Compare and Contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 14

Compare and Contrast - Essay Example As a function of such a comparative analysis, the proceeding analysis will attempt to compare and contrast the ways in which both of these stories attempt to integrate with the reader. With regards to the ultimate allegory that Shirley Jackson is attempting to represent, it is the belief of this author that she has a twofold representation that she attempts to acquaint the reader with. As the topic of her story is concentric upon the sacrificial offering of an individual before what can only be described as an ordered but cold-hearted crowd demanding a sacrifice to be made in order to fulfill some type of a quota, the reader can quickly infer that the allegorical nature of the story adequately represents those of ancient sacrificial rites that were oftentimes conducted in order to secure fertility or a bountiful harvest for early civilizations (Jackson 12). Yet, this is not the only purpose of such a story as it is the belief of this author that the drawing and subsequent lottery that took place was allegorical with regards to the nature of the draft that existed and typified the times that Shirley Jackson lived in. However, what is interesting is the fact that the author also incorporates strong elements of sociological understanding with regards to the current society that Shirley Jackson lived within. At the time the short story was penned, the draft was in effect for all military aged men. As such, the allegory of the drawing and the lottery can be seen as a type of ritualized system of sacrifice in which the nonsensical nature of violence and death continued to permeate modern society long after the absurd nature of a literal sacrifice from ancient cultures died away. Moreover, the author is able to draw a clear line of connection between the two seemingly disjunct understandings of society, human nature, and history. Rather than

Streptococcus pneumoniae Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Streptococcus pneumoniae - Research Paper Example The species name is Streptococcus pneumoniae. Luis Paster discovered the organism in 1800’s. At that time he named it Micrococcus Pasteur. In 1886 and 1920, the name of the organism changed to Pseumococcus and Diplococcus pneumoniae respectively. Finally, in 1974 the micro-organism name became the Streptococcus pneumoniae (Toder, 2012). The micro-organism is Gram-positive, non-spore forming, non-motile and lancet-shaped. Predominantly, the micro-organisms occur in pairs. However, they can form short and straight chains. The micro-organism has a capsule that serves as a protective layer to antibiotics. In addition, the capsule stains positive during Gram staining process. The diameter of individual cells measures 0.5 and 1.25 micrometers. The cell wall of Streptococcus pneumoniae comprises of peptidoglycan and teichoic acid. The peptidoglycan component of the cell wall responds positively to Gram staining technique. This technique identifies and distinguishes different species in the genera streptococci. Steptococcus pneumoniae lacks the catalase activity. In addition, they are facultative anaerobes and metabolizes through lactic acid fermentation (Toder, 2012). There are more than 90 highly antigenic capsular serotypes differentiated in the types of presenting antigen in the capsule. Antibodies to specific types of serotypes are protective. The features responsible for pathogenic nature of organism are innumerable. These include presence of pro-inflammatory cell wall components (C-polysaccharides and F-antigen), IgA2 protease, pneumolysin, adhesins, and enzymes that damages tissue. Pneumolysin is a cytotoxin that stimulates immune response and adhesin bind to cell surface carbohydrates. Some of examples of adhesin include choline binding protein A, and the pneumococcal surface protein A [PspA]. The micro-organism incorporates the genetic material of other micro-organism through a process of transformation. The presence of F-antigen helps in acquiring of genetic material from different sources. Therefore, it means that the organism can change from one serotype to the other. This is quite significant to the development of resistance to antibi otics in the organism. It increases the virulence of the organism. The increasing severity of micro-organism is attributed to its ability to assume different shapes. When the organism acquires genetic material with genes of resistance to antibiotics, it replicates to resist the host defense mechanism. The virulence in these micro-organisms is associated with the capsular material. The capsule resists the hosts’ phagocytosis mechanism thereby surviving and multiplying in the host tissues. The virulence factors of the micro-organism include surface protein A. autolysin, and immunoglobulin A (Toder, 2012). Streptococci pneumoniae are found in the host’s upper airways, nose, or throat. They are part of normal flora in human beings. However, the organism becomes infectious depending on the immunity status of the host. In the immune comprised host, they cause some of the deadly diseases that include pneumonia, meningitis, sinusitis, acute otitis media, peritonitis, and bacte remia. These are diseases of upper and lower respiratory tract. When in the host tissues, pneumococcal undergoes genetic changes that convert the colonies from opaque to transparent ones. However, the rate is very low in number; it is 1 in 105 micro-organisms. The transparent colony is best adapted for proliferation in the nasopharynx. The opaque colonies thrive very well in the host’s blood. The opaque colonies increase their virulence during systemic infections. These differences in

Women in the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle A brief history of Essay

Women in the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle A brief history of zimbabwe, status of women in precolonialism in zimbabwe, nature of colonialism in zimbabwe, the - Essay Example The Portuguese were then overpowered by the consolidation of several states called Shona that led to emergence of Rozwi empire covering most of the present Zimbabwe. This state of peaceful coexistence of native kingdoms lasted for the next two centuries. By the middle of 19th century Rozwi empire fell due to the entry of British South Africa company to whom rights for mining of gold were given by the Ndebele rulers in 1888 by way of treaty. The treaty later paved way for aggressors from Europe mostly British who fought with the Ndebele kingdom and established colonies there. (Zimbabwe History) Colonization was started in 1890 by the English settlers led by founder Cecil John Rhodes. Thus Rhodesia was named after its founder. The English thought they were the first race in the world and hence assumed wherever they settled, it was for the benefit of the human race. (Nyangoni) With this feeling of supremacy over the rest of the human race, English started colonies in other parts of the world and dominated the local race. Thus native Africans in Rhodesia were not allowed to participate in an all-white Government. The whites alone assumed right to vote and the land laws they passed prevented native Africans' presence in many public places reserved exclusively for the whites. The ordinances they passed left native Africans with lands just for sustenance. About 6000 whites occupied half of the fertile and otherwise potential lands, leaving the worst lands for 600,000 native African farmers.