Comparison between a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement Essay

Comparison between a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement - Essay Example A balance sheet follows the general structure of Assets = Liabilities + Owners’ Equity, which means that the summation of all assets must equal the liabilities and shareholders’ equity. Investors and company management need this information to determine the current value of a company. An income statement, like the balance sheet, shows the value of the company because it shows whether the company is operating at a loss or at a profit. An income statement portrays a company revenues vis a vis the expenses, gains, and losses after taxation for a specific period of time, be it annually, monthly, quarterly, or semiannually. Although the two financial statements are two different statements, they are closely related in that, a company’s profit and loss statement directly affect the shareholders’ equity. In the event that a company posted $30,000 increase owner’s equity compared to the previous year and the owner did not invest or withdraw assets from the business, then the increase represents the net income for the year. If the owner had withdrawn $15,000 in assets for personal use, then the net income must have been $45,000 to produce the $30,000 increase in shareholders’ equity. A balance sheet is more useful in determining the sustainability of a company as it outlines a company’s assets in comparison to the liabilities. The relationship between a balance sheet and an income statement is a result of the double entry system that prescribes Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity.

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Journal - Essay Example The crime involved an internet fraud ring used to infect millions of computers internationally. Six Estonian nationals who used a virus called DNSChanger to infect millions of computers and manipulate computers without the awareness of the computer owners committed the crime. The criminals manipulated websites dealing with advertisements and managed to obtain more than $14 million. Additionally, the infected computers were prone to infection by other types of malicious malware (FBI, 2011). I found the story interesting due to the manner in which the criminals used the malware to manipulate advertisement websites. Additionally, the crime was widespread since it affected over 4 million computers. The cyber thieves used the malware to redirect users requesting to purchase objects online to a website they had developed. This depicts the sophisticated nature of cybercrimes. The website purported to sell similar goods. Additionally, the malicious DNS altered searches by users and endorsed fake products. People would thus purchase goods unknowingly but would never get the deliveries. The case depicted how the levels of cybercrimes have increased. Additionally, the case validates the need for protection of advertisement websites. To resolve the issue the FBI investigators had to replace the DNS servers with legitimate servers. The crime also demonstrated the increased usage of computer forensics in dealing with crimes. The fraud led to development of DNSChanger virus scan and removal software that can be used to disinfect computers that had been shut from internet connection (FBI, 2011). Operation Phish Phry Operation Phish Phry is another example of a cyber-fraud committed in 2009 by group of about 100 cyber criminals. The fraud targeted banks in U.S. and was investigated by United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in conjunction with Egyptian authorities and Los Angeles Electronic Crimes Task Force. The cyber thieves used email fraud to obtain sensitive in formation such as usernames, passwords, and other financial information from users. They would send emails that appeared official to the victims asking them to submit their bank account details. On entering the details, the user’s information would be directed to an untrusted websites without their knowledge where they give their information that would accessible to the tricksters. The frauds would then use the information to transfer funds from the user’s bank accounts to bogus accounts. About $1.5 million was stolen (Federal Bureau of Investigations , 2009). The crime interested me since it demonstrated how competition in development of software has led to increase in cybercrimes. Additionally, the crime was recognized as the cyber-crime with the highest number of defendants in the computer crime history. The crime involved competition between law enforcers and the criminals. Additionally, the crime demonstrated the increasing misuse of technological advances in crim e enhancement. The cybercrime was conducted by criminal operation within United States and their counterparts were in Egypt. This depicts the extent to which cybercrimes have become complicated. Unlike other crimes that are often conducted by people operating within same locality, cybercrimes can involve people located anywhere across the globe. This case depicts the need for law enforcers to advance their computer forensic technologies to be able to

Best Practices Position Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Best Practices Position Paper - Essay Example The way organizational culture changes in the wake of the adoption of the best practices is one significant aspect that comes under serious reckoning. It raises eyebrows since the company has an automatic shift within its work methodologies and it wants to emulate the best amongst the business. This imitation is not for the sake of copying workflow by workflow but to attain higher levels within the management regimes when the talk goes out loud regarding the organizational cultural domains. This means that the way employees dress up, do their chores and interact with the clients and customers is in direct proportion with the ways the best practices have been doing for a considerable period of time. (Taylor & Labarre, 2006) Also there is a great deal of check and balance mechanism being conducted so that the mistakes could be avoided and if the same are committed in essence, efforts are made to re-do them in the correct way. The best practices lead to the benchmarks that already exist within the related industries and are indeed deemed as the very best amongst their concerned areas of service. It is necessary for the best practice human resource management to have performance management systems in place before any advancement could be envisaged at some point in time within the future. Once these performance management systems are installed and in place, we can have a proper check and balance mechanism as concerns to the people who are working in the company. Performance management systems make use of the fact that performance is increased on the part of all concerned and there is no shortfall as concerns to commitment, dedication and devotion when at work. What this performance management system does is to ensure that the right people get the bonuses, incentives and so on as well as point out the ones who have fallen short on the company’s expectations over a period of time. This would help in giving them rewards and incentives which will

