Chapter 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chapter 2 - Assignment Example It is against this backdrop that intellectual standpoints advanced at the end of 19th century, in the bid to bring about positive changes. Resultantly, this intellectual context birthed the First Reform Era which bequeathed the US history with abolitionism, Reconstruction, Civil and Women’s Rights Movements and farm movements. During the years (1901-1909) Theodore Roosevelt served as American president, he expanded the power and influence and power of the executive arm of the government, particularly, the presidency. Right from the time of the American Civil War, up to the beginning of the 20th century, the US Congress had been retaining the seat of power. However, starting from 1880s, the executive arm began to get increasingly powerful, so that later on, Roosevelt extended this development. Having insisted that the President had the right to use all political power, the Office of the President became the center of American politics, in lieu of political parties and the Congress. With this increased political power, Roosevelt helped fuel the expansion of the American Empire by challenging the ideas of limited government and waging a highly aggressive foreign policy. Being led by strong leaders such as Dorothea Dix and Elizabeth C. Stanton, women did midwife several important reforms during the Progressive Era. Women clamored for the passage of the 19th Amendment which prohibited the act of denying any US citizen, the power to vote, with this denial of votes being based on sex. It is these same women caucuses that redefined the functions of the federal government and widened the scope of the federal government’s roles, in light of health, working conditions, wages, education, sanitation and social welfare. The US Election of 1912 remains unique because it enabled Wilson to win by 42%, against Progressive candidates Taft, Roosevelt and Debs who totaled 58%, and thereby enabling Woodrow Wilson to

Text and Audience Paper Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Text and Audience Paper - Coursework Example It is increasingly becoming a conventional activity. Its growing significance is affecting the relationship between corporate organizations and their various stakeholders such as clients, workers, suppliers, governments, and the communities. The article by Griffiths is to remind corporate players of the fact that taking considerable care of the people and the environment is fundamental to good financial results. Organizations are not supposed to wait for the relevant government bodies to impose certain rules and regulations for them to oblige. They have a responsibility to protect the social and cultural systems of the societies under which they expect to coexist in. To build a business based on trust and prescience, corporate social responsibility has to be considered as a fundamental factor. This is essential in building and keeping trust with communities and clients. To flourish and achieve long-term goals of a business, organizations are expected to focus on much more than issues affecting them at present, and think more about the future (Griffiths, 2010). This fact is not just applicable to the advancements in technology, but also on the changes in social, cultural, and environmental matters. Griffiths explains corporate social responsibility as â€Å"business behavior that creates the trust and commitment of stakeholders, both now and in the future†. He suggests that corporate social responsibility can no longer be viewed as a background corporate public relations strategy, but a significant factor that is gradually becoming correlated to fundamental operational performance. The key drivers of this primary concept comprise of compliance to laws and regulations crafted for this purpose, and an emphasis on the significance of environmental rules necessary to create customer loyalty and brand likeness. According to Griffiths (2010), unlike what many may suggest, â€Å"Corporate social responsibility is a set of business values and not a tool†. Due to this fact, it is unlikely to follow the line of reengineering. Not all organizations will successfully implement this concept; however, it is not logical for anyone to suggest that it has been applied to the wrong reasons. Unlike other business concepts, it is not likely to fade away anytime soon (Griffiths, 2010). This is because the environment under which corporate social responsibility operates is characterized by a much wider group of stakeholders; many of them exhibit opposing interests in this context. A good example is an incidence whereby a company decides to invest in reducing carbon emissions for environmental protection. This would mean that it probably will have to cut funding towards employee training initiatives, pay less dividend ratio, and also reduce funding towards community development program. According to Griffiths, the effectivity of the concept of corporate social responsibility can be managed in four different perspectives, i.e. â€Å"corporate gover nance and ethics, environment, people, and contribution to development†. Information plays various primary tasks in the implementation of this key concept. The general conceptual model of implementation incorporates processes, people, and technology. This is to make sure that its outcomes are integrated