(Chung P 211) This state of affairs lasted till 1979 characterized by domination of white minority over the native population who were denied rights to their own lands. Ever since the colony started, there had been civil unrest among the natives of Rhodesia who first initiated revolution demanding changes in the imperial constitution which would facilitate equal job opportunities and participation in Government. But by 1960, situation radically changed with nationalism gaining momentum requiring to overthrow the minority white rule. In the process, National Democratic Party (NDP) was started by native Africans with the ultimate aim of Pan African rule in due course. The party activists evoked violence against the minority rulers to attract the attention of England for its intervention and help handing over of power to the locals. (Gann, p 42) The minority rulers retaliated by banning the NDP in 1961. Then came a newly formed party in 1962 led by Joshua Nkomo under the name of Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) through reconstitution of the NDP. The ZAPU wanted to bri ng one-man-one vote rule, unite all Africans against imperialism and colonialism, eliminate all forms of oppression of its local Africans, and to establish a new order of African tradition. ZAPU members also believed force by violence and bloodshed was the only solution. Hence looking at ZAPU's objectives, the minority Government banned it also. ZAPU members went

The Coach Essay Example for Free

The Coach Essay As a group coaches are often criticized for their overemphasis on winning and their overly serious attitude toward the league experience. Most studies, however, point out that in general Little League coaches get involved for the love of the game and for the love of their participating child. Coaches that angrily shout criticism from the sidelines are not appreciated or liked as are relaxed, supportive, and knowledgeable coaches who emphasize the improvement and learning of new skills. Coaches that develop close and personal relationships with the child and her/his parents are the most likely to contribute to a positive learning experience. Coaches are first and foremost role models and teachers. Good coaching is not about producing winning teams; its about asking every day before practice or a game: Is what were planning to do today in the best interest of the kids? The best lesson a coach can teach is that playing fairly makes everyone a winner, and that: Developing Coaching Philosophy A casual observer of any little league game site will notice the excessive seriousness and tension exhibited by coaches on the sidelines. Coaches and spectating parents get very involved with their childrens game. Some fail to realize the deleterious effects of their vocal protests regarding game referee decisions or disapproval of their childs performance. Several soccer leagues that I am familiar with have on record a very appropriate league philosophy statement. These statements emphasize learning, fair play, fun, equal opportunity, etc over winning. Ironically, the same leagues use trained referees and linesmen, for example, to officiate a game between two teams comprised of nine-year-old players. Players are often assigned to positions in which they are most productive or least destructive. And, coaches, parents and players exhibit excessive celebration when a goal is scored (even when the goal resulted from a clumsy goalie error) or when a game is won. Overly formal game control, early specialization, and excessive celebrations seem incompatible with a child-centered league philosophy. Should the league experience serve best only the most talented and promising individuals at the expense of the less skilled? A typical league reality of winning first, child second, seems to prevail over the same leagues beautifully crafted philosophy statement. The stress associated with coaching a losing team stems from the distorted view that winning equals good coaching and loosing equals poor coaching. The child that is allowed to play a variety of positions will learn and progress irrespectively of her or his teams winning or loosing record. In the soccer league that I joined as assistant coach during the Fall of 1999, the head coach knew which the two best teams on the league were several weeks before kickoff. Who gets the credit for coaching these kids? Four of the kids on our nine-year-old boys team never played the game. How are they going to learn and improve if we are not going to allow them to make mistakes? Sticking to a child-centered game plan can get very tricky and involve tough decisions. A Coaching Philosophy Some coaches get turned off by the word philosophy. They cannot see how any one philosophy can have an impact on their daily problems and work. Ones teaching or coaching philosophy, however, is actually a very practical matter. An analogy to ones philosophy may be equated to a pair of glasses that filter reality through ones personal experiences, opinions, values and beliefs. It has, therefore a direct influence on how we see and understand the world around us, what actions we take, and why we choose to behave in the ways we do. In fact, every coach, whether aware of it or not, is following certain principles or his philosophy while coaching. It may seem reasonable to assume that the philosophy that directs the coachs everyday life thinking and actions would be also applied by her/him to coaching. Yet, this often seems not to be the case. For example, most coaches would agree that a less skilled child with little or no self-confidence needs special attention and time investment. Yet, who are the kids that usually get the most attention, the most playing time, the most praise? Still, let’s assume, for example, that a businessman discovered that the firm he is negotiating with was dishonest. He decides to do his business with another group despite the fact that he may end up paying more for essentially the same product. This may not sound like good business, yet many a businessman I talked to expressed willingness to stick to their principles even if it meant higher expenses. How many coaches do you know that would stick to principles of sportsmanship or fair play rather than win a game? Obviously, we can readily see a gap between what a coach may think is the right thing to do in every day life situations, and the actions he/she ends up taking on the playing field. Developing an Alternative Coaching Philosophy Dr. Rainer Martens, a world renowned sport psychologist and publisher, explains that the development of a functional coaching philosophy involves two major tasks: †¢ become a student of your own feelings and who you are? †¢ prioritize and delineate your coaching objectives †¢ Developing Self-Awareness Children are great imitators. Therefore, you are more likely to shape them into your own image than into what you would actually like them to become. The coach is a very powerful role model. This is why it is important that the coach be honest as he/she evaluates her/himself and get in touch with here/his own feelings. The coach needs to discover whether he really likes who he/she is. A quick subjective self-awareness test would be to ask oneself When