Saturday, August 31, 2019

Auditing, Financial/Tax and Management Accounting

To obtain a challenging position utilizing several years experience in Accounting, Computers or Management Own and operate a Computer business. Rebuild and make custom built computers per request. Provide computer training,repair,web design. Union Planters Trust & Investment Management Manage investment fund accounts and ensure proper trade and balance. Maintain and process records. May Company, World Omni, Onsite Staffing Collections Manager/Collections Analyst Manage customer.s accounts and ensure line of credit. Maintain and process internal records of Collection. Prepare legal documentation as needed. Initiate credit investigations and establish Documentation for collection on indirect loans, direct loans, home equity and line of credit. Dresser Industries,Manpower Temporary Service, American Building Material Accountant, Collections Manager, Export Biller Assigned to companies in need of assistance with their accounting department. To include general ledger, Taxes, accounts receivable, accounts payable, collections, credit and payroll. Administer procedures for branch managers for collection. Managed credit for customers for eight States. Managed customer accounts and maintained and processed internal records of collection. Initiate credit investigations. Prepared legal documentation. Journal entries through month end closing. Reconciliation, financial statement presentation. Computer literacy with mainframe software and PC spreadsheet software. Auditing: checking accounting ledgers and financial statements within the corporation. Budget Analysis: responsible For developing and managing the organizations financial plans. Financial: prepare financial statements based on General ledgers and participate in important financial decisions involving mergers & acquisitions, benefits/ERISA Planning and long-term financial projections. Management Accounting: decisions about capital budgeting and line of business analysis. Major functions included cost analysis, analysis of new contracts and participation in efforts to control expenses efficiently. Responsibility to spend money in the company at the right level of our Organizational goals and objectives to control cost being communicated effectively Tax: prepare corporate income Tax statements and formulate tax strategies involving issues such as financial choice, deferral of taxes, when to Expense items Responsibilities included the management of the following functions: Accoun! ting, financial planning And reporting, payroll, human resources, internal computer support. Developed Standard operating procedures for Inventory control, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable. Implemented new accounting system from manual to Daceasy. Supervised 15 employees, administered several audits.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Backup

Backup or backing up refers to the process of making copies of data to save and restore the original data incase of loss event also known as disaster recovery. Backup is so important in view of the fact that loss of data often happen in most machine users as their computers are habitually in the high risk of going wrong, failure in the hard disk does happen. The most common problems today that may result in loss of data are the threat to viruses. Although some viruses do not affect the file or the computer itself, some does and may even infect the hard disks of your computer resulting in data loss. David Smith estimated that 6% of all the personal computers suffer data loss every year (Boston Computing Network, 2010). Also, about 31% of PC users have experience data loss due to uncontrollable events (Boston Computing Network, 2010). When do you take backup (daily, weekly, on significant changes to data)? I personally do not set a specific schedule for backing up files because it has my habit to save a copy of important data. I also backup files when I make changes to them and so there is no need to have a schedule time for taking backup of files. In case of accidental loss of data, I do not have to worry since I have copies of all the files that are important to me. Do you schedule backups automatically? If so how? If not, how can you be sure to do them? No, I do not schedule automatic backups. As I have mentioned, it has been my habit to take backups whenever significant changes are made to my files. Thus, I am certain to have copies of all the files that I need. How do you take backup – manually, using the Copy facilities in the Windows Explorer? If so, describe the process; or do you have some other backup program? If so, what is it, and why do you like to use it? I take backups manually. I have to plug the storage device and manually save the data in order to create copies of it. I do not use back programs since I do not view taking backup as a task but rather I see it as an enjoyable thing to do since it gives me the certainly that in cases of data loss, I always have a copy. Where do you store the backup files (ie on what device and in what physical location) and why did you make that choice? Include costs, if any)? I have two primary devices used for data storage; flash disk and external hard disk. I used the flask disk for files that require changing in a short period of time, mostly school stuffs. On the other hand, I use the external hard disk for files that I rarely use as well as for large volume files. Still, I also use CDR’s for data that I wish not to be changed, mostly program files and installers. In the case that I am employed and required to use my personal computer for work related task, the only threat that I see is the privacy which can easily be handled by organizing files and folders. I believe that there would be no significant changes that must be done but I would need another hard disk in order to maintain that organization of my files. My original hard disk will be used for the backups of my personal files while the other will be used for work related documents. I would also have to change the allotment on my PC in order to cope with the changes. I will have to create partitions on the disks in order separate personal to work use: one partition for work use, one for personal use and another extra partition for other files. My flash disk would serve the same purpose as before, for files that often requires changes but both for personal and work related task. Thus, the only cost associated with the changes is another external hard disk for work related files as well as the time for making necessary changes.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Reflection on Plasticized Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reflection on Plasticized - Essay Example The pollutants become part of organs of the fish which are then consumed by humans.Chelsea conducted a lab test where she confirmed that plastics do have disruptive effects on the bodies of fish where it can not only affect their organs it also effects their endocrine system, thereby halting their reproductive systems. As per her research work, she says plastics don’t biodegrade they photo-degrade, that is, the sun breaks them down into smaller and smaller pieces and this happens only out at sea. A perception is that plastic will degrade automatically just like all other organic material that is used for packaging, while plastic never biodegrades. Most of the world which is a contributor to production and consumption of plastic is unaware that plastic will not finish off on its own, it will require optimum conditions created by human beings to become unavailable. Dr Marcus explains that his research has only covered a teaspoon of plastic on the ocean floor since the trawl was trawling only a small surface area. The ocean covers 2/3rd of the earth and sieving through a small area also brought out results. The results are relevant in terms of the micro-organisms that inhabit the surface and the fishes that feed on the surface. These fishes are eventually foddered for bigger fishes which become human food. The plastic and its components affect humans through the food chain. In effect, we create our own problem. Most of the team agree that damage control is the solution rather than cleaning the sea.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Food control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Food control - Essay Example In addition, in order to meet the key elements of the food law as requirements to ensure the safety of food, which is mentioned in Article 14 also compliance with obligations towards mentioned responsibilities in article 16-19. According to article 11 of regulation (EU) 178/2002, there are some requirements for food hygiene from importers, which referring to it in article 10 of Regulation (EC) 852/2004. However, in article 2 of regulation EC No 178/ 2002 defines food as is a composite product that foodstuffs intended for human consumption and originates from animal/non-animal origin. There are some of the requirements that must be met to import this food: Regulation (EC) 882/2004 in article 15 permits for the competent authority to apply all official controls and ensure safety of food non- animal origin through food law, which includes all aspects the food such as check all documents and ascertain the identity of randomly. Therefore, has presented by about 300 border inspection posts to ensure that the consignments are safe and completed all the requirements of the European Union (EU Commission, 2007). As the regulation 852/2004 by articles 3 to 5 refers to work on the application of some of the procedures, which meet the requirements of hygiene and scrutiny of food particularly imported from third world countries such as HACCP moreover article 6 refers to the need to register all food business operators with the local authorities. There are certain regulations associated with ensuring the safety of food whether importing or produced locally for example, Regulation (EC) 1881/2006 to determine acceptable levels of some contaminants in food. While Regulation 396 (EC) 396/2005 describes the permissible levels of pesticide residues on plant food and animal food as well as feed. Moreover, there is a Regulation (EC) 733/2008, which terms

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Venture capital investment decisions and frameworks Dissertation

Venture capital investment decisions and frameworks - Dissertation Example This dissertation has developed a real options framework on the propensity to make CVC investments. CVC investments are viewed as containing a series of real options. The initial investment opportunity is analogous to a call option to invest. Upon exercising the call option, the investing firm acquires at least two additional real options: the abandonment option in adverse market conditions and growth options in favorable market conditions. The dissertation proposes that established firms' propensity to make CVC investments are influenced by the factors that determine the economic value of the real options embedded in CVC projects. These options value drivers include uncertainty, irreversibility, growth potential and competition. This dissertation finds strong empirical support for the real options view of CVC investment decisions. In addition, since real options are created and exercised through managerial discretion that is enabled and constrained by firm-level resources and capabi lities, this dissertation also examines how firm-level heterogeneity in resources and capabilities influence the economic value of real options and CVC investment propensity. In particular, this dissertation focuses on how resource base diversity may enhance the value of growth options and help with timely abandonment and efficient switching. The empirical analysis provides evidence for the positive effects of R&D and related knowledge base on CVC investment propensity, but does not find any statistically significant positive effect of resource base diversity on CVC investment propensity.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Edward Muybridge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Edward Muybridge - Essay Example Muybridge through a series of photographs featuring a galloping horse supported Stanford’s assertion of how during a full gallop, the horse’s front and the hind legs extended maximally, thereby making it off the ground. Muybridge further supported this assertion of â€Å"unsupported transit† through the use of more technical equipments, like zoopraxiscope. It is â€Å"a lantern he developed that projected images in rapid succession onto a screen from photographs printed on a rotating glass disc, producing the illusion of moving pictures.† (â€Å"Eadweard Muybridge†). When he showed the horses’ gallop in a fast moving manner through zoopraxiscope, he was able to convince many regarding the unsupported transit theory. Thus, Muybridge photographic study on animal locomotion is a path breaking one, not attempted by other photographs and it led to the formation of various give scientific theories regarding animal locomotion. In addition, it also h ad cultural impacts in the way horses were looked and trained. Muybridge’s development of Zoopraxiscope and the resultant running images acted as the inspiration for the development of movie cameras and thereby development of cinemas. â€Å"Zoopraxiscope is an important predecessor of the modern cinema† (â€Å"Eadweard Muybridge†). Although we know Lumiere Brothers has the developers of the first cinema, the role of Muybridge in that evolution cannot be overlooked. George Melies – early film Georges Melies was a French magician and filmmaker, who is known for his innovative technical tricks in filmmaking, and other narrative developments during the initial stages of filmmaking. He started his foray into the entertainment business by purchasing Theatre Robert Houdin. There he conducted performances which revolved around magic tricks as well as illusionist techniques, thereby bringing out an interesting aspect of French Culture. When the Lumiere brothers sh owcased their first moving picture and the camera, which captured those pictures, Melies wanted to buy that camera. As there was no favorable response from the Lumiere brothers, Melies purchased another motion picture camera from UK, and started making his own films. â€Å"Melies' first films were straightforward cityscapes and event films, but soon he was using the camera to document magic acts and gags from the stage of the Theatre Robert-Houdin† (Larson). Even while making those sorts of films, purely by accident Melies discovered how the camera can be manipulated to create special efforts. He expanded those initial tricks to come up with complex special effects. It was widely regarded that he only pioneered the first double exposure shots, the first split screen with actors acting opposite of themselves, and also the first dissolve through double or multiple exposure shots, â€Å"he was able to create an illusion of people and objects appearing and disappearing at will, or changing from one form to another.† (Larson). In addition, Melies was one of the key pioneers who by editing or stringing a series of independently shot scenes, made it into sizably long short films. Although, Mielies was not able to continuously achieve success in the cinema field, his is still regarded as one of the pioneers of the camera based special effects. . Shepard Fairey –

