Media Violence Essay -- essays research papers fc

Machine gun fire, explosions, and screams for help are only a few of the sounds that can be heard emanating from a child’s bedroom today, while his parents listen nervously just outside his door. Horrified, these parents shake their heads ruefully, wondering at the power of entertainment available for kids nowadays. Sometimes they even argue whether it is right for their child to have access to this sort of violence: the kind found in most video games, television shows, and movies all over the world. But honestly, does it make a difference in the child’s development as a productive member of society, and if so, can a parent really do anything about it? These are the questions that researchers of the subject hope to answer conclusively In order to understand how media violence has an effect on children, different variables must first be examined. To begin with, children of various ages understand what they are watching very differently. Most of it depends on the length of their attention spans, the way they go about processing their information, the amount of mental effort that they put in, and their own life experiences. These stages are broken up into five parts. The first part is the effects on infants. Infants or children up to 18 months old can â€Å"Pay attention to an operating television set for short periods of time, but the attention demands a great effort and infants are more interested in their own activities.†1 Even when it seems that they are focusing on the television, infants will usually not be able to comprehend what is going on. They take it as a bunch of â€Å"Fragmented displays of light and sound†, which they can only recognize and put together certain pieces and characters. Although there is no evidence yet as to the effect of media violence on infants, there is still evidence that infants may imitate some behavior that they have seen on television. The toddler period begins at roughly two-and-a-half to three years old. It is at this point that they begin to pay more attention to the television when it is on. They also begin to develop a minute capability to take some meaning out of what they watch. They are also more likely to copy what they see on television. Children, who are at preschool age, three to five years old, start watching television with the intent of understanding the content. They are drawn to fast-pacing images, which tend to b... ...t of violent games will grow up to be violent. But just as every cigarette increases the chance that someday you will get lung cancer, every exposure to violence increases the chances that someday a child will behave more violently than they otherwise would.†3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Bibliography 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wendy L. Josephson, Ph.D. (1995). Television Violence: A Review of the Effects on Children of Different Ages. Retrieved Nov.17, 2004. Media Awareness Network. http://stauffer.queensu.ca/inforef/instruct/tv1.htm 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Michael Craig Miller, (2000). Does Violence In The Media Cause Violent Behavior? Nov.18, 2004. Harvard Mental Health Letter. http://www.health.harvard.edu/medline/Mental/M901c.html 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Senator Orrin G. Hatch, (1999). Children, Violence, And The Media. Nov.18, 2004. Senate Judiciary Committee Media Violence Report. http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/mediavio.htm 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Saul Kassin, (2004), Psychology. Retrieved Nov.19, 2004 New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. THE EFFECTS OF MEDIA VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN NOVEMBER 23, 2004

