Stereotypes and Stereotyping - Programmed and Labeled for...

Programmed and Labeled for Life Here it is, college, a new stroll down the pathway of life. This should be an opportunity to show more of which we are. College has been said to be a process of coming into our own. Its not like high school, there is less pressure of conformity, or is it too late? I believe that by high school graduation weve already conformed based on what others tell us; in high school we have our futures already laid out. Picture a student walking down the hallway carrying a full book-bag, a pencil case in one hand, and a trumpet case in the other. What do you think of this teenager, besides the fact that hes a band student that likes pencils? To answer your question, the opinion towards this student has†¦show more content†¦She now describes herself as being an overachiever that hides her funniness, friendliness and has become introverted, simply because that was what was expected of her. Certain name-callings have had another effect on individuals, rather then making most of them insecure and overachievers. Names like Fag, gay, and homo are very harsh words to be instilled in someones mind. To constantly be told how gay you are, you begin to think you might just be a homosexual. This is a direct quote from someone speaking about his harassment in school. This individual feels after being so brutilly harrassed in high school that perhaps their might be some truth. This interviewee allowed others opinions to go so far that he even began to question his own sexuality. Waking up day after day, and hearing the same remarks about your sexuality over and over again your opinions about yourself begin to change. In the movie Never been kissed, Drew Barrymores character, Josie Geller (a.k.a. Josie-Grossy) was always picked on. People would call her Loser, ugly and made her feel unworthy. We see Josie later on as being timid, shy, vulnerable, passive and extremely insecure. As a journalist,Show MoreRelatedDiscrimination And Discrimination820 Words   |  4 PagesPrejudice, otherwise known as discrimination, is the act of treating people unfairly based on their individual characteristics. Although prejudice often finds consolation in debatable biological evidence, it is the product of stereotypes and general oversimplified ideas about an individual or group of people. The level of discrimination varies, and often comes in different forms. For example, in the 2002 Institute Medicine Report, it was noted that ethnic minorities are less likely to receive appropriateRead MoreMental Illness And Its Effects On Society1405 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but s tigma and bias shame us all.† Mental illness comes with multiple influences towards the daily life of an individual. On one hand, these individuals must try to manage the symptoms that arise with their disease. Mental health disorders can affect the way individuals perform at their jobs, their social life, and even being able to live alone (Corrigan Penn, 1997). On the other hand, the way society tends to view mental illnesses leads to stigmaRead MoreRacial Profiling and the African American Male1808 Words   |  8 Pagesfigure, especially if you are a male. The intersection of race and gender for the African American male provides a basis for premature judgment by many authoritative figures in their lives. African American males deserve the same equality to succeed in life as any other human being without the threat of the damned if you do, damned if you don’t moniker that defines the functional ability of African American males. 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(Kate labeled the manuscript The Beast long before it received its current title!) She was supported admirably by Elana Trager, especially in tracking down some tricky bits of information. Coralie Clement dealt with all the references and permissions, plus lotsRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. 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Consumerism and Materialism in America Essay - 1467 Words

The economy is a very fragile thing; however it can have an enormous impact on people. Americans especially are affected because they are so greedy, they always want more. Because Americans are very materialistic, they can become overly arrogant and possessive since they are used to getting their way, on account of having money. Some people are never satisfied with what they have; they are always on the lookout for more money and more possessions. Man requires food, shelter, clothing and fuel everything else is superfluous. Luxuries lead to things like materialism and greed. People need to realize that everyone is the same on the inside. Our ancestors didn’t have technology or a ton of money and they somehow survived. â€Å"For the improvement†¦show more content†¦If a man were to wake up one morning and decide he wanted a new car it would not be unusual. However, if he decides he wants to upgrade his Toyota Camry to a Ferrari then he is being materialistic. Odds are that this man cannot afford this superfluous vehicle and his fantasies are getting the best of him. He is wasting money on unimportant things. Producers are always looking for a new way to make money. They research ways to produce their merchandise more cheaply. â€Å"...‘appliances’ designed to wear out quickly and be thrown away.† (Berry) If people were more concerned with function and not money then America would have a lot less waste and Americans would waste a lot less money. Producers also research new products they can make money from. â€Å"Consumer wants can have bizarre, frivolous or even immoral origins, and an admirable case can still be made for a society that seeks to satisfy them.† (Gailbraith). Producers encourage and scheme ways to get you to buy their product. Producers know that the economy controls everything. Producers are enablers. They encourage people to spend money on things they don’t need and aren’t necessities. Consumers are like drug addicts, they shop for things they don’t need and are constantly striving to acquire what they don’t have. â€Å"We Americans are beyond a simple, possessive materialism.† (Rose) Americans have developed a shopping problem. We buy things simply for theShow MoreRelatedConsumerism1100 Words   |  5 Pages 1.Whats consumerism ? Consumerism is defined by the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods . Good morning/afternoon fellow classmates , today I’ll be discussing how the powerful images conveyed in Bruce Dawe’s texts Americanized and Abandonment of Autos, and a cartoon by Clay Butler, raise issues and concerns about consumerism. | 2. To start off, Bruce dawe’s text Americanized effectively portrays negative views on consumerism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor which involvesRead MoreEssay : Affecting The American Dream1061 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"American Dream† America still to this day holds on to the idea of the â€Å"American Dream†. 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Madoff Scandal Free Essays

