The state of the real estate market in UK Essay - 1

The state of the real estate market in UK - Essay Example From the research it is clear that real estate encompasses land and its additional features that increase its value. In United Kingdom (UK), the term real estate is dissimilar with different names. UK uses the word real property to denote real estate, which describes the land and its fixtures such as buildings and resources like minerals, water and harvests. While real estate market is the periodic change in upsurge of output alternating with the decline within a given time. In 1980s to 1990s, house prices appreciated by 300% while those of raw land raised by 1000% leading to recession. As from 1970, the average total price of the house for the first time buyers has increased for approximately 3, 100% at the same time, income average of the purchasers increasing by 1,900%. London records the lowest price of real estate to the initial buyer followed by South West. The alterations that happened in UK from 1980 to 2010 indicates how the country perceived an extraordinary increase in hou sing demand leading to increase in house prices. In 2010, house prices had raised threefold in 15 different cities and twice in 62 cities as compared to the house prices in 2005. The cities, which recorded the highest rise in the house prices, were Southern England, Salford and Newcastle while Scottish was among the countries, which recorded the least increases in prices of the house. Compared to other markets, the real estate market follows the fiscal principle of â€Å"supply and demand†. ... In 2010, the UK average number of real estate on the surveyor’s book raised by 4.1% from June raising the total average to 69.1, which was a drop of 0.1%. This led to the stock ratio sales dropping to 24%, which recorded the lowest level ever since June 2009. 1% more surveyors in the real estate recorded a rise surpassing a fall in total transactions which was a drop of 3% in the June 2009 transaction (Dijkman 2010, p.53). The total real estate supply raised and agents’ recorded a total average of 68% properties in contrary to the 59 of June 2009. The first time buyer (FTBs) percentages of total sales improved from 21% witnessed in June 2009 to 26% making the threshold of Stamp Duty Land Tax to rise to 250, 000 pounds (Jin, Yui & Zhixiong 2010, p. 527). In July 2010, both demand and supply for the real estates increased which was good news for housing market. According to the brokers in real estate, the total number of houses plus apartments in London traded for over 5 million pounds increased from 31% to 262%. On contrary, source of houses plus apartments for the sale above 5 million dollars significantly decreased leading to the raise of demand as inventory dropped. According to international luxury market, the prices of real estates in London were rising due to scarcity of property (Mun 2012, p. 676). This led to the real estate sellers in UK to accept the new trends in realities involved in luxury housing thus accepting on residence not commanding the real estate prices (Jinjarak & Sheffrin 2011, p. 246). During that period, general market activities and hopefulness increased leading to the drop in inventory while an increase in demand, which steered to inadequacy in classy housing inventory. In that

CNN And FOX News Essay Example for Free

CNN And FOX News Essay I chose to view CNN and Fox news to investigate the difference between how they relay information to the public. I have read that CNN publishes real news and that Fox is just an informational entertainment station filled with opinions about the news. Immediately it is seen that CNN is very detailed in their broadcasts. Upon watching several stories from both channels, I have found that they basically convey the same exact news stories, just in different ways. CNN was only a 30 minute segment but they thoroughly covered the most important world events. Fox News was an hour long segment and briefed the world news events. This is understandable since Fox news is a local station, they had to spend a majority of the air time on local news. Both stations do however relay the news in a bias manner. For example, both channels discussed the recent Teacher strike in Chicago. CNN spent about 4 or 5 minutes on the story stating that the teachers have come to an agreement and the children will be able to return to school on Wednesday. A 2 hour meeting with about 800 union officers and delegates concluded with a contractual agreement which would need to be ratified by the teachers and support staff and union members. The Chicago Mayor Emanuel was pleased with the results stating that it was an honest compromise. The students will suffer with a longer school day but they will be returning to school, which in turn will allow the parents and care givers to return to work. The coverage of this story on Fox news was minimal, lasting about 2 minutes. It was just brief details stating that the teachers and union members had reached and agreement and that the students would be returning to school after missing a full 7 days of class. Also, a topic of the news that was presented on both channels was the horrible situation in Afghanistan. CNN had an extensive small segment on the things that were transpiring as well as a short interview with some of the people in Afghanistan. The segment lasted about 5 minutes on CNN it was stated that the U.S. coalition is gradually transferring control to Afghan  authorities but as of now the war is not over. There are still tens of thousands of American forces there dealing with what they call â€Å"green† and â€Å"blue violence. There were a total of 6 U.S troops killed last week by Afghan allies. There were also 6 jets destroyed. When this story was aired on Fox News there wasn’t that much detail. The segment only lasted about 3 minutes on Fox News. It was only stated that there were four troops killed on Sunday and 2 more killed on Friday of last week. Fox also stated that there was a raid on a military base by 15 insurgents and six jets were destroyed. Four teen of those 15 insurgents were killed. President Obama’s job in the White House thus far was also a topic discussed on both channels. CNN spoke on this topic for about 9 minutes and commented on how the President is quickly making progress towards recovering the U.S., and has a big agenda for the future already planned compared with past presidents. The news reporter described this facet as â€Å"breath taking† and â€Å"stunning.† Fox news discussed the president and the upcoming election for about 5 minutes, and as could be expected, completely had the opposite view on this. They maintained that the President is taking on way too many different tasks at once per his quote, and that it is absolutely crazy for him to think he will get everything completed in two terms should he be re-elected. The news reporter said that he should stop misleading the American people and pick one or two big issues to cover in his agenda, and just maybe he will be able to address those in a believable manner. Fox News also spoke of the uproar that comments made by Romney about â€Å"47% of Americans being dependent upon the government backing the President† No comments were made about this video on CNN. I have never actually watched various news channels like this. I usually catch the local news on Fox and then the world news on ABC. I enjoyed the CNN broadcast. If was much more informative and it not only covered the large world stories but it touched on some of the smaller things happening in the world as well.

Influence Of Childhood Memories On Writing English Literature Essay

Influence Of Childhood Memories On Writing English Literature Essay This essay will focus on the influence family background and childhood memories have on writers and the theme of their writings. In both the essays chosen for detailed study here, we see how the authors philosophy of life and things that they chose to explore and write about was set way back in their childhood as a result of the traumas they faced. This paper will present an analysis of how the families of Sanders and Maduro shaped the way these authors understand themselves and relate to others. Scott Russell Sanders was the winner of the Mark Twain Award in 2009 and his work A Private History of Awe was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, to a family of cotton farmers, Sanders had a long and distinguished career as Professor of English at Indiana University. The main vision behind his writing is the shift in cultures from a consumerist to a care-giving society (Sanders). In his essay, Under the Influence: Paying the Price for my Fathers Booze, Sanders had chronicled the trauma he and his siblings had to endure because of his fathers alcoholism. In this memoir Sanders recounts the feelings of guilt, shame and helpless that he felt as a child of ten when he saw his fathers unstable and ferocious outbursts after getting drunk. He blamed himself for it and that feeling of guilt hounded him throughout his life. I tell myself he drinks to ease [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] an ache I must have caused by disappointing him somehow (Sanders). To atone for his perceived inadequacies as a child Sanders tried to turn to working hard and trying to keep the family together and taking on his fathers responsibilities, by vainly seeking to erase through my efforts whatever drove him to drink (Sanders). Sanders observes that his own children wonder at what drives him to be a workaholic and tries to allay their fears and any sense of guilt or pressure they may feel by being candid about his own feelings of guilt, hurt and shame at his fathers alcoholism. On maturity he realized that he had castigated himself needlessly as a child and that his fathers alcoholism was a disease and he had no reason to feel responsible for it. However, his fear of drinks and bad conduct that he had witnessed as a child had left a deep scar in his soul. He is reticent about going to pubs with his friends and drinking as much as he is afraid of causing hurt or disappointment to anybody. He is constantly watchful of any adverse reactions from people around him and still carries the shame of his fathers sins deep down inside him and shies away from having that facet of his life exposed in public. The name E.S. Maduro is a pseudonym under which the author talks about her feminist beliefs and her convictions on freedom of choice and awareness for women. She records how her own youthful feelings of rebellion against the social norms of marriage and raising children altered upon maturity but how she clung to her belief that women should have the awareness to make decisions for themselves. They should be allowed to choose their career paths according to their wishes and not be forced into stereotypical roles due to societal pressures. In the essay Excuse Me While I Explode: My Mother, Myself, My Anger the writer describes her feelings of anger, guilt and frustrations when she narrates the story of how her mother and women of that generation had to sacrifice their careers and all their lifes desires to accommodate their families and their duties as home makers and mothers. Excuse Me While I Explode: My Mother, Myself, My Anger first appeared in print as an article in a book entitled The Bitch in the House. In this article Maduro has written about her frustration at the inequality women face in society. It primarily deals with her angst at how she being a post-modern woman who was educated and liberated fell back and did the same things that she has found so loathsome in her mother. She had felt defiant at the way her mother and most women had to give-up their own dreams of a good and successful life to slave at household chores and raising children. Years ago a woman did not have a choice to voice her opinions and the role of housekeeper and dutiful mother was thrust upon her without so much as a thought about how she felt about it. Her toil was taken for granted and the spouse did not even think it inappropriate to allow his wife to do all the housework when he could very easily have offered to help. I believed myself to be a feminist, and I vowed never to fall into the same trap of domestic boredom and servitude that I saw my mother as being fully entrenched in; never to settle for a life that was, as I saw it, lacking independence, authority, and respect (Maduro 5). However, as she grew older and had her own experience of loving and living with her partner she was amazed that she followed the same pattern almost unconsciously and managed both house and work despite her partner wanting to help her with the chores. She puzzles over why this is so because she believed herself to be aware of her rights unlike her mother and in full command over her vocation and what she wanted out of life, yet she slaved at household chores: I feel an odd mixture of frustration and love. Together we have a wonderful, open, trusting relationship, but sometimes I wonder if the hostility already in me, and my need to be angry at someone or something, could eventually destroy our bond (Maduro 12).       The article is an introspection of why she chose to do this. She comes up with the hypothesis that women chose to take on domestic responsibilities even if it meant forgoing some of their own desires because it made a woman proud to be an accomplished home maker and mother. She identified this need in a woman to excel in housekeeping as a source of pleasure and fulfillment. She reflects on the dichotomy between love and frustration, career and home, raising children and vocation and finally finds comfort in the fact that unlike her mother she was not forced into servitude. She did what she did because she wanted to do it, she had the option of turning away and that made a big difference. She is able to resolve her conflict and also that of many other women by reiterating that choosing to be a good housekeeper and mother was an option and you could choose to be one even if you felt strongly for the cause of feminism.

