World Com and Accounting Ethics Essay Example for Free

World Com and Accounting Ethics Essay Current business and regulatory environments are more conducive to ethical behavior due to many new laws that have been put into effect in recent years. For many companies, especially small ones, the checks and balances are not put into place as well as they should be. With new laws in effect and more and more accountants paying attention to their clients’ accounts, ethical behavior is on the rise although it will take a long time to recover from the scandals that rocked the world beginning with Waste Management in 1998 and following with Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, HealthSouth, Freddie Mac, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff and Saytam in 2009. For 10 years unethical behavior and choices almost brought our country to its knees and even now many people are losing their homes and their jobs because the economy has still not fully recovered. In 1983 in a small coffee shop in Hattiesburg, MS, the business concept that would become WorldCom was born. The company was to become one of the largest telecommunications companies that would one day rival ATT. WorldCom began as a small long distance telephone company and through an aggressive acquisition strategy, evolved in the second-largest long distance telephone company in the United States and one of the largest companies handling worldwide Internet data traffic. WorldCom achieved its position through a large number of acquisitions and between 1991 and 1997, WorldCom spent almost $60 billion in the acquisition of many of these companies and accumulated $41 billion in debt. With each acquisition, WorldCom’s stock continued to rise as the company became more noticeable, rising from pennies per share to over $60 per share in 1997. As the company grew people sat up and took notice and Wall Street investment banks as well as analysts and brokers began making buy recommendations to investors worldwide. All of this would have ended well if WorldCom had obviously played by the rules but alas, that was not the case. As with any acquisition, let alone 65 of them in six years, management at the top level requires considerable attention to make the merging of the two companies run smoothly. Secondly, the accounting of the financial aspects of each merging company must be accomplished through the application of generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP). WorldCom’s merger with MCI was the beginning of the end. Bernie Ebbers (CEO) paid little attention to the details of the operations and many things began deteriorating, mainly customer service. Customers were told they were not customers, computer systems conflicted with each other and billing systems were not coordinated – a recipe for disaster. Although WorldCom had an immense talent for buying competitors, it was not up to the task of merging them. WorldCom also used their own interpretation of accounting rules when preparing financial statements. â€Å"In an effort to make it appear that profits were increasing, WorldCom would write down in one quarter millions of dollars in assets it acquired while, at the same time, it â€Å"included in this charge against earnings the cost of company expenses expected in the future. The result was bigger losses in the current quarter but smaller ones in future quarters, so that its profit picture would seem to be improving.† (Moberg) WorldCom managers also made their own assumptions regarding accounts receivables which if the money customers owe the company. They chose to ignore the accounts receivables because this allowed for a lower assumption of non-collectable bills which in turn required a smaller reserve fund. The end result allows for higher earnings. All of these practices could continue as long as WorldCom continued to acquire additional companies, using those companies as their â€Å"merry-go-round† to utilize poor accounting practices. Not only poor practices but unethical. In 2000, the merry-go-round stopped when the government refused to allow WorldCom to merge with Sprint. Another accounting practice that that was uncovered was the allowance of the board of directors to authorize loans to senior executives. Mr. Ebbers received a $341 million loan authorized by the board of directors which is the largest amount any publicly traded company has lent to one of its officers in recent memory. This brings concerns about conflict of interest and breach of fiduciary duty but nevertheless WorldCom was not the only company allowing this practice. And on top of that the loan interest rate was as low as 2% which was not much of a return for the company that loaned him that large of an amount. WorldCom’s unethical accounting practices were found by Cynthia Cooper who worked as an internal auditor for WorldCom. Cynthia and her team became suspicious of a number of peculiar financial transactions and began their own private investigation. What they found were multiple entries that were misallocated and unauthorized to the tune of $4 billion dollars in capital expenditures. It appeared the company was trying to represent operating costs as capital expenditures in order to make the company look more profitable. By allowing these kinds of practices and attempting to have others following the same kind of unethical behavior, moral and trust were at an all time low within the company. Beginning in 2002 everything began to unravel. The SEC began an investigation on the company and WorldCom was trying to avoid filing for bankruptcy. Within months they