I was a child, would I have liked to have my current self as a parent? As a coach? If the answer is yes, explain to yourself why you think the way you do. What is it that makes you a good parent, teacher, coach? If you realize that you do not like everything about yourself, dont panic, nobodys perfect. The key factor is not for every coach to be a perfect individual. It is crucial, however, that the coach be honest with her/himself, and willing to take the appropriate steps to change for the better. Dr. Martens suggests that one such first step would be to form an open door policy and solicit feed back from the kids, assistant coaches and the parents. This, according to Dr. Martens means that the coach needs to learn to listento be attentive to both overt and covert communication patterns. Good listening skills ensure two way communications and thus decrease the filtering effect that often distorts the true message delivered by the other party. Prioritization and Delineation of Coaching Objectives It is an indisputable fact that children are their parents and nations most precious asset. It may seem natural to assume, therefore, that the majority of adults mean well for the kids. Yet, how often do we wish something for our child, and then step back and take the time to find out whether this is what the child really wants? More often than not, adults feel they know better, and thus, exclude children from the decision making process. Youth sport, unfortunately, is a prime example of this phenomenon. In 1987 the Athletic Footwear Association in America sponsored a study of 10,000 students ages 10-18 regarding their feelings about sport. The students reacted to questions such as why they participate, why they quit, and what changes they would make in order to get involved again in a sport they dropped. The most important finding of the study was that winning, which is the most publicized and pursued goal of sports never ranked higher than seventh even among the most competitive athletes. To have fun and to improve my skills were consistently the first two choices why the students chose to play sports. When asked why they dropped from sports three of the first five reasons were I was not having fun, coach was a poor teacher, and too much pressure. How many coaches you know would have predicted this outcome? (Rainer, 1987, 3-14) Dr. Martha E. Ewing and Dr. Vern Seefeld of the Youth Sports Institute of Michigan State University who conducted the study, and Dr. Steven J. Danish, chairman of the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University who added psychological and developmental interpretations proposed the following truths about children and sport: Fun is pivotal; if its not fun, young people wont play a sport (Rainer, 1987, 3-14). Skill development is a crucial aspect of fun; it is more important than winning even among the best athletes. The most rewarding challenges of sports are those that lead to self-knowledge. Intrinsic rewards (self-knowledge that grows out of self-competition) are more important in creating lifetime athletes than are extrinsic rewards (victory or attention from others). The American Youth and Sports Participation study authors proposed the following tips for coaches and parents who are willing to develop an alternative coaching philosophy: For Coaches Become a communicator (a listener and a giver of feedback). Recognize the needs of your kids and balance your needs with theirs. Develop perspective: remember what you were like at their age and what you could do then; dont judge the kids by what you can do now. Remember the truths and plan activities with them in mind. Seek out workshops and educational programs that teach not only sports-related skills but also communication and interpersonal skills that will help you work with parents and get the most out of your kids. Try to work with parents and make them part of the team rather than viewing them as critics to be avoided. Coach Development Education, as pedagogical theory so perceptively points out, is a two-way process, which means that both sides of the process have an opportunity to influence each other. Therefore, the coach can expect to be shaped by his team members’ characters and styles in a way that is no less decisive than his or her influence upon them. Realizing it may prove a challenge to many authoritative coaches, yet this impact is undeniable and should not be underestimated. However, in case of a younger team, the coach’s influence is going to exceed that of the children as they, as mentioned before, are great imitators and need a role model to follow. For this reason among others, the coach has to develop certain moral and professional qualities that will form the basis for practical application of one’s coaching philosophy. The tenets of coaching philosophy determine which exactly qualities one needs in order to develop one’s team and bring them to a victory earned in the spirit of fair play sportsmanship. In the first place, a coach has to be a superb organizer. This is the coach’s primary function in the team: to unite a disparate set of players into a coherent whole. Unity in the contest has to stem from psychological unity of the team, the much talked about team spirit. A coach in one’s philosophy has to define how important a place the team occupies in his/her activities and endeavors and what ways of achieving this unity are legitimate and effective. In team sports specifically, the value of team relationships cannot be overrated, since a victory is only a product of collective efforts and rarely a gift of luck.

Are Imf Loans Good Poor Countires Essay Example for Free

Are Imf Loans Good Poor Countires Essay A poor country with a weak government is suffering from shortages in terms of financial resources. Most of its population lives below poverty levels, there is high unemployment, low literacy rate, food shortages, no clean water and due to a combination of drought and lack of technology, no crops to export. As if it didn’t have enough problems, the country has debts to pay back to foreign governments, investors and agencies. This is where the IMF, which Easterly calls ‘the world’s most powerful creditor’, steps into the picture. [1] It was originally set up by the West in order to prevent large trade imbalances and unstable currencies. However, it shifted focus and started bailing out poor countries in financial crises. It has had success in helping countries out on a short-term basis. Most of the countries that have benefited from IMF loans are countries that need temporary assistance, do not qualify as ‘emerging markets’ and face difficulties in attracting foreign investors and lenders. For example, the IMF successfully helped South Korea and Thailand during their financial squeezes in the 1980’s[2] . However, there are problems in terms of the long-term development of countries which rely on the IMF. Easterly begins his article by describing a meeting between the IMF and the minister of finance and economic development of Ethiopia. At the meeting, the IMF set out several conditions that the government of Ethiopia would have to satisfy in order to receive assistance and most importantly, pay back their loans. The problem with the conditions was that they were at times contradictory and unrealistic. For example, while stating that it supported the government’s food security program, the IMF also told the finance minister that he would have to be careful that the program did not endanger ‘macroeconomic stability’.