The North Face Inc Accounting Essay

The North Face Inc Accounting Essay Financial accountants and independent auditors commonly face challenging technical and ethical dilemmas while carrying out their professional responsibilities. This case profiles an accounting and financial reporting fraud orchestrated by the chief financial officer (CFO) of a major public company and his subordinates. The CFO, who was a CPA, took extreme measures to conceal the fraud from his companys audit committee and independent auditors. Despite those measures, the independent auditors identified suspicious entries in the companys accounting records that were a result of the CFOs fraudulent scheme but did not properly investigate those items. Shortly before the fraud was publicly revealed, a partner of the companys audit firm instructed his subordinates to alter prior year audit workpapers for the client to conceal improper decisions made by himself and his firm. History Hap Klopp founded North Face in the mid-1960s to provide a ready source of hiking and camping gear. In 1970, North Face began designing and manufacturing its own line of products after opening a small factory in nearby Berkeley. In 1980, North Face began sponsoring mountain-climbing expeditions across the globe. And North Face became the only supplier in the United States to offer a comprehensive collection of high-performance outerwear, skiwear, sleeping bags, packs and tents. Challenges Sales Growth vs. Quality Control By the mid-1980s, North Faces overburdened manufacturing facilities could not satisfy the steadily growing demand for the companys merchandise or maintain the high quality production standards established by management. New Era In July 1996, a new management team took North Face public, listing the companys common stock on the NASDAQ exchange. The management team established a goal of reaching annual sales of $1 billion by 2003. Later when the actual revenues and profits of North Face failed to meet managements expectations, the companys chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president of sales booked a series of fraudulent sales transactions. Barter for Success at North Face In December 1997, North Faces CFO Christopher Crawford negotiated a $7.8 million sale of excess inventory to a barter company in exchange for trade credits. Crawford knew that the authoritative accounting literature generally precluded the recognition of revenue on such transactions. Crawford, however, structured the transaction to recognize a profit on the trade credits. An Oral Side Agreement Crawford required the barter company to pay a portion of the trade credits in cash. To further obscure the true nature of the large barter transaction, Crawford split it into two parts. 1. On December 29,1997, a $5.15 million sale recorded($3.51 million in cash $1.64 million trade credit) 2. On January 8, 1998, the remaining $2.65 million portion of the barter transaction was booked. Consignments In the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 1998, Todd Katz, North Faces vice president of sales, arranged two large sales to inflate the companys revenues, transactions that were actually consignments rather than consummated sales. The first of these transactions involved $9.3 million of merchandise sold to a small, apparel wholesaler in Texas. Katz negotiated a similar $2.6 million transaction with a small California wholesaler a few months later. Erasing the Past Richard Fiedelman served for several years as the advisory partner for the North Face audit engagement and during early 1998 served for a brief time as the audit engagement partner. During the 1997 audit, the Deloitte audit engagement partner proposed an adjustment to reverse the portion of the $7.8 million barter transaction recorded in December 1997 because he realized that the profit could not be recognized on a barter transaction when the seller is paid exclusively in trade credits. The Deloitte audit partner passed on the proposed adjustment since it did not have a material effect on North Faces 1997 financial statements. While supervising the review of North Faces financial statements for the first quarter of 1998, Fiedelman allowed the company to improperly recognize profit on a portion of the $7.8 million barter transaction booked in January 1998 for which North Face was paid exclusively in trade credits. During the planning phase of the 1998 audit, Fiedelman convinced the new audit engagement partner that the prior year workpapers were wrong and that the previous audit partner had not concluded that it was not permissible for North Face to recognize profit on the 1997 portion of the barter transaction that involved strictly trade credits. As a result of Fiedelmans guidance, the new audit partner did not propose an adjustment to reverse the January 1998 portion of the barter transaction that had been approved by Fiedelman. Fiedelmans subordinates altered the 1997 workpapers to change the conclusion expressed by the 1997 audit engagement partner that North Face was not entitled to record profit on a sales transaction in which it was paid entirely in trade credits. Consequences The SEC sanctioned North Faces CFO, the companys vice-president of sales, and Richard Fiedelman for their roles in the North Face fraud. Questions 1. Should auditors insist that their clients accept all proposed audit adjustments, even those that have an immaterial effect on the given set of financial statements? Defend your answer. No. Clients are not prone to adopting auditors proposed audit adjustments, which forces auditors to somehow determine on an aggregate basis the impact that proposed and/or passed audit adjustments have on a clients financial statements. The most common reason for a client not to make a proposed audit adjustment is that the client disagrees with the need for the given adjustment. We dont want to see that audit engagements ultimately become a tug-of-war between client management and auditors over proposed audit adjustments. 