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Let me Introduce You to Christianity Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Let me Introduce You to Christianity - Term Paper Example Christian religious studies have used a number of strategies to encourage Christianity to both ‘christians’ and ‘non-christian’ (Harris, 4). There are benefits associated with Christian theology. The advantages are facilitation in the Christian church as roles are shared out among the church followers. Secondly, Christian spirituality aid in the dissemination of Christian ideologies within the church. This is realistic since there is togetherness among the followers. Lastly, it helps in addressing the emerging issues in Christianity as it prepares followers of the Christian doctrine with the knowledge of solving daily problems. Methodical theology is a sub-branch of the Christian theology that ensures that all Christian accounts and beliefs are systematically arranged. It examines the alterations that have happened to the development of Christianity in years and effects it has had over the people (Koehler, 169). There are a number of aspects in Christian the ologies that are associated to its beliefs and basics. These aspects are strongly rooted in the Christian religion, and for centuries, they have remained unchanged. Biblical insight is a set of guidelines that are concerned with the study and analysis of the bible. It analyses the teachings of the bible and what the scriptures expects from an individual. Secondly, God is a Supreme Being associated with certain attributes that are easily identifiable. Some of these qualities are sharable by a human being, and some are blissful in nature. The sharable attributes are the ‘Communicable’ traits, and those, which are divine, are referred to as the ‘incommunicable’ traits. The holly trinity in Christian spirituality is used to describe the togetherness of God. Trinity in Christian spirituality involves ‘God the father’, ‘God the son’ and ‘God the Holy Spirit’. The holy doctrines state that God the father is divine in nature, and God the son is divine and human in godly and human nature (Harris, 42). God is described as the ‘father’ in Christian theology. He is branded the name ‘father’ because of his constant concern of the human life. The term is related to the connection that exists amid a father and a kid. The affiliation amid human being and God is considered as an close one, compared to the relationship amid a father and son. A father is always concerned about a child’s welfare just like God is concerned with the welfare of man. Christology examines the personality of Jesus. It looks at the nature, characters and works of Jesus and emphasizes on the divinity of Jesus as an offspring of human and God (Harris, 75). Christ is a term from the Greek books meaning the selected one. The term means the Messiah when interpreted into Hebrew. According to Christian theology the term ‘Christ’ is a designation, and not as a name, though individuals mistake it to mea n an individual’s name. The title is evenly used to refer to individuals who believed in Jesus. The followers have been awarded the name Christian, since they are believers that indeed Jesus is the Messiah. The ‘Person of Christ’ is highly upheld due to his relation with God and is characterized by certain attributes that are celestial in nature. The person of ‘Christ Jesus’ comes from King David’s lineage. He is selfless in nature, and this is evident by the works he did on the planet. He believed in

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Financial statement analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial statement analysis - Essay Example This implies that the firm has less liquidity as compared to the industry generally. However, both ratios are below the Third quartile and therefore there are companies in the industry with higher liquidity ratios than S&S Air. The company may therefore have less predictable cash flows and less access to short-term borrowing (Fridson, & Alvarez, F., 2002). A quick ratio of 0.37 is slightly higher than the industry median and this has the meaning that S&S has about the same value of inventory as the Current Liabilities. Since the company has about the same inventory as the industry median, its inventory to current liabilities ratio is more or less the same as the median for the industry. The turnover ratios as compared to the industry median are all higher and even higher than the upper quartile. This implies the efficiency of S&S Air than the whole of the industry. On the other hand, the leverage ratios are all below the industry median depicting that the firm is less dependent on debt than related companies are. In addition, the Profit Margin for the company is equal to that of the industry median while the ROA and the ROE are all above the industry median as well as the lower quartile. In short, the performance of the airline is good despite the liquidity ratios indicating that close monitoring is necessary in its operations. Using ROA of 10.61% and the retention ratio, we will be able to get the internal growth rate. The constant b= $9,233,930/$1,845,242 = 5.004; Using the internal growth rate equation: Internal growth rate = (0.1061 Ãâ€" 5.004) / [1 – (0.1061 Ãâ€" 5.004)] =113.18%. we go further to find the sustainability growth rate using ROE of 19.31% as follows; Sustainable growth rate = (0.1931 Ãâ€" 5.004) / [1 – (0.1931 Ãâ€" 5.004)] = 28.65. Without outside financing of any sort, the company is able to achieve a growth rate of 113.18% and the growth rate would even be enormously higher when it gets funding externally (Robinson,

Principals of Finance for the Public Sector Essay

Principals of Finance for the Public Sector - Essay Example This paper will review some of the current issues facing the health care sector. Also, it will look at some of the policies being implemented with their impact on public finance. Health care cover is needed the world over to ensure that there is access to quality health care. Health care cover requires that all members of a region get access to medical facilities. This implies that there is the provision of medical services to people provided they come from that region. In many developed countries, today, it is possible to find that every citizen receives health care benefits without too much money required. The United States is among the developed countries that does not have this for its citizens (Gunnar, 2007, p. 45). This has often been a subject of debate for the nation, and its delegates. There are principles that govern the running of finance when it comes to the health care reform. One of these principles is medical coverage for all the citizens in a country to ensure the improved state of health of all people. This means that, for all government servants, it is vital to have medical cover to ensure that they are taken care of when they fall sick, or are in need of medical care (Gunnar, 2007, p. 56). It helps individuals whenever a situation arises that may need urgent medical attention. Another principle is the provision of medical health care to all citizens without the presence of any financial barriers. This is for citizens within the borders of a country. This principle ensures that citizens in a country enjoy affordable medical care for their medical problems. To make sure that they get this without bias or discrimination, there have been forums that address the plight of minority groups in countries. For example, in the United States, there are forums that seek to speak on the dilemma of the

Friday, August 23, 2019

CASE2-SLP 2 Writing about Issues and using Third person Essay

CASE2-SLP 2 Writing about Issues and using Third person - Essay Example He highlighted the role of experienced PR people in handling these disasters through creating disaster management plans. This paper agrees with Sniderman (2011) that considering PR slips as disasters and dealing with them quickly, honestly, and taking everything not too seriously are effective ways of managing them; moreover, it is imperative to have a system that deals with PR problems in a proactive manner. Every PR slip is a disaster. Sniderman (2011) stressed the importance of treating PR slips as disasters, and this paper supports him, because without this thinking, these problems may not receive enough attention and time from the management. When this happens, a small smoke may turn into a wild and uncontrollable wildfire because public relations officers think that these concerns do not warrant a quick response. It does not mean that everything small should be developed into sensational issues. Instead, it is about humanizing the organization and ensuring the provision of sympathetic responses to those hurt and offended by social media comments or posts. In addition, thinking that PR slips are disasters guarantee that the organizations are always actively monitoring their social media sites. If they are conscious of their sites and how they are run, they can place themselves at a better position in handling these PR problems. These organizations also become more aware of the ident ity of their audiences, and learn more about their values, viewpoints, and goals in life. They may even realize that they can agree to disagree, as long as they do not openly spread hate or violence in their social media networks. The ultimate outcome is better PR relations with diverse stakeholder groups, whose beliefs and priorities may differ with the organizations. Quick, honest, and not too seriously are some of the characteristics of a good PR response to social media disasters. Quickness of response is needed, but it should also

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Pritchett, Lant (2006) Center For Global Development Essay Example for Free

Pritchett, Lant (2006) Center For Global Development Essay Introduction: When the wings are strong, even the birds fly! Birds also, as a rule migrate, flying thousands of miles to the area and the climate of their choice every year. Even before the Christian era, adventurous traders and devoted missionaries have been moving from one country to another for their purposes in view. Migration is an age-old happening. The industrial and internet revolutions, the modern materialistic civilization have commercially shrunk the world. ‘Atlas has shrugged!’ When basic conditions are created for the people to move from one country to another, irresistible demographic forces are bound to exert their pressure. To check these forces through anti-immigration ideas is like blocking the furiously advancing avalanche with the fence of straw. Or trying to touch the moon by kite-flying! Or controlling the rising flood waters by filling pitchers! Statistical studies are no doubt needed, but it is no use digging the well when the house is on fire. In times of war, your goal should be to win the war, no matter how you win. I mean to say, all the relative efforts should be to tackle the root cause of the problem. It is no ordinary chat on the subject of migration by Pritchett†¦. Pritchett’s ideas are far-sighted. The world leaders talk about globalization and â€Å"the world is one family† concept, but the so-called national interests are entrenched too strongly in them. They wish to remain dry under water. Efforts are constantly on the anvil to check labor mobility.   Political interests are the main consideration; welfare of the common man is nicely swept under the carpet, by arguments and counterarguments. The governments are resisting the liberal ideas, because the rich people of the country protest against creating favorable conditions for the labor to immigrate! Some forward thinking statesmen/ politicians have to take initiative to break he deadlock if they really wish to do something tangible for the welfare of the people to whom employment means their livelihood. Temporary work-permits and protection of migrants’ fundamental human rights are the important issues. Lant Pritchett is touching the live wire! Your book will be controversial, Mr. Pritchett, but do not bother. All great ideas have been controversial. Some centuries ago, people and intellectuals did believe that the Earth is flat and the sun does the rotations! The book is not a voluminous work by page-count, just 151 pages, but they are sufficient to stir the thinking process of the individuals concerned, the politicians and the policy-makers. He tenders provocative ideas, on the issues where provocation is required.   The book has 5 chapters, i) Four Irresistible Forces for Increased Labor Mobility, ii) The Fifth Irresistible Force: Ghosts Zombies, iii) Immovable Ideas: Myths and Truths, iv) Accommodating Forces and Ideas to achieve development—Friendly Labor Mobility v) Conclusion: Let their People Come. To the fundamental question in Economics, what are the factors of production, the answer is, land, labor, capital and organization. Labor is the most important of them for capital without labor is dead! It is not that Lant is unaware of the political consequences of labor immigration. But he is an economist. He has soft-corner for the labor and it is not mere wishful thinking. He gives his favorable disposition towards the labor force and makes out a brilliant case for expanded immigration in rich countries. If you are thinking in terms of globalizing everything, why not labor, is the question posed by Lant. He has his own style of working on his projects. He is not concerned about the ideologies and methodologies. He will not stick to any special type of â€Å"ism†. He is a man without a label or a tag. He works with a pure heart and for the cause which he considers and concludes to be right. He is truly a global person with the global approach to his thinking. He doesn’t believe in half- hearted measures. He is the proverbial individual who believes—do not strike; if you strike, strike so hard that there is no need to strike again! He gives unassailable ideas and reasons in the very first chapter of the book: He says, â€Å"Four irresistible forces today cause observed increases in labor mobility—and each promises to become even more powerful in future. Those forces are wage gaps, demographics, â€Å"everything but labor† globalization, and the services future of labor demand in industrial countries. A fifth force—rapid and massive shifts in the desired populations of various countries†¦. Four preliminary observations are useful.†(Pritchett, 2006, p.13) Pritchett is on war with both left and right—and therefore, he invites controversy. His question to world leaders is why you stop at standard solutions, trade and aid. He stands solidly behind the guest-worker program. Why shouldn’t millions of the poorest of the world choose to work in richest economies? He is worried why people are so insensitive about this issue. He is willing to beat the national borders on this issue and paints the grim picture emerging on the curtain of the mind of an ordinary worker. â€Å"Gaps in per capita across countries are only suggestive of migration pressures, because the relevant question for a worker is the difference in wages that he or she would earn in two countries.† Pritchett, 2006, p.18) Pritchett’s critics say he thinks much ahead of his time; all great thinkers do think so! He is opposed for, Western countries do not wish to jeopardize their sovereignty, cause tremors in   the levels of domestic wages, terrorism is such a big question that involves national security, the developing countries would not like to drain their own talent on a large scale, with children migrating on such a large scale, what about the poor parents?—it is going to be such a big sociological problem, the cultural cohesion of all the affected countries will be disturbed beyond   repair, the churning process will be damaging—Pritchett has some soft   answers for many such important issues, but   his hard critics are not willing to listen. Pritchett says that the migrants are temporary workers; they are coming to return to their home country. They will stay 3 to 5 years, with no scope for regular citizenship, and they are coming as stop-gap arrangements to work in areas with certified labor shortages. They will not bring the families. So, the taxpayers of the host country need not take up the responsibility of educating the migrants’ children. A revolving labor pool will be created. Lant Pritchett is no ordinary think-tank and he is always battle ready to talk and write on global issues. He is a non-resident fellow at the Centre for Global Development and is a lead socio-economist with the World Bank, based in New Delhi, India. He is to take up the assignment of Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, shortly. (I think he has since taken up his assignment.) Conclusion: Labor unrest has been the cause of many devastating revolutions. Then pages of labor movements all over the world, daubed in bloodshed, ask a crying question. How to make this Planet Earth peaceful with plenty and prosperity? The answer is simple and direct. Eyes full of understanding, heart full of love, life that effuses conflicts, and employment opportunities and freedom of movement for one and all—these alone are enough!

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Social Media and Psychological Disorders

