Argumentative Essay Example

Argumentative Essay Accounting Regulation: Word Count: 1195 Table of Contents:Page 1. 0 Argument in favour of tight accounting regulation: 1. 1 Introduction3 1. 2 The agency problem3 1. 3 Comparability of financial statements3 1. 4 Auditing4 1. 5 Auditor’s independence concerns4 1. 6 Credibility of financial reporting4 1. 7 Conclusion5 2. 0 Argument in favour of â€Å"Free market† regulation: 2. 1 Introduction6 2. 2 Information needs6 2. 3 Market for managers7 2. 4 Market for Corporate takeovers7 2. 5 Auditing7 2. 6 Conclusion7 3. 0 Summary of both arguments and position taken:8 . 0 Footnotes:9 5. 0 References:10 1. 0 In favour of tight accounting regulation: 1. 1 Introduction: Since the share market crash of 1929, accounting regulation has been introduced and developed to avoid further economic disasters. Tight regulation of accounting standards provide users of financial information with reliable and accurate information free of charge that will contribute to informed and educated decisi on making. The aim of the following paper will be to support and confirm the need for tight regulation of accounting standard setting process. 1. 2 The Agency Problem: Management have more knowledge of the firm than outsiders such as shareholders and debt holders and could theoretically create individually tailored and individually audited financial reports to every financier. Active trading in primary and secondary markets would mean that the number of separate contracts could become very large and thus strict uniform accounting standards have evolved as a low cost and efficient solution to a potentially expensive agency problem. 1. 3 Comparability of financial statements: The development of global businesses has led to demands for greater international comparability in financial reporting. Improved comparability benefits both producers and users of financial statements. Producers would achieve cost savings by avoiding the restatement by translation of accounting information, and there would be more efficient decision making by capital providers. Financial markets would also become more liquid and competitive resulting in less information risk and a lower cost of capital to firms. 1. 4 Auditing: The free market perspective assumes that auditing will take place in the absence of regulation and thus reducing the risk to shareholders. We will write a custom essay sample on Argumentative specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Argumentative specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Argumentative specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However how are these auditors going to effectively evaluate and analyse a company’s financial statements without a financial reporting framework to adhere to? The tighter the regulation of accounting standards, the more efficient the auditors conduct will be. External audits will be much more expensive and time consuming to comprehend the particular accounting methods the company chooses to adopt if high regulatory standards are not in place. 1. 5 Auditor’s independence concerns: Auditor’s independence has been a significant issue in recent times which has contributed to major corporate collapses such as HIH and Enron. If tight regulation is not in place auditors will need to continually interact with management to comprehend the accounting methods chosen by management. This continuous interaction with management could represent a potential risk to the auditor’s independence and possibly lead to the public witnessing further corporate failures. 1. 6 Credibility of financial reporting: A question posed by Lafferty (1979) was â€Å"How do you explain to an intelligent public that it is possible for two companies in the same industry to follow entirely different accounting principles and both get a true and fair view audit report? The public may want to know how many true and fair views there are and whether there is any common standard against which to measure them all. † 1. 7 Conclusion The agency problem solution and the comparability of financial statements both act to significantly reduce costs to the firm. The continuous interaction between management and auditors would be a considerable risk without regulated standards and is a leading incentive to maintain strong regulation of accounting. Tight regulation of accounting standards is necessary to ensure shareholders and debt holders receive an optimal amount of information to make an informed decision. . 0 In favour of â€Å"free market† regulation: 2. 1 Introduction: The â€Å"free market† perspective on accounting regulation is the theory that demand and supply forces should be allowed to freely operate so as to generate an optimal supply of information about the entity. This approach would reduce the government’s regulatory authority over accounting standards and grant corporations with the power to decide which accounting methods best suit their businesses. The aim of this paper will be to indicate and discuss the potential benefits to corporations of adopting a free market approach to accounting regulation. . 2 Information needs: A reduction of regulation would witness organisations that do not produce adequate financial information penalised by higher costs of capital. A lack of detailed information to supply debt holders with would increase the risks associated with any finance to be obtained and therefore incur higher interest rates on any loans. This would then encourage managers to produce the necessary information in the financial statements to all users without the forces of regulation. Firms whose managers acquire a reputation for failing to disclose bad news are less likely to be followed by analysts and money managers, thus reducing the price and/or liquidity of the firms stocks. 2. 3 Market for managers: Without regulation management are encouraged to adopt their own strategies to maximise the value of the firm. These strategies, if effective, would provide a favourable view of their own performance which will be known to prospective employers and be reflected in their future salaries as well as positive price movements for the firm. An optimal amount of accounting information would also need to be provided in order to achieve an effective strategy that would increase the value of the firm. 2. 