Contents Introduction2 Early Career2 The Firm3 Sales Strategy4 Investment Strategy5 The Scandal7 He was not alone9 The Markopolos Whistle11 The collapse13 Charges and Sentence13 The Victims14 2009 Ponzi Schemes16 The SEC Failure17 SEC post- Madoff19 Hedge Fund Transparency20 Conclusion21 Bibliography25 Tables Table 1: List of Madoff Clients (taken from the â€Å"The New York Times†, last updated June 24, 2009)15 Table 2: 2009 Ponzi Scheme SEC Charges17 Figures Figure 1 Fairfield Sentry vs Gateway6 Figure 2 Madoff Investor Funds (taken from http://orgnet. com/madoff. html)7 Introduction Operating from central Manhattan, Bernie Madoff developed the first and biggest global Ponzi scheme, an event of greed and dishonesty that lasted for more than 20 years, in which $65 billion dollars vanished from the pockets of some of the world’s richest people, charities and ordinary investors alike. We will write a custom essay sample on Madoff Scandal or any similar topic only for you Order Now This scheme lasted longer than any other white collar crime in history and along the way ruined countless individuals and organizations. The Madoff Ponzi scheme has changed the rules of trust that governed the money game. † Unlike other similar schemes, Madoff’s Ponzi scheme also scammed wealthy and investment savvy individuals that Madoff associated with. Bernard Madoff is a former financier, American hedge-fund investment manager, chairman of the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) stock exchange, and chairman of the firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. He is the main conspirator of the history’s largest investor fraud committed by a single person. As a result of his act, Madoff was sentenced on June 29th, 2009 to 150 years in prison for crimes that the judge called â€Å"extraordinarily evil†3 and imposed a sentence that was three times as long as the federal probation office suggested and more than 10 times as long as defense lawyers had requested. Early Career Bernard Lawrence Madoff was born in New York City on April 29, 1938 and grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. He earned a degree in political science from New York’s Hofstra University in 1960 and founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC the same year. 1 He was a pillar of finance and charity. As an outstanding philanthropist he served on boards of nonprofit organizations around the world such as businesses, charities and foundations, many of which were entrusted by his endowments. The firm started as a penny stock trader with $5,000 dollars he saved from working as a sprinkler system seller and lifeguard. In the beginning the firm started trading common stock over the counter (OTC) through the National Quotation Bureau using Pink sheets. It later challenged the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) old brokers by using powerful marketing techniques to win clients and promoting electronic trading using innovative computer information technology. His firm grew with help from people around him such as his father-in-law, who referred him to friends and family. Madoff helped created NYSE rival, NASDAQ, where he later became the chairman. The Firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC functioned as a securities broker and/or dealer in The United States and internationally. Headquartered in New York City, it provided executions for dealers, brokers and financial institutions. The firm had been one of the top market makers on Wall Street with Madoff as the principal face. In plain terms, a market maker is an institution (brokerage company or bank) that is ready to execute stock trades (buying and selling) at every second of the trading day and charges a small fee for every trade via the use of a spread in the ask or bid price. It functioned as a third-maker provider by directly implementing commands from retail brokers. At one point, Madoff Securities was the largest market maker at the NASDAQ and in 2008 was the sixth largest market maker on Wall Street. Sales Strategy Around the 1970s, Madoff began administrating money for investors, some on them he knew personally and several others who belonged to clubs he was member of. He attracted billions of dollars and several large hedge funds also invested in the firm because he did not charge usual fees and only collected fees for processing trades. Madoff offered modest and steady returns to exclusive clients instead of offering high returns to all clients, giving the appearance of his firm to be exclusive. The firm’s annual returns were abnormally consistent, a key factor in achieving the fraud. Most business men believed the story that a single person could generate returns of 12 to 13 percent a year trading the stock market no matter what happens without a single down quarter. 7 Some of these people applied for membership to the clubs that Madoff was a member of, in order to meet and be accepted by him. In addition, he never hustled anyone for investing with him; instead he let them come to him. Thus, he created this aura of exclusivity around him and everyone wanted to be a part of his club. One of the groups targeted by Madoff was the â€Å"Jewish circuit. Being Jewish, Madoff attracted many wealthy Jewish people he met at country clubs on Long Island and Palm Beach. This was an Affinity Ponzi Scheme, as it was called by Newsweek article. 7 Affinity fraud includes investment frauds that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, language minorities, and the elderly or professional groups. Around 1995, some of the most prominent Jewish individuals in finance and industry began to invest with Madoff. 1 His most effective recruiter, Jacob Ezra Merkin, was president of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, member of Yeshiva University, Carnegie Hall and other nonprofit organizations. Mr. Merkin started the investment firm named Gabriel Capital Group. Embraced by philanthropies and installed in a superior position of trust, Merkin seemed to be a Wall Street wise and trusted person to manage other peoples’ money. 1 Investment Strategy His investment strategy consisted of purchasing blue-chip stock, from well established companies like Coca Cola, Intel and General Electric, having stable earnings and no extensive liabilities, and taking option contracts on them. Typically, a position will consist of the ownership of 30-35 SP 100 stocks, most correlated to that index, the sale of out-of-the-money calls on the index and the purchase of out-of-the-money puts on the index. † When done correctly, this strategy creates boundaries in the stock and protects them against a quick decline in the share price. The investment strate gy used in Madoff’s feeder fund, Fairfield Sentry, is called the split-strike conversion strategy and involves a combination of stocks and options. In plain terms, Madoff bought 40-50 stocks from the SP 100 index. He then bought put options on the index at strike prices below the market’s current level and sold call options above the index’s current price. It is similar to using collars, an options strategy that limits losses along with the gains for a particular stock. The following chart outlines the returns of the Madoff feeder fund against Gateway, a fund running the same split strike strategy. A feeder fund is a fund that conducts virtually all of its investing through another fund. Madoff used such feeder funds to mask the fact that he’s acting like a hedge fund in order to avoid SEC investigation. Figure 1 Fairfield Sentry vs. Gateway After the stock market crash of 2001, Gateway follows a downward path for a period of almost 3 years, before it starts to gain positive traction that will last until mid 2007, just in time for the mortgage meltdown that ignited one of the worst recessions in history. Interestingly enough, Madoff’s returns shows no signs of volatility and continue to gain positive traction with only minor fluctuations. Apparently he worked with multiple feeders and the network of individuals and funds were set up to pass money to him. Most of the investors did not know that all of their money was going to the same place: Madoff’s firm. The next diagram depicts the depth and interconnections of Madoff’s funds. The directions of the arrows represent the direction of the money flow. Figure 2 Madoff Investor Funds The Scandal The investment scandal was unveiled with Madoff’s confession. He reportedly confessed to his two sons during the first week of December 2008 that his business was â€Å"giant Ponzi scheme. † Madoff sons, Mark and Andrew, turned him in to U. S authorities on the day after his confession. On December 11, 2008 he was arrested and charged with securities fraud; also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, securities fraud covers a wide range of illegal activities, all of which involve the deception of investors or the manipulation of financial markets. He said to the agents that there was no innocent explanation to the fraud that cost clients $65 billion dollars. He traded and lost money and paid investors with money that was not there. How did Bernard Madoff set the most audacious fraud in history? Madoff said that had absolutely nothing, everything was just a big lie and it was essentially a giant Ponzi scheme. No one ever questioned the investment strategy and resources of the firm. No verification of the accounting was ever made. 7 A Ponzi scheme is a type of illegal pyramid scheme. It is named after Charles Ponzi who became infamous throughout the United States for using the technique in the early 1920s. The Ponzi scheme operation pays returns to investors from their own money or from money paid by new investors, rather than from actual return earned. This type of schemes attracts many investors because it offers high and consistent returns that other investments cannot provide. Eventually the system is destined to collapse under its own weight because earnings are usually less than the payments. â€Å"The business had been insolvent for many years. † Madoff was lying to his clients when he said he was investing their money and generating stable returns. 3 The money of new clients was used to pay clients who wanted to cash out. Some may still ask the question of why he started the scheme in the first place. A possible explanation of his actions could be that he incurred some trading losses and in order to recoup them quickly, put a quick plan together where he would shuffle money between new and old accounts. Initially he may have had the intention of paying all the investors back, but since his real investing strategy did not work fast enough, he stuck to the scheme. His initial intentions were probably not to carry on indefinitely to its present point. However, once his real trading strategies were not producing enough returns to cover his advertised returns (when the market was performing well), he continued until he lost control. If the economy were not in a recession, he would most likely keep going. The only reason he gave up is because investors started withdrawing money and he could not cover the upcoming withdrawals. If the economy kept going strong, Madoff would have been able to attract new money and continue living his double life as usual. He was not alone Few people knew that Bernard Madoff had a highly structured second life for more than 20 years. Bernard Madoff confession and the afterward fraud scandal triggered the investigation to uncover Madoff’s mysteries. He initially claimed that he committed the crimes all by himself, but because it extended trough decades and continents â€Å"a fog of suspicion immediately engulfed Madoff family members who worked at the firm, as well as employees and business associates. There were some small clues on how he pulled off the massive fraud, for instance, the 1980s server that Madoff refused to replace even though some data had to be typed by hand. When government investigated the machine it discovered that it was the heart of the fraud. The statements