5 Super Simple Tips for Dealing With a Difficult Boss

5 Super Simple Tips for Dealing With a Difficult Boss There are bad bosses and then there are tough bosses. If your boss is in the second category, they might not be doing anything outwardly wrong or inappropriate- they might even be a good boss, in the end- but they sure do keep you on your toes. Whether it’s micromanaging or outrageously high standards or inaccessibility†¦ a difficult boss is a tough thing to manage. Here are 5 strategies for how to make the best of a challenging situation, things you can do to change the situation from your end, and how it can benefit your career.1. Don’t be too sensitive.The first rule of tough bosses is not to take anything personally. Your boss might have a temper, or a super exacting work ethic, or almost unreasonable standards. Your boss might throw tantrums or demand the impossible. Your boss might be short with you. None of these things should be interpreted as personal affronts.Your boss is human, and dealing with a bunch of things that have nothing to do with you; thatâ₠¬â„¢s in the background of every interaction. But also, a real professional takes the message in the madness (This project not perfect yet? Okay!) and leaves any perceived judgment behind. Let the tone or manner of the delivery be whatever it is; take the information you need and simply do your job. Plus, it doesn’t necessarily matter if your boss likes you.2.  Come up with the solutions yourself.If you have a tough boss, try to get your questions answered elsewhere- same with your problems and small talk. It’s not possible to never need something from your boss, but you could probably drastically cut down on how many interactions you have with her where you’re not making her life easier. Focus on delivering results when you walk into her office. The more you go in there with solutions to her problems, rather than questions about your own†¦ the better.3. Be proactive.If you have access to your boss’s schedule, make a note of what big projects and p riorities she’s working on and stay mindful of them. Help where you can. Be proactive. Keep thinking forward, and help your boss do the same. And instead of waiting to be asked to check in (or for an informal performance review), take the initiative to schedule regular check-ins with your boss and come prepared. Detail what you’ve been working on and the progress you’ve been making. Basically, anticipate your boss’s needs and questions and have answers always at the ready.4. Radiate confidence.Even when you make mistakes. Especially when you make mistakes! Rather than trying to hide or fib your way out of it, take responsibility. Own it. Say â€Å"I screwed up and here is how I’m already working to fix it.† Remind yourself that their anger will fade, that you’re still the smart and capable employee they hired, and give them a bunch of good reasons to forget you ever erred.5. Figure out what’s in it for you.A tough boss can actu ally be a great opportunity. You’ll work that much harder, be that much more on your game. And you’ll probably get lots more done. You’ll also figure out what you are (and aren’t) looking for in your next boss, so you can make a more informed career decision when next you’re on the market. Try to focus on the positive aspects of this challenging situation, and you’ll be able to use this one tough boss to better your whole career.

How Corporate Governance Can Be Strengthened In The Area Of Financial Reporting Accounting Essay Essays

