Examining Related-Party Transactions And Corporate Fraud

Examining Related-Party Transactions And Corporate Fraud Related parties represent a link where one party can exercise control (direct or indirect) or significant influence over the operating policies of the other party. According to FRS 8 and IAS 24, a related party includes an entitys subsidiaries, associates, joint venture interests, directors and family members of  directors. Related-party transactions are legitimate activities and serve practical purposes such as: They are recognised in corporate and taxation laws. They have their own standards for accounting treatment. Systems of checks and balances have been built around them to make sure they are conducted within these boundaries. The following parties are not considered as related parties in IAS 24: Parties which have normal dealing with an entity. Examples include providers of finance, trade unions, government agencies and public utilities. Parties such as customers, suppliers, distributors and franchisors on which the entity is economically dependent. Two venturers sharing joint control over a joint venture. Two entities having a common directors or other member of key management personnel are not considered as related parties. Related Party Transactions Related party transactions (RPTs) are defined in IAS 24 as any transactions made between the related parties irrespective of whether a price is charged or not. The transactions include transfer of resources, services or obligations. In other words, RPTs are transactions between a company and its management, board members, principal owners, or members of the immediate families of any of these groups. Examples of RPTs under IASB include rendering or receiving of services, purchase or sales of goods, leases, provisions of guarantees or collateral, purchase or sale of property and other assets, among others. Moreover, FASB (1982) states that RPTs include transactions between a company and its affiliates. Affiliates refer to entities which control the company, they are controlled by the company or they are controlled by another entity which also controls the company. Examples of RPTs under FASB include services received or furnished, borrowings and lendings, guarantees among others. Scenarios under related party transactions When an individual purchases a stock, bond, note or mutual fund from a family member or related party entity, he becomes entitled to the related party rules and under these rules, the individuals cost basis will actually depend on whether he ends up selling it at a gain or a loss. For example, the individuals sister owned stock of XYZ Corp which she bought for $20,000.   It had declined in value to $10,000 when he bought it from her.  Ã‚   Therefore, she is  not allowed to claim a  capital loss when she sells it to him because he is a related party. Gain scenario: If later the individual sells the stock to a  third, unrelated party  for $22,000, he will experience a true gain of $12,000 on his own acquisition cost of $10,000. However, he only have to declare  a capital gain of $2,000 for  income tax purposes because  he is allowed to use a carryover basis from his sister, since she was not able to claim the previous  disallowed loss.  Ã‚   Loss scenario: If the individual sells it later to a  third, unrelated party  for $8,000, he will have a true loss of $2,000 on his own acquisition cost of $10,000,  and he can only declare  a capital  loss of $2,000 for  income tax purposes.   However, he is not allowed to use a carryover basis from his sister, even though she was not able to claim the previous  disallowed loss. The tax savings from the previous disallowed capital loss are wasted and no one claimed them. Disclosure The objective of IAS 24 is to ensure that an entitys financial statements contain the disclosures necessary to draw attention to the possibility that its financial position and profit or loss may have been affected by the existence of related parties and by transactions and outstanding balances with such parties. The IAS 28 requires the following to be disclosed: Relationship between parents and subsidiaries: The entity should disclose the name of its parent company or of its ultimate controlling party irrespective of whether there have been any transactions occurred between them. In the case where neither the parent company nor the ultimate controlling company produces financial statement for public use, then the next most senior parent that does so must also be disclosed. Management Compensation: The compensation of the key management personnel must be disclosed in total and for each of the following categories: Short-term employment benefits Post-employment benefits Other longer benefits Termination benefits, and Equity Compensation benefits. Related Party Transaction: If transactions have been made between the related party, then for each categories of the related party, the following should be disclosed separately: The amount of the transactions The amount of the outstanding balances including terms and conditions and guarantees Provisions for doubtful debts related to the amount of outstanding balances Expenses recognised during the period in respect of bad or doubtful debts due from related parties. Types of RPT that lead to corporate frauds Many high profile companies have made an abuse use of related party transactions to succeed in involving in fraudulent activities. These include companies such as Enron, Adelphia, Tyco and others. Sales to ( or purchases from) related parties of goods and services According to Pesaru (2002), a related-party sales transaction represents the link between the company and the customer. In this particular transaction, it is usually difficult to identify the related parties. Thus, companies use this technique for boosting revenue. As such, the undisclosed related-party transactions may be used to fraudulently inflate earnings. Companies use accounting trick to mislead the users of financial statements. Presenting a series of sales, which are executed with an undisclosed related-party and which are insignificant is an example of accounting trick used by companies. Moreover, sales made to related party transactions can also lead to corporate frauds if the sales transactions are categorized under fictitious sales. Fictitious sales include round-trip sales. SEC 2003 defines round trip sales as simultaneous pre-arranged sales transactions often of the same product in order to create a false impression of justifying those fictitious sales transactions of falling under the normal ordinary course of the business. This type of transactions inflates sales figures and thus leads to overstatement of revenues. On the other hand, the purchase of goods or services from related parties is another type of RPT. This type