The Impact of Good Corporate Governance in Internal Control Essay

The Impact of Good Corporate Governance in Internal Control - Essay Example As result, nowadays, the corporate governance has a significant role to the companies to escape from failures in collapses or fraud. However, the discovery and prevention of fraud are significant challenges facing the business environment. Therefore, the ways in which companies' deals with fraud may enhance either the internal control and independent internal auditor or the need for forensic accounting. The forensic accounting is increasing in many organizations to identify situation, systems and security weaknesses by design and advise measure to reduce and limited inherent risk in the organization. The Enron and WorldCom in the US corporate collapses and fraud shook the foundation of the financial system and corporate governance, therefore; regulators in the U.S reform corporate governance by established the Sarbanes-Oxley act in June 2002 and Cadbury in the UK, in 1992, which now combine code. This assignment will illustrate the impact of good corporate governance in internal cont rol and internal auditing function to prevent fraud and detection. 2. Corporate governance and the prevention of fraud and detection Through the decades, the increase of the complexity of organizational activities have resulted to the increase of the difficulty of their control.   However, a mechanism should be also established ensuring that the rules and the guidelines included in the firm’s corporate governance scheme are followed. In any case, the value of the corporate governance as a framework for preventing fraud and defection across the organization cannot be doubted. This view is analytically explained below referring primarily to the main aspects and the role of corporate governance as a strategic tool for monitoring the progress of the organization in regard to its aims and mission; at the next level, the role of corporate governance in preventing fraud is presented explaining the challenges and the benefits of the involvement of corporate governance in such activity. 2.1 Corporate governance – role and characteristics Different approaches can be used in order to explain the role of corporate governance in modern organizations. In accordance with Anand (2007) corporate governance is a framework that ‘incorporates almost every aspe ct of corporate life’ (Anand 2007, p.77); however, it is explained that in its common form, the corporate governance framework consists of rules that aim to protect the interests of the firm’s shareholders (Anand 2007). On the other hand, Du Plessis et al. (2010) note that the term ‘corporate governance’ can incorporate many elements; among these elements two are considered to be the most important: the promotion of the interests of the shareholders and ‘the regulation/ monitoring of the corporate conduct’ (Du Plessis et al. 2010, p.10).  

Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity for LOreal Assignment

Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity for LOreal - Assignment Example Models like Porter’s Five Forces have been used to match the practical aspects with theoretical ones, along with recommendations on a feasible course of action for the company to embrace success in the future. Â  The environment surrounding a business comprises of both micro and macro forces that shape up the strategy of the business and also test the viability of the developed strategy in real time. For L’Oreal, the market has been a mix of favorable and unfavorable forces where the genius of L’Oreal through its two success recipes- diversification and innovation, changed the tides. Â  The cosmetics industry has been very fragmented yet open to new offerings and product innovations, keeping in mind the needs of varied consumer groups. Demographically, L’Oreal was presented with a host of opportunities to come up with various products with different ethnic and cultural shades. Â  Cosmetics is an industry which is not limited to just creams. It extends way beyond face products and involves hair and skin care and beauty products. A player who was able to operate through these lines of product width was the one who could sustain itself in the booming cosmetic and beauty product market, which was done really well by L’Oreal. Â  The entire industry, as obvious in the case, is in its growth stage with multiple players entering the battleground. L’Oreal had been able to secure its pole position till now because of new product propositions every year to sustain the wave of innovation and tight control over its operational costs. Yet, the following points emerge out of the industry analysis of cosmetics.