Islamic Art :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Islamic Art   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Islamic art is perhaps the most accessible manifestation of a complex civilization that often seems enigmatic to outsiders. Through its brilliant use of color and its superb balance between design and form, Islamic art creates an immediate visual impact. Its strong aesthetic appeal transcends distances in time and space, as well as differences in language, culture, and creed. Islamic art not only invites a closer look but also beckons the viewer to learn more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The term Islamic art may be confusing to some. It not only describes the art created specifically in the service of , but it also characterizes secular art produced in lands under Islamic rule or influence, whatever the artist’s or the patron’s religious affiliation. The term suggests an art unified in style and purpose, and indeed there are certain common features that distinguish the arts of all Islamic lands.†1 Although this is a highly dynamic art, which is often marked by strong regional characteristics as well as by significant influences from other cultures, it retains an overall coherence that is remarkable given its vast geographic and temporal boundaries. Of paramount concern to the development of this singular art is Islam itself, which fostered the creation of a distinctive visual culture with its own unique artistic language. Calligraphy is the most important and pervasive element in Islamic art. It has always been considered the noblest form of art because of its association with the , the Muslim holy book, which is written in Arabic. This preoccupation with beautiful writing extended to all arts including secular manuscripts; inscriptions on palaces; and those applied to metalwork, pottery, stone, glass, wood, and textiles and to non-Arabic-speaking peoples within the Islamic commonwealth whose languages such as Persian, Turkish, and Urdu were written in the Arabic script. Another characteristic of Islamic art is a preference for covering surfaces with patterns composed of geometric or vegetal elements. Complex geometric designs, as well as intricate patterns of vegetal ornament (such as the arabesque), create the impression of unending repetition, which is believed by some to be an inducement to contemplate the infinite nature of God. This type of nonrepresentational decoration may have been developed to such a high degree in Islamic art because of the absence of figural imagery, at least within a religious context.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contrary to a popular misconception, however, figural imagery is an important aspect of Islamic art. Such images occur primarily in secular and especially courtly arts and appear in a wide variety of media and in most periods and places in which Islam flourished. It is important to note, nevertheless, that

Better Education for the Smaller Family

In recent years, a trend around the world has been toward a smaller family. Most families in the world have one or two children. In Vietnam, the average number of children per family has decreased in the last 20 years. A typical Vietnamese family has only one or two children. In the past, a family with more than ten children was not strange. The better education and the improvement of living condition have caused smaller family size. First, the average number of children per family has decreased because of better education. After the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese government has emphasized on education. Every kid could go to school to study. Therefore, more knowledge and more job opportunities have provided to Vietnamese people. High-educated people concentrate on their work and their income. They do not want to marry soon. The more late married couples there are, the fewer children are born. Consequently, the family size has decreased. Moreover, Vietnamese people used to think that a big family with many children is a happy family. The educated people have a different point of view. They cannot provide their children a good education and a satisfactory support if they had many children. They have realized the benefit from a smaller family. For instance, the parent can afford $1000 to their children a month. If they had four children, each would receive only $250. However, the kid in a single child family would receive the whole supply. A small family would provide the child a good condition to grow up. Besides, a problem has occurred from smaller families. The child becomes mischievous and naughty. The kid does whatever he or she wants because they know that their parent do not have many children. Second, the improvement of living condition has caused smaller family size. During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese people liked to have many children because they were afraid that they would lose their kids for the war. They wanted more and more of their kids to become more and more Vietnamese soldiers. After the war, they did not need more children. As a result, the family size started to decrease. Furthermore, Vietnam is a country base on farm product. Eighty percent of Vietnamese people are farmers. The farm work is very difficult and requires a lot of labor. They needed many family members to help their work. Therefore, they had many children. Nowadays, farmers have used machine and new technology in their work. The apparatus has replaced the labor. The farmers do not need many people to help them. Accordingly, they have had fewer children. In addition, more public services and information have been provided to Vietnamese people. The couples have planed to have healthy marriages. A small family is a good choice for them. This smaller, healthier family contributes to overall development and slower population growth. Nevertheless, the trend toward smaller family needs to be controlled in order to have a best result. Providing jobs and food is hard, but lacking work force is also a problem. Nowadays, people have fewer children then they had before. The more kids they have, the more money and time they spend. In order to have a happy family, they have to support a good environment to their children. Separating the parents† afford and love for three or four children is not a good idea. Consequently, a smaller family is the best choice.

Plain People

In this way, we can really see that after her amiss experience, Charlotte was a typical occidental â€Å"18-year-old girl† she was lazy, always grabbing a new technology stuff and only interested in fashion. Whereas now, after the experience, she is a whole new person with a whole new view about the world surrounding her, she starts helping her parents, only bye useless things and appreciate life for Its true meaning. 3- After the experience of Charlotte in the amiss community, she became a complete another responsible person.During her 6 weeks shove learnt the true meaning of life as explained above. Nowadays, her project is to became amiss but also to became a better person in the society and in her family. 4) Jones Family 4, Smith road Midfielder, OHIO First of all, I hope that you're well. For my part, I'm missing you like hell and I ‘m nowadays considering you as my second family. I don't think you can imagine how much my stay wire you changed me and my relation to the world.Before, Before eating you, I was the stereotype of the pathetic occidental 18-year-old girl who only take care of her. Today, I'm totally different , Eve a whole new vision of our world , I help my parents, and take care of them and of everyone who needs it. I'm really mature now, ‘feel useful in the society. And you're the cause of all this thanks to the fact that you helped me open my eyes and SE the worlds as it ‘s truly. Thinks I would miss Cell phone- Parties- Internet-Faceable- Mainstream- Twitter- Watchstrap- Modern way of remonstration- Music Freedom-Modern Clothes.Again, I hope all is well with you. And let me know if you ever need anything. I all miss you tons, you're my second family! Have a fun time, and stay safe. Please write back when you get this. I'd love to hear all about how everything is going. Sincerely, Charlotte Allison 5) In the case of being separated from these things, ‘would probably get mad because my whole life turn's around t hem, but I will need to adapt myself to this new woof living to find new hobbies.

The Top Five Factors Contributing to American Ignorance essays

The Top Five Factors Contributing to American Ignorance essays Americans have become not only ignorant about their own country and its political affairs but also have been blind to the impact of five factors that contribute to this ignorance. The influence of family, the media, education, popular culture, and one's own environment are the five sources that have caused the people of the United states to be ill-informed about political affairs. "NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take Americas official citizenship test. Twenty-nine percent could not name the vice president(Romano). Many families in the United States derive their main source of information on political matters from their own family members and their family's opinions. They rely upon their family's political party preference or what they learned about politics at home to make their political decisions. But these opinions are not necessarily being based upon what is best for the country but instead are based upon family tradition, such as whether the family identifies with being a democrat or republican, with being a conservative or liberal, or even with being of the middle class, the poor, or of the wealthy of society. Americans have taken for granted that they live in a democracy, and we have become ignorant about our own country because we suffer from a lack of information rather than a lack of ability (Romano. The media is obviously the first place most people think to turn for information on political affairs. What most Americans have not realized is that the prominent news networks most widely watched today are controlled. We are heading towards an election, what they learn about the candidates will be what the media shows them tells them, decides not to show, not to tell (Outfoxed). Fox News is one of the most popular twenty-four hour news networks watched for political opinions and for all-around information on politics. To the public's surprise, several former employe...

On the Idle Hill and The Drum Essays

On the Idle Hill and The Drum Essays On the Idle Hill and The Drum Paper On the Idle Hill and The Drum Paper Essay Topic: A. E. Housman Poems Poetry War, in any shape or form, affects people in many different ways. Many people choose to express their feelings and experiences of war in poems. The two poems I have chosen all have different moods, structures and rhythms but their meaning is all the same- war is ruthless, terrifying and pointless. The poem On the Idle Hill is by A. E. Housman (1859-1936). Housman wrote the poem in 1896 and he was not writing about any particular war but just the horror of battle in general. Housman never partook in any war but heard about the terror of it from other peoples experiences. The first verse portrays a peaceful, happy and a warm scene. Words such as summer, sleepy and streams emphasises this. However, the steady drummer cuts through this peaceful atmosphere. It is the sound of the army coming, looking for new recruits to go to war with them. The first stanza seems to be about the drum and how it calls people to war and tears them away from their homes. The line; Drumming like a noise in dreams. Makes the drum seem like a nightmare, something everyone dreads. In the second verse, the tone is lot sadder and darker. The phrases, Far and near and low and louder are suggesting war is everywhere, and can be seen in different levels all over the world. Probably one of the most striking and powerful lines in the poem, Dear to friends and food for powder is very shocking and adds a more personal theme to the poem, because the soldiers are now being seen as friends, fathers and real people instead of just toys in war. The powder is gunpowder so the poet is hinting at the fact that the men are just food for the war. The war is made to sound like a real living thing; this is a good example of personification. The final line of verse two, Soldiers marching, all to die. is depressing and it emphasises the pointlessness and horror of war. The rhyme in On the Idle Hill is a b a b and it keeps a slow, steady rhythm throughout the poem, giving a sad, melancholy tone to the poem. The form is which the writer has set out the poem, in four verses; it is effective because each one talks about a different aspect of war. This poem shows A. E. Housmans hatred of battle and how pointless and ruthless he thinks it is. War has obviously affected him deeply and we can see from his language throughout the poem that he feels very strongly about it. In both poems, they both use similar devices such as similes, metaphors and personification. They were both set in the Pre 1914, the effectiveness of both poems have a very big impact because of these quotations: Lovely lads and dead and rotten; for the Idle Hill and for the Drum its this: And burning towns, and ruined swains, both poems show the misery of war and it impacts the reader making them, feel more sorry for the people that went to war and the people will think war is not patriotic but its unpatriotic. The cultural and social background for Drum and Idle Hill are between wars.

Abstract Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Abstract - Research Paper Example The paper examines how the vision of Hrothgar is accurate in predicting that Beowulf would become a victim of his own pride if he would not be careful. He made his warning clear to Beowulf, but that warning was not enough in the end. Yes, he had his better spiritual qualities, such as his understanding of the role of fate in his life. On the other hand he was not strong enough to stay humble and not become too proud. The paper explores the way the events in Beowulfs life made it difficult for him not to become proud. He simply had too much power and success, and too human not to be affected by all that. His humanity had to result in some flaw, and that flaw is pride. The paper demonstrates that Hrothgar sees this and that Beowulf would put himself in danger because of it (Stitt; â€Å"Beowulf†). Stitt, Michael. â€Å"The Transformation of the Heroic Beowulf†. English 477, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. n.d. Web. 8 October 2014

The Link between Fiscal policy and Economic Growth Literature review

The Link between Fiscal policy and Economic Growth - Literature review Example This called for strategic approaches towards influencing the economy positively. As a result, many approaches have been used to influence the nations’ economy in different ways, for instance, the use monetary policy, macroeconomic policy and fiscal policy, which are applicable in many countries. In some instances, some economic goals are met through a combination of several policies, depending on the nature of the goals to be met. Generally, fiscal policy is the process of influencing macroeconomic conditions through policies of government spending. The practice involves influencing a nation’s economy through the collection of revenue, borrowing and using government’s expenditure. In this case, the government engages in adjusting the levels of its spending in a bid to track and influence the economy of the nation. The policies of government spending often affect the interest and tax rates alongside the government’s spending (Barro and Redlick, 2011, 57). Just like other policies of influencing a nation’s economy, fiscal policy is applicable directing the economic goals of the country. The main goal is always the stability of the country’s economy through the control of spending and interest rates. The Concept of Fiscal Policy John M. Keynes, a British economist, came up with theories that are currently applicable in fiscal policy. His theories state that governments and nations, through the increase or decrease of public spending and the level of taxes, can influence the levels of macroeconomic productivity (Barro and Jin, 2011, 1568). The theory suggests further that such influences can further maintain the value of the currency at levels that are healthy, increase employment and curb inflation. The point of focus in the modern economics is the growth theory. This theory addresses the implications of economic growth regarding to wealth (Brzezinski and Dzielinski, 2009, 244) besides addressing the factors triggering economic growth. The system of economics can be stimulated through learning-by-doing mechanisms, which are essential for self-sustainable economic growth. These mechanisms can be induced into the economy by the government acts. Similarly, endogenous growth theory relates to fiscal policy, give n that the outcome of the process involves the issue of losers and winners. With regard to neoclassical growth models formulated by Swan and Solow (Solow, 1956, 67), the exogenous rate of progress in technology is the backbone of growth income per capita, in its steady state. Every policy is characterised by the need of growth, even though the economy’s steady level of operation will be affected by the policy. In this case, the rate of economic growth will only be influenced by the economic policy when the economy is being transited to a steady state. Endogenous growth theory’s distinguishing characteristic that is crucial in fiscal policy is the visualisation of the nature of knowledge (Tcherneva, 2010, 27). This standard framework of making fiscal policy has been deduced from this model, with regard to taxation and government spending. Thus, this explains why many researches focus on the roles of governments in influencing the economy through dividing and stabilising the cake as opposed to enlarging the economy. Primarily, the study of the link between fiscal policy and economic growth has had the focus on the relationship between taxation and gove

Ethics principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics principles - Essay Example Moral theorists and ethicist offer different views on this subject but they all agree that choices and actions do exemplify our social values and more importantly our code of conduct. This brings us to some very interesting questions such as how does ethics relate to code of conduct and social responsibility. In today's world, a growing population of the working class Americans is taking greater interest in ethics and values. Most individuals link bad ethics with a person's character. Many are of the view that a few "bad apples" can spoil the social environment for the rest of the nation. Speaking of ethics, an individual who has a strong ethical background should be able to act within a code of conduct which is not just acceptable but commendable. It is from this code of conduct (that ones ethical values dictate) that the importance of social responsibility arises. Ethics is a set of moral principles and values that we use to decide on questions regarding what is right and wrong and it is these principles that are put to the test when we make choices that affect not only individuals around us but society as whole. Most people believe that ethics is something that we learn over time and are not just born with.

