Examples of Punctuality in the Workplace

Rainforest Biomes essays

Rainforest Biomes essays Tropical rainforests cover about 6% of the Earth's total land surface. They are mainly located around the belt at the equator. The climate of the rainforest is warm most of the year and has a lot of rain through most of the year. The climate is perfect for animals and plant growth. Even though the rainforests cover such a little amount of land mass of the Earth, they are home to the largest number of plant and animal species in such a concentrated area. Scientists believe that the tropical rainforests of the world might hold up to ninety percent of the plant and animal species on earth. The Amazon River drains the world's largest tropical rainforest, the Amazon. It is thought to have about 3000 species of fish, more than are contained in the entire North Atlantic. It is estimated that a typical patch of rainforest just six kilometers square contains as many as 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of tree, 400 species of bird, 150 species of butterfly, 100 species of reptile, and 60 species of amphibian. There are so many insects that scientists can only estimate that, every two and a half acres may contain as many as 42,000 species. Tropical rainforests cover about six percent of the Earth's total land surface area. They are mainly located around the belt at the equator, in the Amazon basin in South America, the Congo basin and other lowland regions in Africa, and they are both on the mainland and the islands off of Southeast Asia. They are especially abundant on Sumatra and New Guinea. Small areas are also found in Central America and along the Queens land coast of Australia. The tropical rainforests climate is very warm, it has an average annual temperature of greater than 20 degrees Celsius. They also have very little seasonal variation in temperature or day length, which is very favorable for plant growth. The tropical rainforest's temperature ranges from 20 to 25 degrees Celsius and they have more than 250 c...

The debts deal's failure by Fareed Zakaria Essay

The debts deal's failure by Fareed Zakaria - Essay Example The paper tells that one must note before reading the aforementioned article that Mr. Fareed Zakaria is not your run of the mill reporter, observer, or opinion columnist. He is a highly regarded member of the journalistic field whose credentials include being the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria, editor at large of Time Magazine, an all too important columnist of The Washington Post, and author of such famous works as The Post American World and The Future of Freedom. Mr. Zakaria started off his argumentative essay by presenting the facts as he knew them to be true to his readers. The information that he presented, about the filibustering in the legislative house and the constant bickering between the Republican and Democratic parties on the floor was information that could easily be gleaned from reading the newspapers or watching the daily news shows. The information that our debt ceiling was being held hostage by politics was something that came as surprisingly new for most of us. Main ly because we had always been used to seeing these two parties managing to find some middle ground within which to work from for the benefit of many. Sadly, it seems that the era of old, open communication, and amicable settlement politics is now an era of the past. These days, our national politics is, according to Zakaria has become a world wide failure because we can no longer make our political system work for ourselves. He continues to explain how our debt crisis would have been solved during the time of Reagan, Clinton and other previous American leaders: This is how Congress used to work: grand bipartisan bargains to solve difficult problems with compromises by both sides. This is not nostalgia. It is how the system worked in the 1980s and '90s to save Social Security, reform the tax code, rationalize immigration policy and close hundreds of military bases. (Zakaria, Fareed, The Debt Deal's Failure) Mr. Fareed does his utmost best within the article in order to present even t he most complicated of economic discussions in terms that lay people such are ourselves can easily understand. He has a grasp of the current economic situation that allows him to present a highly readable and focused piece that in the end, allows the reader to contemplate the reality of our economic situation locally and its effects on our nation worldwide. That is not an easy task for somebody as highly educated as Mr. Fareed and yet he manages to pull it off with each written paragraph in his commentary. He does not try to sway his reader towards one politicial inclination or another, he merely provides all of the information that he has on hand to help his reader come to certain conclusions on his own. The Debt Deal's Failure (Zakaria, Time Magazine) does its best to present an unbiased opinion on the topic. It however, fails dismally in that aspect because Mr. Zakaria makes it very clear from the get go that he is a firm believer in the economic programs of the Democrats and tha t the Republicans should be viewed as the bad guys who ran our economy into the ground. He often does argumentative analysis of the performance of the presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and finally Barack Obama in relation to increasing our countries debt woes. I find it quite disturbing that he was able to present factual data on the spending and borrowing for the Republican presidents but then failed to do the same for the Democrat president. It is highly impossible that our debt managed to balloon into the

