Love Is A Confusing Thing - 1836 Words

Love. From that one word, every person had a different idea in their head. Many went straight to the fairytale true love, the idealistic love. Some went more towards their own love, which is never as perfect as the fairytale, but perfect in its own way. Others thought of a non-romantic love, such as that between family and friends. I have learned much about all these types of love -through school and through life- many just this year. Love is a confusing thing, which is why stories create the idea of â€Å"true love†. The idea of having only one person for you is a simplifying idea, a nice idea, and an incredibly unrealistic idea. In real life, meeting one person and just knowing they are the one for you does not happen. Love is messy and wonderful and hurtful and good. We’ve read many books in class this year that teach on this subject. This in itself is nice for us, because we don’t have to go through as many trials to learn the same lessons. We can learn from others’ tribulations to help ourselves. The Crucible showed clearly a misled romantic love. Abigail was so lost in her desire that revenge at being turned away consumed her. The love of the Proctors for each other led almost solely to the end conflict. For me, this helps put my own feelings in check: those that can be spoken and those that shouldn’t. Those that will help and those that will hinder. Being as out of control as Abigail was helps absolutely no one. We also read Of Mice and Men. This book wasShow MoreRelatedLove Styles1231 Words   |  5 PagesLove Styles Ginnina Pleze American Public University System Instructor John Hetherington COMM285 February 14, 2015 Love Styles ï  ¶ Using sociologist John Alan Lees love styles (refer to pages 261- 263 of Intimate Relationships, and pay special attention to Table 8.7 Styles of Loving found on the top of page 262) from chapter eight of Intimate Relationships, what is the predominant love style for most of the characters presented in the book, Confusing Love with ObsessionRead MoreBetrayal In The Great Gatsby Analysis1225 Words   |  5 PagesThe definition of Betrayal is- To be unfaithful, or to disappoint the hopes or expectations of someone. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, you encounter varying degrees of betrayal. From a forbidden love affair, Daisy and Gatsby fight for their lost love until a huge sacrifice has to be made. While Myrtle is unhappy with her lower class life and hard working husband George, she admires Daisy’s lavish life, more specifically her husband Tom. Lastly, we come to Tom and Daisy; they areRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1110 Words   |  5 PagesNovelists are often concerned with exploring the confusions and complexities of social relationships. In the context, confusions refer to puzzling relationships, which are confusing to comprehend. Whereas, complexities relate to complicated and intricate issues. The different social relationships discussed in F.Scott Fitzgerald s novel,The Great Gatsby, are business colleagues, lovers and married partners. The characters involved in these relationships consist of, Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom BuchananRead More Love in twelfth night Essay714 Words   |  3 Pages Love in twelfth night In the play twelfth night, Shakespeare covered three types of love : Lust, true love and brotherly love. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans posses. Love is an extremely diverse emotion which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night. Lust, which is probably one of the most confusing types of love was an apparent subject in twelfth night.There are many reasons why one would lust, one could be because you are attractedRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream Essay854 Words   |  4 PagesNIght’s Dream A â€Å" Midsummer Night’s Dream† is a classical play written by William Shakespeare. It is one of his more eccentric piece of work. The play is about the struggle of love between four essential characters: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius , and Helena. However, it is not quite that simple. The play is quite confusing. In â€Å"Midsummer Night’s dream† the play take place in two realms fairy realm and human realm, two of the three main settings. Another one of the settings take place inside the cottageRead MoreTheme Of Love In Twelfth Night767 Words   |  4 PagesLove in Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night explores the various representations of love that are universal to the human experience. In the play Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, covers three types of love, Lust, true love and superficial. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans possess. Love is an extremely diverse emotion and allows for multiple opinions on what it truly is which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night. True loveRead MoreAnalysis Of Barbara Fredricksons Love 2. 