Lysistrata Summary Essays -- essays research papers

Lysistrata has planned a meeting between all of the women of Greece to discuss the plan to end the Peloponnesian War. As Lysistrata waits for the women of Sparta, Thebes, and other areas to meet her she curses the weakness of women. Lysistrata plans to ask the women to refuse sex with their husbands until a treaty for peace has been signed. Lysistrata has also made plans with the older women of Athens (the Chorus of Old Women ) to seize the Akropolis later that day. The women from the various regions finally assemble and Lysistrata convinces them to swear an oath that they will withhold sex from their husbands until both sides sign a treaty of peace. As the women sacrifice a bottle of wine to the Gods in celebration of their oath, they hear the sounds of the older women taking the Akropolis, the fortress that houses the treasury of Athens. In Lysistrata there are two choruses?the Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of Old Women. A Koryphaios leads both choruses. The Chorus of Men is first to appear on stage carrying wood and fire to the gates of the Akropolis. The Chorus of Men is an old and bedraggled bunch of men who have great difficulty with the wood and the great earthen pots of fire they carry. The men plan to smoke the women out of the Akropolis. The Chorus of Old Women also approaches the Akropolis, carrying jugs of water to put out the men's fires. The Chorus of Old Women is victorious in the contest between the choruses and triumphantly pours the jugs of water over th...

Essay on Venture Capital †Motivations For Corporate Venturing

1. Introduction Traditionally, the interest of companies in creating venture funds was influenced by the venture capital climate. Increased rates of corporate venturing activity recorded in the 1960s, 1980s, and 1990s were in correspondence with the flourishing venture capital investments (Narayanan et al., 2009). Despite the deterioration in private equity investment owing to the fall of the dot-com sector in early 21st century, corporate venturing is still considered to be an important business activity in large business organisations (Gailly et al., 2014). However, corporate venturing is marred with complexity including the disconcerting array of existing corporate venturing forms (Guerrero & Pena-Legazkue, 2013). As Garg (2013) argues, for many years, large business organisations have been cautious about the idea of corporate venturing. Some have witnessed a failure of their venture initiatives while others have given up so easily. Generally, the lifespan of corporate venturing initiative is aro und one year (Basu & Wadhwa, 2013). Even business organisations with a strong capital base have struggled to utilise knowledge that is gained from start-up initiatives (Basu et al., 2011). Certainly, it is not easy to run a corporate venture capital successfully. However, as the rate of discontents in research and development increase, corporate venturing is gaining respect and appreciation in the business world (Masulis & Nahata, 2009). To clearly position the reasons that motivate organisations to consider corporate venturing, it is imperative to analyse the concept of growth and development as a result of the effectiveness of research and development initiatives at the organisational level. 2. Venturing and Firm Innovativeness Ideas that are innovative can be produced via internal R&D or access externally through activities such as corporate venture capital initiative. Companies must not limit themselves to in-house R&D as a source of innovativeness. In spite of the high prevalence of internal R&D as a source of innovativeness in many business organisations from a historical perspective, a decision to limit an organisation to sourcing its innovativeness from internal R&D has its limitations (Srivastava & Agrawal, 2010; Guerrero & Pena-Legazkue, 2013). As research on economic-based industries suggests, monopolies lack efficiency which results in the costs associated with inefficiency being passed down to the final consumer (Narayanan et al., 2009; Napp&Minshall, 2011). This idea is also recognised in corporate entrepreneurship research. Specifically, Gaba and Bhattacharya (2012) argued that elevated R&D expenditure at the organisational level is an indicator of internal inefficiencies and elevated agency co sts rather than successful innovative initiatives or antagonistic risk-taking approaches. Therefore, it is necessary for corporations to eliminate the monopoly enjoyed by their R&D units. Economics positions the existence of competing players as a source of efficiency when compared to a monopoly state (Basu et al., 2011). At organisational level, structuring of corporate innovative initiatives can be realised through the development of several R&D centre or supporting various technological initiatives through approaches such as corporate venture capital. Furthermore, research has raised concerns over the possibility of collusion pitfalls in cases where the number of players is limited (Napp & Minshall, 2011; Basu & Wadhwa, 2013). This can be addressed by offering a significant geographical dispersion of R&D centres. Indeed, according to Gaba and Bhattacharya (2012), having numerous research sites that are geographically distributed enhances corporate innovativeness by providing assistance in disabling organisational inertia, offering variety, and ultimately speeding up th e development of new capabilities and technological advancement. The option of multiple technological activities that is founded on corporate venture capital initiatives is also common among various leading companies on a global scale in the recent past. A decision to introduce the concept of competition in processes that generate organisational innovativeness has been found to eliminate inefficiencies in organisational innovativeness activities (Maula et al., 2009). Agency theory emphasises on inefficiencies that emanate from contracting associations between a firms engaging another firm to undertake certain activity on its behalf, which entails a decision to delegate a significant decision-making authority to an agent (Srivastava & Agrawal, 2010). The consideration, in this case, is that both players in the contract are rational, self-interested, risk-averse, and opportunistic. Consequently, the opportunistic behaviour of the agent may not be in agreement with the best interests of the principal (Garg, 2013; Bruneel et al., 2013). The agent†™s opportunistic behaviour is manifested via adverse selection, moral hazards, and hold-up (Cumming & Johan, 2010). In addition, any form of misalignment that exists between the principal’s and the agent’s interests implies enduring loss by the principal (Maula et al., 2009; Souitaris & Zerbinati, 2014). A typical situation where an agency problem is applicable is the case of a relationship between business managers and owners (Cumming & Johan, 2010). However, this situation can easily be applied to the relationship between a firm’s R&D unit and its top management. In this case, the internal R&D unit is positioned as an agent of the firm’s top management that is involved in technical advancement. Therefore, selection