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Attestation services are those in which the CPA team reviews an assertion, usually financial statements, of a company or person for correctness. Usually an opinion is issued, be it restricted, negative, positive, or with reservations. If an opinion is part of the deal, the CPA firm is held responsible for issuing it within the professional and legal requirements for doing

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To set a strategic plan for Able, we need to make an assumption about the goals of senior management. Either the company is going to be turned around in order to resist the takeover or it us going to improve the situation in order to become more attractive. The basic difference between these two strategies is the decision to cut costs or make investments. Because of the difficulty in turning employee morale around if the acquisition is going to go through, we will assume that the company is strategizing to avoid the buyout. The first strategic decision is to concentrate its efforts on one market. The company is not large enough to compete across the full range of power tool products. Because of the high profit margins and the lack of any domi

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Able is concerned about its upcoming buyout by Walden, and rightly so. This family-owned company is floundering due to mismanagement. Walden seeks to obtain it because of its market share in the circular saw segment, its innovative capabilities in cordless tools, and the fact that despite its troubles it has managed to make a profit two out of the last four years. The philosophies of the managements are so different, however, that it will take some adjusting to get the subsidiary to perform the way Walden wants. Able needs an investment time and resources to maintain its production, let alone turn itself around. This is not how Walden operates. The best choice would be for both sides to make some concessions. Walden will especially need to come to terms with the need for capital investment in Able. A new plant simply must be built. If Walden tries to draw profits out of Able with the old ones they will be squeezing blood from a stone, and the employees know this. Condensing the company's resources into a few product lines will make this less expen

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Introduction This project will encompass two studies that will investigate the depiction of Jewish scholars in newspaper articles in the United States and Germany. This paper develops a research protocol for the investigations. The remainder of this introductory section provides material to prepare the reader for the development of the research protocol. Introduction to Framing Theory The essence of framing theory is that the way in which information is presented to people influences the opinion formation by people in relation to the issues addressed by the information presented. The framing process may be applied at interpersonal, organizational, and institutional levels. The mass media, as an institution, uses framing in the presentation of information to the public (Scheufele, 1999, p. 105). The framing of information presentation includes (a) context of the report, (b) relationship to earlier events, (c) ties to other current activities, and (d) p

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Today's media is vastly more influential than the media of 50 years ago. Not only does news reach the public much more quickly than in the past, it does so with an immediacy and a visual impact that makes it seem that the events being reported on are occurring right in the viewers' living rooms. With huge, high-definition TV screens adding to the effect in viewers' homes, the media has departed from its long-held charter to use discernment about what aspects of the news to broadcast and now includes any footage that adds to the sensationalism surrounding lead stories. In addition, the endless repetition of the same stories over many days increases the exposure of the public to information that is disturbing and provocative, particularly where violent crime and other deviant behavior are concerned. This paper will examine how the media contributes to deviant and copycat behavior and why the media should curb its exposure of them. There are several aspects of media co

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In Reginald E. Reimer's article "The Religious Dimension of the Vietnamese Cult of the Ancestors," the author examines the cult that embodies Viet Nam's traditional animism, pointing out how its beliefs about the soul both conflict with and support biblical Christianity. He is careful to clarify, in assessing the Vietnamese cult of the ancestors, that many people fall into the ditch on one side or the other, either accepting the cult for its beneficial aspects or condemning it entirely as being inconsistent with Christianity, yet both responses are wrong. Reimer points out, surprisingly, that there are some areas of commonality between the cult and Christianity, such as the fact that both profess a belief that man has a soul and there are such things as evil spirits. There are certainly significant areas where the Vietnamese cult of the ancestors diverges widely from Christianity. One of these is what Reimer terms the "religious eclecticism" of the cult.[1] Reimer a

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Introduction Religious thought throughout the centuries has been diverted numerous times into various philosophical avenues. One of these is the deist view. Deism pictures a God who is remote from man, one who has created man but has then left him to his own devices. Having created man with the power to reason, deists contended, God expected man to use those reasoning powers on his own. In contrast with the beliefs of deism, St. Augustine saw God as one who was concerned with every action of man, and St. Thomas Aquinas saw God more precisely from the Catholic viewpoint. As religious thought progressed throughout the centuries, the deist viewpoint gave way to the theist concept of a remote and uninvolved God, which eventually led to the idea of God intimately involved in the affairs of men's lives and concerned that their hearts be directed toward Him. This was a pivotal transition in the realm of Christian thought, and one that has had enduring effect on the body of Ch

