Explain How Products Are Developed Essay Example for Free

Clarify How Products Are Developed Essay 3.1.1 The item life cycle (PLC). The item life cycle is utilized for deciding the life expectancy of items and there are 4 sub phases of item: presentation, development, development and decay. From 2007 up to this point, Honda Air Blade has become the best line of Honda’s motorbike just as on advertise. Since it was conceived, Honda Air Blade has accomplished deals of in excess of 2 million items. This year, from April to the furthest limit of September, Honda Air Blade ranges to 274,563 items. (Punch, 2014) This motorbike has brought more benefits and affected unequivocally on income of organization. Honda has had the accomplishment with this product offering. In any case, in the cutting edge world, to have the option to rival the contenders, Honda needs to improve quality, style of items and consider advertise costs just as contenders to improve an item 3.1.2. Marking and brand initiative. a. Marking: A brand is a lot greater than simply the corporate logo. The brand qualities are shaped from the endeavors of partnership during the time spent showcasing correspondence exercises and the character of business. Subsequently, company needs to have a proper methodology to discharge a decent PR crusade to make them more appealing than the contenders. Honda has slogan:† The intensity of dreams†, effectively to recall and it has been exceptionally celebrated the world over. b. Brand authority: The primary appearance of Honda in Vietnam is in 1996, up to this point has experienced 18 years and they have consistently been one of the cutting edge in their industry. (Honda, 2014) But now, Vietnam’s showcase has Yamaha, the greatest adversary of Honda and the opposition between both will proceed for quite a while later on. Thus, Honda needs to utilize and consolidate a clever of configuration, publicizing, showcasing, and corporate culture. It will help make brand properties in the brains of the individuals and that this will bring

Barrick Gold and the Mine at the Top of the World free essay sample

Barrick Gold and the Mine at the Top of the World Introduction The reason for this case investigation is to distinguish the principle correspondence issue that the universes biggest gold mining organization, Barrick Gold, is looking amidst their major Pascua-Lama formative task. The accompanying paper talks about the reasons for the correspondence issue and coming about manifestations, alongside the key partners that are influenced and their concerning issue. At long last, this paper will give an answer utilizing all the means of the correspondence model on how Barrick Gold can manage all the key partner gatherings. Principle Body Barrick Golds primary correspondence issue has been framed by Barrick saying a certain something, at that point accomplishing something different; this definitely caused an absence of trust between its partners and the organization. The issue has made concealed motivation and watched correspondence, in this manner easing back dynamic and efficiency. For instance, Argentina passed a law that ensured their ice sheets and permafrost, â€Å"which looked as though it may forestall the Argentinian piece of the undertaking from going ahead. We will compose a custom exposition test on Barrick Gold and the Mine at the Top of the World or then again any comparative theme explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page † (Barrick Gold case, pp. 11). The reason for the issue originates from Barrick Gold not staying faithful to their obligation. They proposed to move the most influenced ice sheets more distant away from the mining site, however didn't satisfy that guarantee. The side effects of the issue incorporate the ranchers misery with the organization and the city hall leader for supporting the mining venture. Another side effect is the way that the Argentinian national lawmaking bodies passed the law securing the ice sheets. This edgy move shows that Argentina has an absence of trust that the organization will finish on their guarantee to manage the liquefying ice sheets. The 5 fundamental partners incorporate the Chile and Argentina governments, the neighborhood ranchers, occupants of the valley, and the investors of Barrick Gold. Every one of these partners have separate issues they are worried about. The Chile government is worried about waste the mine is dumping into the waterway that goes through the Huasco Valley of Chile, explicitly cyanide. The Argentina governments concern depends on the way that the sovereignties they get from the mine are ? of the aggregate Gross domestic product of their poor San Juan territory; when the mining is done this will relapse back to zero and annihilate the economy. The nearby ranchers are worried about the blasts that cause residue to choose the icy masses and quicken its liquefying; the impacts are annihilating to the entire encompassing biological system. The occupants of the valley share a similar worry as the Argentinian government, that once the mining stops their pay will return to zero. At long last, the investors of Barrick Gold are worried about the possibility of tremendous restriction and absence of profitability that resulted as a result of it. In managing the up to referenced partner gatherings, Barrick Gold can utilize all the means of the correspondence model, including: sender, encode, channel, beneficiary, and criticism. For one thing, the Chilean government: Barrick Gold (sender) needs to think about a strategy that permits cyanide to be expelled from the waterway (encode), and this thought should be introduced up close and personal (channel) to the Chilean government (recipient); when the thought is gotten, Barrick Gold needs to take into consideration criticism (constructive or adverse) from this partner. Also, the nearby ranchers: Barrick Gold (sender) is liable for conceiving an arrangement for decelerating the softening of the icy masses (encode) and depicting this arrangement, either in a proposition or in a gathering (channel), to the neighborhood ranchers (beneficiary); the ranchers need to give their reaction of how the administration is getting along (input). End Taking everything into account, Barrick Gold has a correspondence issue that might obliterate its entire venture. How the organization manages its partners is critical to its future accomplishment in Chile and Argentina. To patch the difficult it is of the companys wellbeing to follow the correspondence model and make all endeavors to fix the harm previously done by not staying faithful to their commitment.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Research Paper

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Research Paper Example This continuous decrease that in the long run finished with the disintegrating of the realm is broadly bantered by researchers and the occasions included were exhaustively reported. This paper will refer to a portion of the significant reasons refered to by these sources and in the process distinguish the most significant and valid causation for the fall. Foundation The Roman Empire succeeded the Republican time of the old Roman development. In its initial years, it has adequately extended the domain gained by its ancestor. By 98 AD, Emperor Trajan has significantly expanded the outskirts of the Empire, with the realm at last covering more than 6.5 million square miles of land, spreading over the whole edge of the Mediterranean Sea, extending as far north as Scotland, south to Arabia and east to Mesopotamia.1 This is the motivation behind why the Roman Empire is viewed as one of the best to have administered ever. The Romans viewed themselves as rulers of the world and it appeared as though it was in reality evident. As Marshall brought up, â€Å"all the exchange and expertise, all the craftsmanship and learning of the known world, were theirs,† and that â€Å"beyond the fringes of the Roman Empire the world was offered over to wild savages, who were talented neither in expressions of the human experience of war nor of peace.2† Its decrease and fall has been the subject of various scholarly conversations. There are the individuals who distinguish that the Rome's drop to moral rot is the guilty party as the Roman honorability occupied with unreasonable sexy delights and extravagances, which ruined its general public all the while. This is a famous topic in clarifying the decay of different human advancements also. In the talk of the fall of the Roman Empire, Livy’s position is one of the regularly referenced. In the History of Rome, for example, he composed, â€Å"as taught bit by bit declined†¦ at that point, sinking more remote and m ore remote, at that point starting to fall encourage, until he shows up at the current occasions, when our indecencies have achieved such stature of immensity, that we can no longer suffer either the weight of them, or the sharpness of the essential remedies.†3 But as per Ermatinger (2004), this school is in every case not well contended in light of the fact that Rome has been liberal since the center Republic or as far back as 200 B.C.4 So if guilty pleasure and unethical behavior was the motivation behind why it declined, for what reason did Rome endured and even thrived for a few centuries more? Likewise one can generally say that a past society is ethically degenerate however that all social orders have this specific debauched perspective and, henceforth, it is only a simple yet incapable contention to clarify the fall of developments. At that point, there is likewise the case that accumulated a great deal of enthusiasm during the 1970s, which contended that the decay of R ome can be ascribed to lead harming after the administration introduced lead pipes for its water framework. Romans were additionally purportedly have utilized lead silverware for their eating and drinking. However, this case stayed unconfirmed and in the long run dissipated. As indicated by Wells, for example, Byzantium have persevered through a few centuries more than Rome and that their water framework may have been gotten from the thoughtful utilized in the Western Empire.5 This point likewise bolsters the contention that Rome could have declined before since lead is to be sure unsafe to the cerebrum and generally speaking wellbeing. Lead channels could have indicated its unfavorable impact on the Roman populace and could have immensely abbreviated the life expectancy of the Empire. Anthropologists have likewise discovered scarcely any amounts of lead in Roman