01177 Words   |  5 PagesIn Barbara Fredrickson’s â€Å"Love 2.0† she talks about how love is a system and has its own biology. Our bodies are constantly changing and going through different experiences and with those experiences our bodies become more attuned to love. And the more people become associated with love, the more they are able to reciprocate it. In the passage, Fredrickson talks about how the body is designed to love and constantly craves it, but with that it can complicate the understanding of free will. FreeRead MoreAnalysis Of Alexander Pushkin s Queen Of Spades 1401 Words   |  6 Pagesof many things, but is the story too much for one moral of the story. What is the moral of the story? Many moral can be found like never be too trustworthy or greed will only leave in disaster. Some could say that the moral could be that the story has a deeper moral. For example, some say that the moral is about the action of one man greed can affect the lives of not one but all. It can be far fetch but some have come to believe that Pushkin moral was this. All this is good but one thing is for sureRead MoreMount Pleeasant1091 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Mount Pleasant† By Mary Louise Buxton, 2005 Childhood is the time when you experience a lot of new things – you play, go out and see things, experience something new and just having a good time - do whatever you want, even though your parents doesn’t always approve to go out and play and get dirty with your friends. When you are a child, you have a great imagination and a big fantasy. Some children tend to live in a fantasy world, where everything is about having fun, get dirty and just havingRead MoreComing Of Age By Wes Anderson Essay1628 Words   |  7 Pagesworld around them, dramatic changes in life are an absolute certainty. Young, naà ¯ve children are highly impressionable. Their parents teach them one thing, their friends another, and society, yet something else. Fickle, they morph in and out of the plethora of ideologies and mindsets laid out in front of them. This leads to a disorienting and rather confusing child-to-young-adult life, one without a clear sense of morality. The lack of focus upon what is right and wrong, inherently subjective terms, continues

The Heroes Of A Hero - 2033 Words

To have a set of skills and qualities to become hero, bravery is genuinely one of the biggest traits one must have to be a hero. Heroic tales usually contains violence in the story. In most heroic novels, books, and poems that feature a main character with a hero’s complex, the source of their power is derived from their heroism undermines their ability to reason. In the books examined there is always a hero or heroine that is tasked with self-discovery, destroying evil, seeking vengeance on evil, or is burdened with the clichà © of saving the world. In these examples there typically violence towards another party regardless of the context of the setting. If there’s a hero in the story, there will usually be a violent situation the hero†¦show more content†¦The Iliad is a prime example of this heroic masculinity idea turning a hero into something toxic. In the text examined, the general allegory considered warfare as positive means to an end. It was as presu med that everything would and can be solved with violence and bloodshed, to win the war and conquer another. The story circulates around masculinity, bravery, and heroism; it had the idea that a man must be as manly as possible to fit into society. The notion of fighting constantly with another to gain respect, power fits into the ideals of the societies discussed in the stories of the Iliad and Agamemnon. Those who lack the masculine qualities are considered a coward and dishonorable to society. â€Å"I know only cowards depart from battle / A real warrior stands his ground / whether he is hit or hits another† (433- 435.) One of the main character falls in line to all this, and the character is Achilles, he was a victim of losing many things throughout the story such as, his war prize, Briseis when Agamemnon stole her from him, and the death of his closest friend Patroclus which caused him to initiate in warfare against Hector. Achilles, the main character of the story â€Å"The Iliad†, was a hero that displayed excessive violence and heroic masculinity towards men on men fighting. Eventually Achilles masculinity turned to the point where it becauseShow MoreRelatedThe Heroes Of A Hero1021 Words   |  5 PagesThe Heroes of Fearless A hero can be many different types of people and have many different qualities. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a hero as a person admired for achievements and noble qualities. Tom Hanks said â€Å"A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown†. Heroes are strong and courageous, but they can also be quite and work behind the scenes. Eleanor Roosevelt once said â€Å"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes upRead MoreThe Heroes Of A Hero1082 Words   |  5 PagesChristopher Reeve once said, â€Å"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.† In today’s society, what describes a hero is different to each person you ask. In my opinion, there are three different heroes today. There are the heroes you read about in books and watch in movies such as The Avengers and X-Men, and there are the everyday heroes such as doctors, police, and soldiers. There are also tragic heroes. Shakespeare is famous forRead MoreThe Heroes Of A Hero1254 Words   |  6 Pagesup in the morning and decide to become a hero; but perhaps it is possible to wake up and say to yourself that you will become a terrorist or a criminal. Heroes are made of circumstances beyond their control. Those people who rush in to help victims after a fiery car crash or after something like the Boston bombings truly are heroes. Heroics that are played out after an act of violence are actions that do not allow for planning (Eagly, 2013). These heroes are usually humble and underplay their roleRead MoreHeroes Are Not A Hero992 Words   |  4 PagesHeroes are not just fictional characters with superhuman powers. Most people think that the only heroes are people that have superpowers and a cool outfit. In fact, whenever anyone pictures a hero, they don’t normally picture an unattractive person saving people. Instead, they picture a buff, handsome hero saving everyone and having adoring fans. However, this belief is incorrect because heroes are not just superhumans. Heroes take on challenges with determination and are ordinary people puttingRead MoreHeroes As A Hero Essay1563 Words   |  7 Pages In many occurrences, heroes are described as big, bold, and brightly dressed people who are a normal person by day and a hero by night. However, in reality heroes are around us in our everyday lives, but we fail to see the consummations of them. From the veteran you don’t notice in the grocery store, to the moms and dads all around us who are involved in the upbringing of the current generation of kids. A hero is one who stood above all to achieve the greater good for all of mankind, and developedRead MoreHero : A Virtuous Heroes883 Words   |  4 Pagesplaywright, once said, â€Å"Heroes in drama are people who try hard to reach a virtuous ideal. And whether they succeed or fail really doesn’t matter - ità ¢â‚¬â„¢s the trying that counts.† Sorkin states that heroes are those that attempt to reach their goal, not necessarily those that succeed. Heroes will proceed to try, no matter who or what is preventing them from reaching a goal. Sorkin is also discussing people attempting to reach a â€Å"virtuous ideal†, which is often obtained for others. A hero is one who solvesRead MoreEpic Heroes : The Ideal Hero873 Words   |  4 Pageshistory, epic heroes have defined the ideal characteristics of a society. Beowulf and Aenus are perfect examples of the ideal hero created from the mind of a creator, for the purpose of defining a society. Most epic heroes share certain character traits such as bravery, courage, determination, hubris or intelligence. It has been noted that sometimes epic heroes appear to simply be lucky or helped along by the gods and rely less on their own abilities. However, there are some heroes who are helpedRead MoreBeowulf Is The Hero Of All Heroes958 Words   |  4 Pages I m writing about ancient heroes and whether or not they can be heroes at the present day time.im going to tell you about their pros as in good things about them and their cons as in bad things. I will also choose one modern day hero to come pare my ancient hero to and tell you where he from either a movie or a comic book. Beowulf is my ancient hero. I chose Beowulf because of all the qualities he has. Beowulf is the hero of all heroes’ he is strong, and courageous. He would risk hisRead MoreHomeric Heroes : The Heroic Hero1249 Words   |  5 Pagestemperance, battle is the most important aspect of Homeric Heroes. It is on a battlefield that heroes gain glory for fighting, prizes for their accomplishments, and honor for their actions. However, hero he may be, Achilles â€Å"was not to be seen in council, that arena for glory, nor in battle† (Book 1, 518-519). He was â€Å"throwing his heroism away† by not taking part in the event that made people heroes. Prior to this, Achilles was a well-recognized hero. Goddesses said â€Å"when godlike Achilles used to enterRead MoreThe Tragic Heroes Of A Tragic Hero1955 Words   |  8 Pagesreason for this is because almost all of the spectators can relate to the protagonist due to the fact that the protagonists of these tragedies are tragic heroes. These tragic heroes have qualities that render them both tragic and heroic, and they display five key characteristics according to Aristotle’s definition. The criteria of a tragic hero is that they must suffer throughout the play, have a tragic flaw, eventually recognize their tragic flaw and take responsibility for their actions, be neither

Bottle Free Essays

I’m a column shape water bottle with a greenish colour of cap and birth label on my transparent colour and wale pattern body. The label state all the information of mine which including my weight with 350ml, my organ and blood system in the ingredient part, place of birth at Melaka, Malaysia and of course my identity which people used to called it barcode and obtain me by scan on it. I was sent to a shop named seven- eleven with siblings when 2-weeks-old but this was where the tragedy happened. We will write a custom essay sample on Bottle or any similar topic only for you Order Now It’s at the moonlight night, a night people used to have their sweet dream on the lovely ed. Unluckily, I was an inconspicuous bottle who loitering and crying on the lonely slopes street because of a drunken old man who obtain me and ‘suck in’ all the blood in my body to sober up his brain. My body is now rubbing to the road and play a sweet symphony. This short Journey is like fast and furious 5 in the scene but I’m act to dodge the big stone and deep hole instead of car. The rubbing makes me feel some stabbing pain which in the affordable range. But the most broken-hearted is my skin has been scratching by rubbing and become full of scratches. The cool but lustery weather makes me hard to stop myself on the street. I had no idea how to stop and felt forlornness to this situation because I might be obliged stuck somewhere on the street for