Ethical guidelines of an accountant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethical guidelines of an accountant - Essay Example The globalization of most industries means new standards of financial reporting have to be followed.In many instances,new standards had indeed been adopted by accounting bodies eager to be of help in contributing to the promotion of the interest of various stakeholders such as varied investors,government regulatory bodies and the employees who also have a stake. Because of their confusing and complex nature, one has to be a detective of sorts to be able to sort out all the information contained in financial statements.Analysis of these statements require a certain degree of skill to be able to make fair comparisons between firms operating in various countries. Admittedly, there had been several efforts to standardize all the accounting rules and practices beginning in 1973 and took more concrete form by 1998 with a creation of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).My paper deals with the ethical issues confronting most chartered accountants today. It is because the prof ession of accounting is often a murky environment with various rules and regulations subject to different interpretations. In other words, most of the rules were formed from mere opinions of authoritative bodies. As such, opinions can be subjected to challenges. Despite all the efforts at standardization, there is still a long way to go before all accountants follow the same rules and procedures. Chartered accountants can be subjected to all various pressures for them to fudge the numbers if necessary. This puts them in awkward positions of conflicts of interest.

Critique of quantitative research report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Critique of quantitative research report - Essay Example In this review, the mishandling of the various parametric tests has been reviewed, including the most common error of its kind being reported by many critiques in the field- the application of ANOVA tests on non-parametric data in the article Attitudes of Undergraduate Health Science Students: Staff Regard Towards Working with Substance Users: This work represents one of many cases out there when researchers fail to conduct necessary investigations into the nature of the data they obtained for analysis. Statistically speaking, the requisites of conducting analysis on a set of data include cleaning the data, and classifying the same (that is according to its right distribution), so that the results will be cohesive with the distribution type. This paper begins by explaining the contrasting parametric tests and their non-parametric equivalents. It also explains lucidly why certain tests befit a certain category of data, and why their use may fail to impress when used on a different category of data. The instances that bear criticism for their wrongful representation are examined, and their suggested remedies listed. The paper concludes with the recommendation that the researchers re-test the original data so that they can overcome this standing shortcoming. The study Staff Regard towards Working with Substance Users: a European Multi-centre Study is the work of seven medical researchers: Gail Gilchrist, Jacek Moskalewicz, Silvia Slezakova, Lubomir Okruhlica, Marta Torrens, Rajko Vajd and Alex Baldacchino. The aim of the study was to compare the levels of regard that medical practitioners have for working with various groups of patients across eight European nations- Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Unwillingness to treat certain categories of patients stems from the perceived difficulties in handling them, lesser rewards from the intensive care required of the medics, and the general

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory and Existential Psychology Essay

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory and Existential Psychology - Essay Example Freud thinks that the human mind is made up of three components—the id, the ego, and the superego. Through his actual experience with mentally ill individuals, Freud realized that unconscious needs and childhood experiences determine behavioral patterns. From these observations, Freud created a theory that portrayed development in the form of psychosexual stages. Freud’s theory explains that as children grow or mature, they move through psychosexual stages. At every stage, the pleasure-oriented drive of the libido is concentrated on a specific body part. The effective completion of every stage results in a stable, strong personality later in life. But if a conflict stays unsettled at any specific stage, the person may stay absorbed or trapped at that specific developmental stage (Mitchell & Black 49). An obsession may arise. For instance, an individual with an ‘oral obsession’ is thought to be trapped at the oral developmental stage. Indications of an oral obsession may involve too much dependence on oral activities like eating or smoking (Cavell 214). Freud believes that conflicts in every stage can have a permanent impact on behavior and personality (Guntrip 33). ... Freud’s psychoanalytic theory had a massive influence on twentieth-century knowledge, influencing the field of psychology and mental health. Although a large number of his ideas are criticized or treated with skepticism nowadays, his impact on or contribution to psychology is unquestionable. Psychoanalytic theory was very influential at the time and until now. Those influenced by the ideas of Freud tried to expand his theory and create their own. The theories of Erik Erikson, who is considered a neo-Freudian, have been possibly the most widely recognized. Erikson’s psychosocial development stages explain change and progress all over the lifespan, placing emphasis on conflicts and social relations that emerge during each stage of development (Guntrip 29). One of the Freudian psychoanalytic concepts that was very influential was the structure of personality—the id, the ego, and the superego. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the mind is composed of two major components—the unconscious and conscious. The unconscious part involves all those external to an individual’s awareness, such as memories, impulses, desires, and aspirations that reside outside the awareness but keep on affecting behavior. On the contrary, the conscious part involves those things that an individual is aware of (Mitchell & Black 48). Freud thinks that the mind is like an iceberg. The visible part of the iceberg, which is the tip, comprises only a small fraction of the mind, while the massive portion of submerged ice embodies the much bigger unconscious part. Besides these two key portions of the mind, Freud classifies human personality into three key parts—the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the basic component of personality that

