Sas Case Analysis

International Case #: 6-2 T h e C a s e o f (Scandinavian Airlines S A S System) INTRODUCTION SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SYSTEM (SAS) originated when the airlines of Sweden, Norway and Denmark formed a consortium. 1970’s – competition are fierce and resulted in a loss market share. 1981 – Jan Carlzon, The CEO, undertook drastic decentralization. Top-Down authority replaced by open communication. SAS Strategies is to become known as â€Å"the businessman’s strategy† (with rather high fares), with upgraded service, on-time performance, good food and comfort. For the Future SAS has 2 goals 1. To become the most efficient airline in Europe by 1992 2. To be one of the five major airlines in Europe after 1995 Keystone is SAS’s global strategy is to form strategic alliances. -? An agreement to exchange equities with Swissair was reached in 1989. -? Alliance was also made with All Nippon Airways, LanChile, Canadian Airlines Intl and Finnair. I. TIME CONTEXT II. VIEWPOINT 1981 Jan Carlzon SAS CEO III. CENTRAL PROBLEM Fierce competition, Loss of market share & Reduced profitability IV. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE Must: to cope up with competition Wants: to become the most efficient airline in Europe by 1992 and to be one of the five major airlines in Europe after 1995 V. AREAS OF CONSIDERATION THREATS 1.? Competition with larger airlines 2.? High fuel price 3.? Rising operational costs 4.? Decrease in demand for air service 5.? Price Wars OPPORTUNITIES 1.? Strategic alliances with other airlines 2.? Offer high-quality service V. AREAS OF CONSIDERATION WEAKNESSES 1.? Deterioration of services 2.? Low morale of the workforce STRENGTH 1.? Workforce 2.? Upgraded Services 3.? On-time performance 4.? Good food & comfort 5.? Decentralization VI. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION 1. Continuous implementation of decentralization (+) Faster decision-making Address and solve the problem right away Open communication Training and development for employees (-) Mistakes or wrong decisions are prevalent Policies and rule must be reviewed and change Training cost Great deal of time in communication a.? b.? c.? d.? a.? b.? c.? d.? VI. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION 2. Strategic alliance with other airlines (+) Access to different airlines hub Leverage Able to compete with larger airlines Opportunity to sell shares (-) a.? Control issue b.? Possible waste of money a.? b.? c.? d.? VI. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION 3. Upgrade service strategy (+) a.? High-quality service b.? Punctual and on-time performance (-) a.? High fares b.? Research and development cost c.? Training cost VII. RECOMMENDATION Adapt ACA 2 (Strategic Alliance) VIII. ACTION PLAN Person Responsible Jan Carlzon / Marketing Research Jan Carlzon Jan Carlzon Jan Carlzon / Negotiating Team Negotiating Team Jan Carlzon / Allies Finance Department Activities Gather data through business intelligence & competitive analysis Set a meeting with the SAS Board Form a negotiating team Set meetings with possible allies Time Frame 30 days 1 day 7 days Prepare proposals/MOA/Service agreement Contract signing / sign-off Prepare budget 3 days 1 day 5 days â€Å"Mistakes can usually be corrected later; the time that is lost in not making a decision can never be retrieved†. – Jan Carlzon

Global Communication Worksheet Essay

Your supervisor wants to send a brief e-mail message, welcoming employees recently transferred to your department from different regions across the company, which are Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Create a clear and concise welcome message that would be appropriate for these groups of employees. Research the communication style of each of the following countries: Brazil Russia India China Transcribe the following welcome message for the employees from each country: I wanted to welcome you ASAP to our little family here in the States. It’s high time we shook hands in person and not just across the sea. I’m pleased as punch about getting to know you all, and I for one will do my level best to sell you on America. Complete the table below with your transcribed welcome messages. Also indicate whether each of the countries are more individualistic or relationship focused, and whether they are direct or indirect in their communication. Country Transcribe Welcome Message Relationship or Individualistic? Direct or Indirect?

(Urgent work) Writing an Email for Routing claim should finish in 10 Essay

(Urgent work) Writing an Email for Routing claim should finish in 10 hours - Essay Example As the noise levels increase, the blood pressure rises which impacts the heart. 5. My school going children need to concentrate in their studies in the evening but that too would be affected due to the increase in the number of flights. In any case, airport noise levels have a negative impact on the health and development of the children. These amply suggest how the expansion of the airport is gong to adversely affect the people of the area. This is a request on behalf of the people in this area to carry out an article in your Daily. The idea is to bring awareness of the nuisance that would increase due to expansion of the airport. We would appreciate your writing on this issue which could send the message across to the authorities concerned. This is in expectation that your writing could create awareness and save us from losing the park in the

Final Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final Leadership - Essay Example Charisma and value orientation are other necessary skills for the situation and can help to capture employees’ loyalty to the organization and its values. The ability to empower people, against odds, is another necessary leadership skill that the situation requires and would help the organization to retain its employees who would be willing to face the situation and emerge successful. Cobb characteristics of an enterprising person and a team builder correspond to the required skills (Daft, 2008). I would not promote such a person. My decision is based on the meaning and scope of leadership that defines a leader’s influence on people and not a leader who follows what people want. A person who pleases people will similarly not be able to influence changes that the people do not want and would therefore risk an organization’s interest that may conflict with people’s interest in times of crisis (Daft, 2008). A manager who is kind and concerned about employees has high probability of achieving top line and bottom line results simultaneously. This is because the two traits, as are identifiable with charismatic leadership that facilitates loyalty from people, and obedience to set instructions. The manager will therefore achieve such set objectives through the people’s loyalty and obedience to his directives (Daft, 2008). The research program was a team project and not a group project. This is because contrary to a group that works independently to achieve different objectives, a team works dependently to in pursuit of a common objective, and members of the project had a common objective and the departments relied on output from one another. The subgroups were also teams. The entire project was a cross functional team while the subgroups were functional teams (Daft, 2008). The group norms before the retreat identified individualism and superiority complex within each group. Independence that even culminated to communication barrier and inability to

Predictability of Foreign Exchange Rates Dissertation

Predictability of Foreign Exchange Rates - Dissertation Example I am also much obliged to my supervisors who guided me with their timely advice, feedbacks and suggestions which aided me in attaining the expected standard of work and keeping me punctual as per the scheduled deliveries of dissertation chapters. Table of Contents Serial no. Topic Page no. I Introduction, Aims & objectives and Research Questions 6 I.1 Introduction 6 I.2 Aims 6 I.3 Objectives 6 I.4 Research Questions 7 II Literature Review 8 III Research Methodology 15 IV Findings Analysis and Discussion 19 V Conclusion and Recommendations for future Research 33 VI References 40 List of Tables Table no. Topic Page no. 1a Regression Results of Equation (1a) 22 1b Regression Results of Equation (1b) 23 2a Regression Results of Equation (2a) 25 2b Regression Results of Equation (2b) 26 3a Regression Results of Equation (3a) 28 3b Regression Results of Equation (3b) 29 List of Tables in Appendix Serial no. Topic Page no. ... on: The collapse of the Bretton Woods System of fixed exchange rate in 1978 ushered in the new era of flexible exchange rate that aimed for the betterment of trade relations between countries. Free and floating exchange rate were assumed to be the solution to the barriers to free trade and hence, the newly acquired ideals of globalization. What remained uncalculated was the instability and lack of predictability associated with flexible exchange rates. In the aftermath of the Global Crisis of 2007, the predictability of exchange rates has evolved as one of the most relevant issues and pleads minute scrutiny and analysis. I.2 Aims: The objective of this research is to examine the depreciations, appreciations and devaluations in the value of the US Dollar relative to other major currencies and based on this analysis; draw a general conclusion on the degree of predictability of exchange rates in recent times. Furthermore, it attempts to identify the main factors responsible for the vola tility of exchange rates following the collapse of the Bretton Woods System and thus, offer a clear insight into the various mechanisms existent in the context of exchange rate predictability. I.3 Objectives: The main objectives of the research are: To compare the differences in the stability and predictability of exchange rates before and after the collapse of the Bretton Woods System of fixed Exchange rates. To study the variations in the value of exchange rate of US, with respect to other major currencies and based on this, gauge the relative increase or decrease in the stability and predictability of exchange rates. To identify the reasons for the changing degree of predictability in exchange rates. To study the implications of the varying degrees of predictability of exchange rates, in

MASTER IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Essay

MASTER IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example Aid for Trade may influence the balance in trade negotiations and thereby further compromise the already tenuous relationship between developed and developing nations within the WTO.3 This paper critically examines the Aid for Trade mandate of the WTO and looks at its potential advantages and predictable challenges. Ultimately, it will be argued that the WTO as it is currently constructed does not have the legal and political frameworks conducive to an Aid for Trade remit. The most obvious advantages of the Aid for Trade aspirations of the WTO are found in its rationale for introducing this system trade. Accordingly, the WTO states that its rationale for introducing the Aid for Trade remit is for: Ideally, the WTO’s rationale for introducing the Aid for Trade mandate makes sense. It is certainly true that involvement in international trade has the capacity to reduce poverty of many millions as evidenced by China and India.5 Unfortunately, not all countries have been able to benefit from world trade as a result of declining participation in the global markets.6 Obviously, the WTO perceives that Aid for Trade is a means by which those countries with minimal access to global markets may become more active participants. Aid for Trade is perceived as a method for assisting developing countries with meeting the cost necessarily incurred in gaining access to global market opportunities. The fact is, many developing countries do not have the requisite infrastructure necessary for export. For instance they are sorely lacking in â€Å"efficient ports, adequate roads, reliable electricity and communications† as well as technology and skills to comport with the â€Å"product standards† of the â€Å"high value markets†.7 Obviously, Aid for Trade is viewed as one method for providing the necessary funds or opportunities for improving these infrastructure shortfalls. In this regard, Aid for Trade can be seen as a means for providing support in respect of the recipient