Discuss the evolution of CSR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Discuss the evolution of CSR - Essay Example 14). Businesses have traditionally been known to exist for the key purpose of making profits. However, from as early as the start of the 20th century, entrepreneurs, mostly in the Unites States, recognised the importance of using resources in ways that would benefit both their businesses as well as the societies they worked with (Brewerton & Millward 2001, p. 76). As the idea gradually took root over two decades later, more organizations saw the significance of the entire business behaving in ways that were considered responsible socially, just like it applies to individual citizens. Although not evenly developed globally, the concept of CSR is becoming a key feature of organizations in regions that embrace it as it penetrates corporate consciousness and culture (Visser, Dirk & Manfred 2007, p. 69). That aspect has called for studies that examine its history, societal roles especially in times of crises and where is heading to. This paper will outline and discuss the evolution of CSR . It will include its history, role in the financial crisis and its prospects for the future, supported by examples. One rationale behind the genesis of SCR was the assumption that some theorists have termed wrong; that which perceived businesses as solely money-making organisations for the owners (Dincer & Dincer 2007, p 44). This assumption supported the idea that those who engaged in business only had personal and selfish interests. The implication was that it was up to consumers to assume the role of caring for the society’s welfare and take actions that support their interests (Dincer & Dincer 2007, p 46). However, most entrepreneurs recognise that while that still remains a real reason for the presence of their business in the society, they are also aware that they came together to collectively achieve what they could not as individuals. This perspective added a new objective to their reasons of existence; that of contributing to a society without which they could not s urvive. This awareness is embedded in the fact that the businesses only exist when there are societies to produce goods and services for; to produce raw materials for the businesses; and to offer a labour force in the businesses (Bhattacharya, Sankar & Korschun 2011, p. 83). However, the concept of giving back to society as initiated by the American businessmen at the start of the 20th century had to be abandoned in the advent of the early 1930s’ Great Depression. At that time, the only goal for businesses became to survive, while citizens only needed an employment that generated income. Then in 1939, a co-founder of the largely successful Hewlett Packard rekindled the need for companies to value to their existence and that of the societies, which took a slow start due to WWII and was later revived in the 1950s (Morrison, R 2008, p. 9). His opinion was that consumers will only be condescending to products that in turn support noble causes, charity and the environment. The rev ival is believed by some theorist to have resulted from a global corporation by regions that backed each other during the course of WWII and the recovery period that followed. By the 1980s, CSR was already a vital aspect of modern business and supporting

Discussion 2 Week 8 Tips for Effective Proposal Writing Assignment

Discussion 2 Week 8 Tips for Effective Proposal Writing - Assignment Example The sample proposals where obtained in the following links: http://www.coloradogrants.org/assets/pdf/centerville-community-center.pdf; and http://www.netplaces.com/grant-writing/sample-federal-grant-proposal/. There are areas where deviation were present in terms of tendencies to use long sentence structures and not using tabular structures to highlight information in a more concise and easily understood manner. 2. Using the criteria presented in Chapter 13 of the textbook for writing effective proposals, rewrite at least one section of a proposal that you identified through the e-Activity and explain why you made those changes. To re-write one portion of the proposal submitted to the Community Technology Center (CTC) grant project, the following portion were noted to be ineffective: â€Å"The Districts middle school population meets the criteria for at-risk: 71 percent come from low-income backgrounds; 68 percent are minority; 22 percent receive special-education services; 15 percent are bilingual† (Sample Federal Grant Proposal, n.d., p. 1). It could be re-written this

Security aspects of network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Security aspects of network - Essay Example Companys products enable IT managers to bypass costly RF surveys. Instead, they can use low-cost, commoditized access points. With Sputniks firmware, these access points configure themselves, and are controlled from a central management console. So instead of installing a few costly access points from vendors such as Cisco Systems Inc., Sifry said, an enterprise could mount a larger number of inexpensive access points and forgo the RF survey. Carriers are particularly interested in wide area wireless technology because it can help to boost cell phone coverage within buildings. The No. 1 reason enterprise customers switch carriers is poor service, Sly said, and this product can help carriers keep their customers, but it also gives them a presence inside the enterprise. SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While Wi-Fi networks are often seen as simple and inexpensive to deploy, there are plenty of hidden costs and complexities lurking under the surface. Now, a number of new vendors are poised to rem edy those problems. Wireless LAN deployments are often expensive for companies because RF surveys, which help ensure proper network coverage, can cost as much as $1,000 per access point, said Albert Lew, director of product management for Burlington, Mass.-based wireless LAN vendor Legra Systems Inc. IT departments usually lack the expertise to do these surveys themselves, he said. Interference is also becoming a problem for many businesses, said Tyler Burns, product marketing manager with Ottawa-based wireless products manufacturer IceFyre Semiconductor Inc. He noted that the growing popularity of Wi-Fi, and the numerous technologies that compete with it, are taking up much of the space in the 2.4 GHz RF band.

