Children in Mediation - 582 Words

Should children be involved in mediation? What is the role of children in a divorce case? Should they come to court? Should they participate in mediation? When I began practicing law in 1987, it was not unusual for parents to bring their children to court, unprepared, to testify. Due to the harm that the children experienced, our committee that passed the first Rules of Procedure for Family Law Cases included a rule that limited children’s involvement in court proceedings. Is mediation different? Should children be included in mediation when the question of child custody is raised? While it may sometimes be beneficial to include some children in the mediation process, inclusion may raise concerns about the safety and wellbeing of the child and about the confidentiality of the proceeding. The Minnesota Alternative Dispute Resolution Collaborative Project developed guidelines for what they refer to as Child Inclusive Mediation. In this model, the process includes both a mediator and a professional to support the child. The guidelines focus on several factors: All participants agree to child inclusive mediation. The child desires to participate and be heard. The child is mature enough to understand that he or she does not make the decision The child is willing to help the parents in making a decision. Child Inclusive Mediation begins with a referral to the process, screening, and meetings with the mediator, the child specialist and the child and parents, andShow MoreRelatedChildren s Academic Achievement, And The Mediation Role Of Self Regulated Learning850 Words   |  4 PagesThe present study aimed to investigate parental involvement as a possible mechanism linking children s academic achievement, and the mediation role of self-regulated learning. In line with earlier findings, the results of this study showed parental involvement is positively linked to children s academic achievement. More important, self-regulated learning fully mediated the relation between parental involvement and children’s academic achievement. To be more specific, the motivation orientationRead MoreMediation : A Good Point1427 Words   |  6 Pagesneeded help to stop these conflicts from getting worst while strengthen their relationships with their parents. Another good point brought up about third party mediation is that this mediation does not seek to apportion blame but rather seeks an outcome of compromise and collaboration (Maley, 1995). Narrative mediation is another type of mediation which can be used to resolve conflict by giving the opportunity to hear the story from the perspective of the other individual, and in the process finds outRead MoreThe Divorce Of Chicago Divorce1252 Words   |  6 PagesKeywords: Divorce mediator in Chicago, family mediator in Chicago, pre-decree divorce in Chicago, post-decree divorce mediation in Chicago Hiring a Divorce Mediator: A Cheaper Alternative to Chicago Divorce Court Resolving a case through the Chicago family court system is not only stressful, but also financially burdensome for the parties involved. In especially contested divorce cases, it is not unusual for attorneys’ fees and court costs to exceed $10,000. The parties in a divorce case mayRead MoreThe Process Of Mediation Within The United States Essay1416 Words   |  6 PagesThe purpose of mediation is to assist the participants in dispute reach a mutual agreement with the help of neutral third parties by creating a path for open communication. In order to be effective, the mediators must be able to establish a trusting relationship with the participants. This type of alternative dispute resolution has become very popular in the United States, so much so that California requires mediation in family custody battles. Helping couples reach an agreement regarding childRead More Essay on Conflict Resolution and Mediation to End School Violence949 Words   |  4 PagesUse of Conf lict Resolution and Mediation to End School Violence       Conflict and differences of opinion exist in every healthy organization. Americans need to try to take control of todays youth and the violence that is and has been developing in this country for many years.   Although violence will never be extinct, there are many different ways to reduce violence.   Each school and student population has different ways of dealing with and helping to curb the need for violence in schools. Read MoreAssessment Of Discourse And Its Effects On Language And Literacy Learning1325 Words   |  6 PagesThey highlight that cultural and experiential differences may be a factor in a child’s performance. Simply, some children may not have been exposed to these types of narratives or been expected to generate them in their home environment. The authors suggest that good language learners usually learn the new forms or overcome the differences with extra classroom support. However, some children with poor discourse abilities may have more signifi cant problems with learning language. This indicates thatRead MoreFamily Mediation And The Role Of A Mediator1400 Words   |  6 Pagessociety. It is the basic building block for children, it is where they learn important values that set them up for life such as morals, ethics, religion etc. the family also contributes a huge role to the society by helping to shape society and produce modest citizens. The question here is what if the family breaks down? This essay will be aimed at discussing family mediation its benefits, deficits, and how it works in conjunction with the court. Mediation is an aspect of family law and also a formRead MoreDynamic Assessment And Intervention Of A Childs Performance1150 Words   |  5 Pageshighlighting that cultural and experiential differences may be a factor in a child’s performance. Simply, some children may not have been exposed to these types of narratives or been expected to generate them in their home environment. The authors suggest that good language learners usually le arn the new forms or overcome the differences with extra classroom support; however, some children with poor discourse abilities may have more significant problems with learning language (Gilliam et al., 1999)Read MoreThe Role Of Workplace Mediation : A Critical Assessment1236 Words   |  5 Pages The Role of Workplace Mediation: a Critical Assessment The journal The Role of Workplace Mediation: a Critical Assessment assesses the role of mediation in the workplace and the benefits associated with providing an organization with a staff member trained in mediation. A study in 2002, of the United States Postal Service, shows how effective mediation is in the workplace. â€Å"Their findings show substantial drops in the number of applications to court (nearly 4,000 cases over two years) immediatelyRead MoreObesity And Its Effects On Children1011 Words   |  5 Pageschanging dietary conduct and proposing methods for improving these mediations. It was chosen to concentrate on intercessions that were distributed somewhere around 2000 and May 2009. The decision was additionally made to concentrate on intercessions led in the all inclusive community of kids and youths instead of projects that concentrated singularly on overweight and stout kids. In light of an audit of these mediations, it is obvious that there is a requirement for more school based

21st Century Spin On Literature - 1463 Words

21st Century Spin on Literature In today’s 21st century of life, there are millions and millions of books, short stories, and poems. Authors have been scripting out different tales since before the 1st century. Therefore giving one plenty of options when it comes to not only reading, but analyzing, evaluating, and even interpreting the literature standpoint that you receive from picking up a good book. The three themes from the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, written by Thomas C. Foster, can be applied to pieces of literature such as Frank Stockton’s â€Å"The Lady or the Tiger?†, Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†, and â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Several themes in How to Read Literature Like a Professor like â€Å"Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires,† â€Å"Now Where Have I Seen Her Before?,† and â€Å"Is That a Symbol?† play into the famous short stories mentioned above. â€Å"The Acts of Vampiresâ⠂¬  is a theme that deals with â€Å"The Lady, or the Tiger?† and how the corrupt older male strips away the females virtues and youth. â€Å"Now Where Have I Seen Her Before?† deals with the short story â€Å"The Lottery† and how every story comes from another story, and nothing is original because it is always a spin off of another book. Lastly, â€Å"Is That a Symbol?† deals with â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† and how symbolic the minister’s black veil really is. When one hears the word vampire, one automatically thinks of the evil monster that sucks the blood and life out of people.Show MoreRelatedHow Movies Has Changed Today s Society1294 Words   |  6 Pagesnow, most do not realize where has this come from, was it history, or was it just some social event that got publicity. Movies in today s society are altered to reflect the 21st century, with the technology advancements, and the way that storys are interpreted with many changes. Over the years, the movies have taken a spin-off of the legends that were once told, by doing this it can be altered to compare to the society that people live in today and the technology advances. With some movies theyRead MoreChildren s Literature : Research Paper1570 Words   |  7 PagesCaleb Morrow Children’s Literature Research Paper 22 November 2015 E. B. White E. B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He went and graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and then he joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. E.B. White authored over seventeen books of prose and poetry and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973 (Scholastic Open a World of Possible). E. B. White not only wrote children’s books but he also wrote adult books, poems and essaysRead MoreIntellectual Property And Computing Technology1207 Words   |  5 Pagesintellectual property and computing technology work together, the different forms of IP and protecting them. The operations and functionality of various industries across the world continue to change rapidly since the 21st Century. The change process started around the mid of the 20th Century when the industries began evolving on the design and innovation process. This marked the beginning of the adoption of new means of information flow due to the advent of computers and computing technology. InformationRead MoreThe Legend Of Chun Hyang1119 Words   |  5 Pagesbecause she is of a lower class. Chun Hyang is held in esteem because she remained loyal and devoted to her one true love Mong Ryong for her whole life. In Korea, she is seen as the pinnacle of what a devoted, loving wife is. The manga takes a different spin on her story but does include an abridged version of the lore in the beginning of the manga, as seen in image 1. The idea of changing the message of the manga is to make it more relatable to their preferred audience, young and strong willed girls.Read MoreAn Analysis Of Jacob And Wilhelm Grimm s Version Of The Fairy Tale Rumpelstiltskin1801 Words   |  8 Pagesthe wealth of the kingdom[reference]’ instead. Rather than accept, Rumpelstiltskin simply replies, ‘No. Something living to me is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world [reference].’And this really made me think. Alas, with the ability to spin straw into gold, the ring and necklace offered by the soon to be queen were of little worth to Rumpelstiltskin from the very beginning, yet still, in her time of need, he assisted her like a true gentleman. In fact, in exchange for his valuable ‘servicesRead MoreEssay on Incorporating 21st Century Technology into the Classroom2592 Words   |  11 Pagesclassroom. The need for this technology comes from an every changing world and because of the way 21st century students learn. Web 2.0 technology must be used and integrated into the classroom. However, many problems occur when trying to integrate technology. Question on whether student achievement is increased, failures of school districts, and new demands placed on teachers have caused a negative spin on technology. In order to be successful, technology must be implemented correctly by the communityRead More A College Student’s Approach to Courtly Love Essay3059 Words   |  13 Page shighly ambiguous one. As it applies to works of literature, it spans over hundreds of years and over a half dozen countries. Hence finding its specific literary and allegorical definition and impact on literature is difficult. It is important to understand the roots of courtly love. To do so means that one gains a greater understanding of the most foundational element of any society- the relationship between men and women. If a student of literature holds only a vague understanding of courtly loveRead MoreElectrical Engineering : Mechanical Engineering1801 Words   |  8 Pageswind since as early as the first century AD where Heron of Alexandria used a windwheel to power an organ (Drachmann 1961). Further designs were mostly adapted for agricultural applications where wind was utilised to pump water or grind corn. The windmill, although large and inefficient, flourished as the primary source of kinetic energy derived from natural sources. Its use started to decline with the introd uction of combustion fuels around the eighteenth century. Steam powered engines and turbinesRead MoreParticipatory Culture –2936 Words   |  12 Pages In partial fulfillment of the requirements for Comm – 532 New Media: Aesthetics, Interactivity and Representation Instructor’s Name: Costas Constandinides Fall 2011 Table of Contents 1 Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦.3 2 Literature Review†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...3 3 Case Study - The Reporting on China’s high-speed Train crash 2011†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.5 4 Analysis...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 5 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.......11 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12 Read MoreThe Effects Of Cyberbullying Through The Lives For Middle School Girls2423 Words   |  10 PagesEnglish language for centuries, but cyberbullying is a fairly new term. Roberto, Eden, Savage, Ramos-Salazar, and Deiss (2014) reported that 74% of teenagers have an account on at least one social media site, but all social media site require a minimum age of 13 years old. In reality, 7.5 million Facebook accounts are operated by someone under 13 years old, and 5 million accounts are operated by a child under the age of 10 (Roberto et al., 2010). Cyberbullying give a new spin to bullying; therefore