Cultural Differences and Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cultural Differences and Justice - Essay Example From a social science perspective, the term refers to an individual's subjective perceptions of whether or not he/she is treated fairly (Markovsky, 1985 in Mueller and Mulinge, 2002). It is likewise important to consider that justice pertains to the application of a normative rule to the allocation of resources to recipients (ibid). It is important to examine these subjective perceptions of justice and injustice since individuals' understanding affects their attitudes and perceptions of the subject. Since cultural differences may alter a group's perception on what is just and what is not, it then implies that people's actions and approaches to these actions on the given subject also vary. The perception and understanding of justice is different in various nations and cultures, thus there is a need to focus on cultural differences when attempting to understand how a particular group views this concept. It must be noted that the concept of justice has not only emerged from levels of individual issues but also from levels of group or collective issues (Hayashi and Sekiguchi, 2006, p. 207). This is where the importance of how a group perceives the concept of justice and injustice takes place. It is from this multi-level perception that this paper considers describing how cultural differences alter understanding of injustice and approaches to justice. Collective justice perception is tended to be viewed to have associations with group-oriented cultures such as India. It connotes whether a group as a whole is treated fairly within the organisation and how such understanding of justice alters their view of said treatment (Hayashi and Sekiguchi, 2006, p. 207). In India, it may be inferred that religion is a factor that alters people's understanding of injustice and approaches to justice, accounting for a cultural difference between its people and the rest of the world. As a starting off, it is important to mention that the Indian culture and its general economic structure are heavily founded on religion and there is a need to understand the system of worship as well as the central concept of reincarnation governing people's lives. The cultural differences of the Indian people in terms of understanding justice and injustice lie on the understanding of various connections between Hinduism and general Indian culture, which includes history with an underlying caste system that has thrived for several centuries. The Indian caste system governs the social system in India, directly linking religious beliefs and social segregation into status groups, thereby creating divisions. Weber notes the prevention of the development of urban status groups by this caste system (Dumont and Gulati, 1980). He analysed how the aspect of traditionalism of the caste system is supported by religion and posits that the economic development of India is slowed as the "spirit" of

INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH Essay

INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH - Essay Example 3. Focus/scope The focus is comparing rationalistic and naturalistic paradigms in evaluating student teachers’ reflective practice held at Utrecht University and Trondheim University. 4. Location & Duration The locations of the study are Utrecht University and Trondheim University. The duration is a period of two to four months at the end of the teacher education programme. 5. Research Design & Methods Naturalistic (qualitative) method and mixed methods are used. The researchers have moved away from traditional research methods towards a concern for story-telling. 6. Key Concepts and Ideas The REFLECT project is linked to the postmodern period characterised by Guba and Lincoln or post-experimental enquiry. It involves two paradigms, rationalistic and naturalistic, in which the reflections of student teachers are compared through the Utrecht study and Trondheim study. 7. Key Findings, Recommendations, & Implications for Your Enquiry Interactions between communicating persons â €“ student teacher, teacher educator, and researcher -are the one creating â€Å"voices†. The researchers are part of the story they are telling. The researchers’ interpretation is the true voice of the refection in the study. The shift from a rationalistic perspective towards a more naturalistic one is mirrored in the Trondheim study. No recommendations are provided. The implications for my enquiry are that the paradigms can aid in evaluatinghow misbehavior of students may be affected on the teacher performance in classroom? Admiraal and Wubbels’ (2012) have focused on comparing two research approaches of reflective practice of two different modes of tele-guidance. This comparison is seen herein as an essential stance for the study in providing a clear view of the methodologies and approaches used. The purpose of this critical evaluation is to lay down the similarities and differences between two approaches in reflective thinking, aiming to draw inferences on how these approaches may be adopted to my own study, which is how misbehavior of students may affect the teacher’s performance in the classroom. The direction of Admiraal and Wubbels’ (2012) study to take on a storytelling method from the traditional research methods is congruent to its purpose and nature, being focused on comparing two research approaches of reflective practice of two different modes of tele-guidance. The position of the study is highlighted in the fact that it resulted in two different reports on student teachers’ reflective stances despite the fact that they share some perspectives on educational practices and reflections. Admiraal and Wubbels have emphasised that the different analyses and results are where the differences in beliefs in the Utrecht and Trondheim studies lie, apparently to see any alternatives to viewing the same phenomenon through two different lenses. This direction of the studies apparently seeks to adopt replicability by employing mixed methods and qualitative method respectively, called ‘convergence’ by Gorard and Taylor. Similarly, my study on how misbehavior of students may affect the teacher’s performance in the classroom shall take on a qualitative method and a case study design, which can be drawn from in-depth interviews and participant observation. The Utrecht and Trondheim studies are focused on adopting two different paradigms to seeing two student teaching practice environments, contrasting each other

Work ,Retirement and Economic status Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Work ,Retirement and Economic status - Essay Example They are thus forced to seek employment to support the little pension or social security schemes they are eligible to. The employment trends in the US reveal that more elderly population are choosing to retain their employment or get back to some sort of employment some years after their retirement. Various reasons are attributed to these and include desire to keep fit, as a means of killing boredom, or to supplement their incomes. The narrator notes that growing old do not mean that the productivity of this demography is totally at its knees. Instead, most of them choose to find some part time jobs to support their diminishing incomes. To illustrate this it can be seen that those economies with generous social security schemes tend to have reduced number of adult under employment. On the other hand, those with limited benefits have more aged people under employment. In US, for instance, the number of old Hispanics and Blacks still under employment is high since most of them do not enjoy the social security benefits either due to ignorance or lacks of jobs in their productive years. In general, the video sounds warning bell that people need to prepare early emotionally, economically socially so as to avoid economic catastrophe among the elderly in the near

Cultural Differences and Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cultural Differences and Justice - Essay Example From a social science perspective, the term refers to an individual's subjective perceptions of whether or not he/she is treated fairly (Markovsky, 1985 in Mueller and Mulinge, 2002). It is likewise important to consider that justice pertains to the application of a normative rule to the allocation of resources to recipients (ibid). It is important to examine these subjective perceptions of justice and injustice since individuals' understanding affects their attitudes and perceptions of the subject. Since cultural differences may alter a group's perception on what is just and what is not, it then implies that people's actions and approaches to these actions on the given subject also vary. The perception and understanding of justice is different in various nations and cultures, thus there is a need to focus on cultural differences when attempting to understand how a particular group views this concept. It must be noted that the concept of justice has not only emerged from levels of individual issues but also from levels of group or collective issues (Hayashi and Sekiguchi, 2006, p. 207). This is where the importance of how a group perceives the concept of justice and injustice takes place. It is from this multi-level perception that this paper considers describing how cultural differences alter understanding of injustice and approaches to justice. Collective justice perception is tended to be viewed to have associations with group-oriented cultures such as India. It connotes whether a group as a whole is treated fairly within the organisation and how such understanding of justice alters their view of said treatment (Hayashi and Sekiguchi, 2006, p. 207). In India, it may be inferred that religion is a factor that alters people's understanding of injustice and approaches to justice, accounting for a cultural difference between its people and the rest of the world. As a starting off, it is important to mention that the Indian culture and its general economic structure are heavily founded on religion and there is a need to understand the system of worship as well as the central concept of reincarnation governing people's lives. The cultural differences of the Indian people in terms of understanding justice and injustice lie on the understanding of various connections between Hinduism and general Indian culture, which includes history with an underlying caste system that has thrived for several centuries. The Indian caste system governs the social system in India, directly linking religious beliefs and social segregation into status groups, thereby creating divisions. Weber notes the prevention of the development of urban status groups by this caste system (Dumont and Gulati, 1980). He analysed how the aspect of traditionalism of the caste system is supported by religion and posits that the economic development of India is slowed as the "spirit" of

Work ,Retirement and Economic status Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Work ,Retirement and Economic status - Essay Example They are thus forced to seek employment to support the little pension or social security schemes they are eligible to. The employment trends in the US reveal that more elderly population are choosing to retain their employment or get back to some sort of employment some years after their retirement. Various reasons are attributed to these and include desire to keep fit, as a means of killing boredom, or to supplement their incomes. The narrator notes that growing old do not mean that the productivity of this demography is totally at its knees. Instead, most of them choose to find some part time jobs to support their diminishing incomes. To illustrate this it can be seen that those economies with generous social security schemes tend to have reduced number of adult under employment. On the other hand, those with limited benefits have more aged people under employment. In US, for instance, the number of old Hispanics and Blacks still under employment is high since most of them do not enjoy the social security benefits either due to ignorance or lacks of jobs in their productive years. In general, the video sounds warning bell that people need to prepare early emotionally, economically socially so as to avoid economic catastrophe among the elderly in the near