The Law of Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Law of Evidence - Essay Example In order to proceed further, it is pertinent to define the meaning of trick and understand whether that meaning falls into the conundrum of facts of the case. â€Å"A cunning or skilful act or scheme intended to deceive or outwit someone. Intended or used to deceive or mystify, or to create an illusion.†1 To trick someone into something is to make the other person believe that he is showing him the true face of the situation, but, on the other hand he is infact putting him through a fake image of illusion and therefore cheating him to deceive him according to his whims and fancies. ... helps the accused as the departure from the strict procedure has been adopted by design with a view to securing the admission of evidence obtained by an unfair trick. As per the findings of Lord Cooper, "I can find nothing to suggest that any departure from the strict procedure was deliberately adopted ... in the present instance the irregularity ought to be ‘excused’.†150 The Privy Council, in its opinion delivered on an appeal from Kenya, mentioned, as a ground for excluding relevant evidence that it had been obtained by a "trick." 1:;1 Kingsmill Moore ]., admitting evidence of this kind in an Irish case, said: "I can find no evidence of deliberate treachery, imposition [or]deceit." 152 As a ground for rejecting evidence, the Supreme Court of Canada has pointed out: "Admittedly, the statement by the accused was procured by trickery, duress and improper inducements." Therefore, in the first instance, according to the precedents laid down by the Courts worldwide as well as the law in the PACE Act, it has been clearly stated that any evidence produced by putting the individual under a trick is negligible and liable to be excluded under the law. Thus David may be supported with the help of the same. 2. The Law governing the admissibility of the confession Section 82(1) of the PACE Act defines the law governing the admissibility of confession. The Section is as follows: â€Å"confession†, includes any statement wholly or partly adverse to the person who made it, whether made to a person in authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise†.4 According to the facts of the case, it is a clear cut proposition that David was oppressed into confessing that he knew about the stolen nature of the car radio. The Court should look at this situation from a holistic

Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 12

Law - Essay Example Alain, while in the course of the act of helping Mrs Todd balance the shopping, owed a duty of care to the Plaintiff during the course of his employment. He approached the plaintiff to help her balance the shopping, and therefore was under the obligation of taking care while performing the act. However, he failed to take enough care and made the mistake of hanging the heavy shopping bags on the accelerator bar, which led to the scooter speeding off to disaster. Applying the test of remoteness to this case, we observe that Mrs. Todd was directly in the path of any act or omission of Alain. (1856) Alain did not act prudently and carefully while balancing the shopping bags. Any reasonable man would have known that hanging the bags on to the accelerator would amount to a disastrous accident, especially when Mrs Todd was still on the scooter. The case of first came out with the concept of duty of care. (1990, 1932) â€Å"There must be, and is, some general conception of relations giving rise to a duty of care, of which the particular cases found in the books are but instances. The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyers question: Who is my neighbour? You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.  Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be - persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions that are called in question. A manufacturer of products, which he sells in such a form as to show that he intends them to reach the ultimate consumer in the form in which they left him with no reasonable possibility of intermediate examination, and with knowledge that the absence of reasonable care in th e preparation or putting up of products will result in an injury

The egg drop challenge is not mostly Essay Example for Free

The egg drop challenge is not mostly Essay The egg drop challenge is not mostly a shock absorption exercise; the springiness of the padding around the egg is the determining factor. A bus without springs is near impossible to drive, while one without shocks feels almost normal until moments when the shocks are needed. What will break the egg is to have a force on the egg greater than the shell can withstand. This can be avoided by distributing the force evenly across the eggs surface. The shell is very strong if the force is well distributed, and very weak if the force is all at one point, or on a small area. You can pierce the egg with a very small force with a needle, yet you can put it between your palms and push with great force without breaking it. If your padding is too soft, it will work well until the padding has compressed, and then the egg will experience a large g-force and break. If your padding is too hard, then the egg will break while the padding is being compressed. What is desired is padding that will compress at a rate that gives the egg the longest time to stop. We believe that the best solution is to have increasingly soft padding surrounding the egg in multiple (in our case, 3) layers. Our guess is that firm foam around the egg with softer foam outside of that and still softer foam further outside will give the desired results. It is also imperative that the foam in direct contact with the egg fit the eggs shape as well as possible, to help evenly distribute the forces on the egg. Also, if you can get the egg to fall vertically rather than horizontally it will endure much more force because of the oval shape of the egg. This point is easily demonstrated by the fact that it is very difficult to break an egg in your hand when you apply the forces on the top and bottom of the egg, while it is much easier to break the egg by compressing its sides. The final point we will make is that the larger your package, the further the egg travels during its stop, thus decreasing the impulse that the egg experiences, so we have done our best to ensure that the container for our egg is as close to 12 cm3 as possible.

Continuity and Change in Chinese Nationalist Ideology World War I to Present Essay Example for Free

Continuity and Change in Chinese Nationalist Ideology World War I to Present Essay Since the beginning of the First World War to the present, nationalist ideology within China has caused change and continuity in several aspects of this nation’s society. One major change in China from the First World War to the present is its foreign relations with other countries due to factors such as communism and neocolonialism. Although China has changed in this way, it has remained one united nation despite foreign invasion and other internal/external conflicts. In the early 1900s, China was a state of continual civic and revolutionary unrest. As support for revolutionary efforts began to spread, China shifted from a monarchy to a republic. However, this rule didn’t last long as warlords within the nation began establishing themselves as regional or provincial rulers. This helped lead to the deterioration of Chinese society. Another factor leading away from a centralized state was fragmented relations with foreign powers. Since the 1900s, a network of foreign control over the Chinese economy had been established by the unequal treaties, which effectively prevented economic development within China. These treaties and other concessions permitted foreigners to intervene in Chinese society and not control the state, but impair its sovereignty. After the First World War, nationalism began to develop rapidly in China. China eagerly looked to the U. S. government to support the elimination of the treaty systems and the full restoration of Chinese sovereignty. However, when the U. S. approved increasing Japanese interference in China, this sparked the May Fourth Movement. Chinese people protested Japanese interference and began to re-establish national unity. As China began shifting from a divided sphere of influence to a dominant world power, it also became more influenced by communism. During the Second World War, the majority of concern to combat communism was in the Soviet Union. While this was taking place we, the U. S. , neglected to aid the efforts of Jiang Jieshi, who sought to unify the nation of China and bring the conflicts of nationalism and communism to an end. In his place, Jiang Jieshi leaves behind a void of power. Communist leader, Mao Zedong stepped up to fill this void. He like many other rulers in China used the Mandate of Heaven to justify his rise to power and take control of China. In 1949, Mao started the Red Revolution, a revolutionary effort to spread communism in China. Communism soon overpowered the nationalist party as the main ruling party. Mao also aimed to make China a self-reliant, isolated nation. However in doing so, China could not economically support itself or its communist views. In the 1970s the People’s Republic of China began large, radical economic reforms forcing the country to become one of the most capitalistic nations in the world. China quickly added itself to the global economy by opening its borders to the trade of various nations. China soon became the economic power that it is today and despite all the turmoil that has occurred from the First World War to the present, China has remained one united nation. From the past to the present, the ideology behind Chinese nationalism has been in a constant state of change. The shift in government and foreign relations throughout the world has been a major source of China’s nationalism. Although these foreign relations are constantly changing, China has remained a unified nation.

