Biofuel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Biofuel - Essay Example Biofuels have existed since the 1970s. Before 2010, every international commercial biofuels plant was either a biodiesel or a first generation ethanol. The United States of America has been termed to be the world’s largest producer of ethanol. Back in 2009, the USA produced approximately 10.5 billion gallons of ethanol using corn. Brazil comes in second producing eight billion gallons of ethanol using sugarcane. It is strange to see that in a world where there is scarcity of food, there is a massive use of water resources and land in growing crops for the production biofuels. According to the United Nations, the up-and-coming biofuels industry may risk the rising of food prices. In line with the UN-Energy report: Sustainable Energy: a Frame Work for Decision Makers, it states that biofuels production has already driven up maize prices between the year 2006 and 2007. The report also states that biofuels possibly would have a dual consequence on food supplies. Alternatively, suc h crops could avert water, land as well as other resources away from the production of food. The report quotes that unless policies are formed and endorsed to guard threatened lands, push bioenergy development in sustainable direction in general and secure communally acceptable land use, the social and environmental damage could in some cases overshadow the benefits. A key argument exists on the scope to which policies of biofuels have contributed to high volatility and agricultural prices levels. A current study meant for the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development illustrates that market driven growth of ethanol in United States’ increased corn prices by 21% in 2009,compared to the prices that would prevailing if the production of ethanol had been frozen in 2004. Lester R. Brown stated that by converting the whole grain harvest of the Americans would only generate 16% of its auto fuel wants, energy markets are efficiently positioned in opposition with foo d markets for limited arable land, consequential in a higher food price. A large number of R&D efforts are at present being positioned to the production of 2nd generation biofuels from waste, crop residues and non food crops. Second generation biofuels may possibly merge farming for fuel and food and in addition electricity could be produced simultaneously, this could be beneficial to third world countries as well as the rural areas in the developing countries (Desilva, 4). Strengths Renewability: Biofuels are easy to renew compared to fossil fuels which take relatively long time. This is because new crops are planted and their waste material is gathered. Cost: Biofuels are significantly less expensive compared to gasoline. This is true since increased worldwide demand for oil dwindles oil supplies hence biofuels becoming the only option. Security: Since biofuels

The Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato Essay Example for Free

The Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato Essay Plato believed in an ‘ideal state,’ the Republic, which is ruled and sustained by an ‘ideal’ group of people whose main objective should be to seek their highest good for the benefit of both the state and the society. â€Å"Only those who know what the good is are fit to rule†(Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995).   To know what is good, one has to â€Å"undergo long and rigorous intellectual training that will yield this knowledge† (p. 1541). Plato believed that the function of education is to help people embody their true nature of good because they will become the fuel that will keep the Republic running. Here, higher education is meant to pave the way for the development of the individual because it is crucial to the Republic’s existence. The failure of an individual to reach his highest good, albeit in theory of a secondary importance, would be the failure of the state as a whole.   In Plato’s view, it is the development of the individual, supported by education, which serves as the groundwork of the Republic and ensures that the latter does not collapse.   One can say that it is truly education which holds the state’s future in its hands. The true purpose of Higher Education is best depicted in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The Allegory of the Cave represents the different levels of knowledge that man must go through in order to achieve enlightenment.   Men were depicted as cave-dwellers in the depths of nothingness where there is a total absence of knowledge. â€Å"Most mankind dwell in the darkness of the cave. It is the function of education to lead men out of the cave into the world of the shadow† (Tulio, 2005).   Those who are able to escape the confinements of the cave would able Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato to acquire the knowledge that will lead to their evolution and form the ruling elite who will sustain the Republic. According to Kemerling (n.d.): â€Å"The highest goal in all of education, Plato believed, is knowledge of the Good; that is, not merely an awareness of particular benefits and pleasures, but acquaintance with the Form itself. Just as the sun provides illumination by means of which we are able to perceive everything in the visual world, he argued, so the Form of the Good provides the ultimate standard by means of which we can apprehend the reality of everything that has value† (Kemerling, n.d). Plato believed that education is a right given to a few. He saw society as a conglomeration of individuals organized into different classes â€Å"according to the value of their role in providing some component part of the common good† (Kemerling, n.d.). In this set-up, it is the person’s social class which determines whether he should be educated or not. Plato thought that the philosopher-class should have the right to receive education because â€Å"it is the philosopher above all others who excels at investigating serious questions about human life and at judging what is true and best† (n.d.). Dillon (2004 as cited in Plato’s Republic) also added:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦those fit for a guardians education must by nature be philosophic, spirited, swift, and strong.† The guardians must be lovers of learning like noble puppies who determine what is familiar and foreign by knowledge and ignorance† (Dillon, 2004). The problem with this kind of set-up is that only a few are permitted to improve themselves while the rest of the world is forced to fulfill the roles that society has imposed upon them. Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato Kemerling (n.d.) explained the importance of the future role of philosophers: â€Å"Thus, despite prevalent public skepticism about philosophers, it is to them that an ideal society must turn for the wisdom to conduct its affairs properly. But philosophers are made, not born. So we need to examine the program of education by means of which Plato supposed that the future philosopher-kings can acquire the knowledge necessary for their function as decision-makers for the society as a whole† (Kemerling, n.d.) Plato viewed the development of the individual as serving an autocratic social usefulness as far as education is concerned (although most believe that Plato advocated democratic principles in his theory of education). Education for the popular mass was never Plato’s ideology. He advocated educational reforms intended only for the philosopher and the warrior class. â€Å"Plato believed that the interests of the state are best preserved if children are raised and educated by the society as a whole, rather than by their biological parents† (Kemerling, n.d). The true essence of self-actualization, therefore, was just a privilege given to this ruling class because of their access to education.   