Describe the different forms of disguise and deception that feature in the Twelfth Night

Disguise and deception play significant roles in Shakespeare's romantic comedy Twelfth Night. Shakespeare places emphasis on these somewhat â€Å"wickedness† (A2 S2 L26) traits to somehow create a traditional romantic comedy; where despite the negative ideas of disguise and deceit play a prominent role, love blossoms and a happy ending prevails. The tireless use of these ideas in different forms and guises, which endure throughout the whole play highlights the themes of love, madness and appearance versus reality; where disguise and deceit both take credit for possessing a major responsibility in providing twists, turns and humor in the main and sub-plots. Orsino is the first character introduced to the play. He is the Duke of Illyria and therefore the most powerful character implemented into Shakespeare's play. Upon his arrival to the story, he immediately disguises his ignorance of love by speaking in poetics form to deceive the audience and the characters around him. If music be the food of love, play on† (A1 S1 L1) is promptly contrasted in line 7 â€Å"Enough, no more; ‘Tis not so sweet as it was before†. This contradiction implicates his ignorance of what love is really about. His vocabulary and figurative language, both influenced by poetic speech does well to fool everyone that he is not what he se ems. People would see Orsino as a likeable character that carries the aura that he can achieve anything; he is a self-absorbed man who thinks very highly of himself.What is the difference between a figurative and a literal analogy? But this is obviously not the case as Orsino has been shown to be just like everyone else, even with his power in Illyria, Orsino has his flaws too. Feste also uses his language to disguise aspects of his character. However, contrasting the stance of Orsino, Feste shows his wit and intelligent by smugly playing on words and with the medium of music. An example of Feste's clever play on words was during the conversation he had with Viola who was at the time disguised as Cesario; â€Å"†¦ send thee a beard† (A3 S1 L45). Although everyone had been fooled by Viola in convincing them that the Cesario character is real, Feste (who is the fool) hints that he may know Cesario's true identity. Feste himself does not describe himself as Olivia's fool â€Å"but her corruptor of words† (A3 S1 L37). Indeed it can be viewed that he is only paid to be the fool, to act like a madman with wit; and in actual fact he is the most sane character and intelligent in the play. He shows his intelligent by irrelevantly expressing his words in another language, â€Å"cucus, non facit monachum:† (A1 S5 L53). Feste is the only character wrapped up in all the plots yet keeps an outside perspective of each by showing no emotion in his speech or actions. But in light of this, his emotions are brought to the surface when he entertains people with his music. The realization that Feste is has the most knowledge of love, or what real love is, begin to seep through as he sings. â€Å"What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter, Present mirth hath present laughter:† (A2 S3 L48). Unlike Orsino who believes that everything will work out okay when you fall in love, Feste believes that the future is always uncertain â€Å"What's to come is still unsure† (A2 S3 L50). He also concretes his perspective that love should not wait as we will not be young forever; â€Å"Youth's a stuff will not endure† (A2 S3 L53). Although his character does not show emotions whilst playing his role in each plot; his music, which varies from melancholy ballads to contemplative, express that there is much more to Feste than meets the eye. Feste's past is shrouded in mystery, and elements of his past still live in his music. â€Å"And we'll strive to please you everyday† (A5 S1 L 407) ends the play. Regardless of his past that he disguises through music, Feste feels that his duty now is to make people laugh. He expresses with this idea that our duty in life is to be happy and to make others happy, something he harassed Olivia about in Act1 as she mourned her brother's death. Despite many features of Feste's character that show his has much more depth than what we are led to believe; he also uses disguise and deceit to concrete his role as a fool, a clown who provides humor and entertainment for the audience. â€Å"Sir Topas the curate, who comes to visit Malvolio the lunatic† (A4 S2 L22). Upon learning of Sir Toby and Maria's gulling of Malvolio, Feste decides to join in the fun. He does this by pretending to be someone else when visiting Malvolio, to further his torture and suffering. Malvolio and Feste's turbulent past had been briefly documented when in Act 1 Malvolio says â€Å"I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal† (A1 S5 L81). It's interesting to take into account that Feste is supposed to be the fool of the play, but he doesn't setup the humorous gulling of Malvolio and fails to provide the entertainment and humor Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek bring to the play. Instead Feste takes part of the humor only with revenge on his mind and not to provide humor, and relies only on quick plays on words to supply humor. This could be Feste disguising that he is not comfortable with his role in life as the fool. Viola's role in the play is purely based on the ideas of disguise and deceit. She