Probation and Punishment in Correctional Facilities Assignment

Probation and Punishment in Correctional Facilities - Assignment Example My review of Kris’ file matches Roberts. I concur with Roberts views on whether a Kris’ pre-sentence report predicts that he shall successfully complete. He considers the fact that Kris recently got married, has no history of probation as an adult and the fact the completed his probation successfully as an a juvenile. I concur with the yardsticks employed to arrive at the conclusion. Successful stints of probation in the past indicate that the candidate is committed to observing the rules of probation. However, I disagree. I disagree with the recommendation that he should report bi-weekly. Kris has a stable family he is attached to, fixed abode, committed to work and desiring a prosperous future. Consequently, it is proper if he reports once every month. A profile for a perfect probation candidate should consider whether the candidate has a fixed place or residence, or a place where he has lived for more than 5 years. He should have a good rapport not only with his pare nts, but also with the surrounding community. This ensures that the community will not stigmatize him which risks possibility for flight or relapse into the crime. Lastly, an employee or somebody who is dedicated to his work is likely to be financially stable and occupied to resort to crime. The strategy of matching inmates to prison facilities helps to implement the Eighth Amendment. The Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment of prisoners while they are in prison. A prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment is a universal rule of constitutional law in United States (Fellman, 1957, p. 34). In essence, even after the prisoner is sentenced to jail, the constitutional rights under the eighth amendment applies to define conditions of treatment during the confinement period. Any punishment that violates basic human rights is deemed cruel and inhuman. Matching inmates to prison facilities ensures compliance with the eighth amendment. It ensures that there is balance and propor tionality between the programs needs and the level of security. Prisons differ in terms of the level of security and facilities available.  

Professional development matrix Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Professional development matrix - Assignment Example I approach the challenging tasks with a ‘can do’ attitude. This increases my credibility among the colleagues and also boosts my own confidence level. Mostly, people favour my ideas and strategies because I am very careful and thoughtful in making decisions. I rarely jump to the conclusions. I opt to make a conclusion only after analyzing the whole scenario. When it comes to team work, my team also benefits a lot from my confidence. My potential area for development will be to manage myself in stressful situations and try to project politeness and calmness when faced with such situations. â€Å"Confidence is your ability to be successful in part as expectation based on past experiences†. Although, the past experiences play an important role in decision making, but still all events are not same. I am slow in making decisions. I step back, ponder and observe others actions and act accordingly. I have learned that people may not always agree to my point of view. Work ing in a diverse environment, my attitude must have essence of self control. I have to significantly develop my skills of communication with others and present them with my point of view. Self Management (Carnegie ,1977) Potential Learning (Schon, 1983) Reflective Thinking (Rodgers 2002) Interpersonal competency selected:- Communication Skills â€Å"Communication skills do not refer to the way in which we communicate with others. It includes the way in which we respond to each an every gestures of other†. The way we speak, our body gestures, facial expressions and tone of the voice, all these are included in the communication skills. Working in a diverse workplace, one has to be very careful about his/her way of communication. For me, the most useful and significant aspect of workplace is the way you communicate with others around you. I am good at listening and assimilating information. I always avoid conflicts and handle emotions well. I am very tactful even with the people that I don’t like. I control myself very well at times when my strategies and approaches are not given importance. On reflection, sometimes my self confidence makes things a bit problematic. My potential area for development will be managing my facial expressions. Often, I have little control over my expressions and that is a huge weak point that I plan to work on. I will start to use more firm and self assured strategies while communicating. Also, I will make it a point to ensure that I remain open and honest in my communication. Communication Skills (Pitceathly & Maguire 2002) Leadership Skills (Hollenbeck & McCall 2006) Self-Development competency selected:- Critical and Analytical Thinking I consciously make an effort to project a positive self image. I critically analyze my decisions and abilities. This helps me in accepting others views and opinion. I analyze my managerial thinking by asking my team members. This helps me in accepting new ways of management and also in changing the behaviour that is unacceptable to my team. My approaches are thorough and methodical and are always supported by my fellows and team. I need to identify my defensive issues. I will have to request for the feedback and should not fear failures. I need to share my failures and successes openly. I need to ensure that I admit my wrong decisions and

Factors that Affect Child Development

Factors that Affect Child Development Unit 2: Understanding and Promoting Children’s Development. All children develop at different speeds, but will usually follow an expected pattern. Gaining an understanding of the expected pattern of development can help to identify where children have significant delays in their development. It is important for practitioners working with children to have a good knowledge of child development in order to identify any development delays early. When we are looking a child development, it some areas we need to examine the areas of physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social development, moral development.When we talk about physical development in children, we usually mean two things: the development by which children grow physically, and their increasing skill at achieving a range of different motor tasks, using their large and lesser strengths. As their great weights develop, children go in stage from rolling over to riding a tricycle. As their slight muscles develop, children go since seizing a rattle to easin g beads or eventually writing. Cognitive development is concerned with the child’s intellectual development. Children often change faster than we understand, changing and developed  until they reach a  fundamental milestone. One second they are throwing board books in the toy box, the next they are exploding through the pages of  story books  and as they grow older, they start reading for their own enjoyment and choosing their own books. Piaget was a main theorist and psychologist who developed stages to understand cognitive development. He used to observation the on the child’s thinking and suggested that children progress through a series of stage in their thoughtful, each of which agrees to wide-ranging changes in the structure or logic of their intelligence. Piaget called the main stages of development the sensory motor, concrete operations, and the preoperational and Formal operational stage and emphasised that they occur in that order. Good link to Piaget’s theory. With communication development of the child, in the first five years of life, when brain development is most speedy, children are more open to learning and more receptive to educational experiences than they will ever be. If a child is communicating less than others of his age, he is unlikely to develop the responses essential to his progress. That child’s communication development may be delayed. Freud and Erikson believed that a child’s development can be affected by their personalities rather than their ability. Concrete learning needs may affect progress because a child having difficulties with reading and writing and they are not receiving the extra help they need will probably reduce their chances of progress. As a person and a human being a child is different from other beings as children grow older, they become increasingly more independent and will often find themselves in situations where they need to make their own decisions. A childs effective development al ways occurs in relation to the dynamics of education and can never be explained apart from them, but decision making can seriously stress them out and affect their health. Later incapacity to make decisions could be because of knowledge incapacity, psychological health problems, brain damage, alcohol and drug misuse, or any other of illness or disability. However, some types parental of decisions such as marriage, civil partnership, divorce, sexual relationships and adoption. Social and emotional development is about the way in which children learn to be with others. Children will find it hard to make friends if they have not learned; for example children have their earliest strongest relationships with their parent which is called attachment and appears to be essential for children’s late development. In the 1950s research showed how important they were. John Bowlby was one of the researches who believe there was a link between later abilities to form relationships and respect society’s rules and children’s early attachments. He noted that moving from home to when children enter nursery or school, they separation anxiety which can be tough for children of the all ages. It is important to identify this and find ways of helping them. Moral development is the way in which children learn the difference between right and wrong. This is a question that is difficult to answer. Some theories are presented by Lowrence Kohlberg and Piaget. Both believe people change as they are grew up including behaviour, social and their different abilities and may react very differently to real life situations that they find themselves when they are in a dilemma or strange environment. Piaget results was distinguished different stages in children’s and how they aware of the rules of play games and judging children or punish them which could be the child subjectivism which child cooperation but not understanding the rules and consequences as chosen to fit crime. However, Kohlberg agree with Piaget’s theory he believe dilemma can occur in real life. Kohlberg hypothesised that in societies still limited of some stages of moral development. There are factor that influence a child’s life denied from nature or genetics, such as: problems during pregnancy and at birth, health, disability or mental health conditions. However, children’s development is a shaped by both what they are born with and the experiences that they have. Children’s development starts from conception. Genetic information packaged together from the egg and sperm. This process at conception is not always perfect as sometimes genetic information is faulty and this can affect children’s health or development. Babies’ development can also be affecte during pregnancy by such conditions as: smoking, drugs and alcohol which can harm babies. Foetal alcohol syndrome can also affects the way a baby’s brain develops and is caused by exposure to alcohol whilst in the womb. The premature birth of a child can influence later development. If the baby may not breathe straight away or may be injured during the birth this could c ause learning difficulties. Child health is determined by a variety of factors such as their genetic make up for example: a child may be born with a blood disorder and sickle cell disease and poor health can affect a child’s development as children may find it harder to make friends because they miss the sessions or they cannot physical enjoin in. This means that professionals who work with children have to look at ways of making sure that children do not lose out. There are reasons why development may not follow expected patterns. Disabilities or health conditions are genetic that begin in the early years of children’s lives and influence their development. Also different types of disability will affect development in different ways, such as Down syndrome a genetic disability that affects a child’s cognitive ability and growth. External factors from the environment can affect a child’s development such as poverty, diet, family background, family circumstances, personal decision, education and housing. Poverty is one of the most devastating yet stoppable conditions working against the health development of children. In the UK increasing numbers of children are experiencing poverty. This can influence a child’s physical health, emotional and psychological health. Absolute poverty is a lack of basic human needs including food, shelter, warmth, sanitation, health care and education. Children’s growth, behaviour and development can be affected by their diet. A stable diet will help children to continue healthy, as well as grow. Families experiencing poverty may buy cheaper food, which are often or highly processed, containing amounts of saturated fat, salt and sugar and minimal nutritional value. These types of food can lead to obesity and malnutrition in children making them lethargic, unse ttled and hyperactive in certain health conditions. Families experiencing poverty or those on lower incomes may live in housing that is of poor conditions can lead more susceptible to illness. Children who live in crowded housing or who have limited access to large areas may not get the opportunities to exercise and develop their physical skills. This can lead to obesity and delay in physical development. Different cultures may hold different values and beliefs about how children are brought up, for example: girls in many cultures are not given the same opportunities as boys, which will limit their development because they are not able to go to school. Another example: in traveller families traditionally they see the female as the homemaker and girls from around the age 10, are removed from school in order to take care of the families. This can affect their development as they are not receiving the statutory education as recommended in the UK. Unexpected delays and disabilities can develop as the child grows up. If a practitioner is about concerned the child and is truly doubtful somethings wrong, they should speak up, although parents are often the first to notice developmental delays because they know their children best. Most developmental testing is done by health visitors but, if theysuspecta child hasnot been successful to reach a milestone at a given time, it is important to identify their support needs early in order to get the appropriate intervention in place to support overall learning and development, and to reduce the impact that the delay may have on the child. When the child has development delay this can lead to frustration, changes in behaviour and less opportunity. Early Intervention is a national programme that created in the 1975 Education of All Handicapped Children Act the early intervention programme was designed to provide cognitive stimulation and an aim is to prevent the lower intellectual functioning of the children at risk and to achieve the best thinkable outcome for the child.. For example, this would suits low income, pregnant women with low educational achievement, also providing facilities to children and toddlers with disabilities and their families or carers and helping children growing up to learn the basic skills that emphasise the development of cognitive, language, social and motor skills for the first three years of their life. This programme will help to meet the child’s individual’s needs and may include the different services to provide for them, for example, medical services, nursing, health status, physical therapy, psychological services etc. Services may also be provided to address the needs and priori ties of the child’s family. Family-centred services are supposed to help family members understand the special needs of their child and how to enhance their development. Early intervention practitioners are allocated by the Educational Individual Plan (EIP) agency according to the knowledge, assistances and expertise needed. Different developmental outcomes may be covered by early intervention practitioners. Firstly, a specialist doctors needs to diagnose the child’s development status to establish the need for early intervention. Next, the child must be assessed to identify its strengths and development needs. Thirty, support should be provide for the family to help them understand the child’s special needs and enhance its development. Health services will enable the child as benefit from other early intervention such as special needs therapy and an audiologist should identify any auditory problem. Learning activities should be planned to help the child learn new skills. The key worker should identify technical equipment to assist any child with development delays or disabilities. Early intervention is essential to achieve the best possible outcome for the child. However multi-agencies working is important too especially when all the professionals are involved with a child as they share information and co-operate with each other lives can be improved and even protected. Multi-agency working will be established following on from early intervention of a delay in a child’s development. Baby P is an example of multi-agencies not working together properly, early intervention did not occur and they did not work together to help prevent the unnecessary death. Early years practitioners can provide information for local services which may be helpful to disadvantaged or helpless families, we can work together with social workers, health authorities and even DHSS by helping to complete forms for additional benefits the family may be entitled to. The best interest of the child is always the importance, policies and guidance must also be followed when a referral is being made to a separate agency, working together for the advantage of the child. References: Department for children, schools and families (2010) Early Intervention Securing good outcomes for all children and young people http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-00349-2010.pdf In 1975 Education of All Handicapped Children Act in UK http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/chapter07.html Freud and Erikson (1930) child’s development can be affected by their personalities rather than their ability http://psych.ku.edu/dennisk/CP333/Emotional_Mid_Child.pdf Jean Piagets (1973) Stages of Cognitive Development http://www.icels-educators-for learning.ca/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=46Itemid=61 Kohlberg, L. Turiel, E. (1971). Moral development and moral education. In Lawrence Kohlberg,Collected Papers on Moral Development and Moral Education (1973),pp. 410-465.

