Free Essays on Sam Clemens

â€Å"Mark Twain† sounded and in one of his first books, ‘Life on the Mississippi’ about his four years piloting the Spread Eagle along the twisting river, he decided to use the name Mark Twain. Mark Twain stopped piloting the riverboat in 1861, at the start of the Civil War, to join the Union. He went to war for two weeks and left immediately after being involved in the shooting of a innocent person. He said he knew retreating better than it’s inventor did. He soon decided to travel 1,700 miles from the Missouri Territory , to the Nevada Territory. He passed through Overland City, Horseshoe City, and many other cities,large and small, in between. Clemens commented that Salt Lake City was healthy. He said that the city had one doctor who was arrested once a week for lack of work. Virginia City was very lively from all of the gold and silver found right by it. He commented that the saloons, courts and prisons were busy and there was a whiskey mill every fifteen steps. Inspired by the vein of silver as wide as a New York City street under Virginia City, Twai... Free Essays on Sam Clemens Free Essays on Sam Clemens Samuel Clemens Samuel Clemens was born and grew up in Hannibal, Missouri. This was the home of his later characters Tom Sawer and Huck Finn. In his books he incorporated features that really existed in Hannibal. Features like Holidays Hill, Bear Creek and Lover’s Leap were incorporated into his storys. Clemens described the residents of Hannibal as content with the lives they led in their small town. In his late teens, Clemens left Hannibal on a riverboat to become a printer in St. Louis. He moved up in the ranks of printing and moved to New York and eventually to Washington D.C. Clemens remembered how much fun he had had on the riverboat and how glorious it must have been to be a pilot. He soon decided to move to New Orleans to become a pilot. On the boat, he often heard things like ‘Mark the twain, two fathoms deep’. He liked how the words â€Å"Mark Twain† sounded and in one of his first books, ‘Life on the Mississippi’ about his four years piloting the Spread Eagle along the twisting river, he decided to use the name Mark Twain. Mark Twain stopped piloting the riverboat in 1861, at the start of the Civil War, to join the Union. He went to war for two weeks and left immediately after being involved in the shooting of a innocent person. He said he knew retreating better than it’s inventor did. He soon decided to travel 1,700 miles from the Missouri Territory , to the Nevada Territory. He passed through Overland City, Horseshoe City, and many other cities,large and small, in between. Clemens commented that Salt Lake City was healthy. He said that the city had one doctor who was arrested once a week for lack of work. Virginia City was very lively from all of the gold and silver found right by it. He commented that the saloons, courts and prisons were busy and there was a whiskey mill every fifteen steps. Inspired by the vein of silver as wide as a New York City street under Virginia City, Twai...

Parent-Teacher Communication Strategies for Success

Parent-Teacher Communication Strategies for Success Maintaining parent-teacher communication throughout the school year is the key to student success. Research has shown that students do better in school when their parent or guardian is involved. Here is a list of ways to keep parents informed with their childs education and encourage them to get involved. Keeping Parents Informed To help open the lines of communication, keep parents involved in everything their child is doing in school. Keep them informed about school events, classroom procedures, educational strategies, assignment dates, behavior, academic progress, or anything school related. Utilize Technology - Technology is a great way to keep parents informed because it allows you to get information out quickly. With a class website you can post assignments, project due dates, events, extended learning opportunities, and explain what educational strategies you are using in the classroom. Providing your email is another quick way to communicate any information about your students progress or behavior issues. Parent Conferences - Face-to-face contact is the best way to communicate with parents and a lot of teachers choose this option as their main way to communicate. Its important to be flexible when scheduling conferences because some parents can only attend before or after school. During the conference its important to discuss academic progress and goals, what the student needs work on, and any concerns the parent has with their child or the education that they are being provided with. Open House - Open house or Back to School Night is another way to keep parents informed and make them feel welcome. Provide each parent with a packet of essential information they will need throughout the school year. Within the packet you can include: contact information, school or class website information, educational objectives for the year, classroom rules, etc. This is also a great time to encourage parents to become classroom volunteers, and share information about parent-teacher organizations that they can participate in. Progress Reports - Progress reports can be sent home weekly, monthly or a few times a year. This way of connecting gives parents tangible evidence of their childs academic progress. Its best to include your contact information in the progress report, just in case parents have any questions or comments about their childs progress. Monthly Newsletter - A newsletter is a simple way to keep parents informed with important information. Within in the newsletter you can include: monthly goals, school events, assignment due dates, extension activities, volunteer opportunities, etc. Getting Parents Involved A great way for parents to get involved in their childs education is to give them the opportunity to volunteer and become involved in school organizations. Some parents may say they are too busy, so make it easy and provide them with a variety of ways to get involved. When you give parents a list of choices, they can decide what works for them and their schedules. Create an Open-Door Policy - For working parents it can be hard to find the time to get involved in their childs education. By creating an open-door policy in your classroom it will give parents the opportunity to help out, or observe their child whenever it is convenient for them. Classroom Volunteers - In the beginning of the school year when you send home your welcome letter to students and parents, add a volunteer sign-up sheet to the packet. Also add it to the weekly or monthly newsletter to give parents the option to volunteer anytime throughout the school year. School Volunteers - There can never be enough eyes and ears to watch over the students. Schools would gladly accept any parent or guardian that would like to volunteer. Give parents the option to choose from any of the following: lunchroom monitor, crossing guard, tutor, library aid, concession stand worker for school events. The opportunities are endless. Parent-Teacher Organizations - A great way for parents to interact with the teacher and school outside of the classroom is to become involved in parent-teacher organizations. This is for the more dedicated parent who has the some extra time to spare. The PTA (Parent Teacher Association) is a national organization that is composed of parents and teachers who are dedicated to help maintain and improve student success.