An Overview of ABC Plc - Free Essay Example

Table of Contents Company Overview UK operation Overview Tax Changes in UK U.S.A Operation Overview Japan Operation Overview Investment Country Analysis Regulation and Rules Tax and Licensing Cost Local Analysis Challenges: Economic Development in the region Risk Factors Economic Condition Legal un-certainty Regulatory and Tax Risk Security Concern Efficient Operation Customer Analysis Recommendations References Table of Figures Company Overview ABC Plc, a large multinational Oil and Gas Company, operates in USA, UK and Japan and its main activities are drilling, refining and distributing oil and gas. ABC Plc has not been making profits for the last 3 years in USA and Japan due to severe economic recession and management is planning to cease US and Japanese activities because of continuous loss. Current profit and loss account of the company performance reveals the following information.  £m USA Japan UK All Total Cost 950 700 450 2100 Less: Variable Cost 750 500 250 1500 Total Fixed Cost 200 200 200 600 Sales Revenue 700 650 800 2150 Group Net Profit 500 450 600 50 Contribution cost (50) 150 550 650 Fixed Cost 200 200 200 600 Profit/Loss (250) (50) 350 50 Above calculation of ABC Plcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profit and loss shows that company is facing hurdles in U.S and Japan operations are in severe loss especially in U.S business. In order to affirm the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s decision to close the U.S and Japan operation, analysis of all countries in which company operation is required. Following is the overview of the company country based operations. UK operation Overview UKà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s majority Oil reserves are located offshore in the UK continental shelf (UKCS), and most of the oil production occurs in the central and northern sections of the North Sea. Even though on shore there is a diffident amount of oil produced, in 2012 more than 90 percent of total UK production were offshore. (United Kingdom Analysis, 2013) Although UKà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s reservoirs are aging and infrastructure have been affected the oil production in last few years, The government of UK does not hold any direct interest in oil production, but this sector remains important to the government because Corporation Tax and Supplementary Tax income comes from the Oil sector and accounts almost 25 percent of corporate tax receipts, according to Oil and Gas UK. (United Kingdom Analysis, 2013) Tax Changes in UK There have been a number of tax changes from 2011 that affected the sector, which includes the change in the rate of supplementary charge (an addition to the corporate tax). Furthermore, petroleum revenue tax (PRT) is increased to 81 percent of their profits (previous 75% rate), and fields that are not subject to PRT now pay a 62% tax (50-percent rate in the past). (United Kingdom Analysis, 2013) Because of the increase in taxes most of the UK projects have become less competitive. Operating cost increase with higher taxes has resulted in decreased investment. Even without the increased taxes, operating costs in the UK were very high which also discourage investors. U.S.A Operation Overview U.S Oil production has boomed from last decade making U.S to less rely on oil imports and other countries. But this increase has come with the greater cost. Also it is speculated that this boom will not last more than a decade resulting in depletion of resources and maturing the reserves. Big players in the sector are profiting from the boom but increased legislation and laws including labor etc. making it difficult for the small firms to survive and continue production. Cost Inflation rate in USA is increasing making companies more to spend on operations without meeting the demand to increase activity and production volumes. Also the price changing un-certainty challenging the capital budgeting and estimated net income, large expansion and development is also on going. It will be hard to invest in new sites for small players. Figure 1 U.S Energy Information Administration Japan Operation Overview Japan is the worlds largest liquefied natural gas importer, second largest coal importer, and third largest net oil importer. Domestic oil reserves are very limited, according to theOil and Gas Journal(OGJ). Reserves amounted 44 million barrels as of January 2013. Japans domestic oil reserves are found primarily along the countrys western coastline.(Japan Analysis , 2013) Because of the deficiency in reserves and recent climate changes after Fukushima incident Japanese government and energy companies have decide to pursue active participation in investing oil and natural gas projects overseas. To meets its oil consumption demand Japan relies almost solely on imports. Government controls oil stocks to maintain the supply without any interruption. Total strategic crude oil stocks in Japan were 590 million barrels at the end of December 2012, According to the International Energy Agency. In this stock 55% were government stocks and 45% commercial stocks. Because of the reserv e declining Japans natural gas production has been low and flat for over a decade. In 2012, production was 116 Bcf, a decline from an average of 185 Bcf over the past 10 years. (Japan Analysis , 2013) Investment Country Analysis The fact of foreign direct investment was cleared for the developing countries, they knew that FDI will bring change and transform their economies, bringing more jobs and capital ensuring the economic growth of the region. Because of this realization, developing countries are strongly encouraged to privatize state-owned industries and to give priority to attract foreign. Sub Sahara region of Africa is fulfilled with resources both oil and gas and continually booming from last few years. Many of the foreign companies are taking interest to invest in the region. For ABC PLCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s future investment in case of closure of U.S and Japan operation the best option to invest is Congo, a small African country with abundance of natural resources reserves. According to the latest estimates fromOil Gas Journal(OGJ) released in January 2014, Congo holds 1.6 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves. This reserve is equivalent to 17.9 years of current production and 0.11 % of the worlds total reserves. Production is average of 295.4 thousand barrels of crude oil per day in 2011, 0.38% of the world and a change of 0.9 % compared to 2010. (CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE), 2014) According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 87% of the countrys export revenues and almost 80% of the governments total revenue in 2011 are coming from oil sector which shows that economy of Congo is highly dependent on its oil production. (CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE), 2014) Because of the lack of proper infrastructure small amount of natural gas has been commercialized. Despite the fact that Congo holds sizable proved natural gas reserves. Regulation and Rules Congoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s oil and gas reserves are managed by the Ministry of Mines, Energy, and Water Resources. Government use production sharing agreements (PSAs) for Oil and Gas exploration and production operations. Societe Nationale des Petroles du Congo (SNPC) is the Congos national hydrocarbon company, which manages government-owned shares in hydrocarbon operations. (CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE), 2014) SNPC has an operating interest alongside international oil companies (IOCs) through PSAs, which also include tax breaks and a royalty system. There are several IOCs, such as Chevron, Perenco, Murphy Oil, and SOCO Internationals, that participate in the oil and gas industries, but the companies that dominant the industries are Total and Eni. Tax and Licensing Cost Congoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Licensing Laws are in accordance with Production Sharing Agreements (PSAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s) and very favorable for investors. The laws take oil production royalty of 15% from investors with transportation and processing costs, reducing the rate to 12-14% and a gas production royalty of 5%. Oil recovery cost is up to 70% of total production is negotiable while exploration costs and operating costs are recoverable. Congoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s corporate tax rate is 35%. (OiI and Gas Industry Regulation in Congo, 2014) Following Figure 1 shows the Oil production and Consumption in Congo: Figure 2 Local Analysis Most of the foreign companies investing and operating in Congo are utilizing the local content for human resources, selecting suppliers and involving in community activities to boost the trust of local population. This act not only providing social and economic benefits but also helpà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s to create a stable relationship with the local host communities. ABC PLC should also consider this fact as an important aspect while recruitment of human resource and vendor selection process. Challenges: The total Oil production in Congo is around 310,000 barrels/day, generating 90% of government revenue and 90% of export earnings. For ABC Plcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s investment the major competitors will be The French Company Total which controls around 60% of output, Italyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ENI produces 30%, and the remaining 10 percent is divided between the smaller players Congrep, Murphy and the state company SNPC. (CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE), 2014) Economic Development in the region Congo lies in Sub-Saharan Africa and economic growth in this region has up in 2013, regionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s GDP grew to 4.7%, growth was higher at the rate of 6%. FDI are coming in the region exploiting not only oil but gas and mining sectors as well. The Net FDI calculated for the region was 4$ billion in 2013. (CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE), 2014) Following is the table showing the GDP growth of Congo in past few years. (Congo Economic Studies, 2014) Figure 3 Risk Factors Following is the risk factor analysis for ABC Plc for investment in the developing country. It must be clarified that most of these risk factors cannot control by the ABC Plc and can affect the business. These risk factors includes Economic Condition The demand for oil products are directly related to the general economic growth. Demand can be interrupted by recession or negative/low economic growth. Major changes in region including civil unrest can also harm the demand. Financial markets and institutions changes can also pose serious risk to the company. Legal un-certainty Countries in this region including Congo have no well-developed legal system. Although the regulatory authority for Oil and Gas is present and working with investors to implement changes, but still the risk is present of any unpredictable action by government can make the business difficult for company. Regulatory and Tax Risk Although the government of the region are amending the laws and providing good terms to encourage foreign investors but the risk is remain to any change in laws including the international agreements can adversely affect the business. Any increase in corporate tax or royalty fee can harm the future profits of ABC Plcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s investment in Congo. Security Concern Successful operation can be disrupted by local communities in case of any civil unrest or labor union crisis making it impossible to continue operation or in worst case cause great costs for security or closing down the operation for a period of time. Efficient Operation ABC Plcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance will depend on how company can perform competitively given the nature of few but big players in the sector. It will depend on the ability to manage the cost and expenses and improve production for the total term of business. This requires an efficient management with focus on utilizing right technology working with the best vendors and controlling cost. Customer Analysis Following figure shows the major customers of the Congo oil products. This ensures for ABC Plc that investing in the region is a right decision or not. Congoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s reserves are mostly un-utilized and in coming years the production will increase significantly. Also more FDI in the region will open the new markets for the oil investing companies. Figure 4 Recommendations After analyzing the U.S, UK and Japan Current situation and future investment opportunities for the ABC Plc in developing country, following recommendation has been suggested. U.S and Japan operation of company is causing a great loss and continuing it will harm the company and even cost to closing the business. ABC Plc operation in UK is profitable for the company but not in the long run, increasing cost will affect the business. It is imperative to further invest in other countries and close the U.S and Japan operation as Japanese government and oil production companies are also seeing opportunities to invest in other countries. ABC Plc can invest in any country in the African region but Congo will be the best case choice, as government is welcoming the FDIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and have less restriction and barriers to entry. For investment in any country Supply is one of the vital factors and Congo has abundant resources in reserves which needs further exploration, making it impossible to decrease in future supply. Congoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s current oil customers include big countries hence the demand is speculated to be un-interrupted or lessen in coming years. Congo has a relatively calm political situation as compared with other small developing countries. Making it a good opportunity for investors. ABC Plc planning for investments in developing region affirm by the proposed projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s capital budgeting. Projects PBP, NPV and IRR (interpolation method) has been calculated in order to take the right decision. Projects life has been estimated for four years with the PBP of 3.5 Years. PBP shows that in 3 years company will recover the initial cost of investment in the region. NPV of project investment at 7% rate suggests that project is profitable and will generate good revenue. This revenue increase will also helpful to the ABC Plc for their future investment plans and the positive NPV will increase the value of firm as well. Projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s IRR has been calculated at 7% and 14% rate which show that project is acceptable at 7% and above rate but less than 13%. IRR suggests that projects should be acceptable as far as the IRR is greater than the cost of capital rate which in this case is 7%. Conclusion It is suggested for ABC Plc to close the business in Japan and U.S. and invest in Congo to continue its profit for coming years. Although there are still risk present in investing in a developing country but time and cost make this as a best choice in this scenario. References (2014).CONGO(BRAZZAVILLE).https://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=CF.%20Last%20accessed%2019th%20April%202014.%20 -. (2014).Congo Economic Studies..Available: https://www.coface.com/Economic-Studies-and-Country-Risks/Congo. Last accessed 19th April 2014. (2013)Japan Analysis. , from U.S Energy Information Administration: https://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=JA . Last Accessed April 19th, 2014 (2014) OiI and Gas Industry Regulation in Congo. from MBendi Information series: https://www.mbendi.com/indy/oilg/govo/af/co/p0005.html Last accessed on April 19, 2014 (2013) United Kingdom Analysis, from U.S Energy Information Administration: https://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=uk Last accessed on April Saturday 19, 2014 Table of Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 1