Indigenous Australians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indigenous Australians - Essay Example The constitution grants the rights to all citizens and it is designed to ensure that that equality and equity prevail among all citizens regardless of race disparities. However, it has been realised that the indigenous Australians have been sidelined in the country’s constitution on the basis of racial bias. As such, it has been realized that there is need to achieve full inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution. This can be done through removing the notions of racial bias towards the indigenous people while at the same time recognising their heritage, culture as well as language. On the other hand, it can be noted that Langton (2008) states that people are still disillusioned by the widely held perceptions they have about the aborigines who are often viewed as backward and primitive. In many people’s minds, the indigenous Australians are not equal to other people as a result of their backwardness. Constitutionally, the indigenous people have often been viewed as second class citizens while they are the original people in Australia. This view is also supported by Behrendt (2010) who argues that the constitutional gap between haves and have notes (Indigenous people) is wide hence concerted measures should be taken in order to bridge it. This is mainly as a result of inequality that was created when the Australian constitution was adopted. Poverty is high in reservations which are often home to indigenous people since they are structured in such a way that discourages investment. As noted by Kristof (2012), the level of poverty in reservations like the sprawling Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is high and this can be attributed to factors such as lack of education and alcohol abuse and dysfunctional families. This situation is also resembles the case of indigenous Australians, the aborigines who for a long period of time have been

'The Human Aspects of Project Management and its Influence on Project Essay

'The Human Aspects of Project Management and its Influence on Project Performance' - Essay Example A project can best be understood as a one time undertaking or endeavor in response to a need. But although a project begins as a response to a need, the manner in which it evolves is not always disciplined, due to its human elements that leave scope for errors to occur (Heerkens, 2003). According to LaBrosse (2007), projects are short term efforts that are undertaken in order to meet the strategic objectives of the organization. But in managing a project effectively, human elements are the most diverse and complex elements that must be managed. There are various human interfaces that may form part of a project, such as the project manager, project team members and stakeholders. (Rao, No date). A project team may comprise members drawn from various cross sections of society, belonging to different ethnic groups and with different temperaments and skill levels. The difficulties in successful implementation of a project may be increased when these different human elements are unable to coordinate together effectively, which in turn can impact negatively upon the progress of the project.(Rao, no date). Heerkens(2003) has set out four ways to measure the degree of success in executing a project (a) meeting project targets in terms of cost, quality and functionality (b) project efficiency or how well the project was managed (c) user utility or the extent to which the project addressed the need that gave rise to the project and (d) whether there was improvement in the organization as a result of the project? He points out that in all of these four aspects, the human elements impact significantly on the degree to which the project is successful. For instance, the achievement of the project targets will depend upon how well the project manager executed what was expected. LaBrosse (2007) points out human elements can impact upon the speed of completion of the