In Distrust of Movements :: Analysis, Wendell Berry

Humans crave improvement, humans crave progress, and humans crave identity. For many, these cravings are satisfied within the ideas and actions behind social movements. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of a social movement is, â€Å"a group of people with common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals† (n.d.). Frequently, these social movements center around a singular issue. In his essay titled â€Å"In Distrust of Movements,† Wendell Berry (2000) refers to single-issue movements as â€Å"hopeless† (p.333). He writes, â€Å"I have had†¦ a number of useful conversations about the necessity of getting out of movements – even movements that have seemed necessary and dear to us – when they have lapsed into self righteousness†¦ as movements seem almost invariably to do† (p.331). Berry is incorrect in his belief that single-issue movements are ineffective and inevitably fail, and flagrantly disregards history in making such an assertion. Since the advent of the printing press, human communication has grown exponentially. The 20th century is certainly no exception to this trend as we have seen in the advent of radio, television, and the internet. The ease of communication allowed the voice of the masses to be readily heard, and has proved advantageous for social activists and the causes they championed. Such advantages did not go to waste as we have witnessed in movements like the civil rights movement or Fair Trade. Even today, we hear the cries of the â€Å"Occupy Wall Street† protestors. The truth is, progressive movements and their political pull are here to stay and contrary to Berry’s (2000) belief, those that grow around a â€Å"single issue† are just as successful as their multi-faceted counterparts. To give an example, the aforementioned Civil Rights Movement stands as a prominent specimen of a triumphant single-issue cause. Clear and precise, the goal of this cause was to grant African Americans the same legal rights allowed to any other American citizen. This effort ultimately led to such legislation as the American Civil Rights Act of 1964 (â€Å"The Civil Rights Movement,† n.d.), and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (â€Å"Fair Housing Laws,† n.d.). Berry (2000) asserts that one of the major faults in movements is that â€Å"They almost always fail to be radical enough, dealing finally in effects rather than causes† (p.331). What was the Civil Rights Movement though, but a solution to an â€Å"effect† rather than a cause?

