The Aicpa Code Of Professional Conduct Indicates That Threats To Independence Accounting Essay

The Aicpa Code Of Professional Conduct Indicates That Threats To Independence Accounting Essay According to Auditing and Assurance Services (2011), the general purpose of Rule 101, Independence, is that a member in public practice shall be independent in the performance of professional services as required by standards promulgated by bodies designated by Council. Rule 101 relates primarily to audit and attest engagements. Auditing and Assurance Services (2011) states that auditors should preserve independence, the mental attitude and appearance that auditors are not influenced by others in making judgments and decisions, by a) avoiding financial connections that appear that the auditors wealth depends on the outcome of the audit and b) avoiding managerial connections that make it appear that the auditors are involved in management decisions for the audit client (thus auditing their own work). Auditing and Assurance Services (2011) further states that covered members (in a position to influence can attest engagement) are prohibited from having any financial interest in clients that could affect their audit judgment (independence in fact) or would appear to others to have an influence on their judgment (independence in appearance). In addition, immediate family members are under the same restrictions as the auditor. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct has the following guidelines in regards to covered members: A covered member cannot: Have a direct financial interest in a client Have a material indirect financial interest in a client Be a trustee or administrator of an estate that has a direct or material indirect financial interest in a client. Have a joint investment with a client that is material to the covered member. Have a loan to or from a client, any officer of the client, or any individual owning more than 10 percent of the client (except as specifically described in interpretation 101-5). Participate on an attest engagement if they were formally employed by the client in a position to influence the audit or acted as an officer, director, promoter, underwriter, or trustee of a pension or profit-sharing trust of the client. A covered members immediate family cannot: Have a direct financial interest in a client. Have a material indirect financial interest in a client. A covered members close relatives cannot: Have a key position with a client Have a material financial interest in a client that is known to the covered member. Have a financial interest in a client that allows the relative to have a significant influence in a client. Be in a position to influence the audit. A partner or professional employee cannot: Be associated with a client as a director, officer, employee, promoter, underwriter, voting trustee, or trustee of a pension or profit-sharing trust of the client. The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) has a three step risk-based approach to evaluate whether a practice or relationship poses an unacceptable risk to CPAs independence. The steps are: 1) Identifying and evaluating threats to independence; 2) Determining whether safeguards eliminate or sufficiently mitigate the identified threats; 3) Determining whether independence is impaired. (Auditing Assurance Services (2010)). The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct indicates that threats to independence include: Familiarity threat CPAs having a close or longstanding relationship with a client. Adverse interest threat CPAs acting in opposition to clients Undue influence threat Attempts to coerce or otherwise influence the CPA member Self-review threat CPAs reviewing their own work Financial self-interest threat CPAs having a financial relationship with a client Management participation threat CPAs taking on the role of client management or otherwise performing management functions Advocacy threat CPAs promoting a clients interest or position. According to Auditing and Assurance Services (2011), the general purpose of Rule 102, Integrity and Objectivity, states in the performance of any professional service, a member shall maintain objectivity and integrity, shall be free of conflicts of interest, and shall not knowingly misrepresent facts or subordinate his or her judgment to others. Accounting and Assurance Services (2011) states that Rule 102 applies not only to CPAs in public practice but also to CPAs working in government and industry. The rule requires integrity and objectivity in all types of professional work tax practice and consulting practice as well as audit practice for public accountants and all types of accounting work performed by CPAs employed in corporations, not for profit organizations, governments, and individual practices. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct indicates that in addition to integrity and objectivity, Rule 102 emphasizes 1) being free from conflicts of interest between CPAs and others; 2) representing facts truthfully in reports and discussions; 3) not letting other people dictate or influence the CPAs judgment and professional decisions. Conflicts of interest cited in Rule 102 refer to the need to avoid having business interests in which the accountants personal financial relationships or the accountants relationships with other clients might tempt the accountant to fail to serve the best interests of a client or the public that uses the results of the engagement. The phases shall not knowingly misrepresent facts (Interpretation 102-1) and shall not subordinate his or her judgment to others (Interpretation 102-4) from the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct emphasizes conditions people ordinarily identify with the concepts of integrity and objectivity. The prohibition of misrepresentations in financial statements (Interpretation 102-1) applies to the management accountants