Changes to the Role of the Management Accountant

Changes to the Role of the Management Accountant Using appropriate academic literature, critically evaluate the argument that the role of the management accountant has changed in recent years from traditional accounting functions to that of a strategic planner and a business partner. Introduction When it comes to the change of management accounting or management accountant, several researchers and scholars have stated the similar view that people cannot describe the management accountants as the bean counter, the scorekeeper or the corporate cop in the contemporary age, their new role are performed as a strategic planner and a business partner within the organization. (Anastas, 1997; Bromwich, 1990; Burns et al., 1999; Byrne and Pierce, 2007; Johnson, Kaplan , 1987; Roslender and Hart, 2002) This essay is aiming to find out how the bean counter, the scorekeeper and the corporate cop become to the internal consultant, the strategic planner as a business partner. Before the main body of this essay, the writer makes a hypothesis that there is an inference procedure that causing the change of the management accountants role. It is widely appreciated that the business environment has greatly changed in the recent years. Thus that the traditional management accounting is not suitab le for the contemporary business, a new management accounting system was generated. Following that there are many new management accounting techniques are required, it directly change the task of management accountants. Finally all these process have caused the change of the role of the management accountant. In the following parts of this essay, the writer will analyze all the parts of this process respectively refer to the other scholars research findings, this is for examine and certify the hypothesis in the last paragraph. The changing business environment It is not deniable that the business environment has already dramatically changed during the last decades, which is toward a more competitive orientation. It includes many external and internal factors. In the general economic area, the globalization is integrating the world into a global market. It could lead it to an increasing competition. Companies have to pay more and more attention on the customer and market orientation. The development of technology is another factor both in the information system and the methods of production with the widespread use of enterprise resource planning systems (ERP). The change of organizational management structure could affect the business as an internal factor.(Burns et al., 1999) The development of digitisation could also change the business environment, for example e-mail has already replaced the traditional postage and fax to a great extent, which is benefit from the wide spread of the internet. It could reduce the cost and enhance the compa nies efficiency. The new technology could also be applied to the monitoring performance area. For instance, factories could profit from the use of beepers and mobile phones to monitor workers performance, while restaurants could benefit from the use of beepers in their operating system.(Zimmerman, 2009) There are also many other elements could cause the market condition changing, such as the commencement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could decrease companies cost among Mexico, Canada and the United States. American and Canadian companies may set their factories in Mexico for the lower labour cost. The same situations have also emerged in China, Vietnam and some other developing countries.(Zimmerman, 2009) The new business environment also bring a huge revolution in the other fields, for example the demand of more quality control, customer-focused, the intellectual capital, automation, increasing overheads, decreasing direct labour cost and more emphasis on envir onmental and external issues. The drawbacks of traditional management accounting The traditional management accounting was driven by the external financial requirements but not the internal or actual need. For instance, it fails to compare the cost with the competitors, which is a fatal factor in the business competition. Tends to be too technical Many accountants focus on their contribution only in the financial numbers, but ignore the other useful information which the users may require. (Pierce and ODea, 2003) Most companies still use single overhead allocation base Time Limitation Pierce and ODea (2003) found that most managers complained that the traditional information system cannot provide timeliness information to the users. For example, some managers reflected that even though the financial information could cover almost all they needed, but they cannot use it timely cause the information lag. It could extremely influence their decision making process. Mainly focus on the internal performance of the organization but ignoring the other activities, such as external and social issues. Paying too much attention on the manufacturing but neglecting the high cost post-conversion activities. The change of management accounting A UK research project claimed that management accounting had not changed over six decades in Britain. (Burns et al., 1999) Despite there are some substantial improvement in the technological and environmental areas.(Johnson, Kaplan , 1987) Several studies revealed that the traditional management accounting system and techniques were still valuable and some new management accounting techniques were not widely used as expectation, such as activity-based costing (ABC) and strategic management accounting. (Burns et al., 1999) However, the advancement of information technology could enhance the management accounting into a higher level, which means that managers could have a direct and real time access to the information instead of waiting for the accountants sort it out.(Burns et al., 1999) It could make managers conducting the accountants task by themselves, for instance budgeting, analyze and calculation. (Burns et al., 1999) This change has brought a more significant effect on forecasting rather than budgeting.(Hope and Fraser, 1997) This means that managers could forecast by themselves, while budgeting was accountants traditional work. The commercial orientated gave the British managers a further view on the potential factors which could making profit in a long term.(Burns et al., 1999) It could be considered in the management strategy and interpreting by the non-financial terms.(Burns and Scapens, 1997) It implied that financial information could only provide limited picture, not the whole. Thus there are two possible solutions. The first one is that some new techniques could be used by management accountants to provide a comprehensive view, such as ABC system. Alternatively, the financial information could be kept in a simple way but could be interpreted in the wider background.(Burns et al., 1999) Based on the previous analysis, the form of management accounting has been changed, but there is no huge difference on the management accounting techniques. Strategic Management Accounting The strategic management accounting has already introduced in the accounting literature more than ten years. (Berverley R, 1996)It is defined as The provision and analysis of financial information on the firms product markets and competitors cost and cost structures and the monitoring of the enterprises strategies and those of its competitors in these markets over a number of periods (Bromwich, 1990) The Charted Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) also defined it as A form of management accounting which emphasis is placed on information which relates to factors external to the firm, as well as non-financial information and internally generated information. The majority of literature in the United Kingdom stress that the strategic management accounting extends the traditional management accounting from internal factors to the external competitors information.(Berverley R, 1996)Comparing with the traditional management accounting, it has more external, forward-looking and longer -term orientated and the strategically driven.(Roslender and Hart, 2002) There are three main characteristics of the strategic management accounting were summarized, which are the collection of competitor information, exploitation of cost reduction opportunities and the matching of accounting emphasis with strategic position.(Berverley R, 1996) Some scholars describe the strategic management accounting as a specific form of approach to the provision of accounting information to management'(Roslender and Hart, 2002) The new requirements to management accountants As the previous analysis, the traditional management accounting techniques is still essential skills that management accountants should grasp. However, in the contemporary age, there are several new tasks that management accountants should perform. Before 1980s, the majority of the managers expected the management accountants roles performed as a service staff who can provide the satisfying such managers information.(Hopper, 1980) The requirements to management accountants are not only about becoming an expert in the financial matters, but also having a broad view in business and good teamwork capability with their collegues.(Burns et al., 1999) Pierce and Bernard (2003) have concluded that the management accountants should have the knowledge and skills in three domains. Firstly, they have to be the master of the essential technical knowledge which could make them have the ability to modify information. Secondly, they also need to learn the other business knowledge, such as IT, marketing. Lastly, a well developed interpersonal relationship skills is necessary by the reason that the accountants have increasing number of cooperation with other staff within the organization. Anastas (1997) has also stated that management accountan ts have to handle the new information technology software, achieving an average understanding of the business and fluently express their idea both in writing and speaking in order to interact with their colleagues. Anastas (1997) stressed that to achieve the success in the role of internal consultants; management accountants must improve their interpersonal skills and the knowledge of productivity and administration. The strategic management accounting provides management accountants an opportunity to get a position in the decision making team.(Roslender and Hart, 2002) The strategic management accounting requires management accountants having techniques, such as competitor position analysis, target costing and life cycle costing.(Roslender and Hart, 2002) The role of the management accountant in organisations Management accountants role in an organization has been considerably changed in recent years.(Anastas, 1997; Burns et al., 1999; Byrne and Pierce, 2007; Johnson, Kaplan , 1987; Pierce and ODea, 2003; Zimmerman, 2009) Several literature have stated the same views. In the past, when people were thinking of management accountant, they always associated it with some words, such as the scorekeepers, the bean counters and the corporate cops.(Byrne and Pierce, 2007; Zimmerman, 2009) This is because management accountants were not the decision-makers or decision participants; they always played the role as assistants or financial information providers to the real or actual managers in the decision making process. But in 1999, the situation has changed. Increasing managerial accountants began to help their companies to analyze the business as an interior consultant. With the development of the technology, they do not need to use the majority of their working time for preparing the financial r eports. They therefore have more and more time to explain or translate the accounting information to the people who need to use these within the organization as a member of the decision making team. Siegel (1999) remarked that the role of management accountants has evolved from serving internal customers into being a business partner. Some accountants even changed their title from corporate controllers to business analysts (Burns et al., 1999) A key role of the management accountant is that interpreting the financial information to a more readily comprehensible perception to the internal and external users.(Burns et al., 1999) As it was depicted Information technology is pushing management accountants and financial managers up the ladder as they become advisors or internal consultants to other manager in the company who have access to software manage cost and budgets.(Anastas, 1997) Pierce and ODea (2003) have interviewed many managers with an opened question that sharing their views of the future role of the management accountants. Their responses were highly consistent that management accountants role will be the business partner. Management accountants should interact with management within several aspects, including the raise of their physical location, the requirement of their team work capability and the understanding of business. There will be fewer management accountants but they will be at the higher level of management in the organization as a member of the cross-functional team share their view in the decision making process.(Anastas, 1997) The evolution of the information technology liberated management accountants from the bean counter, corporate cop to a higher level role internal consultant or strategist who make the recommendation to guide the decision making process (Anastas, 1997) CONCLUSION The analysis in the main body reflects the consistency with the hypothesis in the introduction section, but not completely same. To start with, the business environment is changing as the assumption. The business environment is changed to a more competitive, customer-oriented due to the globalization, digitisation and some other changed business conditions. In addition the writer analyzes the disadvantages of the traditional management accounting, which is not applicable for the present system and fulfil the requirements in the new business environment. Following that the analysis of the change of the management accounting shows that although there is a new business environment, but the basic management accounting techniques is still required, it is still necessary. But due to the development of the business, the requirements of the management accountants are not only demand the accountants have the traditional and basic management accounting techniques, but also some new task of the understanding of knowledge in the other business area and a good interpersonal skills for the increasing teamwork opportunities. Hence, the role of the management accountants has been changed from the financial information provider (the basic role) to the internal consultant in the organizations as a business partner. The strategic management accounting system could provide management accountants a higher level to perform their new role to satisfy the new requirements. As Burns (1999) founded that although the role of the management accountants is changed, but they still have to use the traditional management accounting system, some people called it antique.

Existence Of God :: essays research papers

Existence of God   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The truth behind the existence of god. As a flesh and blood we seem to aspire to be ultitmley immortal, we have created stories guidelines ways in which we our able to become immortal. Christins call it jesus others call it alla or buddua. Does this make one better then the other or is just a set of rules that we all follow just so mankind can prosper. Is faith a trait that is leared or is it a proptey that we our all born with the ability to belive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The questions we have this is a trait the abilitty to reason is a trait, but what scares us so terribly bad is whaen we cant answer a question. We study we learn but the idea that many of us have not leared is that faith is not imortality or heaven or hell but our faith in ourselves and faith in our fellow man.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What scares me so bad is the fact that many people hide in this world of god. God is what created us what made us it is what we must ultitmley answer to. We answer as not flesh and blood but as a spirit we choose long before our mortal body goes where we go. We leave behind our bodys and enter into a realm to which we cannot comphrend. Our minds well never allow us to comprhend immortality but our souls can that is faith.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This faith belongs to no clan of self righteous humn being that think that becuse there rules that they follow our better then another. Se the truth is god does not have a check list of whos good and whos bad but rather he make the decision we have morals or as some calit a concous. This world is about the first stepping stone that we take this is a test can you live in an imperfect world and handle without cheating your fellow man. This is faith in yourself this life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  God gave us life it is our choice wether we use it to its follow view or we cash in early and take the easy way out. Is a gamble much like a stock in a company we own our own stock we have a value this is a value that we place. The question that you must ask yourself what value is yours. Our you a sellout our you willing to give up everything you have for an easy buck or our you willing to ride the rollercoaster of life following it rules so you can exsisit.