A Definition of Audit Independence

A Definition of Audit Independence Independence is fundamentally an attitude of mind for exercise of professional judgment and defined as an abstract concept that is easily subject to misinterpretation. Quality of integrity, objectivity, honesty, and impartiality are included in the concept to characterize independence. Independence is also a basic element to the reliability of auditors reports. However, it does not mean that an auditor must be free of all economic, financial, and other relationships to comply with independence. Two aspects are covered: Independence of mind. It is essential state of mind to enable an auditor to give his opinion or conclusion based on professional judgment without being affected by compromising influences. Independence in appearance. It refers to a perception of a third party regarding the auditors independence. Circumstances and relationships which are incompatible with independence would lead third party and users of financial statement to make conclusion that there is unacceptably high risks of auditors independence has been impaired. An auditor should maintains independence of mind but also portrays to others he is independent in an audit engagement. For this to be achieved, he or she should avoid those threats to independence in order to gain perception as truly independent from third party and users of financial statements in order to them confident that the auditors reports are credible. Definition of Auditors Independence: The concept of auditors independence is an issue that has been debated from many perspectives since the birth of the profession. Salehi1 stated that the auditors independence has been defined by International Auditing Practices Committee of the International Federation of Accountants as The auditor should be straight forward, honest and sincere in his approach to his professional work. He must be fair and must not allow prejudice or bias to override his objectivity. He should maintain an impartial attitude and both be and appear to be free of any interest which might be regarded, whatever its actual effect, as being incompatible with integrity and objectivity. How has the issue of audit independence evolved? During 19th century, the initial concept of audit independence arose fundamentally in British that the primary responsibility of professional accountants and auditors was to take charge and safeguard investments in existing and former colonies of the British Empire by those absentee owners and they could provide professional services to different investor groups. Auditors were strictly forbid from making investment and involving in the business that they audited. The audit independence during this era was at weak level as the scope of professional services could be broad and auditors were allowed to perform bookkeeping and financial statements preparation for the entities they audited. There was an economic shift from capital coming primarily from foreign sources to capital deriving primarily from domestic sources that led to a change in concept of audit independence during the late 19th and early 20th century. This shift related to the emergence of large American corporations and also a change in the understanding of nature and purpose of Business Corporation. During this time, accounting and auditing was essential to valuation of the proprietary interest of the corporation. There was a need to initiate periodic balance sheets to effectively distribute the retained profit to proprietary interest. By this, auditors primary responsibility shift from serving absentee ownership interest to collective proprietary interest instead. Normally, large banks or wealthy investors acted as domestic shareholders to compose collective proprietary interest. However, it tends to be more general public involved in stock ownership. The concept of audit independence was facing another alteration during the New Deal era when Securities Exchange Commissions (SEC) being created. Standards for reporting and auditing have been established by SEC to place effects on audit independence. As a result, primary duty of accountants and auditor shifted to professional standards for preparation and audit of financial statements. During this stage, objectivity and neutrality were essential concept for accountants and auditors in reporting on financial position and operation performance, rather than loyalty to a particular party. Until 1970s, the concept of audit independence has been eroded. Public accounting firms tend to modify objective and neutral focus and advocating clients regarding accounting and auditing matters (non-audit services) at the time FASB established to be the independent accounting authority. With a rapidly growing business environment, large public accounting firm capable to provide wide range of business services to their clients and the revenues derived which outpaced the traditional auditing services fees. Increasing competitive marketplace for auditing services accompanied by complexity of international business practices led some auditors shifted from objective and neutral focus to preferable in becoming trusted advisor of client even though independence issue had been stressed by ASB of AICPA during that period. In the mid- 1980s, internal audit activities were regarded as an opportunity area to be expanded by CPA firms for new and existing clients. However, most firms encountered obstacles in rendering outsourcing services to its clients which were resistance from internal audit departments and concern over independence of audit committee. External auditor rendering consulting services may enhance audit quality because he or she would be provided with considerable knowledge, operations and industry of the audit client. Anandarajan et al.2 stated that The greater the external auditors insight into the client, the better their ability to understand business transactions and identify key audit risks. External auditor has a chance to identify and evaluate the clients business issues since they involved in the day-to-day basis operations of client while they were performing consulting services. This would take advantage for subsequent quality of the audit. C. Richard3 mentioned several ways to enhance auditor independence prior to Sarbanes- Oxley Proposals Legal prohibition of financial interests in client companies. It has been the essential universal auditor independence principle that followed by both the SEC and public accounting profession. Elaboration of the rules and reporting structures have been formulated for professional employees of accounting firms including their direct family members to disclose any type of financial interests. Rotation of audit appointments Sarbanes-Oxley required that individual auditors rotate off a client on periodic basis to reduce the threats to independence to happen. However, it has been objected by auditors by claiming on loss of high start-up cost associated with the initial years of audit if rotation of auditors was being enforced. Peer Review This means reviewing the work of an audit firm by another auditor. It was gradually become common in many countries. An independent auditor-appointing and fee-setting body. This would help to enhance auditors independence judgment and action by reduce the ability of client management in determining the scope of audit and remuneration of auditors. In year 2002, the business failures of several large firms in United States such as Enron, WorldCom and the like led to significant accounting scandals that shock the market. Subsequently, several officials disclosed to the public that they