Government Provided Health Care Essay Example for Free

Government Provided Health Care Essay For many years, health care cost has risen and challenged many businesses, households, and the government. With the health care cost constantly rising, more and more people become uninsured. There are many approaches to improve the health care system including: Government-provided health care, Private insurer health care, and a mix of both. Although, all the different ways have their perks, government provided stands out. Government provided health care is the best approach because every American citizen will have health insurance, it would simplify the system, all workers will have health care benefits, and it will contain and lower costs more than any other approach. Having every American citizen being provided with health insurance, and eliminating private insurers, will definitely simplify the system. All that would need to be done to jump start government provided health care is to create a single payer system, replace current insurance premiums, lower prices on drugs, and create a universal set of insurance forms to cover everyone. Every American deserves to have access to high quality and affordable health care, no matter what their income situation, employment situation, or medical conditions. With the government provided system, all workers will have health care benefits, and lower costs on health insurance. Workers will have greater freedom and better choices if they dont have to worry about picking a job solely for the health care benefits. Over the years, there has been lots of evidence that shows the single payer system is the best approach to achieving basic health care goals. First, two government offices, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and General Accounting Office Greear 2 (GAO) reached a conclusion that only the single payer plan was likely to save the most money. Second, Medicare claims that the single payer system for  the elderly has lower administrative and overall costs than any other approach thus far. Third, Canada has a single payer system, which has much lower administrative costs than the U.S. System. Health care administration costs in the U.S. In 1999 was over 200 billion, to whereas Canadas was only 159 billion. The single payer system works so well in Canada, its only logical to try the system here. Finally, the government provided, single payer system could achieve cost containment success more readily than any other system with three basic principals. First, this system may make it possible to reduce the administrative costs in the U.S. Second, the single payer system may be able to vigorously attack the market condition, where there is only one buyer, and gain bargaining powers over other providers. Finally, the single payer system could control the overall level of health care resources. All in all, the single payer system is less costly than any other approach and spends a slightly smaller amount of the gross domestic product (GDP) on health, according to Sherry Glied from Columbia University. The differences in system performance among the different coverages are small, but government provided, single payer system has the most distinct difference as far as cost containment and savings. At some point, everyone will need access to health care or treatment, with government provided insurance, that will be taken care of. Work Cited DeGrazia, D. Single Payer Meets Managed Competition. Hastings Center Report 38.1 (2008): 23-33. CINAHL. Web. 22 May 2013. Glied, S. Single Payer As A Financing Mechanism. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy Law 34.4 (2009): 593-615. CINAHL. Web. 22 May 2013. Publicagenda.org-Health Care. Citizens Solutions Guides 2012. Web. 22 May 2013.

