Books of the Bible

The book of Luke is considered to be a gospel in the New Testament. The main people discussed in the book are Mary, Jesus and Joseph. This book describes the birth of Jesus which is the main theme. The audience of this book would have appealed to all intelligent gentiles and to any believer. The gospel of Luke does not disclose who the author is of these documents. The historical content leads us to believe this gospel was written a few years before 62 AD. This book narrates the story of events from Jesus birth to his ascension.This was written to provide a historical account of events which the write divided into three stages, John the Baptist, Jesus the earthly ministry and third the life of the church after Jesus’ resurrection. All while stating that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The book of Revelation The book of Revelation is considered to be an apocalyptic genre. This book is the final book of the New Testament. The main character if Jesus himself, which this book expl ains his journey through the years.Many of Jesus’ challenges were discussed in this book during his struggle to reclaim his world, as the message was the end of days is near. The author of this book was credited to John the apostle, he states they were directed to the seven churches in Asia (Revelation 1:4). John was given orders to deliver messages to each of the churches to warn them as well as encourage them to repent before judgment day. Those who chose to follow would be rewarded and those who did not would endure the consequences. The book of ActsThe book of Acts in the New Testament is considered to be a narrative genre. The book of acts is a continuation of the book of Luke. Due to the narrators changing voice and person it creates a problem to confirm the authorship of the text. The book describes Jesus’s journey to spread the gospel throughout the world by the twelve apostles. The two main characters listed in this book were Peter and Paul the apostles. The f irst 12 chapters of this book discuss Peter while the remaining book is devoted to Apostle Paul.The book reviews how the disciples not only healed but end up persecuted for being believers and followers of Christ. Eventually it goes on to describe how Paul is placed in jail due to preaching the word of God. The book of Romans The book of Romans is considered to be an epistle genre in the New Testament. This book appears to be written around 57 or 58 AD. The main theme of this book was Paul’s journey of speaking to the Roman people of what would happen if they did not follow God’s path.The main character of the book Paul struggled to convince the Romans to convert being they were Gentiles and were not Christians. Paul continued to speak Gods way including writing numerous letters to describe their futures if they could have by following God’s way. As Paul believed and tried to teach that there is only one way to have an external life and that is through Jesus. Th e book of Ephesians The book of Ephesians is also an epistle in the New Testament, believed to be written by Paul to the Church of Ephesus around 61 AD.While Paul was in prison he had time to reflect and found that Christ came to united himself with man. This book details the letters composed by Paul that reference the different relationships that we have in life. His letters discussed not only relationships between husband and wife but those between Jesus and his believers as well. Paul preached in his letters to maintain compassion with others regardless of their background and to hold hast. Paul’s message was that Christianity was for all men, for whom all may enter, but it is only by grace, through faith in Christ. Books of the Bible The Book of LukeThe book of Luke is considered to be a gospel in the New Testament. The main people discussed in the book are Mary, Jesus and Joseph. This book describes the birth of Jesus which is the main theme. The audience of this book would have appealed to all intelligent gentiles and to any believer. The gospel of Luke does not disclose who the author is of these documents. The historical content leads us to believe this gospel was written a few years before 62 AD. This book narrates the story of events from Jesus birth to his ascension. This was written to provide a historical account of events which the write divided into three stages, John the Baptist, Jesus the earthly ministry and third the life of the church after Jesus’ resurrection. All while stating that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.The book of RevelationThe book of Revelation is considered to be an apocalyptic genre. This book is the final book of the New Testament. The main character if Jesus himself, which this book explains his journey through the years. Many of Jesus’ challenges were discussed in this book during his struggle to reclaim his world, as the message was the end of days is near. The author of this book was credited to John the apostle, he states they were directed to the seven churches in Asia (Revelation 1:4). John was given orders to deliver messages to each of the churches to warn them as well as encourage them to repent before judgment day. Those who chose to follow would be rewarded and those who did not would endure the consequences.The book of ActsThe book of Acts in the New Testament is considered to be a narrative genre. The book of acts is a continuation of the book of Luke. Due to the narrators changing voice and person it creates a problem to confirm the authorship of the text. The book describes Jesus’s journey to spread the gospel throughout  the world by the twelve apostles. The two main characters listed in this book were Peter and Paul t he apostles. The first 12 chapters of this book discuss Peter while the remaining book is devoted to Apostle Paul. The book reviews how the disciples not only healed but end up persecuted for being believers and followers of Christ. Eventually it goes on to describe how Paul is placed in jail due to preaching the word of God. The book of RomansThe book of Romans is considered to be an epistle genre in the New Testament. This book appears to be written around 57 or 58 AD. The main theme of this book was Paul’s journey of speaking to the Roman people of what would happen if they did not follow God’s path. The main character of the book Paul struggled to convince the Romans to convert being they were Gentiles and were not Christians. Paul continued to speak Gods way including writing numerous letters to describe their futures if they could have by following God’s way. As Paul believed and tried to teach that there is only one way to have an external life and that i s through Jesus.The book of EphesiansThe book of Ephesians is also an epistle in the New Testament, believed to be written by Paul to the Church of Ephesus around 61 AD. While Paul was in prison he had time to reflect and found that Christ came to united himself with man. This book details the letters composed by Paul that reference the different relationships that we have in life. His letters discussed not only relationships between husband and wife but those between Jesus and his believers as well. Paul preached in his letters to maintain compassion with others regardless of their background and to hold hast. Paul’s message was that Christianity was for all men, for whom all may enter, but it is only by grace, through faith in Christ.

My First Car gave me a wealth of experiences

In the life of each American, one of the important points that symbol coming of age is the purchase of the first vehicle. This car becomes the starting points of one’s adulthood, giving one the freedom to move around, pick up friends, and expanding the boundaries of one’s environment. My first car gave me a wealth of experiences, most of them connected with pleasant memories. It was a used Fleetwood Cadillac. Although not the most luxurious car one can dream of because of its age, it was a faithful and nice-looking companion that took me to a lot of interesting places. The car was of 1992 make, the last year when Cadillac produced Generation IV Fleetwoods. It was a four-door sedan with an FF C-body platform. My model had a 4.5 L HT-4500 V8 engine, not bad for the time and indicating that it was a luxury car. At the time when it was produced, it was a bargain compared to other luxury cars, especially those of the European make. Today, however, it does not seem as good as other models that are newer and more advanced from the technological point of view. When I got it, however, it was about six years old and still could run for a few more years. I had relatively little problem with repairs, except one time when I ran into an accident through my own folly. Faithful, as I said before, meant to me that I could safely use it for a long time without going too much to the shop, something that frustrates me as it takes up a lot of time. The look was good, too, and the interior felt comfortable. The car was spacious, and this is what I prefer about automobiles that I drive. A car can be elegant and stylish, but if it is too small and friends are crowded when a bunch of four gets inside, it is too small for my tastes. My Fleetwood Cadillac could pick up a crowd of four or even five friends and roar us off to a party or wherever we wanted to go, and everybody was comfortable and enjoying the ride. The inside had been renovated just before I bought it, so I did not have to worry about it. It was done in hushed up, beige and white colors, reassuring without being provocative. The gamut also gave the car a feeling of style and elegance and even underscored its luxury format. This car was with me for three years. It took me to dates, to parties, to school, and later to college. I liked it partly because people liked it – they liked to see me drive by in a good-looking, long vehicle with slightly tinted windows and a shapely form. In a year, I has my Cadillac painted beige, the color that increased the look of elegance. It still looked and felt relatively new, which was why I was reluctant to change it. Being with one car for several years somehow gave me a sense of stability at a time when my life was experiencing sharp swings that are so naturally associated with young age. In a drastic change of environments as I switched from school to college, the car remained with me as a manifestation of my commitment to an old friend. It also saw me through a series of rapid changes in my love life and a string of meetings and partings. Every day, I felt safe knowing that I would open the garage doors and slip into my old friend, starting off to the challenges of this day. A year later, my parents decided to make me a present for my birthday, choosing a newer Toyota model for me. I was excited about their decision as I felt that sooner or later I would have to replace my Cadillac, but at the same time the feeling of departure from my long-time companion saddened me quite a bit. I was able to sell it at a good price, but somehow I still miss its feeling of space and comfort that engulfed me the moment I got inside. To me, this car came to mean my high school and student youth, and I can still see it in the pictures we took at that time. A faithful friend and a good comrade, it was with me in an important period of my life, taking me places and broadening the scope of my experience.

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Literature Review - Essay Example Evaluation/Assessment: Brunn’s books is a collection of works and analytical studies conducted by more than twenty business scholars, therefore it offers a broad view on the subject – why Wa-Mart became a business phenomenon, and why it became so controversial. Quotations: â€Å"Wal-Mart always tries to look for specific places to build its stores, where the small stores are located. Because Wal-Mart wants to build it’s store next to small stores† (Brunn, p. 294). â€Å"The salaries are lower than the others stores and it is $4 to $7 depending on the employees’ level.† Summary: Dicker’s book is a successful attempt to explain the controversial nature of Wal-Mart as American retail phenomenon. Dicker’s provides a thorough analysis explain the social and economic problems associated with Wal-Mart’s retail dominance, particularly its low wages, continuously decreasing social benefits for its workers, anti-union policies, outsourcing, and negative impact on local communities and local business. Evaluation/Assessment: Dicker’s book, besides being a solid analytic study on Wal-Mart, provides an additional sociocultural emphasis on Wal-Mart’s lasting consequences. Book’s chapter two effectively explains how Wal-Mart became an â€Å"ethos† for contemporary American, and what business and cultural determinants led to this. Summary: Unlike the mainstream literature on Wal-Mart, Charles Fishman’s book represents an analytical attempt to evaluate both â€Å"pros† and â€Å"cons† of Wal-Mart operations. Fishman provides an explanation that Wal-Mart constitutes a typical reflection of American economy and its transformation over the last 20 years. Evaluation/Assessment: Fishman objectively analyzes Wal-Mart’s positive and negative effects on American economy and social and cultural parts of American society. Author admits that Wal-Mart brings some specific monetary benefits to an average American family. Simultaneously, utilizing