had intentionally misled investors and this had trigger to question the role and integrity and doubt on independence of these companies auditors. The far-reaching legislation resulted from these accounting scandals was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and this SOX also created Public Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a professional body for the purpose of establish standards (auditing, ethical and independence standards) to police the auditors behavior. Strengthened independence rules and placing audit committee to oversee the auditors engagement are covered in the further consequences. The enforcement of SOX had transformed corporate governance in United States and had a profound influence abroad. Auditors independence was also an important concern in SOX. Section 201 list out those prohibit services to be provided by registered auditor to its clients. The list comprised of non-audit services including bookkeeping, financial information systems design and implementation, and valuation services. It is argued that auditor independence was being negatively affected by non-audit fees, supported by Enron and other scandal-ridden companies case. However, it is not guaranteed that prohibition of certain non-audit services will effectively increase auditors independence. Another important event was the independence standards previously establish by the AICPA and SEC through the Independence Standards Board has been recognized by PCAOB. It is under suspicious that whether these rules under SOX enforced were sufficient to meet publics perception on auditors independence. After the enforcement of SOX rules, it is necessary to have a proper reconsideration of the concept of auditor independence. A new concept of auditors independence might arose which in favor of reasserting former objective and neutral concept to accounting profession rather than provide non-audit services to clients. Emergence of ongoing accounting and auditing scandals could be viewed as a strong evidence to prove that independent auditors are not appropriate in providing non-audit services to its clients. But, this issue was not addressed in SOX or PCAOB independent standards. Another issue regarding audit independence was that client management may still hold the ability to influence scope of audit engagement and audit fees. Even though Section 301 of SOX has clearly specified that audit committee directly responsible for the appointment, compensation, and oversight of independent auditors, but there was no specific enforcement mechanism guaranteed that client management will not involved whether directly or indirectly in selection of auditors, determination of scope of audit and audit fees. In order for this new concept of auditors independence to be effective, two propositions are needed to be incorporated: Independent auditors should not subject to provide non-audit services to client. Management should be strongly forbidden by legislation in determining the scope of audit and audit fees to avoid unclear influences that management might exert to auditors. C. Richard3 stated without a transition to this concept, auditor independence standards will most likely be primarily cosmetic and will not provide sufficient assurance that auditors are in fact independent from client management. If this happened, may lead auditors independence appears to be unnecessary and auditing will no longer be trusted by third party and other users of financial statements since it unable to meet public perception on assurance. To create a demand for audit services, auditors must convince the market of their independence and also their competence. It has long been recognized that a reputation for independence is an auditors greatest professional asset and that any negligence on an auditors part will leave them open to severe penalties in the form of, inter alia, a loss of reputation (Owens 1941, Ashley 1942, Johnstone et al. 2001). Reputation serves as a collateral bond for independence, in that the reputation of an auditor found to be less independent than expected will be damaged and the present value of his or her audit services will be reduced (Watts and Zimmerman 1986). Reputation and independence of auditor is much important nowadays if compared to previous year due to many corporation scandals that happens before. There is hard to clarify and determine the auditor independence. There are 2 types of auditor independence which is independence in fact and independence in appearance. Independence in fact exists when the auditor is actually able to maintain an unbiased attitude throughout the audit, whereas independence in appearance is the result of others interpretations of this independence. The issues that happens currently in Asia country about audit independence issues are public feels that the definition of independence is unclear, expectation gap leads to problem of audit independence, offering non audit service will reduce audit independent, the more longer audit tenure, the more audit can resist management pressure, Definition independence is unclear The current issue happen in Asia country about auditor independence is public feel that the meaning, the definition of independence is ambiguity. Public do not know how to identify the independence of especially the new client. This auditor independence has been subject to vigorous debate in recent years due to major corporate collapses and perceived audit failures, such as Cendant, Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and Xerox in the United States. Which audit firm should public trusted since Big Five previously Arthur Anderson also having the problem of audit independence? Expectations Gap Other than that, there is a research the auditor independence concept in Taiwan be influence by audit expectations gap literature. The expectations gap indicates differences in views on the nature and role of auditing between client and auditors. There is a different interpretation makes independence concept issues has arise. Financial users expect too much for auditors work, pubic will think that auditors independence has impair due to expectation gap. To solve this problem, to rebuild the trust of public on the issues of audit independence, a number of local and international independence pronouncements and regulations have been revised and reissued. Non Audit Services (NAS) There is a research shows that there is a significant negative relation between non audit services and the extent of client agreement with the auditor over financial reporting issues. Produce non-audit services to client will reduce audit independence. The ability of the auditors to resist client management pressure in auditor-client negotiation over financial reporting issues is important to investigate because it concerns over the issues audit quality and the effectiveness of auditors and will reduce management discretion if auditor do not have ability to resist client management pressure. The ability of the auditor to resist client management pressure in negotiations over financial reporting issues is likely to be weaker when the extent of NAS provided to a client increases. But the ability of the auditor to resist client management pressures in negotiations over financial reporting issues is likely to be increasing as auditor tenure increases. When requiring auditing in NAS, clients are less likely to agree with a Big 5 auditor, but are more likely to agree with auditors perceived by industry specialists. Because of specialist has more greater knowledge of the clients industry, specialists should have greater ability to resist client management pressure about financial reporting issues Auditor independence may be impaired when auditors pursue economic self-gain, instead of serving the public interest during auditor-client negotiation. Audit fees The current study uses the extent of non-audit services (NAS) measured as a percentage of non-audit fees over total fees received from the client, because non-audit fees are increasing and are often significantly higher than audit fees and this has become the major source of revenue for most large audit firms. This argument implies that the auditors independence may be impaired when the auditor and client negotiate issues over financial statement reporting, and thus reduce the relative power of the auditor to resist client management pressure because of the auditors dependence on NAS services fees received from the client. The business community countered that annual audit fees would be increased substantially as a result of the minimum audit fee schedule especially for the small companies. They also charged that a minimum fee structure to the client which it would disagree with the principle of pricing based on free competition. Therefore, some large or more efficient firms which would not allowed charging less compared with other small audit firm. Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants and the EFAA (1998) suggest that client size which is measured from size of fees could raise doubts as to independence, but do not state what constitutes an unacceptable proportion of total fees. However, the EFAA clearly states that, the total fee from one client should not exceed a certain percentage of the total turnover of the audit firm. In Malaysia, Noordin (1990) expresses his concern that a code of ethics should provide guidance to limit over-dependence on one client for revenue. The ICAEW has ruled that the size of audit fees of a major client should not exceed 15 per cent of total fees to avoid impairment of auditor independence. This 15 per cent criterion has also been the level generally used in Australia at which auditors have to consider their independent position and there is even a suggestion that the 15 per cent is too low. The Cohen Commission (AICPA, 1978) directed attention to the importance of size of audit fees as one of the crucial independence-related issues. Burton and Fairfield (1982) point out that there may be a close linkage between management assurance service and size of audit fees. As the provision of management assurance service increases, the auditor is likely to be more dependent on the client due to the size of the fees generated. It also seems plausible that smaller audit firms will be more dependent on the client if the size of audit fees generated is a significant proportion of its overall revenue. Size of audit firm and the level of competition in the audit services market Further, in a highly competitive environment, the auditor is also perceived to be less independent due to the increased likelihood of losing a client and the revenue the client generates. Thus, the adverse effects of MAS, the size of the audit firm and competition on a third partys problem of auditor independence actually arise because of the linkage of these variables to audit fees. Basically, a positive relationship means that the larger the audit firm size, the greater the auditors independence. They prove that large firms are more resistant to client pressures, thus maintaining higher audit independence. In fact, it has been argued that large firms, due to their very size, may be more able and motivated to provide better audits. However, as pointed out by Goldman and Barlev (1974), one should not conclude that large CPA firms are immune to pressures from their clients. Competition among the offices of some large firms for clients may be as great as the competition among small, independent CPA firms. More to the point, the few court cases which challenge the assumption that CPA firms acted independently indicate that the use of a large CPA firm is no guarantee of its ability to resist pressures from clients, as happened with Arthur Andersen and Enron. Tenure of an audit firm An audit firms tenure, which is the length of time it has been filling the audit needs of a given client, has been mentioned as having an influence on the risk of losing an auditors independence. Most writers, who discuss the relationship between tenure and audit independence, support this view. A long association between a corporation and an accounting firm may lead to such close identification of the accounting firm with the interests of its clients management that truly independent action by the accounting firm becomes difficult. Some critics invoke the vested interest argument to support the assertion that auditors might compromise their independence to gain continuing audit engagements, the prospect of raising audit fees if the client firm expands, and opportunities of providing non-audit services later. Example, Enron and Arthur Anderson has associate for 15 years and does not change any other audit firm. In my opinion, the definition of auditors independence is very subjective until today. This is no absolute answer to justify the issue. However, we, as a human able to do are to rectify and improve the standard and regulation to solve the current issue. The standard and regulation are created by us and as a human is imperfect at everything. Sometimes we created the thing and did not consider the further weaknesses. We need to keep improve and rectify it while we face the cases and issues. A country used few hundred years to create and revise a better constitution. In addition, the auditing standard only used few decades to create the act and policy. We need more time to revise it to be a better regulation. Besides, the scandal or cases happened like Enron would scandalize the accounting and corporate level, but it also leave an opportunity to the standard board to revise and restrict the standard. Like the common law of the U.K., that is a lot of cases behind the law could guide the person to make a justice or correct judgment. The cases like Enron could be guidance for accounting and auditing standard board like Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Audit Oversight Board. Sarbanes Oxley Act was started to more emphasize the auditors independence and the occurrence of Audit Oversight Board was established to oversee the performance of audit team and audit committee. However, sometimes the constitution and standard board are intentionally to show themselves have perform their responsibility and task instead of truly rectify the problem. The standard is like a pendulum. The best of the standard is the middle of pendulum. Sometimes a case happened and the pendulum is out of the middle, may be moved a bit to the left side. But the pendulum was shaken by the constitution and standard board compel to push it to the right side instead of push it back to the middle. Their action was more to prove themselves have performed their responsibility to get the confident from the audience. I f a case happened again, they would push it to the left side. Besides, the person of the constitution and standard board is being paid the high salary by government or sponsor. They need to perform something to prove their responsibility to continue to hold his or her position inside the organization and get the pay rather than rectifies the issue. As an example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act had restricted the audit firms need to rotate the clients every certain period. It could increase the cost for auditors to start-up the new clients (Baker, 