of RPT may lead to fraud when the purchases are not disclosed or when they are considered as unauthorised transactions. Companies create fictitious purchases of services from related party to conceal a misappropriation. For instance, in the Tyco case, it was found that the company failed to disclose a finders fee paid to an outside director in connection with an acquisition. Besides, one of the principal owners of PNF Industries, Inc. created fictitious records to conceal a misappropriation by claiming that he was owed consultation fees. Since the payments were considered as unauthorised, he falsified a minutes of a directors meeting to authorize the fees. Non-reported purchases from a related party understate expenses and the effect of the understated figure of expenses is reflected in an overstated sales figure. On the contrary, non-reported revenues and fictitious purchases lead to understatement of income. This whole scenario is summarised in the following diagram. First scenario: Effect: FICTITIOUS SALES OVERSTATEMENT OF REVENUES SMOOTHING INCOME NON-REPORTED PURCHASES Second scenario: NON-REPORTED REVENUE FICTITIOUS PURCHASES UNDERSTATEMENT OF INCOME Genuine sales can be made to the related party in such a way that this transaction transfer wealth to the related party. This can be done if genuine sales are made below its market price to the related party. Another way of transferring wealth to the related party would be unnecessary purchases of goods and services or even purchases above its market price by the company. The other side of the coin will be transferring wealth from the related parties to the company. This is possible when actual sales are transacted to related party at above market prices or when purchases are made below market prices from the related party. The situation of genuine sales being transacted in a manipulating way can have two impacts: Firstly, if the company is already facing a crisis in terms of low profits for instance, then the latter can opt for transferring wealth from the related party to itself. And, if the company is transferring its wealth to the related party, this will lead to misappropriation of companys assets. Both of these impacts will lead to fraudulent financial reporting. To better understand the picture, a diagram is illustrated below: Scenario of sales: GENUINE SALES Made to related parties under market prices Made to the company over market prices LEADS TO TRANSFER OF WEALTH To the company To related parties Scenario of Purchases: PURHASES MADE TO Related parties over market prices The company from related parties under market prices LEADS TO TRANSFER OF WEALTH To the company An example of a company which uses this to involve in fraudulent activity is Livent Inc., Humatech Inc. and Enron. Livent Inc has mischaracterised certain receipts as revenue. In fact, the receipts were actually borrowings since there were side agreements obligating the company to repay the funds. The counterparty companies were related parties since the top executive of Livent Inc were a member of their boards. In the case of Humatech Inc, the CEO and the CFO secretly controlled the improper recognition of revenue which was actually sale to a foreign distributor. Indeed, the foreign distributor was a related party but however no disclosure has been made of the transactions. Furthermore, Enron has made a payment to one of its employees of around $ 10 million and the CFO took it as a SPE. The employee then via a payment to the CFOs family members, share a portion of its fees to the CFO. Loans to and from the related parties The provision of loan to and from the related parties is another major type of RPT. Lack of transparency involved in recording the following transactions outlined below of a company leads to understatement of its liabilities: Non- recognition of borrowings by the company to the related parties Non-disclosure of obligations incurred for the related parties in terms of guarantee Disclosure of loan transactions to related parties If loans are given to the related parties by the entity are reported accordingly in the financial records of that firm, the issue that arises is in terms of the collateral which is used as a medium to get the finance. In fact, what usually happens is that in case of related party transactions companies tend to overstate the value of these collaterals. Manipulating interest rates Wealth are transferred to related party by either borrowing from a related party at above-market interest rates, or lending to a related party at below-market interest rates. If the related parties borrow from the company at an interest rate which is above the market interest rate, this leads to a transfer of wealth to the company. Similarly, if the company is financed out by the related parties at below-market rates or off-market, this would again leads to a transfer of wealth from the related parties to the company. According to Freidman et al. (2003), this kind of practice is referred to as propping. On the other hand, if the company lends the related parties at an interest rate which is lower or even off the market interest rate, this will lead to a transfer of wealth from the company to the related parties. The scenario of manipulating interest rate can be easily understood through the diagram below: Scenario: transfer of wealth to the company: COMPANY Borrows from the related parties at a lower market interest rate Lends to related parties at a higher market interest rate Leads to transfer of wealth to the company If borrowings from a related party are not recognised, this will result in an understatement of liabilities. Moreover, over-estimating the collectability of loans to a related party leads to an overvaluation of assets. These situations are known as loan related misstatements and this may eventually leads to frauds. Several companies adopted this technique when preparing their financial statements. For example, Adelphia understated its liabilities by $1.6 billion. It failed to report its obligation under the credit facility by claiming that its obligation was merely a guarantee which did not require disclosure. In addition to this, Adelphia has netted $ 1.351 billion related party receivables with against related party payables, which has enable them to hide $ 1.348 billion of related party payables. The netting has also allowed them to hide the amount of transactions between the Adelphia and the company owned by Rigas family which was Adelphias controlling shareholders and management team. Indeed, the SEC has stated that the Rigas family has illegally excluded over $2.3 billion in bank debt by deliberately shifting those liabilities onto the books of Adelphias off balance sheet, unconsolidated affiliates and created sham transactions backed by fictitious documents to give the false