Lord Byron (1788-1824) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lord Byron (1788-1824) - Essay Example Braham and Nathan (1815) offered one of the most notable contemporary commentaries on the poem, comparing Byron’s illustration of the beauty with that of the ancient poets such as Virgil, whose Venus was also known for her walk. Byron’s lady walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (line 1-2) According to Braham and Nathan, the readers are totally at a loss to conjure the beauty of this lady who seems to affect solitude. â€Å"She is altogether a very non-descript kind of personage, whether we regard her as ‘walking like night’, or as having ‘all that’s best of dark and bright in her eyes and aspect’; but what the particularities of this lady have to do with Hebrew circumstances or characteristics †¦ are supposed to give the poem its specific and appropriate character†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Braham and Nathan, 205) Therefore, it is fundamental to recognize that the people in the nineteenth century who loved literature shared their ideas, analyses, interpretations, etc of their contemporary literary works in various effective means. These criticisms and reviews are the basic scholarly literature for the modern attempts to analyze and understand these works. Work Cited Braham, J and Isaac Nathan. A Selection of Hebrew Melodies, Ancient and Modern with appropriate Symphonies and Accompaniments. The British review and London Critical Journal.

With reference to appropriate literature and cases, critically Assignment

With reference to appropriate literature and cases, critically evaluate the influence of classical and human relations approaches in management today - Assignment Example Organizational management can be considered as an important aspect for the business organization in this contemporary era of globalization and competitive business environment. Organizational management can be recognized as the process, which organizes and manages the employee activities to meet organizational goals and objectives (Ledeen, 1999, p.65). Organizational management helps an organization to follow developed policies by planning, controlling, organizing and directing organizational resources. Classical and human relation approaches have great impact on the management of the organization in this contemporary global business environment (Lukes, 1974, p.102). Organizations generally focus on these approaches in order to maintain sustainable business practices and effective business output (Barak, 2010, p.98). On the other hand, effective human relation and classical approaches help an organization to develop and effective relationship between the employees and employers, whic h is important for good and profitable business performances (Law, 1991, p.29). Earlier, the employers used to only focus on effective business performance and positive business output. The organizational leaders were hardly bothered about employee motivation and employee job satisfaction (Campbell, 2007, p.91). But, growth of competition in global business environment and introduction of strict business regulations forced the organizational as well as industry leaders to consider employee welfare and employee motivation in business operation process (Draft, 2008, p.16). Human relations approach generally focused on value, needs, welfare and motivation of employees.