2005). Furthermore, the ICAEW has ruled that the size of audit fees of a major client should not exceed 15 per cent of total fees to avoid impairment of auditor independence (Noordin, 1990). This enforcement is to reduce the risk of auditors independence issue but it would restrict the revenue of the audit firms. Although audit firms are providing the professional services, it is still a profit-oriented firm. The middle of pendulum is the standard could maintain auditors independence and audit firms profit, but the revision of standard is already pushed the pendulum from left side to the right side or vice versa. Besides, the expectation gap between independence of auditors with financial report users is still occurring until today. This issue is unavoidable because the perception of audit incentive between auditors with financial report users is different. The perception from shareholders is they expect the auditors could give an assurance to the financial statements which is issued by the management. The perception from auditors is they provide the audit service to the client and the management would pay the audit fees. The audit fees are one of the issue could influence the auditors independence. This occur the conflict of interest between the auditors, shareholders and management. Although the auditor is independent, the financial reports users are always believe the unqualified audit report and invest to the company. However, the unqualified audit report is not absolutely eliminated the risk and fraud of the company, especially the inherent risk likes going concern issue. The auditors ar e difficult to justify the going concern issue in the audit report because the auditors are difficult to know the internal information from management. The auditors only can provide the reasonable assurance to the clients financial statements. This is mean the auditors does not guarantee or confirm the financial statements are true and fair view and they only can provide the audit opinion based on the information from management assertion. Although this kind of clarification is stated in audit report, it is still a lot of financial report users believe the auditors could eliminate the fraud. If the company is collapsed, the shareholders would directly think that is the auditors fault and they are not independent. Furthermore, the accounting scandal like Enron already worsened the confidence of financial report users toward the auditor independence and audit report. The expectation gap to auditor independence become larger because the failure of Arthur Anderson. The audit fees are the biggest challenge to the auditors independence. In the degree of professional ethic, the auditors should provide the professional audit service as primarily objective of the firms rather than profit orientation. The professional behaviour included independence, honest, competent and others. However, it is difficult for auditors to follow this behaviour because the nature of business. The audit firms could not survive without the profit. With the fierce competition in auditing, the auditors would intend to fulfil the client request to avoid losing a client and getting a better audit fees. The non-audit service and management audit service are one of the solutions to get a higher audit fees. These kinds of extra services could maintain the client relationship with the audit firms. Unfortunately, the accounting scandals and the restriction for audit independence decrease the profitability of audit firms. The competition becomes fiercer and the independence of audi tors is weakened. Besides, the size and tenure of the audit firms could affect the auditors independence. The larger firms could have the larger tenure and resistance to the management influence to the auditors independence (Goldman and Barlev, 1974). Like Big 4, they always serve the bigger clients than the smaller audit firms, they seem like have more authority to negotiate the audit engagement with the clients. The losses of some clients would not strongly affect the total revenue of the audit firms, but for the smaller audit firms are vice versa. The proportion of total fees to the revenue would strongly influence the audit independence (EFAA, 1998). The smaller audit firms have the greater proportion of total fees to the revenue, but it is still have some exemption cases like Enron and WorldCom. Therefore, according to the restriction for auditors independence from Sarbanes-Oxley Act, PCAOB and ICAEW, the smaller audit firms have the greater possibility to influence by the clie nt in term of audit independence. According to the statements above, it have many issues could affect and weaken the audit independence. However, the audit independence would not influence the demand of the auditing. The auditors independence only strengthens the reputation of the audit firms and has a competitive advantage in the audit market. The financial report users would not invest to a company that is not audited by the auditors. The agency theory could prove that the demand of audit is still necessary to the shareholders. The shareholders invest to a company and hire the employees to manage the operation and prepare the financial statements. The management would hire the auditors to issue an audit report to verify the financial statements. The information asymmetry and conflict of interest could happen between the shareholders and management. The shareholders invest a company is to get the return of their investment, but for the management is to get the higher salary. These kinds of incentives are the main is sue to the conflict of interest and information asymmetry. Therefore, the audit is necessary to reduce the information asymmetry and conflict of interest between them. Furthermore, some of the countries do not state the mandatory regulation that the companies financial statements must be audited and issued an audit report by the auditors. The shareholders mostly would request the management to hire the auditors to audit the financial statement and issue an audit report because they know the importance of auditing for their company. Moreover, the audit independence is strongly depending to the both auditors personality and management behaviour. The professional ethic and monetary incentive are the intersection between auditors and management. One of the weaknesses is the standards like Sarbanes-Oxley Act only emphasize the restriction of auditors independence and it does not emphasize the management interruption and influence to the auditors. Although an auditor has a strong independence but it could influenced by the management in term of monetary benefit to the auditor and his firm. Therefore, the current auditing standards should revise and more specify the both regulation of auditors and management to restrict the audit engagement. It seem like the auditing standards have a lot of the flaw in the current regulation, but it is the normal phenomena because the standard is imperfect same like the human. This is the reason for us to keep improve and revise the standard to become better and better. Besides, the standard is necessary in auditing because it is the guidance to the auditors to perform their competent task and provide the independent audit opinion. Although the standard is impossible to absolutely eliminate the fraud and the failure of audit independence, it could minimize the possibility and the frequency to happen the issues or cases like Enron and WorldCom. Hopefully the further exploration and rectification by standard board could improve the auditing standard and recover the confidence to the audit independence from the public.