appearance that Adelphia had actually repaid debts when, in truth, it had simply shifted them to unconsolidated Rigas-controlled entities. Moreover, PrintontheNet.com did not disclose that it had guaranteed $7.3 million in related parties loans. In the case of Tyco, Mr Kozlowski, who was the former Chief Executive Officer of Tyco International borrowed $ 242 Million from a Tyco program, with the intension to facilitate the executives to pay taxes on restricted-stock grants. However, instead of utilising the funds for that purpose, he spent the finances on yachts, fine art, estate jewelry and luxury apartments. In the same way, Mr Swartz, Tycos former Chief Financial Officer took a lo an of $72 Million from program and made personal investment and business ventures with that money. In the Enron case, Mahonia, a special purpose entity (SPE) which was controlled by a financial institution was employed to make some of the Enrons transactions disguised a borrowing of $ 2.6 billion from the financial institution as forwards contract. Hence, as a result of the disguised loans, cash flowed from the financial institution to Mahonia and then from Mahonia to Enron. Investment in related parties It is crucial to disclose investments in related parties in order to prevent frauds from occurring. Managers tend to manipulate earnings via tunneling actions in order to maintain the companys stock performance. As a result, investment decisions would be expropriated if such decisions are determined based on the financial disclosure. If investment in the equity of a related party is not reported correctly, this will lead to an overstatement of assets and hence will mislead investors about insider activity. Several companies had inflated their assets with RPTs. For example, an investment of $2.5 million in a venture capital fund by Hollinger was not disclosed. Moreover, in the Enron case, using the special purpose entities (SPEs) the managers was able to hide unfavourable performance of their investment decisions. Tonka is another example of a company which involve in fraudulent activities. The CFO of the company secretly owned a company and he misappropriate assets of Tonka by making the corporate funds to be improperly been invested in his company. Hence, it can be seen that many companies has misused related party transaction to involve in fraudulent activities. However, the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 has prohibited only one type of related party transaction which was loans to related parties. Indeed, in a study by Henri et al. (2007) which examined 83 SEC enforcement actions involving in related party transaction and fraud, it was found that the most frequent type of related party transaction was loan to related party. RPT: A cause for concern Many accounting frauds such as Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, Refco, Hollinger, Rite Aid have occurred during the past years and have shown concern towards related party transactions. This is because in one way or the other, related party transactions were involved, creating concern among regulators and other market participants about the appropriate monitoring and auditing of these transactions. However it has been pointed out that research has provided a mixed picture of the role of related party transactions in fraudulent financial reporting. For example, research has shown that related party transaction disclosures are quite common (Gordon et al. 2004a; Wall Street Journal 2003). However, since fraudulent financial reporting is relatively uncommon (Lev 2003), and furthermore most frauds2 apparently do not involve related party transactions (Shapiro 1984; Bonner et al. 1988; SEC 2003), it is reasonable to assume that most disclosed related party transactions are not fraudulent. According to Gordon et al. (2004), RPTs play a fundamental role in a firms corporate governance environment. It is said that RPTs are an aspect of corporate governance because these transactions are complex issues between a company and its managers, directors, subsidiaries and major shareholders. RPT is considered as an issue to corporate governance because of the problems of asymmetric information between the firms manager and external capital markets. Additionally, RPTs result in higher agency costs. This is due to the alignment of decision-making and monitoring rights. Moreover, according to Johnstone and Bedard (2004), RPTs are difficult to audit and these transactions represent a potential audit risk. When examining the financial statements of companies, auditors do not have adequate information on related party. Is it fair to blame only bad corporate governance for corporate failures? Bad corporate governance is one of the reasons which account for the corporate failures. Corporate governance issues, like those with related party transactions, crop up because of the existence of asymmetric information between shareholders and the firms managers. Existing research has shown that certain board characteristics and CEO pay-performance sensitivity are useful governance mechanisms which help to improve managerial agency problems. For example, large board size, which is observable and disclosed in proxy statements, has been found to be negatively correlated with firm value and interpreted as indicative of weak corporate governance (Yermack, 1996). However, this does not conclude that corporate failures arise only because of bad corporate governance. There are multitude reasons behind the corporate scandal. For instance, it has been seen that a lack of regulations is one of the reasons. It is believed that the erosion of accounting practices begun in the 1980s as firms tried to balance strict standards with a desire to please clients and increase consulting business. Research has shown that a lack of government regulation was one of the major causes of the huge energy trading firm Enron. This firm reported profits of hundreds of millions of dollars ($979 million in 2000, alone) before collapsing in 2001. Other examples include poor management structures, lack of independence and objectivity by auditors as well as poor business ethics. Ethics can be defined as moral philosophy. It is basically the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad, right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles (Ethics, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2000). However, when this term is applied in the business context, it is said to be the study and evaluation of decision making by businesses according to moral concepts and judgments (Business Ethics, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2007). For instance, in the Enron case, the auditors applied reckless standards to do their audit because they were receiving significant consultation fees from the company.