How Corporate Governance Can Be Strengthened In The Area Of Financial Reporting Accounting Essay Essays How Corporate Governance Can Be Strengthened In The Area Of Financial Reporting Accounting Essay Essay How Corporate Governance Can Be Strengthened In The Area Of Financial Reporting Accounting Essay Essay Introduction I was in Singapore go toing the 2007 IBA Annual Conference in October when I was contacted by my office that I have an invitation to be guest talker at the event of today and that I had a limited clip to convey my credence. Looking at the selected subject and the establishment behind the event I wondered whether as a attorney I was qualified to present a dinner address at a acme many would assume is made up of comptrollers engaged with the deadening activity of poring over figures and Numberss. For that is the traditional construct of fiscal coverage and scrutinizing. Not many people were able to appreciate the relationship between fiscal coverage, scrutinizing and corporate administration or better still good corporate administration. It is in the visible radiation of the chance the subject offers to research the connexions between those constructs that I find the challenge of the subject daunting and at the same clip exciting. I am hence thankful to the Nigeria Accounting Standards Board for the privilege of sharing my ideas on these affairs with a most distinguished audience of professionals involved with corporate fiscal coverage and their regulators as represented by establishments such as NASB, ICAN and SEC amongst others. I intend to get down with account of the construct of corporate administration and good corporate administration and so discourse the general regulative model for corporate administration in Nigeria before diging specifically into the function of the Audit Committee and External Auditor in accomplishment of good corporate administration. I will stop with a few suggestions on how corporate administration can be strengthened in the country of fiscal coverage and corporate constructions every bit good as internalisation of good corporate administration which goes beyond mere constructions. Corporate Administration In a study that was conducted in Japan in the 1880ss [ Aoki, ( 1984 ) ] sing perceptual experiences of ownership and involvements, presidents of major houses, senior executives, and in-between directors were polled sing their perceptual experiences of ownership. They were asked: On whose involvements should corporations be run? and to whom make corporations really belong? The consequences were unexpected and most disclosure. The figure of respondents adverting employees as those on whose involvements the house should be run ( 80 % ) was about every bit big as those adverting shareholders ( 87 % ) . And most company presidents indicated that the house should belong to both groups. On the inquiry of whose involvements were really being served, the most common reply was employees, with stockholders coming second. Again, most of the presidents mentioned both groups, but a full 20 per centum indicated that stockholders involvements did non number in running the house. The above dramatic paradigm displacement of perceptual experience in a universe that is going more and more a planetary small town summarizes what the construct of corporate administration is genuinely approximately. Many people have attempted to specify corporate administration but we will work with the basic definition provided by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ) . It defined it as a: aˆÂ ¦system by which concern corporations are directed and controlled. The corporate administration construction specifies the distribution of rights and duties among different participants in the corporation such as, the board, directors, stockholders and other stakeholders, and spells out the regulations and process for doing determinations on corporate personal businesss. By making this, it besides provides the construction through which the company s aims are set and the agencies of achieving those aims and monitoring public presentation As with all definitions, the above definition is a good working definition, but is non comprehensive plenty. It suffers from the fact that it is value impersonal accordingly the definition presumes that mere mechanical conformity with the regulations satisfies the demand for corporate administration even if the effect to some sets of stakeholders such as stockholders or other public officers of the company is unjust or there is deficiency of transparence in the behavior of the personal businesss of the company. Not surprisingly therefore others have proposed a more value driven definition of corporate administration. J. Wolfensohn ( 1997 ) defined it as follows: Corporate administration is about advancing corporate equity, transparence and answerability This value driven definition of corporate administration is in fact better referred to as good corporate governanceKalu2007-11-07T19:38:00 which is a system of pull offing the personal businesss of corporations with a position to increasing stockholder value and run intoing the outlooks of the other stakeholders. . It is non merely about conformity with regulations, it is about duty to all stakeholders of the company be they stockholders, staff, clients, service suppliers or regulators ; a duty to be just, crystalline and accountable. WHY IS Good CORPORATE GOVENANCE NECESSARY? The construct of a company or corporate entity is a legal fiction. It is one of the signifiers of concern associations by which under a general jurisprudence upon fulfilment of certain conditions a group of individuals are declared a corporate entity different from its members. In Salomon v Salomon amp ; Co. , Ltd[ 1 ]it was held that: The company is at jurisprudence a different individual wholly from the endorser . I had cause to state the followers at another forum: This is an of import effect of incorporation. In fact, the full construct of registered company or joint stock company was based on the desire to divide the company from its proprietors and give the proprietors limited liability. It was felt that people will thereby be encouraged to set about concern hazards cognizing that their liability is limited and this will ensue in prosperity. Unfortunately, many people have taken advantage of this effect of incorporation to perpetrate fraud. The history of company jurisprudence has been merely a battle between promoting concern activities and forestalling fraud [ 2 ] It follows that the construct of good corporate administration is a manner or system of guaranting that the fiction of separate corporate entity continues to supply a vehicle for investors to set about concern hazard and make wealth and economic development without commiting fraud or other signifiers of maltreatment on the investors and the general populace. The recent corporate and accounting dirts of Enron, Tyco International, Peregrine Systems and Worldcom in the United States between the twelvemonth 2000 and 2002 and the failure of major companies around the universe like recent Parmalat bankruptcy in Italy in 2004 has brought place demand to travel behind mere constructions in corporate administration to content of fiscal coverage every bit good as value content end product of those constructions. In reaction to the diminution of public trust in accounting and coverage patterns, the US enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ( besides known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and normally called SOX or Sarbox ) which imposed stricter ordinance on administration. Hopefully we would hold clip to make a comparism of the US jurisprudence and the commissariats of our jurisprudence so as to find where we are and where we need to be. Suffice to state that in Nigeria we have had our just portion of cor porate administration failures. Some of them include the AP Plc accounting dirt that led to AP Commission of Enquiry, The Bokanlans Share dirt and the recent Cadbury Plc Audit dirt which is presently capable of SEC APC proceedings with judicial proceeding spin off. REVIEW OF REGULATORY PROVISIONS ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The Nigerian statutory model on corporate administration is expectedly multifaceted and is being continually beefed up. The basic jurisprudence on corporate administration in Nigeria is the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 ( CAMA ) . This jurisprudence which provides for the formation of corporate entities in the first topographic point, besides sets the clip and constructions for corporate administration. It provides that every corporate entity must hold a Memorandum and Articles of Association which is the Constitution. ( See subdivision 35 of CAMA ) . This is the papers puting up the constructions of administration of the entity. The papers is besides regarded as a contract between the members of the company ( See subdivision 41 of CAMA ) and the instances of Hickman v Kent or Romney Mars Sheep Breeders Association ( 1915 ) 1 Ch. 1881, 113 L.T. 159 ; AG Lagos province V Eko Hotels Ltd ( 2001 ) FWLR Pt 82, 1996 and obikoya V Ezenwa ( 1964 ) 2ANLR, 133 ) . It is by this papers that the Board of Directors or Governors or Executive Council or Registered Trustees are established depending on the type of company. The CAMA 1990 provides legion commissariats for corporate accounting and auditing patterns ( scrutinizing, revelations, readying and publication of fiscal statements. The Registrar of Companies at the Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC ) is to supervise conformity with these demands and specifies obsolete punishments in instance of non-compliance. Please see by and large subdivisions 137, 211 ( 3 ) A ; ( 5 ) , 343, 345, 354 CAMA ) , It further provides for assignment, wage, rights, maps, powers, and remotion of hearers and the constitution of an audit commission ( delight see by and large subdivisions 357, 358, 362,363 in portion XI of CAMA ) . It should be noted that the CAMA regrettably does non supply for joint audit or rotary motion of hearers. By virtuousness of S358 CAMA merely chartered comptrollers can be appointed as hearers of companies. The CAMA 1990 besides provide for the meetings of corporate entities. For companies, it is normally the Annual General Meeting ( Section 213 CAMA ) . All companies are besides required to register Annual returns which should incorporate their fiscal statement. It should be noted that CAMA allows for the creative activity of different sorts of corporate entities ( eg. private limited liability company, public limited liability company, company limited warrant, limitless company, integrated legal guardian and concern name or house ) , each with its attender distinguishable legal effects associated with their incorporation and differential fiscal coverage demands ( making changing grade of luxuriant corporate administration construction ) . For case, a public limited liability company which is quoted on the stock exchange is subjected to high degree of corporate administration because in add-on to divide personality and limited liability its portions are freely traded on the stock market largely based on fiscal information supplied by the company to the market. So in add-on to the general demand on administration of companies public companies have to hold an Audit Committee and are subjected to the listing demands of the Nigeria Stock Exchange every bit good as ordinance by Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) . It follows that apart from CAMA 1990 there are other Torahs which affect corporate administration of companies. These would include general Torahs such as the Companies Income Tax Act 1990 and Investment and Securities Act 1999 applicable basically to public companies and sectoral Torahs such as the Nigerian Stock Exchange Act ( 1965 ) , the Securities and Exchange Commission Rules and Regulation ( 1999 ) , the SEC Code of Corporate Governance in the field of Capital Market and ordinance of revelation and fiscal coverage for listed companies, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Act ( 1965 ) and the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board Act ( 2003 ) in the field of corporate administration, standardisation and best international patterns in audit and fiscal coverage, the Nigerian Communications Commission Act or the Nigerian Electric Sector Reform Act 2005 which regulate companies runing or meaning to run in communications or electric power sectors of the economic system. There are other relevant Torahs for other sectors such as the crude oil industry but farther treatments on sectoral statute laws save for ISA 1999 is beyond the range of this paper. Besides powerful self regulative organic structures such as Nigeria Stock Exchange ( NSE ) , Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers ( CIS ) and Capital Market Solicitors Association ( CMSA ) drama important function in puting criterions of behavior for their members which aim at good corporate administration.[ 3 ]In add-on both SEC and CAC teamed up with industry practicians to bring forth a Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies. Conformity with the Code is voluntary. SEC on the other manus has a Code of Conduct for Capital Market Operators which is enforceable. In fact in the Union Bank Registrar V. SEC instance which arose from the Bokanlans portion dirt the Investment and Securities Tribunal ( IST ) sustained liability of market participants based basically on breach the Code. Interestingly plenty, the CAMA really provides for the liability of the hearer for carelessness if, as a consequence of neglecting to dispatch his fiducial responsibility decently, the company suffers loss or harm ( see subdivision 67 CAMA ) . A instance may besides be made out in the kingdom of the Common Law and the Nigerian Law of Torts. However, the world is that this facet of intrenching good corporate administration in accounting and hearers patterns is yetKalu2007-11-07T19:38:00 Folio and Cadbury as anecdotes by and large. to be tested by judicial proceeding, but my jurisprudence house is presently actively working on this facet in a few scarce Jockey shortss that have raised this issue with a position to rectifying this too bad anomalousness. I expect that this is an country of the jurisprudence that will develop quickly with the current Nigerian economic growing and more significantly the really healthy Nigerian capital market roar rather in contrast with the reverses witnessed in international capital markets. It should be borne in head that civil liability of such professionals will be virtually limitless ( without bias to professional insurance ) as even audit and accounting houses can merely hold the signifier of partnerships. It has been said that this characteristic of Byzantine liability makes it a more effectual disincentive tool than condemnable countenances which ever have a ceiling to fiscal punishments. AUDIT COMMITTEE AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Part XI of CAMA makes extended commissariats for maintaining of accounting records of the company and readying of fiscal statements for intent of corporate fiscal coverage. It besides provides for audit of those accounting records by an external hearer to be appointed by the members in general meeting. The hearers are so required under subdivision 359 of CAMA 1990 to do a study to members on the histories examined by them, and on every balance sheet and net income and loss history in the fiscal statement to be laid before the company in general meeting. It is important to observe that subdivision 356 recognises that the content of fiscal statements for intent of fiscal coverage may alter from clip to clip so as to accomplish carnival, crystalline accounting and corporate fiscal coverage in line with the construct of good corporate administration discuss earlier in this paper. It provides that the Minister after audience with the Nigeria Accounting Standards Board may by ordinance, ad d to the categories of paperss to be comprised in the fiscal statements or modify the demands of the Act as to affairs to be stated in such paperss or cut down the categories of paperss to be delivered to the Corporate Affairs Commission CAC. This brings us to the function of the NASB in guaranting good corporate administration in Nigeria to which we would return in the class of this paper. In add-on subdivision 3 of the said subdivision 359 require that the hearers in the instance of a public company make a study to the Audit Committee of the company which commission is to be made up of equal figure of managers and representatives of stockholders of the company topic to a maximal figure of six ( 6 ) , capable to re-election yearly but with no wage. The map and powers of the Audit Committee are stated in subdivision 359 subdivision 6 as follows: ascertain whether the accounting and describing policies of the company are in conformity with legal demands and agreed ethical patterns ; reexamine the range and planning of audit demands ; reexamine the findings on direction affairs in concurrence with the external hearer and departemental responses thereon ; maintain under reappraisal the effectivity of the company s system of accounting and internal control ; do recommendations to the Board in respect to the assignment, remotion and wage of the external hearers of the company ; and authorise the internal hearer to transport out probes into any activities of the company which may be of involvement or concern to the commission. There is no uncertainty that the debut of the Audit Committee in the corporate administration construction for public companies is an invention good in front of its clip. This is because for case no such construction exists in the United States and even with the passage of the Sarbannes-Oxley jurisprudence in the US there is still no such construction. The Audit Committee conceptually provides a regular footing for transfusing good corporate administration in public companies as this act as a cheque on the external hearer on the one manus and the company on the other manus. Expertness A farther analysis of the jurisprudence and the pattern of the Audit Committee would uncover that the thought whilst being commendable has non truly achieved its aim. Several factors can easy be identified as responsibleFlaky2010-07-20T15:42:00 How CAMA adds to d inefficiency of audit commissions for deficiency of impact of the Audit Committee in advancing good corporate administration in Nigeria. Membership First the jurisprudence did non supply for any makings to rank of stockholder representatives. The consequence was that those who can non understand a fiscal statement get elected to the Committee and at that place convey no value to the meeting. Second, since vote is by show of manus organized stockholder groups with small retentions in the company who are susceptible to use by the Board and or direction of the company get elected. Third, there is no legal limitation on the ratio of the squad from the company managers as between executive and