[3] How macroeconomic stability could be achieved in a country where most of the people are starving is a mystery. Other conditions that the IMF places on countries include getting them to agree to financial programs which reduce government spending and inflation, limit excessive money printing, increase taxes and put in place austerity measures. Through such strict conditions, the IMF has therefore accomplished very little when it comes to promoting long-term development. The conditions have been too intrusive into government policies. Easterly argues therefore that there is an association between â€Å"IMF involvement and the most extreme political event: state collapse†.[4] This is caused by the involvement of the fund in domestic politics. By ‘forcing’ governments to carry out social cuts such as reducing subsidies on basic goods, the proposed IMF measures create riots and political and social instability. The article demonstrates that out of 8 countries that collapsed or failed, 7 had spent a high share of time ranging from 46 to 74 % of the decade before the collapse on IMF programs. This shows that the IMF measures are often too difficult to comply with and their ultimate success is limited. The author therefore suggests that the countries that ultimately collapsed would have probably been better off without IMF involvement.[5] This is because such countries have far greater problems than the IMF can fix. However, despite this, the IMF never turns a country down even if it fails its programs several times. The author gives the example of Sierra Leone which went into civil war after participating in an IMF program and then returned into the program and failed again, this time requiring UN intervention to protect its population from genocide. He suggests therefore that the IMF should have left it alone in the first place and not intervened. Trying to help was according to Easterly, clear evidence of the ’Planner’s mentality’.[6] However, one might ask what would happen if the IMF did not intervene in such a case? Easterly ´s suggestion of leaving the country alone would lead to the struggles of the people being ignored, genocide would occur and the country would sink into further poverty. The result would be over-reliance on aid, more refugees escaping to struggling neighbouring countries and a low literacy rate which would affect future generations. Perhaps therefore the solution is not for the IMF to turn a blind eye to countries that fail despite decades of following IMF programs. Perhaps the solution is for it to change its strategy and program in order to tailor it to the unique needs of each country. Easterly mentions this as well. He states that not only do the staff at the IMF operate a  ´one size fits all ´ model to all countries, their accounting relies on shaky numbers as evidenced in page 22 of the article. Thus Easterly argues that it is better for a country’s balance to bounce than for it to rely on shaky statistics by the IMF which do not reflect reality. Very little can be achieved if unrealistic goals are set for countries and if their achievements or failings are not measured accurately. Thus IMF loans do not work in the majority of cases. They may only work where a country has some form of reliable government and does not already have many loans to pay back. Getting an IMF loan in such a case is just a temporary measure and the country can pay back without great consequences. In relation to the most poor however, their problems persist so they renew their loans from one change of government to another with little or no prospect of being able to pay back. The IMF stipulates in all its agreements with countries that they need to pay it back before they pay other creditors. However, Easterly argues that by making such a condition, the IMF is actually bailing itself out.[7] It ends up in a situation where it provides new loans to countries so that they can pay it back for old loans. It also drafts the World Bank in to make an adjustment loan as part of the bailout package. This is to no benefit to the country which sinks deeper into the debt to the IMF and still has other loans from other investors to pay back. The IMF calls countries that are dependent on its loans ‘prolonged users’. The definition of a prolonged user is a country which spent 7 out of a 10 year period under an IMF program. The addiction to IMF loans is evidenced by the fact that 44 countries qualify for the definition of prolonged user and half of IMF lending goes to such countries.[8] However, repeated debts do nothing to solve the problem. In1996, the IMF and World Bank decided to forgive part of their loans to the poorest nations. These nations had accumulated loans from not only these organisations but also loans from western countries and other agencies. There was very little chance of them being able to repay the loans and the interest that had accumulated. Such countries were named heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs).[9] 17 out of 18 of the HIPCs were among the countries receiving above average amounts of IMF and World Bank loans. They had no growth of income or resources. They continued to sink into debt with interest still growing. The forgiving of the debts over a period according to Easterly, only encouraged borrowers to keep borrowing. For example Bolivia and other countries got 100 percent debt relief, but they still made no recovery.[10] Another example is offered by the Argentina disaster set out in the article. Argentina was a star pupil from 1991 to 1999.[11] It had gone through several IMF programs and in 1991, it achieved financial stability. After almost a decade of financial stability, the president who was faced with elections led the wave of public spending and loans from private foreign investors. Financial crisis ensued and the IMF put together a rescue loan plan that included loans from the World Bank, Inter-American development Bank and Spain. In 2001 lenders demanded interest rates from Argentina that were 10 percent higher than elsewhere. The IMF continued to give loans worth several billions to support Argentina so that it could pay its private creditors. However, despite this, Argentina failed to pay any of its creditors back their full amount. Its debt reached 81 billion dollars and it eventually had to make ’take it or leave it offers’ to its creditors who had to accept not getting most of their money back. This supports the argument that loans on their own are not the solution to the poor countries’ problem. They need help to resolve their unique political and social problems. Putting them in debt is not going to assist them as whatever progress they make, they will have to give the money back. Easterly concludes therefore that the world bank which is an aid agency should give countries grants not loans. And the IMF should get out of the business of bailing countries out. It has inadequate knowledge of what is happening at ground level and it was not designed to offer the kind of assistance that poor countries need and the long-term planning their needs require. Thus it would be better for aid agencies to continue their work at grass-root level and to contribute to long-term change.

