Analysis of Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Financial Statements - Essay Example The suite that I choose for the ratio analysis was the Wagner suite. The reason I choose this suite was based on the fact that the suite provides better balance in comparison with the StuarMason. The StuartMason ratio suite places too much importance on sales turnover. The greatest weight in the Wagner suite goes to sales growth which is a great indicator of the progress the company has made through the passage of time. As far as the ratio analysis the company that rated better overall was Lambda. The profitability, sales turnover, liquidity, and capital structure of Lambda are superior. One of the few metrics in which Coral received a better rating was sales growth. The second analysis that was performed to compare the two businesses been considered for a joint venture was an analysis of the notes to the financial statements. The accounting practices of Lambda are more aligned with the requirements of Panorama. As far as inventory Lambda utilizes First In First Out inventory system (FIFO). FIFO provides advantages such as providing a more accurate valuation of the total inventory. Coral has some pending lawsuits yet to be resolved that could inhibit the financial status of the company in the future. Both companies are weak as far as its stock option disclosures due to the fact that they do not mention the actual amounts of stock options outstanding. The third analytic tool utilized in the simulation was an evaluation of the non-financial information of the company. The non financial metrics of the pair of companies seem to indicate that Lambda is a superior choice. Lambda has a lower employee turnover ratio which is a positive sign. A low employee turnover ration represents money savings since it reduces initial training expenses and it allows for a company to create value in the form of human capital. Lambda has a better array of products and higher revenues from the introduction of new products. Lambda

Manuscript Submission Instructions to Authors Essay

Manuscript Submission Instructions to Authors - Essay Example Hard wheat utilized as a part of making bread in light of the fact that it has a protein substance of up to 16%, and it hashigh gluten. In Iraq, agriculture is hard to practice given the climatic conditions of the country. This means that wheat farming is done in large plantations and supplemented by irrigation. The country is also one of the earliest regions in which wheat farming was a main source of staple food. Therefore, it is important to understand the criteria that is in place within the country that can aid in the understanding of the type of wheat that is most favorable in Iraq. The research thus involves statistical analysis of the wheat present within the country and the criteria determining their inclusion in granaries. The wheat plant is one of the staple food in Iraq. This is because Iraq’s climate is not favorable to agriculture. Plantations exist mainly along the river beds especially in the uplands and the delta regions. According to historical and archeological find, there is evidence of wheat farming from the period dating the third century. Thus, this supplements the idea that the people of Iraq are excellent wheat farmers. The earliest form of wheat application from the region includes baking cakes. In modern days, baking cakes is a delicate procedure and so is the preservation of the cakes. One needs to have a refrigerator in order to prolong the shelf life of a cake. In addition, the storage of wheat also demands proper storage facilities that will hinder the growth of fungi as well as contamination by weevil. This raises the questions as to how historical civilization would store there wheat to prevent contamination as well as process the wheat and ready it for baking. The research will thus focus on determining the criteria which the people of Iraq use to receive wheat in their granaries. Studying the