printed out from this old IBM machine showed trades that were never made. 15 First, the in vestigators turned to the accounting department. Madoff’s accountant David Friehling was also charged with securities fraud, investment adviser fraud and false filings made to the SEC. Unlike any other professional who protects the interests of his clients, accountants have the commitment to protect the public by ensuring accurate financial reporting. â€Å"They are the first line of defense against fraud. † Friehling’s duty at the investment firm was to ensure clients’ securities and money were they when they wanted to withdraw it. In addition, the SEC filed a civil enforcement action against him alleging that he did not perform his duties as an auditor. David Friehling was the auditor and the bookkeeper, which means that he audited his own work. It’s no great surprise that he found nothing wrong with any of his own work. †18 Next, they turned attention to the person second in command at Madoff’s firm. Frank DiPascali was Madoff’s right hand man for 33 years and his unofficial title was director or of options trading and chief financial officer. Nobody was sure what he did or what his official title was, but everyone knew he was a big deal. DiPascali rose to the position of CFO despite his lack of education and financial experience industry. On August 11, 2009, he pled guilty to ten counts of fraud related to the Madoff investment scandal and he is currently trying to negotiate his sentence (to be set on May 2010) in exchange of information of additional people involved in the scheme. Madoff trusted DiPascali completely to keep the secret of the scam operations. DiPascali manipulated fake returns on some key investors and if one of these clients had large gains, he would fabricate a loss to reduce the tax bill. 15 This means, if true, that these investors knew their returns were suspicious. JP Morgan Chase was the primary bank Madoff used to make his Ponzi deposits. According to one estimate, his deposits totaled $5. 5 billion sometime in 2008, and the after-tax profits grew to $483 million over a period of sixteen years. The bank withdrew a total of $250 million in the summer of 2009, due to suspicions arising from due diligence in Madoff’s investment-advisory business. According to a pending lawsuit against the bank: â€Å"Upon acquiring this knowledge, Chase entered into a conspiracy with Madoff and BMIS in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (â€Å"RICO†), 18 U. S. C.  § 1961 et seq. 19Depending on the outcome of the lawsuit, along with many more to come, JP Morgan Chase may have to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement. Madoff’s family was also the center of attention to find clues of Bernard Madoff’s fraud, although none of them have been charged or accused so far. During the plea hearing Madoff took all the responsibility of the fraud most likely to c over up his family. Peter Madoff, Bernard Madoff’s brother, was the chief compliance officer of the firm. He was in charge of ensuring adequate internal control and that the client funds and securities were properly protected. Even though Madoff sons, Mark and Andrew, did not have any position with the investments firm, they were involved in other areas within the firm. They are the ones that turned Madoff in. The family must have known about the long running scheme and should be indirectly responsible for some of the investor losses incurred, as the scheme had supported their lavish lifestyles. Irving Picard, the court appointed trustee in charge of liquidating Madoff’s firm, sued some of the Madoff family members (two sons, brother, niece) for $198. 7 million seeking defrauded investor damages. The Markopolos Whistle Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC firm was inspected at least 8 times and he was personally interviewed twice in a period of 16 years by the SEC and other regulators before being uncovered. For years, he avoided regular reviews by saying that he was managing accounts for hedge funds instead of running an investment advisory business. During the years of 1999 and 2000 the SEC was worried that the firm was violating a trading rule and sent examiners to investigate but in response Madoff summarized new procedures to deal with the findings. 12 In 2001 some outsiders were becoming suspicious of Madoff’s firm activities. Harry Markopolos, Barron’s, a Dow Jones Co. publication and Marhegdge, a hedge fund trade publication, raised concerns about Madoff’s steady returns. 12 In 2005 Mr. Markopolos met with SEC investigators in New York and prepared a 21-page report entitled â€Å"The World’s Largest Hedge Fund is a Fraud† summarizing his concerns. The memo specified 29 red flags and in part concluded that â€Å"Bernie Madoff is running the world’s largest unregistered hedge fund† and â€Å"†¦yet since Bernie Madoff is not registered as a hedge fund but acting as one via third party shields, the chances of Madoff escaping SEC scrutiny are very high. 12 The SEC examined Madoff and did not find any violations. He failed for 8 years to get SEC to step in until the scam collapsed and prompted Madoff to confess. In his report, Markopolos clearly outlines some pretty obvious (by now) facts that the regulatory authorities omitted. Here is a short summary of some p oints that stood out: †¢If the Madoff returns are legitimate, they’re due to insider trading (unlikely scenario). If they’re illegitimate, they’re due to the setup being a Ponzi scheme (likely scenario). †¢The secrecy around the fund’s assets doesn’t make sense as a typical hedge fund would brag about such returns. The secrecy is probably due to the fact that Madoff doesn’t want the regulatory authorities to know he exists as a secret hedge fund. †¢Since Madoff is a broker-dealer, he can generate any trade tickets he wants, therefore generate false information. †¢The Madoff family has held important leadership positions in NASD, NASDAQ ® and other prominent industry bodies that would not be inclined to lead an investigation. †¢Out of 174 months, only 7 months (4%) saw negative returns in Madoff’s Fairfield Sentry fund. No MLB hitter bats . 60, no NFL team has ever had a 96-4 record out of 100 games, and no money manager is up 96% of the months. †¢Since Madoff is not registered as a hedge fund but acting as one via third party shields, his chances of escaping SEC investigations have remained high. The collapse The final weeks of the biggest scheme in history began on December 2008 when the market continued to fall. Madoff struggled to keep the scheme afloat wh en investors tried to withdraw $7 billion from the firm. In typical Ponzi scheme fashion, Madoff desperately needed money from new investors to pay off existing investors. Ten days before his arrest, he received $250 million dollars from Carl Shapiro, a 95 year old philanthropist and entrepreneur, and one of Madoff oldest friends. Mr. Shapiro helped Madoff launch his investing career by giving him money to invest in 1960. He also asked others to invest including Wall Street financier Kenneth Langone. Madoff said he was raising money, between $500 million and $1 billion, for a new investment vehicle for exclusive clients. Mr. Langone declined to invest. 13 Mr. Langone’s denial could have been based on quantitative analysis that most of Madoff’s investors failed to undertake. In addition, by the time Madoff proposed the new investment vehicle to Mr. Langone, rumors of his questionable returns had increased considerably. Charges and Sentence â€Å"On March 10, 2009, a Criminal Information was filed in Manhattan federal court charging Bernard L. Madoff with eleven felony charges including securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (â€Å"SEC†), and theft from an employee benefit plan. † The case is United States v. Bernard L. Madoff, 09 Cr. 213 (DC). The criminal information or complaint declared that Madoff had defrauded his clients for $65 billion. On March 12, 2009 he pleaded guilty to all eleven counts and on June 29, 2009 he was sentenced to 150 years of imprisonment at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York (he was later moved to a prison in Butner, North Carolina) and $170 billion in restitution. A breakdown of his sentencing is given below:19 †¢40 years for two counts of international money laundering †¢20 years for securities fraud †¢20 years for mail fraud 20 years for wire fraud †¢20 years for false filing with the S. E. C. †¢10 years for money laundering †¢5 years for investment adviser fraud †¢5 years for false statements †¢5 years for perjury †¢5 years for theft from an employee benefit plan The Victims Some of Madoff’s clients included hedge funds, banks, charities, universities, astute financiers, hospitals, film prod ucers and many others. According to the latest Trustee Interim Report assigned for fund recovery, as of June 30, 2009 the recovery of funds from Bernard Madoff has been $1,088,507,818 with an additional $13. billion in incoming recovery requests. A short list of the investors with the largest losses follows: CLIENTTYPE OF CLIENTEXPOSURE Fairfield Greenwich Group Financial Firm$7. 5 Billion Kingate ManagementFinancial Firm$3. 5 Billion Tremont Group HoldingsFinancial Firm$3. 3 Billion Banco SantanderFinancial Firm$3. 1 Billion of client exposure Bank MediciFinancial Firm$2. 1 Billion Ascot Partners, run by Jacob Ezra Merkin, GMAC’s chairmanFinancial FirmMost of the firm’s $1. 8 billion in assets Access International AdvisorsFinancial firm$1. 4 billion Fortis Bank NetherlandsFinancial firm$1. billion Union Bancaire PriveeFinancial firmunder $1. 08 billion HSBC HoldingsFinancial firm$1 billion Picower FoundationCharity$958 million Carl ShapiroIndividual$545 million Carl Ruth Shapiro Family FoundationCharity$145 million Yeshiva UniversityCharity$100 to $125 million Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of AmericaCharity$90 million Korea Life InsuranceInsurer$50 million Fairfield, Conn. pension fundPension fund$42 million Madoff Family FoundationCharity$19 million Jewish Community Foundation of Los AngelesCharity$18 million Alicia KoplowitzIndividual$14 million Table 1: List of Madoff Clients (taken from the â€Å"The New York Times†, last updated June 24, 2009) As if the loss of fortunes were not tragic enough, there were also 2 suicides that stemmed from the scandal. Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, who lost more than $1 billion of his own and his investors’ money, took his own life on December 23, 2008 after realizing that he would not be able to recoup his investment. The Magon de la Villehuchet family was one of the most prominent families in France, building its fortune in the shipping industry during the 17th century. William Foxton, 65, was the second suicide victim of the scandal, but unlike the first victim, he had never heard of Madoff and lost his investment through one of Madoff’s feeder funds. 2009 Ponzi Schemes The now infamous Ponzi scheme may have been popularized by Bernie Madoff during the present year, but the SEC has been uncovering such schemes at a rapid pace since the Madoff scandal. The following is a list of all the Ponzi schemes charges the SEC has issued in 2009 so far: DATEDEFENDANTSPONZI AMOUNT (In millions) 1/08/09Joseph Forte, Joseph Forte LP$50 1/15/09James G. Osie, CRE Capital$25 /19/09Robert Allen Standford$8,000 2/19/09Marvin Cooper, BCI Inc$4. 4 3/11/09Anthony Vassalo, Kenneth Kenitzer$40 3/26/09Millenium Bank$68 4/01/09Edward T. Stein$55 4/06/09Weizhen Tang$50-75 4/08/09Shawn Merriman$17-20 4/09/09Robert P. Copeland$35 4/13/09Clelia Flores, MRI Inc$23 6/09/09Peter Son, Jin Chung$80 6/10/09Gregory Bell Lancelot Mgmt$2,000 6/15/09David J. Hernandez$11 6/24/09Mi chael C. Regan, Regan Co$15. 9 6/24/09Moises Pacheco, AMM, BDC$14. 7 6/28/09John Bravata, Richard Trabulsy$50 9/08/09Philip Barry, Leverage Group$40 9/28/09Frank Bluestein$250 10/16/09Homepals14. 