A Brain Drain Essay examples -- Biology Essays Research Papers

A Brain Drain Anthrax, arteriovenous malformation (cerebral), chronic inflammatory, polyneuropathy, dementia due to metabolic causes, encephalitis, epilepsy, febrile seizure (children), generalized tonic-clonic seizure, Guillain-Barre syndrome, hydrocephalus, inhalation anthrax, treatments involving leukemia and neuroblastoma, malignant diseases involving the brain or spinal cord, meningitis, multiple sclerosis, normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), pituitary tumor, polio, Reye's syndrome, subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, syphilis, tertiary, etc. Seems like quite an extensive list, and yet the list goes on to include hundreds of dehabilitating diseases which can affect the central nervous system. One thing that all of these conditions have in common is the potential to be discovered with the evidence from a procedure know as the lumbar puncture (spinal tap or cisternal puncture). Over spring break, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern with a neurologist. During this time, I viewed the lumbar puncture. As painful and invasive as I had imagined it, it was not. I learned that the lumbar puncture is actually a quite simple and absolutely amazing procedure, much less painful than an intravenous or drawing blood. There is an exorbidant amount of information which can be obtained from the cerebrospinal fluid. Lumbar punctures are an outpatient procedure, usually performed by a neurologist, pediatrician, or family doctor and lasting only a few minutes. The goal of the tap is to collect and measure the pressure of the cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) which surrounds, cusions, and protects the brain and spinal cord. The CSF is a dense water-like fluid secreted by the brain and "flows through the skull and spine into the subara... ...e question and answer bulletin board. http://209.67.220.19/mayo/askphys/qa990215.htm 3)Picture of Lumbar Puncture Tray. http://www.neocare.com/_borders/lpk.ht1.jpg 4)Image of Lumbar Puncture http://night.medsch.ucla.edu/problem/wwid95/SPINLTP2.gif 5)Lumbar Puncture Procedures, For med students. http://www.medstudents.com.br/proced/lumbpunc.htm 6)Ask the Mayo Physician, More responses from the bulletin board. http://www.healthanswers.com/database/ami/converted/003515.html 7)Healthanswers medical research library. http://www.healthanswers.com/database/ami/converted/003526.html 8)Health central, More information from healthcentral, with image. http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/img/img2930.cffm 9) Medical review., An informative site with lumbar puncture information. http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/news/review/archives/medrev_v1n1_0010.html

How Russia was Christianized Essay

Religion, as one of the fundamental forms through which human beings make sense of their existence and experience, belongs to the intellectual and spiritual sphere of world-view, passion, or philosophy. Conversion to Christianity and gradual adaptation of the daily Christian rituals were a steps in continues process. Russian Christianization is a long-term, open-ended process; in other words, it was obliged to reinforce the Russian commitment to the faith through deeper understanding and performing daily rituals. Orthodox Christianity is the majority religion of Russia, estimates the number of adherents range from 55 to 80 percent. Russian Orthodoxy is an integral part of the Eastern Orthodox world and worldview (Ardichvili, 2006). The geographic reach of Eastern Orthodoxy today includes mostly Russia and the European part of the former USSR, Eastern Europe, and the eastern Mediterranean. For Russians, Orthodoxy is much more than simply a church; it is an entire way of life and culture (Clendenin, 2003). Russian approach to Christianity differed from Catholicism and Protestantism. It involved much singing and ritual and not much knowledge of the Bible. It also had a thick pagan substratum: peasants believed in wood spirits, sea demons and monsters of the lake. Orthodox teachings have stood the test of time; they are not teachings that serve popular culture. Russia’s state history as a history of its â€Å"core† people – the Russian people – is well known, and is a history of a Christian people. This paper provides a monograph on how Russia was Christianized. It shows how Russians are being molded by their belief as a whole. Further, it provides a deeper understanding of how Russians grows as a society through the Russia Orthodox Christianity. Russian Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy came to Russia from Byzantium in A. D 988, when the ruler of Kievan Russ (precursor of modern Russia and Ukraine) Grand Prince Vladimir, converted to Christianity, married a sister of the Byzantine emperor, and started a rapid process of instituting Orthodoxy as the state religion. Having searched the world for a faith to unite his people, his emissaries to Constantinople returned awestruck. Orthodox worship possessed such beauty, they reported, and that they did not know if they were on earth or in heaven. Russians soon came to love and adore their new faith, taking Orthodoxy to heart and building numerous churches and monasteries. The church in Russia was governed by a hierarch appointed from Constantinople until the Turks sacked that city in 1453, leaving the Russians as the strongest defenders of Orthodoxy in the world. In 1472, Ivan III, the grand duke of Moscow, married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor (who had died in 1453). Ivan then took the title of czar-an adoption of Caesar-and Moscow began to consider itself â€Å"the third Rome. † Missionary activity spread Russian Orthodoxy throughout Siberia and beyond Russia’s borders to Alaska, Finland, Japan, and China. In effort to serve Russian emigrants around the world, the Russian Orthodox Church established dioceses in North America, Europe, and Japan. The Russian Church and state continued to play this central role in the Orthodox world for the next 450 years (Clendenin, 2003; Ware, 1997; World Fact Book, 2005). However, in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution resulted not only in abolition of Orthodoxy’s role as the state religion but also in destruction of thousands of churches and monasteries, and the deaths of millions of members of the clergy, monks, nuns, and lay believers. Communists, bent on creating a workers paradise in this world, fiercely attacked the church. Before the revolution, Russia boasted more than 50,000 churches and 160,000 priests. By late 1930s there were no more than 300 functioning churches. The clergy had been murdered or had died in the gulags, and only a skeleton crew of priests was allowed to serve such as the faithful. Outside communist Russia, the faithful suffered as they witnessed the tragic fate of the countless persecution of their church. Bishops in exile rallied around Metropolitan Antoni, forming a temporary church authority that took refuge first in Constantinople and, then, at the invitation of the Serbian patriarch, in Karlovei, Yugoslavia. The historical events of that year, 1917, caused the dispersion of millions of Russians worldwide, outside the borders of their native country. Back in Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon issued a decree supporting this action, though later, presumably under communist influence, he retracted it. The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia chose to ignore the second decree, since Patriarch Tikhon issued it while under house arrest. He later died under circumstances so mysterious that he is now considered a martyr. One of his successors, Metropolitan Sergii, maintained correspondence with bishops abroad. This landed him in prison in 