Cross Cultural Issues in Performance Management

Cross Cultural Issues in Performance Management When planning to expand into the global marketplace, the expanding business should set forth a well-planned business process that considers the inherent cultural differences that considers the inherent cultural differences that may exist from country to country. Cultural differences can almost always be identified as one of the primary reasons for the gaps in global internet development. Cultural factors were considered the predictors of the level of acceptance of Internet in a society. Cultural factors also determine the section of a society most likely to use the Internet, the purpose of the use of the Internet, the site visited, purpose of use of the Internet, the site visited, purchase decisions, etc. Hence it is important to consider the cross cultural issues and differences when developing any type of global business strategy The problems that arise in joint ventures become even more salient in the new forms of multicultural organizations that have been called collaborations. When the group working together contains members from three or more cultures and may be operating in yet a fourth different culture, or may not be co-located at all, what kinds of cultural issues are likely to come ? Misunderstanding the rules and norms surrounding the issue of authority is probably the most common problem in newly formed multicultural groups. The high degree of formality that is associated with diplomacy can be understood as a defense against making mistakes in this cultural arena. But formality itself can lead to problems if there nonsufficient understanding In the work situation, if the leader is from a culture in which it is expected that subordinates will speak up if they have a relevant piece of information, but he or she is dealing with group members whose norms dictate that one does not speak up until the boss specially asks, and even then one suppress information that would embarrass the boss, one can foresee that this group will have difficulty being effective. Misunderstandings around authority then have a direct impact on the quality of communication that is possible Another example of going global is seen in personalized service firms such as law and accounting .These professions are focusing on cross-border activities like recruiting the local people who have their own culture, language, legal systems and accounting systems. The need for international expertise and capital is one reason for this trend. Companies of professionals are forming alliances with their foreign counterparts such as the Alliance of European Lawyers. In only 10% of 191 nations are the people ethnically or racially homogenous. Never before in history have so many inhabitants traveled beyond their homelands, either to travel or work abroad, or to flee as refugees. In host countries, the social fabric is being reconfigured and strained by massive waves of immigrants, whether legal or illegal. It is estimated that Chinese now constitute 3% of New York Citys population, with a quarter million of them concentrated in Manhattan Islands Chinatown, which overflows into older ethnic neighborhoods. This is the largest Chinese expatriate group outside Southeast Asia. The Industrial Age has given way to the Information Age, and we can only speculate on its replacement in the next one hundred years. Thus todays leaders are required to develop new models of management systems. They need to be more innovative and recognize the role of each and every employee in the organization in order to achieve the overall organizational goals. These dramatic changes in the workplace are producing some interesting challenges for everyone, from entry-level employees to top management. The management of the organizations should be ready to face these conflicts and challenges that may happen when the people from diverse cultures work together as a team to achieve organizational goals. But management can also enjoy the different opportunities like productivity, expansion, and new levels of growth due to the cross-cultural environment. Our research is about successfully handling these conflicts and takes advantage of these opportunities Globally, cross-cultural research has become increasingly essential. We can see people from diverse cultures in European countries. In this modern age , there is a need for cultural awareness and to understand people beliefs and practices. This, I argue, can be obtained by research, particularly the qualitative approach. I think cross-cultural research is very important that can help organizations to understand and create awareness about issues that may arise when people from different cultures work together as a unit 1.2 Research Questions What Is the Function of Culture? What Are Cultural Differences? Do Cultural Differences Really Have an Impact on Workplace? What are cross-cultural issues and how can we resolve them to improve organizational performance? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Management Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Teamwork Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Communication Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Career Management Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? 1.3 Research Objectives The purpose of our research is to understand the cross-cultural differences that exist in organizations and their impact on the performance of the organizations. We will also pinpoint how the rewards, leadership and communications get different perspectives in cross-cultural environment. We will also study the importance of training programs and their orientation in cross-cultural environment. The focus of our study will be on Cultural differences and similarities Behaviour in global perspective Cultural shock Managerial responses Decision making across cultures Motivation across cultures Reward across cultures Leadership across cultures Power and conflict across cultures Communications across cultures Environments across cultures Organization structure and technology across cultures Cross-culture training 1.4 Key Literature view Initial Knowledge Management (KM) strategies relied heavily on ICT-based solutions to store and retrieve explicit organizational knowledge. However, these ICT-based strategies often failed to deliver meaningful results (Ambrosio 2000). To date, much of the KM literature has focused on corporate and organizational culture, with relatively little attention paid to the implications of national culture. However KM, which is context embedded, is a particularly culturally dependent process (Glisby and Holden 2003; Nonaka and Toyama 2003). Effective KM practices developed by and for one culture may not necessarily be successfully used by other cultures (Pauleen and Murphy 2005). This is an important point as cross-cultural knowledge sharing has become more prevalent through the forces of globalization, advances in communications technology, and increasingly culturally diverse workforces (Cox 1991; Nemetz and Christensen 1996), as well as through international mergers and acquisitions, Internet based e-commerce, and an increasing trend to global outsourcing. Meanwhile, dominant Western cultural assumptions about knowledge and KM influence KM research and development. Given these factors, an understanding of the influence of national culture is now, arguably, a critical requirement in understanding and implementing successful KM in organizations. 1.5 Methodology We will focuses primarily on secondary cross-cultural comparisons (using other peoples data). Some measurement techniques lend themselves more readily to comparison than others. We will also use participant observations and un-structured interviewing that are usually a necessary first step in any field study. It goes without saying that any measure used across sites needs to be applicable to all the sites. Most comparative field studies deal with general domains of life that are found in all societies-for example, words and classification of colors, kin, animals, and plants, ideas about illness, raising children, and social behaviors. We will Compare Primary Data from Field Studies for Behavior Observations 1.6 Research ethical issues Distinct and conceivably unanticipated ethical issues emanate from the unpredictable nature of qualitative research. Ethical considerations relevant to quantitative research impact qualitative investigations in unique and more fragile ways. The ethical dilemmas Inherent in issues surrounding informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, data generation, treatment, publications, and participant-researcher relationships are reviewed in light of the unique issues that emerge in the design and conduct of qualitative investigations. Ethical standards for qualitative investigations must evolve from sense that the research is dynamic and that the process, by its application may result in unanticipated ethical concerns. The researcher must remain open to the possibility of new, and, to date, unexamined ethical concerns related to qualitative research. Further, the evolving standards must be grounded in the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice Researcher must observe certain basic principles when conducting any form of research that involves human subjects. First, participants must not be harmed, thereby supporting the principle of beneficence. In any qualitative investigations, if researchers sense that the interview is causing issues to surface that may result in emotional trauma to participants, they must protect the welfare of the participants that confidentiality and anonymity will be upheld and that participants will be treated with dignity and respect. The principles of beneficence and justice are upheld in this regard. The three ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence and justice provide the organizing framework for meaningful dialogue regarding ethical issues that pertain to qualitative investigations

Bali Summer :: essays research papers

I still memorize those hot humid nights in Bali, Indonesia. I thought I fainted when I got of the plane at the airport. The heat of the air, hit me in the face, and felt like it threw me on the ground. We settled into the airport which was just one large hall which was a un organised position and uncontrollable from all passengers coming of their planes. We got our luggage and made our way to Ubud our first destination for seven quick nights. The reason of visit to this part of Indonesia was because it is near the monkey forest and temples. This trip overseas was my very first holiday overseas and I was thrilled. The idea for a trip to Bali was because close friends said it was the best. We found out soon enough it was heaven for fake merchandise, clothing and lots of others things. We visited the monkey forest that which was a time of my life. At the front of the forest there was a shop selling peanuts for the monkeys. We where far unaware that once we entered the forest, there where signs saying not to feed the monkeys. We then followed the path through the forest that was covered by large tree canopy and gigantic trees. We started throwing peanuts on the ground around us and monkeys hastily followed and ate on unaware of us. Once we threw a sparse amount of peanuts we got surrounded by monkeys and where outnumbered by them. My dad put his hands in his pockets, and one monkey pounced at him with no warning. My dad shacks the monkey off and we promptly walked off to escape the attack. We visited and witnessed most interesting old temples and thousands of years old bridges. From Ubud, we made our way to Kuta that was much more of a tourist style town. Our resort was humongous with beach frontage. The next day we walk down the main road where we find that there is a large theme park called Water Bomb park close by. We then walked to the markets where there was the fake gear. We picked up Nike, Addidas and Fila shorts and t-shirts for a ridiculously cheap price. We found out that there was a McDonalds and KFC near the market with identical fast food menu to Australia. How lucky for us. We still tried out all the international restaurants near by.

Hulk Smash Essay -- Art

Throughout history, the graphic form has been used as a means of conveying information of many forms such as story, words of warning, or even propaganda (Van Meter). In its more recent shape, the modern comic, the graphic work was often treated as a lowly form of art suitable primarily for adolescents and children seeking entertainment (Cengage). This mindset about comics continued until the mid 1980’s, at which point it was shattered by the arrival of â€Å"Maus†; a graphic novel that documented the experiences of a Holocaust survivor (Spiegelman). After winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, Spiegelman’s work opened the door to a whole world of possibilities for the graphic form in scholarly pursuits. Though this event brought about the birth of countless graphic narratives, each responsible for shedding light on modern historical travesties, it is my conviction that prior to the onset of â€Å"graphic reportage† comics held a more important socio-polit ical relevance. While less explicit with their messages, early comics such as â€Å"The Hulk† gave valuable insight into society by giving a direct look into pop-culture of the time, utilizing symbolism to convey public opinion, and spreading propaganda. When a work is created with the intent of being graphic reportage the author becomes painfully aware of the fact that they will be observed and scrutinized under this context, however when an entirely fictitious comic book is created its author is relieved from the constraints of this awareness of observation. Put more eloquently, comic book authors that create works of graphic reportage are vulnerable to a psychological phenomenon known as the Hawthorne Effect, which states that individuals that are aware that they are being observed will b... ... Works Cited Cengage, Gale. eNotes.com. 2004. 22 April 2012 . Conroy, Mike. "The True Origin of The Incredible Hulk." N/A: Marvel Comics, 2008. Gale, E.A.M. "The Hawthorne studies—a fable for our times? ." QJM (2004): 439-449. Lee, Stan-Writer Kirby, Jack -Penciller Reinman, Paul-Inker Simek,Art-Letters. "The Incredible Hulk." The Incredible Hulk #1. Marvel Comics, May 1962. Rocchi, James. X-Meta : An Outsider’s Guide to Symbolism in Superhero Cinema (wonder woman mention). May 2006. 22 April 2012 . Spiegelman, Art. " Maus: A Survivor's Tale." New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. Van Meter, Justine. "History Of Graphic Novels." Orange, CA, February 2012.

The Experiment Research Study: Craik and Tulving (1975)

Aim: To investigate depth processing by giving participants s number of tasks requiring different levels of processing and measuring recognition.Participants: Controlled condition (3 males and 3 females) Experimental condition (3 males and 3 females) Independent group designMethod: This was a repeated measures design experiment with three conditions. Participants were given a list of 60 words, one at a time and were required to process each word at one of thee levels (the independent variable). At deep level they might be asked a question, such as ‘Does this word fit into the sentence†¦?' At an intermediate level, they might be asked ‘ Does this word rhyme with†¦?' At shallow level, they might be asked, ‘Is this word in capital letters?'Following the task, participants were (unexpectedly) given a list of 180 words, which contained the original 60 words processed and 120 ‘filler' words, and were asked to identify the ones they recognised from the orig inal 60 (the dependent variable).Measurement: The two conditions create room for accurate comparison and results. Participants are referred to with numbers.Results: Significantly more words were recognised if they had been processed at deep level (approximately 65 per cent) than either phonetic (37 per cent) or shallow (17 per cent) levels.Conclusion: As deeper processing resulted in better recognition, then the level at which material is processed must be related to memory.Evaluation: This study relies on incidental learning (the participants did  not know they would be asked to recall the words), rather than intentional learning, which is the advantage of being more true to real life. This means participants are unlikely to engage in extra processing which could invalidate the results. However, there is a necessary level of deception required in suck a design which raised ethical issues.

