The Professional Accountant Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Professional Accountant Assignment - Essay Example In this case, the definition of the independent directors may vary. An independent member of the board should be in depend in terms of not just the definition but also in terms of the structure of his or her work and how he relates to the firm. They have to be independent from the executives of the firm with regard to the financial gains. The new governance is very difference from the UK cooperate governance standards. For instance, it will have to include a council o a maximum of 100 members who will be in control of the firm with regard to overseeing the decisions of the firm through voting. This is very different from the corporate governance for UK cooperates because they do not usually have these (Solomon, 2011). This is however necessary for the cooperative because as Lord Myner said in his report, the cooperative should always be in the control of its owners. In this regard, he proposed that there must be as many members of the council in order to make sure that they oversee the decisions and actions for the executives. Corporations do not have this kind of government and only depend on bound members and the CEO as well as the chainman to the board. However, for a cooperative, this may be necessary on order to guarantee that the vested interests of the cooperative members have been achieved (Mallin, 2013). The other difference between the new structure in the cooperative and the UK cooperate structure is the senate which will be elected by the council members. This senate will help co-ordinate the activities of the council. It will also help in coordinating the relationships and operation of the council, the board and the executives of the cooperative. This is different from the standard UK corporate governance as these corporations do not have a senate or even a council (Thompson & Wright, 2013). The non-executive directors are involved in the strategy development by contributing to the processes they help in this by challenging

Balanced Scorecard Essay Example for Free

Balanced Scorecard Essay The balance scorecard is used as a strategic planning and a management technique. It is widely used in many organizations, regardless of their scale, to align the organizations performance to its vision and objectives. The scorecard is also used as a tool which improves the communication and feedback process between the employees and management, and to monitor performance of the organizational objectives. There are four different perspectives of balance scorecard which are financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth. Each perspective represents a different aspect of the business organization in order to operate at optimal capacity. Financial perspective is about how does the firm look to shareholders. This is concerned with the shareholders view of performance. Shareholders are concerned with many aspects of financial performance. Amongst the measures of success are market share, revenue growth, profit ratio, return on investment, economic value added, return on capital employed and profitability. Customer perspective is about how do customers see the firm. This perspective focuses on the analysis of different types of customers, their degree of satisfaction and the processes used to deliver products and services to customers. Particular areas of focus would include customer service, customer retention and customer satisfaction. Internal perspective is about how well it manages its operational processes. This seeks to identify how well the business is performing, whether the products and services offered meet customer expectations, and the critical processes for satisfying both customers and shareholders. Learning and growth perspective is about can the firm continue to improve and create value? This perspective also examines how an organisation learns and grows. This perspective is concerned with issues such as can we continue to improve and create value? In which areas must the organisation improve? How can the company continue to improve and create value in the future? What should it be doing to make this happen? The concerns of balanced scorecard are long term with short term concerns, financial with non-financial concerns, and internal with external concerns.

Fight Club Analysis

Fight Club Analysis Thesis Statement: An analysis of the movie Fight Club reveals the ambiguity of its themes about modern life, masculinity and nihilism. Ambiguity and Hope in David Finchers Fight Club A decade after its release, David Finchers cult classic Fight Club still invites strong discussion among critics, moviegoers and cultural pundits. Released in 1999, the film chronicles the story of Edward Nortons insomniac white collar worker as he gets drawn to the ultra-violence, uber-masculinity and outright nihilism promoted and practiced by Tyler Durden, played with iconic swagger by Brad Pitt. Few recent films have elicited as much strongly opposing opinions as Fight Club has, with various camps proclaiming it as a post-modern masterpiece that documents the brutal emasculation of the human male by a modern consumerist culture and the ways a man can fight back. Others condemn it is a faux-intellectual and hypocritical attempt by the Hollywood machinery to appeal to mens baser impulses while tacking on a moralist lesson at the end. Make no mistake, Fight Club attempts to raise a mirror at societys face and invites careful interpretation. It is above all, a message film. One that aims to say something as much as it wants to entertain. From this vantage point, it can be argued that the film does not fall easily within either the interpretations mentioned above. Fortunately and frustratingly the film is an ambiguous exercise. It offers very few clean thematic elements from which an easily digestible interpretation can be gleamed from. What of its message then, and does its ambiguity undermine or emphasize this message? The films narrator is a dead-eyed cog at a dead-end job for a car manufacturer. He lives in a condo spare of personality and filled with IKEA furniture. He is empty of feeling, seemingly overwhelmed by the demands of an outside world to buy more, consume more in order to be more. It is therefore no surprise that hes also an insomniac. To cure this, he goes to nightly meetings of various support groups for serious ailments. For a while this seems to work, as he himself notes, Every evening I died, and every evening I was born again, resurrected. These early scenes clearly illustrate a man lost in the wilderness of modern society, one who has to co-opt other peoples real pain so he can feel something for himself. Without pain, he is dead; with it he feels alive. His attempts at relative normalcy are disrupted by two major events. The first one involves meeting Marla Singer, another poser at group meetings who becomes the only major female presence in the film. The second event is the first halfs most important one the narrator meets the brash soap maker Tyler Durden. They strike an uneasy friendship and business relationship making soaps and living together in Durdens dilapidated house at the outskirts of town. For the rest of the first half, the film focuses on the establishment of the titular fight club one that sprang from a drunken brawl where Durden asks the narrator to hit him. Pretty soon, underground fight clubs are established all over the country, filled with lost men who voluntarily subjected themselves to fighting and physical harm. With Tyler as their leader, and the narrator as the second-in-command, these men and saw the possibility of regaining their masculinity taken away from them by their nine-to-five jobs, family responsibilities and societal pressures to be successful. Rebel against modern societys emasculation, the film seems to say. It is with the events of the second half that things get even more manic, as Durden orders a series of attacks against corporate America via his Project Mayhem, starting with relatively harmless pranks and culminating in a full-blown act of terrorism which involves blowing up the citys credit banks. The narrator watches in horror as otherwise reasonable men are converted into a mindless cult bent on following Durdens every proclamation. He is the audiences surrogate at this point, one that recognizes that the events in his life are getting out of hand, and knows he must stop it if he is to salvage whats left of it. On the surface level, the film is an entertaining, often humorous and violent depiction of masculinity. It employs voiceover narration, flashy camerawork, quick editing and sharp dialog to create a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat experience that shows a mans increasingly dark journey to escape his humdrum and meaningless existence only to be caught up with the schemes of a dangerous, messianic terrorist. The story is gripping, the images stylized, and the direction superb. Because of these factors, the movie largely succeeds as a popcorn movie. It is with its deeper themes, and the decisions the movie makes to attend to these themes, that the ambiguity is most apparent. The film wears its nihilism proudly, and yet it also shows that nihilism has to have its limits. That the fun has consequences. The film explicitly shows an innocent man being killed as a direct result of Project Mayhems actions. That is as much a condemnation of the characters and the audiences who might have rooted for them. It also suggests that modern life, and by extension the modern man, is less and less alive and an individual and more of a long-running commercial for goods that have led us, in the words of Tyler Durden, chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we dont need. But Fight Club is itself, a product. One thats marketed, distributed and obviously created to sell and gain profits. At worst, this suggests a highly hypocritical intention on the filmmakers part. At best, though, it can be seen as a dangerous risk for its makers to bite the hand that feeds it. No discussion about Fight Club is complete without mentioning its famous twist. By showing the narrator and Tyler Durden as two sides of one broken individual, the film makes a powerful statement about identity and how it can be destroyed by modern life. The films final shot shows the narrator resurrected as one man, holding Marla Singers hand. A woman who, via his Tyler Durden persona, he almost attempted to destroy. This seems to be films true and final point, that the cost of nihilism as a means to rebel against modern societys excesses does not equal the hope that can be found in real human relationships.

Ansel Adams :: Biographies Bio Biography

Ansel Adams On February 20, 1902 Ansel Easton Adams was born in San Francisco, California. He was the only child of Charles and Olive Adams. Ansel, originally trained as a classic pianist, would later abandon his first love, music, for photography. Ansel Adams became America's most talented and beloved landscape photographer. In 1908, Ansel started school. He was a poor student and hated going to school. In 1915, Charles Adams took his son out of school and had him privately tutored. Charles also bought Ansel a year pass to the Panama Pacific International Exposition. The Exposition included exhibits on painters, science, machinery, and photography. "It was also the first time that he encountered photography as an art form in three prints exhibited by photographer Edward Weston, with whom he was much later to collaborate in the f/64 Group project and who became a great friend"(1). During his unconventional education, Ansel became interested in music, particularly, the piano. He began to teach himself how to play. He was very serious about his music. Later, recognizing his son's talent, Charles hired Marie Butler, who was piano tutor, for his son. She tutored Ansel for three years. Ansel seriously considered becoming a concert pianist. Then, in 1916, Ansel took his first trip to Yosemite while on vacation with his family. Ansel became interested in photography on this trip and took his first photos on his first camera. "With his first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie, Ansel's life as a photographer began Ââ€" an interest which was to endure for the rest of his life. With his first attempts at committing the magic of Yosemite to film, he demonstrated the beginnings of an immense talent which was to make him a world-class photographer". (2) Ansel was persuaded by his parents to attend school again and he went to Mrs. Kate Wilkins' private school. In 1917, he graduated from the eighth grade at Mrs. Wilkins' school. His graduation marked the end of Ansel's Academic Career. Ansel continued to pursue his first loves, the piano and music, as well as his new found interest in photography after his graduation. Ansel began teaching himself the basic principles of photography. He got a job working part-time for a photo finisher, Fred Dittman, in San Francisco. This is where Ansel had his first dark room experience. Ansel Adams :: Biographies Bio Biography Ansel Adams On February 20, 1902 Ansel Easton Adams was born in San Francisco, California. He was the only child of Charles and Olive Adams. Ansel, originally trained as a classic pianist, would later abandon his first love, music, for photography. Ansel Adams became America's most talented and beloved landscape photographer. In 1908, Ansel started school. He was a poor student and hated going to school. In 1915, Charles Adams took his son out of school and had him privately tutored. Charles also bought Ansel a year pass to the Panama Pacific International Exposition. The Exposition included exhibits on painters, science, machinery, and photography. "It was also the first time that he encountered photography as an art form in three prints exhibited by photographer Edward Weston, with whom he was much later to collaborate in the f/64 Group project and who became a great friend"(1). During his unconventional education, Ansel became interested in music, particularly, the piano. He began to teach himself how to play. He was very serious about his music. Later, recognizing his son's talent, Charles hired Marie Butler, who was piano tutor, for his son. She tutored Ansel for three years. Ansel seriously considered becoming a concert pianist. Then, in 1916, Ansel took his first trip to Yosemite while on vacation with his family. Ansel became interested in photography on this trip and took his first photos on his first camera. "With his first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie, Ansel's life as a photographer began Ââ€" an interest which was to endure for the rest of his life. With his first attempts at committing the magic of Yosemite to film, he demonstrated the beginnings of an immense talent which was to make him a world-class photographer". (2) Ansel was persuaded by his parents to attend school again and he went to Mrs. Kate Wilkins' private school. In 1917, he graduated from the eighth grade at Mrs. Wilkins' school. His graduation marked the end of Ansel's Academic Career. Ansel continued to pursue his first loves, the piano and music, as well as his new found interest in photography after his graduation. Ansel began teaching himself the basic principles of photography. He got a job working part-time for a photo finisher, Fred Dittman, in San Francisco. This is where Ansel had his first dark room experience.

Which Is More Important in Shaping Individual Identity: Social Structure or Social Interaction?