non executive managers. Four, it is non clear who should bring forth the Chairman consequently the pattern differs well from company to company. Last, there is no term bound for rank of the Audit Committee. Whilst the burgeoning stockholder associations are to be commended for their active engagement in protection of stockholder rights through elections into Audit Committees, the truth is that they are portion of the job. Many of them are merel y interested in the associated posing allowances and are hence willing tools for use by direction and or Board of some companies. Nevertheless their attempt at a convention at informal term bound for those they push onto these commissions must be acknowledged. In drumhead, so far unless farther jurisprudence reform is undertaken there is non much hope that the Audit Committee would lend significantly to good corporate administration in Nigeria. My suggestions on jurisprudence reform will be made soonest. AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE As pointed out earlier Part XI of CAMA 1990 provides for audit of every company by an hearer appointed by the company. In peculiar Chapter 2 of Part XI in subdivisions 357 to 369 makes luxuriant commissariats for assignment, making, responsibilities and powers of the hearer, wage, remotion, surrender, subject, liability, etc of the hearer. The model seems to be that the hearer is appointed by the general meeting under subdivision 357 and studies to them and the Audit Committee under subdivision 359. Besides under subdivision 351 the company in general meeting is supposed to repair the wage of the hearers except where the company is yet to commence concern and the managers are entitled to name the hearers under subdivision 357. No uncertainty if the hearers carry out the responsibilities set out in subdivision 360 of CAMA 1990 and exert the powers conferred on them in that subdivision to look into to enable them organize an sentiment and to measure up any sentiment which they are non satisfied so all companies will endeavor to run their personal businesss in conformity with good corporate administration. The truth though is that they do non. Otherwise we would non hold had the jobs around the universe referred to earlier on in this paper. This raises the inquiry why do nt they? In Nigeria it seems that the rigorous commissariats of CAMA 1990 are unequal to turn to the job of hearer independency. Although subdivision 361 says the company in general meeting should repair the wage of hearers in fact they normally delegate that power back to the managers and that falls back to the Executive Management of the company who likely in the first topographic point recommended the hearer to the Board and in bend to the general meeting. The idiom is that he who pays the piper dictates the melody. Further, there is no proviso in CAMA curtailing the engagement of the hearer with the company. The lone penal commissariats are subdivision 368 which imposes a responsibility to exert such attention diligence and accomplishment moderately necessary in public presentation of hearer and subdivision 369 which imposes condemnable countenances for those who supply false statement to the hearer. The consequence is that hearers become over involved with companies making direction consultancy and revenue enhancement and even human resources consultancy work for the really company they audit. They therefore lost their independency and professionalism in fixing their hearers study. Whilst non every audit house was involved, many including the really top houses were. The fright of competition still drives audit houses to a craze about retaining their clients, at times at all cost. NASB AND GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Now one of the establishments that conveying positive value to corporate administration is the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board ( NASB ) officially established under the commissariats of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 but now set up by the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board ( NASB ) Act, 2003. Originally established in 1982 as a private sector enterprise housed in ICAN, NASB became a authorities bureau in 1992 and studies to the Federal Minister of Commerce. Section 355 ( 1 ) of CAMA provides: The Financial statements of a company prepared under subdivision 344 of the Act, shall follow with the demands of agenda 2 to the Act with regard to their signifier and content, and with the accounting criterions laid down in the Statements of Accounting Standards issued from clip to clip by the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board to be constituted by the Minister after due audience with such accounting organic structures as he may hold tantrum in the fortunes for this intents provided that such accounting criterions do non conflict with the commissariats of this Act Harmonizing to the subdivision 2 of the NASB Act, ( see besides Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) functionary web site ) , the National Accounting Standard Board ( NASB ) was constituted with the following members: Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC ) Federal Board of Inland Revenue ( FIRS ) Federal Ministry of Commerce ( FMC ) Federal Ministry of Finance ( FMF ) Nigerian Accounting Teachers Association ( NATA ) Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture ( NACCIMMA ) Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation ( NDIC ) Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) Auditor-General for the Federation Accountant-General of the Federation Association of National Accountants of Nigeria ( ANAN ) Chartered Institute of Taxation ( CITN ) The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria ( ICAN ) The NASB Act seeks to enthrone NASB with the duty for developing and printing accounting criterions to be observed in the readying of fiscal statements, promote and enforce conformity with the accounting criterions developed or reviewed by the Board and supply punishments for non-compliance with its commissariats. In pursuit to the above The Board has been publishing from clip to clip Statements of Accounting Standards ( SAS ) every bit good as guidelines/regulations for NASB inspectorate unit, 2005 ( delight refer to sundry updates and publications on NASB functionary web site ) . By these NASB is actively seeking to supply a usher for policies and accounting methods that should be followed by companies in the readying of their fiscal statements relative to income acknowledgment, loss acknowledgment, balance sheet categorization and many other commissariats. NASB s official web site, non unlike its American opposite number ( The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, a quasi public bureau created under the Sarbox which is charged with supervising, regulation, inspecting, and training accounting houses in their functions as hearers of public companies. ) , has besides created an synergistic feedback forum on its web sites in order to have continually inputs and remarks from relev ant stakeholders and professionals which would function as primary database and assist NASB in germinating equal and effectual criterions suited to the specific kineticss of growing of the Nigerian accounting profession. The Board since startup has issued 24 ( 24 ) back-to-back Statements of Accounting Standards ( SAS ) to day of the month. It has presently on show, five ( 5 ) exposure bill of exchanges of new proposed SASs. Recently besides in 2005, NASB has published guidelines for its inspectorate unit charged with supervising conformity by hearers with the SAS issued while fixing fiscal statements. NASB prides itself as the merely recognized independent organic structure in Nigeria responsible for the development and issue of Statements of Accounting Standards for users and preparers of fiscal statements, investors, commercial endeavors and regulative bureaus of authorities[ 4 ]. There is no uncertainty that formal conformity with SAS issued by NASB can help companies with good corporate administration. In add-on apart from NASB as pointed out earlier there are many other independent establishments that have been playing changing functions in coronation of good corporate administration ( take for case the issue by CBN in 2003 of a Code of Corporate Governance for Banks and its provisions/guidelines on audit commission or attempts of SEC/CAC to intrench good corporate administration for public companies as before mentioned ) . It however seems that mere conformity with regulations entirely is non sufficient to vouch good corporate administration. So some ego regulators have gone a measure farther and have set criterions of conformity that are personal to directors of regulated companies. For case, the Nigeria Stock Exchange has a regulation that a director of a quoted company who has a job with his company would non be allowed to pull off another company. Application of this regulation resulted in the remotion of Mr. Bernard Longe as Managing Director of Transcorp every bit shortly as they were quoted because of his old parturiency in First Bank. Again the NSE has blacklisted old directors of Cadbury Nigeria Plc including Bunmi Oni the erstwhile Managing Director. As I had juncture to sum up, there is now a paradigm displacement in corporate administration construct. Good corporate administration is now about the unity of the directors of companies and non needfully about conformity with regulations. I said[ 5 ]: it seems that the unity of the corporate director is now possibly, more of import than his fiscal statements. To set it another manner, the fiscal statements of a company or its degree of conformity with rules of corporate administration can non be higher than the unity of the directors of the company. Consequently, investors, stockholders and other outside providers of capital or service now scrutinize more closely the unity of the insiders who have to pull off the capital supplied. So, alternatively of, or in add-on to, fiscal statements, foreigners now demand for the past records of top direction and the experience and repute of the board, as indices for finding the degree of conformity with rules of good corporate governanceaˆÂ ¦.. WHAT REFORMS Whilst good corporate administration has moved towards unity of single directors, there is no uncertainty that the regulations and enforcement of those would go on to play a important function in carrying directors to follow and internalise good corporate administration because the effect of failure to follow could be personally dangerous for the corporate director. In this respect, I besides laud one time once more the attempts of NASB and its Inspectorate division with respects to compliance to its SAS within such a short period of constitution. The epoch of concealing under the shield of separate legal personality to run down companies should now be circumscribed. It is in this visible radiation that I believe that jurisprudence reform in corporate administration should concentrate on some of the undermentioned issues: Audit Committee Making boards effectual requires policies that impact on both the carrot and the stick. There should be making for rank of Audit Committee but non needfully accounting making. There should besides be mechanisms put in topographic point for uninterrupted instruction of members of audit commissions ( particularly non-executive managers ) in order that they may hold sufficient literacy in fiscal affairs and be able to supervise more efficaciously the direction, thereby cut downing the hazard associated with dissociation of ownership rights and direction rights in a company, The Internal Auditor or Risk Management Manager should describe straight to the Audit Committee in add-on to any other coverage line. Both the Managing Director and the Chairman of the Company should non be members of the Audit Committee. The Executive Director in charge of Finance should merely be in attending and non a member, and members who are stockholder representatives should hold term bounds. Hearers The current international best pattern to the consequence that an hearer should non move as a adviser to the same company should be elevated to the place of enforceable jurisprudence. Even so the same spouse and or tie in in a house should non scrutinize the same company for more than five ( 5 ) old ages. There should be liability for breach. Indeed, one may state that this regulation of periodic rotary motion of hearers of the company is what fast=tracked the Parmalat accounting dirt in Italy ( one of Europe s largest and most planetary company using more than 36,000 employees in 30 states ) , as the Company was statutorily forced to replace its hearers from Grand Thorton to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. It is so on record that sporadic dismaies were raised by an hearer employed by Deloitte Italy twice as far back as March 2001 and once more in 2002. a minor stockholder and fund direction group known as Hermes is besides actioning Deloitte on history of non following up decently through thorough probe on its whistleblowing.in December 2002. NASB I think that it is clip that NASB is elevated to a full Commission or is merged with either CAC or SEC. This manner its criterions may be better enforced with the attendant good consequence for corporate administration. Indeed, the above will help our authorities in harmonising its attempts in patroling and intrenching corporate administration in Nigeria as there is on the other extreme the danger of over-regulation or struggle or ordinances and regulators taking to choking and stunted growing in the economic system, I have had the chance of turn toing these issues in an in-depth mode in my MBA on ordinance of the advertisement pattern in Nigeria. SEC/CAC Code I suggest that this Code be reviewed and so made enforceable. A FASTER PROCESS OF ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITIES The form of funding ( fiscal construction of a company ) affects the sorts of securities issued. Securities are non merely claims on hard currency flow ; they confer certain rights on determination devising and control ( i.e. , they define alternate administration manners ) . Harmonizing to Williamson ( 1988 ) , debt administration works out of regulations, while equity administration allows much greater discretion. Equities typically confer on the holders, the right to elect managers through vote, whereas debt entitles the holders to reclaim collateral when the company defaults on promised payments. Good corporate administration as earlier said is a agency of returning value to assorted stakeholders ( employees ) and investors ( stockholders, secured creditors ) The rights attached to securities and their enforcement go critical when directors of companies act in opportunism. It may besides be the lone mean by which the involvements of employees are paradoxically best protected. Jointly, these regulations measure the easiness with which investors can exert their powers against direction, and therefore shed some visible radiation on the quality ( or possible thereof ) of corporate answerability. It is easy hence to understand how securities become rights of determination devising and control of a company by the debt capital providers. These rights are in bend predicated on the legal environment in which the securities are operative. And since process is of kernel, as is normally the instance under systems that rely on establishments, there is a demand for an pressing reform in that country of the jurisprudence excessively. It is in position of the above that my jurisprudence house has been actively involved with Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association ( BRIPAN ) to force for a reform of the Insolvency Torahs of Nigeria through the announcement of an Insolvency Act. In add-on to the reforms suggested and a development of a judicial proceeding steered towards keeping hearers every bit good as managers of companies more apt, it is my belief that we will get down to see more positive dividends from the intrenchment of corporate administration regulations. Statutory CREATION OF THE OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE OFFICER FOR PUBLIC COMPANIES. Under the reforms witnessed in the United States of America with the Sarbox features the intrenchment of conformity officers. These are fundamentally professionals such as qualified accountants/auditors or Legal practicians with a prejudice in finance who act as corporate watchdogs reminding the direction on demand to follow with regulations of revelation, answerability, etc. these are of course besides possible whistle blowers. The inquiry may originate about the practical trueness of these officers i.e. whether the unity of these conformity officers will non be affected by their manner of assignment. In this respect, we believe that the constitution of statutory responsibilities to describe to their relevant regulative organic structures may help in this respect. With regard to publically quoted companies, we have had the chance to progress this thought while working on SEC s Code of Conduct for Capital Market Operators and their Employees ( delight refer to govern nine in Appendix B of my book on Capital Market Operations as earlier citedKalu2007-11-07T19:38:00 You may wish to take with you a few transcripts of your book and market same Sir.. STATUTORY PROTECTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS One other cardinal country that needs to be really rapidly addressed in the development of corporate administration in an emerging economic system such as ours is the protection of whistle blowers. Till day of the month, there are no specific statutory inducements to employees and other insider officers of a company to raise dismaies over strategy to victimize the company and other stakeholders by managers or selfish directors. This is non in line with best international patterns. Decision In reasoning it is to be observed that on paper Nigeria has luxuriant proviso for corporate administration. However, it would look that most of them are non decently enforced. Even so mere conformity with corporate administration regulations may non vouch good corporate administration. It follows hence that whilst there is still need to better the degree of corporate administration finally good corporate administration is personal to corporate directors accordingly attempt must be may to increase unity of these directors through enforceable regulations as a Panacea to famine of good corporate directors. Finally, surveies have shown that the quality of corporate administration may non be independent of the quality of province administration, as the quality of the province provides the anchor upon which establishments in the populace every bit good as private sector ( including board of managers ) can regulate. In this respect, I believe every Nigerian should go on to back up through supplications and civil parts ( for case, fora such as this ) for the publicity and prosperity of this state. God bless Nigeria. Thank you.

Comparison of the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and The Iraq War of 2003 Essay

Comparison of the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and The Iraq War of 2003 - Essay Example War and reports of war have been a reality of our life, more so in recent times. After 9/11, the threat of war had been looming large, especially with the President George Bush coming out with knee-jerk jingoistic reactions, which was pardonable considering the shock and dismay generated by the incident.Then came the actual war in 2003. The question of the political expediency of the War of 2003 was drowned in a collective American fear of threats to security. George Bush's speeches were also engineered to keep the morale of the people high, in the tradition of past war leaders of the world (Churchill, for instance)In this war rhetoric, the image of the American soldier was glorified. The soldier was a savior and a friend. In the First Gulf War of 1991, George Bush, Sr. had done the same thing. He depicted through his speeches, the perfect image of an American soldier. Our soldiers, he said, are "some of the finest men and women of the United State of America" who "leave their spouse s and their children, to serve on the front line halfway around the world. They remind us who keeps America strong: they do." (Bush). He continues, "in the face of danger, they are brave; they are well-trained, and dedicated" (Bush) He mentions that they are willing to sacrifice their lives and their time to be with their families to fight for peace for the whole world (!)There is deceptiveness, conscious or unconscious, in a speech of this nature. It is implied that peace is brought about through war - a debatable statement. There is also an implication that those who fight are there, by their own free will. "There was an American soldier who said to an Iraqi soldier: 'it's okay, you are all right, you are all right'. . . Let us always be caring and good and generous in all we do" (Bush) The image is sought to be created as if the American soldiers have gone to have a party in Iraq. It needs a vigilant media to talk of an Abu-Ghraib or a Guantanamo Bay. Bush's American soldier is t he perfect gentleman (something like the British image of their 'bobby'- the gentle policeman - who nevertheless shot an innocent Brazilian immigrant on mere suspicion that he was responsible for the London train station bombings!) Bush's speeches are cleverly done, and achieve the purpose they want. In that sense they are masterpieces of their own genre of political writing. However, they seem to fall on the border of fact and fiction. Coming to Swofford's Jarhead- the irony is that this is 'fiction', but it gives a more real picture of war than do Bush's speeches! Swofford talks of the war from a soldier's perspective. There is no attempt to romanticize it. He talks of the dirt and the dust, and the rape, pillage and arson that taint war. He brings home to us that there is never a clean war or a good war. All war is terrible and dehumanizing. Swofford himself fought as a young marine in the Gulf War of the 1990's. He had written his memoirs then, and he uses this to liberally create the atmosphere of his story. He writes of writing to loved ones, " I was in the desert, sending out messages worldwide, claiming for love with my pen, and with each letter I wrote and sealed part of me escaped the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At time I thought I might write myself away" (Swofford, 37). Swofford's book is a powerful book about the truth of war. As a matter of fact, we must remember that throughout history, there have been many who have fought wars and have come back convinced that peace is the only solution for bringing about lasting comfort to all humanity. Swofford tells what we all perhaps instinctively know, that the real reasons for war are "the old white fuckers and others who have billions of dollars to gain or lose in the oil fields, the deep, rich, flowing oil fields of the kingdom of Saud" (Swofford, 11). Solyan's article, What Bodies talks about the attempt by the US government to hide truth from