initially deceives everyone by disguising herself as a man, Cesario, in order to serve Orsino, â€Å"For such disguise as haply shall become: The form of my intent† (A1 S3 L54). In doing so she deceives everyone else in the play, with the exception of Feste, and as a result causes confusion among and between the characters and mayhem in the overall play. As a result of her disguise, Olivia and her brother Seabastian, get married as she thought that Sebastian was Cesario, â€Å"would thou'dst be rul'd by me! † (A4 S2 L63). That's an example of confusion resulting from Viola's disguise. Mayhem is caused when the jealous Sir Andrew Aguecheek attacks the tough and skilled Sebastian, assuming he was the soft and timid Cesario. As a result of this attack, Sebastian beats down Sir Andrew Aguecheek and causes mayhem and tension between characters like Olivia and Sir Toby Belch, â€Å"Where manners ne'er were preach'd! Out of my sight! † (A4 S1 48). These are just two examples of confusion and mayhem instigated by Viola's disguise. Other examples include the conversation between Sebastian and Feste, when the latter thought Sebastian was Cesario, â€Å"†¦ ungrid thy strangeness† (A4 S1 L15); and when Antonio thought he was backstabbed by Sebastian, but was in reality talking to a clues Viola, â€Å"Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame† (A3 S4 L375). The many outcomes of Viola's disguise bring entertainment and humor to the audience to add comedy to the romance. In disguising herself as Cesario, Viola falls in love with Orsino to bring the romance aspect to the play, â€Å"Whoo'er I woo, myself would be his wife† (A1 S5 L42). This deceit also intertwines humor and romance, with Olivia falling in love with Cesario causing the humor, and the unspoken love from Viola to Orsino bringing out the romance. Viola is like Feste in the sense that they both play on words; both doing so as a way of showing that there is more to them than what meets the eye. She almost cries out to Orsino by telling giving hints as to her true identity, â€Å"I am all the daughters of my father's house,: And all the brothers too† (A2 S5 L121), often speaking in riddle. She also has an encounter with Feste where she counters his play on words that he may know her identity by saying, â€Å"I am sick for once, [Aside] thought I would not have it grow on my chin† (A3 S1 L47). In countering in a war of wits, she riddles to Feste that she is in fact a woman. Viola's brother Sebastian also manages to have a role in the deceit over his short period of time in the play. His only relationship that occurs throughout the play is with Antonio, the man who saved his life. There are suggestions that Antonio has repressed homosexual feelings for Sebastian that he disguises by pretending to only be his close friend, â€Å"If you will not murder me for your love, let me be your servant† (A2 S1 L34). Sebastian himself lives part of the play in deceit by pretending to know what is going on when he enters the plot when he has no idea. He asks â€Å"Are all the people mad? † (A4 S1 L26). Nevertheless, even though he believes everyone to be mad, he plays along with Olivia who believes he is Cesario, and living in this dream, Sabastian marries her. This serves of the purpose of enhancing the romantic conclusion to the play. Olivia herself is in self-deceit. The mourning over her brother's death is very dramatic, but she just lives the idea of mourning as she feels that this would do the death of her brother justice. However, this mourning does not last long. Feste manages to entertain a mourning Olivia, much to Malvolio's chagrin, â€Å"I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal† (A1 S5 L81). She attempts to disguise all this under a veil, but to no avail as her real personality shone through. Olivia as part of her mourning, promised that no man would see her face â€Å"till seven years' heat† (A1 S1 L26). But regardless of this, falls in love with Cesario, â€Å"Unless, perchance, you come to me again,:To tell me how he takes it† (A1 S5 L285). Olivia is disguising her flirtatious movements towards Cesario by pretending that she only wants her to come back to bear news of Orsino's reaction to her rejection. To further disguise her feelings, and deceive her promise and herself even more, she tells a blatant lie to Malvolio, â€Å": he left this ring behind him,† (A1 S5 L305). Her deceit shows that an esteemed â€Å"virtuous maid† like herself also has flaws. It also provides a lot of humor for the audience, as a woman falling in love with another woman dressed as a man provides entertainment for the audience. â€Å"I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal† (A1 S5 L81). This quote has a lot of deceit attached to it. Malvolio is jealous that Feste can entertain Olivia even when she is mourning. This is because he has feelings for Olivia which is later exposed in the play, â€Å"‘Tis but fortune, all is fortune† (A2 S5 L23), this being his initial belief that Olivia loves him, even before reading the letter from Maria. Malvolio disguises his true colours by being the unlikable Puritan character in the play. In fact, Malvolio's true colours show him to be an arrogant, hypocrite who is even more unlikable than his initial Puritan personality. His arrogance provides humor for the audience as he thinks, â€Å"that all that look on him love him† (A2 S3 L151) and makes him looks stupid. He deceives everyone to believing that he is a Puritan