity, to those associated with the structure of the firm. These are similar to the independence standards that emphasize both audit firm relationships to the client as well as objectivity. However, the IAASB emphasis on professional skepticism goes a bit further: an auditor could be objective, but not necessarily exercise professional skepticism, i. e. being open to potential explanations of events that are not consistent with the auditor’s prior experiences. Professional skepticism appears to be a broader term than independence. 2-32.PCAOB – sets audit standards for the audits of all public companies that are registered with the SEC AICPA * sets audit standards for audits of non-public companies * sets attestation standards for areas other than public company reports on internal control sets standards for assurance services that are less in scope than an audit, such as reviews and compilations IAASB – sets standards for financial statement audits on an international basis. Right now, the international standards are being increasingly accepted by all political jurisdictions, but particularly in Europe and many developing countries. Harmonization with U.S. will continue to be an objective. GAO – sets the standards for financial audits of governmental entities within the U. S. and certain other organizations that receive Federal financial assistance. Goes beyond financial statement audits and also provides standards related to program audits for economy and efficiency of operations. IASB – sets standards for the professional prac tice of internal auditing around the world. Incorporates other standards by reference where applicable. 2-33. General Standards: The audit and attestation standards both require adequate technical training, expertise, and knowledge.They also both require independence and due professional care. The attestation standards differ in that they explicitly require links between assertions and reasonable criteria and a reasonably consistent estimation process; the audit standards implicitly assume this link. Fieldwork Standards: The audit and attestation standards both require planning and sufficient evidence. The audit standards go a step further in requiring an understanding of the entity and its environment. Reporting Standards: The reporting standards are completely different. Each reflects the underlying purpose of the engagement, i. . , the audit is designed to test whether the financials adhere to GAAP, whereas the attestation is designed to test a broader and more diverse set of ass ertions. 2-34. An audit program follows good corporate governance in the following way: Good governance is critical to the development of sound controls in an organization. The stronger the controls, the less risk that the financial statements will be misstated. The development of audit programs follow the standards in determining that sufficient evidence is gathered in order to evaluate the assertions being addressed in the audit engagement.Further, the gathering and evaluation of that evidence must be done by auditors who are independent of the client – in both fact and in appearance. Finally, the work must be carried out by auditors that understand the standards and exercise due professional care in the conduct of the audit engagement. 2-35. The major planning steps are: * Meeting with the audit client * Developing an understanding of the client’s business and industry * Develop an understanding of the client’s financial reporting processes and controls * Dev elop an understanding of materiality Develop a preliminary audit program that identifies the audit objectives defined in chapter 1. 2-36. Materiality is defined as the â€Å"magnitude of an omission or misstatement of accounting information that, in light of surrounding circumstances, makes it probable that the judgement of a reasonable person relying on the information would have been changed or influenced by the omission or misstatement. † Materiality guidelines usually involve applying percentages to some base, such as total assets, total revenue, or pretax income and consideration of qualitative factors such as the impact on important trends or ratios.The base should be a â€Å"stable† account however, making total assets a better choice than pretax income. 2-37. The auditor would take a sample of all additions to PP&E and verify the cost through reference to vendor invoices to determine that cost is accurately recorded and that title has passed to the company. If the company was considered high risk, the auditor might choose to physically verify the existence of the asset. Multiple Choice Questions: 2-38. d. 2-39. d. this is part of the profession’s problem, but not a cause of the failure. 2-40. a. 2-41. d. 2-42. a. 2-43. . 2-44. d. 2-45. b. 2-46. a. 2-47. f. Discussion and Research Questions: 2-48. a. The auditor might use the following approaches to determine whether a corporate code of ethics is actually followed: * observe corporate behavior in tests performed during the audit, e. g. approaches the company takes to purchasing goods, promoting personnel, and so forth, * observe criteria for promoting personnel; for example does performance always take on greater importance than how things are done, * observe corporate plans to communicate the importance of ethical behavior, e. g. ebcasts, emails, and so forth to communicate the importance of ethics, * review activity on the client’s whistleblowing website, or a summary of wh istleblowing activities reported by the internal auditor, * read a sample of self-evaluations by corporate officers, the board, and the audit committee and compare with the auditor’s observations of behavior, * examine sales transactions made during the end of quarters to determine if the sales reflect ‘performance goals’ as opposed to the company’s code of ethics. b. Are auditors equipped to make subjective judgments?This should be a great discussion question because many young people are attracted to the accounting profession because there are rules