Information Systems in Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Information Systems in Healthcare - Essay Example This system helps in the constant connections between the suppliers and the manufacturers for better systematic process of the supplying and buying (Delpierre 408). This industry also includes the health care industry. In this case the basic requirement is the maintenance of the records of the thousands of the patients. In the past, decades ago, this maintenance was being done by the files and the traditional systems. The data of the patients includes their vitals ad their medical histories. This type of data needs constant up gradation. Traditionally for the up gradation, the hustle of the files and the papers had to be dealt with. With the introduction of the new information floe systems, which in the case of the health industry is knows as the electronic patient record, we see that the patient record maintenance has become ore and more convenient with the passing time. The electronic patient record means that the data and the information related to the patients is kept in the computers under the specific softwares which are comprehensive and easy enough o be maintained by the health practitioners. The electronic patient's record systems have been basically developed for the batter management and the administration that is needed in the health care facilities. These days the EPRs are being widely used in the western counties. The use of the EPRs is growing in the smaller clinical facilities however it has been seen that the EPRs have been difficult to incorporate in the larger health care facilities. The EPRs that are designed incorporate the small amount of information that is given to them. As we can see that the industries especially the health care facilities are the linked that are growing on the daily basis therefore the amount if the information that is needed to be stored is also increasing on the daily basis. With the amount the nature of the complexity o f the information is also increasing. This complexity has to be welcomed by the EPR systems that are used by the health care facilities these days (Elberg 203). The information flow in medicine The research has shown that the smaller health care facilities especially in Norway are dependent in the EPR systems for the maintenance of their patient's data and the information. The use of EPRs The purpose and the aim of the patient's medical record that is usually maintained by the health care facilities are to maintain the care of the patients. Generally y the medical record is always on related to an individual patient and it represents s the medical history of the patients and the recent medical case (Hassey 1402). There are some specifications that have to be met when the clinical data related to the patients has to be used. The specifications have been identified and they include that the medical data should be should be related to the individual patient and it should be able to help the medical health care provide to decide what treatment or therapy has to be g given to the patient. The medical data that is related to the patients is organized in the same form as it is done in the paper format however in a better manner. This helps the medical practitioner make and design the patients' clinical history leading to the therapy decisions. The EPR help the physicians in constantly updating their gained information with regards to the patients during the consultation process

Critically review the case law concerning the ascertainment of Essay

Critically review the case law concerning the ascertainment of employee status and consider whether the current tests are fit fo - Essay Example Moreover, employees usually are taxed within a diverse tax regime; under the PAYE, while the self-employed usually pay their taxes at the end of each tax year. This is due to the fact that self employed work generally falls under a contract for services while the employed work under a contract of services1. Nonetheless, there is a certain amount of ambiguity linked to the legal formula by which workers are categorized. In this view, the effectiveness of the law may be questioned. Furthermore, some perceive that the current classifications have grown to become too rigid to deal efficiently with the advancement of non-standard employment forums. Such queries have proved to be the subject of many policy-oriented and legal analyses for the last two decades. Many studies have looked into employers’ reasons as to why the employed flexible forms of work. This paper offers a critical review of the given law as it relates to the means by which employee status and a consideration as to whether the current tests are suitable for purpose. The ‘worker’ concept One way for augmenting the number of people covered by employment law includes the use of the wider definition of worker and not employee as the basis for determining protective legislation2. This would include even people who do not have employment contracts but still contract to offer their own individual services to their employers. To some extent, they are economically dependent on the business of their employer. In some way, this broader definition is useful for fair treatment legislation and that which touches on the payment of wages. Recently, the legislation was approved by the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 as well as under regulations that implement the Working Time Directive3. Nonetheless, most of its aspects with regards to its use have remained unclear. There appears to be extremely few decisions about the distinction between a self employed worker and an employee. For this reason, it is hard to comprehend how many people would be affected by extending employment protection rights to those under the definition ‘workers’ and not ‘employees’. Employment status The hardship linked with defining workers, employees, and the self-employed, as well as the issues of giving status to individuals in non-standard work, have added several practical implications to the execution of the law in practice. Ambiguities that surround the distinction between the self-employed and employees should mean that there are many of those who enjoy employment rights without their knowledge. On the other hand, those who may thing they fall under employee category, and therefore enjoy employment rights, may turn out otherwise on close legal scrutiny. This uncertainty may mean that some employers may leave out their obligations4. The Law Governing the Classification of Employment Relationships The decisive factor by which legal classification are decided on are not put down in legislation, however, they have been hugely developed through what is known as Case Law. In particular, four tests are relied on: ‘Integration’, ‘Control’, ‘mutuality of obligation’, and ‘business reality’. Behind such states are a known determinant that includes the means of payment, the stability and the overall length of the employment relationship, as well as the degree of coverage of