laid off more than 17,000 employees, almost 20 percent of their workforce. By the time it was all said and done, 30,000 employees lost their jobs and investors lost over $180 billion dollars. WorldCom improperly booked $3.8 billion as capital expenditures which improved cash flow and profit over a 5 quarter period. This disguised the actual net loss for 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. It is possible that the accounting irregularities go back to 2000. In simple terms WorldCom did not account for expenses when it incurred them, but hid the expenses by pushing them into the future, giving the appearance of spending less and therefore making more money. This apparent profitability pleased investors who pushed the stock up to a high of $64.51 in June 1999. When WorldCom was stopped from acquiring Sprint they had to find a way to hide their large expenses so that the price of the stock would not go down. They did this by treating $7 billion of line costs as capital expenditures. These line costs were basically rental fees paid to other phone companies to use their phone lines. Up until 2001 these fees (expenses) had always been properly expensed in previous years but when WorldCom placed them in the capitalization category the expense was delayed to future periods which in turn boosted current-period profits. The accounting guideline that made this decision fraudulent was materiality. Materiality refers to the impact of an item’s size on a company’s financial operations. Materiality states that if an item would not make a difference in decision-making, the company does not have to follow GAAP in reporting the item. In this case, $7 billion dollars in expenses makes a huge difference so GAAP guideline should have been followed. Consequently profits for 2001 and 2002 were overstated greatly. This ethical breach could have been avoided long before it became a huge problem basically by maintaining the accounting system from the very beginning. Because WorldCom was more interested in acquiring companies than in merging them properly, accounting systems from various companies did not work together well. After a time and more and more acquisitions it became a huge mess and nobody really had any idea what was right and what was wrong. Senior management used that disorganization to conceal their fraudulent activities. This large of a fraud should have been easily detected by doing a routing comparison of the actual physical assets with a list of the physical assets shown in the accounting records. Following the scandal of WorldCom which closely followed the Waste Management Scandal in 1998 and the Enron scandal in 2001, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, introducing the most sweeping set of new business regulations since the 1930s.

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Research Paper In the United States, starting salaries for teachers who have completed a four-year degree are far lower compared to many other professions, which also require a four-year degree. In most states, teachers must undergo testing and other rigorous certification requirements, but they are given the same consideration or status as beginning professionals in other areas. Although attractive incentives are offered, the compensation does not compare to the long hours of work and schooling required for a teaching career. A four-year degree is a requirement in most various professions although the salaries show a significant range in the pay scale. In order to become a teacher in any state a Bachelor’s Degree must be completed from a four-year program at one’s college. Each state has its own set of requirements for its students to complete in order to teach therefore the degree earned is not compatible from state to state (ERIC, 2000, par. 6). Teachers are also limited in the degree earned because they are only able to teach in certain levels (early, elementary, secondary, etc.) and are not able to move around. A paralegal is able to enter their field with just a two-year degree and earn almost $10,000 more then a beginning teacher. With comparison to a computer programmer, a Bachelor’s Degree is required in any computer related field, not limiting the students to a specific program. Also, since computer programmers are in such high demand, companies will higher people with Associates Degrees or provide incentives for non-computer degree people in return for schooling them while they work for their computer degree (Lincoln University). This is unfair and limits teachers to only having one specific career choice... ...stock of options trend. (2000, February 21). Electronic Engineering Times. Retrieved April 7, 2003, from http://www.eetasia.com Greenhouse, S. (2002, October 21). Teachers’ pay: The impact of raising salaries? The New York Times. Retrieved April 5, 2003, from http://walkingbear.com Litke, G. (2002, October 21). Teacher shortage sets stage for salary increase. WCBD-TV Charleston, South Carolina. Retrieved April 5, 2003, from http://www.wcbd.com/education NEA debate demonstrates complexity of teacher pay issue. (2000, July 5). National Education Association. Retrieved April 29, 2003, from http://www.nea.org Social workers. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved April 21, 2003, from http://www.stats.bls.gov So you want to be a teacher. (2000). ERIC Digest #282860. Retrieved April 12, 2003, from http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests

Why Has Audience Positioning Towards Gangster Films and Their Main Characters Changed Throughout the Evolution of Film?