Social Media and Psychological Disorders Topic: Social media is a perfect environment to promote appearance concerns and eating disorders. It has long been known that exposure to traditional types of media, such as magazines, movies, and television, can increase body image concerns in youths (Tiggermann & McGill, 2004; Tiggermann & Polivy, 2010). Given that young people are now turning to Internet sources rather than print media, the potential impact of social media on body confidence should not be overlooked. In this essay, I would argue that social media has a negative influence on body image concerns and can lead to detrimental consequences.   Much research has indicated that mass media is considered the most influential and pervasive cause of body dissatisfaction (Thompson, Heingberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999; Tiggermann, 2011). Internalisation of body perfect ideas and the stereotypes about body size begins when girls are as young as 3 years-old. It begins with baby girls exposure to mass communicated images of Barbie dolls, then moves to television advertisements and programs that celebrate ultra-thin models. It then culminates in early adulthood with appearance-focused conversations, fashion-focused stories, and picture-sharing on social networking websites. These factors have been found to promote unattainable beauty ideals of often photo-shopped women who are usually young, have a perfect body ratio and are incredibly thin. Although traditional media are still widely consumed, new forms of media or the Internet are being increasingly accessed. As of June 2017, approximately 52% of the world’s population has access to the Internet (Internet World Stats, 2017). Recent studies show that, as in traditional media, there are many places on the Internet that promote the stereotypical ideals of feminine beauty. For example, an analysis of advertisements aimed at adolescents on the Internet indicates that most figures used in the advertisements were young, thin, and attractive females (Slater, Tiggermann, Hawkins, & Werchon, 2011). Additionally, Tiggermann and her co-researchers found that Internet usage was related to greater internalization of thin-ideal, appearance comparison, body dissatisfaction, and the drive for thinness (Tiggermann & Miller, 2010). Associated with the rise of the Internet are Social Networking Sites (SNSs). As of June 2017, there are 2.46 billion social media users around the globe, and 71 percent of internet users were also social network users (Statista, 2017). Social media sites differ from the traditional mass media in several ways. First of all, a large proportion of social networking sites are peer-generated, which means users are simultaneously information sources and receivers. Second, by affording users the ability to shape, customise and direct online interactions, contemporary media transforms what were once passive receivers of the formerly popular mass media, into full-fledged communicators, with self-efficacy, and personal agency. Third, social media are more personal than conventional impersonal mass media. Users can bond with each other using technology, and content can revolve around the self. Fourth, social media are interpersonally rich tools that offer graphics apps, videos, and transformative multi-media cues that give the feeling of presence, lending the opportunity to transport individuals to psychologically involving domains that can encourage suspension of belief and attitude change. Finally, while mass media has a large heterogeneous audience, social media sites cater to communities of individuals with the same interests, ideas, and opinions. They are fundamentally media of ones peers. An amount of research on sociocultural factors and body image has emphasised the role of social comparisons in explaining media effects on body image concerns (Thompson et al. 1999). According to social comparison theory, people find it diagnostic and functional to compare themselves to others, especially to those who have similar attributes that are central to their definition of self. This has important implications for the effects of social media. Aforementioned, social media are the domain of peers, and peer comparisons are greatly salient to adolescents. In addition, upward social comparisons with attractive peers can actually lead to more negative self-attractiveness ratings than comparisons with attractive models in advertisements, who are less similar and in a less diagnostic comparison group. Social media are full of pictures of peers and create a favourable environment for social comparisons. Negative comparisons can be particularly likely on social media when young women c ompare their pictures with peers without knowing that those photographs might be digitally edited. More specifically, one experimental study indicates that upward social comparison can occur with social media profiles. Both male and female participants reported negative emotional states and showed some signs of body dissatisfaction when they viewed profiles with physically attractive photographs, meanwhile, those who viewed unattractive users profile pictures reported less negative emotional states (Hafekamp & Krà £mer, 2011). Previous studies show that exposure to peers who closely match the thin ideal has been found to increase body dissatisfaction in women (Krones, Stice, Batres, & Orjada, 2005). It is also interesting to note that comparisons to peers and models can lead to different results in regard to womens body image concerns. The reason is the appearance of peers seems to be more realistic and attainable than the appearance of models or celebrities because peers often have the same resources and lifestyle to oneself. In addition, in social media contexts, peers are not the only targets of social comparisons but online models or celebrities are as well. Beautiful pictures of models and celebrities are shared and posted on many social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. They are usually airbrushed to remove any flaws and this, in combination with the efforts of professional staff (such as hairstylist, make-up artists, photographers, etc) ensures that there is a huge gap between what is thought of beautiful and what can be attainable. We are aspiring to an ideal that does not exist, when constantly exposed to images of unrealistic men and women that have been digitally constructed.   When we look at the negative influences of social media on body image concerns, exposure is not the only factor, we also need to look at the ways in which social media is used. Using social networking sites is far different than passive exposure to traditional mass media. It is an interactive process, users are capable of creating and presenting their own media content while also viewing content created by others. A classic perspective of mass communication is uses and gratifications. It indicates that individuals use media to satisfy needs, seeking gratifications to fulfil motives and deriving gratifications from media use that can be both psychologically functional or dysfunctional (Rubin 2009). When applied to social media and body image concern, it suggests that individuals who are vulnerable to body image disturbances will seek gratification from social media. Young people who have low self-esteem and high thin-ideal internalisation are likely to seek gratification from social media. They may check their profile pictures online to satisfy reassurance needs, spending a considerable amount of time looking and comparing their pictures to those of their less attractive peers to validate their appearance, or sharing pictures of celebrities and models to ritualistically escape appearance-related personal distress. By doing this, they try to satisfy psychological appearance-gratifying needs and convince themselves they fit the thin-ideal of others. Eventually, young people usually end up feeling disappointed and hurt because the ultimate satisfaction of these needs cannot come from external sources but can only be found internally. Social media also unabashedly promote anorexic and bulimic lifestyles through a lot of pro-anorexia or pro-ana and pro-bulimia (pro-mia) Websites (Levine and Chapman 2011). Nowadays, there are many websites that devoted to promoting pro-anorexic ideals. They usually contain positive represent of an anorexic lifestyle; religiously-based metaphors; and more than 10 core themes, for example, perfection (the norms linking thinness with perfection), transformation (eating disorders can transform a person from ugly and fat to thin and beautiful), and success (the association of success with strength and ability to keep the weight off). In addition, Healthy Living blogs promote the image of thin appearance and deliver disordered nutritional messages, and also containing self-objectifying messages about women (Boepple and Thompson 2013). Two experiments indicate that exposure to pro-ana Websites exerts a number of negative influences, such as lower self-esteem, and decreased perceived attrac tiveness of oneself (Bardone-Cone and Cass 2007). Pro-mia Websites can also have harmful effects for young women (Levine and Chapman 2011). In conclusion, traditional media has long been known for its negative influence on body image concerns and behaviours through the promotion of body perfect ideals, but there are far fewer studies on the detrimental impacts of social media. In this essay, I argue that social media provides a perfect environment for negative social comparisons and gratification that could lead to appearance concerns and eating disorders amongst users. References Bardone-Cone, A. M., & Cass, K. M. (2007). What does viewing a proanorexia website do? An experimental examination of website exposure and moderating effects. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40, 537–548. doi:10.1002/eat Boepple, L., & Thompson, J. K. (2013). A content analysis of healthy living blogs: Evidence of content thematically consistent with dysfunctional eating attitudes and behaviors. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47, 362–367. doi:10.1002/eat.22244. Dittmar, H., Halliwell, E., & Ive, S. (2006). Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5–8-year-old girls. Developmental Psychology, 42, 283-292. Dittmar, H. (2009). How Do â€Å"Body Perfect† Ideals in the Media Have a Negative Impact on Body Image and Behaviors? Factors and Processes Related to Self and Identity. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28(1), 1-8. doi:10.1521/jscp.2009.28.1.1 Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young womens body image concerns and mood. BodyImage, 13(SupplementC), 38-45. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002 Ferguson, C. J., Muà ±oz, M. E., Garza, A., & Galindo, M. (2014). Concurrent and Prospective Analyses of Peer, Television and Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(1), 1-14. doi:10.1007/s10964-012-9898-9 Haferkamp, N., & Kramer, N. C. (2011). Social comparison 2.0: examining the effects of online profiles on social-networking sites. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 14(5), 309-314. doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0120 Internet World Stats (2017). World Internet Users Statistics and 2017 World Population Stats. Retrieved: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm Kim, J. W., & Chock, T. M. (2015). Body image 2.0: Associations between social grooming on Facebook and body image concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 48(Supplement C), 331-339. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.009 Krones, P. G., Stice, E., Batres, C., & Orjada, K. (2005). In vivo social comparison to a thin-ideal peer promotes body dissatisfaction: a randomized experiment. Int J Eat Disord, 38(2), 134-142. doi:10.1002/eat.20171 Levine, M. P., & Chapman, K. (2011). Media influences on body image. In T. F. Cash & L. Smolak (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and    prevention (2nd ed., pp. 101–109). New York: Guilford Press. Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research. Sex Roles, 71(11), 363-377. doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6 Rubin, A. M. (2009). Uses-and-gratifications perspective on media effects. In J. Bryant   Ã‚   & M.    B. Oliver (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 165–184). New York: Routledge. Slater, A., Tiggemann, M., Hawkins, K., & Werchon, D. (2011). Just One Click: A Content Analysis of Advertisements on Teen Web Sites. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(4), 339-345. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.08.003 Statista (2017). Number of social media users worldwide 2010-2021. Retrieved 30/10/17 from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ Thompson, J. K., Heinberg, L. J., Altabe, M., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (1999). Exacting beauty: Theory, assessment, and treatment of body image disturbance. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Tiggemann, M. (2011). Sociocultural perspectives on human appearance and body image. In T. F. Cash & L. Smolak (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention (2nd ed., pp. 12–19). New York: Guilford Press Tiggemann, M., Polivy, J., & Hargreaves, D. (2009). The processing of thin ideals in fashion magazines: A source of social comparison or fantasy? Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28, 73-93. Tiggemann, M., & McGill, B. (2004). The Role of Social Comparison in the Effect of Magazine Advertisements on Womens Mood and Body Dissatisfaction. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), 23-44. doi:10.1521/jscp.23.1.23.26991

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Japanese Animation And Its Globalization