whole life. The wind presumptuous indecent me and forced me to loiter along the street. Finally I stopped on the street near the drain since a huge tire block my way. I look around but there were no people or even a cat in my sight at this lonely night. I scream and shout with heartbreaks to the old man to pick me up or bring me home thus I won’t stick at there forever. He couldn’t hear me and went away afterword. I felt sleepy after this entire thrilling Journey. I was awakened by the ear-piercing horn. The glare and dazzle sun makes me couldn’t open my eyes and suddenly I hear ‘Pi Pi Piak Piak sound. I felt unbearable pain from my body and soul since an old truck filled with waste mercilessly run over me without any warning and alert. But I was also unable to do anything even it gave me a whisper horn. When I was feeling the unbearable pain, a limousine as quickly as lighting run over me and left me a wisp of smelly grey smoke. The vehicles on the road treat me like an ant that keep run over me continuously and I was drifted by hem from where to where since I couldn’t remember where I am. I thought my miserable wandering life would bring me to heaven but it stopped after few hours. I opened my eyes and realized that I was stuck by an old towering tree because the old roots locked me firmly. In this sad moment, I remember and missed my siblings, missed the days we chatting together happily. I think they might be sent back to the place we birth to refill the blood now, they might be missed me also. I remember that the place I birth was very clean and the air was fresh. Unlike the street and this tree which full of dust. The days I stuck by the old tree, originally didn’t had any wind or rain but there were people who forced to help me take bath by pee at me. Sometimes, there would be people who drunk and vomit to me. I couldn’t did anything even I didn’t like it. So, I learned to be optimism, treat that like bathing. But days by days, I became smelly, estimated mildew. I started to talk and pray to god, hope that any scavengers would pity me and pick me up. I did it every day and didn’t give up this small hope. In the leisure time, I would always look around, I always imagined leaving here and backing home. One day, I hear â€Å"nah grandpa, here is nother empty cans†, I look up and saw an old scavenger holding a little girl. He was dragging a big plastic bad which full of recycle items. I was so enw and desperate to go in that plastic bag, this was the only chance I could go back to recycle station and sent back to home. I keep scream and shout, moving my body even these was useless since the old scavenger couldn’t hear and saw what I did to him. After they passed by me, I was totally give up and forlornness again†¦ But, there was always a ‘but’ in life journey which could change your life, so, Just think of the bright sight of the life. The little girl like sensed me and look back, she saw me and came towards me to pick me up. I was so sincere thanks to the little girl since she save my life. After that, I follow them to back to their home, the little took me out from the plastic bag and help me to wash my smelly and dirty body. She cut me into half after that and used me as flower pot to plant her flower. I didn’t felt any remorse since she save my life, she keep watering the flower which I used to plant and talking to it every day. I felt that this might be another type of lifestyle for me. I was enjoyed and happy. How to cite Bottle, Papers

Auden an the Greeks free essay sample

We would never have become fully conscious, which is to say that we would never have become, for better or worse, fully human. † this quote is for W. H. Auden, who was a prolific writer and plat write. In this paper I will endeavor to give insight about the author of this quote, the origins of this piece, and what the author meant in writhing it. As well as examples of proof that Audens theory was true or not. And finally I will give my opinion whether I feel that Auden quote is correct. To start with a short back ground on the author Wystan Hugh Auden he was born in York, England, in 1907. He moved to Birmingham during childhood and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of Thomas Hardy, Robert Frost, William Blake, Emily Dickinson, as well as old English verse,(http://www. We will write a custom essay sample on Auden an the Greeks or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page poets. org ). Auden seem to have always had a fascination with the ancient Greeks having been educated at a young age on the teaching of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle . Audens love of the ancient Greeks would in later life place him in the category as a Grecophile: ( a lover of all things Greek). This love of Ancient Greek; teachings, and traditions Im sure this led to Audens viewpoint of how the Greeks contributed to modern civilization. In researching Audens line about the Ancient Greeks and their contributions to are modern day society I found that the line is taken from a larger writing entitled: ‘The Greeks and Us’ in Forewords and Afterwords, (W.H. Auden, New York, 1973, p. 32). The Quote is: â€Å"I can think of no better way of indicating what we owe to Greece than drawing distinctions, for of all intellectual acts, that is perhaps the most characteristically Greek. It is they who have taught us, not to thinkthat all human beings have always donebut to think about our thinking, to