Gold Price and Effect on Stock Exchange

Gold Price Volatility and Stock Market Returns in India P K Mishra Faculty in Economics, Siksha O Anusandhan University, Orissa, India E-mail: [email  protected] com J R Das Faculty in Management, Siksha O Anusandhan University, Orissa, India E-mail: j. [email  protected] co. in S K Mishra Faculty in Economics, TITE, Orissa, India E-mail: [email  protected] co. in Abstract The study of the capital market of a country in terms of a wide range of macroeconomic and financial variables has been the subject matter of many researches since last few decades. Recently one such variable, that is, gold price volatility has attracted the attention of many researchers, academicians and analysts. Thus, this paper is an attempt to analyse the causality relation that may run between domestic gold prices and stock market returns in India. The study by taking into consideration the domestic gold prices and stock market returns based on BSE 100 index, investigates the Granger causality in the Vector Error Correction Model for the period January 1991 to December 2009. The analysis provides the evidence of feedback causality between the variables. It infers that the Gold prices Granger-causes stock market returns and stock market returns also Granger-causes the gold prices in India during the sample period. Thus, both the variables contain some significant information for the prediction of one in terms of another. Keywords: Gold Price, Stock Market Return, BSE 100 Index, India, Volatility, Causality JEL Classification Codes: C22, C32, E44 1. Introduction The study of the capital market of a country in terms of a wide range of macro-economic and financial variables has been the subject matter of many researches since last few decades. Empirical studies reveal that once financial deregulation takes place, the stock markets of a country become more sensitive to both domestic and external factors. And, one such factor is the price of gold. From 1900 to 1971, with the global systems of gold standard and USD standard, gold price was regulated. But, since 1972, gold has been disconnected from the USD. Particularly in 1976 when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) passed Jamaica Agreement, did gold begin to evolve from currency to ordinary merchandise and since then gold price as been determined by market supply and demand. And, in India, the government started the process of globalization and liberalization since 1991 which allowed prices to be determined by the market forces. Gold Price Volatility and Stock Market Returns in India 48 Since then, the government has been taking a number of steps to reform the gold sector and ensure that India benefits from the demand-influence that it has on the gold business internatio nally. The liberalisation of the gold sector has been made in stages; first allowing a number of banks to import gold – braking the monopoly of the State Trading Corporations; then considerably reducing the import duty – destroying a lucrative parallel smuggling channel and now, allowing traders, manufacturers as well as investors to trade in gold futures in India itself. Figure 1: Annual Price Movement of Gold in Indian Market Prior to the introduction of liberalization and globalization policies, gold prices in India showed an increasing trend (Fig. 1). In the post liberalization period, the average annual prices of gold also showed an increasing trend from the year 1991 to 1996. But, it showed a decreasing trend in 1997 and 1998 and again showed an increasing trend in the year 2000. From 2000 to 2009, gold prices are continuously increasing. The domestic gold price in India is continuously increasing due to its heavy demand in the country. There are several reasons gold has high demand in India. The first reason is security; gold offers full security as long as it is retained by central banks. There is no credit risk attached to gold. Secondly, gold is able to maintain its liquidity even at times of crisis situations like high global inflation or political turbulence. The third reason for holding gold is to build a diversified portfolio. Gold also has taken the role of an asset of last resort. World Economic History shows that countries have repeatedly used gold as security against loans when they have had difficulties with their Balance of Payments and have felt the need to borrow on the international capital markets. The domestic gold prices in India are associated strongly with the import parity prices which are determined by the global spot prices, Dollar-Rupee rate and local taxes and levies. Any change in the global prices gets transmitted very quickly and gets reflected in domestic prices, particularly for countries like India who are price takers in gold with a major part of the demand met by imports. The twin factors, namely, (i) increase in global spot gold prices (as the commodity becomes dearer to those looking for safe haven during times of economic crisis, and (ii) appreciation of USD against INR, led to sharp rise in gold prices in India in the recent past. Moreover, the total annual supply of gold across the globe has also decreased from 4037 tons in 2002 to 3380 tons in 2008. India is a large buyer of gold at about 700-800 tons per annum. It also recycles about 200 tons of gold out of old jewellery. A large chunk of Indian imports is used for jewellery exports. Since the gold prices in India are influenced by international factors, its volatility is very important. Volatility involves short term – monthly, weekly or even hourly fluctuations in gold prices as measured by their absolute percentage changes during a particular period. If we look at the rolling 49 P K Mishra, J R Das and S K Mishra standard deviation of monthly gold prices since 2000, the prices are more volatile after July 2007 which is almost the same time when the slow down started in USA as a result of the sub-prime crisis (Fig. 2). Figure 2: Standard Deviation of Gold Price in India A look at the historic data brings out that when the stock market crashes or when the dollar weakens, gold continues to be a safe haven investment because gold prices rise in such circumstances (Gaur and Bansal, 2010). It is no surprise that many investors, big and small have chosen to hedge their investments through gold at the time of crises. Figure 3: Movement of Gold Price and BSE 100 Index 20000 16000 12000 8000 4000 0 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 BSE100 GOLDPRICE Gold prices have been on an uptick since 2000, while the stock market declined from 2000 to 2003 and then again in 2008 (Fig. 3). In 2008 when the market was suffering from bearish phase worldwide, gold prices spiked as panic spread across global markets. So far since March 2009 in India signs of recovery in the stock markets have emerged. At the same time gold continues to forge ahead, Gold Price Volatility and Stock Market Returns in India 50 lbeit at a slower pace. In 2008, the two assets prices – equity and gold, were moving in opposite directions, displaying the ability of the yellow metal to protect one's portfolios at the time of a dip. In fact, during each of the two prolonged bear phases (lasting at least a year) over the past decade, gold has provided an effective hedge. However, in India stocks do not seem to be perceived as an alternative to gold. The reason for holding gold is, to a large extent, guided by the individual sentiments. The gold investing habits of Indians strongly ingrained in the Indian Social Psyche. In India gold has been held by individuals for years and have passed hands of many generations. In addition, the equity culture in India is not as developed as in some other parts of the world. Gold has not yet lost its prime importance as a hedge against loss of wealth in times of crises. It is with this backdrop, this paper proceeds to investigate the direction of causality between domestic gold prices and stock market returns in India. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section II explains the data and methodology, Section III makes the analysis, and Section IV concludes. . Data and Methodology This paper aims at investigating the dynamic relationship between gold prices and stock market returns in India for the period 1991 to 2009. This study is mainly based on secondary data that have been collected from the database on Indian economy maintained by Reserve Bank of India. The study analyses the monthly data on domestic gold prices and stock market returns in India for the aforesaid period. Wherever data were missing, the averages of the data of the previous month and next month have been taken. The monthly stock market returns ( Rt ) based on BSE 100 Index have been calculated by the ? I ? Rt = log ? t ? ? I t ? 1 ? where I and I are the logarithmic difference change in the BSE 100 Index, i. e. , t t ? 1 closing value of monthly BSE 100 Index at time ‘t’ and‘t-1’ respectively. At the outset, the Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the aforesaid time series has been calculated and its significance has been tested by the t-test. The correlation coefficient has been calculated by using the formula: N ? XY – (? X)(? Y) r= N ? X 2 – (? X)2 N ? Y 2 – (? Y)2 And, the significance of this correlation coefficient has been tested by the t-test using the tr n? 2 under the null hypothesis H 0 : ? = 0 against the alternative hypothesis of statistic t n ? 2 = 1? r2 H1 : ? ? 0 with n-2 degrees of freedom. If the calculated value of t exceeds the critical value of t, then the null hypothesis will be rejected; otherwise accepted. Then the Granger causality between the variables has been investigated in the Vector Error Correction framework. And, as the essential steps of Granger Causality test, the stationarity and cointegration between variables have been found out. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test has been used to examine the stationarity of the time series of the study and to find the order of integration between them. The ADF unit root test has been performed by estimating the regression: ? Yt = ? 0 + ? 1Yt ? 1 + ? ? j? Yt ? j + ? t j=1 p The ADF unit root test is based on the null hypothesis H 0 : Yt is not I(0) . If the calculated ADF statistic is less than the critical value, then the null hypothesis is rejected; otherwise accepted. If the 51 P K Mishra, J R Das and S K Mishra variable is stationary at level, the variable is said to be integrated of order zero, I(0). If the variable is non-stationary at level, the ADF test can be utilised and the first difference of the variable can be used for testing a unit root. In this case, the variable is said to be co-integrated of order one, I(1). In the second step, the Johansen’s cointegration test has been applied to check whether the long run equilibrium relation exists between the variables. The Johansen approach to cointegration test is based on two test statistics, viz. , the trace test statistic, and the maximum eigenvalue test statistic. i = r +1 The trace test statistic can be specified as: where ? i is the i th largest eigenvalue of matrix ? and T is the number of observations. In the trace test, the null hypothesis is that the number of distinct cointegrating vector(s) is less than or equal to the number of cointegration relations ( r ). The maximum eigenvalue test examines the null hypothesis of exactly r cointegrating relations against the alternative of r + 1 cointegrating relations with the test statistic: ? max = ? T log(1 ? ?r +1 ), where ? trace = ? T ? log(1 ? ?i ), k ?r +1 is the (r + 1)th largest squared eigenvalue. In the trace test, the null hypothesis of r = 0 is tested against the alternative of r + 1 cointegrating vectors. At the end, the Granger Causality test has been used to determine whether one time series is useful in forecasting another thereby finding out the direction of relationship between the variables of the study. In the Granger Causality test, the vector of endogenous variables is divided in two sub-vectors, Y1t and, Y2t with dimensions K1 and, K 2 respectively, so that K = K1 + K 2 . The sub-vector Y1t is said to be Granger-causal for Y2t if it contains useful information for predicting the latter set of variables. For testing this property, the levels VAR following form without exogenous variables of the model is considered. A 0 Yt = A1Yt ? 1 + †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ + A p +1Yt ? p ? 1 + B0 X t + †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ + Bq X t ? q + C*D*t + u t If that model contains p + 1 lags of the endogenous variables as in the above model, the test is based on a model with p + 2 lags of the endogenous variables, ? Y1t ? p + 2 ? ?11,i ? 12,i ? ? Y1,t ? i ? ? u1t ? ? ? Y ? + CD t + ? ? ? Y ? = ? ? 2t ? i =1 ? 21,i ? 22,i ? ? 2,t ? i ? ? u 2t ? as proposed by Dolado and Lutkepohl (1996). The null hypothesis that Y1t is not Granger-causal for Y2t is tested by checking the null hypothesis ? 21,i = 0, i = 1, 2,†¦. , p + 1 A Wald test statistic, divided by the number of restrictions pK1K 2 , is used in conjunction with an F(pK1K 2 , KT ? n * ) distribution for testing the restrictions. Here n * is the total number of parameters in the system (Lutkepohl, 1991), including the parameters of the deterministic term. Of course, the role of Y1t and Y2t can be reversed to test Granger-causality from Y2t to Y1t . 3. Empirical Analysis It is clear from the Fig. 3 that the direction of movements of gold prices and BSE 100 Indices in India is same. The value of Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) between these two time series over the period 1991 to 2009 is 0. 873. To test whether this value of ‘r’ shows a significant relationship between two time series, student’s t-test has been used. The null hypothesis of the test is r = 0 against the alternative of r ? 0. Since the t-statistic at 226 degrees of freedom is 26. 