The Architecture of Zaha Hadid

The Architecture of Zaha Hadid All people owe to architecture which plays racy part in their life. Architecture is designing structures and outdoor spaces according to some main principles. Architecture provides settings for certain activities; remind people of what these activities are; signify power, status or privacy. Rapoport (1979, p. 17) wrote about architecture Architecture differentiates between here and there; men and woman; front and back; private and public; sacred and profane and habitable and inhabitable. The main function of architecture is to make certain that the parts of a system work together to meet the necessary needs of users. Architect has a vital role in architecture nowadays, since he/she is the main factor that makes architecture good or successful. The architect is the one who design and plan the structure of buildings. Frank Gehry, Hassan Fathy, Ignazio Gardella, Don Erickson and Frank Lloyd Wright are five of thousands of most famous architects of the world. Who is the most famous archi tect in Iraq in the 20th century? Zaha Hadid is the most famous Iraqi architect in the 20th century. According to Zaha Hadid , an examining of the investigate causes of her philosophy and life relating to architecture to reveal how they influenced the processes of her design projects and work. Zaha Hadid is a British Iraqi architect. She was born in 31 October 1950 in Bagdad, Iraq. She grew in a family, which was showing interest in architecture. Her parents took her to architectural exhibitions, such as Frank Lloyd Wrights exhibition at the Opera House in Bagdad. Due to the impact of her parents, Zaha became interested in architecture. She was reflecting deeply on the world around her when she was a child. She was studying mathematics; she figured a strong relationship between mathematics and architecture. Zahas parents encouraged her to study architecture. Oscar Niemeyer encouraged her too to complete her education in architecture. When she was asked about the reason of making her architect, Hadid (2008, p. 2) answered I became interested in architecture when, I remember vaguely; my parents took me to a Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition at the Opera House in Baghdad. I was around six years old and I remember seeing models and things. I think both my parents were interested i n architecture in an indirect way. She continued by saying As a child I also travelled with my family on a small boat to visit some of the villages within the marshes of southern Iraq, and the landscape was so beautiful. There was this amazing flow between the sand and the water and the wildlife that extended to incorporate the buildings and the people. What I am trying to do is capture that kind of seamlessness and flow in an urban context for the contemporary city and its users. Zaha M. Hadid: Biography (2001) discussed Zaha Hadids biography. Zaha Hadid studied mathematics in the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. After getting her degree in mathematics, she went to London to study Architecture in a college of Architecture there. She worked as a partner with her teachers in an office of architecture when she got a degree in architecture. Architect Peter Rice encouraged Zaha Hadid in the beginning of her career life, when she was facing difficulties of starting her own business. She started her own office in London in 1980. Also she worked as a teacher in many associations in London and other countries all over the world. Some good examples of these universities are; Harvard University, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, the Hochschule fà ¼r Bildende Kà ¼nste in Hamburg, the Knowlton School of Architecture, the Ohio State University, Columbia University, New York, the University of Applied Arts Vienna in Austria, the Yale Schoo l of Architecture, New Haven, Connecticut. Zaha received many international awards and she was the first women who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architectures equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Zaha has done many popular projects all over the world. Good examples of her works are; London aquatics center, regium waterfront, civil courts for Madrid, etc. Talking briefly about these projects; London aquatics center located in London. It has a waved roof, which makes this building special. Regium waterfront is a museum located in Italy. She has also designed residential buildings. The dancing towers in Dubai are a good example of this type of building. Zaha Hadid has created her own path in architecture by using several appearances of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer to show the state of extreme confusion and disorder of the modern life. In Zaha Hadid architecture and design (2007) described Zaha Hadids philosophy. Zaha Hadids strength is her curse and her blessing. A curse because strong character can make clients run for the hills. A curse because stiff character can make clients run for the hills. Hadid had her own ideas on architecture to nurture and it was a long incubation. She created her own company neo-modernist architecture. Zaha Hadids philosophy in architecture takes after accommodating, designing a landscape which can be called baroque modernism. Zaha Hadid damages both the classically formal, rule bound modernism of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier and the old rules of space walls, ceilings, front and back, right angles. She then reassembles them as what she calls a new fluid, kind of spatiality of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, designed to embody the chaotic fluidity of modern life. She reassembles them as a new fluid, kind of spatiality of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, designed to embody the chaotic fluidity of modern life. Her architecture denies its own solidness. She defines the solid apparatus to make people comprehend place. She speaks about theory and she wears her cultural identity.