1926, where he stayed until he issued his now infamous â€Å"Declaration† in July 1927. In it, he demanded that all clergy abroad make a written promise of their loyalty to the Soviet government and declared that all Orthodox in the Soviet Union must be â€Å"faithful citizens and loyal to the Soviet government. † Perceived as a betrayal of the church by the Synod and many faithful within Russia and abroad, Sergii’s declaration silenced any doubts that the church in Russia was subject to communist control. The problem was compounded when he formed a church organization that was not sanctioned by the bishops in Russia and abroad. In the USSR, an underground â€Å"free† church sprung up in defiance, Russian Orthodox abroad dug in and held tight to their traditions, sensing that they alone preserved the faith undefiled and incorrupt. Archbishop Laurus, who arrived in America in 1946 with a group of monks fleeing the war in Europe, states that the primary purpose of Hollywood Monastery is to â€Å"preserve Orthodoxy as it was passed on from our predecessors and to give it to the next generation and also to Russia. † With the fall of communism, Russians were allowed to return to their churches without obstacles. It soon became clear that Orthodoxy had procreated the Russian soul so deeply that even seventy years of repression couldn’t stamp it out. Even so, the Russian Church outside of Russia and the Russian church in Russia have not reunite There are a number of unresolved issues blocking union, including the canonical ones cited above, moral questions, and others, such as the caution of all the new martyrs of Russia. The Synod, unwilling to taint the purity it has so ardently maintained, remains steadfast in its position. Moreover, Warem (1997) estimated that there were more than 54,000 churches in prerevolutionary Russia and more than 17,000 functioning churches in 1996. Although officially the whole country was supposed to be atheist during the Soviet rule, millions of people followed their religion in private, and many more joined the church after 1991. As suggested by Clendenin (2003), more than 70 million people in Russia today identify themselves as Orthodox. WORKS CITED Ardichvili, A. â€Å"Russian Orthodoxy worldview and adult learning in the workplace. Advances in Developing Human Resources. † 8(3). 373-381, 2006. Clendenin, D. â€Å"Eastern Orthodox Christianity. † Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Aademic, 2003. Warem T. â€Å"The Orthodox church. † London: Penguin, 1997. World fact book, December 20, 2005.

Chosen business: Tesco Essay

There are different types of information that Tesco use these are: – Verbal information: This is spoken information it could come from the customer, it could also come from Tesco if they let any promotions over the tannoy. – Written information: This is information that is written in a document, Tesco uses this type of information in its leaflets, receipts and collects this information from customers through comment cards etc. – Onscreen information: Tesco will use this type of information in their TV adverts so that they can get a lot of promotions across to their potential customers, they can also use this to show customers how good they are compared to their competitors and that their products are cheaper. – Multi-media: This type of information is a lot of different sources mixed in, it includes pictures, presentations, videos and can include on screen information, Tesco does not normally use this type of information because they tend to use types of i nformation that they can easily communicate with their customers such as verbal or written in the form of a leaflet or poster. – Web based: This type of information is given out or collected through the internet, Tesco have a website that they use to communicate information on the business to their customers. Customers can also give information through this by buying products online and giving reviews on Tesco. Tesco use these types of information for many different purposes, these are: – Updating knowledge: They use information to update their knowledge on things like what products are selling the most and which ones have high demand, they can then make sure that they supply all of these products for the customers, they can find this out by questionnaires etc. and also written sales figures and this will update their knowledge on what products are their best sellers so they can promote these. -Informing future developments: They use information to inform their future developments because if they can get lots of information from their customers then they can use this to make plans for their fut ure developments in order to make their organisation better, they can use customer feedback via written information. -Strategic direction: They use different types of information in order to decide which strategic direction they are going to take, they can use sales figures and department feedback to see what is making Tesco do so well. If they come across a problem, like they do not have enough sales then they can use this information to change their strategic direction. -SWOT analysis: They use both internal and external forms of information in order to see what their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are. Tesco will use sales, customer, department, competitor and growth information in order to conduct a swot analysis they will then find that their strengths are having specialist marketing expertise because they are such a huge organisation they know what they are doing. They also have weaknesses such as a large amount of competitors that could overtake them such as Asda and Morrison’s. An opportunity could be the development of technology such as self-scan machines that they can use to promote their business. A threat could be how Asda is currently top of the market and this means that they need to come up with more ideas to get above Asda. -Offering competitive insight: They will use information such as market share and published sales figures from other their competitors to see how good other competitors like Asda are doing they can they use these to see what they can do better. They will also use the on-screen information such as the TV adverts to get a competitive insight because they will see what offers their competitors are doing and try to match or outdo these. -Communicating sales promotions: They use both written, on screen and verbal information in order to communicate their sales promotions, they will do this because by using more than one method of information they can get more information and better information out to their customers and it will mean that more of the customers are likely to see the promotions and buy the products. -Inviting support for activities: They can use onscreen and written information to do this because if Tesco are holding a fundraiser then it is important that they can get this message out to their customers and staff so they will hand out leaflets on the activities they are holding and advertise it on the television for people who are not coming into store this will invite support. They can also use written information such as messages on bulletin boards in the staff room to invite support for new technology in the business such as new ICT and then staff will be able to voice their support or non-support for this new software etc. There is lots of places that Tesco get this information from, these can be both internal and external: Internal -Financial: This is a place where Tesco can get their information from because if Tesco is doing well and generating a profit then they know that they are doing something well and may not need to change their strategic direction if they are constantly growing and generating more money. -Human resources: This is a place where Tesco get their