3 Table 2: 2009 Ponzi Scheme SEC Charges According to the SEC website, 2008 SEC Ponzi charges totaled $470 million (excluding Madoff charged on December 11), compared to 2009’s approximate amount of $11 billion YTD. The earliest Ponzi scheme on SEC recent records dating back to 1997 is reported on July 4, 2001 for $67. 5 million. There is no mention of another such scheme until June 9, 2005 for $6 million, while the next such scheme is reported on July 24, 2007 for $41. 9 million. The SEC Failure Bernie Madoff was so above suspicion that he even got his name informally applied an SEC rule. The â€Å"Madoff exception† allowed market makers such as Mr. Madoff to sell stock short to facilitate a customer buy order, even if the stock in question was ticking downward. Under a rule that was in place until 2007, short sales on a downward-ticking stock were normally prohibited. In a short sale, investors borrow stock and sell it, hoping to repay with shares bought at a lower price. Madoff was frequently and unsuccessfully investigated by the SEC. His firm’s first contact with the SEC was in the early 90’s when he hired two accountants, Frank Avellino and Michael Bienes, for his first small investment advisory business. The accountants helped him recruit more than 3,000 clients. They were violating the law selling unregistered securities; however they were not accused of securities fraud. The SEC shut down the Avellino Bienes operation and forced Madoff to return more than $400 million to investors. 13 In 2000, the SEC Boston office is contacted by Markopoulos where he outlines his first concerns about Madoff. Unable to persuade an investigation, Markopoulos is told to contact the SEC New York office. 13 However, no further investigation is conducted partly because the information presented to the SEC is not understood by its investigators due to its highly complex nature. Since then many other letters from concerned outsiders are being sent to the SEC about Madoff. No action is taken from the SEC until January 2006 when it launches an investigation prompted by the Markopolos memo. After an interview with Madoff in May 2006 in its case-closing recommendation, the SEC said it â€Å"found no evidence of fraud. †13 After the uncovering of the investment fraud, the SEC conducted an internal investigation entitled â€Å"Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. A 477-page report was released in September 2009 were the SEC Office of Inspector General (OIG) analyzes the SEC failure to uncover Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, how it missed all the red flags and identifies recurring opportunities to find the fraud and how unsuccessful their efforts were. In a recent PBS interview with Henry Pitt, former SEC commissioner from 2001-2003, Mr. Pitt indirectly pointed out some SEC flaws:31 †¢The SEC’s exami nation program was put in place in the mid 90’s is fatally imperfect. The total staff of the SEC is 3,500 people (not all of them do examinations) and there are 11,000 registered investment advisers subject to the SEC’s jurisdiction. There will never be enough money, enough people and enough sophistication to conduct examinations the way they needed to be conducted. †¢The law for broker-dealers was setup in 1934 and in 1940 for investment advisers. The relationship between the two entities is treated separately. In today’s marketplace, this viewpoint needs to change. This is one of the reasons why Madoff continued to be in business after the Avellino and Bienes scandal. The SEC was heavily focused on legal analysis, while not paying too much attention to economic and financial analysis. †¢There needs to be more hedge fund transparency, something the SEC has failed to convince the courts to do so up to now. Arthur Levitt Jr, former SEC chairman from 1993-2001, maintains a view that supports a more focused approach on risk-assessm ent within the SEC. Mr. Levitt has been drawing criticism lately regarding his personal and business relationships with Madoff. When asked about SEC resources, he raises a valid point: â€Å"Since 2002, the number of investment advisers — such as Madoff Securities — has increased by 50%. Yet enforcement resources have been flat or even reduced. The number of SEC enforcement division personnel was cut by 146, to 1,192 in 2007 from 1,338 in 2005. †37 SEC post- Madoff Since the Madoff scandal, the SEC has been taking significant steps to reduce the probability that such frauds will occur in the future. A summary of the post-Madoff Reforms are included on the following list: †¢Safeguarding Investors’ Assets †¢Revitalizing the Enforcement Division †¢Revamping the Handling of Complaint and Tips †¢Advocating for a Whistleblower Program †¢Conducting Risk-Based Examinations of Financial Firms Increasing Focus on Agency-Wide Risk Assessment †¢Improving Fraud Detection Techniques for Examiners †¢Recruiting Staff with Specialized Experience †¢Expanding and Targeting Training †¢Seeking more Resources †¢Integrating Broker-Dealer and Investment Adviser †¢Enhancing Licensing, Education and Oversight Regime for †Å"Back-Office† Personnel In summary, the changes focus where the SEC had previously failed: enhancing investigator financial education, providing incentives for whistleblower tips, allocating additional resources. Hedge Fund Transparency One of the SEC’s attempts towards hedge fund transparency came in 2003 where the entity unsuccessfully tried to enforce the registration of a majority of hedge fund managers by re-interpreting the definition of ‘client’ to an investment-adviser. This rule would have required hedge funds to register as investment advisers. This attempt was dismissed by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on June 23, 2006. The hedge fund industry as a whole is against regulation in part because such regulations would reveal the trading strategies employed internally to the competition. This is a viable argument in favor of the hedge fund industry, however not viable enough to prevent further regulation, at least in the US markets. A possible suggestion could be to create a quasi-government committee made up of various former heads of finance-related industries that are given the power to review and approve hedge funds. The information they have on their hands is solely between them and certain high level members of the SEC, with secrecy comparable to that of the likes of the Department of Defense. In this way, hedge funds avoid public disclosure of their strategies, while the SEC accomplishes the regulation they have always been pursuing. There could be different levels of approval according to the market value of a hedge fund. While this suggestion may not be the most viable, it is serves an option for both the SEC and hedge fund managers. Conclusion Given its impact on the financial world, it would seem that this scandal could have been prevented much earlier. Why did FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), SEC, and other regulatory bodies not act quicker? Below follows a list of possible concluding points for such long inaction. The world to which the securities laws apply — laws now 70 and 75 years old — is light years away from the world we have today. †34 Point 1: Bernie Madoff was a legend on Wall Street. He and his family were among the elite of the Street and, due to his long career and connections, he obtained a God-like status on the Street and as someon e who could do no wrong. As any religious individual, they do not question God’s actions, they just believe. Furthermore, individuals who commit fraud usually do not have Madoff’s impressive background, connections and reputation. Madoff used his status on the Street as an advantage to raise more money and fly under the radar for as long as he did. A scheme is the last thing one would expect from someone whose resume includes a time as former chairman of NASDAQ. In addition, Harry Markopolos admits that he did not contact FINRA due to his family’s connections with the regulatory authority. In particular, Andrew Madoff served as an incoming District 10 member of FINRA in 2003 while his brother Mark served on FINRA’s Mutual Fund Task Force in 2004. Also, Bernie Madoff’s brother Peter served on the board of directors of SIFMA. Point 2: Madoff was not using any illegal trading strategies. The split-strike option is a legitimate strategy that has been employed for years by a few experienced industry professionals, such as Harry Markopolos. It is a highly complex strategy that even Markopolos in his SEC paper admits that few really understand, hence many of Madoff’s experienced investors failed to quantitatively analyze, yet they rather based their assumptions on word of mouth. In the same token, the SEC did not pay attention to something that they could not completely understand and did not put as much emphasis as they should have. Point 3: Red flags were not raised initially due to the overall economy’s performance. When the market was performing well, a 12% return was within reasonable lines of SP returns. Some flags came up when the market started producing negative returns, yet Madoff’s returns kept their usual steady, profitable path. If the market were still performing neutral to slightly above neutral levels, chances are that the scandal would still lie beneath fake returns. Point 4: The SEC did not act any sooner possibly due to the psychological structure of its own investigators. A typical SEC investigator is young, non-aggressive, and lacks enough resources to fully take on such a case single-handedly. The aggressive and talented individuals get absorbed by Wall Street due to obvious lucrative reasons. This is not to say that the SEC does not employ talented, aggressive individuals; all that is being conveyed here is that probably some of the investigators’ psychological and character structure coupled with the lack of resources was a key mixture of ingredients the organization was missing. Plus, in order to raise such a high stakes complaint an SEC investigator would have to go through the usual bureaucratic red tape inherent in government process. Point 5: The SEC is made up of lawyers, thus lack the experience and knowledge of financial markets. The institution is not a financial entity that relies on satisfying shareholder returns; it is a regulatory authority that interprets and applies the law. Lawyers are not fund managers, thus are not familiar with the complexities and headaches that come with such territory. Point 6: The SEC failure in the Madoff case is yet another example of a ‘failure’ of the invisible hand to regulate capitalism’s promotion of self-interests. While de-regulation of capital markets was very instrumental to transform the US economy into a global powerhouse, lack of de-regulation brought upon the Madoff scandal along with one of the worst recessions in US history. If the markets were more heavily regulated from the beginning, one can only speculate on how far the US economy could have reached. In his testimony to Congress, Allan Greenspan admitted that his ideology of free market capitalism has a major flaw: â€Å"I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks, is such that they were best capable of protecting shareholders and equity in the firms. † In short, Greenspan’s flaw was a variable he never considered as part of his ideology of free market capitalism: human greed. Not surprisingly, Greenspan’s flaw has influenced many areas of free markets from credit-default swaps and mortgage lending tactics, to unregistered hedge fund management practices. Bernard Madoff has left his imprint on Wall Street’s ‘disgraced’ list and his case will be used as an example to further regulate hedge funds and transparency needed in the financial industry. His life story of rising to the top and falling from grace highlights the double-edged sword of capitalism’s laissez faire attitude. It will be very interesting to see how effectively the regulatory authorities will tackle this issue, as Madoff’s case moves from the public eye to university case study in the coming years. Bibliography How to cite Madoff Scandal, Papers