9 and the critical value of t at 5% level of significance is less than it, the null hypothesis is rejected. So, it can be said that the correlation between gold prices and BSE 100 indices is statistically significant. Gold Price Volatility and Stock Market Returns in India 52 Thus, it seems that gold prices and stock market returns based on BSE 100 Index are significantly correlated. And, computation reveals that the value of ‘r’ is 0. 0143 between them which is not statistically significant for the t-statistic of 0. 217 at 226 degrees of freedom. So it can be said that although gold prices and BSE 100 Indices are significantly correlated, the correlation between gold prices and stock market returns based on BSE 100 Index is not significant. But much interesting results have been obtained from the Granger Causality test. The Granger causality test presumes that the given time series are stationary. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test has been used for this purpose. And, the results of such test are reported in Table 1. Table 1: Results of Augmented Dickey-Fuller Unit Root Test ADF Statistic -14. 61 Critical Values At 1%: -3. 459 At 5%: -2. 874 At 10%: -2. 573 At 1%: -3. 459 At 5%: -2. 874 At 10%: -2. 573 Decision Reject Null hypothesis of no unit root Variables in their First Differences Gold Prices Stock Market Returns -12. 01 Reject Null hypothesis of no unit root It is clear from the Table 1 that the hull hypothesis of no unit roots for both the time series are rejected at their first differences since the ADF est statistic values are less than the critical values at 10%, 5% and 1% levels of significances. Thus, the variables are stationary and integrated of same order, i. e. , I(1). In the next step, the cointegration between the stationary variables has been tested by the Johansen’s Trace and Maximum Eigenvalue tests. The results of these tests are shown in Table 2. The Trace test indicates the existence of two cointegrating equatio ns at 5% level of significance. And, the maximum eigenvalue test makes the confirmation of this result. Thus, the two variables of the study have long-run or equilibrium relationship between them. Table 2: Results of Johansen’s Cointegration Test Sample: January 1991 to December 2009 Included observations: 225 after adjustments Trend assumption: Linear deterministic trend Series: Gold Prices and Stock Market Returns Lags interval (in first differences): 1 to 2 Unrestricted Cointegration Rank Test (Trace) Trace 0. 05 Eigenvalue Statistic Critical Value 0. 264883 83. 69901 15. 49471 0. 062248 14. 46069 3. 841466 Hypothesized No. of CE(s) None * At most 1 * Prob. ** 0. 0000 0. 0001 Trace test indicates 2 cointegrating eqn(s) at the 0. 05 level * denotes rejection of the hypothesis at the 0. 5 level ** MacKinnon-Haug-Michelis (1999) p-values Unrestricted Cointegration Rank Test (Maximum Eigenvalue) Hypothesized Max-Eigen 0. 05 No. of CE(s) Eigenvalue Statistic Critical Value None * 0. 264883 69. 23832 14. 26460 At most 1 * 0. 062248 14. 46069 3. 841466 Max-eigenvalue test indicates 2 cointegrating eqn(s) at the 0. 05 level * denotes rejection of the hypothesis at the 0. 05 level ** MacKinnon-Haug-Michelis (1999) p-values Prob. ** 0. 0000 0. 0001 53 Table 3: Results of Granger Causality Test P K Mishra, J R Das and S K Mishra Null Hypothesis Gold Prices do not Granger Cause Stock Market Returns Stock Market Returns do not Granger Cause Gold Prices F-Statistic (73, 12) 11. 678 32. 997 Probability 0. 000 0. 000 Decision Reject Reject Now, the Granger causality test can be performed to determine the direction of causation between these two variables in the Vector Error Correction Model. The results of the Granger causality test are reported in Table 3. It is inferred that the null hypothesis of â€Å"Gold Prices do not Granger Cause Stock Market Returns† and â€Å"Stock Market Returns do not Granger Cause Gold Prices† are here clearly rejected. Thus, both the variables contain some significant information such that they cause each other. But it is very interesting to note that these two variables are insignificantly correlated, i. e. , a very low degree of correlation holds between them. During the period of global financial crisis, stock markets crashed but gold price continues to increase in the country. This could be explained as follows. The extent of holding of gold in India is widespread but stocks are not held by all, though retail participation in the Stock Markets might have gone up in the last few years. Indians consider gold the safe haven investment as a financial asset and as jewellery. World Gold Council Report says that India stands today as the world’s largest single market for gold consumption. Traditionally, gold has been more attractive than bank deposits, stocks and bonds. In developing countries, people have often trusted gold as a better investment. In many countries including India, gold remains an integral part of social and religious customs, besides being the basic form of savings. But recently many innovative financial products have been lunched relating to gold. In March 2003, the first Gold Exchange Traded Fund, i. e. , Gold Bullion Securities was launched on the Australian Stock Exchange. Now, gold exchange traded funds are being traded like shares on the major stock exchanges including London, New York and Sydney. In India the first gold ETF was launched in March 2007 by Benchmark Mutual Fund. And, the UTI gold ETF has emerged as the best performer since May 2009. The number of new accounts created by Gold ETFs in India surged 57% between March and September 2009. The overall AUM in Gold ETFs at the end of December 2009 was Rs 1,352 crore, up from Rs 717 crore in April 09. It shows that Indian investors are gradually moving into gold ETFs for investment instead of physical form. Recently derivatives such as gold forwards, futures and options have become very popular and have been traded on various exchanges around the world and over-the-counter directly in the private market. In the USA, gold futures are primarily traded on the New York Commodities Exchange. In India, the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange introduced 100 gram gold futures in November 2006. The volume of Gold futures traded in this exchange during January to August 2007 was 4,479,114 which have been increased to 9,038,795 in January to August 2008. It is thus inferred that Indians have started considering gold more than jewellery and as good as investments on bonds and equities. Perhaps, this explains the co-movement of gold prices and stock prices in the aftermath of global financial crisis. Gold Price Volatility and Stock Market Returns in India 54 4. Conclusion This paper examines the gold price volatility and the causality between domestic gold prices and stock market returns in India for the period 1991 to 2009. The study uses monthly data on the defined time series. The required data have been collected from the database of Reserve Bank of India. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller test says that the time series of the study are stationary and all integrated of order one. The Johansen’s cointegration test reveals that there exists long run equilibrium relation between gold prices and stock market returns in India. Then application of Granger causality test in the vector error correction model suggests the evidence of feedback causality running between the gold prices and BSE 100 Index based stock returns in India. Thus, each variable contains some ignificant information so that one can be used to predict the other. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] Abken A. Peter (1980), â€Å"The Economics of Gold Price Movements†, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Economic Review, March /April. pp 3-13. Aggarwal R. and Soenen, L. A. (1988), â€Å"The Nature and Efficiency of the Gold Market†, The Journal of Portfolio Management, Vol. 14, pp. 18-21. Agarwal, Sanjeev (2004), â€Å"Bullion Markets†, BSE Review of Markets, pp. 46-48. Aggrarwal, R. , Inclan, C. , & Leal, R. (1999). â€Å"Volatility in Emerging Stock Markets†. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 34, 33-55. Asuncion, J. (2007). â€Å"India's Capital Markets: Unlocking the Door to Future Growth†. Germany: Deutsche Bank Research. Baillie, R. T. , & DeGennaro, R. P. (1990). â€Å"Stock Returns and Volatility†. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 25, 203-214. Bhattacharya, Himadri, (2004), â€Å"Deregulation of Gold in India – A Case Study in Deregulation of a Gold Market†, Research Study No 27, World Gold Council, pp. 1-28 Blose, Laurence E. (1996), â€Å"Gold Price Risk and the Returns on Gold Mutual Funds†, Journal of Economics and Business, Vol. 48, pp. 499-513. Brodsky, David A. and Gray P. Sampson (1980), â€Å"The Value of Gold as a Reserve Asset†, World Development, Volume 8, Issue 3, March 1980, Pages 175-192. Cai, J. , Cheung, Y. and Wong, M (2001), â€Å"What Moves the Gold Market? †, The Journal of Futures Markets, Vol. 21, No. 3, 257-278, O John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Campbell, J. Y. , Lo, A. W. , & MacKinlay, A. C. (1997). The Econometrics of Financial Markets. Second Edition, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chua, J. , and Woodward, R. (1982), â€Å"Gold as an Inflation Hedge: A Comparative Study of Six Major Industrial Countries†, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Vol. , pp. 191-197. Citanna, A. , & Schmedders, K. (2005). â€Å"Excess Price Volatility and Financial Innovation†. Economic Theory, Vol. 26, 559-587. Dickey, D. A. , & Fuller, W. A. (1981). â€Å"Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Auto-Regressive Time Series with a Unit Root†. Econometrica, Vol. 49, 1057-1072. Dolado, J. J. a nd Lutkepohl, H. (1996), â€Å"Making Wald Tests Work for Cointegrated VAR Systems†, Econometric Reviews, Vol. 15, pp. 369-386. Dun’s Review (1980), â€Å"Bring Back the Gold Standard†, Vol. 115, No. 2, pp. 58-67. Engle, R. , & Granger, C. W. (1987). â€Å"Cointegration and Error Correction: Representation, Estimation and Testing†. Econometrica, Vol. 55, pp. 251-276. Ensers, Walter (1995), Applied Econometrics Time Series, John Wiley and Sons, Singapore. Gaur, A. and Bansal, M. (2010), â€Å"A Comparative Study of Gold Price Movements in Indian and Global Markets†, Indian Journal of Finance, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 32-37. Ghosh, Dipak, Levin, E. J. , Macmillan, Peter and Wright, R. E. (2002), â€Å"Gold as an Inflation Hedge†, Discussion Paper Series No. 0021, Department of Economics, University of St. Andrews. 55 [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] P K Mishra, J R Das and S K Mishra Granger, C. W. (1986). Developments in the Study of Cointegrated Economic Variables†. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and statistics, Vol. 48, 213-228. Granger, C. W. (1969). â€Å"Investigating Causal Relation by Econometric Models and Cross Spectral Methods†. Econometrica, Vol. 37, pp. 424-438. Granger, C. W. (1974). â€Å"Spurious Regressions in Econometrics†. Journal of Economet rics, Vol. 2, pp. 111-120. Granger, C. W. , & Morgenstern, O. (1963). â€Å"Spectral Analysis of New York stock Market Prices†. Kyklos, Vol. 16, 1-27. Greene, William H. (2003), Econometric analysis, 5th ed. , Pearson Education Publishers, New Delhi. Gujarati, D. N. & Sangeetha. (2007). Basic Econometrics. New Delhi: TMH Publishing Company Ltd. Johansen, S. (1995). Likelihood-Inference in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Models. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Johnson, H. Clark (1994), â€Å"The Gold Standard, France and the Coming of the Depression: 1919-1932†, Yale University. Kendall, M. (1953). â€Å"The Analysis of Economic Time Series†. Journal of the Royal Statistically Society, Series A, Vol. 86, 11-25. Kim, Youngje (2002), Gold Analysis, web. syr. edu/~ykim30/file/gold. pdf Lutkepohl, H. (1991), Introduction to Multiple Time Series Analysis, Springer Verlag, Berlin. MacKinnon, James G. , Alfred A. Haug, and Leo Michelis (1999), â€Å"Numerical Distribution Functions of Likelihood Ratio Tests For Cointegration,† Journal of Applied Econometrics, 14, 563-577. Poitras, G. and Neil Alan (1996), â€Å"A Study of Gold Futures Price Spreads†, Columbia University. Poon, S. H. , & Granger, C. W. (2003). â€Å"Forecasting Volatility in Financial Markets: A Review†. Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XLI, 478-539. RBI (1997), â€Å"Gold in India†, Reserve Bank of India Bulletin. Rueff, J. and Hirsch, F. (1965), â€Å"The Role and the Rule of Gold- An Argument†, Princeton Paper No. 7, June. Salent, S. , and Henderson, D. , (1978), â€Å"Market Anticipation of Government Policies and the Price of Gold†, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 86, pp. 227. 249 Schill, M. J. (2006). â€Å"New Perspectives on Investing in Emerging Markets†. The Research Foundation of CFA Institute, Emerging Markets (May) . Shah, A. ( 1999). â€Å"Institutional Change on india's Capital Markets†. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXIV (3-4), pp. 183-194. Sjaastad, L, and Scacciavillani, F. , (1996), â€Å"The Price of Gold and the Exchange Rate†, Journal of International Money and Finance. Vol. 15, pp. 79-897 Shiller, R. J. (1998). Market Volatility. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Subramaniam, S. (1989). â€Å"The Impact of Political and Economic Events on Stock Behaviour†. Doctoral Dissertation, IIM, Ahmedabad . Taylor, S. (1986). Modelling Financial Time Series. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Toda, H. Y. , & Philips, C. B. (1993). â€Å"Vector Autoregression and Causality†. Econometrica, Vol. 61, No. 6, 1367-1393. Tschoegl, A. E. (1980), â€Å"Efficiency in the Gold Market†, Journal of banking and Finance, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 371-379. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45]

