Sarbanes Oxley Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sarbanes Oxley Act - Essay Example The degree of disclosure of financial information is also a main reason. Mostly the corporate running bodies do not find them answerable in front of any regulatory body; therefore they keep on trying 'innovative' ideas for which others have to pay. (Maclean, 2005) Financial information in the form of audited accounts can prevent the system slipping into corruption (Sunlight is the best detergent), but it is not clear why, for example, a superior US financial reporting infrastructure did not help us detect Enron. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745 (July 30, 2002), is a United States federal law also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (and commonly called SOX or SarbOx). With the major financial reforms in most of the countries of the world the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in the United states in order to deal with the issues such as establishment of the public company, the level of auditor's independence, proper monitoring of the accounting practices of the company under a board, corporate social responsibility and enhancement in the financial disclosure to the prescribed level by the act. The law is seen as the major reform in the after the New Deal passed in 1930. The act revolutionized United States securities laws. The House approved act with the majority of 423-3 and Senate by 97-0. The act increased the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission powers. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act's requires the companies to make their financial reports certify by the chief executive officers and chief financial officers. According to the act the Executive officers and directors are not allowed to take personal loans. The act prescribed the companies for the extended disclosure of the financial information in order to improve the shareholders and stakeholders accountability. The act also increased the jail sentence duration and increased the fine amount in case of violence of the securities law or misuse. The corporate executives misstating the financial information will also have to face increased sentence time duration and higher amount of penalties. The act also prohibited the audit firms to provide any services additional to that of the auditing to the companies they are working for. The compensation of the Chief executives and other higher executives are also required to be reported. The act also accelerated reporting of trades by insiders and prohi bition on insider trades during pension fund blackout periods. (Wikipedia, 2006) Reference Maclean, P., (2005). Power Play - Robert McCullough was interviewed for an article covering Enron's role in the California power crisis and its aftermath, Portland Monthly, May 2005, Retrieved 05/005/06 from Wikipedia, (2006). Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Retrieved 05/005

Economical and religious repression Essay Example for Free

Economical and religious repression Essay Illustrate from Blakes songs the ways the poet shows that the people of his time were alienated from their natural selves and from society by political, economical and religious repression A major target of Blakes in the conquest to correct the unnatural state of society was that of religion and the Church. Blake was an unconventional Christian. Although clearly religious, as seen in poems such as The Lamb and Night, he abhorred the concept of organised religion and believed it to be an extremely damaging institution which was more concerned with the oppression of the lower classes and the continuance of the unequal status quo than with true religion. Blake believed the moral codes that were extolled by the Church were significantly damaging to society, making innocent concepts deviant and causing bitter unhappiness. In The Garden of Love, Blake conveys his feelings on the repressive qualities of religion. This poem is the basis for Blakes theory on repressive religion, using The Garden of Love as a basis for the damaging effects of religious bans, Blake then goes onto portray how the effects change with different experiences such as love and sex. In the poem, the speaker returns to The Garden of Love where he used to play (which seems to refer to the innocent discovery of sexuality by children) and finds that it has been transformed. Where once children used to play on the green there are now priests in black gowns, and gravestones where there used to be flowers. The speaker has become aware of Church law and its oppressive bans, Blake emphasises the influence of the religious morals by use of metrical technique. The power of Thou shalt not paralyses the poem, with three successive stresses halting the regularly anapaestic rhythm. In the same way that Thou shalt not stops the flow of the poem, the construction of the Chapel stops the innocent play of children. In the design which accompanies the poem children are seen praying over the graves of Joys Desires, which were murdered by the Church. Blake further expands his theory on how repressive religion alienates people of his day from their natural selves in his two poems on sexual intercourse, The Blossom and The Sick Rose. The Blossom is a celebration of what Blake would call completely natural sex, being free from morals and repressive religion it is a wonderful and joyous occasion, so full of emotion that it makes the robin sob with joy. The Blossom is full of positive language, such as happy, merry and pretty and contains a simple and bouncing rhythm that conveys the naturalness of the act and how positive such sex is. The Sick Rose on the other hand portrays sexual intercourse at its most depraved and shameful. The poem is a vision of sex under the influence of repressive