Hybrid Cars Essay Example for Free

Hybrid Cars Essay Are hybrid cars the answer? Author Jack R. Nerad explains to us in his book, â€Å"The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles† (Nerad, p. 5) that â€Å"With the rising cost in gasoline costs, the hybrid car has exploded into the fastest-growing segment of the American car industry. † With this important information we should all stop to ask ourselves why. Many individuals in our country feel that each person must do their part in protecting our environment. Not only has our population been more educated in recent years on environmental factors that can destroy our planet, but it’s clear that this impact has enlightened us to start making huge efforts in becoming a part of the solution to save our planet. By using hybrid cars for transportation, we are each showing respect and concern for this problem. We learn from Author’s Nick Yost and David Friedman (Yost; Friedman, p.4) in the book â€Å"The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer’s Guide† that hybrid cars were first introduced to Americans in our recent history of transportation. â€Å"When Japanese manufacturer Honda introduced its insight to the American motorists in December of 1999, it also ushered in a radically different concept in modern automotive transportation; the hybrid car. † Since this important date in history, hybrid cars are popping up in more and more places, everyday and are even becoming more popular with movie stars and those who are wealthy. This proves the importance of the utilization of hybrid cars since most of these people can afford luxury vehicles and are using the alternative hybrid cars in their daily lives. Not only are they proving that driving hybrid cars are necessary in changing our ideas about the way we participate in taking care of our environment but they are demonstrating that hybrid cars are attractive and just as useful as other cars on the road. Everyone in our country must take in as much information as possible about hybrid cars and spread the word that these vehicles should replace all other road vehicles. We can start by educating in our schools and communities where people can learn at an early age the incredible importance of changing our ways of thinking. Children will grow up with a better understanding of hybrid cars and be more apt to create and purchase them. With the education being spread and used by everyone in our country, it will be a sure way to express that we do care and our taking every single effort in changing over to hybrid cars. Although, it is virtually impossible to transform every American car over to hybrid in the next year, we can only take useful steps in making changes to better our own future and that of our descendents. Purchasing and driving hybrid cars are a wonderful sign that we are improving our ideas about the way we think about changing transportation and our environment to make things better. Hybrid cars are affordable and will even get cheaper in the future as we learn to manufacture them for higher demands. We will witness a growing number of people buying hybrid cars as we get used to the idea that they are popular and affordable to everyone in our country. Reference Page Nerad, Jack R. 2007. The Complete Idiots Guide to Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles. Alpha Publishers. P. 15. Yost, Nick; Friedman, David. 2006. The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer’s Guide. 2006. The Lyons Press. Edition 1. P.

Affirmative Action Essay -- Affirmative Action Essays

The affirmative action program is important because it gives job opportunities for many people regardless of their race, color, religion, gender, and national origin. The work force should be well represented by the different ethnic backgrounds of our society. Some people look at affirmative action as reverse discrimination, but this program doesn’t guarantee employment based on race, ethnicity, or gender. The affirmative action program gives equal consideration to individuals from a different race, ethnicity, or gender, but not one of these factors may be the only factor used to determine an individual’s qualifications for any job. The biggest dispute of the program is the belief that the policy allows less qualified candidates to progress due to different standards for minorities and non-minorities. People need to realize that affirmative action gives balance in the workplace so that everyone from different ethnic backgrounds would be represented in today’s diverse society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are few social policy issues that gauge the racial and division among the American people than the affirmative action. Affirmative Action is a term referring to the laws and social policies intended to resolve discrimination that limits the opportunities of people regardless of their race, color, religion, gender, and national origin. Supporters and opponents of affirmative action hold strong to their believes and constantly attack the opposing viewpoints. Advocates believe that affirmative action overcomes discrimination, gives qualified minorities a chance to compete on equal footing whites, and provides them with the same opportunities. Opponents claim that affirmative action puts unskilled minorities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cannon 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   in positions that they are not qualified for, tarnishes the reputation of minorities that accomplishes success on their own, and violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Since the beginning of affirmative action, the definition has been ever changing in order to satisfy the present beliefs of society. Prohibiting the discrimination in hiring, expanding the filing of application to include more minorities, compensating for past grievances, setting â€Å"quotas† (percentages of a certain type of people that had to be included), have all been part of the definition. As much as many people... ...ould give it a try to acquire a higher education or job training.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Everyone knows that college and military recruiters come to high schools to recruit graduating students, but the school faculty really need to go above and beyond their call of duty to educate students about the different types of programs that will enable students to get a higher education or job training after high school. Young Americans need the guidance and assistance to acquire the tools they need to succeed and one of those tools is knowing about affirmative action; not only what affirmative action can do for Americans, but what Americans can do for affirmative action. Works Cited Altschiller, Donald. Affirmative Action. New York: Wilson, 1991. Barbour, Scott, David L Bender, Bruno Leone, Brenda Stalcup, and Mary E. Williams. Discrimination. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Bardes, Barbara A., Steffen W. Schmidt, and Mack C. Shelley. American Government and Politics Today. Belmont: West Wadsworth, 1997. Bender, David L., Bruno Leone, Lori Shein, and Bonnie Szumski. y. Inequality. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. Blackman, Ann. â€Å"Affirmative Action.† Time March 1995: 11-13.