Ontarios Full-day kindergarten policy Term Paper

Ontarios Full-day kindergarten policy - Term Paper Example Some of these policies usually cover individual institutions while others always present a national and a government outlook. These policies are generally in relation to both the teachers’ and the students’ performances. They look at such issues as the teacher education and certification, the teaching methods employed, the content of the curriculum, the school infrastructure developments, the assessment methods, graduation requirements of the various institutions and the values expected to be upheld by these institutions of learning (Abbott, Rathbone & Whitehead, 2012). The various education policies in place and those that are newly formulated helps give a guideline to both instructors and learners on the availability of the different learning modes and how to effectively utilize them. It creates uniformity in the learning systems within the different institutions in the country making it easy to compare them on different fronts. These policies need to be addressed and implemented in the schools so that they can take effect and achieve their objectives. Most of these policies recognize learning as a journey in which the learners are equipped with the ability to discern what position they are in concerning their educational achievements. The learners should be able to determine where they are in the present, where they would be in the future and come up with various means to improve their present conditions (Abbott, Rathbone & Whitehead, 2012). One of the current policies in education that has been controversial in most parts of the country and that which has been used to gauge the performance of both the learners and their instructors, is the assessment policy of schools. It has been a practice for the government to assess institutions concerning their performances on different aspects. Students and schools have been graded based on their performances in the

Solve case studies Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Solve studies - Case Study Example The qualities Google possesses; creativity, passion, taking risks, self-motivation, and self-management successfully attract the best talent around. This culture of controlled chaos is maintainable, although it may suffer if Google’s management begins to prioritize profits in the long term over innovation by being too rigid. Without a hierarchy, Google maintains teamwork and coordination across its engineering, marketing, product management, operations, and sales divisions (Marion, 2013). However, with increasing employee numbers and the hiring of mid-level managers, it is possible that they could suffer from international inconsistency, lack of visibility, delayed decision-making and increased bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is one threat to the maintenance of the organized chaos culture. As Google continues to grow and expand, they may have to come up with new guidelines and policies for the management of their employees, which could hurt innovation (Marion, 2013). Bureaucracy may increase if the diverse employee base does not comply with the vision and mission at Google. For this reason, they may have to control these elements via new policies and procedures, which could impact on other groups’ agility. Internal tools and meetings could become impossible to carry out as the geographical locations become more diverse and unfeasible. Decision-making may also be affected as the employee base increases, especially given the unfeasibility of consensus and open discussion. They could also lose the ability to oppose decisions, take risks, and critique the decisions (Marion, 2013). Achieving cross-functional decisions may prove harder, while they may also stall the mechanism of innovation. The culture of organized chaos may also lead to decreased visibility as workers spending a fifth of their working hours on project ideas may lead to role duplication. Reinvention of the wheel, productive time loss, and replication of effort may lead to decreased visibility due to the difficulty of maintaining an employee base that is multi-cultural (Marion, 2013). A growing and expanding employee base makes it more difficult to establish visibility. Finally, Google could suffer from decreasing international consistency as it becomes harder to attract and retain talent at locations across the world. Exporting their culture to other locations and implanting it may clash with local perceptions, tastes, and cultures. In the international context, it will become more difficult for Google to balance cultural homogeneity and diversity (Marion, 2013). These aspects are the threats to the maintenance of Google’s culture of organized chaos. However, their current organized chaos culture suits their innovative nature with the generation of ideas. Google’s founders are still committed to the fostering of an innovative culture in the company. However, while their culture works well in the attraction of talent, they may find it harder to pursue with r egards to demand and supply market dynamics (Marion, 2013). As long as Google is able to maintain collaboration, competence, control, and cultivation of values for customer enrichment, business diversification may not hurt their organized chaos culture and the innovation it breeds. They also need to diffuse their current structure of governance, organizational processes, and culture of innovation to new areas of acquisition, while also adapting to change in

The Big Sleep Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Big Sleep - Movie Review Example The detective is a cynical, smart, professional investigator who mouths witty dialogues and works on cases, on being hired. The man who hires the detective is rather old and fragile in exercising his courage and efforts to put an end to the troublesome threat calls. The old man's daughters are extremely good looking girls, who are thoroughly spoilt and headstrong. There also lies a suspicious side to the older daughter, besides some other dubious characters of the novel. All this constitute the typical characterization based on the Hard-Boiled formula. c. Setting: The setting of the novel is again typically Hard-Boiled. The first few scenes showcase the encounter of the detective with the person who proposes to hire him. This takes place in a rather rich, gloomy huge bungalow, which gives the introductory feeling into the storyline consisting of a mystery and subsequently, a detective solving it. Later, the setting shifts to one oppressive crime scene to another, which mark the collection of clues and solving of the case. "...winding down curved rain swept streets, under the steady drip of trees, past lighted windows in big houses in ghostly enormous grounds, vague clusters of eaves and gables and lighted windows high on the hillside, remote and inaccessible, like witch houses in a forest. I came out at a service station glaring with wasted light, where a bored attendant in a white cap and a dark blue windbreaker sat on a stool, inside the steamed glass, reading a paper... on a night like this you could grow a beard waiting for a taxi." Label the characteristics in the passage. a. The above lines are written in first person, which is a characteristic of the Hard-Boiled formula. b. The detective is the speaker or narrator, here, which again is typical of the Hard-Boiled genre. c. The detailing is rather precise with vivid and picturesque descriptions, following a rhythmic pattern of speech, which is how Hard-Boiled specialist writers write. d. We get an insight into the lighting of the whole setup, which is dark, gloomy with occasional neon lighting. This, again, is a characteristic of the Hard-Boiled formula. e. The last line, "on a night like this you could grow a beard waiting for a taxi." Is rather witty and a wise cracking, which is the characteristic linguistic style used by the characters of the Hard-Boiled fiction formula. Do you think the above passage you've copied is well-written Why or why notPersonally, I feel the above passage is written quite well. It gives the reader very picturesque details and descriptions which helps him/her imagine and follow the occurrences effectively. The fictitious novel is not a visual medium and therefore, descriptions help readers imagine the scene beautifully and the writer has succeeded in this. Following the lines of description, the writer is wise enough to break the monotony

Gay Lesbian Parents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gay Lesbian Parents - Essay Example That reality suggests that the children of gay and lesbian couples can experience healthy and normal psychological development were it not for societal tendencies towards discrimination, on the one hand, and the innate tendency of children to react negatively to uniqueness, or difference, on the other (Ahmann, 1999). In other words, while homosexual parenting does not, in itself, limit a child's capacity to undergo a normal psychological development process, the fact that it unfolds within societies which, despite public statements to the contrary, are innately protective of the traditional family structure and biased against same-sex families, detrimentally impacts the child's opportunities for healthy development. Through a review of the arguments on either side, the research shall attempt to prove the stated argument. Western societies, despite the prevalence of laws upholding homosexual rights tend towards negative conceptualisations of homosexuality. The anthropologist, D. Gilmore (1990) asserts that societal acceptance of sexual orientations is ultimately defined by the prevalent culture and cannot be dictated by laws. Insofar as Western societies, whether as a consequence of historic or religious traditions, define homosexuality as a practice which falls from without the bounds of normalcy, if not outright abnormal, it is inherently incapable of comprehending the possibility of children of same-sex parents as anything other than underprivileged. The fact that this is not necessarily the case and that the aforementioned perception is ultimately predicated on the dominant culture's perception of homosexuality as abnormal is validated by evidence which effectively proves that cultures which perceive of homo and hetero-sexuality as equally normal, have no prejudices against the concept of same-se x parenting (Gilmore, 1990). In other words and as further emphasised by Halwani (2002), culture dictates perceptions of homosexuality and, as a result, invariably affects the children of same-sex couples. The fact that culture, concomitant with traditional definitions of marriage and family, inexorably influence perceptions of the stated relationship and, as such impact the psychological development of the children concerned, is evidenced in a plethora of commentary on the phenomenon. The law, for example, clearly defines marriage and the family unit which is subsequently formed as a "union of man and woman uniquely involving the procreation and rearing of children within a family" (Johnston, n.d.). Religion, similarly defines marriage and family, consequently maintaining same-sex unions and families to be a harmful deviation from the norm with incalculably detrimental psychological effects on the children concerned (Richardson, 2004). In other words, there exists a predominately negative perception of the same-sex family unit insofar as culture, religion and the law combine to define it as abnormal. That in itself will limit the possibilities of healthy psychological development for children with gay or lesbian parents. Psychologists have determined the existence of a strong likelihood, as evidenced by empirical fact, that children who grow up with same-sex parents can

Legal Advice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legal Advice - Essay Example Warren Buffet is the chairman and CEO of the company and is greatly responsible for a number of investment initiatives. From the start of his business at Berkshire Company, he paid more attention to long-term investments in openly quoted stocks. However, presently his focus has shifted to purchasing entire companies (Sharon, Steven & Corinne, 2002). Currently, the company holds a number of companies comprising of confectionary, marketing, railway, home fittings. It manufactures detergents and is involved in the sale of jewelry. In addition, Berkshire is involved in newspaper printing, production and supply of uniforms as well as numerous local electric and gas utilities. According to a report released by Forbes Global in the year 2000, Berkshire Hathaway was ranked 18th largest public corporation worldwide (Carroll, 2009). Berkshire Hathaway Company revealed their plans to invest a total of $5 billion in in the Bank of America on August 25th, 2011. The Bank of America was at the time experiencing hard economic times. They had been having disputes with regard to how foreclosure practices were managed. Ultimately, this implied that they were also having concerns with their mortgage investors. In total, they had approximately $ 8.8 billion loss and a huge amount of it accredited to the disbursement they made with the mortgage financiers. In addition, the bank of America was also planning to fire several workers. Following the announcement by Berkshire Hathaway to invest in this bank, the shares increased by over 25%. The bigger part of Berkshire India is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. According to a statement released by the Company, another plan with regard to this subsidiary corporation is to sell and supply common insurance merchandises in India via its operational distribution portal. Their preliminary emphasis will be on motorized insurance. However, the firm regularly updates its business model so as to meet the necessities of the fast developing Indian insura nce sector. In addition, the firm will advance into health, life as well as travel insurance if they the market turns out receptive as stated further by the statement (Braem, 2009). However, for successful implementation of their plans, there are business regulations that will be observed.Naturally, administrative laws are related to the government as well as the manner its organizational units work. In this perspective, administrative law consists of three precise elements. There are; replication of businesses as per the recommended style, coordination of dissimilar efforts into one bigger organization and continued daily operations of the firm in smooth process to help achieve their set objectives (Twomey& Jennings, 2010). For Berkshire Hathaway Company to operate successfully, they will require licenses and permits that are necessary for conducting their business online or e-commerce business, just like all other corporations. A state business permit is the major document needed for the purposes of taxation and carrying out other basic business operations (Miller and cross, 2013). The firm will also be required to pay sales tax for conducting business online as per the state regulations (Bentley, Galliher & Ferguson, 2007). Berkshire Hathaway Company is advised to comply with the available laws and regulations as operating without license could lead to fine of closure by the regulating authorities. This determines which elements of

