Of Mice and Men The Death of the American Dream free essay sample

The American Dream has always been one of the most prominent ideals in American society. Of Mice and Men was written by Steinbeck in 1937. It focuses on the lives of two men, Lennie and George, as they try to fulfill their own American Dream of owning a small farm. While this seems like an attainable dream in the beginning, Steinbeck chooses instead to destroy this dream utterly with the death of Lennie. Curley’s wife had an American Dream of being an actress, but she was condemned to a life on a farm with a man she doesn’t love. By destroying the American Dreams of Lennie, George, and Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and Men, prove Steinbeck believes that the American Dream is no longer an attainable goal. George and Lennie share an American Dream of owning a farm together. The audience learns of the dream when George tells Lennie about the farm: â€Å"Someday we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple and some cows and some pigs- An’ live offa the lan† (15). We will write a custom essay sample on Of Mice and Men: The Death of the American Dream or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The farm they describe would appear to come out of a fairy tale. In this book, proves to be exactly what it is. After Lennie’s death George admits â€Å"-I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear it so much I got to thinking maybe we would† (93). In this story, Lennie believed in an American dream, and in many ways, he actually became a physical embodiment of the American Dream. As demonstrated by Lennie’s excitement and wholehearted belief that it would occur. He believed that he and George were different because they work together, exemplified in the text: â€Å"With us it ain’t like that. With us we got a future! †(15). Lennie and George possessed undying belief in the American Dream. However, through the death of Lennie, the dream of owning a farm died. This helps to prove that Lennie was a symbolic version of the American Dream. George also contains a symbolic meaning that can be associated with him. George’s embodiment is a representation of the faith the people place in the American dream. This can be proven both by the trust Lennie, who is symbolically the American Dream, places in George, and by the way Lennie needs George to succeed. When George kills Lennie at the end of the novel, Steinbeck symbolically shows that by leaving your American Dream to faith and hard work is no longer something that Americans can do. Curley’s wife also had an American dream that ended in failure. She has the dream of becoming a movie star. She said that she â€Å"coulda been a movie star and have nice clothes and all of that-† (90). She had a tragic story: a young girl with a talent for acting who is forced to live in isolation on a farm married to a man she doesn’t love. This is one of the most blatant allusions to the fact that the American dream is no longer achievable. Her story shows that opportunities are no longer easy to follow, and that society makes it difficult to succeed, especially for women. Steinbeck also supports this conclusion in his Nobel Prize Speech. When he speaks about the duties of authors he says, â€Å"He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement† (â€Å"Banquet Speech†). Steinbeck refers to his belief that the American Dream has become a corrupted ideal, and that it is his duty as an author to reveal that to the American public. The phrase â€Å"dark and dangerous dreams† is references that American Dream, which has changed from its originally pristine beliefs into something that has the possibility to destroy. The character of Curley’s Wife is used by Steinbeck to illustrate his point that the American Dream has been corrupted. Throughout the book, Steinbeck uses characters with small roles to help point out his beliefs. He often uses these characters to illustrate his belief in the uncertainty of the American Dream. For example, Slim talks about how he â€Å"ain’t neven seen two guys traveling together before. I don’t know why, maybe everybody in the whole damn world’s just scared of each other† (34). In this passage Steinbeck uses Slim to comment on how two guys traveling together is strange. The reason he gives is that people in the world are scared of each other. This can be related back to the American Dream. For a dream to succeed, you need help. The reason no one’s American Dreams are succeeding is because they don’t receive help from each other. Curley’s Wife never got help to fulfill her dream, so it never succeeded. Steinbeck echoes this sentiment in a part of his Nobel Prize speech, â€Å"Humanity has been passing through a gray and desolate time of confusion† (â€Å"Banquet Speech†). From this quote, Steinbeck is saying that he believes that we are passing through a time without the ability to fulfill dreams. Gray and desolate implies that there are no dreams that exist. Another time a minor character shows Steinbeck’s beliefs about the American Dream is when Crooks and Lennie talk about the farm where Lennie wants to live on with George. Crooks says, â€Å"you’re nuts. I’ve seen hundreds of men come by on the roads an’ on the ranches with their bindles on their backs an’ the same damn thing in their heads† (72). In that line, Steinbeck basically condenses all of his beliefs into one phrase. He states that the American Dream is just a dream, and that those who believe otherwise are deluding themselves. The American Dream began as a simple belief that those on the bottom of society had the potential to move up and become something better. In the book Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows that this is no longer the case. He represents this symbolically through Lennie and George’s relationship and outcome. He also proves this with character of Curley’s Wife, by showing that the American dream is hard to gain, even with opportunity, and especially if you don’t have support. Finally, he uses his background characters to make his point with small phrases that warn the characters and the readers of the dangers of the American Dream. By extinguishing Lennie, George’s, and Curley’s Wife’s American Dream, as well as using the sentiment of the minor characters when these dreams are discussed, have shown that Steinbeck believes that the American Dream is no longer an achievable goal in American society.