The Schmalkaldic League Reformation War

The Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes and cities that pledged to protect each other from any religiously motivated attack lasted for sixteen years. The Reformation had further divided Europe already fragmented by cultural, economic and political differences. In the Holy Roman Empire, which covered much of central Europe, the newly Lutheran princes clashed with their Emperor: he was the secular head of the Catholic Church and they were part of a heresy. They banded together to survive. The Empire Divides In the mid-1500s the Holy Roman Empire was a piecemeal grouping of over 300 territories, which varied from large dukedoms to single cities; although largely independent, they all owed some form of loyalty to the Emperor. After Luther ignited a massive religious debate in 1517, via the publication of his 95 Theses, many German territories adopted his ideas and converted away from the existing Catholic Church. However, the Empire was an intrinsically Catholic institution, and the Emperor was the secular head of a Catholic Church that now regarded Luthers ideas as heresy. In 1521 Emperor Charles V pledged to remove the Lutherans (this new branch of religion was not yet called Protestantism) from his kingdom, with force if necessary. There was no immediate armed conflict. The Lutheran territories still owed allegiance to the Emperor, even though they were implicitly opposed to his role in the Catholic Church; he was, after all, the head of their empire. Likewise, although the Emperor was opposed to the Lutherans, he was hamstrung without them: the Empire had powerful resources, but these were split amongst hundreds of states. Throughout the 1520s Charles needed their support - militarily, politically and economically - and he was thus prevented from acting against them. Consequently, Lutheran ideas continued to spread amongst the German territories. In 1530, the situation changed. Charles had renewed his peace with France in 1529, temporarily driven the Ottoman forces back, and settled matters in Spain; he wanted to use this hiatus to reunite his empire, so it was ready to face any renewed Ottoman threat. Additionally, he had just returned from Rome having been crowned Emperor by the Pope, and he wanted to end the heresy. With the Catholic majority in the Diet (or Reichstag) demanding a general church council, and the Pope preferring arms, Charles was prepared to compromise. He asked the Lutherans to present their beliefs at a Diet, to be held in Augsburg. The Emperor Rejects Philip Melanchthon prepared a statement defining the basic Lutheran ideas, which had now been refined by nearly two decades of debate and discussion. This was the Confession of Augsburg, and it was delivered in June 1530. However, for many Catholics, there could be no compromise with this new heresy, and they presented a rejection of the Lutheran Confession entitled The Confutation of Augsburg. Despite it being very diplomatic - Melanchthon had avoided the most contentious issues and focused on areas of probable compromise - the Confession was rejected by Charles. He instead accepted the Confutation, consented to a renewal of the Edict of Worms (which banned Luthers ideas), and gave a limited period for the heretics to reconvert. The Lutheran members of the Diet left, in a mood which historians have described as both disgust and alienation. The League Forms In a direct reaction to the events of Augsburg two leading Lutheran princes, Landgrave Philip of Hesse and Elector John of Saxony, arranged a meeting at Schmalkalden, in the December of 1530. Here, in 1531, eight princes and eleven cities agreed to form a defensive league: if one member were attacked because of their religion, all the others would unite and support them. The Confession of Augsburg was to be taken as their statement of faith, and a charter was drawn up. Additionally, a commitment to provide troops was established, with a substantial military burden of 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalries being split amongst the members. The creation of leagues was common in the early modern Holy Roman Empire, especially during the Reformation. The League of Torgau had been formed by Lutherans in 1526, to oppose the Edict of Worms, and the 1520s also saw the Leagues of Speyer, Dessau, and Regensburg; the latter two were Catholic. However, the Schmalkaldic League included a large military component, and for the first time, a powerful group of princes and cities appeared to be both openly defiant of the Emperor, and ready to fight him. Some historians have claimed that the events of 1530-31 made an armed conflict between the League and the Emperor inevitable, but this might not be the case. The Lutheran princes were still respectful of their Emperor and many were reluctant to attack; indeed, the city of Nuremberg, which remained outside the League, as opposed to challenging him at all. Equally, many Catholic territories were loath to encourage a situation whereby the Emperor could restrict their rights or march against them, and a successful attack on the Lutherans could establish an unwanted precedent. Finally, Charles still wished to negotiate a compromise. War Averted by More War These are moot  points, however, because a large Ottoman army transformed the situation. Charles had already lost large parts of Hungary to them, and renewed attacks in the east prompted the Emperor to declare a religious truce with the Lutherans: the Peace of Nuremberg. This canceled certain legal cases and prevented any action being taken against the Protestants until a general church council had met, but no date was given; the Lutherans could continue, and so would their military support. This set the tone for another fifteen years, as Ottoman - and later French - pressure forced Charles to call a series of truces, interspersed with declarations of heresy. The situation became one of intolerant theory, but tolerant practice. Without any unified or directed Catholic opposition, the Schmalkaldic League was able to grow in power. Success One early Schmalkaldic triumph was the restoration of Duke Ulrich. A friend of Philip of Hesse, Ulrich had been expelled from his Duchy of Wà ¼rttemberg in 1919: his conquest of a previously independent city caused the powerful Swabian League to invade and eject him. The Duchy had since been sold to Charles, and the League used a combination of Bavarian support and Imperial need to force the Emperor to agree. This was seen as a major victory among the Lutheran territories, and the Leagues numbers grew. Hesse and his allies also courted foreign support, forming relationships with the French, English, and Danish, who all pledged varying forms of aid. Crucially, the League did this while maintaining, at least an illusion of, their loyalty to the emperor. The League acted to support cities and individuals who wished to convert to Lutheran beliefs  and harass any attempts to curb them. They were occasionally pro-active: in 1542 a League army attacked the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbà ¼ttel, the remaining Catholic heartland in the north, and expelled its Duke, Henry. Although this action broke a truce between the League and the Emperor, Charles was too embroiled in a new conflict with France, and his brother with problems in Hungary, to react. By 1545, all of the northern Empire was Lutheran, and numbers were growing in the south. While the Schmalkaldic League never included all of the Lutheran territories - many cities and princes remained separate - it did form a core amongst them. The Schmalkaldic League Fragments The decline of the League began in the early 1540s. Philip of Hesse was revealed to be a bigamist, a crime punishable by death under the Empires legal Code of 1532. Fearing for his life, Philip sought an Imperial pardon, and when Charles agreed, Philips political strength was shattered; the League lost an important leader. Additionally, external pressures were again pushing Charles to seek a resolution. The Ottoman threat was continuing, and almost all of Hungary was lost; Charles needed the power that only a united Empire would bring. Perhaps more importantly, the sheer extent of Lutheran conversions demanded Imperial action - three of the seven electors were now Protestant and another, the Archbishop of Cologne, appeared to be wavering. The possibility of a Lutheran empire, and maybe even a Protestant (although uncrowned) Emperor, was growing. Charless approach to the League had also changed. The failure of his frequent attempts at negotiation, although the fault of both sides, had clarified the situation - only war or tolerance would work, and the latter was far from ideal. The Emperor began to seek allies amongst the Lutheran princes, exploiting their secular differences, and his two greatest coups were Maurice, the Duke of Saxony, and Albert, Duke of Bavaria. Maurice hated his cousin John, who was both the Elector of Saxony and a leading member of the Schmalkaldic League; Charles promised all of Johns lands and titles as a reward. Albert was persuaded by an offer of marriage: his eldest son for the Emperors niece. Charles also worked to end the Leagues foreign support, and in 1544 he signed the Peace of Crà ¨py with Francis I, whereby the French King agreed not to ally with Protestants from within the Empire. This included the Schmalkaldic League. The End of the League In 1546, Charles took advantage of a truce with the Ottomans and gathered an army, drawing troops from across the Empire. The Pope also sent support, in the form of a force led by his grandson. While the League was quick to muster, there was little attempt to defeat any of the smaller units before they had combined under Charles. Indeed, historians often take this indecisive activity as evidence that the League had a weak and ineffectual leadership. Certainly, many members distrusted each other, and several cities argued about their troop commitments. The Leagues only real unity was Lutheran belief, but they even varied in this; additionally, the cities tended to favor simple defense, some princes wanted to attack.The Schmalkaldic War was fought between 1546-47. The League may have had more troops, but they were disorganized, and Maurice effectively split their forces when his invasion of Saxony drew John away. Ultimately, the League was beaten easily by Charles at the Battle of Mà ¼hlberg, where he crushed the Schmalkaldic army and captured many of its leaders. John and Philip of Hesse were imprisoned, the Emperor stripped 28 cities of their independent constitutions, and the League was finished. The Protestants Rally Of course, victory on the field of battle doesnt translate directly into success elsewhere, and Charles swiftly lost control. Many of the conquered territories refused to reconvert, the papal armies withdrew to Rome, and the Emperors Lutheran alliances swiftly fell apart. The Schmalkaldic League may have been powerful, but it was never the sole Protestant body in the Empire, and Charless new attempt at religious compromise, the Augsburg Interim, displeased both sides greatly. The problems of the early 1530s reappeared, with some Catholics loathe to crush the Lutherans in case the Emperor gained too much power. During the years 1551-52, a new Protestant League was created, which included Maurice of Saxony; this replaced its Schmalkaldic predecessor as a protector of the Lutheran territories  and contributed to the Imperial acceptance of Lutheranism in 1555. A Timeline for the Schmalkaldic League 1517  - Luther begins a debate on his 95 Theses.1521  - The Edict of Worms bans Luther and his ideas from the Empire.1530  - June - The Diet of Augsburg is held, and the Emperor rejects the Lutheran Confession.1530  - December - Philip of Hesse and John of Saxony call a meeting of Lutherans in Schmalkalden.1531  - The Schmalkaldic League is formed by a small group of Lutheran princes and cities, to defend themselves against attacks on their religion.1532  - External pressures force the Emperor to decree the Peace of Nuremberg. Lutherans are to be temporarily tolerated.1534  - Restoration of Duke Ulrich to his Duchy by the League.1541  - Philip of Hesse is given an Imperial pardon for his bigamy, neutralizing him as a political force. The Colloquy of Regensburg is called by Charles, but negotiations between Lutheran and Catholic theologians fail to reach a compromise.1542  - The League attacks the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbà ¼ttel, expelling the Catholic Duke.1544  - Peace of Crà ¨py signed between the Empire and France; the League lose their French support.br/>1546  - The Schmalkaldic War begins.1547  - The League is defeated at the Battle of Mà ¼hlberg, and its leaders are captured.1548  - Charles decrees the Augsburg Interim as a compromise; it fails.1551/2  - The Protestant League is created to defend the Lutheran territories.