â€Å"Why has audience positioning towards Gangster films and their main characters Changed throughout the evolution of film? † â€Å"The crime ? lm is the most enduringly popular of all Hollywood genres, the only kind of ? lm that has never once been out of fashion since the dawn of the sound era seventy years ago. †-Thomas Leitch The central theme of the gangster film has always revolved around law and order and essentially boils down to the Criminal institutions fighting one another or fighting a corrupt authority.Movies such as ‘The Godfather’, ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Public enemies’ follow the same plot of organised crime. That is what the films are about, seeing as though the central characters operate under their own premise of law, the narratives involve their relationship with the authorities and agencies of law enforcement while the plots are usually structured around the process by which they are brought to justice. But throug hout the evolution of the gangster genre is a central argument reflecting a fundamental difference in audience stance towards the gangster hero.This plays on an Active audience theory as the audience take in the information they are given and pick sides. The contrast of audience opinion is displayed in a variety of different ways. In the film The Godfather, Sterling Hayden (Captain McCluskey) is the official figure, he is quickly revealed to be very brutal and corrupt, being a key person on the Tattaglia's payroll. When some enforcers of the Corleone family protect Don Vito Corleone, McCluskey has them taken away. Michael arrives soon after and realizes this.Soon after, while Michael is guarding the entrance of the hospital with Enzo the baker, McCluskey and his guys drive up and harrass the two, ordering that they be taken in. When the officer refuses, McCluskey hits Michael across the face, badly bruising his face and breaking his jaw. Gangster movies frequently demonstrate that s ociety’s official institutions are as corrupt as the criminals they oppose (politicians in The Untouchables, multi-national corporations in Scarface. this positions the audience on the side of the gangsters in the film and against the authoritative figure. Gangster films dictate audience positioning by setting the Gangsters in the role of the hero in Propp’s Character theory and the official figures as the villains, an example of this being used is. â€Å"The dynamic of every crime film focuses on the relationship between three sets of characters: the perpetrator, the victim and the avenger, but typically gangster narratives seek to undermine and blur the boundaries between the typological figures. †-Thomas Leitch.This quote from Thomas Leicht perfectly illustrates how the narratives of Gangster movies dictate audience positioning by â€Å"blurring the boundaries† between the institutions of the characters. A dominant and largely widespread basis on which Hollywood’s depiction of the underworld is fabricated is the domineering moral view that crime does not pay this may have resulted from early fears of audience reception through out-dated theories such as the hypodermic needle theory in which producers and political figures feared that an audience seeing a life of crime pay would be tempted to stray into the life of organised crime.An example of an early gangster film that shows a ‘Crime doesn’t pay’ attitude is Little Caesar 1931. The main charecters, Caesar Enrico â€Å"Rico† Bandello and Joe Massara follow different paths with Rico following a life of crime and Joe, against Rico’s persuasion, follows a life without crime. Ultimately Joe lives the better life with Rico ending up dead and alone.Modern films such as ‘Lawless’2012 follow a the opposite narrative with crime paying out at the end of the film with the three Bondurant brothers-Forrest, Howard and Jack ultimately beat ing a corrupt authority and saving their money from their bootlegging and settling down to family life although the film still shows that maybe the payoff of crime is not worth it as the consequences for their action s does result in the near death of Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) on two occasions along with injuries sustained by all three brothers and the death of Cricket Pate (Dane DeHanne).Narratives such as these can now exist as the hypodermic needle theory is now recognised as invalid after â€Å"the research movement, led by Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog, that would disprove the magic bullet or hypodermic needle theory, as Hadley Cantril managed to show that reactions to the broadcast were, in fact, diverse, and were largely determined by situational and attitudinal attributes of the listeners. Showing thataudiences do not just absorb the information they see on screen, such as in the BoBo doll experiment, but rather actively receive the information and choose between a D ominant, negotiated or oppositional reading of the film, this invalidation of the hypodermic needle theory would add greatly to thr rise of the gangster film as films were no longer limited to the â€Å"crime does not pay† narrative set by state censors. This assessment provides the moral foundation to the ‘rise and fall’ narrative that is the central theme for numerous gangster movies.But it is a view that has frequently been respected, reluctantly, and at critical points in the development of the gangster film, only after external intervention. Particularly in that subset of the gangster film that