process that is adverse may be a significant issue if the R&D unit initiates a project that extends beyond its expertise. The issue of moral hazards is common in cases where actions taken by an agent cannot be verified which is a common occurrence in complex research and development projects, where observable results rather than behaviours that cannot be verified is the solution (Narayanan et al., 2009). Hold-up challenges may emerge when internal projects that are not successful are not suspended from corporate funding even when the outcomes are useless in spite of significant corporate expenditure. Therefore, a decision to create a corporate venture capital initiative is a solution to some of the problems associated with agency challenges. Specifically, corporate venture capital plans provide internal R&D units with a significant challenge over their monopoly on generating organisational innovation. According to a research done by Basu et al. (2011), challenging the monopoly by internal R&D unit on innovation production has assisted several business firms to directly move into successful business initiatives that would have been assumed under normal internal R&D situation. As much as corporate venturing is considered to be dangerous due to the threat of opportunism (Garg, 2013), a decision to limit innovative activities to internal R&D unit is more problematic (Cumming et al., 2009). The challenges associated with monopolies are just part of the challenges. Without sufficient level of diversity, strategic renewal, which is considered a major entrepreneurship, can never be reali sed. Development of corporate venture initiatives is, therefore, significant in minimising moral hazards and adverse selection (Maula et al., 2009). Allocating an organisation’s funds to a corporate venture is a significant threat to the availability of funds that can be applied in internal R&D projects, which spurs competition based on the economic perspective analysed above. 3. Motives that Drive Corporate Venturing Research has established that a corporate venture capital fund is more flexible, can move faster, and is generally cheaper when compared the conventional research and development in assisting an organisation in the process of responding to changes in business models and technologies (Maula et al., 2009; Napp&Minshall, 2011). According to Garg (2013), such a fund can be used in the process of stimulating demand for a firm’s products. Furthermore, corporate venture capital is an investment that may earn a company a return that is attractive. It is, therefore, a tool that is used by a firm in capturing ideas that ultimately influence the future of an organisation. There are various benefits that come with venture capital including faster response, better analysis of business threats, easier disengagement, enhanced investment impacts, increased demand, and higher returns.3.1. Venturing and Business ResponseThrough offering an inside perspective of new technological areas as well as an approach that can lead to possible ownership and use of novel ideas, corporate venturing allows businesses to swiftly respond to changes in the market. In a study done by (Narayanan et al., 2009) about venturing initiatives, it was established that companies that were able to make successful financial investments experienced better success levels. Consequently, such development capabilities that are experienced under venture capital initiative take a longer period of time to be realised if done by a firm on its own and is generally more expensive (Souitaris & Zerbinati, 2014). Given the resources and time needed to modernise research facilities and recruit researchers with the right skills and expertise, expanding a firm’s internal research and development can be generally painstaking (Phan et al., 2009).3.2. Venture Capital in Threat ManagementVenture fund can be used by an organisation as an approach to gathering intelligence, which assists the firm in protecting its elf from emerging threats to its competitiveness in the market. For instance, Analog Devices, the silicon-chip specialist formulated a venture program in the 1980s focused at investing in a variety of competing technologies (Basu et al., 2011). The goal, in this case, was to collect strategic information at a lower cost. The process resulted in a discovery that it was difficult and expensive to make chips using non-silicon materials. This resulted in a hike in Analog’s market valuation. In this case, the decision to utilise corporate venturing program offered the company a source of insurance. In this case, if the alternatives that the company had opted to explore had been viable, it was covered from the risk of being faced out of the market by its competitors. Conventional approaches to research and development does not offer data that can be used in predicting sources of competitive forces. Specifically, most corporate research and development units focus on projects that a re narrow which can result in neglect of areas that can cause a significant disruption from external competitors. Accordingly Phan et al. (2009) argue that most business managers in firms with versatile internal R&D functions face challenges when it comes to determining whether their companies are blindsided with regard to new innovative developments that may threaten their competitiveness3.3. Venturing and Easier DetachmentAnother positive aspect of venturing that is related to the ability of a firm to speed up its response to threats and change is that it offers organisational management a faster approach to detach from investments that appear to be doomed to fail. In particular, many firms find it challenging to abandon innovations that are not very good but are developed internally (Rohrbeck et al., 2009). Such projects can remain in a firm’s product development for many years resisting termination. This can well be illustrated by Nokia’s continued focus on develo ping its mobile phones based on the Symbian operating system even when most of its competitors had opted to go into free fall, which negatively affected the competitiveness of Nokia in the market. The relationship that exists between firms and their venture funds which is arm’s-length is advantageous in this respect. In particular, as much as a firm may be reluctant to terminate an initiative that is unpromising, the presence of co-investors provides a platform for forcing the decision.3.4. Venture Capital and Increased Impacts of InvestmentVenture Capital provides business firms opportunities for combining their capital with other venture capitals, which results in the magnification of the effects of an investment to a firm. These benefits are particularly apparent in cases where technological uncertainty is significantly higher. The iFund, which was supported by Apple Company and introduced in the market by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venerable VC firm, provides an illustration of this case. This investment enabled Apple to build applications for its new mobile phone products at the lowest cost possible. This was in contrast to the case of Nokia, which was a major market rival to Apple Company whose operating system, Symbian