Customer Attitudes Toward Bmw Motorcycles Essay Example for Free

Customer Attitudes Toward Bmw Motorcycles Essay This final report is the finish summary version of overall information, knowledge, and data of the marketing research under the area of BMW R1200 GS/GSA motorcycles in UK. The BMW Motorrad under the BMW group has been producing motorcycles since 1923 and has providing a variety range of motorcycle styles (bmwgroup, 2012). In addition, the model of BMW R1200 GS/GSA motorcycles is a major consideration motorcycle in adventure sport style for all bikers in UK as it was named in the top ten model of new motorcycles registration (MCIA, 2011). However, The Motorcycle Industry Association defines Adventure motorcycle as â€Å"These bikes encompass trials which similar in style to Enduro motorcycles but are predominantly designed and capable for on-road use (MCIA, 2012)†. The objective of this research paper is to discover attitudes of UK customers towards the model. To be more specific, the research paper will look into the association between brand images, quality and price perception of the current riders towards this BMW motorcycle model. Moreover, the research paper will explore customer satisfaction and the loyalty of the brand. Additionally, this research paper will determine the outstanding in product value of BMW R1200 GS/GSA that it has over its rivals in the adventure motorcycle segmentation. The paper will first provide background information of conceptual model in brand equity which would provide a basic understanding of how to measure and manage brand equity. Furthermore, the explanation in the model of satisfaction towards loyalty will be discussed. Besides, the hypothesis of the study model will be illustrated. In the next section, the method of conducting online surveys and the utilization of this technique will be discussed. Thirdly, the interpretation from the obtained data will be shown in the finding and analysis section. Finally, the conclusion of the paper will be discussed to sum up the entire research paper including limitations and ethics issues. Literature review In the book, Managing Brand Value (Aaker, 1991) has defined the term of brand equity as the connection of the name and emblems to a set of assets that would increase the value of the company’s products or services. In addition, during the customers buying decision process (McKinsey 1996) has found in his research that brands affect 18 percent of total purchase decisions. Therefore, these can be indicated that branding act as one of the significant factors towards customers purchasing. However, the suggestion from (Keller, 2003) stated that the power of a brand would remain in customers ‘mind together with their perceived experiences and they will learn about the brand over time. Hence, there is the development process of strengthen the brand of a company. The figure (2) illustrates the framework of brand equity from (Keller, 2003). Figure 2 Brand Equity Framework Source: Keller, K (2003). Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Equity. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall The framework provides 4 steps that involved in building a strong brand however, the hierarchy of brand equity determine that in order to move up in each level, there is a requirement from the successful of the previous one. The first level, companies have to set up a brand identity which will imply brand silence and would lead customers to aware the brand (Keller, 2003). The next step is to create an appropriated brand meaning involve either performance or imagery that related to the brand (Keller, 2003). Thirdly, it is a significant to response the judgments and feelings (opinion, evaluation and emotional) from the customers to gain brand attitudes in customers point of view (Keller, 2003). Lastly, the companies need to create a brand resonance by trying to minimize the gap between what companies think and what customers think via communication tools that would permeate put the brand into consumers’ mind, resulting in a good relationship with them (Keller, 2003). However, after building the strong brand equity, (Keller, 2003) has claimed that brand loyalty would appear to be one of the benefits to the brand. On the other hand, most companies consider the customers to be one of the significant keys to make the company successful. Therefore, (Erdem Swait, 2004) propose that the determination of successful business in long-term is to deliver the value to customers which related to (Marconi, 2000) suggestion that one of the factors which would make customers to remain loyal over brand is customer satisfaction. However, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (figure 3) will be used to explain the model of customer satisfaction. Figure 3 the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Source: (Johnson, Gustafsson, Andreassen, Cha, 2001): The evolution and future of national customer satisfaction index models. (theacsi.org, 2001) explained that customer satisfaction occurs from two driven factors which can affect the satisfaction either directly or going through the perceived value factor (quality relative to the expense). From those two driven factors, the first factor is customer expectation, which is the customer’s anticipation of the quality of the products in both prior consumption experience from consumer and the expectation from company’s product quality deliver. In addition, the second factor is perceived quality which determine by the evaluation of the product’s quality from customer toward the organization. However, the figure shows that there is a negative relationship between customer complaint once they disconfirm with the expectation and customer loyalty. This can be explained as the more satisfied from the customers, there is less chance in the resulted of getting complain from the customers. However, (theacsi.org, 2001) suggests that there is a chance of turning unsatisfied customers to loyalty customers after the compensations have been introduced to them. To conclude, in order to gain customer loyalty, the companies have to deliver the value of the products to meet or exceed customers ‘expectation as loyalty customers are more likely to create repurchase activity. The another related support to the important in loyalty of customers provided by (Reichheld.F.F, 1996) in his book, The Loyalty Effect, in which he stated that in order to bring in a new customer to the company is five times more costly than it is to retain an existing customer. Research Design The early discussion was about satisfying the customers who act as a main player of building the successful businesses as they are involve in many organization’s process. Hence, it is clear that the framework of this research paper is to focus on the importance of satisfying customers as it will create the benefit toward the company in term of brand loyalty. (Gobe, 2001) states that, there is several area of supporting customers into customers’ satisfaction such as price-quality-relation. Furthermore, (Keller, 2003) consider brand attitude in brand equity process to be a drive towards loyalty as well. This research design will be classified as causal research to obtain evidence of cause-and-effect relationships (Malhotra, Birks, Wills, 2012). These ideas made the hypothesis of the study as: H1a: There is a relationship between brand image perception and the level of customer satisfaction for BMW R1200 GS/GSA H1a: There is a relationship between quality perception and the level of customer satisfaction for BMW R1200 GS/GSA H1a: There is a relationship between price perception and the level of customer satisfaction for BMW R1200 GS/GSA H2: There is a relationship of BMW R1200 GS/GSA customers toward purchase loyalty The Figure 4 illustrates the study model involving the relationship between brand attitudes towards customer satisfaction in BMW R1200 GS/GSA and customer satisfaction in BMW R1200 GS/GSA towards brand loyalty. Methodology This research has been utilized quantitative in order to gather data under one particular model of BMW motorcycles, which is R1200GS/GSA. The objective of quantitative is to collect customer’s attitude influence factors relate to each participant perceptions. However, this survey method has introduced a set of questionnaire with 25 closed questions. The period of survey collection was between 10th November and 10th December 2012 through online survey technique under the survey site named Wufoo. The format of online survey included structure scales in a range from 1 to 5 and yes or no questions. The questionnaires have been distributed and upload onto BMW Motorrad Parklane Facebook and UKGSer page. The total respondent is 11 people which specific that have to be BMW R1200 GS/GSA riders. The questionnaires have been mainly divided into 6 sections. The first 3 questions were designed to seek for the top three requirements of participants that they consider before purchasing any adventure motorcycles. In the next section, 3 questions were designed to find the competitive advantage factors and the relative of price-to-quality in perspectives’ view. In the third section, 5 questions were used to determine the customers’ judgment toward the product quality. Moreover, there are a set of 5 questions used in search for customer feeling toward BMW R1200 GS/GSA. In addition, the others 5 questions were used to indicate customer resonance and their potential of creating benefit toward the brand. Finally, 5 questions were used to gain demographic information of respondents. Limitations The limitation of time was the major restrictive as the data collection periods is within 1 week. Furthermore, the difficultly of realizing the actual target population as some of respondents may not own the actual motorcycle in BMW R1200GS/GSA. Additionally, there are no female respondents in all of the returned forms. The scope down of the research topic into a specific model of motorcycle created an obstacle to find the right target of respondents. The post on facebook page has bias of gained non-geographic target group information as there are respondents which are not in UK. Moreover, some of the forums and websites are not currently frequently activated making the posts being used ineffectively. Finally, with the limited number of 10 respondents, resulted in low resources are being used in the evaluation. Ethical considerations The purpose of doing this research paper has been announced and posted on every websites and forums before the actual online-survey. There is a statement state clearly in term of confidentiality that respondents’ information is treated with highly confidentiality. In addition, the questions in the questionnaire under the demographic section have provided an alternative of ‘prefer not to answer’ option to allow the refusing of answering for respondents as they may have an uncomfortable condition. The collected data and information will be used in an education area only; there is no hidden purpose in either businesses or individual organization. Findings The process of gathering data took 4 weeks and there are 72 perspectives viewed of the survey in total. However, there are only 11 entries out of 72 viewed which can be transfer into 15.3% as the conversion rate. The average time per respondent to finish the survey is 3.16 minutes each. However, there is 1 out of 11 responded that is a fault data due to the location of the respondent is outside UK. In the first section, 50% of total responded consider exterior design to be considered the most when they buy an adventure motorcycle, while seat comfort is their second consideration with 40% of total. In addition, they consider bag and storage to be the third choice with 40% of the total. In the next section, 60% of total respondents have agreed that BMW R1200 GS/GSA is worth its price. In addition, 90% of them perceived that this model is more superior to other brands within the same price category. Moreover, the data explained that 70% of respondents perceived the superior fact as this model is the best in handling, while another 30% expressed the fact as the endure motorcycle. The third section is finding of the customers’ judgment toward the product quality with the full score of 5 marks. The best perceived value in quality of the model is safe follow by status symbol, quality product, trustworthy, and lowest is high performance product with the scores of 4.5, 4.2, 4.1, 3.9, and 3.6 points respectively. The data shows the customers’ feeling toward BMW R1200 GS/GSA in the fourth section. It is freedom that customer feel the most with 4.2 while fun is their second perceived with the score of 4 out of 5. The respondents share the third feeling that come in to their mind of excitement and self-respect with 3.9 point, while social approval is the last place in their feeling of 3.8 point. In the Fourth section, the data is used to analyze the customers’ resonance toward the model. However, out of 5, respondents show 4.1 point as they are happy with the model the most, while the fact that they satisfied and willing to refer the model to others share the same scores of 4 point each. Lastly, perspective expressed their love to BMW R1200 GS/GSA only 3.7 point. Finally, the data from the survey shows that all of 10 entries were male which translated into 100%. The average group is between 46-55 years old with the percentage of 80 out of total. Moreover, 50% of the total earns their income more than  £50,001 yearly while 40% of them earn the average between  £25,001-  £50,000 yearly. Moreover, 70% of respondents married and which left remaining 30% of them as single. Finally, the education fact shows that 50% of the total respondents graduated their highest education in high school while other 40% and 10% are undergraduates and master level respectively. Conclusion According to the study, exterior design consider to be the most important to customers when they buy as it’s related to social approval most customers agree that BMW R1200 GS/GSA give them that feeling. However, BMW is considering this factor as one of the main development processes make the company continuously improve a better look in designing along with new technologies attached to their bikes. Moreover, the seat comfort and storage is considered to be significant to all adventure riders. Due to a long distance in riding their motorbikes, they require a suitable seat to support their physical body and space to storage their goods. Results also show that BMW R1200 GS/GSA has the competitive advantage over the rival in the same category as customers perceived that the model has the best balance in control. On the other hand, only 60% of customers perceived this model is worth a premium price due to the less agreement that this model is a high performance product. However, customers still satisfied with the product even though, the customers have standard perceived that this motorcycle model is worth to spend money on. Therefore, it can be analyzed that there is less relationship between price and satisfaction. The relationship between product quality and satisfaction can be interpreted as there is a positive relationship between these two factors. The research shows that customers are highly consider BMW R1200 GS/GSA as a safe motorcycle and high quality product. The company has captured the most important need in every rider which is safety, and delivers the value to them clearly which resulted in gaining the satisfactions from value deliver. However, by looking at specifically to individuals that has less satisfaction, it is only the fact that BMW R1200 GS/GSA is not high performance enough for them. In term of brand image, the customers is highly involved with status symbol as the high score of 4.2 point can determine that the company has created brand association and meaning towards customers. Moreover, the company has well delivered the feeling of freedom in this product make a fulfillment in the want of adventure travelers. Therefore, brand image has positive relationship toward satisfaction. Finally, with the high number in people who are happy and satisfied with BMW R1200 GS/GSA related to their willingness to refer this motorcycle model to others. This is can be explained that there is a positive relationship between satisfaction and customers loyalty as loyalty customers would most likely to be influencers in bringing new customers to purchase the product. References Aaker, D (1991). Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, Free Press, New York, NY Aggarwal, P. (2004). The Effects of Brand Relationship Norms on Comsumer Attitudes and Behaviour. Journal of consumer research, June Court, D., Freeling, A., Leiter, M., Parsons, J. A. (1996). Mckinsey Quarterly: Uncovering the value of brands. Retrieved from http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Uncovering_the_value_of_brands_201 Erdem, Tulin, and Swait, Joffre. (2004). Brand Credibility, Brand Consideration and Choices. Journal of consumer research,June Gobe, M. (2001). Emotional Branding. New York, NY: Allworth Press. Keller, K. (2003). Buliding, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Kiley, D. (2004). Driven: Inside BMW, the most admired car company in the world. Malhotra, K. N., Birks, F. D., Wills, P. (2012). Marketing Research (4th ed.): An Applied Approach. The Motor Cycle Industry Association (2011). Motorcycle Registration Statistics. Press statistic. Retrieved from http://www.mcia.co.uk/Press-and-Statistics/NewReg_Statistics.aspx We iler, M. (2004). BMW : Exploring Customer Attitudes.