Investing in Education Is the Most Effective Way to Reduce Poverty Essay

â€Å"Investing in education is the most effective way to reduce poverty† In many ways this is a difficult statement to assess. There is no doubt that education is a key initiative in the reduction of poverty. Whether it is the most effective is harder to say for sure. We can easily confirm correlation in the relationship between reduced poverty and increases in factors such as education and health. However it is no simple task to measure and compare the level of impact a component such as education has on poverty. There are many factors and variables that influence the poverty of a country and many of these factors influence one another, strengthening or weakening their individual effects and implications. However after researching the topic I feel I agree with the statement. Before I continue to argue my stance on the title statement I will discuss the basic problem of poverty and the accepted policies and solutions. Poverty is arguably the greatest obstacle facing developing countries in the world today. Poverty can be defined in two ways; absolute poverty and relative poverty. The absolute poverty of a country relates to the number of people who have a standard of living below a certain level. In essence it is a person’s inability to command sufficient resources to satisfy basic human needs. This quantity of resources is called the poverty line. Relative poverty on the other hand refers to the income share of the poorest section of society (Tara Mitchell, 2012). Absolute poverty can be abolished by directly raising the living standards of everyone in a country above the established level – poverty line. Relative poverty however can only be combatted by reducing the gap between the rich and the poor so that the poorest section of a society receives an acceptable percentage of the total income. In other words inequality is the obstacle to overcome. Growth is the key initiative in ending absolute poverty in developing countries. Aid can be supplied to help boost living standards temporarily but growth and development allow countries to support themselves. Growth has a positive correlation with reduction of absolute poverty. Investment in areas such as education, health and gender equality induce growth within early stage developing countries (World Health Organisation, 2008). It is not as clear with relative poverty as it is a share of total income received by the poorest section of society. It can only be reduced not eradicated, by lowering inequality. However many experts differ in opinion on whether reducing inequality has a positive effect on growth. There are two main types of inequality. The first, structural, which relates to historical factors of social divide and infrastructure is definitely bad for growth, as it confines people to predetermined sectors with no drive to innovate. The other type, Market inequality has a much more ambiguous relationship with growth. Some argue that inequality is necessary for growth as there are incentivises people to achieve more. In terms of the most extreme poverty and basic growth, the reduction of inequality seems to be a positive approach (M. Ravallion, 2005) Health and education are important objectives and components of growth and development. For developing countries these two objectives are pivotal in the early eradication of poverty. There is a positive correlation between the number of years of schooling and both income and growth (Cohen & Soto, 2007). In terms of health (which is usually measured in life expectancy at birth or daily per-capita calories) there is also a positive correlation with increases in income (Heston, summers & Aten, 2006). This increased income and/or growth would be seen as direct reduction in poverty. It is difficult to determine whether health or education has a stronger effect on income. This is because they are both heavily intertwined and overlap in many regards. It is found that increased investment in health boosts education and vice versa (Bloom, 2007). In Miguel and Kremer’s 2004 paper they examine the effect of de-worming programs on Kenyan primary school kids. The investigation, which randomized more than 75 schools, shows that the de-worming lowered absenteeism from school by one-quarter in the treatment group and also improved health and school participation in students who were not included in the program (Miguel & Kremer, 2004). In 2005 at the UN’s World Summit, the international community pledged half the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 outlining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These are a series of eight dead lined targets, most of which aim to eradicate the root causes of poverty worldwide. These goals highlight the main forms in which poverty appears hunger, education, inequality and various health related problems. These are therefore the main areas that investment is made to reduce poverty (UNFPA, 2005). The eight MDG’s are: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, Achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development. Looking at these MDG’s, which area of investment would be most effective in reducing poverty? You can see from the above goals that health is a dominant issue, as many of the goals can be attributed to health deficiency problems. It is also true that hunger is maybe the most important and fundamental form of poverty and so must be invested in foremost. Strong investment in improved agriculture practices and technology can stabilise extreme hunger and famine. Gender equality is vital for general welfare of all people but it also gives women an equal control within marriages and families helping to reduce birth rates and HIV levels. When women can negotiate their reproductive health decisions with men, this gives them greater rights and increased decision-making in families and communities that benefits all. This enables people to have fewer children and helps to stimulate development. The average per-capita income increases, as families are smaller and income is shared. Also countries with the most rapid increases in population and the high fertility levels generally have the highest poverty levels (UNFPA, 2005). In my opinion education is the most effective investment. As well as being a major component of growth and development it also provides a foundation for all the other battles against poverty. Health and education are invariably interconnected. Educating and informing people to learn about and maintain their own health is as important as the medicine and infrastructure provided. It also provides an educated population to provide future health resources. Education also gives sustainability to policies aimed at eradicating hunger and starvation e.g. modern agricultural methods. A well founded education system is a platform to give men and women the knowledge and information needed to combat overpopulation and the spread of crippling diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In any form method of fighting poverty the quality is just as important as quantity. There is little point in continued investment in these areas if there are not efforts made to remove and improve on the current inefficiencies. With both education and health many problems have arisen from poor implementation of programs. The lack of fine and accurate systems has seen a lot of invested resources squandered. Absenteeism has been the plight of both health and education efforts in developing countries consistently worldwide. In Uganda 27% of teachers were found to be absent on a daily basis. Likewise, in Indonesia, 40% absenteeism in primary health clinics was occurring daily (Pratham, 2006). Furthermore, even teachers who attend may not actually be in class; in India, only two-thirds of teachers present in school were actually teaching (Kremer et al, 2004). So what is going wrong? Firstly, there doesn’t seem to be any strong repercussions for teachers with poor attendance. In a survey of 3000 Indian government schools astonishingly only one school reported firing a teacher for poor attendance (Pratham, 2006). There are certainly systems in place whereby theoretically, supervisors record absences and deal out punishments accordingly. Some even implemented this on an incentivised reward and punishment basis. However most studies reflect that schemes implemented with a supervisor making judgements at his/her own discretion, do not work. This may seem like a more feasible system, allowing a human element to determine the severity or genuine nature of the reasons for absent teachers. But absences in local communities responsible for self-monitoring and accountability were simply not reported (Pratham, 2006). It is evident that institutions providing public services are very complex and focusing on the details counts. Governments and organisations involved in these areas have to continuously adapt and innovate the systems to fit there region, country and people. There are systems that do appear to be working. They are most notably impersonally monitored and accounted. One study in Rajastan, India where machines were used to check teachers in and provided an incentivised pay system based on attendance with external monitoring. This cut the growing problem with attendance in half (Seva Mandir, NGO). Surprisingly some of the most successful systems are not teacher incentivised. For example a girl’s scholarship program run in Kenya offered scholarships based on high test scores. The result showed a large academic improvement throughout the age group, even boys not included in the scholarship improved their marks dramatically. There was also a significant rise in attendance of teachers, though causality cannot be guaranteed, this is presumably due to increased student motivation to learn (Kremer, Miguel, & Thornton, 2007) Often the most absentee reducing methods are found to be the most cost effective also. What is for certain is that supervisors cannot be allowed discretion to determine rewards. The system must be impersonal. Successful application of such systems can be found in Brazil and Mexico. In Brazil it is known as conditional cash transfer (CCT), this idea was based on Mexico’s original Progressa system. It provides financial support to families for food, school and medical expenses and is weighted dependant on the attendance level (Economist, 2005). Another system known as â€Å"local accountability with teeth†, where locals have the authority to hire and fire themselves has also a lot of potential and most importantly it reduces cost of financial incentive (MIT, 2010). This problem has been subject to great debate and investigation amid governments and agencies involved with the reduction of poverty in the developing world. It is widely acknowledged that improvements in the absentee rate in both schools and health care centres would lead to better living standards in struggling countries. A 2008 study showed that when teacher attendance rose from 58-79% this coincided with a 7% point increase in the number of girls able to write (Duflo, Hanna & Ryan, 2008). However it is not as clear if amendments to absentee levels in healthcare lead to more patients attending clinics (Bjorkman & Svensson, 2007). According to a similar surprise survey visit to schools and healthcare centres on India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Uganda, Ecuador and Peru checking up on attendance changes and their affects, the results showed a doubling of the country’s GDP resulted in an 8% pt. decline in education absences and only a 3.8% pt. fall in healthcare absences(Chauhury et al, 2006). This shows that whilst health and education both have positive responses to improved attendances, education changes have a stronger positive relationship with GDP (Income) than the health attendance changes. Having read and studied a number of papers and articles on the issue, I am of the opinion that investment in education is the most effective way to reduce poverty. Whilst health issues dominate the main forms that poverty appears in, I feel that a sustainable and affective health system can only be established after there is a strong foundation of education already in place. The same can be said for all problems associated with poverty and so the returns on education investment are wide reaching and long lasting. Education also has a more effective response to investment and absentee improvements than health. It is the basis for a countries future stability; every developed country in today’s world has a strong education system right up to 3rd level. It is crucial investment needed by developing countries to have and advance basic education services to help build all facets of a countries growth. With a more educated population the problems at the roots of poverty can be tackled. Starvation, disease, gender equality, income and the overall quality of life can improve and be maintained without external aid. This is why I think the statement is correct that investing in education is the most effective way to reduce poverty. Bibliography: * Lecture slides EC3040A, Tara Mitchell, 2012 * Human Rights, Health & Poverty Reduction Strategies, World Health Organisation; 2008 * Reducing Poverty and achieving Sustainable Development, United Nations Population Fund, 2005 * Growth and human capital: good data, good results, D.Cohen & M. Soto; 2007 * Penn World Table, version 6.2, Centre for International Comparisons of Production, Income & Price; A. Heston, R. Summers, & B. Aten, 2006 * Inequality is bad for the poor, M. Ravallion, World Bank, 2005 * Education, Health and Development, D. Bloom; 2007 * Fighting Poverty: What Works? Pratham; 2006 * Missing in action: Teacher and Health work absence in developing countries, N. Chaudhury, J. Hammer, M. Kremer, K. Muralidharam & F. Halsey Rogers; 2006 * Power of the people: Evidence from a randomized field experiment of a community based monitoring project in Uganda, M. Bjorkman & J. Svensson; 2007 * Incentives to Learn, M. Kremer, E. Miguel, R. Thornton; 2007 * New thinking about an old problem, The Economist; 2005 * Poverty Action Lab, Abdul Latif Jameel, MIT; 2010