and relative certainty as to how things are done. However, as the profession is evolving, more judgments are required in both auditing and accounting. Audit personnel need to be equipped to make judgments on whether the company’s governance structure operates as intended and whether there are deficiencies in internal control when it does not operate effectively. The profession believes that auditors ca n make such judgments. . Assessing the competence of the audit committee can occur in a number of ways. Fortunately, the most persuasive evidence comes from the auditor’s direct interaction with the audit committee on a regular basis. The auditor can determine the nature of questions asked, the depth of understanding shared among audit committee members, and the depth of items included in the audit committee agenda. Many audit committees have self-assessment of their activities using criteria developed by CPA firms, or by the National Association of Corporate Directors.The auditor should also review the minutes of the audit committee meetings and determine the amount of time spent on important issues. An external auditor should be very reluctant to accept an audit engagement where the audit committee is perceived to be weak. There are a number of reasons including: * The lack of good governance most likely influences the organization’s culture and is correlated with a lack of commitment to good internal control. * The auditor has less protection from the group that is designed to assist the auditor in achieving independence. The company may be less likely to be fully forthcoming in discussions with the auditor regarding activities that the auditor might question. d. Internal auditing is an integral part of good corporate governance. It contributes to corporate governance in three distinct ways: * It assists the audit committee in its oversight role by performing requested audits and reporting to the audit committee, * It assists senior management in assessing the continuing quality of its oversight over internal control throughout the organization, * It assists operational management by providing feedback on the quality of its operations and controls. -49. a. Corporate governance is defined as: â€Å"a process by which the owners and creditors of an organization exert control and require accountability for the resources entrusted to the organiza tion. The owners (stockholders) elect a board of directors to provide oversight of the organization’s activities and its accountability to stakeholders. † The key players in corporate governance are the stockholders (owners), board of directors, audit committees, management, regulatory bodies, and auditors (both internal and external). b.In the past decade especially, all parties failed to a certain extent. For detailed analysis, see exhibit 2. 2 in the chapter and reproduced below: Corporate Governance Responsibilities and Failures Party | Overview of Responsibilities| Overview of Corporate Governance Failures| Stockholders| Broad Role: Provide effective oversight through election of Board process, approve major initiatives, buy or sell stock. | Focused on short-term prices; failed to perform long-term growth analysis; abdicated all responsibilities to management as long as stock price increased. Board of Directors| Broad Role: the major representative of stockholders to ensure that the organization is run according to the organization charter and there is proper accountability. Specific activities include: * Selecting management. * Reviewing management performance and determining compensation. * Declaring dividends * Approving major changes, e. g. mergers * Approving corporate strategy * Overseeing accountability activities. | * Inadequate oversight of management. * Approval of management compensation plans, particularly stock options that provided perverse incentives, including incentives to manage earnings. Non-independent, often dominated by management. * Did not spend sufficient time or have sufficient expertise to perform duties. * Continually re-priced stock options when market price declined. | Management| Broad Role: Operations and Accountability. Managing the organization effectively and provide accurate and timely accountability to shareholders and other stakeholders. Specific activities include: * Formulating strategy and risk appetit e. * Implementing effective internal controls. * Developing financial reports. * Developing other reports to meet public, stakeholder, and regulatory requirements. * Earnings management to meet analyst expectations. * Fraudulent financial reporting. * Pushing accounting concepts to achieve reporting objective. * Viewed accounting as a tool, not a framework for accurate reporting. | Audit Committees of the Board of Directors| Broad Role: Provide oversight of the internal and external audit function and the process of preparing the annual accuracy financial statements and public reports on internal control. Specific activities include: * Selecting the external audit firm. * Approving any non-audit work performed by audit firm. Selecting and/or approving the appointment of the Chief Audit Executive (Internal Auditor), * Reviewing and approving the scope and budget of the internal audit function. * Discussing audit findings with internal auditor and external auditor and advising the Boa rd (and management) on specific actions that should be taken. | * Similar to Board members – did not have expertise or time to provide effective oversight of audit functions. * Were not viewed by auditors as the ‘audit client’. Rather the power to hire and fire the auditors often rested with management. Self-Regulatory Organizations: AICPA, FASB| Broad Role: Setting accounting and auditing standards dictating underlying financial reporting and auditing concepts. Set the expectations of audit quality and accounting quality. Specific roles include: * Establishing accounting principles * Establishing auditing standards * Interpreting previously issued standards * Implementing