WorldCom an Example by

WorldCom The recent incidents of fraud by respected organizations have brought the issue of organizational ethics especially ethics with respect to data misuse into the focus. WorldCom, a telecom giant, was one of those organizations which used fraudulent accounting practices to show a false picture of its financial position and profitability. Need essay sample on "WorldCom" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed The misuse of data by WorldCom WorldCom misused its data to support its decisions for personal gains. The data was misused primarily in two ways: Underrating costs by capitalizing these costs on the balance sheet rather than properly expensing them (bit by bit). These sorts of problems often occur with Financial Institutions when they capitalize costs under the accounting head of Non Performing Loans in the Balance Sheet, however, if it is reported in the balance sheet without proper disclosure, this may create a whimsical in the mind of investor (Cooper, 2004). Inflating revenues with bogus accounting entries from corporate unallocated revenue accounts and this problem is in relation with improper revenue recognition technique. The results of fraudulent practices by WorldCom As a result of its unethical practices, several acquisitions were overvalued. Consequently, profit of $10 billion was shown instead of actual huge losses of around $70 billion for year 2000 through 2002 (Cooper, 2004). All this was done to show an inflated price of its stock. Subsequently, when the fraud was uncovered, the fallout of WorldCom began which impacted not only its stockholders but also its competitors and the telecom industry as a whole. Limitations and significance of the data The accounting practices practiced by WorldCom used the US GAAP, which works on the basis of rules based accounting, conflicting with International Accounting Standards (IAS) and UK GAAP, which takes a "principles-based" approach. Although, accounting practices can be tweaked around to fit the needs of the organization, there are limitations that keeps it difficult to have gross misuse of data (Cooper, 2004). These limitations include bookkeeping controls, review of revision to entries before they are actually made, and approval of changes by internal and possibly external auditors that exceed cumulative thresholds (Belson, 2005). Data was of enormous significance in the case of WorldCom. The tweaks in accounting practices and the concealment of the real picture of the data enabled WorldCom to continue its practices for years and consequently show inflated profitability and shrunken expenses. Ethical implications WorldComs misuse of data was ethically wrong. The fraudulent practices were committed by some of its top executives using creative accounting to cover their losses. Ethical wrongdoings for personal gains by some of its executives lead to its demise and sent shockwaves in the whole telecom industry (Belson, 2005). Leaders set the moral tone of their organizations. And when leaders do not perform their moral duties, the organization surely suffers. Without serving the interests of its stockholders, WorldComs case indicates how lack of ethical concerns can seriously damage the organization itself and its stakeholders and become a menace to the industry. References Moberg, Dennis J. (2006). Ethics Blindspots in Organizations: How Systematic Errors in Person Perception Undermine Moral Agency. Organizational Studies 27, 3: 413-428. Cooper, Cynthia (2004). Cynthia Cooper: WorldCom Whistle Blower. Retrieved August 8, 2008, from Nationwide Speakers Bureau, Inc. Belson, Ken WorldCom's Audacious Failure and Its Toll on an Industry. (2005, Jan 18 ). The New York Times, p. C1.

Enlightenment Essays

Enlightenment Essays Enlightenment Essay Enlightenment Essay I was, in essence, the immaculate conception of religion As I spread across the world the belief system gospel, But it is only now that I truly feel reborn. The myths that have enslaved me for all these years I can finally dispel. I have now reclaimed from my birth the all seeing eye of truth Before I was indoctrinated into this faith in the early stages of my youth. The real world had become but a distant memory, torn and obscure. I lived and breathed the words of wisdom that were passed down to me, Yet I was blinded, I could not see I grasped at the sacrosanct words of what our holy one had to say Because I was foretold that this was where my own path to righteousness lay. But they realized that my growing curiosity for an ultimate understanding had to be contained. Religion gives us the choice to believe a story that has been manufactured for different faiths; I cringe now when I look back and I used to preach to people who needed to be `saved. For when religion has finished with our souls and this world, Armaggedon will be staged, And when the dust settles the fallen will arise once more and the religious game will replay. I now see the world is full of false prophets whose twisted words are dressed in pure imagery Designed to separate mind, body and soul from the true beauty and feeling of this world. I can now see the beauty of the darkness as well as the light Because belief and faith are not things that can be preached. It is a journey that starts from inside the soul and travels to the heart, Through which we then become entwined with the real world around us. I can now see through the lies because my soul is grounded in the truth.