A Dirty Job Chapter 23

23 A FUCKED-UP DAY It was a fucked-up day in the City by the Bay. At first light, flocks of vultures perched on the superstructures of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, and glared down at commuters as if they had a lot of goddamn gall to still be alive and driving. Traffic copters that were diverted to photograph the ranks of carrion birds ended up covering a spiral cloud of bats that circled the Transamerica pyramid for ten minutes, then seemed to evaporate into a black mist that floated out over the Bay. Three swimmers who had been competing in the San Francisco Triathlon drowned in the Bay, and a helicopter camera photographed something under the water, a dark shape approaching one of the swimmers from below and dragging him under. Numerous replays of the tape revealed that rather than the sleek shape of a shark, the creature had a wide wingspan and a distinctly horned head, unlike any ray or skate that anyone had ever seen before. The ducks in Golden Gate Park suddenly took to the wing and left the area, the hundreds of sea lions that normally lounged in the sun down at Pier 39 were gone as well, and even the pigeons seemed to have disappeared from the City. A grunt reporter who had been covering the overnight police blotter noticed the coincidence of seven reports of violence or missing persons at local-area secondhand stores, and by early evening the television stations were mentioning it, along with spectacular footage of the Book 'em Danno building burning in the Mission. And there were hundreds of singular events experienced by individuals: creatures moving in the shadows, voices and screams from the sewer grates, milk souring, cats scratching owners, dogs howling, and a thousand people woke up to find that they no longer cared for the taste of chocolate. It was a fucked-up day. Charlie spent the rest of the night fretting and checking locks, then double-checking them, then looking on the Internet for clues about the Underworlders, just in case someone posted a brand-new ancient document since he'd last checked. He wrote a will, and several letters, which he walked outside and put in the mailbox out on the street rather than with the outgoing mail on the counter of the store. Then, around dawn, completely exhausted yet with his Beta Male imagination racing at a thousand miles an hour, he took two of the sleeping pills Jane had given him and slept through the fucked-up day, to be awakened in early evening by a call from his darling daughter. â€Å"Hello.† â€Å"Aunt Cassie is an anti-Semite,† said Sophie. â€Å"Honey, it's six in the morning. Can we discuss Aunt Cassie's politics a little later?† â€Å"It is not, it's six at night. It's bath time, and Aunt Cassie won't let me bring Alvin and Mohammed into the bathroom with me for my bath, because she's an anti-Semite.† Charlie looked at his watch. He was sort of glad that it was six in the evening and he was talking to his daughter. Whatever happened while he was sleeping at least hadn't affected that. â€Å"Cassie is not an anti-Semite.† It was Jane on the other line. â€Å"Is too,† said Sophie. â€Å"Be careful, Daddy, Aunt Jane is an anti-Semite sympathizer.† â€Å"I am not,† Jane said. â€Å"Listen to how smart my daughter is,† said Charlie. â€Å"I didn't know words like anti-Semite and sympathizer when I was her age, did you?† â€Å"You can't trust the goyim, Daddy,† said Sophie. She lowered her voice to a whisper. â€Å"They hate baths, the goyim.† â€Å"Daddy's a goyim, too, baby.† â€Å"Oh my God, they're everywhere, like pod people!† He heard his daughter drop the phone, scream, and then a door slammed. â€Å"Sophie, you unlock this door this instant,† Cassie said in the background. Jane said, â€Å"Charlie, where does she get this stuff? Are you teaching her this?† â€Å"It's Mrs. Korjev – she's descended from Cossacks and she has a little residual guilt for what her ancestors did to the Jews.† â€Å"Oh,† Jane said, not interested now that she couldn't blame Charlie. â€Å"Well, you shouldn't let the dogs in the bathroom with her. They eat the soap and sometimes they get in the tub, and then – â€Å" â€Å"Let them go with her, Jane,† Charlie interrupted. â€Å"They may be the only thing that can protect her.† â€Å"Okay, but I'm only letting them eat the cheap soaps. No French-milled soaps.† â€Å"They're fine with domestic soap, Jane. Look, I drew up a holographic will last night. If something happens to me, I want you to raise Sophie. It's in there.† Jane didn't answer. He could hear her breathing on the other end. â€Å"Jane?† â€Å"Sure, sure. Of course. What the hell is going on with you guys? What's the big danger Sophie's in? Why are you being spooky like this? And why didn't you call earlier, you fucker?† â€Å"I was up all night doing stuff. Then I took two of those sleeping pills you gave me. Suddenly twelve hours are gone.† â€Å"You took two? Never take two.† â€Å"Yeah, thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"Anyway, I'm sure I'll be okay, but if for some reason I'm not, you need to take Sophie and get out of the City for a while. I mean like up in the Sierras. I also sent you a letter explaining everything, as much as I know, anyway. Only open it if something happens, okay?† â€Å"Nothing better happen, you fuck. I just lost Mom, and I – why the hell are you talking like this, Charlie? What kind of trouble are you in?† â€Å"I can't tell you, Jane. You have to trust me that I didn't have any choice in the matter.† â€Å"How can I help?† â€Å"By doing exactly what you're doing, taking care of Sophie, keeping her safe, and keeping the hellhounds with her at all times.† â€Å"Okay, but nothing better happen to you. Cassie and I are going to get married and I want you to give me away. And I want to borrow your tux, too. It's Armani, right?† â€Å"No, Jane.† â€Å"You won't give me away?† â€Å"No, no, it's not that, I'd pay her to take you, it's not that.† â€Å"Then you don't think that gay people should be allowed to get married, is that it? You're finally coming clean. I knew it, after all – â€Å" â€Å"I just don't think that gay people should be allowed to get married wearing my tux.† â€Å"Oh,† Jane said. â€Å"You'll wear my Armani tux and I'll have to rent some piece of crap or buy something new and cheap, and then I'll go through eternity looking like a total dork in the wedding pictures. I know how you guys like to show wedding pictures – it's like a disease.† â€Å"By ‘you guys,' you mean lesbians?† Jane said, sounding very much like a prosecuting attorney. â€Å"Yes, I mean lesbians, dumbfuck,† said Charlie, sounding very much like a hostile witness. â€Å"Oh, okay,† Jane said. â€Å"It is my wedding, I guess I can buy a tux.† â€Å"That would be nice,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm sort of needing the pants cut a little looser in the seat these days anyway,† Jane said. â€Å"Thatta girl.† â€Å"So you'll be safe and give me away.† â€Å"I'll sure try. You think Cassandra will let me bring the little Jewish kid?† Jane laughed. â€Å"Call me every hour,† she said. â€Å"I won't do that.† â€Å"Okay, when you can.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"Bye.† He smiled to himself and rolled out of bed, wondering if this might be the last time he would ever do that. Smile. Charlie showered, ate a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and put on a thousand-dollar suit for which he had paid forty bucks. He limped around the bedroom for a few minutes and decided that his leg felt pretty good and he could do without the foam walking cast, so he left it on the floor by the bed. He put on a pot of coffee and called Inspector Rivera. â€Å"It was a fucked-up day,† Rivera said. â€Å"Charlie, you need to take your daughter and get out of town.† â€Å"I can't do that. This is about me. You'll keep me informed, right?† â€Å"Promise you won't try to do anything stupid or heroic?† â€Å"Not in my DNA, Inspector. I'll call you if I see anything.† Charlie disconnected, having no idea what he was going to do, but feeling like he had to do something. He called Jane's house to say good night to Sophie. â€Å"I just want you to know that I love you very much, honey.† â€Å"Me, too, Daddy. Why did you call?† â€Å"What, you have a meeting or something?† â€Å"We're having ice cream.† â€Å"That's nice. Look, Sophie, Daddy has to go do some things, so I want you to stay with Aunt Jane for a few days, okay?† â€Å"Okay. Do you need some help? I'm free.† â€Å"No, honey, but thank you.† â€Å"Okay, Daddy. Alvin is looking at my ice cream. He looks hungry, like bear. I have to go.† â€Å"Love you, honey.† â€Å"Love you, Daddy.† â€Å"Apologize to Aunt Cassie for calling her an anti-Semite.† â€Å"‘Kay.† Click. She hung up on him. The apple of his eye, the light of his life, his pride and joy, hung up on him. He sighed, but felt better. Heartbreak is the natural habitat of the Beta Male. Charlie took a few minutes in the kitchen to sharpen the edge of the sword-cane on the back of the electric can opener he and Rachel had received as a wedding present, then he headed out to check on the store. As soon as he opened the door to the back staircase Charlie heard strange animal noises coming from the store. It sounded as if they were coming from the back room, and there were no lights on, although he could see plenty of light filtering in from the store. Was this it? Sort of solved the problem of what he was going to do. He drew the sword from his cane and crept down the stairs in a crouch, moving along the edge of each step to minimize squeakage. Halfway down he saw the source of the animal noises and he recoiled, leaping nearly halfway back up the staircase. â€Å"For the love of God!† â€Å"It needed to be done,† Lily said. She was astraddle Ray Macy, her plaid pleated skirt (mercifully) draped out over him, covering the parts that would have caused Charlie to have to tear his eyes out, which he was thinking about doing anyway. â€Å"It did,† Ray agreed breathlessly. Charlie peeked down into the back room – they were still at it, Lily riding Ray like he was a mechanical bull, one bare breast bouncing out of the lapel of her chef ‘s coat. â€Å"He was despondent,† she said. â€Å"I found him giving himself hickies with the shop vac. It's for the greater good, Asher.† â€Å"Well, stop it,† Charlie said. â€Å"No, no, no, no, no,† said Ray. â€Å"It's a charity thing,† Lily said. â€Å"You know, Lily,† Charlie said, covering his eyes, â€Å"you could exercise your charity in other ways, like Salvation Army Santa or something.† â€Å"I don't want to fuck those guys. Most of them are raging alcoholics, and they stink. At least Ray is clean.† â€Å"I don't mean do one, I mean be one. Ring the bell with the little red kettle. Jeez.