Explain the reasons for the fall of the Romanovs

Explain the reasons for the fall of the Romanovs The cause of the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917 was a result of long-term causes including Tsar Alexander's inability to satisfy his people and Tsar Nicholas II's inability to rule to throne all together. The Bloody Sunday event, the war with Germany, Rasputin and Tsars bad decisions was also some of the causes which led the Romanovs to fall. It all began in 1894 when Alexander Ill, died leaving his son Nicholas II to become the tsar of Russia at the age of 26. Nicholas was married toAlexander the princess of Germany which they had 5 children, 4 girls and a boy. The only son Alexis was born with hemophilia. Russia was a huge country with millions of extremely poor farming peasants. These peasants lived horrible lives, many were starting to wonder why the tsar had all the wealth and they had none. In 1905 Russian Revolution was sparked off by a peaceful protest held on January 22nd. Thousands of demonstrators such as students, fact ory workers, revolutionaries, doctors and teachers marched through the cold and snow covered streets of StPetersburg to Winter Palace to protest about their lifestyle, led by a Russian Orthodox priest, Father Gapon. When the peaceful protestors arrived they were confronted by troops, which they fired on the crowd. After the firing had finished several hundred protestors lay dead, this event was called ‘Bloody Sunday. In 1907 Nicholas and Alexander had asked a priest called Gregory yefimovich also known as ‘Rasputin', to help pray and care for their son Alexis when he became sick. He was the representation of everything that was wrong in the Russian autocracy, corrupt, and rrational.He was also considered an alcoholic, dirty charlatan who held control over millions of people's lives, even though Russia had a fairly capable bureaucracy and thousands of well-educated, highly cultured nobles who were interested in local government and the rule of law. In 1914 Russia had ente red in WWI, repairing the division between the tsar and his people. Russia was not welled prepared, they still wasn't industrialized. They were fighting with swords, cannons, and horses against machine guns.It was very difficult to get medicine, ammunition, and even food to the ront of the armies because railways were incomplete and Just stopped before reaching their supposed destination, the result caused many soldiers to starve. During this war Russia had lost over one million people as casualties and POW's. Militarily, it wasn't going too bad until in 191 5 Nicholas had decided to take control of the army himself. It was Rasputin's and Alexandra's advice that caused Nicholas to take personal control of the Russian Army, which wasn't a good idea as he had no military strategic training.He travelled to the army headquarters in Mogilev, 500km way from Petrograd which led to Tsar Wife Alexander in charge while he was away at war. This caused stir between tsar and his people due to ts ar not using the money to help the poor but spending all their money on war. The Germans ended up overthrowing the Russians that people started to think Nikolas and Alexandra were German spies who were sabotaging the war effort. In conclusion the fall of where all peasants marched peacefully but concluded with many deaths, Rasputin and how he convinced tsar to do things, and the tsar bad decision associated also with WW1 against Germany.