Emotional And Cultural Intelligence And Diversity †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Emotional And Cultural Intelligence And Diversity. Answer: Introduction This essay discusses about the three assessments that has been taken by me and two other dear friend of mine. These tastes are on Howard Gardners Basic Multiple Intelligence Test, Daniel Golemans EQ Instrument and Johari Window Model test. In this essay I will give a critical analysis on the basis of the result of each of the tests taken by me and my friends and further compare my results with them with respect to these respective tests. I will also analyze with respect to the 4 quadrants of the Johari Test i.e. open, blind, hidden, and unknown. Further I will analyze my strength and weakness based on the survey that I have done on myself and discuss how I can improve myself, and lastly I will discuss about the capabilities of mine that I would like to develop as a global citizen and further it five practical references that presume works ethnically as a global citizen. In the Howard Gardners Basic Multiple Intelligence Test my range of naturalistic intelligence came highest and therefore it means I am extremely curious about people or any living thing and the planet, it is an intelligence that can be build up in childhood. These are the people who are curious in nature whereas my friend as mentioned as person 1 her naturalistic is very low which is 33%, which means she is not so attached t nature and again person 2 has got 75% in naturalist intelligence (Nickerson Zodhiates 2013). This difference of marks proves that the upbringing of the three people is completely different from the other as this intelligence takes place mostly during childhood. My lowest is logical-mathematical intelligence which means that I am not a very logical person in order of puzzle or solving problems, which also means according to Howard Gardners test that I do not enjoy experiment whereas person 1 and person 2s result is average in logical-mathematical. In Johar Window there are four (Algiraigri 2014) windows of self assessment which us open, blind, hidden and unknown. As per my result my hidden sides are bold, helpful, independent, loving and trustworthy, these are the ability which I have underestimated about myself because of less chance, support and confidence. I have to make sure they come out in various ways and I can put forward these feelings, in the result it also shows in the unknown part that I am brave, calm, cheerful, mature, logical, and confident and many more. These are the qualities I do not know about myself which is repressed or a subconscious feeling. (Saxena, 2015) In Johari Window it helps us to understand our strength and weakness, things that we know about ourselves and parts that other people knows about me. In the result Arena means open, Faade means hidden, and then there is blind and unknown (McKimm Swanwick 2013). This particular test is taken to have a better understand about our own selves. We often do not understa nd our own reaction because we do not communicate much. It is necessary to talk to other people and ask them their view point about us as well, people can serve as mirror sometimes ad therefore communication is necessary (Horney 2013). I have taken three tests, Howard Gardners Basic Multiple Intelligences Test, Daniel Golemans EQ test and Johari Window test. In Howard Gardners Basic Multiple Intelligences Test I have been marked on percentage. In naturalistic I have got 92% which means I am outdoorsy kind of a person. In linguistic I have got 58% which means that I am average with words and I can persuade and influence people with words, in logical-mathematical my percentage is low which means I am not a logical person as I got 31% in that. In Intrapersonal which means a person who is better at self-reflecting themselves, with self-governance, I got 69% there; therefore I am an independent person who likes to work alone. While person 1 has got 33% in linguistic and 33% in naturalistic which is different from mine, and person 2 has got 50% in linguistic and 75% in naturalistic which is still close to my percentage. ( Mishar Bangun 2014) In the Daniel Golemans EQ test the score was 100 which is average while person 1 and 2 got 30 and 65 respectively which is not so good. This shows my emotional intelligence which has be to be improved. Emotion Intelligence test is taken in context of individuality and strength and well being (Zeidner 2013). This test gave me situations that I have never faced or never thought about as such but the answers and the result showed me how adequately I can handle the situations. The side that I never knew existed. In this test they have given hypothetical situations which helped me understand how I would tackle that situation. In respect to all the tests my strength is the outdoor nature that I have, I am independent, cheerful, intelligent, knowledgeable and organized, I have a way with words which might help me in the future run anyhow there are many aspects in me which is unknown to me and which I am incapable to show others. In respect to these tests I have to improve and build my character in a better way. As discussed in the result of those tests I have to determine myself to start identifying myself. The result which I got from the three tests helped me understand better. In Howard Gardners Basic Multiple Intelligence test I understood that how I need to improve in analyzing things logically, to get a perspective of situations, even though I need to better myself in learning maps, plan things better, and learn to understand oral lessons well. In order to do that I have to understand and try to ask questions to look for clarifications. To sustain in this world a person has to be more aware of his or her quality and hence it is important to do self analysis and according improve one. For example to work in a company one has to be extremely logical and smart in order to tackle situations, but instead if I am nave and sensitive then it will be my loss. Asking questions is very important as it helps to cle ar a lot of confusion and therefore I have to be more curious and outspoken to clear my doubts. The major changes should be outwardly changes and then I have to deal with my inner problems, if needed take help from experts and even friends. Conclusion This is essay has got a very topic in which self analysis is done. In the mentioned three tests and by giving them it has helped me understand better about my qualities and it helped even more by comparing me with other friends. It is useful as with respect to this result I am aware of my positives and negatives, and helped me to analyze myself in order to fit in this world, and work as global citizen. It has helped me learn the different side that we all have and with Johari Window analysis, I came to know about my unknown and hidden sides. References Algiraigri, A.H., 2014. Ten tips for receiving feedback effectively in clinical practice.Medical education online,19(1), p.25141. Batool, B.F., 2013. Emotional intelligence and effective leadership.Journal of Business Studies Quarterly,4(3), p.84. Horney, K., 2013.Self-analysis(Vol. 18). Routledge. Kohut, H., 2013.The analysis of the self: A systematic approach to the psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. University of Chicago Press. McKimm, J. and Swanwick, T., 2013. Assessing learning needs.Clinical Teaching Made Easy: A practical guide to teaching and learning in clinical settings, p.7. Mishar, R. and Bangun, Y.R., 2014. Create the EQ modelling instrument based on Goleman and Bar-on models and psychological defense mechanisms.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,115, pp.394-406. Nickerson, R.S. and Zodhiates, P.P. eds., 2013.Technology in education: Looking toward 2020. Routledge. Saxena, P., 2015. JOHARI WINDOW: An Effective Model for Improving Interpersonal Communication and Managerial Effectiveness.SIT Journal of Management,5(2), pp.134-146. Tirri, K., Nokelainen, P. and Komulainen, E., 2013. Multiple Intelligences: Can they be measured.Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling,55(4), pp.438-461. Zeidner, M., 2013. What we know about emotional intelligence.Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal,27(3).