Critique of quantitative research report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Critique of quantitative research report - Essay Example In this review, the mishandling of the various parametric tests has been reviewed, including the most common error of its kind being reported by many critiques in the field- the application of ANOVA tests on non-parametric data in the article Attitudes of Undergraduate Health Science Students: Staff Regard Towards Working with Substance Users: This work represents one of many cases out there when researchers fail to conduct necessary investigations into the nature of the data they obtained for analysis. Statistically speaking, the requisites of conducting analysis on a set of data include cleaning the data, and classifying the same (that is according to its right distribution), so that the results will be cohesive with the distribution type. This paper begins by explaining the contrasting parametric tests and their non-parametric equivalents. It also explains lucidly why certain tests befit a certain category of data, and why their use may fail to impress when used on a different category of data. The instances that bear criticism for their wrongful representation are examined, and their suggested remedies listed. The paper concludes with the recommendation that the researchers re-test the original data so that they can overcome this standing shortcoming. The study Staff Regard towards Working with Substance Users: a European Multi-centre Study is the work of seven medical researchers: Gail Gilchrist, Jacek Moskalewicz, Silvia Slezakova, Lubomir Okruhlica, Marta Torrens, Rajko Vajd and Alex Baldacchino. The aim of the study was to compare the levels of regard that medical practitioners have for working with various groups of patients across eight European nations- Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Unwillingness to treat certain categories of patients stems from the perceived difficulties in handling them, lesser rewards from the intensive care required of the medics, and the general

A Time to Kill Essay Example for Free

A Time to Kill Essay A young black girl is walking down on a road on her way home from the store. Two white males in a truck drive up slowly behind her back and aggressively pick up the girl and rape her. She is found almost dead and rushed to the hospital. The two rapist was arrested and bring in to jail. On the way to the hearing right outside the courtroom, the father of the black girl steps out and fires 3 shot which killed the 2 suspects. The father was arrested and put into jail. The town is split into two sides. One side understands Carl because a lot of fathers would have done same thing in his situation, but on the othere side that contained most of the town people want him to be punished in the gas chamber. Jake Brigance, a young and idealistic, inexperience white lawyer is hired by a murderer, of the two rapist, who raped her daughter. Brigance an easy going liberal white lawyer in town, whose client always leaves without payment. Carl Lee Hailey, a black, charged of two counts of murder in the first degree, trapped in a judicial system that is greatly swayed by the racism of the world beyond. Jake Brigance as lead council, one of the few white southerners was given the impossible task proving that Mr. Hailey, innocent. Impossible, because of a mostly white county, and for a reason of win-at-all cost prosecutor, the racism and hypocrisy of the Mississippi citizens and judicial system. He intends to defend the accused with a plea of not guilty by insanity, trying to convince the jurors that Carl Lee had a momentary lapse in sanity after the rape incident. Jake Brigance becomes Hailey’s lawyer and realizes how complicated it is to deal with such a famous client. Jake and his wife, Carla are at first excited at first about seeking Jake on the news so much during pre-trial happenings. The excitement quickly ends. He has to fight against the District Attorney who wants to use this sensational issue to make him become famous. The case got national attention and a lot of different organizations get involved. Situation starts a lot of commotion with in the community, people who are against Jake defending Carl try to disappoint and hurt him and his family. In order to secure the welfare of his family they have to leave town. The trial begins amid much attention to the media and residents of the county- specifically the large black population. The highlight is when 2 psychologists on the defendant side and one on another. It was a big point for his client. He never gives up on Carl Lee’s case even if his life is at stake until the time came the final verdict. The courthouse is packed to see the attorneys’ closing speeches. Carl Lee comes out on the courtroom a free man. Jake Brigance is a person who wants change the judicial system, no matter what your race and what is the color of your skin justice should prevail. A father who wants to protect and seek justice for her daughter is a part of every human, that’s what Jake had felt so he accepted this case even if his client is black. In the final argument in the court which Jake’s character also believe that anybody who’s on his position would do exactly what his dealing. He believes that justice taking its natural place on earth. Jake feels compelled to take the case out of his conscience and guiltiness over an action he may have been able to stop, the shooting of the two white suspects. Jake a defender of the downtrodden, and despite to defend his client by any means possible, the fact that he knows that Carl Lee’s actions were premeditated is troubling for his character’s integrity. He believes that no matter how much the world tries to say they celebrate their diversity or look past the differences, you have to look no farther than a small county to see its truth. Jake and Carl became a good friend true and without prejudice.