Social structure and social interaction are the building blocks of present life. The need for people to interact with each other is crucial and has always been the key action to survive and sustain existence. Sociologists now refer to this as socialisation, to establish the important components of living and a person’s social identity.Social structure is more important than social interaction in shaping individual social identity, the reason for this to have more importance in shaping someone’s social identity, is because without social structure there would be no social interaction both are important in discussing macrosociology (social structure) and microsociology (social interaction). Within social structure is class, status and institutions they will be expanded upon later in detail on the way they influence one social identity more then social interaction.Social identity is defined as a person’s acknowledgement of belonging to a certain social category or g roup where its members possess the same social identification and observe the surroundings with an individual perspective (Hogg & Abrams 1988, p. 7). To better understand social identity, Social structure needs to be explained, it is defined as the framework of society that was already laid out before we were born. Social structure refers to the typical patterns of a group, such as its usual relationships between men and women or students and teachers.The sociological significance of social structure is that it gives us direction to and sets limits on behaviour (Henslin, J. 2010, pp. 76 – 77). Social interaction is a significant part of life in society also a part of an individual’s social identity, it is the different ways that people interact with one another. Culture lays the broadest framework, while social class divides people according to income, education and occupational prestige. Each of us receives ascribed statuses at birth, that are involuntary that are inh erited and later achieved statuses are added.Our behaviours and orientations are further influenced by the roles we play, the groups to which we belong and our experiences with social institutions. These components of society work together to help maintain social order (Henslin, J. 2010, p. 76). To achieve social order all members of a society accept its moral values and their roles within it, complying to these norms is a way to maintain social order. Emile Durkhiem’s views were that rather than individual activities such as crime and religion causing certain behaviours, it was society as a whole Bessant & Watts, 2007 pp. 72 – 73). Showing that structure has more influence on a persons identity rather than their interactions within their class and statuses. Social Class is based on income, education and occupational prestige. Large numbers of people who have similar amounts of income and education and who work at jobs that are roughly comparable in prestige make up a social class. It is hard to overemphasise this aspect of social structure, for our social class influences not only our behaviours but even our ideas and attitudes (Henslin, J. 010, p. 78). There is four different structures that we can inherit at birth; wealthy upper class, middle class, working class and under class (Macionis & Plummer 1997). Karl Marx was the first to study class and it’s relationship to the functions of society and identity. Marx focused on how one class controlled and directed production, while the other classes were service providers or producers, whose efforts benefited the ruling or dominating class.Marx saw that human relationships and identity were a product of labour, and therefore shaped by it (Cox, 1998). An example of this is Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson being the controlling class and all his employees below him represent the other classes which all in turn benefits him. Social Status in sociology has been given two meanings. One refers to t he position that a person occupies in the social structure, such as teacher or priest.The other more specific meaning refers to the form of social stratification in which social positions are ranked and organised by legal, political and cultural criteria into status groups. These social positions may carry a great deal of prestige, as in the case of a judge or an astronaut, or it may bring little prestige as in the case as a grocery store worker or a waitress at the local pub. The status can also be looked down on as in the case of a homeless person, an ex-convict or a thief.Social status is a major shaping component of social identity status set all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies are generally all ascribed statuses that are inherited such as your race/ethnicity, sex and the social class of your parents as well yours statuses as female or male, daughter or son, niece or nephew. Our identity as ‘male’ or ‘female’ is one of the most bas ic aspects of our being. As Sigmund Freud observed a century ago, when you meet a person for the first time, the very first thing you notice about them is whether they are a man or woman (Bessant & Watts, 2007 p. 09). Social Institutions are the organised, usual or standard ways by which society meets its basic needs. Social institutions are the family, religion, education, economic, medicine, politics, law, science, the military and the mass media (Henslin, J. 2010, p. 81). They establish the context in which we live, shaping our behaviour and colouring our thoughts. Social institutions are so significant in shaping individual identity that is they were to change we would be different people, as they influence our orientations to the social world and the wider world itself.Much of the influence lies beyond our ordinary awareness. For example, because of our economic institution, it is common to work eight hours a day for five days every week. There is nothing normal or natural abou t this pattern, however. This rhythm is only an arbitrary arrangement for dividing work and leisure. Yet this one aspect of a single social institution has far-reaching effects. Not only does it also lays out a structure for their interaction with family and friends and for how they meet their personal needs (Henslin, J. 2010, p. 1). From this you can see that social identity is formed primarily by structure rather than interaction with individuals fitting into their institutions through their class and status showing the greater importance of social structure on shaping the social identity. Social identity is shaped through an individual’s journey in life within their social structure and social interaction, but this is not solely through inherited ascribed statuses, class and institutions also by the way a person socialises within the given environment.The inequalities of the worlds classes is shapes a person’s identity by the way they have had to behave due to their social structure limitations and well as the interactions with others of the same class and status, without this structure there would be no social interaction. This is why social structure is of a higher importance when it comes to shaping the identity of an individual. REFERENCE LIST Back, L. , Bennett, A. , Edles, L. ,Gibson, M. , Inglis, D. ,Jacobs, R. , Woodward, I 2012, Cultural Sociology: An Introduction, Wiley, ebook Bessant, J. amp; Watts, R. 2007, Sociology Australia, 3rd ed. , Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest Henslin, JM, Possamai, A, and Possamai-Indesedy, A 2011, Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach, Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest Hogg, M. A. & Abrams, D. 1988, Social Identifications A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group, Routledge, London Macionis, J. J. & Plummer, K. 2012, Sociology: A Global Introduction, 5th ed. , Pearson, Prentice Hall, New York Plummer, K 2010, Sociology: The Basics, Taylor and Francis, ebook