Accounting Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets Essay Example

Accounting: Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets Paper Module 6 Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets QUESTIONS Q6-1. When a company increases its allowance for uncollectible accounts, it also records bad debt expense in the income statement. If a company overestimates the allowance account, bad debt expense is too high and net income is understated. As well, accounts receivable (net of the allowance account) and total assets are both understated on the balance sheet. In future periods, the company will not need to add as much to its allowance account since it is already overestimated (or, it can reverse the excess existing allowance balance). As a result, future net income will be higher. On the other hand, if a company underestimates its allowance account, then current net income will be overstated. In future periods, however, net income will be understated as the company must add to the allowance account and report higher bad debts expense as accounts are written off. Q6-2. If inventory costs are stable, the per unit dollar cost of inventories (beginning or ending) tends to be approximately the same under different inventory costing methods and the choice of method does not materially affect net income. To see this, remember that FIFO profits include holding gains on inventories. If the inflation rate is low (or inventories turn quickly), there will be less holding gains (inflationary profit) in inventory. Q6-3. FIFO holding gains occur when the costs of earlier inventory p are matched against current selling prices. Holding gains on inventories increase with an increase in the inflation rate and a decrease in the inventory turnover rate. Conversely, if the inflation rate is low or inventories turn quickly, there will be fewer holding gains (inflationary profit) in inventory. We will write a custom essay sample on Accounting: Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Accounting: Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Accounting: Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Q6-4. If inventory costs are rising, (a) Last-in, first-out yields the lowest ending inventory (b) Last-in, first-out yields the lowest net income, (c) First-in, first-out yields the highest ending inventory, (d) First-in, first-out yields the highest net income, (e) Last in, first-out yields the highest cash flow because taxes are lowest. Q6-5. When costs are consistently rising, LIFO inventory costing method yields a significant tax benefit because LIFO increases COGS which reduces pretax income and taxes payable. Q6-6. Kaiser Aluminum Corporation is using the lower of cost or market (LCM) rule. When the replacement cost for inventory falls below its (FIFO or LIFO) historical cost, the inventory must be written down to its replacement cost (market value). The rationale is that, if market value has dropped, the inventory cost overstates the future economic benefit of selling the inventory. Q6-7. As an asset is used up, its cost is removed from the balance sheet and transferred to the income statement as expense. Capitalization of costs onto the balance sheet and subsequent removal as expense is the essence of accrual accounting. If a depreciable asset is immediately expensed upon purchase, profit would be too low in the year of purchase and too high in later years as revenues earned by the asset are not matched with a corresponding cost. The proper matching of expenses and revenues is essential for proper income measurement. Q6-8. When a company revises its estimate of an assets useful life or its salvage value, depreciation expense must be recalculated. One way is to depreciate the current undepreciated cost of the asset (original cost – accumulated depreciation) using the revised assumptions of remaining useful life and salvage value. Q6-9. PPE is considered to be impaired when the sum of the asset’s undiscounted expected future cash flows is less than its current net book value. An impairment loss is calculated as the difference between the assets net book value and its current fair value. Q6-10. The primary benefit of accelerated depreciation relates to tax reporting – higher depreciation deductions in the early years of the asset’s life reduce taxable income and income taxes. This increases cash flow that can be invested to yield additional cash inflows (e. g. , an interest-free loan that can be used to generate additional income). Companies generally prefer to receive cash inflows sooner rather than later in order to maximize this investment potential. Q6-11. The gain or loss on the sale of a PPE asset is calculated as the difference between the sales proceeds and the assets net book value. Sales proceeds in excess of net book values create gains; sales proceeds less than net book values cause losses. Factors that affect the size of the gain or loss include the amount of sales proceeds (the selling price) and depreciation assumptions. Because accumulated depreciation at the time of the asset’s sale affects the net book value, the depreciation rate and salvage values used to compute depreciation expense affect the gain or loss. MINI EXERCISES M 6-12 (10 minutes) a. To bring the allowance from $500 to the desired balance of $2,100, the company will need to increase the allowance account by $1,600, resulting in bad debt expense of that same amount. b. The net amount of Accounts Receivable reported in current assets is calculated as follows: $98,000 ( $2,100 = $95,900. M 6-13 (15 minutes) a. Credit losses are incurred in the process of generating sales revenue. Specific losses may not be known until many months after the sale. We set up an allowance for uncollectible accounts so that the expense of uncollectible accounts falls in the same accounting period as the sale. As well, the allowance ensures that we report accounts receivable at their estimated realizable value at the end of the accounting period. If we did not have an allowance, our net income and assets would be overstated and that could place you and all the directors in a risky position. b. The balance sheet presentation shows the gross amount of accounts receivable, the allowance amount, and the difference between the two, the estimated net realizable value. The balance sheet, thus, reports the net amount that we expect to collect. That is the amount that is the most relevant to financial statement users and to the board of directors as they assess the company’s financial performance. . The matching principle requires that expenses (credit losses) related to a given revenue be recorded in the same income statement. This dictates the use of the allowance method. Recognition of expense only upon the write-off of the account would delay the reporting of likely losses and, thereby, reduce the informativeness of the income statement. Accountants believe that providing more timely information justifies the use of estimat es that may not be perfectly precise. M 6-14 (20 minutes) a. ($ millions) |2007 |2006 | |Accounts receivable (net) |$5,197 |$3,869 | |Allowance for uncollectible accounts | 94 | 84 | |Gross accounts receivable |$5,291 |$3,953 | |Percentage of uncollectible accounts to gross accounts receivable |1. 78% |2. 2% | | |($94 / $5,291) |($84 / $3,953) | b. The reduction in the allowance for uncollectible accounts as a percentage of gross accounts receivable is substantial. The dip might indicate that the quality of the accounts receivable has improved; perhaps because the economy has improved, the company is selling to a more creditworthy class of customers, or the company’s management of accounts receivable has improved. However, it might also indicate that the 2007 allowance account is too low. This would result in higher reported profits in the current year and lower profits in future years when the allowance for uncollectible accounts is increased. M 6-15 (20 minutes) a. |Acco unts Receivable Turnover | | |for the current year | |Procter Gamble |$83,503 / [($6,761+$6,629) / 2] = 12. 47 | |Colgate-Palmolive |$13,790 / [($1,681+$1,523) / 2] = 8. 61 | b. P turns its accounts receivable much faster than Colgate-Palmolive. Differences can arise due to variations in the product mix of competitors, the types of customers they sell to, their willingness to offer discounts for early payment, and their relative bargaining strength vis-a-vis the companies or individuals owing them money. Both of these companies sell a significant amount of their product to Wal-Mart. P is a sizable company, and may have greater bargaining power with Wal-Mart than does the smaller Colgate-Palmolive. M 6-16 (20 minutes) a. FIFO cost of goods sold = 1,000 @ $100 + 700 @ $150 = $205,000 FIFO ending inventories = $400,000 $205,000 = $195,000 b. LIFO cost of goods sold = 1,700 @ $150 = $255,000 LIFO ending inventories = $400,000 $255,000 = $145,000 c. AC cost of goods sold = 1,700 @ $400,000 / 3,000 = $226,667 AC ending inventories = $400,000 – $226,667 = $173,333 M 6-17 (10 minutes) a. FIFO cost of goods sold = 400 @ $10 + 200 @ $12 = $6,400 FIFO ending inventories = $12,400 $6,400 = $6,000 b. LIFO cost of goods sold = 600 @ $12 = $7,200 LIFO ending inventories = $12,400 $7,200 = $5,200 c. AC cost of goods sold = 600 @ $12,400 / 1,100 = $6,764 AC ending inventories = $12,400 – $6,764 = $5,636 M 6-18 (20 minutes) a. | |Inventory Turnover rates for 2008 | |ANF |$1,238 / [ ($333 + $427) / 2 ] = 3. 26 | |TJX |$14,082 / [($2,737+$2,582) /2] = 5. 29 | b. TJX’s inventory turnover rate is higher than ANF’s. TJX concentrates on the value-priced end of the clothing spectrum. Thus, it realizes a lower profit margin that must be offset with higher turnover to yield an acceptable return on net operating assets (see discussion of profitability and turnover in Module 4). c. Inventory turnover improves as the volume of goods sold increases relative to the dollar value of goods available for sale. Retailers must balance the cost savings from inventory reductions against the marketing implications of lower inventory levels. Companies can lower inventory levels by reducing the depth and breadth of product lines carried (such as not carrying every style, size and color), eliminating slow-moving product lines, working with suppliers to arrange for delivery when needed, and marking down goods for sale at the end of product seasons. M 6-19 (15 minutes) a. Straight-line: ($18,000 $1,500) / 5 years = $3,300 for both 2009 and 2010 b. Double-declining-balance: Twice straight-line rate = 2 ? 1/5 = 40% 2009: $18,000 ? 0. 40 = $7,200 2010: ($18,000 $7,200) ? 0. 40 = $4,320 Notice that, over the first two years, the company reports $6,600 of depreciation expense under the straight-line method and $11,520 of depreciation expense under the double-declining balance method. M 6-20 (15 minutes) a. Straight-line depreciation 2009:($145,800 $5,400) ? (8/36) = $31,200 2010:($145,800 $5,400) ? (12/36) = $46,800 b. Double-declining-balance depreciation Preliminary computation: Twice straight-line rate = 2/3 = 66? % 2009:($145,800 ? 66? % ) ? (8/12) = $64,800 010:($145,800 $64,800) ? 66? % = $54,000 M 6-21 (15 minutes) a. | |PPE turnover for 2007 | |Intel Corp. |$38,334 / [($16,918+$17,602) /2] = 2. 22 | |Texas Instruments |$13,835 / [($3,609 + $3,950) / 2] = 3. 