Applied Behavioral Analysis II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Applied Behavioral Analysis II - Essay Example According to the data provided, the intervention employed by Martin worked. The behavior exhibited by the patient Sara included banging her head against the wall, pulling her hair, and biting her arm. These behaviors according to the differential reinforcement of other (DRO) procedure were inappropriate. From the data provided, the frequency of biting her arm reduced from 10 to 7, the frequency of pulling her hair reduced from 23 to 5, and the frequency of banging her head against the wall reduced from 15 to 6. The method was not that successful although it reduced the frequency of the inappropriate behavior. The method is most effective for children aged four to twelve; Sara was only fourteen years old. For middle school setting in which Sara belongs, the method is used for integration into the self-management plans (NPDC on ASD 1). The ABAB reversal design has ethical and practical limitations when the intervention is withdrawn. The ethical issues become significant when the behavior that is being targeted is more problematic; this is the case with the Tier 3 RTI cases. In ABAB reversal design can be lengthened to for full observance of the return to baseline. Another limitation with this method is that some of the target behaviors can fully exhibit the return to baseline. In such a case, the learned behaviors partially return or they are returned on the basis of variability or the rate of learning. The resultant effect is the weak version of the reversal design in majority of the academic situations (Burns and Riley-Tillman 46). Due to these serious limitations, the method is faced with a number of ethical issues as discussed above. If Martin had used the method on Sara, a number of ethical issues could have been raised concerning the method. These ethical implications include the problem with the behavior of the target, and the partial return of the learned

Reasons I Choose Belmont University Essay Example for Free

Reasons I Choose Belmont University Essay One of the universities that have caught my attention was the Belmont University. Coming from a Christian Community, I felt that the university can help me develop into a more mature Christian. The schools mission is to provide an to its education that is academically challenging, that promotes the empowerment of both men and women. Their diverse backgrounds help hone the students to become engaged with current issues, and in the improvement of the society, through their compassion, courage, discipline, and faith in God. Since the university is centered on the needs of its students, the university provided an environment that helped its students grow spiritually and intellectually. With the help of their peers and professors, the students are able to help themselves become the best in their chosen field. In addition to this, the university offers a wide variety of courses that cater to each individuals interest and needs. Admission to the university definitely allows an individual to grow and mature to become a better person, both intellectually and spiritually. Other factors are also taken into great consideration, such as their social and physical needs. The diversity and artistic favor that this university has can help in the building of strong foundations for the future of its students. Belmont does not only offer a conducive environment suitable for learning, but also caters to an environment contributory to spiritual growth. In addition to this, the universitys location is beyond par. Since Nashville is known to be a â€Å"Music City†, the university can help hone its students to become excellent in their field by providing world class performances. After acquiring a degree form Belmont, anyone can easily find jobs just outside of the university, with the wide array of job offerings in Nashville. Church-related activities may still be practiced, through the number of churches near the vicinity. The Belmont University is definitely the answer to all our prayers.

HRM Issues in China Essay examples -- Human Resources Management Chine

Issues affecting International Human Resource Management in China â€Å"Napoleon called China a sleeping dragon and said there would be woe to the world when the dragon awakes. As the world knows, the dragon is more than stirring.† Introduction The Chinese believe that the Great Dragon ruled the Middle Kingdom of the world for nearly four thousand years. For most of this period China was a great trading nation. Then the dragon fell asleep for two centuries, while China collapsed under the effects of colonialism, until in 1978 Deng Xiao Ping woke the dragon up. And now the Chinese dragon is back, hungry to take its place as the economic and cultural superpower of the 21st century. Nowadays China is often called the world’s largest market. Many people might think that it is very easy to start business in China and that success is guaranteed because of the huge potential of the market. But that isn’t true. Making successful business in China is not that easy as it might seem. There are many potential problems which can arise. For instance the Chinese civilisation is five thousand years old and because of that the Chinese culture, tradition and value system have a significant impact on the different business processes. As the largest country in population, China has 50 plus different minority groups of people each have its own culture, custom, norm, tradition, even unique holidays and languages. Also, as one of the top three nations in land size, China is geographically divided into many regional centres across the nation each has unique cultural aspects in terms of tradition, value, social norm, belief, and organisational features. Those unique cultural factors will present numerous challenges to foreign investors and international joint venture managers. In this essay I want to discuss issues effecting human resource management which is, according to many foreign executives, the greatest challenge for Western companies in China today. The significance of culture in international Human Resource Management According to Hofstede the influence of national culture is important to management for three reasons. The first is political and institutional. There are differences between the countries in formal institutions such as government, legal systems, educational systems, labour and employer’s association, and the way they are used. The secon... ...-158. Hofstede, Geert: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml, 1.12.2004. Huo, Paul / von Glinow, Mary Ann: On transplanting human resource practices to China: A culture-driven approach, International Journal of Manpower 16(9), 1995, p. 3 - 15. Huczynski, Andrzej / Buchanan, David: Organizational Behaviour – An Introductory Text, 4th edition, London: Prentice Hall, 2001. McClenahen, John S.: China’s Cultural Challenge, Industry Week 253(4), 2004, p. 10 - 12. Meier, Johannes /Perez, Javier /McKinsey: Solving the puzzle: MNCs in China, Business Source Premier Database, 1995. Scarborough, Jack: Comparing Chinese and Western Cultural Roots: Why ‘East is East and †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, Business Horizons 41(6), 1998, p. 43 - 50. Wang, Yuan / Zhang, Xin Sheng / Goodfellow, Rob: Business Culture in China, 1st edition, Singapore: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998. Wilson, Jonathan / Brennan, Ross: Market entry methods for western firms in China, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 15(4), 2003, p. 3 - 18. Yang, Jiaqin / Lee, Huei: Identifying key factors for successful joint venture in China, Industrial Management & Data Systems 102(2), 2002, p. 98 - 109.

The Law with Teens and Nude Photos

Composition 101 October 18, 2012 In Dahlia Lithwick’s article â€Å"Teens, Nude Photos and the Law†, she talks about how teen boys and girls are sending nude pictures to their boyfriends or girlfriends. They use their mobile devices like cell phones, ipod, computers and their cameras to send their nude image. She then addresses the consequences of the nude photo that the teenager has received. The teenager that received the photo can be charged with a felony of child pornography. The author then discusses why the teenager should not be treated harshly.She states that many of the teenagers are still immature and they don’t know the consequences of sending nude photos to each other. In her article she argues that the criminal justice system is taking it too far in charging the teenagers as child pornographers. I agree with the author because there is a real problem with criminalizing sexting as a form of child pornography. The teenagers caught with the photo will b e charged with child pornography. Child pornography is a serious offence and can stay forever on your lifetime record and mess up your life.The majorities of the teenagers that are charged with the crime are not even predators, but a picture like has big consequences if it’s ever to get out on the internet. In my first argument, Dahlia Lithwick states that the teenagers are being punished to harshly. (Lithwick 492) She is right the charges against them are too severe. They can stay on their record for a long time or even forever. If the teenager would go look for a job and they were to pull up his records and they find that he has a child pornography offence, they won’t want to hire him.Who would want to hire a person who takes images of kids? It is a serious offence too people all over the world, but its a big charge just for a teen. Especially if that teen is a boy and receives a random photo on his cell phone and it’s a nude photo of his girlfriend and she is drunk. It’s not his fault that she is drunk. She is a drunk and underage girl. Teens don’t know any better. Many, well most of the teenagers are all still immature. Many think that being 18,17,16,15 they think they are grown when they really are not.Most all the teenagers don’t know fully what’s right from wrong. There mind is not fully developed and when something goes wrong the kids that think that there grown, go straight to their parents for help. That’s why they have grown parents to help them in life. That’s why all the judges that prosecuted the teens as child pornographers can’t forget that they were too once teenagers. The people that make up the criminal justice system can’t forget that they once too did stupid things when they were little.At least once they of had to receive on photo of their girlfriend or boyfriend nude. Many of the times the kids do it for fun. They think its being sexy. The kids these days are no t the same as the kids from a long time ago. We have so much technology now, that it help us communicate better with people and not be able to do those things. Dahlia, in her article states â€Å"We seem to forget that kids can be as tech-savvy as Bill Gates but as gullible as Bambi. † (Lithwick 493). She is right, teenagers now a days are tech smart. They know how to handle a phone better than our parents.What teenagers don’t realize when taking bad images is that there putting themselves in a bad situations. There can be digital dating violence. They can use those images and put them on profiles like face book. Recently there was a page on face book of girls that are nude. The girls that were put out there were very upset and they wanted the site shut down. They were mad at the creator who made the site but it not his fault it’s the girls who took the images and gave it out. The site was out for a while and a lot of people got to see it.Right after pretty much the whole world saw it they finally took it down. Now the girls that were seen on the image are now marked for life or for a long time. People that know her will remember that she was in a bad photo. That’s when the teens realize that they did wrong but many still don’t learns there lesson. They are still going to be doing it because of relationship pressure. Most girls are the ones that are getting taken advantage off. The criminal justice system should change the way they label children as child pornographers.They are just making things worse. They need to find a way a better way to help solve the problem. Labeling children with these names are not going to help it stop. They need to show proof that its actually killing and hurting people emotionally. There have been many accounts of teens being depressed because of a bad photo. The system needs to stand up and help out the ones who are victims of these situations. They need to label the right people with these labe ls because teens are not dangerous. The older people can be charged as hild pornographers because they are grown and they know of what they are doing. Those are the only ones they should be charged. Over all, Dahlia Lithwick has a point, teens all over are being charged with child pornography for sending and receiving nude photos of their girlfriends. The police said that by sending nude photos girls can put them selves at risk and that has serious consequences so they put a severe consequence on them. They shouldn’t label them at a young age just for a nude photo, there teens, they can be immature.