† â€Å"I am clean,† said Ray. â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. â€Å"She's young enough to be your daughter.† â€Å"He was suicidal,† Lily said. â€Å"I may be saving his life.† â€Å"She is,† Ray said. â€Å"Shut up, Ray,† Charlie said. â€Å"This is pathetic, desperate pity sex, that's all it is.† â€Å"He knows that,† Lily said. â€Å"I don't mind,† said Ray. â€Å"I'm doing this for the cause, too,† Lily said. â€Å"Ray was holding out on you.† â€Å"I was?† said Ray. â€Å"How?† Charlie said. â€Å"He found a woman who was buying all the soul vessels. She was with the clients you missed. Somewhere in the Mission. He wasn't going to tell you about her.† â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about,† Ray said. Then added, â€Å"Faster, please.† â€Å"Tell him the address,† Lily said. â€Å"Lily,† Charlie said, â€Å"this isn't really necessary.† â€Å"No,† Ray said. There was a loud smack. Charlie opened his eyes. They were still there, doing it, but Ray's right cheek was bright red and Lily was winding up to slap him again. â€Å"Tell him!† â€Å"It's on Guerrero Street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth, I don't know the number, but it's a big green Victorian, you can't miss it. Three Jewels Buddhist Center.† SMACK! â€Å"Ouch, I told him,† Ray whined. â€Å"That's for not getting the address, BITCH!† Lily said. Then to Charlie: â€Å"There you go, Asher. I want a prime position when you take over the Underworld!† Charlie thought that one of the first things he was going to change when he took over was expanding The Great Big Book of Death to include how to handle situations like this. But instead he said, â€Å"You got it, Lily. You'll be in charge of dress code and torture.† â€Å"Sweet,† Lily said. â€Å"‘Scuse me, Asher, I have to finish this.† Then to Ray: â€Å"Hear that? No more flannel shirts for you, grommet!† SMACK! The grunts coming from Ray increased in frequency and intensity. â€Å"Sure,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'll just go out the other door.† â€Å"See ya,† Ray said. â€Å"I'm never going to look either one of you in the eye again, okay?† â€Å"Sounds good, Asher,† Lily said. â€Å"Be careful.† Charlie crept back up the steps, went out the front door of his apartment and down the elevator to the street entrance, suppressing his gag reflex the whole way. On the street he flagged down a cab and rode into the Mission, trying to wipe the image of his shagging employees out of his mind. The Morrigan had followed the gift souls that had escaped through the drains to a deserted street in the Mission. Now they waited, watching the green Victorian building from storm-drain grates at either end of the street. They were more cautious now, their rapacious nature having been dampened somewhat by having been severely blown up the night before. They called them the gift souls because the little patchwork creatures brought the souls right to them in the sewers – the gifts showing up in the Morrigan's weakest moment. After the accursed Boston terrier had chased them through miles of pipelines, leaving them battered and exhausted on a high ledge at a pipe junction, along marched twenty or so of the darling little nightmares, all dressed up in finery and carrying just what they needed to heal their wounds and replenish their strength: human souls. And thus renewed, they were able to scare away that obnoxious little dog. The Morrigan were back – not to the strength they'd achieved before the explosion, maybe not even enough to fly, but certainly enough to venture Above once again, especially with so many souls at hand. No one was out on the streets tonight except the junkies, the hookers, and the homeless. After the fucked-up day in the City, most everyone had decided that it was just a better idea to stay in, safer. To the Morrigan (for all they cared), they were safer in their homes the same way a tuna fish is safer in a can, but no one knew that yet. No one knew what they were hiding from except Charlie Asher, and he was getting out of a cab right in front of them as they watched. â€Å"It's New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"We should give him a new name,† said Babd. â€Å"I mean, he's really not that new anymore.† â€Å"Hush,† hushed Macha. â€Å"Hey, lover,† Babd called out of her drain. â€Å"Did you miss me?† Charlie paid the cabbie and stood in the middle of the street looking at the big jade-green Queen Anne. There were lights on in the turret upstairs and in one window downstairs. He could just make out the sign that read THREE JEWELS BUDDHIST CENTER. He started to step toward the house and saw movement in the lattice under the porch – eyes shining. A cat maybe. His cell phone rang and he flipped it open. â€Å"Charlie, it's Rivera. I have some good news; we found Carrie Long, the woman from the pawnshop, and she's still alive. She was tied up and thrown in a Dumpster a block from her store.† â€Å"That's great,† Charlie said. But he wasn't feeling great. The things that had been moving under the porch were coming out. Moving up the stairs, standing on the porch, lining up and facing him. Twenty or thirty of them, a little more than a foot tall, dressed in ornate period costumes. Each had the skeletal face of a dead animal, cats, foxes, badgers – animals Charlie couldn't identify, but just the skulls – the eye sockets empty, black. Yet they stared. â€Å"You won't believe what she said put her there, Charlie. Little creatures, little monsters, she said.† â€Å"About fourteen inches tall,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah, how'd you know?† â€Å"Lots of teeth and claws, like animal parts stuck together, all dressed up like they were going to a grand costume ball?† â€Å"What are you telling me, Charlie? What do you know?† â€Å"Just guessing,† Charlie said. He unclipped the latch on his sword-cane. â€Å"Hey, lover,† came a female voice from behind him. â€Å"Did you miss me?† Charlie turned. She was crawling out of the drain almost directly behind him. â€Å"The bad news,† Rivera said, â€Å"is we found the junk dealer and the bookstore guy from Book 'em Danno – pieces of them.† â€Å"That is bad news,† Charlie said. He started moving up the street, away from the sewer harpy and the porch full of Satan's sock puppets. â€Å"New Meat,† came a voice from up the street. Charlie looked to see another sewer harpy coming out of the drain, her eyes gleaming black in the streetlight. Behind him he heard the clacking of little animal teeth. â€Å"Charlie, I still think you should leave town for a while, but if you don't, and don't tell anyone I told you this, you should get a gun, maybe a couple of guns.† â€Å"I think that would be a great idea,† Charlie said. The two sewer harpies were moving very slowly toward him, awkwardly, as if their nerves were short-circuiting. The one closest to him, the one from the alley in North Beach, was licking her lips. She looked a little ragged compared to the night she'd seduced him. He moved up the street away from them. â€Å"A shotgun, so you won't need to learn to shoot. I can't give you one, but – â€Å" â€Å"Inspector, I'm going to have to get back to you.† â€Å"I'm serious, Charlie, whatever these things are, they are going after your kind.† â€Å"You have no idea how clear that is to me, Inspector.† â€Å"Is that the one who shot me?† said the closest harpy. â€Å"Tell him I'm going to suck his eyeballs out of the sockets and chew them in his ear.† â€Å"You get that, Inspector?† Charlie said. â€Å"She's there?† â€Å"They,† Charlie said. â€Å"This way, Meat,† said the third sewer harpy, coming out of the drain at the far end of the block. She stood, extended her claws, and flicked a line of venom down the side of a parked car. The paint sizzled and ran where it hit. â€Å"Where are you, Charlie? Where are you?† â€Å"I'm in the Mission. Near the Mission.† The little creatures were coming down the steps now, down the walk toward the street. â€Å"Look,† said a harpy, â€Å"he brought presents.† â€Å"Charlie, where exactly are you?† said Rivera. â€Å"Gotta go, Inspector.† Charlie flipped the phone closed and dropped it in his coat pocket. Then he drew the sword from the cane and turned to the harpy from the alley. â€Å"For you,† he said to her, whipping the sword in a flourish through the air. â€Å"That's sweet,† she said. â€Å"You always think about my needs.† The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was the perfect show-off of death machines. It consisted of nearly three tons of steel stamped into a massively mawed, high-tailed beast, lined with enough chrome to build a Terminator and still have parts left over – most of it in long, sharp strips that peeled off on impact and became lethal scythes to flay away pedestrian flesh. Under the four headlights it sported two chrome bumper bullets that looked like unexploded torpedoes or triple-G-cup Madonna death boobs. It had a noncollapsible steering column that would impale the driver upon any serious impact, electric windows that could pinch off a kid's head, no seat belts, and a 325 horsepower V8 with such appallingly bad fuel efficiency that you could hear it trying to slurp liquefied dinosaurs out of the ground when it passed. It had a top speed of a hundred and ten miles an hour, mushy, bargelike suspension that could in no way stabilize the car at that speed, and undersized power brake s that wouldn't stop it either. The fins jutting from the back were so high and sharp that the car was a lethal threat to pedestrians even when parked, and the whole package sat on tall, whitewall tires that looked, and generally handled, like oversized powdered doughnuts. Detroit couldn't have achieved more deadly finned ostentatia if they'd covered a killer whale in rhinestones. It was a masterpiece. And the reason you need to know all that, is that along with the battle-worn Morrigan and the well-dressed chimeras, a '57 Eldorado was rapidly approaching Charlie. The bloodred lacquered Eldo slid around the corner, tires screaming like flaming peacocks, hubcaps spinning off toward the curb, engine roaring, spewing blue smoke out of the rear wheel wells like a flatulent dragon. The first of the Morrigan turned in time to take a bumper bullet in the thigh before she was dragged and folded under the car and spit out the back into a black heap. The headlights came on and the Caddy veered toward the Morrigan nearest Charlie. The animal creatures scurried back up the sidewalk and Charlie ran up onto the hood of a parked Honda as the Eldo smacked the second Morrigan. She rag-doll-whipped over the hood as the car's brakes screamed, then flew twenty yards down the street. The Caddy peeled out and hit her again, this time rolling over her with a series of thumps and leaving her tossing down the tarmac, shedding pieces as she rolled. The Caddy blazed on toward the final Morrigan. This one had a few seconds on her sisters and started running up the street, her shape changing, arms to wings, tail feathers trying to manifest, but she didn't seem able to make the transformation in time to fly. The Eldo plowed over her, then hit the brakes, reversed, and burned rubber on her back. Charlie ran up on the roof of the Honda, ready to leap away from the street, but the Caddy stopped and the blacked-out electric window wound down. â€Å"Get the fuck in the car,† said Minty Fresh. Minty Fresh hit the final Morrigan again as he speeded off down the block, took two screeching lefts, then pulled the car to the curb, jumped out, and ran around to the front. â€Å"Oh, goddamn,† said Minty Fresh (damn on the downbeat, with pain and sustain). â€Å"Goddamn, my hood and grille are all fucked up. Goddamn. I will tolerate the rising of darkness to cover the world, but you do not fuck with my ride.