66 | Texas Instruments turns over its PPE more quickly than does Intel. b. PPE turnover increases with sales volume relative to the dollar amount of PPE on the balance sheet. The PPE turnover is often very difficult to improve because doing so typically requires creative thinking. Many companies are off-loading the manufacturing process in whole or in part to others in the supply chain. This is productive so long as the benefits realized by the reduction of manufacturing assets more than offset the higher cost of the goods that are now purchased rather than manufactured. Another approach is to utilize long-term operating assets in partnership with another firm, say in a joint venture. EXERCISES E 6-22 (20 minutes) a. 2009 bad debts expense computation $90,000 ( 1%=$ 900 20,000 ( 2%= 400 11,000 ( 5%= 550 6,000 ( 10%= 600 4,000 ( 25%= 1,000 $3,450 Less: Unused balance before adjustment 520 Bad debt expense for 2009$2,930 b. | |Balance Sheet |Income Statement | | |Transaction |Cash Asset | |Accounts receivable (net) |$13,420 |$10,873 | |Allowance for uncollectible accounts | 226 | 220 | |Gross accounts receivable |$13,646 |$11,093 | |Percentage of uncollectible accounts |1. 66% |1. 98% | |to gross accounts receivable |($226/$13,646) |($220/$11,093) | c. ($ mill ions) |2007 |2006 |2005 | |Bad debt expense |$32 |$37 |$17 | |Amounts actually written off |$29 |$48 |$76 | The provision (increase in the allowance account arising from bad debt expense recorded on the income statement) increased from 2005 following the high write-offs in that year. The receivables that the company wrote off have been declining. Over the three year period, HP accrued $86 million ($32 + $37 + $17) of bad debt expense and wrote off $153 million ($29 + $48 + $76) of uncollectible accounts receivable. d. The allowance for uncollectible accounts has decreased as a percentage of gross accounts receivable from 1. 98% in 2006 to 1. 66% in 2007 (see part b). One way to gauge the adequacy of the allowance account is to look at write-offs as a percentage of the allowance account at the beginning of the year. In 2006, this percentage is 21. 1% ($48/$227) and for 2007 it is 13. 2% ($29/$220). HP’s write-offs as a percentage of the allowance decreased from 2006 to 2007. This means that the bad debt expense is keeping up with actual accounts that go bad. Further insight might be gained by comparing HP’s allowance account to those of its peers. E6-25 (20 minutes) a. Aging schedule at December 31, 2009 Current ($304,000 ( 1%)$ 3,040 1–60 days past due ($44,000 ( 5%) 2,200 61–180 days past due ($18,000 ( 15%)2,700 Over 180 days past due ($9,000 ( 40%) 3,600 Amount required11,540 Allowance balance 4,200 2009 bad debts expense$ 7,340 . Current Assets Accounts receivable$375,000 Less allowance for uncollectible accounts (11,540) $363,460 E6-26 (30 minutes) a. YearSalesCollectionsAccounts Acc Recble. Written Off Balance 20 07$ 751,000$ 733,000$ 5,300 $12,700 2008 876,000 864,000 5,800 18,900 2009 972,000 938,000 6,500 46,400 Total$2,599,000$2,535,000 $17,600 Uncollectible Accounts Expense is: 2007$ 7,510 computed as 1% ( $751,000 2008 8,760 computed as 1% ( $876,000 2009 9,720 computed as 1% ( $972,000 2007–2009$25,990 computed as 1% ( $2,599,000 Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts is: 8,390, computed as $25,990 total provision for uncollectible accounts less $17,600 in total write-offs. b. The 1% rate appears to be too high. A 0. 8% rate would have provided $20,792, which still exceeds the $17,600 total write-off by $3,192. Moreover, this smaller allowance seems large enough to provide an adequate margin for future write-offs. E6-27 (30 minutes) Units Cost Beginning Inventory 1,000$ 20,000 Purchases:#1 1,800 39,600 #2 800 20,800 #31,200 34,800 Goods available for sale4,800$115,200 Units in ending inventory = 4,800 – 2,800 = 2,000 a. First-in, first-out UnitsCostTotal 1,[emailprotected] $29=$34,800 [emailprotected] $26= 20,800 Ending Inventory2,000$55,600 Cost of goods available for sale$115,200 Less: Ending inventory 55,600 Cost of goods sold$ 59,600 | | |Balance Sheet |Income Statement | | |Transaction |Cash Asset |+ | | |Transaction |Cash Asset |+ | | |Transaction |Cash Asset + | |2006 |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] | |2007 |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] | b. Intel has improved its receivables, inventory, and PPE turnover rates. Receivable turnover rates can be improved by monitoring more closely the quality of credit customers, implementing better collection procedures, and offering discounts as an incentive for early payment. Inventory turnover rates can be improved by weeding out slow-moving product lines, by reducing the depth and breadth of products carried, by implementing just-in-time deliveries, reducing work-in-process inventories through better manufacturing techniques, and by reducing finished goods inventories by producing to demand. PPE turns can be improved by off-loading manufacturing to other companies in the supply chain and acquiring long-term operating assets in partnership with other companies, say in a joint venture. E6-37 (15 minutes) a. Annual straight-line depreciation is: $20,000 per year Computations: ($225,000 $25,000) / 10 years b. As of July 1, 2009, Ziebart would have used the equipment for four complete years, from July 1, 2005, through July 1, 2009. Thus, its net book value at July 1, 2009, would be: $145,000. Computations: $225,000 cost less $80,000 accumulated depreciation, the latter computed as $20,000 x 4 years. c. An asset is impaired if it meets the following condition: Sum of (undiscounted expected cash flows ; Net book value of asset For this equipment: $125,000 ; $145,000 This implies that â€Å"yes,† the equipment is impaired at July 1, 2009. This is because the equipment will not generate sufficient expected cash flows to cover the current net book value. d. From part c we know that the equipment is impaired. The impairment loss is computed as the equipments net book value minus its current fair value; computations follow: Impairment loss=Net book value of asset – Fair value of asset $55,000= $145,000 ( $90,000 PROBLEMS P6-38 (30 minutes) a. Best Buy (a retailer) reports a much higher receivables turnover rate than do the manufacturers, Caterpillar and Harley-Davidson. The likely reason for this is that retail sales are usually via cash, check, or credit cards (which are like cash for the retailers). Recall that the turnover ratio includes credit sales, but, because most firms do not report credit sales, we are forced to use total sales when we calculate the turnover ratio. Manufacturers, on the other hand, usually sell to retailers on credit and the accounts are not collected for a much longer period of time. CAT and HOG both have finance subsidiaries that provide loan and lease financing. The longer term of these receivables reduces turnover rates. b. Harley-Davidson’s relatively higher inventory turnover rate, compared with Caterpillar, most likely reflects the fact that demand is high for Harley-Davidson’s products and the motorcycles are sold before production begins, thus minimizing finished goods inventories. CAT, on the other hand, builds a relatively smaller number of high cost machines that likely take a much longer period of time to manufacture. Oracle is a software development and service company and does not carry inventories of products for sale. c. Carnival, the cruise ship line, is capital-intensive. Microsoft, on the other hand, requires relatively few PPE assets to support its operations. Microsoft’s RD costs are expensed under GAAP rather than capitalized as PPE. Thus, Microsoft’s PPE turnover is much higher than Carnival’s. d. The relative asset turnover rates reported generally conform to our expectations across industries. Those industries that sell on credit, rather than using credit cards, or that normally stock inventories for production and sale, or that require substantial investment in long-term assets yield much lower receivable, inventory, and PPE turnover rates respectively. These lower turnover rates must be accompanied by higher profit margins and/or higher financial leverage to yield a satisfactory return on net operating assets. Generally, we expect the following: Industry |Receivables |Inventory |PPE | | |Turnover |Turnover |Turnover | |Retailing |^ |^ |^ | |Manufacturing |v |v |v | P 6-39 (30 minutes) a. ,b. |($ 000s) |2007 |2006 |2005 | |Accounts receivable (net) |$602,650 |$566,607 |$518,625 | |Allowance for uncollectible acco unts | 25,830 | 18,801 | 18,401 | |Gross accounts receivable |$628,480 |$585,408 |$537,026 | |Percentage of uncollectible accounts to gross |4. 11% |3. 21% |3. 3% | |accounts receivable |($25,830/$628,480) |($18,801/$585,408) |($18,401/$537,026) | c. |($ 000s) |2007 |2006 |2005 | |Bad debts expense (titled provision for |$15,436 |$6,057 |$1,326 | |uncollectible accounts) | | | | d. The allowance for uncollectible accounts has increased as a percentage of gross accounts receivable from 3. 43% in 2005 to 4. 11% in 2007 (see part b solution). The allowance is increasing appropriately because write-offs of uncollectible accounts are also increasing. e. In 2006, the allowance for uncollectible accounts was 3. 21% of gross accounts receivable. Applying that percentage to the 2007 gross accounts receivable of $628,480 yields an allowance of $20,174 which is $5,656 lower than the $25,830 reported in the allowance account for 2007. Thus, maintaining the allowance account at the 2006 level would have increased 2007 profit (before tax) by $5,656 (all $ 000s). f. Since 2005, Grainger has increased its allowance for uncollectible accounts as a percentage of gross receivables by increasing the addition (provision) to the allowance account. This increase in the provision corresponds to an increase in write-offs since 2005. | |2007 |2006 |2005 | |Write-offs |$8,755 |$5,660 |$6,380 | Grainger currently has an allowance account of $25,830, nearly three times the level of current year write-offs. It appears, therefore, that the reserve is more than adequate. P6-40 (40 minutes) ($ in thousands, consistent with Intuit’s financial statements) a. Gross receivables as of 2008 are $127,230 + $15,636 = $142,866. Gross receivables as of 2007 are $131,691 + $15,248 = $146,939. b. Estimated uncollectible accounts as a percentage of gross accounts receivable are: 10. 9%, computed as ($15,636 / $142,866) in 2008 10. 4%, computed as ($15,248 / $146,939) in 2007 The 2008 allowance for uncollectible accounts increased slightly as a percentage of gross accounts receivable – the allowance increased despite a decrease in gross accounts receivable. This could be because there is greater uncertainty about the collectability of receivables in general, or one or more large accounts are in arrears. c. The receivables turnover rate is [pic] Average collection period (days sales in accounts receivable) is: $142,866 / ($3,071,000 / 365) = 16. 