The Ethno Science Approach and its View of the Role of Marriage in a Thesis

The Ethno Science Approach and its View of the Role of Marriage in a Society - Thesis Example The purpose of this study is to understand different roles marriage plays in the creation of extended families and kinship patterns. The paper is aimed at an audience of contemporary 21st century couples whose definition of marriage is rooted on the concept of love and compatibility. Bell (1997) describes marriage as a relationship between a man, or more than one man, and one or more than one woman with a â€Å"demand-right of sexual access within a domestic group and identifies women who bear the obligation of yielding to the demands of those specific men† (237). An ethno science approach to the functions of the social institute of marriage seeks to arrive at an accurate and concise description from the eyes of the participants. This is in contrary to the generalized perception of marriage in the contemporary society where marriage fundamentally serves to provide legal and social recognition of a union between two people. For an ethno science perspective, marriage plays a key role in creation of new kinship ties, in the up-bringing of children conceived within the union. Marriage also plays a role in describing the acceptable and unacceptable sexual relations between different members of the society. Ethno science recognizes the role marriage plays in fu nctional division of labor, emotional support, procreation, and rearing of children. Marriage in this case involves the two individuals in the union as well as the social and economic organization of the

Assignment 2 BA1010 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2 BA1010 - Assignment Example (Invalid) c. Purchasing decisions are influenced by a consumer’s self-image and desired lifestyle. So, advertising influences purchasing decisions since advertising influences self-image and lifestyle. (Valid) d. Advertisers must try to make potential customers perceive some problem. This is so since problem-solving is the first step in the consumer decision-making process and the first step is probably the most important. (Valid) d. Describe a scenario in which the following sentence is false: Barb retired if and only if she had not saved adequately for retirement. For instance, a mother of three who works as a banker who receives $40K annual income but spends more than what she earns in order to sustain the needs of her family. 8. Symbolize the following arguments then check for validity using a truth table. To simplify, leave the parenthetical parts out of your symbolization. All of the arguments are based loosely on arguments in Chapter One of The Branded Mind by Eric Du Plessis. A. If your client’s purchase was motivated by emotion then it was related to attention. Your client’s purchase was not related to attention. So, your client’s purchase was not motivated by emotion. [You can leave out the parenthetical parts in your symbolization.] B. Either we make decisions in order to feel good or the brain is not in control of our decisions. The brain is in control of our decisions, so we make decisions in order to feel good (and marketers should develop brands accordingly). C. Humans can avoid dissatisfaction in the future (hunger, boredom, loneliness†¦) if and only if consumers plan for future problems. So, either humans can’t avoid dissatisfaction in the future or they don’t plan for future problems. D. Brand choice decisions are based on how a consumer would feel if they decided to buy. If that’s true then the marketer’s job is to manage the feeling that the brain associates with the brand. It follows that the