information from because they can tell them if the staff are good enough to do their job for example, do they have the right skills to do their job. Human resources can also give them a lot of information such as training that they are giving then Tesco can use the staff for different things because they will be trained to do this. -Marketing: This is a place where Tesco can get information on how departments are doing but they will also use this to give information out to their customers for example Marketing can advertise the promotions and create the adverts, they can also market new products that come into the business so that customers know what products exist so that they can buy them. -Purchasing: This is a place where Tesco can get their information because they will get information such as if they are getting a good deal on all the products that they are buying for their stores, they will also get information such as are they having good suppliers where deliveries arrive on time. -Sales: Tesco gets information from their sales because they can look at their sales figures to see what products are selling the best and what kind of products have high demand, they can then make sure that they make the most of these products and promote them more so that customers buy more e.g. Warburton’s because customers buy bread very often so it is often on promotion in Tesco. -Manufacturing: Tesco make their own brand products, they get information from this because they know how much it is costing them to manufacture these products, they can then put a reasonable price on the products so that they are giving their customers the best deal and they will be able to make profits if they know how much the product is going to cost them to manufacture. External -Government: Tesco get information from the government on things like how much they can legally pay their staff e.g. minimum wage, this is important information because they can use this to not spend too much on wages if they don’t need to but also to protect their staff. -Trade groupings: Tesco can use the information they get from trade groupings for things like their competitors because they will be meeting with these people and can then gain more of an insight into their business and Tesco can improve to be better. – Databases: Tesco can use the information they get from external databases in order to help their organisation, they can find out independently published databases on the sales of individual products that they sell. They can also get databases on how other competitors are doing so this information can help them to change their strategic direction if they need to. -Research: Tesco can do their own primary research into products and their customer service to see how they are doing but they can also use external secondary research, this can be done on forum sites where customers have reviewed Tesco and they can also do secondary research from people who have already published research and they can use this. -Reliability of data sources: If Tesco does a lot of secondary information then it is important that they find out how reliable to sources of the data are, if the person who took out the research is a reliable source e.g. a government source then they can use this well because they know that the information is reliable and will not mislead them but if it is from an anonymous source then it is not likely to be reliable and may be biased so it might not be the best idea to use this as it may lead to Tesco making wrong decisions. Task 2 (M1) Verbal information is an appropriate way of communicating and gathering information in Tesco because it allows for Tesco to get their information to their information to the customers quickly and would allow for Tesco to get all of their promotions out quickly and often verbal communication is a more persuading way of giving information and by giving the promotions verbally Tesco may be able to persuade their customers to buy more, so this would be an appropriate way for Tesco to get the information it needs across to its customers. The source of verbal information can come from sales, I think that this is an appropriate source for verbal information and for information in general because it comes from the customer themselves, it is normally a one on one encounter with the staff and the customer so this means that information is less likely to be manipulated because there is less people for it to go through before it can get used, so this source is reliable and valid because the info rmation is coming direct from the customer or the information is coming directly from the seller for promotions etc. Another type of information is written information, when Tesco uses this it is normally in the form of leaflets so that they can show their customers what is on offer at Tesco, it is an important and effective way of getting information across to the customer because it means that they can read it anytime they want, even when they are not in the store they can pick up the leaflet and see what is available at Tesco. Written information allows for the customer to view the information any time they want and it allows for Tesco to get the information out to many people at once, verbal information may not be appropriate when trying to get a lot of information out to a lot of people because it is often not possible to talk to many people at once other than a tannoy and also verbal information will only allow for information to be passed to people who are in the store at the time whereas written information can be given to people who are not in store. The source of written information could be marketing within Tesco, this is an appropriate source of written information because marketing has the right skills in order to make an effective leaflet that gets all of the information needed to the customer, they know from other departments what information needs to go into the leaflet e.g. what promotions are on or what jobs are available via human resources so they can then market and advertise this in a way that will attract customers to take and read the information. The final type of information that Tesco use is on-screen information, this is in the form of TV adverts and sometimes on screen adverts in store, this is a good way of getting information across to the customer about things that might be going on at Tesco e.g. new products or events that are being held. On-screen information is a good way of giving out information because customers will still remember what they have seen even after the advert has finished and this means they will remember what is happening or what products there is and if people see something they are interested in then they are likely to go and buy it as a result of the on-screen information, it also allows for Tesco to run adverts even when the stores are not open, it also allows for them to advertise directly to the customer in an environment that they are comfortable with because most people watch the television at home and will be relaxed and more likely to take in information. It is reliable because it has come directly from Tesco which means all of the information is what they want to share and all the information is correct. A source of on-screen information at Tesco is the marketing department, they are responsible for advertising and marketing all new products and generally advertising the organisation. They will be able to make the information clear and attractive using multimedia and on-screen and if customers are attracted to an advert they are likely to listen and be interested, allowing for the information to be shared to the customer. Marketing is a good source of information for on-screen because they know what they are doing and have the right skills to make an effective advert that is fit for purpose.

