Management accounting and control (s-12 -1-4)) Coursework

Management accounting and control (s-12 -1-4)) - Coursework Example In this control model, there are several actions that ought to be subjected to control as argued by Otley and Berry (1980). In their argument, the authors point out four conditions of control. i. Existence of clear organisation’s objectives ii. The outputs of the budgetary process should be measurable iii. The effect of the control actions must be predictable iv. The organisation should be able to implement a corrective action throughout the budgetary process. Existence of clear organisation’s objectives Management of public and large private organisations is sometime hard to attain the desired ends. Activities and various operations should be monitored closely and action should be taken in order to achieve the intended objectives. Objectives drive an organisation in pursuing any activity. It dictates what ought to be done at specific period of time. An organisation has objectives and subsidiary objectives that influence its course of actions. Setting clear objectives i s one of the functions of modern management both in private and public sector. Measurement of goal attainment both financially and in terms of meeting demands of stakeholders is paramount. The issue of goal attainment cannot be achieved without confronting the issue of organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency, which means have direct effect on organisation’s budget (Bunce et al., 1995). The extent to which clear objectives apply in the context of budgeting As suggested by Otley and Berry (1980), objectives for budgetary process under control must exist; otherwise without them the control process is meaningless to the organisation. Well defined objectives compel an organisation to work without certain resource and time constraints. Most organisations around the world defined their objectives which ought to be achieved within budgeted resources. The objectives act a guide to the utilization of the existing resources as reflected in the budget. The authors further sugg est that the budgeting control process is influenced directly by the objectives to be attained during a specified period of time. It is demeaning for organisation to spend its resources on unbudgeted things since it will undermine the attainment of well defined objectives. Without objectives, the budgeting process will be aimless hence the entire concept of budgetary control becomes inappropriate. As the business operations progresses, an organisation continually monitors the world around and compares its current state with its objectives. Is the organisation in the correct route in respect to its budgeting process? Is its spending within the appropriate budget limit? Is the organisation avoiding resource strain? The objectives helps an organisation makes a budgetary observations by the use of measurable aspects of budget. The outputs of the budgetary process should be measurable Most literature advocate for adoption of performance based budgeting (PBP) as a primary way of attaining efficiency in the management of public resources. The sole aim of this concept is to link performance information with effective management and allocation of public or organisational resources. It emphasizes the significance of singling out measurable outcomes and effectively allocating resources to facilitate the realization of these outcomes. According to Otley

Being a teenager Essay Example for Free

Being a teenager Essay When you leave primary school you become a young adult, and all things that you believed in are either reinforced or broken. You can be lucky and be accepted as a popular person or for simply being yourself; you could remain an outcast until you leave that school. There is a hierarchy that is followed in each school, and both the boys and girls follow it. There is in both cases a leader for the boys and for the girls, then there are those who follow the leaders. Then there are those who dont fit in at all and become loners. Its difficult to listen to your parents when they continually say to you, these are the best days of your life because sometimes, you struggle to see how this can be so. You feel pressure, a strong need to fit in even for just a moment, and even though you are told by your parents, no matter what grade you get we will always love you. There is still a deep feeling inside that if you dont do well, you will let your parents down and you will destroy your life. There is also a fear suppressed and hidden beneath the surface, that if you do too well, you will be called a stew by all of your peers. So you are caught in a catch twenty-two; and there is no way of avoiding the stress or worry. The best thing to deal whit the stress and worries is to pass over your fears and dont care what your peers are saying. When you are a young person everything revolves around your school live. For those that you meet in school are those you will stick with for the five to seven years that you stay there, and some of the friends you meet there may be your friends for life. You constantly are trying to better yourself in school in order to get the attention of others. You go to sleepovers, shopping and clubbing all with the people you meet in school. This puts pressure on you because you feel the need to be perfect and to fit in with all the rest of your peers. Bullying is in full flow when you are a young person, its not physical in my opinion its mainly verbal, or the people just basically exclude you completely. There are those who stand in a group of people and seem like they in a crowd or click but what others dont realize it that they arent included in the conversation what so ever. Music, television, celebrities and school control all of my actions as well as all other young people. The music that you like and listen to can determine the kind of people you will end up being friends with. Television influences how we talk, what we wear, and even affect our opinions about things. Celebrities make us want to make ourselves better and by better I mean thinner and more fashionable, and school effects what group we are in as well as the possibility that we may not fit in at all. So being a young person is anything but easy at times, there are so many different pressures that surround your life. From restless nights for exams to being able to fit in with all the popular people. Though we do have goodnights out and live for the night, when morning comes sometimes it wasnt just quite worth it. Starting jobs and keeping hormones under control is more difficult now than ever, because of influences on television. Those who surround us are constantly judging us, and we feel that we are also being judged by the outside world. Though we know there is always the one thing we can always rely on; our mobiles and in my case my family. So do you think now that its easy being a teen?