Japanese Animation And Its Globalization Japanese anime traces its roots to the early 1900s but not many of the early works have survived for varied reasons. One of the reasons that led to the loss of these works was the sale of reels to smaller cinemas once the clips had run. These were then disassembles and sold as single frames, but even with the loss of the early anime works, Japanese anime made major popularity growth in the 1970s when filmmakers in Japan experimented with animation techniques used in the western world (West (2008). The reason for this success was that in as much as the filmmakers explored the western techniques, they totally distanced themselves with the western roots and instead developed different genres among the mecha. With this, anime went main stream in Japan in the 80s and what followed was an explosion in production. Real Robot, Space Opera, Macross and Gundam were among some of 80s most successful anime. Today, as other sectors in the Japanese economy are struggling, revenue from anime related products has risen to over $100 billion, up from a tenth of this figure ten years ago (Brienza 2009). Anime is undoubtedly a savior to the Japanese culture. It is of a lot of interest to be able to understand how what was initially targeted at Japanese children has today become such a global sensation. This is what we seek to find out. Growth and Globalization of Japanese Animation Growth of anime a midst issues of language barrier and distinct world cultures is one thing that has never ceased to amaze anime lovers and critics alike. The world is today a global village and anime has been embraced in all the corners of the globe, with fans linking and discussing new and old productions in blogs and fan sites (Leonard, 2004). One of the things that fueled growth of anime to the corners of the world was fan distribution. Fan Distribution Anime was distributed among fans in the 70s through to the 90s via various non conventional methods. Fans made copies which were circulated to other fans and this created anime fan networks especially in America which imported and distributed videos to a large number of underground enthusiasts (Leonard, 2004).All this happened during the pre internet age and with the growth of fan networks, so did many players within those circles make fortunes. Knowledge and love for Japanese animation spread via these underground networks and in the process widespread commercial exploitation of anime was witnessed. Popularity of Anime in the American market It should be very well understood that the American cultural Imperialism was not a factor in pulling anime and other Japanese products to America and instead people voluntarily accepted anime for reasons that some experts say were because they provided an alternative to Hollywood (Davis, 2008). As technology improved, so did the fan networks make use of the available technologies to spread the anime message and more enthusiasts came on board. Language barrier was overcome when the fans added sub titles to the videos and as a matter of fact, fan subtitles is an exclusive feature of anime. The subtitles were facilitated at the end of the 80s in America following a wide availability of computers that were mainly Commodore Amiga and Macintosh brands (Auzenne, 1994). The availability of generator locking device, a hardware that enabled television sets to accept two simultaneous signals of video signal and computer output made it possible to have subtitles that were recorded on cassettes and distributed to the large network of fans. With sub titles, fans could not only appreciate the graphics but also understand the content of anime and how they depicted the various aspects of the Japanese culture. One of the most successful anime was Astra Boy, a production that realized huge commercial success and is still loved today. (Auzenne, 1994). When Walt Disney released Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki which did very well both in America and Japan at some point out selling Titanic in Japan, the film industry took notice and currently, American film companies making investments in this segment (Davis, 2008). They are mainly attracted to anime for their costs, producing anime is way cheaper than the block busters and they do make huge successes in theatres and DVD sales, coupled with the movie industry being very high risk and big budget productions failing miserably, anime has presented a wonderful opportunity to film makers in America to break even with their productions Anime has since evolved from an underground fortune maker in the 70s to a mainstream commercially viable industry. In America, anime has won the hearts of many and the winning of an Oscar by Miyazaki Hayaos anime, Spirited Away, in 2002 for best animated feature film was a clear show of just how much anime has been embraced in the American way of life (Davis, 2008). Today, America is animes biggest market with anime TV programs in the US jumping from13 at the start of the 90s to 37 in the first quarter of 2006 (Davis, 2008). In 2004, the revenues from character licensing, home videos and cinema screenings topped $2.94 billion which was much more than what the value of steel imported by US from Japan, additionally Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! made it to Americas top five prime time animated programs, anime is clearly Japans biggest export to the states today. Technology has since been a catalyst to the spread of anime as fans could with the internet, link and deliberate on topics and new releases (Auzenne, 1994). Subtitlers also known as fansubbers have also not been left behind, today, they can easily find each other online and work together to translate the latest anime. The translation process for Manga entails a fan scanning the pages and e mailing them to a translator who would then translate to a language of choice, usually English, a proofreader would then check the translation after which some other person known as the cleaner would replace the Japanese with English into the speech bubbles. The final product is then available for free down loads online. The internet has presently given room for publishing and distribution of anime at an unforeseen scale and is one of its biggest growth ingredients. Japanese anime has managed to stand up to American cartoon productions for reasons that it is much un-Disney and therefore offers an alternative to animation lovers in other parts of the world like Europe where several people are quite uncomfortable with American productions for their materialism and vulgarism which is likely to influence their rich cultural heritage that has been kept for many generations, a risk they cannot afford. Some critics argue that the world is moving towards homogeneity with the American culture being the world culture but the acceptance of anime and Manga in Europe for fear of being Americanized is a clear show that people around the world are yet to put their cultural heritage aside for the American way of life. Anime clearly differentiates gender with market niches properly divided for girls, boys, young men and women. Manga separates gender roles and this makes the dramatic anime story line in gender inclining tales when characters bridge the wide gap between the sexes. A typical example is the anime Ranma 1/2 based on a Manga by Rumiko Takahashi in which a boy who because of a previous dip in a Chinese magic pool turns into a girl when splashed with cold water. The extremes of the two genders are clearly depicted in this piece (Levi, McHarry Pagliassotti 2008). Americans have clearly gone beyond acceptance and taken the business opportunities presented by the popularity of manga and anime. Hollywood has not been left out of the boom and Walt Disney has today made enormous investments in the art, which apart from being popular, is also lucrative, coming at a time when most box office movies are not breaking even, anime is not just a rescue to the Japanese culture but a shot in the arm to Hollywood . Anime and manga in Europe and other parts of the world Other than America, Miyazakis Spirited Away also won a Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2002. As at the start of 2006 there were 18 Japanese anime airing on a German TV channel. China is one place that Japanese anime is not expected to be very popular given the seriousness with which foreign content is restricted by the government. The debut of the animated feature film Gin-iro-no Kami no Agito at 1000 theatres in the spring of 2006 in China was a show of how just much Japanese anime has taken over the world. The reason for anime success outside Japan, Kubo Masakavu, the chief producer of Pokeman said, was the quality that is very different from western animation with the difference being its characters that he said capture the heart of viewers and brings out their emotions (West, M. I. 2008). The United Kingdom is one of the most consecutive countries. The British have for generations been skeptical about other cultures and today, they broadcast very distinct TV programs from their American brothers. A look at programming on Cebebees, a children channel of the BBC, depicts a culture that has kept its morals intact for generations. It is with these conservative ideologies that the acceptance of Manga and anime in the British culture has never ceased to amaze many critics. When anime by the name, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted in the UK, the audience felt that the word Ninja was an inappropriate connotation that was unfit for the animes young audience and the title was changed to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. (Laird Eastman, 2009). Several articles were written about anime in major newspapers especially in The Independent during the early 90s when Island World and the horror story Urotsukidoji were released with the later being poorly rated by its audience who claimed to have had nightmares. (Laird Eastman, 2009). Even with many articles in the UK papers, there was never an anti-anime wave in the country and there was a belief of anime explosion like in other European countries, something that never happened, the British did accept anime and manga but on their own terms, choosing to edit what they see as inappropriate and embracing what suits their way of life. The same is not however the case in Spain, France, Sweden and Italy where anime has had an explosion with an active fan base who have web sites at all levelsb to keep the enthusiasts in touch with each other and new releases. The love for anime in China China has for the past 30 years been a market that the Japanese anime have quite some grip and currently, millions of anime and manga consumers live in China giving rise to a market of $14.6 billion a year (Brienza, 2009). Anime debuted China in 1979 with Astro Boy which is one of Japans most known anime characters, which was aired on China Central Television (CCTV) in black and white in 1980 after translation to Chinese. Astro boy was at that time used as an image to promote Casio calculator products which have since been very popular in China and so has Japanese anime with comic books being major components of stock at most magazine kiosks in Shanghai (Chen, 2006). The Chinese government has today banned Japanese anime like Death Note from TV broadcast but that action hasnt stopped the millions of fans who have sought the anime on pirated television shows and DVDs alongside fan sites. Young Chinese today, do not really care about the historical differences between the two nations in their consumption of cartoon products, which they do indiscriminately by going for what appeals to them (Brienza,2009) People tend to embrace exotic cultures when certain aspects of these cultures share into their local values. Japanese anime have themes of perseverance, friendship, striving towards certain goals and fighting a good fight which appeals to the global audience and this has made it very acceptable to many (Bouissou J. 2006). Anime however, got language gateways through English, Chinese and French via which the cartoon art extended globally. With the help of amateur subtitlers, in the 80s and 90s, the anime gospel was taken to English speaking nations and this breakthrough is one of the reasons the art is where it is presently. With chinas population at worlds highest today, manga and anime can only get bigger in this part of the world, presenting a wonderful opportunity to industry players to show their creative prowess by continually releasing to the market, productions that will live through generations. Techniques in Japanese anime Some of the techniques used in creating these globally acceptable productions include character design, coloring and eye size (Brienza, 2009). Characters are designed to human body proportions to separate them from western cartoons, this sometimes vary when if emphasis is needed on certain body parts. The eyes in anime are usually large to show distinct emotions. The technique is believed to have been first used by Osamu Tezuka who borrowed it from American cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop. Coloring that is usually added to the cornea is intended to give depth to the eyes, it should however be noted that not all anime have large eyes and some works especially by Toshiro Kawamoto and Hayao Miyazaki have been known for proportional eyes with realistic colors which is very close to Japanese art. Music in Japanese anime Music in used in productions is very close to Japanese pop, as an industry, anime has developed its own genre known as anison. Anime today has its own songs and the release of an animation video is usually accompanied by a soundtrack album. Behind the United States is Japan in terms of the of the music market with most of the music consumed in Japan being Japanese. The music combines kanji (on sound) and the gaku (fun and comfort) to produce what the Japanese call ongaku, a genre of music which is well incorporated in anime (Brienza, 2009). Anime in South America Latin America has not been left out with manga and anime enthusiasts found in Venezuela, Chile, Mexico and throughout the entire region. Several websites have been set up in this part of the world to help connect fans and provide a platform for sharing and discussing anime related issues. Anime News Network (ANN) Latin America is one such site that has enabled fans to make contributions and share their anime experiences (Bouissou, 2006). The site has created chapters in most if not all of the South American countries to help fans connect and share issues at country level. The emergence of such sites have been a major tool in facilitating non English and French speaking nations appreciate anime. Fans get the Espanola and Portuguese translations very fast and can as well collaborate in sub titling which in most cases end up in enthusiasts setting businesses from the collaborations and making fortunes from these ventures. Anime News Network Latin America also runs a weekly podcast where hosts give opinions on the days news, review of some of the latest titles on offer; interview some major players in the anime and manga industry. Listeners can at the same time call in and make contributions to the topics being discussed as well as pose questions to guests. The site has a section where fans can find certain features of Japan including guided tour of interesting historic sites and for such, it has been a good way of fans connecting to the characters beyond the videos by understanding how they are regarded in the Japanese culture (Schodt 1996). Similar sites have been set up in South Africa, India, Australia and many other regions of the world to serve enthusiasts in the same way. It worth noting that Japanese anime is not only meant for entertainment but is also used in education sector especially in Japan and is working very well with kids who find it as a very friendly illustration tool. Conclusion Manga and anime have clearly gone global and is today appreciated by people of diverse cultural beliefs and walks of life. There is unanimity that people went for manga and the fan networks in the 70s flourished because of the content of anime which has since stayed the same. There is a general feeling that the whole world is converging at the American culture a view which we have seen as not true with many nations accepting manga just because it is an opposite alternative to American cartoons. The globalization of anime started at a time when sharing information was very difficult with tapes being delivered physically from one fan to the next, which is very different from today where fans can with internet, at the click of a button link to share ideas and even go further and cooperate on anime projects without any physical contacts. The genre of anime can today get access into more cultures with these technological advancements. There is however a general consensus on the strength and morality in the Japanese culture, which has appealed to many, who interact with anime and manga. Anime today, from the figures released by Japanese and American authorities is not only a major revenue earner to the worlds third largest economy but also a leading cultural ambassador, which has done quite a good job in letting the world know and appreciate the uniqueness of the Japanese way of life (Chen Teng 2006), Producers of anime should continue giving the world wonderful entertainment, something they have for close to 100 years done with great perfection and sense of responsibility. Having kept their content above the expected minimum for close to a century, todays anime enthusiasts have no doubt that more generations from all over the world will be entertained by anime.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Macbeth - Hero Or Villain? Essays -- essays research papers