The Report On Climate Change Dictates - 5048 Words

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Frederick Douglass Quote Log free essay sample

Capable of high attainments as an intellectual and moral being needing nothing but a comparatively small amount of cultivation to make him an ornament to society and a blessing to his race by the law of the land, by the voice of the people, by the terms of the slave code, he was only a piece of property, a beast of burden, a chattel personal, nevertheless! † * Page 4 * Pathos, logos * The audience of this piece is educated, white abolitionist men from the north. Because of this, this speaker chooses to frequently use logos to make his argument, which is evident in this passage. He is straight forward in describing what it truly means to be a slave, and how they are of no lesser value than white people. These are simply facts, but the tone in which they are presented enable the audience/reader to understand where he is coming from and take his side. We will write a custom essay sample on Frederick Douglass Quote Log or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page * â€Å"I reminded the audience †¦ might burst of feeling. The exigence (issue being addressed? ) of this piece is the issue of slavery. Most pro-slavery people truly believed that blacks were of lesser value than them, and were of no potential benefit to society other than working as a slave. The author of the preface uses the logos appeal to prove this to be untrue, by explaining that the characteristics of a slave exist not because of the slave’s race, but because of the slavery itself. The capitalization of â€Å"the domestic institution† makes him sound more emotional and strong, as if he is yelling because he is so upset over the issue. * â€Å"Mr. Douglass has frankly disclosed †¦ if they are untrue.   Again, we have known you long †¦ fair specimen of the whole truth. These two passages are clear ethos appeal for Fredrick Douglass. Though someone else wrote both excerpts, they both give Douglass credibility that will carry on into his narrative. It makes Douglass’ narrative more powerful as a whole because the reader truly believes what he or she is reading. â€Å"There is no single spot †¦ I should throw the MS. into the fire., logos * Since the audience is mostly abolitionists, the author uses the logos appeal here to evoke a pathos appeal in them. He says that there is nowhere that a slave can ever truly be safe. People that were pro-slavery would probably think nothing of this statement, but this audience is educated and open-minded, and is able to recognize how unfair a situation the slaves are in. The impact of this quote is great, because the readers realize how trapped the slaves were and it makes the readers feel for them and want to do something about it. The audience is educated, and these facts are given to show how these slaves are intentionally dehumanized to prevent them from being able to develop even the most basic knowledge of themselves as individuals. It is effective because it shows the readers that it is not the slaves fault that they appear less educated, it is because they are intentionally kept ignorant. * â€Å"She made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work.   In this passage, Douglass is talking about his mother. Most of the audience are adults, and are most likely parents in their own right. In this way, they can empathize with the desire of a parent to be with their child. This is effective in showing how slaves are humans just like everyone else and have emotion and longing to be with their families. * â€Å"He must not only whip them himself†¦ ply the gory lash to his naked back. † * Page 15 * Logos, pathos * The pu rpose of this narrative is to get readers to see how awful and inhumane slavery is, and to want to abolish it. This statement is clearly wrong (logos) and causes readers to sympathize with Douglass and agree that slavery should be banned. * â€Å"He would at times seem to take great pleasure†¦ would he cesase to swing the blood-clotted cowskin. † * Pages 15-16 * Logos, pathos, ethos * Douglass is writing this narrative to address slavery and give readers an idea of what being a slave is really like. To further show this, he uses this quote to show just how inhumane the owners can be. By using a specific example, he gives himself credibility of knowing what he’s talking about and really having witnessed torturous events. The language and tone used appeal to the pathos appeal because he sounds so angry about the things he has seen. * â€Å"To all these complaints, no matter how unjust†¦ thirty lashes at a the time. Because most of the audience is already abolitionist or open to abolishing slavery, Douglass knows they will find this passage unfair. Also, most of the audience is adults, and Douglass’ description of Old Barney gets them to sympathize with him. Logos Douglass is showing the audience that there are reasons why they don’t hear too much about why slavery is so bad, because the slaves have fatal consequences if they complain. His diction is very factual and straight to the point, due to his educated audience. His purpose in writing is to get people to see how dark slavery is, and this quote shows why some people might not think slavery is so bad. * â€Å"Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with any one†¦ He alone seemed cool and collected.

Pablo Picasso Changed The Way We Look At Art Essays - Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Changed The Way We Look At Art Muldoon 1 Picasso Changed the Way We Look at Art There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards you can remove all traces of reality. -Pablo Picasso Picasso had not always been so enlightened with the fact that there was more to art than the eye could see. During the course of his ninety-one year life, Picasso encountered many ideas and people that helped form the wonderfully talented and brilliant artist in history. Picasso was born Pablo Ruiz on October 25th 1881, in Malaga, Spain. His father was a inspiring artist while his mother took care of the house. Picasso had shown a great artistic talent in his early childhood years. At 14 years old, Picasso adopted his mother's less common name. Changing Ruiz to Picasso. Shortly after this event, Picasso had finished his one month qualification exam into the Acadamy of the Arts in Barcelona. The only exceptional thing about this was that Picasso had done this in one day. Picasso stayed with the acadamy for three years, before deciding to move to San Fernando where he would then attend the Acadamy of San Fernando until the turn of the century. Picasso then joined up with the group of aspiring artists. Pablo Picasso was probably the most famous artist of the twentieth century. During his artistic career, which lasted more than 75 years, he created thousands of works, not only paintings but also sculptures, prints, and ceramics, using all kinds of materials. He almost single-handedly created modern art. He changed art more profoundly than any other artist of this century. First famous for his pioneering role in Cubism, Picasso continued to develop his art with a pace and vitality comparable to the accelerated technological and cultural changes of the twentieth century. Each change embodied a radical new idea, and it might be said that Picasso lived several artistic lifetimes. Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, in Malaga, Spain, son of an artist, Jose Ruiz, and Maria Picasso. Rather than adopt the common name Ruiz, the young Picasso took the rarer name of his mother. An artistic prodigy, Picasso, at the age of 14, completed the one-month qualifying examination of the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day. From there he went to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, returning in 1900 to Barcelona, where he frequented the city's famous cabaret of intellectuals and artists, Els Quatre Gats. The years of 1901 to 1904, known as the blue period because of the blue tonality of Picasso's paintings were a time of frequent changes of residence between Barcelona and Paris. During this period, he would spend his days in Paris studying the masterworks at the Louvre and his nights enjoying the company of fellow artists at cabarets like the Lapin Agile. 1905 and 1906 marked a radical change in color and mood for Picasso. He became fascinated with the acrobats, clowns and wandering families of the circus world. He started to paint in subtle pinks and grays, often highlighted with brighter tones. This was known as his rose period. In 1907, Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, considered the watershed picture of the twentieth century, and met Georges Braque, the other leading figure of the Cubist movement. Cubism was equally the creation of Picasso and Braque and from 1911 to 1913, the two men were in frequent contact. In 1917, Picasso did the set and costume design for Serge Diaghilev's ballet Parade. For Picasso the 1920's were years of rich artistic exploration and great productivity. Picasso continued to design theater sets and painted in Cubist, Classical and Surreal modes. From 1929 to 1931, he pioneered wrought iron sculpture with his old friend Julio Gonzalez. In the early 1930's, Picasso did a large quantity of graphic illustrations. In late April of 1937, the world learned the shocking news of the saturation bombing of the civilian target of Guernica, Spain by the Nazi Luftwaffe. Picasso responded with his great anti-war painting, Guernica. During World War II, Picasso lived in Paris, where he turned his energy to the art of ceramics. From 1947 to 1950, he pursued new methods of lithography. The l950's saw the beginning

How to Format Subheads

How to Format Subheads How to Format Subheads How to Format Subheads By Mark Nichol An effective way to break up long sequences of paragraphs and provide an organizational scheme for your writing is to insert subheads. Here are some considerations: Subheads should be succinct just a short phrase with a keyword or two. They should be formatted in a larger point size than the running text, or at least styled in boldface. Consider formatting them in a different type style than the running text; if one is serif (with appendages such as the tail here in the letter t), the other should be sans serif (â€Å"without serif†). Many publications and sites match subhead style and font (and color, if applicable) to those of the headline. The purposes of inserting subheads are to provide an organizational scheme for parts of an article, book, or other piece of content and to offer the reader a break from reading line after line of unbroken prose. Subheads should be roughly the same distance apart. If two sections are of inordinately different lengths, perhaps one section needs to be expanded or the other should be shorter. Otherwise, look for other points at which to break up the paragraphs instead so that the sections are about the same length. If you have more than one level of subheads (for sections, subsections, and perhaps even sub-subsections), distinguish them clearly to aid readers in following your organizational scheme. Books and periodicals employ a hierarchical protocol for subheads, such as using all uppercase letters for the top level, headings with headline-style capitalization for the next level, and run-in headings (inserted immediately before the first word of the next paragraph, in boldface or italic type and perhaps with punctuation as well). If you have a recurring print publication or multiple posts on your website, select a style for each heading level and use it consistently. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before Words55 Boxing IdiomsA "Diploma" is not a "Degree"