Characterisation of Holden Caulfield in the Catcher Essays

Characterisation of Holden Caulfield in the Catcher Essays Characterisation of Holden Caulfield in the Catcher Paper Characterisation of Holden Caulfield in the Catcher Paper Slinger uses effective characterization to explore how Holder finds growing up painful and difficult. Holder is frightened of maturing because he has convinced himself that the adult world is corrupt, and that all the adults are phony, hypocritical and false. He has made this generalization to detach himself from adults, to resist entry to the society that they belong to. Holders actions contradict what he believes as he is a compulsive liar; l have this tiny tumor on the brain. Holder is not shy to lie to people around him. He lies to Mrs. Morrow the woman he meets on the rain after leaving school -because he does not like interacting with new people or opening up to them, in case they are phony. Holder cannot reach full maturity because he ignores advice of his elders, like Mrs. Morrow, as he does not want guidance in his Journey to adulthood he does not want to become what society wants him to become, so he remains a child. Holders own physique is telling him to change and to mature into adulthood despite what he believes, Im six-foot-etc:and- a-half and I have grey hair. His body appears to be maturing, but his mind lacks this placement and remains child-like. Slinger uses this contrast of his emotions with his physical appearance to imply that his body is telling him to grow up, but his mind is resisting, in order to stay innocent and pure for as long as possible. Slinger even uses his name to show his youthfulness , Holder Coalfield can be broken up Into Hold-on as if he is not ready to grow up, and that it is too difficult for him to handle. And Call is apart of the amnion, which protects the babys head during birth, this relates to Holder as he Is metaphorically protected by this and does not mature as a result.

To persuade People to refrain from taking Diet Pills Essay

To persuade People to refrain from taking Diet Pills - Essay Example It's very important to study this matter for it will make clear to us the real thing about diet pills. The problem is the rate of people who uses diet pills and those who sell such pills are getting higher. The result of this study will surely change our point of view regarding diet pills. The people will surely will benefit, all in the whole society. In the principle of Ecology there is a saying that everything is connected to everything else. So what's the relation of this As we take diet pills we tend to limit our choices and wants to eat. The pills limited the wants of your stomach. And you really have to maintain your diet. When you take diet pills you will not feel hungry every time. But we don't have notice that some part of the body, or one of the body organs are affected by that pills, such as the sensitive one, the liver which is the screener of all, will be affected. But why is this problem not have been solved, actually there are barriers like the legal barriers for they tend to explain that diet pills had come for solving the problem in the society. There are some good results from taking it. And the cant stop the production for it really helps the people's needs. There are also the attitudinal barriers in which the people keeps on consuming and buying diet pills, their attitude and the willing ness to buy the product tends the hardship to stop them becomes worse. There is also a political barrier in which some of the politicians in authority holds or protect those producers, for they will receive a payment from them. There is also an economical barrier, since the people's attitude cannot be stopped by time they continue buying the pills and so consuming these pills helps the economy, so the economic sectors are afraid to stop the production of diet pills for it helps the economic progression. Solving the problem from the start will be hard to do, but there are solutions to solve this. Education is the solution. Why not educate the people about the bad aspects of taking diet pills. We should make them believe that pills can give them another problem; the willingness to be thin is dangerous. Why not publish some ads on the newspaper, conduct seminars, and even teach those in schools. To solve the issue its very intelligent to start from the roots, we should stop those who buys, and so it will make a bankrupt thing to the producers because nobody or the consuming rate decreases the will tend to stop negotiating the product. Let us dissolve the pills, why not take advantage of the oatmeal, and make the production of fruit and vegetables increase, make them have a vegetarian living, more on fibers and exercises. There is a lot of solutions and not the diet pills. Let us take the natural thing. Not of any synthetic thing around us. God gave us everything. No pills. Let's discipline ourselves, and have the balanced diet. Let us remember that we should value health. No need to have the synthetic solutions to become beautiful. We should go for the

Week 6 post class 6340 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 6 post class 6340 - Assignment Example This is so because there are many volunteers in many health care departments but not many really carry out the roles of teaching like a nurse who is a service learner that is really noble of you (Groh, Stallwood and Daniels, 2011). I had really not thought about the role technology plays in higher education and especially having more people take up nursing degrees because higher education learning will be easier than it is currently and more than it was in the past. Thank you for such insight and I totally agree with it and especially if nursing shortage is to have a permanent solution (Zarate and Burciaga, 2010). Your current work position of being a director of education is the best position to advocate for specialty certification for nurses because you have not only the capability but also power to motivate, challenge and teach about the professionalism that accompanies having a certificate and it will also open up future job opportunities and trust from prospective employers (National League for Nursing, 2009). American Association of College Nurses, (2013). Defining Scholarship for the Discipline of Nursing. Retrieved on February 10, 2013 from:

Economics for Public Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economics for Public Policy - Essay Example In this case, the two firms would benefit from a reduction in the advertisement. In this regard, the legal system is the legal advertisement by the two companies. The anarchy is a situation where both the two firms fail to take part in advertisement. This situation would be beneficial for both the two firms. On the other hand, if Firm B fails to advertise where as Firm A advertise, the advertisement would significantly benefit Firm A. However, the maximum level of advertisement by a single firm is depended on the degree of advertisement undertaken by the other firm (Axelrod, 2004). This means that there is an equal outcome whenever different companies pursue advertisement to a level below the equilibrium. This principle can be applied to different areas such as rational environments. It explains why the presidential candidates in two different parties are actually similar. Whenever the candidates are confirmed in the preliminaries, they would be created inside their camps of partisan . The electorate who are undecided would be categorised in the central political spectrum. The candidates may tend to rash to the middle group so as to appeal to the group. In this case, the assumption is that voters would select the close option thus many votes could be acquired whenever one is in the center. Part b. The benefits of welfare are an efficiency-enhancing insurance scheme, which may insure against incoming risks. Those individuals who hold the illustrations of the prisoner's dilemma believe that the game highlights morality in challenges that are faced by large groups or welfare. Similar to the game of two players, the game with many players pays the cooperating players R, and defecting players P. In welfare, when some individual defect while some cooperate the cooperating players would get an S while the defecting players will get a T. A good example is illustrated in the commons tragedy. All The members of a certain welfare prefer to graze their animals on the common s instead of maintaining the animals on his own land (Axelrod and William, 2006). The common resource will become unsuitable for grazing whenever it is used by a number above the threshold. In this case, there is a derived benefit B that each welfare member can achieve whenever he or she pays a cost C sufficiently. Above n choose C Below n choose C C C+ B C D B 0 Above n choose C Below n choose C C C+ B C D B 0 From the table, there is an assumption that cost C is negative. The dilemma in this case, is to obtain a benefit with no cost incurred. In a situation, that is ideal the benefit is always a be given reward together with the cost. The challenging situation is to incur a cost but no benefit. This means that a payoff is ordered as B>(B+C)>0>C. In this respect, whenever one chooses C he obtains C+B hence the benefits of welfare are an efficiency-enhancing insurance scheme. Response to question 2. Part a. The two categories of voters will include the rich the middle and the poor p ersons. R M P Gross income $13 $4 $3 Willingness to pay $4.5 $1.5 $0.5 . This cannot be said to be a pay off matrix since all the willingness to pay, being penalties needs to be identified as negative numbers. T= [] If we add $4 to each element we get T= ] T=] The first step involves checking for saddle points (Bendor, 2007). This is a point where the unstable and stable manifold has a dimension that fails to be a zero (Axelrod, 2007). In a matrix, it

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