Elastic and Inelastic Demand Essay Example for Free

Elastic and Inelastic Demand Essay I would say that when I think of a company that has inelastic demand on their products it would have to be Apple. Apple charges above average prices for their phones, computers and music players all with the marketing strategy of superior quality. When a company achieves inelastic demand it is because of two possible reasons. They have either developed highly differentiated products or brands or they have achieved a monopoly on a market or product category. (Tedesco, 2011) If you look at Apple they have a combination of both. You wouldn’t necessarily label Apple as a monopoly but they do possess a large amount of influence on how other tech companies develop their products. This is shown in various lawsuits that have been brought by Apple against other tech companies for patent violations. Apple has however developed superior products in comparison to others. Apple has marketed their high-end electronic devices to the point that they can introduce similar devices every few months and make people think that they are improved enough over the older models to constitute a needed upgrade. The marketing is brilliant. If I was talking to the president of Apple about what their pricing strategies should be I would bring up the possibility of a downgraded model to reach the customer base who can’t afford $600 every few months for a new phone or tablet. Even though Apple has monopolized on the higher income customer base they have untapped potential in the lower to middle income customer base. Cell phones are deemed as a necessity by many and if the price is right most consumers will spend the money on a product that is considered superior to others in the marketplace. While researching different articles for this assignment I came across an article about the elastic demand of sports tickets, especially Super Bowl tickets. When I was trying to think of a company with elastic demand, the NFL never crossed my mind but the NFL is a profit generating entity. The article cited the difference in ticket prices in tier seating between the Super Bowl in New York City and the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The prime examples showed that club-level tickets at MetLife Stadium would cost $1400 more than the similar seats at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The article attributed this to the marketability of the venue. The author stated that most sports teams price their ticket inventories in the inelastic portion of their demand function because,† teams charge too low a price to maximi ze ticket  revenues. Part of the strategy in doing this is to ensure maximum attendance so as to ensure greater revenue streaming from complementary purchases associated with sporting attendance†¦such as concessions, parking, and merchandise.† (Rishe, 2013) If I were to talk to the president of the NFL I would suggest putting a cap on Super Bowl tickets so that a more diverse group of fans could attend the Super Bowl. As of now the only fans that attend a Super Bowl are the fans with a large amount of expendable income. If tickets were more attainable by the â€Å"common† fan they would generate as much money but also accommodate a much wider consumer market. Bibliography Rishe, P. (2013, September 19). SuperBowl XLVIII Pricing: A Lesson In Demand Elasticity. Retrieved September 27, 2014, from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2013/09/19/super-bowl-xlviii-pricing-a-lesson-in-demand-elasticity/ Tedesco, T. (2011, May 20). View from Mount Olympus. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from piworld.com: http://www.piworld.com/blog/inelasticity-demand-your-printing-services-pricing-strategy-tj-tedesco Tucker, I. B. (2013). Survey of Economics (8th ed.). Mason, Ohio, United States of America.