It did not have any self-serving interests even if self-development was an initial pre-requisite for the success Plato’s ideal state. Education is solely for the purpose of the good of the Republic. Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995) stated:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"They will govern with a view to maximizing the happiness of the state as a whole, but Plato thinks that the way to achieve this is to impose a strict censorship to prevent wrong ideas being expressed, to ensure that each person sticks to his Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato own allotted job, so that he does not meddle with affairs that are not his concern, and so on. Plato was firmly against democracy, and seems to have seen no connection between happiness and individual liberty† (Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995). But as much as education serves a state function, it cannot completely detach itself from its secondary aims of self-development. According to Scolnicov (n.d) in his paper Plato on Education as the Development of Reason, â€Å"the ultimate educational objective, then, is to bring about a revolution in the educands perception of the role of reason† (Scolnicov, n.d).   He continued, â€Å"Platos theory of education aims at specifying the conditions of the growth of the socratic man, whose soul is free from contradictions and whose excellence is justified knowledge† (n.d). For Plato, man’s rationality can be shaped through an educational curriculum that teaches these specific subjects: music, story-telling and gymnastics. Musical education should be started in childhood because it is an age where children are still ‘pliable.’ There should be censorship in the telling of tales because children still do not possess the quality to discern what is good and bad.   It is Plato’s view that children have no moral nature when they are born, but education will instill in them virtues of courage, moderation and justice that will help them seek the nature of good. â€Å"Through the telling of carefully crafted tales, mothers and nurses will shape their childrens souls (Dillon, 2004 as cited in Plato’s Republic). Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato The narrative style of tales is the second part of the ‘philosophical education.’   Imitation or Mimetic poetry is only acceptable if the individual will imitate virtues that were taught to them in childhood. Crafting of tales are important â€Å"because they are the most effective method of educating guardian’ souls† (Dillon, 2004). Here, one can see that rationality does not only pertain to reason (of the mind) but also of the soul. Gymnastic education, on the other hand, affirms the symbiotic relationship between the mind, the body and the soul: all the components that lead to the total development of the individual. For Plato, â€Å"that a good soul produces a good body, and that a healthy intellect ensures a healthy body† (Dillon, 2004 as cited in Plato’s Republic). One component missing will ultimately result in the demise of the other. Dillon   (2004) stated: â€Å"Although music is the most important component in the guardians education, equilibrium between music and gymnastics is important for the production of moral guardians. Because a solely gymnastic education causes savagery and a purely musical education causes softness, the two must be balanced† (Dillon, 2004). The educational requirements of learning music, story-telling and gymnastics would determine who will ultimately become the guardians of society. Those who are able to possess the nature of good throughout the educational process will win over those who â€Å"will rebel against the city’s ideology† (Dillon, 2004). Meaning, Purpose and Function of Higher Education for Plato References Cornford, F. (translator) (1945). The Republic of Plato. London: Oxford University Press. Dillon, A. (2004). Education in Plato’s Republic. Retrieved December 25, 2007 from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/dillon/education_plato_republic.html Honderich, T (ed.) (1995). Oxford Companion to Philosophy. New York: Oxford   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University Press. Kemerling, G. (n.d.). Plato: Education and the Value of Justice: Plato Life and Works. Retrieved December, 25, 2007 from http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2h.htm. Tulio, D. (2005). Historical, Philosophical, Legal and Technological Foundations of Education II. Manila: National Bookstore Publication. Scolnicov, S. (n.d.). Plato on Education as the Development of Reason. Retrieved December 25, 2007 from http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Anci/AnciScol.htm

Accounting Essays Management Accounting

Accounting Essays Management Accounting Current Issues in Management Accounting INTRODUCTION Accounting measures of performance have been the traditional mainstay of quantitative approaches to organizational performance measurement. However, over the past two decades, a great deal of attention has been paid to the development and use of non-financial measures of performance, which can be used both to motivate and report on the performance of business and other organizations. The impetus for such developments has come from both the bottom and the top of the organization. Much performance management at the operational level is carried out using specific indicators of performance, which are usually not measured in financial terms. At the most senior levels, although financial performance is inevitably a major consideration, there has been increasing recognition that other important factors in the effective running of the organization cannot be well captured by such measures (Neely 2002). Thus, non-financial performance measures have undergone significant development, to the relative neglect of the development of improved financial measures. However, the recent publicity surrounding the marketing of economic value added as an overall measure of company performance by management consultants can be seen as a sign of a new emphasis on the financial aspects of performance. It will be argued that there are three different major functions for financial performance measures, and that, although these functions overlap to some extent, major confusion can be caused by applying measures developed for one function to a different one (Neely 2002). Any organization, whether public or private, has to live within financial constraints and to deliver perceived value for money to its stakeholders. The role of the finance function is to manage the financial resources of the organization, and to ensure that the financial constraints