religious morals and restricting social conventions; it portrays sexual intercourse under the influence of repressive religious morals. The poem utilises a complicated and lumpy rhythm, with a mix of anapaestic and iambic feet and a disturbing first line which is difficult to scan, the world of Experience is clearly evoked through Blakes metrical technique. The poems imagery of an invisible worm flying at night in a howling storm is full of darkness, violence and depravity. The Rose hides (implied by found out) her sexual pleasure, her bed of crimson joy, which reveals the hypocrisy of female pleasure in this depraved form of sex; the Rose has sexual desire but hides it from the invisible worm. In the final two lines Blake sums up his point of the poem, that this kind of sexual intercourse, this dark secret love, Does thy life destroy. Through his portrayal of love and sex in the Songs, Blake shows the damaging effects of religious repression. Repressive religious morals and laws have led to the body becoming detached from the soul, and sex, which the Church associates with the body, has become a seedy and deviant act. In these poems, Blake has shown that the Church has alienated people from their natural selves. In My Pretty Rose Tree, Blake reveals his beliefs on the unnatural constraints of marriage. Blake repudiated any kind of binding contracts or morals, which might constrain the natural self from its freedom and marriage fell firmly within his sights. As far as Blake was concerned, marriage was a dead institution (as revealed by the marriage hearse of London) and an unnatural social prison which severely damaged peoples natural selves. In the poem, a flower was offered to the speaker, a metaphor for an extra-marital affair, by a woman which the speaker finds attractive (Such a flower as May never bore). However, the unnatural constraints of marriage cause the speaker to unhappily, suggested by the slowing of the rhythm with a double stress in And I passed the sweet flower oer, turn down the offer and return to his wife, his Pretty Rose tree. The artificial boundaries of marriage have led to the speaker giving up the chance of being happy with his sweet flower and to being trapped with his jealous Rose tree whose thorns are his only delight. Blake suggests that without the constraints of marriage that the speaker would have been free to follow his heart, rather than conforming to an artificial law and becoming unhappy. In London, Blake further expresses his attitude towards marriage. In the poem, marriage is presented as a hearse, a vessel for carrying the dead, though with their bodies (their sexual selves) being dead in a loveless and institutionalised marriage which extols the virtues of the soul over the deviant and depraved body. Blake blames the unnatural state of love in society on the Churchs separation of body and soul. The separation has forced the soul to be encapsulated in marriage and the body to be forced to become deviant and turn to youthful Harlots. Sexual pleasure has only two options, either a loveless marriage or buying pleasure from seedy and diseased prostitutes. Marriage, in Blakes eyes, has made all sexual pleasure the kind found in The Sick Rose, depraved and hidden, whereas in a world free from the unnatural constraints alienating people from themselves, people would be able to enjoy the pleasure found in The Blossom.

To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis :: essays research papers

TKAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many people in To Kill a Mockingbird that have significant influences of Scout and Jem’s actions. The two that stood out boldly to me, however, were Atticus and Calpurnia. Atticus, being the children’s father, tought his kids many moral lessons. Calpurnia acted as a mother to Jem and Scout. Throughout every chapter these two charactors were making connections that only parents can do. They both inflicted fundamental influence on the children. Atticus and Calpurnia were both essential charactors in supporting Jem and Scouts actions because they represented parental values needed for success in life; as does my father, who teaches me things no one else can.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Atticus was definitely a major role model for both his children because he was a well-mannered father. From the beginning of the novel until the end, his kids were trying to make him proud of them. â€Å"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand† (Pg. 116) is just one of the non-violent, influential lessons he told his children. One of the many ideas he tries to make clear to Scout throughout the novel is to not judge people, which is the primary conflict in the story. â€Å"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it† (Pg. 34) is yet another example. Atticus is the key authority in the lives of his two children. He clearly recognizes their problems, gives them the advice they need, and lets his children handle their problems. He is distinctly there for them everytime they need him. A tticus is an unparelelled charactor in making major impacts upon Scout and Jem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Calpurnia, although not as influential as Atticus, was more of an influence at the beginning of the novel. She loved Scout and Jem like her own children. Cal disciplined them like a mother, and loved them like a mother as well. By taking them to her church and telling Scout she could come to her house, she evidently crossed a barrier from â€Å"housemaid† to a friend or a guardian. â€Å"Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggrevates ‘em† (Pg. 128) something she tells Scout about why she talks different around black friends than how she normally speaks. This is one of the many lessons Scout learned in the book.