character and deceives Olivia into thinking he is a nice person. However in actuality, Feste is the fool who in reality is the most intelligent and sane character of the play, after mocking Feste, we learn that Malvolio is the opposite. He acts as if he is the most intelligent and sane character of the play when he's really the fool of the play, the character who provides the most humor. He believes Olivia is playing along with his game, when he speaks to her at her level and with added sexual connotations, â€Å"To bed? Ay, sweetheart, and I'll come to thee† (A3 S4 L31). This provides the most humor, as he believes that they are disguising their love and deceiving all the other character when in reality, he is the only person being deceived. He looks like the fool, and the gulling of Malvolio in particular gives the audience added satisfaction because he is such an unlikable character. The mastermind behind the gulling of Malvolio has also disguised aspects of her personality. The others see Maria as jus the maid of Olivia, but as the play moves on we as an audience, and the characters of the play learn that Maria is cunning and more intelligent than what she lets everyone believe. She deceives everyone by masterminding the gulling of Malvolio. She also has self-deceit along with Sir Toby Belch as both have hidden feelings for each other, which they refuse to acknowledge. We know of this because by the end of the play, the two get married. Looking at their relationship throughout the play, Maria is the mother figure who takes care and guides Sir Toby Belch, â€Å"Ay, but you must confine yourself with the modest limits of order† (A1 S3 L8). But we gain knowledge that she is not fulfilling the mother role, but more the role of a wife. Sir Toby Belch is also a scheming character within the play as he deceives Sir Andrew Aguecheek into challenging Cesario to a fight for his own personal entertainment, as both Aguecheek and Cesario are seen as cowards; thus Sir Tovy creating his own sub-plot. Sir Andrew Aguecheek is as a clumsy coward of a knight. However Aguecheek's past is a mystery to the audience, and we have a sense that there is much more depth to Aguecheek than what meets the eye when he says, â€Å"Someone loved me once too†. This shows that Aguecheek has disguised himself to be a clumsy and immature man when in reality he has feelings too, and has a more sensitive side to his character. He also disguises himself to be a brave knight by challenging Cesario to a fight as he feels this would win Olivia's heart. However, as seen through his letter, Aguecheek is a coward who couldn't hurt anyone. â€Å"and God have mercy on one of our souls! He may have mercy on mine,† (A3 S4 L167), Aguecheek provides humor by his supposedly threatening letter. The fact he ends this letter by calling Cesario â€Å"Thu friend† (A3 S4 L 169), shows him to be a nice but gullible man. He is gullible to Sir Toby's instructions and the direction Sir Toby leads him into. The play as a whole is one big disguise. â€Å"An improbable fiction† (A3 S4 L127) is what Fabien describes the play to be. He acts as if the real life situation is like a play, and in essence makes it all a play within a play. The characters share dialogue that expresses what they are trying to say but also has a double meaning, which tells the audience that the play is not real life and is essentially just a play. â€Å"You are now out of your text: but we will draw the curtain and show you the picture† (A1 S5 L235). This is an example of subtly letting the audience realize that they should not be fully wrapped up in the play as it is just a play. This idea coincides with what Olivia is saying in the context of the play as she is letting Viola see her face. The play contains a number of little subtexts to regularly remind the audience that the play is fictional. All these subtexts are disguised within the context in which the character is talking about. There is obviously an inextricable link between both the ideas of deceit and disguise, as when one of the ideas is created, the other promptly follows; as is seen in throughout the play. Twelfth Night is situated in the genre of â€Å"romantic comedy†, and both of which have been built upon from the foundations disguise and deceit have created. The two roles define what the play is all about; because of the â€Å"wickedness† (A2 S2 L26) behind disguise and deceit, the outcome is both the themes of romance and comedy, which is what the play effectively revolves around. Shakespeare uses both ideas as the foundation to create the whole of the story, emphasizing both the drama and comedy involved.

Ethics and Legal Issue Essay

At the time I worked as a custodian in a department store, I was faced with an ethical dilemma of whether accepting a bribe from a colleague of higher position to manipulate cash transactions in her favor. This was of course an issue for me since I knew manipulating business transactions is unethical and wrong, more so that it involves the company’s resources. However, I realized I really did not have to ‘think it through’. I instantly said no, that I absolutely could not do it because I knew it was an absolutely dishonest act. My colleague just shrugged and I thought maybe he was used to such a reaction. People decide differently. When faced with such situation, it would be just normal that two different persons would come up with different decisions, probably either going with what the ