Sunday, December 22, 2019

International Relations And Global Politics - 2443 Words

Kegley and Raymond stated: â€Å"The shape of the world’s future will be determined not only by changes in the objective conditions of world politics, but also by the meanings people ascribe to these conditions.† Terrorism is presently a major factor in international relations and has impacted the world to change in many significant ways. Terrorism is a political ideology that has been problematic in defining definitely because of its various interpretations around the world, as well as the fact that it is constantly evolving. Since the terrorist events of 9/11, the lives of many have been changed forever. A small group of individuals, which are a mere fraction of the population of the world, have managed to impact and shape the way international and domestic relations are looked at and handled. People question how secure and safe they feel due to uncertainty of public safety because of events such as 9/11. The war on terrorism in the 21st century has certainly and ine vitably changed the landscape for global politics. However, the relationship between terrorism and global politics is troublesome and in ways problematic to describe accurately. Both terrorism and global politics individually are complicated phenomenon. It is erroneous to propose that one is responsible for the other or vice versa, but they are inextricably and inevitably linked. In the study of international relations, there are multiple theories and theoretical perspectives. In this essay, realism and liberalismShow MoreRelatedNon-State Actors Affected International Relations1225 Words   |  5 PagesNon-State Actors: Have an ability to affect International Relations 1 Introduction By the Peace of Westphalia ended the thirty years war, began the world politics and began the establishment of political system. There are global organizations controlled by states like United Nations (UN) and regional organizations which are the members from the nearest area with the same ideologies and take same principal of the organization like European Union (EU). Other side there are informal organizationRead MoreThe Islamic Republic Of Iran1426 Words   |  6 PagesSince the 4th century, the Persian world has held great might in world politics. In 1979, Iran was officially established and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since then it has been an active and vocal player in world politics. It’s rich history of political revolutions have inspired new waves of government control, tyrannical and benign leaders, and great cultural change over time. The strong religious beliefs expressed by the people of this nation are both a form of unity and disunity that cause widespreadRea d MoreChallenges of International Relations966 Words   |  4 Pagesbe answered in regards to international relations first. Are states obsolete? For almost four hundred years, the territorial state has been the primary player in world politics. To achieve state sovereignty has been the main goal of most nationalistic separatist movements. In some points of view, the territorial state is in very good health. It is still needed to provide military security, give people identity, raise taxes, and provide for the needy. Although, as global trends put pressure on nationsRead MoreThe Five International Relations Theories, Realism, Liberalism, And Feminism1241 Words   |  5 PagesThree of the five international relations theories, Realism, Liberalism, and Feminism have very interesting and different positions pertaining to global politics and issues. These theories, although quite different, effect the past present and future of global politics. Realists tend to believe the worst in hu manity, that they are inherently selfish, and expect the worst. They are always prepared for war, and will go on the offensive if it means gaining more power and respect. Liberals do not thinkRead MoreRealism Is The Most Convincing Paradigm For International Relations? Essay1579 Words   |  7 PagesCONVINCING PARADIGM FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS? WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF REALISM AS A THEORY FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS? Realism has dominated international relations theory since emerging in the 1930’s. The era of state conflict lasting from the 1930’s to the end of the cold war in 1947, proved the perfect hostile environment to fit the largely pessimistic view of world politics. While many aspects of realism are still alive in International Relations today; including the dominantRead MoreThe Theories Of International Politics Essay1648 Words   |  7 Pagesapproaches have been developed as an attempt to explain the workings of International Politics. These different perspectives which use different methods and assumptions can be helpful in studying and predicting the actions and interactions of the actors they concentrate on and include, realism, liberalism and feminism. No single approach however succeeds in taking into consideration all factors and outcomes in world politics and each of them has distinct benefits as well as certain limitations. TheRead MoreEssay about power of polit ics1517 Words   |  7 Pages Power Politics: The Framework Provided Understanding contemporary world politics is by no means an easy feat. To merely begin the process, one must first have an ample knowledge of historical as well as modern trends in international relations, the issues at hand both now and in the past and major events that affect the field. Several groups and styles of thinking have developed throughout the centuries to make attempts at comprehending world politics and most successfully carrying out internationalRead MoreThe Politics Of The Global Essay998 Words   |  4 PagesINTRODUCTION â€Å"The Politics of the Global† gives us a narration of how development of international political economy happens and an understanding of globalization. Globalization is frequently analyzed independently and the author shows how globalization plays out in two multi-cultural democracies; India and USA. It portrays different political possibilities like colonial coercion, post-colonial ambivalence and post-colonial co-option that are opened by global relays of meanings, identities and powerRead MoreMedia Representation of the Rwandan Genocide1202 Words   |  5 Pagesreason for looking at representational practices in relation to texts, language and modes of interpretation is because it is through these practices that ideas about International Relations are produced’. Through the media coverage on the Rwanda Genocide I investigate how a lack of representation can limit the study and practice of International Relations. Alan Kuperman (2000) presented the argument that ‘Western media blame the international community for not intervening quickly, but the mediaRead MoreWhat Is The Making Of The Modern World730 Words   |  3 PagesWorld, Many Actors by Carmen Gebhard, the transition of global relations from international to trans-national focused on the role of individuals and groups. As a scholar, these three texts have changed my present thoughts on how the world’s international relations and diplomacy have been an integral part in making the global market. I am an economics major with an international trade and development concentration, learning about how the politics affect trade and businesses, is amazing. My life has been

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Internal Control Requirements for Publicly Traded Companies Free Essays

In a meeting last week, the president of LJB expressed interest of going public in the near future and asked us about the internal control requirements for such action. To become publicly listed, LJB must follow the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), which requires all US publicly traded companies to maintain an adequate system of internal control. Under SOX Section 404, a company must report on internal controls over financial reporting in its annual report. We will write a custom essay sample on Internal Control Requirements for Publicly Traded Companies or any similar topic only for you Order Now Four key elements must be included in this report (Smith, Ledyard;): 1. Statement of responsibility by the company management (CEO and CFO) for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedure for financial reporting. 2. Statement identifying the framework used by management to evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s internal control over financial reporting. 3. Management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. 4. Attestation by the company’s external auditor on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. As the president of LJB, he and other executives and board of directors must ensure that the internal controls are reliable and effective. In addition, he must hire independent outside auditors to attest to the adequacy of the internal control system. LJB’s Proper Internal Controls To beco me publicly listed, LJB must ensure and maintain an adequate and effective internal control system. After evaluating LJB’s current internal controls, I have found several positive acts. First, the accountant of LJB has recently started to use prenumbered invoices, which I believe to be a right decision because all companies, including LJB, should establish proper documentation procedures. LJB should document transactions and events when they occur. The use of prenumbered invoices can help to prevent a transaction from being recorded more than once, or conversely, from not being recorded at all (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 341). In addition, an effective internal control system should require that all source documents be promptly forwarded to the accounting department for accounting entries; this helps to ensure timely recording of the transactions and contributes directly to the accuracy and reliability of the accounting records (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 341). So when the accountant has asked for buying an indelible ink machine to print checks, I believe it will be a wise and necessary purchase. Second, the accountant does a good job of moving all checks into a safe in his office during weekends. This is in compliance with physical controls, which relate to the safeguarding of assets and enhance the accuracy and reliability of the accounting records (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 342). By moving the checks into the safe, they are secured during nonbusiness hours and not accessible to no one, this prevents potential fraud and theft. LJB’s Improper Internal Controls On the other hand, there are several other controls which LJB is not doing properly. First, the accountant is now serving two roles as both treasurer and controller. This is a violation of segregation of duties. Different individuals should be responsible for related activities, however, the accountant is responsible for both supply purchases and payments for these purchases, and this increases the potential for errors and irregularities (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 339). Since the accountant can make orders of supplies without supervisory approval, he may be tempted to receive kickbacks from suppliers (not saying he will); he may authorize payments for fictitious invoices since he also has payment authorization. Moreover, the accountant should not be responsible for both receiving checks and completing monthly bank reconciliations, because since he is the person who handles record keeping for LJB, he should be neither responsible for physical custody of the received checks (which are basically cash) nor have access to them (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 340). Both vacancies of segregation of related activities and segregation of record-keeping from physical custody controls leave a great potential of fraud for LJB, not mentioning there is a lack of independent internal verification (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 343). Second, LJB is missing control over its petty cash. If all employees have access to petty cash, it is a violation of establishment of responsibility (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, pp. 338-339). In addition, not only no one is responsible for the petty cash, employees who use the money are only asked to leave a note, this violates the documentation procedures controls. Third, the firing incident indicates LJB is doing poorly on three controls: human resource controls (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 344), physical controls, and establishment of responsibility. LJB did not conduct a thorough background check on the convicted employee. If a thorough background check was performed LJB should had found out that this person was convicted guilty and served time for molesting children. Also, since LJB does not assign individual passwords to employees, it was no surprise that it had difficulty getting the convicted employee’s confession of viewing pornography on company computer. Last, the accountant should not be engaged in interviewing and approving new hires, since he is already responsible for other tasks. Instead, the human resources department should be involved in the hiring process, along with the president. Recommendations for Improvement These poor internal controls indicate LJB’s vulnerability to frauds, which not only serve as threats to LJB but also hinder the company’s capability of going public. Nevertheless, actions can be taken to fix such flaws. First of all, LJB should assign different individuals to handle supply purchase and payment tasks. If the accountant is responsible for making orders of supplies, he should receive approvals for these purchases, and should not be granted payment authorization. If he authorizes payments, he should not be made responsible for purchasing supplies. Also, since he prepares bank reconciliations, he should not have custody of the received checks; a different individual should be assigned for such task. In addition, for enhanced security, LJB can assign another employee who is independent of the personnel responsible for the activities to conduct independent internal verification. He/she can compare the payment checks to invoices; he/she can also compare total receipts to bank deposits on a monthly basis to see if there is reconciliation between the cash balance per books and the cash balance per bank. If there is any discrepancy, he/she can report to the management immediately for corrective action (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, pp. 343-344). Secondary, LJB needs to set up a petty cash fund (not sure one is existed currently) and appoint a custodian who is responsible for such fund. Size of the petty cash fund should be determined, expenditures from the fund should be limited and certain types of transactions should not be permitted from the fund. The custodian of the und should have authority to make payments from petty cash that conform to these prescribed policies (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 367). Also, for documentation purpose, instead of a note from users of the petty cash, each payment from the fund must be documented on a prenumbered petty cash receipt, signatures of both the custodian and the individual who receiving payment must be on the receipt. If other supporting documents such as an invoice are available, they should be attached to the receipt (Kimmel, Wey gandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 367). Furthermore, internal control over petty cash fund can be strengthened by (1) having a supervisor make surprise counts of the fund to ascertain whether the paid petty cash receipts and fund cash equal the designated amount, and (2) canceling or mutilating the paid petty cash receipts so they cannot be resubmitted for reimbursement (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 369). Lastly, from now on, LJB must conduct thorough background checks on all new hires. Two things can be verified to support the checks: (1) Check to see whether job applicants actually graduated from the schools they list. 2) Never use the telephone numbers for previous employers given on the reference sheet; always look them up (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2011, p. 344). The human resources department should be held responsible for all background checks. In addition, all employees should be assigned individual passwords for signing into company computers, and these passwords should only be known to the individuals whom they are assigned to. LJB may also consider installing an advanced firewall program on computers which prohibits users from logging in external indecent websites. How to cite Internal Control Requirements for Publicly Traded Companies, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Cause and effect of the fitness movement Essay Example For Students

Cause and effect of the fitness movement Essay In our ever-changing society, the one common thread that now every American seems to possess is a desire to have a body that is not hour-glass (1950s) nor waifish (1990s), but one that is lean, trim, and can physically go the extra mile. I speculate that the all-around athletic look is so popular because it is probably one of the hardest body types to achieve. In earlier times, hour-glass figures were the product of genetics and corsets, and the emaciated Kate Moss look could simply be achieved by starvation. To be physically fit inside and out is something that every person can control and achieve, but only through strong self-discipline. The $52. 9 billion fitness industry is constantly coming out with activities and products designed to get and keep us interested in working out (Whigham-Desir 84). Two of these types of work-outs, specifically Tae-Bo and Spinning, were created just for the purpose of keeping us interested in working out. Despite this revolution in the fitness industry, many false preconceived notions about losing weight persevere and impede the movement. As the media bombard the American public with unrealistic images, a new obsession with fitness has hit the markets. With more and more people aiming to lose weight, the fitness industry has been pressured to accommodate the high demands for efficient and entertaining workouts. This greater variety of work-outs hitting the market is a result of the diverse types of people who are trying to get in shape. Health clubs are no longer only for those 20-30 year olds who are in competitive training or those who need to be fit as a job requirement. Instead, these facilities are now packed with people of all ages, and various skill and fitness levels. Due to this increase in a broad spectrum of beginners, different exercise programs designed to accommodate these differences have recently been introduced. One of these trendy workouts that have become extremely popular among the masses is Spinning. One reason for the popularity of spinning, according to instructor McAteer is because it allows individuals to go at their own pace, so triathletes can (and do) share classes with lawyers and lobbyists. Classes mix serious bike racers with heart patients in their fifties and sixties (5). As this new class of fitness people emerge, one problem that is common among them is that they are limited what work-outs they can do depending on and individuals coordination and injuries. In this sense, spinning is user-friendly and it accomodates most anybody. Almost everyone knows how to ride a bike and the no-impact nature is increasingly welcome for baby boomers (3). Another aspect of spinning is that it is designed for people who want results in the quickest waysimply speaking, basically everybody. Spinning instructor Sarah Krupps reasoning for why she likes it is it burns between 500 and 800 calories in an hour. Simply put, it is like cramming a grueling three-hour Tour de France ride into a 45 minute encounter with hill climbing, puddle jumping and pedaling like mad to escape snapping dogs (2). The final beauty of this exercise phenomenon is that it allows novice cyclers to turn down the resistance without others noticing, so that they dont stand out as they would in an aerobics class. This quality encourages more beginner level people to stick with their exercise regimen because they dont have to be concerned with embarrassing themselves. A second trend of the fitness industry was created by a man named Billy Blanks who introduced a workout video combining boxing, Tae Kwon Do and dance to the markets last August. The public reaction to his video has caused Tae-Bo marketers to shell out $2 million weekly to air his 20 minute infomercial .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 , .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .postImageUrl , .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 , .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:hover , .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:visited , .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:active { border:0!important; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:active , .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208 .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u78524029be4f20f3324670cdca049208:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Reconstruction Essaythe Tae-Bo videos have grossed some $75 million and Blanks has accepted an advance of $1.5 million to write an exercise book for Bantam (Labi 77). In contrast to spinning, Tae-Bo is not for everybody. Instead, it is a program for the fitness elite. Despite eliminating the overweight, elderly and injury-prone population from its consumers, the videos have had amazing results. This is not only due to the compact calorie-burning tendency of the video, but the variety of moves .