Advertising Manipulates And Persuading The Consumers Media Essay

Advertising Manipulates And Persuading The Consumers Media Essay The basic purpose of this paper is to understand the techniques used by advertisers, the propaganda they create and the real dangers they cause in modern society. Our argument is essentially unless people become aware, our society will change direction. A balanced view however cannot ignore the fact that people like to be in control of their thoughts.   Ads also give information about their products.  Some inform against disease risks, others are for humanitarian aid or for the Nations welfare but this kind of ads is not much prevalent. In the following pages, we will first look at what are the methods used by advertisers, how they manipulate dreams and yearnings; then we will turn back to the power and strategies of advertising which attract people with guilt complexes, emotional blockages and false ideas before finally examining the influences on children through various examples of commercial campaigns using transgression and appearance. The main goal of advertising is to demonstrate in every ad that consumers have an important and interesting offer and the reason to buy a product. Advertising helps a product to be sold. If it is well advertised, people will be aware of a product and it will lead to an increase in sales. Moreover, with a well marketed ad, it is easier for consumers to understand the benefits of a product and where to find it. Furthermore, people will save time and money instead of trying every kind of product. Companies use different ways to help sell and identify a product with for example, slogans which are used over and over. Advertising is aimed at people who are loyal customers. For example, make-up and beauty products are targeted at women while razors and brief-boxers are targeted at men. Slogans like Its the real thing. Coke by Coca-Cola (Bovà ©e, Thill, Dovel, and Wood 680), or Because Im worth it by lOreal but also Just do it by Nike help consumers to recognize companies. When people see t he Nike symbol, they know what to expect. Nike introduce of the best athletes in their ads and it feels to the viewers a great satisfaction, that is why they want to buy sportswear to be like Zinedine Zidane, Usain Bolt etc. Advertisers create strong, persuasive and lasting symbols. However, these repetitive slogans lead to a ballyhoo and it gets into everybody, people are no longer interested by the quality of the product but they are only focus on the brand. Sut Jhally, in the film The Ad and the Ego, said that symbolism is never natural, it is tied up with power. Advertising plays a positive key role in many aspects; it also helps health care organizations, charitable organizations and social activist groups encourage people to give money, to do voluntary work, or vote to change laws (Day 34). Agreed, but is it the good way to ask some help by broadcasting or others ads? For example, charitable organizations like Amnesty International reach out to their audience by commercials, m agazine ads. These ads help consumers to become more aware of problems and that each coin is important, as well as all the support they can give. Should not these organizations directly go and see people, be attractive, organize meetings? Another example is ads made by government for road safety but it does not mean that there are less accidents. We can also watch ads to join the army, but is a thirty second clip make people really want to join military services? We could not ignore that advertising has various negative aspects. In this paper we will focus on the methods used by advertisers, we will bring to light propaganda and underline ballyhoo to understand what has changed in consumers behaviours in the contemporary society. We will debate on what are the real goals of advertising and why it leads to a kind of corruption. The number of advertisements, exposed daily to Americans, has soared over the last few decades. Studies reveal that people see three thousands ads per day. Advertising is omnipresent, at the service station, at cinema, in toilet or during sports events, we have now two ads breaks during a film on television. Even space is not sheltered from marketing. The Russian space program has launched a rocket on which was painted a Pizza Hut logo, and some companies have even explored the possibility of putting ads in space that we could see from the earth. People are clearly obsessed by advertising. When we speak about propaganda, people tend to think of Hitlers and Stalines massacres but in this essay we point out the ways of which companies try to encourage people to buy products. They persuade people about the truth of an idea, the quality and the appropriateness (Propaganda and Persuasion: Misuse of Language and Meaning) of a product, why these shoes are better than the other ones. Propaga nda is not a simple form of communication; indeed, it is directional because people buy products to be in vogue, and it is also emotional because advertising directly appeals to human feelings, we will precisely examine it in the second part of this essay. This famous George Orwells statement Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. show the relations between symbolism and power of advertising. Who choices and controls symbolisms? What are the strategies used by advertisers? Bandwagon is a common technique, it is an appeal to join the crowd because others are doing things which are victorious, that is the winning side. If someone do not that, he will be left out. For example, on TV ads, we see that everyone enjoys playing football because they wear the same tee-shirts, so we jump on the bandwagon and buy this tee-shirt. Another kind of propaganda, named testimonial, is used when a famous person is connected with an item Eight out of ten women artists recommend Chanels perfume. The next type is transfer, when the quality of the product is associated with the user. Then, we study repetition; it isnt just the apparition of the logo which works, it is the repetition of this same logo over and over which hypnotize us and force us to consume things we dont really need. As Chris McLean says, the products that stand out and say buy me, are ones that carry a logo that has been repeated to us time and time before. This sort of advertising just doesnt randomly occur. Finally, we insist on the glittering generalities which are positive meanings highly valued, which make us believe that if we buy a product our life will change. Advertisers try to gather all of theses types of propaganda to make successful ads. The challenge is not to create works of literary merit, but to meet advertising objectives. This does not mean that copywriting is not an art, however, it is simply art in pursuit of a business goal (Bovà ©e, Thill, Dove l, and Wood, 676). Unfortunately, business goal makes sense with money, and the different methods used by advertisers lead to a societys perversion in order to make profit. We can call that a brainwashing, all mankind are bewitched in a wave of advertising and it has changed consumers behavior. They linger over some headlines, some slogans or labels that serve as the come-on to get them to stop turning the page and check out ads (Bovà ©e, Thill, Dovel, and Wood, 677). The TV world becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: the mass mind takes shape, its participants acting according to media-derived impulses and believing them to be their own personal volition arising out of their own desires and needs. In such a situation, whoever (advertisers) controls the screen controls the future, the past, and the present (Nelson 82). We have seen that advertisers use various strategies to persuade people buying products, we will now outline that people are  attracted by false  ideas and   hav e  guilt complexes and  emotional blockages, advertising influences  peoples behavior by manipulating dreams and yearnings. To support our argument, we will refer to a quotation of Northrop Frye who said that advertising is a judicious mixture of flattery and threats. Herbert Krugman noted, in a research based on the brains survey, that viewers are in an hypnotic state and mostly in trance, they were getting their beta-endorphine fix. Advertisers take hold on consumers minds, they tug at their psycho ­logical shirtsleeves and slow them down long enough for a word or two about whatever is being sold (Fowles 658). They try to draw attention to a picture, a slogan, a song by giving form to peoples deep-lying desires, and picturing states of being that individuals privately yearn for (Fowles 658). explained that the function of a display in the store is to recall the consumers experience of the product in the commercial. You dont ask for a product, the product asks for you! That is, a persons recall of a commercial is evoked by the product itself, visible on a shelf or island display, interacting with the s tored data in his brain. People in modern society no longer takes time to think about a product, its usefulness, interest that it will bring. They are enrolled in the consumer society, they go in search of having the most possible clothing, perfumes or cars. Society became too materialistic, does happiness happen with the possession of more goods? Before, people preferred having a simple life, spending weekend in the countryside, fishing, without luxurious cars and a bling-bling lifestyle but advertising pushes them into enjoying the material pleasures of a modern, technological society (Bovà ©e and Arens 687). It can be argued that there is a relationship between the Marshall McLuhans continuous pressure and the belief in the power of advertising to control customers against their will, an attitude that consumers simply have no freedom of choice when confronted with advertising persuasion (Bovà ©e and Arens 687). Emotional appeals add up to the manipulation of consumers. The use of subconscious appeals is designed to stimulate subrational impulses and desires, even if they are unacknowledged by their possessor (Fowles 659). Fowles demonstrated that ads can be classified in fifteen groups according to the appeals they communicate and he explained that his idea was inspired by Murrays list which grouped a full taxonomy of needs. In every ads we watched, we are brought face to face with appeals, there are many needs that appeal to our psychology. For example, the need to nurture corresponds to maternal instincts, each time we see something cute, precious (Fowles 664) like a child or a kitten. Advertisers use affiliation to win affection of another (Fowles 662). When someone has the feeling to be protected by an image, that is need for guidance. The need for prominence and attention can be brought together because people want to be respected, to be highly esteemed by everyone. Beauty is attractive and gives us aesthetic sensations, we call it the beauty myth; W e will tell you what is beautiful and what isnt. Our products are what make people beautiful. To be happy you must be beautiful, and to be beautiful you must buy our clothing and cosmetics. Most people are not consciously aware they are commanded to buy some products. Stuart Ewen declared that it became the assumption that the way people are persuaded is to appeal to them on unconscious levels (The Ad and the Ego). He considered that the ultimate psychology is pavlovian because ads use communication strategies that create stimuli which make people respond in a manner similar to how Pavlovs dogs were trained to salivate at the mere ringing of a bell. Advertisers make ads in order to represent everyday life, to recall customers feelings, in that way people recognize themselves; they dont see this like advertising, but just like something that is done. We have been concentrated on the psychological approach through appeals and needs which surround us in various ads, through false ideas and dreams that are conveying and again this obsession of buying with the promise of greater status, greater social acceptance and greater sex appeal (Bovà ©e and Arens 686). Our discussion of the debate leads us to the next point, childrens manipulation. Each brand has strategies and, particularly, according to the audience targeted. Currently, pocket money of young people is a significant sum to investors. Moreover, young peoplehave a strong influence on parents. They are the consumers of tomorrow, that explains the investment of major brands for customer loyalty and make them become good consumers. So, that is why brands have to adhere to their valuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹, use their tools and languages. As a result, children and adolescents are targeted aggressively by food advertisers, and are exposed to a growing and unprecedented amount of advertising, marketing, and commercialism through a wide range of channels. The principal goal of food advertising and marketing aimed at children is to influence brand awareness, brand preference, brand loyalty, and food purchases among youth (Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). Teenagers need to look like group members and if not the y are cast out. The youth do not see themselves survive without the favourite sneakers wore by the group they belong. Young people need to identify with themselves and brands know that. The best example is with De Von Dutch brand. There was no advertising and it has immediately been successful. The simple fact, that celebrities wear clothing, made its name. The brand had clinched a deal with Thierry Henry and Michael Young who were systematically wearing these clothes during meetings. It can be argued that brands make use of young people to sell their products. Advertising puts the sweet flavor forward in various products they offer to young people. It is not only found in food products but also in cigarettes, cosmetics, and especially in alcoholic beverages. This abundance of sugar has resulted in a consumption more and more important and it leads to obesity problem. To be among the few messages that do manage to gain access to minds, advertisers must be strategic, perhaps even a l ittle under ­handed at times (Fowles 658). During parties students, open bars, or ferias, brands are present in order to promote or to update new products. Internet is a very attractive medium for advertisers wishing to target children. It is in the youth culture because they are growing up in a world where the Internet plays a big part in everyday life. Parents do not understand the scope of the solicitation to which their children are exposed on the Internet. At each new tab opened, an advertisement is displayed on the screen, young people are forced to pay attention. Children are often alone without parental supervision. Unlike other broadcast media, Internet advertising is not controlled. It facilitates the collection of personal information about young people and it allows to target individually children through personalized messages. It is difficult for adolescents to develop healthy attitudes about sexuality and body image when many of advertisements are filled with thin, fit, beautiful and very sexually attractive people. It can be seen that there is a link between sex appeal, physical attractiveness, popularity, success and happiness. Fashion designers like Calvin Klein, Guess resort to aggressive campaigns involving young people. These ads sell more than clothes, they also sell adult sexuality. The tobacco and alcohol industries target young people in advertisements giving an impression of being cool, independent. The Marlboro Man (696 Marlboro), with his image of independence and autonomy, struck a responsive chord among adolescent males (Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). Marketers publish advertisements in magazines mostly read mostly by teenagers and place advertisements near schools, on billboards, in bus shelters. They make smoking favourite of young people. They sponsor concerts and sporting events and broadcast their ads during programs listened by young people. Because marketing to children and adolescents has become so pervasive, many child advocates and media experts believe that such marketing constitutes an escalating public health problem. The intense marketing of high fat, high sugar foods, tobacco, alcohol, to young children can be considered as exploitation because they do not understand that adverts are designed to sell products and can not comprehend or evaluate advertising (Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). The purpose of advertising is to persuade, and young children have few defenses against such advertising. Older children and teens can be manipulated by the strong emotive messages in advertisements. (Strasburger 186). To conclude, it is necessary to remind Carrie Snows quote, who said, Advertising degrades the people it appeals to; it deprives them of their will to choose. The present study was designed to show that advertising made change peoples behaviors because it is manipulative. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this paper is that advertisers use strategies in order to take control of consumers minds to increase sales. It is a matter of money. Advertisers are conscious of peoples emotionalism and trifle with them. We have seen that marketers have various tactics to make believe that consumers need a product. Unfortunately, people are ignorant toward the control. That is why advertisers take advantage of it since the earliest years; children are under a persisting pressure and are influenced to eat more sugar, smoke more cigarettes and buy more shoes. Generally, people want to have a great social status, to be fashionable, they want to feel respected. An obvious solution to the problem highlighted in this paper would be to protect from commercial influences that may adversely impact people health, and that as a society that values man, there should be greater social responsibility for their present and future health (Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). The limitations of this study are clear, advertising has also benefits. However exploratory, this study may offer some insight into the current society in which we are living. Despite his limitations, this study does suggest that people ought to stand back from ads they see every day and understand that it is a trap to make them consume again and again.