Media Violence etc. Essay Example For Students

Media Violence etc. Essay Does the entertainment media reflect the standards of the American people, or does the entertainment media define the standards of the American people? This question is difficult to answer because of the complex interaction between American culture and the entertainment industry. To some extent, the entertainment media does gets feedback on what viewers want to see in the form of Nielson ratings and box office returns. But the simple fact remains that the content produced and delivered by way of television, the film industry, and the major music labels are controlled by a relatively small group of individuals. Entertainment media does not reflect standards of American people. Instead, it defines what the people want. The mass media is controlled by a selected group of people who decide what shows get aired, and what the content of those shows should be. The television ratings system and box office returns provide some feedback, but the only real concern is over what is the most profitable. One major concern with the content of media is the effect it has on very young children. Disney movies have taken quite a beating over the years because of stereotypes they force into childrens minds. Stereotypes in ;The Little Mermaid; are a good example of this. Ariel, the star/role model in the movie, plays the part of a helpless, blundering female. As soon as she was left on her own, she immediately got herself into trouble. There was always a male needing to protect her. Another example of stereotypes is in the movie ;Dumbo;, where the crows that gave Dumbo the magic feather were portrayed as very stereotypical images of African Americans. They were shown as jolly, easy-going, and vulgar. Disneys animated films influence children in their formative years of life. Do we want our children growing up with these corrupt images in their heads? Of course not! But there is not much that can be done about changing the content. If a young girl wishes to grow up to ! be just like Ariel, then what should you tell her? Maybe it is a perfect opportunity for her parents to sit her down and teach her about the differences between fairy tales and reality. Television sitcoms and prime time TV series commonly depict a family with a mom, dad (or even step mom or dad), several children, and a pet or two, all in a fairly stable relationship with one another. Never does abuse, neglect, or other common family problems actually occur in the main family of a sitcom. Again it should be taught to the children at an early age (perhaps in elementary school?) that TV fiction is not an equivalent to reality by any means, and that if their life does not measure up, it is normal, and nothing to be embarrassed about. Then there is product placement in television and movies. In some ways, seeing actual products that people recognize from daily life makes the television and movie sets appear more realistic. So in that way, entertainment media may be reflecting the American people. But, a lot of the brand name products used on movie and television sets are there because a corporate sponsor paid to have their product included the media content. This has become fairly common, and is a smart means of advertising. What is shown on TV and movies looks real to people, so if their product is included in a popular sitcom or movie, the company will most likely find quite an increase in market sales. So, in turn, the entertainment media does in fact define what the public wants as a whole. If a person or group of people disagree with what they see on television, then they have every right to just flip the channel or educate themselves or their children to base their opinions more on individual thought. Explain How The Inherent Strength Of Prussia, Comb Essay .

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All About Glosses, or Brief Definitions

All About Glosses, or Brief Definitions All About Glosses, or Brief Definitions All About Glosses, or Brief Definitions By Mark Nichol One of my pet peeves as an editor (and editors are notoriously peevish, and we only become more so with experience) is the presentation of glosses. A gloss, in language, is a brief definition or explanation of an unfamiliar term or concept. (The previous sentence includes a gloss of the word gloss, though a fairly long one; they often consist of a single word, or several at most.) Two of the more familiar definitions of gloss as a noun can be described as â€Å"a concealment of truth† (virtually antonymic to the meaning under discussion here) and â€Å"an act of putting a positive spin on something,† which is related to the connotation of deceit; the sense of gloss as â€Å"explanation,† however, is more akin to the idea of providing a sheen with a clear view to what’s underneath, as in â€Å"lip gloss† or â€Å"high-gloss paint.† One problem with language glosses is that they invite the use of scare quotes, or gratuitous quotation marks that frame a word or phrase to provide emphasis. (That last phrase is a gloss of â€Å"scare quotes.† Also, understand that the quotes here, in turn, are not scare quotes but, rather, valid markers of a phrase I want to call out for attention, like a word italicized to emphasize that the word itself, not the thing, is under discussion.) Note the unnecessary use of scare quotes in the following sentence (formatted as single quotation marks because the sample sentence is framed in double quotes): â€Å"The trend of cross-border reproductive care, or ‘medical tourism,’ is popular in Europe.† But there’s another, equally egregious issue: The gloss precedes the term. In addition to omitting the scare quotes, introduce the term, then gloss it, not the other way around: â€Å"The trend of medical tourism, or cross-border reproductive care, is popular in Europe.† Scare quotes are extraneous when introducing slang, too. Look at this sentence: â€Å"I realized she was speaking Singaporean English, or ‘Singlish.’† The scare quotes are condescending, as if the writer is holding the reader’s hand, patting it, and saying, â€Å"There, there, dear. I’ll protect you from any scary words you haven’t seen before. See? There’s one up ahead right now.† And, again, why explain the term before the reader reads it? Let the reader dance on the precipice of danger for an instant: â€Å"I realized she was speaking Singlish, or Singaporean English.† Worse yet when glosses are concerned is the absence of appositive punctuation, as here: â€Å"They built the domed snow houses or igloos most people associate with Eskimos.† Never mind that igloos is not exactly an exotic term, and that the definition precedes it; the lack of internal punctuation implies that the object is â€Å"domed snow houses or (domed) igloos.† In fact, the object is â€Å"domed snow houses,† followed by the appositive term igloos. (An appositive is a term equivalent in meaning to another one, as in â€Å"the writer Melville† or â€Å"the country of Morocco† or â€Å"the runner-up, Smith.† Note that common appositives are set off from proper ones with commas only if they’re restrictive, or can apply only to a specific corresponding noun. There there’s another gloss right there.) Notice that the first two examples in this post correctly set the gloss off from the defined term with a brace of commas. The correct form of the third example follows: â€Å"They built the igloos, or domed snow houses, most people associate with Eskimos.† The bottom line: Put a shine on your glosses by placing them after the defined term and framing them within commas (or parentheses or em dashes, if either seems more appropriate). 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 Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a US Business Letter11 Writing Exercises to Inspire You and Strengthen Your Writing10 Tips for Clean, Clear Writing