Dorothy Day, Saint-Worthy? Essay -- essays research papers

Dorothy Day, Saint-Worthy? Almost immediately after her death in 1980 controversy arose about whether Dorothy Day should be canonized a Saint by the Church. Now that the Vatican has approved the late Cardinal John O'Connor's request to consider Dorothy Day's "cause," the controversy is being rekindled. After converting, she dedicated her life to New York's poor and immigrants, building hospitality homes that operated much like homeless shelters. Her endeavor grew into the national Catholic Worker movement, a social justice crusade conducted in revolutionary tones new to the church. When she died, a multitude came down to the old dwelling off the Bowery to pay their respects, the way people had come to Catholic Worker houses for soup. There were Catholic Workers, social workers, migrant workers, the unemployed; addicts, alcoholics, anarchists; Protestants, Jews and agnostics; the devout and the strident and the curious, there to see what a saint looked like. Dorothy Day died in 1980, at the age of 83. She was one of the greatest religious figures of the century, and one of the most paradoxical. She was a Catholic and she was an anarchist. She condemned poverty and she advocated it. She founded the Catholic Worker, a loose aggregation of 'houses of hospitality,' communal farms, newspapers and round-table discussions for 'further clarification of thought' - and called her memoirs 'The Long Loneliness.' The movement was wary of authority, yet revered her as its leader (Rosin). If Dorothy Day is ever canonized, the record of who she was, what she was like and what she did is too complete and accessible for her to be hidden. She will be the patron saint not only of the homeless and those who try to care for them but also of people who lose their temper. One of the miracles of Dorothy's life is that she remained part of a conflict-torn community for nearly a half a century. Still more remarkable, she remained a person of hope and gratitude to the end. Many voices are in support of the canonization process as well, citing Dorothy Day's life as an example that has inspired them to prayer and action for social justice. Her faithfulness to the Gospel, living the "preferential option for the poor" and showing that a lay person can achieve heroic virtue are oft... ...in your entire life." To a college student who asked a sarcastic question about her recipe for soup, she responded, "You cut the vegetables until your fingers bleed." To a journalist who told her it was the first time he had interviewed a saint, she replied, "Don't call me a saint -- I don't want to be dismissed that easily (Forest)." Even though she may not have wanted it, I do think that her cause should go all the way. She is a wonderful example of living the gospel message and an inspiration to regular men and women. She knew what it was to suffer for her beliefs. She was converted and reconciled. She saw Jesus in the faces of all whom she met and served. What better example of sainthood could there possibly be. Forest, Jim. Dorothy Day, Saint and Troublemaker. Guadalupe, Casa Maria October 10, 1997 Anonymous. Dorothy Day, Servant of God http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/canonization.cfm Rosin, Hannah. Honoring Dorothy Day: The Dead Don’t Ever Own the Dead. The Washington Post. March 17, 2000

How to Manage Negativity within the Medical Aesthetics

The vital challenge for managing negative employees nowadays is to stay alive and flourish in a very chaotic globe. To achieve this, the Medical Aesthetics Market Place perceives it essential to keep positive attitudes of its organization. Ethical values, constantly applied, are the foundation in building a commercially victorious and generally responsible business (Barbuceanu & Fox, 1996).   Business organizations progress trust and a positive outlook between its personnel strengthen ethical framework and proffer a moral breadth during times of change and in catastrophe (Grimes & Alley, 1997).Medica Spa owners require positive-productive employees to gain encouraging impact on their clienteles. For this objective, owners and managers endow with greater control over one's manners, build assurance in decision making, and consent to more truthful discernments of one's self. Those issues concern justice, honesty, correctness and an optimistic attitude; as a consequence it can only be resolved according to ethical standards.Decision-making must be empowered to the level adjoining the field of action, on condition that, that this level has compulsory for positive reception from its employees at its clearance (Guest, 1989). A manager is required to make his function wider to increase dynamism, inventiveness and speed of achievement (Barenberg, 1994).Employees in the Medical Aesthetics Market Place are in fact obliged to comply with significantly increased demands in quantity and quality. The movement in the present day is to hire less than sufficient staff and work to the maximum.   Negativity should be restricted to any level of an employee. Operations individuals at present have more duties and must generate more (Ghallab, 1994).Owners are required to entrust a part of its sanctions to the subordinate hierarchical levels, if they do not want to be congested with more and more abundant and multifaceted problems. Delegation is mainly about entrusting an ownerâ₠¬â„¢s authority to others. This denotes that they can take action and begin autonomously; and that they presume duty with owners for tasks. Entrustment underpins a technique of management which allows the staff to exercise and widen their skills and knowledge to full potential (Guest, 1989). To manage negativity of employees, owners must:distribute adequate resources to board activities such as time, money, and facilitiessupport workers and supervisors to collaborate with the committee and be involvedentail the committee in each and every health and safety activitiesfacilitate to schedule committee activities such as investigations as well as inspectionsdivide health and safety matters from concerns not relatedwork and take steps safely and guarantee that supervisors work and take action carefullyTo manage negative employees, managers must be straightforward to the staff to assume their responsibilities, as every now and then it is very at ease to feel oneself protected from all ris ks that are inherent in running an organization’s operations; a desire from the managers must exist to abandon certain prerogatives – for it is a loss of authority – to be able to concentrate on other more significant activities; must be capable of setting up a career promotion and rewards that recompense the efforts of the staff that stimulate them and motivate their activity for the benefit of the group (Ghallab, 1994).   