Auditing Standards: Objectives and Importance

Auditing Standards: Objectives and Importance Introduction The regulatory environment makes it mandatory that organizations such as limited liability companies must be audited by an independent external auditor qualified under the regulations of professional bodies internationally or nationally to ensure that the company is working in accordance to the company law set by respective countries. An external auditor functions as an independent body appointed by and reports to shareholders to express an opinion whether the financial statements are prepared, in all material respects, true and fair and in accordance to the applicable financial reporting framework (Pflugrath G., Martinov-Bennie N. and Chen L., 2007). In reporting to the shareholders, the auditor provides reasonable assurance whereby they do not guarantee financial statements are free from material misstatements but rather at an acceptable level. Professional bodies worldwide carries a duty to set auditing standards to play a role of assisting auditors in performing duties in order t o provide high level of confidence to intended users of the Financial Statements (Noreen, 1988; Siegel et al., 1995; Wotruba et al., 2001). Main Report Development of auditing standards There are three regulatory environments which govern statutory audits and one of them is auditing standards. At International level, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is the global organization for the accounting profession. An independent standard-setting board under IFAC is known as the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). The IAASB developed the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) to be carried out on audit engagements. As for National level, regulations differ as there are various standard setting bodies which choose to adopt the ISAs by modifying it or to set their own standards to suit according to individual countries. In Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), a member of IFAC is responsible in developing the Malaysian Approved Standards on Auditing (AI) which adopts the modified ISAs. However, the latest development states the implementation of a new board which is the Audit and Assurance Standard Board (AASB) (Cosserat and Rodda, 2009). Importance of the auditing standards. An auditing standard is a form of the current best practice applicable in statutory audit engagements by approved auditors which sets a minimum level of technical proficiency to assure work done is of high quality auditing and at the same time providing high level of assurance ( Jubb and Houghton, 2007; Simnett, 2007). It is a form of benchmarking the intensity of achieving objectives of the professional bodies in being a role model in the accounting profession as stated by Watkins et al. (2004), and also safeguarding the position of auditors whilst auditing financial statements. Through professional and ethical standards such as independency and integrity, Alfredson, K. et al. (2005) states that auditors carry out detailed works to value a subject matter whether it is of true and fair view. Once a conclusion is made, the opinion obtained would determine the level of confidence the public would have towards the financial statements (Alfredson, K. et al., 2005). This adds on to reducing the risk factor faced by users of the financial statements (Martinov, 2004) as it deters directors of an entity to carry out fraudulent activities. At the same time, it also indirectly strengthens the audit profession as the public would have an increased confidence level leading to a better impression towards auditors in general (Simnett, 2007; Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008). As procedures of performing a statutory audit is consistent and of principles-based, it becomes less rigid and flexible to be implemented on the audit works carried out on financial statements. Aside from that, as agreed by Noreen, 1988; Siegel et al., 1995; Wotruba et al. (2001); it may be able to reduce time factor as auditors are able to plan and analyze which area are crucial to be tested more and vice versa because they are already well-versed with the audit procedures set by the standards. Nevertheless, this may pose as a threat because the use of their own judgement becomes too subjective and thus, they may tend to be too lenient during audit procedures and bypass on important matters. Auditors could even intentionally choose not to perform so much detailed work and just state financial statements as true and fair since knowingly for the past history, it has been stated as so (Jones et al., 2003; Herron and Gilbertson, 2004). From this matter, it can be of advantage to directors to conduct fraudulent activities because auditors can only consider an opinion on fraud but not able to detect and prevent it. It is the duty of the management and directors to attend to fraudulent possibilities in a company. With that said, they may opt to not comply intentionally by refusing to disclose grey areas in its financial statements or relevant information needed to perform the audit (Cosserat and Rodda, 2009). While stating to be able to achieve high quality audits worldwide, a handful of countries still implement their own auditing standards to suit their national legislations and traditions (Samuels and Piper, 1985; Tarca, 1998; cited in Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008). This is probably due to the fact that there are still many underdeveloped countries which do not have professional bodies for such a purpose as this or even countries like in the United States of America whereby they adopt a different standard which is of rule-based (Simnett, 2007). All this may inversely cause a delay and obstruction to harmonization of standards across the globe in conjunction to international convergence (Weetman, 2006). Aside from that, consistent updating and revision of standards poses a need to keep oneself updated leading to a lack of confidence while performing duties due to inaccurate execution of standards implied on audit work as there are limitations to how much one can do at a period of time . Being too technical with regulations may cause auditors to be stiff in their performance and thus, lack appreciation on findings of samples, test objects and the assessment of analytical procedures. Objectives and Activities of IAASB and AASB Work done by the IAASB is monitored by the oversight body known as the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) whereby the publics interest is involved regarding proper disclosures and transparency of issues that concerns to improving the overall mission and to achieve objectives of the professional body (Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008). IAASB came up with a development of a program in the year 2004, which functions to redraft the entire ISAs either partially to alter areas in the ISAs or to fully inflict new clarity conventions where applicable. The Clarity Project reached a level of completion upon verification by the PIOB and now contributes thirty-six newly clarified standards as guidelines in assurance engagement by qualified auditors worldwide (Accountants Today, June 2009). Judging from the fact that the standards now clearly identifies the objectives and obligations an auditor faces, a better understanding of the entire concept and public awareness are gained (Buchanan, F.R., 2003). The newly improved standards are by-far less technical and thus, easily to be adopted by practitioners to be implemented on procedures carried out for assurance engagement. The whole purpose of conducting the clarity project is to make the standards more appropriate and updated with the recent environment and at the same time to assist and update users of relevant information and a clearer view of utilizing each standard for the benefit of the public (Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008). The confidence of the public in financial reporting activities would eventually be increased (Alfredson, K., Leo, K., Picker, R., Pacter, P. and Radford, J., 2005). It is in a way a good thing to constantly upgrade and redraft the standards to suit the current reporting environment (Humphrey, C. and Turley, S., 2006). However, there may be a slight disadvantage in the sense of making the revised standards known to its users. The professional bodies would need to conduct seminars or post notices to all members of the professional bodies to inform them of such amendments that has taken place. This eventually takes time and efforts and may even incur a slight cost to be carried out. Likewise the IAASB, the AASB plays a similar role in upholding an acceptable level of quality professional services and high ethical behaviour amongst practitioners. The MIA further justified the desire of standing-out in the standard-setting process hoping that Malaysian market can be integrated internationally so that viewpoints can be mentioned earlier instead of getting secondhand attention in order to evolve standards that are more suitable to the nature of the Malaysian market (Izma N., 2009). Implementing the ISAs by the AASB is a form of making efforts to enhance the financial markets of Malaysia in becoming more competitive and stable. At the same time, it also improves professional integrity and quality of audit works by auditors. Under the patronage of the MIA, AASB will continue to meet stringent expectations of stakeholders as well as moving towards a holistic international convergence of standards and enhance confidence of users through proper guidance in audit and assurance services. This may prove to be a good step ahead in conjunction to be inline with the harmonization of standards in the world today and also to groom the financial position of the country in order to boost confidence of the public once again (Chan and Leung, 2006). Thus, compliance with auditing standards such as the ISAs and enforcing it into objectives and responsibilities stated by the professional bodies need to be acted out quickly so as to not fall behind in time because it can be quite a lengthy process which is not achievable overnight (Izma N., 2009). Further Regulations Codes of Corporate Governance Corporate governance is the system whereby companies are directed and controlled. Cosserat and Rodda, 2009 mentioned that it is useful in avoiding matters such as conflicts of interest seen in the agency theory between the managers (agents) and the shareholders (principal). In accordance to the UK Combined Codes of best practices, the board of an entity is encouraged to form an audit committee to guard the independence and objectivity of auditors. An audit committee plays a role as an independent point of reference to turn to regarding issues of conflict between the board of directors and the external auditors. Aside from that, in order to improve external audit procedures, they have a duty to monitor the integrity of directors in preparing financial statements. Codes of Ethics The onus is always on the auditor not only to be ethical but also to be seen as ethical. The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) establishes a conceptual framework for all practitioners to adhere to five rules: integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. Threats to these principles are to be identified and applied with respective safeguards to mitigate it. Auditors are subjected to ethical requirements by professional bodies because the public relies on auditors to produce an independent opinion during assurance engagements (Pflugrath G., Martinov-Bennie N. and Chen L., 2007). They further elaborated that a high quality audit, comprising of professional competence and due care characteristics need to be conducted as auditors have access to confidential information of the entity. Company Law An auditor is required to perform an annual audit abiding by statutory duties to report to shareholders on whether financial statements are of a true and fair view and in accordance to approved standards. They need to be independent and diligent and state if sufficient information has been obtained and that the company has kept proper records according to the law. The auditor must also list out deficiencies of their findings in the auditors report. The company law also determines the rights, appointment, removal and resignation of auditors and the liability of auditors to shareholders and third parties (Cosserat and Rodda, 2009). Conclusion The outcome of these findings discussed has added knowledge to a better understanding of the entire audit and assurance cycle. The duties of an external auditor must be based on appropriate conceptual frameworks developed either internationally or nationally according to the suitability of respective countries. They need to perform a statutory engagement required by the company law, which is of high but not absolute assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatements. An overview of the establishment of auditing standards, its objectives and importance to benchmark the quality of auditors in performing duties and corporate governance, company law and ethical codes as additional regulations in enhancing the role of auditors were identified. Furthermore, the main idea of distinguishing IAASB and AASB on its functions and activities in the world today has added knowledge to the depths of ones mind. Thus, the respective standards-setting boards need to further en hance and strengthen its actions and procedures in order to achieve international convergence and quality standards to serve the public better and increase in its objectivity effectiveness.