it faces are not breached. Failure to do this will lead to financial distress, and ultimately, for many organizations, to financial failure or bankruptcy. Establishment of precisely what the financial constraints are and how the proposed operating plans will impact upon them are a central part of the finance function. There are three main areas of focus for financial plans. Most basically, cash flow planning is required to ensure that the cash is available to meet the financial obligations of the organization. Failure to manage cash flows will result in technical insolvency. For business organizations, the second area requiring attention is profitability, or the need to acquire resources at a greater rate than using them. Although over the life of an enterprise, total net cash flow and total profit are essentially equal, this can mask the fact that in the short-term they can be very different (Neely 2002). Indeed, one of the major causes of failure of new small business enterprises is not that they are unprofitable in the long term, but that growth in profitable activity has outstripped the cash necessary to resource it. The major difference between profit and cash flow is the time period between payments made for capital assets which will generate income in the future and the actual receipt of that income which is needed as working capital. This highlights the third area of focus, namely on assets and the provision of finance for their purchase (Neely 2002). Businesses need to know about their financial performance to access what are the things they are doing right. The paper takes a look at the two forms of accounting systems. The paper will also discuss on the concern towards the financial and management accounting’s linkage and such linkage drawing operating decision making into a short-term, narrow focus not supportive of the most effective operations. ACCOUNTING AND ORGANIZATIONS As instruments, financial statements can only provide representations of the phenomena that guide the decision-making processes of investors, creditors and other interested parties. The serviceability of these statements will be dependent on the extent to which they depict accurately the phenomena they purport to represent. This notion has been explained under a variety of guises in the accounting literature. Accounting is financial map-making. The better the map, the more completely it represents the complex phenomena that are being mapped. Financial statements may be viewed as descriptive accounts of the financial relationships between an entity and its environment from time to time, and changes in that relationship over time (West 2003). Accordingly, a system of accounting may be viewed as a model of the system of financial relationships between an entity and its environment. The function of the accounting system is, therefore, to represent the financial consequences of an entity’s actions and the financial consequences of the endogenous and exogenous factors which determine an entity’s financial status in relation to all other entities. When the laws underlying the accounting model have the same syntactical structure as a corresponding set of laws which govern the phenomena of financial position and financial performance, financial statements may be considered syntactically isomorphic with the actual financial position and financial performance of firms (West 2003). The consequences of faulty financial instrumentation may be severe. Where the decision-making processes of individual investors are misguided, economic inefficiencies with broader social repercussions are likely to ensue. To protect against these adversities, accounting, in common with other systems of instrumentation, needs to be subject to some form of governance or discipline. Consistent with this qualitative standards for accounting information have a long history. They appeared in early bookkeeping manuals and were written into the constitutive documents of commercial ventures and a variety of statutes in the United Kingdom during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Their purpose was to signify the duty to ensure that accounts were properly kept as a basis for representing the financial affairs of public bodies and business firms. rather than seeking to ensure that accounting information corresponds with the actual financial features of firms as at their date and that the function of accounting is therefore served there is evidence that the accounting profession has been, and continues to be, concerned only to ensure that financial statements have been prepared on the basis of prescribed technical accounting rules (West 2003). Were these rules to prescribe an effective system of financial instrumentation, they would provide the means by which the function of accounting would be better served. Accountants of the highest abilities and reputations are willing to give their considered opinion, after due examination, that the financial statements fairly present the position of a company based upon accounts determined in accordance with accepted principles of accounting. It follows that these fundamental truths upon which such opinion is based, and which may be properly dignified with the term principles, are known to the accountant and are matters with respect to which there can be no general disagreement (West 2003). Businesses use accounting as a method to know how they are performing and to see if there is a balance between what the company acquires and what the company takes out. The balance should be maintained so that a firm operates for a longer time. Accounting systems are said to have different forms o ne is financial accounting and the other is management accounting. The next discussion focuses on Financial Accounting. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING Financial accounting and reporting is essentially a means to provide information. If information is to be useful, there must be uncertainty that can possibly be resolved by such information. To understand why accounting is useful at all, analyzing accounting information in the context of certainty would be clearly inappropriate. An information system provides signals that alter the likelihood of the occurrence of future events or states of the world that are part of a decision problem. A decision problem is characterized by states of the world, their probabilities, actions the decision-maker can choose, results of state-action combinations, and the utilities the decision-maker receives from such results. The usefulness of information can only be assessed in the context of a particular decision problem. Thus, the same information system may be useful in one context but not in another. General-purpose financial accounting and reporting is designed primarily to provide information to pe ople outside the firm, such as investors, creditors, and customers (Hopwood, Leuz Pfaff 2004). These parties are presumably interested in that information and rely on it for their own decision-making. The firm prepares the accounting information, and hence is better informed than the users. Further, some potential users of information have conflicts of interest with the firm. The information asymmetry generates concerns because it is not necessarily in the firms best