Exploring Qualitative Problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exploring Qualitative Problems - Essay Example This may be due to them holding down a full time job, or their personal commitments that do not allow them to travel to school. Some students may be ill or may not be in a position to move out of their present residence to be able to attend college. Distance education schools provide such student with the chance to study and add to their knowledge and expertise without attending daily classes. These courses may be run via the internet by publishing lectures, by sending course material and receiving physical or electronic assignments from students or by using podcasts and interactive sessions on occasion. Many schools combine a number of methods in order to provide the best possible learning experience to their students. But often, this experience does fall quite short of the benchmark set by regular courses. This is often attributed to the reduced stimulation received by students taking distance education courses. Thus, a large body of research has been attempting to understand and a ddress this concern over the last few years. Research Addressing Quality Enhancement In a study by De Smet, Van Keer, and  Valcke (2008), the interactions amongst fourth year students who were trained to be peer tutors and freshmen were analyzed using content analysis (Shank, 2006; Bogdan, & Biklen; 2007). The study attempted to evaluate the kind of interactions and the topics covered by tutors and the support strategies provided by them in asynchronous discussion conditions. The authors evaluated the discussion threads and collected data by identifying the type of discussions and the points of change in topics. It was found that the importance of tutors was constant throughout. The discussions among participants and the strategies used by the tutors varied as per the discussion themes; but did not evolve to higher levels of conversation. The study also used cluster analysis to identify the types of tutors; and found three styles - motivators’, ‘informers’ and ‘knowledge constructors’. This was taken as more proof for the importance of tutors. While content analysis of conversation amongst peer tutors and the students has provided valuable information on this study (Bogdan, & Biklen; 2007); it would have been more valuable if some professional tutors were also to interact with students. The value and need of tutors is dependent on the students’ need to gain information that may not be otherwise accessible. Professional tutors may handle discussions differently from peers, and these differences may help us identify the kind of inputs that help distance education participants’ gain more knowledge and skills from their courses. The content analysis also gives us the type of interaction and the styles of interaction used to approach a given problem. This is a truly valuable technique in this case, as it helps us identify the structure of conversation that best helps in student development in a given topic. Another s tudy published by Menchaca and Bekele in 2008 provides an understanding of the elements that contribute to making distance education a success. The researchers wanted to identify the strategies and the tools that helped both instructors and students to succeed in online courses. To this end, they collected data from students, instructors and administrators over a long period and applied a qualitative method for constant comparative analysis

Energy Transfer and Thermodynamics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Energy Transfer and Thermodynamics - Essay Example rmodynamics  is an expression of the universal law of increasing  entropy, stating that the entropy of an  isolated system  which is not in  equilibrium  will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium. The second law expressed in terms of an entropy change is given as: ΔS ≠¥ 0 (universe). The Third Law of Thermodynamics states that: Every substance has a finite positive entropy, but at the absolute zero of temperature the entropy may become zero, and does so become in the case of a perfect crystalline substance. In a perfectly ordered crystal, every atom is in its proper place in the crystal lattice. At T= 0 Kelvin, all molecules are in their lowest energy state. Such a configuration would have perfect order; and since entropy is a measure of the disorder in a system, perfect order would result in an entropy of zero. Thus, the Third Law gives us an absolute reference point and enables us to assign values to S and not just to ΔS as we have been restricted to do with U, H, A, and G. The molecules of water that make up an ice crystal are held rigidly in place in the crystal lattice. When ice melts, the water molecules are free to move about with respect to one another and to tumble around. Thus, in liquid water the individual water molecules are more randomly distributed than in the solid. The well-ordered solid structure is replaced by the much more disordered liquid structure. 3) Calculate ΔS for the following reaction, using the information in a Table of Thermochemical Data, and state whether entropy increases (becomes more random) or decreases (becomes less random)? Based on entropy changes, do you predict a spontaneous reaction? A reaction that leads to a decrease in the number of gaseous molecules generally leads to a DECREASE in entropy. The entropy change of this reaction is NEGATIVE because the three molecules of gas react to form one molecule of gas. In a Carnot cycle a system, as cylinder of gas, is set  out of