IT Business Outsourcing Essay

IT Business Outsourcing involves contracting of specific processes as well as tasks of IT business to a third party or who can provide the service (Gewirtz, 2007). These days a lot of variation can be seen in the business environment, the reason for which is the impact of external factors like changes in the preference of customer. These changes have increased the business pressures in order of performance improvement and competition. Business firms, now days are really facing a lot of pressure to continue reviewing their performance in order to cope up with the current market. Innovation and creativity are the two things which are really very important and highly stress on the improvement of the market position. Hence, to cope with this complex environment, IT business process outsourcing has been as one of the solution in order to improve performance. Outsourcing a process to any proficient company which have ample amount of professional awareness as well as experience can improve the operational efficiency of the business. However all these are based on the amount pf professionalism shown by the company. However, such improvements depend on the levels of professionalism displayed by the third party entity. This means the major emphasis should be given to the level of expertise, time and finances. A third part must have all these qualities to apply as an outsourcer. Problem statement Essential requirement for a business when deciding for outsourcing is adequate information on the assessment of risk otherwise this feature has the ability to hamper your brand image (Sullivan, 2006). Outsourcing should be a result of the organizations decision making capability. Different viewpoints should be taken into consideration with all the important entities like major as well as minor stake holders. External as well as internal environment should also be taken into consideration. Decision should be made on such criteria where you are confirm that the outsourcer have adequate amount of highly professional employee strength and support structures. The objective of this problem study is to find out various variables that a business organization must have to consider when deciding for outsourcing like what are the various risk associated with the business, what type of change management is needed and who all are included in the decision making process, etc. In order to take the correct decision, few objectives are needed to be prepared for better management. Following are some important objectives which should be adopted by every organization thinking for outsourcing. 1. First objective which is very essential is to find out all the most important variables which a business should consider while deciding about the outsourcing of their information processes. It is very important there are lots of factors which can affect the business while outsourcing like finance, employees, amount of profit, geographical location etc. Hence, the main task is to identify the main factors that a business organization should consider. 2. Second objective is to verify if the assessment of risk is making impact on the procedure of decision making when looking for outsourcing the information process. This is very important as without risk assessment, how to know what are the different risks associated with the outsourcing business (Harris, 2008). It gives a clear idea that these are the risk and in order to go for outsourcing you need to cope up with all these. 3. Third thing which is needed to be kept in mind is to verify if the requirement for change management extensively effect the decision about the outsourcing of information processes (Mead, 2005). Change management is basically an organized approach to deal with various changes, from the point of view of organization as well as individual. 4. Fourth objective is to evaluate all the entities required for decision making by a business. These entities are mainly the stakeholders in the organization. It’s very important to involve only those stakeholders who are needed for decision making. Purpose Statement At the time of deciding whether to outsource or not, one thing you should always keep in mind that is do whatever you can do yourself and outsource the remaining. There are many processes that are executed in a company, all of which are not equally important. Except the core process, all other processes are not so relevant. They are just acceptable. Outsourcing IT business process should essentially be the decision of business firm and not an individual’s decision like the top management only. Around 20 industries are taken as the number of participants to complete this survey and the location for study is south East Asia, basically India and Philippines. First necessary step for an organization is to decide whether the outsourcing decision will fit their organizational model and if yes, then why. Even though functioning in same line of business, one company can have ample reason for outsourcing while on the same line; another one can found that reasoning not worth. Making decision is not a very hard process, however, determining whether to outsource or not, what process to be outsourced and what are the objective to be accomplished are some of the important factors to be taken seriously. First variable to be analyzed is the understanding of the core-competencies of the organization because this understanding will help decide what to make and what to buy or outsource. To analyze the quantitative side, all related costs should be evaluated that arise from different task like production, goods delivery or the in-house service. As outsourcing relates to future costs, investigation must be done comparing all the future costs. Now, to analyze the qualitative factor, some issues that should be kept in mind are: Is there some cultural match among company and the outsourcer, can you be willing to share data openly, reliability of the outsourcer, who among both of you has better skills and practices, technology is largely known or not and how hard is this to recruit for the function? One more important thing is that the outsourced process should be core to outsourcer. Outsourcing should provide benefits like cost reduction, flexibility, targeted expertise, benchmark quality and efficiency profits. If these variables are not resulting in positive, then the outsourcer is not the correct one. As outsourcing is very critical for growth of a firm, thus a strong evaluation panel should be setup which should consist of most competent and appreciated employees who will help in deciding on the outsourcing and outsourcer (Wijers,  2009). Decision for outsourcing is entirely dependent on a formula called QCDV which stand for the quality, expenditure or cost involved, delivery at right time, and at last value. in fact, quality as well as the delivery is the most important component for deciding outsourcing as they openly influence your customer as well as businesses reputation and hence sales. In addition, the panel should also judge current regulations, governing bodies and standards of the firm which is associated with the production as well as completion of task in timely manner, that are associated with producing a product or completing a task in a timely manner. The main aspect for evaluation must be the financial saving which outsourcing should provide to the firm. Outsourcing’s main objective should be to save capital. The outsourcer must recognize the firm’s expectations in terms of cost reduction as well as overall performance. Hence, the panel should develop an analysis standard on cost/performance which the outsourcer should have to go through each quarter. This will allow the company to check how much capital as well as expenses are used in the process and if the process is saving money or not.

Problems and Prospects of the Chongming Dontan Ramsar Site

Name: Su Zhelong UtasNum: 144362 SOUNum: 0991340 Word Count: 1846 KGA 378 Long Essay: Pressures, Problems and Prospects of the Chongming Dontan Ramsar Site I. Introduction From the pre-industrial period to post-industrial period, the problems caused by environment deterioration always come with the great economic growth and significant technical promotion. To equilibrate social development and environmental health puzzles people all over the world at present while poverty still affect one fifth of human population after the population explosion and accelerating urbanization.The contradiction typically occurs in the coastal zones, which are under the pressure from population growth, pollution, over-exploitation of resources and habitat degradation due to these areas hold approximately half of the world’s population. In China, the whole country is fueled by â€Å"powerful social and economic forces† that are â€Å"promoting individual development and land reclamationâ₠¬  (Yang, 1999; Yang et al. , 2001 cited in Zhao et al. , 2004). This author focused on the Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site as a case to discuss its pressures, problems and prospects in the development dilemma of the changing world.Chongming Island is the third largest island in China(1200km2) and the largest alluvial island in the world that located in north of Shanghai city. As a migratory staging and wintering site for millions of birds and spawning and feeding grounds for 63 species of fish, Chongming Dongtan provides important ecological services with its extraordinary resources. (Zhao et al. , 2004) The essay used SWOT analysis process to evaluate the ecological situation of Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site, therefore, the article discussed this issue from four main aspects: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.II. SWOT Analysis: Strengths The strengths of Chongming Dongtan Ramsar site can be concluded as three respects: geographic advantages, abundant resources and bi ological diversity. Firstly, the Chongming Dongtan is the most large-scaled and well-developed tidal wetland and the mouth of the river. It is located in the easternmost Chongming Island that formed by the sediment accumulation from the runoff of Yangzi River. Moreover, the Dongtan is still increasing in size by about 500 ha annually to the East Ocean through the deposition of sand. (Zhao et al. 2004) This position, the coastal area in the center of Yangzi Delta, is the midpoint along the only way that must be passed of migratory birds in Pacific Asia that many birds stop here to take rest and food when they pass by in spring and summer. Besides, it is also a wintering site for millions of birds because of its moderate climate (Shi et al. , 2001). Secondly, the extensive tidal-flat area and hierarchical distribution make the Dongtan rich in both inorganic and organic resources. The luxuriant