was unsuccessful and very costly. As a result of the success of the iFund, similar such initiatives have been positioned by many other companies including famous venture capital developments such as Facebook and Research in Motion.3.5. Venturing and Market DemandVenture firm provides a firm with several sources of leveraging. This can be illustrated by the iFund case. In particular, a decision by venture capitalists to promote the development of technologies that were reliant on the parent firm business platforms results in increased demand for the firm’s products. This approach was considered by Intel Capital in the late 1990s when it founded a capital that speeded the adoption of Intel’s next generation c hips in the market (Rohrbeck et al., 2009). This fund was invested in numerous hardware and software makers who were mostly Intel competitors and their products capitalised on the power presented by the new chip developed by Intel. These investments resulted in the accelerated adoption of Intel chip within a short period of time. Intel capital was also involved in seeding firms that were developing wireless internet products founded on a platform that had been championed by Intel. This resulted in rapid adoption of wireless products from Intel in the following years, which illustrated the success of the company in applying corporate venturing in creating a network of wireless actors.3.6. Venturing and ReturnsResearch has also established a financial benefit that is associated with venturing. Specifically, the main objective of any venture capital initiative is to generate revenue for the partners. With regard to corporate venture capital, the main goal is gaining a strategic advant age in the market, which ultimately culminates in increased profitability as much as the initial income generated as a result of the venture itself is insignificant with regard to the bottom line of corporate firms (Masulis & Nahata, 2009). Business organisations introduce value in start-ups that they find, which is commonly in the form of resources, skills, and reputation (Phan et al., 2009). This also changes the perception of the new entity’s prospects in the face of external investors. Public and private equity investors generally believe that start-ups that are founded on venture capital will be absorbed by the investors at an attractive valuation. Accordingly, Basu et al. (2011) established that business start-ups that are funded by corporations are more likely to attract more attention among high-quality players in the market when compared to ordinary start-ups. It also emerged that such start-ups that are backed by corporate venture funds have a better performance wit h regard to stock price when compared to those that are backed by traditional investment groups. 4. Conclusion The analysis of the corporate venture capital and its significance in the business world demonstrated a clear picture of its implication in growth, development, and competitiveness of business organisations in the wake of a globalised business environment. Specifically, it was apparent that corporate venture capital initiative could be applied by business organisations in increasing their innovativeness and the general firm efficiency and ultimately their competitiveness. Consequently, corporate venture capital initiatives demonstrate entrepreneurial aspects that are associated with significant effects on business corporations. Consequently, based on the deeper analysis of the strategic aspects of corporate venture capital investments, this paper has affirmed that it plays a strategic role in competitiveness and sustainability of corporate entities in the contemporary business settings hence an attractive initiative in most corporations. 5. References Basu, S., & Wadhwa, A. (2013). â€Å"External venturing and discontinuous strategic renewal: An options perspective.† Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30(5), pp. 956-975. Basu, S., Phelps, C., Kotha, S. (2011). â€Å"Towards understanding who makes corporate venture capital investments and why,† Journal of Business Venturing, 26(2), pp. 153-171. Bruneel, J., Van de Velde, E., & Clarysse, B. (2013). â€Å"Impact of the Type of Corporate Spin?Off on Growth.† Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(4), pp. 943-959. Cumming, D., & Johan, S. (2010). â€Å"Venture capital investment duration.† Journal of Small Business Management, 48(2), pp. 228-257. Cumming, D., Fleming, G., &Schwienbacher, A. (2009). â€Å"Corporate relocation in venture capital finance.† Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(5), pp. 1121-1155. Gaba, V., & Bhattacharya, S. (2012). â€Å"Aspirations, innovation, and corporate venture capital: A behavioural perspective.† Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 6(2), pp. 178-199. Gailly, B., Da Gbadji, A. G., & Schwienbacher, A. (2014). â€Å"International analysis of venture capital programs of large corporations and financial institutions.† Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Forthcoming. Garg, S. (2013). â€Å"Venture boards: Distinctive monitoring and implications for firm performance.† Academy of Management Review, 38(1), pp. 90-108. Guerrero, M., & Pena-Legazkue, I. (2013). â€Å"The effect of intrapreneurial experience on corporate venturing: Evidence from developed economies.† International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 9(3), pp. 397-416. Guerrero, M., & Pena-Legazkue, I. (2013). â€Å"The effect of intrapreneurial experience on corporate venturing: Evidence from developed economies.† International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 9(3), pp. 397-416. Masulis, R. W., &Nahata, R. (2009). â€Å"Financial contracting with strategic investors: Evidence from corporate venture capital backed IPOs.† Journal of Financial Intermediation, 18(4), pp. 599-631. Maula, M. V., Autio, E., & Murray, G. C. (2009). â€Å"Corporate venture capital and the balance of risks and rewards for portfolio companies.† Journal of Business Venturing, 24(3), pp. 274-286. Napp, J. J., &Minshall, T. (2011). â€Å"Corporate venture capital investments for enhancing innovation: challenges and solutions.† Research-Technology Management, 54(2), 27-36. Narayanan, V. K., Yang, Y., & Zahra, S. A. (2009). â€Å"Corporate venturing and value creation: A review and proposed framework.† Research Policy, 38(1), pp. 58-76. Phan, P. H., Wright, M., Ucbasaran, D., & Tan, W. L. (2009). â€Å"Corporate entrepreneurship: Current research and future directions.† Journal of business Venturing, 24(3), pp. 197-205. Rohrbeck, R., Dohler, M., & Arnold, H. (2009). â€Å"Creating growth with externalization of R&D results—the spin?along approach.† Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 28(4), pp. 44-51. Souitaris, V., & Zerbinati, S. (2014). â€Å"How do corporate venture capitalists do dealsAn exploration of corporate investment practices.† Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 8(4), pp. 321-348. Srivastava, N., & Agrawal, A. (2010). â€Å"Factors supporting corporate entrepreneurship: an exploratory study.† Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 14(3), pp.163-171.

The Link Between Film Industry and Fashion Photography in...

