TMA04 B202 Accounting & Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

TMA04 B202 Accounting & Finance - Essay Example The name Tesco first appeared above a shop in Edgware in 1929 and since then the company has grown and developed, responding to new opportunities and pioneering in many innovations. By the early 1990s Tesco faced strong competition and needed a new strategy. We were good at buying and selling goods but had begun to forget the customers. Sir Terry Leahy, who became Chief Executive in 1997, asked customers the simple question - what are we doing wrong?". We then invested in the things that matter to customers. For example, we launched our loyalty scheme Clubcard and Tesco.com, our internet home shopping service. Going the extra mile for customers has been key to our growth. We want to make customers lives easier and better in any way we can. We want to appeal to every customer and give them a reason to come back to Tesco. Originally specializing in food and drink, it has diversified into areas such as clothing, consumer electronics, financial services, telecoms, home, health and car insurance, dental plans, retailing and renting DVDs,[4] CDs, music downloads, Internet services and software.(Tesco plc) Among its local competitors most significant ones are Morrisons,Sainsbury and Asda. The following graph shows Tesco’s market shares locally(TESCO MAIN SUBMISSION TO THE COMPETITION COMMISSION (CC) INQUIRY INTO THE UK GROCERY RETAILING) According to TNS World panel Tescos share of the UK grocery market in the 12 weeks to 30 November 2008 was 30.9%, up 4.3% on 12 weeks to 2 December 2007. Across all categories, over  £1 in every  £7 (14.3%) of UK retail sales is spent at Tesco. Tesco also operates overseas, and non-UK revenue for the year to 24 February 2007 was up 18% on 25 February 2006. Wal mart had sales of $287bn ( £160bn) in 2004-5, more than its three closest rivals put together(Deloitte 2006 Global Retailing Powers study). Walmart had put its feet in China.Following suit Tesco aggressively expanded in China, while Wal-Mart plans to hire

Philosophy - Heidegger - Being in Time - selected sections Research Paper

Philosophy - Heidegger - Being in Time - selected sections - Research Paper Example 303). It appears that to facilitate the conception of Dasein in a holistic way, Dasein’s being from birth to death should be studied. However, this is not possible in our context, because provided that we are capable of studying anything, we are not dead yet. Heidegger claims that we could however understand our Dasein holistically and that we could be entirely ourselves if we take on a genuine connection to our death, and, certainly, that genuineness is simply being myself â€Å"in an impassioned freedom toward death—a freedom that has been released from the illusions of the One, and which is factical, certain of itself, and anxious† (Heidegger 1978, 311). The likelihood of being genuine is revealed to us in the appeal of conscience, which provokes us to be prepared for Angst and to be determined in understanding what we have chose to carry out. Authenticity is described as a determined expectation of our own death, which allows us to reconnect with our being in totality. As stated by Heidegger (1978), â€Å"Being-towards-death is the anticipation of a potentiality-for-Being of that entity whose kind of Being is anticipation itself† (ibid, p.

Political Liberalization in Burma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Political Liberalization in Burma - Essay Example Burma, like many African countries, was ruled by the British for almost a century and inherited structures, and institutional set-up of the free market and parliamentary democracy but could not take advantage of this to advance its political and economic situation (Egreteau 470). This paper will study the deficiency of the military rule in Burma and try to make useful recommendations on how the government can improve the country’s political, economic and social situation through democratic governance. The study will also explore and identify means by which the international community could help the country come up with the most appropriate forms of assistance and interventions to sustain a stable democracy, though, there needs to be some effort in putting in place transitional governance to allow for external leveraging. Burma’s strengths as a country in supporting the building of social, economic, legal, and governmental institutions will also be discussed (Selth 15). A country that does not have a reliable economic structure, strong and tolerant civil institutions will usually impend transition to democratic governance and create room for anarchy as well as an autocratic rule. Burma has since 19901 been struggling to move out of a stubborn military regime to form a credible government and aim to attract international economic and humanitarian assistance into the country. Even with a successful attempt for regime change in 1990, the country did not manage to usher in a new age of pluralistic rule through democracy and empowerment of the civil society. This was because there have been decades of politically brutal and economically unfavorable military rule, which has left the civil society and the population in murky waters in terms of development (Brown 732).  

Accounting and Finance Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Accounting and Finance Assignment - Essay Example For instance; in â€Å"the general theory of finances† there are two definitions of finance and accounts: 1. Finances of the socialistic state represent economical (cash) relations, with the help of which, in the way of planned distribution of the incomes and savings the funds of money sources of the state and socialistic manufactures are formed for guaranteeing the growth of the production, rising the material and cultural level of the people and for satisfying other general society requests†. 2. â€Å"Finances characterise the formation of centralized ad decentralized money sources, economical relations relatively with the distribution and usage, which serve for fulfilment of the state functions and obligations and also provision of the conditions of the widened further production†. This definition is brought without showing the environment of its action. We share partly such explanation of finances and think expedient to make some specification. The system of creation and usage of necessary funds of cash resources for guarantying socialistic widened further production represent exactly the finances of the socialistic society. And the totality of economical relations arisen between state, manufactures and organisations, branches, regions and separate citizen according to the movement of cash funds make financial relations†. Just to more simplify the term â€Å"Accounts†, Accounts are simply established to provide a record of individual business transactions as they apply to a certain area or item. Your personal checking account is established in order to provide a record of individual personal financial transactions you create when you write a check. All of the accounts are listed in a general ledger. Today, the actual ledger book has long since been replaced by accounting software that creates a general ledger on the computer. The concept however has not been altered. The general ledger is the central location for maintaining all your accounts.

The smartest guy in the room - the enron documentary Essay

The smartest guy in the room - the enron documentary - Essay Example Precisely, the company’s top management inflated the stock prices and amassed overwhelming capital investments from the shareholders while the company was running into bankruptcy. After the company collapsed, Enron’s shareholders were subjected to reduced per capita income, which further influenced a reduction in the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In order to prevent the occurrence of inflated stock prices that in turn influenced shareholders to invest in fraudulent companies, the government should issue strict regulations. The importance of this approach is to ensure that the business environment is informed about every company’s financial prospectus, statement of profits and losses, and its overall performances in the market (322). Eventually, every company will only present actual information to the market and the shareholders’ responses will in turn affect increase or decrease in the stocks’ prices. Considering such a regulation is vital towards financial development and contentedness of the investors (325). This will serve for the benefit of the country’s economic environment since corruption and fraudulent company practices will be diminished. Enron’s top management is depicted in the movie as a group driven by the greed to earn and resuscitate the company to a profitable position. Therefore, the company’s accounting department embarks on the use of the â€Å"mark-to-market† accounting tactic that aims at deceiving the investors’ population to acknowledge its performance through the highlighted bogus profits (Moeller 34). This accounting tactic enabled the company to forecast on its probable profits in a ten-year period and establish them on their current profit statement as though the Enron had made them. The tactic is fraudulent and should not be used in business organizations. Enron’s CEO Mr. Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay are depicted in

How a person would act if they had super powers Essay Example for Free

How a person would act if they had super powers Essay Some people my age dream of having superpowers. Some people read comic books,watch movies, watch television, and wish they could have super powers like flying or becoming invisible. I on the other hand am gifted with both of these powers and use them every day Invisibility and the ability to fly arent just useful in everyday life they are just plain fun. I recieved my powers out of nowhere.One day I was sitting on the couch watching Television, and I fell asleep. I had a weird dream that I had the aability to fly and could become invisible. Well strangely enough when I woke up I was floating in mid air! It took some struggling to get back on my feet because I did not exactly know how to, but when I finally did I went to the bathroom to look in the mirror and see if I could become invisible. In my dream if I concentrated hard enough I could become invisible, well sure enough I became invisible.This was a long time ago and I have just about got both of my powers under my control now. Being able to fly is, needless to say, is very useful. Such as after school when everybody is waiting in the thirty minute line to go home I just fly off home laughing at everyone wasting their gas. It definitely saves me money on gas, and I know I will not wreck because their is no one else who can fly. Also since I am gifted with powers I enjoy helping people out when they are in trouble. It is also a whole lot of fun doing tricks in the sky. Being invisible has a lot of advantages. It first of all helps me out when I am flying so nobody can see me. Also instead of wearing a dumb outfit so nobody knows who I am when I am helping people. The best part of being invisible though would probably not be helping people it would be messing with people and pulling pranks on them because they have no clue who it is. It also helps if you do not like to study so you can sneek into the teachers classroom and get the answers to the quiz or test. Super powers are alot of fun, but also a big responsibility. They help out in life and make everyday things like traveling fun and exciting. Its also really rewarding to help people out when they are in trouble. I do not know how I got my powers, I do not know how long I will have them. I do know one thing though I will be enjoying them.

Spirituality And Mental Illness Psychology Essay

Spirituality And Mental Illness Psychology Essay Spirituality is a part of human experience. It often stands as one integral aspect of ones cultural or religious orientation. Likewise, spirituality may also represent ones individual choice, belief, and behavior. Both in terms of traditional and conventional healthcare, there are three aspects of human well-being that should be taken care of: physical, mental, and spiritual health. Physical is for the body, mental is for the mind, and psychic health is for the spirit (Jeitschko et al., 2005). However, in the present idea of healthcare, the thrust of healthcare efforts is given to physical health. However, the other two components also play integral roles in the achievement of humans overall (external and internal) well-being. Oftentimes, these two are overlooked. Although courses of religion and spirituality are common in most medical schools and pastoral care is provided in some hospitals, health policies and insurance in mental healthcare is severely restricted in ways that physical healthcare is not and moreover, to emphasize, very little healthcare is provided for the spiritual healthcare (Jeitschko et al., 2005). Yet, Jeitschko et al (2005) claimed that spiritual claim has repeatedly observed to be an important factor and correlated for the health of both body and minds health. In this paper, we look into the importance of spiritual health as a prerequisite towards mental health improvement and maintenance- to prevent and to treat mental illnesses. First, we describe a brief overview of the situation concerning mental disorders and illnesses as a global phenomenon. Third, we define and contextualize spirituality as a prerequisite to overall spiritual health. Lastly, we discuss how spirituality has been used to 1) prevent a vast array of mental illnesses and 2) treat various cases of mental disability and other psychiatric ability. Mental Illness: A Situation Overview While each is a separate aspect, spirituality and mental well-being are viewed as closely-related, if not dependent to each other. This may be because both are internal mechanisms that may not be measured by medical apparatuses, may not diagnosed via single medical procedure, and cannot be treated by measurable doses of medicine. Rather, these are brought about by internal mechanisms that exist along a continuum of attitudes and behavior. Mental health and mental illness exist along a continuum of attitude and behavior. This covers a wide array of mental diagnostic categories, from mild conditions like depression to more serious cases such as schizophrenic disorders (OBrien, 2003). The main components of looking into mental disorder are: internal psychological dysfunctions, unexpected response to a social phenomenon, and differentiation from deviant behavior. Nonetheless, the universal component of mental illness is the dysfunction of some internal psychological mechanism. Examples of these dysfunctions occur in systems of cognition, thinking, perception, motivation, emotion, language, and memory (Horwitz, 2002). Millions of people all over the world suffer from mental illnesses and adverse mental health. As of 2002, 154 million suffer from depression, 50 million from epilepsy, 25 million from schizophrenia, and 24 million people suffer from Alzheimer and other dementias. It was also observed that 25% visiting healthcare services suffer from mental, neurological and behavioral disorders but most of these cases are not diagnosed and treated. Moreover, people with these disorders are oftentimes subjected to social isolation, decreased quality of life, and increased mortality (WHO, 2010). Barriers of effective mental treatment can be traced into two factors: 1) lack of recognition of the seriousness of mental illnesses among patients, and 2) lack of understanding about the benefits of having cost-effective mental illness treatment. This alleviated by the fact that in most middle and low income countries devote less than 1% of their budget to mental health (WHO, 2010). Defining Spirituality Before going farther in this paper, it is necessary to first define spirituality and to bring forth its importance. Spirituality is defined first by differentiating the concept with that of religion. Religion is strictly linked to formal religious institutions. On the other hand, spirituality does not depend on formal institutions but comes from initiatives of an individual. The similarities of spirituality and religion both focus on belief, sacred, divine entities, and the resulting behaviors and practices and spiritual consciousness. However, this arbitrary definition does not provide comprehensive delineation of the two concepts (George, 2000). National Institute of Healthcare Research (NIHR) defined spirituality as the feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors that arise from search for the sacred. In this definition, search encompasses identifying, transforming, and maintaining. Terms such as knowing, understanding, and embodying can be used as synonyms to search based on this context. Sacred refers to divine being, higher power, and ultimate truth as perceived by the individual collective reinforcement and identity. Hence, from this definition of spirituality, the distinctive characteristic of religion is collective reinforcement and identity (George, 2010). Another comprehensive definition