Analysis of Wal-Mart Managerial Accounting Process Essay

Company Description For the final project of managing finance Wal-Mart Stores Inc is chosen as the discussion target. Being one of the grocery retail shop leaders in the world, Wal-Mart (WM) operates business with 10,000 retail units in 27 countries with about USD444 million of sales in 2012 (Wal-Mart homepage 2012). Driven by the corporate strategies, WM growth rapidly around the world. To support the growth, managerial effectiveness in the operations is very important. Since budget is the first step which put manager’s plan into operation, let’s take a close look at WM’s budgeting process. Budgeting Process Budget reflects a company’s plan, both long and short term, to accomplish business objectives. The focus of the WM’s budgeting system is on providing  better quality and services to the customers. WM follows needed considerations in its budgeting process and procedures. They implements flexible budget in its business that identifies overhead cost drivers and allocates capital to those over head costs properly. Through this way, WM is able to make a budget for different levels of activity. WM set goals and objectives and define their mission and vision clearly in their budgeting process. They plan for the stock requirement in order to achieve the forecasted level of sales. Budgeting process is also helpful to measure the performance of different departments in WM. It enables them to manage costs of different levels of action by weighing the actual costs against the budgeted cost (Plunkett, Attner & Allen, 2011, p. 558-560). WM takes corrective action to control those costs in order to make this closer the flexible budget prepared in advance. WM communicate goals and targets of each employee through budget and continuous report back to the corporate on operation, investment and financial activities based on budget information. Its budgeting procedures help WM to be competitive in cost and to economically use the resources that made better revenue for the company. In contrast to this, in this procedure, prediction is difficult for the manager because they believe on a range of estimates of what to expect financially. In addition, this process also depends on various variables that affects to each other. It is very complicated to prepare and difficult to understand for other employees of the company (Axson, 2010, p. 132-140). Management Accounting System Management accounting system (MAS) in WM play a crucial role to improve their business activities effectiveness. Management accounting information are collected, stored and prepared through use of well designed accounting information system. It simplifies getting information to people outside of the organization when necessary. Through use of MAS, WM determines its initial purchase price of raw material including subsequent operating and maintenance costs. MAS help to evaluate the pricing structure’s effectiveness by showing cost, sales and revenue data. It gives idea to the company to decide the price of the product to be competitive in the market. WM disseminates this information to its various parties through conducting  formal and informal meetings, conferencing, global network and employees’ survey techniques (Needles, Powers & Crosson, 2010, p. 720-722). Moreover, WM mainly uses its accounting reports based on principles of GAAP to make inform its stakeholders about its financial position. WM uses the strategic management accounting system which helps to enhance the effectiveness of decision making within the company. WM use MAS for everything from entering in new market to vendors/products selection and even new pricing process, promotion strategies and to distribution (Needles, Powers & Crosson, 2007). The accounting information from MAS of WM helps in planning, controlling and other managerial activities. Their system also able to come up all kind of alternatives with integrated accounting information which assist management to find out the best strategy for organizational effectiveness improvement (Wal-Mart homepage 2012). WM disseminate managerial accounting information through budgets for all departments which help all departments to facilitate proper integration in all kind of activities within the company. WM currently uses Vision Suite accounting software that includes different aspects of finance like AR/AP, general ledger, check writing and external accounting integration. This software is faster and relatively cheaper and generates accounting documents automatically. Through this, many types of useful reports can be generated for management to make decisions. On the other side, it can be susceptible for computer viruses and hackers. In absence of proper control and security, it can create problems for the confidentiality of the company (Gilbertson & Lehman, 2008, p. 6, 437 ). Costing System In term of costing process, WM is focus on inventory control since that is the most important part of their business to determine its profitability. To determine the cost of inventory, WM uses several costing method. In order to reduce inventory cost as well as determining accurate cost of products, WM uses both LIFO and FIFO. By using the retail method of accounting, inventories are at low cost or at least at market rate. This will help to increase the effectiveness of operation since WM is retail  business and this will facilitates competitive advantage over competitors. According to WM’s 2012 annual report, they use LIFO to determine weighting average cost for products in US and for inventories for international operations are using the FIFO method (Wal-Mart annual report 2012, page 31). These differences way of costing will enhance effectiveness of the company in managing cost. WM accomplish their strategy, â€Å"everyday low cost approach† (EDLC) through these co sting method (Wal-Mart annual report 2012, page 18). So as to allocate cost to different products, WM uses the activity based costing (ABC) system. ABC system enables the WM to better understand the cost structure and cost drivers. On the basis of this, WM takes effective decisions regarding price structure. The ABC approach can exhibit the actual work done relating with production more accurately in order to be useful in management accounting. The ABC system is used by management to collect a full cost view. VM can reduce the overhead cost by minimizing the number of cost drivers (Leitner, 2007, p. 5). In contrast to this, there is possibility that as per this method, costs can be more than profits. Apart from this, it also requires data input from multiple departments that can create greater risk of failure of data inputs. The cost of managing the system is also high due to having more cost pool volume. For instance, Wal-Mart is a large organization, as cost accounting information is difficult to separate, due to the presence of multiple product lines and numerous machine setups in complex production environments (Drury, 2006, p. 350-362). Capital Decision Making Process Evaluation of investment appraisal techniques is useful in capital decision making process by bringing together financial and strategic aspects of the project. The capital investment decisions of WM are mainly driven by its financial priorities such as growth, leverage and returns on investment. The major concern of WM is international expansion and its profitability (Wal-Mart annual report 2012, page 28). WM select and manage projects through the below steps: 1. Project information collection – collect information such as past performance, costs, benefits and associated risks. 