Comparing Social Classes in Toni Morrisons Recitatif and Guy de Maupas

Comparing Social Classes in Toni Morrison's Recitatif and Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace  Ã‚   Toni Morrison's "Recitatif" and Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" portray social classes according to the influence of the narrator. Therefore, the overview of the presented classes is biased. Although "Recitatif" and "The Necklace" provide images of several different classes, the class level of the narrator conveys generalizations about each of the respective class levels relative to the story. While the society level of the narrator of "The Necklace" is fairly obvious through careful reading, the social status of Twyla, the narrator of "Recitatif" is directly stated. Twyla's husband, Josh, is a firefighter. Therefore, he is a member of the working, middle class society. Their extended household lives in an average neighborhood and the family members lead common lives. Although the main character of "The Necklace" is also a member of the middle class, the narrator belongs to a wealthier society. This is evident through the narrator's description of Mathilde. For example, the very first sentence of "The Necklace," "She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks" (67), indicates that Mme. Loisel is shallow and self-centered. Although the narrators of "Recitatif" and "The Necklace" are from different classes, each employs similar methods to create sympathy for their respective society and malevolence toward the class of the story's antagonist. Although Twyla and Roberta both display several character flaws in "Recitatif," Roberta is the ultimate wrongdoer. Twyla and Roberta begin having problems with their friendship followin... ... of fiction. Though frequently overlooked, this factor often affects a story's plot with as much of an impact, if not more, as the setting and point of view. Generalizations regarding the different levels of society are subtly intertwined with other important facts. The society of a short story's narrator, whether the narrator is an active character or outside the story, is an influential factor concerning the presentation of the different classes in the story, therefore directly affecting the plot. Works Cited de Maupassant, Guy. "The Necklace." Understanding Fiction. 3rd ed. Eds. Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1979. 67-74 Morrison, Toni. "Recitatif." New Worlds of Literature: Writings from America's Many Cultures. 2nd ed. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 1994. 210-225   

Freeman vs Friedman

Edward Freeman’s â€Å"Managing for stakeholders† was an interesting selection which clearly defined several possible stakeholders for a business, primary and secondary, and how important each one is to the survival of the business as is the survival of the business to their survival. Customers, bankers, financiers, employees, and suppliers are all stakeholders. The selection stressed how important it was for the executive of a given corporation to have the skill set to manage the relationship between the stakeholders and the corporation to create value for all over time. My personal reaction to the article was a positive one in the sense that it was a clear message and made sense. However, I feel the article was repetitive and a little too drawn out. I realize the importance of the examples and the different perspectives of managing stakeholders and putting yourself in their position. I learned a lot from this article, but it became tedious in the last seven pages. Milton Friedman’s article went into grave detail the social responsibilities of an individual vs. he social responsibilities of a business. He also explained the duties of the businessman: legislator, executive, and the jurist. He couldn’t understand how some businessman could be so â€Å"clear headed† regarding matters internal to their business but so â€Å"muddle headed† in matters outside their business in matters critical to their business’s survival. According to Friedman, there is one social responsibility for a business â€Å"engage in open and f ree competition without deception or fraud. My personal reaction to this article was that it was very difficult to read and comprehend. I had to reread the article and several sections of it several times to figure out what Friedman was trying to convey. I agree with Friedman’s one social responsibility for a business. However, when compared to Freeman’s article, his message was much clearer and defined better than Friedman’s.