The Constant Gardener | Analysis

The Constant Gardener | Analysis Fernando Meirelless adaptation of John le carres 2001 novel The Constant Gardener is a drama film which is sure to thrill the global audience around the world. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, which includes Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Weisz, which she won. The film had a budget of $25 million but it made a huge profit with gross revenue of $82,466,670 proving to be a commercial success among the audience around the world. Story Based on the novel by John Le Carrà ©, The Constant Gardener starts with a murder, as any good mystery film does. British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) assigned to Nairobi sees his world fall apart when his wife, activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), is found brutally maimed in a remote area of Northern Kenya. His colleagues at the British High Commission, especially close friend Sandy (Danny Huston), believe the usually easy going Justin will quietly let them take care of the situation. Up to this point in his life, Justin has done little but quietly does his melodious job, tend to his gardens, and marry an extraordinary woman. Haunted by his past memories, and sceptical that his wife may have been unfaithful and cheating on him, Justin will no longer sit by submissively. He cannot accept what happened to Tessa, especially when he finds out that the government wants to sweep the whole thing under the rug. It seems Tessa was trying to discover somethingand was perhaps even on the verge of exposing a deadly pharmaceutical conspiracy. So, Quayle embarks on his own investigation, risking his life to uncover the truth and whether he succeeds or stopped under his tracks form the chief outline of the film. Acting Fiennes and Weisz are outstanding in this film. The Oscar winning actor Fiennes Playing Justin steals the show. He captures all the sad beauty of a man mourning for a woman he loved very much but who he also realizes he didnt know all that well. Its almost as if in investigating Tessas murder, Justin finally sees what kind of woman his wife truly wasand falls in love with her all over again. You feel his pain and feel sorry for him. For her part, Weisz has certainly proven she is more than just a sweet face alarmed by disturbed mummies. She expertly portrays a determined social activist driven to help these Kenyan people any way she can, even if it means sacrificing her own personal happiness and life. She in the end sacrifices her own life in order to find the truth and find justice for the Kenyan people. Weisz is radiant in every single shotwhich is rather an accomplishment considering that the actress was nine months pregnant, sweaty and without make-up in many scenes. You often w onder how it is these two characters ever fell for each other to begin with, but thats the true tribute to these fine actors. In their capable hands, they make Justin and Tessas opposites-attract-but-modest love story unquestionable. Danny Huston is a peculiar choice to play Sandy, Justins devious colleague. He struggles with his fake British accent and a better choice of cast would have been a better choice for the character. Direction With The Constant Gardener, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles proves his surprise Academy Award nomination for directing the scorching City of God wasnt a stroke of luck. The guy obviously knows what hes doing and he provides energetic direction nailing the audience glued to their seats. Meirelles hands us the horrible, heart wrenching plight of the African people, focusing on the hauntingly beautiful Kenya and lovingly detailing its colourful people. Scenes of Tessa walking through barely liveable shantytowns, as bright, seemingly happy children run around her while singing, leaves a very indelible impression. He zooms in on these two people whose love is put to the test because of the circumstances they find themselves in, while wrapping up the narrative in a compact murder mystery, which may or may also involve a conspiracy of global proportions. The Constant Gardener is much more than just a mystery. Its going to make you thinkand think hard. Trivia .The novel was originally banned in Kenya because it depicts corrupt Kenyan officials. . Ralph Fiennes held and operated the camera for Justins point of view in the film. . The filmmakers installed water tanks, a new bridge and a classroom in Kibera, the slum in which the film was shot. They also built a secondary school in the desert of northern Kenya where the final scenes were photographed. My verdict The Constant Gardener is an elegant, absorbing, and suspenseful mystery with rich performances from the leads. Despite an unhurried opening, the energetic direction by Fernando Meirelles and admirable lead performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz make this adapted film an exciting and suspenseful thriller 4 broccolis out of 5 COME BACK FOR LATER The Constant gardener is primarily set in Kenya loilangalani and slums on Kibera a section of Nairobi, Kenya. It follows the lives of a shy low-rung British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) who is posted in Kenya and his beautiful young humanitarian activist Tessa (Rachel Weitz). Justin is satisfied to represent his country without questioning his boss. when his wife Tessa and an African man (who he suspects Tessa to be cheating with) are found brutally raped and murdered in a remote area in North Kenya, he did not believe the death reports that they were assaulted and harassed by bandits, and he begins to ask penetrating questions against the activities of the government, much to the astonishment of Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston) and his other equals at the British high Commission located in Kenya. But as his inspections quickly lead him to an awry trail of blackmail, dishonesty, exploitation, political scandal and global conspiracy, he revives what he represents and what made h im marry and find love for his wife in the first place forms and whether he avenges the death of his wife forms the chief outline in the film For most of the movie, which is an elegant style of flashbacks and foreshadowings, Tessa is dead, murdered in the Kenyan wilds, where she had travelled with a African doctor named Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundà ©), who many in the Nairobi community assumed was her lover. In that gossipy world, Tessa was always something of a scandalous woman, pricking the fake civility of cocktail parties with impolite questions about money, authority, hardships and illness of the poor people in Kenya. She favours to spend her time usually in the company of Dr. Bluhm travelling through slums and communities, during her pregnancy, where she was kind of a good figure among the native villagers. After she gets murdered Justin sets out to find who caused the death of his wife and her companion and whether he finds his solution forms the rest of the story. The actors have done a splendid job in my opinion Fiennes as the literal gardener Justin Quayle the perfect dashing and sensitive heartthrob learns how much he loves his wife and he wants to bring the big pharmacy corporation down and bring dirty secrets out. Rachel Weisz is absolutely joyful as Tessa, a brilliant and determined social activist, unwavering in her pursuit to uncover the immoral research methods practiced at the expense of indigent Kenyan citizens. Weisz is radiant in every single shotwhich is quite an accomplishment considering that the actress was nine months pregnant, sweaty and without make-up in many scenes. Danny Huston is a peculiar choice to play Sandy, Justins devious colleague. He struggles with his fake British accent and a better choice of cast would have been a better choice for the character. Despite an unhurried opening, the energetic direction by Fernando Meirelles and admirable lead performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz make this adapted film an exciting and suspenseful thriller My verdict The Constant Gardener is an elegant, absorbing, and suspenseful mystery with rich performances from the leads. Despite an unhurried opening, the energetic direction by Fernando Meirelles and admirable lead performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz make this adapted film an exciting and suspenseful thriller 4 broccolis out of 5

Imagery and Themes in the Epic of Gilgamesh Essay -- Epic Gilgamesh es

Historical Context - Imagery and Themes Rosenberg notes that Gilgamesh is probably the world's first human hero in literature (27). The Epic of Gilgamesh is based on the life of a probably real Sumerian king named Gilgamesh, who ruled about 2600 B.C.E. We learned of the Gilgamesh myth when several clay tablets written in cuneiform were discovered beginning in 1845 during the excavation of Nineveh (26). We get our most complete version of Gilgamesh from the hands of an Akkadian priest, Sin-liqui-unninni. It is unknown how much of the tale is the invention of Sin-liqui-unninni, and how much is the original tale. The flood story, which appears in the Sin-liqui-unninni version, is probably based on an actual flood that occurred in Mesopotamia around 2900 B.C.E. (26). The Sumerian culture influenced the entire Near East (Swisher 13). The success of their culture was dependent on the agricultural viability of the area. Every year there were floods which provided rich silt for successful farming that encouraged the people to stay in the same area year after year instead of migrating to find new areas for crops (19). There are indications that the Sumerians were composed of two different peoples which mingled in the same area. The Semites are believed to have mixed with the Highlanders. The Semites were patriarchal hunters and more warlike than the Highlanders. The Highlanders were matriarchal and peaceful. Swisher suggests that there is evidence of both social groups and that the combination of the two led to changes in the perception of the roles of the gods and goddess as well as the men and women (21). Sumer was originally small groups of people that eventually grew to form cities. As a country it included 13 ... ...der to receive eternal life. The apparent belief in an afterlife which is indicated by the burial with useful objects may show that eternal life is achieved after physical death. The Flood - recounted by Utanapishtim is representative of the purification of human life by the gods. Their transgressions are swept away (with most of the population) and they are reborn into a fresh, new world and relationship with the gods. Ark - the symbol of the gods' love of the humans and their interest in preserving the human race. We also identified five themes in the Epic of Gilgamesh: Conflict between chaos and order, represented by nature and civilization; Man's quest for immortality and knowledge; Dealing with loss; Male bonding/brotherhood; Heroism (man's victory over nature).