2. Evaluating the project – Use cost benefit analysis, net present value, IRR etc to evaluate the project. WM uses discounted cash flow (DCF) investment appraisal technique in capital decision making process. They only invest its capital in projects that meet stringent payback periods and yield at least a required rate of return in a DCF analysis (Brigham & Daves, 2012, p. 544-549). 3. Selecting project – WM uses NPV and IRR method to evaluate projects’ alternative. For selecting projects, they will based on different criteria of the projects, but also taking into account the incremental revenue, time, company reputation etc.. The above help WM to ensure optimal utilization of their capital resources. For example, WM’s new solar project in California, they focused on DCF method to decide that it should invest its capital in this project or not. After implementing this technique, WM determined the average payback period for its energy saving projects that was 6.3 months. It also provided an annual return on investment of 190 percent on these projects that was profitable for the company. Therefore, WM wants to consider these discount flow values for its new solar project in order to make profits as future prospective (Ailworth, 2012). Capital Structure In term of capital acquisition decision, the main criteria are the long term sustainability and stability in performance. The cash flow is the main source of capital that ensures the long term success. WM considers market position, market trend, credit policy, financial status and stakeholders’ interests before deciding the best sources of acquiring financial capital. Sometimes, it also considers the financing cost to arrange the capital for running its operations. Credit rating of the company influences the WM’s decision on capital structure because its good rating helps it to take the credit from the financial institutions (Kronwald, 2010, p. 5-16). Instead of issuing common equity, WM is relying more on funds borrowing from market. Additionally, capital structure of WM is risky as their financing  rely heavily on debt or loans that may impact earnings. WM has been operating at 1.71 debt equity ratio (Yahoo Finance, 2012). Funding decisions of WM is associated with capital rising through debt more because of taking benefits of tax deduction and lower financing cost. â€Å"It has some implications such as funds generation; positive impact on financial result or company performance and meeting needs on operation and investment† (Seidman, 2004, p. 77-80). This is important to maintain low capital cost while achieving the company goals in the capital structure of the company (Wal-Mart Annual report 2012 page 28). Conclusion In order for the company to make effective managerial decision, various kinds of processes and approaches in budgeting and costing are necessary. WM implemented a well quality budgeting process which improves their effectiveness in accomplishing their objectives. Their budgeting process helps to motivate and improve effectiveness of employees and also help to create long term objective for the organization. They use MAS to do have the most cost effective vendors and products selection and also to manage all the accounting information to improve the effectiveness of the managerial decision. In order to reduce the total cost of products and maintain competitive position in the market, WM selected the appropriated costing process and procedure. Given their effective method of capital resources and effective capital structure for obtaining capital which helps WM to be efficiency in a lot of capital decision making as well as objectives accomplishment. In summary, the overall managerial a ccounting practices with WM is quite effective. Information Sources and Methodology Most of the information of this discussion was collecting from the annual report of WM for 2012. In addition, finance text books, journals and web sites are being used as well. For the annual report, 3 years has been reviewed in order to have a more clear picture of their growth as well as if there were any managerial practices or process been changed. A lot of information about WM’s financial and managerial accounting systems such as budgeting/costing process, capital structure etc are available in those resources. Observation methodology is used to analyze information. References Ailworth, E. (2012). â€Å"Walmart to install solar panels on 27 stores in Mass.† Retrieved from: http://bostonglobe.com/business/2012/05/14/walmart-install-solar-panels-stores-mass/kxHjt9sQrPxSvN5sPWTjsN/story.html Accessed on : Oct 25, 2012 Brigham & Daves, P. R. (2012). â€Å"Intermediate Financial Management†. USA: Cengage Learning. Drury, C. (2006). â€Å"Cost and Management Accounting: An Introduction†. USA: Cengage Learning EMEA. Gilbertson, C. B. & Lehman, M. W. (2008). â€Å"Fundamentals of Accounting: Course 1†. USA: Cengage Learning. Kronwald, C. (2010). â€Å"Credit Rating and the Impact on Capital Structure†. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Leitner, A. (2007). â€Å"Activity Based Costing†. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Needles, B. E., Powers, M. & Crosson, S. V. (2010). â€Å"Financial and Managerial Accounting†. USA: Cengage Learning. Plunkett, W. R., Attner, R. F. & Allen, G. S. (2011). â€Å"Management†. USA: Cengage Learning. Axson, D. J. (2010). â€Å"Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: Radically Rethinking Management for a Volatile World†. USA: John Wiley & Sons. Seidman, K. F. (2004). â€Å"Economic Development Finance†. UK: SAGE. Yahoo Finance (2012). Retrieved from: http://in.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=WMT Accessed on : Oct 25, 2012 Walmart Homepage 2012. Retrieved from: http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-stores Accessed on : Oct 25, 2012 Walmart Annual report 2010 to 2012. Retrieved from: http://stock.walmart.com/annual-reports Accessed on : Oct 25, 2012