Movies on Patriotic theme essays

Movies on Patriotic theme essays The economic downturns of the Great Depression contributed to the countys fascination with gangster genres. As Americans lost their jobs or saw their farms foreclosed on by the once admired establishment or banking system; with public endorsement gangsters descended in spirit from Americas frontier outlaws such as the James Gang, and led by desperadoes like Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and Machine Gun Kellyrose up to assault the system. Because of Prohibition, the Great Depression and World War II, gangsters became the modern gunslingers and outlaws. The gangster saga replaced the Western as the American myth. It told the story of modern America. Young Americans enjoyed watching gangster films during the 1930s. Before President Roosevelts New Deal, gangsters were without doubt the American cinemas most striking heroes. The film industrys love affair with members of criminal gangs was only natural, they were colorful, violent, and charismatic men and women whose law-breaking ac tivities were followed by millions of law abiding Americans. But when brought to the screen, gangster films more than any other Hollywood genre created problems not only for the usual censorship lobbies but also for judges, lawyers, teachers, policemen, mayors, newspapers, and local councilors. Many respectable citizens believed that gangster films based on the lives and activities of Prohibition-era criminals, led to an increase in juvenile delinquency and accused Hollywood of delivering impressionable youth into a career of crime. The harmful effects of fast-moving and exciting gangster films on young cinema patrons thus became a prominent concern of those eager to control and censor this pervasive new mass medium. After a series of sex scandals rocked the American film industry, in 1922 Hollywoods Jewish moguls hired a midwestern Presbyterian gentleman and influential Republican William Harrison Hays, former Postmast...

How to Use It Depends in Conversation

How to Use It Depends in Conversation In conversation, it is not always possible to give a yes or no answer to a question about our opinion. Life is not always black or white! For example, imagine you are having a conversation about your study habits. Someone might ask you: Do you study hard? You might want to say: Yes, I study hard. However, that statement might not be 100% true. A more accurate answer might be: It depends on which subject Im studying. If Im studying English, then yes I study hard. If Im studying math, I dont always study hard. Of course, the answer, Yes, I study hard. might be truthful as well. Answering questions with it depends allows you to answer questions with more nuance. In other words, using it depends lets you say in which cases something is true and which cases false. There are a few different grammar forms involved when using it depends. Take a look at the following structures. Be sure to carefully note when to use It depends on ..., It depends if ..., It depends on how /what / which / where, etc., or simply It depends. Yes or No? It Depends The most simple answer is a sentence stating It depends. After this, you can follow up by stating yes and no conditions. In other words, the meaning of the phrase: It depends. If it is sunny - yes, but if it is rainy - no. It depends if the weather is good or not. Another common conversational reply to a yes / no question is It depends. Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no. However, as you can imagine answering a question with this doesnt provide much information. Here is a short dialogue as an example: Mary: Do you enjoy playing golf?Jim: It depends. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Answering the question with a more complete version provides more information: Mary: Do you enjoy playing golf?Jim: It depends. If I play well - yes, but if I play badly - no. It depends on noun / noun clause One of the most common ways to use it depends is with the preposition on. Be careful to not use another preposition! I sometimes hear It depends about... or It depends from ... these are both incorrect. Use It depends on with a noun or noun phrase, but not with a full clause. For example: Mary: Do you like Italian food?Jim: It depends on the restaurant. OR Mary: Do you like Italian food?Jim: It depends on the type of restaurant. It depends on how adjective subject verb A similar usage that takes a full clause is It depends on how plus an adjective followed by adjective and full clause. Remember that a full clause takes both the subject and verb. Here are a few examples: Mary: Are you lazy?Jim: It depends on how important the task is to me. Mary: Are you a good student?Jim: It depends on how difficult the class is. It depends on which / where / when / why / who subject verb Another similar use of It depends on is with questions words. Follow It depends on with a question word and a full clause. Here are a few examples: Mary: Are you usually on time?Jim: It depends on when I get up. Mary: Do you like buying gifts?Jim: It depends on who the gift is for. It depends if clause Finally, use it depends with an if clause to express conditions for whether something is true or not. Its common to end the if clause with or not.   Mary: Do you spend a lot of money?Jim: It depends if Im on vacation or not.

Cellphones Play Important Roles in Communication

Nowadays, there is no one who was not use a gadget like cell phones from old communication likes post mail to high technology that make the communication simple, fast and affordable. wherever people may go and whoever they want to talk. Cell phone make it easier to keep in touch to our family and friends. Communication is the most basic element of the society. And with the technology today people are able to communicate effectively and easily in just a click. Cellphones play important roles in communication nowadays. Not only in calling, people today also uses cellphones in communicating in social media. And it’s been a habit of people to use cellphones to interact in social media by sharing their thoughts, knowledge, opinions, and experiences. Like emergency situations, in case like forgot your keys at home, got injury and also improve knowledge could use phone to internet and learn somethingfrom it. In miss understanding in class, could use it to email your teacher as soon as possible and call classmate for help. And on events around the world, today all phones have new apps. With cellphones came the most useful invention, which was internet. The internet is a great tool as it allows anyone to find information on any of the imaginable topic in seconds. The internet allows to purchase or sell any product anywhere around the world. Social networking is even possible with the help of it people can interact with one another and can create new bonds. There are different kind of people in the world including shy, anti social and various others. Cellphones have many features, which allow shy people to interact with someone on internet without hesitation and increase their confidence. But there are certain factors that contribute and affect a person who is using a cellphone regularly and more often.