who prepare companies statements. Government and industry CPAs should not subordinate their professional judgment to superiors who try to produce materially misleading financial statements and fool their external auditors per Auditing Assurance Services (2011). In addition, government and industry CPAs must be candid and not knowingly misrepresent facts or fail to disclose material facts when dealing with their employers external au ditor. Government and industry CPAs cannot have conflicts of interest in their jobs and their outside business interests that are not disclosed to their employers and approved. Rule 102 has two other applications according to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. One concerns serving a client advocate (Interpretation 102-6), which occurs frequently in taxation and rate regulation practice and in supporting clients positions in FASB and SEC proceedings. Client advocacy in support or advancement of client positions is acceptance only so long as the member acts with integrity, maintains objectivity, and does not subordinate judgment to others. The other application is directed specifically to professors. They are supposed to maintain integrity and objectivity, be free of conflicts of interest, and not knowingly misrepresent facts to students (Interpretation 102-5). What do you see as the significance of this section for accountants? Integrity is one of the essential pillars of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct describes the  accounting professions public as consisting of clients, credit grantors, governments, employers, investors, the  business  and financial community, and others who rely on the objectivity and integrity of CPAs to maintain the orderly functioning of commerce. A distinguishing mark of the accounting profession is acceptance of its responsibility to honor the public trust. Lenders, investors, government agencies, and other members of the business community rely on the integrity of certified public accountants to help preserve the proper functioning of commercial activities. (Integrity: Still a Hallmark of the Public Accounting Profession? (n.d.)) Active and aspiring public accountants ought to embrace the obligation to act in a way that warrants the faith that the entire public reposes in the work they do or will do. Accountants must remain free from conflicts of interest and other questionable business relationships when conducting accounting services. Failure to remain objective and independent may hamper an accountants ability to provide an honest opinion about a companys financial information. There is a clear directive in the principle: Service and the public trust should not be subordinated to personal gain and advantage. (On Integrity, (n.d.)) Integrity and ethics in the accounting industry came to the forefront during the accounting scandals of 2001. Several major publicly held companies, such as Enron, committed serious accounting fraud that misled employees and the general public about each companys financial health. Upon investigating, government regulators found inappropriate relationships between auditors and their clients. Auditors gave management advice on accounting procedures and conducted external audits, resulting in a lack of independence. Accountants from these firms also engaged in unethical behavior by manipulating accounting information. (Integrity Ethics in the Accounting Industry (n.d.)) Per the AICPA: Failure to follow rules of conduct can result in expulsion from the AICPA. This by itself does not prevent a CPA from practicing public accounting, but it certainly is a weighty social sanction. All expulsions from the AICPA for a violation of the rules are published in the CPA Newsletter, a publication that is sent out to all AICPA members, and in The Wall Street Journal. Where do you see situations in an accounting practice that would make the contents of this section particularly relevant? Offer examples of such situations. Independence: Applying the independence rules for an audit: The people who are prohibited from having financial and managerial relationships with the client are the audit engagement team, the people in the chain of command, the covered persons in the public accounting firm, close family members, and immediate family members. (Auditing Assurance Services (n.d.)). Integrity and Objectivity: Assume that an auditor believes that accounts receivable may not be collectible but accepts managements opinion without an independent evaluation of collectability. The auditor has subordinated his or her judgment and thereby lacks objectivity. Now assume that a CPA is preparing the tax return for a client, and as a client advocate, encourages the client to take a deduction on the returns that the CPA believes is valid, but for which there is some but not complete support. This is not a violation of either objectivity or integrity, because it is acceptable for the CPA to be a client advocate in tax and management services. If the CPA encourages the client to take a deduction for which there is no support but has little chance of discovery by the IRS, a violation has occurred. That is a misrepresentation of the facts; therefore, the integrity of the CPA has been impaired. In regards to freedom from conflicts of interest, it means the absence of relationships that might interfere with objectivity and integrity (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). For example, it would be inappropriate for an auditor who is also an attorney to represent a client in legal matters. The attorney is an advocate for the client, whereas the auditor must be impartial. Apparent conflicts of interest may not be a violation of the rules of conduct if the information is disclosed to the members client or employer (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). For example, if a partner of a CPA firm recommends that a client have the security