2. Should auditors take explicit measures to prevent their clients from discovering or becoming aware of the materiality thresholds used on individual audit engagements? Would it be feasible for auditors to conceal this information from their audit clients? Yes. To the greatest extent possible, auditors should not provide clients with access to the critical parameters or facets of audit engagements, including materiality limits. According to this case, the CFO used the materiality to subvert the integrity of the entire audit engagement. It is often not feasible to conceal information such as materiality limits from client personnel. For example, auditors always have client personnel pull documents, prepare various schedules to which audit procedures will be applied, and perform other important audit-related tasks. In completing these tasks, client personnel can often determine the auditors intent and/or the scope or materiality limit of a given audit test. Likewise, clients have access to the professional auditing literature and professional publications that discuss the general guidelines that auditors use in making important strategic decisions during the course of an audit, including the selection of materiality limits for individual accounts or financial statement items. 3. Identify the general principles or guidelines that dictate when companies are entitled to record revenue. How were these principles or guidelines violated by the $7.8 million barter transaction and the two consignment sales discussed in this case? According to FASB 605 Revenue Recognition Revenues and gains are realized when products (goods or services), merchandise, or other assets are exchanged for cash or claims to cash. Revenues are considered to have been earned when the entity has substantially accomplished what it must do to be entitled to the benefits represented by the revenues. Generally, barter transactions in which a company receives trade credits in exchange for merchandise should be recorded at the fair value of the merchandises given up since the ultimate realizability or economic value of the trade credits is typically not determinable at the time of the exchange. So, even though the exchange element of the revenue recognition principle is satisfied by such a transaction, the realized element is not necessarily satisfied, meaning that any profit on the transaction should be deferred. In the case at hand, there was clearly some question as to the fair value of the excess merchandise that was being sold to the barter company. A conservative treatment of the transaction might have dictated that a loss or writedown of the merchandise was actually the most appropriate accounting treatment for the transaction. FASB 605-15-25 Sales of Product when Right of Return Exists prohibits a seller from recognizing revenue (or profit, of course) when the given customer can return the product and the ultimate payment to be received by the seller hinges on the customer reselling the product. Both features of the revenue recognition rule were violated by the decision of North Face to record the large consignment sales: there was not a true exchange since the two customers did not pay for the merchandise and the given transactions were not finalized until the customers resold the merchandise, meaning that the realized requirement of the revenue recognition rule had not been satisfied. 4. Identify and briefly explain each of the principal objectives that auditors hope to accomplish by preparing audit workpapers. How were these objectives undermined by Deloittes decision to alter North Faces 1997 workpapers? According to AICPA AU Section 339. 03, audit documentation serves mainly to: a. Provide the principal support for the auditors report, including the representation regarding observance of the standards of fieldwork, which is implicit in the reference to generally accepted auditing standards. b. Aid the auditor in the conduct and supervision of the audit. Both of these objectives were undercut by the decision of the Deloitte auditors to alter North Faces 1997 audit workpapers. First, by modifying the 1997 workpapers and not documenting the given revisions in those workpapers, the Deloitte auditors destroyed audit evidence, evidence that demonstrated that the 1997 audit team had properly investigated the authoritative literature relevant to barter transactions and proposed an audit adjustment consistent with the requirements of that literature. Second, the alteration of the 1997 workpapers affected the decisions made on the 1998 audit. That is, the auditors during the 1998 audit relied on the apparent decisions made during the 1997 audit and thus reached an improper decision on the accounting treatment that would be appropriate for the barter transaction recorded by North Face in January 1998. 5. North Faces management teams were criticized for strategic blunders that they made over the course of the companys history. Do auditors have a responsibility to assess the quality of the key decisions made by client executives? Defend your answer. Yes. Major strategic blunders by client management can create an environment in which client executives and their key subordinates have a strong incentive to distort their entitys accounting records and financial statements. More generally, the overall quality of top managements decisions affects the inherent risk present during a given audit. Event though assessing the quality of key decisions made by client executives is not often seen as an explicit audit procedure within an audit program, auditors need to be aware that the competence of top management and the wide-ranging implications of that competence to all facets of an audit.