Computers :: Technology

Computers Computers are found in practically every household today. Everywhere you look, people have access to a Personal Computer, someway or another. As computers get more advanced, the demand for a better computer gets greater. The Personal Computer (PC), a machine capable of repetitively and quickly performing calculations and instructions. Designed to be used by a single person, a PC is smaller, less expensive, and easier to use than other classes of computers, such as supercomputers, mainframe computers, and workstations. However, it usually has less computational power.1 First appearing as massive machines seen only in areas of high technology, the computer eventually found its way into homes and offices in the smaller, more accessible form of the PC. They have revolutionized entertainment, science, the media, art, medicine, education, and business because they provide computational abilities at a low cost to people with no programming experience. PCs enable artists to envision and manipulate images. Musicians use them for learning, creating, and recording music. Businesses track finances and forecast company performance using PCs. Foreign correspondents can compose news stories on portable PCs, called laptops, and electronically submit these stories from remote locations. Many people work at home and communicate with fellow workers via their PCs in a practice known as telecommunications. PCs are also able to interface with worldwide communication networks, such as the Internet, and the graphics- based information database known as the World Wide Web to find information on any subject. With a PC and a modem, a user is able to connect to information on local, national, and international networks via phone lines. As computers and software have become easier to use, or more â€Å"user friendly,† many people are finding them both useful and necessary for their jobs. As a family tool, this computer may be used for school, research, communication, record keeping, work, and entertainment. Mainframe Computer, a high-level computer designed for the most intensive computational tasks. Mainframe computers are often shared by multiple users connected to the computer via terminals. The most powerful mainframes, called supercomputers, perform highly complex and time

Madame Bovary :: Madame Bovary Essays

Madame Bovary The novel Madame Bovary was written by Gustave Flaubert in 1856. Flaubert was born in 1821, in Rouen, France. His father, being a doctor, caused him to be very familiar with the horrible sights of the hospital, which he in turn uses in his writings. In this novel, Charles Bovary, an undereducated doctor of medicine has two wives in his life. The first, Madame Dubuc, died. Emma Rouault, his second wife, after many affairs commits suicide. The doom of Charles and Emma's marriage is described by an elaborate connection of symbolic relations. The relationships of the shutter's sealing bang, Emma's long dress that keeps her from happiness, the plaster priest that conveys the actions of the couple, the restless greyhound, and Emma burning her wedding bouquet are all images of eternal doom to the couple's marriage. Charles Bovary first met Emma Rouault when he was on a medical call to fix her father's broken leg. Not long after his arrival Emma catches his interest. Her actions satisfy his hearts need for a young, fresh mind and body. The old widow that he is currently married to dies of chagrin. Charles is sadden by this but his mind stays on Emma. After frequent visits to her farm, even after her father's leg was healed, Charles gives a thought about if he would like to marry Emma but he is uncertain. Her father sees Charles' interest in his daughter and takes it upon himself to engage the two. He waits until Charles is departing and then confronts him about the engagement. As expected Charles accepts the marriage and the father runs to the house to receive Emma's acceptance. This was to be shown by the opening of a shutter door. "Suddenly he heard a sound from the house: the shutter had slammed against the wall; the catch was still quivering" (Flaubert 21). The sound that the shu tter makes is the beginning of an end. The bang seals the never-ending doom of the couple's marriage (Turnell 101). Emma's wedding is a special occasion. It is held in the far off pasture of their farm. After all the guests arrive the wedding procession proceeds to the pasture.

Contribution of the Business Sector in Philippine’s Development

Since the end of World War II, the Philippine economy has been on an unfortunate trajectory, going from one of the richest countries in Asia (following Japan) to one of the poorest. Growth immediately after the war was rapid, but slowed over time. Years of economic mismanagement and political volatility during the Marcos regime contributed to economic stagnation and resulted in macroeconomic instability. A severe recession from 1984 through 1985 saw the economy shrink by more than 10%, and perceptions of political instability during the Aquino administration further dampened economic activity. But in recent years, the Philippine economy is slowly doing its best to increase its economic development. Due to the strong post-crisis, the Philippines continues to face challenges and must sustain to achieve economic growth. Thus, the role of business enterprises is essential in pulling up the country’s economic development. One of the biggest contributions of the business sector in Philippine’s development is through investments. They invest in society so that nobody falls out of the market. They also invest in building and maintaining capital resources to reduce cost of doing improve efficiency and invest in new and innovative technologies that create new services that promote public good. The business sector dominates the Philippine economy contributing a big part to the country’s GDP. These private enterprises hire workforce and so uplift employment rate. The Philippine business sector has demonstrated a wide range of innovative initiatives aimed at maximizing their positive social, economic and environmental impacts on the communities where they operate and on the society in general. The business sector does not only provide employment but also has a corporate social responsibility through providing opportunities for education, communications, engineering and financial supports. That is why the business sector plays an important role in the Philippine economic development.

Control risk Essay

The auditor obtains an understanding of the design and implementation of internal Control to make a preliminary assessment of control risk as part of the auditor’s overall Assessment of the risk of material misstatements. The auditor uses this preliminary assessment of control risk to plan the audit for each material class of transactions. However, in some instances the auditor may learn that the control deficiencies are significant such that the client’s financial statements may not be auditable. So, before making a preliminary assessment of control risk for each material class of transactions, the auditor must first decide whether the entity is auditable. Two primary factors determine auditability: the integrity of management and the ade – quacy of accounting records. If management lacks integrity, most auditors will not accept the engagement. The accounting records are an important source of audit evidence for most audit objectives. If the accounting records a re deficient, necessary audit evidence may not be available. For example, if the client has not kept duplicate sales invoices and vendors’ invoices, it is usually impractical to do an audit. In complex IT environments, much of the transaction information is available only in electronic form without generating a visible audit trail of documents and records. In that case, the company is usually still auditable; however, auditors must assess whether they have the necessary skills to gather evidence that is in electronic form and can assign personnel with adequate IT training and experience. After obtaining an understanding of internal control, the auditor makes a preliminary assessment of control risk as part of the auditor’s overall assessment of the risk of material misstatement. This assessment is a measure of the auditor’s expectation that internal controls will prevent material misstatements from occurring or detect and correct them if they have occurred. The starting point for most auditors is the assessment of entity-level controls. By nature, entity-level controls, such as many of the elements contained in the control environment, risk assessment, and monitoring components, have an overarching impact on most major types of transactions in each transaction cycle. For example, an ineffective board of directors or management’s failure to have any process to identify, assess, or manage key risks, has the potential to undermine controls for most of the transaction-related audit objectives. Thus,  auditors generally assess entity-level controls before assessing transaction specific controls. Once auditors determine that entity-level controls are designed and placed in operation, they next make a preliminary assessment for each transaction-related audit objective for each major type of transaction in each transaction cycle. For example, in the sales and collection cycle, the types of transactions usually involve sales, sales returns and allowances, cash receipts, and the provision for and write-off of uncollectible accounts. The auditor also makes the preliminary assessment for controls affecting audit objectives for balance sheet accounts and presentations Many auditors use a control risk matrix to assist in the control risk assessment process at the transaction level. The purpose is to provide a convenient way to organize assessing control risk for each audit objective. the control risk matrix for transaction-related audit objectives, auditors use a similar control risk matrix format to assess control risk for balance-related and presentation and disclosure-related audit objectives. Identify Audit Objectives The first step in the assessment is to identify the audit objectives for classes of transactions, account balances, and presentation and dis closure to which the assessment applies. For example, this is done for classes of transactions by applying the specific transaction-related audit objectives introduced earlier, which were stated in general form, to each major type of transaction for the entity. For example, the auditor makes an assessment of the occurrence objective for sales and a separate assessment of the completeness objective. Identify Existing Controls Next, the auditor uses the information discussed in the previous section on obtaining and documenting an understanding of internal control to identify the controls that contribute to accomplishing transaction-related audit objectives. One way for the auditor to do this is to identify controls to satisfy each objective. For example, the auditor can use knowledge of the client’s system to identify controls that are likely to prevent errors or fraud in the occurrence transaction-related audit objective. The same thing can be done for all other objectives. It is also helpful for the auditor to use the five control activities (separation of duties, proper authorization,  Adequate documents and records, physical control over assets and records, and Independent checks on performance) as reminders of controls. For example: Is there adequate separation of duties and how is it achieved? Are transactions properly authorized? Are pre-numbered documents properly accounted for? Are key master files properly restricted from unauthorized access? The auditor should identify and include only those controls that are expected to have the greatest effect on meeting the transaction-related audit objectives. These are often called key controls. The reason for including only key controls is that they will be sufficient to achieve the transaction-related audit objectives and also provide audit efficiency. Associate Controls with Related Audit Objectives Each control satisfies one or more related audit objectives. This can be seen for transaction-relatedaudit objectives. The body of the matrix is used to show how each control contributes To the accomplishment of one or more transaction-related audit objectives. In this , a C was entered in each cell where a control partially or fully satisfied an bjective. A similar control risk matrix would be completed for balance-related and presentation and disclosure-related audit objectives. For example, the mailing of statements to customers satisfies three objectives in the audit of Hillsburg Hardware, which is indicated by the placement of each C on the row . Identify and Evaluate Control Deficiencies, Significant Deficiencies, and Material Weaknesses Auditors must evaluate whether key controls are absent in the design of internal control over financial reporting as a part of evaluating control risk and the likelihood of financial statement misstatements. Auditing standards define three levels of the absence of internal controls: 1. Control deficiency. A control deficiency exists if the design or operation of controls does not permit company personnel to prevent or detect mis-statements on a timely basis in the normal course of performing theirassigned functions. A design deficiency exists if a necessary control is missing or not properly designed. An operation deficiency exists if a well-designed control does not operate as designed or if the person performing the control is insufficiently qualified or authorized. 2. Significant deficiency. A significant deficiency exists if one or more control deficiencies exist that is less severe than a material weakness (defined below), but important enough to merit attention by those responsible for oversight of the company’s financial reporting. 3. Material weakness. A material weakness exists if a significant deficiency, by itself, or in combination with other significant deficiencies, results in a reason – able possibility that internal control will not prevent or detect material financial statement misstatements on a timely basis. To determine if a significant internal control deficiency or deficiencies are a material weakness, they must be evaluated along two dimensions: likelihood and significance. If there is more than a reasonable possibility (likelihood) that a material misstatement (significance) could result from the significant deficiency or deficiencies, then it is considered a material weakness. A five-step approach can be used to identify deficiencies, significant deficiencies, and Material weaknesses. 1. Identify existing controls. Because deficiencies and material weaknesses are the absence of adequate controls, the auditor must first know which controls exist. The methods for identifying controls have already been discussed. 2. Identify the absence of key controls. Internal control questionnaires, flow charts, and walkthroughs are useful tools to identify where controls are lacking and the likelihood of misstatement is therefore increased. It is also useful to examine the control risk matrix, such as to look for objectives where there are no or only a few controls to prevent or detect misstatements. 3. Consider the possibility of compensating controls. A compensating control is one Elsewhere in the system that offsets the absence of a key control. A common example in a small business is the active involvement of the owner. When a compensating control exists, there is no longer a significant deficiency or material weakness. 4. Decide whether there is a significant deficiency or material weakness. The likelihood of misstatements and their materiality are used to evaluate if there are significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. 5. Determine potential misstatements that could result. This step is intended to identify specific misstatements that are likely to result because of the significant deficiency or material weakness. The importance of a significant deficiency  or material weakness is directly related to the likelihood and materiality of potential misstatements. Associate Significant Deficiencies and Material Weaknesses with Related Audit Objectives The same as for controls, each significant deficiency or material weakness can apply to one or more related audit objectives. In the case of Hillsburg, there are two significant deficiencies, and each applies to only one transaction-related objective. The significant deficiencies are shown in the body of the figure by a D in the appropriate objecti ve column. Assess Control Risk for Each Related Audit Objective After controls, significant deficiencies, and material weaknesses are identified and associated with transaction-related audit objectives, the auditor can assess control risk for transaction related audit objectives. This is the critical decision in the evaluation of internal control. The auditor uses all of the information discussed previously to make a subjective control risk assessment for each objective. There are different ways to express this assessment. Some auditors use a subjective expression such as high, moderate, or low. Others use numerical probabilities such as 1.0, 0.6, or 0.2. Again, the control risk matrix is a useful tool for making the assessment. This assessment is not the final one. Before making the final assessment at the end of the integrated audit, the auditor will test controls and perform substantive tests. These Procedures can either support the preliminary assessment or cause the auditor to make changes. In some cases, management can correct deficiencies and material weaknesses before the auditor does significant testing, which may permit a reduction in control risk. After a preliminary assessment of control risk is made for sales and cash receipts, the auditor can complete the three control risk rows of the evidence-planning worksheet . If tests of controls results do not support the preliminary assessment of control risk, the auditor must modify the worksheet later. Alternatively, the auditor can wait until tests of controls are done to complete the three control risk rows of the worksheet. As part of understanding internal control and assessing control risk, the auditor is required to communicate certain matters to those charged with governance. This Information and other recommendations about controls are also often communicated to management. Communications to Those  Charged With Governance The auditor must communicate significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in writing to those charged with governance as soon as the auditor becomes aware of their existence. The communication is usually addressed to the audit committee and to management. Timely communications may provide management an opportunity to address control deficiencies before management’s report on internal control must be issued. In some instances, deficiencies can be corrected sufficiently early such that both management and the auditor can conclude that controls are operating effectively as of the balance sheet date. Regardless, these communications must be made no later than 60 days following the audit report release. Management Letters In addition to these matters, auditors often identify less significant internal control-related issues, as well as opportunities for the client to make operational improvements. These should also be communicated to the client. The form of communication is often a separate letter for that purpose, called a management letter. Although management letters are not required by auditing standards, auditors generally prepare them as a value-added service of the audit. Test of controls We’ve examined how auditors link controls, significant deficiencies, and material Weaknesses in internal control to related audit objectives to assess control risk for each objective. Now we’ll address how auditors test those controls that are used to support a control risk assessment. For example, each key control that the auditor intends to rely on to support a control risk of medium or low must be supported by sufficient tests of controls. We will deal with tests of controls for both audits of internal control for financial reporting and audits of financial statements. Assessing control risk requires the auditor to consider both the design and operation of controls to evaluate whether they will likely be effective in meeting related audit objectives. During the understanding phase, the auditor will have already gathered some evidence in support of both the design of the controls and their implementation by using procedures to obtain an understanding . In most cases, the auditor will not have gathered  enough evidence to reduce assessed control risk to a sufficiently low level. The auditor must therefore obtain additional evidence about the operating effectiveness of controls throughout all, or at least most, of the period under audit. The procedures to test effectiveness of controls in support of a reduced assessed control risk are called tests of controls. If the results of tests of controls support the design and operation of controls as expected, the auditor uses the same assessed control risk as the preliminary assessment. If, however, the tests of controls indicate that the controls did not operate effectively, the assessed control risk must be reconsidered. For example, the tests may indicate that the application of a control was curtailed midway through the year or that the person applying it made frequent misstatements. In such situations, the auditor uses a higher assessed control risk, unless compensating controls for the same related audit objectives are identified and found to be effective. Of course, the auditor must also consider the impact of those controls that are not operating effectively on the auditor’s Report on internal control. Procedures for Tests of Controls The auditor is likely to use four types of procedures to support the operating effectiveness of internal controls. Management’s testing of internal control will likely include the same types of procedures. The four types of procedures are as follows: 1. Make inquiries of appropriate client personnel. Although inquiry is not a highly reliable source of evidence about the effective operation of controls, it is still appropriate. For example, to determine that unauthorized personnel are denied access to computer files, the auditor may make inquiries of the person who controls the computer library and of the person who controls online access security password assignments. 2. Examine documents, records, and reports. Many controls leave a clear trail of documentary evidence that can be used to test controls. Suppose, for example, that when a customer order is received, it is used to create a customer sales order, which is approved for credit. Then the customer order is attached to the sales order as authorization for further processing. The auditor can test the control by examining the documents to make sure that they are complete and properly matched and that required signatures or initials are present. 3. Observe control-related  activities. Some controls do not leave an evidence trail, which means that it is not possible to examine evidence that the control was executed at a later date. For example, separation of duties relies on specific persons performing specific tasks, and there is typically no documentation of the separate performance. For controls that leave no documentary evidence, the auditor generally observes them being applied at various points during the year. 4. Reperform client procedures. There are also control-related activities for which there are related documents and records, but their content is insufficient for the auditor’s purpose of assessing whether controls are operating effectively. For example, assume that prices on sales invoices are obtained from the master price list, but no indication of the control is documented on the sales invoices. In these cases, it is common for the auditor to reperform the control activity to see whether the proper results were obtained. For this example, the auditor can re perform the procedure by tracing the sales prices to the authorized price list in effect at the date of the transaction. If no misstatements are found, the auditor can conclude that the procedure . Extent of Procedures The extent to which tests of controls are applied depends on the preliminary assessed control risk. If the auditor wants a lower assessed control risk, more extensive tests of controls are applied, both in terms of the number of controls tested and the extent of the tests for each control. For example, if the auditor wants to use a low assessed control risk, a larger sample size for documentation, observation, and re performance procedures should be applied. The extent of testing also depends on the frequency of the operation of the controls, and whether it is manual or automated. Reliance on Evidence from the Prior Year’s Audit When auditors plan to use evidence about the operating effectiveness of internal control obtained in prior audits, auditing standards require tests of the controls’ effectiveness at least every third year. If auditors determine that a key control has been changed since it was last tested, they should test it in the current year. When there are a number of controls tested in prior audits that have not been changed, auditing standards  require auditors to test some of those controls each year to ensure there is a rotation of controls testing throughout the three year period. Testing of Controls Related to Significant Risks Significant risks are those risks that the auditor believes require special audit consideration. When the auditor’s risk assessment procedures identify significant risks, the auditor is required to test the operating effectiveness of controls that mitigate these risks in the current year audit, if the auditor plans to rely on those controls to support a control risk assessment below 100%. The greater the risk, the more audit evidence the auditor should obtain that controls are operating effectively. Testing Less Than the Entire Audit Period Recall that management’s report on internal control deals with the effectiveness of internal controls as of the end of the fiscal year. PCAOB Standard 5 requires the auditor to perform tests of controls that are adequate to determine whether controls are operating effectively at year-end. The timing of the auditor’s tests of controls will therefore depend on the nature of the controls and when the company uses them. For controls that are applied throughout the accounting period, it is usually practical to test them at an interim date. The auditor will then determine later if changes in controls occurred in the period not tested and decide the implication of any change. Controls dealing with financial statement preparation occur only quarterly or at year-end and must therefore also be tested at quarter and year-end. Relationship between Tests of Controls and Procedures to Obtaining Understanding There is a significant overlap between tests of controls and procedures to obtain an understanding. Both include inquiry, documentation, and observation. There are two primary differences in the application of these common procedures. 1. In obtaining an understanding of internal control, the procedures to obtain an understanding are applied to all controls identified during that phase. Tests of controls, on the other hand, are applied only when the assessed control risk has not been satisfied by the procedures to obtain an understanding. 