Earnings Management and Accrual Accounting

Earnings Management and Accrual Accounting Contents (Jump to) Introduction Motivations for Earnings Management   Techniques 11 Groups to Manage Earnings Modified Jones Model   Limitations of the Earnings Management Models Implications and Application of Earnings Management References EARNINGS MANAGEMENT Introduction There has been significant attention placed on earnings management from regulators, the financial press, and academic researchers in recent years. Most are in agreement that earnings management does occur; however, there is no uniform definition for what it is or how to detect it. What are earnings and what is earnings management? Simply stated, earnings are the accounting profits of a company. Stakeholders (current or potential providers of debt and equity capital, employees, suppliers, customers, auditors, analysts, rating agencies, and regulators) use earnings to make important financial decisions. Many investors view earnings as value relevant data that is more informative than cash flow data. (Healy and Wahlen 1999) Others have suggested that current earnings are better predictors of future cash flows than are current cash flows. (Dechow 1994) In the US, these profits are derived using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) a system based on the accrual method, which measures the performance and position of a company by recognizing economic events regardless of when cash transactions occur. The generalidea is thateconomic events are recognized by matching revenues to expensesat the time in which the transactionoccurs rather than when payment is made (or received). This methodallows the current cashinflows/outflowsto be combined withfuture expected cash inflows/outflowsto give a more accurate picture of a companys current financial condition.The objectives of financial reporting and how these relate to the definition of accrual accounting, as laid out by the FASB in various Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts: The primary focus of financial reporting is information about an enterprises performance provided by measures of earnings and its components [CON1, para. 43]. Accrual accounting attempts to record the financial effects on an entity of transactions, events, and circumstances that have cash consequences for the entity in the periods in which those transactions, events, and circumstances occur rather than only in the periods in which cash is received or paid by the entity [CON6, para. 139]. It uses accrual, deferral, and allocation procedures whose goal is to relate revenues, expenses, gains, and losses to periods to reflect an entitys performance during a period instead of merely listing its cash receipts and outlays. Thus, recognition of revenues, expenses, gains, and losses and the related increments or decrements in assets and liabilities including matching of costs and revenues, allocation, and amortization is the essence of using accrual accounting to measure performance of enti ties [CON6, para. 145]. The principal goal of accrual accounting is to help investors assess the entitys economic performance during a period through the use of basic accounting principles such as revenue recognition and matching. There is evidence that as a result of the accruals process, reported earnings tend to be smoother than underlying cash flows (accruals tend to be negatively related to cash flows) and that earnings provide better information about economic performance to investors than cash flows (Dechow 1994) This idea raises the following key questions: What is the objective of accrual accounting? How far should management go in helping investors form rational expectations about the firms performance through their accruals choices and when does this activity become earnings management? To the extent that these accruals choices often operate to smooth reported earnings relative to the underlying cash flows, when does the appropriate exercise of managerial discretion become earnings management? Perhaps by its very nature, accrual accounting dampens the fluctuations in an entitys underlying cash flows to generate a number that is more useful to investors (for assessing economic performance and predicting future cash flows) than current-period operating cash flows. To characterize this as earnings management, we need to define the point at which managers accrual decisions result in too much smoothing and becomes earnings management. To think more generally about how earnings management is defined, consider the following representative definitions from the academic literature: a purposeful intervention in the external financial reporting process, with the intent of obtaining some private gain Schipper (1989) Earnings management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company, or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reported accounting numbers. Healy and Wahlen (1999) Although widely accepted, these definitions are difficult to operationalize directly using attributes of reported accounting numbers since they center on managerial intent, which is unobservable. Turning to the professional literature, clear definitions of earnings management are just as difficult to discern from pronouncements, statements, and speeches by regulators. An extreme form of earnings management, financial fraud, is well-defined (again in terms of managerial intent) as: the deliberate misrepresentation of the financial condition of an enterprise accomplished through the intentional misstatement or omission of amounts or disclosures in the financial statements to deceive financial statement users. (Certified Fraud Examiners, 1993) In recent speeches and writings, regulators at the SEC seem to have a broader concept in mind than financial fraud when they talk about earnings management, although a strict definition has not been made explicit. In particular, while financial reporting choices that explicitly violate GAAP can clearly constitute both fraud and earnings management, it also seems that systematic choices made within GAAP can also constitute earnings management according to recent SEC discussions. The notion that earnings management can occur within the bounds of GAAP is consistent with the academic definitions described above but is somewhat startling if the idea is that this type of earnings management will lead to explicit adverse consequences for managers and firms (in the form of SEC enforcement activity) in the same way as financial fraud. This is an important point because of the question as to whether income smoothing and other similar processes constitute earnings management and whether they ar e to be treated in the same manner as fraud. Former SEC Chairman Levitt indicated that flexibility in accounting allows firms to keep pace with business innovations. Abuses such as earnings management occur when people exploit this pliancy. Trickery is employed to obscure actual financial volatility. This in turn, masks the true consequences of managements decisions. (1998). This implies that within-GAAP choices can be considered to be earnings management if they are used to obscure or mask true economic performance, bringing us back again to managerial intent. This idea is reinforced by our reading of SAB 99, which also points to the intent to deceive. As accounting researchers have discovered, implementing this type of definition requires a reliable measure of the true consequences of managements decisions that is, the earnings number that would have resulted from a neutral operation of the process (absent some form of managerial intent). The crucial issues seems to be why firms choose to manage earnings, how do firms manage their earnings, how do we measure earnings management given that implementing GAAP requires management to make judgments and estimates, and what are the implications of earnings management. Motivation Management can have many motivations for managing their earnings. The ultimate motive for earnings management, however, is to aesthetically enhance the performance of a company in the eyes of its stakeholders. The literature cites motives such as stock market incentives, signaling or concealing private information, political cost, internal motives, lending contracts, management compensation contracts, and regulatory issues. A primary purpose of earnings management is to enhance the wealth of its stakeholders such as owners since they are hired by the board of directors and the board of directors is hired by the owners.   