Major causes of unemployment Essay

â€Å"Outline the major causes of unemployment and social consequences of unemployment for the Australian economy†. There are a number of causes of unemployment, which ultimately result in both positive and negative consequences for Australias economy. These causes are outlined as follows. Economic growth is possibly the most influential factor causing unemployment. The demand for labour is a derived demand, meaning that it is determined by the level of demand for goods and services in an economy. This means that if an economy is experiencing low levels of economic growth, aggregate demand will fall, thus decreasing the demand for labour, which will result in an increase in unemployment. resulted in a strong decline in unemployment (stimulus). Australias unemployment rate is currently at 5.1%, its lowest since the 1970s (stimulus). Unemployment may also be caused by technological change This can have a negative effect on unemployment as a company may replace labour with capital in order to become more efficient. Jobs are lost as technology is now used instead, or people dont have the skills required for the new production methods therefore increasing unemployment. However, the labour force may undergo further education and training to acquire the new skills needed, thus reducing unemployment. Labour productivity is a significant factor affecting the level of unemployment. Low level of productivity tends to encourage employers to use capital in reference to labour in production therefor increasing unemployment. The cost of labour also impacts upon the unemployment rate. If the cost of labour is high, employers will replace labour with capital therefor increasing unemployment, but if it is relatively low, employers will rather choose to employ more workers, thus increasing unemployment. One of the reasons for a rapid increase in labour costs may be the inflexibility of the labour market due to regulations for e.g. 2006 IR laws resulting in higher minimum wages than would occur if wages were set through the interaction between the demand and supply of labour. In addition, the process of structural change in the economy often involves significant short term costs, unemployment. Job losses are greater in less efficient industries and in areas undergoing major reforms, such as public utilities that are being privatised. For e.g. large tariff cuts have contributed to the loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector. Structural change also includes reductions in protection. If local producers can no longer compete internationally there will be a rise in unemployment, however this will be beneficial to the labour market in the long term as efficient industries emerge. The unemployment rate may also occur as a result of government macroeconomic policy. The governments macroeconomic policy can influence the level of unemployment in the short to medium term, through their influence in the business cycle. With the implementation of contractionary macroeconomic policy, with budget deficits and tighter monetary policy this results in higher interest rates and less government spending leads to a slowdown in economic growth and investment causing unemployment to increase. Another reason for declining unemployment is changing participation rates and school retention rates. During an economic upswing the participation rate (labour force / working age population x 100) is known to rise as discouraged job seekers re-enter the labour force and begin to actively look for work again. This means economic growth needs to be high enough to absorb both the unemployed and those returning to the labour force for unemployment to decline. As more students are completing high school and entering tertiary education, young people are entering the work force later. This means that the size of the labour force is reduced, which improves the rate of unemployment. Furthermore, once students finish their studies and enter the labour force they have greater knowledge and skills, improving their  employment prospects. A consistently high level of unemployment has negative social effects on society, individuals and the economy. Unemployment within an economy has dire consequences on society. Increased inequality is the most severe cost within society. Unemployment tends to affect lower income earners such as the young, unskilled, indigenous Australians, regional Australia and those migrants who were born overseas. Because unemployment means a loss of income for these social class they become relatively worse off compared to higher income earners as they struggle to cater for their day to day needs, therefore contributing to poverty and overall inequality in income distribution. Unemployment is associated with many of the most serious and personal social problems in Australia. Among families and individuals, especially those who suffer from long-term unemployment, there is an increased incidence of social problems; including homelessness/housing problemssever financial hardshipfamily tensionserosion of confidence and self esteemincreased levels of debtloss of work skills making it all the more difficult to re-enter the workforceincreased social isolationpoor health, psychological disorders and suicideThese social problems have an economic cost for the community as a whole, since more resources must be directed towards dealing with them. Money to be spent on resurrecting peoples lives takes away funds from satisfying community wants. All in all, unemployment is one economic issue which has to be looked at very closely, as the consequences listed above are just some of the realities brought about by unemployment. â€Å"Discuss Australias recent unemployment performance.†Even though Australia has low unemployment rate in comparison to other OECD countries, unemployment has been a significant economic policy challenge in Australia for the past three decades. Australia began experiencing low unemployment rates during the 1960s and early 1970s, however an increase in unemployment figures gradually occurred during the mid 1970s. For the last 25 years to 2006 Australias unemployment rate has averaged 8%. However the current unemployment rate fell to its lowest in 30 years, to approximately 4.7% in 2006-2007, proving it has entered a new era of sustained unemployment due to sustained economic growth. During the 1990s the unemployment rate peaked at 10.7%, the highest level since the great depression due to the severe recession in Australia and the global economy. Falling AD resulted in the closure of many firms and cutbacks in production, which led to cutbacks in labour therefore increasing unemployment. Australias slow progress on unemployment during this period was also due to the strength of labour productivity growth which meant businesses were able to increase their output without hiring new staff. Through the extensive structural change and micro economic reform unemployment during this period worsened. As new technologies emerged and production techniques changed people who lost their job found it more difficult to obtain new jobs in emerging industries. Since the 1990s recession, Australias unemployment levels have been falling gradually due to its consistent economic growth levels over the past 15 years bringing unemployment to its minimum level of approximately 4.8%. Australia needs economic growth rates of at least 3.75% in order to make progress in reducing unemployment. This only occurs as unemployment can only be reduced if AD (economic growth) exceeds the total of productivity growth plus growth in the labour force. This relationship is mainly referred to as Okuns Law. Since the beginning of this decade, productivity growth has been much slower, which has meant the unemployment rate has continued to fall even though economic growth has only averaged around 3%. Over the last 5 years, Australias unemployment rate has remained below the OECD average but many countries still have lower unemployment levels including Ireland New Zealand  and Japan. â€Å"Assess the policy options available to the government to achieve a sustained reduction in the level of unemployment†The labour markets ability to sustain low unemployment is a result of improved Macroeconomic Policy frameworks and extensive Microeconomic Reform over a long period of time. Macroeconomic Policy allows the government to alter aggregate demand in the economy through the use of Monetary and Fiscal Policy. As 8 out of the last 9 budgets have achieved a Fiscal Balance, our 2004-05 Budget has a relatively small surplus with payments being sent, totalling to 1% of GDP, at the end of the financial year and the cash rate has been below 5.5% for 39 months the Howard government have held Macroeconomic Policy in expansionary ground for a substantial period of time. This has resulted in 13 years of strong sustainable economic growth and, thus, elimination of cyclical unemployment. Monetary Policy assists by smoothing out the business cycle and reducing fluctuations in aggregate demand. The RBA has chosen to maintain low interest rates because of the effects higher interest rates would have on unemployment, among other factors. Over the past three years Australia experienced a Real Estate boom. This has resulted in a major growth in debt and construction in Australia. An increase in interest rates for many of the heavily indebted would dramatically reduce their disposable incomes, hence reducing aggregate demand and causing unemployment. Also within the last 12 months 9 out of every 10 jobs created was in construction, meaning massive job loss should interest rates rise. Furthermore this will affect many other industries such as retail and whitegoods, which have benefited from this increased demand. Fiscal Policy enables the government to inject revenue into regions or specific groups within the economy. The Budget 2004-05 aims to address demands by increasing participation and productivity through a number of initiatives. One of the major incentives that will impact upon unemployment is the reduction of the Welfare Trap. This addresses mainly low and  middle-income families that remain unemployed, as they are financially better off just receiving welfare. The package will increase the incentives to take on additional work, seek advancement, acquire skills and ultimately increase the labour force participation rate. Microeconomic Policies are policies aimed at individual industries that are seeking to improve efficiency and productivity of the producers. These have allowed governments to deregulate the Labour Market as previously the over-regulated and inflexible labour market and wage determination process was viewed as damaging to the Labour Market. The introduction of the WORKPLACE RELATIONS ACT 1996 aims to decentralise the Workplace Relations System by discouraging the use of third parties, such as the AIRC. Instead the Australian Government are encourging encouraging employers and employees to reach outcomes based on the circumstances of their particular enterprise or organisation. Formal collective agreements can be made directly between employers and employees, known as Australian Workplace Agreements. Although these agreements must meet a global no-disadvantage test, to ensure the agreement isnt unlawful or less favourable, the agreement is largely between the employer and employee. Workplace agreements have contributed to improved productivity, higher real wages and greater access to family-friendly provisions. Previously rigid award regulations have been simplified. A safety net is ensured, providing minimum standards to protect employees (especially the low-paid). The actual terms and conditions are, however, determined by an agreement at the workplace. The WORKPLACE RELATIONS ACT also makes compulsory union membership illegal, allowing employees greater fredom of choice. This has also contributed to the declining power of the unions. The WORKPLACE RELATIONS ACT now protects businesses from unlawful industrial action. This has lead to reducing strikes to the lowest levels in Australias history. Unfair dismissal laws have been replaced with a new fair go all  round law, as it was found this law had contributed to the loss of at least 77,000 jobs in small businesses. Through the introduction of the Job Network inefficiencies of job training and placement were reduced. With more efficient Labour market Services the unemployed were able find desired positions faster, hence reducing Frictional unemployment. The Work-for-the-Dole Scheme is part of the Howard Governments mutual obligation principle. This requires 18 to 24 year olds that have been on benefits for more than six months to participate in and activity in addition to job search. This has assisted over 200,000 unemployed to rebuild self-confidence, and develop work ethic and skills Although this does encourage regeneration of work habits the Work-for-the-Dole Scheme conveys very few technical or vocational skills. The New Apprenticeship Scheme has also benefited by organising apprenticeships for 70% of school leavers that dont go to university. The Government also provides businesss that employ those previously unemployed with wage and training subsidies to provide incentive for employers taking a risk on the unemployed. Bibliography -Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/australia/index.html – Australian Facts). http://www.oecd.org/country/0,3021,en_33873108_33873229_1_1_1_1_1,00.htmlhttp://www.oecd.org/document/28/0,2340,en_2649_34569_37147228_1_1_1_1,00.htmlBooks-† TIm Dixon† Australian Economics 2007