Marketing of Sushi Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

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Regions Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Regions - Research Paper Example The research also analyzed the government involvement in promoting good relations between the people and the international capital market. The research examined the relations in the fisheries, mining, and equipment applied and the overall contribution to the growth of the economy. The researchers based their arguments on the literatures published on the canoe trade in Central American Mosquitia region. It then contrasted the literatures with the contribution of the canoe trade to the economic and social relations development. The researchers analyzed the statistical data on the region and drew the relevant conclusions. The trade practices open up a people’s imagination and appreciation of the motives of trade, that is, profit oriented. The trade between the international markets and the remote isolated rural populations re-synthesizes the aspects of the people’s livelihoods. The objective of this research is to establish the dependence of wealth generation to the social relationships between the trading parties. The economic growth of a particular region depends on the trade activities of that region. Trade results into the exchange of cultural activities and crucial information between the partners. The information opens up the people’s perception of the natural phenomena and hence appreciates the essence of trade activities and good relations. The research herein reviewed three resources and drafted reasonable conclusions. Analysis of trading activities takes into account the measures put across to help establish the favorable business culture. Sound infrastructural facilities, equipments and social relations are essential aspects for consideration. Trade promotes the economic growth, which in effect promotes establishments of social amenities such as education centers. The investors also introduce endogenous projects into the regions that promote the rural development in effect. The development takes into

Tma Essay Example for Free

Tma Essay People, being naturally inquisitive, have often been referred to as scientists. Even as young children, people are constantly testing and evaluating the boundaries to decipher their own social environment and quickly recognise what is acceptable and what is not. This soon evolves into intuition and whether it is constructed in a logical and rational way depends on a number factors. However, when considering cognitive psychology and the information processing that underpins judgements and risks, peoples cognitive processes are often likened to computers in the way that these processes interact. This essay begins by looking at Fritz Heider (1944, as cited in Buchanan et al. , p. 60) an influential psychologist in this area who coined the phrase naive psychology. It then progresses onto the advantages and disadvantages of the attribution theories using Kelleys covariation method and MacArthurs vignettes to test the theory. This is followed by looking into optimistic bias and whether this bias can prevent people from constructing rational and logical theories when making sense of their social environment. Finally, the essay evaluates the HIV/AIDs and smoking progression and how people can conceptualise risk, resulting in laying blame elsewhere other than in their social group. Heider was one of the first psychologists to study in detail social cognition. He believed that delving into how people made sense of their social environments was fundamental in understanding social behaviours, he believed people actively built models of cause and effect to find predictability and regularity which would help control their lives, operating like naive psychologists. Heider also believed people used this method when people perceive others and their actions. He constructed a study using animated cartoons of moving shapes consisting of a circle, a box and a rectangle. When asked to describe what they saw, all but one of the participants described the shapes movement in terms of human action. The fact that these people were perceiving these shapes automatically to be people goes some way to provide support for Heiders theory and prove that people are certainly trying to make sense of their social environment. However this, albeit simple use of experimental social psychology, has a few limitations. As this was a simplified experiment and disimilar to what would happen in a real social environment, Heider was not able to prove that the results would be the same outside in real life. In fact, often results obtained outside of the laboratory conclude opposite results to that of the laboratory. There is also a possibility that the participants, upon hearing that they would be attending a psychological experiment, subconciously associated psychology with people or themselves and their answers reflected this. In an experimental condition there will always be confounding variables no matter what measures are taken to eliminate them, it is certainly difficult to take research on perception and attention out of everyday life and into a controlled experiment. In a social environment because people are not manufacturing social situations, people see them as they are, this could put them in good stead to construct rational and logical theories on their environment. What Heiders theory lacks is specific procedures and data. Harold Kelley (1967, as cited in Buchanan et al. , p. 2) who developed the covariation model, used testable predictions and data in his attribution theory. The attribution theories suggest people distinguish between external/disposition factors and internal/disposition factors to recognise the causes of social behaviour. Kelley proposed that when people use information in causal reasoning, three variables are decided upon, distinctiveness, consensus and consistency, this was known as the covariation model. He supported the belief that people behave like intuitive scientists. MacArthur (1972, as cited in Buchanan et al. , p. 4) tested this theory in her studies, she wanted to test the effect of different types and level of information on the nature of causal attributions. She used 16 vignettes, a short description of a behaviour event that contained different types of the three variables, CCD. They then assigned an internal or external cause to the event. The results were supportive of MacArthurs theory and imply that we tend to favour internal rather than external attributions, the FAE (fundamental attribution error). However, it has been proven that people do not use always use all the information available to them. This shows that the way people view risk is not particularly logical, people overlook risk and when comparing people to experts, people do not usually conceptualise risks as well as experts Vignettes are easy to use and provide much needed data and from a large number of participants which is likely to produce more accurate results. The kind of control applied in this study would not have been able to take place if it took place in real life. However they do have low ecological validity because of this very reason, it is still constructed. Attribution theories have also been criticised for overstating the rationality of peoples causal reasoning. When considering the idea of people as intuitive scientists it is important to understand that people can tend to be more optimistic about risk than statistics warrant. This results in optimistic bias. For example, irrespective of empirical evidence, some people think smoking wont harm them. Some people know that they are likely to become ill from it and still continue because the immediate gain overcomes any alternative, albeit potentially deadly. This may be as a result of a motivational source which can result in judgemental biases. There are several explanations for this optimistic bias. The availability heuristic, which involves making decisions based on generating examples in peoples cognitive system, perhaps someone they know who has smoked constantly for 60 years has other any side effects. These are good examples to use when deciphering whether people are intuitive scientists and can make rational and logical judgements because the risk of smoking can be estimated using mathematics. The amount of people that still smoke however is a strong argument that people may be intuitive scientists but the concept of making rational, logical decisions can still be lost if alternative factors get in the way, like smoking or HIV. When people have to make decisions quickly, they often unconsciously rely on incomplete information as a result of the environment in which the social cognition takes place, rather than just the basic cognitive processes, this could account for people rejecting the possibility of HIV leading to death, perhaps because the information they have in incomplete. The fact that people have survived despite this however goes some way to suggest that although peoples cognitive processes do not always lead them to the mathematically correct answer, perhaps that element of risk, optimistic bias and inquisitiveness has prolonged peoples evolution so far. The studies involving optimistic bias and indeed many studies involving how people conceptualise risk however, have been conducted in largely Western cultures and having found previous contradictions between studies in Western cultures, (which tend to focus largely on the individual rather than the social group, as is more popular in many Asian cultures), these theories may not apply to the majority of people and therefore more research entailing diverse cultures would build a more successful conclusion as to why optimistic bias occurs. One reason could be evolution, natural selection could have resulted in humans having evolved with optimistic bias meaning that the people who took the risks were more sexually successful. Another reason for this could that in the urgency of everyday life, people do not use all the information available. One could argue that as we do not process everything we see, we connect the dots based on our rational judgement. The people in many of these experiments drew from their own conclusions and upon their own schema which could be wrong. This kind of error highlights one of the disadvantages of people drawing from their own logical and rational theories. Although it is important to note that the above examples are experiments and the situations are unlikely to occur in everyday life, however research has also shown our schema is highly tuned and usually correct. Both cognitive psychology and experimental social psychology initiate ideas of people thinking in machine ways, operating like scientists but the studies have shown otherwise. Perhaps logical and rational ideas are ideologies and are not appropriate in the context of our own social environments. People, in general tend to perceive events as being more under their own control than they perhaps are, it is clear from these studies that people can sometimes become more optimistic when is comes to risks when comparing the true scientific statistics. From the research into varying theories it appears that the majority of people are intuitive scientists, that to a certain extent people do use logical and rational theories to make sense of their social environment, however these are not always successful. As the evidence of several theories suggests, intuition in people is not always correct. Mistakes are bound to be made, especially when motivation factors overcomes logic and experience and imagination interferes with the process. If people have survived thus far using their own rational and logical judgements than anything further may be seen as striving for improvement, where one could argue, it is unnecessary. Word count 1,503 References K. Buchanan, P. Anand, H. Joffe ; K. Thomas (2007) Perceiving and understanding the social world. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, ; K. Thomas (Eds. ), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed. , pp. 5-49). Milton Keynes: The Open University

Uses of ICT in Theatres :: ICT Essays

Uses of ICT in theatres Databases may contain information regarding: * Props - & people who make them * Costumes - * Actors * Producers * Directors * Regular visitors * Scenery - makers, painters * Make-up people * Rehearsal times * Staff rotas Publicity: * Programmes * Filters * Press releases * Posters * List of contacts Smoke/fire alarms Emergency lighting A theatre may use ICT for a wide number of tasks: Ticket-booking systems (both on- and off-line) Internet site Staff rotas Promotional materials Cash flow Automatic lighting systems Central management system Accounts Scheduling User interfaces Alarms Data Protection Act -relates to any personal data (relating to living individuals who can be identified from that data) that may be stored. - Hence, general data collected from point of sale terminals and websites are not usually affected. - Requirements of Act also cover many categories of manually held data. - Rome types of data that must be registered under the Act: -- Public and internal directories (e.g. of students, customers, staff) - Includes contact information. -- Staff/customer biographical information pages. -- Online forms (registration etc), include contact information. -- Online research surveys - includes data that identifies any individual response to a survey. -- E-mail list subscriptions (e.g. keep up with the latest results). -- Other ways, such as scripts that allow a user to personalise web pages, server-based cookie file systems, etc. Companies collecting any of the data outlined above must appoint a data controller and register with the Information Commissioner. Data Controllers must notify the IC, before processing personal data, of: - Their name and address - The data to be processed - The category(s) of data subject to which they relate - The purposes for which the data will be processed Companies are checked to ensure data security before being registered. The Act places a legal obligation on DCs to follow the data protection principles: - Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully - Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified lawful purposes - Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose/s for which it is to be used - Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date - Personal data processed for any purpose/s shall not be kept for longer than necessary - Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the act - Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unlawful or unauthorised processing of personal data, and against loss, destruction or damage to personal data. - Personal data shall not be transferred to countries/territories

