Financial Statement Essay Example for Free

Financial Statement Essay The first issue to discuss is the four different types of financial statements and the use of each that a business will use. The second issue to discuss is what financial statements that an investor will review. The third issue to discuss is what financial statements a creditor will review. The fourth will be what financial statements that management within a company will review. The first financial statement is the income statement (Kimmel et al, 2009). The income states will show the success or the failure of a company’s operations for a certain period. The income statement will have the revenue the company will make, the expenses the company will spend, and the net income of the difference of each. The second financial statement is the retained earnings statement (Kimmel et al, 2009). Retained earnings mean the net income that is retained in the corporation. The statement will show the amount and the cause of changes that can occur in the retained earnings during a certain period. The period of both the retained earnings and the income statement have the same period. The information covered on the retained earnings would be the earnings from the month prior, add the net income, minus the dividends, and the outcome for the retained earnings for a certain month. The next financial statement would be the balance sheet (Kimmel et al, 2009). The use of the balance sheet is so a company can report the assets and the claims to the assets during a certain period. The claims to assets can be from two groups, the first would be the claims to creditors that would be the liabilities and the second would be the claims to owners that would be the stockholders equity. The basic accounting equation is Assets = Liabilities + Stockholders’ Equity. Both sides of this equation must balance out. The last financial statement will be the statement of cash flows (Kimmel et al, 2009). The statement of cash flows will provide financial information about the cash receipts and payments of business for a certain period. The statement of cash flows will report the cash effects of the company’s expenses. Those expenses can be through the operating, investing, and financing activities. The statement of cash flows will also show the net increase or decrease in cash during a certain period. The statement will also show the amount of cash at the end of another period. The information found on the statement of cash flows will be the operating expenses, the investing expenses, the financing expenses, the net increase, the cash at the beginning and end of a period. Investors will view the income statement to see the future performance of a company (Kimmel et at, 2009). Creditors will view the income statement for loans. Creditors will also view the retained earnings statement and the balance sheet to see the ability for a company to repay debt. Management will view each financial statement to see the financial health of the company (Kimmel et al, 2009). Management can view the income statement to see if the company is a success or failure. The retained earnings statement to see how much income will return to the company. The balance sheet to see how much cash is on hand for certain needs and to ensure there is a satisfactory proportion of debt to common stock. The statement of cash flows to see the entire picture of what is going on within the company financially. In conclusion, the highlight of the four different types of financial statements and the use of each that a business will use. The highlight of the financial statements an investor will review for the company. The highlight of the financial statements a creditor will review for the company. The highlight of which financial statements the management of the company will review for the organization.

The Founding Story of Salamis :: Cyprus

The Founding Story of Salamis Teucer announces, â€Å"Despair in no way, tomorrow we will set out upon the vast ocean [for a new homeland in Cyprus].† At the end of the Trojan War, Teucer returned to his home island of Salamis (an island near Greece) carrying news of his brother, Ajax’s, death to his father, King Telamon. The king cursed Teucer for not preventing his brother’s death nor did he avenge his brother’s death on Odysseus. King Telamon had mistakenly thought that Teucer had abandoned Ajax in his moment of need because he had his eye on the throne and future kingdom of Salamis. It was on this reasoning that King Telamon made his decision to banish Teucer from his island homeland of Salamis. Humiliated and dejected, Teucer sails away with his soldiers in search of Cyprus in hopes of making this island their new home. On the way, Teucer’s ship is blown off course. After several days of being lost in the Mediterranean Sea, Teucer lands on the shores of Egypt. He had heard that the famous prophetess Theonoe lived in Egypt. She had been born with the gift of divine knowledge of all things present and to come. He decides to go ashore to seek out an oracle or revelation from Theonoe. If he spoke with Theonoe, Teucer had confidence he would know the correct course to take to get to Cyprus. He says: â€Å"The reason of my coming to this royal palace was a wish to see the famous prophetess Theonoe. I wish to ask how I shall steer a favorable course to the sea-girt shores of Cyprus; for there Apollo hath declared my home shall be, giving to it the name of Salamis.† Teucer – son of King Telamon Instead of finding Theonoe, he stumbles into a beautiful woman, Helen. She says to him, â€Å"Who are you and where are you going? Teucer responds by telling her about his participation in the battle of Troy and that he has been exiled from his birthplace, the island of Salamis by his father King Telamon. Teucer also tells her that he had been sailing to Cyprus to make a new home but has lost his way. He says he is looking for Theonoe to learn from her the quickest course to Cyprus. Helen replies that Cyprus is easy to find but he should leave Egypt soon before the king of the land, son of Proteus, finds him there. The Founding Story of Salamis :: Cyprus The Founding Story of Salamis Teucer announces, â€Å"Despair in no way, tomorrow we will set out upon the vast ocean [for a new homeland in Cyprus].