ask such questions as â€Å"What do I think? †, â€Å"What do this and that other person or people think? †, â€Å"On what do we agree and disagree? Why? And not only did they learn to ask questions about thinking, but they also discovered how, instead of giving immediate answers to suppose something to be the case and then see what would follow if it were. To be able to perform either of these mental operations, a human being must first be capable of a tremendous feat of moral courage and discipline, for he must have learned how to resist the immediate demands of feeling and bodily needs, and to disregard his natural anxiety about his future so that he can look at his self and his world as if they were not his but a stranger’s. If some of the Greek questions turned out to have been incorrectly put, if some of their answers have proved wrong, that is a trivial matter. Had Greek civilization never existed, we might fear God and deal justly with our neighbors, we might practice arts and even have learned how to devise fairly simple machines, but we would never have become fully conscious, which is to say that we would never have become , for better or worse, fully human. †(W. H. Auden, New York, 1973, p. 32). In reading this text I begin to understand where Audens viewpoint is coming from. The main part of the text and purpose of this paper is still widely regarded as true by many citizens in our country today. That the ancient Greek society of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, still offers much to the modern world. And with out this it would be hard to imagine what our world would be like without their contributions. Auden is agreeing with this philosophy. Auden is basically saying that the ancient Greeks have contributed how we should be looking at things that affect are daily lives, however so many of us do not. This is saying that we should be looking at a subject from not only are own viewpoint, or are initial first thought on the subject, but to be introspective and take the time to contemplate how the world around us may, or may not, see the same set of circumstance. And then taking all opinions into consideration for the final outcome regardless ff that outcome is good or bad. This takes a lot of mentally thought and discipline since in modern society we tend to be less philosophical, most of us say and do what first comes to our minds regardless of what others around us feel or think of the matter, or the eventual outcome of the situation. In my opinion Auden was saying that we can and should apply this to every aspect of are lives whether it is a personal matter, a judgment call, or really anything. The Greeks felt, in my opinion, that you must always think of your fellow man first and place oneself in his shoes, how another would feel and react to a situation taking that in to consideration and basing ones thoughts and actions on that. This sets peoples apart from a reactionary society to a thinking one, and had Greek civilization not existed we may have made our way, however we would certainly not had compassion for our fellow man and their viewpoints, in other words we would have not become fully human. This school of thought can be shown in example by the relationship of the three great ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, theirs was a relationship of a teacher educating his pupils. Socrates schooled his followers, Plato, Aristotle with his vast knowledge and wisdom, the method became known as Socratic. According to Socrates an inquisitive nature was critical in understanding and solving questions. And by posing this to every one from the man on the street to authority figures and taking their opinions into consideration would compel you to the most reasonable and logical answer benefiting all involved in the situation. However not even Socrates pupils always agreed with his teachings. Both Plato and Aristotle disagreed with some of Socrates views and disagreed with one another. One thing that both did agree on was that an open forum of opinions would help you to acquire the best solution to a problem. Whether they agreed with it or not you must listen and always continue to discover from as many sources to come to the correct conclusion. In conclusion my viewpoint on W. H. Audens comment: â€Å"Had Greek civilization never existed we would never have become fully conscious, which is to say that we would never have become, for better or worse, fully human. That yes indeed, after researching what he was referring to and the trying to look at it from the perspective of the ancient Greeks that using critical thinking, and excepting all shades of opinion whether you agree with them or not and allowing them into your decision making process this is the most effectual way of deducing a question. In this I agree, however I find the modern world we are living in that few of my fellow humans take little or any of this into consideration. Today in my opinion we speak more often before we think of what we are saying and how it effects other and these peoples viewpoints. To me this is sad, if we thought more about the views and feelings of one another and less about making sure our own voice is heard what a different society we would live in. I would have to say I agree with W. H. Auden that if not for ancient Greece we would not have developed fully in to humans. However I feel that our modern society is growing rapidly away from theses ancient principals.