The American Dream Essay Example for Free

The American Dream Essay What is the American Dream? There are a myriad of aspects to it, but one general idea: the ideal life. It is making a lot of money, being respected, and triumphing difficult situations. The American Dream has been pursued by many, but only few make it all the way. One very good example of the American Dream is Andrew Carnegie, the founder of what is known as U.S. Steel. Carnegie was born in Scotland to a poor family. As a teen, he emigrated from Scotland to the United States. He was portrayed as a hard working individual who was very intelligent and disciplined. He took it upon himself to read and learn as much as he could. Carnegies first job was a telegraph messenger boy, and later upgraded to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a telegraph operator. His persevering work allowed him to quickly advance through the company, and he became the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division. He continued making investments and made good profits throughout the civil war, and finally left Pennsylvania Railroad and started his own iron companies, eventually Keystone Bridge Works and Union Ironworks. Carnegie saw how bad the wooden railroads were, so he proceeded to slowly replace them with iron ones. Carnegies charm, perception, and hard work led to becoming one of the worlds most famous men of the time, and led to the first corporation in the world with a market capitalization in excess of one billion when he sold his companies to John Morgan who called them United States Steel Corporation. The rise from the poor boy in Scotland to the second richest man in America. He had plenty of initiative and persevered throughout his life to become what he wanted to be. He retired as one of the most respected men in the world, and he will be in the history books forever. He was polite, educated, wealthy, intelligent, respected, and perceptive. Andrew Carnegie lived the American Dream. This still holds true today, as many immigrants come to the United States for better, more successful life. This is what the states were founded upon, and, hopefully, will never die. Life, liberty, and the p ursuit of happiness. Overcoming all obstacles, becoming someone no one else is. Everyone dreams of the American Dream.