aquatic plant and massive plankton provide adequate food for birds and reptiles.As a habitat , especially in winter, the widely flourishingly growing reed is very suitable to perch and hatch for birds. Lastly, the Dongtan site has amazing biological diversity that 63 species of fish including the rare animal which is on the verge of extinction – Chinese sturgeon and 108 species of migratory birds. The total number of the birds aggregates three million which is the tenth of China and quarter of Shanghai area. III. SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses Since 1960s the Chinese, both government and civilians, started to exploit the Chongming Island, the total annual ecosystem service values in Dongtan keep declining until today.Especially after the reform and open, the fast industrialization and economic development accelerate the environmental degradation in Dongtan. Just between 1990 and 2000, the total ecosystem service values had reduced 62%, which was largerly attributable to the 71% loss of wetlands and tidal flats. (Zhao et al. , 2004) According to relative research, the main reasons, also the weakness, of Dongtan are mostly from two aspects: the depletion caused by overdevelopment and inning and the water discharge pollution. From 1964 to 2001, there were more than 20 times of inning activity that occupied over 14198. hm. The inning activities becomes increasingly frequent and large-scaled that result in the wetlands/tidal flats shrunk from 12,432 ha in 1990 to 7915ha in 1997, and 3856 ha in 2000. In contrast, the orchard /plant nursery had increased from 80 ha in 1990 to 3863 ha in 2000. (Zhao et al. , 2004) The detailed situation of land structure changes had been listed in the following tables: Tables from Zhao B. , Kreuter U. , Li B. , Ma Z. , Chen J. & Nakagoshi N. , 2004, An Ecosystem Service Value Assessment of Land-use Change on Chongming Island, China, Land Use Policy, Volume 21, pages 139-148.In addition, the reed regions area fell off from 2039. 78 hm to 810. 17 hm and the salt marsh area decreased from 539. 27 hm to 391. 43 hm. Influenced b y the changes, many birds are forced to leave the original habitat so that the total number of birds dropped with the tidal reduction. These irrational distributions of land use broke up the ecosystem balance and caused high rate of environmental services loss that will bring serious negative ecological consequences in long term. The shortsighted activities will finally limit the development of the area and lead to economically costly outcomes.The other weakness of Dongtan site is the water quality degradation because of the sewage discharge. There are 16 township enterprises use 166. 67 tidal lands to initiate ship dismantlement factories, which produced serious water pollution with waste oil and Toxic chemical substances that make the large-area reed withered or dead. Particularly in the combined concentrated sewage discharge outlets, the water quality of both the intertidal and offshore was polluted by the heavy metal contamination and organic pollution (PAHs and LABs). Shi et al . , 2001) from almost three million m3 sewage per day is discharged to the coastal zone water body. Compared with the industrial centralized sewage discharge, the non-point pollution from urban runoff, agriculture and aquaculture contributes much more significant percentage of the total pollution. Despite these two factors, poaching activities and wetland grazing also wreck the environmental heath of Dongtan site in different degrees. IV. SWOT Analysis: OpportunitiesIn 1992, the Chongming Dongtan had been put in the Chinese Protected Wetland Dictionary while it was brought into The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and other international important wetland lists. The Dongtan sites undertake the functions of environmental damage resisting, environment purifying and maintain the biological diversity. Due to its great meaning for sustainable development of multiple regions, the Shanghai City made decisions of constructing Chongming Island into the largest ecolog ical island in China.The Chongming Dongtan Wetland Nature Protection Area, Chongming Dongtan Migratory Birds Nature Protection Area of Shanghai and Chongming Dongtan Wetland Park had been established in succession. The foundation of these protection areas will effectively retard the environmental degradation in Dongtan site and promote the environmental quality through policy and integrated management. At the same time, in order to lighten the pressure of exploit on the wetland, the government has built a convenient communication network to stimulate the tourist industry and economic growth.The overall plan of Dongtan transport system development has four parts: * Freeway traffic: the G40 line, important part of national highway network that connects East China and North China, will cross the Chongming Island through Shanghai Yangzi River Tunnel; * Rail transit: the subway 9th line will reach the Chengjia Town in Chongming Island across the Yangzi River; * Water traffic: dork constr uction along the south band of the Yangzi River; * Air traffic: the parking apron for helicopter in the International Forum Island, which is in the south of Dongtan Avenue, has been built already.To deal with the water pollution from sewage discharge, the Chongming ecological construction plan states that the wetland sewage treatment