Northern Rock Plc free essay sample

Plc Contents Page 1Report2 1. 1Audit Committee and Auditors2 1. 2Experience:4 2Comparison5 2. 1Chief Executive and Chairman5 2. 2Audit Committee5 2. 3Risk Management Committee6 2. 4Remuneration amp; Nominations Committee6 3Chance of another failure6 4Conclusion:8 5References8 Report In this report I am going to highlight the weaknesses in the corporate governance code of Northern Rock that lead to its downfall. Audit Committee and Auditors According to the UK Corporate governance code the board should set up formal and obvious arrangements bearing in mind how to apply the corporate reporting internal control, and risk management rules for keeping the right relationship with the company`s auditors. The board should make up an audit committee of at least three non executive directors in the case of smaller companies at least two NEDs. The chairman can be a member in smaller companies but cannot chair the committee unless he or she was considered independent on appointment as chairman. The board should make sure that at least one the member should have recent and relevant experience in the audit committee. We will write a custom essay sample on Northern Rock Plc or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The board’s responsibilities are to lay out all the terms in writing and monitor the financial statement of the company, to review the financial performance and reporting. It should also review internal financial control, risk management system if not in place separately to check the effectiveness and internal function of internal audit. The board should also be review and monitor the external auditors work their appointments and re appointments, their remunerations, and more importantly the non audit services should be checked very closely. In the case of Northern rock the board and the audit committee failed to implement the above mentioned guidelines. In July 2007 the chief executive published on the website that operationally Northern rock’s first half of 2007 was a good one. He mentioned that mortgage lending in particular was strong. If that was the case then how did Northern Rock end up being nationalised in just over 7 months? Was someone checking and verifying the statements of the chief executive. The external auditor’s complacency was another issue. In their report of 2006 they gave a clean bill of health. This was later investigated by the House of Lords economic affairs committee which found that the auditors had performed their job carelessly. An effective audit committee could have spotted these problems well in advance. The reason for PWC’s complacency might either be because of the presence of Rosemary Radcliffe on the audit committee who was previously a partner of PWC or maybe they were providing other non audit services to the company and did not want to upset the board. As per the corporate governance code the number of audit committee’s members was according to the code but none of the NEDs had any financial experience. Nichola Pease had experience of fund management but not in the banking industry even that experience was not a recent one as required by the code. It seems that at Northern Rock the audit and risk committees were not taken very seriously as Rosemary Radcliffe only attended two out of four audit committee and one out of three risk committee meetings. Experience: Northern Rock appointed a Senior Independent Director with over half the board being non-executive directors- following the combined code 2 and Basel 2 recommendations. However none of the directors were experienced enough in the field of banking not even building society. This in fact does not support the idea of having good corporate governance as it does not ensure failure or success. The above factors raised questions as to why the company’s shareholders did not question the risky business model or was it because of outstanding profits seen as the reward for taking such risk. The remuneration committee can also be held responsible for the failure as both the chief executive and the company took on the gamble for the high risks which in turn questions the values of the shareholder and executive. As mentioned above there were so many factors involved . i. e. he lack of experience, the chairman of the board and nominations committee Dr Ridley had no prior financial experience and even the subject that he has studied is far different to the role he was responsible for. The other four non executive directors Fenwick, Gibson, Pease and Queen also did not have recent relevant experience. Sir Derek Wanless with a good education background but unfort unately with some negative history while working in NatWest where he got paid ? 3M having lead a disastrous acquisition strategy. If the company was aware of the history then why was he appointed as a chairman of the Audit and risk committee? All of the above points indicate that it was really poor corporate governance in place which neither of the committee paid attention or lack their experience in the case of chief executive`s appointment cannot be said that much as he was internally promoted it is sometimes good so he knew about the company from scratch to the top but in some case it is better to have an experience person from a different companies so that they can bring new ideas and innovation. The audit committee had to review what they have been there for the monitoring of the internal financial control, the services, remuneration, re appointments of the external auditors. If the corporate governance were strong in the company there would not be any mis representation of the financial reporting neither by the chief executive nor by the external auditors and also they would have known the consequence of the failure before it had happened. Comparison In this question I am going to compare the governance arrangements noted in the case study with the current version of the UK corporate Governance code. Northern rock had applied most of the governance code but there were some weaknesses in some of the areas. Chief