Analysis between Life and Death in Shanghai and woman at point zero Essay

Analysis between Life and Death in Shanghai and woman at point zero - Essay Example It’s an autobiography of the author herself. It is a tale of woman who had been struggling for survival, dignity between the authoritarian of the Cultural Revolution. Her crime was just her class backdrop and a enthusiasm to life. She got arrested in the late 1966 after the â€Å"The Red Guards† looted her house. The book tells the story of Nien Cheng, when she got arrested all through the Cultural Revolution and was caught up in jail for more than six years. She was pressurized to accept the fake accuse that she was a spy for â€Å"the imperialists†. She refused to do so and lived a life in prison, full of misery and torture. Finally, she was released in 1973 and found out that her daughter, Meiping, who was going to school to become an actress was also murdered by â€Å"The Red Guards†, although, police told her that she has committed suicide. Cheng found this by investigating herself, and thought that the whole situation which was told by the police was impossible. Later she got relocated towards a two bedrooms apartment with one of her relative. Till 1980, Cheng lived in China than she moved towards United States. (Cheng, Nein., 1987). On the other hand, the book Women at Point Zero is written by Nawal El Saadawi. It is story which is based on the life of a woman namely, Firdaus. She is an ex-prostitute and was accused for the murder of a pimp. She refuses to talk to anyone in or out of the prison. However, Firdaus, agreed to talk with the author, who is a psychologist as well, on the tenth day of living in the prison. Gradually, she tells the author about the history of her life. In past, Firdaus life was full of abuse, abandonment, oppression, people taking advantage of her and people whom she met nearly rejected her from child to the adulthood. She was born in a farming society to an offensive father. Foremost important thing in the book is that Firdaus describes pleasure similar to pain and pain which is same like pleasure. After her parents

Federalism And The Perspectives Of Democracy Politics Essay

Federalism And The Perspectives Of Democracy Politics Essay The term Federalism which was introduced during 18 and 19 centuries in multicultural societies to meet different social needs in the direction of unity while reserving diversity, another time has been propounded in multi-cultural societies. While, federalism as a political and legal theory in different societies has its own characteristics, and based on the considerations of the units it shows different performances. The technologic revolution along with the development of international information networks have created a great revolution in the structure of governments and power centers, the governments decline took place gradually, great economic poles developed the extensive network of power; as a result, those national, local, and regional units supporting connection between local capital with global capital gain the political power. The Europe Union seeks to spread and reserve its historical achievements and concentrate its potentials to resist against the enormous revolutions of Asia and America National units often enjoy common culture, history, and territory, having a common political plan they try to provide appropriate backgrounds for having collaboration with other nations. National units, different groups and ethnics in collaboration process in a common territory acquire national identity and defend their nationality and territory. We have federalism system with its different forms in the political perspective of the world. It seems to be an effective approach for solving national problems in multi-cultural societies. (Yahyaee, 1384: 15) Globalization, in the present time, is changing monetary and financial markets, production and consumption toward globalizing; public opinions by applying communicational devices lead to globalization, so, the inscrutable power of the governments are declining and multi- structural powers are developing. 2. Research design and its importance: Proponents of federalism, who have attracted a lot of attentions from political forces and elites of national units, believe that dividing power among the units paves the ways for more collaboration and develops national identity. As a result, not only the territorial integrity is damaged, but also reinforces national impression among national units and different ethnics. In this regard, the democratic institutes are created and organized by people. In this situation, the democratic atmosphere of country paves the way for discourse under its shadow intellectual and helpful thoughts take form. Federalism contributes to the development of democracy, political culture, and gaining experience; as a result, political parties will be more active in the national units; democratic and constant institutes are established; political elites leave seclusion and contribute to training political practitioners, finally sophisticated and skillful political practitioners receive trainings necessary for managing the country. (Bashyryeh, 1995:37) In countries in which different nations live with their various features the development of democracy, politics and economy reflex in their political life, so that respecting nations and ethnics rights is included in the constitutional law. With respect to relative and classic democracy in which the will of majority is dominant, however, sovereignty is in the hands of that nation which has the majority and determines the political fate of the country in accordance their interests. So, the principles of democracy and regulations of multi- national societies can not secure freedom and rights of minor nations and ethnics. Federalism as a pervasive administrative and political approach has high functions and potentials that correspond with the needs of plural societies and is able to solve their structural problems. In order to fulfill this approach in plural societies and adopt it with different situations, first of all we should undertake cultural activities along with political and economical measures. (Kolaee, 2002: 18) Federalism or dividing power among different centers prevents power from concentrating in one center; this in turn leads to the development of democracy in the units. Fulfilling these situations, federalism activates political parties, trains more political elites to participate in countrys leadership and management. If the elites are familiar with social and economical features and needs of units, the can adopt more suitable policies; then they can apply communicational tools, find effective resolutions for the current problems, and develop their relationships with people. If there is close relationship between governmental institutes and people, independent institutes will be allowed to control performances of political power, this matter at last results in democracy development. 3. History and definition of federalism: Federalism originates from the Latin word Foedos that means agreement or treaty. Thus, cooperation and unity among different groups and units in search of establishing larger units to fulfill their common objectives is called federalism. (Habermas, 1996: 13) In political terms, federal government is a kind of political organization in which political power is divided among smaller political units; each one has its own regulations and institutes that function in accordance with their interests and public or group origins. In such a system, borders of power and units management are determined by certain regulations. Organizations of different federal nations are not the same. Based on their social, political, and geographical situations they have different features. The United States, Russian Federation, Federal Germany, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, and so forth have different structural and administrative organizations. Federal governments have two distinctive administrative systems. First, Federal administration has all the country under its coverage. This kind of administration is an active center conducting administrative activities nationwide. Besides this system, there are plenty of institutes and organizations selected directly by peoples votes that function under peoples monitoring. In the second system countrys administration is divided to smaller units. These administrative units include province to region. Therefore, they are called national or regional units. These federative units function within their borders and are considered to be responsible for a part of country or a certain population. Then, federalism is applied to a kind of administration in which there is a pervasive national government as well as several smaller national units. According to their population or regions, these units divide the political power among them and establish political government based on which. (Yahyaee, 2006: 62) If the process of uniting was in the same direction with the development of modern culture and economy as well as freedom, equality, justice, and law, there would be better results. As the process of nationalization in those western countries established based on power plurality and dividing it has led to democracy establishment. Switzerland, for instance, has got a brilliant history and experience in federative system. This country has always sought to expand this system in accordance with public and states rights. Thus, Switzerland has strengthened relationships among people, culture, language, and various needs. (Thurow, 2001: 86) Lack of centrality has expanded states abilities in accomplishing their activities, created closer relationships between people and governmental agencies and finally, thoroughly has developed democracy across society. As a result, Switzerland is considered to be a member of international family in which all the social and individual rights are secured exactly. A reason of Switzerlands social and economical developments lies in its administrative and political system that it is for a while that are managed federatively. Based on the above discussions, one can make this conclusion that in those countries where different nations and ethnics live with their special cultures and languages, they can pave the ways for a comprehensive progress. In January 1918, the first constitutional law of Russian Soviet Federative Social Republic (RSFSR) in the forth nationwide congress of the soviets was approved. That constitutional law was approved to be applied in managing Russian Federative Republic, as by then the Soviet Union has not been established. (Kolaee, 2002: 18) The constitutional law of 1918 which had suggested its objective as transition from a bourgeois democracy to a proletarian one, at the same time had discussed about nations equal rights and had proposed federalism in accordance with the development of different cultures. While evaluating the Czarina Russia, Lenin had said: Russia is the prison of the public; it is just through establishing the Soviet Union that we can secure all rights of the nations. According to this statement, article 70 of the Soviet Unions constitutional law had named that country as a multi-national one and its federal system in the form of soviets provides all nations with equal rights. (Kolaee, 2002: 170) Like Italy, Spain was ruled by centralist and dominant government of Franco. During that period, fascist and pen fascist thoughts were dominant in the political system. Therefore, democratic movements and public institutes were suppressed strongly. Under the pretext of trying to weaken the central government, regional and local movements, too, were suppressed and their members were pursued. After the death of Franco, there were remarkable changes in Spains political system. In 1987, the constitutional law changed. With respect to cultural and ethnical features, self-determined regions with different possibilities and authorities were established. The new law supported and guaranteed those self-determined regions. As a result, after the death of Franco they undertook remarkable measures in democraticazing their society. They began some activities in accordance with lack of centrality, determined ways of undertaking their measures and their borders to be able to negotiate with the central government. When the new constitutional law was approved, according to cultural, lingual, geographical, religious, and economical differences 17 self-determined regions were established. (Yahyaee, 2006: 64) Canadian federal system is consisted of 10 units; 9 of them are ruled by English speakers and the other one is governed by French speakers. Quebec is the only state French speakers have control over. This state is economically, especially in industry sector developed. Some social groups, especially extremist nationalists seek to separate this state from Canada. (Khobroyepak, 1999: 186) 4. Basic features of federative systems: Federalism forms based on two principles. First, based on population; that is, it should have sufficient similarities. Second, based on geographical regions which should have some differences with other regions. (Khobroyepak, 1999: 190) The number of constituent units depends on geographical divisions. Thus, these units take on different names. In some countries, for example, we have units called state, province, region, self-determined, and autonomous governments. The United States of America is consisted of some 50 states, Federal Republic of Germany of 16 units, Russian Federation of 89 different units with special rights and authorities, India of 25 states and Belgium of 6 regions. (Khobroyepak, 1999: 192) A federal system functions independently in its interior affairs. In federal systems public institutes are controlled by people, as political institutes are selected by people. Their performances, then, are controlled by people and democratic institutes which are not under the control of government. Canada is consisted of 10 federals and 11 administrative centres. Thus, federal systems are called multi-cantered systems. (Khobroyepak, 1999: 193) Nowadays, units of federal systems are not able to accomplish great projects by themselves and need the cooperation of other units. This element creates unity among the units. Federalism is an administrative system and a method of governing in which there are different centres of power. Unlike centralized systems which are ruled from one centre, in federal system there is a pervasive national government with several regional governments differing from autonomous or self-determined governments remarkably. Two-parted federal systems consist of 3 power centres. Attending the applications of refugees, accepting or rejecting foreigners residing or ways of settling them in different states, as well as establishing different associations are among the responsibilities of the states. Decision makings and performances of the states should correspond with expectations of the federal. Those units established as state or region having common culture and language with other unite, confine their activities mostly to development, construction, housing, water supply, conserving natural resources, and environment conservation. Educational and cultural activities of these units have their own regulations enacted by the federal governments which are carried out across the federal country. Units are mostly engaged in economical and constructive activities. There are different centers for making and executing decisions in federal governments; as units are responsible for monitoring and observing political and economical regulations and the centre has no if any intervene in units interior affairs. Finally, those units have their representatives in central organizations and have direct participation in decision makings; as it is one of the basic features of federalism. Establishing federal governments without units having economic possibilities is impossible, as units legal and administrative guarantees depend on their financial power. (Yahyaee, 2006: 95) It is why in establishing units based on population and geographical regions economical potentials and financial power are more emphasized on. Executing this policy in some cases, however, raises dissatisfaction or causes tension between national and ethnical groups. Most of the federal countries are divided based on geographical researches and establish their units according to these researches. These geographical regions are located alongside each other according to their common political and economical interests. People of these regions may have different cultures, races, religions and special features. (Maghsudi, 2001: 241) These features include race, culture, language, and national and religious beliefs. So, geographical units bring about some cultural and natural differences. These cultural and national differences whether have a long history or are created by the pass of time or political and historical events. Anyhow, these differences are of great importance in establishing federal units. Certainly, in the constitutional law of a federal country the relationship between the center and its related units and visa versa has been determined, their authorities and obligations, too, have been explained. In adopting federalism as a political system for a country, cultural, lingual, religious and ethnical differences have great importance. Among the important features of federalism one can refer to power division among the units, it is while we can meet the needs of those civilians who have different languages and cultures by adopting policies like corporatism, pluralism, and functionalism, but these concepts have no consistency with federalism. Dividing power according to geographical region and organizing federal system are the inseparable parts of federal systems. (Maghsudi, 2001: 243) Thus, the term federalism is applied to those units having geographical borders and interior regulations while participating in the central government. In federal systems, will of people can not alone decide on some of their wishes or fulfill them, it is the federal units and their residents who are determinant, as they propose their wills to the national assembly and control its performances. Thus, in the process of policy making in federal governments not only the people of country but also residents of the units affect this process. The number of parliament members depends on population. The more population a unit has, the more representatives it has. As a principle of federal systems, units have equal rights in the parliament and no one can change these rights for the benefits of others. People of those countries that have federal political systems have got multi- identities; that is, from one hand they have national identity and from the other hand they have a single identity belonging to their unit. These dependencies are either regional and geographical or ethnical and population; in each case those people simultaneously have more than one identity. They can refer to federal administrations or units organizations to have their applications attended. In most of the cases, they refer to their local organizations. As they can easily control their performances. Among other features of federalism we can name power division, units equality and having equal rights. These features exactly correspond to the essence of federalism. (Castells, 1997: 392) From international laws point of view, constituent units of federal country are not considered to be a whole and independent country, so, in international associations they do not enjoy the same benefits with independent countries. However, they can engage in some mutual economical contracts. Federal country attends the international associations on behalf of its related units and functions by their names. 5. Federalism and democracy: In federal systems public and democratic institutes control over government and administrative organizations performances, mainly in executing rules with respect to the different centers of power will be more effective. In this regard, federalism with its certain structure and regulations provides all the necessary possibilities for executing rules and expanding democracy for all the people and national or ethnical groups. We do not mean that other countries having centralized or self-determined structures are unable in executing democratic rules or respecting human rights. Some countries, especially those developed centralized ones with respect to their social and cultural differences produce macro policies, and then apply them in accordance with the interests of society and social groups. In a country where different nations live, development and institutionalization of democracy is in contrast with power concentration in a centre, as in such political organizing governments power increasingly grows so that by applying its power and relying on one of those reasons, it turns its people to some peasants and bases and governs them easily. (Maghsudi, 2001: 250) If power is divided and the law has sovereignty in a society, people are allowed to use these potentials and control governments performances. As a result, different units in a federal country contribute to survival and development of democracy. Proponents of democracy in multi-national countries defend nations rights and federalism. It should be said that federalism can not spontaneously reinforce democracy, and even some kinds of federalism may develop inequalities among the nations and weaken their correlation. Trying to find a form of democracy which can set civil nationality and equal citizenship rights in a society, prevent national and ethnical prejudgments is one of the most important duties of proponents of democracy in different societies. In federal systems, people have more participation in their political fate, political and economical competitions revolve the society, and in turn, this contributes to developing democracy and institutionalizing it. In societies where different nations with different cultures are living, creating solidity and nationalization has taken a lot of time, has spoiled appropriate opportunities and the necessary correlation for public progress has encountered a lot of challenges. Therefore, by reserving nations identity we can pave the ways for cooperation; create voluntary unity to reach common objectives. Federal system with its special structure prepares necessary opportunities in this regard, as the civilians not only participate in their unit, but also play remarkable roles in the political activities of their society. Undertaking economical competitions along with exhibiting art works, sports and other activities of units lead to the development of different sectors; this process, then, results in more correlation among nations; it is why federal system is considered to be an effective tool in expanding and maintaining democracy. In single and centralized systems, however, the cooperation between nations and different ethnics takes place in accordance with class and group interests, but this cooperation is found to be fragile; because if these interests are damaged, this cooperation will break down. This situation is more common in those countries which have not yet formed civil society or their social institutes are not so effective. Anyhow, these two administrative systems are organized with respect to social situations, population and geographical structure and have their special features. We should remind that democracy and its institutes do not form just in federal systems, as some countries with single administrative systems have made some remarkable progresses in creating civil society and developing democratic institutes, European developed countries can be good examples in this regard. So, having federal systems does not assure providing democracy and respecting international charter of human rights, but democratic institutes should develop to allow people to have direct intervene in their political fate. Having federal or pen federal law does not guarantee providing social and individual freedoms, as federal system is different from uniparty systems, marital dictatorship, and totalitarian regimes. Federalism is based on this concept that its related units have their own policy makings while having direct intervene in policy makings of the central government. Thus, the structure of representation takes shape and power will be divided. (Khobroyepak, 1999: 202) the units reserve their features including: language, religion, culture, history, and economy then make effort to reinforce them and patrol their national interests. In the case of having different power centers, the possibilities of centralization and empowering of a centre or a certain group disappear. Also, the system of democracy observation is applied by the units to reserve them, as observing law articles guarantees their survival. In those countries where federal system is adopted successfully, power centers seek to create political and economical cooperation among units to enjoy their benefits. Most of the policy researchers believe that federalism is one of the best choices and methods for supplying rights of ethnical, religious, and national minorities. As the law guarantees these rights and plurality of power centers pave the ways for reserving social structure and explaining its differences. The units keep their cultural, social, and economical identity. Therefore, they would not suffer from identity crisis and this, in turn, contributes to correlation among nations. Some countries governed by single systems try to develop democratic rights and solve ethnical problems by establishing autonomy and considering geographical situations. It is while supplying just political rights can not provide social justice, but the backgrounds of economical justice should be arranged. Accepting plurality federal countries get more ready for social revolutions. Therefore, accepting and developing democracy in these countries has prior backgrounds and can institutionalize easily, as cultural and social differences are accepted by these countries, so trying to reserve plurality results in rapid growth of culture. Ultimately, the bed for development of democracy and social and economical progress will be available. Stable democracy in federal systems depends on the relationships between units and the relationships between the centre and its related units. Power division among units and units participation in federal decision makings indicate of democracy development across society and peoples participation in their political fate. There are some federal systems, in which the units dont have sufficient power or authority, and then they are unable to decide about their social, political, and even economical fate; in comparison to autonomous regions, these units enjoy fewer authorities. Therefore, political participation of units in the central government and peoples role in determining policies of units show the degree of maturity and development of democracy in these societies. Owning to the remarkable developments in computer technology in the recent decades, now different countries are closer to each other and have developed their regional cooperation. (Falsafi, 1998: 249) Due to plurality in power centers, federalism has shortened peoples distance from these centers and has allowed them to have more participation. In those countries that have democratic systems and there is a single political system managing society politically, people participate in their political fate freely and select their representatives in accordance with their interests, then send them to the parliament and observe the execution of policies. Constitutional laws of federal countries are more often democratic, liberal, and have some features that encourage people to participate in their fate. It seems that all those countries which have any kind of political systems seek to display their constitutional laws as democratic by adding some democratic articles to them. It is beyond doubt that having some democratic articles in law does not indicate of democracy and has no administrative guarantees. As people and public institutes dont have power of monitoring and in the case of repre ssing the regulations by the ruling government have no means to defend it. In federal systems observing law is possible through different power centers. As forming dictatorship and controlling all the centers of power is difficult and with regard to their special situations, suppressing all the units can not be easily possible. It is why reserving constitutional law and operating democracy in federal countries are easier. (Falsafi, 1998: 249) unfortunately, there are some social and economical discriminations owning to them all the social groups dont have equal opportunities and possibilities. So, federalism by having extensive possibilities for expanding democracy and freedom across the society can not apply democracy by itself; but social, economical, and political backgrounds should be provided for the society to take steps towards democracy and social justice. Enjoying extensive potentials for solving social problems and identity crisis, federalism can not solve all social problems and in action encounters some shortages. Constituent parts of federal government act in accordance with their economical and social interests, and then create the sufficient regulations for their social and cultural development. They try to reserve their identity and reinforce it. Among these units, there are some minor groups or ethnics deprived from their social rights, and as are in minority can not reserve their interests and in special situations are suppressed strongly. So, while has those extensive potentials, federalism is found to be unable to develop pervasive democracy for all groups and ethnics; as a result it keeps social contradictions and crisis inside itself. For instance, we can refer to the situation of Negroes in different states of America. They are unable to reserve their interests and rights. The policy of their complete rejection or accept ance is adopted. As a result, we observe sometimes some social crisis and violence in those states that are accompanied with polices harsh suppression. (Mawlaee, 2001: 124) Thus, it is the civilians who are responsible for reserving and observing their civil rights. Federalism as a political system with its structural plurality is able to fulfill the charter of human rights and can adopt it in its units. 6. Challenges of federalism: Tremendous economical and social differences among units of federal government and its reflection in lifestyle have led to different approaches to international issues, treaties, conventions, and agreements. Federal government signs the charter of human rights and other agreements and undertakes to fulfill them. But the units considering expectations of the central government as intervene in its interior affairs, refuses executing those agreements. Thus, executing the contents of these treaties that support human rights anywhere and in any situation encounter different problems. Above all, in countries like US, Canada, and Australia that are managed by federal systems, the local people suffer from different deprivations; these deprivations do extensive damages to the federal system and put their justice under question. As, the units while have enormous possibilities, can not supply their ethnics and smaller groups rights and in some cases succumb to suppressing them. Canada, for example, adopting federal system, has allowed the residents of Quebec to use French language and has provided them with all the necessary possibilities to develop their language; it is while that Canada does not allow other speakers to develop their cultures and languages. In spite of those great possibilities federalism has allocated for the freedom of different nations living in a geographical region, can not solve all social problems; thus, cooperation among units is inevitable if we want to strengthen life levels and freedom. When the Soviet Union scattered, in those countries once had been governed by federal systems, separation increased unprecedentedly. A wave of blind nationalism covered those societies. War and murder replaced peaceful coexistence. (Kolaee, 2002: 138) Proposing the right of separation and mentioning it in the law prevents accomplishing long-term projects in federal countries. Distrust in an unknown future leads to political crisis, thus its economical and social results will appear in interior policy makings and international relations. The danger of separation weakens countries political stability. (Bashyryeh, 1995: 300) This process directly affects domestic and foreign investments and determines policial and economical fate of the country. In search of their short-term interests, units avoid long-term cooperation with other units. As a result, administrative organizations of federal government will encounter problems in macro policy makings which consider al peoples interests in l ong-term. 7. Discussion and conclusion: While the development of technology using satellite and information networks pass the borders and do not confine themselves to national governments and geographical borders , insisting on nationalism- in its chauvinistic form-, lingual and ethnical excellence indicates of a historic straying and lack of knowledge. It is taken for granted that any activity in the direction of federalism and political and economical unions requires extensive and open insights in which moderateness and negligence replace ethnical and cultural differences, then the prosper