Auditor Independence – 2

Introduction Independence is a fundamental to the reliability of auditors’ reports. It is an attitude of mind characterized by integrity and an objective approach to professional works. A professional auditor should work both independent and seen to be so. Nowadays, but, the trend of providing non-audit services to audit clients seem to be sweeping accounting firms all over the world; impacts of independence impairment caused by this trend should not be ignored. The Meaning of Independence The essential feature of an audit is its independence and, if an accountant performs the accountancy work and then checks it himself, this checking cannot be viewed to be an audit because it lacks independence. From ACCA’s Code of Ethics, the definition of Independence is composed of independence of mind and independence in appearance. In general, independence means an auditor’s opinion must be based on an objective without bias and disinterested assessment of whether the financial statements are presented fairly in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. The Importance of Independence in relation to the provision of assurance The value of audit derives entirely from its independence. Without independence, auditors’ opinions lack impacts and credibility. The relationship between the auditors and audit clients, however, gives a potential threat to the independence. Influencing Auditors’ Reports on Clients’ Financial Position due to Conflicts of Interests: Possibilities of conflicts of interest between firms and clients, where situations such as, connections of an audit firm with associated firms, family and other personal relationships, financial interests in audit client, employment with audit clients, provision of non-audit service to audit clients, may consequently affect auditors. Without the strength of character to withstand such pressure, auditors may be unable to express independent opinions. Preserving Investors Confidence in the Financial Market Public confidence in the capital market relies heavily on the appearance of auditor independence. Auditor independence helps to ensure quality audits and sustain the circulations of investment with the capital market. Investor confidence is eroded if investors and other users of the financial statement information do not perceive that the auditor was independent in both fact and appearance. Giving Constructive Advice Although there is no formal obligation, a good auditor will be anxious to offer his client assistance on improvements in the financial aspects of the business if he can give an unbiased independent opinion, where added value is brought to clients and to the wider business community. Lowering Litigations Sustaining independence enables the auditors to objectively report on True and Fair Value of any information required to be disclosed in financial accounts, of which the chances of successful negligence lawsuit to a level acceptable will be reduced. The Nature of other services provided by the auditors In the classification from APB, non-audit services is composed of any engagement where an audit firm provides professional services to an audited client other than the audit of financial statements, and pursuant to those other roles which legislation or regulation specify can be performed by the auditor of the entity. There are five different natures of non-audit services categorized by activities arising directly from an audit of a company’s financial statements, services required to be provided by the auditor by laws, services provided by auditors because of their familiarity with the client and, as a consequence, their ability to perform them in a timely and cost effective manner, services provided because of the pool of accounting and related financial skills available to accountancy firms, services provided because of the pool of consulting and general business skills available to accountancy firms Critical Discussion of Ethical Code Requirements Independence is part of the accountant’s code of professional conduct. Under APB Ethical Standards the concept of auditor independence shifted in favor of objectivity and neutrality in the reporting of the financial position and the results of operations, rather than loyalty to a particular party. The Ethical Standards allow audit firms to offer consulting services such as internal auditing and information technology but are subject to certain restrictions, and audit firms are required to disclose fees received from auditing and all non-audit services. However, without providing clear distinctions which makes grey area exists, the rules should err on the side of caution. Auditors and their clients are likely to continually test the limits of what is permissible, including by litigating restrictions they oppose. UK’s Combined Code on Corporate Governance only recommends that audit committees develop policies to govern the future provision of non-audit services, but does not require a pre-approval of non-audit services by audit committees. No specific enforcement mechanism ensures that management does not become involved, directly or indirectly, in selecting auditors or determining audit fees and the scope of audit. Ethical code requirements should focus to a greater extent on the issue of to what extent client management may still be able to influence the audit fee and the scope of audit engagement. Explanation of the Current and Emerging Developments In order to increase revenue, recently, accounting firms not only provides auditing services, other services including bookkeeping, financial information systems design, human resources and management functions, valuation, internal audit, tax, legal, investment banking services and expert services unrelated to audit, also provides. There are several reasons leading to the increasing popularity of providing non-audit service, Price Competition Auditing becomes a low-profit activity that clients increasingly search for the lowest prices and the loosest standards. Competitive bidding in auditing created pressure to reduce audit engagement hours. To maintain overall revenues, high profitability of the numerous new consulting and other non-audit services is being offered. Horizontal Integration The rapid growth of business enterprises on a worldwide basis provided large accounting firms with an opportunity to become the preferred providers of a wide range of business services, the revenues from non-audit services for audit clients quickly outpaced the fees from auditing-only services. Audit Effectiveness Providing non-audit services