Assignment scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Assignment scenario - Essay Example While the nurse has factual justification for the enforcement of her recommendation, is it possible that her apparent commitment to the health and welfare of the patient cannot be achieved by the disregard of her wishes? DEONTOLOGY One might argue that to care for the body in a way that yields emotional distress is self-defeating; What then, are the rules by which we can standardize the 'goodness' of an action or philosophy? Deontological ethics (deontology) is an obligation-centric ethical theory. Duty and rule-adherence are essential in that ethics, when anchored by rules and obligation connect the person with his or her duties. Deontologists may also follow a belief of moral absolutism, outcomes themselves become irrelevant; only duty, rule-adherence that can give us a basis for final moral arbitration. Combining these views, actions yielding positive outcomes but not resulting from strict adherence to a pre-existing code of conduct cannot be morally justifiable - regardless of ho w good it seems in retrospect. Ergo, if compelling the compression bandages is following a pre-ordained obligatory behavioral code, then the outcome of preventing swelling and sores is irrelevant, as is the outcome of the widow's displeasure. So long as the Nurse acts according to a protocol. The case of Ruth Symonds as pertaining to the implementation of Modern Medical Ethics. TELEOLOGY By contrast, Teleological beliefs and philosophies are outcome-based, or outcome justified. This principle can extend not only to philosophies as they inform decision making, but the natural sciences as well. Hanke, (2004) A tiger has stripes because stripes are needed for a tiger to live and hunt in the way that tigers live and hunt; therefore striped tigers are inevitable. But this does not inform the investigator as to the ultimate origins of behaviors or adaptations, and thus would not permit future investigators to extrapolate that observation into further predictions. It would then become nece ssary to devise an explanation whereby the root causes of the tigers' need for stripes and the consequences thereof are elucidated in terms of differential survival outcomes; before said stripes ever appeared. In the writings of Aristotle, the premise of teleology is expounded upon as a unifying meta-principle that he uses to apply holistic meaning to the forms seen within nature. All that exists must be whole and functional within the purvey of ultimate purpose; a purpose which he held to be human benefit. Schindler, (1986) But subsequent generations of scientific thinkers would be able to demonstrate the incompleteness of that presumption. While it is true that wheat may be very beneficial for human consumption, and that oxen may be advantageous as a source of cheap, brute force for human-guided industry, what of disease? The Smallpox virus is perfectly adapted to infect and proliferate amongst humans, and can only survive inside of a human being; does humankind exist solely for t he benefit of the Smallpox virus? Broader considerations like this must be kept in mind for anyone that adopts a presumptuous, just-so opportunistic teleology. It is difficult to entirely purge this kind of circularity from the field of biology, but attempts are being made by some biologists to remove assumptive references to a 'blind watchmaker', that presupposes final

Case Analysis on Product Design or Process Design Term Paper

Case Analysis on Product Design or Process Design - Term Paper Example In order to understand better product design, this essay, will be looking at the case analysis of product design at the shipper manufacturing company. Company Overview The Shipper Manufacturing Company started in the aerospace business in the 1960s. In the early years, the company developed and produced the Echo weather satellites, which were launched into space. More recently, the Shipper manufacturing company had diversified into three divisions a) the materials division b) electrical products c) advanced products division, located in Faribault, Minnesota. Over the years the advanced products division has not been consistent with sales and profits as a result of this the divisions corporate strategy was changed. The Advanced product division manufactured the company’s specialty products for custom orders such as helicopter blade liners and mine stoppers. To produce these, the APD relies on the Materials Division production of laminate plastic materials. The Electrical Produc ts Division is responsible for producing the circuit boards and other electrical products. The company focuses on providing low volume specialty products to individual short run customers assuring the quality of their products. Strengths According to scholars (Ayres, 1984), in an industrial nation’s economic future may lie in the so called flexible systems of production, technically advanced and skill intensive industries which make customized products. In order to exhibit its strengths the company has to consider criteria’s such as its competitive strengths and its innovative aspects. The Shipper manufacturing company being based in the United States has an advantage to be in the centre of technology with a higher access to information technology systems that could ease its product design without compromising the customer’s demands. It should also respond to individual customer design demands and adapt new products to the unique requests of the customers; this has been something the shipper manufacturing company has done without equal whilst maintaining high quality standards. Weaknesses The manual system used at the Shipper manufacturing company incorporate the human component. Frequently, this human component may lead to a muddle or inefficiency mostly caused by delays in production due to negligence or an operative’s error. In addition a manual system of record keeping is used, these records are not transparent and no backups are available in case of an emergency. Opportunities The Shipper manufacturing company will restrict its market development resources to certain market divisions of growth and to shrewd industries where there is a realistic opportunity and presumption of inhabiting a presiding or strong competitive position Threat In measuring threats, the change in business strategy will require a corresponding change in manufacturing strategy. The business unit is growth oriented with substantial resources directed to new product or new market strategies, making it a medium-to high-risk operation. Recommendation Voice of the customer exercise - The Shipper manufacturing company should hold this exercise to brainstorm and communicate external and internal demands and expectations by customers. In addition the company should ensure that its customers are satisfied. This can be achieved by quality function deployment, define by Akao (1990) as the specific method for ensuring quality thought out at each juncture of product development process. The author claims that the use of quality function

Attitude of Unlisted Companies Towards IFRS

Attitude of Unlisted Companies Towards IFRS SECTION I INTRODUCTION The adoption of international financial reporting standards across the European Union from 1st January 2005 is one of the biggest events in the accounting history. This is especially important after the capital markets were rocked by some big accounting frauds in recent years. In the first phase, 7000-plus listed European companies will have to implement new financial reporting standards from January 2005 (Fuller, Jan 2005). When European Union moved towards one market across Europe, it faced the prospect of different financial reporting regimes across EU participants. To achieve true scale of financial integration, it has become necessary to adopt common financial reporting standards. In June 2002, the European Commission adopted a regulation requiring all listed EU companies in regulated markets to prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The regulation is applicable only on consolidated accounts and companies are free to choose their national GAAPs for subsidiaries and associate companies. The regulation came into force from January 2005. Companies Act 1985 governs the use of UK GAAP by UK based companies. Similarly other EU states have their own laws for accounting standards. The EU states have now modified their national laws to include IFRS regulation to offer a common financial reporting standard. Companies Act 1985 (International Accounting Standards and Other Accounting Amendments) Regulations 2004 has extended the application, on a non-compulsory basis, of the EU IFRS regulation to all non-charitable organisations. In the last quarter of previous century, the world economies have moved towards globalisation. Multinational companies are manufacturing and selling across the world and many of these firms are listed at foreign stock exchanges. Globalisation of markets and establishment of multinationals led to increased desire and awareness about international markets. This was soon followed by globalisation of financial markets which increased the value of understanding of international financial results and reporting formats. Rapid improvement in communication technologies and easy access through internet has further spread the profile of international investor. Now a day international investors are not limited to some portfolio managers in big banks. International investors are now as diverse as sophisticated equity manager to a small investor in a remote town. Investors too have diversified their portfolio by international equities and bonds. This rapid globalisation has fuelled the desire to h ave common international standards that could be understood and followed across nations. The ever increasing network of investors has not only opened new financing sources to countries, it has also put some pressure on the financial regulatory authorities to design and improve their financial reporting systems in a manner that is easily understood by wider audiences. The regulatory authorities have on one hand evolve the financial reporting system to match the ever increasing demands of international investors and on the other hand make sure that companies in their countries are not faced with sudden increase in time, resources and knowledge needed to cope with new regulations.   In 1973, 9 countries included UK formed International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) with an aim to develop common accounting standards. The membership has now grown well over hundred countries with each country, especially bigger economies, bringing in their own perspectives of accounting standards. IASC had to deal with accounting conflictions in coming up with common acceptable accounting standards. One would immediately think whether IASC has been successful in resolving all the conflicts with all member countries and the answer would easily be no. To fully satisfy more than hundred accounting bodies from across the world is almost an impossible task. Yet IASC has done a commendable job and from 1 January 2005, International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is applicable in more than 90 countries. In EU, IFRS is compulsory only for listed companies. The standards that UK listed companies will follow are not those issued directly by the International Accounting Standards Board, but are those that have been endorsed by the European Commission. EU has now endorsed IFRS, except for IFRS 6 and some of the IFRIC interpretations, and some changes in IAS 39 relating to the fair value of financial instruments (PwC, 2005a). While the EU regulation is only enforceable on listed companies, it also says that a member state has an option to extend the use of IFRS to unlisted companies within their jurisdiction. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the government trade body responsible for company regulation in UK, has said that while there is no mandatory move to IFRS for unlisted companies, the unlisted companies would still be allowed to adopt IFRS over UK GAAP from 2005 onwards. The basic aim of new financial reporting standards is same as that of existing standards – to provide information about financial performance and position of a company to different stakeholders. Internal stakeholders – management – normally have a good grip of what’s going in the business. It is external stakeholders like investors, auditors, suppliers and creditors who need to be informed in a succinct and clear manner about financial implications of business decisions. The IFRS would aim to present a more complete picture of a business by making operating income a more encompassing number. As an example, the financial implications of stock options were kept out of income statements. Companies merely mentioned the number of stock options granted. But now onwards, companies will have to incorporate the fair costs of granting stock options in their income statements. This will allow investors to assess the true costs of executive remuneration. Though the overall aim is same, the differences in implementation and financial reporting do occur due to social, economic and political backgrounds of different nations. Will it be a good policy to allow two different accounting standards in UK – one standard for listed companies and another for unlisted companies. UK’s Accounting Standard Board clearly sees there is no merit in having two separate standards. ASB issued a Discussion Paper in March 2004 highlighting its strategy for convergence with IAS and says that convergence of UK accounting standards to IAS is a foregone conclusion. It has already introduced many changes in recent past to bring UK’s GAAP in line with IFRS. Smaller companies, even listed ones, will find it difficult to cope with extra work due to IFRS. Alternative Investment Market (AIM) realises that most of its companies won’t be in a position to meet IFRS requirements soon. So it changed its regulatory status in October 2004 and is now an â€Å"exchange regulated market† and out of purview of European Commission regulation on regulated markets. Now companies listed on AIM have time until January 2007 to implement IFRS. Accounting Standards Board is also sensitive to the needs placed on business in making a transition from UK accounting standards to IFRS. Big businesses probably have sufficient resources to cope with the change in one year. But the smaller businesses will find it difficult to make all required changes in one year. ASB has proposed a series of changes that would be implemented in 2005 and 2006 which will bring UK financial reporting standards more in line with IFRS. Thereafter ASB will carry out a series of step changes by replacing one or more UK standards. So by the end of 2005-2006, UK standards will almost be in line with IFRS and unlisted companies transition to IFRS in 2007 would be smooth. This research analyses the attitude of unlisted companies towards IFRS. Many research and surveys have been carried out on the acceptance and readiness of listed companies for transition to IFRS. But the issue has not been explored in depth with respect to unlisted companies. The research is based on primary and secondary data. Primary data is collected via interviews and questionnaires with companies and their auditors. A total of [34] interviews – [20] with companies and [14] with their auditors – were conducted to obtain primary data. [52] questionnaire responses by postal survey were also analysed. The results show that there is definitely a much scope in improving International Financial Reporting Standards for unlisted companies. Respondents were concerned about the costs associated with transition to IFRS and also the additional burden that will come with regular enhanced reporting. That IFRS will help in globalisation of capital markets and probably cheaper costs of capital is not of much significance for unlisted companies registered in UK. This research would be useful for institutes and associations framing accounting standards for unlisted companies. Mostly accounting standards have been framed with an eye for listed and large companies. But unlisted companies have much lesser resources to spend on large regulatory requirements and hence should have different reporting requirements that match the benefits obtained from such reporting. The time limitation and resource constraint mean that the primary data via interviews and questionnaire surveys could only be collected through a limited number of respondents. It would be useful to cover a larger data base before implementing the changes. Also more users of data in unlisted companies like banks and creditors should be contacted before policy formulation. The remaining paper is divided in the following sections. Section II is a literature review on justification and applicability of IFRS, and state of readiness in companies. Section III discusses the methodology used in this research. Section IV covers analysis of data obtained through the primary data collection and its interpretation. The paper concludes with section V. SECTION II LITERATURE REVIEW In June 2000, the European Commission proposed a new directive requiring that all publicly traded companies in the member states to adopt International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) standards by no later than January 2005. On 19 July 2002, the European Parliament and the Council approved the IAS regulation (EC) 1606/2002 which said ‘For each financial year starting on or after 1 January 2005, companies governed by the law of a Member State shall prepare their consolidated accounts in conformity with the international accounting standards adopted †¦ if, at their balance sheet date, their securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market of any Member State’ (EU, 2002). Rationale for EU’s adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards The main aim of International Financial reporting Standards is to bring convergence among different national financial reporting standards. Over time, the evolution of different national financial reporting standards has been influenced by local social, political and economic environments. Some of the major reasons for differences in accounting standards are: Political – Capitalist or Communist. Capitalist and communist countries have almost contrasting fundamental economic approach and their accounting standards reflect the same. Stage of economic development. Developed countries generally have better accounting standards in terms of transparency and clarity. Corporate finance – debt or equity. Companies in continental Europe are financed more by debt than the companies in UK. Accounting standards have over time evolved to reflect the importance placed by different sources of financing on different aspects of financial statements. Legal and taxation systems. Convergence will help investors and analysts to compare companies across borders in a better way. But it also implies that either member countries will lose their independence to make national accounting standards that reflect local economic conditions or if they start introducing some changes, IFRS may slowly lose its main strength of common standard. Local, political and economical conditions may force national accounting bodies to introduce variations in IFRS. EU has already introduced some changes in the IAS 39 dealing with financial instruments. It is beyond the scope of this research to see which member countries have introduced variations in IFRS. Convergence between UK GAAP and IFRS ASB has declared its intention to converge UK GAAP with IFRS. It has issued a number of new standards in December 2004 to speed up the convergence of UK GAAP with IFRS. So sooner, even unlisted companies would be following a substantial portion of IFRS due to this convergence. Comparison of UK GAAP and IFRS Similarities The ultimate goal of UK GAAP and IFRS is same – to present information about financial performance and position to all concerned stakeholders. If the aim is same, then should be the main approach adopted by both accounting standards. The UK’s Accounting Standard Board’s Statement of Principles for Financial Reporting is a vital contributor at macro level standard setting. It plays almost same role as International Accounting Standards Committee’s ‘Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements’. ‘It is a description of the fundamental approach that the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) believes should, in principle, underpin the financial statements of profit-oriented entities’ (ASB, 1999). The Statement of Principles has true and fair concept at its core, much like the focal point in International Accounting Standards. Also like IAS, Statement of Principles insists on financial information being relevant and comparable. It is beyond the scope of this research to highlight each and every similarity between UK GAAP and IAS. Differences Though the overall aim is same, the differences in implementation and financial reporting do occur due to social, economic and political backgrounds of different nations. Main concepts behind UK GAAP and IFRS are same, but when we look at micro level, we see many differences at the individual standards level. Following are the main differences between UK GAAP and IFRS: The Statement of Principles allows use of both historical cost and current value approaches in measuring balance sheet categories. The dual use of historical and current value methods is known as modified historical cost basis (ASB, 1999). Under historical cost, the carrying values of assets and liabilities are stated at the lower of cost and recoverable amount. This approach is more conservative as compared to IAS approach which uses fair value method. Also the choice of historical or current value method is based on subjective analysis of a company’s management and hence it is open to some manipulation. Fair value. If we look at global level, both UK GAAP and IFRS have adopted fair value method as the foundation of their accounting standards. IFRS takes fair value adoption even higher when it says that income statement will include the changes in the fair value of items that have not been yet traded like derivatives. The emphasis in new accounting standards is on mark-to-market fair value of assets and liabilities rather than on actual market price based fair values. Now both realised and unrealised changes in fair values would be incorporated in income statements. The first year of transition will see high volatility in earnings and balance sheet statements. Though this brings higher volatility, it will also test the management skills in proper presentation and explanation of changes. It may also change the benchmarks of success for managements. Acquisitions. Acquisition accounting will change under new accounting standards. Under UK GAAP, companies can choose between purchase and merger accounting. Under IFRS, companies will have to account under purchase method only. Goodwill. UK GAAP allowed amortisation of goodwill and companies had the option of not segregating intangible assets from goodwill. Under IFRS, intangible assets have to be separated from goodwill. Goodwill can not be amortised now but companies will have to undertake annual impairment tests to justify the value of goodwill on the balance sheets. BAT’s profits for year 2004 increased by  £454m because it no longer had to amortise goodwill of that amount (AccountancyAge, 2005b). Consolidation of accounts. Under new accounting rules, companies may have to consolidate certain additional subsidiaries into group accounts. On the other hand companies will have to exclude certain subsidiaries or special purpose vehicles which were not included till now. Research and development costs. Under IAS 39, research costs can’t be carried on the balance sheet and would have to write them off as incurred. Companies would still be allowed to capitalise development in line with UK GAAP. Stock options. Internet and share market last boom in late 1990s led to rapid increase in share options as a way to reward employees. The new requirements to record an expense on income statement for the value of share options granted to employees could have a significant impact on earnings. AstraZeneca said in its pro forma 2004 IFRS numbers that new accounting rules on stock options has made it re-consider the use of stock options in rewarding its employees (Tricks, 2005). Distributable profits. Organisations ability to pay dividends is dependent on their distributable profits. Following are some of the major impacts of IFRS on distributable profits Inability to discount deferred tax liabilities, higher provisions for deferred tax when companies move from historical costs to fair value and inclusion of pension deficits in income statement. All of the above will reduce distributable profits. Many companies would have to financially restructure themselves in order to have sufficient distributable profits to meet dividends paid in last year. Deferred tax credit. Deferred tax credit is available under UK GAAP but not under IFRS. GlaxoSmithKline’s restated its 2004 earning per share by (1.9p) due to non-availability of deferred tax credit under IFRS (AccountancyAge, 2005a). Inclusion of business disposals gains in profits from operations. BAT’s profits for year 2004 increased by  £1.3bn after it included gains from disposals to operating profits (AccountancyAge, 2005b). Adding disposal gains to operating profits will make it harder for investors and analysts to separate the earnings from continuing businesses. Derivative contracts. Under IFRS, some derivative contracts will not qualify as hedges as they wont meet the criteria. UK GAAP allowed deferment of such contracts until transaction took place. IFRS won’t allow the deferment of such contract and would impact the profit and loss account even before the transaction took place. It is better in a way that investors will know the current value of the firm as on date rather than historical costs of such instruments, especially if the duration of financial instruments was long. At the same time, it would increase the burden on the company to calculate the fair value of all such transactions. Agricultural. UK GAAP allowed companies to use a cost model for biological assets and all agricultural produce. But under IAS companies would have to use mark to market method for valuing such assets. Now companies would have to use market valuation even for assets in far off countries. Advantages of IFRS over UK GAAP Common financial language. Adopting common financial reporting standards will open up a company to more markets and investors. The growth in telecommunications has made it easier for smaller investors to invest across physical boundaries. Such investors are normally not as financially sophisticated as some big financial institutions. They would also not like to understand more than one accounting standards as they don’t have required resources in hand to do so. With one common accounting standard, more investors would like to explore companies across nations. Acquisitions. IFRS 3 is more open and transparent than UK GAAP on acquisitions. It will allow investors and analysts to judge faster the success of an acquisition. Many of the companies that have relied on acquisition as a key cornerstone for growth would now come under intense scrutiny and may have to develop a new strategy for growing business.    