Apple Inc: Analysis of Financial Statement Essay

I chose Apple for my course project mainly based on the fact that they release all their records to the public and they have excellent accounting practices. Their paper work is easy to read and follow and based on their records they have an endless amount of revenue in the billions. As we have discussed about Apple in class I was very intrigued how they looked in the books on a specific level of detail and this course project was the perfect way to take initiative to find out just how their numbers actually add up answering the following questions. 1. What amount of deferred tax assets or deferred tax liabilities are on the two most recent years on the balance sheet? What gives rise to these deferred taxes? What information is disclosed in the footnotes related to deferred taxes? Please define a deferred tax asset and deferred tax liability. At year end September 24 2011 the balance sheet shows following amount of deferred tax assets and liabilities: Deferred tax asset is arising due to deductible temporary differences, tax losses, and tax credits of $3.2Billion and deferred tax liabilities of $9.2Billion. Deferred revenue is recorded when the company receives payments of their products in advance or for the performance of services. It includes amount for unspecified and specified software upgrade rights and non-software services that are attached to the products of the company. It is disclosed in the footnotes that Deferred tax assets and liabilities shows the effects of tax losses, credits, and the future income tax effects of temporary differences between the consolidated financial statement carrying amounts of current assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and are measured using en-acted tax rates that apply to their taxable income in the years in which these temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. Footnotes also states that company records a valuation allowance in order to reduce the def erred tax asset to the amount it thinks cannot be realized. Deferred tax asset: Deferred tax asset is defined as reduction in company’s future taxes as the company has already paid for these taxes in past. It is like a prepaid tax. It is used to reduce later period’s income taxes. Deferred tax liability: Deferred tax liability is defined as liability that the company owes but they don’t have to pay it in the current time but will be due in some future time. This often results due to difference in tax regulations and accounting practices. 2. What temporary and permanent differences does the company disclose in its footnotes? What are some other examples of temporary and permanent differences? Operating loss to carry forward /carry forward: The company had unrecognized tax benefits of 1.4 billion Guidelines for carry forwards and carrybacks: Tax law allows corporation to carry forward loss up to 20 years and they can carryback tax losses only up to 2 years. A carry forward can be used to reduce future income and in the end reducing future tax payments. 4. Does the company have a defined benefit or defined contribution plan? What are the key elements of the plan discussed in the footnotes? What amounts on the balance sheet relate to this plan? What are the differences between defined benefit and defined contribution plans? Employee contribution plan: The key element discuss in the footnotes is the rate to which the contribution is made and matching of contribution by company itself. The Company’s matching contributions to the Savings Plan were $90 million, $72 million and $59 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Difference between Benefit and contribution plan: In contribution the employer put certain fixed percentage of employees to the fund and invest it no loss or gain is recognized because its liability is of contributing that amount only. However in benefit plan the company promised to pay certain amount to employees due to which it has to recognize gain or losses and liability. 