‘Macbeth’ is a play by William Shakespeare that shows a protagonist going from bad to worse throughout the play. Shakespeare wrote this play, taking in mind current affairs at the time of 1603-1606. This is the time when a Scottish king, James I was given the English crown. This king was obsessed with witches, so Shakespeare brought this theme strongly into the play. It also brings the theme of treachery towards the King. This pleased King James and also pleased him about showing the line of Stuart Kings, James descendants, in Act 4, Scene 1. The play, ‘Macbeth’ is a tragedy. The traditional specification of a tragedy requires the tragic hero to be a person who holds a high position who must oppose a conflicting force, either externally or internally(a conflicting force from his own state or another. Also, the hero should have a Hamartia, which is a tragic flaw. This will lead to the hero’s downfall, in this case, it is Macbeth’s ambition. This downfall should lead to the hero’s death in order for him to qualify as a tragic hero. The action the tragic hero does must be real and could happen at any time. Macbeth becomes a villain when he discovers he will become King of Scotland. The traditional idea of a villain says that he or she should go by evil methods to get what they want. In the case of Macbeth, he killed Duncan to become King of Scotland. A villain is also cruel and ruthless. The villain may also be a person who commits crimes against the people and is all powerful. We hear about Macbeth even before we meet him. This is because the witches are casting a spell that foretells that Macbeth will meet them at the heath. In the scene with the captain, we hear that Macbeth is like a hero and is faithful to his king. â€Å"O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman†, (I, ii) When we first hear about Macbeth, we learn the descriptions of him are positive towards King Duncan. But, they are also gory. They tell of Macbeth being a fierce warrior and not being afraid to kill in war. â€Å"Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops†, (I, ii). After Macbeth meets the witches, he fully supports the evil they tell of to get what he wants. Whenever we see the witches, they appear to be pure evil, especially when they cast their spells. â€Å"Liver of blaspheming Jew† (IV, i). Even though the witches say Macbeth will be King of Scotland, they do not suggest that he kill Dunca... ...could have had if he didn’t commit the murders. He still wants this, but has chosen completely the opposite. Just before Macbeth is killed in his castle, he speaks valiantly and warrior-like, showing where his strength is. If we can forget about Macbeth’s ambition we can admire him for this. â€Å"Why should I play the Roman fool and die On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them.† (V, viii). At the beginning of the play, we view Macbeth as being a hero who would defend his King and country against traitors. He also holds a lot of guilt about killing Duncan, and is commanded by his own wife to do so. When Macbeth progresses into a villain, he becomes more detached from Lady Macbeth and can make decisions without her. With this, he becomes more ruthless in his efforts to stay as the King of Scotland and people describe him as ‘This tyrant’ (V, iii) and ‘A dwarfish thief’ (V, ii). Throughout the play whenever Macbeth tries to achieve his ambition, he always blocks his good qualities in favour of a more villainous way. It is this ambition of his that leads him to become a miscreant later in the play, which leads to his undoing and eventual killing by Macduff.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

1 Corinthians Essay -- Bible, Apostle Paul

Paul the Apostle is the central figure in many New Testament writings. Many historians have attributed fourteen New Testament letters to Paul’s writing; seven of these letters are uncontested meaning historians are sure that Paul wrote them, the remaining seven are contested. Paul was not always a Christian; in fact, he persecuted Christians before Christ came and temporarily blinded him. Upon seeing Christ, Paul devoted his life to Christianity and set out to spread the teachings of Christ. Scholars often credit Paul’s leadership to the ability of the Church to become Hellenistic in one generation. Paul also answered specific worries and questions that his converters may have had in many of his writings; one of these writings is 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, Paul set out to deal with the many believers in Corinth who are divided into the followings of Paul or Apollos rather than Christianity as a whole. The converts of Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14 were divided during times of worship because of jealousy invoked by the spiritual gifts received from the â€Å"Spirit†; the worships and the church became a place to boast who is closest to God, instead of a place of worship, interpretation, and love. In 1 Corinthians 14:26-33, Paul set guidelines in times of worship to heal the divide among his converts present in 1 Corinthians 12-14. 1 Corinthians was one of the seven uncontested writings of Paul; Corinth was the capital of Achaia in the times of Paul’s writing. According to Acts 18:11, Paul spent a year and a half in the city of Corinth. He established the main church in Corinth by converting many Corinthians to Christians. Paul eventually travelled from Corinth to Ephesus, a city on the coast of modern-day Turkey. When Paul arrived a... ...zing or speaking in tongues. Paul’s setup of worship is very orderly and gives directions to who can speak, when, and where. Doing so, Paul reiterates the fact that God is in favor of peace and his place of worship should also be of peace and equality. In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul set out to address the issues of exclusivity and the divide among the converts of Corinth that has been caused because of spiritual gifts. Paul set a guideline to his converts in Corinth to create order and conduct during times of worship in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33. Doing so, Paul hoped that the divide that has been caused from those with special or â€Å"exclusive† spiritual gifts do not cause other believers to become jealous or envious. Paul’s guideline to the Corinthians showed the leadership that Paul had that allowed him to guide the Church to become Hellenistic in just one generation.

Free Essays: The Weak Gods of Iliad, Odyssey and Epic of Gilgamesh :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Weak Gods of The Iliad, Odyssey and Gilgamesh    The Oxford English Dictionary defines god as Ã’1. A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient ruler and originator of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheist religions. 2. A being of supernatural powers, believed in and worshipped by a people.Ó The first definition reflects Modern AmericaÕs connotation of the word god. The latter recalls the Ancient Greco-Sumerian ideal of a being greater than man. While both definitions are equally valid in literature, many perceive the word only in the first view. However, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic of Gilgamesh portray gods with limits and weaknesses. The contemporary Christian god is able to demand things of his followers, readily expecting wholehearted and unquestioning obedience. This was not the case with his ancient counterparts.    Rather than exacting demands upon their followers, occasionally the ancient gods were limited to requests. Often they were refused. In the Odyssey, the goddesses Circe and Calypso both expected lifelong commitments from the mighty Odysseus. Both promised great things to the hero, including godhood. Odysseus was able to refuse both goddesses. Human obstinacy beat out the whims of goddesses. If the Protestant god were to make sexual demands upon his followers, more than likely, he would not be refused. One could argue, though, that Odysseus did give in to the goddesses by bedding them. Always though, his focus eventually shifted to returning home and reuniting with his mortal wife. Homer portrayed a man who refused immortal beauty for true love: Ã’She is mortal after all, and you are immortal and ageless. But even so, what I want and all my days I pine for is to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming. And if some god batters me far out on the wide blue water, I will endure it, keeping a stubborn spirit within me, for I have already suffered much (93-94).Ó Thus, the mortal Odysseus was able to deny the temptations of the goddesses multiple times. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, another goddessÕ whims are put down. Ishtar, goddess of war and love becomes attracted to the mighty but mortal Gilgamesh. But rather than jumping right into the sack with