Executive and Chairman As per the UK governance code the chief executive and the chairman should be separate, their re-appointment and remuneration will have to be approved by the board. In Northern Rock the above codes were applied properly. Chief executive and chairman were two different individuals and their appointment and re appointment were also approved by the board. Audit Committee As mentioned above Northern Rock’s audit committee failed to comply with the UK Corporate Governance code on more than one count which led to the auditors not performing their job properly. Audit committee should act as a watch dog in an organisation. Risk Management Committee UK corporate governance says that the board should conduct a review of the risk management committee’s effectiveness at least on a yearly basis. The review should cover almost everything including financial, operational and compliance controls and should be presented to the shareholders. Looking at the timeline of collapse of Northern Rock it seems that the risk committee was not very effective in identifying risks faced by the organisation and hence failed to perform its duty properly which led to the collapse of UK’s 5th largest lender in within one year. Remuneration amp; Nominations Committee According to the UK corporate governance code the company should have a remuneration and a nomination committee which should determine the salaries of the board members and should nominate suitable individuals for appointment. The nomination committee should be made up of non executive directors who should be independent members of the committee. The chair or non executive director should chair the committee but he or she should not chair the committee when appointing the successor to the chairmanship. The committee should also evaluate the skills, experience and knowledge of the candidate when making recommendations. It seems that northern rock’s nomination committee failed in doing their job properly according to the UK corporate governance code. If they had fulfilled the above requirements in accordance to the UK code then the inexperience of the NEDs would have not been an issue. Chance of another failure Generally, organisations with relatively poor governance don’t succeed as uch as those with high standard corporate governance aided by investors. Northern Rock proved this statement when worries about corporate governance resulted in poor performance. This came about 4 years before it was nationalised when shareholders were concerned in the kind of bonuses which were being paid to executives. This develops another understanding about the theory that governance drives performance rather than performance driving governance. Non-executives improve performance and t he balance between executives and non-executives is very vital. Considering both the internal and external factors affecting the failure of northern rock it was mainly caused due to its internal disability of managing crisis. It was the very flawed legal regulation and the poor corporate governance of Northern Rock that let itself down during the tough mortgage crisis in the US. The business model of the company worked for a number of years but despite the risk involved the non-executive directors cared less of the actual risks to the company’s model. Lesson can be learnt from the Northern Rock fiasco by other businesses regardless of their size or profitability. If any business does not implement the corporate governance codes properly they are guaranteed to have problems sooner or later. Similar failure happened to the fourth largest American bank Lehman brothers due to poor corporate governance as their systems were very weak. The key areas of the failure were Corporate risk management, Board of directors, remuneration committee and nomination committee. The board of directors included nine retired four of them 75 years old one a theatre producer and another navy admiral with no banking industry experience. In the board of directors the directors were paid well for their work each in the range $325,000 to $397,000 even after getting high return from the company they were not seriously taking care of the company due to having other responsibilities. Their risk management were also a failure because their executive committee the CRO and the CFO meeting were every week but instead they meet only twice in both 2006 and 2007 which was very outrageous. The failure of the remuneration committee was that only $1 billion were paid in cash bonuses in just matter of 8years which is a big failure. Other than that $500 million was paid to the chairman. Out of the ten board member four of them were 75 years old and only one had the recent knowledge of financial sector. If in the future any other bank or business will not make their corporate governance strong I am afraid there will be more cases like in the future. Conclusion: After all I have mentioned above it was a poor corporate governance that led the bank to failure. Northern rock had all sort of weaknesses in their corporate governance code it will be a good lesson for the other banks to learn if they have any sort of weaknesses in their corporate governance they should amend those before it will be too late. References 1. Treanor, J. (2008). Poor governance reduces profits, says ABI. Available: http://www. guardian. co. uk/business/2008/feb/27/executivesalaries. insurance. Last accessed 09 Feb 2013. 2. Roman A. Tomasic . (2009). Corporate Rescue, Governance and Risk Taking Northern Rock and Its International Context. Available: http://papers. ssrn. com/sol3/papers. cfm? abstract_id=1417953. Last accessed 09 Feb 2013. 3. The Financial Reporting council. (2012). The UK Corporate Governance Code. Available: http://www. frc. org. uk/Our-Work/Publications/Corporate-Governance/UK- Corporate-Governance-Code-September-2012. aspx. Last accessed 09 Feb 2013. 4. Agha, M G and Qatinah, A. (). Lehman Brothers and Corporate Governance Failure. Available: http://www. slideshare. net/adnanqatinah1/lehman-brothers-case-study2. Last accessed 09 Feb 2013.