Cold War Rhetoric of the Lysenko Era Essay -- Politics Communism Commu

The Cold War Rhetoric of the Lysenko Era During the Cold War, the Soviet Union forced its biologists to support the theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, which opposed the conventional theory of genetics accepted by the scientists in America and most of the world. This theory that environmentally induced changes to an organism’s physical or biochemical traits could be passed on to its offspring was the main tenet in Lamarck’s work during the early 1800s. It was accepted by most biologists during Lamarck’s time, until the work of Darwin on evolution by natural selection in the mid-1800s and the discovery of Mendel’s work on heredity in the early 1900s lead most biologists to discount Lamarck’s theory. However, in 1948, the Soviet Union officially supported the paradigm of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, which they called the â€Å"Michurin teaching† (Lysenko 33). Michurin was a Russian scientist who worked during the late-1800s to improve and create new varieties of plants and introduce them to areas of severe climate in Russia (Bakharev 6). His principle that â€Å"we cannot wait for favours from Nature† and that instead, â€Å"we must wrest them from her,† was based on his interpretation that Marxist dialectical materialism taught â€Å"how to actively influence Nature and how to change it† (Bakharev 6-8). The revival of his theories in the mid-1900s was tied to the fate of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko. Lysenko gradually gained power until he became the president of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (LAAAS) in 1941 (U.S. Department of Commerce 2). His address to the 1948 session of LAAAS marked the beginning of the Soviet state’s official support of the Michurin teaching and it’s suppression o... ... Soviet Science.† Russian History 21.1(1994): 49-53. Russia Academy of Science Bibliographies. Langson Lib., U of California, Irvine. 27 May 2004 Soyfer, Valery N. Lysenko and the Tragedy of Soviet Science. Trans. Leo Gruliow and Rebecca Gruliow. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1994. Soyfer, Valery N. â€Å"New light on the Lysenko era.† Nature 339 (8 June 1989). Russia Academy of Science Bibliographies. Langson Lib., U of California, Irvine. 27 May 2004 United States. Dept. of Commerce. Office of Technical Services. Lysenko, Michurinism, and Soviet biology. Washington, 1960. Zirkle, Conway. Death of a Science in Russia; the fate of genetics as described in Pravda and elsewhere. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949.