interest to provide the information at all, or to provide it in an unbiased fashion. It is in such a context that disclosure and earnings management issues arise. Introducing an auditor as another player with asymmetric information and potential conflicting interests adds another layer of incentive issues to be considered. However, there are several features of financial accounting systems that make them peculiar information systems (Hopwood, Leuz Pfaff 2004). Accounting provides periodic information about the financial position of a firm. Accountants use accruals to provide information about transactions and events, not just cash flows. Accrual accounting allocates cash flows to particular periods under specific transformation rules. This information leads to the distinct accounting language, such as stocks and flows, assets and liabilities, and income. The transformation rules include the realization principle, which defines when revenue is recognized; the matching principle, which states that expenses follow the respective revenues; and conservatism, which introduces a bias in the reported income. Financial accounting and reporting is governed by standards or rules developed by standard-setters or legal bodies on a national or international level. The objective is to provide decision-useful information to the stakeholders of the firm (Hopwood, Leuz Pfaff 2004). Accounting information competes with other information sources, which are provided either directly by the firm or generated by intermediaries. To be valuable, the information must have a comparative advantage over other sources, or at least a complementary value. Indicators attesting that this is in fact the case are that investors and analysts usually generate earnings expectations and react to firms meeting or not meeting them, and that they also react to accounting scandals. Firms exert effort in managing earnings. These features make accounting reports a special and important information system. Useful models in financial accounting attempt to capture some of these features (Hopwood, Leuz Pfaff 2004). Financial accounting is focused on the financial issues of the company and it provides financial related information to internal and external people concerned with the company. The main focus of financial accounting is making sure that the stakeholders are given positive financial information. MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING Many companies have turned to their management accounting systems to bypass the limitations of financial accounting. Some of them have developed best practices that give them a firm foundation for true accountability. However, many companies have not gotten beyond the crisis in management accounting that crept into place early in the century. That is, they use management accounting as not much more than a data-gathering device for determining product costs and compiling external financial accounts. Management accounts are driven by the cycle and procedures of financial accounting. The information is most useful for tasks like valuing inventory and aggregating costs across the company (Birchard Epstein 2000). It is an incomplete basis for measuring performance. Any company that has not radically changed its management accounting risks finding it produces problems similar to those created by financial accounting. The two most critical problems are prodding managers into, first, an incessant financial focus and, second, a near total reliance on historical, or lagging, indicators for decision making. The product and service costs that managers receive, the meat and potatoes of managerial accounting, often reveal little about the non financial factors of performance that create costs, like complex product designs or defective customer service. The cost data help managers keep the financial score but not necessarily how to improve their long-term batting average companies that depend on financial accounting and traditional management accounting systems are in crisis because they are missing the first element for making the accountable organization which is relevant and comprehensive measures o f performance. Without systems that extend beyond the financials to non financials and that accurately tally product costs, few managers or executives can deliver a maximum of value to shareholders, customers, or anyone else (Birchard Epstein 2000). Managers widely recognize the problem today. In a study 45 percent of companies said that their performance measurement system had a neutral to negative impact on long-term management. Whats more, respondents who reported the least satisfaction with their performance measurement systems used financials more intensely and used fewer non financials than did respondents who reported more satisfaction. Little surprise that 65 percent said most of their measures came from the current-year financial results. Measures have great power, almost like genetic code, to shape action and performance. Whether at the equivalent of the cell level, the organ level, or the systems level, measures become the directional device that influences or even dictates the shape of the enterprise. Change the measures, and you change the organism. Measures have always had the power to shape a corporations destiny, but the focus on financial figures alone limited their utility (Birchard Epstein 2000). Management accounting of the past forced managers to build world-class organizations and it is build with a truncated set of chromosomes. Today, though, with the help of revitalized cost accounting and non financial measurement, managers can develop a full set of instructions financial, operational, and social for the enterprise. Those instructions give them the capability to create accountability they never had before. The mark of the financially accountable organization has changed. Once upon a time, standard accounting measures like earnings per share were the gold standards of performance measurement. Traditional measures today, if used in isolation, raise a red flag. They signal to investors that managers may be reporting their performance reflexively as slaves to tradition, rather than as leaders of a well-wrought financial and business strategy (Birchard Epstein 2000). As a complement to financial accounting, companies make use of management accounting to check its performanc e and know which operating part of the firm they are not doing well. IMPROVEMENTS IN MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING There is mounting evidence that the deployment of digital technologies by organizations not only affects the economics of operational and managerial processes but also mobilizes extensive social and organizational effects. Digitization impacts the form, substance, and provenance of internal accounting information with attendant consequences on the behavior and actions of organizational participants and on the functioning of enterprises more widely. Knowledge about the influence of the deployment of digital technologies on management accounting thinking, processes, and practices is starting to take shape. As enterprises become increasingly concerned with the generation and the processing of digitized information relating to the production and delivery of physical and digital