The staff must have enough knowledge on how to do their responsibilities with dedication and positive attitude. Thus, the business owners ought to facilitate access to the required understanding.The owner who fears and cannot organize well will never manage negativity of employees successfully; the manager, who is acquainted with that the staff may possibly have supplementary experience and knowledge, and so may possibly develop the decision-making process, will receive their participation; managing negativity of employees guarantees that t he staff will put decision-making into practice within the organization of their objectives and will sense that their perspectives are welcome. One of the main irrational fears about delegation is that by providing others authority, an owner or manager loses power (Grimes & Alley, 1997). This must not be the case.If the owner trains the staff to take actions the same criteria as the manager would, by example and explanations, then the staff will be exercising the manager’s control on his/her behalf with positive outlook if and only if the manager demonstrates a positive attitude. And since they will distinguish many more circumstances over which control may be put into effect, then control will be exercised more rapidly and more diversely than an owner could put it into effect by his/her self.An owner must be able to distribute the more mundane tasks as equally as possible; and add the more stimulating once as broadly. Generally, but particularly with the tedious tasks, an ow ner must be careful to delegate not only the performance of the mission but also its tenure (Barenberg, 1994). Task handing over, more willingly than task assignment, allows innovation and positive attitude and outlook in their work.To manage negativity within a business,   an owner is supposed to increase progressively; first, a small assignment leading to a little improvement, then another assignment which constructs upon the first; when that is accomplished, add an additional step; and so on. This is the differentiation between asking people to balance a sheer wall (negative), and offering them with a flight of steps (positive).When an owner delegates a job, it does not have to be finished as fit as an owner could do it in a given time, but only as fit as needed: never judge the upshot by what is expected (it is complicated to be objective – negative), but by fitness for positive function. When an owner delegates a task, he/she must agree upon the standards by which the result will be reviewed. An owner must not exaggerate a negative issue; if the staff did something wrong, the owner must have the skill of using specific and positive terms in correcting the mistake – not meaning to hurt the staff’s feelings (Barbuceanu & Fox, 1996).ReferencesBarbuceanu, M. & Fox, M. (1996). The Design of a Coordination Language for Multi-AgentsSystems. In Intelligent Agents III. Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages.Springer, pp.341-355.Barenberg, M. (1994). Democracy and Domination in the Law of Workplace Cooperation:From Bureaucratic to Flexible Production, 94 Colum. L. Rev. 753, 825–78. Harper,supra note 468, at 113–14.Ghallab, M. (1994). Past and future chronicles for supervision and planning. In Jean  PaulHaton, editor, Proceedings of the 14th Int. Avignon Conference, Paris, EC2 and AFIA,pp23-34.Grimes, G. & Alley, B. (1997). Intelligent Agents for Network Fault Diagnosis and Testing.In Integrated Network Management V: inte grated management in a virtual world. SanDiego, California, USA, May 1997. IFIP, Chapman & Hall, pp.232-244.Guest, D. (1989). Personnel and HRM: Can you tell the difference? Personnel Management.St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, pp23-27.

The Persian Empire of Ancient Iran

The Persian Empire of Ancient Iran Irans history as a nation of people speaking an Indo-European language did not begin until the middle of the second millennium B.C. Before then, Iran was occupied by peoples with a variety of cultures. There are numerous artifacts attesting to settled agriculture, permanent sun-dried- brick dwellings, and pottery-making from the sixth millennium B.C. The most advanced area technologically was ancient Susiana, present-day Khuzestan Province. By the fourth millennium, the inhabitants of Susiana, the Elamites, were using semipictographic writing, probably learned from the highly advanced civilization of Sumer in Mesopotamia (ancient name for much of the area now known as Iraq), to the west. Sumerian influence in art, literature, and religion also became particularly strong when the Elamites were occupied by, or at least came under the domination of, two Mesopotamian cultures, those of Akkad and Ur, during the middle of the third millennium. By 2000 B.C. the Elamites had become sufficiently unified to destroy the city of Ur. Elamite civilization developed rapidly from that point, and, by the fourteenth century B.C., its art was at its most impressive. Immigration of the Medes and the Persians Small groups of nomadic, horse-riding peoples speaking Indo-European languages began moving into the Iranian cultural area from Central Asia near the end of the second millennium B.C. Population pressures, overgrazing in their home area, and hostile neighbors may have prompted these migrations. Some of the groups settled in eastern Iran, but others, those who were to leave significant historical records, pushed farther west toward the Zagros Mountains. Three major groups are identifiablethe Scythians, the Medes (the Amadai or Mada), and the Persians (also known as the Parsua or Parsa). The Scythians established themselves in the northern Zagros Mountains and clung to a seminomadic existence in which raiding was the chief form of economic enterprise. The Medes settled over a huge area, reaching as far as modern Tabriz in the north and Esfahan in the south. They had their capital at Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan) and annually paid tribute to the Assyrians. The Persians were established in three areas: to the south of Lake Urmia (the tradional name, also cited as Lake Orumiyeh, to which it has reverted after being called Lake Rezaiyeh under the Pahlavis), on the northern border of the kingdom of the Elamites; and in the environs of modern Shiraz, which would be their eventual settling place