98 days Intuit’s sales to consumers are primarily via on-line purchases using credit cards for payment. Its average collection period for receivables will, therefore, be low for this portion of its business. Service revenues are likely on account, and the collection period is likely to be longer for this segment of Intuit’s business. Its overall average collection period for accounts receivable is an average of these lines of business. d. Intuit’s allowance seems high – over 10% in both 2007 and 2008. To assess this, we would compare Intuit’s ratios to the allowances of Intuit’s competitors. It could be that the industry suffered an economic downturn in 2007 and 2008 and customers are having difficulty paying. P6-40—continued e. Intuit’s allowance for uncollectible accounts is increased by the provision (â€Å"additions charged to expense†) and is decreased by write-offs of accounts receivable (â€Å"deductions†). Over the three-year period covered by the table, Intuit has increased its allowance account by a cumulative amount of $38,234 ($14,269 + $14,743 + $9,222). It has written off a cumulative total of $37,565 ($13,881 + $11,027 + $12,657). The allowance account has, therefore, increased by $669 ($38,234 $37,565), from $14,967 to $15,636. The increase charged to expense has slightly exceeded its write-offs. As mentioned above, this increase might be due to customers’ weakening credit quality. It might also be the case that Intuit is conservative and is intentionally depressing its current profit. An inflated allowance can be used to absorb future receivable write-offs with no impact on future profit, or can be reversed in a future year to provide an immediate reduction in expense and consequent increase in profit. Either way, if the allowance account is inflated, the effect is to shift profit from the current period into one or more future periods. This does not appear to be the case for Intuit since the additions to the allowance account have nearly mirrored write-offs of accounts receivable. P6-41 (45 minutes) ($ millions) a. Dow uses LIFO inventory costing for 34% of inventories at December 31, 2007. As of 2007, the LIFO inventory reserve is $1,511 million. Thus, cumulatively, pretax income has been reduced by $1,511 million because Dow uses LIFO. Assuming a tax rate of 35%, Dow has saved taxes of $528. 9 million ($1,511 million ? 35%), cumulatively. During 2007, the LIFO reserve increased by $419 million ($1,511 million $1,092 million), saving the company $146. 65 million ($419 million ? 35%) in taxes. This tax saving increased operating cash flow by that same amount. b. The inventory turnover rate for 2007 is 7. 17 (computed as[pic]). The average inventory days outstanding for 2007 is 54. 16 ($6,885 / [$46,400/ 365 days]). DOW is a manufacturer, thus, it requires a certain level of raw materials and continually maintains inventories in production and awaiting delivery. The average inventory days outstanding does not appear excessive. We could usefully compare both of these ratios to those of other manufacturers in the same industry as DOW to make a more informed comparison. c. Since the overall cost of its inventories has been increasing, DOW’s reduction of inventory quantities resulted in the matching of lower-cost inventories against higher current selling prices. This increased its income by $321 million in 2007, $97 million in 2006, and $110 million in 2005. This reduction in inventory quantities is called LIFO liquidation. P6-42 (15 minutes) a. Average useful life= Depreciable asset cost / Depreciation expense = ($15,597,801 $494,021 $1,121,328) / $1,072,855 = 13. 03 years Note: We eliminate land and construction in progress from the computation because land is never depreciated and construction in progress represents assets that are not in service yet and are consequently not yet â€Å"depreciable†). The footnote indicates that buildings have estimated useful lives ranging from 10-50 years ( 27-year average) and Equipment from 3-20 years (11-year average). Thus, the estimate of 13. 0 years rests between these two reported values. b. Percent used up= Accumulated depreciation/ Depreciable asset cost = $8,079,652 / ($15,597,801 $494,021 $1,121,328) = 57. 8% (Note: We eliminate land and construction in progress from the computation because land is never depreciated and construction in progress represents assets that are not in service yet and are consequently not â€Å"depreciable†). Assuming that assets are replaced evenly as they are used up, we would expect assets to be 50% depreciated, on average. Abbott Labs 57. 8% is slightly higher than this level, but not high enough to cause concern that it will need markedly higher capital expenditures in the near future to replace aging assets. P6-43 (45 minutes) $ millions a. PPE turnover for 2007 is: $8,897 / [($2,871 + $2,669) / 2] = 3. 21. This turnover is lower than the 5. 03 median for all publicly traded companies. This indicates that Rohm and Haas is more capital intensive than the median publicly traded company. Rohm and Haas’ balance sheet does not reflect all of its operating assets. For example, under generally accepted accounting principles, the company must expense most, if not all, of its RD expenditures. Substantial RD costs not reflected on the balance sheet would yield understated PPE assets and thus, an overstated PPE turnover rate – the sales resulting from the RD investments are included in the numerator of PPE turnover but the RD related assets are excluded from the denominator. b. Rohm and Haas’ average asset life, assuming straight-line depreciation, can be estimated as Depreciable asset cost / Depreciation expense ($8,779 $146*- $352* $271*) / $412 = 19. 44 years *Note: We eliminate land from the computation because land is never depreciated. We eliminate construction in progress and capitalized interest because these represent assets that the company is building (and the interest paid on the construction loans). These assets are not yet in service and are consequently not yet depreciable. c. As of 2007, the company’s plant assets were approximately 73. 8% â€Å"used up,† which is computed as follows: Accumulated depreciation / Depreciable asset cost $5,908 / ($8,779 $146*- $352* $271*) = 73. 76% *Note: We eliminate land from the computation because land is never depreciated. We eliminate construction in progress and capitalized interest because these represent assets that the company is building (and the interest paid on the construction loans). These assets are not yet in service and are consequently not depreciated. If plant assets are replaced at a constant rate, we would expect those assets to be about 50% â€Å"used up,† on average. A substantially higher percentage â€Å"used up† indicates that the assets are closer to the end of their useful lives and will require replacement (and usually higher maintenance costs near the end of their useful lives). Such a situation would negatively impact future cash flows. Rohm Haas’ depreciable assets appear to be substantially â€Å"used up† based on this analysis. P6-43—continued d. Plant assets are deemed to be impaired if the undiscounted expected future cash flows from those assets are not sufficient to recover their net book value. That is, the sum of the undiscounted future cash flows is less than the net book value. If impaired, the plant assets are written down to their fair value, which is typically, the discounted value of the future expected cash flows. An asset impairment charge (such as Rohm and Haas’ $24 million charge in 2007) reduces net income, but has no effect on current period cash flows because an impairment charge is a noncash expense. Moreover, the impairment charge is not deductible for tax purposes until the asset is disposed of, that is, until the loss is realized. Since asset impairment charges are nonrecurring, we would be justified in treating them as transitory (operating) items for analysis purposes. MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS MA6-44 (30 minutes) Reducing operating assets is an important means of increasing RNOA. Most companies focus first on reducing receivables and inventories. This is the low-hanging fruit that can lead to quick results. Some possible actions include the following: a. Reducing receivables through: 1. Better underwriting of credit quality 2. Better controls to identify delinquencies, automated dunning notices, better collection procedures 3. Increased attention to accuracy in invoicing b. Reducing inventories through: 1. Use of less costly components (of equal quality) and production with lower wage rates 2. Elimination of product features not valued by customers 3. Outsourcing to reduce product cost 4. Just-in-time deliveries of raw materials 5. Elimination of manufacturing bottlenecks to reduce work-in-process inventories 6. Producing to order rather than to estimated demand to reduce finished goods inventories c. Reducing PPE assets is much more difficult. The benefits, however, can be substantial. Some suggestions are the following: 1. Sale of unused and unnecessary assets 2. Acquisition of production and administrative assets in partnership with other companies for greater throughput 3. Acquisition of finished or semifinished goods (sub-components) from suppliers to reduce manufacturing assets MA6-45 (40 minutes) a. It is instructive to think about the parties that are affected by ethical issues. It is often a much longer list than first thought. Some possibilities include: 1. Management of the company 2. Other employees 3. The company’s external auditors 4. Shortsellers who anticipated a stock price drop 5. Future shareholders who purchase artificially inflated stock 6. Suppliers that grant credit based on inflated earnings and employees of those companies 7. The company’s lenders that grant credit based on inflated earnings b. Reducing the provision results in an allowance for uncollectible accounts that is too low. Net receivables will, therefore, be overstated. Additionally, profit is overstated because bad debt expense is too low. c. In a future period, the allowance account will have to be increased in order to absorb actual (higher) credit losses. At that time, bad debt expense will increase, thus lowering future profits. The increase in the allowance account will also reduce net accounts receivable. d. To assess the level of the allowance, the auditors will assess the credit quality of the companies’ customers. To justify a smaller allowance, management might contend that overall credit quality has improved, perhaps referring to a business upturn or a shift in the customer mix toward a less risky class of customer. MA6-45—continued. . Outsiders can use two ratios to potentially detect this sort of earnings management. First, the accounts receivable turnover (or days sales in accounts receivables) is usually computed based on net accounts receivable. The lower (understated) allowance for uncollectible accounts will overstat e net accounts receivable. This will yield a lower receivables turnover rate (and a larger days to collect ratio). Thus, while the declining turnover may appear unhealthy, analysts want to consider how the allowance affects the ratio. To that point, analysts usually also recompute both receivable ratios on the gross accounts receivable rather than net. This will show if turnover is really declining or if it’s a by-product of earnings management via the allowance account. Second, the allowance for uncollectible accounts as a percentage of gross accounts receivable will decrease from prior periods. f. Cheating begets cheating. Once senior management condones activities like this, the moral compass of the company suffers greatly. Employees begin to feel that it is OK to fudge numbers and might pad expense reports, recognize sales inappropriately in order to obtain bonuses or otherwise steal from the company, lower work output, and a host of other actions that are not in the best interest of the company.