4 Market for Corporate takeovers: In an active market, under – performing organisations may be taken over by another entity, with the existing managerial team possibly replaced. Managers are therefore motivated to maximise their firm’s value to avoid this happening. They will be encouraged to provide any information required by the market to minimise the cost of capital and thereby increase the value of the firm. . 5 Auditing: In the absence of regulation a contractual demand would be in effect to have the financial reports audited by an external party. The audit will then improve the reliability of the financial information which will then in turn be expected to reduce the perceived risk to shareholders and debt holders resulting in further decreases to the firm’s costs of capital. 2. 6 Conclusion: Reg ulation of accounting information is deemed to be unnecessary as the market will punish those who do not disclose, or who do not disclose enough information. Personnel reputations and the risk of a corporate takeover serve to motivate managers to provide all the necessary information to interested parties in the absence of accounting regulation. Audits would also prove to be effective at reducing the firms cost of capital if no accounting regulation existed. 3. 0 Summary: A free market approach entrusts in the market to either discipline or reward management based on the financial disclosure decisions, whereas regulation of accounting standards does not rely on the market to enforce disclosure provisions as these are already made mandatory through regulation. A strict and uniform accounting structure provides a solution to a potentially expensive agency problem. On the other hand the free market approach does not provide a means for eliminating management’s ability to individually tailor separate financial statements to outsiders. Without a solution to this problem, firms would be exposed to greater costs, and debt holders to greater risks. The free market approach relies heavily on external auditing to prevent potential increases to costs of capital in the absence of regulation, however the auditors risk breaching their independence via this approach where accounting regulation would require much less interaction and therefore lower risks. The regulation of accounting standards provides comparability of financial statements that significantly reduce translation costs and costs to capital. The free market perspective on the other hand will incur greater translation costs and increased costs to capital without the ability to compare financial statements. The above points support the continuation of tight regulation of accounting standards as the free market approach cannot account for all the significant issues that surround financial reporting. The tight regulation of accounting standards stands as the most efficient and effective method for financial reporting. 4. 0 Footnotes: 1. Brown, P, amp; Tarca, A 2001, ‘Politics, Processes and the future of accounting standards’, Abacus, Vol. 37, no. 3, p. 268. 2. Brown, P, amp; Tarca, A 2001, ‘Politics, Processes and the future of accounting standards’, Abacus, Vol. 37, no. , p. 275. 3. Lafferty, M, (1979) ‘Why it is time for another leap forward’, accountancy, p. 51. 4. Skinner, D. J. (1994), ‘Why firms voluntarily disclose bad news’, journal of accounting research, 32(1), p. 40. 5. 0 References 1. Brown, P, amp; Tarca, A 2001, ‘Politics, Processes and the future of accounting standards’, Abacus, Vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 267-96. 2. Lafferty, M, 1979 ‘Why it is time for another leap forward’, accountancy, p. 51. 3. Skinner, D. J. 1994, ‘Why firms voluntarily disclose bad news’, journal of accounting research, Vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 38-60.

Why Teachers Need Plot, Emotion and Story

Why Teachers Need Plot, Emotion and Story Why Teachers Need Plot, Emotion and Story Why Teachers Need Plot, Emotion and Story By Michael Students like stories. Teachers know that stories keep their interest. But plot, emotion, character, conflict and theme the tools of a fiction writer can be power tools for educators as well. Having an attitude in class Learning theorists have taught that students learn when they feel the need to; that in a sense, they create their own learning. Because emotion and character come from who we are, a lesson with a story motivates students to learn. When a problem is part of a story when it involves people finding a solution feels more urgent. When a California textbook talks about California earthquakes, California students pay attention. When two geological plates slip past each other and the earth quakes under the ocean, thats interesting to some students. But when it causes a tsunami and destroys peoples homes, that introduces conflict, plot, and emotion. Students remember information better in a story form. It helps me remember that Napoleons 1812 invasion of Russia was unsuccessful when I imagine how he must have felt afterwards. For one thing, he must have felt cold which helps me remember the invasion ended in winter. Even math teachers need plot, emotion, and story. Children can understand a word problem better when there is a story line to it. I may not remember the exact answer to a mathematical word problem about John preparing dinner in the kitchen, but I might remember or estimate whether John ends up with too much or too little. Will John get his fill with two cups of food, or must he squeeze by on only half a cup? When the plot (and a hungry boy) depend on the answer, children are more likely to want to understand it. The story makes the problem more interesting to the student. If the teacher or textbook takes no attitude toward the subject, students may not bother to take one either, or even pay any attention. The lecturer ends up sounding like a washing machine, and students can tell he or she is probably not trying very hard. Using emotion to get into college I remember new vocabulary words because I categorize them according to how they make me feel. I may not know the exact definition of equanimity but I know its a happy word. Im not sure I can define opprobrium either, but I know its not a happy word. I didnt learn either word from a dictionary but from my reading, where I have gathered their general meaning by repeatedly seeing them either in happy or unhappy contexts. This technique of finding emotion is at the center of the strategy I teach for taking standardized college entrance exams such as the SAT. It works because many verbal test questions are little stories, with plot and emotion. 