Final Team Case Essay Example for Free

Final Team Case Essay Case Background Co-Founders Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett started Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1939 inside a small one car garage behind Packard’s house. The two finished their studies as electrical engineers at Stanford University in 1934 and became close friends. They decided to start their own business and make a run for it†, formalizing their partnership January 1, 1939. (The HP Way). They decide the company’s name with a coin toss that one car garage became the office of Hewlett-Packard. At the time it was started HP had $538 in working capital and little more than a couple hundred dollars worth of assets. It was in that garage that HP’s legacy was born, when Bill and Dave created the first HP product – the Audio Oscillator HP200A. Following the invention of their first product, the pair moved into a small building down the street from their famed garage and hired their first employees. â€Å"Walt Disney Studios placed an order for eight HP 200B audio oscillators for the movie Fantasia—HP’s first big sale.† (High Tech: Winning Success In Silicon Valley). Another milestone was reached in 1940 when HP sent out its first ever Christmas bonus in the amount of $5. This Christmas bonus set the tone for all bonuses to come, as it quickly turned into a production bonus and soon helped to shape the company wide profit sharing plan that HP adapts. In 1942 HP builds its first ever company owned building, and in order to protect themselves build it so that it can be easily converted to a convenience store should the electronics industry fail. One of the most important milestones for the company was reached in 1947, as HP became a true Corporation. HP also caught attention for their Management by Walking Around and Open Door Policy programs. In 1957 HP had its initial public offering of stock and wrote their first set of corporate objectives, which set the tone for their management style as a company. In 1958 HP made its first â€Å"sizeable acquisition when they purchased F.L. Moseley Company†, which further expanded their product line. ( Maddox). The late 50’s and 60’s were an extremely important time for HP as a company as it was during this time that they became a global company by building a manufacturing plant in Germany. It was also during this time that they created their Division Separation structure where they separated profit and loss accountability  between divisions. This division was thought to help keep employees nimble while fostering motivation and creativity. During the 60’s HP further developed itself by entering into the medical field with the purchase of Sanborn Company. They also had their stock listed on the New York and Pacific Stock exchanges and were listed in Fortune 500’s top companies at 460. It was also during the 60’s that HP created its first computer, which was used in house to control company tests. HP also creates their first scientific calculator around this time, which also gained critical success. Further helping promote HP products Dave Packard was appo inted U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense in 1969. In 1977 John Young became president of HP replacing Bill Hewlett. In the early 80’s HP took much more interest in the personal computing industry as it was during this time that they create the first mass marketed personal computer. They also enter into creating printers for use with their personal computers, the printers HP manufactured during this time set the standard for the direction in which printers would evolve. In 1987 Bill Hewlett retired as vice chairman of the board of directors, his son Walter Hewlett and David W Packard (son of Dave Packard) step up to take his place. In 1992 Lew Platt became HP president and CEO who was the first president and CEO of HP to not be a member of the Hewlett or Packard family. In 1993 Dave Packard relinquishes his chair of the board of director’s position to Lew Platt. Possibly one of the most damaging events hits HP in 1996 when Dave Packard one of the original founders dies. In 1999 Carly Fiorina becomes President and CEO of HP. In 2002 HP merged with Compaq Computer. This merger created an â€Å"$87 billion entity† which operates in more than 160 countries and has almost 150,000 employees. (Dykman, Davis, Lamb). â€Å"Quite a change from a company which 70 years ago started in a 1 car garage shack with 2 college kids who had $500 to work with!† (Hewlett Packard Company) Today, HP provides consumers a wide range of products and services from digital photography to digital entertainment and from computing to home printing. This comprehensive portfolio helps the company match the right products, services, and solutions to their customers’ specific needs. Hewlett-Packard’s Vision Statement We strive to improve the environmental performance of our customers, our supply chain, and our own operations. We give people the tools and solutions  to build a better today while preparing to address the challenges of tomorrow. Motto: Purpose Statement To lead in the marketplace by developing and delivering useful and innovative products, services and solutions. Mission Statement Committed to global responsibility by being economic, intellectual and a social asset, demonstrate commitment to our employees by promoting creative work that reflects our values, and earn customer respect and loyalty by consistently providing the highest quality and value while achieving finance growth. Values Statement HPs values embody the qualities, beliefs, and principles that will ensure organizational success. It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained.-Dave Packard Trust and respect for individuals We work together to create a culture of inclusion built on trust, respect and dignity for all. Achievement and contribution We strive for excellence in all we do; each persons contribution is critical to our success. Results through teamwork We effectively collaborate, always looking for more efficient ways to serve our customers. Meaningful innovation We are the technology company that invents the useful and the significant. Uncompromising integrity We are open, honest and direct in our dealings. Issue Statement In order for the company to remain one of the world’s leading producers of the latest technological advances, HP must face the following issues head-on: 1. Their ability to remain a top tier leader in the technology industry through innovative products 2. Strive in meeting the continued needs of various shareholders by increasing HP shares 3. Maintain customer loyalty by producing quality yet reasonable prices and exemplarily  customer service 4. Finding ways to reduce our global footprint worldwide through advances in green solutions Management Question: What does CEO, Meg Whitman, need to do to retain and recommit HP to the PC business and reintroduce products her predecessor discarded? Stakeholder Analysis * Communities * Customers * Employees * Investors * Legislators and regulators * Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) * Suppliers * Universities Stakeholder Expectations and Expectation (See Exhibit 1.1) Stakeholders Key Issues With the unwavering success of new entrants into the market HPs stakeholder’s main issue is their ability to be innovative and competitive in the market. Competitors such as Apple has gained a significant competitive advantage in the technology industry forcing HP to evaluate how they do business. SWOTS Strengths * Hewlett-Packard (HP) is a global provider of personal systems, imaging and printing products, and technology solutions. * It is the largest player in the inkjet and laser printer market. * HP is also one of the market leaders in the global PC market. * HP has a very strong distribution Hewlett-Packard’s primary strength is its business position. The enterprise has a large amount of cash in hand about $10 billion. * Hewlett-Packard is a global enterprise and especially after its merger with Compaq, the company became world’s biggest computer hardware and peripherals  consort in the world and has ranked 20th in the Fortune 500 list. * Hewlett Packard is operating in more than 170 countries including both developed as well as under-developed. * Being a global dealer of computer hardware, it gives HP many advantages like dominating printers market, both laser and inkjet. The company attracts and focuses on consumers from even newly found markets all around the world, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations etc. * The company competes both at local and international level. * It has increased its competitiveness through policies and strategies that supports free-market economies. * HP is a leading supplier in the growing IT markets. Weaknesses * HP uses the Windows platform in all its I-PAQ phones. Incidentally, I-PAQ phones have been much criticized for not being very Windows friendly in a lot of user forums. * The inability to react quickly to changing market conditions and demands is a weakness of HP. * The company was in a long term debt for many years which kept it from investing in different growth opportunities. * The touch pads of the notebooks of Hewlett Packard like the dv series, dm3, and Envy lines needs improvement. These touch pads are either finicky, unreliable, or are difficult to use because of friction. * The mouse buttons on various HP supplied machines are said to be clumsy to use, too. * Poor shelling life of HP products plagued some mainstream systems and net books. * The past acquisition of Peregrine made the HP’s portfolio even more diverse and complete but HP Open View’s lack of mainframe management capabilities created several problems. * Another weakness was that it did not yet hit a CMDB product that includes discovery and mapping. This cause many customers to switch the brand. Opportunities * Expansion in alternative client computing architectures and other emerging mobile computing devices gives a good opportunity for HP. * The mobile phone market is forecasted to grow tremendously. * The recent acquisition of EDS puts HP at a strong position in the computer market and makes it portfolio more impressive. * Hewlett-Packard was able to generate large number of revenues and profits from its different deals and  raised more than six billion which it can use to pay off its debts as well as invest in different research and development activities. * If the products by the company are supplied at reasonable prices, there will be more chances of growth as the demand would increase. * The company has formed Customer Solutions Group that helps in selling the complete IT solutions, products and services by HP. Threats * Hyper-competitive environment Companies such as Dell, Toshiba, Lenova Group and Acer are formidable competitors for HP. * It competes in terms of price, brand, quality, technology, distribution and range of products, among other factors. * Other mobile operating systems such as Symbian, iPhone, and Linux are on the rise and they too pose a threat to HP. * Operating in global market means many competitors and therefore, the company has to be at the forefront of changing technologies as well as addressing the changing customer demands and needs. * The global economic recession is also a threat for the company’s sales and profits. The prices have also fallen as the stock markets are at historic low positions. * Many other competitors including Dell are entering the printer business whereas IBM has become a market leader. 3. Organizational Design Analysis Division of Labor in the Ambidextrous Orgainzation: Organic characteristics such as decentralization and employee freedom are excellent for initiating ideas, but these same conditions often make it hard to implement a change because employees are less likely to comply. Employees can ignore the innovation because of decentralization and generally loose structure. HP has such problem and it is necessary to overlay the ambidextrous approach, which speaks to incorporate structure and management process that are appropriate to both creation and the implementation of innovation. The ambidextrous approach looks at HPs design elements that are important for exploring new ideas versus the design elements that are most suitable for exploiting HPs current capabilities. Exploration means encouraging creativity and developing new ideas, whereas exploitation means implementing those ideas to produce routine products. HP can be designed to behave in an organic way for exploring new ideas and in a  mechanistic way to exploit and use the ideas. Research under HP could use an ambidextrous approach by designing for both exploration and exploitation perform better and are significantly more successful in launching innovative new products or services. Through research, using this model as an overlay, HPs creative department should use the organic structure to expand its capabilities such as reducing their global worldwide footprint through advances in green solutions. The economy of China has been growing at a robust rate since last few years. Chinas recently released five-year plan signifies a new phase of growth through the expansion of domestic consumption, driving a low-carbon economy, fostering innovation and achieving balanced social and economic growth (Datamonitor PLC, 2012). The growth of HPs mobile tablet PC market, entry into the smartphone market expects to grow strongly in the coming years. The growth is expected to be driven by the demand from the US and Asia Pacific regions. In 2010, the market was led by the North American region with approximately 35% market share. By 2014, Asia Pacific region including China expects to lead the tablet PC market (Datamonitor, 2011). In February 2011, HP launched the HP TouchPad, a 9.7-inch tablet PC that runs on webOS 3.0. The company plans to make available this product in the coming months. The companys increased focus on the tablet PC segment will enable it to benefit from the growing market (Datamonitor, 2011). HP entered the smartphone market with the acquisition of Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm WebOS mobile operating system, in July 2010. The launch of new smartphones with an updated version of WebOS will enable the company to effectively compete with each other players in the market, including Apple and Google (Datamonitor, 2011). In addition, provide the healthcare markets with products beyond the capabilities of their competitors. HP has been focusing on providing healthcare solutions in recent times. In January 2010, the company and McKesson collaborated to work on electric health record (EHR) adoption at independent physician practices. HPs solutions targeting healthcare sector will enable it to increase its revenues in the company years (Datamonitor, 2011). The creative department could use an organic structure to explore and  develop new ideas to face intense competition from Apple, RIM, and Nokia. Under an organic structure, HP will be able to react quickly to those competitors having a positive effect on revenues and profitability of the company in the long run. Looking at the mechanistic structure HP could exploit capabilities and apply routine implementation of innovations. An example of this looks at HP leading market position in the global printers market. HP ships more than one millions printer per week. Strong market position in various market segments provides economies of scale for the company, including increasing their customer base (Datamonitor, 2011). The Four Types of Change Provide a Strategic Competitive Wedge: Managers can focus on four types of change within organizations to achieve strategic advantage. These four types of change are technology, products and services, strategy and structure, and culture. These factors provide an overall context within which the four types of change serve as a competitive wedge to achieve an advantage in the international environment. HP has an unique configuration of products and services, strategy and structure, culture, and technologies that can be focused for maximum impact upon the its c hosen markets. Technology changes are changes in an organizations production process, including its knowledge and skill base, that enable distinctive competence. These changes are designed to make production more efficient or to produce greater volume. Changes in technology involve the techniques for making products or services. They include work methods, equipment, and workflow. In the case of HP, the competitive-intelligence (CI) chief of HP has focused his intention to offer free shipping for printer cartridges, its development of print status monitor software which will prompt customers to purchase replacement cartridges, and numerous technical specifications. Only but a few minor errors, the CI team had nailed everything: prices, specs, software details (Varchaver Burke, 2007). Products and services changes pertain to the product or service outputs of HP. New products and services are normally designed to increase the market share or to develop new markets, customers, or clients. If correctly  applied, HP can bring together existing technologies in a new way to serve a new market. HP has a broad product portfolio. HPs services segment offers consulting, outsourcing and technology services across infrastructure, applications and business process domains. Its services encompass the data center and the workplace (desktop); network and communications; and security, compliance; business continuity; warranty support; technology consulting and systems integration solutions (Datamonitor, 2012). Strategy and structure changes pertain to the administrative domain in an organization. The administrative domain involves the supervision and management of management, policies, rewards systems, labor relations, coordination devices, management information and control systems, and accounting and budgeting systems. Strategy, structure, and systems changes are usually top-downthat is, mandated by top managementwhereas product and technology changes often come from the bottom up. To make the strategy successful, they identified a new set of key performance metrics to track how effectively the company was meeting goals of competitive costs, high quality, and great service. This change also proved to be successful in the long run. A culture change refers to changes in the values, attitudes, expectations, beliefs, abilities, and behavior of employees. Culture change pertains to changes in how employees think; these are changes in mindset rather than technology, structure, or products. Culture change can be particularly difficult because people dont think their attitudes and beliefs easily. The four types of change are interdependent a change in one often means a change in another. The structural change was an outgrowth of the technology change. HP is an independent system, and changing one part often has implications for other parts of HP. Porters Competitive Strategies- Michael E. Porter studied a number of business organizations and proposed mangers can make the orgainzation more profitable and less vulnerable by adopting either a differentiation strategy or a low-cost strategy. Appling a low-cost leadership strategy means managers choose to compete through lower  costs, whereas with a differentiation strategy the orgainzation compete through the ability to offer unique or distinctive products and services that command a premium price. Each strategy can vary in scope from broad to narrow. That is, an organization can choose to compete in many market and customer segments or to focus on a specific market or buying group. Appling this model to HP revels the organizations focuses on low-cost leadership strategy with a broad scope where HP provides goods and services to customers at cheaper prices. HP uses the low-cost strategy with their printer / copier product line where tight controls to produce products more efficiently than its competitors. Low-cost leadership strategy using a broad scope is concerned primarily with stability rather than taking risks or seeking new opportunities for innovation and growth. For HP, this means it can achieve higher profits than competitors because of it can efficiency and lower operation costs. Also, this strategy puts HP in a better position to prevent loss of market share. 4. Identification and Evaluation of Alternatives 1. Encourage technology change by using skunkworks Pros: Focuses on breakthrough ideas for HP Give highly talented employees time and freedom to keep HP on the cutting edge This group could be highly autonomous and secretive while creating Cons: May create a subculture under HPs vision Risk of skunkworks wasting resources and come away with nothing to show Ideas may be behind competitors organizations skunkworks teams 2. Empower employees through the bottom-up approach Pros: Employees are motivated to figure out the best ways to get their jobs done Supports the right culture that drive high performance Employees at all levels feel part of the vision / change or the organization Cons: Employees ideas could go nowhere Ideas could get lost between the layers of management Employees may become focused on looking for shortcuts in the process 3. Discover a distinct pattern of tailoring innovations to customer needs by using the Horizontal Coordination Model Pros: Increases the amount of new product development Improves the different possible developed products Gives HP the edge in meeting customer needs and circumventing manufacturing / marketing ideas Cons: If not properly applied, the connections is lost between employees and customers If not properly applies, the coordination between departments are not shared Must be driven by top managers to function well 5. Recommended Alternatives- Based on the models and discussed alternatives, I recommend HP will be best able to adapt to the changing external environment by proceeding with the Horizontal Coordination. This means HPs technical, marketing, and production employees share ideas and information. All departments would have a say if / when a product gets introduced in the market. Specialization means every department are highly competent at their own tasks. Boundary spanning means each department under HP vision will be linked with involvement on new products and has an excellent linkage with relevant sectors in the external environment. Under boundary spanning, employees are aware of recent scientific developments and personnel are closely linked to customer needs. Horizontal coordination stresses the importance of sharing ideas between technical, marketing, and production. I would not recommend using skunkworks or the bottom-up approach. Skunkworks has a great possibility of developing a subculture that may not support HPs overall vision. Using the bottom-up approach may go dry after employees discover their ideas are going unnoticed or getting lost while traveling through the layers of management. 6. Implementation and Conclusion Elements for Successful Change- Regardless of the type or scope of change, there are identifiable stages of innovation, which generally occur as a sequence of events, through innovation stages may overlap. For a change to be successful implemented, HPs mangers must make sure each element occurs in the organization. If one of the elements is missing, the change process  will fail. 1. Ideas. Change is an outward expression of ideas. Ideas can come from within or from outside the organization, 2. Need. Ideas are generally not seriously considered unless there is a perceived need for change. A perceived need for change occurs when managers see a gap between actual performance and desired performance in the organization. 3. Decision to adopt. The decision to adopt occurs when managers or other decision makers choose to go ahead with a proposed idea at HP. 4. Implementation. Implementation occurs when HPs members actually use a new idea, technique, or behavior. Materials and equipment may have to be acquired, and workers may have to be trained to use the new idea. This is the most difficult part for HP. Until people use the new idea, no change has actually taken place. 5. Resources. Change does not happen on its own; it requires time and resources, for both creating and implementing a new idea. Employees at HP must provide energy to see both the need and the idea to meet that need. In conclusion, strong market position in various markets segments provides economies of scale for the company, besides increasing its chance of winning customers. However, intense competition will adversely affect the revenues and profitability of the company in ling term (Datamonitor, 2011). Works Cited 1. Daft, R. (2010). Organization Theory Design. (11th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. 2. Datamonitor. (2011). Hewlett-Packard Company 3. HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY Palo Alto, California. (2008). Microwave Journal, 51(7), 120-126. 4. Hewlett Packard Company. 2007 November 19. 30 March 2008 http://www.thocp.net/companies/hewlett_packard/hp_company.htm. 5. High Tech: Winning Success In Silicon Valley. (1984). Ebony, 40(1), 37 6. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.hp.com/go/history

