BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example ny name, Kenneth Lay was made the Chief Executive Officer and he wanted to expand Enron’s market share as well as the type of markets Enron was in since he had a very different vision for the new shape of the company (Welch, 2005). Houston Natural Gas had previously been in the business of making their money from junk bonds which were also used in the formation of Enron. At the same time, Kenneth Lay wanted to become the biggest player in the energy sector through successful trade earnings from futures contracts (NPR, 2006). To his advantage, Spectrum 7, an oil-well concern welcomed a partnership with Enron a year after its creation. Spectrum 7 was headed by George W. Bush, son of the then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. With falling gas prices in the mid 1980’s, Enron and other gas firms vigorously lobbied for deregulation to get benefits for themselves (Thomas, 2002). It has been known for many years that ethically dubious political connections can help a business but such situations often come to light if the business is unsuccessful (Medawar, 1976). The deregulation action came into effect when buyers switched to the fuel oil as the cheaper alternative. Fluctuating gas prices allowed Enron to start marketing gas futures; securing gas prices at a later date promised to their stakeholders. Similarly, the company lobbied once again for electricity just before selling electric power futures contracts (NPR, 2006). From then on, Enron was aggressive in expanding its services in other sectors such as the water utility sector by creating a company named Azurix which partly collapsed on the NYSE in 1999 and finally shut down operations in 2001 (Thomas, 2002). Concurrently, Jeffery Skilling who had been hired in 1990 to lead the financial side of Enron’s operation became a major personality of the energy trading businesses and became the president and COO for Enron. He built wealth reserves for the company by trading in thirty different industries and was

Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Mythology - Essay Example The cult of a hero are relevant to every day person’s life is because the values of that hero influence the group as a whole. In essence, any action taken by the people in the cult always reflect the decisions that would have been made by a hero. In a defined culture, a hero must be able to be successful without sacrificing the traditions of that society. A cultural hero does not have to reflect change necessarily; an invention of any sort would suffice to make him a legend. In the Quran, Moses without a doubt plays a very vital role of being a hero. Moses frees his people from the cruel oppression of the Pharaoh and leads them to the promise land. Moses was no doubt a humble and a valiant man, but adapted to his role when his people needed him the most. Understanding Roman and Greece mythology and philosophy are important as they influence the ideas that are innovated in modern society. Chaos ruled the world, and hence initiated the creation of beings. Not only did the Greek mythologies often discuss the human-like qualities that the God’s possessed such as jealousy, hated, love, but also the fact that the Gods communicated with humans in a daily basis. In essence, the lesson becomes of morality, as good people will be honored and bad people will be punished. The Renaissance era that took place in Europe was a prime example of how artists tried to portray the stories of Greek mythology. Myths teach modern society that the world is full of flaws and have influenced all aspects of modern society such as: politics, literature, religion, poetry, infrastructure, and government. Greek myths at times are pure entertainment and don’t always serve as a reminder of ethics. For instance, the popular STAR WARS chronicles, depict a lot of ideas from Greek mythology as these myths have influenced our beliefs shown in our traditions. A classic example of how the

Modern Version of Romeo and Juliet Movie with Leonard Di Caprio Essay Example for Free