Comparison of Three (3) Paintings Essays

Comparison of Three (3) Paintings Essays Comparison of Three (3) Paintings Essay Comparison of Three (3) Paintings Essay Subject: The Battle of the Amazons. 1618 by Pieter Pauwel Rubens seems to be of war. force and the desperate demand to complete a conflict no affair the cost while the Heart of the Andes. 1859 by Frederic Edwin Church seems to be about the enormousness and beauty of nature in its balance of contrasts between visible radiation and darkness. bulkiness and minuteness. power and failing. The Volga Boatmen. 1870-73 painted by Ilya Repin. nevertheless. depicts the subject of unsought yet unconscious imprisonment. Temper: The temper conveyed by this picture called The Battle of the Amazons. 1618 is one of disturbed convulsion while the Heart of the Andes. 1859 gives one the feel of repose and peace. The Volga Boatmen. 1870-73 nevertheless. affects you by doing you experience hopeless. Meaning: Rubens’ picture. The Battle of the Amazons. makes me experience disturbed because of the war between two determined forces that will make everything to win. However I see an implicit in chauvinist message because the play in this image shows that the work forces are on top of the state of affairs and that the adult females are driven to travel below the span and dice. It does demo the bravery and strength of adult females despite the thrust of the masculine to be winning though. For me. Church’s Heart of the Andes. 1859 is so full of intending in the context of Christianity. The cross is so little amidst its surrounding mountains. trees and river. I feel that it merely shows that we are in a universe where we can non command nature. All we can keep on to is faith. It besides conveys the message of hope. One could see that the H2O hastes with force near the waterfalls but composures down by the Bankss. It could intend that one tends to concentrate on disruptive countries of his life but the unagitated beyond it is at that place to convey hope. This is besides seen with the contrast of visible radiation on the left side of the picture and darkness or cloud cover at the side of the mountains. It is unconditioned in nature to be a balance. There can non be excessively much darkness without the promise of visible radiation. Repin’s The Volga Boatmen. 1870-73 is a picture that seems to state me that one is imprisoned into imprisonment because of one’s occupation as a boater. Although there is no 1 guarding or keeping you in detention. the mere predicament of holding to work detains you and sentences you to a life of load and sadness. Although there are boaters in the picture that seem to jest or even smoke a pipe. these do non extinguish the abrasiveness of life. It shows a contradiction because although the country where they are situated in seems to be huge. they do non see the potency for life. Similarities: These pictures are similar in the sense that they portray life in its existent sense. The Battle of the Amazons shows that adult females will neer win against work forces in the ferociousness of physical strength. The Heart of the Andes shows that nature will take its class no affair what and that hope is merely at that place if you will merely acknowledge it. The Volga boater shows that life is drab if you are burdened with work that you don’t love. In the affair of colourss. the pallet used were all of natural sunglassess which seem to intend that these pictures are all about life and human nature. Contrasts: These pictures contrast each other because of the messages they seem to convey. The Battle of the Amazons show that one has to contend to acquire what he wants in life. The Heart of the Andes seems to demo that one will finally acquire what destiny will give no affair what he prays for. The Volga Boatmen merely tells us that life means nil so you merely have to populate it mundane. The pictures besides differ in its attack because the Battle of the Amazons shows a really tight scene full of action in every infinite while the Heart of the Andes shows small action at all while the Volga Boatmen conveys no motion from its capable despite their attempts to draw their load.