The Arguments For Regulation Accounting Essay

The Arguments For Regulation Accounting Essay History is filled with examples where crisis and scandals paved the way for regulatory interventions in the financial markets. The UK introduced major changes in its regulatory practice after the fall of the Barings Bank as a result of the financial scandals during the 1990s. The Financial Services Authority was deregulated in order to develop more rigid and consolidated regulations that conformed to the practice that were prevalent in the industry. Similarly, the US saw a major shift in its financial accounting regulations after the Enron catastrophe. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 has resulted in bringing the issue of standardizing the regulations on financial accounting practices. Regulators worldwide have realized the systematic risks inherent in the financial markets and the critical role that regulations can play in sprouting and exacerbating the fiasco. Accounting standards plays a vital role in financial accounting and reporting in order for investors to make good decisions. Financial accounting and reporting are subjected to various regulations such as the Securities exchange Commission (SEC), the financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). They differs from countries due to the differences in the economic, social and political factors involved. (P. Brown) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created in response to the major stock market crash in 1929 to restore investor confidence. At that time, financial statements were often poor in quality and not audited. Arguments for regulation Over the years there have been many arguments over the necessity for regulation. Accounting regulations are needed in the industries that are susceptible to monopolistic behaviours to protect stakeholders interests. These monopolies undermine the competition, as they would try to beat the competitor that poses a threat to their share in the market. Hence, regulation can help the governments in maintaining the efficiency of the markets to keep them attractive for investors and maintaining fair trade. Arguments in favour of regulation correspond to the market failure, government will be able to help through regulations. Moreover, regulations should be considered when there are businesses and financial institutions that offer windfall profits due to new innovation; the organization is able to achieve high profits. Suppliers will use unethical practices to charge a large sum of money by excluding the true cost, which is known as externalities. In addition to these, there are information asymmetries that exist where firms do not fully disclose their decisions. Bushman and Landsman (2010) suggest that optimal disclosure of financial information are beneficial because failure to do so might cause investors sceptical assumptions. Proponents of the regulations maintain that markets usually place their interest above the best benefit of the society. Thus, interventions in the regulations are necessary. Regulations are considered to provide a strong and focused control over the activities that are deemed important by the society. In the meantime, regulations can be seen as the strict process for performing and action in the corporate environment such as in order to set up, manage and end an organization, one has to follow the regulations laid out in the corporations law (Sloan, 2001). But regulations should not be considered as negative as it helps in managing, controlling and getting results from various business activities. For example, the rules and checks that are built into the regulations, give people the confidence that these regulations would not allow people to step out of their authority and conform to the regulatory requirements; that are developed keeping their interests in perspective. The move from governments brought light into the issue of regulating the accounting processing in the industry. Accounting is primarily responsible for providing relevant information for decision making required to make decisions of economic nature. This information is prepared by accountants and professionals in the industry which are responsible for maintaining the record of the financial and accounting data for the company. This information is published in the annual financial reports as well as the stock exchange helping investors to make informed decisions. Moreover, there are regulations relating to the application of taxes as well as the procedure through which organizations are formed and established. The statutory and financial requirements ensure that the organizations are capable of meeting their financial and corporate responsibilities (Bushman and Landsman, 2010) Hence, regulations play an integral role in the functioning of daily business organizations in the modern world. There are a large number of operations that need regulations as they contain data that is critical for efficient operation of the organizations. This information should not be put at risk and placing regulatory requirements on its collections and maintenance is a safe way to ensure the efficiency of the accounting process (Hoogendoorn, 2006). Arguments against regulation Nonetheless, there are a number of perspectives on the issue of regulating the financial markets. The critics of the idea present the argument that these regulations are not needed as the market players act in an efficient manner to serve the society and efficiently utilize their resources. Characteristics of principles-based and rules-based standards A standard consist of principles and rules that apply to given accounting issue (Nelson, 2003). Schipper (2003) suggested that accounting standards in US are more rules-based but often based on principles while IAS and IFRS are more principles-based. Principles-based standard According to ICAS (2006), principles-based accounting standards are based on a conceptual framework. They suggest that such standards require a clear hierarchy of overarching concepts, principles that reflect the overarching concepts and limited further guidance (ICAS, 2006). The principles-based deliver a comprehensive way in preparing the financial statement yet has the flexibility to overcome any situations. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 required the SEC to assess the viability of a principles-based accounting system. The SEC focused their studies on objective-oriented standards, which is similar to FASBs definition of principles-based standards but Benston et al., (2006) propose that it is more optimal as it offer a narrower framework that limits the scope of professional judgement but allowing more flexibility. In 2008, Grant Thornton issued a White Paper suggesting six high-quality characteristics of principles-based accounting standard. This include; faithful presentation of economic reality, responsive to users needs for clarity and transparency, consistency with a clear Conceptual Framework, based on a defined scope that addresses a broad area of accounting, written in a clear and understandable language, use of appropriate judgment (Grant Thornton, 2008). Benston et al., (2006) agrees that principles-based tend to have more professional judgement. The practice of professional judgment is reinforced to give a true and fair view of the organisations performance. The fundamental advantage of principles-based accounting is that its broad guidelines can be practical for a variety of circumstances. Precise requirements can sometimes compel managers to manipulate the statements to fit what is compulsory. Rules-based standards According to Nelson (2003), rules-based