of its Internet website evaluated by a technology consulting firm that is owned by the partners spouse, a conflict of interest may appear to exist. No violation of Rule 102 occurs if the partner informs the clients management of the relationship and management proceeded with the evaluation of that knowledge (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). Examples of conflict of interest per Auditing Assurance Services (n.d.): CPA is engaged to perform litigation support services for a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against a client CPA is in a personal financial planning engagement, recommends client investment in business in which the CPA has a financial interest. CPA provides tax services for several members of a family who have opposing interests. CPA performs management consulting for a client and has a financial or managerial interest in a major competitor. CPA serves on a city board of tax appeals, which hears matters involving clients. CPA refers a tax client to an insurance broker, who refers clients to the CPA under an exclusive agreement. CPA charges a contingent fee to a client for expert witness litigation support services when the fee can be affected by the opinion the CPA expresses. Offer a list of five sources that you intend to consult in researching your choice. You may include resources on the AICPA website besides the section of the code you have chosen, but only list the AICPA website as one of your five sources. I plan on searching the numerous articles located on the following websites: AICPA.com CPAJournal.com NYSSCPA.org AccountingWeb.com WSJ.com AccountingToday.com In addition, I will be utilizing the NEC library online and also my textbooks from my prior NEC courses. The Auditing Assurance textbook used as a reference in this paper is from the NEC auditing course.

Comparing Two Definitions of Home :: Compare Contrast Comparison

Comparing Two Definitions of Home For each person, home has a different meaning. For some, it is their house; for others, home focuses on where loved ones are. The two authors Richard Ford and Chang-Rae Lee consider home to be where the memories are. In their respective works, â€Å"I Must Be Going† and â€Å"Coming Home Again,† the authors explore home through memories. Ford’s memories are based on moving to new homes, while Lee’s memories are focused on his mother and cooking. Each, in turn, finds out what home means for himself. In Ford’s work, he explores how the idea that â€Å"transient is a word of reproach† (Ford 110), a stereotype which he does not agree with. Many people consider people who move often to have shallow roots. People with little foundation are suspicious to lengthy residents. In his life, he has moved roughly twenty times, but he does not â€Å"concede their establishment is any more established than† (110) his own. To Ford, home is all of the memories; physical location is irrelevant. He moves so often because â€Å"longing’s at the heart of it† (109). He has been longing to see the outside world. As a kid, he noted â€Å"that the world outside †¦ was the more magical, exotic place† (109-110) than his hometown. Remembering when he once owned a home, he felt so trapped. In a drunken rage, he flung paint on everything on a lower level. This shows that Ford has a strong need of personal freedom to move. He wants to control his own destiny, concluding that any of his problems are therefore â€Å"on [his] bill, not theirs† (111). Ford feels that â€Å"memory always needs replenishing† (110) and he does so by constantly moving from place to place. Ford questions the American southerner tradition that home is â€Å"supposed to hold† (110) Southerners to their houses and land. Ford feels differently about home: â€Å"home – real home – the important place that holds you, always meant that: affection, love† (110). For him, home is the pleasant memories he holds. Comparing Two Definitions of Home :: Compare Contrast Comparison Comparing Two Definitions of Home For each person, home has a different meaning. For some, it is their house; for others, home focuses on where loved ones are. The two authors Richard Ford and Chang-Rae Lee consider home to be where the memories are. In their respective works, â€Å"I Must Be Going† and â€Å"Coming Home Again,† the authors explore home through memories. Ford’s memories are based on moving to new homes, while Lee’s memories are focused on his mother and cooking. Each, in turn, finds out what home means for himself. In Ford’s work, he explores how the idea that â€Å"transient is a word of reproach† (Ford 110), a stereotype which he does not agree with. Many people consider people who move often to have shallow roots. People with little foundation are suspicious to lengthy residents. In his life, he has moved roughly twenty times, but he does not â€Å"concede their establishment is any more established than† (110) his own. To Ford, home is all of the memories; physical location is irrelevant. He moves so often because â€Å"longing’s at the heart of it† (109). He has been longing to see the outside world. As a kid, he noted â€Å"that the world outside †¦ was the more magical, exotic place† (109-110) than his hometown. Remembering when he once owned a home, he felt so trapped. In a drunken rage, he flung paint on everything on a lower level. This shows that Ford has a strong need of personal freedom to move. He wants to control his own destiny, concluding that any of his problems are therefore â€Å"on [his] bill, not theirs† (111). Ford feels that â€Å"memory always needs replenishing† (110) and he does so by constantly moving from place to place. Ford questions the American southerner tradition that home is â€Å"supposed to hold† (110) Southerners to their houses and land. Ford feels differently about home: â€Å"home – real home – the important place that holds you, always meant that: affection, love† (110). For him, home is the pleasant memories he holds.