of spirituality came from Murray and Zenter (1989): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦spirituality dimension, a quality that goes beyond religious affiliation that strives for inspiration, reverence, awe, meaning and purpose, even in those who do not believe in God comes essentially into focus in times of emotional stress, physical and mental illness, loss, bereavement and death. From these definitions, spirituality can be summarized in three elements: comes from within an individual and not collective affiliations; goal-oriented: search, inspiration, well-being, and embodiment of belief; come in times of emotional stress and mental distress. Spiritual Healthcare The idea that spirituality is an initiative of an individual comes with the expectation that there is a wide array of spiritual healthcare procedures depending on how individuals perceive its importance and the procedures encompassing it. Hence, to take care of spiritual health, the individual should be able to have the following skills: being able to create peaceful state of mind, ability to stay alert, attentive, and mentally focused in present circumstances, develop above average empathy and to grieve appropriately and then let go afterwards. Moreover, spiritual values include kindness, compassion, generosity, tolerance, creativity, wisdom, honesty, humility, and patience (Culliford, 2002). Some of the elements of spiritual care include: environment of purposeful activity; feelings of safety and security, dignity, belonging and acceptance; having opportunities and encouragement to express feelings and thoughts; and to receive permission, encouragement to develop relationship with God or Absolute and to receive place and privacy for prayers worship, and spiritual education; and to derive meaning from illness experiences (Culliford, 2006). Spirituality for Prevention and Cure of Mental Illness Throughout history, mental illness was closely related to religious faith, demonic possessions and magical enchantments. In a very long time in history, mental illness was misunderstood and misinterpreted and people suspected to have mental disorders were subjected to cruel procedures. In prehistory mental illness perceived to come from supernatural and magical spirits that disrupt minds. Shamans tried to cure mental illness through performing rituals, casting spells, and using mind-altering drugs. Trepanning, or drilling a hole on patients skull to release or exorcise bad spirits. However, fossils show that new bones grew to cover the holes and high survival rates were observed (Thomson, 2007). Ancient Egyptians were the first to implement a form of mental healthcare and the first to cure a patient identified to have mental illness. Temples and temple complexes served as mental hospitals. Mental treatment procedures include: psychiatric texts, rites, rituals and prayers. Egyptians were also able to decipher that mental illness that time was caused by loss of money and status; hence, they suggested that talk therapy will be an effective treatment procedure (Thomson, 2007). However, due to advances in technology, rapid evolution of the society and paradigm shifts in terms of mental illnesses, spirituality becomes a forgotten dimension of mental healthcare (Culliford, 2002). Spirituality, as prevention and treatment for mental illness, was included in the identified misunderstanding of ancient people towards mental disorders. Spirituality was forgotten as an important tool for physical and mental health and spiritual health was also overlooked as a part of overall human well-being. This neglect is attributed to secularization and science-based discipline of psychiatry (Culliford, 2007). Now, importance of spirituality is gradually being rediscovered because of two reasons. First, mental illness patients report spirituality; spiritual beliefs and practices are their major sources of personal strength. Second, there is increased attention in academic and scientific research and psychiatric treatment and practices (George, 2000). In the field of psychiatry, a trending practice is to achieve first, spiritual history of the patients before addressing their mental needs. Spiritual history includes details of the patients religious antecedents, practices, beliefs or the lack or absence of these. Reasons for taking spiritual history include (Culiford, 2007): The field recognizes that nature of spirituality as a source of validity, motivation, and sense of belonging and acceptance which are beneficial for the patients. There is a also a long historical relationship between spiritual healthcare and medicine. Spirituality is oftentimes part of patients needs and wishes. The influence of spirituality and religion to the attitudes and decisions of the staff. Moreover, spirituality is now recognized as an integrating force for various dimensions of human life including physical, biological, psychological, and psychosocial. Although it is acknowledged that spirituality may also have negative effects on mental well-being, there is a growing confidence for mental, and even physical health of spiritual belief and practices. In a wide review of researches on spirituality and mental health, 20% showed negative effects while 80% observed positive results (Culliford, 2007). Some of the negative accounts on spirituality as a beneficial tool for curing mental illness include the studies cited by Fallot (2003). In