allows accounting firms to perform better audits because they can obtain a better understanding of the client’s systems, which can achieve the cost-effective goal. Criticism and Analysis of Independence Impaired by Provision of Non-audit Services The relative increase in reliance on revenues from non-audit services may have placed increased pressure on auditor independence. The major accounting firms, seems vigorously opposed reforms to eliminate the growing conflicts of interest arising from auditing and consulting for the same client, because of economic bond which the auditor does not want to lose developed between the client and the accounting firm. In order to be more competitive, accounting firms try to reduce audit fees to attractive customers by reducing engagement hours. But this risk-based auditing approach may not detect fraudulent activities. Some auditors shifted their concept of independence to becoming trusted advisors to the client’s management. Although acting independence in certain situations is acceptable, too often an auditor’s efforts to help management resulted in concealing true economic performance. It appeared that some auditors ignored their most immediate responsibility to act on behalf of third-party investors or, at a minimum, to be an objective and neutral interpreter of accounting standards. Many non-audit services evolved from requests by audit clients for additional services that their auditors seemed best suited, as well as from the special skills needed to audit new and complex business transactions. Expanding the scope of the specialists’ activities helped firms attract and retain people with skills that were increasing important to effective auditing. Audit firms’ management consulting practices have expended far beyond the skills required for audit support and the traditional areas related to financial planning and controls. Independence questions can arise when these services are marketed to audit clients. However, it is obvious that major accounting firms keep bearing legal risks by providing non-audit services to audit clients. Even ethical standard regarding to provision of non-audit services has been revised; firms could argue that advanced technology and improved education enabled accounting firms to provide many non-audit services to their current client. Conclusion and Recommendations Independence, both historically and philosophically, is the foundation of accounting profession and upon its maintenance depending on the profession’s strength and its stature. From my viewpoint, it is undeniable that Ethical standards put efforts on monitoring auditor independence; but standing at the point of running the business, accounting firms have woven an increasingly complex web of business and financial relationships with their audit clients. The most common case of independence impairment occurs because an auditor becomes so close to the client as to be unable to function objectively. The actual cause of the independence problems, however, generally was not wanton disregard rules. Instead, internal control problems may have caused many of the breach where the weak internal control system is unable to trace employees’ investments. Despite of regulations, area needs to be addressed to improve the auditor independence is the audit firms’ internal control systems, of which all relationships between each auditor and audit clients should be reviewed from time to time. The nature of the non-audit services providing to audit clients maybe different in different era. It appears that there is more mobility of employees and an increase in dual-career families. In the foreseeable future, keeping prohibition on non-audit services would help medium-sized accounting firms secure additional non-audit work with major clients. On the other hand, the increasingly competitive auditing market and the complexity of international business practices may cause some auditors to reduce their focus on objective and neutral interpretation of accounting standards in favor of becoming a trusted advisor for clients. MMUBS Reference Book Graham W. Cosserat and Neil Rodda (2009) Modern Auditing, 3rd ed. , John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Diane Walters and John Dunn (2001) Student‘s Manual of Auditing: The Guide to UK Auditing Practice, 6th ed. , Thomson Learning M. Shere and S. Turley (1991) Current Issues in Auditing, 2nd ed. , Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd Newspaper Article – Internet Copy Editor (2009) ‘Auditor independence important – CMDA’ The Miadhu News. [Online] 4th November. [Accessed on 4th November 2009] http://www. miadhu. com/2009/11/local-news/auditor-independence-important-cmda/ Journal Article – Internet Copy Franklin Strier (2006) ‘Proposals to Improve the Image of the Public Accounting Profession’ CPA Journal, March 2006 Issue http://www. ysscpa. org/cpajournal/2006/306/essentials/p67. htm C. Richard Baker (2005) ‘The Varying Concept of Auditor Independence: Shifting with the Prevailing Environment’ CPA Journal, August 2005 Issue http://www. nysscpa. org/cpajournal/2005/805/infocus/p22. htm Robert H. Colson (2004) ‘CPA Independenc e, Present and Future’ CPA Journal, April 2004 Issue http://www. nysscpa. org/cpajournal/2004/404/essentials/p80. htm Carolyn L. Lousteau and Mark E. Reid (2003) ‘Internal Control Systems for Auditor Independence’ CPA Journal, January 2003 Issue http://www. nysscpa. rg/cpajournal/2003/0103/features/f013603. htm Deborah L. Lindberg and Frank D. Beck (2004) ‘Before and After Enron: CPA’s Views on Auditor Independence’ CPA Journal, November 2004 Issue http://www. nysscpa. org/cpajournal/2004/1104/essentials/p36. htm Mario Christodoulou (2009) ‘Debate rages on over KPMG’s cut-price Rentokil audit deal’ Accountancy Age, 20 August 2009 http://www. accountacyage. com/accountancyage/news/2248103/debate-rages-kpmg-cut-price Internet Source – Organization NASD Notice to Members 02-19. (2002) Auditor Independence: SEC Review of Auditor Independence Rule. Online] [Accessed on March 2002] http://www. finra. org/web/groups/industr y/@ip/@reg/@notice/documents/notices/p003715. pdf Investor Protection (2003) Strengthening the Commission’s Requirements Regarding Auditor Independence. [Online] [Accessed on 20th January 2003] http://www. consumerfed. org/pdfs/011303auditor. pdf Public Oversight Board (2002) Report and Recommendations: Chapter 5: Auditor Independence [Online] [Accessed on March 2002] http://www. pobauditpanel. org/downloads/chapter5. pdf APB (2009) Consultation Paper on audit firms providing non-audit services to

Essay about recent hate crimes and statistic Essay

Lifeless bodies with slashed throats were found in the mountains of Virginia nearly six years ago. This is quite a disturbing image; the unfortunate result of a hate crime. What exactly is a hate crime? The American Psychological Association defines hate crimes as â€Å"violent acts against people, property, or organizations because of the group to which they belong or identify with† (1). The different groups usually involved include homosexuals, ethnic groups, and religion affiliations. Dr. Jack McDevitt, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston, said hate crimes are forms of messages the offender wants to send to members of certain groups letting them know they are unwelcome in that neighborhood, community, school or workplace (APA, 1). According to CNN.com, Darrell David Rice of Columbia, Maryland, was found guilty of committing the 1996 slayings of hikers Julianne Marie Williams and Laura â€Å"Lollie† Winans, who were the girls in the opening disturbing image. Rice is serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison in Petersburg, Virginia, for attempting to abduct and kill a female bicyclist in the same park in 1997. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft called the killings of Williams and Winans â€Å"hate crimes† and said Rice could also receive the death penalty, in addition to the present sentence (Frieden, 1). Examples of hate crimes provided by Stephen Wessler’s â€Å"Addressing Hate Crimes: Six Initiatives† include (3):  ·the dragging death of African-American James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas  ·the deadly attack on Matthew Sheppard, a gay student in Laramie, Wyoming  ·the shooting rampage targeting minority citizens in Chicago  ·the shootings of children at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles  ·the murder of Joseph Santos Ileto, a Filipino-American mail carrier A report done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that 7,947 hate crime incidents were reported. In 1995, a comparison of states showed that California was at the top of the charts with 1,751 incidents reported, and Florida stood with 164 incidents (2). The total number of hate crimes only decreased by less than a hundred between 1995 and 1999. While these numbers may seem relatively small, the Southern Poverty Law Center has posted more dramatic statistics: every hour someone commits a hate crime, every day eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one Latino become hate crime victims, and every week a cross is burned (1). In order to prevent the hate crimes from occurring, different things are being done in order to prevent and deal with the hate crimes. In schools, the Anti-Defamation League websites suggests planning ahead by doing the following (1): 1.Work with your school administration to establish a plan for responding promptly to hate incidents and hate crimes. 2.Educate school staff on how to recognize hate-motivated incidents and hate crimes. 3.Establish procedures for reporting hate-motivated incidents/crimes. 4.Establish school policies which clearly indicate that hate-motivated behavior will not be tolerated. On a wider scale, since the 1980s research on hate crimes has increased, especially from those in the fields of criminology and law enforcement. There focus is primarily on reporting the frequency of the problem and preparing criminal justice responses to it. While many hate motivated crimes go unreported, the number of reported incidents is up. However, with special training, people are prepared to deal with the situations. According to Wessler, the first professionals to respond to the scene of a hate crime are police officers. How they act in the situation will affect  the outcome of the incident. Wessler stated, â€Å"law enforcement agencies have a pivotal role in responding to, investigating, prosecuting, and preventing hate crimes.† Training is given to the police officers in order to carry out their role. Wessler said the training includes how to â€Å"recognize and investigate potential hate crimes, have clear protocols on how to respond to hate violence, and develop innovative programs for preventing the hate crimes.† Along with the professional training of police personnel, laws against hate crimes have been enforced in some states. As of 1999, there are only eleven states that do not have hate crime laws: South Carolina, Hawaii, Wyoming, New York, Kentucky, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, Georgia and Indiana. The anti-hate laws may not be well known but there are some out there. For example, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act â€Å"provides assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies and amend federal law to streamline the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.† This bill will change the already existing law, adding crimes against sexual orientation, gender, and disability. This law also allows authority to respond to all crimes covered by the existing law, meaning crimes based on race, color, national origin, and religion (1). The number of hate crimes is slowly being decreased and the number of laws against hate crimes is slowly being increased, but the truth is, they are still out there. It may seem impossible to eliminate all the hate crimes that are occuring, but with more research, training, and handling each situation as they arise more seriously, America is slowly on it’s way to eliminating the problem of hate crimes. Works Cited American Psychological Association. 1998. Anti-Defamation League. 1999. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Reports. 1995. Frieden, Terry. 10 Apr. 2002. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. NGLTF Communications Department. 25 Sep. 2002. Southern Poverty Law Center. Wessler, Stephen. Addressing Hate Crimes: Six Initiatives That Are Enhancing the Efforts of Criminal Justice Practitioners. Feb. 2000.

Be True to Yourself Essay

William Shakespeare, perhaps the most extraordinary writer who ever lived, includes some magnificent philosophical truths in his work. Brilliantly constructed, his world-renowned play, Hamlet, demonstrates his excellence. When reading it, I felt privileged to read such beautifully written language, and choosing my favorite quote was difficult. In the beginning of the play, Laertes prepares to go to France. Naturally, his father Polonius gives him some special words of advice before he leaves, â€Å"[t]his above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as night the day/ Thou canst not then be false to any man† (I.ii.84-86). If Laertes is honest with himself his father believes he won’t misrepresent himself to others, and he will be a true gentleman. Not only is this quote pleasurable reading, it is entirely truthful. Lying and cheating are two violations of this truth that I’ve witnessed frequently. For example, English has always been one of my weaker subjects because I’m not a very efficient reader. Even so, I study hard for my tests and often get a decent result. However, several others, whose English skills are also relatively weak, choose to cheat, there by obtaining a grade equal to or higher than my own. I could easily do this as well—leaving more time to sleep and devote to soccer—but not while being true to myself. After studying intently for a test and getting the result I deserve, I’m completely satisfied, with the grade and myself. This is what’s important according to Shakespeare: to be able to look into the mirror and be proud of the face looking back.