Big business affects television ethics Essay

Today, a child watches television twenty to thirty hours a week and an adult is close to this number. Television is one of the most patronized media. Almost every house in the world has a television. This kind of media instrument is an avenue for people to be connected to the outside. It also enables people to be acquainted with products in the market. â€Å"Television ethics are derived from early professional codes of broadcasting that began in the late 1920s and are grounded in problems and issues identified in early radio. For television these ethical systems came into their own and grew rapidly, in conjunction with the development of the new medium, during the 1960s. But they now no longer exist as they once did. † (NBC, 1929) With the dominance of television in people’s lives, most companies use this as a tool to advertise their own products. We can see different products in different television programs being endorsed. Products that are being endorsed ranges from children to adults’ needs. We can see commercials of milk for children, liquor for adults and more. Anything that can pay to a television network for advertisements are seen on television, almost everyday. Even big business such as the war in Iraq is hounding journalists of their ethical practice. â€Å"The war in Iraq provided particularly difficult ethical challenges. Embedded journalists were scrutinized for their ability to report with independence. And their news organizations were tested — and often criticized — for their degree of either patriotic support or rigorous scrutiny of our government. † (Steele, 2004) Television stations depend their airtime life to advertisements. It is through paid advertisements that a television station is most likely to get their income. Without paid advertisements, a television station will collapse because it is truly expensive to maintain a station to stay on air. A station has a lot of people to be paid for their services and has a lot of machineries to maintain. Big companies affect television ethics. The money a company is willing to give in order to advertise their product is one factor to contend with. It has been estimated that a 30-second national TV commercial average cost is nearly $350,000. This is a cost that a small business cannot afford. In some cases, big companies are willing to pay larger amounts than the $350,000 just for their product to be aired on a particular station. This was simpler in the past decades. â€Å"Business news became of general public significance beginning in ? the late 1960s and early 1970s. Such newly emergent issues as equal ? opportunity, consumerism, and environmentalism brought business to the front page but often in a way that made it appear to be a ? major obstacle to progress. Add to this the seemingly endless economic problems of the 1970s–skyrocketing oil prices, recession, ?unemployment, inflation–and business news coverage seemed to ? many business executives as hostile, indeed. Faced with such accusations from business, reporters, for the most part, responded that ? they were not hostile toward business but simply reporting events as they see it. † (Evans, 1987) With the overwhelming amount at stake, most television stations do not care about the product they will advertise. This scenario is not only seen in the relationship of companies and television stations but even in the relationship of websites, radios, and other media types to the business world. With the power of money, television stations become apathetic to the content of the product a company will advertise. Television stations become blinded of the fact that their viewers are not only adults but most are children. They don’t mind the outcome of an advertisement and they don’t mind how it will influence the people specially the children. As long as the pay is good, an advertisement will surely be seen on air. We see almost all themes of life if not all in television today. We can see love, family, church, and even violence. This only says that television stations do not really have a clear censor rule regarding what to air and how to air or they are just being insensitive to the ethical demands of the public because of the money at stake in advertising. Wherever we go, we cannot do away from the reality that money rules almost everything. Even in different fields of life such as politics and education, money is the determining factor. If a politician has a lot of money, he or she will probably win. If a person is wealthy, most probably, he or she will have a greater education program. Indeed, big business affects television ethics. Television stations lives and continue to live because of paid advertisements. Big businesses continue to pay large amount of money for their products to be advertised. Connecting the two realities, we can say that because big businesses pays big on advertisements and television stations live because of paid advertisements, television ethics is affected. Most television stations do not care about ethics anymore. All they care is for their station to profit and to stay on air.