5. What are the earnings-per-share amounts disclosed on the income statement for the most recent year? What dilutive securities are discussed in the footnotes? Please identify and describe other examples of dilutive securities. How do these impact earnings per share? Diluted EPS: Effect on EPS of Dilutive: Dilutive EPS is calculated due to the Debt securities company issued to which company offers for conversion from debt security to Company shares. If converted, the denominator will increase and hence EPS will decrease. Other types of dilutive shares: The other types of diluted shares are warrants and share option. Bonus shares may also dilute EPS. 6. What kind of share-based compensation does the company have? What was the compensation expense for the two most recent years? What are the key elements of this plan discussed in the footnotes? Please identify and describe other types of share-based compensation. Share based Payments The Company has two kind of share based compensation one is that the company receives employees’ service in exchange of equity instrument, or of recognizing liabilities that are based on the fair value of the company stock or may be settled through issuance. The elements: The key element in the foot note is the difference between restricted stock Unit and stock option plan. In RSU’s the compensation cost is measured by closing fair value of stock at grant date. However in stock option the valuation at grant date is done through Black-Scholes-Merton (â€Å"BSM†) option-pricing model. Other types of compensation: The other types of compensation is that employees to whom compensation is paid is left with the choice whether to take cash settled i.e. by incurring liabilities or by equity settlements. 7. Does the company use the direct or indirect cash flow presentation method? What is the difference between these two methods? How does the cash flow statement agree to the other financial statements? APPLE INC. uses indirect method of cash flow. The main difference in direct and indirect method is of operating activities section. In direct method of cash flow there is a sum of all check and deposits in a particular category whereas in indirect method of cash flow we have to make adjustments in order to arrive at net cash flow from operating activities. Net cash balance calculated in the cash flow statement agrees with cash balance in the balance sheet. 8. What investing and financing activities does the company have? What are some other examples of investing and financing activities? Company has following investing activities: Purchases of marketable securities, Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities, Proceeds from sales of marketable securities, Payments made in connection with business acquisitions, net of cash acquired Payments for acquisition of property, plant and equipment and Payments for acquisition of intangible assets. Other examples of investing activities are purchase/sale of long term investments and purchase/sale of debt or equity securities of other companies. Financing activities of company: Proceeds from issuance of common stock, Excess tax benefits from equity awards and Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards. Other examples of financing activities are sale of equity securities, issuance of bonds and notes, dividend paid and redeem long term debt. 9. What non-cash transactions does the company have on its cash flow statement? What are some other examples of non-cash transactions? Following are the non cash transactions of the company on its cash flow statement: $(000) Depreciation, amortization and accretion 1,814 Share-based compensation expense 1,168 Deferred income tax expense 2,868 Other non cash-transaction examples are provisions, unrealized foreign currency gains/losses and minority interests. Conclusion: This course project shows evidence in Apple’s strict guidelines and how they run their business. Comparing the numbers they have posted on their site I’m able to physically see how certain liabilities and Assets are moved and balanced in different quarters throughout the year. Seeing this also allows me to understand on how they operate in a bigger scale from a bird’s eye view. Since they are such a large company they do not hesitate to report all their taxes and pay the full amount without using shortcuts that most smaller companies are able to get away with. Based on the report from 2011 and 2010 Apple prioritizes their tax expenses with alacrity and with their triple checked system it truly leaves no room for error in their accounting department. By looking into their books, I can conclude that this company is in strong standing and that they will be around for a long time maybe for another 100 years. Most companies don’t have that kind of net value since they fall into category of accrued debt paying off an impossible bill of benefits to their employees. Works Cited: http://investor.apple.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-11-282113&CIK=320193 http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-balance-sheet?symbol=AAPL& http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/IncomeStatement.jsp?tkr=aapl&period=qtr http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/Ratios.jsp?tkr=aapl