Write Up on Detection of Fraud

DETECTION OF FRAUD (A Study on the Relations of Fraud Detection, Redress and Reporting by Auditors, Protecting against Fraud Detection: the Case of Auditors and the Effect of Auditors Personality) Prepared by:- _________________________________________________________________________ PREFACE The objective of this assignment is to promote critical thinking on to what extent auditors comply with auditing standards once they encounter fraud and auditors’ compliance on managing fraud, the debate on auditors’ negligence when it comes to fraud and the side effects of fraud detection towards personality.A selection of three articles that were chosen in identifying and subsequently analyse the impact of fraud towards an individual, group or within an organisation. The three articles are:- * Protecting against Detection: The Case of Auditors and Fraud? * Fraud detection, redress and reporting by auditors, * Fraud Risk Assessment and Detection of Fraud: The Moderating Effect of P ersonality. The objective for this assignment is to aim on the relationship between the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk and the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud.Also, this study considers the overall trend of development and the prospects for future changes regarding the auditor’s fraud detection responsibilities. INTRODUCTION Most of the individuals feel that auditors fail to comply with some important elements of fraud standards. Fraud represents a significant and challenging issue throughout the accounting profession practically almost everywhere in the world.Dramatic financial scandals often takes place as soon after companies received apparent â€Å"green light† from their auditors have kept the issue of fraud and the responsibility for its detection closely relate to auditors in particular. Auditors are required by the auditing standards to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from any misstatements. Inability to accomplish so particularly fraud may expose the auditors to litigation. The detection of fraud is the most important portion of the auditor’s duties.Therefore, auditors should assiduously cultivate this branch of their activities. (Dicksee, 1990). Whenever there is a sudden alarm and collapse within the company, people tend to assume that the auditors negligently failed to spot something was wrong and the auditors failed to solve the issue. Detection of fraud is no longer the principal audit objective but rather the subsidiary to the determination of the truth and fairness of corporate financial statements.This development in stated audit objectives is often portrayed as a process of natural, uncontroversial evolution in which professional guidance came to meet changing public expectations and circumstances (Tricker, 1982). The growth in the size of business, the assumption of corporate management of a greater responsibility for fraud detection and a broad acceptance of t he increasingly uneconomic nature of audit-based fraud detection are usually identified as the main causes of the changing nature of audit responsibilities (CACA, 1986).CENTRAL ISSUES & PROBLEMS When it comes to redress, it relates to the auditee taking measures situations where fraud has been detected. Given the existing standards on the role of auditors in fraud situations, the existence performance gap in this context can be due to several factors, including the lack of knowledge or competence on how to act once corporate fraud is detected, lack of care in following protocol or the lack of independence of the auditor possibly because conflicting of interest.Given the sensitive nature of fraud reporting towards the society’s expectations, compliance with fraud standards is crucial nowadays. 56% from recent surveys said that expectations of auditors rely on the auditor’s duty to detect fraud, while 42% believed that it is the responsibility to search actively for frau d (Steen, 1990). The issue of fraud is very essential for public accountants and auditors because litigation actions may be taken against them should they not be able to detect fraud during the conduct of the audit.Take for example when Xerox was sanctioned for overstating earnings by US$3 billion, its auditor KPMG was liable for US$22 million in penalties (Ettradge, Sun, Lee & Anandarajan, 2005). The present scenario is an extension whereby study shown that the effect of the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk on their ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. High fraud risk scenario, the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk has positive effect on their ability to detect the likelihood of fraud, whereas in a low fraud risk scenario not.Adding to that study, another factor which is the personality may affect the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. The study predicts that there might be other factor that affects the auditor’s job performance that is in the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. LITERATURE REVIEW The present study predicts that personality might have only moderating effect on the fraud detection ability.The present study illustrates and examines Big-5 factors of personality that are neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness because these factors are the basic dimensions of personality and it is predominantly viewed that many personality traits are subsumed under these five categories. This shows that personality does influence job performance and by investigating the moderating affects of the personality factors on the relationship between the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk and their ability to detect the likelihood of fraud.Attribution Theory This theory suggests that the level of future expected performance, in a particular task depends mainly on the particular causes to which prior success or failure in the same task is attributed. This theory i s appropriate because there is a need to assess the causal attribution of the auditors’ performance, i. e: ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. With this study, the level of the future expected liability to detect the likelihood of fraud is attributed by the auditors’ prior ability to assess the level of fraud risk.Five-factor Theory 1. Neuroticism as a personality trait * This study shows that auditors who are high on neuroticism will not be able to perform effectively in their job as compared to those who are low on neuroticism, because those with high neuroticism tend to show negative attitudes. With such attitudes demonstrate, the auditors may not be able to appropriately detect the likelihood of fraud. In any fraud situation, high on neuroticism would diminish the relationship between the ability to assess the risk and the ability to detect fraud altogether. . Extraversion as a personality trait * When a person is experiencing positive emotions, it may influ ence them to perform well in their job. In any risk situation, high on extraversion would have positive influence on the relationship between the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk. 3. Conscientiousness as a personality trait * Individuals with high level of conscientiousness may be able to perform well in the job because of the characters such as organized and reliable are important facets for carrying out the audit work. 4.Openness to experience as a personality trait * An auditor is more open to experience; he/she should be more able to detect the likelihood of fraud. Possessing traits such as intellectually curious, behaviorally flexible and nondogmatic in attitude and values can be considered as essential to conduct risk. 5. Agreeableness as a personality trait * Auditor who demonstrates high level of agreeableness in his/her personality such as cooperativeness, trustfulness and adaptability would make them more competent in performing the jobs.METHODOLOGY The inform ation pertaining to the study on the role of auditors in fraud cases, survey was conducted among audit partners of Dutch firms. The questionnaire contained three questions which were:- 1. Questions relating to the features of the fraud cases auditors had experienced in the period. 2. Questions on the reporting and redress of the fraud cases 3. Questions on the perceived role of auditor in the redress process. The overall respond is satisfactory, especially considering the sensitive nature of the study.Secondly, in the study of the personality traits, two levels of ability to assess fraud risk and two levels of each dimension of personality factor. The factors of personality are neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness. The study also practicing the independent auditors registered in Malaysia, designated as audit partner or audit manager who are attached to the auditing firms in Malaysia. FINDINGS Most auditors who do have experience elim inated fraud believe that fraud detection and process are often significant in order to minimize risk.Auditors reporting of fraud according to the fraud standards and regulations are defined as below. 1. Reporting to management. – As soon as auditors detect fraud or receive signals that could interpret as such, the auditor needs to report this to management in writing. 2. Reporting to the supervisory Board. – auditing standards explicitly required certain types of fraud to be reported in writing to the supervisory board such as cases of management fraud, cases of material fraud, and cases whereby management refuses to redress the fraud. 3.The redress process. – when the auditor has detected fraud and management has not yet taken appropriate steps to redress the effects of fraud, the auditor is required to demand that the fraud be redressed, i. e. the consequences of the fraud have to be rectified as far as possible and recurrence needs to be prevented. 4. Audito r resignation. – The auditing standards allowed auditor to resign from the assignment of the fraud but required the auditor to resign if the case of material fraud was not redressed. 5. External reporting of fraud. Finally, the auditing standards state that when material fraud discovered during a statutory audit has not been redressed by the audit client within a reasonable time frame, the auditor is not only required to resign from the engagement, but also to notify the dedicated government agency. Such procedure also plus the expansion of auditor’s fraud detection responsibilities by assuming of willingness to play more active role in assessing and reporting on the adequacy of the company’s system and internal controls.Matters that should take into consideration when considering the disclosure is justified in the public interest may include: * Fraud irregularities is likely to result in material gain or loss that effect a large number of people, * The extent t o which non-disclosure of fraud is likely to enable it to be repeated with impunity, * Whether there is general management ethos within the entity of flouting the law and regulations, * The weight of evidence and the auditor’s assessment of the likelihood that fraud has been committed. CONCLUSIONIn attempting to interpret and understand changing audit responsibilities, there would appear to be much to be gained by moving beyond traditional rationalizations of a profession responding directly to public demands. Various changes can be regarded as reflective of the conflicting, political nature of a self-regulated accounting profession and the outcomes dependent on the profession’s pursuit of professional interests and the profession’s attempts to manage the interplay between its own interests and any competing public duties and obligations.It is right to acknowledge that public expectation that auditors should report suspected fraud was reasonable. It is recommend ed that auditors should be given greater encouragement to report whatever that is necessary and fit in reporting fraud detection. Additionally, it emphasized the role of internal control in the prevention and detection of fraud and suggested that where there was a legal responsibility for internal control systems, auditors should have a formal duty to report on their adequacy.Changes in the law would have a statutory duty to report suspected fraud at the same time. It stated that auditors should be left at â€Å"liberty to report cases of fraud to the authorities without statutory backing† and that any change in the current position could be accomplished through revising the ethical guidance to auditors on professional conduct. Auditors have the duties to the rest of the community of which they are part and they owe to the community a more compelling duty which must on occasion take first place.Public expectation must be given full weight in all matters (Accountancy Age, 12 D ecember 1985). In developing auditing guidance concerning to fraud, three considerations have proved dominant: * The relative responsibilities of management and auditors for the prevention and detection of fraud, other illegal acts and irregularities and errors; * The conduct of an audit in order to have a reasonable expectations of detecting significant misstatements; * The action to be taken when errors are discovered.With respect to the prevention and detection, all proposed guidance has emphasized the paramount responsibility of management, with the auditor’s responsibility being couched consistently in terms of materiality and the truth and fairness of the financial statements. The role of auditors is to properly plan, perform and evaluate his/her audit work so as to have a reasonable expectation of detecting material misstatements in the financial statements, whether they are caused by fraud, irregularities or errors.LIMITATIONS Auditors in any circumstances have no dut y to act as an informer to the extent where it would jeopardise or destroy the trust and confidentiality on which it felt that auditing depended. The use of word â€Å"informer† indicates a somewhat dismissive attitude to the possibility of breaking the confidential relationship with the management or public’s expectation.Considerable resistance among auditors to the ideas that they should accept a general responsibility to detect fraud or extend their reporting responsibilities in the interest of the public. Whether changing audit responsibilities concerning detection of fraud come voluntarily or statutorily, such changes need to be based on greater awareness and continuing public investigation of the operation and capabilities of the audit function is this regard. Otherwise, it would anticipate that the position in the future will be with nfortunate, be little different in the roles and responsibilities of the accountancy profession towards the public interest. REFER ENCES 1. Fraud Detection, Redress and Reporting by Auditors by Harold Hassink, Roger Meuwissen and Lauren Bollen. 2. Protecting against Detection: The Case of Auditors and fraud? By Christopher Humphrey and Stuart Turley. 3. Fraud Risk Assessment and Detection of Fraud: The Moderating Effect of Personality by Nahariah Jaffar, Hasnah Haron, Takiah Mohd Iskandar and Arfah Salleh.

King Philip’s War Essay

King Philip’s War lasted from 1675 to 1676. It was the bloodiest conflict between American colonists and Indians in the 17th century New England. By 1600, colonial settlers no longer depended on the Indians for survival; therefore they pushed into Indian Territory in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. To protect their lands, the Wampanoag chief, King Philip, also known as Metacom organized a federation of tribes, which in 1675 destroyed several frontier settlements. King Philip’s War was the beginning of the development of a greater American identity; the conflicts suffered by the colonists gave them a distinct identity than that of the subjects of the English crown. The first Thanksgiving feast took place in 1621. This celebration marked the partnership of the Native Americans and the colonists. That year, Massasoit signed a treaty with the Pilgrim governor promising to give aid against enemies; they maintained 40 years of peace. However after Massasoit died in 1661, this peace began to deteriorate. The population of the colonial settlers grew rapidly and soon they outnumbered the Indians. Therefore, Europeans and the Indians frequently fought overland. When Metacom became sachem he was amid Plymouth Colony’s demands for land. He was humiliated several times, and forced to admit guilt and surrender. He then soon became angry at the colonists because they forced him not to sell Wampanoag without seeking their council first. Benjamin Church is considered the father of  American ranging. He was the captain of the first  Ranger force in America. Church was commissioned by the Governor of the  Plymouth Colony  Josiah Winslow  to form the first ranger company for  King Philip’s War. He played a unique and crucial role in King Philip’s War because he developed friendship with Native Americans and worked to understand and learn from those who lived near his frontier home. Church designed his force primarily to emulate Indian patterns of war. Toward this end, he endeavored to learn to fight like Indians from Indians. Philip and his followers went to New York hoping to find recruit and supplies. However Edward Andros, the governor of New York feared that the war might spread to his colony, therefore, he formed allies with the Mohawks who were enemies of Wampanoag. The Mohawks attacked Philip’s forces, and he returned to the New England colonies. On Aug. 12, 1676, a Wampanoag informer named Alderman killed King Philip. Philip was beheaded and quartered, and his head was displayed on a pole in Plymouth for more than 20 years.

The Benetton Group Essays - Benetton Group, Shock Advertising

The Benetton Group Essays - Benetton Group, Shock Advertising The Benetton Group The Benetton Group The Controversy Continues Problem Identification Benetton, the world famous clothing producer, once again dives into social issues that the United States may not be ready for. The Italy based group is well known for their shocking world issue advertisements that only bear the company logo. In fact, Benettons advertisements traditionally do not feature the clothes it sells; only the issues play the lead role. After years of controversy over ads such as AIDS, war, interracial relationships, and priests kissing nuns, it may be time for Benetton to campaign about something other than controversial social issues, like clothes. On January 1, 2000, Benettons new advertising campaign wasnt about sweaters or pants, but about convicted murderers that are on death row. The death row ads feature portraits of American death row inmates in prison uniforms with the slogan Sentenced to Death. The ads give the inmates name, date of birth, crime, and expected method of execution. Within the campaign, inmates also talk about topics ranging from their childhood to their dreams, everything except their victims. According to CNN, victims rights advocates are outraged as well as are the individuals that lost loved ones to the profiled inmates. Once again, Benetton is faced with another controversy that could perhaps worsen their already poor US market share. According to the New York Stock Exchange, where The Benetton Group is publicly traded, it seems that the company has lost over ten dollars per share since their peak of 50 15/16 in January. This decrease could be attributed to many things, but perhaps the most significant was the February announcement that Sears would immediately pull Benetton designed clothes from all 400 of its stores that had been selling the Benetton USA line. The Benetton USA line was specifically designed for Sears when the two companies joined last summer to introduce a new line of juniors, kids, and mens apparel. Troubled by the campaign, Sears renegotiated its contract with Benetton to gain the right to preview future Benetton ad campaigns. A revised clause in the contract also gave Sears the ability to withdraw from the deal without penalty if the two parties were unable to agree on future ca mpaigns, according to CNN. Regardless of these changes, the controversy was too significant for Sears to ignore due to the hundreds of consumer complaints that poured into the store after the campaign released. According to the February 21, 2000 article in Advertising Age, a Sears spokesman said the chain allied itself with Benetton because We thought they were past that and had come to a point where they were interested in selling merchandise. The whole episode is tragic, for the victims, for Sears and for Benetton. However, Sears is not the only one taking action against the company. According to CNN, it was announced on February 10, 2000 that the state of Missouri was suing Benetton for ads featuring death row inmates that reside in Missouri prisons. Missouri claims that the company deceived the state when it used the death row inmates as part of its ad campaign. The state thought the inmates were being interviewed for a project sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In addition, according to the February 19, 2000 article in The Economist, a Benetton spokesperson in New York admitted that payment was made to two inmates for the rights to their likeness. The state accuses Benetton of fraudulent misrepresentation, trespass by deceit and trespass by exceeding the scope of consent. Although the problems with Sears and Missouri could have significantly decreased the overall value of Benetton, the fact remains that consumers ultimately decide the fate of a company by whether or not they shop there. It seems that sources such as CNN, Wall Street Journal, and Advertising Age, among others, have touched upon US consumer reactions to the new ad campaign. Overall, it is not being accepted well in the United States and an already weak market will continue to weaken as long as Benetton refuses to change its US advertising techniques. According to the Washington Post, Benetton is standing by its campaign. In fact, its US director of communications stated, Once again, its very hard for people to see what

Time Transfixed essays

Time Transfixed essays RENE MARGRITTE, TIME TRANSFIXED, 1938 Time transfixed by Rene Margritte is a surrealistic painting. By watching the painting We see a very sharp and clear painting with dark colors close to the red. The painting look so real that fools the eye and the observer has the impression that it is a computer graphic and not a real painting. The composition its ruled by straight diagonal lines. But there are some vertical lines to break the monotony and to relax our eye. Our vision goes straight to the fireplace because its the only object on white and attracts our attention. It is a strange composition. There is a fireplace and a train coming through it. Its the train that travels through the time. But why come through the fireplace? That because is surrealistic. On the top of the fireplace are two candles. The candles are not lit. But the painting is illuminated by natural light coming from the right. The candles symbolize the knowledge. In meddle of two candles is a black watch showing 1 oclock. The watch symbolizes time and the mystery of time! On the back is a mirror. It reflects only the shape of the candle and the watch and nothing else. There is void space on the mirror. Thats because the mirror symbolizes the mystery of the Universe and our ignorance for the mysteries that Universe hides and the forth dimension TIME. By seeing the painting the observers has the impression that there is void space in the room too. The mirror and the fireplace, which looks like an empty box, give that impression. We dont know if there is void space in the room b ecause we see only a part of it. There are also implied lines. Its the painting line that goes from the left to the inside right and the light line that goes from right to inside left. Those lines meet together at an another horizontal line, which passes through the train and the watch. These lines give more focus to the train and ...

Eleanor Roosevelts Contributions to Human Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt's Contributions to Human Rights On February 16, 1946, facing the incredible violations of human rights that victims of World War II suffered, the United Nations established a Human Rights Commission, with Eleanor Roosevelt as one of its members. Eleanor Roosevelt had been appointed a delegate to the United Nations by President Harry S. Truman after the death of her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt brought to the commission her long commitment to human dignity and compassion, her long experience in politics and lobbying, and her more recent concern for refugees after World War II. She was elected chair of the Commission by its members. Contributions to the Development of the Declaration She worked on a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing parts of its text, helping to keep the language direct and clear and focused on human dignity. She also spent many days lobbying American and international leaders, both arguing against opponents and trying to fire up the enthusiasm among those more friendly to the ideas. She described her approach to the project this way: I drive hard and when I get home I will be tired! The men on the Commission will be also! On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution endorsing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In her speech before that Assembly, Eleanor Roosevelt said: We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation in 1789 [the French Declaration of the Rights of Citizens], the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the US, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries. Pride in Her Efforts Eleanor Roosevelt considered her work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be her most important accomplishment. Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Freedom in Huck Finn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Freedom in Huck Finn - Essay Example Huck has his daily freedoms denied to him by the well meaning but suffocating Mrs. Watson. Huckleberry Finn, the young hero and narrator behind the book, feels like a prisoner in Mrs. Watson's house with her insistence that he conform to the expectations of society. These social expectations according to Mark Twain, is what takes away our freedom and joy in life. Huckleberry Finn Huck is also the prisoner of an alcoholic father who beats him and curses everyone, "Then the old man got to cussing and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any" (Ch 6) In other words, by virtue of being white, Huck's father who was a rotten drunk was free to do and say whatever he liked. (In sharp contrast to Jim the slave.) To escape the paradox Huck would seek refuge in nature and Tom's company, "Then I slipped down to the ground and crawled in among the trees, and, sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me." (4) To Huck, Tom Sawyer is a symbol of freedom and adventure. He enjoys the time they spent freely expressing themselves. By contrast Jim, who is the first of a long line of runaway slaves, became a runaway to avoid being sold by his mistress to new owners in New Orleans.

Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation Research Paper

Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation - Research Paper Example eneral antislavery policy† (Civilwarhome, n.d.) The political and social conditions of the late 19th century stand testimony to these reasons behind the Emancipation Proclamation. Historians like Historian Benjamin Quarles wrote: â€Å"As a constitutionalist Lincoln was dedicated to the preservation of the Union.† (Abraham Lincoln Papers, n.d.). Preserving the Union and to uphold the constitution were the primary motives of Lincoln, in which he was honest. One of the primary reasons for which the Emancipation Proclamation was deemed necessary has been predicted and stated to be one of political object. It was the period of the American Civil War. It was obvious that Lincoln issued the Proclamation in the capacity of the Commander-in-Chief with no constitutional color nor as an amendment but only as a necessary war measure Abraham Lincoln Papers, n.d). As not all the slaves were released from slavery, most of them were motivated to run to the Union Lines in order to save themselves as refugees of slavery. Regarding this, the Secretary of State William H. Seward said "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free† (Primary Sources: Workshops in American History. n.d.). Secondly, the Emancipation Proclamation made room for the enrollment of the freed slaves into the United States Army (Mr. Lincoln and Freedom. 2002). It was Civil War Period and more new soldiers were welcome. According to a statistics, almost 200,000 blacks, of whom most of them were freed slaves, became part of the Union Army (Holzer, Harold, Medford, Edna, & Williams, Greene Frank J. 2006.) As they added military strength to the North which led to the great win, later, Lincoln announced benefits to these soldiers. So, the Emancipation Proclamation, though did not make slavery illegal, paved a legally protected route for beneficial acts towards the slaves. Thirdly, the Emancipation Declaration stated

Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation Research Paper

Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation - Research Paper Example eneral antislavery policy† (Civilwarhome, n.d.) The political and social conditions of the late 19th century stand testimony to these reasons behind the Emancipation Proclamation. Historians like Historian Benjamin Quarles wrote: â€Å"As a constitutionalist Lincoln was dedicated to the preservation of the Union.† (Abraham Lincoln Papers, n.d.). Preserving the Union and to uphold the constitution were the primary motives of Lincoln, in which he was honest. One of the primary reasons for which the Emancipation Proclamation was deemed necessary has been predicted and stated to be one of political object. It was the period of the American Civil War. It was obvious that Lincoln issued the Proclamation in the capacity of the Commander-in-Chief with no constitutional color nor as an amendment but only as a necessary war measure Abraham Lincoln Papers, n.d). As not all the slaves were released from slavery, most of them were motivated to run to the Union Lines in order to save themselves as refugees of slavery. Regarding this, the Secretary of State William H. Seward said "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free† (Primary Sources: Workshops in American History. n.d.). Secondly, the Emancipation Proclamation made room for the enrollment of the freed slaves into the United States Army (Mr. Lincoln and Freedom. 2002). It was Civil War Period and more new soldiers were welcome. According to a statistics, almost 200,000 blacks, of whom most of them were freed slaves, became part of the Union Army (Holzer, Harold, Medford, Edna, & Williams, Greene Frank J. 2006.) As they added military strength to the North which led to the great win, later, Lincoln announced benefits to these soldiers. So, the Emancipation Proclamation, though did not make slavery illegal, paved a legally protected route for beneficial acts towards the slaves. Thirdly, the Emancipation Declaration stated

Information Technology 1-4D Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Information Technology 1-4D - Essay Example This paper will serve to address four separate questions in regards to technology and modern society, with a careful look into how the use of technology is reflected in our day to day lives. Keywords: technology, day to day lives, Web 2.0, Mark Kennedy, data mining, data collection, decision making process, change, change management, organizational skills, management Information Systems D1-4 1. Mark Kennedy said, â€Å"All of the biggest technological inventions created by man – the airplane, the automobile, the computer – say a little about his intelligence, but speak volumes about his laziness.† What do you think of this quote? Do you agree? Why? Mark Kennedy stated that â€Å"all of the biggest technological inventions created by man – the airplane, the automobile, the computer – say a little about his intelligence, but speak volumes about his laziness† and I could not agree more. While the technologies themselves have been innovative and work to show the different ways that humans are able to take a look at what is available and adapt it to a different use, it is only the generations who are already aware of the original way of doing things that are benefiting from the technology itself. The generations that grow up with the technology already set firmly in place are made lazy and, to a degree, stupid by that same technology (Shaw, 2010). Society has become more and more dependent on technology, to a degree that many members often lack the willingness to think before acting, and as a result of current technologies have become impatient in regards to how quickly information is available (Patil, 2013). While technologies offer many different benefits, and technology is the mother of invention, the current technologies have far more drawbacks than they do rewards. Patil, P. (2013). Technological advancements and its impact on humanity. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/346486/Technological_Advancements_and_Its_Imp act_on_Humanity Shaw, S. (2010, September 16). dependence comes with technology. Retrieved from http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/2010/09/16/dependence-comes-with-technology/ 2. Textbooks define Web 2.0 as â€Å"the 2nd generation of the Web, which focuses on online collaboration, users as both creators and modifiers of content, dynamic and customized information feeds, and many other engaging web-based services.† How can these Web 2.0 tools help businesses to gain a competitive advantage? There are a large variety of different products and services associated with Web 2.0 that assist businesses in gaining a competitive advantage. If these technologies, including but not limited to, blogs, wikis, podcasts, mashups, social networks, and RSS filters, are properly deployed, they may allow companies to increase their productivity and competitive advantage in a cost effective manner (Andriole, 2010). IBM performed a study in 2005 which looked into how much Web 2.0 could truly affect co mpetitive advantage, and it showed that a sustainable competitive advantage resulted from continual innovation, increased productivity and transformation and employee learning as a result of the positive application of Web 2.0 tools (Graham & Jones, 2011). Andriole, S. J. (2010). Business Impact of Web 2.0 Technologies. Communications Of The ACM, 53(12), 67-79. doi:10.1145/1859204.1859225 Graham, M. & Jones, N. (2011). IMPROVING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE WITH WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES. Journal Of Business Excellence, 2(1), 12-17. 3. As we live our everyday lives, data is collected from us, sometimes without our consent and often without our knowledge. A personal profile could be compiled from disparate sources. What’s your opinion about the secondary use of personal data for data profiling? It is my opinion that while there are other, secondary uses of personal data for data profiling that may be beneficial, such as the use of data by local and national governments to increase transpar ency in the governmental process and democratize the exchange of

Career Design Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Career Design - Term Paper Example person involved in politics, I learned that there are actually intangible matters that are important and of lesser importance than others such as fairness rather than status, respect rather than recognition, health rather than stability, freedom rather than security, honesty rather than influence, and so on. This means that there are many important matters in life but there is a need to streamline which of them are the personal choices of an individual in order for him to determine his choices of action. 4) Values Assessment + Values alignment Paper: In 750 words or less, describe the alignment between your values and your career choice. How has your career and the role(s) you play in your professional life reflected your core values and beliefs? According to Cooper and Cottrell (2010), â€Å"Clearly articulating one’s professional purpose and professional values can clarify career direction as well as provide inspiration and ongoing career motivation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (13). This means that in my choice of career, I have carefully balanced which are the most important values in my life and then made a career decision patterned after these values. As a professional, often times, I encounter co-workers that seek help at the workplace but after evaluating my role and their own roles, I learn that there are workloads that I should accomplish, and there are also loads that they need to accomplish. By being fair to myself and to them, I did my best to accomplish all tasks expected of me. Where tasks under their responsibility were delegated to me, I reminded them that the details of the task specifically states that it was their responsibility and that it is expected that they deliver the tasks. In addition, by doing what are expected of me, I am being fair to my employers and my fellow employees. I exercise respect towards all my colleagues and supervisors by avoiding rude speech and unacceptable actions such as letting them finish their message before bowing down to

Roles and responsibilities of chairman of board of directors Essay

Roles and responsibilities of chairman of board of directors - Essay Example Roles and Responsibilities of Chairman of Board of Directors (BOD):The chairman's role includes managing the board's business and acting as its facilitator and guide. This would involve: †¢managing the business of the Board and preside over its meetings; †¢setting Board meeting agendas, taking full account of the issues and the concerns of all Board members; †¢ensuring that members of the Board receive accurate, timely and clear information, in particular about the Company’s performance, to enable effective performance of their duties;†¢monitoring progress towards the timely and effective achievement and implementation of the objectives, policies and strategies set by the Board and of other decisions taken by or on behalf of the Board;†¢facilitating the effective contribution of non- executive directors and ensure constructive relationships and open communication, both between non- executive directors and executive directors and between the Board and i nvestors; †¢ensuring that members of the Board understand the views of major shareholders and other key stakeholders; †¢promoting the highest standards of corporate governance;†¢managing the Board’s time to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for discussion of complex or contentious matters; †¢ensuring that new directors receive an induction programme that is tailored and comprehensive; †¢monitoring and addressing the development needs of individual directors and of the Board as a whole and ensure that the performance of individual directors and of the Board ... When an individual serves simultaneously as chairman and CEO, the Board's control over him will be weakened. This does not happen when the roles are separated. The role of Chairman includes managing the business of the Board and monitoring its progress. Non-segregation of duties of Chairman and CEO would reduce the monitoring effectiveness over the management of the company. Opportunistic executives may take advantage of their combined role as Chairman and CEO in order to personally benefit at the expense of the shareholders. The chances of such injustice would reduce to an extent if the roles are separated. However, segregation of roles of Chairman and CEO could give rise to certain issues such as: When the roles are segregated, conflicts between the Chairman and CEO may become common if there is lack of goal congruence. Having a single leader instead of two helps promote effective action by the CEO speeding up response to external events faced by the company. Separation of roles could lead to delays in such response. (2) (i) Theoretical Ex-Right Price (TERP): TERP = [(Number of rights required to buy one new share X Market price before rights issue) + Subscription price] / (Number of rights required to buy one new share + 1) = [(4 x 20) + 15] / (4+1) = 19 Number of shares to be issued in the rights issue = 100 million / 15 = 6,666,667 shares (ii) Value at which the rights are likely to be traded: Value of rights = (Market price of common stock - Subscription Price) / (Number of rights required to purchase one of the new shares of common stock) = (20 - 15) / 4 = 1.25 (iii) Evaluation of the three options: Option 1: Profit that can be earned by Apple Insurance Plc if it takes up the rights: (a) Theoretical ex-right price per

Political Terrorisim Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Political Terrorisim - Essay Example At most times, control is usually built into the institutions that exist in the society. It may be on a macro-level, which necessitates a formal control system like laws and instructions from the government and even private organizations. On a micro-level, this focuses more on informal control systems; this implies a more unwritten norm among the members of society. It is also external, meaning the control comes from an individual person’s need to comply with the dictates or regulations of another person or a small group (Chriss, 2007). Terrorism from above is also known as state terrorism which is more recognizable in the repressive and suppressive acts of the state and human rights violations practiced by the agents of the state upon its citizens. Terrorism from above is the means adopted in order to achieve social control. Terrorism from above is carried out under the guise of national interest, however, in reality it is carried out in order to control the society and the people. â€Å"Control of the mass media and suppression of dissent are common trademarks, and it would be a mistake to neglect corruption, or the desire to line one’s pockets† (O’Connor, 2008). Terrorism from above and the implementation of social control are connected with each other because one is essential to the other. Terrorism from above is carried out in order to implement social control by fair means or foul, but mostly, foul. Authoritarian fascist and communist governments like Nazi Germany and Mao’s China are more likely to use terror as their method of social control because they can easily achieve control and whatever goals they aim for by instilling fear among their subjects. These types of governments can incapacitate the citizens through violence and the threat of violence. â€Å"In such context, fear is a paramount feature of social action; it is characterized by the inability of social actors to predict

Roles and responsibilities of chairman of board of directors Essay

Roles and responsibilities of chairman of board of directors - Essay Example Roles and Responsibilities of Chairman of Board of Directors (BOD):The chairman's role includes managing the board's business and acting as its facilitator and guide. This would involve: †¢managing the business of the Board and preside over its meetings; †¢setting Board meeting agendas, taking full account of the issues and the concerns of all Board members; †¢ensuring that members of the Board receive accurate, timely and clear information, in particular about the Company’s performance, to enable effective performance of their duties;†¢monitoring progress towards the timely and effective achievement and implementation of the objectives, policies and strategies set by the Board and of other decisions taken by or on behalf of the Board;†¢facilitating the effective contribution of non- executive directors and ensure constructive relationships and open communication, both between non- executive directors and executive directors and between the Board and i nvestors; †¢ensuring that members of the Board understand the views of major shareholders and other key stakeholders; †¢promoting the highest standards of corporate governance;†¢managing the Board’s time to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for discussion of complex or contentious matters; †¢ensuring that new directors receive an induction programme that is tailored and comprehensive; †¢monitoring and addressing the development needs of individual directors and of the Board as a whole and ensure that the performance of individual directors and of the Board ... When an individual serves simultaneously as chairman and CEO, the Board's control over him will be weakened. This does not happen when the roles are separated. The role of Chairman includes managing the business of the Board and monitoring its progress. Non-segregation of duties of Chairman and CEO would reduce the monitoring effectiveness over the management of the company. Opportunistic executives may take advantage of their combined role as Chairman and CEO in order to personally benefit at the expense of the shareholders. The chances of such injustice would reduce to an extent if the roles are separated. However, segregation of roles of Chairman and CEO could give rise to certain issues such as: When the roles are segregated, conflicts between the Chairman and CEO may become common if there is lack of goal congruence. Having a single leader instead of two helps promote effective action by the CEO speeding up response to external events faced by the company. Separation of roles could lead to delays in such response. (2) (i) Theoretical Ex-Right Price (TERP): TERP = [(Number of rights required to buy one new share X Market price before rights issue) + Subscription price] / (Number of rights required to buy one new share + 1) = [(4 x 20) + 15] / (4+1) = 19 Number of shares to be issued in the rights issue = 100 million / 15 = 6,666,667 shares (ii) Value at which the rights are likely to be traded: Value of rights = (Market price of common stock - Subscription Price) / (Number of rights required to purchase one of the new shares of common stock) = (20 - 15) / 4 = 1.25 (iii) Evaluation of the three options: Option 1: Profit that can be earned by Apple Insurance Plc if it takes up the rights: (a) Theoretical ex-right price per

Position on the conroversial subject of poverty Essay

Position on the conroversial subject of poverty - Essay Example When a person lives in poverty he often does not have enough money to provide himself and his family with the basic human needs which include food, shelter, and medicine. The biggest victims of the poverty dilemma are children. Children are innocent by standards that are suffering. In a lot of countries across the world adults are exploiting children by forcing them to work. There are nearly 250 million children who are child laborers. The United States is not exempt from the war against poverty. There are nearly 44 million children on food stamps in the United States which accounts for 21% of the children population of the nation (Snyder, 2011). The high cost of living in the United States is one of the reasons a lot children and adults are living in poverty. The continents that are suffering the most from poverty are Africa and Asia. The overpopulation in Asia is one the reasons that this ethnic group is suffering so much from poverty. The root of the poverty problem is income disc repancy. The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income, while the richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income (Globalissues, 2013). Something has to be done in order to create a better balance of the global wealth. Another major issue associated with poverty is that the governments across the world do not have sufficient resources to help their citizens. The majority of the global wealth is in the hands of corporations. Approximately 40% of the global wealth is owned by a tightly-knit cluster of 147 entities (Doctorow, 2011). These companies along with the other millions of businesses across the world have to become more proactive in the fight against poverty. The United Nations has to step in and impose solutions that will effectively change the course of history in order to eradicate poverty forever. A potential solution that the U.N. can implement is to create a special tax with the purpose of using that money s olely to provide financial aid to poor people in need. The tax would be imposed on corporations whose annual net income surpasses $1 million per year. Corporations that move millions of dollars can afford to pay that special tax without hurting the financial performance of the firm or adversely affecting its shareholders. The special tax to be imposed by the U.N should be 2.5% of net income. There has to be a better coordinated effort in order to fight poverty worldwide. A lot of nonprofit organizations such as Feed the Children are doing a wonderful job of fighting hunger and poverty worldwide. A group of consortiums must be establish in which the leaders of non-profit organizations in different countries meet at least once a month in order to discuss the efforts of each entity so that better coordination can be establish by these entities. Every citizen in the world must become more actively involved in this tough battle. Donating $10 a month by people that are part of the middle class would make a huge difference in the lives of poor people. The fight against poverty is an issue that affects everyone. Any person that is working can fall on hard times if they lose their job and poverty can become a reality for them. Entrepreneurs must keep applying innovation in order to create new jobs that will help poor people get out of poverty. The proposed special 2.5% by the U.N. is a major tactic that would have a huge impact in helping eradicate

Research Is Like Cooking Essay Example for Free

Research Is Like Cooking Essay Research is like cooking isn’t anyone can learn the skills needed for great research, for many college students, cooking is like research in another way, instead of cooking great homemade meals who is sometimes take shortcuts and sell for what is quick easy in familiar, sort of like when we use our old familiar tools like google and Wikipedia for our research. Why do we take shortcuts and settle for males of ramen noodles and pop tarts, there a lot of reasons, sometime were just too busy don’t have enough time to cook a formal meal, sometimes we leave things to the last minute anymore stuck making a meal with whatever we have on hand, with research we found that students advise others students to start early. So that they are stuck writing a research paper with only the resources they can find the night before the papers did many of the same guidelines that apply to cooking apply to doing research, in cooking as in research you have to plan ahead and know what you want to make, good cooking and good research both depend on quality ingredients, to write a great research proposal you will need to find high quality resources and just like you can create a full meal out of only a few ingredients you need a variety of resources to craft a convincing research proposal. Finally just like the best restaurants in the city, such as Altavista or/and Altagracia restaurant make meals that they themselves would want to eat, you will find you do your best research when you pick a topic that you care about, a big part of planning ahead is knowing what you are making, you have to have a recipe, the same is true for writing a research proposal, you have to have a topic in a general plan for what kind of paper you want to write an outline of your research argument can serve as your recipe and it will have the added value of telling you what kinds of resources and ingredients you need to write your proposal. The next step to follow is to go shopping, just like you turn your recipe into a shopping list, you need to turn your research outline into a list of the type of resources you need, by creating a shopping list you are taking control of the kinds of resources that you will use in your research proposal; instead of just settling for what you can find a way you have on hand and remember that the researcher doing is likely to require more than just books, you may need newspaper journal articles or you may want to consult some items in your library. One very important step in both cooking and research is the taste testing stage. Great chefs do lots of taste testing so that they can find just the writing the ingredients, but in the older making you need to do the same for your research, you should plan in looking at plenty of books articles in abstracts before you settle on the resources that you actually need. Now you have your recipe and all the ingredients you need, it is time to create your meal. Remember that a great recipe calls for the chef of mix the ingredients together, just right so that they work together to create the final product, the same is true with the research proposal, you can’t just throw your resources into your paper, you need to suit the size them and relate them to one another and you need you to put your own garnish on your meal, put your own voice in your research proposal, so that is not just a summary of all your sources, if you remember the research is like cooking and then a requires a planning a recipe and great ingredients, you will produce research that is like the equivalent that you do a great meal. Bon appetit The studied topics help me to understand and have a broader idea about what we have to do at the moment to write a research proposal, because de resources used for a good research is not to go at any school and see what happen only, you need to have a preconception about what you are going to do or search, besides that, is important to identify the kind of research are you going to do and all the studied topics give me the stages and the instructions in order to do a good research proposal.

The Creative Classroom :: Education Teaching Teachers Essays

The Creative Classroom When I was three years old, my parents and I made the most significant move of our lives– we moved from northern Ohio to my mother’s hometown in southern West Virginia. Many things about my life changed because of our relocation, but most significantly was my mom’s job. While in Ohio, she had stayed home with me, but once we came to West Virginia, she resumed her career as a teacher. Immediately, I was thrown into the school system. I remember being so proud that my photograph had been included in the 1987 Man Junior High School Yearbook– and I was just four. Since then, I have viewed the teaching profession through my mother’s eyes and consequently, the eyes of a teacher. I have seen the joy that comes with teaching as well as the frustrations, and I look forward to them all in my future as an educator. I consider my views of teaching to be realistic. I have seen firsthand the paperwork, confrontations with students, extra hours required, and the stress that comes with teaching. But, I have also seen a teacher’s entire day be turned around just because one student grasped a new concept. I have seen a student’s eyes sparkle when they discover something new. And beyond that, I have seen a teacher’s eyes sparkle when his or her pupil rejoiced in their newfound knowledge. I welcome all these experiences into my life, and cannot wait to make my own discoveries in my secondary mathematics classroom. Because of my observations of the education field and my own personal style, I feel that my classroom will best be served with a diverse group of philosophies including essentialism, perennialism, behaviorism, and social reconstructionism. Essentialism is the "back to basics" approach to education that concentrates on teaching primary skills to students. Essentialism tugs at the very heart of mathematics: in order to understand the more complex theorems and algorithms, you must first have a firm grasp of the basic principles of mathematics. I believe learning mathematics is both a step-by-step and conceptual process. With essentialism, I hope to highlight the step-by-step approach. In this, I will be constantly reviewing elementary mathematical concepts, building to a better understanding of the given concept and further building up to a more complex mathematical understanding. Perennialism emulates the belief that ideas that have lasted over centuries should be the concentration of the classroom.

The Corruption Of Power :: essays research papers

The Corruption of Power The United States Constitution reads: ".congress shall make no law respecting...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press;..." (1st Amendment, 1791). The declaration gives one reason to believe that they are free in a country such as this, with "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," (Declaration of Independence, 1776) otherwise known as property. However, there is more behind freedom than just rights; there is also responsibility which can be distorted by certain individuals. This distortion may appear under power, which may corrupt the things we say and do, and in many ways, limit our rights. The rights we are granted by the First Amendment of the Constitution, guarantee the basic freedoms of speech, religion, petition, press, and assembly. By exercising these rights, freedom can be discovered, and can also be costly. The corruption for power is a popular factor in the decay of American rights. The use of certain rights can be twisted and made to be wrong by powerful forces being targeted. For example, if the underdog wishes to attack the wrong doings of leaders, the underdog's accusations may be twisted undermine the real issue. The power to distort is often give the assistance of higher authority, the government perhaps, and often lead to victory, therefore losing rights that they have originally been given. Recent problems have occurred involving the Cincinnati Reds owner, Marge Schott. By exercising her freedom of speech and her opinion, she was forced to lose her property, being her Major League Baseball team the Cincinnati Reds. She stated that what Adolph Hitler did in World War II to the Jewish people was right. To most people, this statement has many arguments that are very different from her opinion. Given the fact that out of all Americans today, two percent are millionaires, and fifty percent of this number happen to be Jewish people; this might reinforce her belief that the persecution lead the Jewish to become a strong entity that would no be defeated. America's leaders seem oblivious to the corruption that they are leading, by denying the rights of one to support the powerful. "Money is the root of all evil, and a man needs roots." (Anonymous) Money, a primary reason that leads to corruption, comes from those who have power.

Money Laundering : Global Problem Case Presentation Essay

MONEY LAUNDERING : GLOBAL PROBLEM CASE PRESENTATION AS PART OF LEGAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS , MBA Money laundering is the process of concealing illicit sources of money or in simple language it is the process of washing dirty money (money earned through illegal activities) to make it appear to be legitimate. Now question arises that who launders the money? No doubt, it is always launder by criminals. And who helps the criminals to launders the money is also a money launder. Money laundering is the dynamic that enables criminal activity of all descriptions to grow and expand. INTRODUCTION Money laundering is the process of concealing illicit sources of money or in simple language it is the process of washing dirty money (money earned through illegal activities) to make it appear to be legitimate. Now question arises that who launders the money? No doubt, it is always launder by criminals. And who helps the criminals to launders the money is also a money launder. Money laundering is the dynamic that enables criminal activity of all descriptions to grow and expand. As per Cambridge Dictionary, definition of money laundering is â€Å"The crime of moving money that has been obtained illegally through banks and other businesses to make it seem as if the money has been obtained legally.† If we look at historical aspect of money laundering it is not a new concept. There are historical evidences that in China, merchants would hide their wealth from rulers (4000 BC). Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount of money laundered, either worldwide or within their national economy. In 1996, the International Monetary Fund estimated that two to five percent of the worldwide global economy involved laundered money. However, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, stated that â€Å"overall it is absolutely impossible to produce a reliable estimate of the amount of money laundered and therefore the FATF does not publish any figures in this regard†. Academic commentators have likewise been unable to estimate the volume of money with any degree of assurance. Mechanism of Money Laundering: There are 3 stages of money laundering: 1. Placement Stage: At this stage launderer introduces the illegal money into the legal financial system. It could be done to deposit money into financial institutions by various methods. 2. Layering stage: At this stage launderer engages in movements of funds to distance them from their source. Various financial instruments are purchased and resale many times especially through Shell companies and financial institutions. 3. The Integration Stage: At this stage, the funds re-enter the legitimate economy. Then launderer may choose to invest the funds into real estate, luxury assets, or business ventures. Methods of money laundering: The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication 1. Hawala 2. Shell Corporation and co. 3. Structuring 4. Bulk cash smuggling 5. Trade based laundering 6. Round tripping 7. Bank capture 8. Casinos 9. Real estate 10. Black salaries 11. Fictional loans 12. Tax amnesties REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: premble: The prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) was enacted in 2003 and brought in to force with effect from 1st July 2005 to prevent money laundering and to provide for attachment, seizure and confiscation of property obtained or derived, directly or indirectly, from or involved in money laundering and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Necessary Notifications/Rules under the said Act were published in the Gazette of India on July 01, 2005. Pursuant to the recommendations made the Financial Action Task Force on anti- money laundering standards, SEBI has issued a master circular No. CIR/ISD/AML/3/2010 dated December 31, 2010 on anti-money laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in line with the FATF recommendations and PMLA Act, 2002. As per the Guidelines on Anti Money Laundering standards notified by SEBI, All registered intermediaries have been advised to ensure that proper policy frameworks are put in place. The objective is to ensure that we identify and discourage any money laundering or terrorist financing activities and that the measures taken by us are adequate enough to follow the spirit of the Act and guidelines As per the provisions of the PMLA, Intermediary includes a stockbroker, sub-broker, share transfer Agent, banker to an issue, trustee to a trust deed, registrar to an issue, asset management company, depository participant, merchant banker, underwriter, portfolio manager, investment adviser and any other intermediary associated with the Securities market and registered under section 12 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act,1992(SEBI Act) shall have to adhere to client account opening procedures and maintain records of such transactions as prescribed by the PMLA and Rules notified there under. SEBI has issued necessary directives vide circulars from time to time, covering issues related to Know your Client (KYC) norms, Anti- Money Laundering(AML), Client Due Diligence(CDD) and combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The directives lay down the minimum requirements and it is emphasized that the intermediaries may, according to their requirements, specify additional disclosures to be made by clients to address concerns of money laundering and suspicious transactions undertaken by clients. Obligations under Prevention of Money Laundering [PML] Act 2002 Section 12 of PML Act 2002 places certain obligations on every Financial Institution/Intermediary/ banking company which include: (i) Maintaining a record of prescribed transactions. (ii) Furnishing information of prescribed transactions to the specified Authority (iii) Verifying and maintaining records of the identity of the investors/customers (iv) Preserving records in respect of (i), (ii), (iii) above for a period of 10 years from the date of cessation of transactions i.e, the date of termination of account or business relationship between the client/ investor and the intermediary Legal highlights of PML Act 2002: * Special courts: The trial for the offences mentioned in the act are conducted by a special court, also called â€Å"PMLA Court†. The Central Government (in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court), designates a Sessions Court as Special Court. Any appeal against order passed by PMLA court can directly be filed in the High Court. * Punishment: Punishable with rigorous imprisonment from three years to seven years. He could also be liable to fine of upto 5 lakh. * Burden of proof: A person, who is accused of having committed the offence of money laundering, has to prove that alleged proceeds of crime are in fact lawful property OBJECTIVE OF PML Act 2002: The main objectives of the PMLA are as follows: 1. To have a proper Customer Due Diligence (CDD) process before registering clients. 2. To monitor/maintain records of all cash transactions of the value of more than Rs.10 lakhs. 3. To maintain records of all series of integrally connected cash transactions within one calendar month. 4. To monitor and report suspicious transactions. 5. To discourage and identify money laundering or terrorist financing activities. 6. To take adequate and appropriate measures to follow the spirit of the PMLAct 2002. Current Issue of money laundering by Indian banks: The on-camera sting carried out by website cobrapost.com has not only brought into focusthe presence of black money in our economy but also the methods used to convert it into white. Estimates of black money circulating in the system range between 10-30% of the actual size of the economy: Rs 88 lakh crore. As holding large chunks of cash is cumbersome, the search is always on for ways to convert it into mainstream assets. From the expose carried by cobrapost, it looks like even Indian banks are being used to launder cash of their prospective clients, taking advantage of the lax know-your-client(KYC) procedures. Video-clippings showed some employees of select branches of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank offering full support to bringing cash into the mainstream. Analysis: A person with black money is told by the customer relations executives to deposit cash in any bank and prepare demand draft (DD) in favor of single-premium insurance products. KYC norms are generally flouted while making DDs. Or clients were advised to make deposits in small amounts, generally below Rs 50000, for which KYC norms are less stringent or the compliance is ignored. Then this investment is routed in products with a horizon of seven or more years as tax authorities have statute limitations of asking assesses to produce documents going back beyond six years. The insuranceproducts chosen are such that the proceeds are tax-free in the hands of the investor. Thus, a person can easily get away without paying any tax on his black moneyand convert it into white. Second, investors can also use the recent window of investing an amount of Rs 20000 per fund house per year. On the face of it, Rs 20000 may look small. But considering there are 40 asset management companies (AMCs) in India, an investor can put in as much as Rs 8 lakh a year in mutual funds and hold the investment beyond six years to escape the tax authorities. A family with five heads can invest Rs 40 lakh in mutual funds in bits of Rs 20000 to conveniently convert the cash into white seven years down the line. As the amount per investment is low, the transaction may skip the taxman’s lenses. Also, those investing up to Rs 50000 per year through the systematic investment plan have been kept out of the KYC net. Such loopholes are being used for money laundering. Current norms state that investors can become KYC-compliant while making investment. The investment is accepted even if the KYC information is incomplete. Thus, a person can deliberately give wrong information so that the application is rejected. But this does not affect his investment. The form will have the remark ‘KYC not OK’, which hardly matters as he can still redeem the proceeds. An investor can repeat the procedure by submitting wrong KYC for each of his investment. Bank officials are interested in such clients as these investors have few options and tend to invest in insurance products where banks earn hefty commissions. Also, a large portion of the commissions come back to the employees as performance incentives. The staff are under constant pressure to meet sales quotas as their jobs and career growth are at stake. Thus, they resort to mis-selling and money laundering to achieve their internal targets. Many private banks are also focusing on non-core areas like sales of financial instruments to boost their non-core banking income. Very often a bank’s strength is judged by the fee-based income as it is unaffected by the interest-rate cycle. On the face of it, the KYC rules for transactions in financial instruments put in place by regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may look quite stringent. But the cobrapost investigation has revealed the loopholes. Thus, Sebi and the RBI should take the incident seriously and see how KYC can be made leak-proof. Punishment for flouting norms should be stricter for all financial intermediaries. References: 1. Dirty Dealing, the untold truth about global money laundering: Peter Lilley 2. Money laundering, An insight into the dark world of financial frauds :BuhreLal 3. Capital Market : April 1-14 2013 4. PML Act 2002 5. Cambridge dictionary