project is under building. This project aims to concentrate both industrial and sanitary sewage to purge before discharge to improve the water quality of the area. Three of the 9 programmed sewage disposal works had been accomplished and come into service. The total sewage treatment system includes sewage collection network, preprocessing system and artificial wetland processing system. The treated water can be directly discharge into the farmland or irrigate plants.This sewage treatment system can handle 6 million tons of water per day that is the biggest sewage disposal work in Chongming Island. V. SWOT Analysis: Threats The last section is to analysi s the potential problems or threats to the future development of the Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site. As the arguer had mentioned before, the Chongming Dongtan is formed by the sand sedimentation from the water flow of the Yangzi River. Thus the area of the wetland/tidal flats still keeps increasing because the sedimentation process continues to bring solid matter.However, the water conservancy construction in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, like the Three Gorges Hydropower Station and . projects to divert water from the south to the north, substantially diminishes the sediment charge of the current while the water flow does not change. Less sediment concentration slows down the speed of wetland and tidal flats increasing. Corresponding, affected by the storm surge, many coastal areas have been widespread eroded. The problem will become more and more serious if no measures are taken.Every year, thousands of fishing vessels gather from different provinces to Chongming Dongtan t o fish for eels. The massive fishery activity invades and occupies the habitat of birds and brings significant pollution like noise of motor and engine oil. The geese and ducks overwintering has been serious disturbed that they could not foraging and perch safely and peacefully. The frail ecosystem that is lack of unified management has been wantonly destroyed from the immoderate seining. (Yin, Jiang & Li, 2008)In addition, the local plants like scirpus mariqueter and reed provide necessary food and habitat for migratory birds. Notwithstanding, the invasive alien species like spartina is growing in extreme abundance and snatching resources from local plants while these invasive alien species cannot take place of the local plants’ functions. (Yuan et al. , 2003) Therefore, if the reed has be instead of the invasive alien species, the species and quantity of the bird will sharply decrease thus the environmental services of tidal flats are not functioning properly.VI. Conclusion In conclusion, after the SWOT analysis of the Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site, the author had summarized the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The pressures of the Dongtan mostly come from over exploit, resource depletion and human-made pollution from many aspects especially the sewage discharge. The reduction of wetlands/tidal flats caused by enclose tideland for cultivation and less sediment concentration in water flow of Yangzi River and immoderate seining are the major problems for the protection area.However, a number of measures taken by the government of Shanghai City, for instance, the foundation of three natural protection areas, integrated high speed communication network and sewage treatment works, will make remarkable difference to the present situation. The author considered the poor management of Dongtan site as the primary restriction to limit its development. Thus, applying the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) will be a proper solution to deve lop and protect the Dongtan and its resources.By uniforming a common objective of national and local authorities, the ICZM will promote the way of coastal area using and balance the demands from natural, economic, cultural and social needs. (Shi et al. , 2001) VII. Reference O? Connell M. , 2000. , Threats to Waterbirds and Wetlands: Implications for Conservation, Inventory and Research, Wildfowl, Volume 51, pages 1-15. Shi C. , Hutchinson S. M. , Yu L. & Xu S. , 2001, Towards a Sustainable Coast: An Integrated Coastal Zone Management Framework for Shanghai, People? Republic of China, Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 44, pages 411-427. Tian B. , Zhang L. , Wang X. , Zhou Y. & Zhang W. , 2010, Forecasting the effects of sea-level rise at Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve in the Yangtze Delta, Shanghai, China, Available at: http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0925857410001709 [Access at May 15th 2012] Yin H. , Jiang W. & Li J. , 2008, Simulation of Non-Point Pollutant s Evolution in Coastal Plain Island-A Case Study of Chongming Island, Available at: http://www. sciencedirect. om/science/article/pii/S1001605808600530 [Access at May 15th 2012] Yuan W. , James P. , Hodgson K. , Hutchinson S. M. & Shi C. , 2003, Development of sustainability indicators by communities in China: a case study of Chongming County, Shanghai, Available at: http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S030147970300063X [Access at May 15th 2012] Zhao B. , Kreuter U. , Li B. , Ma Z. , Chen J. & Nakagoshi N. , 2004, An Ecosystem Service Value Assessment of Land-use Change on Chongming Island, China, Land Use Policy, Volume 21, pages 139-148.

Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standards in Health Care Finance

Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standards in Health Care Finance The issue of professional ethics has always been important for the health care workers but with the recent changes in the society, this issue has become especially topical. Financial accountability and reporting is important for meeting the ethical standards within the health care organizations and protecting the patients from the financial burden and unnecessary services.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standards in Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Planning, controlling, organizing, and decision-making are the four major elements of effective financial management though some researchers do not recognize organizing as a separate component. Still, proper organization is significant for the effectiveness of the whole project, and requires special attention of the financial managers. The planning element presupposes identification of the main objecti ves of a particular project and selecting appropriate measures that need to be imposed for meeting them. The controlling element requires analysis of reports from all the divisions of the organization and evaluation of the existing state of affairs. On the organizing stage, the manager chooses the most effective ways for using the available resources. The element of decision making presupposes deciding between various alternatives after analysis of possible consequences and evaluating the positive and negative sides of every option. Baker and Baker (2010) noted that â€Å"decision making actually occurs parallel to planning, organizing, and controlling. All types of decision making rely on information, and the primary tasks are analysis and evaluation† (p. 5). The field of accounting is of crucial importance for organizing the financial information on a particular health care organization, for making the informed choices after the analysis of this data. Working on the externa l reports, the financial managers should consider the generally accepted accounting principles so that the processes in different organizations could be compared according to similar metrics. These standards depend upon the type of a particular health care organization, and the majority of them is non-for-profit and does not pay income taxes though a number of for-profit organizations delivering health care services increased recently. â€Å"A common misunderstanding is that nonprofits are not allowed to make any money, when in fact they must generate more revenue than expenses to stay in business† (Barker, 2009, p. 210). However, it is important to take measures for handling the conflict of interests and to protect patients from the financial burden, meeting the general financial ethical principles for health care organizations. It is important that the physicians should resist the temptation of providing the unnecessary services, disregarding their financial self-interest.A dvertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More At the same time, the organizational ethics is even more important than the moral of an individual practitioner. Weber (2001) noted that â€Å"the issue here is not so much how the individual behaves as how the organization is managed† (p. 52). Meeting the generally acceptable ethical principles, health care organizations improve the quality of their services and protect patients from paying for unnecessary services. The realities of present day hospital or clinical settings predetermine a number of challenges for nurses and physicians who face ethical dilemmas in their professional practice day by day. The issue of meeting the ethical standards is related not only to personal choices of health care workers and management of organizations but to the state of affairs in the sphere as well. â€Å"In today’s chan ging practice environment, third parties have increasing control in the delivery and financing of care and in treatment decisions† (Povar et al., 2004, Ethics in practice). In other words, there are a number of additional factors which complicate the physician-patient interaction and may become a hindrance for considering the ethical principles while providing the health care services. Thus, even focusing the health care plans on the patients’ interest and disrespecting their financial self-interests, practitioners have to handle the issues of financing their research projects. For example, pharmaceutical companies appear to be one of the most influential third parties. Within the recent decades, the conflicts of interests of physicians and pharmaceutical companies have become widely spread. It is obvious that drug manufacturers are interested in increasing their revenues by selling more medicine. Still, physicians should remain focused on the patients’ interests and the quality of the health care services. At the same time, the importance of cooperation with pharmaceutical companies should not be underestimated because of their support of the research projects. â€Å"The pharmaceutical industry spends approximately $ 12 billion annually on gifts and payments to physicians† (Studdert et al, 2004, â€Å"Financial conflicts of interest†). The physicians’ accountability and procedures of financial reporting are of crucial importance for controlling the health care organizations. â€Å"The financial matters for which [providers are] (or could be) held accountable include the price of services, the efficiency with which they are provided, assurance that services billed for were delivered, and the overall financial performance of the [providers]† (Emanuel and Emanuel, 2004, What is accountability in health care?).