Blackberry Case Study Essay

Once the leader of mobile devices for business associates across the United States, in recent years BlackBerry has loss significant market share to its competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. Struggling to keep afloat, although BlackBerry only holds five percent of the total mobile device industry, it still succeeds in its consulting business solutions that BlackBerry offers its clients. BlackBerry Business Solutions offers hardware, software, and applications to improve businesses’ performance in several industries such as healthcare, wholesale and retailing, pharmaceuticals, and financial services. The need for efficiency and access to data in the healthcare industry has recently become a standard protocol of how physicians and healthcare providers treat patients. Especially since the handheld electronic devices and e-commerce applications markets have been expanding rapidly, this trend has in turn provided an outlet of immediate access and diversity of physician-oriented applications available in the marketplace. Research conducted by Manhattan Research states, â€Å"more than 80 percent of U.S. physicians [have] smartphones [in] 2012–up from 64 percent in 2009–and half of that group will use their phones for patient care, administrative functions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Versel). BlackBerry has recognized these needs from the healthcare industry providing unique and customizable solutions to various clients’ problems by providing them with solutions and applications offered by their 70+ Healthcare ISV (independent software vendor) partners (Partner Solutions). BlackBerry has distinguished their business model by, â€Å"still dominat[ing] among physicians and healthcare application developers, through the iPhone and Google Android are closing the gap quickly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Versel). BlackBerry can see their successes throughout the entire healthcare continuum by offering e-commerce solutions that improve business and clinical performance across several categories within the healthcare industry which differentiate the services the can offer various businesses than Apple and Android. For instance, Mercy Health Partners, a conglomerate of 30+ hospitals across four states, needed to be able to provide immediate mobile access to patient records and clinical information at the bedside so physicians can more efficiently manage patient care (BlackBerry). BlackBerry Business Solutions were able to uniquely assess Mercy Health Partner’s needs and expand their health information systems by offering an e-commerce application called Clinical Xpert Navigator provided by on of their partners, Thompson Healthcare (BlackBerry). The Clinical Xpert Navigator gave Mercy a way to access and securely deliver patient information such as patient medications lists, transcribed report, lab results, and electronic health records at their various locations and right at their patients bedside tables. As a customer, Mercy Health Partners received an exclusive BlackBerry Enterprise Solution as apart of their business solutions model, which ran on BlackBerry smartphones and tablets making it a cost-effective use of their technology. This cost efficiency has in turn resulted in benefits seen in both Mercy Health Partners’ business performances but also their clinical patient care performance. The necessity for time in today’s society is critical for any industry. BlackBerry’s Business Solutions offer clients within the healthcare industry more time through e-commerce applications that directly improves the quality of care, access to care, and continuous care they can ultimately offer their patients in need and help save more lives. http://www.itproportal.com/2012/03/30/iphones-share-us-smartphone-market-very-close-android/ http://sg.blackberry.com/newsroom/success/Mercy_BCS.pdf

E-Hr in P&G

Introduction to Procter & Gamble Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a multinational corporation that provides consumer products in the areas of pharmaceuticals, cleaning supplies, personal care, and pet supplies. The global consumer goods company was started by William Procter, an English candle maker & James Gamble, an Irish soap maker in 1837, and has been well established since then, ranking fifth place of the â€Å"World's Most Admired Companies† by Fortune Magazine . P constantly strives to provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improves the lives of the world’s consumers , where P brands serve 4. billion people in more than 180 countries. A High Performing Organization Being a multinational corporation, P values its people as the company’s most important as-set and source of competitive advantage, and understands that its success greatly depends on the strength of the talent pipeline. The Human Resources department inevitably plays an im-portant role to the company, responsible in attracting the top talents, managing P talent globally to enable career development and growth across businesses and geographies and de-veloping leaders at P around the world in every business, in every region and at every level. In view of the fast technological advances, P continues to stay at the global frontline by in-corporating e-HR into its everyday processes such as selection, recruitment and training. The use of the Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) was also able to increase administra-tive efficiency and produce reports that have the potential to improve decision making for managers. E-HR not only provided human resources departments with the opportunity to make information available and accessible to managers and employees, but was also able to improve the company’s overall efficiency and effectiveness. With all its efforts over the years, P has been widely recognized as the industry’s global in-novation leader and brand-building leader of the industry, being consistently ranked by leading retailers in industry surveys as a preferred supplier and generating $82. 