Consolidation. In IFRS, all entities will have to provide a cash flow statement. Additionally there would be more transparency within the group companies and this should make the consolidation process more straight-forward. Securitisation by businesses is likely to be impacted by the new ways governing how companies can show assets and liabilities on their financial statements. Companies have used securitisation to cash in assets like trade receivables sitting on their balance sheets. Securitisation helps companies to slim down their balance sheets and hence allows companies to show higher return on assets at same earnings. And it was one of the reasons why companies went for securitisation. But stringent criteria for moving assets and liabilities off balance sheet will threaten securitisation. Sue Harding, chief accountant at Standard Poor’s in Europe said that new international accounting standards were sweeping a lot of securitised assets back on to balance sheets (Jopson, Feb 2005). This will help investors compare like to like and avoid companies that have used securitisation only to make-up their balance sheets. There is no harm in using securitisation if used in a proper way and not to deceive stakeholders. But we have seen how corporations like Enron had used securitisation to disguise their true financial position. Annual impairment review. Annual impairment review will benefit investors because the companies then won’t like to take big goodwill cuts in one year and not do anything for years. Annual reviews would help investors judging whether the amount paid by companies in acquiring other company was justified or not. Access to cheaper capital. Increase in investor profile diversification would most probably lower the cost of capital for most of the companies. This is especially true for smaller companies which don’t have financial muscles and resources to tap international investors. Expensing research costs gives better information to investors and other stakeholders because at research stage the chances of success are quite uncertain. Investors can only be sure of development costs bringing in some returns in future. Also by segregating research and development costs, external stakeholders will now have a better chance to differentiate the suitability of costs incurred in developing new products. Multiple listings. Many companies now have multiple listings across different countries. Companies need to prepare financial statements as per each local accounting standard to meet listing requirements. With one accounting standard only it will save a lot of botheration for companies with multiple listings. Dividends. Under IFRS dividends are not provided for until the dividend recommended by the Board is approved by shareholders. This move will bring more convergence between accounting profits and cash flows. Disadvantages of IFRS Fair value. While fair value in a way conveys more up to date value of a company as compared to historic costs, it also puts a question mark on the methods used and the reliability of fair value. Derivative instruments which are commonly traded on various stock exchanges can be easily assigned value. So while valuing some of the assets or liabilities may not be difficult, the question still remains what impact such valuations will have on companies’ business models. Many companies use hedging instruments as a strategic tool rather than for intentional gains. Any short-term swings in such instruments may have a significant impact on income statement and probably adverse market reactions may deter companies’ from using such instruments. Then comes the more important issue of valuing assets and liabilities that don’t have a proper market. The companies may use some valuation model, which itself may not be the right way, to value an asset or liability. The model will incorporate some subjective assumptions. An example would be brand value. A same brand can have two different values for two different companies because of its strategic importance. So at one hand, investors and other external stakeholders are getting more objective information about a companies’ assets and liabilities, they are also getting valuation based on more subjective assessments. Only time will tell whether some individuals or companies will use it to manipulate results. An interesting thing to observe would be the treatment and importance given by analysts to unrealised fair value of assets and liabilities. Some investors may try to separate unrealised gains and losses from other operational performance. It may also prompt companies to issue adjusted earnings excluding unrealised gains and losses. An important point to note about fair value principle is that the financial statements should not be seen as perfect prediction of things to come. That depends on the strategic and business decisions management will take in future. Just having a fair value of assets and liabilities doesn’t mean that the company will be able to extract those values in future.    Dividend. New accounting standards promote payment of dividend from distributable reserves. With the inclusion of unrealised gains and losses and pension deficits, the first few years of new accounting standards may not leave enough of distributable reserves for dividend payments. Securitisation. Securitising assets into special purpose vehicles and re-financing them through had also helped companies raise funds at lower costs. The new accounting standards by restricting the use of special purpose vehicles, would diminish some sources of cheap financing. It is question yet to be fully tested in the practical world that since the assets are same, change in financing options shouldn’t change the returns on total assets. By refinancing at lower rates through securitisation should result in higher financing cost for remaining assets such that the overall costs remain same. But examination of this hypothesis is beyond the scope of this dissertation. But what is mostly observed in capital markets is that when companies announce refinancing, the share price rises. How much of the rise is from relief that company will survive and how much from the fact that the overall costs have lowered is not known. Annual impairment tests. Annual impairment tests are easier said than done. Companies would not only have to devote substantial resources to do that first would have to train its personnel to do that. Assessing true value of a goodwill is not easy. If there is a comparable market then companies can easily value it. Even then it may differ from case to case as it would be very unusual to see exactly two similar companies. Goodwill is very different from tangible assets or technologies and depends a lot on market perception and strategy. Companies would have to review the whole process of valuing goodwill and would have to review the valuation process at constant intervals. Net pension liability. The inclusion of net pension liability on the balance sheet may have severe impact on the shareholders funds. Companies will be required to have annual actuarial valuation of their pension liabilities and the same would be reflected in financial statements. Most of the pension funds invest in equity markets, which have been quite volatile in the recent years. So though over a longer period, the movements in pension liabilities may even out but in short to medium term, it may have a dramatic effect on balance sheets and earning statements. Segmental information. IAS 14 requires companies to report information on their business segments and on a scale more detail than UK GAAP. As of date, no agreed accounting practices have emerged on how much should be disclosed because companies may end up revealing sensitive information to its competitors. If companies disclose the turnover, earnings and expenditure for each segment, its profitable operations may come under intense competition. Ian Dilks of PwC said that â€Å"some companies have found they’re giving much more information than they’re comfortable with on sales and the profitability of product areas† (Tricks, 2005) Expensing research costs may result in listed companies focusing more on products in development stage than in research stage. This will keep their balance sheets healthy but may harm long term prospects. Complex and long IFRS compliant reports. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that an IFRS compliant financial report for insurance companies could be up to twice as long as those prepared under existing UK GAAP (Finn Zoon, 2004). The requirement for other industry sectors though may not be as intensive as for insurance sector, their IFRS compliant financial may also be longer and resource intensive than under UK GAAP. Any company that has makes an acquisition will have to do annual goodwill impairment analysis and most of them would like to explain the results also. Comparable formats. IAS 1 is less prescriptive than the UK GAAP when it comes to the format of the balance sheet and income statement. It just distinguishes current and non-current assets and liabilities. Investors, when faced with different formats, may find it difficult to compare companies. Modify organisation structures. Meall (2003) suggested that the additional burden of more financial reporting along different segments may force companies to modify their existing organisational structures within their financial systems to collect and analyse data. Impact of IFRS on different industries IFRS will have different impact on different industries. For some, most of the applied UK GAAP is almost same as IFRS and won’t feel the difference. But for some industries, the difference in accounting standards may have a substantial impact. Financial services and insurance companies are among them. Financial services companies would be affected by substantial change in recognition and measurement of financial instruments under IAS 39. UK GAAP has no equivalent to IAS 4 which deals with insurance contracts. Insurance companies would now have to account for this in their financial statements. Under IFRS, insurance companies would have to book financial instruments such as derivatives at market value rather than historical value allowed under UK GAAP. Many insurers have said that this will distort their earnings (Reuters, 2005a). IFRS will put more stringent criteria for classification of insurance products and this may lead to reclassification of some insurance products as investment products. Other industries that might face higher impact are the ones that heavily use hedging instruments in their day to day operations. Mostly companies using commodity materials like oil as a significant part of their input costs use hedging to smooth over the volatile changes in commodity markets. New accounting standards will reduce Tesco’s projected annual profit of  £2,000m by  £30m only, a reduction of 1.5%. But for some companies the impact would be much more. Royal Sun Alliance said that new accounting rules would reduce its net assets by  £400m (Reuters, 2005a). This is a big number by any standards and shareholders Attitude of Unlisted Companies Towards IFRS Attitude of Unlisted Companies Towards IFRS SECTION I INTRODUCTION The adoption of international financial reporting standards across the European Union from 1st January 2005 is one of the biggest events in the accounting history. This is especially important after the capital markets were rocked by some big accounting frauds in recent years. In the first phase, 7000-plus listed European companies will have to implement new financial reporting standards from January 2005 (Fuller, Jan 2005). When European Union moved towards one market across Europe, it faced the prospect of different financial reporting regimes across EU participants. To achieve true scale of financial integration, it has become necessary to adopt common financial reporting standards. In June 2002, the European Commission adopted a regulation requiring all listed EU companies in regulated markets to prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The regulation is applicable only on consolidated accounts and companies are free to choose their national GAAPs for subsidiaries and associate companies. The regulation came into force from January 2005. Companies Act 1985 governs the use of UK GAAP by UK based companies. Similarly other EU states have their own laws for accounting standards. The EU states have now modified their national laws to include IFRS regulation to offer a common financial reporting standard. Companies Act 1985 (International Accounting Standards and Other Accounting Amendments) Regulations 2004 has extended the application, on a non-compulsory basis, of the EU IFRS regulation to all non-charitable organisations. In the last quarter of previous century, the world economies have moved towards globalisation. Multinational companies are manufacturing and selling across the world and many of these firms are listed at foreign stock exchanges. Globalisation of markets and establishment of multinationals led to increased desire and awareness about international markets. This was soon followed by globalisation of financial markets which increased the value of understanding of international financial results and reporting formats. Rapid improvement in communication technologies and easy access through internet has further spread the profile of international investor. Now a day international investors are not limited to some portfolio managers in big banks. International investors are now as diverse as sophisticated equity manager to a small investor in a remote town. Investors too have diversified their portfolio by international equities and bonds. This rapid globalisation has fuelled the desire to h ave common international standards that could be understood and followed across nations. The ever increasing network of investors has not only opened new financing sources to countries, it has also put some pressure on the financial regulatory authorities to design and improve their financial reporting systems in a manner that is easily understood by wider audiences. The regulatory authorities have on one hand evolve the financial reporting system to match the ever increasing demands of international investors and on the other hand make sure that companies in their countries are not faced with sudden increase in time, resources and knowledge needed to cope with new regulations.   In 1973, 9 countries included UK formed International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) with an aim to develop common accounting standards. The membership has now grown well over hundred countries with each country, especially bigger economies, bringing in their own perspectives of accounting standards. IASC had to deal with accounting conflictions in coming up with common acceptable accounting standards. One would immediately think whether IASC has been successful in resolving all the conflicts with all member countries and the answer would easily be no. To fully satisfy more than hundred accounting bodies from across the world is almost an impossible task. Yet IASC has done a commendable job and from 1 January 2005, International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is applicable in more than 90 countries. In EU, IFRS is compulsory only for listed companies. The standards that UK listed companies will follow are not those issued directly by the International Accounting Standards Board, but are those that have been endorsed by the European Commission. EU has now endorsed IFRS, except for IFRS 6 and some of the IFRIC interpretations, and some changes in IAS 39 relating to the fair value of financial instruments (PwC, 2005a). While the EU regulation is only enforceable on listed companies, it also says that a member state has an option to extend the use of IFRS to unlisted companies within their jurisdiction. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the government trade body responsible for company regulation in UK, has said that while there is no mandatory move to IFRS for unlisted companies, the unlisted companies would still be allowed to adopt IFRS over UK GAAP from 2005 onwards. The basic aim of new financial reporting standards is same as that of existing standards – to provide information about financial performance and position of a company to different stakeholders. Internal stakeholders – management – normally have a good grip of what’s going in the business. It is external stakeholders like investors, auditors, suppliers and creditors who need to be informed in a succinct and clear manner about financial implications of business decisions. The IFRS would aim to present a more complete picture of a business by making operating income a more encompassing number. As an example, the financial implications of stock options were kept out of income statements. Companies merely mentioned the number of stock options granted. But now onwards, companies will have to incorporate the fair costs of granting stock options in their income statements. This will allow investors to assess the true costs of executive remuneration. Though the overall aim is same, the differences in implementation and financial reporting do occur due to social, economic and political backgrounds of different nations. Will it be a good policy to allow two different accounting standards in UK – one standard for listed companies and another for unlisted companies. UK’s Accounting Standard Board clearly sees there is no merit in having two separate standards. ASB issued a Discussion Paper in March 2004 highlighting its strategy for convergence with IAS and says that convergence of UK accounting standards to IAS is a foregone conclusion. It has already introduced many changes in recent past to bring UK’s GAAP in line with IFRS. Smaller companies, even listed ones, will find it difficult to cope with extra work due to IFRS. Alternative Investment Market (AIM) realises that most of its companies won’t be in a position to meet IFRS requirements soon. So it changed its regulatory status in October 2004 and is now an â€Å"exchange regulated market† and out of purview of European Commission regulation on regulated markets. Now companies listed on AIM have time until January 2007 to implement IFRS. Accounting Standards Board is also sensitive to the needs placed on business in making a transition from UK accounting standards to IFRS. Big businesses probably have sufficient resources to cope with the change in one year. But the smaller businesses will find it difficult to make all required changes in one year. ASB has proposed a series of changes that would be implemented in 2005 and 2006 which will bring UK financial reporting standards more in line with IFRS. Thereafter ASB will carry out a series of step changes by replacing one or more UK standards. So by the end of 2005-2006, UK standards will almost be in line with IFRS and unlisted companies transition to IFRS in 2007 would be smooth. This research analyses the attitude of unlisted companies towards IFRS. Many research and surveys have been carried out on the acceptance and readiness of listed companies for transition to IFRS. But the issue has not been explored in depth with respect to unlisted companies. The research is based on primary and secondary data. Primary data is collected via interviews and questionnaires with companies and their auditors. A total of [34] interviews – [20] with companies and [14] with their auditors – were conducted to obtain primary data. [52] questionnaire responses by postal survey were also analysed. The results show that there is definitely a much scope in improving International Financial Reporting Standards for unlisted companies. Respondents were concerned about the costs associated with transition to IFRS and also the additional burden that will come with regular enhanced reporting. That IFRS will help in globalisation of capital markets and probably cheaper costs of capital is not of much significance for unlisted companies registered in UK. This research would be useful for institutes and associations framing accounting standards for unlisted companies. Mostly accounting standards have been framed with an eye for listed and large companies. But unlisted companies have much lesser resources to spend on large regulatory requirements and hence should have different reporting requirements that match the benefits obtained from such reporting. The time limitation and resource constraint mean that the primary data via interviews and questionnaire surveys could only be collected through a limited number of respondents. It would be useful to cover a larger data base before implementing the changes. Also more users of data in unlisted companies like banks and creditors should be contacted before policy formulation. The remaining paper is divided in the following sections. Section II is a literature review on justification and applicability of IFRS, and state of readiness in companies. Section III discusses the methodology used in this research. Section IV covers analysis of data obtained through the primary data collection and its interpretation. The paper concludes with section V. SECTION II LITERATURE REVIEW In June 2000, the European Commission proposed a new directive requiring that all publicly traded companies in the member states to adopt International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) standards by no later than January 2005. On 19 July 2002, the European Parliament and the Council approved the IAS regulation (EC) 1606/2002 which said ‘For each financial year starting on or after 1 January 2005, companies governed by the law of a Member State shall prepare their consolidated accounts in conformity with the international accounting standards adopted †¦ if, at their balance sheet date, their securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market of any Member State’ (EU, 2002). Rationale for EU’s adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards The main aim of International Financial reporting Standards is to bring convergence among different national financial reporting standards. Over time, the evolution of different national financial reporting standards has been influenced by local social, political and economic environments. Some of the major reasons for differences in accounting standards are: Political – Capitalist or Communist. Capitalist and communist countries have almost contrasting fundamental economic approach and their accounting standards reflect the same. Stage of economic development. Developed countries generally have better accounting standards in terms of transparency and clarity. Corporate finance – debt or equity. Companies in continental Europe are financed more by debt than the companies in UK. Accounting standards have over time evolved to reflect the importance placed by different sources of financing on different aspects of financial statements. Legal and taxation systems. Convergence will help investors and analysts to compare companies across borders in a better way. But it also implies that either member countries will lose their independence to make national accounting standards that reflect local economic conditions or if they start introducing some changes, IFRS may slowly lose its main strength of common standard. Local, political and economical conditions may force national accounting bodies to introduce variations in IFRS. EU has already introduced some changes in the IAS 39 dealing with financial instruments. It is beyond the scope of this research to see which member countries have introduced variations in IFRS. Convergence between UK GAAP and IFRS ASB has declared its intention to converge UK GAAP with IFRS. It has issued a number of new standards in December 2004 to speed up the convergence of UK GAAP with IFRS. So sooner, even unlisted companies would be following a substantial portion of IFRS due to this convergence. Comparison of UK GAAP and IFRS Similarities The ultimate goal of UK GAAP and IFRS is same – to present information about financial performance and position to all concerned stakeholders. If the aim is same, then should be the main approach adopted by both accounting standards. The UK’s Accounting Standard Board’s Statement of Principles for Financial Reporting is a vital contributor at macro level standard setting. It plays almost same role as International Accounting Standards Committee’s ‘Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements’. ‘It is a description of the fundamental approach that the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) believes should, in principle, underpin the financial statements of profit-oriented entities’ (ASB, 1999). The Statement of Principles has true and fair concept at its core, much like the focal point in International Accounting Standards. Also like IAS, Statement of Principles insists on financial information being relevant and comparable. It is beyond the scope of this research to highlight each and every similarity between UK GAAP and IAS. Differences Though the overall aim is same, the differences in implementation and financial reporting do occur due to social, economic and political backgrounds of different