Analysis Of A Balanced Scorecard In Dell

Analysis Of A Balanced Scorecard In Dell Dell is a computer vendor operating online but utilising a retail presence. Their strategy involves specialising in giving the users a choice in what software and specifications they want on their computer. Their target customers are mainly home and business users as they specialise in business laptops as well as home media laptops. Their market segment is the computer vendor market. This segment is occupied by companies such as HP, Lenovo and Acer. In terms of market position, Dell is ranked around third in the PC vendor market with a market share of 10.5%. Competitors Lenovo and HP currently lead Dell in the market with 15.7% and 15.5% respectively (Gartner, 2012). Customers Appendix A. is the customer section of the scorecard Dell wants to become the biggest vendor of computers in the market and the only way theyre going to achieve that is by increasing their market share. Offering discounts would increase their sales and pricing their products more competitively would a similar effect; however this would adversely affect their per unit profit. On-time deliveries relates directly to the customers experience when ordering with Dell. If their computer arrives a week later than expected, theyll leave Dell negative feedback which will affect their customer service reputation, so its vital that they improve their delivery system as much as possible. Although its motivational, offering cash incentives for staff increases the staff expenditure for the year. I chose the number of customer returns to measure the quality of their products because well made products wont result in excessive customer returns. Improved staff training will result in less errors and better product reliability. The only faults in the products would be coming from the specific components, which can be replaced. The number of customer complaints relates to the quality of their customer service. This measure can also be used in conjunction with product launches to find faults in these products. There are limitations on how much they can improve their customer service. Staff retraining (whether its in customer service or in sales) costs a lot of time and money which could affect their financial statements. Financial Appendix B. is the financial section of the scorecard I chose sales growth by segment because it links in with Dells overall plan to take advantage of potential sales in different segments by enabling us to find out where specific sales patterns are occurring. An improvement of 10% seems a bit high but that takes into consideration the anticipation for Windows 8 as well as Dells plans to introduce new touch screen devices. Residual income is the difference between the companys profits and the charge for the use of capital within the business. It represents a good measure of the profitability of the company because it takes the cost of capital into account, something which gross profit margin wouldnt do. Inventory turnover is the rate at which inventory is sold and replaced over time. The target for this figure should be high because Dell specialises in using Just in Time production techniques to minimise their inventory holding, selling it more quickly. A limitation is that production could yield a higher error rate. This could result in more customer returns which would reflect negatively on their customer service. I chose return on invested capital as the performance measure for capital utilisation because it calculates the level of profit their investments generate. It also takes long term debts into account which gives us a better idea of how the profits cover those long term debts. Learning and Growth Appendix C. is the learning and growth section of the scorecard If Dell spends more money on their staff training then the staff will feel more invested than if they were trained for a short period of time. This would link in with their objective of making sure the employees are well trained and professional in their jobs. The only problem with implementing this is that it could easily run up the cost which could adversely affect their financial performance. In order to measure job satisfaction, Dell can use employee turnover which would give them a target to work towards (reducing employee turnover). By offering incentives such as bonuses or perks of the job they can reduce employee turnover however that runs the risk of increasing the cost of their employee wage and salaries budget. Customer surveys would be useful for finding out what new features are desired, whats wrong with the old products or product pricing. Surveys are cheap and cost effective, however they need to offer an incentive otherwise people wont do the survey. Changes to the market mean that Dell need to introduce new available technologies. Reviews and ratings are a suitable measure for this because of their critical nature. However they have to increase the RD budget in order to find out what technologies are practical. Internal Business Processes Appendix D. is the internal business process section of the scorecard Creditor days is a useful measure of improving credit terms with their suppliers since it shows us how long they have to pay them. The target to increase this amount was chosen because Dell is experiencing a low point in sales (during the last month or two). So improved credit terms can help them while theyre experiencing this difficulty. The problem with increasing creditor days is that doing this over a long term will result in working capital problems for them. By measuring the CO2 emissions, Dell can find out how well theyre doing in their global emission reductions. Utilising renewable energy sources can help towards this and improve their reputation. The only limitation is that the transition to renewable energy is a slow process which is contrary to the usual short term-ism of objectives. Energy efficiency is a good measure for how energy efficient the businesses operations are and using a survey to find out how to improve the business operations isnt going to pose a problem. In order to measure the level of recycled products, the rate at which they recycle and reuse (Dell, 2012) products is a useful tool for this purpose. With a 100% rate they can improve their environmental impact and appeal to more green-conscious customers. Critical Analysis of the Balanced Scorecard Benefits The balanced scorecard doesnt solely focus on short term goals in the business; its used to measure the success of a business in achieving long term objectives. This is good because it gives them a long term goal to work towards, taking into account all the other aspects of the business. As stated by Kaplan and Norton (1992) the scorecard puts strategy and vision, not control, at the center. It establishes goals but assumes that people will adopt whatever behaviors and take whatever actions are necessary to arrive at those goals. The measures are designed to pull people toward the overall vision. It measures performance as a whole instead of measuring performance on a departmental level. This is better than traditional management tools because it highlights what parts of the business are linked with each other. If one side is performing badly then all sides (and their goals) will suffer. Difficulties NÃ ¸rreklit argues: During the planning stage the measure variables may be benchmarked against those of the competition, but the scorecard does not presuppose any continuous observation of competitors actions and results or the monitoring of technological developments, which means that the focus of the model is static rather than dynamic (NÃ ¸rreklit, H. 2000). This poses a problem to Dell as theyre in a highly technological sector where they have to stay on top of new developments, so having a strategic model which is too static is counterproductive. The model also focuses on external commitment with employees. NÃ ¸rreklit states that: the employees will try to reach good results in the areas measured, but this will be to the detriment of other elements which may be important, too. It should be noted, however, that this problem is even greater if, as has traditionally been the case, only financial measures are used. (NÃ ¸rreklit, H. 2000). If the employees are focused on meeting the targets set out by the measures, theyll become too goal orientated and wont see the bigger picture of an objective. Conclusion The Balanced scorecard is an effective tool for setting strategic goals and finding out how we can measure their achievement. The problem with the static nature of the table is fairly significant however I believe that this can be rectified by keeping track of technological changes and monitoring competitors strategies. This can be done by studying their product releases or by looking at their expansion into other territories. The scorecard has its advantages in the sense that it avoids the typical short term goals that most managers aspire to achieve. With a focus on long term goals it allows the business to predict future changes to the market, changes that theyll have to adapt to. Word count: 1,500 References Bowhill, B. (2008) Business Planning and Control: Integrating Accounting, Strategy and People. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Dell. (2012). Dells Commitment to Zero Waste. .Available : http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/corp-comm/cr-earth-reduce-reuse-recycle.aspx. Last accessed 09th Nov 2012. Forbes. (2012). DELL INC (NASDAQ:DELL) Ratios and Returns. Available: http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/Ratios.jsp?tkr=DELL. Last accessed 09th Nov 2012. Gartner. (2012). Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 8 Percent in Third Quarter of 2012 as the Market Prepares for the Launch of Windows 8 . Available: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2194017. Last accessed 09th Nov 2012. Kaplan, R. S., Norton, D. P. (1992). The balanced scorecard-measures that drive performance. Harvard business review, 70 (1), 71-79. Norreklit, H. (2000). The balance on the balanced scorecard a critical analysis of some of its assumptions. Management accounting research. 11 (1), 65-88.