Beauty Definition Essay Example for Free

Beauty Definition Essay Beauty is one of the most prevalent themes in the world. But what is beauty exactly? According to the Oxford Dictionary beauty is A combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Based on the definition, one would assume that beauty is only on outward appearance but that statement is false. Beauty is not only appearance but it is also what people cannot see. Beauty is about being beautiful on the inside not just the outside. The media has fooled so many people into thinking the opposite. Beauty is not only outward appearance. People are not beautiful because they have the most expensive clothes or the shiniest hair. Beauty is not having the clearest skin; beauty is not about being thin; beauty is not having the fullest eyelashes; beauty is not about appearance at all. Many people look at allure as something they can obtain from putting a lot of time into their appearance. I remember in high school there was a girl named Jenna; Jenna had all the coolest clothes and always made sure she looked good. I remember envying her for her shinny hair and perfect teeth. Everyone seemed convinced that this girl was beautiful even I. Until one day I was walking past a classroom, I could hear faint voices coming out and I knew that there wasnt supposed to be anyone in the class. I creeped closer listening to the whispers when I immediately recognized a familiar voice. It was Jenna’s and she was saying horrible things about her â€Å"best friend†. At that moment I realized that Jenna wasnt so beautiful after all. All the clothes and makeup could not hide the fact that she had an ugly soul. The soul is what makes people beautiful. Being alluring is far deeper than just being attractive; it is about being a good person. You cannot see beauty but you can see what makes people beautiful. The person who stops when they see a stray animal sitting in the sidewalk is beautiful. The person who gives their last dollar to the homeless man is beautiful. The person who goes out of their way to be friendly to everyone they meet is beautiful. The person who puts the greater good for humanity before the greater good for themselves is beautiful. Audrey Hepburn an actress in the 50’s was one of the very first actresses to recognize that beauty isnt always just appearance. She states that â€Å"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wea rs, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway  to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.† Todays media has done a terrific job in portraying allure as something that one can obtain from appearance. Media has convinced the world that beauty is only outward appearance. Today you cannot go five minutes without seeing a beauty ad; theyre everywhere. Turn on the television and you’ll see an ad for shampoo that shows a smiling girl claiming that her hair is now shinier. Drive down the street and you’ll see a billboard for an acne medication that claims it gives you ‘beautiful’ looking skin. These companies are preying on girls insecurities to make money. They claim that if you buy their product, you too can look beautiful. In reality no product can make a person beautiful because beauty is not something that you can see. Many girls look up to stars like Katy Perry, Hayden Panettiere and Emma Stone; all of who are advertising beauty products. When girls watch their favorite stars advertise makeup and other beauty products it gives the girls a false sense of beauty. It teaches our youth that by using a certain product then they can achieve beauty; if they wear a certain makeup then they will be â€Å"beautiful† like their favorite celebrities. Today’s media has put enormous pressure on young girls to be thin. Every commercial and billboard and magazine ad portrays a size zero model, always photoshopped. Young people look at these women and think that in order to be beautiful that they too have to be that thin leading to unhealthy decisions and life threatening illnesses. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 24 million people in the United States alone suffer form some sort of eating disorder. 24 million people think that their body is not good enough to fit societies definition of beautiful. 24 million people think that the only way to be beautiful is by harming their bodies. This number can be lowered dramatically if media stopped putting the emphasis of beauty on physical appearance. Beauty is not outward appearance but inner appearance. Beauty is having a beautiful soul and being a good person all around. Media has given society a false view on what really is beautiful. The next time you find yourself judging someone based upon their looks think again; beauty is not just what you can see, its what you cannot.

Dulce et Deorum Est Essay -- English Literature Essays

Dulce et Deorum Est Wilfred Owen wrote Dulce et Decorum Est about the first World War, in which he had personally fought. It was addressed to Jessie Pope, a writer of other poems concerning the War. Specifically he wrote the poem to counteract her poem â€Å"Who’s For The Game?†. Owen felt that Pope did not comprehend the seriousness of the war in her portrayal of the battle as a rugby game. Pope conveyed the participants of the ‘game’ were admirable and those who sat on the sidelines shunned and disregarded. His poem seems very depressing and gloomy, particularly in comparison, but is it not more realistic? Owen was a soldier himself, would he not know more about the horrors that war brings than the female poet, who could only be permitted to watch from the outside of her competitive yet carefree game of rugby? Personally, I think he would. At the time, Owen was put into a psychiatric hospital because the war had so badly affected him, broken his character. It was there that he met Siegfried Sassoon, who had been put into psychiatric care for writing poems that the authorities thought put the war into a negative light. It was Sassoon who encouraged Owen to become a poet, and they became good friends. The way Owen writes is very much sane and some would say he was quite an influential character. So how does Owen compare the horrors of war? From the very first line you become aware that the poem is not likely to be as light and cheerful as Pope’s poem. The line is; Bent double, like old beggars under sacks which is already a rather miserable tone. We see how Owen has begun to set the mood for his piece already. He describes the soldiers’ crooked stance and compares them to old beggars, uncomfortable and undesirable. In the second line he goes on to say that the men are knock-kneed and compares their coughs to those of hags. Again the undesirable, slightly unpleasant note is illustrated through the diction. The soldiers sound unwell, probably due to their harrowing lives in the trenches, which makes them dirty, sodden and more prone to illness. In the third line the poet describes flares, long flames often used for signalling, as ‘haunting’ to the soldiers. This suggests that they are sick of the war and hate the constant reminders of it. Obviously they cannot get away from the war and the monotonous, dire lifestyle they faced every day in the ranks. E... ...e grotesque lines he has just written, saying that the woman would not tell of the war with enthusiasm if she had experienced it first hand or had witnessed such loathsome episodes. His last two lines are the main subject of the poem and include the title itself. Although these lines are not separated from the rest like the ones discussing how the man reappeared in his dreams every night, they are the most memorable as they are the last and the finality is extrusive within them. The final lines are: The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori ‘The old Lie’ is connected to how he views Jessie Pope’s impression of the war, which he feels is captured in the Latin expression. The Latin itself translates directly as ‘It’s sweet and glorious to die for your country’. Pope’s entire poem is focused on the accuracy of this statement, whereas Owen’s entire poem is focused on contradicting the statement. The poems are in sharp contrast to each other, but Owen’s holds first hand experience and in my view is far more impacting. The lines are a relevant end to the poem and leave the reader with the thought in their mind that perhaps war really isn’t as glorious as they’ve been told.