buy custom Buy custom Financial vs. Management Accounting essay

buy custom Buy custom Financial vs. Management Accounting essay Financial vs. Management Accounting Accounting plays a very important role in every companys operations. It needs to maintain profits and losses of a company along with regulation of daily operations within the company. According to Warren, Reeve Duchac (2012), business is identified to carry out two types of accounting activities through management and financial accounting. Management accounting is responsible for internal decisions within a company. Decision makers are usually focused on how to maintain and raise profits along with liquidity of a company. They are also engaged in management of a company, new ways of investing and financial activities. Administration always requires information about a business entity. It helps them understand what the company has done in the past and what strategy should they choose for better results in the future (Needles, Powers Crosson, 2011). Financial accounting helps create reports and present them to executive managers of a company, who are usually called external decision makers. These reports, which are called financial statements, help them evaluate companys decisions and understand whether its goals have been met or not. Financial statements show levels of profitability and liquidity of a company. Internal and external decision makers use these statements for evaluation of companys operations. No company can normally exist without financial statements as they play a central role in accounting (Needles, Powers Crosson, 2011). Difference between Financial and Management Accounting Financial accounting information is calculated at fixed intervals. Monthly, quarterly, and yearly calculations are usually used in financial statements. Income statement, retained earnings statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows are forms of companys financial statements. Financial statements have to be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. It is one of the reasons why all calculations must be precise. These principles are shortly called GAAP. The aforementioned statements are prepared for companys shareholders, creditors, government agencies, and the general public. Managers of a company use financial statements in their daily operations and in planning future strategies for a company. Managers classify manufacturing and other costs, evaluate those costs, compare actual with expected results, and measure revenues and costs of products. Data, which are derived from financial statements, are presented to top management. It helps a company use these data in daily and future operations, which makes management accounting complementary to financial accounting. However, the following interdependence does not make these two operations similar to each other. They are different in their subject matter, nature of used data, periodicity and accuracy, in their obligations, legal formalities, and evaluation of monetary transactions (Warren, Reeve Duchac, 2012). Management accounting is responsible for internal report system, while financial accounting is responsible for external report system. It makes the main object of management accounting help the administration plan and make decisions for internal use. Financial accounting gives information about profits and losses of a company along with its financial situation to external users. Financial accounting reflects a general situation of a business in its financial statements along with history of every transaction. Management accounting, on the other hand, shows detailed information about companys paying ability along with capacity of products, inventory and others, uses statistical data from past activities for future planning. Statement of Comprehensive Income, a report about profits and losses along with Balance Sheet and other financial statements are usually prepared at the end of the year in financial accounting. Management accounting, in contrast, requires information during smaller periods to be able to use it in daily operations. Financial accounting requires data accuracy and is mandatory for each business because it must be sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) along with the tax authorities. Management accounting requires its timeliness as it will be used in future decision-making operations, is not necessary and has no legal pressure. Management accounting system uses monetary analysis and research such as different technical innovations, labor relations, and other operations. It is required for future decision-making process. Financial accounting records money transactions only (Warren, Reeve Duchac, 2012). Conclusion Accounting plays a very important part in assisting decision makers who are engaged in measuring, data reduction, and communication of information within business entities. Accounting is usually divided into management and financial accounting. These two types of accounting complement one other. However, they have lots of differences between them, and they can be distinguished by principal users of the information that they provide. Management accounting records detailed information about profitability and capacity of products and other operations within a company and presents it to internal users for planning of future operations. It uses monetary analysis and research of labor relations along with other operations, requires timeliness of information, has no legal pressure, and is not mandatory. Information is analyzed during smaller periods of time for daily and future operations. It usually uses statistical data for future planning. In contrast, financial accounting provides information about profits and losses of a company along with its financial situation to external users, reflects a general situation of a business in its financial statements, and tracks all transactions made in the past. Financial reports are usually prepared at the end of the year and require data accuracy, as well as they are mandatory for each business and record money transactions only.