† At the end of the Trojan War, Teucer returned to his home island of Salamis (an island near Greece) carrying news of his brother, Ajax’s, death to his father, King Telamon. The king cursed Teucer for not preventing his brother’s death nor did he avenge his brother’s death on Odysseus. King Telamon had mistakenly thought that Teucer had abandoned Ajax in his moment of need because he had his eye on the throne and future kingdom of Salamis. It was on this reasoning that King Telamon made his decision to banish Teucer from his island homeland of Salamis. Humiliated and dejected, Teucer sails away with his soldiers in search of Cyprus in hopes of making this island their new home. On the way, Teucer’s ship is blown off course. After several days of being lost in the Mediterranean Sea, Teucer lands on the shores of Egypt. He had heard that the famous prophetess Theonoe lived in Egypt. She had been born with the gift of divine knowledge of all things present and to come. He decides to go ashore to seek out an oracle or revelation from Theonoe. If he spoke with Theonoe, Teucer had confidence he would know the correct course to take to get to Cyprus. He says: â€Å"The reason of my coming to this royal palace was a wish to see the famous prophetess Theonoe. I wish to ask how I shall steer a favorable course to the sea-girt shores of Cyprus; for there Apollo hath declared my home shall be, giving to it the name of Salamis.† Teucer – son of King Telamon Instead of finding Theonoe, he stumbles into a beautiful woman, Helen. She says to him, â€Å"Who are you and where are you going? Teucer responds by telling her about his participation in the battle of Troy and that he has been exiled from his birthplace, the island of Salamis by his father King Telamon. Teucer also tells her that he had been sailing to Cyprus to make a new home but has lost his way. He says he is looking for Theonoe to learn from her the quickest course to Cyprus. Helen replies that Cyprus is easy to find but he should leave Egypt soon before the king of the land, son of Proteus, finds him there.

Analysis of 2012/2013 Botswana Budget Speech

UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA NAME: MATILDAH TILLY KAUNDA COURSE: MGT 306 LECTURER: DR MAROBELA TOPIC: ANALYSIS OF THE BUDGET SPEECH ? INTRODUCTION Neo-liberalism is a set of economic policies that have become widespread during the last 25 years or so. Neo-liberalism is the case where the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer. These are a set of policies that are under the influence exerted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter- American Development Bank.They include frameworks of free market trade and no government intervention as well as elements of privatization. This report explores the theories of Managerialism, New public Management and finally neoliberalism implementation in Botswana, to assess whether such a change is constructive to the development of Botswana and Batswana by referring to the budget speech to evaluate whether Botswana is prepared for such a change Managerialism is the pursuit of goals by managers other that for profit maximizati on.According to Locke & Spender (2011) Managerialism is what occurs when a special group called managers ensconces itself systematically in a n organization and deprives owners and employees in their decision making power including the distribution of emoluments and justifies that takeover on the grounds of the managing group’ education and exclusive possession of codified knowledge and know- how necessary to the efficient running of the organization. Application of managerialism to the public sector involves privatization profit motive, incentives for managers and delegation of power.According to Pollitt & Bonkaert (2011) New Public Management refers to deliberate changes to the structures and processes of public sector organization with the objective of getting them to run better. It basically means changes in the way things are done to make them more efficient, more responsive to those who use them; their main focus is on achieving objectives like reduction of poverty. The main emphasis of New Public management is the need to change inefficient, money losing state enterprises into competitive, profit making, taxpaying businesses that provide quality goods services to consumers.This is greatly in line with the words that Honorable Math ambo said in the recent budget speech. He talked of the need for transfer of state owned enterprises to private ones. In the budget Speech Mr Mathambo stated that â€Å" a Privatization Master Plan adopted in 2005 and aimed at identifying all public enterprises suitable for privatization is being revised to among others, identify services and Public Enterprises that are suitable for outsourcing and divestiture during the period 2012 to 2017.In Botswana as said by the minister a new master plan or NDP 10 set out a prudent strategy for ensuring fiscal sustainability while supporting private sector development. A central feature of the strategy is for Government to reduce its dominance by cutting Government expenditure as a share of GDP from 40 to 30 percent Neoliberalism explains the state of no government intervention, free market trade and privatization.According to a journal of sociology (2007) this term broadly means the project of economic and social transformation under the sign of the free market and needs which are formerly met by public agencies in communities and families met by companies selling services in the market. Basically the policy recommendations of neoliberalism are concerned mainly with dismantling what remains of the regulations welfare state. These recommendations include deregulation of