† He jumped back in the car, threw it into gear, and screeched around the next corner. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"I'm going to run over the bitches again. You do not fuck with my ride.† â€Å"Well, what did you think would happen when you ran them over?† â€Å"Not this. I never ran over anyone before. Don't act like that's a surprise.† Charlie looked at the gleaming interior of the car, the bloodred leather seats, the dash fitted with walnut burl and gold-plated knobs. â€Å"This is a great car. My mailman would love this car.† â€Å"Your mailman?† â€Å"He collects vintage pimp wear.† â€Å"So what are you trying to say?† â€Å"Nothing.† They were already on Guerrero Street and Minty floored it as they approached the target block. The first Morrigan he had hit was just getting to her knees when he hit her again, knocking her over two parked cars and into the side of a vacant building. The second one turned to face them and bared her claws, which raked the hood as he rolled over her with a drumroll of thumps, then he ran over the third one's legs as she was crawling back into the storm sewer. â€Å"Jeez,† Charlie said, turning and looking out the back window. Minty Fresh seemed to turn his full attention to driving safely now. â€Å"What the hell are those things?† â€Å"I call them sewer harpies. They're the things that call to us from the storm sewers. They're a lot stronger now than they used to be.† â€Å"They're scary is what they are,† said Minty. â€Å"I don't know,† Charlie said. â€Å"Have you gotten a good look at them? I mean, they got the badonkadonk out back and some fine bajoopbadangs up front, know what I'm sayin', dog? Buss a rock wid a playa?† He offered his fist for Minty to buss him a rock, but alas, the mint one left him hangin'. â€Å"Stop that,† Fresh said. â€Å"Sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"Talk Like a Playa in Ten Days or Less – Stone Thug Edition?† Minty asked. Charlie nodded. â€Å"We got the CD into the store a couple of months ago. I practice in the van. How am I doing?† â€Å"Your Negro-osity is uncanny. I had to keep checking to make sure you're still white.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said, then, as if a light went on: â€Å"Hey, I've been looking for you – where the hell have you been?† â€Å"Hiding out. One of those things came after me on the BART a few nights ago when I was coming back from Oakland.† â€Å"How'd you get away?† â€Å"Those little animal things, a bunch of them attacked her in the dark. I could hear her screaming at them, tearing them to ribbons, but they held her off until the train pulled into the station, which was full of people. She bolted back into the tunnel. There were pieces of the animal creatures everywhere in the train car.† Minty turned onto Van Ness and started heading toward Charlie's side of town. â€Å"So they helped you? They're not part of the Underworlders trying to take over?† â€Å"They don't appear to be. They saved my ass.† â€Å"So you know some of the Death Merchants have been killed?† â€Å"I didn't know. It wasn't in the paper. I saw where Anton's shop burned up last night. He didn't make it out?† â€Å"They found pieces of him,† Charlie said. â€Å"Charlie, I think I caused this.† Minty Fresh turned and really looked at Charlie for the first time, his golden eyes looking forlorn. â€Å"I failed to collect my last two soul vessels, and all of this started.† â€Å"I thought it was me,† Charlie said. â€Å"I missed two as well. But I don't think it's us. My two clients are alive, I think they're in that house where I was going when you saved me: the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. There's a woman there who's been buying up soul vessels, too.† â€Å"Cute brunette?† Minty asked. â€Å"I don't know. Why?† â€Å"She bought some from me, too. Tried to disguise herself, but it was her.† â€Å"Well, she's in that house back there. I've got to go back there.† â€Å"I don't want anything to do with those bitches with the claws,† Minty said. â€Å"True dat,† Charlie said. â€Å"I had a thing with one of them.† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Yeah, she got all up in my grille and shit – had to cut da ho loose.† â€Å"Stop that.† â€Å"Sorry. Anyway, I've got to go back.† â€Å"You sure? I don't think they're dead. Doesn't look like they can be dead.† â€Å"You could run over them again. By the way, how did you know where to find me?† â€Å"After I heard about Anton's place burning, I tried to call him and got a disconnected message, so I went to your store. I talked to that little Goth girl you have working for you. She told me where you went. Talked to her for about ten minutes. She knows about me – I mean us? The Death Merchants?† â€Å"Yes, I told her a long time ago. Wasn't she, uh, busy when you got there? With a guy, I mean.† â€Å"No. She seeing anyone?† â€Å"I thought you were gay?† â€Å"I never said that.† â€Å"Yeah, but you didn't go out of your way to deny it either.† â€Å"Charlie, I run a music store in the Castro, I'd do more business as a gay Death Merchant than a straight shopkeeper.† â€Å"Good point. I never thought of that.† â€Å"Color me surprised. So, she seeing anyone?† â€Å"She's half your age and I think she's a little twisted – sexually, I mean.† â€Å"So is she seeing anyone?† â€Å"She's like a little sister to me, Fresh. Don't you have employees like that?† â€Å"Have you never met anyone who works in a record store? There's no greater repository of unjustified arrogance in the world. I'd poison my employees if I thought I could find replacements.† â€Å"I don't think she's seeing anybody, but since the world is about to be taken over by the Forces of Darkness, you may not have time for dating.† â€Å"I don't know. She seems like she might have an in with the Forces of Darkness. I like her, she's funny in a sort of macabre way, and she likes Miles.† â€Å"Lily likes Miles Davis?† â€Å"You don't know that about your little sister?† Charlie threw his hands up. â€Å"Take her, use her, throw her away, I don't care, she's only part-time. You can date my daughter, too. She's going to be six and probably loves Coltrane for all I know.† â€Å"Calm down, you're overreacting.† â€Å"Just turn around and take me back to that Buddhist center. I've got to stop this thing. It's all on me, Fresh. I'm the Luminatus.† â€Å"You are not.† â€Å"I am,† Charlie said. â€Å"You're the Great Death – with a capital D? You? You know this to be true?† â€Å"I do,† Charlie said. â€Å"I knew there was something different about you, but I thought that the Luminatus would be – I don't know – taller.† â€Å"Don't start with that, okay.† Minty swung the car off Van Ness into a hotel turnaround. â€Å"Where are you going?† Charlie said. â€Å"To run over some sewer harpies again.† â€Å"Back to the Buddhist center?† â€Å"Uh-huh. You have any weapons besides that stupid sword?† â€Å"My cop friend told me I should get a gun.† Minty Fresh reached into his moss-green jacket and came out with the biggest pistol Charlie had ever seen. He placed it on the seat. â€Å"Take it. Desert Eagle fifty-caliber. It'll stop a bear.† Charlie picked up the chrome-plated pistol. It weighed like five pounds and the barrel looked big enough to stick your thumb in. â€Å"This thing is huge.† â€Å"I'm a big guy. Listen, it holds eight shots. There's a round in the chamber. You have to cock it and release the safety before you fire. There and there.† He pointed to the safety and the hammer. â€Å"Hold on to it if you have to shoot. It will knock you on your ass if you're not ready.† â€Å"What about you?† Minty patted the other side of his coat. â€Å"I have another one.† Charlie turned the gun in his hand and watched the streetlights playing off its chromed surface. (Beta Males, who inherently feel they are always at a competitive disadvantage, are suckers for showy equalizers.) â€Å"You have a lot going on under the surface, Mr. Fresh. You are not just the run-of-the-mill seven-foot-tall Death Merchant in a pastel-green suit.† â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Asher. Very kind of you to say.† â€Å"My pleasure.† Charlie's cell phone rang and he flipped it open. Rivera said, â€Å"Asher, where the hell are you? I've been circling the Mission and there's nothing here but a lot of black feathers flying in the air.† â€Å"Yeah, it's okay. I'm okay, Inspector. I found Minty Fresh, the guy who owns the music store. I'm in the car with him.† â€Å"So you're safe?† â€Å"Relatively.† â€Å"Good. Lay low and I'll call you, okay? I want to talk to your friend tomorrow.† â€Å"You got it, Inspector. Thanks for coming to help.† â€Å"Careful, Asher.† â€Å"Gotcha. I'm laying low. Bye.† Charlie snapped the phone shut and turned to Minty Fresh. â€Å"You ready?† â€Å"Absolutely,† said the fresh one. The street was deserted when they pulled up in front of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. â€Å"I'll go around to the back,† Minty said. Well, cars suck, I can tell you that,† said Babd, trying to keep herself together as the Morrigan limped back to the great ship. â€Å"Five thousand years, horses are fine, all of a sudden we have to have paved streets and cars. I don't see the attraction.† â€Å"I'm not even sure that we need to rise and let Darkness rule,† said Nemain. â€Å"Apparently darkness isn't qualified yet. Speaking as an agent of Darkness, I think it needs more time.† She had been crushed into a half-woman, half-raven form and was shedding feathers as they limped through the pipe. â€Å"It's like that New Meat has someone watching over him,† said Macha. â€Å"Next time Orcus can deal with him.† â€Å"Yeah, let's get Orcus to go after him,† Babd said. â€Å"See what he thinks of cars.†