terms of diagnosis and psychiatric rehabilitation programs, DSM-IV diagnosis involves assessment of spiritual experiences. In a symptom-oriented nosological system, the focus is directed to spiritual or religious behavior of the patient. In DSM-IV, two scenarios may occur: First, spiritual concerns may be problematic and may also be attributable to the actual mental disorder. In cases of severe mental disorder, psychiatric disorder is considered primary while spiritual expression is secondary. There are cases when spiritual experiences disappear, the primary or psychiatric disorder is treated adequately. Second, spiritual issue is problematic but may not be attributed to the mental disease. Patients with severe mental illness are still capable of spiritual activities such as struggles for searching meaning in life, conflicting and confusing relationships with the sacred, and challenges to long-hel beliefs. These further leads to prolonged psychiatric difficulties, problems in understanding religious experiences, loss of hope and demoralization However, Fallot (2003) argued that there is positive spiritual coping that will be beneficial for mental illness patients. Still on a lager scale, patients tend to turn unto religion not just as a significant resource but also as a coping mechanism that is helpful. Spirituality and religion can serve as possible mechanisms with positive impacts of mental health and rarely are the cases in which both pose negative impacts on mental health (Fallot, 2003). Specifically, spiritual well-being is associated to reduce likelihood of anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse that lead to addiction and other mental disorders. Likewise, there is also positive association between spirituality undertaking and recovery from mental disorders such as depression and substance abuse (George, 2002). Mental Healthcare Practices Involving Spirituality This section discusses some mental healthcare treatment practices that are used to emphasize the role of spirituality to mental health (Fallot, 2003). Spiritual Assessment. This refers to understanding of content and the functions of a patients spiritual beliefs and practice. This approach is useful on a diverse religious experiences and cultures. The definition of spirituality can both be broad and inclusive. This approach goes beyond symptom-oriented orientation but rather explore potential significance of spirituality to the patient and his recovery. Spiritually informed groups. The group provides therapeutic context of examination of consumers religious beliefs and traditions. The role of this group is to provide a positive connection between spirituality and the present conditions of the patients. In spite of religious diversity, patients may find it helpful to share and listen to others search for meaning and purpose of life. It will not exacerbate symptoms of mental health but will rather support and clarify ones purpose in life which shall give sense of worth, value, and trust to themselves. Individual psychotherapy. Psychotherapeutic approaches coming from a wide variety of religious beliefs such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam and others attuned the present approaches for individual psychotherapy. Aside from overview of religious interventions, this approach can also be used to specify roles of meditation and mindfulness, prayer, and other spiritually and cognitive-behavioral techniques. This approach is also integrated in counseling relationship. Relationships with faith communities. One important factor for treating mental illness is to restore social supports and relationships. Religious or faith communities can offer empowerment, sense of acceptance and belonging to the patients. However, it should be taken into consideration that the patient shall not feel any sense of rejection from the community. How Does Spirituality Prevent and Treat Mental Illness Empirical analysis regarding the effects spirituality to mental health is continuously studied. Researchers and mental health practitioners continue to seek means by which spirituality will prevent and facilitate treatment, if not completely treat mental illnesses. Nonetheless, for the present studies, the following two mechanisms were attributed as the factors by which spirituality is helpful to mental health: First is the ability to establish social support. Spiritual participation may be one major avenue for developing social bonds and other social support. People with high religious participation have larger social networks, higher interaction with social network, receive more assistance from others, and have higher levels of satisfaction of the social support they receive. This is important as rejection is one of the major causes of disturbed mental health and acceptance is one of the best recovery apparatus. Second is the coherence spirituality offers. Through coherence within the group, patients tend to understand their role in life, their purpose, and to develop courage to face sufferings. Moreover, coherence with others is also an effective buffer to stress on mental health. As a conclusion, it can be acknowledged that in spite of the gaps between the benefits of spirituality and mental health, it can still be safely implemented as a tool to prevent and facilitate cure of mental illnesses through the approaches and because of the mechanisms mentioned in the later part of the paper.