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Business Environment Essay

Recruitment and retention The need of recruit- There is been a new position arisen for Customer Service Executive in Buffs Supplies LTD. As now they have a website developed, there is a need of person who can run the website effectively, and make a very good use of the website to help the business to offer a good and improved service for their customers. Job description- is there to provide a clear understanding of the job details for the people who are going to apply. It outlines the things that he/she will do during his/her employment and it outlines the things that employer wants from the employee. So that Job description should include the following: * The job title/type * Position of the employee, who they will report to * The location * A summary of the job’s objectives, * Main purpose/duties/responsibilities * Pay levels, and any potential increase, benefits, uniform/dress code * Hours/ holidays * How to apply and deadline for application I’ve designed a job description document (please see attached document) for Buffs Supplies LTD to assist my manager. Person specification- gives a better understanding of what kind of person that certain company wants for the job, and to identify the knowledge, skills and ability to require to do the job as well as to fit within the company. It should include the following: * Educational/ qualification- it is essential for professional jobs like lawyers, accountants as it is directly connected to their performance as well as they should know what they should/ should be doing. If you don’t know the law you cannot work as a lawyer, simple! * Experience and training- you may need to be experienced to be able to do a good job for your role and it’s likely for employers to specify length of time of experience on their job description. A good thing of being experienced is you may not need a qualification to do certain jobs if you are experienced. * Personal interest/ attributes- it’s helpful for both parties to understand each other as it shows the requirement of people’s character for the job role. Person’s interest may relate to the job role, for example if you are not comfortable with approaching to stranger, you may not be suitable for jobs like sales person who deals with customers face to face as part of their job role, if you enjoy talking to people you might enjoy the work and motivated to be at work, meaning that success will be a closer for you. I’ve designed a personal specification with my job description for customer service executive. (Please see attached sheet) Different methods of advertising a job There are number of method that you can use to advertise your job vacancy arises. It helps the company to reach targeted group of candidate and it might also depend on the people who will be your candidate to choose where you would like advertise the job vacancy. First of all you will need to have a good job description to help the candidate what you’re looking for. I’m going to write about different methods. 1. Internal Advertising- you can employ people within the organisation instead of getting some one from outside. It might be cost efficient as you might not have to pay for recruitment agency to advertise your job, when you can put it on your company’s website, employee’s board, send internal e-mails to everyone and even put it on company’s facebook page. It is useful because if someone wants to climb to the ladder, they can do so by applying for the job vacancy. 2. Online- you can advertise it by online through job website’s such as Monster, Job Centre website etc. Advantage of online advertising is you might be able to reach a lot of people and they can search by location, industry or job titles they wish to apply. 3. Recruitment Agency- you can also advertise it through these agencies with a small charge. They will advertise the job, maybe create the job description according to the company needs and asses the applicants to ensure they meet the minimum requirements. It might be useful for them if the company needs a staff urgently they can quickly find someone to cover as they have a lots of member who are seeking for jobs. they also 4. Newspapers- this is a offline choice you can advertise it on a local newspapers to let the local know about the job vacancy. Importance of staff retention I think recruiting a new staff is an expensive, because you will have to advertise the job, do the search on the applications, interview them individually and also once you got the right candidate you will have to train them from the start pointing every single fire points etc. Instead of going through all these you can try to retain the staffs you already has so that person is already know the company’s style and people so it will be easier for him to work/deal with things. It is good for the company image and reputation to promote people within the organisation. If someone got hired and leaves after a month It will cause a problem, because they will have to do the recruitment process all over again and spend money to recruit the person will be a waste. Existing staff might be overworked so it will lead to unhappy employees and they will not perform their best as they’re tired of long hours and covering for someone else. However, businesses can avoid this situation by retaining staff as if the person stayed within the organisation and got promoted it is likely for the person to stay longer and work more harder as he will feel he is achieved something after working for the company. Ways of improving staff retention rate Businesses calculate to see how long their staffs are tending to stay with the company using the following formula. Number of staff leaving a year 100 Average number of staff employed that year This formula helps them to identify any problem so that Human Recourse can act on it to research what is going on by preparing surveys for staffs to complete or organise an open meeting with their staffs to know exactly what is going on, what is that they are happy and not happy with, so that they can act on it straight away. Reason to have high rate: this is when employees are not happy with the work they do, or the environment they work with, or even the management they are working for. It could be anything to be not happy as human expectation is increasing with the technology. However, employers should provide the right facility with the right motivation to keep the employers happy and juice them effectively. Ways to avoid these situations: to improve the rate you can do all sorts of things like showing them that they (employer) really care about them by listening to what they have to say, support them with their life, or organise some outside work events like weekend bowling competition to help them work closely with each other. Make the work place more challenging by doing competition with a price, a little investment won’t bring down the company, in that way work place might be more interesting and staff will perform better. Motivation is a key thing to get a better out of the staff and keep them within the business as well. b) Describe main employability, interpersonal and personal skills required by the new customer service executive. Organisations often look for people who are skilled or experienced so that it will be easier for both parties, from the employers view it helps them to replace the worker quickly and it may save some money as there might not need of training for example if he is trained as first aider, and the job requires to have a qualification the company does not have to train the staff who already has the qualification for it, from the employees part of view it might be easier for him to do the job and as he is experienced he will have an idea of what he is expected to do, and will be paid as a full employee, I mean some organisations pay lower wage for those who are not experienced enough. Employability skills: this is the basic skills that are needed to get, keep, and do the job. It is necessary for the candidate to have or knowledge these skills as it can be transferable during the employment as they go up the ladder in a modernised environment. It includes the following: 1. Qualification/ Previous experience in similar role and industry You may not need any qualification for some profession, but you will need your GCSE or NVQ qualification for some job roles for example if you are seeking to work as waitress as such, you may even not need any qualification as long as you are experienced enough or maybe your employer will provide a full training to do the job. However, for professions like accountant and lawyer or higher positioned job role which requires specialised skills/ qualification, you will definitely need not only GCSE but at least a Bachelor’s Degree to be considered in your application. According to my study book I’m on the right track to develop and educate myself further. Having an experience in similar role is always a bonus for employers and it is more likely for employers to consider those who are experienced and it is important that you mention it on your CV or letter indicating that you have worked in this role before. However, previous experience in similar industry is very beneficial for the employer, because they can get information about their competitors as well as an idea of how they worked to be more effective so that they can walk in a same level of their crowd. For example when I applied for a job in Harry Ramsden, I’ve put on m CV that I used to work in McDonalds, so I knew that I would definitely be invited for an interview so I did, on my interview they asked me that how McDonalds motivate their workers to stay with the business longer as I worked there for quite long time, I said to the lady that if you hire me I’ll tell you how they did it, and she smiled at me and welcome aboard! It shows that it is useful for the can didates as well as the business. 2. Knowledge of product/services This is one of the must have knowledge. For example you will obviously need to know about your product if you are a sales person, you should have a good knowledge of what you are going to sell. If you don’t know of your product, you can’t possibly persuade to sell it to different person. 3. Effectiveness in meeting personal and team targets As every business work towards achieving their aims and objectives, you must be able to meet targets to do so in the first place. You should clearly indicate if you have met any previous targets during your previous employment and any achievement, improvement you have set as a target for yourself past years, showing that to an employer will help you to get the job and it shows/proves that you are able to meet targets because of your previous achievement. 4. Ability to observe and raise professional standards There is a quote I know from my country it says if you work your hands hard, your mouth will also work hard, which means if you work hard, you will be able to feed yourself, same as that if you work hard and have a great attitude towards you work then you might get a reward/promotion. In business you are a professional, so you have to be professional to people taken be considered seriously and every organisation have a set of standard which you should meet. Personal skills: Everyone have their own character and attitude from their childhood. It might be difficult for some to change that in a day because of the job you are doing, but for some it doesn’t matter as you can learn them from others or on your own. Basically if you have the right attitude that the employer wants, it will attract the employer towards you as you are the right candidate for the job. For example if you are a kind, understanding, a good listener and most importantly patient and calm, then you are suitable for jobs like carer or consultant as the job itself requires you to be calm and a good listener as you will be hearing all kind of things and dealing with the public. A personal skill requires you to have the following: 1. Patient and hard working Patient is a very difficult thing that human being can face in difficult situations. I would consider a person who is very patient is a very calm and collective person. For some jobs you will have to be patient and calm at all times, if you can do that employers are very like to keep them as it is difficult to find these kind of people in our society and I believe making your business successful is hard work and them patient. I mean you work very hard to build your business, and it might not be success as you want it to be, so you will have to be patient to drink the juice of your fruit you plant. 2. Team work Ability to working as a team or a part of a team is essential for you and for your employer. If you are a people’s person/ easy to get along with people you might/can be a good team player as it is all about communicating and understanding each and everyone one of the team players. Employers will always look for a people who can work with the team as if you have a say of different people you can get the work done quickly and more effectively, because the things you don’t know, the other people might know so it is better for more brain than only one. Interpersonal skills: this is the skill that how you approach or deal with people and also how well you communicate with others. Customer Service Executive Employee Skills: Personal Skills: Interpersonal Skills: * Good written and spoken skills * Good IT knowledge * Previous experience in customer focused environment * * A good team player * Problem solving * Hard working * Friendly * Professional * * An excellent communicator * Good with people * c) Assess the importance of employability, interpersonal and personal skills in the recruitment and retention of staff in a selected organisation. I’ve chosen The Manchester College to assess in this task; I think The Manchester College is the largest college in Manchester and in the UK. It is important for the college to consider employability and personal skills when recruiting staff as it is an educational institution, I believe the teachers should be educated as a teacher and also the subject of their own to give their students the best knowledge possible. If the college needs to hire a new staff they should consider to hire experienced staff to save that money to put towards the existing staff training, bonus for those who worked overtime during the recruitment process, so that people get rewarded after the hard work they’ve done for their organisation, in doing that college manages to keep their staff happy, that means it is likely for them to stay within the organisation longer. To work more efficient college can carry out a skill auditing to identify the skill gap within the organisation and decide whether to hire new staff or train their existing staff. Communication is the key skill that college needs to have to be able to understand their student and their needs, so it is essential for their staff to have strong communication skills in written and verbally as it is a large organisation people will need to communicate in writing. Employees of the college should be presented and act in a professional manner, so that student and teachers will be look separately. Employability skills will be required for teachers as they have to be qualified in certain areas, whereas administrator of the college will not need to have a qualification if she/he is experienced enough. Task 2 a) Select an organisation and describe the main physical and technological resources that are involved in the running of your selected business. Physical resources – this is the things that business can use to run their day to day activities includes machinery, buildings and facilities. For my chosen organisation The Manchester College, it is very important for them to use all the resources to run effectively. They are number of main physical resources which needs them to run the business. 