Metal Detectors essays

Metal Detectors essays On Feburary 2nd, 1996, two students and one teacher were killed when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis brutally opened fire on his algebra class. In March of 1996, sixteen children and on teacher were killed at Dunblane Primary School; ten others were wounded in the vicious attack. Fast forward to 1997, where thirteen students were killed and another fourteen were wounded in grand total of five school shootings. The following year the number of school shootings increased by one, bringing to the total school shootings in 1998 to a total of six. In 1999, the number of school shootings surged to a total of seven with the number of students killed doubling that of the past year. (A Timeline of Recent School Shootings) Notice a trend? These staggering numbers of both killed and wounded students and faculty members could have easily been prevented had metal detectors been installed into each of these thirty-nine schools. 108 students and faculty members alike were killed in thirty-nine school shootings spanning from 1996 to the present. (A Timeline of Recent School Shootings) These numbers do not include the countless innocent others wounded during these devilish rampages. Life is a priceless thing and the death of each of those students did not have to occur, nor will another school shooting occur in the future, if metal detectors were installed in every school in our nation. 2 With the above information now knowledge, how could you ever oppose the idea of metal detectors being installed in every school in our nation to ensure safety? No parent should ever have to endure the nightmare of watching his or her child leave for school in the morning, only to be pronounced dead by end of the day. Worrying about your childs safety during school hours should even be an option and with the simple installatio ...

Free Essays on Buddhist

like Spanish or Italian. For the language itself, the Chinese language is very different then any other language in the word. But u can say the same thing for every other language in the word because not one language is the same. But still the Chinese language is still very strange. The Chinese language is spoken in a lot of smaller Chinese languages but not as well known like mandarin and Cantonese. For example most people from Taiwan, which is the republic of china, speaks Taiwanese also. But still most Chinese peopl... Free Essays on Buddhist Free Essays on Buddhist The country being studied now is China. China’s culture is very different from the other types of cultures of the world. I picked this country because it is where my parents and family was born, this is giving me a chance to explore my roots and see where my family had experienced while they were there growing up. The Chinese language is very different from English or Spanish or most countries around the world. Because even if you have the word on a piece of paper you might not even know what it means. But if someone says the word out loud then people might know how to say it. The form of writing is very complex to write, there are a lot of lines and curves you must write in order to write one word in Chinese. It is even hard to pronounce the Chinese words because some words can sound the same but also mean something completely different. The numbers ancient Chinese people used were not the ones we use in our western civilization, the numbers even looks like the words except t he number of lines drawn to show the number is a lot less. There are actually two types of Chinese characters, the first is the way to pronounce the word itself and this form of Chinese writing is a lot similar to the western civilization’s way of the alphabet. The other form of Chinese writing is the words itself, the words are written very differently then in the western civilizations. The writing doesn’t use our alphabet to make up the words like Spanish or Italian. For the language itself, the Chinese language is very different then any other language in the word. But u can say the same thing for every other language in the word because not one language is the same. But still the Chinese language is still very strange. The Chinese language is spoken in a lot of smaller Chinese languages but not as well known like mandarin and Cantonese. For example most people from Taiwan, which is the republic of china, speaks Taiwanese also. But still most Chinese peopl...

4 Must Dos for Making the Transition from College to Work

4 Must Dos for Making the Transition from College to Work The transition out of college and into working life can be a bumpy one. There’s more competition for fewer jobs than ever. Here are 4 tips for how to maximize your chances of a smooth path  into your career. 1. Find an Internship Early OnA challenging internship in the field you’d like to enter is one of the best ways to set yourself up for career success while you’re still in school. This shows initiative, your ability to win competitive positions, and gives you a bunch of professional experience in your field before you’ve even graduated. Make sure to pick one that is as challenging, prestigious, and productive as possible- not to mention one that is a good fit for you. Do a bit of research first, then make the absolute most of it. Do your best to dazzle your superiors and keep in touch. They could be great resources for recommendations in your first job applications.2. Pretend you’re already in your careerWhile you’re working your part-t ime jobs and internships in college, don’t just treat them like side work while you finish your degree. Treat them like your first- or fifth!- adult job in your field. Treat your undergraduate present like your career future and you’ll be setting yourself up very well to step into that future when the time comes.3. Reach out and create a networkIt is crucial to be proactive and show the kind of initiative recruiters look for in an applicant. Go above and beyond every chance you get. Seek out mentors at your internships and jobs and express your interest to maximize your potential- and your resume. Set goals for yourself and keep yourself honest so you make sure to meet them- and keep meeting them.4. Get promotedThere are always opportunities for advancement and promotion. Seek these out early and often. Set up job alerts. Try working for larger companies that have multiple avenues to jobs higher up the ladder. Don’t get complacent in any one position. If you let everyone know you’re hungry, eager to keep learning and advancing, and you can prove your mettle, eventually your bosses and coworkers will know to think of you first when opportunities arise.

Coporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Coporate finance - Essay Example 2.1 Describe the business model and strategies of Tesco by taking on strategy and discuss with evidences cited from the case how it is consistent with corporate objective of maximizing shareholder wealth. Tesco’s business model is for the company to what matters better together as it deliver its core purpose to customers. The core retail activities of insight, buy, move and sell are what the company tries to make better as supported by its strategies, among others, of building the Tesco Brand, Leveraging Group skill and scale, operating responsively, establishing multichannel offer for customers. The financial results measure the performance on how the company was able to accomplish its strategies and objective of wealth maximization. The business model of Tesco includes those made from the perspective of strategic choices. The strategies being used in relation to its business model including that of operating responsibly which include maintaining its good profitability, efficiency management of its assets, acceptable liquidity, balanced gearing ratio and responsive investment ratios. As to whether the strategies are consistent with the corporate objective of maximizing shareholder wealth, it could be said that there is good amount of evidence. The results of the company’s profitability, liquidity, good Solvency , and good investment ratios provide good pieces evidence of meeting the financial objectives of the and which are consistent with the objectives of maximizing wealth of shareholders. Making good strategic judgements has a good way to determining the company’s prosperity and building value for its shareholders over the coming decade. Building shareholder value cannot be done in instant or in short-term. It is actually long-term as it may even be sacrificing in the short-run in order to attain the

Early-Age Marriage in Ethiopia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Early-Age Marriage in Ethiopia - Essay Example In this particular research, I want to look into the cultural differences that spell the differences on how different societies view, and react to, early-age marriages or unions. In the Americas, I have come to believe that early-age unions, if ever they occur, are generally viewed, or judged, as a result of lack of parental guidance. Ironically, according to research, in Ethiopia, early-age marriages are planned by parents for many different reasons, but mostly to have a little â€Å"relief† from continuous poverty. My aim in this research is to try to look at the different reasons and effects of early-age marriages to present them to readers in order to not only learn on the Ethiopian culture, but also to gain an insight into how important this aspect is in a person's life. Should people see how the freedom that young people have in a nation whose civil rights movement is at its highest is sometimes taken for granted because they are not placed in an opposite position, they might place more importance on matters that other people of their age would give everything to have. Background Should people, especially in underdeveloped communities where access to health care is inadequate, delay the age of marriage, problems on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of these young girls will be lessened. Early-age marriage is a common occurrence in developing countries. One example of this is Ethiopia, where â€Å"62% of Ethiopian women aged 20-49 get married before the age of 18,† (Alemu 4) and most, if not all, of these are arranged by the parents of the couple. Furthermore, Ethiopia is ranked as having 12th largest occurrences of early marriages according to the International Center for Research on Women. In such marriages, these young girls are usually just forced to give in to their parents’ wishes for marriage. Permission of the bride is usually not sought, and even prior knowledge or consultation is usually not given. Because of thi s, the child-bride's physical, emotional, and mental well-being are placed under risk of damage that could sometimes be irreparable. Physical problems such as domestic violence, spousal rape, or complications during child-bearing and giving birth can cause severe damage to the child-bride (Gossaye et al. 2). Additionally, emotional issues such as depression, trauma, and even mental distress are evident in a big percentage of these marriages (Gossaye et al. 2). Furthermore, mental problems can also be observed in such marriages. For one, these child-brides are rarely able to go back to school after marriage. This deprives them of self-development and chances for growth. Self-fulfillment becomes rare for these females. Physical Problems in Early-Age Marriages I have not really immersed in a community where early-age marriages abound. However, there are certain multi-cultural communities in rural settings where these types of marriages or unions can be seen. I have observed that while domestic issues are present in every marriage, such issues are more emphasized if one of the spouses is very young. For one, I have always been against domestic violence. There is a general consensus that aside from the children, women are almost always the victims in domestic violence. If adult woman has problems in preventing it from happening to her, how much more can a child-bride prevent it from happening