focuses on the Prohibition era, audiences’ positioning echoes that of society more generally: ‘law-abiding’ members of the community started to associate with the gangster who has become a preferred supplier. The 2012 film â€Å"Lawless† is a good example of this with the Bondurant Brothers being more respected and idolised than the authorit ies.These contrasts in audience opinion spread further to the gangsters’ own attitude toward the law and its enforcement. Although in various gangster movies the gang leader is ,himself, a basis of law enforcement inside a closed gangster society (Don Coreleon-Marlon Brando The Godfather), a dominant theme running through much of the sub-genre explores the gangsters’ desire for acceptance in the straight and official world, particularly in those films which locate gangster activity within immigrant communities.Although the gangster film dates back to the early days of the silent era, it wasn’t until the advent of sound that the genre fully came into its own, when real-life gangsters like Al Capone were at the height of their own notoriety the public thirsted for seeing charismatic criminals on screen. Because of the relentless violence and unmerciful nature of the central characters, the gangster film helped to form Hollywood’s Production Code, which mean t that no criminal deeds went without repercussions, even though it was obvious that this was untrue in the real world.Throughout the evolution of film as the Code was ignored by grittier and more realistic films, the gangster movie was an always popular genre that gave rise to some of cinema’s greatest stars and directors i. e. Marlon Brando and Francis Ford Coppola. When gangster movies first started being produced in the 1920’s, audiences were attracted to crime and gangster films because of the way these films were shot, and the images they saw on screen. Audiences started to enjoy these Gangster movies because of the reality they offered about the corrupt political and authoritative figures of the time (prohibition era).The organised crime, violence, and drug use in gangster films made the audience more aware of the government and authorities’ attitude towards the three main problems of organized crime, violence and drug use of the prohibition era. This is one of the main reasons crime and gangster films have continued to remain popular. Organised crime and gangster films have continued help to fill societies need for reality. By using violent male characters and romantic female characters, two main stereotypes of gangster films, both sexes are attracted to this genre of film.Films like Bonnie and Clyde and The Godfather represented a gangster character that was no longer a savage, relentless criminal, rather, a gangster that had become humanized. A study into this genre shift explored earlier film representations and the more classical view of the gangster as a monster such as in the 1932 Scarface, while DePalmas Scarface presents the gangster Tony Montana (Al Pachino) is a psychopathic murderer but through certain scenes in the audience is positioned on the side of Tony.An example of this is the scene where Tony is carrying out a hit on a journalist with a hitman. They are to blow his car up with the explosives in front of the Unite d Nations building, but are surprised to see the man's wife and two daughters enter the car with him at his hotel. Tony, now extremely reluctant to continue with the hit, becomes increasingly agitated with the hitman, who refuses to deviate from Sosa's orders, until Tony completely snaps.In a cocaine-induced rage, he murders the hitman, who was supposed to kill the journalist, screaming at his dead body deliriously. This scene, although portraying Tony as drugged up and about to execute a murder, shows Tony’s conscience and still shows a salvageable character which positions the audience on his side through a negotiated reading of the scene. The audience of this scene broadly accept the preferred reading but use prior scenes in the film to reach the positioning on the character Tony Montana .A study of the plot, setting, characters, themes, motifs, and props found in both films present a different view of the gangster . Many gangster films have remained popular and still cont inue to gather audiences due to them achieving a cult status such as the 1932 film Scarface The plot of the crime and gangster movie has not tended to deviated from the same standard plot throughout the evolution of film: the male character is striving to live the American dream and he does so by getting involved in illegal and often violent activities.This plot leads to the common theme in gangster films which is a male character who wants to live the American dream and that the only way to do so is to become involved in organised crime and becomes deceitful. He begins to lie, steal and kill in order to make money, which is the fuel for their dream. While he is living this lifestyle he falls in love with the female character that is good and wants the male to get out of the illegal mess he is in. He promises her he will, after he does one last job.This last job he does will either land him in jail or in a coffin. Examples of these plots and characters can be seen in movies such asà ‚  Donnie Brasco The early 1930s produced many of the iconic classics like Little Caesar and Scarface (1932) that became the template for other gangster films that followed, usually a poor immigrant who in a pursuit of the American dream and has a quick