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Introduction Kertesz (19-11) reports that in 2006, Massachusetts enacted a healthcare reform law requiring almost every resident of the state to obtain or purchase insurance coverage. It is noted that because of this law, substantially more citizens of the state are covered. Provisions in the law allow free health care for those who meet set poverty criteria, subsidized healthcare for those just beyond poverty thresholds, and incentives for getting coverage, such as a fine for not obtaining coverage. The law also established a regulatory agency, the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, which offers subsidized coverage and facilities purchases of private plans by small businesses and individuals. This paper evaluates the program. The paper argues that the program was not thought out well, and its implementation is seriously flawed and presents the state with a very real financial burden. HealthCare Reform in Massachusetts Has Massachusetts' Healthcare Refor

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Abstract This review of literature focuses on a controversial issue that has emerged in recent years in Europe regarding the practice among Muslim women of wearing the hijab or veil. In France, the government has taken the somewhat unprecedented step of banning such clothing in public schools, arguing that by refusing to allow Muslim females to wear this distinctive item of clothing, any possibility of discrimination against these female students because of their faith will be eliminated. The French government's action has evoked a storm of protest in France and in other countries, where laws provide for allowing members of faith groups to wear specific items that reflect elements of their belief and value system (e.g., the Jewish yarmulke, the Christian cross, and so on). The review of Literature examines in particular the nature of the controversy and the response of the United Kingdom to the French law. It reveals that while some public schools in Great Britain hav

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Despite its position as the world's leading democracy based on principles like equality, freedom, and opportunity, the U.S. is a society that is rigidly defined along class lines based on power, wealth, and status. No longer a nation that offers all individuals from all classes of society an opportunity for upward mobility, the gulf between rich (i.e. powerful) and poor (i.e. weak) in U.S. society continues to widen. Despite the unique writings provided, the materials from James C. Scott, Franz De Waal and Malcolm Gladwell all reinforce the notion that the distribution of power, wealth, and status has an impact on the nature of "truth" that evolves in societies. From control by the wealthy of the media to enormous influence of special interest groups over legislators, the distribution of power, wealth, and status in the U.S. has a significant affect on truth that narrows it and presents it so that what is disseminated and reinforced is what reinforces the power, wealth, and

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The BusinessWeek article "Outsourcing Innovation," by Pete Engardio and Bruce Einhorn, is about no particular company, so there is no mission statement, social responsibility, or ethics to evaluate. The external environment is the key facet of the topic that is relevant to the article, as the subject of outsourcing innovation in general in the technology industry is its real focus. The main point of the article is that outsourcing innovation is a cost-cutting measure that carries with it some major shortcomings and substantial risks. The authors point out that while "more innovation is vital... current R&D spending isn't yielding enough bang for the buck" (Engardio & Einhorn, 2005). They also explain that "The downside of getting the balance wrong...can be steep" and that brand-name companies can actually lose their incentive to continue investing in new technology (Engardio & Einhorn, 2005). They quote the Boston Consulting Group's senior vice-president Jim Andrew, who st

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In Section 3 of Rereading America, edited by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle (260-261), the editors present a series of readings that explore the relationship between money, culture, and race in the United States. They make the point that while Americans do subscribe to the idea that the country is a land of unequaled opportunity "where hard work and smart choices yield big rewards, where no one is stuck on the lower rungs of the economic ladder" (260), the reality is that America is very much a polarized society with elites, a middle class, and a large and seemingly permanent underclass of the poor. The idea that America is a land of equal opportunity is patently untrue. As Horatio Alger suggested well over 100 years ago, the working class and the poor were at a distinct disadvantage vis-à-vis more affluent Americans. Alger's characters are very much informed by their accents, their occupations, their education, and their capacity for getting ahead (268). However, Alger's thesis was that hard work, ambition, and a willingness to learn could overcome these disadvantages and make even a "

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Many years ago, Horatio Alger proposed that any American who was ambitious, determined to succeed, willing to work hard, and able to mobilize his or her personal skills and abilities toward achieving social and economic advancement would do precisely that (in Colombo, Cullen, and Lisle, 268). Anyone, even Alger's "Ragged Dick" the shoeshine boy, could become a wealthy (or at least very comfortable) member of the American upper-class or the middle-class, working their "way to fame and fortune" (in Colombo, et al, 269). It is this myth of the attainability of the American dream that has for generations, according to Colombo, Cullen and Lisle (261) in Rereading America, dominated the domestic political ethos and lead countless Americans to believe fervently that advancement is simply a matter of personal determination. The reality, as several authors whose works are included in the text demonstrate, is radically different: race and culture as well as class all have the effect of determining who earns what, how much one can earn, and what opp