nations. Main concepts behind UK GAAP and IFRS are same, but when we look at micro level, we see many differences at the individual standards level. Following are the main differences between UK GAAP and IFRS: The Statement of Principles allows use of both historical cost and current value approaches in measuring balance sheet categories. The dual use of historical and current value methods is known as modified historical cost basis (ASB, 1999). Under historical cost, the carrying values of assets and liabilities are stated at the lower of cost and recoverable amount. This approach is more conservative as compared to IAS approach which uses fair value method. Also the choice of historical or current value method is based on subjective analysis of a company’s management and hence it is open to some manipulation. Fair value. If we look at global level, both UK GAAP and IFRS have adopted fair value method as the foundation of their accounting standards. IFRS takes fair value adoption even higher when it says that income statement will include the changes in the fair value of items that have not been yet traded like derivatives. The emphasis in new accounting standards is on mark-to-market fair value of assets and liabilities rather than on actual market price based fair values. Now both realised and unrealised changes in fair values would be incorporated in income statements. The first year of transition will see high volatility in earnings and balance sheet statements. Though this brings higher volatility, it will also test the management skills in proper presentation and explanation of changes. It may also change the benchmarks of success for managements. Acquisitions. Acquisition accounting will change under new accounting standards. Under UK GAAP, companies can choose between purchase and merger accounting. Under IFRS, companies will have to account under purchase method only. Goodwill. UK GAAP allowed amortisation of goodwill and companies had the option of not segregating intangible assets from goodwill. Under IFRS, intangible assets have to be separated from goodwill. Goodwill can not be amortised now but companies will have to undertake annual impairment tests to justify the value of goodwill on the balance sheets. BAT’s profits for year 2004 increased by  £454m because it no longer had to amortise goodwill of that amount (AccountancyAge, 2005b). Consolidation of accounts. Under new accounting rules, companies may have to consolidate certain additional subsidiaries into group accounts. On the other hand companies will have to exclude certain subsidiaries or special purpose vehicles which were not included till now. Research and development costs. Under IAS 39, research costs can’t be carried on the balance sheet and would have to write them off as incurred. Companies would still be allowed to capitalise development in line with UK GAAP. Stock options. Internet and share market last boom in late 1990s led to rapid increase in share options as a way to reward employees. The new requirements to record an expense on income statement for the value of share options granted to employees could have a significant impact on earnings. AstraZeneca said in its pro forma 2004 IFRS numbers that new accounting rules on stock options has made it re-consider the use of stock options in rewarding its employees (Tricks, 2005). Distributable profits. Organisations ability to pay dividends is dependent on their distributable profits. Following are some of the major impacts of IFRS on distributable profits Inability to discount deferred tax liabilities, higher provisions for deferred tax when companies move from historical costs to fair value and inclusion of pension deficits in income statement. All of the above will reduce distributable profits. Many companies would have to financially restructure themselves in order to have sufficient distributable profits to meet dividends paid in last year. Deferred tax credit. Deferred tax credit is available under UK GAAP but not under IFRS. GlaxoSmithKline’s restated its 2004 earning per share by (1.9p) due to non-availability of deferred tax credit under IFRS (AccountancyAge, 2005a). Inclusion of business disposals gains in profits from operations. BAT’s profits for year 2004 increased by  £1.3bn after it included gains from disposals to operating profits (AccountancyAge, 2005b). Adding disposal gains to operating profits will make it harder for investors and analysts to separate the earnings from continuing businesses. Derivative contracts. Under IFRS, some derivative contracts will not qualify as hedges as they wont meet the criteria. UK GAAP allowed deferment of such contracts until transaction took place. IFRS won’t allow the deferment of such contract and would impact the profit and loss account even before the transaction took place. It is better in a way that investors will know the current value of the firm as on date rather than historical costs of such instruments, especially if the duration of financial instruments was long. At the same time, it would increase the burden on the company to calculate the fair value of all such transactions. Agricultural. UK GAAP allowed companies to use a cost model for biological assets and all agricultural produce. But under IAS companies would have to use mark to market method for valuing such assets. Now companies would have to use market valuation even for assets in far off countries. Advantages of IFRS over UK GAAP Common financial language. Adopting common financial reporting standards will open up a company to more markets and investors. The growth in telecommunications has made it easier for smaller investors to invest across physical boundaries. Such investors are normally not as financially sophisticated as some big financial institutions. They would also not like to understand more than one accounting standards as they don’t have required resources in hand to do so. With one common accounting standard, more investors would like to explore companies across nations. Acquisitions. IFRS 3 is more open and transparent than UK GAAP on acquisitions. It will allow investors and analysts to judge faster the success of an acquisition. Many of the companies that have relied on acquisition as a key cornerstone for growth would now come under intense scrutiny and may have to develop a new strategy for growing business.    Consolidation. In IFRS, all entities will have to provide a cash flow statement. Additionally there would be more transparency within the group companies and this should make the consolidation process more straight-forward. Securitisation by businesses is likely to be impacted by the new ways governing how companies can show assets and liabilities on their financial statements. Companies have used securitisation to cash in assets like trade receivables sitting on their balance sheets. Securitisation helps companies to slim down their balance sheets and hence allows companies to show higher return on assets at same earnings. And it was one of the reasons why companies went for securitisation. But stringent criteria for moving assets and liabilities off balance sheet will threaten securitisation. Sue Harding, chief accountant at Standard Poor’s in Europe said that new international accounting standards were sweeping a lot of securitised assets back on to balance sheets (Jopson, Feb 2005). This will help investors compare like to like and avoid companies that have used securitisation only to make-up their balance sheets. There is no harm in using securitisation if used in a proper way and not to deceive stakeholders. But we have seen how corporations like Enron had used securitisation to disguise their true financial position. Annual impairment review. Annual impairment review will benefit investors because the companies then won’t like to take big goodwill cuts in one year and not do anything for years. Annual reviews would help investors judging whether the amount paid by companies in acquiring other company was justified or not. Access to cheaper capital. Increase in investor profile diversification would most probably lower the cost of capital for most of the companies. This is especially true for smaller companies which don’t have financial muscles and resources to tap international investors. Expensing research costs gives better information to investors and other stakeholders because at research stage the chances of success are quite uncertain. Investors can only be sure of development costs bringing in some returns in future. Also by segregating research and development costs, external stakeholders will now have a better chance to differentiate the suitability of costs incurred in developing new products. Multiple listings. Many companies now have multiple listings across different countries. Companies need to prepare financial statements as per each local accounting standard to meet listing requirements. With one accounting standard only it will save a lot of botheration for companies with multiple listings. Dividends. Under IFRS dividends are not provided for until the dividend recommended by the Board is approved by shareholders. This move will bring more convergence between accounting profits and cash flows. Disadvantages of IFRS Fair value. While fair value in a way conveys more up to date value of a company as compared to historic costs, it also puts a question mark on the methods used and the reliability of fair value. Derivative instruments which are commonly traded on various stock exchanges can be easily assigned value. So while valuing some of the assets or liabilities may not be difficult, the question still remains what impact such valuations will have on companies’ business models. Many companies use hedging instruments as a strategic tool rather than for intentional gains. Any short-term swings in such instruments may have a significant impact on income statement and probably adverse market reactions may deter companies’ from using such instruments. Then comes the more important issue of valuing assets and liabilities that don’t have a proper market. The companies may use some valuation model, which itself may not be the right way, to value an asset or liability. The model will incorporate some subjective assumptions. An example would be brand value. A same brand can have two different values for two different companies because of its strategic importance. So at one hand, investors and other external stakeholders are getting more objective information about a companies’ assets and liabilities, they are also getting valuation based on more subjective assessments. Only time will tell whether some individuals or companies will use it to manipulate results. An interesting thing to observe would be the treatment and importance given by analysts to unrealised fair value of assets and liabilities. Some investors may try to separate unrealised gains and losses from other operational performance. It may also prompt companies to issue adjusted earnings excluding unrealised gains and losses. An important point to note about fair value principle is that the financial statements should not be seen as perfect prediction of things to come. That depends on the strategic and business decisions management will take in future. Just having a fair value of assets and liabilities doesn’t mean that the company will be able to extract those values in future.    Dividend. New accounting standards promote payment of dividend from distributable reserves. With the inclusion of unrealised gains and losses and pension deficits, the first few years of new accounting standards may not leave enough of distributable reserves for dividend payments. Securitisation. Securitising assets into special purpose vehicles and re-financing them through had also helped companies raise funds at lower costs. The new accounting standards by restricting the use of special purpose vehicles, would diminish some sources of cheap financing. It is question yet to be fully tested in the practical world that since the assets are same, change in financing options shouldn’t change the returns on total assets. By refinancing at lower rates through securitisation should result in higher financing cost for remaining assets such that the overall costs remain same. But examination of this hypothesis is beyond the scope of this dissertation. But what is mostly observed in capital markets is that when companies announce refinancing, the share price rises. How much of the rise is from relief that company will survive and how much from the fact that the overall costs have lowered is not known. Annual impairment tests. Annual impairment tests are easier said than done. Companies would not only have to devote substantial resources to do that first would have to train its personnel to do that. Assessing true value of a goodwill is not easy. If there is a comparable market then companies can easily value it. Even then it may differ from case to case as it would be very unusual to see exactly two similar companies. Goodwill is very different from tangible assets or technologies and depends a lot on market perception and strategy. Companies would have to review the whole process of valuing goodwill and would have to review the valuation process at constant intervals. Net pension liability. The inclusion of net pension liability on the balance sheet may have severe impact on the shareholders funds. Companies will be required to have annual actuarial valuation of their pension liabilities and the same would be reflected in financial statements. Most of the pension funds invest in equity markets, which have been quite volatile in the recent years. So though over a longer period, the movements in pension liabilities may even out but in short to medium term, it may have a dramatic effect on balance sheets and earning statements. Segmental information. IAS 14 requires companies to report information on their business segments and on a scale more detail than UK GAAP. As of date, no agreed accounting practices have emerged on how much should be disclosed because companies may end up revealing sensitive information to its competitors. If companies disclose the turnover, earnings and expenditure for each segment, its profitable operations may come under intense competition. Ian Dilks of PwC said that â€Å"some companies have found they’re giving much more information than they’re comfortable with on sales and the profitability of product areas† (Tricks, 2005) Expensing research costs may result in listed companies focusing more on products in development stage than in research stage. This will keep their balance sheets healthy but may harm long term prospects. Complex and long IFRS compliant reports. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that an IFRS compliant financial report for insurance companies could be up to twice as long as those prepared under existing UK GAAP (Finn Zoon, 2004). The requirement for other industry sectors though may not be as intensive as for insurance sector, their IFRS compliant financial may also be longer and resource intensive than under UK GAAP. Any company that has makes an acquisition will have to do annual goodwill impairment analysis and most of them would like to explain the results also. Comparable formats. IAS 1 is less prescriptive than the UK GAAP when it comes to the format of the balance sheet and income statement. It just distinguishes current and non-current assets and liabilities. Investors, when faced with different formats, may find it difficult to compare companies. Modify organisation structures. Meall (2003) suggested that the additional burden of more financial reporting along different segments may force companies to modify their existing organisational structures within their financial systems to collect and analyse data. Impact of IFRS on different industries IFRS will have different impact on different industries. For some, most of the applied UK GAAP is almost same as IFRS and won’t feel the difference. But for some industries, the difference in accounting standards may have a substantial impact. Financial services and insurance companies are among them. Financial services companies would be affected by substantial change in recognition and measurement of financial instruments under IAS 39. UK GAAP has no equivalent to IAS 4 which deals with insurance contracts. Insurance companies would now have to account for this in their financial statements. Under IFRS, insurance companies would have to book financial instruments such as derivatives at market value rather than historical value allowed under UK GAAP. Many insurers have said that this will distort their earnings (Reuters, 2005a). IFRS will put more stringent criteria for classification of insurance products and this may lead to reclassification of some insurance products as investment products. Other industries that might face higher impact are the ones that heavily use hedging instruments in their day to day operations. Mostly companies using commodity materials like oil as a significant part of their input costs use hedging to smooth over the volatile changes in commodity markets. New accounting standards will reduce Tesco’s projected annual profit of  £2,000m by  £30m only, a reduction of 1.5%. But for some companies the impact would be much more. Royal Sun Alliance said that new accounting rules would reduce its net assets by  £400m (Reuters, 2005a). This is a big number by any standards and shareholders

High Altitude Climbing :: essays research papers fc

High altitude climbing is a very dangerous sport, well, we won’t call it a sport, it is more like a profession for highly skilled individuals. High altitude climbing is when mountain climbers decide that they want to climb higher  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and more difficult mountains. To do this they need the right training and also need to know the effects of high altitude climbing to their bodies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The body attempts to maintain a state of homeostasis or balance to ensure the optimal operating environment for its complex chemical systems. Any change from this homeostasis is a change away from the best possible operating environment. The body attempts to correct this imbalance. One such imbalance is the effect of increasing altitude on the body's ability to provide adequate oxygen to be utilized in cellular respiration. With an increase in elevation, a typical occurrence when climbing mountains, the body is forced to respond in various ways to the changes in external environment. Foremost of these changes is the diminished ability to obtain oxygen from the atmosphere. If the adaptive responses to this stressor are inadequate the performance of body systems may decline dramatically. If prolonged the results can be serious or even fatal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In looking at the effect of altitude on body functioning we first must understand what occurs in the external environment at higher elevations and then observe the important changes that occur in the internal environment of the body in response. In discussing altitude change and its effect on the body mountaineers generally define altitude according to the scale of high (8,000 - 12,000 feet), very high (12,000 - 18,000 feet), and extremely high (18,000+ feet), (Hubble, 1995).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A common misperception of the change in external environment with increased altitude is that there is decreased oxygen. This is not correct as the concentration of oxygen at sea level is about 21% and stays relatively unchanged until over 50,000 feet (Johnson, 1988). What is really happening is that the atmospheric pressure is decreasing and subsequently the amount of oxygen available in a single breath of air is significantly less. At sea level the barometric pressure averages 760 mmHg while at 12,000 feet it is only 483 mmHg. This decrease in total atmospheric pressure means that there are 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breath at this altitude compared to sea level (Princeton, 1995). The pulmonary surface and the thickness of the alveolar membranes are not directly affected by a change in altitude.

Marriage Contract Essay

When entering into a marriage, the bride and groom may wish to sign an agreement detailing how assets will be divided if the marriage breaks down. Marriage contracts, often referred to as pre-nuptial agreements, can be drafted and signed before the marriage or during the course of a marriage. Depending on the jurisdiction, formal requirements may need to be met (i.e. agreement in writing, signatures, witnesses) before the contract is valid. A marriage contract can deal with each person’s obligations in the marriage, upon separation, annulment or divorce, or division of assets when one spouse dies. Applying for a marriage license A marriage license is required before getting married. The license itself does not mean that you are married but that you can get married, within that province, at any time during the next three months. To obtain a license you must apply in person to the marriage license issuer in the community in which you intend to get married. The Director of Vital Statistics will provide a list of issuers for a particular area on request. Only one of you need apply for the license but you will need to supply the relevant documents for both partners. As well, a fee will be required at the time of the application. Please contact the appropriate Vital Statistics Office beforehand in order to confirm these details. The Marriage Ceremony You may choose to have either a religious or civil ceremony, either type must be witnessed by at least two people. Religious ceremonies can be performed by any religious representatives registered with the Division of Vital Statistics under the Marriage Act for that Province. Civil ceremonies are performed by Marriage Commissioners, who are appointed by the Director of Vital Statistics and a fee is charged for this type of ceremony. Registering the Marriage The religious representative or Marriage Commissioner who performs your wedding ceremony will also assist you in completing the necessary Marriage Registration Forms. These are then sent to the Division of Vital Statistics where your marriage is registered and a legal record is kept. At the time of the marriage you may be provided with a statement of marriage. This is a document that can be used in the interim period to show that you are legally married. However, you should apply for your marriage certificate from the Director of Vital Statistics, again there is a fee for obtaining a marriage certificate and you should contact the Vital Statistics Office in order to find out the cost.

A Character Analysis of the Fifty Shades of Christian Grey Essay

E. L. James, author of the Fifty Shades Trilogy, created an incredibly, emotionally torn character in Christian Grey. In this paper, I will discuss the truth behind his need for control, his guarded emotions, and his lack of self-worth. I will delve into his past and link his childhood demons to his personality as an adult. Also, I will show how he reverts back to adolescence in a way that would make Freud smirk, See I told you. It all comes back to sex in the end. I will discuss the myriad of social and environmental factors in his adult life which take him from a life of debasement and depravity into the light. The major questions addressed are: 1. What archetype(s) is Christian Grey classified as? 2. What are the main influences on Christian Grey’s personality? 3. What are the main conflicts with which the character struggles and how do they affect his thoughts and actions? 4. What are the motivating factors behind Grey’s behavior, thoughts and changes? Through analysis, the layers of Christian Grey’s aloof demeanor and public Persona will be peeled away, revealing his true demons and his struggle to control and come to grips with them. His Shadow that has kept him so closed off all his life, until the chance meeting of a beautiful college student, forces him to make some changes . The factors behind his change from an Alec D’Urberville to an Angel Clare will be evident. At the conclusion of the paper, you will be able to see how a few select social and environmental factors have a large impact on this character. Identifying the archetypes of Christian Grey Christian Grey has three identifiable archetypes. The first one would be the Ruler . He lives his life in control. As a powerful CEO of his large holdings company, he portrays a dictatorial presence. Everything in his life is done through a set of rules and contracts. This includes his personal life as well. Grey believes that information is control. He does background checks on all of his employees and â€Å"lovers.