rise to the top through becoming involved with organised crime, only to fall prey to an even faster fall that ends in a violent death. See paragraph above) although gangster films did suffer shortly after Little Ceasar’s relase in 1932 as public opnion turned sharply against the gangster genre with vast influence from state censors and â€Å"moral guardians† who thought the films unfit to be seen. Newspaper smear campaigns against the gangster genre were launched and even the extremely popular magazine ‘variety’ stated that â€Å"the major industry quit gangster themes because the public just tired of them†.Not until the application of the Production code administration did the Gangster genre effecti vely die out in the 1930’s, although the public opinion had been turned against the gangster genre through popular culture, the justice department who believed that the genre â€Å"encouraged general disrespect for police and a lenient attitude towards thugs† still maintained that the genre opened with an exculpatory preface and closed with a crime-does-not-pay warning.Few critics paid attention to the crime genre before the 1970’s critics were more interested in films that were the very antithesis of the crime film. The crime genre suffered neglect against the westerns which enjoyed renaissance on the big screen. The low budgets of the early crime films resulted in the absence of Technicolor where westerns like â€Å"Shane† 1953 continued to be popular.Not until Alfred Hitchcock gained predominance in the suspense genre which resulted in academic critics paying attention to the crime genre which ultimately resulted in the resurgence of the gangster genre into the public eye. Crime and gangster films will continue to be produced as audiences want a film that gives them a sense of reality. This is an example of Blulmer and katz uses and gratification theory. Since people tend to feel that government officials are corrupt these films will most likely continue to show corrupt law officers and government officials, who are deceiving and lying to the public.Gangster films have become and will remain iconic because they offer audiences escapism and show an audience a glorified life of gangster who are presented as being charismatic character’s that the audience like to imagine they could be The grandeur that is presented in the Characters life also makes the audience believe that maybe crime does pay, but the gangster genre will continue to remain popular down to one of the most basic sides of human nature, greed.As corporate capitalism promoted consumerism the gap between the classes widened, Americans became infatuated with the g angster whose stylish dress and expensive cars yet humble origins defied the boundaries separating social class. As long as a gangster films presents a life of grandeur audiences will use them as a source of escapism. Leitch, Thomas, Crime Films (CUP, Cambridge, 2002) ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Thomas Leitch, Crime films- Cambridge press [ 2 ]. Audience Theory-Litnotes. co. uk [ 3 ].Thomas Leitch, Crime films- Cambridge press. [ 4 ]. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Hypodermic_needle_model [ 5 ]. Ultimate book of Gangster movies [ 6 ]. Humanizing the gangster [ 7 ]. The gangster film: emergence, variation, and decay of a genre, 1930-1940 [ 8 ]. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934 page-155-156 [ 9 ]. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934page-156 [ 10 ]. Mafia stories and the American gangster by Fred L. Gardaphe. Ch. 10: pages 110-120.

Police Force And Its Components - 1350 Words

Peruvian Police Force and Its Components: A Study Yvette Nicola Police Administration- Theory and Practice November 12, 2015 Dr. Siyu Liu New Jersey City University When it comes to the topic of policing, countries have different laws and regulations for the police force. Tactics also differ which allow each police force to be unique and distinct from others. In the presentation covered, Peru’s police force was examined. Topics that were discussed include the history and demographics, law enforcement policies, police training, corruption, and female officers. Topics that were covered during the semester that was discussed in this presentation in regards to Peru were community policing and crime mapping/hot spots. With the enlightenment of these topics, one can distinguish between what was learned this semester about the United States police force and Peru’s police force. The first topic that was reviewed was Peru’s police force history and demographics. â€Å"The Proclamation of Peruvian independence was declared by General San Martà ­n in 1821† (The Lima Guide, 2015, p.1). The Civic Militia was created to keep public order. Their duty was to maintain â€Å"public security† within each province. The first constitution of the republic was created in 1823, under the presidency of Don Josà © Bernardo Tagle. On 20 January 1827, during his first presidency, Marshal Don Andrà ©s de Santa Cruz issued a provisional set of police regulations. In 1834 the â€Å"serenos† or townShow MoreRelatedA List Of Robert Peel s Twelve Standards Of Policing Essay1603 Words   |  7 Pagesproposed consists of the following elements listed below: 1. â€Å"All police officers should be detailed and proficient similar to others within the security industry. 2. Police officers should align themselves with their countries policies and procedures. 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