Bloody civil war Essay

The final two chapters of the novel, Ike tries to discover and understand the history of his own family and the way in which they had treated the blacks. He even attempts to make amendments to one of them, by sending some money. The brief chronicle that he finds of his family helps him reconstruct some parts of the history. He remembers for example, the little hut in which all the black people were herded together, and the way in which the whites manufactures bleaching substances for the blacks to use so as to change their color: â€Å"[†¦]the square, galleried, wooden building squatting like a portent above the fields whose laborers it still held in thrall ’65 or no and placarded over with advertisements for snuff and cures for chills and salves and potions manufactured and sold by white men to bleach the pigment and straighten the hair of Negroes that they might resemble the very race which for two hundred years had held them in bondage and from which for another hundred years not even a bloody civil war would have set them completely free[†¦.]†(Faulkner, 245) This forced change of hair color is very significant: the author emphasizes the fact that the whites wanted to transform the black and make them as themselves, a race however quite imperfect since it is the one that invented slavery. Neither the land nor the people can be bought, since they have been left to live free by the creator of the world. Man’s possession of land or of slaves only imaginary, since these primary things cannot be bought: â€Å"’Bought nothing. Because He told in the Book how He created the earth, made it and looked at it and said it was all right, and then He made man. He made the earth first and peopled it with dumb creatures, and then He created man to be His overseer on earth[†¦]Because it was never Ikkemotubbe’s fathers’ fathers’ to bequeath Ikkemotubbe to sell to Grandfather or any man because on the instant when Ikkemotubbe discovered, realised, that he could sell it for money, on that instant it ceased ever to have been his forever, father to father to father, and the man who bought it bought nothing. † (247) In the family’s brief chronicle, Ike discovers many of the iniquities that were common at the time, in what regarded the black people. His grandfather had had sons and daughters of the black slaves, and never acknowledged them. Also, the contracts done between the blacks and the whites were invalid, since the black man had no way to claim his rights or to prove them, since he was usually even unable to read: â€Å"and it would seem to the boy that he could actually see the black man, the slave whom his white owner had forever manumitted by the very act from which the black man could never be free so long as memory lasted, entering the commissary, asking permission perhaps of the white man’s son to see the ledger-page which he could not even read, not even asking for the white man’s word, which he would have had to accept for the reason that there was absolutely no way under the sun for him to test it[†¦]†(256) Ike ironically observes the extent of the injustice done to the children that were not acknowledged because they were black, and the way in which they were usually simply given a sum of money to make amends: â€Å"So I reckon that was cheaper than saying My son to a nigger he thought. Even if My son wasn’t but just two words. † (259) Thus, Faulkner’s novel is centered around the idea of the essential freedom given by nature to any creature. The bear is a symbol for this freedom, and his spirit is akin to that of the blacks and Indians: â€Å"[†¦]an old bear, fierce and ruthless not just to stay alive but ruthless with the fierce pride of liberty and freedom, jealous and proud enough of liberty and freedom to see it threatened not with fear nor even alarm but almost with joy, seeming deliberately to put it into jeopardy in order to savor it and keep his old strong bones and flesh supple and quick to defend and preserve it; an old man, son of a Negro slave and an Indian king, inheritor on the one hand of the long chronicle of a people who had learned humility through suffering and learned pride through the endurance which survived the suffering, and on the other side the chronicle of a people even longer in the land than the first. † (Faulkner, 267) The same ideas appear in the short story called That Evening Sun, but the author here emphasizes the barrier that existed between the blacks and the whites. The story, which has the same characters of the Compson family as The Sound and the Fury, is centered on a black servant called Nancy and on her agony at having been left by her husband and the terror that he might return and kill her. Nancy is terribly beaten by the police when she tries to claim her pay from a white man, and then locked up: â€Å"When you going to pay me, white man? When you going to pay me, white man? It’s been three times now since you paid me a cent-‘ Mr. Stovall knocked her down, but she kept on saying, â€Å"When you going to pay me, white man? It’s been three times now since—‘ until Mr. Stovall kicked her in the mouth with his heel and the marshal caught Mr. Stovall back, and Nancy lying in the street, laughing. She turned her head and spat out some blood and teeth and said, ‘It’s been three times now since he paid me a cent. ’†(Faulkner, 289) The story focuses on the impressive agony of the woman and her loneliness, as the whites refuse to comfort her in any way. The prejudices against the blacks are again obvious: as in The Bear, the villagers remark that a black person would never commit suicide, unless under the power of a drug: â€Å"He said that it was cocaine and not whiskey, because no nigger would try to commit suicide unless he was full of cocaine, because a nigger full of cocaine was not a nigger any longer. †(Faulkner, 291) The idea of the white people is that the black have no feelings and no inner life of their own, and that they live mostly like beasts, therefore could never have the impulse to suicide. The woman tries to cling to the children’s company in her distress and her fear of the husband that she thinks will come after her. The recurrent remark that she makes, saying that she is no more than a nigger is very significant. She underlies the fact that she is actually perceived as only a nigger, and that even she feels like that: â€Å"I ain’t nothing but a nigger,† Nancy said. ‘It ain’t none of my fault. ’† (Faulkner, 296) She cannot escape her race, and, although she feels she has an inner life she does not have an identity to associate it with. The last fragment of the story is of utter importance: Quentin, the storyteller remains listening to the sounds made by Nancy after they live her house, and hints at the barrier between the white and the black. The whites merely live her and her problems, as she is not considered to be important enough for further consideration: â€Å"But we could still hear her. She began as soon as we were out of the house, sitting there above the fire, her long brown hands between her knees. We could still hear her when we had crossed the ditch, Jason high and close and little about father’s head. Then we had crossed the ditch, walking out of Nancy’s life. Then her life was sitting there with the door open and the lamp lit, waiting, and the ditch between us and us going on, dividing the impinged lives of us and Nancy. â€Å"(Faulkner, 300) Thus, Faulkner describes the lives of the black and white people in the Southern world with great insight, emphasizing the essential freedom of man as of nature, and the impossibility to possess or reduce them and limit their importance. Works Cited: Abadie, Ann J. Faulkner in Cultural Context. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997. Clark, Jim. â€Å"On Faulkner. † The Mississippi Quarterly. http://www. questia. com/app/direct/SM. qst Faulkner, William. Collected Stories of William Faulkner. New York: Random House, 1950. — Three Famous Short Novels. New York, Vintage Books, 1958. Singal, Daniel J. William Faulkner: The Making of the Modernist. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. â€Å"William Faulkner†. http://www. kirjasto. sci. fi/faulkner. htm

The Flaw of the Brady Bill essays

The Flaw of the Brady Bill essays The federal Brady Law created an instant background check system meant to track the records of everyone prohibited from possessing firearms: convicted felons, people under a domestic violence restraining order, illegal aliens, drug addicts, dishonorably discharged military personnel, fugitives from justice and certain mentally ill people. The Brady Bill, imposed in February 1994, has been successful of what it was supposed to do. The Bill restricts mentally ill people from getting handguns, but medical records are kept secret, and there is no way of telling who is getting the guns. Is the Brady Bill working like it was planned? A priest and a parishioner were shot dead during church service in New York. Fr Lawrence Penzes, 50, had just finished his homily at Our Lady of Peace Church at Lynbrook on Long Island, when a gunman burst in and opened fire. Doctors say Fr Lawrence probably died at the altar. The other victim was Eileen Tosner, 73, a Lynbrook resident who attended Mass every morning. The suspect was Peter J Troy, 34. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. The police said he has a record of psychiatric illness. (Independent Catholic Bergin, March 2002) Scott Harlan Thorpe, 40, of Smartville was a client of the outpatient mental health clinic where he started shooting just before noon Wednesday, killing two people and wounding a third, said Nevada County Sheriff Keith Royal. Thorpe then drove to a restaurant in near Grass Valley, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, and shot and killed the manager and wounded a cook because he thought the restaurant was poisoning him, Royal said. The accused killer was undergoing monthly mental health counseling for his agoraphobia, his fear of being in public places, said Gary Dalbey, a neighbor who lived across the road from Thorpe in rural Smartville. (The Californian NC times Associated Press 1/12/01) ...