Extension of Time and Delay Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Extension of Time and Delay Analysis - Essay Example In the event of any extension of time, there are certain factors which have to be viewed before any claims for liquidated damages could be made. If no specific date for the completion of the project was set in the contract, it is known as â€Å"time at large†, and in such cases the Director of Budget and Fiscal Services specifies a realistic time period for the completion of the project in lieu of the current conditions. If dela i made, the contractor can argue against any charges as no deadline was set in the first place. If a specific date was set, then the obligations of the employer and the contractor have to be taken into account. It is the obligation of the employer to make a timely provision of any services and goods that have been specified in the express terms of the contract. If h fails and there is a delay, he is not eligible to make any deductions as liquidated damages. If the delay is due to any hindrance posed by the employer in the proper execution of the contra ct by the contractor, such as interruptions made by any sub-contractors hired directly by the employer, the employer loses his right for any liquidated damages. The obligations of a contractor are to finish the project within the deadline, with â€Å"efficiency and diligence†. This means that the contractor has to work continuously and in accordance with the approved plan towards the deadline. If he fails to do so, and there is a delay, the employer will be compensated through liquidated damages. ... If he fails to do so, and there is a delay, the employer will be compensated through liquidated damages. However, if the employer has been pressing for unrealistic acceleration, the contractor has a right to file a case against the employer on this ground, and the employer might lose his right toward the damages. If the contractor, due to any reason, refrains from exercising his right, he is denied any compensation and the employer will be eligible to carry out deduction for the damages. If the contract has a clause for extension of time, but it has been exhausted, or if there is no such clause in the contract, and further extension needs to be carried out, an approval by the Director of Budget and Fiscal Services is required before any such steps can be taken. However, it can only be done under certain conditions: the period of any further extensions can be no more than one hundred and eighty calendar days; the commanding officer of the contract assigned by the Director draws a written statement that any new contracts cannot be allocated at the time of the completion of the pertinent contract, due to reasons such as short- term need of the service, and limitation of the execution of the contract at he time of the completion of the current contract; there is an general consensus by all the concerned parties regarding the extension in time of the contract; and the price of the extended contract is the same as the original contract, or as changed in the contract before

Extend Definition of Secratary Job in Office Essay

Extend Definition of Secratary Job in Office - Essay Example Historically, the word ‘secretary’ has been derived from a Latin word ‘secernere’ which is a synonym for the English word ‘secret’ (Dictionary.com, 2011). Hence, one of the most important duties of a secretary involves handling and managing of classified or confidential information of the office. Who, among us all, can underestimate the role of the secretarial staff at Pentagon or White House! The responsibilities of a company secretary depend upon the size of the firm or company that appoints him/her, the activities undertaken by the company and the expectations of his/her employer(s). Other than that, the basic job of a secretary revolves around documentation, from typing to efficient file keeping and record tracking. Times and again, he/she is asked to record minutes of a meeting and prepare relevant supporting documents to reach to meeting conclusions / decisions. This way, he/she is expected to be both, a fine listener as well as a speedy w riter and typist (Lazary, 1988). The requirements for a secretarial post usually include a typing speed of 70 – 80 WPM (words per minute) and a legible handwriting. Along with that, secretaries are regularly asked to maintain filing systems in a perfectly arranged order. This is important so that the files can be found and accessed easily and quickly, at the time of need. A secretary must be aware of the basic rules filing systems, which include arrangement in accordance to alphabets, numbers, geographic location and subject. Secretaries are also responsible for attending and managing phone calls for their respective employers. During working hours, they are to answer all the calls and must have the clear understanding of which calls need to be dealt by them and which are to be forwarded immediately to their bosses (Lazary, 1988). They should also know what the person on the other side of the cradle will be calling about in case of regular and frequent callers, and must devel op a friendly relationship with them. This is important because they are representing the office on the online and any careless attitude expressed with the calling clients can serve as a blow to the office’s prestige. When it comes to mail reading, it is essential that the secretary is familiar with the standard forms required and used in the office (Macmichael, 2011). For example, if a person wishes to apply for the post of a legal secretary, he/she must have reasonable knowledge of bill, memo, affidavit, mortgage, lease, power of attorney etc. as he / she will not only be using them, but also held responsible for these different documents procurement and supply. Some other commonly assigned tasks include budget allocation, appointments scheduling, travelling arrangements, emails tracking, updating websites etc (Lazary, 1988). In a way, an efficient secretary’s job scope may range from compiling menu for a business lunch to managing corporate level conferencing betwee n business tycoons. The well-trained secretary is an extremely valuable employee to the company if he/she is able to accept the assigned tasks willingly and relieve his/her employer of many management liabilities. Blessed will be the boss whose secretary comes up with the required reference material for the document under discussion. A secretary also has to attend

Literature review Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Literature review - Research Paper Example Accordingly, the managers and administrators of an organization are necessitated to acquaint themselves with the required competencies that are of extreme importance for the success of the organizations. This indicates that the respective managers and administrators of various organizations globally should acquaint themselves with the latest knowledge, managerial attitudes and skills and other forces for enabling the organizations to manage the changes and also at the same time stand out in this competitive market. Thus, for achieving successful results and remaining competitive in the modern dynamic world, the organizations focus on several organizational developmental (OD) practices. The OD practices are built on unique core values and philosophies that ultimately guide the organizations’ actions and behaviors. The practices are considered value-based principles and include the five most important values. The first value is that of inclusion and respect of the opinions and b eliefs of each and every individual for taking up decisions. Secondly, OD practices include collaboration that enhances the organizations’ cohesion with clientele in a comprehensive client system. The OD practices also accounts for authenticity and strive for congruence to enhance qualities of the clients. Self-awareness is another important OD practice influenced by the organizations which is aimed towards development of interpersonal skills along with self-awareness. Finally, the OD practice includes the aspect of empowerment that concentrates on helping every individual in the client organization with the objective of enhancing their empowerment and self-sufficiency that can transform the workplace into productive and satisfying working conditions (Sheldon, 2010). 2. Purpose/Problem Statement In the present paper, the role and the function of the OD practices in the successful performance of an organization will be invested with respect to various researches performed on t he current scope of the organizational development. It is hypothesized that the organizations that concentrate heavily on the OD practices are more likely to achieve success than the organizations that follow traditional trend and does not consider the current dynamic environmental nature. The action plan for examining the hypothesis will be broadly discussed in the methodology section of this research paper and the findings from various researches involved will be presented in the next section. This hypothesis has been specifically chosen for the present research because OD is believed to be focused on transfer of knowledge and skills to the organizations so that the organizations become more capable of managing the future anticipated development (Cummings, 2004). This statement of the nature of OD instigated the notion of examining the effectiveness of OD and this is presumed to be accomplished by reviewing the performance of those organizations which undertake the practices in OD . 3. Methodology The examination of the hypothesis will be undertaken through review of six important literatures based on researches conducted by researchers during the past. The six important literatures have been collected through the help of scholarly articles. These produce significant literatures with presentation of the respective literatures’