“Beast” by Richard Wilbur Essay

In â€Å"Beast† by Richard Wilbur, Wilbur uses poetic structures, paradox and the idea of balance between nature and humanity to display in the reader’s mind that nature is something that should not be looked down upon rather should be feared. In the first few stanzas, Wilbur displays the natural process that nature goes through, for example, he introduces paradox when the â€Å"ripped mouse† is â€Å"safe in the owl’s talon† stressing that there is balance within nature itself, additionally highlighting that nature is the source and creator of balance. Furthermore, Wilbur adds another paradox by showing that a â€Å"freed beast is in slumber†, confusing the reader because free beast would roam the world and cause chaos and havoc to those that destroys the beast’s habitat. This further shows that, with nature by itself the beast does not awake; however, with humanity’s interference the beast awakes and is a â€Å"risen hunter.à ¢â‚¬  All of these paradoxes stress the internal balance that nature creates and portrays that any interference with nature causes humanity to mimic the power that nature has; nonetheless, humanity’s interference ultimately leads to there downfall and an imbalance between humanity and nature. As shown in the last three stanzas, humanity â€Å"suitors of excellence† wants to achieve perfection and unwavering power that nature possesses; yet, humanity is always stopped by nature with a â€Å"sigh† because any attempt to achieve nature’s equal makes nature to hunt humanity as a â€Å"risen hunter.† These last stanzas show the power that nature has cannot be copied or taken no matter how hard humanity tries, stressing the point that humanity’s interference with nature causes their own downfall and corruption. Additionally, Wilbur’s poetic structure adds additionally voice into the poem that supports humanity’s interference as unconventional yet eminent. In the first stanza, Wilbur uses musical symbols such as â€Å"major†, â€Å"minor†, â€Å"plucked†, â€Å"dulcet†, â€Å"concordance†, and â€Å"lyric† to imply that nature is peaceful and at rest because there is nothing out of the bal ance that creates discordance. However, Wilbur changes the tone of the poem around line 12 that causes dissonance because not only does the plot take an unexpected turn but also there where â€Å"no such darkness† but diction such as â€Å"warp†, â€Å"painful†, â€Å"werewolf†, and â€Å"sweaty† are type of words not found in the first half of the poem. Furthermore, uses rhetorical shifts, or volta, to change scenes from one place to another to show the difference between what nature is trying to achieve with its power and what humanity wants to do with their power. For example, in lines 12 and 13 a volta is introduced to show not only the change in scenes but also the institution of acceptance verses internal transformation. In conclusion with nature’s overwhelming power, humanity continues on to dream despite their loss, making humanity a very flexible being, shown through their retreat â€Å"from their work construe;† however, through this humanity is free, â€Å"unbridled† adding onto humanity’s flexibility. Generally, Wilbur’s â€Å"Beasts† is a struggle between humanity and nature fighting over for power, but in the end nature triumphs. In other words, nature’s balance with devastation and upheaval is shattered by humanity as they, mankind, attempt to stand alone, which ultimately leads to their downfall and fraudulence.