Modern Version of Romeo and Juliet Movie with Leonard Di Caprio Essay Old stories get forgotten unless they are rejuvenated for the young. In the media world of today, books are forgotten and so is classical love. Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo de caprio was a fabulous attempt at bringing literature and drama back to life and into the hearts of the youth today. The first aspect of modernization is to portray the families as rich business tycoons of today’s world: Montagues and Capulets. The styling of the men especially, the chic haircuts and clothes are not only modern but in fact futuristic. This is most apparent in the guns, the shining metal and flash of silver cannot be forgotten. The fights between the two gangs take place at common place venues of today, that is gas stations. The cars are also futuristic. The letter that Romeo does not respond to is a by a well known courier service. â€Å"There are times when the rapid cuts and raging soundtrack might cause understandable confusion between the movie and a rock video. Indeed, with all the camera tricks, special effects (such as a roiling storm), and riotous splashes of color, its easy to lose the story in the style† (Berardinelli, 1996). The flush-cut editing and fast-moving scenes and actions contribute further to giving the movie a futuristic feel removing it far from the classic ballad it is. Much of the decor, for example, the aquarium wall, through which Romeo and Juliet first eye each other, is very modern in its architecture and idea. Such interiors never existed in the days of Shakespeare and neither is there any mention in the script. What makes the movie striking is the juxtaposition of old English style, rendered flawlessly and emotionally by the actors, with this modern, futuristic treatment, This juxtaposition is what makes Shakespeare’s work speak to the modern teenager, which was the main objectivce of the movie. References Berardinelli, J. Fil Review, Retrieved on 2nd June 2010 from http://www. reelviews. net/movies/r/romeo_juliet. html

Essay --

The Journey Beyond The characters in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorn both leave their wives to embark on a journey for different reasons, experiencing different conflicts, and return home with a different attitude about their life. On their journey, both characters encounter bizarre, unnatural events. Throughout both stories, the authors construct a clear picture of how society was, the role of gender, and religion. Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown both take place in small, early American villages. Rip Van Winkle is a resident of Catskill, New York, just next to the Hudson River. He was a kind-hearted, willing to please, neighborly man who was greatly admired by the women, children, and dogs of the town. Rip Van Winkle was always willing do favors and help neighbors out whenever they asked, but never wanted to do any work on his own farm. Rip Van Winkle was married to Dame Van Winkle. Dame was a short tempered woman who spends all of her time criticizing and nagged Rip about his responsibilities to the family and farm. Rip and Dane did not get along and the relationship continued to get worse. He would often leave the house to go to the bar or hunting in the woods to get away from his nagging wife. Goodman Brown is a resident of Salem, Massachusetts. He came from a Christian family that is known in the community as being godly men. He newly married to his wife, Faith. Faith wears pink rib bons in her hair, representing innocence. Like Goodman Brown, Faith is pure-hearted and religious. He viewed her as beautiful, trusting, and representation of purity and high moral standards. Both Rip Van Winkle and Goodman Brown have different motives as to why they are departing from t... ... world. He cannot believe the words of the minister and does not fully love his wife which lead him to live his life in sadness and dismay. The characters in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorn both leave their wives to embark on a journey for different reasons, experiencing different conflicts, and return home with a different attitude about their life. Rip Van Winkle left his wife on a journey to get away from her, facing many obstacles like the old man with the keg, and returned home happy with his life away from work, King George, and his wife. Goodman Brown sets out on a journey away from his wife because he promised to meet someone, he too facing many obstacles such as the old man with the staff who turns out to be the devil. He then returns home believing that everyone is bad and there is no good in the world. Essay -- The Journey Beyond The characters in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorn both leave their wives to embark on a journey for different reasons, experiencing different conflicts, and return home with a different attitude about their life. On their journey, both characters encounter bizarre, unnatural events. Throughout both stories, the authors construct a clear picture of how society was, the role of gender, and religion. Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown both take place in small, early American villages. Rip Van Winkle is a resident of Catskill, New York, just next to the Hudson River. He was a kind-hearted, willing to please, neighborly man who was greatly admired by the women, children, and dogs of the town. Rip Van Winkle was always willing do favors and help neighbors out whenever they asked, but never wanted to do any work on his own farm. Rip Van Winkle was married to Dame Van Winkle. Dame was a short tempered woman who spends all of her time criticizing and nagged Rip about his responsibilities to the family and farm. Rip and Dane did not get along and the relationship continued to get worse. He would often leave the house to go to the bar or hunting in the woods to get away from his nagging wife. Goodman Brown is a resident of Salem, Massachusetts. He came from a Christian family that is known in the community as being godly men. He newly married to his wife, Faith. Faith wears pink rib bons in her hair, representing innocence. Like Goodman Brown, Faith is pure-hearted and religious. He viewed her as beautiful, trusting, and representation of purity and high moral standards. Both Rip Van Winkle and Goodman Brown have different motives as to why they are departing from t... ... world. He cannot believe the words of the minister and does not fully love his wife which lead him to live his life in sadness and dismay. The characters in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorn both leave their wives to embark on a journey for different reasons, experiencing different conflicts, and return home with a different attitude about their life. Rip Van Winkle left his wife on a journey to get away from her, facing many obstacles like the old man with the keg, and returned home happy with his life away from work, King George, and his wife. Goodman Brown sets out on a journey away from his wife because he promised to meet someone, he too facing many obstacles such as the old man with the staff who turns out to be the devil. He then returns home believing that everyone is bad and there is no good in the world.