Current Purchasing Power Accounting Accounting Essay

Current Purchasing Power Accounting Accounting Essay Accounting theory is a set of basic assumptions, definitions, principles, and concepts surrounding the accounting rule. It includes the reporting of accounting and financial information to relevant or interested parties. There are several approaches that are used in the development of accounting theory. The two main ones are normative theory approach and the positive theory approach. Normative theory approach is a theory that is not based on observation. It is based on how things in the accounting process should be done. This approach comprises of different approaches to have a single but effective accounting approach (Khandelwal, Jain, 2008). This kind of approach uses a formula to come up with an income based on value, not costs. On the other hand, positive or descriptive theoretical approach to accounting theory is a set of theories that is concerned with what accountants actually do (Rosenfield, 2006). These theories rely on a process of inductive thinking, which involves making observations and drawing inferences from them. The main purpose of making observations is to identify certain similarities, identify the number of instances that the similarities are actually observed to deduce a certain degree of assurance necessary to set up a theory about all the similar instances (Ackert, Deaves, 2009). Each of these accounting theoretical approaches are applicable in any business today. However, it would be difficult to apply them together at the same time, since each of them has different objectives (Ackert, Deaves, 2009). It is therefore up to an accountant to decide what approach is most accurate or best suited for what situation. This calls for the right judgment of accountants to be able to make the right decision in every situation or challenge that a business entity is faced with. Normative Theory Approach There are several approaches covered in this approach. Each of these theories is best suited for a different situation (Belkaoui, 2004). Below are these different theories and various situations where each theory is best to be applied. Historical Cost Accounting This theory is applied in times when the costs or prices for things are on the rise (Murphy, 2008). The Historical cost accounting theory is based on the assumption that money holds a constant purchasing power. The main challenge with this theory is that it assumes that the monetary unit is fixed and constant over time. This theory is however based on three components. One is that there are specific levels in price levels, which may be characterized by technological factors and changes of consumer demands. Another component is that there is usually a general change in price levels, which is what is known as inflation (Murphy, 2008). The third component is fluctuation in the exchange rates for different currencies. Due to these three components, the book value of a business should show the current value of assets when preparing financial reports (Murphy, 2008). As stated earlier, historical cost accounting is used when a company is experiencing rising prices. Prices are expected to raise every now and then, and this may render the approach useless in most of these situations. Companies that make use of this approach are safe from overstating profits especially in times when prices are on the rise (Whittington, 2007). Distribution of profits in such situations can affect the purchasing power of a company. This kind of approach may not be viable to use since it affects the operating results of the current year as it includes gains asserted in previous periods of the companyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s existence. More to that, capital maintenance depends on maintaining an intact financial capital and purchasing power (Murphy, 2008). Using actual current values as they are presently in the market may give a certain measure of profits which should be well distributed to maintain a physical operating capital. Current Purchasing Power Accounting This theoretical approach is best suited in situations where accountants need to maintain capital and the purchasing power of a company. The Current purchasing power accounting theory was developed on the basis that if a company distributes its profits as is required by historical accounting, then the real value of a company has to be reduced (Murphy, 2008). This means that the company would have to distribute a certain amount of its capital. This approach applies indices and is hence easy and cheaper to apply when in such a situation (Rosenfield, 2006). This is because any adjustment that needs to be done is done at the end of a period, and on records made from historical cost accounting. Under this approach, non-monetary assets are termed as assets that monetary value may change overtime due to inflation. Such assets include the machinery in a factory. On the other hand, net-monetary assets are defined as monetary assets minus the monetary liabilities. With this theoretical approach, changes in the purchasing power of a company are not attributed to the non-monetary assets. The loss of purchasing power comes about as a result of holding net-monetary assets (Murphy, 2008). In general circumstances of price level accounting, non-monetary assets are listed to the current purchasing power and as thus, no profits or losses are recognized. This theoretical approach is not reliable when making decisions for the company. Current Cost Accounting This approach is best suited when trying to maintain the purchasing power of a company during times if inflation, or fluctuation of exchange rates of currencies, because it is based on actual valuations. This theoretical approach cuts a clear line between profits that are made after sales, and the gains that come with holding an asset, be it a net-monetary asset or a non-monetary asset (Murphy, 2008). Scholars have argued that a physical or real approach to maintaining capital yields the best results in any business entity, especially in terms of income. This approach values as asset on the basis of replacement costs (Murphy, 2008). Operating income of the asset is valued as realized revenue, minus the replacement costs of that particular asset. This approach of calculating replacement costs is best for calculating operating profit. This makes it possible to maintain the operation capacity of the business at a constant level. The current cost operating profits before absorbing gains and losses, and the realized gains of holding an asset are both counted as revenues, and thus the sum of the two equates to historical cost profit (Rosenfield, 2006). Gains of holding an asset are different from gains after making sales (Porwal, 2001). This is because are the two are dependent on differing factors in the market, most of which are beyond the control of the management in a business. There is an uncertainty surrounding the prevalence of replacement costs though. Current cost accounting is founded on two business concepts; current operating profit and realizable cost savings. Current operating profit is defined as the excess of the present value of the output sold, over the cost of related inputs. Realizable cost savings, also termed as the holding gains or losses, are the increase of the present cost of assets that the company is holding in a given period. Holding gains or losses of an asset can be realized or unrealized. For example, the holding gain of an excess in revaluation in unrealized, but is still considered as part of the business profit in the income statement (Whittington, 2007). In the event that there are two companies that were started at different times, the company that was started earlier will have a larger operating profit. This is because it has less depreciation costs. Any one would think that this company has a more efficient system of running its operations in the current years than other companies that were started later. The actual case is that the management made a wise decision when starting the company. The fact that they bought their assets back in time is a contributing factor. This is a good illustration of the concept of realizable cost savings. Exit Price Accounting This approach argues that assets should be valued as per their exit or market prices, non-marketable reproducible assets at replacement costs, and seasonal no marketable, non-reproducible assets be valued at the original cost (Rosenfield, 2006). The theory also argues that financial statements should be structured in a way to show how much a company is able to adapt to different situations and environments, and that income should be inclusive of all profits and losses, those that have been realized and those that have not been unrealized. This approach is suitable especially when the management has to make decisions about the future of a company. The fact that it gives a straight on focus on the adaptability of a company, makes it stand out of other theories (Whittington, 2007). The adaptability of a business entity is based on how liquid or sellable its assets are. This kind of approach would come in handy at a time when a company is considering to sell some of its assets to counteract inflations in the market. Positive Theories Approach As defined earlier, positive theories are used to explain and predict a phenomenon after making observations (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). Positive theories are based on the assumption that if one makes a series of observations on a behavior, they are able to develop a certain patter which they use to make conclusions and predictions. Examples of positive theories include the stakeholder theory and the legitimacy theory (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). PAT is mainly involved with relationships between people or entities that provide resources to a business organization (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). For instance, the relationship between the management of an organization and its owners. The main elements of most of the relationships according to this theory involve the delegation of decision making from one party (possibly the owners or management who act as the principle) and the agent (second party). If the principle makes wrong decisions, then the two parties are likely to suffer losses, and increased costs due to inefficiency. Such expenses are known as agency costs. The Positive Accounting theory seeks to find a way to reduce agency costs by use of contractual arrangements. It is thus based on the assumption that stakeholders will act in favor of their own interests, and will therefore grab any opportunity available to increase their wealth (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). With this assumption, morality and loyalty are definitely not characteristics of this theory (Ketz, 2006). The positive accounting theory states an organization is usually a collection of people who have individual self-interests, but are willing to cooperate to achieve collective goals, while at the same time, working on their personal goals (Alexander, Brittan, Joseen, 2007). One prediction of the PAT is that organizations will execute measures that align the interests of the whole organization to self-interests. Most of these measures are based on the output of the accounting system, where the stakeholders get to share the excesses of the organization. Such mechanisms need to be backed up by financial statements. According to PAT, managers should commit themselves to preparing the financial statements (Freedman, Jaggi, 2010). This is an expensive activity and the costs incurred are known as bonding costs. Bonding costs can therefore be defines as costs incurred to relevant authorities or agents when establishing means to communicate to the principals, so that they may act in a way that will not affect goals of the organization or the individuals involved. Being part of the stakeholders, the management officials too, have their own self-interests. Based on this assumption, PAT states that the financial statements that are prepared by the management should be audited (Alexander, Brittan, Joseen, 2007). This would help avoid possibilities of the agents to act or manipulate figures in the financial statements to suit their interests. On this note, PAT assumes that not all opportunistic actions can be controlled by contractual arrangements such as the auditing exercise, therefore, there will always be residual costs. Costs incurred during the auditing exercise are known as monitoring costs. Decisions or investigations that are based on the Positive accounting theory adopt an efficiency perspective or an opportunistic perspective. The efficiency perspective seeks to find mechanisms that can be executed so as to reduce agency costs (Freedman, Jaggi, 2010). A good example of this is that when companies produce financial statements that have been audited, they reduce real costs since there are no hidden figures that are not well accounted for. The audited financial statement therefore serves as an efficient perspective, and thus the organization can be termed as efficient (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). Still from the efficiency perspective, accounting practices of an organization should reflect the underlying financial performance of the organization. Organizations adopt different accounting methods, which can be explained by various organizational characteristics. A good example of this is goodwill. If a company is able to provide reliable information about its performance, potential investors will not need to go out looking for more information from other sources. This saves time and reduces costs (Schroeder, Clark, Cathey, 2011). A company will pick an accounting method that will best show its underlying performance. This means that placing certain limitations or regulations on how companies prepare their financial statements can lead to a company incurring more costs than necessary, and probably not achieve their goal. Based on this, this theory recommends that companies should be allowed to prepare their financial statements in a way that best suits their operations, and that will show their underlying performances well (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). As for the opportunistic perspective, PAT seeks to explain and predict opportunistic behavior likely to happen after getting into a contractual agreement. For example, when trying to minimize agency costs, the management of a given organization can negotiate a contractual arrangement to increase their bonuses on profits made. This would align the interests of the managers with those of the owners of the business entity. With the agreement in place, the management can then find other mechanisms to ensure that more profits are generated (Freedman, Jaggi, 2010). The more profits are made, the better the bonus that both the management and the owners will enjoy. These mechanisms that the management adopts may not be reflected on the set up of the organization or its assets. The opportunistic perspective assumes that owners of an organization predict that managers will at some point act opportunistic (Deegan, Samkin, 2011). The principles are therefore likely to set what accounting methods should be used. For instance, a bonus plan agreement may have a stipulation that a depreciation method be used to calculate income inform of bonuses. The management may find it a bit costly to stick to the stipulated plan, and may seek an alternative method. Following such a possibility, PAT states that agents will always have an upper hand in deciding what accounting method to use. Conclusion The above theories are applicable in different situations. According to the analysis put above, the two theories address different issues, and thus, it would yield contradicting results to combine them. For instance, normative theories are best applied when a company is faced with various externalities like fluctuations of currencies and inflation of prices. These affect the purchasing power of a company and thus, the theories come in handy to help the management to make decisions on how to survive such challenges. As for the positive theories to accounting theory, these come in handy when dealing with issues that affect the relationship between the major stakeholders of any business; the owners and the management. The two parties may have contradicting interests, and the positive theories come in handy best in such situations.

Cambodia - The Rise of the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide (1976-1978) Ess

During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia was turned into a giant labor camp creating a system of terror, genocide, and attempted cultural annihilation-a series of drastic events that the country is still recovering from. The years contained within this regime were devastating for the nation of Cambodia, with the establishment of the Khmer Rouge, a left-wing Communist political party whose actions have had an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on the political, economic and social structure of Cambodia-ruining the lives of millions. As a strong communist organization with aims for Cambodia that would leave the country in dire need of help, the Khmer Rouge defectively impacted the easy-going life Cambodians knew. With much determination, the Khmer Rouge was an insurgent movement of varying ideological backgrounds developed against the Lon Nol regime in 1960 (Rowat 2006). It began as a left-wing organization made up of a small group of French educated communists, but soon grew to become Cambodia?s leading and most influential political party. Following the establishment of the party, the Khmer Rouge?s revolutionary army grew rapidly, aiming to consolidate its control taking over most of the country (Dennis 1988). Their leader Pol Pot was an admirer of Maoist communism, which is where the group?s strong communist ideas originated. Pol Pot?s ideologies for the future of Cambodia were truly corrupted and powerfully triggered the downfall of the nation of Cambodia (Peace Pledge Union 2007). Pol Pot wanted to wipe out all traces of the old Cambodia and start a new society, one that was strictly ordered and structured by a series of rules. With the Khmer Rouge becoming even more powerful in the very late 1960s, US bombers interfered to st... ... 30 000 Vietnamese. In December of 1977, the Khmer Rouge broke off diplomatic relations with Vietnam, who retaliated with an attack 30 km into Cambodia in 1978 (Sutherland 1990, p. 158). Upon occupation, the Vietnamese were welcomed at first by the Cambodians as their saviours from the Khmer Rouge extremists (Sutherland 1990, p. 161). During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia was turned into a giant labour camp creating a system of terror, genocide, and attempted cultural annihilation, a series of drastic events that the country is still recovering from. The years contained within this regime were devastating for the nation of Cambodia, with the establishment of the Khmer Rouge, a left-wing Communist political party whose actions have had an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on the political, economic and social structure of Cambodia, ruining the lives of millions.