Microbiology Chapter 1 Study Guide Essays

Microbiology Chapter 1 Study Guide Essays Microbiology Chapter 1 Study Guide Essay Microbiology Chapter 1 Study Guide Essay Chapter 1 Notes * Robert Hooke * Discovered Cellulae (Cells) * Formed Basis of Cell Theory * 1. Cell basic unit of life * 2. All living organisms are made of cells * 3. Must have living cells to make more cells * Anton Von Leeuwenhoek * Father microbiology microscopy * Discovered microorganisms (animalcules) * Disproved microorganisms were heaven sent * Put clean bowl out during rainstorm no microorganism * Let sit * Days later microorganisms formed from air * Ferdinand Cohn Discovered endospores (enable some bacteria to survive adverse environmental conditions) * Why growth occurred in experiments that disproved/proved SG * Louis Pasteur * Definitive experiment that disproved SG * Fermentation * Pasteurization: heat liquid to temp. that kills the most heat resistant pathogen but NOT all (milk) * Vaccination against Rabies (Rhabdovirus), anthrax (bacillusanthracis), Chicken Cholera (bacterium) * Silkworm industry * Disease (protozoan) was killing silk moths * Developed a method to detect diseased moths and separate * Lady Mary Montagu * Wife British Ambassador to Turkey * Developed Smallpox Observed Turkish women engrafting * Spread mild small pox to other by injecting into their veins * Patient would then be immune to smallpox * Reject because she was woman not doctor/scientist * Carl Linnaeus * Developed science of taxonomy * Scientific Nomenclature * Binomial nomenclature * Process of giving all organisms 2 scientific names * Genus species * Edward Jenner * Discovered process of vaccination * Worked with cowpox milkmaids * Milk cowpox scrap pustal scratch skin w/ needle develop mild cowpox immune to smallpox * John Snow * First epidemiologist Traced Cholera epidemic to common H2O pump that was contaminated * Ignaz Semmelweis * Puerperal Fever (child bed fever) major cause of mortality to mothers and infants * Death in midwife ward = low ; death in doctor/med student ward = high * Doctors/med students contact w/ cadavers that previously died from disease * Spread disease to living mothers * Required hand washing with chlorite of lime * Joseph Lister * Concerned with incidence of infection and mortality from surgery * Aseptic Surgery = used carbolic acid (phenol) on incision site, instruments, and bandages * John Tyndall Boiling was not sufficient to sterilize broths and agar * Tyndallization Process: * Liquid is heated to boiling (100Â °C) allowed to sit and cool for 24hours * Liquid is reheated to boiling (100Â °C) and then allow to cool and sit for another 24 hours * Repeat * Robert Koch * Developed concept of causative agent of disease (MO cause disease) * Germ Theory of Disease – developed many microbiological techniques, media and procedures * Tuberculin – thought founded vaccine (incorrect) .. use as first step to determine if person has TB * Fanny Hesse * Worked for Robert Koch Used Agar to convert liquid brother to slid medium * Koch’s Postulates (Identifying which bacteria causes which disease) * MO m ust be present in every case of the disease. Every host must have the same signs and symptoms of the disease * Isolate the microorganism and grow it in pure culture outside the host * Pure culture must be inoculated into a healthy susceptible host. Experimentally infected host must exhibit the same signs and symptoms of the disease * The Microorganism must be reisolated from the experimentally infected host and shown to be identical to the original MO * Paul Ehrlich Concept chemotherapy * Syphilis – Treponema palladium * Compound 606-Salvarsan (Arsenic containing compound) * Alexander Fleming * Accidently discovered antibiotics * Antibiotics = naturally produced compounds that inhibit the growth of other MOs * Working with Staphylococcus aureus (opportunistic pathogen- must be proper conditions to cause infection) * Most antibiotics produced by bacteria, followed by fungi * Martinus Beijerinck * Concept of Viruses * Soil microorganisms-isolated the first soil MOs * Sergei Win ogradsky * Sulfur metabolism by microorganisms * Concept of nitrogen fixation * Biochemical cycles Symbiotic relationships * Barbara McClintock * Transposons – cause Maize (jumping genes- genes move themselves and create different color kernals) * James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins * Structure of DNA * Molecular biology and genetics * Thomas Brock * Thermophilic microorganisms (high temperature loving microorganisms) * Thermus and Sulfolobus * Lynn Margulis * Endosymbiont Theory * Big prokaryotic cell engulfs little prokaryotic cell * Little survives insides but loses many functions (energy conversion, protein synthesis) * Little becomes mitochondria or chloroplast Eukaryotic Cell evolved * Carl B. Woese * Molecular systematic based on 16sRNA * Improved ability to identify MO * Stanley Prusinier * Discovered Prions * Protenaous Infectious Particles * Luc Montagnier * Discovered human immunodeficiency virus * Barry Marshall and Robin Warren * Ca usative agent of gastric peptic ulcers * MO colonize in stomach * Disbelieved b. c stomach is so acidic and has enzymes * Antibiotics cure ulcers * Demonstrated effect pharmaceutical industry practice of gastroenterology against 2 men