Imprint of Italian and Irish Americans on the American Culture Essay Example for Free

Imprint of Italian and Irish Americans on the American Culture Essay On July 4th 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Carefully written on this scribe and on the foundation of this nation are the unalienable rights to â€Å"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.† (Declaration of Independence, n.d.) While some of the values and ideas of this document come from America’s motherland, England, the promised rights to the free world are shared by no other nation. For this reason, The American Dream is dreamt not only by natural born citizens of this nation, but by many people all around the world. Over twelve million immigrants during the late 1800s and early 1900s passed through Ellis Island, the first federal immigrant inspection station of the free world. Of the newcomers, a portion of them consisted of Italian Americans and Irish Americans. Throughout history, these groups have contributed to what is termed multiculturalism. Being the minority, these two groups have also experienced power-conflicts through their quests of assimilation. The two ethnic groups faced many challenges that helped create what is believed to be the melting pot to many ethnicities and racial groups. For The Journey While the American Dream is a common value, the aspirations of the idea come from different motives. In Italy, a strong, and unfair class structure created such severe conditions that led to 1/3 of the nation’s population to immigrate to the new world. While the majority of this fraction came permanently for a new life, some came temporarily to make enough money to return to Italy and buy land. Simply owning land in Italy automatically escalated Italians within the class structure. Many Italian Americans settled in Chicago Illinois, one of the largest growing cities in America at the time. Chicago offered much opportunity for work, as it was the ideal producer of steel and aider to America’s industrial growth. Back in Ireland,  the Irish had much more to deal with than just a harsh class structure. Under English rule, Irish religious practices were repressed along with many other basic freedoms the Irish came to experience in America. A poor economic situation due to chaos of rebellious battles led to much of Ireland’s population living an unsanitary lifestyle in mud huts well into the late 1800s. These living conditions led to diseases of more than half the population. When the Irish Americans first settled in Boston, they lived crammed into small, single-home houses with at least a couple more families. Many shared cellar, attic, and crawl spaces for living quarters (Youtube, 2011). Overall Assimilation Assimilation in reference to the Italians and the Irish is much more complex and has become an identity reference in itself. Being the weak minority has demanded the Italians and Irish to accept and disregard many of their own practices to satisfy the dominate. Unlike the Irish, many Italians did not stick together, but lived spread-out and separated from others. In fact, some tensions developed between some Italians groups based on what streets and neighborhood they lived on and in. Inside conflicts like this led to outside conflicts as Americans began to depict Italian Americans as a dark and devious group within press. Italian Americans worked hard to reverse this depiction and to adhere to the dominate rule of society. When Mussolini began to restore Italy to what many people believed that to the equivalent of the Roman Empire eras, Italian Americans felt sense of pride. Mussolini knowing that he needed the approval of Italians worked hard to earn their respect. The world viewed Mussolini as a strong leader, and this view reflected off of the proud Italian Americans. However, when Mussolini declared war on the U.S. by joining forces with other fascist leaders, Italian Americans began to receive much ridicule from the dominate social class again. Meanwhile, Irish Americans needed little effort to complete the process of assimilation. Having many of the same physical characteristics as the dominate groups of America, made it easier to focus on progression up the social ladder. The first generation, while working factory jobs like the Italian Americans, led a more togetherness of a lifestyle with one another in their group, which created a better support system. The support system created a stronger group and led to management positions. The second  generation focused heavily on education as much as the dominate class did. Higher education led to political offices within just the third generation of Irish Americans, which led to the Irish becoming part of the dominate group in America. A great example of this would be the Kennedy Family. Power-Conflicts Predicted to be the minority by the middle of the 21st century, the dominate white has been accused of trying to oppress the minority through tactics summarized by power-conflict theories. (Feagin Feagin, 2011). When the Italians and Irish first immigrated to America, the first jobs they assumed were factory and railroad jobs. Running these factories were members of the dominate class. It is commonly believed that money is the result of success in America, just as the sum of money and success are equal to power. The contrast between the dominate and the minority was very much defined as there was not much of a middle class. It was without effort for the dominate factory runners and railroad heads to pay the minority the minimum for the dangerous work they provided, after all, the only thing factory workers had to provide was their labor while factory runners had the product of the factories. For a long time this was a recurring issue in terms of power-conflicts. This issue created so much unrest until the two groups gained support from within their own groups to develop labor unions. Multiculturalism Multiculturalism is a term that to this day produces many unsettled feelings of both unrest and excitement. America, regarded as the Melting Pot of many cultures is not even a fully multicultural nation, as this country has taken almost three hundred years to see the first African American president. While the Italians and the Irish have worked hard to assimilate to the ways of this nation, they have also brought their culture onto this nation as well. Christopher Columbus day is proudly recognized by Italians as he was always considered the son of Italy. His finding of the new world has been an amazing accomplishment for the Italians. When the Italians finally had a voice in congress, they pushed to make the day a federal holiday (Youtube, 2011). Meanwhile, the strong religion practice as Catholics has also prompted holidays in favor of the Irish, such as St. Patrick’s Day. Without  the push by these groups to recognize these days, America may have not done so otherwise. It is important that days that attribute much to other cultures be recognized by America to promote multiculturalism. For example another federal holiday that reminds America of equal rights among equal groups is Martin Luther King Day. Conclusion In the late 1800s and early 1900s Italian and Irish Americans came to American to take advantage of the opportunities. The Italians settled primarily in Chicago, while the Irish settled in Boston. The two groups worked hard to assimilate through the trials and tribulations of power-conflicts and the everlasting multiculturalism. While the groups assimilated well by becoming an American version of their ethnicity, they also left an imprint on the overall culture of America. When both groups achieved political offices, days that were influential to their groups became federal holidays. References Declatation of Independence. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charter/declatation_transcript.html Feagin, J. R., Feagin, C. B. (2011). Racial and Ethnic Relations (9th ed.). New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Library of Congress. (2014, May). ImmigrationIrish. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationssandactivities/presentations/immigration/irish6.html Youtube. (2011, December). And they Came to Chicago: The Italian American Legacy. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqeikaWQCyo Youtube. (2011, July). The Irish in America Part 1. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0sZ_jWcyl