TOURISTS :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many definitions for the word â€Å"tourist.†Ã‚  Ã‚   The known definition of a tourist is a person that travels for pleasure and isn’t born in the place they travel to.   To some people, the tourists that come to Nantucket may be very annoying, rude, dirty, and smelly and they are not native to the island. While others may think they are nice, friendly, and very generous people that just weren’t born here, I tend to disgree. Just think of the many day-trippers who flock, like seagulls, to the Tavern and don’t leave a tip after treating the hardworking waitress in a rude manner, with their screaming kids whining and belching, and the horny husband who pinches her derriere as she walks away.    To back up the definition of the word that I agree with, I have provided some other examples based on occurences I have been involved with or seen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A tourist, in my opinion, is a person who is very rude, hostile, pushy, urgent, always rushing, and ignorant when it comes to directions and locations. Since tourists aren’t born and live in the place they are visiting, they can’t see all the landmarks and interesting sites there is to see.   They are always rushing to fit as much as they can into one day’s events before they go back to where they live.   They stop you every few minutes while standing in front of The Hub to ask where Main Street is. This also ties into â€Å"being rude† because they don’t ask in a polite way usually, and they rarely say â€Å"Thank You.† They can’t be bothered with slow people.   I worked at D&B Car Wash last summer and I got a lot of rude customers everyday.   I would ask them what wash they would like, since we have three kinds, and they would throw the money at me telling me to just give them a wash.   They were ob viously in a hurry to do something.   Most of the time they didn’t even know how to drive their car in properly, and they would get it stuck, then get upset and start screaming and saying they were going to sue the Car Wash if any damage happened to their car. Then the manager would come out and a whole fiasco would begin.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many distinctive features a tourist has or uses that allows others to be able to identify them.

Free Essays - Contemplation in Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

Marlow’s Contemplation during his Journey   In one of his novels, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad depicts the tale of a man who reflects upon the meaning of life as well as all of its intricasies and implications. Indeed, Marlow, the main character of this story, questions several existential topics and explores his own personal curiosity about the solidarity and darkness of the jungle he finds himself in. At one point in the storyline, Marlow and his crew depart towards the station where the enigmatic Kurtz resides. An interesting aspect of this portion of the adventure is that Marlow’s crew is mostly composed of cannibals. Upon realizing how famished these natives are, Marlow contemplates how incredible it seems that the cannibals have restrained themselves from giving in to their hunger and eating the European men onboard. It is this speculation that will be the topic of discussion in the following paper. Marlow’s thoughts and perception of the native tribe will be examined in order to provide a more conc ise understanding of his analysis of the cannibals.   During their trip towards Kurtz’s station, Marlow describes the inequality of power and discrimination that the natives must live with. They constantly receive unfair treatments, such as beatings and the lack of food and medical support, as well as being paid in ridiculous manner that can only fuel their hate towards the European conquerors. Upon suggesting that the cannibals on his crew are treated in a disingenuous way, Marlow truly questions why their motives have not been violent so far : ‘’Why in the name of all gnawing devils of hunger they didn’t go for us – they were thirty to five – and have a good tuck in for once, amazes me now when I think of it’’ (Conrad 37). Further analysis provided by Marlow explores the underlying reason why the natives refuse to attack their opressors. He manages to pinpoint one particular aspect that is responsible for such behaviour : ‘’And I saw that something restraining, on e of those human secrets that baffle probability, had come into play here’’ (37). The human act of restraint, according to our narrator, is the simple yet bafling evidence which he stipulates. But what truly surprises Marlow is the fact that there shouldn’t be any logical reason for the starving cannibals not to attack, and consequently eat, him and his crew. He believes that hunger can by no means be deterred by any reasonalble explanation :

Energy Bars and Resulting Glycemic Levels Essay -- Health Nutrition Di

Energy Bars and Resulting Glycemic Levels   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Atkins’ diet has been sweeping the nation as more and more Americans struggle to lose weight. Opposed to other diets which require less fatty foods and more fruits and vegetables, Atkins’ takes a different approach. The Atkins’ diet suggests that removal of carbohydrates alone will lead to a thinner and healthier body. Atkins’ encourages intake of low-carb and high protein foods such as meat, and discourages consumption of foods high in carbohydrates such as bread. Divergent from proteins, carboyhdrates store sugars for a longer period of time and eventually turn into fat. To accommodate the diet, Atkins came out with the low carb Atkins Advantage energy bar. But losing carbs isn’t the only path to weight loss as other bars with this macronutrient also affect glycemic levels (liquid derived from fats). Such bars, including the Balance Bar and Power Bar, substitute low-glycemic carbs for higher glycemic carbs as the former have been associated with weight gain and increased blood cholesterol. A study went underway to determine just how successful the energy bars are in affecting glycemic levels.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A study took place to see just how effective energy bars are with glycemic levels. The Atkins Advantage, which in nearly free of carbs, the Balance Bar, which provides its energy from 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat, and the Power Bar, that’s high in carbs, all were scientifically studied to see how well they live up to their names. The bars were abbreviated LC for low in carbs (Atkins), MC for moderate, (Balance) and HC for high (Power). The goal of this study was to compare the different glycemic responses of each bar to wh... ... leading to faster processing of fat and muscle gain versus weight gain. The Power bar on the other hand, which contains more carbs than the average carb substance such as white bread, is affective when eaten after exercise as it replenishes loss of glycogen in the muscles. So, each bar under this study affectively alters glucose levels, but with different results. The Atkins Advantage, or LC, contains drastically lower carbs leading to weight loss. The Balance Bar assists in weight loss to a smaller degree (with have the carbs of bread) but what it lacks in pound shedding makes up for with energy (from the protein and fats). And finally the high carb Power bar, with an additional amount of carbs, provides the energy and muscle aid which in turn can lead to weight loss. In sum, each bar is functional in their different dietary functions.