Black Film History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Black Film History - Essay Example The two main directors of the film are Charles Stone and Chuck Wilson. The actors include several various individuals, all which are divided into each segment. The idea of â€Å"Afrocentricity† is to depict the several ways of life that those in the African – American community are associated with. The directors move a step beyond this in showing how the ideas, imagination and the perspectives in this community fall back into problems with stereotypes; however, when looking at the films, there is not a true representation of what this is inclusive of. The strength of this overall film comes from the ideal presented about the diversity of the African – American community. The presentation of seven short films, all which are not related to the other, provides a different level of insight about the African – American community. This breaks down boundaries and stereotypes which are often in the media and gives a fresh look about the ideals of the African Ameri can community. Each of the short films is depicted in an artistic and valuable way to ensure that this message is given. The tension is created in each film, specifically by defining the problems which are associated with society, as well as how individuals have to learn how to overcome this. The weakness of the film comes from the misleading presentations which may distract an individual from buying the film. The title of Afrocentricity is one which isn’t realistic and doesn’t provide the correct depiction of what is presented throughout the film. The concept of diversity is a hidden message that is displayed through each of the films. If one doesn’t understand that this is several short films, one which only lasts for two minutes, then more problems may arise. However, this can work in favor of the film if one is able to understand and overcome stereotypes which may have been associated with the value of each story. Overall rating: 4 Breakdown Breakdown is the first short film that is able to give insight into the African – American community. The director of the film is Jeff Byrd. The actors include the lead, Vanessa Williams. The presentation in this film begins with showing a shooting at a bus station. Vanessa Williams is the only survivor of this incident. When moving through the film, Williams tells about the experience of the shoot down and recalls the trauma which she has gone through by being in this location and seeing what has happened in the specific situation. The strength of this plot is based on the ability for Williams to show the other side of the shootings. The stereotypes which are often depicted in the media are based on the side of African – Americans as having a gangster mentality and not basing their beliefs outside of this. The approach which is taken in this film gains its strength by showing the horror and drama of the shooting as well as the responses which have occurred because of this. The acting that is followed with this is realistic in nature and is able to depict the overall understanding of the complexities which occur in a realistic situation where a shooting occurs, no matter where it happens and who witnesses it. The tension which builds from this realistic viewpoint, as well as the resolution of learning from the trauma becomes the main

No title needed Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

No title needed - Research Paper Example In relation to the code of ethics, there are recommendations by ANA for the nurses to use credentials that are accepted, these credentials are gathered from the continuing nursing education, and code of ethics encourages participation of nurses in the advancement of the professionalism by contributing to continuing nursing education and development of knowledge. The con of the code of ethics proposed by ANA provides the assumption as a major role in the determination and implementation of the standards of critical nursing for continuing nursing education. It also develops the core of research-based professional knowledge, and the nursing is expected to act via the profession in the organization, participation in the creation and maintenance of equitable social and economic conditions of working (Gray, Bliss, Bookout, Colwell, Dutcher, Engberg, Evans et al., 2002). Therefore, the code of ethics does not encourage the continuing nursing education; instead it encourages the maintenance of professionalism. Gray, M., Bliss, D., Bookout, K., Colwell, J., Dutcher, J., Engberg, S., Evans, E., et al. (2002). Evidence-based nursing practice: A primer for the WOC Nurse. Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, 29, 283-286 WOCN. (2012).WOCN Policy & Procedure Manual. Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing. Retrieved on 9 September 2012 from

Global health issue - Lung Cancer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global health issue - Lung Cancer - Assignment Example Likewise, case-control studies and recent prospective cohort which have factored tobacco smoking and occupational and various cancer risk factors, have constantly to report upsurges in lung cancer related to air pollution. In light of the done research, the question is perhaps not â€Å"Are some lung cancers caused by air pollution?†, but rather â€Å"What are the excess cases likely to be caused? The existing evidence from the research suggests that proper education and awareness of the negative consequences will relatively assist to lessen the possibility and effectively cure the issues related to lung cancer but silent on the specific environmental risk factors related to air pollution. This is a concern for lung cancer is attributable to air pollution that can occur among both notorious smokers and non-smokers, and thus both effect modification and residual confounding of the air pollution and another environmental relative risk due to smoking must be well-thought-out. Na fstad et al report the relative risks of air pollution adjusted for cigarette smoking, but adjustment cannot have organized completely for possible confounding. The authors recognize that their research has information or details on cigarette smoking merely at the start of the follow-up period. Further studies and real-time solutions of outdoor air pollution globally and lung cancer in will need to detail concurrent or past exposures to various risk factors, particularly now that there is an increasing trend in the rates of global warming.

Conserving Soil Quality On Farms In Hawaii Research Paper

Conserving Soil Quality On Farms In Hawaii - Research Paper Example By the time measurable damage to the soil quality has occurred, crop yield may already be irrecoverably failing (Stocking, 2003). This relationship can even hold true in areas that with volcanically-enriched soil such as the tropical islands of the state of Hawai'i. To understand soil conservation for farming in Hawai'i, the first step is to understand the background of soil quality conservation, with a focus on the issues specific to the tropical islands. Only then can workable solutions be found and analyzed for suitability to the specific situation found on the Hawai'ian islands. A clear definition of soil quality is necessary for a conservation project to be undertaken. Unless soil quality is clearly and definitively described, it is impossible for researchers to design tests and measurements to study the current state of the soil quality. However, soil quality has proven a very difficult concept to define, especially as soil quality has so many different parameters in many diffe rent spheres of scientific study. Defining soil quality as a term is not the same as defining other widespread environmental terminology such as air quality or water quality. This is due to the fact that air quality or water quality are not based on the usage of the material or its relationship relative to a â€Å"natural† state, but merely on the lack of specific pollutants or on the levels of such pollutants (Sojka & Upchurch, 1999). Since pure soil cannot exist by definition, and clean soil varies dependent on location, pollutants within soil can be limited only to specific non-natural products, such as industrial wastes or household chemicals (Cowan & Talaro, 2006). Soil quality, on the other hand, is determined by the soil's ability to support certain usage and by healthy levels of bacterial, animal, and plant life (Sojka & Upchurch,1999). Measuring soil quality in tropical regions, on the other hand, is simplified because of the reduction in the number of related variab les. Many attributes of topsoil quality in tropical regions of the world, including Hawai'i, are quantitative and measurable. Assuming those conditions to be true, soil quality can then be measured using a fertility capability soil classification system (Sanchez, Palm, and Buol, 2003). Other single-attribute measurements of soil quality are such concerns as soil compactability or erodibility based on location or use, but the fertility classification most affects the ability of the soil to support intensive crop farming, which is the concern of this review (Parr et al., 1992). The fertility capability classification systems are not without their faults, but they provides a starting point for measuring the success of a given conservation program by providing a quantitative standard. A measurement that makes use of this system would be comparable to future measurements under the same system, allowing a researcher to compare numerically the success of the method under study (Sanchez, Pa lm, & Buol, 2003). Soil systems in tropical regions tend to be extremely dynamic, changing rapidly over short periods of time. Within these systems, soil quality may vary widely from location to location even between patches of soil in the same forest (Parr et al., 1992; Stocking, 2003). In such a dynamic system, nutrients rarely have time to accumulate in the tropical

Global health issue - Lung Cancer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global health issue - Lung Cancer - Assignment Example Likewise, case-control studies and recent prospective cohort which have factored tobacco smoking and occupational and various cancer risk factors, have constantly to report upsurges in lung cancer related to air pollution. In light of the done research, the question is perhaps not â€Å"Are some lung cancers caused by air pollution?†, but rather â€Å"What are the excess cases likely to be caused? The existing evidence from the research suggests that proper education and awareness of the negative consequences will relatively assist to lessen the possibility and effectively cure the issues related to lung cancer but silent on the specific environmental risk factors related to air pollution. This is a concern for lung cancer is attributable to air pollution that can occur among both notorious smokers and non-smokers, and thus both effect modification and residual confounding of the air pollution and another environmental relative risk due to smoking must be well-thought-out. Na fstad et al report the relative risks of air pollution adjusted for cigarette smoking, but adjustment cannot have organized completely for possible confounding. The authors recognize that their research has information or details on cigarette smoking merely at the start of the follow-up period. Further studies and real-time solutions of outdoor air pollution globally and lung cancer in will need to detail concurrent or past exposures to various risk factors, particularly now that there is an increasing trend in the rates of global warming.