Can War Be Abolished? Theories and Causes of War

Can War Be Abolished? Theories and Causes of War CAN WAR BE ABOLISHED Introduction   According to the Clausewitz War is a mere continuation of the policy. So the question arises can the policy be abolished? Or is war inevitable? and we may find no simple answer to these questions. War is defined as a violent action in which one side i.e. State ‘A’ endeavours to impose its will on the other side i.e. State ‘B’ through the use of force. In modern times non state actors and terrorists are also seen inviting the wrath of a state or certain states coalition. There is no single agreed upon definition of war and no two wars are ever quite similar in opposing forces, objectives and gains. Before we dwell any further in an attempt to answer the aforesaid question it is deemed pertinent to analyse the theory of war and its root causes. Only then we shall be able to seek the true answer to our question whether the war can be abolished and if so under what conditions and circumstances. Theories of War War is a complex societal phenomena rather than unchangeable human nature. History of war is as old as the recorded history of mankind on this planet, but according to war analysts this does not make it law of nature. According to Clausewitz concept of Trinity, military component of nation is a non-rational actor and subjected to political leadership in whose domain lies the rational decision making process. After the introduction of Nuclear Weapons in WW II concept of warfare has been drastically altered. The enormous destructive power of this type of weapon, which can wipe out the human race from this planet, has set such a strong deterrence that many wars have been averted particularly among the nuclear weapon states. In Bernard Brodie’s words â€Å"from now on the chief purpose of army is not to fight wars but to avert them†. There are typically two broad theories categorised by the analysts to describe the phenomenon of war. a.  Normative Theory. It seeks to find out what the things ought to be. The ethics and morals and what is right and what is wrong. Is war justified and if so under what conditions wars can be fought. b.  Empirical Theory.  This theory deals with the historical evidence of the evolution of warfare. Circumstances leading to the on set of war, various techniques employed during the conduct of war and the reasons for the victory or defeat. Reasons for War There are number of different reasons for which wars are fought amongst the states. Kenneth N Waltz describes that in the domain of international relations the identification of level of analysis i.e. â€Å"individual, state or international system† is important. Apropos in this discourse state level shall be focused as the primary level of analysis to identify the reasons of war. Some of them are briefly described in succeeding paragraphs. a.  Territorial/Border Disputes. Most wars are fought between the two states due to territorial or border disputes. Soon after the rapid decolonization process which began in first half of 20th century, the nations were found contended with or settling down their geographical borders with their neighbours. Empirical evidence shows where this element is found missing the states tend to go to war to settle their disputes, which they are unable to resolve through other means particularly the negotiations. b.  Hegemonic Ambition.The great powers in pursuit of dominance on ground and at seas waged wars through out 19th and 20th century. However, in current times this aspect is diminishing due to economic concerns and effects of global trade and commerce. c.  Internal Balance. Some times the wars are fought due to internal political disturbance where elite or ruling party in order to preserve its power or hold over the state initiates violent use of force. This type of war is often characterised by onslaught of psychological warfare directed at enemy and home front. This type is very common in the modern times. d.  Leadership Aspects.The democratic form of governing a state is gaining popularity and autocracy is giving away. The wars fought in the past were particularly characterized by the desires and lust of power by the kings and princes. Many wars were fought due to personal orientation of the tyrannical leadership. However, democracies have been found of avoiding wars primarily due to economic concerns and well being of their people. e.  