Abstract This research was conducted to find out the link between film industry and fashion photography in Bangladesh. Also the main concern was to find out whether development of film industry can contribute to the development of fashion photography or not. Hence, the first task was to find out the current situation of film industry and fashion photography in Bangladesh. Though photography in Bangladesh has developed a lot in past few years but it is still under develop in the sector of fashion photography. The fashion photography sector in our country is mainly based on different fashion magazines, boutique houses, advertisement agencies. In case of film industry, Bangladeshi movie industry is experiencing a very sharp fall in†¦show more content†¦The photos depict her in her official court garb, making her the first fashion model. In the first decade of the 20th century, advances in halftone printing allowed fashion photographs to be featured in magazines. Fashion photography made its first appearance in French magazines such as La mode practique. In 1909, Condà © Nast took over Vogue magazine and also contributed to the beginnings of fashion photography. Special emphasis was placed on staging the shots, a process first developed by Baron Adolf de Meyer, who shot his models in natural environments and poses. Vogue was followed by its rival, Harpers Bazaar, and the two companies were leaders in the field of fashion photography throughout the 1920s and 1930s. House photographers such as Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, Horst P. Horst and Cecil Beaton transformed the genre into an outstanding art form. Europe, and especially Germany, was for a short time the leader in fashion photography. But now with the change in time every country has taken considerable measures to promote the field of photography. In the mid 1940s as World War II approached the focus shifted to the United States, where Vogue and Harpers continued their old rivalry. House photographers such as Irving Penn, Martin Munkacsi, Richard Avedon, and Louise Dahl-Wolfe would shape the look of fashionShow MoreRelatedMarketing Project of Reckitt Benckiser19417 Words   |  78 Pages2009.The company held Platinum status in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the Business in the Community Index and in 2009 entered the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. The company was formed by a merger between Britain’s. Reckitt Benckiser is No. 1 worldwide in its fabric care, surface care and automatic dishwashing divisions, which comprise, respectively, 24 percent, 19 percent and 12percent of its revenue. In the fabric care  segment, Reckitts brands includeRead MoreMarketing Project of Reckitt Benckiser19403 Words   |  78 Pages2009.The company held Platinum status in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the Business in the Community Index and in 2009 entered the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. The company was formed by a merger between Britain’s. Reckitt Benckiser is No. 1 worldwide in its fabric care, surface care and automatic dishwashing divisions, which comprise, respectively, 24 percent, 19 percent and 12percent of its revenue. 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A) metamarket B) vertically integrated market C) horizontally integrated market D) marketspace E) synchronized market Answer: A Page Ref: 9 Objective: 2 Difficulty: Moderate 21) Consider the real estate industry. The ________ for this industry includes construction companies, financing institutions, paint manufacturers, interior decorators, furniture manufacturers, and plumbing industries. A) marketspace B) latent market C) needRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. 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Enron Case Study - 4789 Words

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report will analyse the groupthink’s concerns in the collapse of Enron. The collapse of Enron is less than three months, which Enron from a very prosperous company to a bankrupt enterprise. The collapse of Enron is one of the most grievous business failures in United States. This disastrous business failure had causes a large number of employees lost their jobs and retirement savings. Groupthink leads groups to make faulty judgments. Groupthink occurs when a group make wrong decisions as the pressures of group lead to deterioration of â€Å"mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment†. There are several symptoms of groupthink. The issues to be resolved for Enron are collective rationalization, stereotypes†¦show more content†¦The dramatic transformation of the Enron collapse is one of the striking features, which is in less than three months, Enron from a very prosperous company to a bankrupt enterprise. 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Essay on Mediations of First Philosophy by Descartes

Mediations of First Philosophy by Descartes In the â€Å"Mediations of First Philosophy† Descartes tries to prove the existence of God in the third meditation. He does this by coming up with several premises that eventually add up to a solid argument. First, I will explain why Descartes ask the question, does god exist? And why does Descartes think he needs such and argument at this point in the text. Secondly, I will explain, in detail, the arguments that Descartes makes and how he comes to the conclusion that God does exist. Next, I will debate some of Descartes premises that make his argument an unsound one, including circular reasoning. Finally, I will see if his unsound argument has diminished and undermined his principal goals and the†¦show more content†¦Descartes gives an example of a stone, stating that the stone can’t be made by anything that doesn’t contain everything found in a stone. Basically the premise is based on a more general one that, it is not possible for something to come fr om nothing. Descartes then applies the Causal Adequacy Principal to ideas. Descartes claims that just in the case of how objects must contain at least as much reality as what created it ,then the cause of an idea must contain at least as much reality as the idea itself. So if an idea I represents some object O as having property P then the cause of I must have as much F as O is represented as having. Descartes puts these premises together and arrives at the fact that God exists in the following way. Since my idea of God represents God has being infinite and perfect whatever causes this idea must be infinite and perfect as well. Descartes then realizes that he cannot be the cause of his idea, of God, because he is not perfect or infinite. The definition of God as being â€Å"the perfect being† shows that the only thing that can cause this idea of the perfect being is God himself. Therefore a being that is perfect and infinite exists. Since an infinite perfect being exist God m ust exist. Descartes has arrived at a conclusion and has proved his argument. There were a few smaller argument that Descartes offers throughout the third meditation. One of them suggest that it is not possible to exist without the existenceShow MoreRelatedMeditations On First Philosophy By Rene Descartes Essay839 Words   |  4 PagesPrà ©ciso of Meditations on First Philosophy Through his series of books, Meditations on First Philosophy, Renà © Descartes enlightens his philosophical ideas about knowledge in which we should discard all belief we aren’t absolute certain about and establishes what we know for sure. In the introduction he clarifying the main ideas of each of the 6 books and using to them build up to his belief. Starting with the First Meditations, he discusses about doubt. 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The Handmaid’s Tale free essay sample

Like many totalitarian states, the Republic of Gilead starts out as an envisioned utopia by a select few: a remade world where lower-class women are given the opportunity interact with upper-class couples in order to provide them with children, and the human race can feel confident about producing future generations with the potential to see past divisions of classes. Yet the vast majority of the characters we meet are oppressed by this world, and its strict attention to violence, death, and conformity highlight the ways in which it is a far from perfect place. Atwood is tapping into a national fear of the American psyche and playing with the idea of American culture being turned backwards and no longer standing as the dominant culture. Atwood engages the reader by recreating events that have previously happened making the ‘dystopian’ world more relatable and, therefore, more frightening. Two of the most important themes of The Handmaids Tale are the presence and manipulation of power and freedom. The ideas of power, freedom and confinement are closely entwined and constantly on Offred’s mind. It is often the case, however, that these can be muddled with what is free and what is bound. Auntie Lydia thinks ‘there is more than one kind of freedom†¦ Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it. ’ This suggests the belief that; despite all that the women have lost, Aunt Lydia and Gilead argue, they are free now. They have freedom from things like sexist catcalls and potential abuse from strangers. They would argue that the women of Gilead should be grateful for such freedom rather than mourning the other freedoms theyve lost. On the one hand, Gilead is a theocratic dictatorship, so power is imposed entirely from the top. There is no possibility of appeal, no method of legally protecting oneself from the government, and no hope that an outside power will intervene which suggests that the people of Gilead are not free at all and have no power to break away from the regime. The confusion between boundlessness and restraint continues as Offred reminisces of Moira – Offred’s symbol of freedom: ‘Moira had power now, shed been