DAIMLER CHRYSLER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

DAIMLER CHRYSLER - Essay Example The differences between Daimler and Chrysler provided the two companies a good opportunity for merger in order to streamline their operations. Daimler-Benz had specialized in production of luxury cars for sale in the upper market segments. The company had invested heavily in research and development and had long term technological experience that positioned it well in the industry above its competitors. According to Maielli (2005, p. 251), Daimler practiced mass production and focused on strengthening its technology to achieve a higher level of creativity. Although the company had an international market for its car models, it focused on a particular market segment hence the produced quantity did not enable the company to realize economies of scale. As a result of specialization in production of luxury cars the company was not able to utilize its technological capacity fully. Furthermore, the company had a lot of bureaucracy in its management that slowed down decision making processe s hence limiting the company’s potential for expansion (Slack, Stuart & Robert, 2007, p. 164). Daimler had a capacity of producing one million units of its products while Chrysler had a capacity of three million units. ... 316). The company had flexible work and time management that enabled employees to work even during the weekend and overtime in order to increase output. The company introduced a performance based rewarding system that recognized each individuals input in the company in order to motivate the workers. In addition, the company advocated teamwork with stakeholders in order to streamline their operations. For example, the company collaborated with its suppliers in order to reach the international market efficiently. Chrysler was less bureaucratic in nature (Kohler, 2005, p.314). Individual workers were allowed to make decisions on their own without having to consult senior managers. This managerial flexibility nurtured creativity in the company and simplified decision making process. The company engaged in developing new product designs for different market niches. The efficient and flexible management of Chrysler company enabled the company to come up with new car designs hence increased its market share (Maielli, 2005, p.258). The company had not focused much on research and innovations although it was producing different varieties of car models for various market segments. This created a potential risk of losing creativity and becoming technologically obsolete (Slack, Stuart & Robert, 2007, p. 197). The company lacked good base for foreign market since it focused on production for the domestic market, especially North America. However, the company enjoyed economies of scale due to large scale production for local market. The company had efficient manufacturing process that Maielli (2005, p. 251) describes as lean production. 2. What were the main differences between the Mercedes and Chrysler production processes and how did

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 19

Marketing - Essay Example A brand requires a unique name for its identification that is so very important to chalk out before it turns from a product (or service) into one of a brand. Thus this brand name need not only be unique, it also requires that the name is also what it must convey to the people in mind, how it is meeting their expectations and whether this name has a positive (aspirational) association with the product in the long run or one that takes the end customer away from it, one that can be remarked as being dissociative to say the least. Further, the message which should be used in advertising must be unique as well as fresh so that the consumers are made sure about the quality and the value for which a product is really a known name in the present times. There needs to be a clear and distinct brand positioning statement in order to meet the objectives that are desired by the company in the wake of its new marketing strategy. Strategic positioning research is conducted to determine who the cus tomers of your product/service are and what should be told about the product or service to get them to buy from you. Finding the right target and message to build your marketing plan can be crucial in the success of your product. Similarly, tactical positioning research looks at finding the short term measures which would be suited to the relevant target audiences. We can say that positioning concentrates on getting value to the buyers as concerns to the product. In recent times, positioning has fallen down as becoming a mere document that plays a game with the customers and asks them to fall into the trap of buying the product solely. It is said that the best positioning relies only on how the product will be able to solve the specialized customer queries, concerns and problems. Thus the end result of positioning is one which could be easily observed through a product being

Global Economic Integration Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Economic Integration Brazil - Essay Example Many factors have driven up the integration and globalization of the states. Some of the basic factors were; (i) development in the technology of communication and techniques of transportations which in turn reduced the cost of transporting goods and services, (ii) the mind set of the society has changed generally to take advantage in utilizing services of the growing economic integration and globalization, (iii) the policies of the state have considerably influenced the nature and pace of economic integration. Global Economic Integration of Brazil The trade policy in Brazil in the late 20th century is a debated question; whether the importance was given to regional trade arrangements or international trade and economic integration. However, as Manzetti points out, there had been attempts made in the Latin American region for integration of trade since late 1950s; and thus a new phase for Argentine-Brazilian economic integration was created. The most important trade initiative of the present was a regional trade initiative in the Common Market of South (Mercosul). Brazil gives reasonable importance to economic development in the country. But the social conditions of the state pull back from getting into the track.