To enhance the benefits of the owners of a firm, management may manage earnings in order to meet analyst forecasts for present and future periods (Burgstahler and Eames 1998). An owner of that firms stock may be rewarded by the appreciation of its stock value which directly relates to the owners wealth. Meeting earnings forecast is an important factor on the stocks price. The more consensuses among analysts forecasts, the stronger incentive management has to meet those forecasts (Payne and Robb 2000).   Moreover, the direction of analysts recommendation (buy or sell) about a company can bias managements decision to manage earnings. If the company misses its earnings this can have a negative impact on stock returns and negatively impact managements compensation (Matsunaga and Park 2001).   However, if management can meet or beat analyst expectations, then this can result in higher stock returns (Bartov et al., 2002). The management of earnings has also been seen prior to a firms equity offering such as seasoned equity offers (Teoh, Welch, and Wong 1998b), initial public offerings (Teoh, Welch, and Wong 1998a; Teoh, Wong, and Rao 1998), and stock financed acquisitions (Erickson and Wang 1999). Management may have the incentive to signal positive information or to conceal negative information.   If a firm is performing poorly or having financial struggles, management may conceal this performance using earnings management (Rosner 2003). On the other hand, management may want to signal the firms future performance by revealing more information about a companys future earnings and cash flow prospects (Tucker and Zarowin 2006). Earnings management can also be used to shift earnings to other periods for optimal tax planning (Shane and Stock 2006). The shifting of earnings for tax purposes can be a sign of strength. Other reasons to manage earnings can include meeting bank loan covenants. In order to maintain bank loan covenants, management may have to achieve a certain level of earnings. Failure to reach the requisite earnings can cause the lender to call the loans due, creating liquidity problems for the firm and signaling firm weakness to the bank and other creditors. The li terature finds that firms that have violated covenants are more likely to manage earnings, possibly to prevent future defaults (Sweeney 1994).   When earnings management is conducted, managers use it as a tool to enhance perception of their management capabilities during the current reporting period, implying that this type of performance will continue in future reporting periods. They expect to be compensated handsomely for their business acumen.   However, Guidry et al. (1998) found that divisional managers for large multinational firms are likely to defer income when the earnings target in their bonus plan will not be met. This indicates that management is willing to take a bath in the current period in order to reap the benefits in a future period.   Moreover, it was found in Murphy (2001) that management is more likely to smooth earnings when using internal performance standards (budget goals and prior year) than external standards. Another form of compensation manipulation happens when there is a cap on the bonus awards. Then management is more likely to report an accrual that defers income when the cap is reached ( Healy 1985 and Hotausen et al, 1995). Furthermore, management may manage earnings depending on whether they are joining or leaving the firm. A new CEO may be inclined to downwards earnings management (transferring the benefit to future periods), while a retiring CEO may use upward earnings management (reaping the benefits in the current period) (Godfrey et al., 2003). Certain businesses have regulatory requirements to stay in business. A popular study of earnings management in the literature is the application by banks to manage earnings in order to meet capital requirements and by insurance companies to manage earnings to meet risk regulatory requirements. The literature supports evidence that when banks are close to minimum capital requirements they overstate loan loss provisions, understate loan write-offs, and recognize abnormal realized gains on securities portfolios (Moyer 1990; Scholes et al. 1990; Beatty et al. 1995; Collins et al. 1995). Additionally, financially weak property casualty insurers that risk regulatory attention understate claim loss reserves (Petroni 1992). The literature has also shown that firms facing anti-trust or potential anti-trust scrutiny are likely to use earnings management. These firms or others vulnerable to adverse political consequences have incentives to manage earnings to appear less profitable (Watts and Zi mmerman 1978). Moreover, firms under investigation for anti-trust violations reported income decreasing abnormal accruals in investigation years (Cahan 1992). Techniques Earnings Management can take place by underestimating or overestimating either revenues or expenses. It can be done to affect future earnings as well as current earnings. There are two main types: Cosmetic Earnings Management using accounting choices from GAAP: also called accrual based earnings management. It happens when managers use their judgment and discretion to make choices related to accounting principles that can alter earnings in the current or a future period. An example is the modification of depreciation rates, where an increase (decrease) in the expense may occur in the current period leading to a decrease (increase) in the future (Nelson et. al. 2003). Real-Activity Earnings Management using operating decisions: this type of earnings management is when managers make decisions that affect the real operations in the firm. This type is more dangerous both to the firm and to the managers. Managers would be at a higher risk of being caught. As for the firms, real activities earnings management affects the cash flow, and consequently has a higher impact on the companys future. For example, a manager can give discounted sales prices in order to boost sales and consequently meet some target revenues (Roychowdhury 2006). The most popular and successful techniques used to manage earnings can be categorized into 11 groups: 1. Cookie jar (Cosmetic): managers create a reserve or a financial slack to boost earnings in future periods by recording more expenses in the present. For example, when the manager reports higher inventory cost in the current period, it will allow him to reduce this in the future. (Levitt 1998) 2. Big bath (Cosmetic): when the management decides to eliminate or restructure a subsidiary or an operation, GAAP permits the management to record an estimate charge against the income. Managers can record higher charges to dissimulate other charges. (Levitt 1998) 3. Big bet on the future (Cosmetic): when a company acquires another one, managers can get an immediate earnings boost by including the acquired companys earnings in consolidated earnings. On the other hand, to boost future earnings, managers can write-off the acquired in-progress RD costs against present earnings, and thus protecting future earnings from these charges. (Levitt 1998) 4. Flushing of investment portfolio (Real): passive investments (less than 20% ownership) can be classified as trading securities (reported in operating income) or available-for-sale securities (not reported in operating income until sold). Earnings can be managed by timing sales (sell securities that gained (lost) value to increase (decrease) earnings) or reclassifying the security portfolio (from trading security to available for sale to move gain or loss from or to the income statement) 5. Throw out a problem child (Real): When a subsidiary underperforms, it decreases the overall company earnings. It is usually expected to cause a bigger decrease in the future. Managers may act in several ways to counter that: sell the underperforming subsidiary and consequently report a gain or a loss (based on the managers discretion). Another way is to spin-off the subsidiary by distributing or exchanging the shares with current shareholders and in this way the burden is transferred to the latter. 