set loose, shed set herself loose. She was now a loose woman. I think we found this frightening. Moira was like an elevator with open sides. She made us dizzy. Already we were losing the taste for freedom, already we were finding these walls secure. ’ The repetitions of â€Å"loose† shows the prominent idea of freedom – what all people would surely desire but the regime has made them frightened of this. The pattern of three gives the impression that she is now so loose that there is nothing to hold her together and she will not survive in the world she has escaped to. This shows how successful the Center is at brainwashing women and teaching them to believe in this new regime. So while once Moira would have been seen as a motivating force – a fantasy of an escape made good – the women in the Center are already retreating from their old notions of freedom and rights. With no freedom to think, the manipulated women question whether they even need any power. It soon becomes clear, however, that Offred is frivolously trying to hold on to the few memories she has left – as she feels these giver her power. Offred tries to still recognize the fact that this regime is wrong and she desperately tries to hold onto the idea of wanting to escape. She constantly reminds herself that she ‘intend(s) to last’, but she is morally and literally becoming ‘undone’. In this society memory is resistance in a less active manner. Her memories are a place she can escape to so we question whether that is enough freedom or not. To the present day reader the idea of only being free in your memories is far too restricting – reinforcing the dystopian narrative. As Offred’s relationship with the commander develops we see and emergence of the idea that even in a powerless regime women can exploit their sexual power and we become familiar with the idea of ‘fallen women’. Offred is in her room and filled with nostalgia for the outmoded habit of falling in love; ‘Falling in love, I said. Falling into it’ which is then mirrored; ‘Falling in love, we said; I fell for him’. The underlying biblical reference to ‘The Fall’ when Adam ate the apple from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden is very prominent. We are forced to consider the idea of the fall from innocence, which is presented as a paradox in this dystopian world as the women are not, by the terms of the bible, innocent. However it is also a reflection of the Gilead society because biblically ‘The Fall’ was Eve’s betrayal of Adam and the women who have been deemed â€Å"fallen† were unable to become pregnant – the ultimate betrayal of this society. The whole idea of â€Å"falling† is hugely passive and gives the impression of a very powerless action. For women in present day society I believe it would be the ultimate torment to be catapulted back in societal thinking where woman were far less than equal as it has previously been. The repetition of biblical references strongly draws in the theme of religion. The Handmaids Tale is a warning about what might happen if extreme religious ideology is followed as a solution to societal problems. It suggests that allowing religious fundamentalists to run a government is a recipe for injustice, cruelty and oppression. By using the novel to specifically target fundamentalist Protestants in America, sometimes known as the Christian right because of their conservative views on social issues such as abortion, womens rights and gay rights, we know that religion is a pressing issue not only in the predicted future, but in today’s society religion is an element of life that many people hold close allowing Atwood to engage the reader in the idea that this nightmarish world could become a reality. The Handmaids Tale was written during the presidency of Ronald Regan, from 1981 to 1989 – during which political and religious conservatism was on the rise. The novel takes some of the positions advocated by religious conservative and exaggerates them. For example, it is no secret that many conservatives, both then and now, wish to re-criminalize abortion. This is mirrored in the novel as the doctors who performed abortions are hanged at the Wall. Conservatives also tend to oppose gay rights; in the novel gays are hanged for ‘gender treachery’. The novel is infused with frequent allusions to different parts of the Bible. The most obvious is the reference to Genesis 30:1-3, ‘Give me children or else I die. The Ceremony, the ritual in which a Handmaid must lie face-up on her Commanders wife and grasp the wifes hands while the Commander has sex with her, and the Birthing Ceremony, where the wife feigns labor while the Handmaid gives birth, are direct references to the Genesis story of Rachel and Jacob. Also, we learn through Offred that the actual name of the Red Center, where Handmaids are trained, is the Rachel and Leah Center. The direct quote from the bible is a method Atwood uses to unnerve the reader as it makes the Gilead dystopia more realistic. On the most obvious and superficial level, the Bible plays an important role in the naming of objects and people in the Republic of Gilead. The men, according to their role in society, are called ‘Commanders of the Faithful’ and ‘Guardians of the Faith’ are the members of the police force. ‘Angels’ or ‘Eyes of the Lord’ are the soldiers of the army, and they have names like ‘Angels of the Apocalypse’ or ‘Angels of Light’. Whereas the word â€Å"angel† suggests something innocent or holy, the â€Å"Angels† in Gilead fight in wars. The names seem to suggest that it is a religious war they fight. The ‘Eyes’ are the secret police that are supposed to spy on the people in Gilead. The most important name, namely that of the state itself, is an allusion to the Bible as well. In the Old Testament, Gilead is a very fertile and therefore very desirable region in ancient Palestine. Ironically, the Republic of Gilead in Atwoods novel is exactly the opposite of fertile and desirable, which shows how the state tries to appear clean and pure, although it is not. It is a wasteland that has been devastated by pollution and war and whose citizens are oppressed. Significantly enough, the regime only uses statements from the Bible that present the beauty and godliness of Gilead and leaves out passages that imply negative things about the biblical model. One example for the choosing of biblical passages for the purposes of the regime is a passage in Hosea that Gilead chose not to use: â€Å"Gilead is a city of wicked men, stained with footprints of blood† Throughout the novel, Atwood shows how Offred desperately desires the knowledge and language she is being denied by the Gilead regime. Right from the opening pages of the novel it is evident that Offred’s desire for language to help her communicate and keep her identity is strong. The dislocated opening emphasises the confusion and fear that characterize any totalitarian state. For instance, in the opening chapter of the novel, Offred and the other Handmaid’s learnt each other’s real names by passing messages from bed to bed when denied the opportunity to otherwise do so. Offred describes how â€Å"We learnt to lip read watching each others’ mouths†. This highlights just how important names are in constructing our identities. The women in the centre feel it important enough to know each others’ names to risk being disciplined to do so. This shows hints of the bible again, as innocence and knowledge are being challenged against each other. They can’t ‘unknow’ what they have learned. Offred frequently creates similar neologisms, for example: ‘Salvagings Prayvaganzas Birthmobile†¦ Unwomen†¦ Unbaby’ which suggest the exaggeration of the regime that in today’s society there aren’t even words to describe some events. In a society where literacy is forbidden her, Offred frequently contemplates words and their meanings. Instead of illicit sex, the commander engages her in illicit games of Scrabble. Scrabble doesn’t fully rule out the sexual tension between Offred and the Commander as the words she chooses to spell all have sexual connotations or make some kind of physical reference; ‘Larynx’; ‘Valance’; ‘Quince’; ‘Zygote’; ‘Limp’; and ‘Gorge’. These choices of words gives the impression that the whole regime is dominated by sex and reproduction – a fearful idea for the people of today’s society who have worked so hard to bring humanity to where it is today. Harriet F. Bergmann argues that the novel presents its reader with an exercise in learning how to read for survival as in order to stay alive, Offred learns to use the new language of her own time so as to seem part of the new order that the language reflects. Nighttime is where Offred feels at her safest. This irony is significant because human nature teaches us not to trust the night, as the moon is never constant. The continuous changing of the moon symbolizes Offred’s memories becoming more of a blur. Sleep; or no sleep’ the night offers freedom of a kind because Offred is more or less alone. Inside her head she can dream herself into better times: ‘the night is my time out. Where should I go? †¦ Somewhere good. ’ At other times, she lies awake grappling to make sense of the horrendous changes in her situation. Atwood repreats references to the night because Offred sees her dreams as an escape and is never once concerned about whether of not sheâ⠂¬â„¢ll have a bad dream – as she could not dream of anything worse than the situation she’s in. To conclude, in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaids Tale the nightmarish scenes are created with a striking reality and continuously mirrored with present day life to create a dystopian narrative. At first, the situation in which the people of Gilead live seems completely futuristic and improbable but Atwood’s endless parallelisms to events which have already occurred gives reason to believe that history could repeat itself, as it has relentlessly done so in the past.