and to which they would give the name Parsa (what is roughly present-day Fars Province). During the seventh century B.C., the Persians were led by Hakamanish (Achaemenes, in Greek), ancestor of the Achaemenid dynasty. A descendant, Cyrus II (also known as Cyrus the Great or Cyrus the Elder), led the combined forces of the Medes and the Persians to establish the most extensive empire known in the ancient world. By 546 B.C., Cyrus had defeated Croesus*, the Lydian king of fabled wealth, and had secured control of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, Armenia, and the  Greek colonies  along the Levant. Moving east, he took Parthia (land of the Arsacids, not to be confused with Parsa, which was to the southwest), Chorasmis, and Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the Jews who had been held captive there, thus earning his immortalization in the Book of Isaiah. When he died in 529**, Cyruss kingdom extended as far east as the Hindu Kush in present-day Afghanistan. His successors were less successful. Cyruss unstable son, Cambyses II, conquered Egypt but later committed suicide during a revolt led by a priest, Gaumata, who usurped the throne until overthrown in 522 by a member of a lateral branch of the Achaemenid family, Darius I (also known as Darayarahush or Darius the Great). Darius attacked the Greek mainland, which had supported rebellious Greek colonies under his aegis, but as a result of his defeat at the  Battle of Marathon in 490  was forced to retract the limits of the empire to  Asia Minor. The Achaemenids thereafter consolidated areas firmly under their control. It was Cyrus and Darius who, by sound and farsighted administrative planning, brilliant military maneuvering, and a humanistic worldview, established the greatness of the Achaemenids and in less than thirty years raised them from an obscure tribe to a world power. The quality of the Achaemenids as rulers began to disintegrate, however, after the death of Darius in 486. His son and successor, Xerxes, was chiefly occupied with suppressing revolts in Egypt and Babylonia. He also attempted to conquer the Greek Peloponnesus, but encouraged by a victory at Thermopylae, he overextended his forces and suffered overwhelming defeats at Salamis and Plataea. By the time his successor, Artaxerxes I, died in 424, the imperial court was beset by factionalism among the lateral family branches, a condition that persisted until the death in 330 of the last of the Achaemenids, Darius III, at the hands of his own subjects. The Achaemenids were enlightened despots who allowed a certain amount of regional autonomy in the form of the satrapy system. A satrapy was an administrative unit, usually organized on a geographical basis. A satrap (governor) administered the region, a general supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a state secretary kept official records. The general and the state secretary reported directly to the central government. The twenty satrapies were linked by a 2,500-kilometer highway, the most impressive stretch being the  royal road  from Susa to Sardis, built by command of Darius. Relays of mounted couriers could reach the most remote areas in fifteen days. Despite the relative local independence afforded by the satrapy system, however, royal inspectors, the eyes and ears of the king, toured the empire and reported on local conditions, and the king maintained a personal bodyguard of 10,000 men, called the Immortals. The language in greatest use in the empire was Aramaic. Old Persian was the official language of the empire but was used only for inscriptions and royal proclamations. Darius revolutionized the economy by placing it on a silver and gold coinage system. Trade was extensive, and under the  Achaemenids  there was an efficient infrastructure that facilitated the exchange of commodities among the far reaches of the empire. As a result of this commercial activity, Persian words for typical items of trade became prevalent throughout the  Middle East  and eventually entered the English language; examples are, bazaar, shawl, sash, turquoise, tiara, orange, lemon, melon, peach, spinach, and asparagus. Trade was one of the empires main sources of revenue, along with agriculture and tribute. Other accomplishments of Dariuss reign included codification of the data, a universal legal system upon which much of later Iranian law would be based, and construction of a new capital at Persepolis, where vassal states would offer their yearly tribute at the festival celebrating the spring equinox. In its art and architecture, Persepolis reflected Dariuss percept ion of himself as the leader of conglomerates of people to whom he had given a new and single identity. The Achaemenid art and architecture found there is at once distinctive and also highly eclectic. The Achaemenids took the art forms and the cultural and religious traditions of many of the ancient Middle Eastern peoples and combined them into a single form. This Achaemenid artistic style is evident in the iconography of Persepolis, which celebrates the king and the office of the monarch. Envisioning a new world empire based on a fusion of Greek and Iranian culture and  ideals,  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Alexander the Great  of Macedon accelerated the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire. He was first accepted as leader by the fractious Greeks in 336 B.C. and by 334 had advanced to Asia Minor, an Iranian satrapy. In quick  succession,  he took Egypt, Babylonia, and then, over the course of two years, the heart of the  Achaemenid EmpireSusa, Ecbatana, and Persepolisthe last of which he burned. Alexander married Roxana (Roshanak), the daughter of the most powerful of the Bactrian chiefs (Oxyartes, who revolted in present-day Tadzhikistan), and in 324 commanded his officers and 10,000 of his soldiers to marry Iranian women. The mass wedding, held at Susa, was a model of Alexanders desire to consummate the union of the Greek and Iranian peoples. These plans ended in 323 B.C., however, when Alexander was struck with fever and died in Babylon, leaving no heir. His empire was d ivided among four of his generals. Seleucus, one of these generals, who became ruler of Babylon in 312, gradually reconquered most of Iran. Under Seleucuss son, Antiochus I, many Greeks entered Iran, and Hellenistic motifs in art, architecture, and urban planning became prevalent. Although the Seleucids faced challenges from the  Ptolemies of Egypt  and from the growing power of Rome, the main threat came from the province of Fars (Partha to the Greeks). Arsaces (of the seminomadic Parni tribe), whose name was used by all subsequent Parthian kings, revolted against the Seleucid governor in 247 B.C. and established a dynasty, the Arsacids, or Parthians. During the second century, the Parthians were able to extend their rule to Bactria, Babylonia, Susiana, and Media, and, under Mithradates II (123-87 B.C.), Parthian conquests stretched from India to Armenia. After the victories of Mithradates II, the Parthians began to claim descent from both the Greeks and the Achaemenids. They spoke a language similar to that of the Achaemenids, used the Pahlavi script, and established an administrative system based on Achaemenid precedents. Meanwhile, Ardeshir, son of the priest Papak, who claimed descent from the legendary hero Sasan, had become the Parthian governor in the Achaemenid home province of Persis (Fars). In A.D. 224 he overthrew the last Parthian king and established the Sassanid dynasty, which was to last 400 years. The Sassanids established an empire roughly within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids  [c, 550-330 B.C.;  with the capital at Ctesiphon. The Sassanids consciously sought to resuscitate Iranian traditions and to obliterate Greek cultural influence. Their rule was characterized by considerable centralization, ambitious urban planning, agricultural development, and technological improvements. Sassanid rulers adopted the title of shahanshah (king of kings), as sovereigns over numerous petty rulers, known as  shahrdars. Historians believe that society was divided into four classes: the priests, warriors, secretaries, and commoners. The royal princes, petty rulers, great landlords, and priests together constituted a privileged stratum, and the social system appears to have been fairly rigid. Sassanid rule and the system of social stratification were reinforced by Zoroastrianism, which became the state religion. The Zoroastrian priesthood became immensely powerful. The head of the priestly class, the  mobadan  mobad, along with the military commander, the  eran  spahbod, and the head of the bureaucracy, were among the great men of the state. Rome, with its capital at  Constantinople, had replaced Greece as Irans principal Western enemy, and hostilities between the two empires were frequent. Shahpur I (241-72), son and successor of Ardeshir, waged successful campaigns against the Romans and in 260 even took the emperor Valerian prisoner. Chosroes I (531-79), also known as Anushirvan the Just, is the most celebrated of the Sassanid rulers. He reformed the tax system and reorganized the army and the bureaucracy, tying the army more closely to the central government than to local lords. His reign witnessed the rise of the  dihqans  (literally, village lords), the petty landholding nobility who were the backbone of later Sassanid provincial administration and the tax collection system. Chosroes was a great builder, embellishing his capital, founding new towns, and constructing new buildings. Under his auspices, too, many books were brought from India and translated into Pahlavi. Some of these later found their way into the literature of the Islamic world. The reign of Chosroes II (591-628) was characterized by the wasteful splendor and lavishness of the court. Toward the end of his  reign  Chosroes IIs power declined. In renewed fighting with the Byzantines, he enjoyed initial successes, captured Damascus, and seized the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. But counterattacks by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius brought enemy forces deep into Sassanid territory. Years of warfare exhausted both the Byzantines and the Iranians. The later Sassanids were further weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation, religious unrest, rigid social stratification, the increasing power of the provincial landholders, and a rapid turnover of rulers. These factors facilitated the Arab invasion in the seventh century. Data as of December 1987Source: Library of Congress Country Studies Corrections *Jona Lendering  points out that a 547/546 date for the fall of Croesus is based on the  Nabonidus Chronicle  whose reading is uncertain. Rather than  Croesus  it may have been the ruler of Uratu. Lendering says the fall of Lydia should be listed as the 540s. **He also advises that cuneiform sources start to mention Cambyses as sole ruler in August 530, so the date of his death the following year is wrong.

Underclass stereotypes in the media.

Underclass stereotypes in the media. STEREOTYPING IN THE MEDIA:A response to Gregory Mantsios' essay Media Magic: Making Class InvisibleFor decades media has helped stratify culture by serving as a means to inform the public of the occurrences that take place in our society. "The mass media is arguably the most influential in molding public consciousness" (Mantsios 101). The more media plays a prominent role in highlighting situations in our society the more media stereotypes become inevitable. Stereotypes in the media usually classify individuals by their class, ethnicity, occupation, gender, and sexual orientation, giving the audience a generalized ideal of the characteristics of a particular group. However, Mantsios' essay Media Magic: Making Class Invisible focuses on the segregation of the middle-class and under-class, creating a division between one another, where "we" or "us" the middle-class are humiliated by "them" the under-class. False representation of the under-class and the victimization of the middle-clas s by the under-class are two points continuously exemplified in the media today.English: Differences in national income equality a...The media has a tendency "to focus on the plight of the poor, these stories are about middle-class opposition to the poor. Such stories tell us that the poor are an inconvenience and an irritation" (Mantsios 103).In a recent article titled Closing the Education Achievement Gap, the government is to make a major provision to the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Act will provide $200 billion dollars, from "our" pockets, to schools with children from low-income families. The goal of the revision is to raise the achievement of children in low-income schools to those in higher-income, predominately white, families.When reading over the editorial and reviewing the photograph that accompanied the article, it was evident that the term "low-income" was portrayed by grueling neighborhoods populated by ethnic and visible minorities. The photos por trayed are a false representation...