business; privatization of public activities and assets; elimination of, or cutbacks in, social welfare programs; and reduction of taxes on businesses and the investing class.The theory of neoliberals advocates for no or rather reduced government spending in the economy. Locke, R (2011) stated that International monetary fund which was created to administer the international monetary system is a strong supporter of neoliberalism or rather privatization. According to an article by Victor Baatweeng dated 12 January 2011,The international Monetary fund (IMF) has advised Botswana and other Southern African Customs Union (SACU) member states to slash their expenditure in order to ensure fiscal and debt sustainability.As a result, the IMF has recommended an appropriate mix of revenue and recurrent expenditure measures, with particular emphasis on reducing the wage bill. The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo announced during his budget speech on Wednesday that the government is concerned that due to its dominance in Economic activities, the public sector wage bill has escalated over time and is high compared to that of other comparable middle income countries and that it needs to be reduced.According to Matambo, this can be achieved by reducing the size of the public sector, with functions and activities which are better carried out in a commercial environment being provided by the private sector. It looks like finally the government is responding to the pressures of IMF. However this is a drastic move that will only cause social upheavals and throw some people into the labor market. This move that can be taken by developed countries rather than developmental states like Botswana.Considering the fact that unemployment as mentioned in the recent budget speech continues to be high, and the government planning to cut wage bill and freeze posts, this initiative will solve nothing but rather lead the county into a downhill. Also the introduction of privatization will cause people who were employed by the government to lose their jobs when the private companies take over. The reason for this is that cost cutting has become the main strategy companies adopt in response to the liberalization of markets.These companies will come with short term contracts, part time positions, minimum wages and no job security. Instead of finding ways to curb the issue the government plans to add fuel to the fire. H0 This move to privatization and outsourcing of services most importantly essential services like water and electricity will only have a negative impact on the poor . According to Steger and Roy (2010), there should be state ownership of crucial national enterprises like energy and railroads.They further stated that Keynes in particular advocates for massive government spending in time of economic crises to create new jobs and lift consumer spending. The paramount objective of the capitalist’s economy is to make profit rather than enhancing wellbeing in economically efficient ways. Prices in the private sector tend to be high unlike in the public sector where they are subsidized to cater for those below the poverty line. In the budget speech the Minister stated that individuals below Botswana Poverty Datum Line declined from 30. 6% of population in 2002/03 to 20. % in 2009/10 but taking this initiative of privat ization will negatively affect those living below poverty datum line and may even end up increasing their number. State intervention is important as well as crucial to the economy as well as to the welfare of its citizens. It ensures social efficiency and fair and just allocation of resources and prevents market failure. According to monopolistic competition economy is a further reason for intervention by the government because it has the potential for the misallocation of resources through fixing wrong prices and making the customers worse off.Hughes(2003)’ s view on privatization was that market systems does not necessarily bring high employment , price stability and the socially desired rate of economic growth and thus the essentiality of public policy to secure such objectives. There are a number of reasons for the need of neoliberalism and why less state intervention in a state may be appropriate and viable. According to a journal by Wendy Larner† Liberalization is essentially about the introduction of competition. The main argument for avocation of liberalization is that competition forces alternative providers to improve productivity and service quality. She further stated that though there is reduction of employment as a consequence of liberalization and privatization, in many cases, lower staff levels result in work intensification. According to Locke (2001) Private sector practices and technologies are superior to those used in the public sector, thus there is high efficiency and effectiveness. He further stated that this idea has a long tradition that can be traced back to 1868. Privatization comes with competition and thus considered a viable strategy for improving performance of public bureaucracies because it lowers costs and increases efficiency.A further argument for privatization is to reduce cross subsidies and charges for services in accordance with their true cost. The argument is that subsidies are economically undesirable as true costs and inefficiencies are can be hidden. There are other mechanisms preferable like direct funding from the budget or giving cash to those to be given assistance. Neoliberasation also reduces government borrowing. The government should only borrow for long term assets such as power stations. A lower government borrowing has lower interest rates and thus helping the economy. Hughes 2003 pg 104). CONCLUSION Government intervention in the market is mainly aimed at reducing injustices and inequalities. While state intervention should be reduced to a minimum to promote efficiency, government should always keep an eye out for situations that only government intervention will regulate in everyone’s best interest against the interest of just a firm. It is difficult to choose a stance between state interventions in the economy because it comes with both advantages and disadvantages for the country.However for a developmental state like Botswana I believe that it is advisable n ot to undergo this change as it not well developed and the welfare of Batswana depends on it. REFERENCES Baatweng, V. (2011, January 12). IMF SLASHES WAGE BILL. Larner W, Neo- liberalism:policy, ideology Governmentality. studies in political economy . Journal of Sociology  © 2009 the Australian Sociological Association, Volume 45(4): 331–338 Locke, R. R. (2011). confronting managerialism. New York: Zed Book Ltd. Kotz M (2002). Globalisarion and Neoliberalism. Rethinking Marxism, Volume 12, Number 2, Summer 2002, pp. 64-79. , 64-79.Matambo, O. (2012). BUDGET SPEECH 2012. Gaborone: Government Printing and Publishing Services,. Steger& Roy (2010) NEO LIBERISALISM- A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. Locke & Spender (2011). Confronting Managerialism: How the Business Elite and Their Schools Threw Our Lives Out of Balance (Economic Controversies) by. new york, USA: zed Books Ltd. Hughes E (2003). public management and administration. An introductio n. NEW YORK, USA: Palgrave macmillan. Pollit et al (2011) Comparative Analysis- New Public Management, Governance and †¦. , New York, USA, XFORD University Press

My Reflection On Book About Genocide - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1758 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Genocide Essay Did you like this example? The author of this book, James Waller, is a professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Asbury University, his Masters of Science at the University of Colorado, and finally earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Kentucky. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "My Reflection On Book About Genocide" essay for you Create order He is also the author of several other books entitledDrinkology Beer: A Book About the Brew,The Well-Bred Dog: Lisa Zadors Cabinet of Curious Canines,andDrinkology: Wine: A Guide to the Grape.The first main point that is made inBecoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and MassKillingby James Walleris where he describes what evil is. The author argues that evil is anything that is detrimental to the well being of living things. He then distinguishes between two different kinds of evil, which are natural evil and human evil. He explains that natural evil, which is a function of natural processes of change, includes events like earthquakes, floods, tornados, and droughts. The author used Hurricane Katrina as an example of natural evil, in which at least 1836 people died and much of the Gulf Coast region of the United States was destroyed. Human evil was later described as evil that is done by people and it refers to the destruction people do to others, as well as themselves (p gs. 11-12). There are many examples of human evil, but one of the most well known examples of the last twenty-five years is the Rwandan genocide, where up to 210,000 Hutus killed 800,000 Tutsis in only a hundred days. In looking at the primary and secondary sources James Waller used to write this book, I like how he listed the sources he used by the chapter in which he used to write this book. He uses things like journal articles, books, and websites for both primary and secondary sources. Even though the author uses secondary sources throughout the book such asThe Logic of Evil: The Social Origins of the Nazi Party,by William Brustein, he also uses a variety of primary sources. One primary source used in this novel isThe Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocideby Gerard Prunier. This primary source, among others used in the book, were written at the exact time of the event or a year after the event that is being written about occurred, which is one of the reasons why these primary sources are relia ble. Another reason these sources are reliable is because they offer an insight to what it was like to live through the events of a particular genocide. These insights include things like accounts from a survivor of a genocide in which they describe what they saw, the fear they experienced, and how they managed to survive.The author of this book explicitly says that a goal of this book is for psychological understanding instead of moral analysis. He says that understanding how ordinary people come to commit genocide shows a discomforting look at the depths to which the human spirit can plunge. In understanding how ordinary people commit genocide, James Waller discusses a fear that is an attempt to explain extraordinary human evil carries an inordinate risk of contamination with it. The main idea of this fear is the belief that extraordinary human evil is unexplainable. The author also makes an interesting point when he says that trying to explain the inexplicable puts you in a position where you will be tainted by the evil (pg. 19). The author also explicitly says the main argument of his book is that it is ordinary people who commit genocide and mass killing.He admits that the argument is difficult to understand and absorb, but a purely evil person is just as much of an artificial construct as a person who is purely good. The people who commit mass killing and genocide are extraordinary only because of what they have done, and not who they are (pg. 20). Another important point that the author makes in understanding genocide is the idea of social dominance. James Waller begins this part of the book by saying that the desire for social dominance is one of the most powerful and universal motivating forces in animals and humans. The desire to be socially dominant leads to differences in rank and status and it can be defined as the set of sustained aggressive-submissive behaviors among animals and humans. In a social dominance hierarchy,there are some individuals within a group that gain greater access to important resources that contribute to the survival and reproductive success than other members of the group (pg. 183). The idea of social dominance can be used to explain genocide because when one group of people is killing another, they are showing that they are dominant over the group of people they are killing.They are asserting the idea that they are of a higher status than their victims and that they should have greater access to the important resources (pg. 185).One connection I made to what I was reading was early in the book when the author mentioned the Taino people. The Taino people were an indigenous group that lived all throughout the Caribbean, including in Puerto Rico (pg. 25). I made this connection to this part of the reading because I am half Puerto Rican, and I still learned what the Tainos went through when Columbus came to the Americas. I knew for a long time that some of the Tainos were captured and made into slaves, but what I didnt know was how the European settlers killed off the Tainos that were not made into slaves. Later in the book, the author makes an argument that I strongly agree with where he says that understanding the universal evolution of human nature only tells us that all of us are capable of committing evil. The idea that all of us are capable of committing evil goes back to the idea of social dominance. Social dominance, which I believe is inherent in all of us, plays an im portant role in committing evil because if some group of people has a hatred of another group of people, that might motivate them to think that they are better than the group of people they claim to hate. When one group of people feels like they are better than another group of people, they would be more likely to commit acts of evil like persecution and even death to assert their dominance over the lesser group of people. Whether its the Hutus asserting social dominance over the Tutsis, or Nazis asserting their social dominance over the Jews, the perpetrators of both genocides believed their victims were inferior to them, which motivated them to commit the horrible acts of evil and violence as a way of showing that the perpetrators believed that they were socially dominant over their victims. Despite the fact that all of us are capable of committing evil, the author says humans have instinctual pushes that are too diffuse to tell us everything we should know about direction, target, and form of our violent behavior. He also suggests an explanation on how some people perpetrate extraordinary evil while most do not by saying it requires closely focusing on the more proximate and immediate psychological, cultural, and social constructions that activate our evolutionary capacities (pg. 171). One passage of the book that I thought was important was when the author talked about applying authoritarian personality to the perpetrators of evil. I thought it was interesting how the author mentioned that after World War II, West Germany went through a few decades of antiauthoritarian reform that was designed to change what the people of Germany understood about the exercise of authority. After the reforms were in place for a few decades, Germany found a decline in authoritarianism am ong their youth. The declines that occurred in West Germany between 1945 and 1978 were largely due to changes in how the children were brought up by their parents (pg. 85). I thought this part of the book was interesting because it showed how much of a difference the parents were making on their kids at that time. Many people would think that the main reason so many Germans did not like Jews was because of Hitler, the Nazis, and all the propaganda that Hitler created and spread throughout his country. While it is true that Hitler and the Nazis played a very important role in creating Nazi propaganda and radicalizing the German people, it never occurred to me that the parents of the children who were growing up in that time period had just as big of an effect on the German youth as the propaganda did. I also agreed with the statement that there may be no homogeneous authoritarian personality, but we can at least say that people have different degrees to which they hold beliefs that are authoritarian. The author says it is safe to say that differences in orientation to authority affect the way they relate to ideas as well as people, especially people with different authority or status.This book was very insightful on what genocide really is, how it is carried out, and where genocides have occurr ed throughout the world.While I was reading this book, one interesting thing that really helped me understand the subject of this book was the excerpts from memoirs and other writings that explain what occurred in a genocide. Some of them were even recollections of experiences that victims of a particular genocide endured. Early in the book, there is an excerpt from a memoir of a person who lived through the Armenian genocide that tells of men being brutally murdered and being left out on the streets to die (pg. 56). Another way this book helped me have a better understanding of the subject was the model it showed for how ordinary people commit mass killing and genocide. The model shows that the ultimate influence is the evolution of human nature and there are three proximate influences which are, cultural construction of worldview, psychological construction of the other, and social construction of cruelty. These are all very distinct influences, in which cultural construction of worldview includes ideas like social dominance and collective values, whereas psychological construction of the other includes ideas such as blaming the victims. Social construction of cruelty is different from the first two influences and it includes group identification and professional socialization (pg. 138). I learned a lot about genocide from reading this book and it gave me a much better understanding of what genocide really is and how it is committed.