The Internal Control Weaknesses At Enron Accounting Essay Example For Students

The Internal Control Weaknesses At Enron Accounting Essay The events were eventually ensuing the filing for bankruptcy in December 2001, started manner much before fraud at Enron could be even suspected.A Andersen played a major function in the prostration of Enron.A Andersen failed two times sing audit issues merely a few old ages short clip before the prostration of Enron, at Waste Management in 1996 and at Sunbeam in 1997. The two audit failures mentioned supra should hold been immense warning marks for Andersen to protect itself against another client failure but what they had to confront sing Enron was worse than they of all time had.A Some internal memos at Andersen made it clear that several struggles existed between the hearers and the audit commission of Enron.A These memos contained several electronic mails as good which expressed concerns about accounting patterns used by Enron.A David B. Duncan as the taking spouse on the audit tipped over these concerns. Harmonizing to McNamee ( 2001 ) there is cogent evidence that Duncan s squ ad wrote memos fraudulently saying that the professional criterions group approved of the accounting patterns of Enron that hid debts and pumped up net incomes. Andersen s independency is besides extremely questionable due to the relationship between audit and non-audit fees. Harmonizing to McLean ( 2001 ) the individual who foremost spotted in 2001 that there was nt even any opportunity for Enron to do net income was Jim Chanos, the caput of Kynikos Associates. He said that that parent company had technically become nil more than a hedging entity for all of its subordinates and affiliates.A In 2001 the runing border of Enron went down significantly to 2 % from the old twelvemonth s figure of 5 % which is more than interesting because this sort of a lessening in one twelvemonth is unheard of in the public-service corporations industry. Chanos besides pointed out that Enron was still sharply selling stocks, despite there was barely any capital to endorse up the portions they were sel ling. We will write a custom essay on The Internal Control Weaknesses At Enron Accounting specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now To be professional and effectual, hearers must be independent of direction and measure the fiscal representations of direction for all users of fiscal statements. Less than 30 % of the fees that Andersen received from Enron came from scrutinizing, with the balance of fees coming from confer withing. Andersen acted as Enron s external hearer and as its internal hearer. Andersen s work as a adviser raises several inquiries. It appears that Andersen s audit squad, when faced with accounting issues, chose to disregard them, acquiesced in silence to unsound accounting, or embraced accounting strategies as an advocator for its client. Internal Control Weaknesses at Enron Hearers assess the internal controls of a client to find the extent to which they can trust on a client s accounting system. Enron had excessively many internal control weaknesses to be given here. Two serious failings were that the CFO was exempted from a struggles of involvement policy, and internal controls over SPEs were a fake, bing in signifier but non in substance. Many fiscal functionaries lacked the background for their occupations, and assets, notably foreign assets, were non physically secured. The trailing of day-to-day hard currency was slack, debt adulthoods were non scheduled, away balance sheet debt was ignored although the duty remained, and company-wide hazard was disregarded. Internal controls were unequal ; contingent liabilities were non disclosed ; and, Andersen ignored all of these failings. Evaluation of Accounting Materiality Hearers focus on stuff deceits. A deceit is material if cognition of the deceit would alter the determinations of the user of fiscal statements. When Enron began to repeat its fiscal statements and investors began to hold on its deceits, the response of the market is incontestable as to materiality. Many mistakes were known, but were dismissed by Andersen as immaterial. Other mistakes may non hold been known, but should hold been known if sensible enquiry would hold revealed them. Business Model, Experiences, and Organizational Culture At Enron and at Andersen, the concern theoretical account and the organisational civilization were altering. Enron was traveling to a new concern theoretical account dominated by intangible assets, the rights to purchase and sell trade goods. This alteration in assets was driven by a new organisational civilization which so sharply cultivated its ain growing. As hearers moved to go portion of a confer withing industry, their concern theoretical account and organisational civilization were altering excessively. It is likely that both the alterations at Enron and at Andersen were increasing hazards for investors. Enron s motion off from the laterality of fixed assets to the laterality of intangible assets was likely to increase volatility, and this chance was compounded by the usage of mark-to-market accounting. Besides, Andersen s motion off from the professionalisation of scrutinizing to the commercialisation of consulting was likely to weaken hearers as proctors of direction. Into t he mix of altering concern theoretical accounts and civilizations, add people who were non equipped for the alterations. The immature trading executives at Enron chased the trade for net incomes, while neglecting to hold on the hazards attached to the intangibles that were driving growing in net incomes. Likewise, immature hearers at Andersen embraced consulting, while neglecting to understand the hazard of audit failure. Many accounting houses and independent CPAs reacted to these events and implemented alterations in process voluntarily.A The biggest alteration that accounting houses made was a move made by the four staying members of the large five, KPMG, Ernst and Young, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.A These four companies decided to interrupt all ties with Andersen in an effort to avoid being dragged down with the merchandising contention environing the Enron scandal.A This distancing was besides due to the major alterations mandated to Andersen as a manner to acquire back on their pess after the dirt broke, and the other houses were afraid that these alterations would be forced on them every bit good. The authorities reacted sharply when they became cognizant of the Enron dirt, and a bustle of statute law and proposals emanated from Congress and the SEC about how best to cover with this situation.A President Bush even announced one post-Enron plan.A This program was to do revelations in fiscal statements more enlightening and in the direction s missive of representation.A This program would besides include higher degrees of fiscal duty for CEOs and accountants.A Bush s end was to be tough, but non to set an undue load upon the honest comptrollers in the industry.A .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b , .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .postImageUrl , .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b , .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:hover , .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:visited , .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:active { border:0!important; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:active , .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud18d314aea7d89aae929026e3e22ad3b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Christopher Columbus EssayBy far the biggest alteration brought approximately is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.A The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires companies to revaluate their internal audit processs and do certain that everything is running up to or transcending the outlooks of the auditors.A It besides requires higher degree employees, like the CEO and CFO to hold an apprehension of the workings of the companies that they head and to confirm the fact that they do nt cognize of any fraud being committed by the company.A Sarbanes-Oxley besides brought with it new demands for disclosures.A These demands included coverage of minutess called reportable transactions.A These minutess ar e broken down into several classs, which impact every facet of a business.A One of these classs is listed transactions-which are by far the worst. They are minutess that are really written out in a list, each one pertaining to one specific state of affairs. Another is minutess with a book-to-tax difference of more than ten million dollars. A There are several others, nevertheless these two will hold the greatest effect.A Attach toing these demands are rigorous punishments if these minutess are non reported and discovered later.A This act will intend important extra work for comptrollers over the following several years.A A For many old ages the SEC Chairman, so Arthur Levitt Jr. , had been naming for the separation of scrutinizing and confer withing services within one company.A However large houses like Andersen would use their proverbial weight to try to demo that confer withing did non interfere with an hearer s independence.A Since the major concern of Andersen s function in the contention Centres on their independency, and because of the big pecuniary consulting fees being paid to them by Enron, the push has been started afresh by Paul Volcker the former Federal Reserve Chairman.A Realistically, few think that the large houses will be able to deter the SEC from really implementing such a rule.A A A Many companies who use hearers believe that this is non the reply, because of the fact that it will do them to engage one house to make scrutinizing work, and another to make non-audit work like revenue enhancements and other filings. In an effort to non acquire damaged by any at hand authorities acti on, many business-including Disney and Apple Computer Inc. have already begun dividing their audit and non-audit work between different firms.A Outline1 Effectss on other Commercial Administrations2 WorldCom3 Adelphia4 Xerox5 AOL Time Warner6 Referencing Effectss on other Commercial Administrations WorldCom After the perplexing complexness of Enron s SPEs and prepays, Worldcom s fraud is simplicity itself. During the 1990s, WorldCom became a planetary telecommunication giant by geting companies such as MCI and constructing a big telecommunications web. In add-on, WorldCom entered into long-run, fixed-rate line rentals to link its web with the webs of incumbent local exchange bearers. Faced with the telecom downswing and intense force per unit areas on net incomes, WorldCom undertook a series of steps to blow up earnings37. The largest and simplest of these related to line costs. WorldCom merely recharacterized its ample line costs as Prepaid Capacity and transferred them from the Company s income statements to its balance sheets. The consequence was that over $ 3.8 billion of line costs that should hold been shown as disbursal were capitalized as assets. WorldCom s income was overstated by the same sum. There were no SPEs and no complex accounting fast ones. There was merely a journal entry passed under the waies of the Chief Financial Officer, Scott Sullivan, that reclassified disbursals as assets without any back uping certification whatsoever. When this was eventually discovered by the internal audit section, Sullivan offered an every bit audacious explanation38 which is deserving citing at length: At the clip of the cost recess, direction had determined that future economic benefit would be derived from these contractual committednesss as the grosss from these service offerings reached jutting degrees. At that clip, direction to the full believed that the jutting gross additions would more than countervail the future rental committednesss and deferred costs under the understandings. Therefore, the cost recesss for the unutilized part of the contract was considered to be an appropriate stock list of this capacity and would finally be to the full amortized prior to the expiration of the contractual committedness. ( FASB CON No. 6, par. 26 ) . Adelphia In a series of disclosures40 between March 2002 and June 2002, Adelphia Communications Corporation announced that it had concealed $ 2.6 billion of its liability. At the clip, Adelphia was the 6th largest overseas telegram telecasting operator in the United States. The Rigas household that owned a commanding interest in Adelphia besides owned several other companies ( Rigas entities ) that were besides in the overseas telegram telivision concern. The Rigas entities were managed by Adelphia. Furthermore, Adelphia subordinates and the Rigas entities borrowed money under a co-borrowing understanding with that made all parties jointly and independently apt for the adoption regardless of who had drawn down the money. This meant that the debt had to be shown as a debt of the Adelphia subordinates ( and hence as portion of Adelphia s amalgamate debt ) and non as a contingent liability. The undermentioned footer in Adelphia s December 31, 2000 balance sheet would hold led everybody to believe that this liability was included in the amalgamate debt: In fact, nevertheless, this sum was non included in Adelphia s amalgamate debt. The footer was therefore calculated to hide this debt wholly. At least, if the note had disclosed a contingent liability, readers would hold known that that this debt was in add-on to the debt on the balance sheet. Of class, even that would hold been inaccurate from an accounting point of position as the co-borrowing needed to be disclosed as debt and non as a contingent liability. The SEC stated: The skip of these liabilities was a calculated strategy to under-report Adelphia s overall debt, portray Adelphia as de-leveraging, and hide Adelphia s inability to follow with debt ratios in loan compacts. In March 2002, while showing the consequences for the last one-fourth of 2001, Adelphia for the first clip disclosed the being of $ 2.3 billion of concealed debt handling it as a contingent liability: .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 , .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .postImageUrl , .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 , .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:hover , .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:visited , .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:active { border:0!important; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:active , .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46 .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u097efcf946af3e2006e85226b11f9e46:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Creating Slave Laws EssaySubsequent revelation made it really clear that the sum of $ 2.3 billion was non merely a contingent liability but was really much a portion of Adelphia s debt. It turned out that there was non in fact any clear limit between the drawdowns by Adelphia and the Rigas Entities. The allotment of the co-borrowing between them was an arbitrary reclassification carried out every one-fourth while fixing the fiscal statements. The SEC stated: Adelphia direction allocated and reallocated co-borrowing liabilities among Adelphia s amalgamate subordinates and unconsolidated Rigas Entities at will and through a individual, quarterly hard currency direction rapp rochement of the inter-company receivables and payables outstanding at one-fourth terminal between or among Adelphia s subordinates and Rigas Entities In fact, Adelphia operated a Cash Management System ( CMS ) into which Adelphia, its subordinates and the Rigas Entities deposited their hard currency grosss ( generated from operations or obtained from adoptions ) and from which they withdrew hard currency for disbursals, capital outgo and debt refund. This resulted in the commingling of financess between Adelphia and the Rigas Entities. Adelphia s fraud was non restricted to privacy of debt. Between mid-1999 and the last one-fourth of 2001, Adelphia misrepresented its public presentation in three countries that are of import in the prosodies fiscal analysts use to measure overseas telegram companies: ( a ) the figure of its basic overseas telegram endorsers, ( B ) the per centum of its overseas telegram works rebuild, or upgrade, and ( degree Celsius ) its net incomes, including its net income and quarterly EBITDA . Most of this was accomplished by straight-out disproof or by fabricated minutess with the Rigas Entities through the CMS. Xerox Xerox restated its income for the old ages from 1997 to 2002 partially to reflect wrong accounting patterns associating to the timing and allotment of gross from bundled rentals. Xerox sells most of its merchandises and services under bundled contracts that contain multiple constituents equipment, service, and funding constituents for which the client pays a individual monthly-negotiated monetary value every bit good as a variable service constituent for page volumes in surplus of stated lower limits. The SEC claimed that Xerox s revenue-allocation methodological analysis for these contracts did non follow with the accounting criterions and forced Xerox to alter its methodological analysis. Under the original methodological analysis, Xerox estimated the just value of the funding constituent ( utilizing a discounted hard currency flow method based on the company s cost of equity and debt ) and of the service constituent ( by utilizing an estimation of service gross borders ) and att ributed the balance to equipment. In the new methodological analysis, the just value of the service constituent and the just value of the equipment ( utilizing hard currency sale monetary values ) are deducted from the entire lease payment to get at the funding constituent as a reconciliation figure and the inexplicit funding rate is determined. Interestingly, the company s old hearer, KPMG regards the original accounting as right and regards the new accounting adopted by the company and its new hearers, PricewaterhouseCoopers under force per unit area from the SEC as incorrect. KPMG stated that: KPMG remains house in its strong belief that the fiscal statements reported on by us in May 2001, including Xerox s fiscal statements for 2000 and the restated fiscal statements for 1997-1999, were reasonably presented in conformity with by and large accepted accounting rules. KPMG, Xerox and PricewaterhouseCoopers had it right the first clip, when the company and three separate squads from PwC all agreed with us that Xerox s rental accounting methodological analysis was GAAP compliant. By contrast, today s intelligence studies lead us to believe that the restated fiscal statements withstand economic world. They seemingly give Xerox the benefit of acknowledging grosss in 2002 and in future old ages that it had already recognized in anterior old ages. AOL Time Warner AOL Time Warner Inc. admitted50 in October 2002 that it had improperly inflated gross by $ 190 million and profitableness ( EBITDA ) by $ 97 million by improperly accounting for some on-line ad gross revenues and other trades between July 2000 and June 2002. While AOL Time Warner did non place the minutess involved, it is likely that these were the 1s that the Washington Post had highlighted in two articles52 in July 2002. The Post had alleged that America Online ( AOL ) resorted to questionable accounting patterns in an effort to shore up advertisement gross at a clip when it was in the procedure of geting Time Warner in a stock barter trade. From late 2000 onwards, stock markets were highly worried about the sustainability of advertisement gross for cyberspace companies. A failing in advertisement grosss could conceivably hold led to a crisp autumn in the AOL stock monetary value that could hold endangered the amalgamation with Time Warner. The Washington Post alleged: AOL convert ed legal differences into ad trades. It negotiated a displacement in gross from one division to another, bolstering its online concern. It sold ads on behalf of on-line auction giant eBay Inc. , booking the sale of eBay s ads as AOL s ain gross. AOL bartered ads for computing machine equipment in a trade with Sun Microsystems Inc. AOL counted stock rights as ad and commercialism gross in a trade with a Las Vegas house called PurchasePro.com Inc . AOL s accounting is under probe by the SEC and by the Justice Department. While the restatements are little comparative to AOL s entire grosss and net incomes, it could hold had a disproportional impact on the portion monetary value at a critical point of clip when it was clinching the amalgamation trade with Time Warner. Referencing Enron and Andersen-What Went Wrong and Why Similar Audited account Failures Could Happen Again by Matthew J. Barrett Governance, Supervision and Market Discipline: Lessons from Enron by Jayanth R. Varma, Journal of the Indian School of Political Economy published ( October-December 2002 ) , Volume 14 Number 4, 559-632 ) . Arthur Andersen and Enron: Positive Influence on the Accounting Industry byA Todd Stinson hypertext transfer protocol: //faculty.mckendree.edu/scholars/2004/stinson.htm McNamee, Mike and Harvy Pitt.A If You Violate the Law You Will Pay for it.A Business Week December 24, 2001: 33. McLean, Bethany.A Why Enron Went Bust.A Fortune December 24, 2001: 59