products and services, the challenge will be to sustain sufficient credence in the monitoring, measurement, and assessment of these altering organizational activities (Bhimani 2003). Trust is core in this regard. If it can be claimed that trust is becoming the most important asset in the digital economy then what comprises trust in internal accountings will likely see transformations. Novel accounting concerns centering on faith in numbers will once again emerge and contemporary control systems will no doubt continue to face calls for reforms. Accounting measures will seek to endanger trust in contexts where what is bought, sold, or produced never assumes physical form. Although service products have always evidenced such characterization, the means by which they are delivered have not ordinarily defied desired transparency or the potential for observation in the same way as digital processes. Counting based on observation or observations enabling evaluations to be made are not always amenable to operationalization in contexts where digital rather than physical transactions underpin enterprise activities (Bhimani 2003). Digital processes often evade physical verification, and established modes of enumeration and evaluation will therefore likely come under question. How far accounting information can be trusted is not subject merely to the development of more rational forms of capturing the economic consequences of organizational activities resting on digital processes. Human interpretations of the significance of deploying digital technologies and their representation in economic terms are also a relevant issue. Alterations in the capture and reporting of information as well as the changing nature of the product that is to be reported upon within digitized organizational contexts will likely have behavioral implications worthy of study. Behavioral accounting research which has traditionally documented similarities and variations in the uses and impacts of accounting information on individuals will raise new concerns, questions, and issues (Bhimani 2003). At the individual level, digitization will affect the type of accounting information being reported as well as the manner in which it is used and the resulting consequences. The rise of digitization which may in part occlude the transparency of organizational affairs, will impact on pressures to portray management accounting work as being technically and internally legitimate. This will prove particularly pertinent in the near future given that, in the recent past, the accountants credibility in public accounting functions has been tarnished. Just as consumers rely on brands to guide their choices as product diversity and complexity grow, and as barriers to entry in many markets drop, so the linkage between the managerial task and the know-how of internal accountants will be shaped by the credibility which management accounting can engender within enterprises. The management accountant will need to project not simply traditional professionalism but the constitution of a digitally cog nizant person. This person must have an appeal to digital spaces in representation of managerial tasks and which combine simulation with traditional reality as well as corporate legitimacy (Bhimani 2003). Just like any other concepts accounting has developed and it became adaptable to the changes in the environment. The digitization of accounting creates a better chance for more accurate information that will prove to be vital for organizations. CONCERN TOWARDS THE LINKAGE Fry, Steele, and Saladin 1998, stated that accounting systems take two forms, management accounting and financial accounting, and can be tightly linked. However, the functions of these two forms of accounting are quite different: management accounting is focused on monitoring and analyzing the effect of management decisions, financial accounting is focused on short-term, external reporting. The concern is that this linkage is drawing operating decision making into a short-term, narrow focus not supportive of the most effective operations. For Fry, Steele and Saladin they have doubts that the two forms of accounting are not used together by companies and decisions are focused only on one form of accounting. In the previous discussions it mentioned that companies use both forms of accounting to make decisions and create strategies. Companies cannot completely disregard the information that are acquired by using the financial and management accounting. The information acquired has a rel ation and are useful in determining the next actions for the company. The linkage between the two forms of accounting does not create a short term focus and it does not create a situation wherein there is no support for effective operations. The linkage between the two creates a better outlook on how a certain problem can be solved and it helps in discerning the effective actions a company should take. CONCLUSION Businesses need to know about their financial performance to access what are the things they are doing right. Businesses use accounting as a method to know how they are performing and to see if there is a balance between what the company acquires and what the company takes out. Financial accounting is focused on the financial issues of the company and it provides financial related information to internal and external people concerned with the company. As a complement to financial accounting, companies make use of management accounting to check its performance and know which operating part of the firm they are not doing well. There is said to be a linkage between the financial and management forms of accounting. This linkage is also said to create a short term, narrow focus that is not supportive of effective operations. The linkage between the two forms of accounting does not create a short term focus and it does not create a situation wherein there is no support for effective operat ion, it provides better decisions to be done and a better focus for a firm. REFERENCES: Amernic, JH Robb, S 2003, Quality of earnings as a framing device and unifying theme in intermediate financial accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 5. Bhimani, A 2003, Management accounting in the digital economy, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Black, T Gallagher, L 2004, Are physical capacity constraints relevant? : applying Finance-Economics theory to a management accounting misconception, Australian Journal of Management, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 143. Birchard, B Epstein, MJ 2000, Counting what counts: turning corporate accountability to competitive advantage, Perseus Books, Cambridge, MA. Fry, TD, Steele, DC Saladin, BA 1998, ‘The use of management accounting systems in manufacturing’, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 36, no. 2, p.503-525. Hopwood, A, Leuz, C Pfaff, D (eds.) 2004, The economics and politics of accounting: international perspectives on research trends, policy, and practice, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Neely, A (ed.) 2002, Business performance measurement: theory and practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England. West, BP 2003, Professionalism and accounting rules, Routledge, New York.

The Charater of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird :: Kill Mockingbird essays

The Charater of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird During the first half of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee constructs a sweet and affectionate portrait of rowing up in the world of small town Alabama. Harper Lee, however, continues on to dig underneath the portrayal of small town courtesy in the second half of the book. None of the characters in the book are perfect. This begins to show through in the second half of the book when the facade is removed to reveal the ugliness of Maycomb and the people living there. Through these tough times though, one character manages to keep his cool. Atticus Finch, through all the struggles and pressure, stands strong as a very positive father figure, making sure to instill in his children three very specific values: education, bravery, and acceptance. At the beginning of the book it becomes clear why Atticus thinks education is so important, as he and Scout read before bed each night. During his closing arguments in Tom Robinson's case Atticus clearly acknowledges the ignorance blinding people's minds and hearts: "the witnesses for the state...have presented themselves to you gentlemen...in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the...evil assumption...that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, and assumption one associates with minds of their caliber" (217). Education is the key to unlocking the ignorance that causes such prejudice. Because of Atticus' example Jem begins to this lesson toward the end of the book, when he wonders if family education could be based more on education than on bloodiness. Jem also learns important lessons from his father regarding bravery. Early in the book we learn that Atticus does not approve of guns. He believes that guns do not make men brave and that children's fascination with guns is questionable. To prove his point, he sends Jem to read for Mrs. Dubose who struggles to beat her morphine addiction before she dies. He wants to show is son that one shows true bravery "when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" (121).

Claudius McKay

Near the beginning of the twentieth century, a Jamaican, came to New York and changed the entire path of Black people’s lifestyle. Claudius McKay became one of the major encourager of the Harlem Renaissance in 1916. The 1920’s literary advancement of the arts and literature stayed for merely ten years, but it everlastingly affected the path of African American existence in the America. (Holcomb, 57) Claudius McKay passed away in a comparative insignificance subsequent to his recognition had gradually improved, in order that he is now regarded as one of the main authors of Black literature. Life and Works Claudius McKay was born in 1889 in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica and his father and mother both were greatly valued part of the district and also of the neighboring cathedral. McKay’s brother who was a teacher near Montego Bay, taught him in the early years. When he was eighteen years old, he was interned at a furniture making shop in Brown’s Town. Although this internship was not for along period of time but it was this place where McKay actually got a chance to do a better internship of a different type. A British member of the aristocracy named Walter Jekyll, who was also an apprentice of Jamaican society, acquainted with the youthful Claude and commenced his literary schooling. As McKay remembered after many years in his biography in, â€Å"A Long Way from Home†, that it was basically Jekyll who accustomed him to an entire new world. (Schwarz, 126) Walter Jekyll understood and polished McKay’s ability writing excellent poems and he supported him in using that ability by working for his very own Jamaican language. This resulted in the publication of â€Å"Songs of Jamaica† and â€Å"Constab Ballads†. â€Å"Songs of Jamaica† was about commemoration of farmer lifestyle, to some extent following the style of Robert Burns, whereas â€Å"Constab Ballads† followed the style of Rudyard Kipling, depicting McKay’s experience of being a constable while he was in Kingston in Jamaica. (James, 131) Kingston presented McKay his foremost experience of urban lifestyle, and his foremost actual experience of racial discrimination. The dislike of the urban white people and mulatto elite classes for countryside and working-class African American was an unlikable disclosure. The most obvious racial discrimination that McKay observed in Kingston, nevertheless, was in no way Jamaican in foundation—it was brought in the shape of travelers of America. McKay was bound to know this kind of racial discrimination much more thoroughly in the coming years, which is why just after a few months in the Kingston; he gave his resignation for his job and went to America. (Schwarz, 129) In 1912, firstly he registered at Tuskegee Institution and then at Kansas State University, to learn agronomy. He planned to come back to Jamaica to assist in modernizing the isle’s farming. This plan could have been successful however for a present of few thousand dollars from an anonymous supporter that compensated McKay’s ticket to New York, where he spent his money in a restaurant. The restaurant did not survive for a long time; however McKay got a definite comfort in the activities and liveliness of the New York. For next several years he employed at different places doing different things like: bartender, fire brigadier, and lastly as a waiter. This was nonetheless, one more internship; the job where he furthermore increased the compassion for the lower class that stayed with him his entire life. From the time when he was young he had inclined tactfully in the direction of communism, and his time spent with the working class strengthened his viewpoints. (LeSeur, 35) His awareness about racial discrimination increased close with his class awareness. For the period of his work and increasing racial consciousness, he put it all in writing in the form of literature. By 1918, he started a extensive connection with Max Eastman who was the editor of a renowned journal named â€Å"The Liberator†. After that McKay started to publish poetry and articles in this avant-garde magazine, and finally turned out to be an associate editor. Later on in reaction to that year’s blood-spattered after warfare racial unrest, McKay published his famous poem â€Å"If We Must Die† in the magazine â€Å"The Liberator†. The bold manner and the open indignation of the poem attracted the African American’s, and almost immediately McKay was at the front position of African American writers. (LeSeur, 51) After that McKay experienced one more unexpected twist which played an important role in his life and work. Prior to his recently successful repute had a prospect to boom, he went to United Kingdom where he lived for one year, wrote and edited for a socialist newspaper, named â€Å"Workers’ Dreadnought†, and later on in 1920, published his primary manuscript of poems ever since the Jamaican volumes, which included â€Å"Spring in New Hampshire† and Other Poems. Then he went back to New York in the beginning of 1921 and worked for another two years for â€Å"The Liberator†, and published an excellent piece of poetry and meanwhile worked on his most important book of poetry named â€Å"Harlem Shadows†. (Hathaway, 23) When it was published in 1922, Wayne Cooper observed that by that time McKay was straight away complimented as the finest African Black poet. Yet another time he did not remain in success for a long time. By this time he was exhausted and wanted something different, particularly subsequent to an unexpected encounter with his ex-wife brought back old wound. By the end of 1922, he toured to Moscow for the Fourth Congress of the Third International. He was instantly liked by the people of Moscow and was permitted to speak to the Congress regarding the dilemma of African Americans and about the issue of racial discrimination among the communalist Party. He was welcomed like a black icon in the flesh. It appeared that he was on the brink of a hopeful career as a supporting advocate; however regardless of his achievement in Russia, he could still see himself mainly as an author. When he left Russia, he was enthusiastic about restarting what he believed the contemporary author’s appropriate role; that is: to document as fine as he may well the reality of his personal knowledge. In 1934, using the assistance of a few American associates, McKay went to New York. He wished to be of help to the African American community, nevertheless when he returned; he saw a ruined economic situation, nearly widespread African American poverty, and less unanimity amongst those writers and scholars he had look forward to work with in coming years. As far his aspiration being a writer was concerned, the â€Å"Harlem Renaissance† had ended; American black authors were no longer in vogue. (Hathaway, 26) He was unable to find a publisher for his book and also he could not find any kind of work, and decided to set up a Camp Greycourt which was a government welfare camp in a remote area of New York. Luckily, Max Eastman came and rescued him from this camp and helped him to get hold of a job with the Federal Writers’ Project. By the end of 1937 he finished up his autobiography, â€Å"A Long Way from Home†. This book did not result in a significant literary or a monetary achievement. His final piece of work known as â€Å"Harlem: Negro Metropolis† was also unsuccessful. (James, 148) A few years before his death, McKay was baptized into the Roman Catholic church. This was he appeared to have established peace in himself, although his letters disclose a lasting resentment over his group. With his new faith, however, came a fulfilling participation in Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization and the chance to continue to write. His health declined with time, and on May 22, 1948, he died due to heart attack. Conclusion Claudius McKay was the voice of the evicted, the demoralized and the discriminated. He was one of the most important poetic voices of the â€Å"Harlem Renaissance†. He was one of the top poets who had represented the discriminated people around the world. Last but not the least; he was one of the voices for worldwide self-worth and unity. Works Cited Hathaway, Heather. Caribbean Waves: Relocating Claude McKay and Paule Marshall. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. pg 23-27. Holcomb, Gary Edward. Claude McKay, Code Name Sasha: Queer Black Marxism and the Harlem Renaissance. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007. pg 56-63. James, Winston. A Fierce Hatred of Injustice: Claude McKay’s Jamaica and His Poetry of Rebellion. New York: Verso, 2000. pg 131-149. LeSeur, Geta. â€Å"Claude McKay’s Marxism.† In The Harlem Renaissance: Revaluations, edited by Amritjit Singh, William S. Shiver, and Stanley Brodwin. New York: Garland, 1989. pg 34-54. Schwarz, A. B. Christa. Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. pg 126-129..               

Lord of the Flies: The Evil of Human Nature Essay

â€Å"However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick(Golding 128). This quote from William Goldings novel, Lord of the Flies, effectively suggests that human beings are evil; which is also the main theme of the novel. In the novel, the major characters at the ending reinforce Goldings negative view of human nature. Golding provides his view of human nature very early in the novel. The island on which the boys land is described as a paradise with a variety of flora and fauna. Upon the boys landing, the tube carrying the boys causes a scar on the island. The intensity of the destruction caused by the scar is described: All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat(Golding 11). However, the destruction does not stop there. Later, the boys burn down a large part of the island as a result of their carelessness. Here, Golding shows that humans cause destruction even if they did not mean to. He is almost suggesting that causing destruction is second nature to us humans. At the end of the novel, the destruction comes full circle when Jacks tribe burns down the entire island. The presence of the boys has completely changed the island from a beautiful paradise to a charred wreckage. Goldings pessimistic view of human nature is further expanded with the issue of hunting. As the novel progresses, Jacks level of obsession with hunting continues to escalate until the very end of the novel. It is interesting to note that although the island has an abundance of fruits and the boys can easily catch fish and crabs at the beach, Jack insists on hunting to get meat. Later on, he enjoys hunting as if it were a sport:His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a satisfying drink(Golding 88). Jack hunts not with the sole intention to get meat, but he particularly enjoy exercising power over living creatures while hunting. This shows how much Jack enjoys having power; the power to control other beings. Throughout the novel, Jack does everything he can to gain the respect of the boys; to gain  support for power. Later when he most of the boys join his tribe, Jack takes one last step to secure his position as chief of his tribe. He goes as far as to order his tribe to hunt and kill Ralph to eliminate the last threat to his position. Here, we can see that Jack has moved from hunting pigs to hunting humans. Thus, this shows how savage and evil man can be as he hunts even his own kin. Besides, these examples also show that humans have an unquenchable thirst for power that if not controlled, will blind us and take over our soul. In the novel, Golding uses Jack and his tribe to illustrate the effects of complete freedom to man. After Jacks tribe is formed, the members are no longer referred to as boys but as savages with Jack as their Chief. This is a direct reference to the boys regression into a primitive state of being. Jacks tribe also performs several primitive practices that are usually attributed as savage. First of all, they paint their faces and bodies to conceal themselves while hunting pigs. Next, they perform brutal killing of pigs:Roger found a lodgment point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrifying squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands(Golding 168,169). Last of all, they give an offering, the pigs head, to the beast hoping it would not harm them. Thus, this shows that the boys do not understand the true nature of the beast. Their situation is similar to primitive man, who gave offerings to gods and idols to protect their own well-being from natural disasters they did not understand. It is during the presentation of the offering that Jack said: Sharpen a stick at both ends (Golding 169). Obediently, Roger sharpens a stick and Jack skewers the pigs head on one end of the stick and places the other into the ground. This statement is repeated again at the end of the novel. When Ralph asks Samneric of what Jacks tribe plan to with him once he was captured one of them replied, Roger sharpened a stick at both ends(Golding234). Although Ralph would hardly understand what the phrase means, the terrible truth becomes clear to the reader. Jacks tribe plans to behead Ralph and skewer his head on a stick sharpened at both ends as another offering to the beast. It is, by far, the  most brutal display of human savagery. Without the eye of watchful adults, Jack and his tribe are uncontrollable; and Jack as their leader, has absolute power. Golding has written Lord of the Flies based on his experience in war. He realizes that war is the greatest act of human evil, for it takes the lives of innocent people and causes nothing but destruction. Therefore, it is fitting for Golding to highlight the effects of war in the novel to reinforce his pessimistic view of human nature. At the end of the novel, Golding leaves the reader with an image of a war ship, which is one of the many traces of war in the novel. If the reader examines the opening of the story, there are references to a war going on in the world, such as Piggys mention of the atomic bomb: Not them. Didnt you hear what the pilot said? About the atomic bomb? Theyre all dead(Golding 20). The reader discovers that the boys are stranded on the island because of the war. Besides that, another trace of the war is the dead parachutist. The boys mistake the dead parachutist for the beast. Ironically, the dead parachutist is the beast in the sense that he is connected to the war going on in the world outside and the beast is attributed to the evil in human nature. Even the boys have their very own war on the island. Therefore, the island could represent a microcosm of the outside world. Now, we return to the image of the war ship. The arrival of the ship allows the boys to be rescued. However, the ship only serves to remind the reader that although the boys are rescued, they are taken back to a war-torn world. After experiencing one war, the boys are being taken to another. The circle of destruction continues. To sum everything up, Golding effectively uses the main characters, especially at the ending, to prove that humans are more evil than good. The last page of the novel has one last scene of Ralph which summarizes the main themes of the novel. From his experience on the island, he is no longer an innocent child as he has been exposed to the evil nature of human beings and human savagery:And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of mans heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy(Golding 248). Works cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber, 1996.