† Christian chooses hobbies that allow him to feel in control and powerful. He chooses flying, gliding, soaring and sails. Christian does not have normal intimate relationships with women. He expresses his emotions and sexual needs through a sadist lifestyle. Grey is a dominate sadist that employees submissives to find his release with. He does not have friends because of trust issues that stem from his very early childhood. His early years are what make up his Shadow . For most of his life he chooses to repress the memories of his youth. He believes his past is just that, his past, and that is where it should stay. Grey had a dark and twisted childhood. He fights to maintain control of his emotions and memories, but they creep into every aspect of his life. He has terrifying nightmares filled with snippets of dark and evil memories from his time with his birth mother. As the layers of Christian Grey’s persona are peeled away, these memories help the reader to understand his actions, thoughts, and his greed for wealth as an adult. Through the love of a young woman, he begins to realize that his past is the basis for his thought processes and actions. The Shadow is what causes him to feel haunted, lost, angry, lonely, controlling, and self-loathing. His inability to control his life and surroundings as a child feed this archetype. Grey’s Shadow encompasses two subtypes of a Sadistic personality, Explosive and Enforcing . Being forced to confront his Shadow brings about many changes for his character. Although his Persona archetype remains the same through the story line, those close to him, see the changes and progress, he makes personally. Grey’s Persona archetype never waivers from the enigmatic, successful, in control, have- it-all, very wealthy, philanthropic, private young entrepreneur. Those on the outside of his circle have no idea of the war he wages internally with his Shadow. Grey’s Persona is always one of a polite but business oriented composure. He is someone who knows and controls every detail of his business and personal relationships. These are traits that would classify him as a Reputation-Defending Antisocial . Reputation-Defending Antisocial personalities also have narcissistic tendencies. They need to be seen as unflawed, unbreakable, and a formidable adversary. The antisocial aspect is used to counteract the deep internal beliefs a narcissist has of inferiority and a lack of self-esteem. Christian is a Flawed Hero as well. He is tortured by the lengths that he has to go through to keep his family and wife safe. Grey does not accept the praise of a hero, nor does he often get it, due to the way he goes about protecting them. To his family his protection looks more to them as oppression because he maintains a security detail for each member of his family and rejects their requests to indulge in certain activities. He is faced with resistance at every turn in response to his seemingly well intended actions and rules. Due to their disobedience, they often realize that he was right, and he is forced to save them. Throughout the trilogy, Christian remains exasperated by their actions. The final archetype that Grey possesses is the Lover . Despite his dictatorial presence, he has moments of extreme tenderness and displays of affection towards his wife, Ana. He wants nothing more but to love and be loved by her. He is consumed by his feeling for her and keeping her safe. Grey’s world begins and ends with her. His goal is to make sure that she is happy and loved. He struggles to understand these first time feelings of love, want, need, passion, and fear, after twenty plus years of living alone, secluded in his own person castle in the sky . Although his tactics aren’t always clearly that of a Lover, if we look past the surface of the action, we can see they stem from his deep emotional connection with Ana. What are the main influences on Christian Grey’s personality? Christian’s rocky start in early childhood and adolescence is the focal point for his shortcomings and success at the same time. Seemingly full of confidence and sophistication, Christian had a bad start in life. Born to a drug addict mother, who he refers to as ‘the crack whore,’ he was discovered, beaten, and cowed, next to her body. She overdosed, and her brutal boyfriend left her and her child alone in their squalid flat for four days before reporting her death. Grey was severely malnourished and had signs of horrific physical abuse when he was rescued. The physical abuse and neglect that he suffered the first four years of his life left him unable to endure the touch of anyone. His body bears the scars of the  physical abuse. He realizes that his preference for sexual partners and sadism stems from his relationship, or lack thereof, with biological mother, Ella. Ella was a small framed, thin, and brown haired woman. As he looks back on all the sexual partners with which he has engaged in BDSM, they all look like her. He now understands he likes to hurt women who look like his mother. Grey felt unloved, neglected, and abused by his mother. His choice of lifestyle is a way to passively exert revenge for the pain that she caused him. His treatment as a child has left him with PTSD. This is made evident with his frequent flashbacks and night terrors of the abuse he suffered at the hand of his biological mother and her pimp. The fact that he was hungry as a child gives him a waste not, want not motto. The experience of being left alone and hungry for days in a room with his dead mother affected him . His decision to invest in farming, his projects to help feed the poor and his constant obsessing over whether or not Ana has eaten can all be linked to this childhood trauma. Christian’s adoption by pediatrician Grace Trevelyan-Grey and her attorney husband Carrick, gives him the opportunity of a better life. Ostensibly, he grows up in a loving, normal family, but his early years have left a big impression on him. He regards Grace as his angel. He says that she saved him from a terrible fate. Despite the love and admiration that he feels for his new mother and family, he cannot figure out how to express this love. Grey begins to fight and act out in order to gain negative attention. While his new family is willing to give him positive attention and unconditional love, Christian does not think he deserves this love. He has an extremely distorted view of self-worth. Unintentionally, his new family enabled his NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) by overindulging his every whim and praising him for his exceptional looks and musical abilities . At the age of 15, he’s introduced to the delights of sex and bondage by a friend of his mother’s, Elena Lincoln, whom Ana christens (only half-jokingly) as Mrs. Robinson. Elena’s warped sexuality will have a strong and enduring influence on his life. Christian originally sees their relationship as a good thing. He feels that Elena gave him an outlet for his anger and raging teenage hormones . Grey is thankful to her for saving him from the path of self-destruction, he was headed down. This relationship in his formative years affects his sexual preferences in adulthood. It’s a classic case of:  I’m the way I am now because my childhood messed me up. He has difficulty in forging normal relationships. He can’t bear to be touched. And he can only have a sexual encounter if he is the dominant partner; he cannot make love with someone as an equal. Fixation has occurred at the adolescent stage of development. This is the point where a Possessive Masochistic personality is cultured and developed . He describes himself as not the hearts and flowers type . That is, until he meets college student Anastasia Steele. What are the main conflicts that the character struggles with and how do they affect his thoughts and actions? Grey’s chance meeting with Ana during an interview for the college newspaper turns his world upside down. He begins to feel emotions that he has never felt before. This is very confusing for Grey as he does not know how to deal with his reaction to this stubborn and defiant woman. Grey slowly seduces Ana, though it’s hardly traditional. He has a very specific goal in mind: his BDSM world, his world of bondage and discipline (BD), domination and submission (DS), and sadism and masochism (SM). Gradually, Ana experiments with being a submissive, though this goes against her personality and even her ideas about relationships. Grey acts dominant even outside of the â€Å"playroom† and his choice as dominant clearly reflect who he is and what he needs. Christian has never met anyone like Anastasia before. His previous ‘Submissives’ proved incompatible or headed for the hills. He now has to redefine his thinking based on his relationship with Anastasia. He admits to her that he is willing to try a hearts and flowers approach more. We learn that Ana isn’t like his other submissives. Even Grey himself recognizes this. What makes Ana so different? Why is Grey even still with her, when she basically shuns the whole contract, negotiations, etc.? She frequently angers him by defying him or refusing to give him information he thinks he deserves. It’s her anti-submission that forces little cracks to begin to form in Grey’s armor. He goes against many of his own rules, and is better for it. He initiates real love-making (not BDSM) with Ana to take her virginity, which is a first for him. He admires Ana’s debating skills, and her negotiating skills. He ends up staying the night in the same bed with her a few times and sleeps better for it. It is his personal struggle with these new  feelings he is experiencing about Ana, and how to cope with them, that is the biggest conflict he faces. She pushes the boundaries that he has had his entire life. He battles with his subconscious over how to act in response to her emotional exploits and physical touch. Ana puts him in very uncomfortable situations over and over again each ending with pleasurable outcomes, effectively, applying classical conditioning to occur and alter his behavior. What are the motivating factors behind Grey’s behavior, thoughts, and changes? Eventually, Ana has a taste of Grey’s true dominant self, and that taste is more than enough for her. Ana decides to leave Christian, forcing his whole world into darkness. Ana’s leaving makes it very evident to Grey that he is in love for the first time in his life . He realizes that he cannot control the situation or his emotions. This is a turning point for his character. The once measured and self-reliant man is now shattered, lonely, and wanton for Ana’s return. Love is something he never thought he was capable of and still does not believe he is worthy of receiving. The abuse and neglect he suffered as a child have skewed his self-esteem and self-worth. Grey’s formative years have greatly contributed to his Narcissistic Personality. He now wrestles internally how to process these new emotions of joy, love, jealousy, and protectiveness he feels for Ana. Ana’s eventual return due to his unrelenting pursuit and her emotional emptiness without him, forces him to admit his love. Ana little by little gets him to open up emotionally. Grey’s character slowly realizes that his past isn’t his past but his present and future as well. He reluctantly learns to give up a little of the control that he thrives on. His reluctance is proven to be a valid concern. After his marriage to Ana, their life starts to spin out of control due to the actions of someone from his childhood . Ana learns that she is pregnant. This sends Grey into a rage. Life in the raw is something he cannot regulate. He loses his composure and falls back into the company of Elena (Mrs. Robinson) for a night. It is only during a drunken conversation with Elena, crying and seething about becoming a father that he realizes what they did all those years ago, was wrong. Works Cited Synchronicity Expert Digital Magazine. (2009). Retrieved March 1, 2013, from http://www.synchronicityexpert.com/archetypes.html Changing Minds.Org. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2013, from http://changingminds.org/explanations/identity/jung_archetypes.htm Golden, C. (n.d.). 12 Common Archetypes. Retrieved March 1, 2013, from http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html Groopman MD, L. &. (2006). Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Armenian Medical Network. Hardy, T. (1892). Tess of the d’Urbervilles. New York: Harper & Bros. James, E. (2011). Fifty Shades Darker. New York: Vintage Books. James, E. (2011). Fifty Shades of Grey . New York: Vintage Books. James, E. (2012). Fifty Shades Freed. New York: Vintage Books. James, E. (2012). Fifty Shades Trilogy. New York: Vintage Books. Millon, T. (2006). Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology. Retrieved March 1, 2013, from www.millon.net: http://www.millon.net/taxonomy/summary.htm VHHS k-12. (n.d .). Retrieved March 1, 2013, from http://teachers.vestavia.k12.al.us/townsendjn/VHHS/Eng_11_CP_files/archetypeschart.pdf

Major Sub-Disciplines of Geography