Qualities of Successful Marriages Personal Statement

Qualities of Successful Marriages - Personal Statement Example But they have become the best of companions while respecting and incorporating each other's differences. What I learned from my family's positive example has translated into my relationships with friends and boyfriends. I try to keep an open mind so that I can enjoy what they enjoy and really be part of their life. During my early teenage years I went through a phase of thinking that I needed to have as many friends as possible to seem "popular." This led me to choose quantity over quality and although I became "friends" with more people, the depth of each friendship became less and less. I could tell what was happening because I barely spent time with the close friends I had before. I went back to the way I was before, because being a really good companion felt better than being a companion to lots of people. This is a lesson that I hope to remember throughout my life so that all of my relationships with people are deep and meaningful. One of my first major relationships was not a very honest one. I cheated on him a lot, and lied about it. But I think I may have been hurting myself more than I was hurting him. The complications of that relationship have created problems in more recent relationships. Because I cheated on someone and he didn't know about it for such a long time, I started to think about the possibility and likelihood of it happening to me. My own actions have led me to paranoia and an inability to trust trustworthy people. Every time a boyfriend tells me about his day, I find myself questioning the reality of his story. I have noticed this in other Hispanic girls and think it may be true of me also that my parents are very overprotective of me when it comes to boys. This has led me to lie to my parents on more than one occasion about where I am and who I'm with. The lies I used to tell my parents led to a lot of hurt, both on their side and mine. What I have taken from my past is a stronger personal adherence to honesty. I have experienced first-hand the bad things that come from dishonesty and now know how important it is to be honest. I still have trouble trusting people who have done nothing bad to earn my distrust, so there is certainly room to grow. I think that as I continue being honest and surrounding myself in positive, honest relationships, I will regain my trust in other people. Responsibility Because my parents were so overprotective of me, I was always trying to prove to them and myself that I was independent. This need for independence led me to do responsible things. I started taking care of younger children as a babysitter when I was only thirteen, and got a "real job" when I was old enough. I was always on time to work and never missed a day. This responsibility was also reflected in school, as I always did my homework and made good grades. I reached a rebellious point in my life (perhaps because now my parents expected me to be responsible and I always wanted to disprove them) and I started to disregard my schoolwork and job commitments. I quickly realized that my irresponsibility had no positive benefits and only made me feel bad about myself, so my rebellious phase was short-lived. I also think that my job as a babysitter helped me know what it was like to be responsible for other people. As a youngest child, I never had any younger siblings to take care of and be responsible

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

Marriage - Essay Example Moreover, the arguments against same-sex marriage almost exactly track the arguments against interracial marriage, which shows that the evolution of marriage should go in the same direction – just as interracial marriage is accepted by the majority of people, so should same-sex marriage be. The History of Marriage   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The history of marriage, of course, would be the topic of a much longer discourse, so this section will only review the pertinent aspects of heterosexual marriage which impact the arguments for and against gay marriage.   Fox-Genovese (49) traces the history of marriage, stating that marriage began as a relationship between families, tribes and clans, as opposed to uniting individuals.   Marriage was transformed, however, into a right to enjoy certain benefits and privileges, along with community approval and recognition.   Fox-Genovese (50) begins her analysis of marriage by stating that Adam and Eve were created an d ordered to be fruitful and multiply, which was the basis for this original union.   In the Old Testament, women suffered greatly, as their husbands took concubines and fathered children with many other women.   At that time, marriage was mainly about families and tribes, not about the individuals themselves.   This motivation continued in pre-modern societies, as primitive groups, such as Hebrew tribes, used marriage as a way to strengthen their house.   Marriage was also typically used as a political solidification practice, as ruling families used marriage to strengthen their political rule.   Therefore, for most of millennia, marriage has been a pragmatic institution, not based upon love, but, rather, based upon economics and power consolidation.   This is shown by the pragmatics of marriage in consolidating power, and is also shown by dowries and bride prices, in which the potential husband literally paid for the privilege of marrying his future wife (Fox-Genovese, 53).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout these historical eras, women were subjected to patriarchy.   The man ruled the home, and, at least in the Old Testament cases, was able to take on multiple wives, concubines and lovers without censure.   Fox-Genovese (60) states that this patriarchy was lessened, somewhat, towards the end of the 19th Century, as women gained more equality in and outside the marital unit.   Eventually, marriage evolved from its pragmatic status to one that is more egalitarian and ostensibly based upon love.   Marriage is no longer merely a way to solidify power, or a way to gain economically. It is now considered to be a sacred bond between two people in love. The emphasis is now on personal happiness, not economics, power and social ties (Fox-Genovese, 61).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fox-Genovese (62) makes the case that marriage, historically, has been based upon practical concerns, and these concerns do not nec essarily focus upon what anti-gay marriage advocates insist are at the core of marital unions – the family and procreation.   Marriage has traditionally been based upon economic, social and political concerns, which seem to undermine the arguments against gay marriage. Another sound argument which is based upon an analysis of heterosexual marriage, which profoundly undermines the current bias against