6. Change in GAAP (Cosmetic): Management can manage earnings by undergoing changes to the present accounting standards. For example, it may volunteer for early adoption of new accounting standards, such as the 1985s standard, which allowed companies whose pension assets exceeded their pension liabilities to count the difference as income (Lev 1989). This technique allows for improved revenue and improved expense recognition. 7. Amortization, Depreciation, and Depletion (Cosmetic): Writing-off long-term assets can be managed by selecting write-off method and period, estimating salvage value, or reclassifying as non-operating use. 8. Sale/Leaseback and asset exchange (Real): selling a long-term asset that has unrealized gain (loss) can be used to manage earnings. For example, selling a building, which is carried in the balance sheet at $25 million, for $40 million, will give a boost to the current earnings by $15 million (not considering tax and transaction costs). Another way is to sell the building and lease it back (recording gains or losses). However, if the management wishes not to record any gains or losses, the long-term asset could be exchanged with a similar one (for example for exchanging a warehouse for another one that is nearer to a production site) 9. Operating vs. Non-operating Income (Cosmetic): Income items can be classified as Operating income (recurring or core income, expected to continue in the future) or non-operating income (non-recurring, not expected to affect future). GAAP permits to management to classify an item as one or the other. The managers judgment will then affect the financial analysts forecasts, which are based on the operating or core earnings. For instance, disposition of a major manufacturing plant can be classified either as special charges (Operating income) or discontinued charges (non-operating income) based on the managers discretion. 10.Early Retirement of Corporate Debt (Real): Managers may decide to prematurely sell long-term corporate debts (bonds) which are usually recorded at an amortized value. The timing of the sale may lead to gains or losses due to the difference between the amortized value and the book value. 11.Stock buybacks (Real): This technique does not affect earnings, however it does affect earnings per share. By repurchasing their own shares, an act that is considered internal and thus not required to be reported under GAAP, companies will report higher EPS. Consider a company with 1 million shares. If the earnings are $4 million, EPS = $4 million/1million shares = $4 per share. Now if the company buys back 100,000 shares, the same earnings would have to be divided by 900,000 shares, the reported EPS would be $4.44 per share. Earnings Management Models and The Accrual Generation Process Accruals have the desirable traits of giving summary measures of firms income and accounting choice.   In earnings management research, accruals are divided into discretionary (DA) and non-discretionary (NDA). Most research has focused on the detection of DA. It is customary to start earnings management studies with the study of behavior of sales over time. First, in the budgeting process, sales determine the firms production and inventory levels, which in turn determine cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and investment decisions. Second, sales have the highest persistence of any component of the income statement. Therefore, sales are an efficient statistic for describing the characteristics of the firm. The fundamental element of any test for earnings management is a measure of management discretion over earnings. Most studies use DA as a proxy for earnings management. Because DA cannot be observed directly from the financial statement, they have to be estimated using some kind of model. The literature has followed different approaches. According to McNichols (2000), the models can be broadly classified into 3 groups: aggregate accrual models, specific accrual models, and frequency distribution models.   Because of their wide use, we discuss the aggregate accrual models as follows: Models Starting with the first and simplest models, both Healy (1985) and DeAngelo (1986) used total accruals (TA) as the proxy for DA to test earnings management in the context of bonus and management buyouts respectively. However, DeAngelo (1986) used first differencing to correct for serial correlation, therefore his NDA will be less contaminated by past accruals that are irrelevant in estimating current DA. The most popular earnings management model is the Jones Model (1991). It has model has been modified in several ways. Analysis is conducted in 2 stages. In the estimation stage, the DA is assumed to be zero and firm specific coefficients of NDA will be determined. These coefficients are assumed to be stationary and are used to in the event period to determine the DA. In her model, unlike the previous models, NDA are expected to vary with the level of business activity, and revenues and property, plant, and equipment (PPE) are used as proxies to control for NDA. All the variables are deflated by lagged total assets to correct for heteroskedasticity. Dechow et al (1995) argued that earnings can be managed by inflating revenue via receivables. As a result, revenue should be adjusted for change in receivables. This adjusted model is known as the Modified Jones Model. The Modified Jones Model (1995) is: The Industry Model (1991) was developed by Deschow and Sloan when they dealt with RD spending during the last year of the tenure of an outgoing CEO. They assumed that the variation in NDA is common across all firms in the same industry and formulated a model of how the normal item under investigation behaves. However, this model applies only to event studies in which not all firms experience the same event and it cannot capture firm specific characteristics. The Industry Model is: NDA t+1 = ?1 + ? Median (TA t+1) Limitations All models come with limitations. The limitations of the earnings management models are: Strong assumptions that may not hold. These include the absence of earnings management in the estimation period, stationarity of firm specific characteristics over such a longer time horizon, and orthogonality of NDA with the error term (i.e.DA). All the models assume that abnormal accruals are discretionary. Variation in accrual could be the result of performance or business strategy. The consequence is that it produces a Type II error. The solution is to add variables to control for performance and business strategy (Hansen 1999), however, some performance and growth variables may have non-linear properties. Small samples sizes. Small samples generate higher standard error which can weaken the power for the tests (type II errors). Measurement error. Since DA cannot be observed, it has to be estimated. This produces biased estimate of coefficients. The Balance Sheet approach generates more measurement error than the Cash Flow approach. (Hirbar and Collins 2002) Omission of variables. Most models miss some important variables and this induces a bias on the included variables and higher standard errors. The obviously omitted variable is an expense. This can cause an accrual conundrum (Ronen et al, 2007). Efficiency of the existing models. Research has shown that most of these models wrongly identify abnormal but NDA as DA (Type I error) and fail to identify higher amount of induced earnings management (Type II errors). This is partly due to the linearity of the models and the non-linear behavior of the variables studied. Moreover, there are many endogenous factors that affect earnings management and it may not be captured by single equations. As a result, a shift to linear specification and non-linear specification of the models could improve the efficiency of the earnings management models. Further decomposition of