Safeguarding And Protection Of Vulnerab

To protect somebody is to keep them safe from harm and injury and the term safeguarding means to protect from harm or damage with appropriate measures. As a person's mental capacity is relevant with regards to safeguarding, as a worker, you have to accept that an adult is making choices that to you may be unwise, but If they are deemed to have mental capacity, there is very little you can do apart from advise them of this. As adult safeguarding is not â€Å"clear cut† you have to ensure that you do not think the decisions they are making are unwise because you yourself wouldn't do it.The majority of our client group are vulnerable, and if we look at the adults that e work with that misuse substances, this can be a grey area with regards to safeguarding. Obviously if an adult chooses to use a substance, that is their decision, however, substances impair your mind and your Judgment, so if something happens to them whilst they are under the Influence, this should be a safeguardin g matter and should be dealt with accordingly.By protecting somebody this could imply that others are making a decision for an adult rather than with them, but the current safeguarding legislation in place accepts that individuals have the right to take risks o long as they have capacity and understand the implication or consequences. An example of this would be a client who we are currently working with who is a dependent alcoholic with cataracts in both eyes so he has virtually no sight. This man Is extremely vulnerable to theft and people taking advantage of him.The work that we do to protect him wealth the home Is practical things Like removing trip hazards, putting things back exactly where they are in the flat and guiding him when we take him out shopping. This man became the subject of safeguarding when somebody knocked his door claiming to be a council official and demanded that he ay all of his Council tax arrears. Secondly, one of his â€Å"friends† used to do his s hopping for him but this has resulted in money going missing from his bank account. This gentleman does have mental capacity although this has to be questioned if he has decided to drinks whole bottle of vodka.Although it is not good for him, it is his decision to drink alcohol and that has to be respected. We can advise him of the risks to his health and how this could put him in vulnerable situations. We can protect him from his friend having access to this bank account by owing shopping for him, however, If he refuses this request, we can only make him aware that money may well go missing again. We all have a duty of care towards our Child Protection, different social care teams can have very different views/opinions on what is a safeguarding matter. . 3 Explain the legislative framework for safeguarding vulnerable adults There are many Acts and Government initiatives in place with regards to vulnerable adults safeguarding. Human Rights Act (1998) – This Act is a benchmark upon which services can assess how they uphold an individuals rights. Public bodies such as Police, Courts, hospitals etc, and other bodies carrying out public functions have to comply with the Convention rights. The list below details the fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals have access to.Everyone has a right to life, a life with freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. A right to liberty and security, freedom from slavery and forced labor. The right too fair trial with no punishment without law. Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence. Freedom of thought, belief and religion and freedom of expression. Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and freedom. Freedom of expression and the right to marry and start a family. The right to peaceful enjoyment of your property and the right to education.Care Standards Act (2000) – this led onto National Minimum Standards and means of measuring care service qualit y. This act has established an independent regulatory body for care services, (the National Care Standards Commission). Independent Councils are required to register Social Care Workers, set standards in social care work and regulate the education and training of Social Workers. It provides for the Secretary of State to maintain a list of individuals who are considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults.The main purpose of the Act is that local authorities will be required to meet the same standards as independent sector providers. The Act made for the provision of a General Social Care Council whose role it is are to regulate the training of Social Workers, raise standards in social care through codes and conduct and practice with a register of social care staff to be set up and maintained by the council. Care providers who supply individuals to work in care sections will be under a duty to refer people to the list who are considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults .Care providers have to carry out checks of the list before offering employment in a care position working with vulnerable adults and should refuse employment to any person. No Secrets (2000) – This guidance was produced due to serious incidents of abuse and to also ensure compliance with the Human Rights Act. Although No Secrets is not legislation it holds the status of statutory guidance and local social services should follow this. The key statements in relation to No Secrets are; Every person has he right to live a life free from abuse, exploitation and neglect.There should be no discrimination regarding abuse because of assumptions about class, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or culture. Adults at risk of abuse must be made aware of their rights and given information, advice and support. They should be enabled and encouraged to access the protection of the law and legal processes where they wish to do so. Every effort must be made to promote t he well being, security and safety of adults at risk of abuse in line with their rights, mental capacity n the course of action to take whilst being given all possible forms of support.An adult may choose to remain in an abusive environment, and, in such cases it is important to consider what advice and support can be offered to reduce the risk of harm. Effective inter agency working is crucial for the safeguarding of adults from abuse. Effective information sharing, collaborations and understanding between agencies and professions are paramount in safeguarding adults. No single agency can act in isolation to ensure the welfare and protection of adults at risk of abuse and information and decision making must be shared.Valuing People (2001) – This is specifically related to those with learning disabilities and has been written from a human rights perspective and also started the personalization agenda. It includes the several key rights; People with learning disabilities and their families have the same human rights as everyone else. Independent Living – All disabled people should have greater choice and control over the support they need to go about their daily life. They should have greater access to housing, education, employment, leisure and transport and be giving the opportunity to participate fully in family and community life.Control – People with disabilities are to be involved and in control of decisions made about their life. They are to be provided with the information and support to understand the different options and consequences so that they can make informed decisions. Inclusion – Being able to participate in all the aspects of community. To work, learn and meet people. To become part of a social network and be able to access services and have the support to do so. Safeguarding Adults (2005) – The aim of this was to change the concept of protection and was geared towards those who lacked capacity.This is wher e the concept of upgrading emerged with individuals taking informed risks and exercising choices rather than authorities taking the lead. Safeguarding Adults (2005) is made up of eleven sets of good practice standards. Each local authority has established a multi agency partnership to lead in safeguarding adults work. Accountability for and ownership of safeguarding adults work is to be recognized by each partner's organizations body. The safeguarding policy includes a clear statement of every individual's right to live free from abuse and neglect, this message is to be actively promoted to the public.Each partner agency should have a policy of zero tolerance of abuse within the organization. The safeguarding adults partnership oversees a multi agency workforce that is appropriately resourced with a development and training strategy. Anybody can access information about how to gain safety from abuse and violence to include information about local safe guarding procedures. There is a local multi agency safeguarding adults policy describing how local authorities respond to all adults who may be eligible for community care services and who may be at risk of abuse of neglect.Each partner agency has a set of internal guidelines that are insistent with the local authority safe guarding adults policy. The guidelines set out the responsibilities of all employees/workers. The safeguarding adults procedures include the following stages – alert, referral, decision, safeguarding assessment monitoring. The safeguarding procedures are available to all adults covered by the policy. The partnership agency includes service users in all aspects of their work.To include monitoring, development, implementation of safeguarding plans and assessment. Mental Capacity Act (2005) – This Act is aimed to protect vulnerable adults who are enable to make their own decisions and it has 5 key principles. Presumption of capacity – every adult has the right to make his or her own decisions and must be assumed to have capacity to do so unless it is proved otherwise. You cannot assume that somebody cannot make a decision for themselves Just because they have a particular medical condition or disability.Individuals being supported to make their own decisions – A person must be given all practicable help before anyone treats them as not being able to make their own decisions. You should make every effort to encourage and support people to make their own decisions. If lack of capacity is established, you should still involve the person as much as possible in making decisions. Unwise decisions – People have the right to make unwise decisions that others may think are unwise or eccentric. You cannot assume a lack of capacity for this reason.People have their own values, beliefs and preferences which may not be the same as others. Best interests – anything done for or on behalf of a person who lacks mental capacity must be done in their best interests. Less restrictive option – Someone acting on behalf of a person or making a decision for a person who lacks opacity must consider whether it is possible to act in a way that would interfere less with the person's rights and freedoms of action and whether any decision/action needs to be taken at all.Any intervention should be weighed up in the particular circumstances of the case. Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (2006) – This saw the introduction of the vetting/ barring system and the introduction of the offence fraud by abuse of position. It has the following three key principles. Unsuitable persons should be barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. Employers should have a means of heckling that a person is not barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.Suitability checks should be part of an ongoing assessment in order to catch those who commit wrongs following a suitability check. Fraud Act (2006) – This included a new offence of fraud by abuse of position. This included the misuse of money by those appointed to manage money, for example power of attorney or a position that an agency was expected to safeguard and not to act against the financial interests of another person, or people that have abused their position. Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (2008) – This is part of the legal framework that is et out in the Mental Capacity Act.Those unable to consent to treatment due too mental impairment should be supported in a way that does not limit their rights. It was introduced to protect the human rights of people who were in certain settings does not apply to people who have been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. Deprivation of Liberty should ensure that people can be given the care they need in the least restrictive regimes, prevents decisions that deprive vulnerable people of their liberty and allows people the right to challenge against an unlawful detention.Health and Social C are Act (2008), (Regulated Activities), Regulations 2010 and the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 – This led to the creation of the Care Quality Commission to regulate services using the essential standards of quality and safety, with the emphasis on outcomes and what can be expected from care providers. The regulations in relation to safeguarding are; Respecting and involving people who use services. Consent to care and treatment and a client can be confident that their human rights are respected and taken into account.Care and welfare of people that use services – roper steps must be taken to ensure that each client is protected against the risks of receiving care or treatment that is inappropriate or unsafe. Safeguarding people who use services from abuse – suitable arrangements should be made to ensure that clients are safeguarded against the risk of abuse by taking reasonable stops to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent it b efore it occurs and respond appropriately to any allegations of abuse.Cleanliness and infection control – measure must be taken so far as reasonable practicable to ensure that clients and workers are protected against identifiable risks of infection. Management of medicines – clients are to be protected against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines. Appropriate arrangements are to be made for obtaining, recording, handling, using, safe keeping, dispensing, safe administration and disposal of medicines.Safety and suitability of premises – We must ensure that clients and workers that have access to premises are protected in that the design and layout is suitable and appropriate security measures have been taken. Safety, availability and suitability of equipment – Suitable arrangements must be made to rote clients and workers who may be at risk from the use of unsafe equipment. Equipment must be properly maintained and suitable for its purpose and must be used correctly.Requirements relating to workers – Companies to ensure that the person is of good character and has the relevant skills and experience to do the work and to ensure that the necessary checks, (DB'S), have been carried out. Supporting Workers – Workers should be supported by their Managers to ensure that they are appropriately supported in relation to their responsibilities to ensure they do their job to the required standard.Assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision – this should be regularly reviewed and clients should benefit from safe quality care, treatment and support in relation to decision making and the management of risks to their health, welfare and safety. Notification of other incidents – the commission must be notified of any incidents which occur whilst services are being provided. In relation to safeguarding this is any abuse or allegation of abuse that has been made or any incident which is reported to, or investigated by, the police. Reemerging from vulnerable adult to adult at risk. The Government are due to consider the recommendations with a view to introducing legislation. The recommendations are as follows; Local social services have the lead in co ordination responsibility for safeguarding. Local authorities have a duty to investigate adult protection cases And can either do this themselves or refer the investigation to another agency but this must be monitored by them. The local authorities would have the power to request co operation in adult protection investigations.An adult at risk can be defined as a person who appears to have health or social care needs, the person must appear to e at risk of harm rather than significant harm, the person appears unable to safeguard themselves from harm due to their health and social care needs. Harm is defined as ill treatment, (to include exploitation that is not physical), the impairment of health and developm ent, self harm and neglect and unlawful conduct that affects a persons property, rights or interests. Local authorities should have the lead role in establishing and maintaining safeguarding boards.The local authority, NASH and Police would be required to nominate a safeguarding board member that has the appropriate knowledge and skills. New compulsory and emergency powers should be set out for local authorities and adult protection cases, for example, power of entry or exclusion orders. Statement of Government Principles on adult safeguarding (2011) – local multi agencies should support and encourage communities to find their solutions locally. Guidance is given on how principles can be turned into outcomes.The six principles are; Empowerment – presumption of person led decisions and informed consent. Protection -support and representation for those in greatest need. Prevention – it is better to take action before harm occurs. Proportionality – proportio nate and least intrusive response appropriate to the risk presented. Partnership – Local solutions through services working with their communities. Communities have a part to play in preventing, detecting and reporting neglect and abuse. Accountability – Accountability and transparency in delivering safeguarding. 1. Explain the protocols and referral procedures when harm or abuse is alleged or suspected Within Sad/Alpha we have a Vulnerable Adult safeguarding lead. When a worker has concerns or a client has alleged abuse/harm, the first point of contact would be to discuss this with their Manager, (this should be no later than the end of he day that the allegation was made or the incident happened). If the client had made an allegation, whilst the worker was with them, they would make a factual note of what has been discussed, this would include name, date, details of allegation made and the worker's response.It is important that the client feels trusted and that no le ading questions are asked. The worker should then advise the client that they will be discussing this with their Line Manager as they have a duty of care towards them. Depending on the situation that has occurred, the worker would need to ensure that the adult at risk is made safe and if required has received medical occurred with a view to discussing whether the Police should be informed of this. If a worker has concerns about a client but an allegation hasn't been made, the worker is advised to speak to their Line Manager regarding this.As soon as realistically possible file notes should be done and together, the Manager, the Vulnerable Adult safeguarding lead and the worker will agree on the next course of action that needs to be taken. It is at this point it is important to remember that if the Manager and the worker do not agree on the next course of action then they are able to go to Senior Management level to discuss this further. . Sad/Alpha is a non statutory agency so, if we do have a concern regarding abuse, we would refer this onto the statutory agency that is working with the client.We would contact them as soon as realistically possible and follow this up with a written file note. If there is no statutory agency involvement, we would contact the Adult Social Services Locality Team to advise them of our concerns. This will usually mean speaking to the Duty Officer for the team. We would then follow this up with a written file note and send this across to the Duty Officer. Sometimes the Locality Team will check on their system, and, if there has been statutory agency involvement we were unaware of, they would request that we refer the matter to the relevant agency involved.Sometimes when a statutory agency, (for example SCHISM), have advised that they will be taking no further action and we disagree with this, we would then go back to the relevant Locality Team. They may well agree with the decision that has been made, and, if this is the case we w ould Just file note it accordingly. If however, they decide that action does need to be taken, it is the role of the Locality am to lead on this with the statutory agency. Internally, the seriousness of the incident will need to be assessed by the Manager and the Vulnerable Adult lead.If the incident is considered to be minor, we would complete a sudden untoward incident form and still advise the lead statutory agency Within Alpha is it my responsibility to ensure that all staff have been trained in Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding and that they are all aware of the reporting procedures/paperwork that needs to be completed. All workers know that any concerns have to be reported directly to myself, and, if I am absent, be reported to my Manager. The workers know that they are responsible for informing me as soon as possible and following this up with a written file note.They are aware that this type of information can be shared and that client confidentiality can be broken in this insta nce. Everything to do with the concerns raised or allegations made is documented in a file note and locked away in a secure filing cabinet. It is my responsibility to ensure that everything has been documented and stored. Safeguarding and the prevention of abuse As mentioned above, Sad/Alpha have a Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding Lead that I will liaise with if a safeguarding concern as been brought to my attention.It is mandatory for all staff to attend Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding training. Sad/Alpha have written their own company policies in relation to safeguarding. The safeguarding policy itself defines an adult at risk of harm, lists the types of physical/mental abuse or harm that can occur and the reporting procedure that should be followed if an allegation is made or if they have any concerns, (as outlined above). All staff who have read the policy will be aware of who they need to report to in the first instance and the importance of writing down and recording factual file notes.These policies have been written in line with the No Secrets Act (2000), The Mental Capacity Act (2005), Human Rights Act (1998) and Safeguarding Adults (2005). The other policy that needs to be read and understood in connection with safeguarding is the Sad/Alpha Weightlessness policy. This policy firstly reassures a staff member that they can make a disclosure within a positive and supportive environment and that there will be no reprisals from bringing a matter to their Manager's attention. The reporting procedure is outlined in the policy, and if the member of staff has a concern about a colleague, they will report directly to their LineManager. If, however, the concern is in relation to their Line Manager, they will report the matter to Senior Management level to be investigated. All staff are aware that they have a duty of care towards clients, their colleagues and themselves. I do believe that risk assessments that are regularly reviewed are extremely important to try an d prevent abuse occurring. Alpha risk assessments covers areas such as historical risk, risk to self, risk to others, risk from others and environmental risks. When we assess a client we will complete a risk assessment form and the client will be marked for overall risk.We can then discuss with the relevant worker/professional how to minimize risk, for example, one of our clients has historically made an allegation of sexual assault against a male worker from another agency. This client is currently being seen in pairs and the two workers are female. Risk assessments will only be successful if they are reviewed regularly as a matter of course. Communication is also very important, not Just between other agencies, but within the team. All staff members must know who to report concerns to and what to do. If a Manager is made aware of a possible concern/risk, this must be passed onto the rocker and vice versa.All complaints must be investigated, (no matter how small or minor they appea r to be), they must be documented correctly and the necessary action must be taken if required. Within Alpha we always encourage staff to try and view a complaint as a positive thing rather than a criticism. By reviewing and investigating complaints, our Care plans are also important in relation to safeguarding and these will also only be successful if they are reviewed on a regular basis and are communicated clearly to all staff that are working with the client.For example, we are currently working with a an who has poor eyesight and is unable to use the cash point unsupervised. Unbeknown to him, his friends have been withdrawing money from his account. His care plan has now changed in the respect that we have temporary power of attorney of his money and make all cash withdrawals at the bank for him keeping an accurate record of all money that has been spent. Sad/Alpha also have a responsibility to follow up on any references when people apply for a Job and to ensure that workers a re not working with a client unsupervised until they have had a satisfactory DB'S check.Regular training and supporting staff on a regular basis is also key. 4. Recommend proposals for improvements in systems and procedures in own service setting Within Alpha, I believe that we are very good at communicating with each other and as a team. I would however like to improve this by coming up with regular training sessions/staff meetings where we can all get together and share our thoughts and ideas and that staff and Managers can be updated on what is happening with regards to all clients to include risks and safeguarding.I like to hold supervision regularly, and as part of supervision, we discuss the clients that the worker is currently seeing, we review their care plan and make any required changes. This would also be a good time to update risk assessments, but all staff are aware that anything in relation to risk should be brought to my attention as soon as possible and that they sho uld not wait for a supervision.I do receive daily feedback from staff in relation to their visits. However, I would like to be more â€Å"hands off' with regards to client work and be able to spend my time working with staff on their visits and also visiting clients to perform an audit of our services and this would include risk. The audit could then be shared with the worker who would know that they loud need to action any of the relevant points and feedback to me when this had been completed.I think this would be of benefit to the client and to the worker who would be mindful that regular audits were going to occur which, in turn, would make them more aware that policies and procedures do need to be adhered to and it reinforces our duty of care. I think that our policies and procedures as a company are fairly robust, however, these may be subject to change in the near future if adult safeguarding becomes statutory along the same lines as child protection. I have now adopted a sys tem, that should there be a change in risk, a new risk assessment form is completed.I would however like to visit the clients on a quarterly basis at least to re evaluate risk regardless of whether their circumstances have changed or not. Although our team has a case load of regular clients, I believe that it is important that they are occasionally seen by somebody else who is not so used to them. It is very easy to become blinkered to risk/harm and a new set of eyes can be very important when reviewing this. I would like to implement a regular shuffle around within the unit/AC Learner signature: Assessor signature: Date: