Why Are Ethics So Important In The Field Of Accounting Accounting Essay

Why Are Ethics So Important In The Field Of Accounting Accounting Essay Based on what you know about accounting, what role do you see it playing in business operations? How dependent do you think a business is on its accounting department? Why? I think that accounting plays a very large role in business operations because it is needed to show the financial status of that business. It is also necessary to know what the status is in order to be able to make important decisions involving expenses and money transactions. I think that a business is extremely dependant on its accounting department for these reasons. The accounting department could almost be considered the back bone of a business in terms of the companys financial success. Without reliable financial reporting a business could incur losses, possibly get audited and possibly even cause a business to go bankrupt. WEEK 1 DQ 2 Why are ethics so important in the field of accounting? Accounting ethics are important because a business relies on the reported financial status to make its business decisions. A business must have accurate reports and know that the business has sufficient funds to continue to operate and be able to pay rent and other bills, pay employees, and to continue producing products and/or offering services. Accountants have acces to inside information and assets that could be detrimental to a business should it enter into the wrong hands. A business needs to be able to rely on competent and ethical professionals with confidence that the finances are being accurately handled and reported. WEEK 3 DQ 1 When reviewing a financial report, why should information be reliable, relevant, consistent, and comparable? In other words, why are these accounting characteristics important? What kinds of problems could be created if a financial report is not reliable, relevant, consistent, or comparable? Information in a financial report needs to be reliable, relevant, consistent, and comparable because many people rely heavily on this information in order to make important business decisions. The report is useless to stockholders, managers, employees, and creditors if the information is not accurate and able to give them the information that they need to make certain business, lending, buying and/or selling decisions. The information must be relevant in order to make a difference in the decisions people make regarding the company and its future. The information should be verifiable so that users know it can be relied on. It needs to be comparable so that different companies can compare performance. The reports should be consistent so that a company can easily refer back to the information if needed in the future. If the information is not reliable, users could make wrong decisions based on inaccurate information and could potentially lose a lot of money doing so. If the report is not relevant, users will not have the information needed to make important business decisions. If the report is not consistent, a company may have a hard time tracking financial results to compare with other years. WEEK 3 DQ 2 How does information from financial reports influence business decisions? Why is it important for business managers to understand the information found on financial reports? Information from financial reports can influence business decisions by offering its user a prediction of what the business future may look like based on how the company has done in the past. If these reports show that the company has done well over the last two periods, then decisions can be made based on the projections that the company may continue to do well in the next period. For example, and investor may see this information and decide to put money into the company because he/she believes that the company will continue to make profits as it has been doing recently. A creditor may decide to lend money to expand the company because it see in the reports that the company has been doing well and should be able to repay the debt. Managers need to be able to understand the information on financial reports because they need to   make important business decisions for the future the company based on the companys expenditures, production, and profits or losses. WEEK 5 DQ 1 How would you describe the difference between financial and managerial accounting? What are the distinguishing features of managerial accounting? The main difference between financial and managerial accounting is that managerial accounting is for internal users such as officers and managers. Financial accounting, on the other hand, is for the needs of external users such as stockholders, creditors, and regulators. Though each field of accounting deals with the economic events of a business, managerial accounting is done with the purpose for making specific decisions in regards to the company. The distinguishing features of managerial accounting are that internal reports are produced as often as needed, they are very detailed, and there are no independent audits done on these reports. WEEK 5 DQ 2 Select a management function (planning, directing and motivating, or controlling) and explain how that function relates to business as a whole. Next, select a different function listed by a classmate. Discuss with your classmate how the functions you each selected complement each other.   Directing and motivating is a management function that is important in any business. It is essential to any company to make sure that all business operations are running smoothly. This involves implementing planned objectives and providing necessary incentives for employees as well as selecting executives, appointing managers and supervisors, and hiring and training employees. I worked at Circuit City for four years and I can share now from experience just how important motivating employees is and how badly a company can suffer without proper motivation and incentives. This is something that this company really lacked on (at least the one I worked at did) and now it has gone out of business. I am sure that there were many other reasons involved for why it went out of business, but I never felt in my fours years there that me or any other employee was ever really motivated by management and there was really no extra incentives to being a good worker. The company had an very high turn around rate for employees and managers and they were never trained well. I pretty much had to figure everything out on my own when I first started working there. I had probably about seven different managers in those four years and some I dont think ever even knew my name! WEEK 7 DQ 1 You know how important it is to create budgets for your household. How does budgeting help management make good business decisions? Budgeting can help management make good business decisions that will help them to maintain enough cash to pay the companys creditors, to have sufficient raw materials to meet production requirements, and to have adequate finished goods to meet expected sales. Budgeting is important for management to be able to plan ahead and to be able to help the company to reach its financial goals. Good budgeting also provides and early warning system for any potential problems so that action can be taken beforehand. Budgeting also helps management make good decisions because they are likely to be more motivated to reach goals if the companys objectives are laid out before them. WEEK 7 DQ 2 What are some of the different types of budgets? Describe in detail one type of budget covered in the text. Describe what the budget is used for and what information it provides a business. Then, as you respond to your classmates, discuss how the budget you described relates to the budget they described. Discuss how a business benefits from each of the budgets. Some of the different types of budgets are the sales budget, production budget, direct materials budget, and the direct labor budget. The sales budget is the first budget that is prepared and is especially important because each of the other budgets depends on it. The sales budget is made from managements best estimate of anticipated sales revenue for that budget period. The sales budget can affect net income if the projections are not accurate. This budget is relied heavily upon to determine how much inventory is needed to meet the sale demands in the budget period. This budget shows the expected unit sales volume and its anticipated unit price. These expected unit sales volume and the anticipated unit price are multiplied together to determine what the total sales budget will be for the year. CAPSTONE DISCUSSION QUESTION Think back over what you have studied and learned in this course. Do you have a new perception of or appreciation for the field of accounting and how it contributes to business? Explain. I can honestly say that I have a new appreciation for the field of accounting. I had no idea how important accounting was to a business. Accurate accounting is important not only to the business as a whole, but also to the managers, the investors and the creditors. Financial statements, budgets and record keeping are far more complicating than I thought they would be. A person could go on all day and still not cover every aspect of accounting; profits and losses, assets and liabilities, partnerships and corporations, contribution margins, and audits- just to name some.   I also now see why ethics are so important in accounting too. Good or bad ethics in accounting can either make or break a company.

Cultural Variations in Attachment (Psychology)

Discuss cultural variations in attachments. A culture is a group of people who have their own norms, values and customs. The Kroonenberg study showed that in a study of 8 countries the culture attachments patterns seem to be quite similar. The most common attachment type was a secure attachment. In western countries the dominant attachment type was avoidant and in non-western countries the dominant type was resistant. These results were reached from data from 2000 strange situation studies in 32 different countries.There are many cross-cultural similarities such as in Ainsworth’s Uganda study she observed various universals in attachment behaviour. This study showed that infants in Uganda were similar to infants in the UK and USA because they used their mothers as a secure base for exploration, and mothers of securely attached infants showed more sensitivity towards their infants than those who were insecurely attached. Tronick studied an African tribe who live in extended fam ily groups.The infants are looked after and even breastfed by different women but normally sleep with their mother at night times. Despite the different carers the infants still showed one primary attachment to the mother. Fox studies infants raised on Israeli kibbutzim that spent their time being cared for in a communal. Attachment was tested in the strange situation with either the mother or the metapelet. The infants were equally attached to both of the caregivers except in the reunion behaviour where they showed greater attachment to their mothers.This suggests that the mothers were still the primary caregiver despite the shared care. There are also many cross-cultural differences. Grossmann and Grossmann found that German infants were more commonly insecurely rather than securely attached. This is due to the fact that in German culture they keep some interpersonal distance between the parents and children so that infants do not engage in proximity-seeking behaviour. This caused them to seem insecurely attached in the strange situation.Takahashi used the strange situation to study 60 middle-class Japanese infants and their mothers. It was found that there was a similarity in the rate of securely attached infants to those in the US sample (Ainsworth). However there was no evidence of avoidant attachment but there was high rates of resistant attachment. The Japanese infants were extremely distressed when left alone and 90% of the infants the study had to be stopped with at that point. Once again this is because of the different child care practises in the different cultures.In Japanese culture the infant is rarely apart from the mother which explains why they were so distressed in the strange situation when separated. All of these studies show that despite the cultural variations in the infant care arrangements the strongest attachment formed is still with the child’s mother. The research does show that there are differences in the patterns of attachm ent that can be related to the difference in cultures. Rothbaum argued that attachment theory and research is not relevant to other cultures because it is so rooted in American culture.The sensitivity hypothesis promoted that the secure attachment was related to the caregiver’s responsiveness and sensitivity. Rothbaum argued that this only reflects western ideas or autonomy. In Japan sensitivity is about promoting dependence rather than independence. Sensitivity has the opposite objective in the different cultures. The continuity hypothesis said that infants who are securely attached go on to develop more socially and emotionally competent children and adults. The competence means being able to explore and be independent and be able to regulate ones emotions.In Japan the opposite is true. Once again it has the opposite objective in the different cultures. The secure base hypothesis says that in the west secure attachments are seen as providing the infant with a secure base wh ich they can explore, thus promoting independence. Japan attachment relationships are dependence-orientated. Behaviours associated with insecure ambivalent attachment are more typical of the characteristic amae relationship which may explain why these classifications are higher in Japan.Rothbaum spoke about the behaviour of Japanese mothers and infants. This might be an incorrect generalisation because within Japan there are different subcultures which have different child care practices. The Kroonenberg study found more variation within cultures rather than between them. Kroonenberg suggested that the cross-cultural similarities could be caused due to the fact that the media spread the same ideas about parenting all over the world so they are exposed to similar influences.

Global war wine Essay

The global wine industry is being influenced by a number of factors including consumer demand and changes in the way wine is produced and sold. There has been a shift in the perception of wine in the past half-century as consumers and producers have migrated away from the Old World philosophies to the modern-thinking the New World has brought about. By the 1990’s the average consumer’s palate changed – especially here in the U.S. where consumers were more apt to look for the premium ($7-14) and super-premium ($14+) wines. By this time, there was a drop in consumption in countries that traditionally consumed a great deal (France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Chile) while demand in other countries increased (U.K., Canada, Belgium, and some Asian countries). Wine consumption was now becoming truly â€Å"global† and New World producers had the means to handle demand. Shipping overseas was now a cost-effective way to transport wine around the globe allowing consumers even more choices of quality wines. Therefore, one of the most important factors in how the wine industry is changing is in the education of the wine consumer. And consumers now can look at a bottle of wine and tell the type of wine and the region they came from along with the date bottled. 2. How did the French become the dominant competitors in the increasingly global wine industry for centuries? What sources of competitive advantage were they able to develop to support their exports? Where were they vulnerable? French wine producers became the dominant competitor as a result of four reasons. First, their geographic and climatic featuresplayed significant role. As France is in the middle of Europe culture with suitable climate and soilcondition for harvesting grape, had accrued first-mover advantage and established its place as thedominant competitor in the global wine industry. Second, they became the first high-quality winemarket and gained a lot experience. Especially, the negociantstraded wine between France and othercountries and this worked as word-of-mouth effect, increasing the reputation and dominance of Frenchwine. Third, they used the latest innovations such as mass production of glass bottles, the use of cork stoppers and pasteurization. These innovations increased the stability and longevity of wine whichallowed the transportation of wine to distant places, and birth of global wine market. Lastly, the government support made significant effect on the reputation and improvement of French wineindustry. The sources of competitive advantage that they were able to develop to support their exports is to keen to taste and tradition in the production of wine (strongly tight to the French culture), artistic and historical talent and expertise in wine making and well located as to the high demand markets such as England,.. The main vulnerable aspects of French wine industry were highly fragmented vineyard and wine production, increasing vineyard prices per acre, complex distribution and sales system, long multilevel value chain, risk of bad weather and disease; and poor roads and complex toll and tax system. Also, they lack of rational assessment of their place comparing to other countries and they do not have any marketing plan or strategy.

Conversion Disorder Is A Mental Health Condition - 924 Words

Conversion disorder is a mental health condition in which a person suddenly has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous system symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation. Conversion disorder is known by many other names such as, functional neurological symptom disorder, pseudo neurologic syndrome, hysterical neurosis, somatoform disorders, hysteria, and psychogenic disorder. All of these names stem from a mental condition that shows psychological stress in physical ways, also known as Somatoform. Somatoform disorders are marked by persistent physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by a medical condition, substance abuse, or other mental disorder, and seem to stem from psychological issues or conflicts. Conversion†¦show more content†¦The DSM-IV-TR classifies conversion disorder as one of the somatoform disorders which were first classified as a group of mental disorders. A recent study of health care utilization in America, estimates that 25–72% of office visits to primary care doctors are related to psychological distress that takes the form of physical symptoms. Another study estimates that at least 10% of all medical treatments and diagnostic services are conducted for patients that show no evidence of organic disease or injury. These studies show that conversion disorder is larger than we think or know and should be studied and researched more to find a method of understanding, coping, and prevention. Conversion disorder was first known as hysteria before 1600 and was linked with an illness of the uterus or given metaphysical explanations such as witchcraft or demonic possession. However, in the early 17th century, a more â€Å"psychologically minded† explanation of hysteria was introduced and it was classified as a variety of melancholy by Robert Burton in his book Anatomy of Melancholy. Shortly after, Thomas Sydenham discovered th at both men and women could suffer from hysteria and a Scottish physician named Robert Whytt wrote a book entitled Nervous, Hypochondriac and Hysteric Disorders, which classified hysteria as a nervous disorder. Between 1997