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Financial Reporting Practices and Ethic al Standards in Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite the changing professional environment, the principles of professional ethics have to prevail and physicians have to avoid providing unnecessary services to their patients. Effective management and financial reporting are important for meeting the ethical norms within the health care organizations and providing high-quality services. Reference List Baker, J.J. Baker, R.W. (2010). Health care finance. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Barker, A.M. (2009). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Emanuel, E.J. and Emanuel, L.L. (2004). â€Å"What is accountability in health care?† Annals of Internal Medicine. Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/709376/what-accountability-health-care?volume=124issue=2page=229 Povar, G.J et al. (July, 2004). Ethics in practice: Mana ged care and the changing health care environment. Annals of Internal Medicine, 141 (2). Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/717640/ethics-practice-managed-care-changing-health-care-environment-medicine-profession Studdert, D.M. (October, 2004). Financial conflict of interest in physicians’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry – self-regulation in the shadow of federal prosecution. The New England Journal of Medicine, 351.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Weber, L.J. (2001). Business ethics in healthcare: Beyond compliance. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Free Essays on Martin Buber And Mary Midgely

Martin Buber’s work What is Man?is a work aimed at unpacking the question asked in the title. The work deals with understanding the question as opposed to answering it. Buber addresses with the question using philosophical anthropology in order to look at man in his most elemental form. Defining man is an immeasurably large task. In undertaking such an endeavor one must look at people collectively and account for difference in every sense(sex, role, age, ethnicity, character type, etc.), but one also must look at man himself. Man must examine how he is different from other â€Å"bearers of consciousness†(64A) like animals. Man must know himself in order to define himself, which is precisely why Buber suggests the use of Philosophical Anthropology. Philosophical Anthropology is not aimed at providing a different view-point on human existence, â€Å"it is solely intent on knowing man himself†(64B). It is a unique area of study because a man is not just the observer, but he is the subject himself, and cannot separate himself and look only at the human race, but he must contemplate himself with respect to all others. Moreover, the philosophical anthropologist cannot consider himself an object of study, but only is truly studying himself from a philosophical anthropological view if he includes his own subjectivity. He must enter completely into the act of self-reflection, and then build all knowledge of man around that core of understanding he gains from himself. Bernhard Graethuysen defines the significance by saying that with Aristotle â€Å"man ceases to be problematic, with him man speaks of himself always as it were in the third person†¦ The special dimension, in which man knows himself as he can know himself alone, remains unentered, and for that reason man’s special place in the cosmos remains undiscovered.†(65B) Mary Midgley’s On Not Being Afraid of Natural Sex Differences discusses â€Å"How far are we essentially the... Free Essays on Martin Buber And Mary Midgely Free Essays on Martin Buber And Mary Midgely Martin Buber’s work What is Man?is a work aimed at unpacking the question asked in the title. The work deals with understanding the question as opposed to answering it. Buber addresses with the question using philosophical anthropology in order to look at man in his most elemental form. Defining man is an immeasurably large task. In undertaking such an endeavor one must look at people collectively and account for difference in every sense(sex, role, age, ethnicity, character type, etc.), but one also must look at man himself. Man must examine how he is different from other â€Å"bearers of consciousness†(64A) like animals. Man must know himself in order to define himself, which is precisely why Buber suggests the use of Philosophical Anthropology. Philosophical Anthropology is not aimed at providing a different view-point on human existence, â€Å"it is solely intent on knowing man himself†(64B). It is a unique area of study because a man is not just the observer, but he is the subject himself, and cannot separate himself and look only at the human race, but he must contemplate himself with respect to all others. Moreover, the philosophical anthropologist cannot consider himself an object of study, but only is truly studying himself from a philosophical anthropological view if he includes his own subjectivity. He must enter completely into the act of self-reflection, and then build all knowledge of man around that core of understanding he gains from himself. Bernhard Graethuysen defines the significance by saying that with Aristotle â€Å"man ceases to be problematic, with him man speaks of himself always as it were in the third person†¦ The special dimension, in which man knows himself as he can know himself alone, remains unentered, and for that reason man’s special place in the cosmos remains undiscovered.†(65B) Mary Midgley’s On Not Being Afraid of Natural Sex Differences discusses â€Å"How far are we essentially the...