1. Building and Facility Building of your business may play an important role as you might not think, it is very important for businesses to have to well presentable building as it is effective in many different way. For example in my country there is a bank called Coin and the building is round and gold coloured. Anyone who saw that building will know it is a bank and will go straight to it as it is located near the airport, foreigners will have to get their money changed before they take a taxi etc. I think the prettiest campus of The Manchester College is Openshaw and it has a lots of facilities that is available for students and staffs to use such as IT suites for multimedia students, an award winning training restaurant, workshop for construction, engineering and electrical students, hair and beauty salons etc. I think the facilities that are available for student and staffs are amazing and it will be very useful for students to use these to improve their knowledge on things that they are studying. 2. Materials and waste The need of materials will depend on the business type as they all use different things. For my chosen organisation they are likely to use papers, computers, printers, pen, pencil, projectors and all sorts of office equipment as they are small teachers’ offices. Businesses should keep a close eye on what they waste, if you do that it will help them to cut costs and work more environmentally friendly. 3. Plant, machinery and equipment Businesses spend thousands of pounds on equipment and machineries to work more quickly and efficient. It is essential for them to have them and an up to date one as it helps the business run smoothly. For example teachers at The Manchester College use projectors to make it more easier for students to read or see what the teacher is teaching, and we have a library with computers which students and staffs can use to do their work. 4. Security, insurance and emergency provision I believe The Manchester College follows the Health and Safety act as I’ve seen the fire exits and there were . Also they must have the policies and provisions if there is an event of fire, there must be a staff who are trained to lead the way or make way for people in that event to keep them calm and put them in the right direction, and the people who have come to study/work to the college should have had a training or at least shown the fire exits or false alarm to see if the fire alarm works and to people know what to do in that event. All the building must have insurance against things like this to ensure the building and the employee/customers are protected, so that in any case of accident the insurance company will pay for the person who is injured or pay money to the person’s family in the event of death. Technological resources- are not only computers and printers which can be treated as physical resources. There are four main areas: 1. Intellectual property This is the right to own ideas and have a right to concerning what happens to them, if the one of the staff has new idea that no one has the business can protect it from others to use it so that business will only benefit from this idea to make more profit or attract more people. For my college if one of the teacher/ advisor got a new idea of having a nursery on site which can be paid by day and any student/employee can give their child it would be a good and new idea as it enables students with children to study/work and easy to bring her child to the place they study/work, and the business protected it, only The Manchester College can use this idea to bring in more students. 2. Accumulated experience and skills This is an experience gained over a number of years when a person has come across lots of different issues to do with the job. There is a good side and not so good side by keeping employers for a very long time. Of course, it will be worth if the employee is the brilliant one, if so the level of experience will grow. Not so good side is if it the experienced staff is not handled carefully, it may result that you will have to pay more for them or give them a special condition whereas you can hire a new staff with the same or higher skills and pay low wages. For my college I think the employees are likely to stay longer and I think teachers are feel privileged when the student comes back to her/him to show what they have got out of their education that is gained from the teacher and college. 3. Software licences, patents and copyright I believe The Manchester College bought a license from Microsoft to use their Microsoft Office Pack as it will cost them cheaper than buying it individually and install them on computers which they have a hundreds and thousands of them. So it is enabling them to use it unlimited with a one off payment. Often it is allowed for businesses to do so, not for single person/public. Patents and copyright has always been tricky to protect or should I say difficult to prove the person who stole it, because people may copy the whole idea and change the name of it to pt it on the market, so apparently it is different as it has a different name and maybe slightly different, but if people see it they won’t even recognise or know the difference. I remember one girl was selling a hoody with the logo of the college without permission from the college back home, so the college found out and they fined her parents as she was not an adult herself. b) Explain how the management of human, physical and technological resources can improve the performance of your selected organisation. Human Resources Every activity is carried put by human at The Manchester College and other businesses, so it is essential for businesses to have the right source of people to work towards their main aims and objectives. They must improve/ update their Human Resources to work effectively. I believe that my college try to manage its human resource at the level of standard as the best to provide the better future and education for us the students, considering the highly professional staff they have in my college, they hire the best possible staffs with ability and interest to care for students, so that staff will have better understanding of what students needs, also they train their staff accordingly with the new technology’s or hire new staffs who have new skill which can be introduced to the other staff. To do those things there is department especially designed to do that job. Their main job role is to manage and control the employees in the college, meaning hiring a new staff, train the existing ones to improve their employer’s ability to have the best source of employees. To manage its staff successfully the college tries to keep the existing staff as it is beneficial for the college as longer the staff stays, college won’t have to advertise jobs and train them which costs money for them to do that, instead of spending money on new person who is starting as an entry level, the company invest in their people who have stayed with them on the long run so that the employee will feel that they belong there and work more harder. Team work is always important for organisations like Manchester College as it is very large organisation and everyone have to work as a whole to get the work done, to improve team performance organisation do things like group activity, staff meeting and staff day out to make them closer so that they work with each other more comfortably, if they work closely the organisation will benefit from the use of full staff performance and things will go quicker and smoother, so that they can move forward to their next objective. Physical Resource If the college have a good facility for students, it can attract more students and people would be looking to work for them as basic standard of facility needs to meet and higher would be an advantage. It also important for them to use these facilities with its full use and keeping them up to date as the things are developing very fast and things are getting out of fashion quickly. For example if the student had learned Microsoft Office 2003 in their IT class by the time they finish their studies and find work would be 2007 and he might struggle if the new employer has the newer version and he doesn’t know how to use it properly even though it is similar to the older version, he will not get the all the benefit that the software is offering. Technological Resource As the college uses a lot of paperwork and papers, it is crucial to save them as they need to be used for hard evidence, however I would like to suggest that teachers can send their assignment brief to student e-mails which college have provided for them it saves the trees and we are going to be use the e-mail which is one of the facility college improved last year and I think we are not making a full use of it and it feels it might be waste of money to have e-mail address and not using it, to motivate students to use their e-mail college can put their names instead of student number which will look more real and nice, and not allow to have an access to any other mail service in the library so that student have no choice but to use it properly. If we can do that we will reduce the use of papers and use the facility which we don’t use. Task 3 a) Describe the sources of internal and external finance, available to Barney’s business. There are two main ways that business can access financial resources: 1. Internal sources ( within the business) This is the money you can get within the business: Owner’s savings- I believe Barney has some money for himself if he is thinking to start a new business, because it’s the owners who are often invest in their company to cover the setting up costs. It might be the only source they available immediately for them as for sole traders like Barney, banks or other financial institution unlikely to offer a loan as there is too much risk involved, and if you have that kind of money it is really good for the business as you will not have to pay it back by monthly or pay an interest. Capital from profit- this will become available after the business set up and operating. Once they have run for certain time, they may make some profit to invest into the business to run or buy more stock or buy new machinery to grow the business 2. External sources (outside the business) There are number of different external sources that business can get money from to help them to set up or invest in. Banks- they can offer loans, overdrafts and business account to businesses but you will have to have a good business plan to get it. Loans are not easy to get and might not be a good option for small business as you must pay it back with interest in certain amount of time and if the company goes down the owner will end up with huge debt. The choice I would suggest is the overdraft for him as it is flexible and you won’t have to pay a penny unless it is used, there are some banks who offer interest free overdraft, if you can get it will be a win! Friends/Family- you can always seek for help from your friends and families and you can even offer them a share for return of their investment or just borrow some money from them to put towards the business if they are nice enough. I would say it is the best option of borrowing money as you don’t pay interest and it is your family they will not give you to court unless you run with their money. Government grants- these are available from the EU, national/local government. A grant is money you can receive as a business man; a good thing about it is that you don’t have to pay it back. If Barney falls under the age group of 18-30 he can get a low interest loan from Prince’s Trust. Task 4 (a) The purpose of budgets, and how they can be used to monitor and control the performance of Barney’s business, including, the monitoring of actual performance against budget and the use of variance analysis. Budget is a written plan with spending which will occur and a revenue that is need in the future to cover these costs. The purpose of it is it gives you clear understanding of what to expect to spend/receive in the future (coming year) to prevent or act any crisis before it happens. It also can be used as a communication between the employees to understand the objectives of the business and work towards it. For owners they can see how well their managers managing the budget plan and performance of them. Budgetary control 1. Set objective for Barney Objective for Barney could look like this * Do a business related course * Get information on government grants * Find any other fund that is available to him 2. Set a plan to how to achieve these objectives He can start of with: * Do a year course in business related or hair styling course to have a better understanding of how business operate * Design business plan to show it to the banks and to apply for government grants * Get advise from people who are in the same business as his to find out what needs to be done orderly * Do an online research on advise and support from government websites to collect necessary documents to apply for government grant * Hire someone to do research on the market things like where to open the salon, and what kind of people lives in the area, and what is the average income for people in that area to help to set a price etc. 3. Prepare the plan You should produce a budget plan to attach it with your business plan to show how much is going to cost what and how you can manage to pay for it etc and you should compare it with the actual figure to analyse the situation of what has gone wrong or right and then you can take some action to prevent it in the future and more experienced on the next budgeting. Task 5 a) Study the contents of the profit and loss account and balance sheet for Wansbeck Motors Ltd and give an account of the worthiness of the business by explaining the purpose of each element. Purpose of balance sheet- is important as it shows the value of the business. * Assets things that business own * Liabilities ( debts a business owns) * Equity (the amount invested in the business) Purpose of profit and loss account- it shows how much money business making and how much money they are losing and you can identify it by looking at the profit and loss account to do something about it.