accruals. The starting point for most earnings management studies is decomposition of TA and most studies decomposed TA into NDA and DA. However, accruals have reversal property that ensures the change in accrued balance to add up to zero. Therefore, reversal of accrued balance limits the opportunity of managed earnings. As a result, further decomposition of TA accrual could provide more information on the exact change in TA. Implications and Application of Earnings Management Literature related to earnings management implies that earnings management could not be completely eliminated. As long as managements can benefit from managing earnings, they would attempt to expand use of it. Earnings management could be reduced while public eyes such as regulators spend many resources to detect it. However, if they lower guard due to lack of perfect restriction methods, earnings management could be re-flourished since it is surely useful for management to achieve their goals. Therefore, firms earnings management activities continually are reiterated. This continued action without a complete elimination can cause various effects on our society. Firms which purposefully manage their earnings for their own good could negatively impact public well-fare. According to Beaver (1998), financial reporting can generate different kinds of economic consequences, mostly related to resource allocation such as wealth distribution, aggregate consumption and aggregate production, a nd resources devoted to private search for information. Since earnings management could affect the quality of information by producing less reliable financial statement, eventually it could cause various negative economic results. In other words, less reliable information produced because of earnings management may not only make the public worse-off, but may also make the overall economy less stable. For example, because of earnings management, if many investors believe that financial reporting has poor quality and less reliability, they would spend more of their resources to search for better information or private information. It could mean that society wastes resources or re-allocates them to inappropriate places. Several studies provide evidences of earnings management by testing various types of accruals. Teoh, Wong, and Rao (1998) found that depreciation estimates and bad debt provisions are used for earnings management surrounding initial public offers. Many other studies found proof of earnings management through bank loan loss provisions (Beaver, et al., 1989; Moyer, 1990; Scholes, et al., 1990; Wahlen, 1994; Beatty et al. (1995), Collins et al. (1995), Beaver and Engel (1996), Liu and Ryan (1995), Liu et al. (1997). Studies of insurance claim loss reserves, including Petroni (1992), Anthony and Petroni (1992), Beaver and McNichols (1998), Penalva (1998), Petroni et al. (1999), have provided evidence of earnings management among insurers. Visvanathan (1998), Miller and Skinner (1998), Ayers (1998) test the use of deferred tax assets as a tool of earnings management, but they only present little evidence of it. While research indicates evidence of earnings management in a few accruals, numerous studies suggest different methods which could contribute to reduce pervasiveness of earnings management. Such restriction methods could be broadly cauterized in three parts. The first proposed way is to restrict earnings management through the regulatory process. Tan and Jamal (2006) found that strict accounting standards relating to discretionary accruals may reduce earnings management through. However, they also emphasize that too much restriction for cosmetic earnings management could increase real activity earnings management. As such, restriction through regulation would not completely eliminate earnings management because there are trade-offs. Secondly, another method is an appropriate and effective audit procedure. Past studies have shown evidence that various factors related to audit procedure can help constrain earnings management (Krishnan, 2003; Van Caneghem, 2004; Van Caneghem, 2004; Vand er Bauwhede Whillekens, 2004; Kim, et al., 2003; Frankel, 2002; Ferguson, 2004; Carey Simnet, 2006). According to Kim, et al. (2003), Big 5 auditors were more effective in deterring earnings management when there was an income increasing accrual choice. The last suggested restriction method is effective and efficient corporate governance. This is associated with the firms structure. For example, if a firm is inclined to highlight effective corporate governance, this firm could make an effort to prohibit earnings management.   It is important to understand that these three methods correlate with each other. For instance, by requiring additional audit procedures or firm policies, regulation would affect audit procedure or corporate governance and would reduce earnings management. On the other hand, auditors or firms could propose new regulations to reduce earnings management. Hence, earnings management could possibly be reduced not through one method but through a combination of a ll three methods. References: Ayers, B. C. 1998. Deferred tax accounting under SFAS No. 109: An empirical investigation of its incremental value-relevance relative to APB No. 11. The Accounting Review 73 (2): 195-212 Bartov, E., Givoly, D. Hayn, C. (2002) The rewards to meeting or beating earnings expectations.  Journal of Accounting and Economics, 33,173-204 Beatty, A., S. Chamberlain, and J. Magliolo. 1995. Managing financial reports of commercial banks: The influence of taxes, regulatory capital and earnings. Journal of Accounting Research 33 (2): 231-261 Beaver, W., C. Eger, S. Ryan, and M. Wolfson. 1989. Financial reporting, supplemental disclosures and bank share prices. Journal of Accounting Research (Autumn): 157-178 Beaver, W., and E. Engel. 1996. Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices. Journal of Accounting and Economics 22: 177-206 Beaver, and M. McNichols. 1998. The characteristics and valuation of loss reserves of property-casualty insurers. Working paper, Stanford University. Burgstahl

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy :: My Philosophy of Education

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy Why do I want to become a teacher? When I think about that question, I’m sure a few of my answers would be like some of the others in the class: I love being around people, the pay isn’t too bad, you get holidays, summers, even weekends off, and I don’t even mind grading papers! On the other hand, I do have another reason I’d like to become a teacher that’s probably a little different than others. Let me explain. It was January and colder that ever. The weather didn’t seem to faze me at all as I got off the bus and rushed up my hill. The few steps from the end of the driveway to my front porch seemed like miles. I opened the door only to find an empty house. No one was there like I expected. I was going to be an aunt for the first time and I was looking forward to finding out it was going to boy or a girl. It seemed as though the whole day went by until I saw our car in the driveway. I rushed to the door anxious and excited, only to find tears dropping from my mom’s eyes, and my sister-in-law Holly sadder than I’d ever seen anyone. My mom took me in the bedroom and explained to me the ultra sound showed some serious problems with the baby. He had spina-bifida and severe fluid on his brain. She explained that the doctors said my nephew had little to no chance of living, but if some miracle would happen and my nephew would live, he would live a very short life and be a complete vegetable. A month and a half went by and on May 14,1993 Terry Paul Daniels was born. His little head was the size of a basketball and he had a hole in the lower part of his back. Within the first three days of Terry’s life he had four surgeries, rode in a helicopter, and faced death a number of times. Since then, Terry’s had four more surgeries, been in a complete body cast, and went through his parents getting a horrible divorce. Through all of this something that happened to him when he was in kindergarten sticks out to me the most.