2. Procedures to obtain an  understanding are performed only on one or a few transactions or, in the case of observations, at a single point in time. Tests of controls are performed on larger samples of transactions (perhaps 20 to 100), and often, observations are made at more than one point in time. For key controls, tests of controls other than re performance are essentially an Extension of procedures to obtain an understanding. Therefore, assuming the auditors plan to obtain a low assessed control risk from the beginning of the integrated audit, they will likely combine both types of procedures and perform them simultaneously. One option is to perform the audit procedures separately, where minimum procedures to obtain an understanding of design and operation are performed, followed by additional tests of controls. An alternative is to combine both columns and do them simultaneously. The same amount of evidence is accumulated in the second approach, but more efficiently. The determination of the appropriate sample size for tests of controls is an important audit decisions. Detection risk and the design of substantive tests We’ve focused on how auditors assess control risk for each related audit objective and support control risk assessments with tests of controls. The completion of these activities is sufficient for the audit of internal control over financial reporting, even though the report will not be finalized until the auditor completes the audit of financial statements. The auditor uses the control risk assessment and results of tests of controls to determine planned detection risk and related substantive tests for the audit of financial statements. The auditor does this by linking the control risk assessments to the balance related audit objectives for the accounts affected by the major transaction types and to the four presentations and disclosure audit objectives. The appropriate level of detection risk for each balance-related audit objective is then decided using the audit risk model. The relationship of transaction-related audit objectives to balance-related audit objectives and the selection and design of audit procedures for substantive tests of financial statement. Types of test In developing an overall audit plan, auditors use five types of tests to determine whether financial statements are fairly stated. Auditors use risk  assessment procedures to assess the risk of material misstatement, represented by the combination of inherent risk and control risk. The other four types of tests represent further audit procedures performed in response to the risks identified. Each audit procedure falls into one, and sometimes more than one, of these five categories. Figure 13-1 shows the relationship of the four types of further audit procedures to the audit risk model. As Figure 13-1 illustrates, tests of controls are performed to support a reduced assessment of control risk, while auditors use analytical procedures and tests of details of balances to satisfy planned detection risk. Substantive tests of transactions affect both control risk and planned detection risk, because they test the effectiveness of internal controls and the dollar amounts of transactions. Risk Assessment Procedures TThe second standard of fieldwork requires the auditor to obtain an understanding of the entity and its environment, including its internal control, to assess the risk of material misstatement in the client’s financial statements. Risk assessment procedures are performed to assess the risk of material misstatement in the financial statements. The auditor performs tests of controls, substantive tests of transactions, analytical procedures, and tests of details of balances in response to the auditor’s assessment of the risk of material misstatements. The combination of these our types of further audit procedures provides the basis for the auditor’s opinion, as illustrated by Figure 13-1. A major part of the auditor’s risk assessment procedures are done to obtain an Understanding of internal control. Procedures to obtain an understanding of internal control were studied and focus on both the design and implementation of internal control and are used to assess control risk for each transaction-related audit objectively Tests of Controls EThe auditor’s understanding of internal control is used to assess control risk for each transaction-related audit objective. Examples are assessing the accuracy objective for sales transactions as low and the occurrence objective as moderate. When control policies and procedures are believed to be effectively designed, the auditor assesses control risk at a level that reflects the relative effectiveness of those controls. To obtain sufficient  appropriate evidence to support that assessment, the auditor performs tests of controls.S Tests of controls, either manual or automated, may include the following types of evidence. (Note that the first three procedures are the same as those used to obtain an understanding of internal control.) †¢ Make inquiries of appropriate client personnel †¢ Examine documents, records, and reports †¢ Observe control-related activities †¢ Reperform client procedures Auditors perform a system walkthrough as part of procedures to obtain an under – standing to help them determine whether controls are in place. The walkthrough is normally applied to one or a few transactions and follows that transaction through the entire process. For example, the auditor may select one sales transaction for a system walk through of the credit approval process, then follow the credit approval process from initiation of the sales transaction through the granting of credit. Tests of controls are also used to determine whether these controls are effective and usually involve testing a sample of transactions. As a test of the operating effectiveness of the credit approval process, for example, the auditor might examine a sample of 50 sales transactions from throughout the year to determine whether credit was granted before the shipment of goods. Procedures to obtain an understanding of internal control generally do not provide sufficient appropriate evidence that a control is operating effectively. An exception may apply for automated controls because of their consistent performance. The auditor’s procedures to determine whether the automated control has been implemented may also serve as the test of that control, if the auditor determines there is minimal risk that the automated control has been changed since the understanding was obtained. Then, no additional tests of controls would be required. The amount of additional evidence required for tests of controls depends on two things: 1. The extent of evidence obtained in gaining the understanding of internal control 2. The planned reduction in control risk Figure 13-2 (p. 406) shows the role of tests of controls in the audit of the sales and collection cycle relative to other tests performed to provide  sufficient appropriate evidence for the auditor’s opinion. Note the un shaded circles with the words â€Å"Audited by TOC.† For simplicity, we make two assumptions: Only sales and cash receipts trans – actions and three general ledger balances make up the sales and collection cycle and the beginning balances in cash and accounts receivable were audited in the previous year and are considered correct. If auditors verify that sales and cash receipts transactions are correctly recorded in the accounting records and posted to the general ledger, they can conclude that the ending balances in accounts receivable and sales are correct. (Cash disbursements transactions will OF have to be audited before the auditor can reach a conclusion about the ending balance in the cash account.) One way the auditor can verify recording of transactions is to perform tests of controls. If controls are in place over sales and cash receipts transactions, the auditor can perform tests of controls to determine whether the six transaction-related audit objectives are being met for that cycle. Substantive tests of transactions, which we will examine in the next section, also affect audit assurance for sales and cash receipts transactions. Substantive Tests of TransactionsSTS Substantive tests are procedures designed to test for dollar misstatements (often called monetary misstatements) that directly affect the correctness of financial statement balances. Auditors rely on three types of substantive tests: substantive tests of transactions, substantive analytical procedures, and tests of details of balances. Substantive tests of transactions are used to determine whether all six transactions related audit objectives have been satisfied for each class of transactions. Two of those objectives for sales transactions are recorded sales transactions exist (occurrence objective) and existing sales transactions are recorded (completeness objective for the six transaction-related audit objectives. When auditors are confident that all transactions were correctly recorded in the journals and correctly posted, considering all six transaction-related audit objectives, they can be confident that general ledger totals are correct. Figure 13-2 illustrates the role of substantive tests of transactions in the audit of the sales and collection cycle by lightly shaded circles with the words â€Å"Audited by STOT.† Observe that both tests of controls and substantive tests of transactions are performed for transactions in the cycle, not on the ending account  balances. The auditor verifies the recording and summarizing of sales and cash receipts transactions by performing substantive tests of transactions. Figure 13-2 shows one set of tests for sales and another for cash receipts. Analytical Procedures analytical procedures involve comparisons of recorded amounts to expectations developed by the auditor. Auditing standards require that they be done during planning and completing the audit. Although not required, analytical procedures may also be performed to audit an account balance. The two most important purposes of analytical procedures in the audit of account balances are to: 1. Indicate possible misstatements in the financial statements 2. Provide substantive evidence Analytical procedures done during planning typically differ from those done in the testing phase. Even if, for example, auditors calculate the gross margin during planning, they probably do it using interim data. Later, during the tests of the ending balances, they will recalculate the ratio using full-year data. If auditors believe that analytical procedures indicate a reasonable possibility of misstatement, they may perform additional analytical procedures or decide to modify tests of details of balances. When the auditor develops expectations using analytical procedures and concludes that the client’s ending balances in certain accounts appear reasonable, certain tests of details of balances may be eliminated or sample sizes reduced. Auditing standards state that analytical procedures are a type of substantive test (referred to as substantive analytical procedures), when they are performed to provide evidence about an account balance. The Extent to which auditors may be willing to rely on substantive analytical procedures in support of an account balance depends on several factors, including the precision of the expectation developed by the auditor, materiality, and the risk of material misstatement. Figure 13-2 illustrates the role of substantive analytical procedures in the audit of the sales and collection cycle by the dark shaded circles with the words â€Å"Audited by AP.† Observe that the auditor performs substantive analytical procedures on sales and Cash receipts transactions, as well as on the ending balances of the accounts in the cycle. Tests of Details of Balances Tests of details of balances focus on the ending general ledger balances for both balance sheet and income statement accounts. The primary emphasis in most tests of details of balances is on the balance sheet. Examples include confirmation of customer balances for accounts receivable, physical examination of inventory, and examination of vendors’ statements for accounts payable. Tests of ending balances are essential because the evidence is usually obtained from a source independent of the client, which is considered highly reliable. Much like for transactions, the auditor’s tests of details of balances must satisfy all balance-related audit objectives for each significant balance sheet account. Figure 13-2 illustrates the role of tests of details of balances by the circles with half dark and half light shading and the words â€Å"Audited by TDB.† Auditors perform detailed tests of the ending balances for sales and accounts receivable, including procedures such as confirmation of account receivable balances and sales cutoff tests. The extent of these tests depends on the results of tests of controls, substantive tests of transactions, and substantive analytical procedures for these accounts. Tests of details of balances help establish the monetary correctness of the accounts they relate to and therefore are substantive tests. For example, confirmations test for monetary misstatements in accounts receivable and are therefore substantive tests. Similarly, counts of inventory and cash on hand are also substantive tests. OSelect the appropriate types of audit tests Typically, auditors use all five types of tests when performing an audit of the financial statements, but certain types may be emphasized, depending on the circumstances. Recall that risk assessment procedures are required in all audits to assess the risk of material misstatement while the other four types of tests are performed in response to the risks identified to provide the basis for the auditor’s opinion. Note also that only risk assessment procedures, especially procedures to obtain an understanding of controls, and tests of controls are performed in an audit of internal control over financial reporting. Several factors influence the auditor’s choice of the types of tests to select, including the availability of the eight types of evidence, the relative costs of each type of test, the effectiveness of  internal controls, and inherent risks. Only the first two are discussed further because the last two were discussed in earlier chapters. Availability of Types of Evidence for Further Audit Procedures OEach of the four types of further audit procedures involves only certain types of evidence (confirmation, documentation, and so forth. †¢ More types of evidence, six in total, are used for tests of details of balances than for any other type of test. †¢ Only tests of details of balances involve physical examination and confirmation. †¢ Inquiries of the client are made for every type of test. †¢ Documentation is used in every type of test except analytical procedures. †¢ Re performance is used in every type of test except analytical procedures. Auditors may re perform a control as part of a transaction walkthrough or to test a control that is not supported by sufficient documentary evidence. †¢ Recalculation is used to verify the mathematical accuracy of transactions when per forming substantive test of transactions and account balances when per – forming tests of details of balances. Relative Costs When auditors must decide which type of test to select for obtaining sufficient appropriate evidence, the cost of the evidence is an important consideration. The types of tests are listed below in order of increasing cost: †¢ Analytical procedures †¢ Risk assessment procedures, including procedures to obtain an understanding of internal control †¢ Tests of controls †¢ Substantive tests of transactions †¢ Tests of details of balances Analytical procedures are the least costly because of the relative ease of making calculations and comparisons. Often, considerable information about potential misstatements can be obtained by simply comparing two or three numbers. Risk assessment procedures, including procedures to obtain an understanding of internal control, are not as costly as other audit tests because auditors can easily make inquiries and observations and perform planning analytical procedures. Also, examining such things as documents  summarizing the client’s business operations and processes and management and governance structure are relatively cheaper than other audit tests. Because tests of controls also involve inquiry, observation, and inspection, their relative costs are also low compared to substantive tests. However, tests of controls are more costly relative to the auditor’s risk assessment procedures due to a greater extent of testing required to obtain evidence that a control is operating effectively, especially when those tests of controls involve re performance. Often, auditors can perform a large number of tests of controls quickly using audit software. Such software can test controls in clients’ computerized accounting systems, such as in computerized accounts receivable systems that automatically authorize sales to existing customers by comparing the proposed sales amount and existing accounts receivable balance with the customer’s credit limit. Substantive tests of transactions cost more than tests of controls that do not include re performance because the former often require recalculations and tracings. In a computerized environment, however, the auditor can often perform substantive tests of transactions quickly for a large sample of transactions. Tests of details of balances almost always cost considerably more than any of the Other types of procedures because of the cost of procedures such as sending confirmations and counting inventories. Because of the high cost of tests of details of balances, auditors usually try to plan the audit to minimize their use. Naturally, the cost of each type of evidence varies in different situations. For example, the cost of an auditor’s test-counting inventory (a substantive test of the details of the inventory balance) often depends on the type and dollar value of the Inventory, its location, and the number of different items. Relationship between Tests of Controls and Substantive Tests To better understand tests of controls and substantive tests, let’s examine how they differ. An exception in a test of control only indicates the likelihood of misstatements affecting the dollar value of the financial statements, whereas an exception in a substantive test of transactions or a test of details of balances is a financial statement misstatement. Exceptions in tests of controls are called control test deviations. From the three levels of control deficiencies: deficiencies, significant deficiencies, and  material weaknesses. Auditors are most likely to believe material dollar misstatements exist in the financial statements when control test deviations are considered to be significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. Auditors should then perform substantive tests of transactions or tests of details of balances to determine whether material dollar misstatements have actually occurred. Assume that the client’s controls require an independent clerk to verify the quantity, price, and extension of each sales invoice, after which the clerk must initial the duplicate invoice to indicate performance. A test of control audit procedure is to inspect a sample of duplicate sales invoices for the initials of the person who verified the information. If a significant number of documents lack initials, the auditor should consider implications for the audit of internal control over financial reporting and follow up with substantive tests for the financial statement audit. This can be done by extending tests of duplicate sales invoices to include verifying prices, extensions, and footings (substantive tests of transactions) or by increasing the sample size for the confirmation of accounts receivable (substantive test of details of balances). Even though the control is not operating effectively, the invoices may still be correct, especially if the person originally preparing On the other hand, if no documents or only a few of them are missing initials, the control will be considered effective and the auditor can therefore reduce substantive tests of transactions and tests of details of balances. However, some re performance and recalculation substantive tests are still necessary to provide the auditor assurance that the clerk did not initial documents without actually performing the control procedure or performed it carelessly. Because of the need to complete some re performance and recalculation tests, many auditors perform them as a part of the original tests of controls. Others wait until they know the results of the tests of controls and then determine the total sample size needed. Relationship between Analytical Procedures and Substantive Tests Like tests of controls, analytical procedures only indicate the likelihood of misstatements affecting the dollar value of the financial statements. Unusual fluctuations in the relationships of an account to other accounts, or to nonfinancial information, may indicate an increased likelihood that material misstatements exist without necessarily providing direct evidence of a  material misstatement. When analytical procedures identify unusual fluctuations, auditors should perform substantive tests of transactions or tests of details of balances to determine whether dollar misstatements have actually occurred. If the auditor performs substantive analytical procedures and believes that the likelihood of material misstatement is low, other substantive tests can be reduced. For accounts with small balances and only minimal potential for material misstatements, such as many supplies and prepaid expense accounts, auditors often limit their tests to substantive analytical procedures if they conclude the accounts are reasonably stated. Trade-Off between Tests of Controls and Substantive Tests There is a trade-off between tests of controls and substantive tests. During planning, auditors decide whether to assess control risk below the maximum. When they do, they must then perform tests of controls to determine whether the assessed level of control risk is supported. (They must always perform test of controls in an audit of internal control over financial reporting.) If tests of controls support the control risk assessment, planned detection risk in the audit risk model is increased, and planned substantive tests can therefore be reduced. Figure 13-3 shows the relationship between substantive tests and control risk assessment (including tests of controls) at differing levels of internal control effectiveness Impact of information technology on audit testing Auditing standards provide guidance for auditors of entities that transmit process, maintain, or access significant information electronically. Examples of electronic evidence include records of electronic fund transfers and purchase orders transmitted through electronic data interchange (EDI). Evidence of the performance of automated controls, such as the computer’s comparison of proposed sales orders to customer credit limits, may also only be in electronic form. The standards recognize that when a significant amount of audit evidence exists in electronic form, it may not be practical or possible to reduce detection risk to an acceptable level by performing only substantive tests. For example, the potential for improper initiation or alteration of information may be greater if information is maintained only in electronic form. In these circumstances, the auditor should perform  tests of controls to gather evidence in support of an assessed level of control risk below maximum for the affected financial statement assertions. Although some substantive tests are still required, the auditor can significantly reduce substantive tests if the results of tests of controls support the effectiveness of controls. In the audit of a larger public company, computer-performed controls (these are called automated controls) must be tested if the auditor considers them to be key controls for reducing the likelihood of material misstatements in the financial statements. Because of the inherent consistency of IT processing, however, the auditor may be able to reduce the extent of testing of an automated control. For example, software based control is almost certain to function consistently unless the program is changed. Once auditors determine an automated control is functioning properly, they can focus subsequent tests on assessing whether any changes have occurred that will limit the effectiveness of the control. Such tests might include determining whether any changes have occurred to the program and whether these changes were properly authorized and tested prior to implementation. This approach leads to significant audit efficiencies when the auditor determines that automated controls tested in the prior year’s audit have not been changed and continue to be subject to effective general controls. To test automated controls or data, the auditor may need to use computer-assisted audit techniques or use reports produced by IT to test the operating effectiveness of IT general controls, such as program change controls and access controls. In many cases, testing of automated controls may be performed by IT audit specialists. When auditors test manual controls that rely on IT-generated reports, they must consider both the Effectiveness of management’s review and automated controls over the accuracy of Information in the report.