Cross Cultural Studies in Gender Essay

Most research into gender roles has occurred in Western societies, and generally shows a clear divide in gender roles, most encouraging masculine behaviour in boys, and feminine behaviour in girls. However, in order to further explore the idea of nature vs. nurture (biological vs. social approach); it is important to research gender roles in a variety of countries. If clear themes, it may indicate that gender role development is nature, as would show that men are similar to men across the whole world, and likewise for females, showing there must be something determining the way men work, whereas if there are clear culture differences, it would imply social factors determine gender. Cross cultural research has been explored for many years by anthropologists. Some of the earliest work came from Margret Mead in the 1930’s. Comparing three Papua New Guinean tribes, the Arapesh, the Mundugumor and the Tchambuli, she discovered different behaviours displayed by both men and women in each individual tribe. In the Arapesh, men and women were seen to be gentle, responsive- fitting the Western stereotype as feminine. In the Mundugumor tribe, she found males and females to violent and aggressive- the Western stereotype of masculinity and finally in the Tchambuli tribe, she found role reversal to Western stereotypes, as males were more emotionally dependant and flirtatious, whereas the females were dominant, impersonal and definite. Although at first, Mead concluded that her research showed that gender roles came through cultural determinism as big differences were found between males and females in different cultures, implying that gender roles were driven by social factors. However, after later analysis and extending her research to look at other tribes in Samoa, she changed her view (1949) to that her research actually showed cultural determinism, as despite differences in the roles males and females played in each society, in all the societies she looked at men were more aggressive than the women, contributing to the idea that gender role is determined by nature, as there are some behaviours which are innate and universal, e. g. ggression in men, but that degree to which they are expressed is relative to the particular culture. This fits under the biosocial approach, as her research suggests there are some behaviours which are universal, but the degrees to which these behaviours are expressed depends on social factors, such as culture. Mead’s study was a natural experiment, meaning the tribes were observed in their usual environment, suggesting she was noting their true behaviour. However, her method has been heavily criticised by other psychol ogists such as Freeman (1984). Her research was conducted through interviews and observations of the tribes, but Freeman who also worked with Samoan tribes was told that Mead provided the tribesmen with what she wanted them to say. Although this questions the validity of her research, in later years there has been lots of cross cultural research to show differences and similarities and divisions of labour and behaviour by gender in every society (Munroe and Munroe 1975). Further research to support the nature side of the argument is from Whiting and Edwards 1975. Through looking at 11 non-western societies, they found that gender roles were organised in similar ways across a range of traditional cultures. They found girls were encouraged to spend more time with their mothers and were more likely to be given domestic and childcare jobs, whereas the boys were likely to be assigned jobs outside the house such as herding animals. This lead to girls spending more time with younger infants and adults, whereas boys spent more time with their peers, and so It seemed younger girls were found to be more responsible and nurturing than boys who in early adolescence began to get more responsibility. Whiting and Edwards concluded that the behavioural differences observed came about because of the tasks they are given. Girls are taught how to be responsible at a young age as they are exposed to female role models, and develop skills of caring for younger siblings. In another, Whiting and Whiting (1988) observed children in their natural environment with parents, siblings and peers. There were universal differences that girls were more nurturing and boys showed more dominance. However, the fact there were key differences between boys and girls such as what they were socialised into, and what they were encouraged to achieve, implies that both upbringing and biology play a role in development; socialisation just magnifies the biological difference, hence differences across cultures such as between US and India. Bee (1995) supported the idea of socialisation being the most important factor in determining gender, as he stated children became the company they keep. However, researches such as Omar et al found similarities in varied countries such as Switzerland, Ethiopia and the US. Their research indicated that all boys show higher levels of competitiveness and aggression than females, indicating there are underling biological factors. Further support for the nurture argument comes from Berry et al (2002). They studied male superiority on spatial perceptual tasks in 17 societies. He found that this superiority is only found in relatively tight knit, sedentary societies but absent in nomadic societies. This shows that the magnitude of sex differences is linked to culture and ecology. In tight knit societies, the division of labour is greatest because women stay at home whilst men travel, whereas in nomadic societies, both men and women travel and hunt so there is less division of labour (Van Leeuwen 1978). Therefore, this implies that social factors dictate gender role, due to the cultural differences in division of labour found. Berry’s large study of a variety of societies indicates his results can be representative of the general population and we can generalise results. However, Kimura (1999) offered an alternative