The Great Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby Essay Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a satire that comments on American ideals in the 1920s. He shows the carelessness of everyone during the time by portraying them in the community of East and West Egg. Fitzgerald conveys two different themes throughout the story. One is the American Dream is corrupted by the desire for wealth and the other is the Attainment of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuit of it. He uses those themes to show how The Great Gatsby is a satire of American Ideals. The American dream is life should be better and richer and fuller for one. This dream is corrupted between the relationship of Gatsby and daisy. Daisy is the symbol of all that Gatsby strives for; her voice is full of money, as Gatsby describes it. Her voice was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals song in it (Fitzgerald 120). She can be interpreted as a twentieth-century flapper because she ensnares men with her husky, mysterious voice. Gatsby became so enamored by her voice that he based all of his actions on winning Daisy over. Her voice contains the promise of vast riches. However, Gatsby is too late to realize that money is the only thing her voice promises. There is no compassion in Daisy, just as there is none in cold, hard cash. Daisys dream is corrupted by wealth because she is caught up with Toms wealth and Gatsbys wealth. Daisy and Toms marriage is further proof of the collapse of the American dream. Although they belong to the West Egg social group and have extreme wealth, they are unhappy. Tom is first described as one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours of anti-climax (Fitzgerald 6). Tom and Daisy are both in unsatisfied with life and are searching for something better. They have traveled to France and drifted here and there unrest fully wherever people were rich and played polo together (Fitzgerald 6). They are unhappy and bored with life. Tom seems to be searching for the excitement that he found in playing football in college, and he finds an outlet for his dissatisfaction by cheating on his wife with Myrtle. Once again, Gatsby does not see that attaining wealth and power does not equal happiness. The Buchanans marriage is full of lies and infidelities, yet they are united through their corruption. After Tom has discovered Daisys infidelity and Myrtle has been killed, their callous selfishness is revealed when they are reunited over fried chicken and two bottles of ale (Fitzgerald 145). They instinctively seek out each other because each recognizes the others strength in the corrupt spiritual element they inhabit. After Myrtle and Gatsby are both killed, neither one of the Buchanans sends their regards or seem remorseful. In fact, they go on a short vacation, which is an indication of the lack of compassion they have toward others. There was no love for anyone. All people cared about was wealth and parties. Nick perceives Tom and Daisy as they really are, heartless and careless. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made (Fitzgerald 179). Tom and Daisys actions are an indication of the detrimental and emotionally numbing effects that wealth can have on someone. They focus too much on appearance and things of monetary value, while ignoring peoples feelings and lives. Jordan Bakers plans are also negatively impacted by the corruptive qualities of wealth. Although Nick is attracted to Jordans bored, jaunty, careless air at first, he finally understands that it conveys her profound disregard for other peoples feelings. Jordan supports Daisy having an affair, because Daisy ought to have something in her life (Fitzgerald 79). She sees Gatsby as something, not someone. Jordan also has a reputation for being dishonest and for being a gossip. She was involved in a golf tournament scandal in which she was accused of moving her golf ball to her advantage. Jordan belongs to the East Egg social group because of her careless, dishonest ways. She serves as a hint as to the true nature of the people from East Egg. Jordan may also be an indication of the types of people that Gatsby entertains, since she attends his parties. She is similar to many of his partygoers in that she exploits his hospitality yet never shows any genuine kindness toward him. It is very te lling that Gatsbys house is full of people throughout the entire summer, yet when Gatsby dies, no one attends his funeral except Nick and Gatsbys father. The shallow acquaintances of Gatsby were never his true friends-the only used him for his lavish generosity. The countless people who attend his parties, ride on his hydroplane and in his car, and drink his alcohol are nowhere to be seen when the time comes to pay their respects for him. The theme of the pursuit of a dream is more satisfying than attaining the dream itself repeats itself throughout the book. Gatsbys dream was to get Daisy. We see this repetition of a green light though out the story. Every time Gatsby looked at Daisys house Fitzgerald mentioned the green light. Fitzgerald compares Gatsbys green light to the green breast of the new world (Fitzgerald 180), comparing Gatsbys dream of rediscovering Daisy to the explorers discovery of America and the promise of a new continent. However, Gatsbys dream is tarnished by his material possessions, much like America is now with our obsession with wealth. Gatsby wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to tom and say: I never loved you (Fitzgerald 109). Gatsby tried and tried to get Daisy to think she never loved Tom but the truth was that she did love him. The pursuit of the dream was more satisfying for Gatsby than actually attaining it. He threw parties just to hope she would come and he would be a ble to see him. He became rich so he could impress her with nice things. If Gatsby truly got Daisys heart they would end up doing the same thing as Tom and she normally do. In the end they will have the same dinner fried chickenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and two bottles of ale (Fitzgerald 145) and it would get old and then they would end up having an affair with other people around town like nothing ever changed. On the surface, Fitzgeralds novel may appear to be just a shallow novel about the jazz, parties, and glitz that he experienced in the early twentieth century. After closer examination, however, it is apparent that The Great Gatsby is a profound social commentary on the corrupt and disillusioning effects that materialism can have on members of society. We also learn that in the end attaining your dream is not as fun as trying to get it. Fitzgerald did write a satire that showed the ideals of the 1820s.

crusades Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Crusading, much like Imperialism in the 20th century, was all about expansion. During the middle ages however, it was more about the expansion of religion rather then power, or at least that’s the way it was preached. Crusading by definition is; â€Å" a holy war authorized by the pope, who proclaimed it in the name of god of Christ. It was believed to be Christ’s own enterprise, legitimized by his personal mandate† (1). This essay examines the background of the crusades to offer a better understanding as to why they occurred. It also examines the effects that the crusades had on the world. It is easy to look at the crusades as a violent meaningless act, but one must understand the type of setting this movement occurred during. This was a time when if you took part in the crusades, you were seen as a warrior of god, recruited by the pope. Any man who fought in the name of god would be rewarded in heaven. Popular belief in the 10th and 11th cen turies was that the more you did for god, the less accountable you were for you’re past sins. The more deeds you did, the better your credit in the ‘Treasury of God’ (2). The Treasury of God is a summarization of the good deed outweighing the bad deed principle of the time. Acts of violence in the name of god are far less common in the world today. But, as seen with September 11th, jihad or holy war is still occurring. This essay gives a basic timeline and underlying principles behind the crusading missions. Justification for these acts remains unclear and is simply opinion based.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To understand the effects of crusading one must be familiar with the background in which it took place. The major conflict that initiated the crusading endeavors occurred when the Seljuk Turks aggressively took Syria and Palestine. Turkish Muslims also invaded the Byzantine Empire and subjected all classes of people to their rule, even Christians. At the same time, Popes of the 11th century were trying to extend their religious power beyond its original borders. They did this by forcing religion upon certain groups such as: heretics, pagans, and most all non-Christians. When Pope Urban seen the action of the Muslims he then thought it was his duty to Christianize those people. These facts combined started the First crusade in 1095 (3). At a personal level however, crusading could be unde... ...land; Toronto: Longman 2002), 175.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9. Nicholson, 134.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10.Phillips, 347.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11. Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (London: Jonathan Cape, 2004), 202.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12. Nicholson, 120.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  13. Nicholson, 147.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  14. Yvonne, Friedman, Encounter Between Enemies: captivity and Ransom in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2002), 340.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  15. Nicholson, 166. Bibliography Asbridge, Thomas. The First Crusade: A New History New York; Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2004. Friedman, Yvonne. Encounter Between Enemies: captivity and Ransom in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2002. Nicholson, Helen. The Crusades. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2004. Phillips, Jonathan. The Crusades: 1095-1197. Harlow, England; Toronto: Longman 2002. Phillips, Jonathan. The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople. London: Jonathan Cape, 2004. Slack, Corliss. A Historical dictionary of the Crusades. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2003.

Neuromancer Essay -- Literature Review

The life of a human being is defined not only by their own definition by character or nature but also by external influences such as environment and development. It is only natural for a human being to be inter-connected with surroundings and to be a part of the actions and events around him /her. Due to the nature of the human mind in which we use to improvise upon existing methods of improving quality of life and comforts, the world has evolved into a place of complex technological development. The influence of technology and other developments in regard to artificially created luxuries has played an important role in shaping our world and continues to be our top priority of existence. The impact that the evolving world and ideologies has had its influence on most other fields, including literature, as authors attempt to envision the future that the evolution process holds for us, trying to imagine extreme possibilities that might take shape in the future, leading us into a world that would have seemed like a fantasy in the past. This paper studies in detail the use of technology for negative causes, contributing to the view that technology could mean destruction or negative implications when considered in the light of its negative applications. Another aspect that has been discussed is the fact that these negativities would seem plausible as it might be common in the future that we will have to face as the human race evolves further in terms of science. There have been several authors that have based their fictional works on the future of science, William Gibson being one such author who was successful in conveying to his readers the vision of a distant future that he held in his mind, a place that held c... ...nternet crimes. The novel gives a picture of the world that technology could lead us into, the main themes mentioned giving us an idea of the outcomes that would follow the extension of the technology that prevail currently. The base of the story may said to be "more accurate in an iconic sense than as a map of where we're going."(Gibson 55). However, the most interesting aspect is that these ideas were not entirely predictable in the year of the book’s publication, 1984 and yet has been successful in guessing the direction of the development of scie4nce and technology. This is perhaps the most disturbing aspect too, as it makes the readers wonder that if he was right about the direction that technological advances have taken, it could also be true that we will be lead into a world similar to that described by Gibson in his book.

Diversity of Individuals Essay

1.1.i DIVERSITY Diversity means difference. It is about recognizing the different needs and preferences of an individual and accepting them. This could be related to their culture and personality or just their preferences. As well as many other factors. Everyone is different. 1.1.ii ANTI-DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE Not to discriminate against someone in terms of race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation and age. 1.1.iii ANTI-OPPRESSIVE PRACTICE In social care you need to take an anti oppressive approach. You can not try and make someone do what you want because it’s easier for you. If the resident would like to do something you can advise but you can not make them do what you want because you are in a stronger position. 1.2 Explain why it is important to recognize and respect an individuals heritage Every resident should be treated with the same respect they would deserve if they were not in care. They should be treated as if they could do things for themselves. Carers are there to assist the resident. Their customs and religious practices are very important to them. It defines who they are. Some like their dietary needs met regarding not eating pork etc. Some will not accept blood transfusions. We need to honor their wishes to the best of our ability. 1.3 Describe why an individual with dementia may be subjected to discrimination and oppression A resident who has dementia may not be able to remember her preferences so its down to the carer to find out. For example if the resident is Muslim then her religious beliefs means she doesn’t eat pork. It is down to the carer to respect this and not just take on the attitude of â€Å"it doesn’t matter† 1.4 Describe how discrimination and oppressive practice can be challenged As a carer if I was to see a colleague discriminate against a resident, first of all I would highlight the residents preferences and point out what they are doing is wrong. If the carer was still to carry on I would bring it to the attention of my senior or manager who would then deal with it following company policy. 2.1 Explain why it is important to identify an individuals specific and unique needs It is important to identify a residents needs so they can live their life as they want. Sometimes the resident may not be able to express their wishes and preferences so it is important to speak to close family members and friends to find out what they would prefer. 2.2 Compare The Experience Of  Dementia For An Individual Who Has Acquired It As An Older Person With The Experience Of An Individual Who Has Acquired It As a Younger Person It would not be much different between an older and younger person, they would both still experience the same effects that dementia brings to a person. However a younger person getting dementia would probably feel more affected as they may feel that it’s unfair that they have it so young when they have a lot of life left ahead of them, they also may not be able to deal with it very well as most people associate dementia with older people. Their life will change so much and sometimes so quickly, they may have to leave work, stop driving etc. Then they would have to think about the help they would need, finance etc. which with so much happening and changing can lead to a lot of stress and then to depression in a person and sometimes more. Having dementia as an older person is probably more easier to deal w ith than getting it as a younger person because you have experienced a lot and lived a life so you would be more acceptance of it and deal with it a lot better.

Forward Software Essay

Forward Software, Inc. is a software company potentially facing a copyright infringement lawsuit. The spreadsheet product Forward sells includes an optional menu navigation system identical to that of Focus Software, the original developer of the menu system. Forward’s spreadsheet product currently dominates the market. Focus Software is currently suing a smaller software company that has also used this identical menu system in their spreadsheet software. It is believed that based on the outcome of this pending lawsuit, Forward Software, Inc. may also be sued. Forward has to decide between offering Focus an unsolicited settlement prior to the pending trial’s conclusion or waiting for the outcome and possibly facing litigation. To do this, Forward needs to determine the optimal decision strategy to take and how much the strategy is expected to cost. The hiring of an outside law firm that may be able to provide a prediction of the company’s success in winning a trial must also be considered, as well as the maximum that should be paid for that service. Savings associated with hiring the firm need to be determined and analysis of the best decision strategy will also need to be done. Based on our analysis, the best strategy is to wait until the outcome of the pending lawsuit. If Focus wins that lawsuit and files a lawsuit against Forward, Forward should hire the law firm to conduct the proposed study for the lawsuit. Based on the law firm’s findings (predicted win, predicted loss, can’t predict) Forward will have to decide to go to trial or settle out of court. The results show that unless the firm can make the prediction that Focus would likely win the lawsuit, Focus should settle out of court. The expected costs of this strategy range between $9 – $12.8 million dollars. This includes expected costs associated with hiring the firm. The maximum amount that should be paid for hiring the firm is $1.14 million. If the firm could accurately predict the outcome of the Forward versus Focus case, Forward could expect to save $2.4 million. A decision tree was constructed to determine the best strategy for Forward. This approach was chosen as there were many decisions and states of nature to consider and chronology was important. The decision tree allowed for evaluation in a chronological pattern. In determining the optimal strategy, analysis was performed to determine if it is best to settle now or wait on the verdict of a pending trial, whether to hire or not hire a law firm if sued, and also to determine the value of information that could be provided. Our analysis is as follows -Settle Now or Wait? The optimal strategy indicates that it best is to wait until the outcome of the pending trial. Following the optimal strategy, there is a probability of .64 that Focus will not have to make any payout, this is based highly on waiting on the outcome of the trial as there is a .60 probability that Focus will lose and not initiate a lawsuit. As the bulk of the non-payout probability is based on the out come of the current Focus case, this event was included in a sensitivity analysis of the overall strategy. The analysis was performed to assess how sensitive the strategy is to changes: in the probability of Focus winning its pending lawsuit (0-1); the probability of Forward winning a suit if brought (0-1); the maximum expected settlement if sued (+/-50%); the maximum expected judgment (+/-50%); and the cost of the firm’s research prediction (+/-100%). The torpedo graph below shows that the optimal path is influenced most highly by the probability of 1) Focus winning the pending suit and 2) the probability of Forward winning if sued. Of particular importance is the increase in cost (expected value) based on changes in the probability of the outcome of the pending Focus vs. Discount Software trial. The increase in expected cost to over $6 million indicates that the decision to wait or offer settlement prior to the pending suit’s outcome changed. To determine the point at which the strategy changed base on the probability of the current suit’s outcome, a second sensitivity analysis was performed focusing on this event. The strategy region chart below indicates that the decision to wait or settle now changes if there is a chance great than 67% that Focus will win its pending suit. As there is currently only a 40% chance given to Focus winning its pending trial, the recommended strategy of waiting for the outcome should be followed. (Though Forward should confirm the probabilities assigned to this event.) Do or Don’t Hire a Firm? Should Sam hire this law firm to do a study for the lawsuit and what is the maximum amount of money Sam should pay for the service? Important considerations in determining whether to hire the firm include the value of the information the firm can provide and the cost for this information. To determine the value of the information provided by the firm, expected costs of making the decision with and without the firm’s (free) information must be compared. Without the law firm’s analysis, Forward’s expected cost is $12.1 million. With the firm’s analysis, Forward’s expected cost is reduced to $10.96 million. (This figure assumes the information is provided for free.) The difference in the expected cost with and without the information is $1.14 million. This is the value of the information the firm can provide and is also the maximum amount Forward should pay for the service. If the law firm could accurately predict the outcome of the Forward versus Focus case, how much money can he expect to save? If the firm was able to accurately predict a win or loss, this would be considered perfect information. The expected cost in this case is $9.7 million. The difference between this expected cost and the expected cost of proceeding without the firm’s perfect information ($12.1 million) is $2.4 million. This is the amount Forward could expect to save if the firm was able to accurately predict the outcome of the Forward versus Focus case.

Bee Season

The story of â€Å"Bee Season† is focused on an apparently warm home which will prove to be in fact a mere holding pen for four individuals spinning in completely separate universes. It is the kaleidoscopic portrait of a modern American family whose picture-perfect surface conceals an underlying world of secret turmoil.The focal center of the novel is Eliza Naumann, the nine-year-old student who discovers that she has a talent for competitive spelling. Although the book is set in the competitive world of spelling bees, the contest is just one of the many plot devices in this family drama.On the surface, the Naumann family appears to be ideal – upper middle-class, highly accomplished, deeply spiritual, and seemingly tightly knit. But it will gradually reveal that the picture-perfect family is, in fact, comprised of individuals on disparate (and often desperate) paths toward their own notions of transcendence – quests that lead them to pursue intense and even dange rous spiritual experiences. Eliza's unlikely emergence has the effect of tearing the fragile fabric that has thus far held them together. The plot examines faith, spirituality and what happens to a family's own belief system when changes occur.Eliza was â€Å"a student from whom great things should not be expected†; thus when Eliza is forced to compete in her first spelling bee, she is certain that this event, like so many others, exists only to â€Å"confirm, display or amplify her mediocrity. † Yet when the words start coming, she realizes she can not only spell the words directed at her but, as if by magic, everyone else's words as well. She wins the school's contest, and then a few district and regional ones, before heading to Washington for the national bee.Her father Saul, the cantor at Beth Simcha synagogue, sees Eliza's skills and begins training her for spelling competitions and for greater, more spiritual challenges ahead. Saul's obsessive attention to Eliza comes at the expense of her older brother Aaron, who is being bullied at school and who feels his own religious aspirations, closely modeled on his father's, unfulfilled. Miriam is the Naumann wife and mother, who’s already pronounced remoteness from her husband and children, grows apace while Eliza and Saul are sequestered in his study, poring over dictionaries.Apparently, like most families, the Naumanns seem to have settled comfortably into a routine, each member playing an accepted role in the day-to-day family drama. Saul is the family anchor, preparing the meals, running the household, and nurturing his son Aaron's interest in Judaism. Miriam, a brilliant high-powered lawyer, with a voracious intellect and a compulsion toward order slips easily into the role of wage-earner, happy to leave the emotional demands of family life and parenting to her husband. Aaron is the smart, socially isolated, and physically awkward teenager who thrives under his father's attention.Amid this dazzling display of intellectual power and intensity, Eliza, an unremarkable student, is resigned to remaining in the shadows. She's among those sad-sack C students who â€Å"never get picked for Student of the Week† and â€Å"never get chased by boys at recess. † While other kids are singled out for gifted-and-talented programs, Eliza is shuffled off into classrooms where the walls are covered with posters of kittens dangling from ropes above slogans like â€Å"Hang in there† and â€Å"If at first you don't succeed. . . .† Even her mother considers her â€Å"a gosling born into a family of ducks.† But her surprising triumph launches Eliza into the spotlight, radically altering the family dynamics. Through her success in the contest she becomes her father’s protege, thus taking the place of her brother, in which point the fragile equilibrium of forces in the family is shattered. The image of perfect consensus is changed as Eliza’ s new discovered talent places her in the center of her father’s preoccupations. It propels her from the ignominy of being an ordinary pupil to the triumph of shining in local, state, and national spelling competitions.Because she can spell — intuitively, hypnotized by the combining and recombining letters — she replaces her older brother Aaron in the attentions of their cantor. In considering the composition of the action, which for much of its part takes place inside the characters' hearts and minds, winning the contest represents the crucial element that triggered the demise of the equilibrium that was apparent in the Naumanns house. By shattering the image of harmony and consensus the proof of parallel existences emerged for each member of the family.Eliza, when replacing her brother in her father’s perception, destroyed the silent consensus that ordered their lives up until then. From that moment, her family would grow apart. Thus, more realities sur face in perceiving her family. The myth of the perfect family falls to pieces. Faced with a sudden change and forced by the circumstances to adapt to the new situation, each of the characters would show that their personality has a three dimensional development. Therefore, each of them is portrayed in three circumstances: in relation with his own self, with his family and in connection to the outside world.In dealing with the new reality, the characters receive a multiple perspective for analysis. On the one hand, there is Miriam, Eliza’s mother. Her character, defined by the three dimensions of her life, seems quite contradictory. In relation to the outside world, she is a brilliant, long hours working lawyer. In a slightly opposing image is her attitude which unfolds in relation with the other members of her family. It is obvious that her children baffle her; she is so uncomfortable with them that when one of them asks her about the boyfriends she'd had before marriage, she blushes.â€Å"She wishes there were a book on the subject, slim as it would be, a ‘Mother's Dating Life' she could substitute for conversation in the tidy manner of ‘Where Do Babies Come From? † In the relationship with Saul she is a complex yet mysteriously troubled wife. She always saw him as the man who talked about fixing the world, â€Å"restore what had been shattered† and she thought he could heal her. Social exchange theory explains the relationship with another person as depending on the perception of the balance between giving and receiving.The fact that Miriam never felt saved by her husband, that her expectations were unanswered and somewhat betrayed can explained the estranged connection and the unspoken sadness between them. She finds Eliza and Saul's shared focus on studying with their father a painful reminder of the connection she once had with her husband and her own parents, who died tragically when she was a young girl. The sudden disco very of her daughter's ability to apply the concentration and the desire for perfection that define her own self-image triggers a flood of contradictory emotions and sends her life spiraling out of control.Always emotionally absent, she falls deeper into her secret life of petty theft, thus revealing her most hidden side. Therefore, a central theme for Miriam becomes the kaleidoscope from her childhood that she brings to Eliza. The kaleidoscope is important to Miriam because it is a device that gathers shards together and no matter their movement, they stay together. When Miriam gives the kaleidoscope to Eliza after the spelling bee she wants to share an important and precious secret of how to survive.Secondly, there is Aaron who is defined through the social relationship as facing typical teenager problems; inside the family his father’s attention is a guiding light in his pursuit of becoming an eminent rabbi. When this place is taken by Eliza and he is exiled from his fathe r's inner sanctum of Jewish music and Hebrew learning, he seeks out other forms of spirituality than the Naumanns' Judaism. Formerly his father's assistant at the synagogue, he comes to see the family as an encumbrance for reaching perfection.Exploring his spiritual needs he hungers for his own means of transcendence and he finds a community of Hare Krishnas, who’s chanting, rituals, and self-abnegation appeal to his need for a warm community, near to God and thus detaching himself from the family. Yet, the center element of the novel is the developing relation between Elisa and her father. At a first glace, Saul is the distracted father, who spends most of his time in his study, researching forms of Jewish mysticism and worrying about the transcendence he'll never achieve.His relationship with his daughter was mostly based on her achievements at school and the image depicted by those, therefore he could not have taken her into consideration, as â€Å"he only learns of his d aughter's exclusion through one of his congregants who, after Shabbat services, announces loudly enough for the people on the other side of the cookie table to overhear that her son has been identified as Talented and Gifted†. Thus, his attention was focused on Aaron because â€Å"Eliza hasn't tendered Saul the congratulatory note Aaron delivered at her age, the one that made Saul feel like a sweepstakes winner†.But when Elisa wins the spelling bee, he begins to take notice of her. Motivating her talent as having religious connections, Saul sees something Kabbalistic in the way Eliza can intuit spelling words by having the letters fall into place all on their own — a hint of a talent far beyond his own abilities. As they practice together for the national spelling competition, he leads her carefully through an old Jewish mystical text and toward a state of biblioglossic transcendence in which the alphabet begins to crack open and reveal a hint of the light of God .He feels that Eliza is breaking through the illusion of reality and getting closer to God – something he has wanted to do all his life. He begins to see Eliza as able to fulfill his own dreams of transcendence. The scenes with Eliza and the Abulafia exercises in the reading room were compelling for showing the crossing form the family perspective in which Saul is just happy father to a superior one in which he is trying to take Eliza into his personal spiritual quest. Their relationship transcends the ordinary world. He wants to be her spiritual teacher, but he doesn't see the effect on her and the family.Throughout the novel, he sees his family as a means of achieving a higher goal, of transcendence to a superior apprehension of the world. And he sees this possibility first in Aaron, then in Eliza, whom he considers to be â€Å"pretty special†. In their house of closed doors, Eliza pursues her father's tutorials, as he directs her study for the spelling bees. First d ictionaries, then incantatory repetitions of letters and combinations of letters, then initiation into the meditation of the medieval mystic Abraham Abulafia:â€Å"Letters,† Saul says. â€Å"Abulafia believed that, by concentrating on letters, the mind could loose itself from its shackles to commune with a presence greater than itself. â€Å"Do you mean,† Eliza whispers, â€Å"that I'll be able to talk to God? † (pp. 172-73) She masters the techniques of mystic concentration: â€Å"She could feel the different vowels in her marrow, her bones chimes through which the letters blew† (p. 190). Then she surpasses her father's knowledge.Alone with Abulafia she experiences a religious ecstasy that rips through her body and mind, with visions, pain, â€Å"crawling Sects and crashing waves† (p. 268), her own disembodied voice, â€Å"infinite human and animal possibilities† (p. 269). Possibly, she sees God: â€Å"the shape's face is every face ever formed† (p. 269); she feels herself disintegrate and return anew. In fact, the experience is for her a try to find a new place in the world, one which leads away both from the front stage reality of the spelling bees contests and from the hidden, back stage of his father’s personal quest.In uniting the contemporary realistic tradition in which â€Å"Bee Season† is written-the tangible world of cereal boxes, grade school hallways, kaleidoscopes, Friday night synagogue services-with an ancient discipline derived from wonder and longing for God, Goldberg has painted a original picture of the particular unhappiness experienced by one family as a result of resistance to change. Bibliography Goldberg, Myla. Bee Season. New York: Anchor, 2001.

Eddie loves Catherine Essay

The reason why Eddie loved Catherine so much is because she knew everything about him and had the qualities that Eddie liked. Eddie treated her like a child because he did not want he to realise that she was growing up. Eddie liked this because he could have control over her. At this point this is when the audience realises that Eddie has no hopes except from the hopes of having a woman he can never have. The audience may think that Eddie is selfish because he will not let Catherine lead her own life. By looking at the way eddies personality changes I think that he is having a mid-life crisis. There are different types of relationships in the play: The relationship with Eddie and Catherine is incestuous love. The relationship between Beatrice and Eddie is platonic love. The relationship between Rodolpho and Eddie is they are like rivals trying to get Catherine. The relationship between Marco and Eddie is hatred. The relationship between Alfieri and Eddie that Alfieri is eddies lawyer. I feel that Catherine is partly to blame because she knew everything about Eddie and so she should have realised his feeling to wards her. Also she should have not acted like a child all the time allowing Eddie to have control over her. I feel sorry for Marco because he is a good person trying to give his family a good future but Eddie destroys his plans. I also feel sorry for Rodolpho because he done what everyone does, falls in love. We can tell that he is a good person because he tries to make up with Eddie. I think Beatrice has no self-esteem because she does everything that Eddie tells her and does not stick up for herself. I think that Eddie is helpless. He is obsessed with work and I think that he has no future. I think that because he did not get his only hope that he did not mind dying. I do not feel sorry for Eddie dying because he is a back stabber and should not of done what he done. I think that he is very over protective and over reacted when he found out that Catherine was in love. The audiences’ reaction might be different to mine but I was shocked when Marco killed Eddie because I thought that it might have been Rodolpho that killed him because of all the things that Eddie done to him.