Weak State vs Strong State.Since the distribution of natural resources amongst various nation-states is not equal hence some times wars are fought by strong states against weaker states to gain access to their resources. Another dimension is a weak state waging war against a parity or strong state in the realm to settle the old scores. Most of these wars have been characterized by the precondition of ‘opportunity rather than necessity’ arising out of an internal disturbance/weak situation in other country. How War Can be Abolished Throughout centuries mankind has passed through a process of evolution so is the history of warfare. Through the course of history technology has also played its part in the evolution of warfare. After years of quest man was able to invent a weapon considered enough to destroy all the inventions; Nuclear weapons have since then altered the strategy of war particularly among nuclear states or their respective alliances. Deterrence concept had never been so well established as particularly during the cold war period, which averted successfully any war between USSR and USA and/or other NATO countries in Europe. This concept of deterrence has also worked well in establishing strategic stability in South Asia and has averted major wars between India vs Pakistan or India vs China; whose source of animosity particularly lies in border disputes and resolution of Kashmir issue. Apart from nuclear deterrence there could be other multifaceted aspects which can help to abolish war. Some of these aspects are briefly discussed in succeeding paragraphs. a.  Political System.People are generally peace loving and require welfare and freedom to go about their daily life as per their desires and socio-religious practices. A democratic form of government, which is by the people, of the people, and for the people greatly manifests the true aspirations of the masses. Apropos in last century the phenomena of decolonization and rise of democratic form of governments gained popularity. Empirical evidence exists that democracies don’t like to fight wars and tend to settle inter state disputes through talks. The political and diplomatic have thus proved effective in averting the impending wars. b.  Economic Interdependence.A major effect that globalization has ensued is economic interdependence. Natural and other resources are not equally spread thought the world. The general global peace after World War II has seen increased economic interdependence amongst the states. Thus mutual dependency is also being viewed as a reason for avoiding war amongst states. Europe has seen war for hundreds of years but European Union is a success story. The EU members states are required to fulfill two preconditions to become eligible, one to have democratic form of government and second to have no border disputes with their neighbouring states. c.  Economic Strength.Countries with strong economic power are able to exert their influence on other economically weak states to do their will, without going to war with that state. Countries like USA, China, Japan, Germany and Switzerland exercise their influence in respective areas of interest due their strong economies. d.  Strong Defence.Strong defence of a nation is manifested though it’s military power. It guarantees its sovereignty and keeps impending threats at bay and enemies under check. e.  Strong Alliance.Alliance of a group of states particularly with a super power has become a source of strength. It has minimized the chances of wars of opportunity against weaker states that have joined strong alliances e.g. NATO. f.  Role of MNC’s.Due to financial implications the Multinational Corporations (MNC’s) which are spread throughout the world irrespective of political boundaries exert their influence on states as war is detrimental to their business interests. Conclusion Abolishing the war is both desirable and possible despite human limitations. The cumulative effect of political, military and economic strength coupled with higher literacy rate, acquisition of advanced technologies and employment opportunities for the youth can act as strength of national power. Socio cultural affinity and religious freedom of the masses living in an allegiance within the political boundaries and respecting the same for those living across the borders makes a state stable and less prone to war. Apropos it can be concluded that principles of social justice and mutual coexistence are the hallmarks for attaining global peace. References: Kenneth waltz The Causes of War