Ethics and Internal Auditors

Professionalism, Ethical Codes and the Internal Auditor: A Moral Argument Mary Ann Reynolds ABSTRACT. This paper examines the case of the internal auditor from a sociological and ethical perspective. Is it appropriate to extend the designation of professional to internal auditors? The discussion includes criteria from the sociology literature on professionalism. Further, professional ethical codes are compared. Internal auditors’ code of ethics is found to have a strong moral approach, contrasting to the more instrumental approach of certified professional accountants.Internal auditors are noted as using their code of ethics to help resolve professional ethical dilemmas. Introduction Society grants professional standing to those groups which contribute to the well being of the broader society. Business experts in such groups as business ethics consultants and internal auditors lay claim to professional standing which if granted enhances both their credibility and marketability . But is this claim justified? Although business ethicists are beginning to debate this issue they presently lack a common body of knowledge or agreed upon expertise.As defined expert knowledge is one of the common criterion for professional definition their claim awaits the development of consensus (Cohen, 1992; Stark, 1993; and Dean, 1997) However a similar group, internal auditor’s have a fifty year history of moving to achieve this recognition. This paper will examine the justification of their claim to professionalism in light of current practice. Mary Ann Reynolds is assistant professor of accounting at Western Washington University. Her current research publications are primarily in the areas of ethics, and environmental accounting.This is of importance to society because internal auditor’s provide a peculiar service in that they contribute to the control of the integrity of financial information in a market economy. Public accountants, represented by the Americ an Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) have long held professional status based on their responsibility to audit publicly issued financial statements. Public accountants provide a range of service but are specifically licensed to perform the external audit of publicly issued financial statements.Internal auditors in contrast have no licensure requirement and practice within the corporation or organization that employs them. There may be great similarity in the work performed by these two branches of accounting. Internal auditors may perhaps be considered a subset of accounting and as such may be included under the professional rubric. However they may also be viewed as a particular class of business expert or consultant, not serving the public good and not necessarily adhering to standards or codes of conduct, in which case the claim to professionalism would not hold.However, as a result of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 corporations are required to maintain effective internal controls to prevent fraud and bribery of foreign officials. Internal auditors have been instrumental in providing this service as well as compliance audits to ensure meeting regulatory requirements. Society appears to expect a professional service even though licensure has not been required nor formally granted. The internal auditor serves an important link in the business and financial reporting process of corporations and not for profit providers but can they be considered professionals?Journal of Business Ethics 24: 115–124, 2000.  © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 116 Mary Ann Reynolds Professionalism: A societal perspective Accountants perform agreed upon services within an orderly social and economic context. The claim to classify accounting, and auditing, as classical professions is based upon their relationship to society as a whole and the question of professionalism must therefore be studied not just in the context of a division of labor but, â€Å"as part of a network of social and economic relations (Dingwell, p. 2). Professions do, in fact, contract with society and a sociological level of analysis is thus useful in examining accounting practice (Fogarty, 1995). The functionalist perspective deriving from Parsons (1951, 1968) classic works in particular provides a useful explanatory model for understanding accounting in its social environment. Functionalists contend that society will organize to maintain itself and then various functions arise to preserve the stability of the social system.Anthropologists utilizing functionalism as a heuristic tool have identified four of the prerequisites to maintain society as: 1) shared cognitive orientations, 2) normative regulation of means, 3) effective control of disruptive forms of behavior and 4) communication (Aberle et al. , 1960). Accounting reports as an inherent part of the resource allocation process and can appropriately be viewed as commun ication as well as one of the control mechanisms (Reynolds, 1989). The functionalist perspective is chosen from among possible approaches such as taxonomic, neo-Weberian, or Marxist (Saks, 1988) as relevant to accountants.As Montagna (Freidson, 1973, p. 146) notes professional accountants are, â€Å"designers of order†. Accounting theory follows the basic assumptions of the functionalist perspective in that they contribute to accurate communication, control and the maintenance of order. Although work on professions following a functionalist foundation is continued by Moore (1970), some specific insight can be gained by returning to issues raised by Parsons and Hughes in earlier work. A range of criteria have been proposed as indicators of professional status in this society. Parsons focused on the function served, i. e. aintenance of order and control, while Hughes discussed licensure and certification as indicators Are internal auditors properly designated as professionals? This continuing discussion is emphasized by Wesberry’s (1989, p. 25) regretting that internal auditor’s cannot yet claim to â€Å"have arrived†, to unequivocally claim professional status. Further debate arises as questions about future directions for internal auditing indicate a wide range of possibilities. Opposite ends of the spectrum are expressed by an interview with Michael Hammer (1998) and a review of Israeli legislation (Friedberg and Mizrahi, 1998).In an interview published in the Internal Auditor, Michael Hammer encourages internal auditors to move to a consultancy position and to convince management that the consultant’s role is in fact the role in which the internal auditor adds value to the company. This contrasts to the prominence internal audits were recently accorded in Israel where the Knesset mandated that every public body or organization must have an internal audit. Thus we see the current debate as whether internal auditors are class ified as workers with a particular expertise, or as professionals?This discussion can be informed by reference to the sociology of professions and examination of the proposed profession’s ethical code. The author examines the unresolved claim of professional status for internal auditors and considers their development and use of a code of ethic as one type of supporting evidence. The specific case of the internal auditor is addressed by reviewing: 1) the internal auditor’s claim to professionalism based on their function in society, 2) criteria for professions, and 3) development of an ethical code.The paper is organized as follows: the examination is located in the societal perspective and then specific professional characteristics are reviewed. The third section discusses codes of ethics and compares elements contained in recognized professional accounting codes. Section IV discusses the internal auditors code in particular, the guidance for conflict resolution and f inally, the moral focus of the internal auditor’s professional ethics code is discussed. Section five is the conclusion. Professionalism, Ethical Codes and the Internal Auditor of societal mandate.Jackson (1970, p. 6) enumerates: craft, skills, intellectual training and the concept of duty with a service ideal and objective disinterestedness as criteria for distinguishing professions. Thus, for an occupation to become a profession it is considered one which is practiced by a few experts using special knowledge in a field which reflects issues of concern to society. Further, normative standards of practice are then set by the professional bodies. Evolving professional status within a society is additionally evidenced by development and adherence to a standard or code.Thus, the consideration of an occupation as professional or nonprofessional is based on an accumulation of critical discriminating characteristics ( Jackson, 1970, p. 23). To those noted above Schumpeter (1951) ad ds the consideration of monopoly power. Monopoly versus non monopoly is an indictor of the degree to which charter to practice has been granted to the profession by society. Characteristics of professions. Within the social model professions are seen as emerging to serve the public good and are granted status by society because of the functions performed.The basic issues presented above led to the development of proposed listings of common characteristics for professions. The listing used by Millerson (1964), and Kultgen, (1988), utilizes both traits and functions as characteristics and is therefore inclusive of the issues raised. The listing includes the thirteen primary characteristics found in Table I. The first five general characteristics are widely accepted as definitional in the professions literature, they are appropriately applied to public accountants and are not argued separately in this paper.Characteristics numbered six through ten deal more particularly with the relati onship of professional service, and the professional, to the society and these will be examined in detail below. Characteristics eleven through thirteen further define the relationship of the professional practitioner to the client that is served and will be briefly discussed here. Characteristic number eleven asserts a fiduciary relationship toward the client. This requirement that the highest standard of loyalty be met TABLE I Primary characteristics of professions 117 General 01.A profession involves skill based on theoretical knowledge. 02. The skill requires extensive and intensive training and education. 03. The professional must demonstrate competence by passing a test. 04. The profession is organized and it is represented by associations of distinctive character. 05. Integrity is maintained by adherence to a code of conduct. Relationship to society 06. Professional service is altruistic. 07. The professional assumes responsibility for the affairs of others. 08. Professional service is indispensable for the public good. 09.Professionals are licensed, so their work is sanctioned by the community. 10. Professionals are independent practitioners, serving individual clients. Relationship to clients 11. They have a fiduciary relationship toward their clients. 12. They do their best to serve their clients impartially without regard to any special relationship. 13. They are compensated by fee or fixed charge. As summarized in Kultgen, 1988, p. 60, headings added. in serving the principal is difficult to apply directly to either public accountants, whose first duty is to the public good, or to internal auditors hose duty of good faith is to their immediate employer. However both groups do acknowledge their duty to act in good faith which may fulfil the intent of this requirement even though the duty is not to a client per se. Characteristic twelve requires impartiality, construed by accountants as objectivity. Public accountants are bound by the requirement to maintain an objective and independent attitude. Internal auditors are also enjoined to maintain an independent attitude, thus meeting this characteristic. The last characteristic is met by public accountants 118 Mary Ann Reynolds be a profession.Courtemanche (1991) provides an historical argument in favor of such professional recognition. Internal auditors working within corporations have asserted their right to hold themselves out as professionals. This has been challenged by CPA professionals in public practice. The issue reached the status of legal debate and court cases in Florida and Texas supported the legal right of accountants working within corporations, rather than in public practice, to use the professional CPA designation if they have passed the CPA examination and met the qualifying criteria (Baker and Hanson, 1997).A logical argument can also be constructed with reference to the professional characteristics previously summarized. Examination of the characteristics will reveal whether the preponderance apply to internal auditors or not. The first five characteristics generally define professions and can be seen to apply to internal auditors as well as to the certified public accountants. However, primary characteristics six through ten are open to debate and will be examined separately for applicability to internal auditors and the question of their professional standing.A discussion of each of these characteristics follows. Is the service performed by internal auditors altruistic? This may be questioned for most professions in any but an idealized definition of the functions that are performed. However, the focus of this characteristic seems to be that services performed are services that cannot be done by the client him/herself and that service performance is not primarily for personal enrichment. Compensation is provided to professionals to enable them to continue to perform the service. If public auditors are eld to enhance the proper flow of accounting information in a capital market as a necessary service (Brown and Bradshaw, 1988), then by extension internal auditors may be held to enhance the accurate flow of information from inside the corporation to the external capital market. By extension this may be construed as serving the public interest. However, because they are directly employed by the corporation they may be said to provide the service as a by product with personal gain, through the receipt charging an audit fee.It is not applicable to internal auditors who receive salary. In addition to these thirteen primary characteristics Kultgen (1988) also notes these seven ancillary characteristics: 1) loyalty to colleagues, 2) regular professional development, 3) prestige based on guaranteed service, 4) use of individual judgment, 5) work is not manual, 6) profits are not capital dependent and 7) status is widely recognized. These seven ancillary characteristics reflect more on the professional practitioner as an i ndividual and less on function within society.Examining both sets of characteristics from a societal perspective, it is readily seen how the public accounting profession meets the criteria within this model and can therefore be held to maintain order and contribute to the stability of the society. Further, in granting the Certified Public Accountants, as professionals, exclusive license to practice society acknowledges their important role and grants a monopoly position. Professions contract with society and acknowledge their role and responsibility by establishing codes of conduct.The development of a formalized code has been seen as a necessary indicator of professionalism (Newton, 1982, and Loeb, 1984). Thus, society acknowledges the professions’ contribution to the public good and the professions acknowledge their responsibility to society. Professional accountants, as represented by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), have held themselves to b e a profession and have accepted the obligations coincident with that designation.Certified public accountants (CPAs) conform to both the major thirteen characteristics and the seven ancillary characteristics and are commonly held to be professionals. However, Zeff (1987, p. 67) argues that their professionalism is, â€Å"diluted by rule dominated practices. † For the purposes of this paper the assumption will be made that public accounting, as practiced by CPA’s, is indeed a profession. Can this professional designation be extended to include internal auditors, as a branch of accounting, under the professional rubric?The research question specifically addressed in this paper is whether or not internal auditing, as a special case of accounting, can also be held to Professionalism, Ethical Codes and the Internal Auditor of salaries, as the primary goal. Thus, only partially supporting the claim to professional designation. Is responsibility assumed for the affairs of ot hers? This normally connotes an area of expertise held by the professional, essential to the recipient, about which advice is given.The recipient is not able to evaluate the information for him/herself. This is clearly the case with regard to the classic professions of law, medicine, and architecture (Kultgen, 1988). The public auditor is specifically employed to exercise professional judgement and offer an opinion as an expert. Therefore this can be considered applicable to the public auditor. However, the case cannot be extended to the internal auditor in this instance, as the client, i. e. the corporation, has its own accountants employed to generate the required accounting information and the internal auditor primarily serves an internal control function, even though accounting expertise may be needed and additional accounting advice may be sought. This control function serves the corporation directly and only indirectly serves society Is the professional service indispensable t o the public good? Public audits have been mandated by legally authorized bodies, thus recognizing that they are considered essential to the public good by allocating resources to them.With the public demand for the control of fraud evidenced by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 internal auditors became more active as a means of internal control, and fraud detection that was part of the proposed solution to protect the public interest (Lambert and Hubbard, 1989). Internal auditors, in their professional capacity, may be asked to design internal control systems and to assist in the construction of corporate codes of ethics (Peacock and Palfrey, 1991), thus, serving as an integral part of the overall control system and by extension may be considered indispensable to the public good.Is internal auditors’ licensing sanctioned by the community? Referring to the previous argument some level of public sanction is implied. However, licensure implies authority to license, 119 which must be granted by an authoritative body. In the case of Certified Public Accountants (CPA), state boards of accountancy are empowered by the respective legislatures to license public accountants practicing in the state. Internal auditors are not licensed by a legislative authority. Rather, they are certified by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) upon successful completion of an experience requirement and a qualifying exam.No authoritative body claims jurisdiction over their activities. Within the corporation, however, internal auditors have responsibilities defined by the corporation and authority granted by means of a charter. This internal authority granting charter should be signed by the executive management and by the audit committee representing the shareholders (Ratliff et al. , 1988). In the context of an internal, company specific activity, this can be construed as granting professional right to practice by appropriate authority.This is not however, an authorit y granted by society nor does it extend beyond the charter granting corporation. This is, at best, a limited type of licensure as no monopoly is granted and certification is not required. Is the internal auditor an independent practitioner serving individual clients? The issue of the charter for internal audit departments is particularly relevant to this discussion. Internal auditors operate within the corporation by right of a charter establishing their rights and responsibilities and granting them authority to function ( Johnson, 1986).The charter establishes the internal audit department as an independent function which enables the internal auditor to operate as an individual professional serving a client. Although the client in this case is the corporation, the required independence of attitude and function can be seen to qualify the internal auditor as an independent practitioner. Examination of the applicability of the six ancillary characteristics to internal auditors contrib utes to the resolution of the question of professionalism. The six ancillary characteristics are specifically included in the code of ethics developed by the Institute of Internal Auditors.Thus, a preponderance of the characteristics, or 120 Mary Ann Reynolds punishments are structured to reward ethical behavior. Thus, the outcomes of professional behavior, whether moral or prudent, will enhance the public good. However, the Institute of Internal Auditors has chosen to emphasize high moral character. Article VIII of the IIA Code of Ethics specifically states that internal auditors should be ever mindful of their obligation to maintain a high standard of morality. It is useful to examine ethical codes and seek identification of common themes or components.A comparison by Kultgen (1988) of the American Association of University Professors; American Bar Association; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; American Medical Association; American Psychological Association; Eng ineers Council for Professional Development; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; and Sigma Delta Chi (Society of Professional Journalists) found a number of common elements. The common elements noted include; loyalty to the client, employer, or institution; avoidance of conflict of interest or bribery. Competence, objectivity and honesty about qualifications were also universal.Additional themes such as respect for the territorial rights of colleagues and professional self-monitoring were also widely evidenced. The lack of regulatory oversight allowing self-monitoring, or a profession’s control over its membership and practice, is granted by society (Armstrong and Vincent, 1988). This ability to continue to be self regulated is one which the accounting profession in particular has vigorously defended. Another type of examination is provided by Harris and Reynolds (1992) with a specific comparison of the codes from various branches of the accounting profession.T his detailed comparison of the codes also focuses on dilemmas inherent within the various codes as well as, among various levels of society. An examination of the code of the internal auditors in comparison to the code of the AICPA reveals useful insights. Elements listed in the eight articles of the internal audit code include: honesty, objectivity, diligence, morality, dignity, organizational loyalty, independent mental attitude, competence, conformity to standards, confidentiality, full disclosure, continuing education, nonacceptance of criteria, cited are applicable to internal auditors in their own right.It is therefore, logical to extend the classification of accountants as professionals to internal auditors as professionals. To further legitimate this claim the Institute of Internal Auditors was formed in New York City in 1941, standards were established and a Code of Ethics adopted thus implicitly reflecting their acceptance of their responsibility to society. Examination of the code of ethics adopted may also shed light on their claim to professional status. The following section examines their code and compares it in part to the code adopted by public accounting professionals through the AICPA.Ethical codes: A comparison A profession’s mission and responsibility can be enunciated through the code of ethics to which it subscribes. Like other professions, internal auditors have developed and formally adopted a professional code. In the development of an ethical code there are two basic ethical viewpoints: 1) moral, 2) prudent, which may be adopted. Kultgen (1988) in his work on professions, distinguishes between these two approaches as follows: â€Å"Moral persons recognize the intrinsic value of each member of the moral community; merely prudent persons recognize only their own value and treat others as instrumentality’s. . . . Professional practices can be, â€Å"examined from the moral point of view, asking how they contribute to, or detract from the aggregate happiness and fair distribution of goods in the moral community (1988, p. 32). † Accountants are often viewed as utilitarian in approach and may thus be expected to choose the prudent approach. Examination of the AICPA code reveals that although the principles section in the introduction addresses moral components, the enforceable rules section of the code is predominantly a guide to practice. This is in contrast to the internal auditor’s code which is a guide to individual moral behavior.In a well organized society the rewards and Professionalism, Ethical Codes and the Internal Auditor gifts, and no commission of acts discreditable. This list encompasses both character attributes: honesty, dignity, morality, loyalty, nonacceptance of gifts and no commission of acts discreditable; and professional performance of duty attributes: objectivity, independent mental attitude, competence, conformity to standards, and full disclosure. Thus, the code gives clear indication of the personal qualifications perceived to be essential to perform the requisite public service in an ethical manner.With the emphasis placed on loyalty, dignity and morality the assumption can be made that this institute adopts a