Biography of Bill Gates

Biography of Bill Gates Free Online Research Papers William (Bill) H. Gates III is co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, the worlds leading provider of software for personal computers. Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955. He and his two sisters grew up in Seattle. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Mary Gates, their late mother, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International. Gates attended public elementary school before moving on to the private Lakeside School in North Seattle. It was at Lakeside that Gates began his career in personal computer software, programming computers at age 13. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, who is now Microsofts president. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer the MITS Altair. BASIC was first developed by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College in the mid-1960s. In his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his energies full-time to Microsoft, a company he had started in 1975 with his boyhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates foresight and vision regarding personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. Gates is actively involved in key management and strategic decisions at Microsoft, and plays an important role in the technical development of new products. Much of his time is devoted to meeting with customers and staying in contact with Microsoft employees around the world through e-mail. Under Gates leadership, Microsofts mission is continuously to advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, which is reflected in its investment of some $2.6 billion for research and development during the current fiscal year. In 1995 Gates wrote The Road Ahead, his vision of where information technology will take society. Co-authored by Nathan Myhrvold, Microsofts chief technology officer, and Peter Rinearson, The Road Ahead held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list for seven weeks, and remained on the list for a total of 18 weeks. Published in more than 20 countries, the book sold more than 400,000 copies in China alone. In 1996, while strategically redeploying Microsoft to take advantage of the emerging opportunities created by the Internet, Gates thoroughly revised The Road Ahead to reflect his view that interactive networks are a major milestone in human communication. The paperback second edition also has become a bestseller. Gates is donating his proceeds from the book to a non-profit fund that supports teachers worldwide who are incorporating computers into their classrooms. In addition to his passion for computers, Gates is interested in biotechnology. He sits on the board of the ICOS Corporation and is a shareholder in Chiroscience Group of the United Kingdom and its wholly owned subsidiary, Chiroscience RD Inc. (formerly Darwin Molecular) of Bothell, Wash. He also founded Corbis Corporation, which is developing one of the largest resources of visual information in the world a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. Gates also has invested with cellular telephone pioneer Craig McCaw in Teledesic, a company that is working on an ambitious plan to launch hundreds of low-orbit satellites around the Earth to provide a worldwide two-way broadband telecommunications service. In the dozen years since Microsoft went public, Gates has donated more than $800 million to charities, including $200 million to the Gates Library Foundation to help libraries in North America take advantage of new technologies and the Information Age. In 1994 Gates established the William H. Gates Foundation, which supports a variety of initiatives of particular interest to Gates and his family. The focus of Gates philanthropy is in four areas: education; world public health and population; non-profit, civic and arts organizations; and Puget Sound-area capital campaigns. Bill and Melinda French Gates were married on January 1, 1994. They have one child, Jennifer Katharine Gates, who was born in 1996. Research Papers on Biography of Bill GatesThe Project Managment Office SystemRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanOpen Architechture a white paperNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaDefinition of Export QuotasTwilight of the UAW

Contemporary Media's Representation of Philosophies, Ideologies, and PowerPoint Presentation

Contemporary Media's Representation of Philosophies, Ideologies, and Theories - PowerPoint Presentation Example With the help of Jim Gordon, Batman and the District Attorney Harvey Dent set out to eliminate the criminal infrastructure that is operating out of the streets. Despite a strong partnership between the two, they find themselves fighting against a reign of chaos that has been unleashed by a rising mastermind in the criminal world, who is known amongst the terrorized people as ‘The Joker’. From the very beginning, the joker succeeds in showing to the world, a horrifying version of evil where all morality is shredded to dust and replaced with lawlessness and hatred. Others associated with the criminals have long been gone, but the name of the Joker remains in the minds of the people especially due to the ambiguity and glamour with which his evil comes with. One could not rely on virtually anything he said and he relishes at the ease with which he gets people including Dent to break rules. He enjoys destroying the people and civic society simply for the sake of witnessing evil. What is good and truth? Why do good guys need to play by the rules when others don’t? these are some of the questions that beg for an answer from this movie, which set it apart as something that has a deeper impact on the viewer than regular action movies. If one were to ask about the ideal way to select and watch a movie, then the Dark Knight would come to be the first option. Many a times, we question the fact that yes, a movie can be quite entertaining, but what message did it help convey to us? The Dark knight has pulled off the trick by attempting to answer major issues connected to morality and has at the same time made every effort to entertain the viewer. The movie has tried to provide answers to three varying answers to our concerns over what is good and the way people should live in a society. The first way of living is according to the path chosen by the Joker i.e., a world sans rules, where all that matters is power and where society is

Marketing - Med-I-Paint Ltd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing - Med-I-Paint Ltd - Essay Example MIP serves the continents with its reusable products such as sleep knit, traditional bedding, linen protection clothing, clothing protection, breathable protection, pillows and duvets, bed accessories, laundry bags, laundry equipments, and towels among others from its international clientele mostly located in Canada, Portugal and Germany (MIP UK Inc., 2012). This paper will focus on the key operations of MIP with the objective to assess its strategies. In this regards, the organisational culture perceived by MIP and its quality management initiatives will also be taken into account in this paper. The discussion will also intend to identify the various challenges faced by MIP in dealing with its operations, especially in the UK market. Organisational Culture in MIP The organisational culture is often regarded as a collection of perceived values, standards, and behaviours shared by its employees that control the way of interacting with each other. The organisational culture of MIP focu ses on the motivated people who are passionate about their tasks, as was stated by the Human Resource Director of the organisation, Gail Perowne. It can be noted that the organisational culture in MIP is developed in a way so that the employees can support the organisational growth productively. ... Organisation culture is the way in which the entire workforce performs the tasks contributing to the overall organisational productivity. In this process, the employees fundamentally perform tasks related with problem solving, conflict and query resolutions, and customer handling as well as efficiently dealing with the individual members within the organisation (MIP UK Inc., 2012). The organisation should involve with some functional activities to maintain a suitable culture within the organisation which can be regarded as the behavioural control encouraging stability and providing source of identity. Social norms are one of the most compulsory and most obvious elements of cultural control mechanisms. A social norm is basically a behavioural expectation that the people will proceed in a specified way for a particular situation (Bicchieri & et. al., 2011). It is in this context that culture is a quite strong force in the organisation, which is consciously passed among the incoming emp loyees within the organisation. It plays a vital role in reflecting the true nature and personality of an organisation. The organisational culture involves the employees, the customers, the suppliers, and the community which MIP follows in a way maintaining the company ahead on its productivity to generate a good position at the international dais (MIP UK Inc., 2012). Quality Management in MIP The elements of quality control show the quality of all existing factors which are involved with the production of any plant or any organisation. Elements such as control, job management, task specification process, performance criteria and identification of previous records among others play a major role in quality control aspects of MIP. Furthermore, soft