Proven Methods Of Child Discipline Essay -- essays research papers

The world we live in today is a very competitive place. There is a constant competition going on to find jobs and move up the ladder of success. As human beings we are naturally devoted to instilling some kind of success in our children. To ensure that children are successful in life they need to be well disciplined but also socially and morally developed human beings. It is the parent’s duty to keep their children well disciplined along with giving them the opportunity to develop socially and morally. But how is it possible to approach this task correctly? Using proven methods of discipline through reasoning, positive and negative reinforcement, and observational learning one can effectively discipline their children without risking damage to the child’s social and moral development. Research has shown that using reasoning as a method for discipline more often helps develop a child’s ability to conform to the standards of what is considered right or just behaviour. Discipline derives from the Latin word â€Å"disciplinare† meaning â€Å"to teach†. Thus, reasoning can be used as an effective tool to teach your children right from wrong. As opposed to the â€Å"We’re doing it this way because I say so method† through reasoning a parent is able to convey the importance of socially acceptable behaviour to the child. The main emphasis of reasoning is to provide your child with clear and straight forward guidelines of acceptable behaviour, to explain the consequences of good and bad behaviour and also to convey to your child why the consequences are necessary. 1 on 1 sit downs are important in helping your child to understand these concepts. A recent university study involving over 100 children and their parents showed that disciplini ng children i... ...ly is! Parents must motivate children to act correctly while giving them an understanding of why it is so important. Parents must increase good behaviour and decrease bad behaviour without risking any damage to the child’s moral development. This can all be achieved by parents through reasoning with children, by setting specific guidelines of good/bad behaviour and making sure children understand the consequences of their actions, through positive and negative reinforcement, by rewarding and praising good behaviour and reprimanding privileges for bad behaviour, and also through observational learning, where the parents themselves have to be role models of acceptable behaviour for the children. Punishment is not a proven method of child discipline. Although it is very effective in the short term it will lead to bigger problems in children’s development down the road.