14. Though many Americans in late 1864 viewed Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation with opprobrium, they greeted the capture of Atlanta with _______________. a. indifference b. elation c. derision d. trepidation As long as I have the feeling that opprobrium is not a happy word, I can answer that question correctly even if I hardly understand anything else. I dont have to know the history of the American Civil War, the role of President Abraham Lincoln, what the Emancipation Proclamation was, or even what, who, or where Atlanta is. I just need to imagine a crowd of Americans in 1864 hearing the latest news. The key to understanding this class of question is the conjunctive adverb though, which always tells us that the second clause carries a different emotion than the first clause. Now I know that the answer in the second clause must be a happy word, because the first clause has an unhappy word. So to answer the question correctly, I simply need to choose the happy word from the list. Again, I dont need to be able to define any of the words in the list, only to recognize whether they are happy words or not. To make the process simple, I mentally translate the question into: Though the first thingamabob was [not happy], the second thingamabob was __________. a. not happy b. happy c. not happy d. not happy I could use the same simplification technique with the conjunction but, as in The first thingamabob was [attractive, safe, whatever], but the second thingamabob was [the opposite]. The construction not only but tells us the opposite of though, that the second clause is giving us more of the same emotion as in the first clause: Not only was the thingamabob [useful], but it was [very useful, essential]. I use the slang word thingamabob to mean that it doesnt even matter what the thing actually is. What matters is the emotion in the clauses. It may sound like a vague technique, but by using it, I have achieved almost perfect scores on similar test sections in the PSAT, SAT, and GRE. Why tell stories? History is one of my favorite subjects. Even in elementary school, I would read ahead in my history book it had stories, after all. But at an earlier point in my life, I didnt appreciate history. History can be boring when teachers dont relate facts to human nature. I remember asking a teacher why we needed to study it. I wondered why we needed to learn about events that happened to other people long ago. My teacher explained that the stories of others can help us when were in similar situations. I read about a doctor who never expected to use what he had learned in his History of Medicine class, until he found himself in a prison camp without modern tools and treatments. In times of prosperity, we can draw lessons from other prosperous societies. When hard times come, its useful to know how other generations weathered hard times before us. A story is not just a way to make a lesson more interesting. A story can be the lesson itself. In December 1948, Israeli troops found the main road blocked to the central Egyptian garrison in the Negev desert. But Israeli general Yigael Yadin, an archaeologist by training, knew where a second road was. It had been abandoned thousands of years before, but with a little work, his troops made it through because their general knew old stories. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Synonyms for â€Å"Leader†Awoken or Awakened?50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Feminism in Jurisprudence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Feminism in Jurisprudence - Essay Example However recent theories and critical legal studies have highlighted the patriarchal elements in jurisprudence – the law itself is male, because the separation of the State and the extent of legal relief is conditioned by the separateness of the individual, a principle which is flawed in the case of women who are connected human beings. Therefore the framework of law and jurisprudence must be modified to reflect a more multicultural, multiracial and multiethnic framework in order to incorporate more voices, so that the law can serve to effectively address the needs of individuals in accordance with the circumstances. The most influential feminists are MacKinnon and Gilligan, whose theories have largely shaped female attack on existing jurisprudence. Catherine McKinnon’s crusade began with pornography, which she sought to ban. What worked against her struggle to ban pornography however, was the existence of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. But MacKinnon appealed to the Zoning Commission in Minneapolis on the issue of pornography as follows: Catherine MacKinnon pressed for the curtailment of certain First Amendment rights through censorship, reflecting what has now become a widely debated feminist view of restriction of the rights to free speech and expression in such areas as pornography. In her view, presently it is certain powerful groups who are the only ones with the right to free speech and whose voices are heard, over and above the women and minority groups who have â€Å"been silenced by their powerlessness†2, therefore the role of Government and of jurisprudence cannot continue to be biased in favor of the powerful groups, rather the function of jurisprudence is to empower the minorities and the women. Thus, it may be seen that her views rise in opposition to the model of total