Case Starbucks Essay

a. Assuming that Starbucks had no significant permanent differences between book income and taxable income, did income before taxes for financial reporting exceed or fall short of taxable income for 2012? Explain. Taxable income before income tax is $2,059 million, and taxable income should minus $674.4 million. So income before taxes exceeds taxable income. b. Will the adjustment to net income for deferred taxes to compute cash flow from operations in the statement of cash flows result in an addition or subtraction for 2012? There will be a subtraction from net income for deferred taxes to compute cash flow. c. Starbucks rents retail space for its coffee shops. It must recognize rent expense as it uses rental facilities but cannot claim an income tax deduction until it pays cash to the landlord. Suggest the scenario that would give rise to a deferred tax asset instead of a deferred tax liability related to occupancy cost – Accrued Occupancy Cost. No lease payment in the begin ning of the rent. As a result, the company recognizes rent expense earlier for financial reporting than for income tax reporting in order for Starbucks to report deferred tax assets. d. Starbucks recognizes an expense related to retirement benefits as employees rendered services but cannot claim an income tax deduction until it pays cash to a retirement fund. Why do the deferred taxes for deferred compensation appear as a deferred tax asset – Accrued Compensation and Related Costs? Suggest possible reasons why the deferred tax asset decreased slightly between the end of 2011 and the end of 2012. Company can contribute cash to a retirement fund in later years, it can claim an income tax deduction. The decreasing amount of the deferred tax asset in could be. Starbucks reports deferred revenue for sales of stored value cards, such as the Starbucks Card and gift certificates. These amounts are taxed when collected, but not recognized in financial reporting income until tendered at a store. Why does the tax effect of deferred revenue appear as a deferred tax asset? Why might the value of this deferred tax asset doubled from 2011 to 2012? Because they recognize revenue even they didn’t get the cash. So the tax can be deferred until they get the cash. g. Starbucks recognizes a valuation allowance on its deferred tax assets to reflect â€Å"net operating losses of consolidated  foreign subsidiaries.† Presumably, these are included in â€Å"Other† deferred tax assets. Why might the valuation allowance have financial increase between 2011 and 2012?(no idea) h. Starbucks uses the straight-line depreciation method for financial reporting and accelerated depreciation for income tax reporting. Like most firms, the largest deferred tax liability is for property plant and equipment (depreciation). Explain how depreciation leads to a deferred tax liability. Suggest possible reasons why the amount of the deferred tax liability related to depreciation increased between 2011 and 2012. Starbucks uses different depreciation method for financial reporting and income tax reporting. So the taxable income on financial statements may lower than on income tax reporting. The difference between is deferred tax liability. The accelerate depreciation calculate more with the time, so the amount may increased during 2011 to 2012.