Metamorphic Facies Defined and Explained

Metamorphic Facies Defined and Explained As metamorphic rocks change under heat and pressure, their ingredients recombine into new minerals that are suited to the conditions. The concept of metamorphic facies is a systematic way to look at the mineral assemblages in rocks and determine a potential range of pressure and temperature (P/T) conditions that were present when they formed.   It should be noted that metamorphic facies are different than sedimentary facies, which include the environmental conditions present during deposition. Sedimentary facies can be further divided into lithofacies, which focus on a rocks physical characteristics, and biofacies, which focus on the paleontological attributes (fossils).   Seven MetamorphicFacies There are seven widely recognized metamorphic facies, ranging from the zeolite facies at low P and T to eclogite at very high P and T. Geologists determine a facies in the lab after examining many specimens under the microscope and doing bulk chemistry analyses. Metamorphic facies is not obvious in a given field specimen. To sum up, a metamorphic facies is the set of minerals found in a rock of a given composition. That mineral suite is taken as a sign of the pressure and temperature that made it. Here are the typical minerals in rocks that are derived from sediments. That is, these will be found in slate, schist and gneiss. The minerals shown in parentheses are optional and dont always appear, but they can be essential for identifying a facies. Zeolite facies: illite/phengite chlorite quartz (kaolinite, paragonite)Prehnite-pumpellyite facies: phengite chlorite quartz (pyrophyllite, paragonite, alkali feldspar, stilpnomelane, lawsonite)Greenschist facies: muscovite chlorite quartz (biotite, alkali feldspar, chloritoid, paragonite, albite, spessartine)Amphibolite facies: muscovite biotite quartz (garnet, staurolite, kyanite, sillimanite, andalusite, cordierite, chlorite, plagioclase, alkali feldspar)Granulite facies: alkali feldspar plagioclase sillimanite quartz (biotite, garnet, kyanite, cordierite, orthopyroxene, spinel, corundum, sapphirine)Blueschist facies: phengite chlorite quartz (albite, jadeite, lawsonite, garnet, chloritoid, paragonite)Eclogite facies: phengite garnet quartz Mafic rocks (basalt, gabbro, diorite, tonalite etc.) yield a different set of minerals at the same P/T conditions, as follows: Zeolite facies: zeolite chlorite albite quartz (prehnite, analcime, pumpellyite)Prehnite-pumpellyite facies: prehnite pumpellyite chlorite albite quartz (actinolite, stilpnomelane, lawsonite)Greenschist facies: chlorite epidote albite (actinolite, biotite)Amphibolite facies: plagioclase hornblende (epidote, garnet, orthoamphibole, cummingtonite)Granulite facies: orthopyroxene plagioclase (clinopyroxene, hornblende, garnet)Blueschist facies: glaucophane/crossite lawsonite/epidote (pumpellyite, chlorite, garnet, albite, aragonite, phengite, chloritoid, paragonite)Eclogite facies: omphacite garnet rutile Ultramafic rocks (pyroxenite, peridotite etc.) have their own version of these facies: Zeolite facies: lizardite/chrysotile brucite magnetite (chlorite, carbonate)Prehnite-pumpellyite facies: lizardite/chrysotile brucite magnetite (antigorite, chlorite, carbonate, talc, diopside)Greenschist facies: antigorite diopside magnetite (chlorite, brucite, olivine, talc, carbonate)Amphibolite facies: olivine tremolite (antigorite, talc, anthopyllite, cummingtonite, enstatite)Granulite facies: olivine diopside enstatite (spinel, plagioclase)Blueschist facies: antigorite olivine magnetite (chlorite, brucite, talc, diopside)Eclogite facies: olivine Pronunciation: metamorphic FAY-sees or FAY-shees Also Known As: metamorphic grade (partial synonym)

Astronomers Peer Deep into Blobs in Space

Astronomers Peer Deep into Blobs in Space Out in the depths of space, theres a blob that astronomers have been anxious to explain. It wasnt immediately obvious to them why it shined as brightly as it did. The blob (and it really is a blob) is called SSA22-Lyman-alpha-blob and it lies some 11.5 billion years away from us. That means that it looks to us now as it did some 11.5 billion years ago. SSA22-LAB appears to have two giant galaxies at its heart that are bursting with star formation activity. The whole region where this object and its galaxies lies is swarming with smaller galaxies. Clearly, something is going on there, but what?   VLT and ALMA to the Rescue This rare Lyman-alpha Blob is not exactly visible to the naked eye. Thats largely due to distance, but also because the light its emitting is visible to us here on Earth in infrared wavelengths and also in radio frequencies. The name Lyman-alpha-blob tells astronomers that the object originally radiated its light in ultraviolet wavelengths. However, due to the expansion of space, the light is shifted so that its visible in infrared. Its one of the largest of these LABs to be observed. So, astronomers used the European Southern Observatorys  Very Large Telescope Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer to dissect the incoming light for study. They then combined that information with data from the Atacama Large-Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. Together, these two observatories allowed astronomers to peek into the heart of the action at the distant blob in space. Deep imaging with the Hubble Space Telescopes Imaging Spectrograph and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii also helped them refine the view of the blob. The result is an amazingly beautiful view of a blob that existed in the distant past but is still telling us its story today. Whats Happening at SSA22-LAB? It turns out that this blob is one very interesting result of galaxy interactions,  which create ever-larger galaxies. Furthermore, the two embedded galaxies are surrounded by clouds of hydrogen gas. At the same time, they are both cranking out hot young stars at a furious rate. Baby stars emit a lot of ultraviolet light, and that lights up the surrounding clouds. Its like looking at a streetlight on a foggy night - the light from the lamp scatters off the water drops in the fog and it makes a kind of foggy glow around the light. In this case, the light from the stars is scattering off the hydrogen molecules and creating the lyman-alpha blob. Why Is This Discovery so Important? Distant galaxies are extremely interesting to study. In fact, the more distant they are, the more fascinating they get. Thats because very distant galaxies are also very early galaxies. We see them as they were as they were infants. The birth and evolution of galaxies is one of the hottest areas of study in astronomy these days. Astronomers know that it proceeds as smaller galaxies merge together with larger ones. They see galaxy mergers at nearly every part of cosmic history, but the beginnings of those mergers started back 11 to 13 billion years ago. However, the details of all mergers are still being studied, and the results (such as this lovely blob) are often quite a surprise to them. If scientists can get a handle on how galaxies form through collisions and cannibalization, they can understand how these processes worked in the early universe. Whats more, from observing other, newer galaxies that have been through the same process that this LAB galaxy is experiencing, they know that it will result in a giant elliptical galaxy. Along the way, it will collide with more galaxies. Each time, the galaxy interaction will force the creation of countless hot, young massive stars.  These starburst galaxies show prodigious rates of star formation. And, as they evolve and die, they will also change their galaxy - seeding it with more elements and the seeds of future stars and planets. In a sense, looking at SSA22-Lyman-alpha-blog is like looking at the process our own galaxy might have experienced early in its formation. However, the Milky Way didnt end up as an elliptical galaxy in the heart of a cluster as this one will do. Instead, it became a spiral galaxy, home to trillions of stars and many planets. ​In the future, it will merge again, this time with the Andromeda Galaxy. And, when it does that, the combined galaxies will indeed form an elliptical. So, the study of SSA22-LAB is a very important step in understanding the origin and evolution of all galaxies.

Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis Paper - Essay Example Whereas one can easily recognize their neighbor as someone that fits invariably into their everyday life, the individual by means of stereotyping/judgment can equally judge an â€Å"unknown† individual/stranger as a type of individual that they have categorized as a certain type to be avoided. Ahmed notes in her opening paragraph concerning the initial thoughts that go through the mind of the perceiver when faced with a stranger: â€Å"I know you but I don’t want to know you quote† (Ahmed, 21). â€Å"The stranger then is not simply the one we have not encountered – but the one we have encountered and who we have already faced (Ahmed, 21) Thus the term stranger begins to lose a great deal of its conventional meaning and begins to have a second life as a definition of a way in which humans work to compartmentalize their lives. As such, Ahmed further relates that â€Å"strangers† are those individuals that do not fit into the compartmentalized realiti es that we construct around us; thus, since they do not fit, we shun and avoid them and provide them with an â€Å"alien† name to denote the fact that they do not belong to our given construct. For purposes of this analysis, this author has selected the area in and around the first apartment I resided while a university student. Due to the fact that the apartment building was primarily housing for college students, the understanding of what was â€Å"other† and what was a â€Å"stranger† as defined by Ahmed was quite the simple task. In this way, a type of ageism was applied to those that did not fit in and around the area. Oftentimes, what we would deem â€Å"unsavory† people would frequent the area in and around the apartment buildings in an attempt to panhandle the youths due to the fact that they invariably found their naivety an easy target to generate money. Understandably, the student-friendly housing offered student-friendly pricing and was theref ore located directly in between what could be considered a nice part of town and a very economically depressed part of town. In much the same way, Ahmed notes: â€Å"To recognize means to know again, to acknowledge and to admit. How do we know the stranger again? The recognisability of strangers is determinate in the social demarcation of spaces of belonging: the stranger is ‘known again’ as something that has already contaminated such spaces as a threat to both property and person† (Ahmed, 22). It is difficult to say if this human classification of â€Å"other† is a net good or a net evil due to the fact that in many ways it works as a self defense mechanism to keep us safe from â€Å"perceived† harm; however, at the same time, it puts our ingrained biases with relation to age, gender, spatialism, and racism to the forefront of our judgment. This is an interesting dichotomy not only because it forces young students to face the realities of those le ss fortunate and develop their own defense mechanisms with respect to how they chose to interact with this foreign and unfamiliar subculture; but in that all of this was taking place during the formative college years. This dichotomy is of extreme interest due to the fact that these formative years are supposed to be very years in which young people are supposed to be the most open minded and suppliant to differing lifestyles as well as

Operations and Business Systems Management Research Paper

Operations and Business Systems Management - Research Paper Example Cadbury’s have been a renowned English manufacturer of chocolate products for more than 100 years. Today, as Cadbury – Schweppes, the firm is a major food products conglomerate, but one with very deep roots. Indeed, the current mission statement of the company echoes the philosophy of John Cadbury, the committed Quaker who founded the company in 1794. Cadbury’s mission stresses on many objectives. It also explicitly sets out a commitment to encourage the personal fulfillment of employees and a major thrust is given to customer satisfaction. How the company manages its different processes as such – manufacturing, distribution, etc and its various operations and sub-operations would be detailed here. There have been a large number of strategic decisions and a operational research and development involved in making the products a huge success throughout the world. The emphasis was laid not only on the major operations of manufacturing, marketing and distributing but also on a large number of sub-operations which are essential in very process. Cadbury is now market leader in UK chocolate confectionery, with worldwide exports and volume is continuing to increase by about ten percent per year. Volume in general refers to the number of times an operation has to deliver a service or product. The usual descriptors for the volume dimension are high volume, medium volume and low volume. The distinction between these three categories is usually drawn on a subjective basis. The firm deals with high volume operations.... The firm deals with high volume operations supplying repetitive or standardized products and services. This allows for repeatability, specialization and systemization usually resulting in relatively low unit costs. Higher volume operations can gain efficiency by breaking down the tasks into small units so staff specializes in only a small part of the total work. It is a known fact that volume is the inverse of variety. A low variety market is by definition high volume. Operations can be set up to produce a single product or service, or a range of very similar products, very efficiently. There is no need to allow for variation in material, specification or process. Indeed Cadbury's deal with similar products mostly chocolate based - cocoa, drinking chocolate, chocolate bars and so on, thus the operations could be set up to produce them more effectively and efficiently. The major challenge here would be global deployment of a set of volume products. This could also be overcome if correct measures are taken and right strategies are being followed. Similarly, the greater the variety of product or services produced, the more flexible the operation has to be. Flexibility can be seen as a response to two types of stimuli - variety and uncertainty. Variety indicates the necessity of the processes to adopt a range of operating conditions. For example, to cope with the existing range of service parts, components or products, to adapt products or services to varying customer requirements, to be able to adjust output levels to cope with seasonality, or to be able to expedite orders to different levels of priority. Initially, Cadbury Ltd sold only tea, coffee, cocoa and drinking