6 billion dollar of sales in 2011 alone. The HR department was also awarded the â€Å"2010 Asian Human Capital Award from Singapore's Minister for Manpower†, a highly recognized award in the industry. Technology in HR Functions Training & Development Early 2000s Being a global company that has hundred years of history, P&G owes its success partly to its large pool of capable and well-trained workforce. P&G trained its workforce on a regular basis. Since early 2000s, P&G sees the need to share product information and knowledge to its em-ployees quickly, while keeping its employees skilled and knowledgeable. P&G thus appointed Saba Learning Enterprise to develop an Internet-based learning system to be used by over 100,000 of its employees in over 70 countries . Through the collaboration with Saba Learning Enterprise, P&G were able to have a scalable system which featured various functions through its web compatibility. Powering the RapidLEARN initiative , Saba had helped P&G to consolidate multiple Learning Management Systems (LMSs) into one that improved the company’s global learning pace, thus reducing its costs greatly . New strategies and direction could be passed on to its employees with great consistency. Through the development of such integrated system, P&G was thus able to meet the needs of various business requirements. As a result of this, number of employees that utilized e-learning had increased from less than 5% to over 25% . It was estimated that such initiative had resulted in cost savings of around $14million after 5 years. In 2003, P&G moved on to engage BrightWave, UK e-learning developer, to transform its in-house presentation materials into an online training program, a 2-hour stand alone modular course, for its employees . Late 2000s With the success of Saba since early 2000s, the system had undergone multiple upgrades and customization. By 2009, the Saba system provided online training to over 90,000 of its em-ployees. There was an average of 16,000 individuals among P&G’s employees that made used of its online training each month. Such success leads P&G to expect an online training growth in the near future. To support such anticipation, P&G planned to improve its learning management system in terms of its availabili-ty, tracking, learning process governance and application support . As a result, P&G decided to assign Accenture in developing its learning management system for 6 years. Prior to the transformation, P&G had over 200 training administrators that provided decentra-lized Tier 1 support, with multiple vendors providing support on more serious application issues on Tier 2 and Tier 3 . Over a period of 3 months, all support services from Tier 1 to Tier 3 had been successfully migrated to Accenture to meet several objectives such as creating a consis-tent development on its application system, having a reliable learning system with high availa-bility, as well as improving the control of its learning process . To meet the increasing demand that P&G was expecting, it moved its Saba-based RapidLEARN to a clustered environment. Today, P&G had a reliable LMS which was scalable to meet the increasing need of web-based training across the globe. More than 90,000 of P&G’s employees now have access to the system. Today †¢Online system To enable all its employees be updated with the most up-to-date trainings, all of P&G’s em-ployees have access to a website (P&G’s online system) listing all the available courses, with details such as timing, course descriptions, and illegibility. P&G’s employees are to sign up for all the trainings online through a common online system. With online registration, em-ployees are able to understand the details of the course as well as select the suitable sche-dule for the courses quickly through a simple click. New courses can be search and signed-up courses can be dropped through the same online system. Aside from the course listings, the webpage also has other information (guidelines) that guides its employees through their own learning path. The system contains detailed infor-mation on the career stage at which certain trainings should be taken. Trainings are categorized into â€Å"General Trainings† which covers soft skills such as leadership and business communications and â€Å"Functional Trainings† which covers expertise knowledge such as finance and marketing. All these trainings are also categorized according to different career stage. As a result, the availability of the guidelines aims to help its employees sign up for the suitable courses during different career stage. E-learning For online trainings or the so-called â€Å"e-learning courses†, employees are able to complete the course at the leisure of their own pace. The system will track the attendance and progress of each employee in the trainings. In fact, employee’s attendance record for all courses attended is readily available online. Some of the common e-learning courses include training on procedures, standard business models , and business ethics. Upon completion of such courses, there will be compulsory tests which the employees have to pass. According to one of the employee’s experience, while such e-learning courses provide them with the necessary information, the knowledge absorbed is very much short-term. Some-times, employees will end up skip the on-line courses and move on directly to the tests by guessing the correct answers so as to pass the tests. Such ‘short-cut’ approach defeats the company’s purpose of having online trainings and wastes the resources of the company. †¢Trainings across the globe Being a global company, the company carries out its e-learning globally. The same trainings are made available to all of its employees at different countries. For other trainings that are not carried out online, the company provides the same content to be used globally. The ac-tual trainings will, however, be carried out by P&G at different regions and offices separate-ly. The trainers for such courses often come from P&G’s employees. These are keen employees who sent to external trainers to receive trainings. As a result of that, the training content of non-online trainings (despite having the same content across the globe) may vary slightly depending on the trainers’ style and expertise. In any case, not all trainings