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Outline I. Introduction and Purpose A. Ralph and Jack respectively represent transformational/ servant leadership and autocratic leadership styles. B. The novel is about the conflict between these approaches to leading and structuring society. II. Ralph's Leadership A. Ralph as a transformational and servant leader. B. Ralph's failures as a leader stem from his inherent fairness and his belief in justice. III. Jack's Leadership A. Jack's autocratic, authoritarian leadership style appeals to the boys who are afraid of a strange "beast" that seems to threaten them. B. Jack's appeal to the boys on the island. IV. The Conflict Between Leaders A. Jack's primacy and Ralph's exclusion V. Summary and Conclusions A. Jack's use of power leads to his dominance B. The appearance of adult sailors prevents the total disintegration of the group. VI. References William Golding's novel

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One The study of religion is important to me because I wish to gain a deeper understanding of my own faith and the faith of others in history. This will enabled me to come to a better understanding and gain deeper insights into how different cultures or eras believe, and what those beliefs mean to contemporary faith and religion. By studying religion I also hope to forge some transcendent connection among all religions, be it animism or Catholicism. At their core, I believe all religions promote peace and harmony in connection with a higher power through right living. Whether that power is nature or God, a deeper understanding of diverse religions will benefit my own faith and development. Two There are a number of lessons learned from the first five chapters that were new to me. One is that I learned some religions are not truly categorizes as religion, like animism or totemism. I used to think that the totemism of the Native Americans was, indeed, a religion. I also did not realize that basically all cultures

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America in the 1930s was still reeling from the crash of the stock market and the resulting Great Depression that began in 1929 and that by 1933 had caused one-third of the country's population to become unemployed ("The Great Depression Helps Radio"). This backdrop made radio a much more important component of American life than before, and "Radio infiltrated all aspects of American life, filling it with music, news, entertainment and advertisements" ("The Great Depression Helps Radio"). Unlike the medium of newspaper, which promoted separate readerships among different groups, "The radio brought together the rich and the poor, of every race, nationality or creed in one audience" ("The Great Depression Helps Radio"). As "The first modern mass medium, radio made America into a land of listeners, entertaining and educating, angering and delighting, and joining every age and class into a common culture" (Lewis). Radio enabled "one person with a microphone" to "sow seeds of inf

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The purpose of this research is to examine the history and the preservation of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, from the time of its first appearance in 1896 to the present day. The plan of the research will be to set forth the social context out of which the construction of the building occurred and then to discuss the features of the building, with reference to its provenance, the Parthenon of Athens, Greece, which was constructed some 2,500 years ago, 447-438 BC. The reason that the Nashville Parthenon was constructed in 1896 is connected to the centennial celebration of Tennessee's admission to the Union in 1796. By the end of the 19th century, Nashville had long been referred to as the "Athens of the South," principally because of the large number of colleges in the greater Nashville area, including Fisk and Vanderbilt universities, and because the city was the first in the South "to establish a public school system" (Duke). Nashville was the venue for Tennessee's

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The hallmark of great literature is its ability to stand the test of time. In many instances literature that survives centuries or even millennia and is still pertinent to audiences last because of its universal themes, ideas, or appeals to the human heart. If we look at two works considered to be great literature - Franz Kafka's (1948) The Metamorphosis and Plato's (1956) Apology - it is readily apparent that these works are highly relevant to contemporary life in Atlanta Georgia because of their eternal themes and ideas. In Franz Kafka's (1948) The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa "awoke one morning from uneasy dreams" and "found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect" (p. 67). An unhappy and unfulfilled traveling salesman, Gregor's condition worsens and he becomes hideous and repulsive even to his own mot

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In early 2004, the government of France adopted a law prohibiting from public schools any clothing which would clearly indicate the religious affiliation of a pupil. While John R. Bowen (1) states that the law was "worded in a religion-neutral way, everyone understood the law to be aimed at keeping Muslim girls from wearing headscarves in schools." As the law was being debated in public hearings, media coverage of the issue indicated that there were grave dangers to French society and its tradition of secularism presented by Islamic radicalism, a trend toward consumerism, and the oppression of women in poor suburbs. Bowen (1) commented that while some Muslims "objected that the proposed law would violate their right to express religious beliefs and many observers doubted that a law banning scarves would seriously address the severe problems of integration in French society," the Stasi Commission and the French parliament which considered the law, voted with virtual unanimity for it