All the College Ranking Lists You Should Read

All the College Ranking Lists You Should Read SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips People love ranking lists. It seems that the majority of articles posted on social media and television shows on basic cable are ranking something, from the prettiest celebrities to the best songs of the 1980's. The fascination with college ranking lists has been around for over 30 years since the U.S. News World Report debuted its list in 1983. There are quite a few college ranking lists out there, but which ones are the best ones? Which ones should you look at? Honestly, all overall college ranking lists are flawed, and you should spend more time researching and visiting colleges than obsessing over college rankings to determine which college you should attend. However, in this article I will detail the pros and cons of different college ranking lists and of college ranking lists in general. You can obtain some worthwhile information from these lists, so you shouldn't completely dismiss them. The Benefits of Using College Ranking Lists From looking at college ranking lists, you can discover colleges you may not have been familiar with that could be a good fit for you. By looking at these lists, you may find a school that matches what you're looking for in a college. College ranking lists provide extensive data in one place for you to compare schools. In one list, you can see statistics for different colleges like average class size, high school GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and cost. Also, these lists give you a rough idea of the reputations of different colleges. While these lists are subjective, they do tend to reflect how colleges are regarded in the academic and professional worlds. There is probably little difference between a #1 and a #5 school in terms of reputation, but the #1 school in a list is going to have a better reputation than #100. Finally, these lists can give you an idea of what you need to do to make yourself competitive for admission to a specific college. These ranking lists often give you the average GPA, standardized test scores, and the percentage of students who graduate in the top 10% and 25% in their high school classes. From these numbers, you can determine what you should accomplish to make yourself a qualified applicant. Your numbers should compare favorably to those of the average student at a particular collegeif you want to give yourself a realistic shot at gaining admission. Why You Should Avoid Basing Your College Decisions on the Rankings Some of the criteria these lists use to compile their rankings are highly subjective and are based on survey responses. "Quality of life" and "academics" can be major factors for rankings and both are often based on opinions from surveys. The primary problem with these survey results is that they don't seem to be representative; they suffer from voluntary response bias and nonresponse bias. For example, Princeton Review ranks colleges in 62 categories. Often, a college alerts the student body that the Princeton Review surveys are available online and then students choose to complete the surveys. Those students who volunteer to take the surveys are likely to not be representative of the student population as a whole. Typically, those who would volunteer have stronger opinions than those of the average student. Similarly, U.S. News World Report determines the academic quality of an institution based on survey responses from top academics and administrators from other colleges and from high school counselors. Are those who choose to respond to the surveys necessarily representative of all college representatives and high school counselors? Some top academics and knowledgeable high school counselors who are sent surveys choose not to submit responses. Additionally, some colleges, like Reed College, may have their rankings affected because they choose not to submit information because they do not want to participate in college ranking lists. Students can get too focused on the rankings instead of figuring out which school is the best fit for them. There's probably not much difference in the quality of education at a #5 school vs. a #10 school. The #10 school may be a much better fit for a student who could excel academically at both. Furthermore, colleges are motivated and influenced by the rankings. Colleges understand that these rankings are popular and influential. They'll spend money on things the lists consider important or aggressively recruit students who have little chance of gaining admission just to raise their selectivity rating to increase their rank. Finally, and perhaps most disturbingly, schools cheat to improve their rankings. Colleges have lied (and probably do lie) when reporting their numbers to college ranking lists to get a better rank. Colleges have cheated to improve their rank. How Should Reputation Factor Into Your College Decision? As much as some of us like to discount the importance of reputation, it can play a significant role. Colleges that are ranked more highly often have more motivated and academically gifted students, and colleges that do well in the rankings tend to have influential alumni and professional connections that can have a positive impact on your future. Similarly, graduates from well-ranked schools are often favored when they apply to professional or graduate schools. Keep in mind that your work ethic and aptitude will have a far greater influence on your future success than the college you attend. You can be highly successful regardless of the college you go to; however, going to a highly ranked school will offer you undeniable advantages. Now, let's take a look at some of the better and more well-known lists. U.S. News World Report The U.S. News college rankings are viewed as the gold standard of college ranking lists. Its list is the most well-known and referenced. Here is a basic overview of how U.S. News determines its rankings: A total weight of 30% is given to factors related to student retention and graduation rates. It gives a 22.5% weight to a school's academic reputation based on survey responses from peer institutions and high school counselors. The remaining 47.5% is devoted to objective statistics about the school including measures of selectivity, faculty information, financial resources, and alumni giving. Pros U.S. News separates colleges into four categories for its rankings: National Universities, National Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Universities, and Regional Colleges. The categories allow for more direct comparisons and prevent ranking a large public college with 40,000 undergraduate students against a small liberal arts college with less than 1,000. Because U.S. News surveys top academics and college administrators to determine academic reputation, the rankings do provide a general idea of how well regarded a school is in academia. U.S. News rankings heavily emphasize student retention rates and graduation rates. Both are important factors to consider when choosing a college. They provide some clues about the quality of the support services and the student satisfaction level at different colleges Finally, because the U.S. News rankings are the most prestigious of all the ranking lists, they are the most influential and help shape public opinion. The top-ranked schools in U.S. News are generally considered to be the best schools by employers, academics, and admissions committees. Graduation rate is an important factor in the rankings. Cons Not all colleges are ranked in the U.S. News rankings. For the latest rankings, 148 colleges are listed as "unranked" within the four categories of schools. Schools are unranked because they lack regional accreditation, fewer than 200 students are enrolled, they don't use the SAT or ACT in admissions decisions, or they didn't get enough responses on the U.S. News peer assessment survey. Therefore, if you're interested in a very small school or a college that doesn't use standardized tests in admissions decisions, this rankings list won't be very helpful for you. Also, in the U.S. News rankings, there is little emphasis on quality of life. The most important criteria for the U.S. News rankings are the surveys regarding academic quality and the rates for student retention and graduation. This rankings list is less helpful than others in indicating how much students enjoy their experience at a particular college. While I previously mentioned some of the problems with relying on survey responses in U.S. News to determine academic reputation, there is an additional major problem. Many of those who respond to the surveys may not even be qualified to assess the academics at different colleges. The typical respondent grades about half of the colleges in his or her category. There are 262 National Universities. Are respondents knowledgeable enough to evaluate the academic programs of over 100 colleges, or are they simply relying on reputations generated from earlier rankings? Prominent writer Malcolm Gladwell addresses this point in a New Yorker article: (W)henU.S. Newsasks a university president to perform the impossible task of assessing the relative merits of dozens of institutions he knows nothing about, he relies on the only source of detailed information at his disposal that assesses the relative merits of dozens of institutions he knows nothing about:U.S. News...The U.S. News ratings are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Furthermore, the criteria used in U.S. News rankings seem to favor private colleges almost by default while disadvantaging public schools. Private schools often score higher in selectivity because public schools are more focused on being accessible to qualified in-state applicants. Similarly, because private colleges tend to have significantly lower student populations, they can offer smaller classes and their student-faculty ratio is lower. However, public colleges can offer advantages that are not measured nor reflected in the rankings. Public colleges can have larger and more diverse student bodies, more academic programs and majors, and more extracurricular activities. Finally, U.S. News rankings don't directly consider the salaries of graduates nor the likelihood of getting the job you want after graduating. Many people go to college specifically to prepare for a certain career or to get a well-paying job after they graduate. U.S. News rankings may not be as beneficial in helping you to decide which college is most likely to help you reach your professional goals. U.S. News doesn't consider the salaries of graduates. Forbes The Forbes college rankings list is newer and less prestigious than the U.S. News list, but the Forbes list is still very popular and Forbes is considered to be a reputable publication. Forbes emphasizes student outcomes from colleges to determine its rankings. Rankings are heavily dependent on post-graduation success, freshman retention rates, and graduation rates. Here is a general breakdown of the factors that determine the Forbes rankings: A weight of 25% is given to Student Satisfaction, which is determined from student evaluations from RateMyProfessors.com (7.5%), freshman retention rates (12.5%), predicted freshman retention rates compared to actual rates (2.5%), and a school satisfaction survey conducted by Forbes via Facebook (2.5%). A full 32.5% of the rankings is based on post-graduate success, which is determined from alumni salary statistics gathered from Payscale.com (10%) and rewarding the alma maters of those who are on the Center for College Affordability and Productivity's America's Leaders List (22.5%). America's Leaders List is composed of people who are at the top of their fields, including Nobel and Pulitzer winners, Guggenheim and MacArthur fellows, those elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and winners of an Academy Award, Emmy, Tony, or Grammy. A weight of 25% is given to student debt, which is determined by average federal student loan debt (10%), student loan default rates (12.5%), and predicted vs. actual federal student loan debt (2.5%). Graduation rate counts for 7.5% of the rankings. Graduation rate is divided into the four-year graduation rate (5%) and the predicted vs. actual four-year graduation rate (2.5%). Finally, academic success makes up the final 10% of the rankings. Academic success is based on students who receive prestigious academic awards like the Rhodes Scholarship (7.5%) and alumni who get PhDs (2.5%). Pros "Student Satisfaction" is an important component of the rankings.The Forbes listmay be more beneficial than the U.S. News list in determining the quality of life at different colleges. Because you'll probably be spending at least four years at the college you attend, you want to not only choose a school that will educate you well and prepare you for your future, but also you want to be happy during those years. You want to enjoy your living environment, your peers, and the time you spend outside of class. By emphasizing post-graduate success, the Forbes list may give you a better indication of the impact of a specific college on your attaining your future professional goals. Finally, the emphasis on student debt in the Forbes rankings separates it from most of the other college ranking lists. By measuring the average federal student loan debt and the student loan default rate, the Forbes list may give you an idea of the affordability of a school, the generosity of a school's financial aid, and whether students are capable of paying back their loans after they graduate. Cons Unlike U.S. News, Forbes does not separate colleges into categories. There is no distinction between the different types of colleges in the Forbes rankings. It's extremely difficult to effectively compare schools that vary tremendously in size, degree options, and research capabilities. Because some of these colleges are so different from one another, it's impossible to determine which school is "better" for everyone. For example, how can you rank Penn State University, which has over 40,000 undergraduates and more than 160 majors against Wesleyan College, which has fewer than 700 undergraduate students and only 31 majors? Additionally, the Forbes list can favor schools that have wealthy student bodies. A college's student debt grade may not reflect the generosity of the school's financial aid or whether students get high-paying jobs after they graduate. Students from affluent families are less likely to have to take out loans and are more likely to be able to pay back loans. Therefore, schools that have more wealthy students are likely to do well in the "student debt" component of the rankings. There is still only a small emphasis paid to the actual student experience. The student satisfaction survey given to students is only a very small component of the rankings. Additionally, information from Rank My Professors is hardly a reliable source to determine how happy students are with their classes at a particular school. Teacher evaluations from Rank My Professors are not representative because they suffer from nonresponse bias. Most students don't use that website. Furthermore,Forbes rankings provide little information about what life is like on campus. Finally, Forbes has a very narrow definition of success. "Student Success" is based on the salary of alumni and whether students obtain prestigious positions and awards. Schools with pre-professional programs in potentially high-paying fields like accounting and business may get a bump in the rankings. That doesn't mean much to you if you're not interested in pursuing accounting or business. Similarly, colleges who have more alumni who go into less lucrative fields like teaching or non-profit work may score poorly in "Student Success." However, that is no indication that a college isn't good or that its alumni aren't successful. Niche Niche is a website that has been around since 2002. It provides rankings and reviews for neighborhoods, cities, and schools. The Niche college rankings are less well-known than those of U.S. News and Forbes. However, the Niche college rankings list does provide some information and advantages that the other ranking lists don't have. Niche rankings are based on the overall experience at traditional 4-year colleges and universities. How does Niche determine the "overall experience" at a school? The academics grade counts for 35% of a school's ranking. The academics grade is based on objective statistics like acceptance rate, SAT/ACT scores, research expenditures, 6-year graduation rate, professor salary index, admissions yield, freshman retention rate, freshman National Merit Scholars, and faculty awards. Additionally, Niche incorporates survey responses from students regarding the quality of academics at their college and statistics and survey responses about diversity on campus to determine the academics grade. Then, 12% of the rankings are based on student survey responses about the overall experience at the college they currently or recently attended. Additional factors that influence the rankings are statistics and student survey responses based on campus quality (8%), loan default rate (6%), athletics (5%), average net price (5%), diversity (5%), local area (5%), endowment per full-time student (4%), "guys and girls" (4%), health and safety (4%), party scene (4%), and private gifts/grants per full-time student (3%). Niche grades colleges' party scenes. Pros Niche relies on many more factors to determine its rankings. The rankings are based on more than 50 statistics and survey responses on 20 topics from almost 300,000 current students and alumni. Niche tries to incorporate every factor that could possibly influence the college experience, from the acceptance rate to the attractiveness of guys and girls on campus. It seems to be a more well-rounded ranking list instead of just using factors that it deems important. Also, the Niche rankings place a much higher emphasis on factors that are related to quality of life. Student survey responses about the quality of the overall experience at the college count for 12% of the rankings. Additionally, Niche gives scores for "campus quality," "athletics," and "party scene." Besides overall college rankings, Niche also provides college rankings in 54 different categories. Some of those ranking lists include "best campus food," "best academics," "best party schools," and "safest campus." You can focus on the ranking lists in categories that are important to you instead of just looking at the overall rankings that may utilize criteria that don't matter to you. Another positive of the Niche rankings is that they incorporate average net price. Net price is the average cost of a school after financial aid for students receiving grants or scholarship aid. Unlike metrics such as average amount of federal loans and loan default rate, net price doesn't favor schools with more wealthy students. Finally, Niche is one of the few ranking lists that factors in diversity in its rankings. Diversity doesn't just refer to the ethnic and racial breakdown of the student body. Niche uses "diversity" to mean that a school "fosters a community that accepts and promotes a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses." Also, a diverse school has a significant percentage of international students and students that represent every geographic region of the United States, and the faculty is diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity. Cons Niche is not as well-known asU.S. News or Forbes. Because its rankings are not as prestigious or referenced, they have much less of an impact on the reputations of different colleges. Additionally, because Niche uses many more factors in its rankings, it's likely to use criteria that don't matter to you in a college. You may not be very concerned about a school's party scene, the athletics, or how the girls rank. Those are all factors in the Niche rankings. Final Thoughts Use college ranking lists to determine the reputations of different colleges. The ranking lists do tend to reflect and shape public opinion. While the exact ranking of a school will vary from list to list, the colleges that are consistently ranked highly do offer advantages while you're in college and after you graduate. Browse college ranking lists to discover new colleges that may be a good fit for you. You may not be familiar with Amherst College, Bowdoin College, or Pomona College, but Forbes ranks all three of them within their top 20 colleges. There are literally thousands of colleges, and ranking lists can introduce you to excellent schools that may match what you're looking for in a college. Instead of just looking at overall college ranking lists, pay attention to lists that focus on criteria that matter to you. You can look at lists from Niche that rank schools based on "best technology" or "best food" if you care about those things. Overall college rankings vary from list to list because there are so many factors that go into the college experience, and there is no exact science to determine if one school is better than another. U.S. News ranks the University of Chicago as the #3 National University while Forbes ranks it as the #18 college. Don't get too caught up in the specific ranking of a school. Each list focuses on the criteria that it deems important. When you're looking at a college rankings list, you should also be familiar with how the rankings are determined. Finally, college rankings should only be one small tool you use to help determine your college decision. More important than a college's ranking is figuring out whether or not the school is a good fit for you. Does it have the extracurricular activities you want to pursue? Does the school excel in the academic areas that most interest you? Are there appropriate support services that will allow you to be successful? How's the social climate? Make sure you know how to choose a college. What's Next? Instead of solely relying on ranking lists, use the best college search websites to help you find the right college for you. Also, learn more about the differences between public and private colleges. If you need to improve your grades to help get into the college of your choice, check out this post on how to raise your GPA in high school. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Macro9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Macro9 - Essay Example ‘Store of value’ is a term that intrinsically refers to an instrument which can be saved today with the faith that a commodity of equivalent value could be obtained in lieu of the sum at some future period. In other words, possessing a fixed sum of money X today would mean the possessor’s purchasing power amounting to X, as long as she keeps it to herself, i.e., the value of this amount X is assumed not to depreciate (Hirshleifer, Glazer & Hirshleifer, 2005, p. 442). However, post the tumultuous phase of the global financial community, such a term is no longer applicable as money saved today is seldom expected to possess the same value tomorrow. This is especially so due to the policies of the central bank of any economy that brings changes to the value of money according to the demands of the prevailing economic situation. During recessions, value of money is found to grow higher while it deteriorates during times of inflation. In the latter phase for instance, t he same amount of money X can buy a much lower quantity of goods than it could have during the earlier period. In such a scenario, it is safer for the economists to assume a definition of money that hints towards the inclusion of relatively illiquid assets, i.e., those which cannot be circulated as smoothly as others and not readily accepted as modes of payments. In such cases, there longer exists any motive behind increasing the supply of money. According to the identity underlying the Quantity theory of money, Normally, during times of inflation, purchasing powers of people fall, so that T falls in value. On the other hand, recessions enhance the purchasing power of people so that T rises. Hence, assuming the product of P.T to be constant, movements in V are bound to be reflected through inverse movements in M (Minsky, 2008, p. 125). Thus, it is safer to include those goods within the sphere of money which have a low velocity (V), since they also ensure a more-or-less constant supply of