The Experiment Research Study: Craik and Tulving (1975)

Aim: To investigate depth processing by giving participants s number of tasks requiring different levels of processing and measuring recognition.Participants: Controlled condition (3 males and 3 females) Experimental condition (3 males and 3 females) Independent group designMethod: This was a repeated measures design experiment with three conditions. Participants were given a list of 60 words, one at a time and were required to process each word at one of thee levels (the independent variable). At deep level they might be asked a question, such as ‘Does this word fit into the sentence†¦?' At an intermediate level, they might be asked ‘ Does this word rhyme with†¦?' At shallow level, they might be asked, ‘Is this word in capital letters?'Following the task, participants were (unexpectedly) given a list of 180 words, which contained the original 60 words processed and 120 ‘filler' words, and were asked to identify the ones they recognised from the orig inal 60 (the dependent variable).Measurement: The two conditions create room for accurate comparison and results. Participants are referred to with numbers.Results: Significantly more words were recognised if they had been processed at deep level (approximately 65 per cent) than either phonetic (37 per cent) or shallow (17 per cent) levels.Conclusion: As deeper processing resulted in better recognition, then the level at which material is processed must be related to memory.Evaluation: This study relies on incidental learning (the participants did  not know they would be asked to recall the words), rather than intentional learning, which is the advantage of being more true to real life. This means participants are unlikely to engage in extra processing which could invalidate the results. However, there is a necessary level of deception required in suck a design which raised ethical issues.

A Portrait of Mona Lisa

Art is a traditional work that is painted in many different pattern of objects. Many people create portraits of art as an expression of how they feel. In the modern world, art is shown in different cities, subways, parks and etc. The greatest art was created in the early century and was called a masterpiece. This portrait was known as the greatest masterpiece ever to be painted. It was painted in the ass's. The way Leonardo Dad Vinci used the lines in the painting was extraordinary.The lines is one f the most important elements of art that abstracted into a great piece of work. The lines did not illustrate any pattern of moving. The lines were mostly a combination of vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and contour lines. Many lines were cured and straight. The lines also varied in thickness. The painting had a variety of color, texture, and continuity. While viewing the picture, I did not notice any gesture lines in which would indicate action of movement of the woman. The artist did a g ood Job of outlining and use contour lines to make the painting a more 3 dimensional. The lady in the portrait had a mystifying gaze.Dad Vinci used a shadowing technique at the corners of her lips and eyes that made her look like a real human. This was a new trend in art at this time period. The landscape faded to create depth in the background. The landscape was uneven on both sides of the lady in the center of the portrait. The painting is meaningful because Leonardo Dad Vinci created a new pose that still exist until this day. At that time period artist only used full length or side view portrait unlike the â€Å"Mona Lisa. † This emphasized evolution in art and inspired other great art forms to be created. Leonardo truly captured the beauty of the lady e painted.Her posture magnetite the viewer's eyes to her face. The way her hands cross with her shoulders. This is what made the portrait a masterpiece. This masterpiece is very unique and stands out a piece of art that cha nged art for many years to come. In conclusion, Dad Vinci created an ordinary picture that became a beautiful masterpiece. The Mona Lisa was a well- known piece of artwork all over the world. He created many other drawings that he was recognized for. Dad Vinci was a great painter but what made him famous was his drawings. Reference 1 . Www. Tautologically. Com/Mona-Lisa By mysterious