Social Differences in Cosmetic Surgery

Social Differences in Cosmetic Surgery Obesity 1 Question: Technological advancements have enabled comestic surgery to be used in the quest for bodily perfection. Critically analysed the use of medical technologies by different social groups. You can draw on real world case studies to explain your points. Use of Medical Technologies by Different Social Groups Introduction Medical technologies include large varieties of procedures, diagnosis, health care devices, and tools, which assist in the process of improving the quality of life of people. Advancement of technologies resulted in creating innovative methods to alleviate the quality of life and standards of health. Advancements of medical technology result in expanding the fields of its use. Medical technologies are commonly in use by a variety of people belonging to different social groups. In the early time, use of medical technology was only limited to the clinical practices, but in the modern time, it is also using in the field of media, for cosmetic surgery, sex change, transplants, and various other uses, by a number of different people belonging to variety of fields. These involves business organizations, employees, families, media personalities, people from severe injuries, burn cases, and a number of different other cases. One more important benefit of advancement in medical technology has resulted in increase in the demand for engineers. This has resulted in evolution of varieties of medical fields providing more opportunities for the career development. It has provided chances for the business sector to increase the profits by marketing new and advance medical equipments in the market. These advancements of medical technology have resulted in expansion of the use of medical technologies by different social groups. Discussion Medical Technologies â€Å"Medical technologies include innovative interventions designed to improve quality and outcomes of treatment and range from syringes to pacemakers to life-support machines† (Bevan et al, 2011, p.10). These technologies are widely use for improving the process of diagnosis, extending life, reducing the rate of morbidity, reducing complication and duration of medical treatments, and improving the quality of life. Medical technologies have expended the use of medical equipments in various fields other than medicine. This has resulted in benefits for not only improving the standards of health, providing bodily perfection, bringing expansion of its uses, increasing opportunities for career development, increase in using these technologies for the cosmetic surgeries by media personalities, and also it has resulted in increasing the economic benefits for the business field. One more positive outcome of medical technologies is the increase in cost effective methods in the health and social care practices. It also results in avoiding complexities and lengthy processes of traditional methods of medical practices. Medical advancement has also resulted in providing solution for the various complications, which impossible to resolve with the traditional ways. It is also an effective approach to serve the suffering humanity, as there are various cases of people with burns and birth with deformities. Medical technology has provided solution for these concerns. Medical technology has also provided solution for the chronic and ill health conditions, which were generally considered as a burden, â€Å"The costs of ill health to the UK economy already add up to  £100 billion a year† (Black cited by Bevan, et al 2011, p.11). Technological advancements have enabled cosmetic surgery to be used in the quest for bodily perfection and resolving problems for many defects. Medical technologies are using widely for the weight reduction through liposuction and other medical practices; it has also provided solution for hair transplants. One of the most commonly and widely used technological advancement in the field of medicine is an effective way of using laser. Laser has provided solution for the various problems such as extra facial hair growth â€Å"hirsutism†, or permanent treatment for eyesight and various eye problems (Gan Graber, 2013). Electrolysis is also one of the medical technologies, to resolve the problems of abnormal hair growth. Medical Technologies for Deformities and Bodily Perfection There are various medical advancements for restoring the body parts and providing solutions for the deformities. This involves use of varieties of medical instruments in order to provide assistance for surgery, transplants, and various other treatments. Cosmetic Surgery and Plastic Surgery Plastic surgery is very effective in order to treat various deformities and defects. This includes treating warts, scars, acne, etc. There are various other procedures involved in plastic surgery as tummy tucks, removing tattoos, and otoplasty (Efremov, et al, 2010; Chaurasia, 2010). Cosmetic surgery is widely in use for the enhancement of features and improving looks. It is more commonly in use by celebrities and media personalities. It also includes face lift and perfection of various parts of face and body (Efremov, et al, 2010). Cosmetic surgery also includes treatment for hair transplant and facial hair removal. Reconstructive Surgery It is also very important medical technique for the reattachment of body parts that are amputated in the accident or in any severe condition. This is very important advancement in the medical technology that provides solution for the serious burns and reconstructing body parts that are deformed by or missing at birth. Laser Treatment Laser treatments are widely use in the medical treatment for various purposes. This includes its use in cosmetic surgery, eye treatments, laser therapies, hair transplants, dental treatments, and varieties of other medical conditions. Liposuction, Electrolysis, Transplants Liposuction, electrolysis, transplants, and various other such techniques are also widely in use due to their effectiveness for the treatment of variety of patients (Hancock, 2013). There are various advancements of technologies in these techniques, to provide better treatment of any deformity. Liposuction and tummy tuck are widely in use for the weight reduction and various people are getting rid of their extra body fats. Medical Technologies for Different Social Groups There are various ways through which medical advancements assists in increasing its use by a variety of social groups. According to Bevan, et al. â€Å"Ill health adversely affects individuals, families, workplaces, health care and society†, which results in absence due to sickness, it also results in creating psychological complication, unemployment, and various other social, economic, and health concerns (Bevan, et al 2011, p.11; Warr et al, 1988)). Medical technologies can provide solution for the problem of these people by providing better health conditions with improved technological advancements. Medical interventions and technologies advancements provide solution to deal with the chronic health conditions, reducing the rate of morbidity and mortality and increasing life expectancies. There is advancement of medical technology in various fields. Individuals with Deformities People with physical deformities also face various social and psychological problems. They face rejection and emotional problems (Bevan et al, 2011). Advancement of medical technology is very effective for the treatment of people