Disadvantages of arranged marriage Essay

DISADVANTAGES OF ARRANGED MARRIAGES.  · The main disadvantage of Arranged marriages in Hinduism (especially in India) is the dowry system. It has been said that the dowry system has been completely eradicated from the social views around the country, but it doesn’t seem like it. The dowry system basically is a situation where the girls family pays enormous amounts on money or gives other expensive things such as gold, cars etc. to the groom’s family, just because they are on the superior side of the relationship.  · Arranged marriages may sometimes raise a hard situation of choosing the right partner. This occurs when there is a lot of pressure on the unwed individual from the family members. This sometimes leads the individual to rethink about arranged marriages. The couple might experience lack of privacy in their relationship due to the family closeness and interference by other relatives. It calls for an awkward situation if the couple is in an argument, and hence the entire family/ families might get involved even if they don’t tend to. Once a couple chosen through arranged system of marriage get married, family future, financial planning and other relative tasks take the first priority. Hence the main feeling of love between the couple ends up being the â€Å"second thing† in the relationship. Even though we discussed in the advantages that the in-laws support the couples during their wedded life, sometimes feelings of ego and jealousy drive the other memebers of the family to sour up the relationship between the couple. This take a huge toll on the couple as they get caught up in the family and in-law dispute. Therefore in some cases it ends up breaking the relationship between two individuals. (Lack of faith). Couples must remember that they have chosen their partners by their will and they don’t need to get carried away by the ill thoughts of the other family members as they have a future to look forward to. Another disadvantage is when the boy’s family turns down a girl just because she mig ht be average in appearance, even though she is decent, respects her elders and knows how to stand along with her future partner in sorts of situations that he or his family might face. An arranged marriage might also result in family feuds if it was a forced one. Either one of the partners might have chosen someone else as their future partner.

Advanced Auditing Case 2.3

The client’s assertions that accounts receivable confirmation can effectively address are existence, rights, and valuation. b) When performing year-end sales cutoff tests, auditors hope to accomplish the objective of obtaining evidence from third parties to evaluate the client’s assertions of sales recorded for the period under audit. The client’s assertions that sales cutoff tests can effectively address are completeness and presentation. 2. Coopers Lybrand made several significant errors of judgment in its effort to confirm the Wow Wee receivable at the end of 1995. These errors of judgment include ignoring or overlooking red flags including: the 69% change in the percentage of factored accounts receivable from 1994 to 1995, the $2. 4 million in sales to Wow Wee booked in the final day of fiscal 1995, the fact that Wow Wee is a manufacturing company, the fact that Wow Wee was left out of the top 25 customers list when it was among the top 5 based on recorded sales, and the clearly falsified bill of lading. Coopers Lybrand failed to make the appropriate modifications to their planned audit procedures to examine these irregularities. Coopers Lybrand also failed to follow up on the confirmation of the Wow Wee receivable that they accepted from Goldberg. These errors of judgment involve extreme negligence on the part of the auditors. I would classify these errors as reckless as there is no evidence to support that Coopers Lybrand were involved in the fraud. I think that the auditors did not suspect that fraud would occur at Happiness Express in 1995 as they had previously audited Happiness Express in 1994 and rightfully issued an unqualified opinion. I think that the auditors believed that these were simple mistakes that did not need to be further examined. The company’s revenue grew so significantly from 1994 to 1995 and because of this, I think that is was easy for the auditors to believe that the employees were simply overwhelmed by the company’s alarming growth and made mistakes as a result. . Yes Coopers Lybrand should have confirmed the receivable from West Coast Liquidators at the end of fiscal 1995 because it represented 13%, a clearly material amount, of the total accounts receivable. They also should have included one or more of the sales to West Coast Liquidators in their year-end sales cutoff tests for 1995 as many of these transactions were booked in the final month of the fiscal year. Sales transactions occurring close to the end of the fiscal year are much more likely to be suspicious in nature or fraudulent than transactions occurring earlier in the year. 4. The alternative procedures that can be applied to a large receivable of an audit client when a confirmation cannot be obtained include examination of subsequent cash receipts, the matching of such receipts with the actual items paid for, and examination of shipping, or other client documentation. The evidence provided by these methods may differ from the evidence provided by confirmation of a receivable depending on the client’s documentation of the transaction. Typically, in a company with proper internal controls and documentation, alternative procedures should be able to effectively address the same assertions that the confirmation of a receivable address. At very least, alternative procedures provide evidence for the existence assertion. 5. According to AU Section 317. 7, auditors should be aware of the possibility that illegal acts, such as insider trading, may have occurred however, an audit made in accordance with GAAS provides no assurance that illegal acts will be detected or that any contingent liabilities that may result will be disclosed. In the event that an auditor discovers evidence concerning the existence of possible illegal acts that could have a material indirect effect on the financial statements, they should apply audit procedures directed to ascer tain whether an illegal act has occurred. Advanced Auditing Case 2.3 The client’s assertions that accounts receivable confirmation can effectively address are existence, rights, and valuation. b) When performing year-end sales cutoff tests, auditors hope to accomplish the objective of obtaining evidence from third parties to evaluate the client’s assertions of sales recorded for the period under audit. The client’s assertions that sales cutoff tests can effectively address are completeness and presentation. 2. Coopers Lybrand made several significant errors of judgment in its effort to confirm the Wow Wee receivable at the end of 1995. These errors of judgment include ignoring or overlooking red flags including: the 69% change in the percentage of factored accounts receivable from 1994 to 1995, the $2. 4 million in sales to Wow Wee booked in the final day of fiscal 1995, the fact that Wow Wee is a manufacturing company, the fact that Wow Wee was left out of the top 25 customers list when it was among the top 5 based on recorded sales, and the clearly falsified bill of lading. Coopers Lybrand failed to make the appropriate modifications to their planned audit procedures to examine these irregularities. Coopers Lybrand also failed to follow up on the confirmation of the Wow Wee receivable that they accepted from Goldberg. These errors of judgment involve extreme negligence on the part of the auditors. I would classify these errors as reckless as there is no evidence to support that Coopers Lybrand were involved in the fraud. I think that the auditors did not suspect that fraud would occur at Happiness Express in 1995 as they had previously audited Happiness Express in 1994 and rightfully issued an unqualified opinion. I think that the auditors believed that these were simple mistakes that did not need to be further examined. The company’s revenue grew so significantly from 1994 to 1995 and because of this, I think that is was easy for the auditors to believe that the employees were simply overwhelmed by the company’s alarming growth and made mistakes as a result. . Yes Coopers Lybrand should have confirmed the receivable from West Coast Liquidators at the end of fiscal 1995 because it represented 13%, a clearly material amount, of the total accounts receivable. They also should have included one or more of the sales to West Coast Liquidators in their year-end sales cutoff tests for 1995 as many of these transactions were booked in the final month of the fiscal year. Sales transactions occurring close to the end of the fiscal year are much more likely to be suspicious in nature or fraudulent than transactions occurring earlier in the year. 4. The alternative procedures that can be applied to a large receivable of an audit client when a confirmation cannot be obtained include examination of subsequent cash receipts, the matching of such receipts with the actual items paid for, and examination of shipping, or other client documentation. The evidence provided by these methods may differ from the evidence provided by confirmation of a receivable depending on the client’s documentation of the transaction. Typically, in a company with proper internal controls and documentation, alternative procedures should be able to effectively address the same assertions that the confirmation of a receivable address. At very least, alternative procedures provide evidence for the existence assertion. 5. According to AU Section 317. 7, auditors should be aware of the possibility that illegal acts, such as insider trading, may have occurred however, an audit made in accordance with GAAS provides no assurance that illegal acts will be detected or that any contingent liabilities that may result will be disclosed. In the event that an auditor discovers evidence concerning the existence of possible illegal acts that could have a material indirect effect on the financial statements, they should apply audit procedures directed to ascer tain whether an illegal act has occurred.

English 2 Investor Relations Officer Assignment

English 2 Investor Relations Officer - Assignment Example It even extends up to other disciplines like the business administration field of professionalism. This means that getting an employment in this industry is not a walk in the park; however, a good self-marketing strategies and a well placed resume would lead one right into the business. The main reason why one would want to venture into this field is the huge amount of potential cash that one can get in the field. We have seen how successful people can be in the real estate marketing industry. The world is in a position whereby very many constructions are going on with each passing day. There is the need for many real estate agencies to market and help bring up these buildings. The other reason why some people have ventured into this business is the self-drive and passion for such things as real estate marketing (Securities Data). Some people have a personal liking for marketing and message delivery in the real estate industry. They follow this passion and get through all the obstacles that might get in their way to pursue their dreams. These are the most persistent candidates for the job since they rarely take no for an answer. They look for jobs in one office after another without despair. An investor relations officer links the company to the outside world as he helps in the conveyance of the different kind of messages to the intended persons. He helps to settle the company’s legal need so that there are no complications. The real estate industry is infested with so many legal wrangles between the member companies and, in some cases, with the public too (Basskaran 76). As an amateur in the business, it would not be easy finding your way into the various fields. One is often bullied by those with experience. The more one gets the needed experience, the better they are at their job. As much as academic qualifications matter in the job, in most cases, it is one’s character that bails them out; how you would express yourself when your company is in need