can be attended by all employees. Some training has specific requirements of having to meet certain career stage. Hence an approval status is needed before the employee can attend it. There are also certain trainings which can only be at-tended by certain employees upon recommendation from the managers. Therefore, em-ployees have to take note of such details as well as the location of trainings as an employee in Singapore could not simply attend trainings that are held in United States. The overall benefit of having such a complete online system in its training system is to allow P&G’s employees to realize their own learning progress and to direct them into knowing what kind of skills they need to develop further in the future. It also serves to save employees time by providing the employees the flexibility of completing the trainings at the own time. E-Recruiting With nearly 300 brands worldwide, P&G places high importance in the people and values the talent of every individual. The company spare no effort in attracting suitable talents into its company and promises to offer exciting new challenges, tremendous growth and support, and a chance to touch and improve lives daily for every of its staff. In the modern era, there have been an increasing number of people who are dependent on technology and the internet. In the past, people used to flip through job ads in newspapers. However in this age of internet technology, more people are increasingly turning to online job portals such as monster. com, recruit. et and efinancialcareers. com. USA Today reports that 95% of the college graduation class of 1997 used the Internet as the medium of choice for their job searches while a recent study by JWT Specialized Communications found that 70% of active job seekers are more likely to use the Web than traditional job hunting methods . The increasing popularity of these new and rising recruitment channels provide fresh and innovative ways that P&G can tap onto for thei r recruitment efforts, instead of relying only on personal network or head hunters. One example of such a channel is the increasingly popular use of online job por-tals (e-recruiting) in a candidate’s job search. P&G’s human resource team was able to identify the fast and moving trends of technology and in turn capitalize on the accessibility and availability of the internet to incorporate into its hiring process, making e-recruiting a part of their overall recruiting strategy. The key to successful e-recruiting is by providing a good job site which would make it easy for candidates to understand and apply and for the company to accomplish its goals of attracting the right talent. McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, identified recruiting as a critical issue in its 1998 report, The War for Talent, where McKinsey points to various demographic and industrial changes that are making it harder to recruit and retain good employees . A Fast Company article on the report also reiterated the importance of talent, stating that â€Å"The most important corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talent: smart, sophisticated businesspeople who are technologically literate, globally astute, and operationally agile. And even as the demand for talent goes up, the supply of it will be going down. By providing a good e-recruiting website, P&G is able to benefit as the website has acted as an effective filter, making it easy for the correct candidate to apply and deter the wrong applicants from applying. Other benefits of e-recruiting include huge cost savings. Research has shown that e-recruiting is not only faster than traditional channels but the efficienc ies of e-recruiting can also cut the amount of time needed to identify, interview and hire for a vacant position, in turn helping a company to save as much as $8,000 per hire over traditional hiring channels . Considering the scale of P&G with more than 129,000 employees worldwide, the amount of cost savings is substantial by just making 10% of it hires through e-recruiting. A unique website domain was devoted to P&G’s career centre: http://jobs-pg. com/, with a link to a similar interface easily accessible, appearing on the home page just beside the â€Å"Investor Relations† tab, signifying that P&G values e-recruiting as much as it cares about its investors. This career website has been designed in a very user friendly manner, where one is able to search jobs by category, location or groups, enabling candidates to be able to identify the area of interest or job they would like to apply quickly. P&G’s hiring process is then spilt into 5 gen-eral stages, namely application, assessment, initial interview, final interview and the offer, with specific instructions on what is required for every individual step. †¢Application This simple application process instituted a â€Å"paperless† online application system allowing electronic applications to be submitted 24 hours a day and helping the company to find ap-plicants in a timely manner. The information required in the application stage includes con-tact information, education, resume, questionnaire, confirmation and a summary. Appli-cants are also able to save the application as a draft first before completing it at a later time, allowing greater flexibility. †¢Assessments P&G uses online assessments to measure skills and accomplishments that generally do not emerge from interviews. These assessments are beneficial and well received by the appli-cants as it not only allow the company to assess the abilities of the applicant, but also help determine if it is equally beneficial for the applicant to continue through the hiring process, in turn acting as a screening stage for both parties. Examples of the online assessments are: oSuccess Drivers Assessment: â€Å"Assess your background, experiences, interests and work related attitudes and measures your compatibility against P&G compe-tencies for defining successful job performance† oReasoning Screen: â€Å"Measures your cognitive ability. This is important because the nature of our work is complex and continually changing† †¢Initial Interview Behavioural based interviews used to know more about