Psychodynamic Counselling Theory Free Essay Example, 1500 words

18). Psychosocial development The turning point in the history of psychoanalytic thought was given by Jung who proposed the idea that personality development is an ongoing process and occurs in adulthood too (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 352). Jung’s idea proved to be a break from Freudian thought which believed that after adolescence stage, the personality development stops (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 353). However, the best-known life-span theory was Erik Erikson’s (1982), who stressed the importance of the role of social elements in the development of personality and developed a psychosocial theory showing the sequential and orderly manner in which people grow during their life-span (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 353). Erikson proposed that there are eight stages in a life cycle of human being and according to him, every stage brings a struggle between the inner psychological influence and the outer social influences (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 353). Personality is determined by how a person resolves and interacts with these two forces (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 353). Erikson believed that as later stages and the future behavior of a person has its roots in the past, the initial stages of development should be positive in order to assure a positive and healthy development of that person(Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychodynamic Counselling Theory or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now 353). Hence, as the first stage in theory is trust versus mistrust, he believes that an infant who develops a feeling of trust in the world feels very secure and comfortable (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 353). The remaining stages describe the conflict between different emotions and they are as follows: 2. autonomy vs. shame, 3. initiative vs. guilt, 4. peer acceptance vs. inferiority, 5. identity vs. identity confusion, 6. intimacy vs. isolation, 7. generativity vs. stagnation, and 8. integrity vs. despair (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 353). According to Erikson, people who resolve these conflicts in different stages gain the psychological strength of wisdom in their old age (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2006,p. 354). Psychosexual development In the year 1964, Freud proposed a psychosexual theory in which he stated that to fulfill different biological needs, a child goes through five psychosexual stages and they are oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital (Sigelman & Rider, 2006, p. 31). Each stage brings a conflict between the biological instincts and the social demands (Sigelman & Rider, 2006, p.

The Failing Discourse of the US Government Essay - 2496 Words

In the United States, perpetual conflict is most noticeable in the political system. The cause of the conflict is not that we have a two party system but rather that the parties are divided not by ideology, but by identifying themselves as the antithesis of the other party. This kind of mentality hinders the progression of ideas and prevents social and cultural growth. This is not a violent conflict over land or over religion; it is a conflict over the very soul of the United States. By identifying themselves as antitheses, they leave no room for growth in compromise or collaboration. Palliating this dilemma is extremely difficult and differs greatly from the typical conflict because they are already supposedly representatives of†¦show more content†¦Whether these allegations are true or not, this type of mudslinging deflates the citizenry’s belief that the government is able to get things done and is working in the best interests of the people. Thus, government rhetoric is destructive to the unity of the US because of its polarity, which pits Americans against one another. So, how does a nation over come these issues? One possibility is to eliminate parties all-together, but this probably would not change anything. It would only push the colluding into the shadows. The only real solution is to stop the polarization by having politicians realize they are actually on the same side and must stop fighting each other. This can be done through conflic t transformation, but there must also be disincentives to using inflammatory rhetoric and colluding. These events are prevalent in ideological disagreements like abortion rights and in both practical disagreements like healthcare, and only through conflict transformation can there be any movement in the stagnant US political system. The public debate over abortion in the United States has intensified since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. Advocates on each side of the debate often hint that we must select between two stark options: â€Å"Pro-life† and â€Å"Pro-choice.† Strong pro-life advocates claim that abortion is immoral (except perhaps in a few cases) because the fetus is a human being from theShow MoreRelatedAmusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman1180 Words   |  5 Pagesmeaning. Postman’s purpose to spread the word of this discourse and inform them of how much society is being set back due to the over indulging of television Opening the book, Postman explains how he will fulfill showing that a â€Å"great media-metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense† (pg. 16). 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Nowhere in The Prince or The Discourses does Machiavelli explicitly make morality or ethics his concern. Nor does he openly eschew it. Only one specific ethical system, the Christian ethic has no place in Machiavelli. That is easily inferred because fromRead MoreDefining A Failed State Of The Soviet Union1992 Words   |  8 Pagesof the 20th century and after the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then, the concept has morphed and shifted in response to development by its proponents and criticism by its detractors. Although accepted as a contemporary facet of foreign policy discourse, the term has its conceptual basis in early state formation theory. An early definition of a state asserts that a state succeeds (i.e. does not fail) if it maintains the legitimate use of force within its borders (Weber 1919). This thread of legitimate