biological interpretation, that in hunting societies, those with poor spatial perception are likely to die, thus eliminating such genes from the gene pool. This explains why in nomadic societies, there would be less gender difference in spatial abilities. Further biological support comes from Buss et al (1989). Involving 10,000 participants from 37 cultures, he found universal themes in what males and females looked for in marriage partners. Women desired males who had good financial prospects, whereas men placed more important in physical attraction and youthfulness. Both sexes agreed intelligence, kindness and reliability are important. Due to the fact these finding were universal, and the scale of the study implies we can generalise, it suggests gender roles are biologically determined. However, an alternative argument may be that women look for providers, not because of biology, but because of the fact women tend to earn less in society, and in some countries, have fewer rights, which is a social issue determining differences in gender roles. But despite the fact that labour division are the same in most cultures- irls are brought up to be nurturing, responsible and obedient, likely to raise the children, whereas boys are raised to be more independent, self-reliant and high-achieving, and provide for their family, suggest that it is biology that determines sex roles. However, it is difficult to decipher whether division is the direct outcome of biological differences or whether it is a more indirect outcome of biological differences. Eagly and Wood argued that all cultures shape their socialisation processes along with the lines of inborn biological tendencies. However, there has been research to counter this. Sugihara and Katsurada (2002) found that Japanese men do no not seek to be macho like Americans, but instead value being well-rounded in the arts (usually associated as femininity), showing that labour divisions are not the same in all cultures. As well as looking at the divisions of labour between difference cultures, there has also been research into the differences between gender roles in collectivist and individualistic cultures. In 2002, Chang, Guo and Hau, compared 145 American and 173 Chinese students by giving the students a 10 item Egalitarian Gender Role Attitudes Scale, which measured their attitudes to gender equality at home and in the work place. Chang et al found that American students emphasised the important of equal gender roles at work, whereas the Chinese students emphasised the importance of equality at home and in the family. Although this does indicate differences, this may be due to the nature of their home country. In communist China, equality at work is taken for granted. Further exploring this, Leung and Moore (2003) compared Australians of English and Chinese decent using Bem’s SRI and fond differences in line with the Hofstede’s dimensions. Both male and female English Australians showed masculine traits which are valued in individualistic cultures, whereas Chinese Australian’s; male and female, showed feminine traits valued in a collectivist culture. Both research studies imply that cultural values and expectations have a strong on the development of gender roles and expectations (nurture). A big problem with much research is how you measure sex stereotypes. Williams and Best (1990) study highlighted some of the problems linked to this. 2,800 university students from 30 different nations were given a 300 item adjective checklist (ACL) and asked to decide for each adjective whether it was associated more with men or women. They found a broad consensus across countries- men were seen as more dominant, aggressive and autonomous, whereas women were more nurturing, deferent and interested in affiliation. This suggests there are universal gender stereotypes about gender roles, indicating, they are derived though our genes. However, this study proposed many problems in how they measured sex stereotypes. Firstly, the participants had to pick either male or female, there was no equal category (although there was a ‘cannot say’ category) which may have resulted in the division in gender roles being exaggerated. Furthermore, the task was related to stereotypes, not actual behaviours. Some argue that such stereotypes have a significant effect on socialisation within the culture, and this are related to behaviour, but the data does not demonstrate this. Finally, because all of the participants are students, it indicates there behaviours are similar e. g. intelligences, and exposed to similar influences which may explain the broad consensus. Another problem is a lot of the cross-cultural research has been collected by western researchers, therefore, even though they were collecting data in western and non-western societies, the method of research will be developed by western psychology. This may indicated imposed etic, and the data collected is meaningless and demonstrates cultural bias. To overcome this, Berry et al (2002) concluded that there should be a greater use of more genuine indigenous research, opposed to indigenous researchers carrying out the method of western psychologists. To conclude, despite methodological problems, due to the universal similarity in gender roles found in various investigations, it indicated that biology drives gender roles. However, difference found between cultures indicates social factors are also important, so there is a complex interaction between both factors, so the biosocial approach may be a more suitable approach, as it is less deterministic and acknowledges both aspects. As well, it is important to account for historical changes. Much research was done in the 1970/1980’s when the gender gap in many western countries was much larger than is it today, as it is now accepted that both males and females work, and parental equality. However, males still occupy more powerful positions than women, and women perform more domestic duties. But it is an important factor to consider when looking at data.