the applicant’s previous accoplish-ment and the applicant relate to, compare with and connect with the company’s Success Drivers. †¢Final Interview One-to-one or panel interviews to find out in greater detail about the applicant’s skills and capabilities. This is also an opportunity for the applicant to get a more in depth understand-ing of P&G’s unique culture, values and endless opportunities. †¢Offer An offer of employment will be first notified through a phone call before a confirmation with details is given through the electronic mail. The comprehensive and descriptive steps of e-recruiting has allowed P&G to achieve a competi-tive advantage in attracting global talents to its company by making job postings available and conducting a firsthand filter of the job applicants through the several stages of recruitment in place. The advantages of e-recruiting for P&G include the ability to reach a wider range of audience, being cost effective and achieving a faster recruitment cycle. With cost effectiveness and a faster recruitment cycle being discussed previously, the ability to reach a wider range of audience is especially important for a global company with job openings suitable for people from all over the world. Opportunities/ Recommendations P&G faces many opportunities that it can tap onto for growth. With the constant increase in the use of internet revolutionizing the way people communicate and interact, majority of the companies today have incorporated e-recruiting into their recruitment strategy. Therefore there is a need for P&G to tap into new opportunities to further enhance and improve its current e-recruiting strategy. In conducting the field research of e-recruitment in P&G, it could be seen that technology was greatly used in the application, assessment and offer process, but not applied in the initial and final interview process. Hence P&G could actively test alternative methods of recruitment such as using audio and video conferencing or a real-time virtual Business Game Challenge in the interview stages to continue develop its recruitment strategy. For training wise, our group believes that P&G could have regular pop-up quizzes which test its employees on the general contents of the past trainings that the employees have attended. This serve to add on the recall on the employees and reminding them about knowledge taught such that it will prevent the employees from forgetting the training content after attending them. This is to ensure that all the resources that P&G develop are put into good use. Such pop-up quizzes, though simple, could serve as a constant reminder about the need of being aware of such knowledge even though they may not use them directly on a day-to-day basis. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, we see that talent is the key resource that drives P&G forward and helps the company to remain on top in today’s competitive market. Realizing this, P&G never let loose its effort in finding the right talent and providing them with proper trainin. The company want to ensure that all of its employees share the same values and are equipped with the most up-to-date product knowledge in a consistent manner. In order to do this efficiently, the use of technology in its e-HR system has proven to be an ef-fective and efficient method that keeps the company ahead globally. With change being the only constant in today’s world, the continuous upgrades in its HR system as well as review on recruitment process are some of the key efforts which require great efforts and are of high importance to the success of the company. Considering the size and global positioning that P&G has, keeping its e-HR competent is therefore the key to success. ? References Fast Company (1998). â€Å"The War For Talent†. Retrieved 22 December 2011 from http://www. fastcompany. com/online/16/mckinsey. html Mark. H & Jakob. N (1999). E-Recruiting. Creative Good Inc. McKinsey & Company (2001). â€Å"The War For Talent†. Retrieved 22 December 2011 from http://autoassembly. mckinsey. com/html/downloads/articles/War_For_Talent. pdf CNN Money (2011). â€Å"World’s Most Admired Companies†. Retrieved 20 December 2011, from http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2011/snapshots/334. html Procter & Gamble (2011). Purpose & People†. Retrieved 20 December 2011, from http://www. pg. com/en_US/company/purpose_people/index. shtml National Center for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (January 2002) â€Å"Asia-Pacific e-learning Alliance: A Report on e-Learning and Best Practices† Retrieved 19 December 2011, from http://unpan1. un. org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN011272. pdf SABA Customer Overview (Se ptember 2001) â€Å"Procter & Gamble†. Retrieved 21 December 2011, from http://www. betacom. com. pl/files/other/PnG_v4. pdf National Center for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (January 2002) â€Å"Asia-Pacific e-learning Alliance: A Report on e-Learning and Best Practices† Retrieved 19 December 2011, from http://unpan1. un. org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN011272. pdf Training Press Releases (11 April 2003). â€Å"Procter & Gamble use BrightWave†. Retrieved 20 December 2011, from http://www. trainingpressreleases. com/news/brightwave/2003/procter-gamble-use-brightwave Accenture (2009). â€Å"Helping Procter & Gamble strengthen a culture of high performance through its learning program†. Retrieved 21 December 2011, from

Biography of Stephen Hawking, Physicist and Cosmologist