Comaprative Economies essays

Comaprative Economies essays Understanding And Comparing Patterns Of Global Poverty And Inequality. Global poverty and economic inequality have become the source of a great deal of political and social concern in recent times. The co- existence of great wealth and abject poverty, both among and within countries has caused a great deal of controversy amongst world politicians and economists. Both these groups, politicians and economists, have claimed that the central goals of economic policy have always been both efficiency and equity. Unfortunately, despite this, it can be claimed with certainty that a) relative global and national inequality is increasing and b) that relative income of the poorest citizens of the world has declined absolutely. This rise in global inequality has resulted more so, because of a rise in economic inequality among countries rather than a rise in inequality within countries. As the 1995 (Table 7) World Bank Study on Distribution of Wealth shows, average per- capita income in the U.S is about 152 times greater than in Ethiopia and 62 times greater than India. Compare this with the mean income of the top 10% of the population in Brazil (which has one of the highest degree of national income inequality) as being only 50 times greater than that of the bottom 20%. Despite this until recently, for practical/ political purposes most of the emphasis laid on economic inequalities was at a national level. However, with the advent of the globalization culture which started in the 1980s there has been a slight but obvious drift by countries towards global poverty alleviation policies; since the importance of international relationships and systematic self- preservation were realized. In the first part of this paper, I will use different economic ideas and models that help in explaining the causes and sources of this widening gap between the rich and the poor countries. Since the time of Adam Smith, when he pre...

US GAAP IFRS Convergence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

US GAAP IFRS Convergence - Essay Example According to the research findings over the past 15 years, many accounting controversies and scandals have caused financial turmoil and resulted in the bankruptcy of several major firms. In response to these events, the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) began developing the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) to provide transparency and comparability for investors across the world. Today, more than 113 countries have adopted the IFRS or are in the process of converging to the standard. While countries such as Canada adopted the IFRS as early as 2011, the United States has maintained that transition from the US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) to the globally accepted IFRS will require more time. The US GAAP is the accounting standard followed by all companies registered in the United States. Doherty estimates that the US will not be able to adopt the IFRS completely before 2015. As a result, both the FASB (Federal Accounting Standards Board of the US) and the IASB have been working to achieve convergence between the two standards. However, this convergence exercise has been ongoing for several years as related agencies including the FASB, IASB, SEC and the general industry debate on the pros and cons of specific rules and regulations. The first step towards achieving convergence between the US GAAP and IFRS was initiated by the Norwalk Agreement in 2002, under which both governing bodies pledged their commitment towards the goal of convergence and agreed to realize it by the year 2008. The boards met once again in 2008 to discuss outstanding milestones and agreed to fulfill them by 2011. Both organizations planned to achieve this through joint projects that would help define and establish a set of principle-based standards (Nobes and Parker, 2010). Achieving these objectives, within the stipulated time period, has however not been possible, owing to a number of bottlenecks and shortcomings on the part of both the IASB and the FASB. For example, both parties realized during 2010 that they would be unable to resolve all outstanding issues by 2011 (Brands, 2011). In response, they decided to prioritize all such projects based on their relative importance. Despite ensuring quicker resolution of these urgent issues, many prioritized projects such as ‘Financial Instruments’ and ‘Revenue Recognition’ are yet to be resolved. As a result, other ‘low-priority’ projects like ‘Income Taxes’, ‘Financial Statement Presentation’ and ‘Liabilities’ are unlikely to be resolved in the near future (Bruce, 2010). Much of the delay can be attributed to the overwhelming and diverse nature of public feedback, received in the form of exposure drafts, which need to be thoroughly examined and analyzed to determine the most appropriate standard. The delay is further exacerbated, as the boards then have to prepare subsequent drafts after taking al l public feedback into consideration and re-expose them for further public scrutiny. Most recently, the FASB and IASB announced that they would re-expose their latest drafts on revenue and leases. Based on their expected date of publication and comments from interested parties, the effective date for both standards is unlikely to be set any earlier than 2015 (Jamal, 2010). Thus, it is evident that despite considerable planning it has been impossible to prevent unavoidable delays in the early adoption of a common accounting standard. Hail, Leuz and Wysocki (2010a) blame the IASB and the FASB for ignoring due diligence and instead focusing their efforts towards meeting the deadline. He criticizes both rule-setting bodies for setting highly optimistic targets instead of