Introduction to Chinas May Fourth Movement

Introduction to China's May Fourth Movement The demonstrations of the May Fourth Movement (ä ºâ€Ã¥â€ºâ€ºÃ© â€¹Ã¥â€¹â€¢, WÇ”sà ¬ Yà ¹ndà ²ng) marked a turning point in China’s intellectual development which can still be felt today. While the May Fourth Incident occurred on May 4, 1919, the May Fourth Movement began in 1917 when China declared war against Germany. During World War I, China supported the Allies on the condition that control over Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius, would be returned to China if the Allies triumphed. In 1914, Japan had seized control of Shandong from Germany and in 1915 Japan had issued 21 Demands (ä ºÅ'Ã¥  Ã¤ ¸â‚¬Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦ ¢ Ã©  â€¦, Èr shà ­ yÄ «gà ¨ tio xing) to China, backed by the threat of war. The 21 Demands included recognition of Japan’s seizure of German spheres of influence in China and other economic and extraterritorial concessions. To appease Japan, the corrupt Anfu government in Beijing signed a humiliating treaty with Japan by which China acceded to Japan’s demands. Though China was on the winning side of World War I, China’s representatives were told to sign away rights to German-controlled Shandong Province to Japan at the Treaty of Versailles, an unprecedented and embarrassing diplomatic defeat. The dispute over Article 156 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles became known as the Shandong Problem (Ã¥ ± ±Ã¦  ±Ã¥â€¢ Ã© ¡Å', ShÄ ndÃ… ng Wà ¨ntà ­). The event was embarrassing because it was revealed at Versailles that secret treaties had been previously signed by the great European powers and Japan to entice Japan to enter World War I. Moreover, it was brought to light that China had also agreed to this arrangement. Wellington Kuo (é ¡ §Ã§ ¶ ­Ã©Ë†Å¾), China’s ambassador to Paris, refused to sign the treaty. The transfer of German rights in Shandong to Japan at the Versailles Peace Conference created anger among the Chinese public. The Chinese viewed the transfer as a betrayal by the Western powers and also as a symbol of Japanese aggression and of the weakness of the corrupt warlord government of Yuan Shi-kai (è ¢ Ã¤ ¸â€"å‡ ±). Infuriated by China’s humiliation at Versailles, college students in Beijing held a demonstration on May 4, 1919. What was  the May Fourth Movement? At 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, 1919, approximately 3,000 students from 13 Beijing universities assembled at the Gate of Heavenly Peace at Tiananmen Square to protest against the Versailles Peace Conference. The demonstrators distributed fliers declaring that the Chinese would not accept the concession of Chinese territory to Japan. The group marched to the legation quarter, the location of foreign embassies in Beijing, The student protestors presented letters to foreign ministers. In the afternoon, the group confronted three Chinese cabinet officials who had been responsible for the secret treaties that encouraged Japan to enter the war. The Chinese minister to Japan was beaten and a pro-Japanese cabinet minister’s house was set on fire. The police attacked the protestors and arrested 32 students. News of the students’ demonstration and arrest spread throughout China. The press demanded the students’ release and similar demonstrations sprung up in Fuzhou. Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Wuhan. Shop closings in June 1919 exacerbated the situation and led to a boycott of Japanese goods and clashes with Japanese residents. Recently-formed labor unions also staged strikes. The protests, shop closings, and strikes continued until the Chinese government agreed to release the students and fire the three cabinet officials. The demonstrations led to a full resignation by the cabinet and the Chinese delegation at Versailles refused to sign the peace treaty. The issue of who would control Shandong Province was settled at the Washington Conference in 1922 when Japan withdrew its claim to Shandong Province. The May Fourth Movement in Modern Chinese History While student protests are more common today, the May Fourth Movement was led by intellectuals who introduced new cultural ideas including science, democracy, patriotism, and anti-imperialism to the masses. In 1919, communication was not as advanced as today, so efforts to mobilize the masses focused on pamphlets, magazine articles, and literature written by intellectuals. Many of these intellectuals had studied in Japan and returned to China. The writings encouraged a social revolution and challenged traditional Confucian values of familial bonds and deference to authority. The writers also encouraged self-expression and sexual freedom. The period of 1917-1921 is also referred to as the New Culture Movement (æâ€" °Ã¦â€"‡åÅ'â€"é â€¹Ã¥â€¹â€¢, XÄ «n Wà ©nhu Yà ¹ndà ²ng). What started as a cultural movement after the failure of the Chinese Republic turned political after the Paris Peace Conference, which gave German rights over Shandong to Japan. The May Fourth Movement marked an intellectual turning point in China. Collectively, the goal of scholars and students was to rid the Chinese culture of those elements which they believed had led to China’s stagnation and weakness and to create new values for a new, modern China.

Health Psychology paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health Psychology paper - Essay Example It follows that it’s necessary to consider ways to curb the desire for children admittance to emergency wards as primary treatment options. In considering sociocultural factors that influence emergency use for pediatric asthma one of the primary efforts must be made in establishing the understanding that emergency wards are not the only treatment option. In these regards, it’s the responsibility of the hospital to make it clear that there also exist clinical pathways in which children can receive medical aid (Varni, Burwinkle, Rapoff, Kamps, Olson 2004). . This report argues that while it’s necessary for the hospital and medical establishment to have these clinical pathways in place, in terms of sociocultural and behavioral patterns, it’s critical for medical professionals to inform caregivers of children with asthma at the time of their diagnosis the variety of options they have regarding these treatment mechanisms. While asthma is a serious illness that requires medical attention, it’s also clear that inpatient pathways that avoid admittance to the medical ward have been demonstrated to be equally as effective treatment options.