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A code of ethics for any organization is a vital guiding document that(if followed conscientiously(reveals the ethical framework and convictions of the organization that has produced it. In the case of the codes of ethics of the American Counseling Association, or ACA, and the American Association of Christian Counselors, or AACC, there are both similarities and differences that bear discussion. Both codes address competence, colleague relationships, and sexual relationships with counselees, for example, and each has a different slant and emphasis on those three issues. Competence is obviously one of the most important issues in counseling, as incompetence can lead to a worsening of the patient's condition, or even, in extreme cases, to suicide. Effective counseling requires not only a sensitivity to the patient's feelings, situation, and state of mind, but also a clinical understanding of medical or other conditions that must be weighed in determining the appropria

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Existentialism is a philosophy that views human existence as an experience marked by anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death and the consciousness of existing. Existentialism attempts to search for the meaning of life apart from a world of socially constructed values and religious beliefs. Anxiety and dread over consciousness of mortality in an often meaningless and chaotic universe characterizes the desperation of Susan Rawlings in Doris Lessing's short story "To Room Nineteen." Discovering her marriage to be anything but the "happy ever after" scenario promised by cultural myths, Susan becomes conscious of the meaninglessness of existence and its social norms which serve to constrain freedom. Locked into her confining and artificial roles, Susan attempts to attain freedom but determines suicide is the only route of escape for her authentic self from the existential dilemma. Existentialists believe that values are socially constructed efforts to control the w

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Introduction One of the more controversial medical topics of recent years is that of mandatory testing for AIDS. While AIDS testing has been described in some quarters as "an essential component of any effective national AIDS policy" (Basten, 1989), mandatory testing for AIDS is being met with derision in other quarters, being labeled "public health lunacy" (Adams, 2005). On the one hand, proponents of mandatory AIDS testing argue that such testing protects sexual partners, coworkers, friends, family, fellow inmates, and others that an HIV- or AIDS-infected individual might come into contact with, as well as providing an opportunity for early intervention to protect AIDS patients' health. On the other hand, mandatory testing could result in catastrophic privacy invasion that ruins careers and marriages based on what is still an imperfect testing medium that yields a substantial number of false positive results. This paper will examine the arguments on both sides of the is

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Fisher-Price's marketing mix strategy includes a stellar promotion strategy characterized by out-of-the-box thinking and innovative concepts. One example of this strategy was Fisher-Price's idea to show their commercials for interactive learning toys right on the shelf with the related products. Since toy store and departments store or discount store shelves are not powered with electricity, this seemed like an unlikely idea, but Fisher-Price pursued it with Ovation In-Store, a firm that creates unique marketing displays "that will stop a consumer in their tracks and compel them to interact with your brand" ("About Us," n.d.). In Fisher-Price's case, Ovation In-Store "thought of inventing wireless electricity" but quipped that "it wasn't in their budget" (Weschler, 2007). Instead, what they came up

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Fisher-Price's competitive advantage derives from a number of factors(the "fun value" of its toys, their sturdiness, its play lab testing concept, the company's differentiation and positioning, and its market segment. Fisher-Price ensures that children find its toys sturdy and fun to play with by testing them in its play lab: the "Smart Toy Lab" designed jointly by Mattel and Intel ("History of the Smart Toy Lab and Intel® Play Toys," 2001, p. 1). The Smart Toy Lab enables Fisher-Price to test its toys and those of its competitors, and the lab has "matured into a fully staffed business unit" whose combined efforts "have produced coordinated sales, marketing and merchandising efforts to broaden awareness of the Intel Play products" ("His

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In this essay I will argue that the United States' distribution of immigration status is unjust according to my ethical principles of justice. From my ethical perspective, which meshes with that articulated by John Rawls, we are all people in the "original position" behind a "veil of ignorance" who would seek to create a society in which the rights of all are of equal significance and in which discrimination based on such factors as race, ethnicity, gender, age and/or national origin is not permitted. In the case of immigration, which is a highly controversial issue in the United States today as the article by the American Friends Service Committee (2006) so clearly demonstrates, the law of the country appears to be oriented towards significantly reducing the flow of certain groups of immigrants into the country and punitively sanctioning those "illegals" who are discovered and then forcibly returned to their homelands. The American Friends Service Committee (2006), also known

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