Analysis of No Exit, and Existentialism Essay Example for Free

Analysis of No Exit, and Existentialism Essay No Exits central themes of freedom and responsibility come from Sartres doctrine that existence precedes essence. Sartre believed that a being-for-itself differed from inanimate objects, or a being-in-itself, since humans have the ability to choose and define their individual characteristics. But with this freedom of choice comes the absolute responsibility for ones action. The fear and anxiety of this responsibility leads many people to ignore both their freedom and their responsibility by letting other people make their choices for them, resulting in bad faith. This bad faith is what causes Garcin to be unable to leave the room when the door opens. He cant handle the responsibility of confronting his decision to flee his country, and thus leaves it up to Inez to judge him and define his essence. Similarly, Estelle does not think that she exists unless she looks in a mirror, seeing herself as others do. When Inez pretends to be her mirror and says Estelle has a pimple on her face, Estelles bad faith causes her to accept someone else literally creating her essence. Both Estelle and Garcin are not only condemned to be free, but are willing to condemn themselves in order to avoid being free. This emphasis on bad faith establishes Sartres underlying argument of the play: Hell is other people. Using only three people and an empty room, Sartre evokes scenes of utter torture and despair. Garcin and Estelle refuse to let go of their pasts, each looking at their friends and loved ones back on earth. They attempt to justify their existence by only thinking about their past experiences: as Garcin explains, his fate is the evaluation of his past actions by other people. Inez however, sees her past as meaningless and inaccessible, choosing to exist in the present instead. Inez is the only character in the play intent on confronting both her responsibility and her suffering.

Small Company Financial Statement Example

Small Company Financial Statement Example Management System DJs Ltd is a private limited company that is run in the style of a regular partnership firm. The two directors David Golding and John Selwood have divided the operating responsibilities of the company into two distinct areas and take care of their individual functions, while doubling up for each other if the need arises. While functional responsibilities are clearly defined, the organisation is otherwise loosely managed with four employees, two managers, (one for sales and front ending responsibilities, and the other for operational management), the chef, and a part time bookkeeper being the key operating persons. Operating systems, rules and procedures lack clarity and are, on occasion, ignored. Recording, accounting, and custodial functions are weak, possibly because of the small size of the business, its single location, and the presence of two hands on owners who exercise their own informal controls and checks to ensure the smooth functioning of the business. Risk of Fraud The risks of fraud, as in any business without structured control and checking systems, are significant. Fraud deterrence and control occurs mainly because of the presence of the two owners of the business, its small size and its compact single locational operations. Frauds can occur, and that too very easily in purchasing, inventory operations, cash management, payment of wages, cash sales and through tampering with the accounting system. Detection of Fraud While the current recording and accounting system is too loose to be of much help in immediately spotting frauds and throwing up alerts, the presence of irregularities and potential fraud can be detected through a number of overall checks in different operational areas. Tracking of movement of goods from the placing of purchase orders through inventory receipts, issues for consumption, and closing stock balances followed by reconciliation of opening and closing inventories with purchases and consumption, will reveal buying, consumption, and pilferage irregularities. Similarly tallying of total sales with cash, credit card and cheque payments, as well as of cash sales with money receipts will give an indication of the accuracy if records and the presence of dishonesty in the sales and collection function. Daily checks may well be unhelpful in this area as the guilty employees may become alert and become careful. It is best to do such checks for fairly long past periods to get accurate results. Overpayment of wages can again come to light if attendance records are tallied with actual wages paid for a specific number of months. Small companies in the UK, while they are mandated to prepare and file annual accounts that represent a true and fair picture of the operations and financial condition of the company, are exempted from statutory audit if their turnover does not exceed 5.6 million GBP or their balance sheet total remains at less than 2.8 million GBP. Considering the size of DJs Ltd and the nature of its business, the company will, in all probability, not be required to face statutory audit. The audit plan should commence with a detailed understanding of the operations of the company and progress to laying out the audit objectives. The audit objectives should include the ascertainment of the reliability of accounts, the legality and validity of company transactions and the adequacy of financial management under practice. The scope of the audit should thus incorporate two separate issues, the assessment of the financial accounting status, as evidenced by (a) the correct recording of assets and liabilities, including off balance sheet items, (b) the existence, ownership, valuation, description, classification and disclosure of assets (c) the legality and correctness of transactions, (d) the completeness and accuracy of recording entries pertaining to the period, as well as their description, classification and disclosure, and the financial management procedures, which need to ascertain economy, efficiency and effectiveness through an analysis of input/output ratios, cash m anagement practices, financial ratio analysis, and the availability of resources in time, as well as their effective utilisation. Apart from laying down the objectives and scope of the audit the audit plan will need to provide for time planning, (based upon a quantification of necessary audit tasks), the criteria for choosing transactions and items for audit scrutiny, the audit methodology to be followed, (involving procedures for checking of vouchers and postings, carrying out reconciliations of bank and supplier accounts, taking physical stock of inventory items, and checking accounts receivables and payable balances with the external parties), the required audit tests, and the allocation of manpower resources. The establishment of materiality is significant in the formulation of a plan. A proper understanding of the business will help in identifying matters of significance and will enable the plan to incorporate materiality factors vis-a-vis nature, amount and significance of transactions. Identification of areas where controls and checks are loose, as elaborated in task 1, will throw up the possibility of r isks and frauds. These areas will warrant more detailed and intensive scrutiny, as well as the need for overall and input/output checks. Formulation and execution of appropriate audit tests are integral to the successful execution of an audit. While audit tests are mainly framed in accordance with established accounting and auditing procedures they need to be adapted to the nature of the industry and provide for the peculiarities of the business. In the subject case the company uses standard SAGE accounting software, which eliminates to a great degree the need to check for manual accuracy and the correctness of posting entries and arithmetical accuracy of generated accounts. However, errors and irregularities can arise in many other areas and a number of audit tests will need to be included in the required audit methodology. Audit tests should start with a sample checking of the accounting correctness of vouchers to ensure that correct accounts have been debited and credited for both revenue and capital transactions. A sample testing procedure involving complete checking of three months vouchers and varying percentage checks for the other nine months should serve the purpose adequately. Journal vouchers need to be checked to test whether proper accounting procedures have been followed for incorporating extraordinary entries or corrections. Audit tests should include checking of purchases for rates accepted, with those available in the market, tallying of purchase orders, goods inward notes and bills, both for value and quantity, as well as reconciliation of inventory, checking of book and actual balances, sales bills for billing accuracy, both for rates and quantities, sales and collection totals. Apart from these tests, bank and supplier reconciliations, and carrying out of ratio analyses for operating and profit margins, debt and liquidity, will help in providing the auditors with an idea of the financial condition of the company. The following statement outlines the details of work to be carried out and its manner of recording for incorporation in the audit report. The scope of the audit will cover work involved in ascertaining whether the prepared accounts reveal a true and fair picture of the operations of the company for the specified period, the financial condition of the company at the end of the period, and whether financial management practices are appropriate for the efficient and effective running of the company’s operations. Audit activity will include assessing the scope of audit, checking of accounts for accuracy and adherence to stipulated accounting requirements and the appropriate financial framework, through standard auditing procedures involving sample and complete checking, carrying out of audit tests, interviewing and questioning required company officials, use of reconciliations, and other analytical tools like input/output studies, ratios and trends. The results of the audit will be recorded in different sections of the audit report, namely in (a) an introduction identifying the accounts that were the subject of the exercise and the relevant financial framework, (b) an explanation of the scope of the audit, (c) an assessment of the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Companies Act, (d) a section on inconsistencies, if any between the directors report and the actual position, and (e) a description of irregularities, which, if material will find place in qualifications to the report. Companies registered in the UK companies with turnover exceeding 5.6 million GBP or with net assets more than 2.8 million GBP need to undergo statutory audits conducted by registered auditors. Statutory audit reports are part of the annual financial statements prepared by the company for the use of people who wish to obtain reliable information about the operations and financial condition of companies. They are as such used by all stakeholders, namely investors, banks, lenders, buyers, customers and employees for information checked, verified, and certified by independent, external, registered professionals with domain knowledge about their subject. A statutory audit report must begin with an introduction describing the accounts that were the focus of the audit and the financial structure that has been applied in their preparation (i.e. either UK GAPP or IAS) and further contain (a) a clarification on the audit scope along with the accounting standards used in the audit, (b) the opinion of the auditors on whether the accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act (and, if appropriate, Article 4 of the IAS Regulation), and whether they give a true and fair view of the company’s financial affairs. The auditors must also include their opinion on whether the directors’ report is inconsistent with the accounts, and can, if so warranted, contain qualifications to the prepared accounts. Irrespective of the qualifications the report must include references to matters to which attention needs to be drawn without qualifying the report. Quoted companies also need the statutory report to contain details on di rectors’ remuneration and the consistency of the operational and financial review with the prepared accounts. Provided below is the draft of a suitable letter to the management in relation to the audit of the business under discussion. DJs Limited, Address Dear Sirs, We are glad to inform you that the financial audit of your company has commenced and is proceeding as planned. The scope of the audit has been defined and agreed between the undersigned and your directors, Mr. Golding and Selwood. Our staff will visit your offices on Monday, July 30 to begin the audit work and convey to your officials the details of documents required. We shall be obliged if the required documents are provided and they are given the cooperation required. Yours truly XYZ and Associates Signature Name of Signatory Partner Reference ICAEW, 2007, Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, Retrieved July 25, 2007 from www.icaew.co.uk