standards have more bright line threshold, more rules, have more scope exceptions and large volume of implementation guidance. Example for bright-line rules-based standards is the managing of capital lease and operating lease. The principle contrast being that a capital lease might need to show up on the asset report of the carrier whereas operating lease do not need any recording. Two distinguishable lease transactions are characterized contrastingly based upon the GAAP renting guidelines (Maines, 2007). Rules-based increases the comparability especially when accountants and regulators have different opinions on interpretation of accounting issues. The FASB developed rules-based standards to increase verifiability for management, auditors and regulators who seek for a clear view of accounting issue. This is related to the reduction in litigation as guidance to protect them from any lawsuits or criticism for aggressive reporting (Benston et al., 2006). If organisation fails to conform to these rules, it has to face legal consequences due to the fact that investors entrust the organisation to meet the regulatory requirements and make their decisions based on the interpretation of financial data. Regulators often prefer rules to avoid unpredictable of later enforcement. Rules reduce discretion of preparer making their judgement less likely to be motivated by the yearning of personal benefits (Coglianese et al., 2004). Moreover, some managers prefer rules-based standards as business arrangement to prepare financial statement. To achieve desirable financial result, they get to gain opportunities by lobbying for treatment of different type of business arrangements (Maines, 2007). Why are principles-based standards more useful than rules-based standards? Many commentators have suggested that the US accounting standard is more rules-based. Rules are thought to be simple but in reality it could complex and easily be manipulated. For instances, tax regulations are mainly rules-based causing problem to arise when organisation start a new transaction not under the rule guideline. Making it difficult for auditors to clarify the inconsistencies (Coglianese et al., 2004). Benston et al., (2006) agree that the complexity of rules can become dysfunctional when the economic changes or when managers structure transactions that meet the rules. Therefore, theres no need to reduce earnings management and improve the quality of financial reporting because mangers will eventually find his way to meet rules by violating them that overcompensate for judgemental discretion. Thus, many regulators are now leaning towards the principles-based approach. Application of rules-based according to Schipper (2003) is undesirable because the check-box mentality tend to risk the quality of financial reporting whereas principles-based exercises professional judgement. Regulators believe that rules-based approach foster creative accounting, neither comprehensive nor comparable. It is a delusion that rules-based could completely eliminate risk of litigation. Instead of rules-based, principles-based accounting systems provide a true and fair framework with effective communication that are required by stakeholders. Risk of litigation will always remain but principles-based will minimise the risk (ICAS, 2006). Rules exist because a standard is based on poor principles. Using applicable principle would reduce the need of having detailed set of rules, therefore complexity of the rules could be minimised and standard will increase its comparability (Nobes, 2005). Furthermore principles-based standards are meant to provide a more precise accounting statement reflecting the companys performance reason because as the used of principles-based increase, manipulation of rules would reduce. Study result shows that corporate managers prefer principles-based. Objectives are yet again the flexibility when they could report what they believe of the consequences, beneficial of forecast earnings and if management reimbursement is related to their target (Philips et al., 2010). The study have also indicated that principles-based focus more on reporting the true economic circumstances, however with that much liberty auditors might challenge managements misappropriation of standards. Thus, focusing on one or the other standard will not necessary solve the transparency of financial reporting. There are two matters to take into consideration when engaging into principles-based standards. The issues are to reduce the weighting given to comparability relative to other qualitative characteristics in the conceptual framework and to increase professional judgement in both transaction and financial statement (Bennett et al., 2006). Problems standard setters have in promulgating standards that are principles-based Accounting standards are promulgated to assist the objective of financial reporting; some parties believe that collapse of a company was caused by the incompetent standards. Problems standard setters find promulgating principles-based standard is because rules-based standard is favourable at times. Rules-based standards are able to achieve qualitative characteristic of comparability in financial reporting whereas principles-based are not able to. Criticism of principles-based arise when uncertainty of the standard reflects a risk of regulator sanctions. Uncertainty can be accepted only if regulator agree to the firms interpretations and respond correspondingly (Black, 2007). Level of uncertainty will increase if standard setter developed internal understanding of the guideline not shown in the firms statement. Moreover, applying principles-based standard will have diminishing effect on the aggressive reporting than strengthening audit committee. (Agoglia et al., 2011) According to Coglianese et al., (2004) move to principles-based may rise problem such as insufficient training to make professional judgment, therefore training will be required. Moreover in the absence of rules, managers may disclose biased information thus company may need to professional resolve (Maines, 2007). Managers do not always apply accounting standards in good faith, they are always biased and now with the flexibility of principles it is criticised that rise of potential for earning management (Nelson, 2003). Providing suitable resolve may be challenging because auditors find difficulty in predicting how principles will be applied to certain litigation. Despite the limitation of rules-based, some standard setter would still prefer rules to principles just to avoid both uncertainties and litigations. Conclusions We can conclude from this discussion that accounting has been not been able to receive a complete regulatory pack that can provide a theoretical foundation for the financial accounting domain. The individualistic approach to developing these theories has not been successful because they miss out on some important factual information. Globalization has caused a number of challenges to the accounting domain as more and more companies have moved their systems from manual to computerized systems. Therefore, regulators face a raising problem of devising regulations that ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the accounting information. There are many mixed feelings regarding the ideas to regulate accounting. However, despite the mixed opinions, the idea to regulate accounting is strong. It is not only the responsible thing to do, but it will also safeguard the public form companies and fraudulent activities that could occur. To not regulate accounting laws and practices will only leave room to gather more mistrust in the accounting.