quality control processes to ensure audit quality. * Educating members on audit and accounting requirements. | * AICPA: Peer reviews did not take a public perspective; rather than looked at standards that were developed and reinforced internally. AICPA: Leadership transposed the organization fo r a public organization to a â€Å"trade association† that looked for revenue enhancement opportunities for its members. * AICPA: Did not actively involve third parties in standard setting. * FASB: Became more rule-oriented in response to (a) complex economic transactions; and (b) an auditing profession that was more oriented to pushing the rules rather than enforcing concepts. * FASB: Pressure from Congress to develop rules that enhanced economic growth, e. g. allowing organizations to not expense stock options. Other Self-Regulatory Organizations, e. g. NYSE, NASD| Broad Role: Ensuring the efficiency of the financial markets including oversight of trading and oversight of companies that are allowed to trade on the exchange. Specific activities include: * Establishing listing requirements – including accounting requirements, governance requirements, etc. * Overseeing trading activities,| * Pushed for improvements for better corporate governance procedures by its membe rs, but failed to implement those same procedures for its governing board, management, and trading specialists. Regulatory Agencies: the SEC| Broad Role: Ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and fairness of public reporting of financial and other information for public companies. Specific activities include: * Reviewing all mandatory filings with the SEC, * Interacting with the FASB in setting accounting standards, * Specifying independence standards required of auditors that report on public financial statements, * Identify corporate frauds, investigate causes, and suggest remedial actions. | * Identified problems but was never granted sufficient resources by Congress or the Administration to deal with the issues. External Auditors| Broad Role: Performing audits of company financial statements to ensure that the statements are free of material misstatements including misstatements that may be due to fraud. Specific activities include: * Audits of public company financial statements, * Audits of non-public company financial statements, * Other accounting related work such as tax or consulting. | * Pushed accounting concepts to the limit to help organizations achieve earnings objectives. * Promoted personnel based on ability to sell â€Å"non-audit products†. Replaced direct tests of accounting balances with a greater use of inquiries, risk analysis, and analytics. * Failed to uncover basic frauds in cases such as WorldCom and HealthSouth because fundamental audit procedures were not performed. | Internal Auditors| Broad Role: Perform audits of companies for compliance with company policies and laws, audits to evaluate the efficiency of operations, and audits to determine the accuracy of financial reporting processes. Specific activities include: *Reporting results and analyses to management, (including operational management), and audit committees, * Evaluating internal controls. | * Focused efforts on ‘operational audits’ and assumed that fina ncial auditing was addressed sufficiently by the external audit function. * Reported primarily to management with little effective reporting to the audit committee. * In some instances (HealthSouth, WorldCom) did not have access to the corporate financial accounts. | c. There is an inverse relationship between corporate governance and risk to the auditor i. e. he better the quality of corporate governance, the lower the risk to the auditor. This relationship occurs because lower levels of corporate governance implies two things for the auditor: * There is more likelihood that the organization will have misstatements in its financial statements because the commitment to a strong organizational structure and oversight is missing, * There is greater risk to the auditor because the governance structure is not designed to prevent/detect such misstatements, and will likely not be as forthcoming when the auditor questions potential problems. -50. Element of Poor Corporate Governance| Audit Activity to Determine if Governance is actually Poor| Risk Implication of Poor Governance| The company is in the financial services sector and has a large number of consumer loans, including mortgages, outstanding. | This is not necessarily poor governance. However, the auditor needs to determine the amount of risk that is inherent in the current loan portfolio and whether the risk could have been managed through better risk management by the organization. The lack of good risk management by the organization increases the risk that the financial statements will be misstated because of the difficulty of estimating the allowance for loan losses. The auditor will have to focus increased efforts on estimating loan losses, including a comparison of how the company is doing in relation to the other companies in the financial sector. | The CEO and CFO’s compensation is based on three components: (a) base salary, (b) bonus based on growth in assets and profits, and (c) significant s tock options. This is a rather common compensation package and, by itself, is not necessarily poor corporate governance. However, in combination with other things, the use of ‘significant stock options’ may create an incentive for management to potentially manage reported earnings in order to boost the price of the company’s stock. The auditor can determine if it is poor corporate governance by determining the extent that other safeguards are in place to protect the company. In combination with other things, the use of ‘significant stock options’ may create an incentive for management to potentially manage reported earnings in order to boost the price of the company’s stock. The auditor should carefully examine if the company’s reported earnings and stock price differs broadly