Auditing Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The CPA Profession 2-1The four major services that CPAs provide are: 1. Audit and assurance services Assurance services are independent professional services that improve the quality of information for decision makers. Assurance services include attestation services, which are any services in which the CPA firm issues a report that expresses a conclusion about the reliability of an assertion that is the responsibility of another party. The four categories of attestation services are audits of historical financial statements, attestation on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, reviews of historical financial statements, and other attestation services. 2. Accounting and bookkeeping services Accounting services involve preparing the clients financial statements from the clients records. Bookkeeping services include the preparation of the clients journals and ledgers as well as financial statements. 3. Tax services Tax services include preparation of corporate, individual, and estate returns as well as tax planning assistance. . Management consulting services These services range from suggestions to improve the clients accounting system to computer installations. 2-2The major characteristics of CPA firms that permit them to fulfill their social function competently and independently are: 1. Organizational form A CPA firm exists as a separate entity to avoid an employer-employee relationship with its clients. The CPA firm employs a professional staff of sufficient size to prevent one client from constituting a significant portion of total income and thereby endangering the firms independence. 2. Conduct A CPA firm employs a professional staff of sufficient size to provide a broad range of expertise, continuing education, and promotion of a professional independent attitude and competence. 3. Peer review This practice evaluates the performance of CPA firms in an attempt to keep competence high. 2-3The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board provides oversight for auditors of public companies, including establishing auditing and quality control standards for public company audits, and performing inspections of the quality controls at audit firms performing those audits. -4The purpose of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to assist in providing investors with reliable information upon which to make investment decisions. Since most reasonably large CPA firms have clients that must file reports with the SEC each year (all companies filing registration statements under the securities acts of l933 and l934 must file audited financial statements and other reports with the S EC at least once each year), the profession is highly involved with the SEC requirements. The SEC has considerable influence in setting generally accepted accounting principles and disclosure requirements for financial statements because of its authority for specifying reporting requirements considered necessary for fair disclosure to investors. In addition, the SEC has power to establish rules for any CPA associated with audited financial statements submitted to the Commission. 2-5The AICPA is the organization that sets professional requirements for CPAs. The AICPA also conducts research and publishes materials on many different subjects related to accounting, auditing, management advisory services, and taxes. The organization also prepares and grades the CPA examinations, provides continuing education to its members, and develops specialty designations to help market and assure the quality of services in specialized practice areas. 2-6Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements provide a framework for attest engagements, including detailed standards for specific types of attestation engagements. -7The PCAOB has responsibility for establishing auditing standards for public companies, while the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) of the AICPA establishes auditing standards for private companies. The ASB previously had responsibility for establishing auditing standards for both public and private companies. Existing auditing standards were adopted by the PCAOB as interim auditing standards for public company audits. 2-8Generally acce pted auditing standards are ten general guidelines to aid auditors in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. These guidelines include three general standards concerned with competence, independence, and due professional care; three standards of field work including planning and supervision, understanding the entity and its environment, including its internal control, and the gathering of sufficient appropriate evidence; and four standards of reporting, which require a statement as to presentation in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, inconsistency observed in the current period in relation to the preceding period, adequate disclosure, and the expression of an opinion as to the fairness of the presentation of the financial statements. Generally accepted accounting principles are specific rules for accounting for transactions occurring in a business enterprise. Examples may be any of the opinions of the FASB. 2-9Auditors can obtain adequate technical training and proficiency through formal education in auditing and accounting, adequate practical experience, and continuing professional education. Auditors can demonstrate their proficiency by becoming licensed to practice as CPAs, which requires successful completion of the Uniform CPA Examination. The specific requirements for licensure vary from state to state. 2-10For the most part, generally accepted auditing standards are general rather than specific. Many practitioners along with critics of the profession believe the standards should provide more clearly defined guidelines as an aid in determining the extent of evidence to be accumulated. This would eliminate some of the difficult audit decisions and provide a source of defense if the CPA is charged with conducting an inadequate audit. On the other hand, highly specific requirements could turn auditing into mechanical evidence gathering, void of professional judgment. From the point of view of both the profession and the users of auditing services, there is probably a greater harm from defining authoritative guidelines too specifically than too broadly. -11International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) are issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). ISAs are designed to improve the uniformity of auditing practices and related services throughout the world by issuing pronouncements on a variety of au dit and attest functions and promoting their acceptance worldwide. A CPA who conducts an audit in accordance with GAAS may not comply with ISAs because there may be additional ISA requirements that extend beyond GAAS requirements. 2-12Quality controls are the procedures used by a CPA firm that help it meet its professional responsibilities to clients. Quality controls are therefore established for the entire CPA firm as opposed to individual engagements. 2-13The element of quality control is personnel management. The purpose of the requirement is to help assure CPA firms that all new personnel are qualified to perform their work competently. A CPA firm must have competent employees conducting the audits if quality audits are to occur. 2-14A peer review is a review, by CPAs, of a CPA firms compliance with its quality control system. A mandatory peer review means that such a review is required periodically. AICPA member firms are required to have a peer review every three years. Registered firms with the PCAOB are subject to quality inspections. These are different than peer reviews because they are performed by independent inspection teams rather than another CPA firm. Peer reviews can be beneficial to the profession and to individual firms. By helping firms meet quality control standards, the profession gains if reviews result in practitioners doing higher quality audits. A firm having a peer review can also gain if it improves the firms practices and thereby enhances its reputation and effectiveness, and reduces the likelihood of lawsuits. Of course peer reviews are costly. There is always a trade-off between cost and benefits. 2-15Firms may belong to Center for Audit Quality and the Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) Firm Practice Center. The mission of the Center for Audit Quality is to foster confidence in the audit process and to aid investors and the capital markets by advancing constructive suggestions for change rooted in the profession’s core values of integrity, objectivity, honesty and trust. The PCPS Firm Practice Center provides practice management resources for firms of all sizes. In addition to these resource centers, the AICPA also provides the Governmental Audit Quality Center and Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center to provide resources for performing quality audits in these unique and complex audit areas. 2-16a. (1)b. (2)c. (3)d. (3) 2-17a. (2)b. (1)c. (2)d. (3) 2-18a. The comments summarize the beliefs of many practitioners about the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and the PCAOB. The arguments against the Act can be summarized as four arguments: 1. Costs of complying with the Act are excessively high, especially the requirement to report on internal control over financial reporting, and will discourage companies from becoming public companies. 2. Relative cost for local audit firms is excessively high. 3. Additional oversight is not needed because sufficient quality controls have already been implemented by most audit firms. 4. Three other things already provide assurance of adequate quality: a competitive economic environment, legal liability, and auditing standards. To support these comments, it can be argued that the profession has generally functioned well with relatively little controversy and criticism. The arguments against these comments are primarily as follows: 1. Reporting on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting will provide benefits in improved controls, resulting in higher quality financial reporting and reduced losses from fraud. 2. The increased confidence in financial reporting will increase access to capital and lower the cost of capital by reducing information risk. 2-18 (continued) 3. Changes in the scope of CPA practices and other threats to audit quality required government regulation. 4. Regulation of public company audits will not affect most audit firms that do not have public company audit clients. b. There is no correct answer to this question. Different people reach different conclusions, depending on the weights put on the various arguments. Time is needed to effectively assess both the costs and benefits of the Act. 2-19a. Engagement performance . Human resources c. Engagement performance d. Engagement performance e. Relevant ethical requirements f. Monitoring g. Acceptance and continuation of clien ts and engagements h. Human resources i. Human resources j. Leadership responsibilities 2-20a. Rossi and Montgomerys primary ethical consideration is their professional competence to perform all of the audit work for filing with the SEC. In addition, if Rossi and Montgomery have performed bookkeeping services or certain consulting services for Mobile Home, they will not be independent under PCAOB and SEC independence requirements. The firm must also be a registered firm with the PCAOB. b. The filing with the SEC, in addition to normal audited financial statements, will require completion and registration with the SEC of Form S-1 which includes an audited summary of operations for the last five fiscal years as well as many additional schedules and descriptions of the business. Each quarter subsequent to the filing, Form 10-Q must be filed; and within 90 days of the end of each fiscal year Form 10-K must be filed with the SEC. In addition, Form 8-K must be filed whenever significant events have occurred which are of interest to public investors. These forms must be filed in conformity with Regulation S-X, which requires considerable disclosures in addition to those normally required in audited financial statements. 2-21 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF GAAS |HOLMES ACTIONS RESULTING IN FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH GAAS | |GENERAL STANDARDS | | |The auditor must have adequate technical training and |It was inappropriate for Holmes to hire the two students to conduct | |proficiency to per form the audit. |the audit. The audit must be conducted by persons with proper | | |education and experience in the field of auditing. Although a junior | | |assistant has not completed his formal education, he may help in the | | |conduct of the audit as long as there is proper supervision and | | |review. |The auditor must maintain independence in mental attitude|To satisfy the second general standard, Holmes must be without bias | |in all matters relating to the audit. |with respect to the client under audit. Holmes has an obligation for | | |fairness to the owners, management, and creditors who may rely on the | | |report. Because of the financial interest in whether the bank loan is | | |granted to Ray, Holmes is independent in neither fact nor appearance | | |with respect to the assignment undertaken. |The auditor must exercise due professional care in the |This standard requires Holmes to perform the audit with due care, | |performance of the audit and the preparation of the |which imposes on Holmes and everyone in Holmes organization a | |report. |responsibility to observe the standards of field work and reporting. | | |Exercise of due care requires critical review at every level of | | |supervision of the work done and the judgments exercised by those | | |assisting in the audit. Holmes did not review the work or the | | |judgments of the assistants and clearly failed to adhere to this | | |standard. | 2-21 (continued) |BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF GAAS |HOLMES ACTIONS RESULTING IN FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH GAAS | |STANDARDS OF FIELD WORK | | |The auditor must adequately plan the work and must |This standard recognizes that early appointment of the auditor has | |properly supervise any assistants. advantages for the auditor and the client. Holmes accepted the | | |engagement without considering the availability of competent staff. In| | |addition, Holmes failed to supervise the assistants. The work | | |performed was not adequately planned. | |The auditor must obtain a sufficient understanding of the|Holmes did not obtain an understanding of the entity or its internal | |entity and its environment, including its internal |control, nor did the assistants obtain such an understanding. There | |control, to assess the risk of material misstatement of |appears to have been no audit at all. The work performed was more an | |the financial statements whether due to error or fraud, |accounting service than it was an auditing service. | |and to design the nature, timing, and extent of further | | |audit procedures. | | |The auditor must obtain sufficient appropriate audit |Holmes acquired no evidence that would support the financial | |evidence by performing audit procedures to afford a |statements. Holmes merely checked the mathematical accuracy of the | |reasonable basis for an opinion regarding the financial |records and summarized the accounts. Standard audit procedures and | |statements under audit. |techniques were not performed. | |STANDARDS OF REPORTING | | |The auditor must state in the auditor’s report whether |Holmes report made no reference to generally accepted accounting | |the financial statements are presented in accordance with|principles. Because Holmes did not conduct a proper audit, the report | |generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). should state that no opinion can be expressed as to the fair | | |presentation of the financial statements in accordance with generally | | |accepted accounting principles. | 2-21 (continued) |BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF GAAS |HOLMES ACTIONS RESULTING IN FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH GAAS | |The auditor must identify in the auditor’s report those |Holmes improper audit would not enable him to determine whether | |circ umstances in which such principles have not been |generally accepted accounting principles were consistently applied. |consistently observed in the current period in relation |Holmes report should make no reference to the consistent application | |to the preceding period. |of accounting principles. | |When the auditor determines that informative disclosures |Management is primarily responsible for adequate disclosures in the | |are not reasonably adequate, the auditor must so state in|financial statements, but when the statements do not contain adequate | |the auditor’s report. |disclosures the auditor should make such disclosures in the auditors | | |report. In this case both the statements and the auditors report lack| | |adequate disclosures. |The auditor must either express an opinion regarding the |Although the Holmes report contains an expression of opinion, such | |financial statements, taken as a whole, or state that an |opinion is not based on the results of a proper audit. Holmes should | |opinion cannot be expressed, in the auditor’s report. |disclaim an opinion because he failed to conduct an audit in | |When the auditor cannot express an overall opinion, the |accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. | |auditor should state the reasons therefor in the | | |auditor’s report. In all cases where an auditors name is| | |associated with financial statements, the auditor should | | |clearly indicate the character of the auditors work, if | | |any, and the degree of responsibility the auditor is | | |taking, in the auditor’s report. | | 2-22a. International auditing standards. b. PCAOB auditing standards. c. PCAOB auditing standards (reporting in the U. K. will be under international auditing standards). d. Generally accepted auditing standards. e. International auditing standards. f. PCAOB auditing standards (due to the publicly-traded debt). 2-1International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) are issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB (http://www. ifac. org/IAASB/). Visit the IAASB’s website to answer the following questions: 1. What is the primary objective of the IAASB? Answer: The objective of the IAASB is to serve the public interest by setting high-quality auditing and assurance standards and by facilitating the convergence of international and national standards, thereby enhancing the quality and uniformity of practice throughout the world and strengthening public confidence in the global auditing and assurance profession. International Standards on Auditing (ISA) are used by auditors in countries that have adopted ISAs as their auditing standards. 2. What is the IAASB’s due process that it follows when setting standards? Answer: The IAASB follows a due process in setting standards. The standards-setting Public Interest Activity Committees (PIAC) identify new projects based on review of international developments and consultation with the Public Interest Oversight Board. †¢ The project may be assigned to a task force, which considers whether to hold a public forum or roundtable. †¢ Dra ft pronouncements are exposed for a minimum of 90 days. †¢ The task force considers all comments and whether re-exposure is needed. †¢ The PIAC votes on the approval or withdrawal of the pronouncement. Affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members, but not less than 12, is required to approve an exposure draft. Internet Problem 2-1 (continued) 3. The IAASB is committed to transparency. How does the IAASB make public information related to standards setting activities? Answer: The IAASB is committed to transparency. Where practicable, meetings are broadcast over the Internet or recorded. Meeting agendas and minutes are published on the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) website. All exposure drafts are subject to public exposure for a minimum of 90 days. (Note: Internet problems address current issues using Internet sources. Because Internet sites are subject to change, Internet problems and solutions may change. Current information on Internet problems is available at www. pearsonhighered. com/arens).