Major Sub-Disciplines of Geography The field of geography is a vast and wondrous academic field with thousands of researchers working in dozens of interesting sub-disciplines or branches of geography. There is a branch of geography for just about any subject on Earth. In an effort to acquaint the reader with the diversity of the branches of geography, we summarize many below. Human Geography Many branches of geography are found within human geography, a major branch of geography that studies people and their interaction with the earth and with their organization of space on the earths surface. Economic GeographyEconomic geographers examine the distribution of production and distribution of goods, the distribution of wealth, and the spatial structure of economic conditions.Population GeographyPopulation geography is often equated with demography but population geography is more than just patterns of birth, death, and marriage. Population geographers are concerned with the distribution, migration, and growth of population in geographic areas.Geography of ReligionsThis branch of geography studies the geographic distribution of religious groups, their cultures, and built environments.Medical GeographyMedical geographers study the geographic distribution of disease (including epidemics and pandemics), illness, death and health care.Recreation, Tourism, and Sport GeographyThe study of leisure-time activities and their impact on local environments. As tourism is one of the worlds largest industries, it involves a great number of people making very temporary migrations and is thus of great interest to geographers. Military GeographyPractitioners of military geography are most often found in the military but the branch looks not only at the geographic distribution of military facilities and troops but also utilizes geographic tools to develop military solutions.Political GeographyPolitical geography investigates all aspects of boundaries, country, state, and national development, international organizations, diplomacy, internal country subdivisions, voting, and more.Agricultural and Rural GeographyGeographers in this branch study agriculture and rural settlement, the distribution of agriculture and the geographic movement and access to agricultural products, and land use in rural areas.Transportation GeographyTransportation geographers research transportation networks (both private and public) and the use of those networks for moving people and goods.Urban GeographyThe branch of urban geography investigates the location, structure, development, and growth of cities - from tiny village to huge megalopolis. Physical Geography Physical geography is another major branch of geography. It is concerned with the natural features on or near the surface of the earth. BiogeographyBiographers study the geographic distribution of plants and animals on the earth in the subject known as biogeography.Water ResourcesGeographers working in the water resources branch of geography look at the distribution and use of water across the planet within the hydrologic cycle and of human-developed systems for water storage, distribution, and use.ClimateClimate geographers investigate the distribution of long-term weather patterns and activities of the earths atmosphere.Global ChangeGeographers researching global change explore the long-term changes occurring to planet Earth based on human impacts on the environment.GeomorphologyGeomorphologists study the landforms of the planet, from their development to their disappearance through erosion and other processes.Hazards GeographyAs with many branches of geography, hazards combine work in physical and human geography. Hazard geographers research extreme events known as hazards or disaster and explore the human interac tion and response to these unusual natural or technological events. Mountain GeographyMountain geographers look at the development of mountain systems and at the humans who live in higher altitudes and their adaptations to these environments.Cryosphere GeographyCryosphere geography explores the ice of the earth, especially glaciers and ice sheets. Geographers look at the past distribution of ice on the planet and ice-cause features from glaciers and ice sheets.Arid RegionsGeographers studying arid regions examine the deserts and dry surfaces of the planet. The explore how humans, animals, and plants make their home in dry or arid regions and the use of resources in these regions.Coastal and Marine GeographyWithin coastal and marine geography, there are geographers researching the coastal environments of the planet and how humans, coastal life, and coastal physical features interact.Soils GeographySoil geographers study the upper layer of the lithosphere, the soil, of the earth and its categorization and patterns of distribution. Other major branches of geography include: Regional Geography Many geographers focus their time and energy on studying a specific region on the planet. Regional geographers focus on areas as large as a  continent  or as small as an urban area. Many geographers combine a regional specialty with a specialty in another branch of geography. Applied Geography Applied geographers use geographic knowledge, skills, and techniques to solve problems in everyday society. Applied geographers are often employed outside of academic environment and work for private firms or governmental agencies. Cartography It has often been said that geography is anything that can be mapped. While all geographers know how to display their research on maps, the branch of  cartography  focuses on improving and developing technologies in map-making. Cartographers work to create useful high-quality maps to show geographic information in the most useful format possible. Geographic Information Systems Geographic Information Systems  or GIS is the branch of geography that develops databases of geographic information and systems to display geographic data in a map-like format. Geographers in GIS work to create layers of geographic data and when layers are combined or utilized together in complex computerized systems, they can provide geographic solutions or sophisticated maps with the press of a few keys. Geographic Education Geographers working in the field of  geographic education  seek to give teachers the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to help combat geographic illiteracy and to develop future generations of geographers. Historical Geography Historical geographers research the human and physical geography of the past. History of Geography Geographers working in the history of geography seek to maintain the history of the discipline by researching and documenting the biographies of geographers and the histories of geographic studies and geography departments and organizations. Remote Sensing Remote sensing  utilizes satellites and sensors to examine features on or near the earths surface from a distance. Geographers in remote sensing analyze data from remote sources to develop information about a place where direct observation is not possible or practical. Quantitative Methods This branch of geography uses mathematical techniques and models to test  hypothesis. Quantitative methods are often used in many other branches of geography but some geographers specialize in quantitative methods specifically.

Writing That Is Logical and Coherent

Writing That Is Logical and Coherent According to the 18th century English minister Isaac Watts, It was a saying of the ancients, Truth lies in a well; and to carry on this metaphor, we may justly say that logic does supply us with steps, whereby we may go down to reach the water. Whatever we are writing, our readers will only reach the water, or understand what we have written, if our writing is logical. If we are writing to entertain, our readers may just give up if they find our writing hard to follow. If our technical or academic writing lacks logic, they may have no choice but to struggle for comprehension. However, in either case, without a logical development of the material, our message may be lost, causing the objective of our writing to go unfulfilled.There are several logical methods that we can use to organize our writing. If we are telling a story, we might relate the events in chronological order. For instance, a biography would logically start with the individuals birth and end with their death, with the story of their life told in between. A fictional story would likewise progress from beginning to end, with events related in chronological order.In academic papers, the problem and solution method is often used. The introduction might give the reasons that the writers felt that a particular line of research was needed. This usually includes an outline of the work that has already been done in this area, with the limitations and failings of this research. The rest of the paper then gives a detailed explanation of the solution that the writers have come up with to solve these problems.The cause and effect method is very similar to the problem and solution method. This might be used for an article in a medical journal. The article could begin with a description of a particular lifestyle and then move on to describe the effects of this lifestyle. A more technical article might introduce a new drug and then give a detailed explanation of the effects of this drug.Technical documents, such as manuals or newsletters, often use a topical approach. For example, a software manual may be divided into sections, with each section explaining a different feature of the software. Providing a table of contents in the front and an index in the back allows a reader to easily turn to a specific topic.Of course, these are just examples. Other methods are also available and the methods mentioned above may be used for other forms of writing. The point is: does what weve written approach the subject in a logical way? Is the material organized so that it makes sense to the reader? Do they understand how we got from point A to point B? Does it accomplish what were seeking to accomplish? Does it entertain? Does it explain? Does it educate?In addition to applying logic to the overall organization of our writing, each section, paragraph, and individual sentence should also be logical. This seems like an obvious point. Every writer wants to be understood; he wants his writing to make sense. Yet often, even when all the facts are present, they are difficult to comprehend. For a piece to make sense, it must be coherent. The parts must be logically connected, they must stick together. You might compare this to a jigsaw puzzle. For a jigsaw puzzle or a piece of writing, to make sense, obviously, the pieces must all be there. Yet more is required. The pieces must also be put together in the proper order, and if a piece doesnt fit, it has to either be left out or moved to a place where it will fit. If these rules are not followed, the resulting picture will be difficult to discern.A common mistake in writing is trying to force pieces together. This can cause confusion. How many times have you read a sentence and then struggled to understand the point being made? As an example, consider the sentence, The women loved to cook, and there were three of them. When you read a sentence like that, do you wonder whether there is some significance to the fact that there were three wom en? Often a writer will connect two thoughts together that are not directly related. Sometimes this is done because he wants to include a fact and doesnt know where else to put it. In this example, if the writer needs to inform the reader that there were three women, it would be simpler to say, The three women loved to cook. In this way, the reader can file away the fact that there were three women, without wondering whether this fact has some special significance that he is missing.In the above example, if there is some special significance to the fact that there were three women, further explanation should be provided to make this clear. This can be done either in the same sentence or in a second sentence. For instance, The women loved to cook, and since there were three of them, the kitchen was often crowded. Or, The women loved to cook. Since there were three of them, this meant that the kitchen was often crowded. By using the words since and this meant, the reader clearly under stands the relationship between the fact that they loved to cook and the fact that there were three of them.In other cases, it may be that no relationship exists between two parts of a sentence. Two phrases may have been put together simply out of convenience. For example, The women loved to cook, and the sky was very dark that day. If these two phrases have no relationship, the reader will be confused. Even dividing them into separate sentences will not be enough. The reader will still be looking for a relationship. If none exists, he will feel that he has missed something. In this case, the whole paragraph may need to be revised, moving one of these pieces of the puzzle to a place where it makes more sense.To ensure that each sentence logically follows the one before, it may be helpful to think in terms of connective words. To continue a thought, you might use words like in addition, likewise, moreover, etc. To enumerate a list of facts you could use words or phrases such as initi ally, next, following this, etc. To show how one thing is the consequence of another, words like consequently, therefore, and admittedly might be helpful. Contrasts can be highlighted with words or expressions like however, on the other hand, nonetheless, in contrast, etc. Other connective words include certainly, obviously, undoubtedly, for example, in conclusion, finally, since, etc. These words might be used to connect two phrases together, or at the beginning of a sentence to connect it to the one before. Of course, it is not necessary to use a connective word for each sentence. It would probably sound strange if we did. Still, it is good to think in terms of connective words. It should be obvious that each sentence is connected to the one before it. It is helpful to read the piece out loud, perhaps with someone else listening. Does it flow smoothly? Does each sentence lead naturally to the next, or does it seem to jump from one point to another?To summarize, writing should be l ogical. It should be coherent, flowing smoothly from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. The reader should not have to guess at the relationship between subsequent statements. This is true regardless of the type of writing involved. Various methods can be used to organize our writing in a logical way, including chronological order, problem and solution, cause and effect, and a topical arrangement.If our writing is logical and coherent, we will have succeeded in reaching down into our personal well of truth, providing our readers with the waters of understanding.