with deformity due to any accident or by birth. These deformities results in creating various problems for these individuals to live normal life. These individual with amputations, burns, deformity, missing part of body, or any other physical abnormality, face social and psychological complexities. Majority of these people cannot normal life; they also face problems in getting jobs or in social interactions. Medical technology has played a vital role in treating these individuals and providing solution for their deformities. These treatments provide opportunity for these people to have better life. These medical technologies are aimed to provide better life and improved well being of these people. Medical advancement not only provide solution for these people to live as an effective and active part of society, but it give confidence and hope to live their life in a better way. There are also people who could not afford to have expensive medical treatments with lengthy and complicated processes (Bevan et al, 2011). With the advancement of technology, majority of can have treatments at affordable cost. These treatments are very effective for these the people with deformities. These people are also very important part of the society and after treatment, they can play their more efficiently in the society. This result in improvement of quality of their life, and these people can have better opportunities for employment. Celebrities and Media personnels Medical technologies are widely in use for the enhancement of features and improving figures. It is widely in use by the models, celebrities, media personals, and all the famous people who have to face public. This results in getting more attention and admiration (Bayer, 2005). There are various example and cases of people belonging to media, who have tried cosmetic surgeries. There are different examples of nose transplants, face lifts, and weight reduction techniques used by these people. All these techniques and surgeries are very appreciative that these reflect their real features with more enhancements. There are also some reactions and side effects to these technologies. Family Members and Care Providers Medical technology is also very effective for providing benefits to the families. One most important benefit of medical technologies is that it results in savings. Medical technologies not only assure the saving of cost with the use of latest technologies, but it is also very effective in saving time of taking care of the patient. In most of the cases family members and care providers of family cannot have full time jobs. Advancement of technology also results in providing care providers and family members to return to their works and also utilize their energies in various other beneficial tasks (Bevan et al, 2011). Use of medical technology also assists in saving financial costs as it allows reducing investments on patient and saving money from the budget used to spend on patient. Medical technologies, is also very effective for providing the psychological assurance to the family members. It reduces mental and emotional burden from the family members and care providers (Bevan et al, 2011). It can allow peace of mind for the family members and care providers as they do not have to think about patient all the time. With the quick and easy way of treatment it also relieves family members from facing the complexities and long duration of treatments. Therefore, medical technologies have resulted in providing various positive outcomes for the family members and care providers. Career Development for the Students Medical technologies have also provided various opportunities for the students to explore their potential in the new field of medicine. It is not only effective for the students of medical science, but it has also opened ways of new opportunities and career development for students of engineering and information technology. With the advancements in medical technologies and increase in his scope has resulted in creating new space in the job market. With the establishments of new fields of studies and research in the medical technologies have not only provided assistance for the students to explore new fields of medicine, but with the combination of engineering and information technology also invites these students and researchers to explore new dimensions in this field. Employers and Employees Medical technologies have also resulted in decreasing providing more opportunities for the employment. There are various ways through which medical technologies resulted in providing solution for the employees and employers. There are a number of different effective ways that result in providing better solution for these people. Firsts with the use of medical technologies, various people with deformities who are not able to work and participate in the social gathering, become able to join the organizations and they can work with confidence in the job market. This results in proving more opportunities for the employers to seek for the workforce. Medical technologies are also very effective for making large number of individuals to actively participate in the economic activity, who cut themselves from the society due to their deformities. Due to these deformities, burns, amputations, and any other such reason, these people not only become burden for themselves, but also for their families and societies. This provides them new opportunities to become an active member of society and being becoming burden for their families and societies, they can be more active in providing support for others. According to Bevan et al, â€Å"Many of the positive outcomes associated with the use of innovative medical technologies result from the improved ability of individuals to stay in or return to work† (Bevan et al, 2011, p.17). Medical technologies also assist in avoiding the problem of absenteeism due to ill health conditions and any physical condition that prevent an individual from work. It is also very cost effective in order to save both cost and rehabilitation time taken off from the work due to any physical or psychological problem of continuing the work. Medical technologies also allow joining various family members to return to their work and it results in decrease of absenteeism. With the return of employees to work, it also assists in saving recruitment cost of the employers. It also results in creating better brand image and good image in job market, due to retention of its employees and having its own employees back after treatment. Thus, it also results in saving recruitments costs and expenses on the training in case of hiring new workers. It is also easy for the managers to deal with their own employees rather employing new staff. Advancement of medical technologies also ensures availability of more healthy employees and candidates in the job market. It results in increasing the healthy labour force and increase in the productivity of organization. This also provides an ideal condition for both employees and employers with fewer sick leaves and loss of work. Entrepreneurs and Businessmen Advancement of medical technologies have also resulted in providing more opportunities for the businessmen and entrepreneurs by providing them opportunities to operate business in dealing with the manufacturing and retailing and selling of the medical equipments and tools use in the treatment through medical technologies (Gershon, 2002). New advancement, in the medical technology opens new opportunity, for the business entrepreneurs to deal with the sale of new items in market. Globalization has also resulted in providing opportunities for these entrepreneurs to expand their business in various other new markets. It not only results in positive outcome for these entrepreneurs, but it also results in providing new medical technologies to serve more people in different regions of world. Advancement of modern technology and new equipments also allows hospitals to implement latest technological advancements in their hospital settings. Use of latest medical technologies also allows attrac ting more people to hope for the improving the quality of their living standards. Various other Social Groups Medical technologies also use for the sex change and various other such purposes by the people who have desire to change their sex permanently. There are various legal and social restrictions with this practice, but now a large number of people are attracting towards it. Medical technology is also effectively serving for the families and parents who cannot have children. With the advancement of medical technology, it is also possible. Conclusion In conclusion, advancement of medical technology has resulted in increasing the use of medical technologies by different social groups. There are various effective ways and techniques through which a variety of social groups use the medical technologies for bringing improvement in the quality of life and improving the standards of living. There are various advancements in the medical technologies such as cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery, reconstructive surgery, laser treatment, liposuction, electrolysis, transplants, and various other techniques. These medical advancements are widely in use to cure the deformities, warts, acne, enhancement of features, weight reduction, hair transplants, and various other transplants of body parts and organs. With these advancements a large number of social groups have benefits. This has resulted in providing solution for Individuals with deformities, celebrities and media personals to improve their features, family members and care providers, caree r development for the students, employers and employees, entrepreneurs and businessmen, and various other social groups. References Bayer, K. (2005). Cosmetic surgery and cosmetics: Redefining the appearance of age.Generations,29(3), 13-18. http://generations.metapress.com/index/5q624h5086540447.pdf Bevan, S., Zheltoukhova, K., McGee, R. (2011). Adding Value: The Economic and Societal Benefits of Medical Technology.The Work Foundation 2011. http://advamed.org/res.download/352 Black, C. (2008). Working for a healthier tomorrow.http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/ PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_083560 Chaurasia, G. (2010). Cosmeticology: Disorders and Its Advanced Treat-Ment.Journal of Global Pharma Technology,2(10), 1-13. http://jgpt.co.in/jgpt/index.php/jgptjournal/article/viewArticle/299 Efremov, S., Botev, C., Tonev, I., Mincheff, M., Henderson, J., Duskova, M., Là ³pez de Vergara, C. S. (2010). Selected Abstracts from the â€Å"Best of Europe† Session of the 2nd Congress of the European Association of Societies of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (EASAPS).Aesthetic Plastic Surgery,34(5), 551-554. http://www.springerlink.com/index/L038856761350257.pdf Gan, S. D., Graber, E. M. (2013). Laser hair removal: a review.Dermatologic Surgery,39(6), 823-838. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dsu.12116/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=userIsAuthenticated=false Gershon, D. (2002). Microarray technology: an array of opportunities.Nature,416(6883), 885-891. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v416/n6883/full/416885a.html Goldman, D., Lakdawalla, D., Philipson, T. J., Yin, W. (2010). Valuing health technologies at NICE: recommendations for improved incorporation of treatment value in HTA.Health economics,19(10), 1109-1116. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.1654/abstract Hancock, D. (2013).The Complete Medical Tourist: Your Guide to Inexpensive and Safe Cosmetic and Medical Surgery Overseas. John Blake Publishing. http://books.google.com/books?hl=enlr=id=TY84AAAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PT10dq=Liposuction,+electrolysis,+transplants+in+UKots=8ZM1PkVJR5sig=oTgophH2v9kGGRlYuQunb91Jlhc#v=onepageqf=false Raftery, J. (2001). NICE: faster access to modern treatments? Analysis of Guidance on health technologies. British Medical Journal, 323, 1300-1303 Warr, P., Jackson, P., Banks, M. (1988). Unemployment and mental health: Some British studies.Journal of social issues,44(4), 47-68. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02091.x/abstract

Unexpected Critiques in Walden Essay -- American Literature Thoreau Es

Unexpected Critiques in Walden In Walden, Henry David Thoreau utilizes many different styles and themes to explain his ideas about shelter in further detail. Thoreau uses lists, long and short sentences, imagery, and different narrative voices. But out of all the things Thoreau uses to strengthen his argument, the most powerful is his unexpected comparisons and his sarcasm towards shelter. Thoreau uses these to get the reader interested, but more importantly it gets the reader to reconsider his/her contentment and think about how ridiculous society was then concerning shelter. Early in "Economy", Thoreau writes about shelter in regards to how humans first came to use and later need shelter. The passage starts off by explaining how some person a long time ago decided to dwell in a cave for shelter. Through Thoreau's word usage and imagery, his idea that humans do not need shelter is clear. He starts this argument with the topic of child rearing. He states that since a child "loves to stay out doors, even in wet and cold," the instinct to have shelter is not biological (Thoreau 28). It must be something that is taught to children, most likely from observation. At the same time no one, even Thoreau, knows where and how this instinct originated. He just knows that "in the infancy of the human race, some enterprising mortal crept into a hollow in a rock for shelter" (28). In using words and phrases like "primitive," "the infancy of the human race," and "most primitive ancestor" the reader understands how important shelter has become to the human race because it is so deeply rooted in human's minds (28). From here Thoreau dives into a long list of how humans have developed their shelter over time, from "roofs of palm leave... ... afford just to be "civilized." He states all the, "benefit[s] of the improvements of centuries, [like] spacious apartments... [and] Venetian blinds" (31). He finishes off this long list of expensive luxuries with the main idea of this passage: Why is the civilized man making himself more poor by renting while the savage lives in relative luxury in his "wigwam." Thoreau's main tools in persuading the reader are his uses of light sarcasm and comparisons and critiques based on animals, savages, and civilized people. When backed up with logical reasoning, these two tools make the reader really step back and think about his/her happiness in regards to shelter. In making the reader reevaluate everything about shelter, Thoreau keeps the reader interested and in turn, the reader keeps on reading the book. Which, in fact, is all Thoreau really wants in the first place.

Enron Bcci Case

IBCCI’s Misgivings: Four major frauds explained in the Price Waterhouse report. 1. According to the Sandstorm Report, some $633 million of losses related to treasury trading. 2. Price Waterhouse had been doing its job, there's no way that this $1 billion exposure [in BCCI's Central Treasury] which was taken to $11 billion exposure in the course of 3 or 4 months [in 1985] could have happened. 3. All of BCCI's serious treasury problems were related to the activities at Grand Cayman, which had taken place in a blatant and repetitive form over many years.BCCI was paying its auditors $5 million per year to conduct audits which each year took nearly five months. if properly done, these audits should have uncovered the problems and forced action long before April, 1990 4. In the case of BCCI, there can be no question that the auditing process failed to work. As the Bank of England stated in determining that BCCI be closed 5. Given the demonstrable failure of the auditing process, ser ious questions have been raised about how and why BCCI's outside auditors permitted BCCI to flourish as long as it did, despite fraud and other bad practices which went back many years. 6.The record offers both support for assessing blame on BCCI's auditors, and the suggestion that their work in the spring of 1991 was an essential component of the investigative process that ultimately forced BCCI's closure. 7. One view of the culpability of BCCI's accountants was expressed by BCCI's own chief financial officer, Masihur Rahman. Rahman testified that as BCCI's top financial official, he did not know of BCCI's frauds prior to the spring of 1990. He testified that has the bank's chief financial officer in London, he did not have access to any of the underlying loan information and related files at BCCI's various field offices.Rahman testified that he therefore relied on the work of the outside auditors, operating around the world at the local level, to review BCCI's records at its vario us offices and branches, and thereby ensure their truth and accuracy. 8. At the other extreme was the position taken by BCCI's principal auditor, Price Waterhouse (UK), that it was completely deceived by BCCI until the spring of 1990, and handled its responsibilities concerning BCCI without any fault whatsoever. 9.If Price Waterhouse had been doing its job, there's no way that this $1 billion exposure [in BCCI's Central Treasury] which was taken to $11 billion exposure in the course of 3 or 4 months [in 1985] could have happened, says CFO. 10. According to Rahman, Price Waterhouse (UK) had signed off on BCCI practices year after year without issuing any red flags, until suddenly, in April, 1990, it found massive deficiencies at the bank, in which, as Senator Kerry put it, â€Å"every red flag in the world was flying,† raising the question of how Price Waterhouse could have missed all of BCCI's bad practices previously. 1. Price Waterhouse should have known from their audit of Grand Cayman over many years that deposits of BCCI were being misused. The ‘fictitious' loan accounts were in most cases so obviously fictitious that the year after year audit of PW should have detected most, if not all. PW not only knew about accounts where some $600 million of the fraud had at BCCI had taken place. 12. BCCI was paying its auditors $5 million per year to conduct audits which each year took nearly five months.According to Rahman, if properly done, these audits should have uncovered the problems and forced action long before April, 1990. 13. In contrast, as Price Waterhouse expressed their position, BCCI had deceived them through colluding with shareholders and borrowers to create false documentation that mislead them. 14. The auditor's responsibility is to design and execute an audit so as to have reasonable expectation of detecting material misstatement in the financial statements whether due to fraud, irregularity, or error.However, common sense dictates, a nd it is accepted internationally, that even the best planned and executed audit will not necessarily discover a sophisticated fraud, especially one where there is collusion at the highest level of management and with third parties. Under such circumstances, it is reasonable to expect that it may take a number of annual audits before accumulating concerns change to suspicions and ultimately lead to the identification of fraud; in fact, this is what happened in audit of BCCI. 15.Price Waterhouse found that BCCI Treasury losses had been concealed and its profits manufactured through BCCI's failure to record deposits and other liabilities; the creation of fictitious loan accounts; the purchase and repurchase of BCCI's own shares through nominees with buy-back arrangements; and the collusion between BCCI and major customers in supplying false confirmations to the external auditors, among other techniques. 16. $346 million related to the illegal acquisition through nominees of several US banks were identified. 17.BCCI's initial strategy for the United States was to infiltrate the U. S. banking system through purchasing beachhead banks in major banking centers, and then to expand the beachhead operations until BCCI had U. S. banking operations of sufficient size that they could ultimately merge with BCCI itself. 18. State regulators in New York had proven resistant to BCCI, and BCCI had successfully acquired National Bank of Georgia and FGB/First American 19. BCCI expanded in the United States by opening BCCI branch offices in regions with significant populations from the Third World engaged in rans-national commercial activity, such as Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. 20. BCCI's intention was to use these branch offices to feed depositors and banking activity to NBG and First American, expanding BCCI's activities through pushing deposits into the federal deposit insurance system. Abedi had decided that he would work systematically to integrate the various U. S. banks BCCI now secretly owned, until the survivor was strong enough and large enough to in turn purchase BCCI 21.BCCI’s accounts and balance sheets had been manipulated to cover-up a loan of $725 million to a Pakistan based shipping company. 22. The relationship with the Gulf Group began in 1972 when it placed very large deposits with BCCI in Luxembourg and London. There was little tangible evidence of other businesses until 1976 at which time the trade finance lines and shipping loans were opened by the Group. An amount of $1. 2bn was financed to the Abu Dhabi Company (Gulf Groups) owned by Abbas Gokal . Abbas along with his other brothers used amount of money as a lever obtain short-term funding and repayment of non-BCCI bank debt. 3. This exposure of huge sums gained the attentions of Bank of England in 1977 resulting in BCCI transferring accounts to Grand Cayman in 1978 when it became apparent that the Gulf Group faced financial difficulties . This was the time when account manipulation started which is why a ‘special duties’ was assigned the duties to oversee these accounts. This ‘special duties’ department was involved in fabricating information in respect of the ‘offshore accounts’. This included the creation of profiles of the beneficial owners, financial information, false instruction letters etc. 4. Management in collusion with Gulf used sophisticated methods of deception to conceal funds flows including: * Use of gulf ‘bank’ account which received funds and then redistributed them around a number of accounts * Transfer between Gulf locations in different parts of the world to create turnover and imply debt servicing, particularly just before year ends. * Conduit accounts at external banks, under the control of BCCI officers. * Funds transfer through BCP and nostro accounts at various BCCI branches. * Use of excessive interest and charges to provide profits 5. BC CI had used $500 million of its own resource to acquire 56% of its own shares through a series of complex transactions. The final losses may well be in excess of $4 billion and Abu Dhabi’s exposure to BCCI and related activities is estimated to be some $9. 4 billion A few other misdeeds have surfaced regarding; 26. Money Laundering From the time of BCCI's indictment on drug money laundering charges in Tampa, Florida in October, 1988, there was little doubt to anyone looking at the facts that BCCI had been used to launder drug money 27.Bribery The recipients of funding from BCCI may not have considered the payments to be â€Å"bribes,† but simply a mechanism by which BCCI obtained what it wanted from an official, and in return the official helped BCCI, such as BCCI's payments to two of the Gulf emirs in return for the use of their names as nominees for the purchase of First American 28. Support of Terrorism and Arms Trafficking BCCI's support of terrorism and arms traff icking developed out of several factors.First, as a principal financial institution for a number of Gulf sheikhdoms, with branches allover the world, it was a logical choice for terrorist organizations, who received payment at BCCI-London and other branches directly from Gulf-state patrons, and then transferred those funds wherever they wished without apparent scrutiny. Secondly, BCCI's flexibility regarding the falsification of documentation was helpful for such activities ENRON 29. Houston Natural Gas Corporation and Internorth Inc. merged in 1985 to form Enron Corporation.Since its conception, Enron has distinguished itself as an innovative, prominent leader in the natural gas market. Enron, headquartered in Houston, was the largest trader of natural gas and electricity in North America. Enron also market and traded other commodities, including water, paper, coal, chemicals, and fiber-optic bandwidth. The success of Enron’s aggressive strategies is demonstrated by the rise in its stock price from a split-adjusted $3. 20 per share in 1985 to $80. 63 per share on November 20, 2000. In this same period, revenues increased from $10. 3 billion to $40. 1 billion and net income improved from a loss of $54. million to $919. 0 million. 30. As a result of its ability to discover new business opportunities, transform traditional industries, and enter new ones, Fortune magazine named Enron â€Å"Most Innovative Company† for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year in 2001. 31. Enron’s focus on innovation has been demonstrated throughout its history. As a newly formed company in the mid-1980’s, Enron pioneered the trading of natural gas when natural gas markets were deregulated. When Enron entered the electricity market in 1993, it revolutionized the industry by facilitating a market to trade electricity.Enron was also among the first energy companies to expand beyond traditional energy markets by entering the telecommunications industry. Enro n even entered the e-commerce sector by partnering with leading high-tech companies to form Enron Online, a business-to-business website that facilitates the trading of commodities. 32. Enron’s events timeline: * 1985 — Houston Natural Gas merges with InterNorth to form Enron, HNG CEOKenneth Lay  becomes CEO of combined company the following year * 1989 — Enron begins trading natural gas commodities 1990 — Lay hires  Jeffrey Skilling  to lead the company's effort to focus on commodities trading in the deregulated markets. Andrew Fastow  is one of Skilling's first hires later that year. * June 1990 Jeff Skilling, who has been a consultant for McKinsey & Co. , joins Enron * June 11, 1991 Enron asks the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve mark-to-market accounting. * Jan. 30, 1992 SEC approves mark-to-market accounting for Enron * November 1996 Richard Kinder, COO of Enron, doesn’t get CEO job, so he leaves. * December 10, 1996 Enron announces that Jeff Skilling is taking over as COO. June 28, 1999 Enron’s Board of Directors exempts CFO Andy Fastow from the company’s code of ethics so that he can run a private equity fund—LJM1—that will raise money for and do deals with Enron. The LJM Funds become one of the key tools for Enron to manage its balance sheet and make investors think that it is performing better than it is. * October 12, 1999 Enron board exempts Fastow from Enron’s code of ethics so that he can raise money for LJM2 * August 23, 2000 Stock hits all-time high of 90 dollars. Market valuation of 70 billion dollars.FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) orders an investigation into strategies designed to drive electricity prices up in California * December 13, 2000 Enron announces that President and COO Jeffrey Skilling will take over as chief executive in February. Kenneth Lay will remain as chairman. * Late 2000 Enron uses â€Å"aggressive† accounting to declare 53 million dollars in earnings for broadband on a collapsing deal that hadn’t earned a penny in profit. * August 14, 2001 Skilling’s resignation announcement. In evening, analyst and investor conference call.Skilling: â€Å"The company is in great shape†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lay: â€Å"Company is in the strongest shape that it’s ever been in. † Lay is named CEO 33. What went wrong- Corporate governance : The purpose of Corporate governance is to act as a ‘gatekeeper’. ENRON lacked proper surveillance on the part of its Board of Directors, Auditors and Investors. 34. Inappropriate Tools: * Mark to market: As a public company, Enron was subject to external sources of governance including market pressures, oversight by government regulators, and oversight by private entities including auditors, equity analysts, and credit rating agencies.This method requires that once a long-term contract was signed, the amount of which the asset theoretica lly will sell on the future market is reported on the current financial statement. In order to keep appeasing the investors to create a consistent profiting situation in the company, Enron traders were pressured to forecast high future cash flows and low discount rate on the long-term contract with Enron. The difference between the calculated net present value and the originally paid value was regarded as the profit of Enron. In fact, the net present value reported by Enron might not happen during the future years of the long-term contract.An overly optimistic projection was set forth. * SPE—Special Purpose Entity: Accounting rule allow a company to exclude a SPE from its own financial statements if an independent party has control of the SPE, and if this independent party owns at least 3 percent of the SPE. Enron needed to find a way to hide the debt since high debt levels would lower the investment grade and trigger banks to recall money. Using the Enron’s stock as c ollateral, the SPE, which was headed by the CFO, Fastow, borrowed large sums of money. And this money was used to balance Enron’s overvalued contracts.Thus, the SPE enabled Enron to convert loans and assets burdened with debt obligations into income. In addition, the taking over by the SPE made Enron transfer more stock to SPE. However, the debt and assets purchased by the SPE, which was actually burdened with large amount of debts, were not reported on Enron’s financial report. The shareholders were then misled that debt was not increasing and the revenue was even increasing. 35. Fiduciary failure: The BOD was unable to live up to their fiduciary responsibilities. By having no proper check on the conflict of interest. 36. Conflict of Interest: Enron hired and paid its own auditors.That was a conflict of interest built into the legal system because the auditor had an incentive not to issue an unfavorable report on the company that is paying him or her. The Board allowe d conflicts of interests with the partnerships it held, and did not keep a proper oversight of the partnerships. There was also a basic lack of communication on the part of the Board to review the related party transactions. SPE’s served as a major conflict of interest. E. g. the committee failed to recognize clear elements that indicated the downfall, such as Anderson communicating that Enron was ‘pushing the limits’ since 1999.Also, 3000 Special entities, out of which 800 were organized in tax havens. 37. High Risk Accounting: Enron’s Audits committee failed not only to guarantee the independence of the External Auditorsbut also to maintain proper accounting practices in accordance with the interest of the shareholders. It furthermore, approved transactions that were entirely designed to cover up the debts and over-stated revenues, instead of focusing on the economic outputs. Corporate Culture: Utter lack of Interest, specifically by the Board of Directo rs, on off-the-book financials. They had a general culture of being defensive.They would rather cover up their own failures, than acknowledge it. Jeffery Skilling is reported to have said, â€Å"I've never not been successful at business or work†¦ ever! †Furthermore, the corporate culture did not allow open dissent. The Board was also inadequately informed; hence their decision making was clouded, and obsolete. 38. Extensive Compensation to the Executives: The Company paid millions of dollars in deferred salaries and bonuses to midlevel and high-level executives still working in late November, just before the Dec. 2 bankruptcy filing, which forced the company to suspend all such payments.But a number of employees who had retired or recently left the company were denied similar payments. 39. Lack of Independence: Financial ties between the Board of Director and Enron and also financial ties between the external auditors and Enron. The Board was also relying too much on th eir auditors. They were not entirely independent, which led to variation in their process of information disclosure. They clearly shred information. 40. Transparency: The management was not transparent and truthful about the position of the company. They had a general culture of being ‘the best’ at everything, hence, they denied exposing their failures.Enron did not live up to their duty of full disclosure and good faith. The Board did not communicate effectively with its auditors from Arthur Andersen. The idea that Enron’s employed accounting techniques were â€Å"aggressive†, wasn’t conversed clearly enough. E. g. When the CEO disclosed to the employees that the stock price was to rise, there is whatsoever no evidence of him disclosing that he was selling stock as well. Only the investigation surrounding Enron’s bankruptcy enabled shareholders to learn of the CEO stock sell-off before February 14, 2002 which is when the sell-off would other wise have been disclosed.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The literary piece â€Å"The Bluest Eye,† written by Toni Morrison and published in circa 1970, has centered on the story of an eleven-year-old female character, Pecola Breedlove (Foerstel, 2002). The central theme that has been apparent in the story is the desire of Pecola to have white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Not only does she want a set of blue eyes but she actually wants the bluest shade of blue that there is.Her desires for this kind of physical appearance stems from her idea that those who are given these physical features are given or are receiving a certain kind of privilege from the society because of the stigma associated with it. Chloe Anthony Wofford, more popularly known as Toni Morrison, is the second of four Black children who belonged to a family who worked their way to living (â€Å"Toni Morrison: Biography,† 1993). She was born in 1931 in Ohio and proceeded to earn her degree in prestigious universities, more specifically Howard and Cornell U niversity (â€Å"Toni Morrison: Biography,† 1993).She has earned her positions in credible institution both in the academic ladder and in writing (â€Å"Toni Morrison: Biography,† 1993). Later on, she made an impact through the novels she made that showed the plight of the Black Americans that contained narratives of different characters’ lives (â€Å"Toni Morrison: Biography,† 1993). With the novels she made, she has earned several awards and recognition from different award-giving bodies in the field of literature that even included the Pulitzer Prize for the year 1988 (â€Å"Toni Morrison: Biography,† 1993).Summary of the Novel In Morrison’s novel, â€Å"The Bluest Eye,† Pecola has shown to be a girl who is born to parents who lived difficult lives in their past. Pecola’s mother, Pauline, has lived in isolation, often beaten up by his husband who she often provokes to do such, and only feels worth at work where she is made t o clean the house of a White woman. On the other hand, Pecola’s father, Cholly, is a drunkard whose current state of misery is blamed to his parents abandoning him when he was still a child.He is made to live with his great aunt and an experience he could not forget is the incident where he felt humiliated when to White men caught him cohabiting and sexually exploited him. Soon, he found where his father is but the latter refused to take him in his life and later on met Pauline. They built a life together but soon, love is lost between them and they have both lost everything they had. Pecola came to their lives but she has also received failures from the personal angst of her parents.She has adopted the desires of being White from her mother as they both think that it is their only way to draw acceptance from the society they live in. It has served as an important part of their lives to desire for the physical features of a White individual because it somehow gives them hopes of being in a better condition than what they have now. However, it gives them frustrations, too, as society continuously rejects them and presses on their being Black as the very reason why they are treated badly. As for the miseries of Cholly, he ends up raping Pecola out of both guilt and emotional feelings for his child.Pecola becomes pregnant but the baby dies and her father decides to rape her for the second time. After this, she becomes lunatic which is the time when she thought that she had the bluest eye there is. Approach to the Novel The novel, during the time of its publication, has taken a different course from the usual ones taken by the Black women writers, who, in their literary works, meant to â€Å"destroy negative stereotypes of Black women, to present the relationship between Black men and women as ‘complimentary,’ and to affirm the Black family and community† (Dubey, 1994, p.33). It has been exceptionally regarded as a literary piece that ha s laid before its audience the problems within the selves of the Black community that requires attention in order for them to proceed into accepting that they are a race equally superior and equally beautiful as the White (Dubey, 1994). While they condemn the disparities between the White and the Blacks, within them are the desires to be among the White people.Their condemnations arise from the issues they have with regard to their acceptance in a society dominated by the White people and they see that assimilation to this particular culture is the means through which they could fight it but is actually not. As shown in the novel of Morrison, it is best to realize the psychological and social impacts of the desires to be White in order to fully acquire an identity for the Black community (Dubey, 1994).Moreover, it should be understood that the work of Morrison requires an understanding of the history of the Black community as they tried to establish a place for their selves in the s ociety where they live in. There is a common factor which should be targeted, which is the presence of direct and indirect discrimination against the Black community. Through time, it has become apparent that there is really a big difference with how White and Black individuals are treated. Moreover, the source for the discrimination felt by the Blacks should be understood in order to understand the novel.This is because the source of the Black characters in the story stems from a real-life dilemma that is not explicitly stated in the text. There is a need to unravel the true cause for the behavior of the characters in order to understand the way they feel and the way they are in terms of their relationship with society. Traditional beliefs, Practices, and Artistic Forms â€Å"The Bluest Eye† also contains elements of traditional beliefs, practices, and artistic forms in the later life of Pecola.When she became pregnant, Claudia and Frieda McTeer, children of the couples whom Pecola lived with, used their money in order to buy marigold seeds. They believed that if this would bear flowers, then the baby of Pecola would live, which is what they wanted despite the opposite stance of the people in their community. The money they used in order to buy the seeds is originally meant for the bicycle they wanted to buy for themselves but because of the importance and great belief they put on this practice, they prioritized the seeds instead of the bike.Their belief on this particular practice is further reinforced as the plant does not bloom and the baby of Pecola dies, which they could correlate because of the incident. Moreover, it has shown that the artistic manner of communication by the Blacks has been adopted by Morrison. The author wants to present the â€Å"aural literature† as she deliberately formed the sentences in such a way that a Black individual will be heard conversing to the audience and to other characters.To a certain extent, it pushes t he approach away from the typical written language but delves more into the spoken language (â€Å"Toni Morrison,† 2009). While there are critics who mentioned that â€Å"her prose is rich,† she claims that it is an inherent quality of the Black language (â€Å"Toni Morrison,† 2009). She treats the manner of speaking observed from the Black people to be a distinct and different set of language that forms a body of its own as modifications and creations have evolved to how they use this language now.Moreover, it is said that the novel and other literary pieces written in the same manner has replaced the role of music played by the Blacks before (â€Å"Toni Morrison,† 2009). However, replacement may not be the term intended for this but rather, they simply shared the same portion and works towards the same goals, because of the same purpose, but uses different means. Preserving the Black Language With the manner by which the author structured the words and the sentences, the Black language has become apparent throughout the text.The rich and poetic form that is embodied in the language of the Blacks is an element that the author wants to retain. This lies beneath the psychological and social themes of incest, racial discrimination, and desires to be White. It tries to preserve the approach of this language developed within this race through the experiences of the characters and the conversations included in the story. It has been mentioned earlier that the different forms of Black music has shared a role with the literary pieces in keeping the culture alive for the Black community.With the onset of popular culture and the desires for assimilation, it is important that the unique characteristics and the distinct nature of the Black culture be preserved together with their history and unique experiences. Adopting other Cultures and Traditions As the author means to direct the entire story towards the Black community, most of the culture s and traditions that have been presented come from that of the Blacks. However, it still relates the Black culture into the White because of the interaction between the two that served as the important aspect of the paper.The only element that is taken from the White culture is the seemingly distorted and limited view of beauty, which requires them to see it within a white-skinned, blonde, and blue-eyed individual. Better treatment and the regard for superiority of people fitting this description has been ingrained into the lives of the Black characters as it is adopted from the White culture. This is seen to be the condition of the people during the time of the narrator’s existence but is constantly changing as we now see it. References Dubey, M. (1994).Black women novelists and the nationalist aesthetic. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press. Foerstel, H. (2002). Banned in the USA: A reference guide to book censorship in schools and public libraries. (2nd Ed. ). Westp ort, CT: Greenwood Publishing. Toni Morrison: Biography. (1993). Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://nobelprize. org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1993/morrison-bio. html. Toni Morrison â€Å"The Bluest Eye. † Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://academic. brooklyn. cuny. edu/english/melani/cs6/morrison. html#black.