from companies in the same sector. If that is the case, there is a possibility of earnings manipulation and the auditor should investigate to see if such manipula tion is occurring. The audit committee meets semi-annually. It is chaired by a retired CFO who knows the company well because she had served as the CFO of a division of the firm before retirement. The other two members are local community members – one is the President of the Chamber of Commerce and the other is a retired executive from a successful local manufacturing firm. | There is a strong indicator of poor corporate governance.If the audit committee meets only twice a year, it is unlikely that it is devoting appropriate amounts of time to its oversight function, including reports from both internal and external audit. There is another problem in that the chair of the audit committee was previously employed by the company and would not meet the definition of an independent director. Finally, the problems with the other two members is that there is no indication that either of them have sufficient financial expertise. This is an example of poor governance because (1) it s ignals that the organization has not made a commitment to independent oversight by the audit committee, (2) the lack of financial expertise means that the auditor does not have someone independent that they can discuss controversial accounting or audit issues that arise during the course of the audit. If there is a disagreement with management, the audit committee does not have the expertise to make independent judgments on whether the auditor or management has the appropriate view of he accounting or audit issues. | The company has an internal auditor who reports directly to the CFO, and makes an annual report to the audit committee. | The good news is that the organization has an internal audit activity. | The bad news is that a staff of one isn’t necessarily as large or as diverse as it needs to be to cover the major risks of the organization. The external auditor will be more limited in determining the extent that his or her work can rely on the internal auditor. The CEO is a dominating personality – not unusual in this environment. He has been on the job for 6 months and has decreed that he is streamlining the organization to reduce costs and centralize authority (most of it in him). | A dominant CEO is not especially unusual, but the centralization of power in the CEO is a risk that many aspects of governance, as well as internal control could be overridden. The auditor should look at policy manuals, as well as interview other members of management and the board – especially the audit committee. The centralization of power in the CEO is a risk that many aspects of governance, as well as internal control could be overridden. This increases the amount of audit risk. | The Company has a loan committee. It meets quarterly to approve, on an ex-post basis all loans that are over $300 million (top 5% for this institution). | The auditor should observe the minutes of the loan committee to verify its meetings. The auditor should also intervie w the chairman of the loan committee to understand both its policies and its attitude towards controls and risk. There are a couple of elements in this statement that carries great risk to the audit and to the organization. First, the loan committee only meets quarterly. Economic conditions change more rapidly than once a quarter, and thus the review is not timely. Second, the only loans reviewed are (a) large loans that (b) have already been made. Thus, the loan committee does not act as a control or a check on management or the organization. The risk is that many more loans than would be expected could be delinquent, and need to be written down. The previous auditor has resigned because of a dispute regarding the accounting treatment and fair value assessment of some of the loans. | The auditor should contact the previous auditor to obtain an understanding as to the factors that led the previous auditor to either resign or be fired. The auditor is also concerned with who led the c harge to get rid of the auditor. | This is a very high risk indicator. The auditor would look extremely bad if the previous auditor resigned over a valuation issue and the new auditor failed to adequately address the same issue.Second, this is a risk factor because the organization shows that it is willing to get rid of auditors with whom they do not agree. This is a problem of auditor independence and coincides with the above identification of the weakness of the audit committee. This action confirms a generally poor quality of corporate governance. | 2-51. a. External auditors are supposed to perform audits of financial statements to ensure that the statements are free of material misstatements. They work for each of the parties to a certain extent and since they are independent, they will not favor any party over the other.The auditors are an independent and objective attestor that evaluates the quality of financial reporting and conveys an opinion to all parties involved in corp orate governance. b. Some of the ways the accounting profession was responsible were: * Were too concerned about creating â€Å"revenue enhancement† opportunities, and less concerned about their core services or talents * Were willing to â€Å"push† accounting standards to the limit to help clients achieve earnings goals * Began to use more audit â€Å"shortcuts† such as inquiry and analytical procedures instead of direct testing of account balance. Relied on management representations instead of testing management representations. c. The term â€Å"public watchdog† implies that auditors will look over the business world and stop bad things from happening. In terms of financial statements, Arthur Levitt said, â€Å"We rely on auditors to put something like the good housekeeping seal of approval on the information investors receive. † The term â€Å"public watchdog† places a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of auditors to protect the public’s interests. 