The three stages of Law Enforcement in Texas (State, Local, and Essay

The three stages of Law Enforcement in Texas (State, Local, and Federal) - Essay Example The Constitution allows that the state can come up with any laws they wish, provided they do not violate the constitution. Federal organization normally works within the jurisdiction, which is within the limits of a given country. Federal law enforcement agency may not enforce the law within the smaller jurisdiction, such as a state, as well as, a country, though they can help other organizations by giving out information to them. As a common rule, federal law enforcement organization have the mandate to act when federal laws are not adhered, the federal asset is involved, or when the federal law gives federal agents own mandate to act in a specific legal area or field. At the same time, it is possible for federal organization to enforce state or local laws. They, therefore, exercise their mandate everywhere in the United States when need arises. The responsibilities of federal agency differ from one country to another. These tasks include the response to policing of airports, fraud against the country, the protection of designated national infrastructure, immigration as well as border control regarding individuals and assets, the investigation of currency counterfeiting, national security and guarding the country’s head of state, as well as, other significant dignitaries.... They do not implement their jurisdiction at divisional level. However, they can exercise this when exceptional arrangements between federal and divisional governing bodies are organized. An example of such a federal organization is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Another body is the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which is one of the organizations found in the U.S. Division of Homeland Security. The Division is responsible for law enforcement and the security of about 9,000 federal owned buildings, courthouses and assets. The FPS is deployed for national security events on terrorist attacks, as well as, natural disaster management in the U.S. The U.S. has a well-organized system of law enforcement, and it is reflected in its federal organizations. Federal agencies normally enforce laws that lie within their jurisdictions and areas of duty; therefore, they have limited police tasks. This means certain federal agencies deal with crimes, no matter the place they have occurr ed. For instance, the FBI that has its own primary investigative functions deal with kidnapping cases in the U.S. The agency is the largest of all federal law enforcement organizations (Carter 116). The agency has divided its investigation into several programs, which include domestic and international terrorism, foreign counterintelligence, public corruption, civil right, cyber, organized crime drugs, white-collar crime, applicant matters and violent crimes. A good number of FBI findings are carried out in collaboration with several other law enforcement agencies. The FBI has always believed that working with other agencies is the main tool for effective law enforcement. They usually cooperate and work

Harley-Davidson Inc Essay Example for Free

Harley-Davidson Inc Essay This case study analyzes the differentiation strategy adopted by Harley-Davidson Inc. to differentiate itself from the competition. Further, it will address the issues and challenges faced by Harley- Davidson Inc. due to changing demographics and financial turmoil. And last but not least the case study will give an idea of what strategies Harley- Davidson Inc. could apply in the future so that it could sustain and enhance its competitive position. There are two generic business level strategies to yield a higher rate of profit over a rival according to M. Porter. First, a firm can focus on cost leadership, which generates economic value by having lower costs than competitors. Second, a firm can focus on product differentiation and generates economic value by offering a product that customers prefer over the products of competitors. In other words the firm provides something unique that is valuable to buyers beyond offering the product at a low price. Harley-Davidson Inc. does not focus on cost leadership, but on product differentiation. Its tangible dimensions of differentiation are among other things its classic style that had characterized Harleys since its early years, the ability to personalize the motorcycle according to ones taste, the super-heavyweight cruiser bikes it sells and the wide price range. Moreover, H.D. offers a wide pre- and after- sales service that obliges dealers to carry a full line of Harley replacement parts and accessories and to perform service on Harley bikes, it offers test ride facilities, rider instruction classes, motorcycle rental, assistance for owners in customizing their bikes through dealer-based design centers and chrome consultants, insurance services and exclusive dealerships. Its intangible dimensions of differentiation are its unique image, status, exclusivity and identity. Thus, H.D does incorporate the American lifestyle, stands for individuality, freedom, toughness and adventure and can be seen as the ultimate biker status. Some people might even state that it represents something close to a religion or a family. H.D. created the HOG, a community where Harley Owners meet and interact with other Harley owners and where Harleys employees participate eagerly. That way H.D. could create a strong loyalty among Harley owners by creating a Harley experience and a unique relationship with its customers. Harley still focuses mainly on the Baby Boomer generation, customers that are now age 35 and 54, male and middle class and on heavyweight cruiser motorcycles, which prioritize the statement of style over either comfort or speed. In summary H.D. applied a differentiation strategy wherein it targeted specific products at niche segments (heavyweight cruiser motorcycles). The brand has a cult status among its loyal clientele and characterizes adventure, freedom, tradition and power. By differentiating its product from the products of competitors H.D. was able to command a premium for its products. Further, H.D. resources and capabilities are compared to those of one of his competitors taking the example of Honda. H.D. represents one of the oldest motorcycle brands in the US. They are designed, engineered, assembled and built in the U.S.A. Honda designs and builds its motorcycles in Japan. Whereas Honda is known for the best weight to power ratios, emphasizes speed and power and aims at a younger clientele, H.M. is known for its cruiser motorcycles which prioritize the statement of style over either comfort or speed and are mainly bought by customers between age 35 and 54. Further, H.D. competes with Honda by also building performance motorcycles (Buell Motorcycles) and Honda competes with H.D. by also building cruisers targeting H.D. Due to the smaller corporate size and inability to share RD across cars and bikes H.D.s ability to invest in technology and new products is limited. Thus, most of Harleys product development efforts in the past were limited to style changes, new paint designs and engineering improvements. In contrary, Honda has been continuously pursuing advancement of new technologies and new products. Thus, it puts emphasis on innovation in Fuel and Engine Technology. Because of the advanced nature of their research, Honda has a strong first-mover advantage over competitors such as H.D. It will be difficult for H.D., which does not actively pursue his own research to catch up with Honda. Moreover, Honda does also have a strong brand loyalty (64% vs. 48% Industry Average) and it offers multiple lines (cars, motorcycles, mowers). Further, Honda does cultivate mass production, whereas H.D. offers highly customized products, which allows H.D. to premium pricing. Moreover, Honda successfully continues to broaden the sales distribution base beyond the North American and Japanese markets to Asia, Russia and Europe. H.D. sells the American lifestyle and is rooted in American culture. The European motorcycle market focuses on performance bikes (70%) and not on H.D.s specialty, the cruisers (only 30%). Those circumstances lead to difficulties for H.D. regarding its position in the European market. Difficulties Honda does not have. To extend its European presence H.D. bought the MV Agusta Group, which has two families of motorcycles, a line of exclusive, premium, high-performance sport motorcycles and a lightweight motorcycle to comply with the demand on the European market. H.D. is thus facing the threat of growing advantages of determined competitors. Market shares on the international market continue to grow for other firms. Demographic changes represent a threat to H.D. because of the aging customer base H.D. does have. The owners continue to age (Baby Boomer generation and soon they are too old to ride their bikes. Another threat is the economic recession. Customers are staying away due to less buying power. H.D. had to cut jobs and to close production facilities. Further, EUs motorcycle noise standards and pollution and emission standards that are not up to level of some countries represent a threat to H.D. Because of the aging customer base H.D. should market and position their products to the right market segment. Since the original H.D. customers are soon to be too old to ride their motorcycles H.D. could apply a multi-generational and multi-cultural marketing strategy that also includes young adults and women. In order to survive H.D. needs to supply different types of bikes with different brand images to appeal to different and changing types of customers. H.D. could then further take action in increasing their market share internationally by expanding their current presence and reaching new international markets and creating value for its brand outside the U.S. Further, H.D. should focus on the Harley brand by leveraging unique H.D. strenghts. It should abandon the Buell line of sport bikes and the Agusta line. Moreover, H.D. should develop its technology to increase automation. This will lead to cheaper labor and to a more efficient customization. What H.D. should not do is lowering its customization level since customization also represents one of H.D.s highest assets for their brand. To get access to high-level technological capabilities H.D. could merge with groups like Renault/Nissan who bring Japanese manufacturing skills or Volkswagen, who has excellent Eastern European experience.

Essay --

William Shakespeare's Hamlet presents the generic elements found in Renaissance revenge tragedies ("Revenge Tragedy"). However, although Hamlet is a revenge tragedy by definition, Shakespeare complicates the basic revenge plot by creating three revenge plots out of one. By adding significant innovations, Shakespeare creates "three concentric rings of revenge" (Frye 90), depicting an indecisive protagonist who is an intellectual rather than a physical hero, an ambiguous ghost, and several problematic aspects of the play, such as the reason for Hamlet's delay, the confusion of time, and the truth behind Hamlet's apparent madness. In a typical revenge tragedy, a hero is called upon by the ghost of a family member to avenge his death ("Revenge Tragedy"). Hamlet is the main protagonist and hero called upon by his father's ghost to "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.31). When Hamlet first hears that his father was murdered, he exclaims, "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift...may sweep to my revenge" (1.5.35-37). He is hungry to avenge his father; however, Hamlet does nothing and at the end of Act II he scolds himself that "this player...could force his soul so to his own conceit...all for nothing...yet, [he]...can say nothing for a king upon whose property and most dear life a damned defeat was made" (2.2.578-598). Hamlet is upset that he hasn't yet acted to avenge his father, but some mere actor can build up so much emotion for nothing. Shakespeare complicates the plot because revenge tragedies are supposed to have a courageous and aggressive protagonist who swiftly carries out his de ed of revenge; instead, Shakespeare modifies the hero and portrays Hamlet as an indecisive and contemplative man. Additional... ...e to properly fill his role as being both the avenger and the murderer, and so resorts to feigning madness to escape the reality of his life. Through the use of soliloquies, modern readers are able to see the internal struggles of Hamlet's character. This allows them to sympathize with him because we can better understand how the loss of not only his entire family to murder, but also his best friends to betrayal affected Hamlet's ability to act. Furthermore, his father's spirit giving Hamlet the burden of vengeance did no justice; instead, it resulted in more emotional disturbance and problems. Overall, at the end of the play, modern readers see Hamlet as a sympathetic character because throughout the play we can observe his character and emotional development as he progresses from a melancholic and contemplative coward to an impulsive protagonist accepting death.