moral, rather than a prudent, view of ethical behavior. The emphasis in the internal auditor ethical code reflects an individual level of ethical behavior and decision making. The factor of voluntary compliance further indicates an individual level of ethics. Note that internal auditor’s membership is voluntary and members personally choose to subscribe to the higher duty. There is no societal enforcement if this duty is not met, the only enforcement is forfeiture of membership and certification (Loeb, 1984).The contrast with the AICPA code of conduct shows the AICPA code to have a more institutional focus. Rather than the specification of individual moral characteristics, forms of practice are discussed. The ethical code can be seen as directed to the firm of accountants rather than to the individual per se. The new AICPA code, as adopted in 1988, states positive principles about appropriate professional conduct and is goal driven (Meigs et al. , 1989). In contrast to the Institute of Internal Auditors code, the AICPA code may be viewed as adopting a prudent, or instrumental, ethical view.The AICPA code preamble and article II both express the professions’ responsibilities to the public interest. Here again, membership is voluntary and members commit themselves to honor the public trust and maintain professional excellence. Elements of the code in support of this include: objectivity, independence, scope and nature of services, compliance with standards, confidentiality, contingent fees, advertising and other solicitation, incompatible occupations and form of practice and name. Mention is also made of integrity. Integrity, however, is seen in the 121 context of professional judgment.The professi onal, by this standard of integrity, must be independent, not knowingly misrepresent the facts; and not subject his/her judgment to the judgment of others (AICPA, 1988). Again, the emphasis is on the professional performance of duties in the public arena and serving the public good. Further, Rule 501 enjoins members not to commit acts discreditable to the profession. Enforcement of the AICPA code takes several forms. Members can be censured by one of the designated review boards and membership in the AICPA revoked, the ability to practice before the SEC revoked, or the state license revoked.Licensure is granted by the state boards and revocation of the license goes through a state board procedure also. This constitutes a legal enforcement and the accountant would no longer be licensed to practice. Some of these contrasts between the AICPA and the IIA codes arise from structural differences. Namely, public auditors’ codes include structure of practice considerations such as ad vertising and contingent fees, and permissible firm names; that are not relevant to the internal auditor.Beyond structure, the basic difference evidenced is the AICPA emphasis on a practical, prudent, institutional approach, whereas the IIA emphasizes a moral and individual approach. This difference may in part reflect the varying degree of societal regulation within which the two groups operate. The societal regulation in turn may reflect the level of societal recognition and as internal auditing evolves and gains public recognition, regulation and possible licensing may follow. Examination of additional accounting professional codes provides further points of comparison.The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) code is the only code to call explicitly for the maintenance of personal dignity. Some commonalties emerge however, as both the Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA) and the IIA included: exercise of due care, or diligence, and loyalty to employer (Harris and Reyn olds, 1992). Both the governmental financial accountants and the internal auditors function in an environment where they are working as professionals, but within an entity 122 Mary Ann Reynolds on the externally issued financial statements (Lambert and Hubbard, 1989).That the internal audit profession is seen as a significant player in the societal move to deter fraud serves to legitimate their claim to professionalism. At the same time this may exacerbate conflicting loyalty problems. Clearly, the choice will fall on the internal auditor as an individual and it may be to this end that strong individual character has been emphasized in the IIA code. This conclusion follows from Kultgen’s statement that, â€Å"a valid professional ethic, therefore, is critical for the moral development of the individual practitioner (1988, p. 12). Resolution of ethical conflicts requires that the internal auditor recognize sources of harm or conflict and have some guidance on appropriate resp onse. Stanford (1991) recommends four sources of guidance. These are: 1. the IIA Code of Ethics; 2. the IIA’s Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing; 3. the IIA’s position paper on whistle blowing; 4. consultation with peers. Ratliff (Ratliff et al. , 1988) also suggests that guidance will be found in both the Standards and the Code of Ethics and Wallace (1986) emphasizes that the standards and code go hand in hand to provide guidance.A recent study by Seigel, O’Shaughnessy and Rigsby (1995) confirms that practicing internal auditors report using the code of ethics to guide their judgment on ethical issues in the performance of their professional responsibilities. Seigel et al. further conclude that the majority of internal auditors consider the primary purpose of the ethical code is to provide guidance. Internal auditors are indeed being given a special task. In the organizational structure of the corporation if the internal auditors repor t to the audit committee, as recommended, management may perceive them as adversarial.If fraud or inefficiencies are discovered both professional ethics and personal moral judgment will be needed to resolve conflict. Conflict also arises within the code itself. There is a basic conflict juxtaposing disclosure and confidentiality and rather than independently in society. Thus the adjuration to loyalty to the employer is appropriate. Professional conflict resolution: Guidelines The codes of ethics are adopted to provide guidance to the practicing professional. Kultgen (1988, p. 13) notes, â€Å". . . professionals, precisely as professionals, are confronted with serious conflicts of duty, and conflicts between duty and self-interest. One purpose for codes of ethics is to provide guidance for the resolution of conflict. The internal auditor faces possible conflict in the practice of his/her profession within an organization. Although independence, in theory, is established by the corp orate charter and is required by the code, it may be difficult to achieve in practice. Internal auditors faced with choices that may not appear beneficial to upper management or the organization may find it difficult to maintain an objective disinterestedness. Loyalty, an explicit component of the ethical code, may also present conflicts.The internal auditor may face a conflict between loyalty to the profession and professional standards as they are articulated in the standards and the code of ethics, and his/her employer. The interest of the firm in presenting information may not always be consonant with the interest of society to receive full disclosure of information as management seeks to protect strategic and proprietary information. Although internal auditors may be part of the management team they may also serve a control function on managerial activities, another source of potential conflict.Thus, even within the firm they may have conflicting loyalties (Lambert and Hubbard, 1989). Their obligation to the organization constrains them to safeguard the assets of corporation, minimize waste and inefficiency and watch for deliberate wrongdoing and conflicts of interest (Verschoor, 1987). As a result of the Report of the National Commission of Fraudulent Financial reporting (Treadway Commission, 1987) there is an increasing responsibility for the internal auditor to be active in identifying fraud leading to material misstatementProfessionalism, Ethical Codes and the Internal Auditor also loyalty and objectivity (see Harris and Reynolds, 1992, for a full discussion). Dilemmas arising from these juxtapositions are inherent in the statement of the code consequently the individual practitioner must ultimately turn to his/her own moral response for guidance and resolution. A further role suggested for the internal auditor is monitoring corporate codes of conduct. While this may well be an appropriate extension of internal auditors role it is in the nature of a c onsulting service not a professional accounting service.Indeed, as noted in the introduction, business ethics consultants are developing to advise organizations on ethical codes, problems and approaches to resolution (Dean, 1997). Internal auditors are well positioned to participate in this discussion, though it does not help to resolve the question of professionalism examined in this paper. 123 individual professional within a firm. The IIA code focuses on the morality and dignity of the individual and pushes code adherents toward the achievement of a professional ideal.Thus by noting the internal auditor’s development and use of a code of ethics, reviewing their relationship to the accounting profession and examining their function in society, their claim to professional designation can be supported. The preponderance of the evidence supports their status as professionals. References Aberle, D. F. , A. K. Cohen, A. K. Davis, M. J. Levy Jr. and F. X. Sutton: 1960, ‘The Functional Prerequisites of a Society’, Ethics 60 (University of Chicago Press). Armstrong, M. B. and J. I. Vincent: 1988, ‘Public Accounting: A Profession at a Crossroads’, Accounting Horizons (March), 94–98.Brown, G. R. and W. A. Bradshaw: 1988, ‘The External Auditor’s Pivotal Role’, CA Journal ( Jan/Feb), 46–52. Baker, J. D. and R. K. Hanson: 1997, ‘The â€Å"Holding Out†, Issue’, Internal Auditor (Feb), 62–67. Cohen, D. : 1992, ‘Resisting the Right Stuff: Barriers to Business Ethics Consultation’, Proceedings of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, pp. 155–159. Dean, P. J. : 1997. ‘Examining the Profession and the Practice of Business Ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics (Nov), 1637–1649. Dingwall, R. : 1983. The Sociology of the Professions, Dingwall and Lewis (eds. (Oxford Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford). Hammer, M. : 1998. ‘Just Do Itâ₠¬â„¢, Interview with M. Hammer in Internal Auditor ( June), 38–41. Harris, J. E. and M. A. Reynolds: 1992, ‘Formal Codes: The Delineation of Ethical Dilemmas’, Advances in Public Interest Accounting, 1–17. Fogarty, T. J. : 1995, ‘Accountant Ethics: A Brief Examination of Neglected Sociological Dimensions’, Journal of Business Ethics 14, 103–115. Friedberg, A. and N. Mizrahi: 1998. ‘Making History’, Internal Auditor (April), 71–75. Freidson, E. : 1971, The Professions and Their Prospects, Freidson (ed. ) (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA).Jackson, J. A. : 1970, Professions and Professionalization (Cambridge University Press). Conclusion Accounting is acknowledged as a profession serving society’s needs. Examining both primary and ancillary professional characteristics shows the appropriateness of including internal auditors within this professional designation. Further, their code of ethics is similar to ot her professional codes and provides guidance to them in their professional practice. One purpose of profession’s codes of ethics is to legitimate the profession and publicize standards of conduct (Sawyer, 1991).Another is to provide guidance for ethical conflict resolution. The IIA Code of Ethics serves both of these purposes for its professional constituency. The code implicitly recognizes the responsibility extended to the profession by society. The code enjoins internal auditors to maintain both a high level of moral character and a high level of professional competence. As the role of internal auditors differs from the that of public auditors, so also their code differs. The AICPA is an institute that serves the public interest by monitoring the external exchange of financial information.Their code reflects the institutional perspective. The internal auditor practices as an 124 Mary Ann Reynolds and Techniques (The Institute of Internal Auditors, Altamont Springs). Reynol ds, M. A. : 1989. The Audit Function in Society: An Empirical Investigation, Doctoral Dissertation (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah). Saks, M. : 1988, ‘Removing the Blinkers? A Critique of Recent Contributions to the Sociology of Professions’, Sociological Review 31(1), 1–21. Sawyer, L. B. : 1991, ‘Internal Auditing: Practice and Professionalism’, Internal Auditor ( June), 38–42. Schumpeter, J. A. 1951, Imperialism and Social Classes (Oxford). 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