2-52. b&c. Cookie jar reserves are essentially funds that companies have â€Å"stashed away† to use when times get tough. The rationale is that the reserves are then used to â€Å"smooth† earnings in the years when earnings needs a boost. â€Å"Smooth† earnings typically are looked upon more favorably by the stock market. An example of a cookie jar reserve would be over-estimating an allowance account, such as allowance for doubtful accounts. The allowance account is then written down (and into the income statement) in a bad year.Auditors may have allowed cookie jar reserves because they are known to smooth earnings, and smooth earnings are rewarded by the market. On the flip side, fluctuating earnings are penalized, and present more risk to the company of bankruptcy or other problems. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act addressed the issue by creating an oversight body, the PCAOB, but also addressed the issue in other ways. For example, Congr ess felt that creating more effective Boards would decrease the use of earnings management. Allowing improper revenue recognition is one thing that auditors may have done in their unwillingness to say â€Å"no† to clients.For example, companies shipped out goods to customers at the end of the year for deep discounts and allowed returns at the beginning of the next year. This practice is known as channel stuffing. Since the goods had a great chance of being returned, it would be improper to recognize all as revenue. Again, auditors were unwilling to say â€Å"no† to clients. Greed is probably the reason here. If companies claim more revenue, their stock would grow in the short-term, making management richer, and making management more willing to give pay raises to their auditors.With the establishment of stronger audit committees and certification of financial statements in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, this kind of accounting trickery will certainly decrease. Creative accoun ting for M&A included the use of the â€Å"pooling† method of accounting. Pooling allowed acquiring companies to value existing assets at historical costs and did not require the recognition of goodwill for the acquisition. Because true costs (values) were not shown on the financial statements, management was often encouraged to bid up prices for acquisitions with the result that many of them were not economic.The creative accounting also shielded the income statement from charges that would have otherwise hit income including: goodwill amortization, depreciation, and depletion expenses. Greed, the same reasons as the revenue recognition issue, was most likely the motivation for this creative accounting. Discussion between an educated audit committee and auditor plus certification of financial statements required by Sarbanes-Oxley will certainly address this issue. Assisting management to meet earnings.Too often, auditors confused ‘financial engineering’ with val ue-adding. In other words, auditors often sought to add value to their clients by finding ways to push accounting to achieve earnings objectives sought by management. These earnings objectives then played a major role in escalating stock prices – all desired because of the heavy emphasis of management compensation on stock options. Incentives were misaligned. Most of management compensation came in the form of stock options.Better audit committees, increased auditor responsibility, identification of users as the client of the auditor, and management certification of statements will address the issue via requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. 2-53. a. Some ways that the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act affects the external audit profession: * The creation of the PCAOB puts a watchful eye on the accounting industry. * Reporting on internal controls is required by the external auditor, adding to their workload but also strengthening their value to organizations and giving them more assurance when giving an audit opinion. Auditors can now feel more comfortable taking issues to the audit committee * Audit partners must rotate off every five years. This will create a difficult transition at every client every five years. * With the cooling off period, audit partners or managers cannot take jobs with clients as easily. b. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act encourages effective internal audit functions for all public companies. The internal audit profession has been active in assisting companies in complying with the internal control provisions of the Act. c. This could be argued either way.On one side, the legislation clearly creates a â€Å"watchdog† of the accounting industry, which decreases the power and prestige as the profession is no longer self-regulated. On the other hand, the Act and recent business press has brought a lot of attention to the accounting industry, which has educated the world about the role of accountants in the economy, and possibly incr eased their power and prestige. Now, there is a general feeling that the public accounting profession has reestablished itself as a watchdog for investors and see the audit committee as their primary client.Overall, the consensus seems to be that the profession has regained a great deal of its prestige. 2-54. a. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act changed responsibilities of management in the following ways: * Requirement that CEO and CFO certify the financial statements and disclosures * Requirement that companies provide a comprehensive report on internal controls over financial reporting * Requirement to describe whether they have implemented a Corporate Code of Conduct, including provisions for whistleblowing, and processes to ensure hat corporate actions are consistent with the Code of Conduct. b. Under The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, management is no longer the â€Å"client. † The auditor reports to the audit committee, who is independent of management. With these changes, the auditor shoul d be able to be â€Å"tougher† on management because the audit committee will be demanding it. However, the auditor still has to work with management to gain access to needed information, as well as understanding management intent as management intent drives some accounting treatments. . The CEO and CFO, as members of management, are ultimately responsible for the financial statements. The chair of the audit committee and the external auditor are then responsible to a certain extent, probably more in the minds of the public than in reality. Finally, the Director of Internal Audit is the least responsible of the group, as they are essentially employees of management and the audit committee. 2-55. a. The audit committee must be comprised of â€Å"outside† independent directors, one of whom must be a financial expert.The audit committee now has the authority to hire and fire the external auditor, and will therefore serve as the auditor’s primary contact, especially for accounting and audit related issues. In addition, the audit committee sets the scope for and hires internal auditors. They must review the work of both parties. b. The audit committee certainly takes on much more responsibility with the new standard. They will now be much more informed about the audit function and financial reporting processes within their company. The auditor must report all significant problems to the audit committee.For auditors, the reporting relationship should reinforce the need to keep the third-party users in mind in dealing with reporting choices. c. The audit committee is basically in a position of mediator, but not problem solver. One member must be a financial expert, but all members must be well versed in the field. This financial knowledge can help the audit committee to understand the disagreement. Ultimately, the auditor has to be able to give a clean audit opinion. If they believe a certain accounting treatment to be wrong, they do not have to give that clean opinion.In this way, neither the audit committee nor management can necessarily solve a dispute. d. The accounting choice is acceptable, and thus, the financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with GAAP. The fact that the auditor believes there is a better treatment should be communicated to important parties as follows: * Management – the communication should be made directly, and the rationale for the auditor’s opinion should be explained to management and documented in the working papers. The working papers should also include the client’s rationale for the chosen accounting treatment. Audit Committee – Both management’s chosen treatment and the auditor’s preferred treatment should be communicated to the audit committee. Preferably the communication would include both verbal communication and written communication. The rationale for accepting management’s accounting treatment should also be communicate d. * Users of the Financial Statement – There is no required communication to the outside users of the financial statements as long as the auditor has concluded that the financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with GAAP. 2-56. . An audit committee is a subcommittee of the board of directors; it is responsible for monitoring audit activities and serves as a surrogate for the interests of shareholders. Audit committees should preferably be composed of outside members of the board, that is, members who do not hold company management positions or are closely associated with management. b. The following information should be discussed with the audit committee: * A summary of the auditor's responsibilities under GAAS. Auditor responsibilities change over time as new standards are issued.The audit committee should always be aware of the nature of the audit function within the organization. * Initial selection or major changes in significant accounting policies that c ould have a material affect on financial statement presentation. The audit committee needs to know how the choice may affect both current reports and future financial reports as well as the rationale for the choice because it is presumed that companies select the accounting principles that best reflect the economic substance of their transactions and are thus changed only when dictated by standard-setting bodies or when the economics of the situation change. The process utilized by management to make significant estimates and other management judgments such as loan loss reserves in banks and savings and loans and insurance reserves in insurance companies. * Significant audit adjustments that may reflect on the stewardship and accountability of management, even if management agreed to make the adjustments. * The auditor's review of and responsibility for other information contained in an annual report (outside of the audited financial statements). * All major accounting disagreements with management, even if such disagreements are eventually resolved to the auditor's satisfaction. The auditor's knowledge of management's consultation with other auditors regarding accounting or auditing issues. * Any significant accounting or auditing issues discussed with management prior to the acceptance of the audit engagement – in particular, any positions taken regarding the proper accounting of controversial areas should be disclosed. * Any difficulties encountered in performing the audit, especially any activities undertaken by management that might be considered an impairment of the audit function. * Internal audit plans and reports and management’s responses to those reports. The extent to which the client has implemented a comprehensive plan of risk assessment and the organization’s plans to mitigate, share, control, or otherwise address those risks. * Any known internal control weaknesses that could significantly affect the financial reporting pro cess. The rationale for this communication is that the board of directors through