Biography of Stephen Hawking, Physicist and Cosmologist Stephen Hawking (January 8, 1942–March 14, 2018) was a world-renowned cosmologist and physicist, especially esteemed for overcoming an extreme physical disability to pursue his groundbreaking scientific work. He was a bestselling author whose books made complex ideas accessible to the general public. His theories provided deep insights into the connections between quantum physics and relativity, including how those concepts might be united in explaining fundamental questions related to the development of the universe and the formation of black holes. Fast Facts: Stephen Hawking Known For:  Cosmologist, physicist, best-selling science writerAlso Known As:  Steven William HawkingBorn:  January 8, 1942 in Oxfordshire, EnglandParents: Frank and Isobel HawkingDied: March 14, 2018 in Cambridge, EnglandEducation: St Albans School, B.A., University College, Oxford, Ph.D., Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1966Published Works:  A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, The Universe in a Nutshell, On the Shoulders of Giants, A Briefer History of Time, The Grand Design, My Brief HistoryAwards and Honors:  Fellow of the  Royal Society, the  Eddington  Medal, the Royal Societys Hughes Medal, the  Albert Einstein  Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Member of the  Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Prince of Asturias Awards in Concord, the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, the Michelson Morley Award of Case Western Reserve University, the Copley Medal of the  Ro yal SocietySpouses: Jane Wilde, Elaine MasonChildren: Robert, Lucy, TimothyNotable Quote: â€Å"Most of the threats we face come from the progress we’ve made in science and technology. We are not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, so we must recognize the dangers and control them. I’m an optimist, and I believe we can.† Early Life Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxfordshire, England, where his mother had been sent for safety during the German bombings of London of World War II. His mother Isobel Hawking was an Oxford graduate and his father Frank Hawking was a medical researcher. After Stephens birth, the family reunited in London, where his father headed the division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research.  The family then moved to St. Albans so that Stephens father could pursue medical research at the nearby Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill. Education and Medical Diagnosis Stephen Hawking attended school in St. Albans, where he was an unexceptional student. His brilliance was much more apparent in his years at Oxford University. He specialized in physics and graduated with first-class honors despite his relative lack of diligence. In 1962, he continued his education at Cambridge  University, pursuing a Ph.D. in cosmology. At age 21, a year after beginning his doctoral program, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as motor neuron disease, ALS, and Lou Gehrigs disease). Given only three years to live, he has written that this prognosis helped motivate him in his physics work. There is little doubt that his ability to remain actively engaged with the world through his scientific work helped him persevere in the face of the disease. The support of family and friends were equally key. This is vividly portrayed in the dramatic film The Theory of Everything. The ALS Progresses As his illness progressed, Hawking became less mobile and began using a wheelchair. As part of his condition, Hawking eventually  lost his ability to speak, so he utilized a device capable of translating his eye movements (since he could  no longer utilize a keypad) to speak in a digitized voice. In addition to his keen mind within physics, he gained respect throughout the world as a science communicator. His achievements are deeply impressive on their own, but some of the reason he is so universally respected was his ability to accomplish so much while suffering the severe debility caused by ALS. Marriage and Children Just before his diagnosis, Hawking met Jane Wilde, and the two were married in 1965. The couple had three children before separating. Hawking later married Elaine Mason in 1995 and they divorced in 2006. Career as Academic and Author Hawking stayed on at Cambridge after his graduation, first as a research fellow and then as a professional fellow. For most of his academic career, Hawking served as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a position once held by Sir Isaac Newton. Following a long tradition, Hawking retired from this post at age 67, in the spring of 2009, though he continued his research at the universitys cosmology institute. In 2008 he also accepted a position as a visiting researcher at Waterloo, Ontarios Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. In 1982 Hawking began work on a popular book on cosmology. By 1984 he had produced the first draft of  A Brief History of Time, which he published in 1988 after some medical setbacks. This book remained on the Sunday Times bestsellers list for 237 weeks. Hawkings even more accessible A Briefer History of Time was published in 2005. Fields of Study Hawkings major research was in the areas of theoretical cosmology, focusing on the evolution of the universe as governed by the laws of general relativity. He is most well-known for his work in the study of black holes. Through his work, Hawking was able to: Prove  that singularities are general features of spacetime.Provide  mathematical proof that information which fell into a black hole was lost.Demonstrate  that black holes evaporate through Hawking radiation. Death On March 14, 2018, Stephen Hawking died in his home in Cambridge, England. He was 76. His ashes were placed in London’s Westminster Abbey between the final resting places of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Legacy Stephen Hawking made large contributions as a scientist, science communicator, and as a heroic example of how enormous obstacles can be overcome. The  Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication is a prestigious award that recognizes the merit of popular science on an international level. Thanks to his distinctive appearance, voice, and popularity,  Stephen Hawking is often represented in popular culture. He made appearances on the television shows The Simpsons and Futurama, as well as having a cameo on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1993. The Theory of Everything, a biographical drama film about Hawkings life, was released in 2014. Sources â€Å"Stephen Hawking.†Ã‚  Famous Scientists.Redd, Nola Taylor. â€Å"Stephen Hawking Biography (1942-2018).†Ã‚  Space.com, Space, 14 Mar. 2018.â€Å"Stephen William Hawking.†Ã‚  Stephen Hawking (1942-2018).

Teen smoking essays

Teen smoking essays Teen smoking. Those two words mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. To some it means nothing. They are just two meaningless words found under T and S in the dictionary. To others it is as if these words symbolize some sort of treason or crime against society. Yet to others it is just another stereotype to be placed under. And to some it is a salvation. An escape. Unfortunately I am writing this paper so you will get my positions on teen smoking rather than other peoples. Teen smoking gathers a lot of emotions when I think about it. It makes me very angry sometimes. My first draft of this was good but I saw myself getting angry and lashing out on everyone, so I revised it. But enough of that, I find teen smoking to be a very controversial subject. To be completely honest with you I am smoking right now as I am writing this. Obviously I am a smoker. I am 17 years old and I am a smoker. In the late 1990s, the statistics showed that approximately 25% of teens smoke. Thats one out of every four teenagers. High school is a tough time for teens. These years are critical to a teens future. This explains why a vast majority of smokers start at 16 years or younger with the most common age being 14 years old(freshman). It has also been proven also that teens who score lower in school smoke more than higher scoring students do. It seems that everyone smokes in our school. Our school is overrun with smokers. It is right now at least 50% smokers and 65% if you count the people who will smoke before their high school career is up. We practically encourage it. I mean Firemans Field practically condones teen smoking. Teen smoking is defiantly a problem in our school, as well as schools all over the United States. I feel that teen smoking is a huge problem. I feel that too many teenagers smoke cigarettes. It is something that needs to get dealt with. But before I get into that I should probably start with the causes ...

Critically assess weather the glass cieling still exists in the modern Essay

Critically assess weather the glass cieling still exists in the modern workplace - Essay Example The most appropriate pattern in this situation is the formation of glass ceiling within organizations that hinder the growth of specific group of individuals. First quoted by Gay Bryant, glass ceiling refers to the barrier faced by specific groups in an organization from moving up the management cadre. The United States Labour Secretary, Lynn Martin, defined ‘glass ceiling’ as ‘Those artificial barriers on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions’ Bollinger and O’Neill, (2008) p.10. The following discussion critically assesses practices adopted by organizations to eliminate glass ceiling effect and attached implications. In spite of various diversity management practices, evidences indicate that organizations have not been successful in eliminating the glass ceiling at various levels. Reasons and implications of glass ceiling have been briefly disc ussed hereafter. Employee and labour relations studies as well as organizational behaviour reveal that various practices introduced to counter the glass ceiling have been quite effective in many ways. Glass ceiling effect is seen on different economic and organizational aspects. From an economy perspective, the number of female employees has significantly risen in many parts of the world in recent years. Also, organizations are consciously adopting various diversity management practices in order to enhance their performance and also abide by the human rights constitution (Mor-Barak, 2005; p.372). These practices are specific initiatives to bring about a balance in the labour economy. This need has arisen because of various reasons such as increase in number of immigrants into foreign countries; increase in amount of knowledge and technology-driven work; changing life styles; and, increasing costs of living driven by changing businesses and globalization. From an organizational viewp oint, organizations are hiring more women at various positions and are employing distinct diversity management practices to provide opportunity to people belonging to various races, ethnic and social groups. Yet, evidences through reports, researches, news articles etc indicate that women continue to face discrimination issues at workplace. Moreover, blocking the advancement of specific groups to move up to higher management positions will hinder organizational growth to a significant extent. Breaking the glass ceiling helps organizations to harness valuable talent possessed by, women in particular, and all people, in general, at lower levels that belong to diverse groups. Impact of glass ceiling is varied in different parts of the world. In some regions, the glass ceiling is very obvious and others it is discreet, but still exists. For instance, glass ceiling is more pronounced in single-culture dominated regions like the Islamic countries, South African nations and parts of Asia. In these countries, though constitutional rights are provided to minorities as well as women in terms of work and employee relations, yet discrimination and obstacles confront individuals because of sociocultural customs and practices. Its effect is lesser in the United States, European Union, parts of Asian and Australian regions. Most of these countries are multi-cultural, multi-social and pluralistic nations, which is the reason for subtlety of glass ceiling effect in

Leadership Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Leadership Paper - Essay Example The men and women behind an organization say a lot about how trustworthy the institution is. Good leadership brings about a working environment both harmonious and efficient which can consequently lead to a more effective workforce and a successful organization. In the business world today, there are a number of companies that continue to dominate the public because of excellent leadership and management. The World Health Organization is one of those companies. For 62 years, with almost 100 states under its membership, WHO has initiated successful programs driven to eradicating health issues worldwide. It has been the known guide of many health institutions in creating policies regarding the well-being of individuals around the world. Through its excellent leadership and management, WHO has been a trusted and respected institution in the field of health care. My paper will argue that WHO is a successful company because of its good decision-making, employee treatment and excellent leadership. I believe I will fit into this organization because I am patient, hard-working and I have a passion for helping people. There are a variety of industries in society. Among these industries, I consider health care the most important as it continually strives to find ways to nurture the well-being of the individual. Inasmuch as without the individual, there would be no society, it is therefore vital to provide efficient healthcare services. â€Å"Healthcare combines medical technology and the human touch as it diagnoses, treats and administers care around the clock, responding to the needs of millions of people-from newborns to the terminally ill.† (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010) There are many establishments that make up the healthcare industry. These vary in terms of size, manpower and organizational structures. Doctors’ offices, hospitals and nursing facilities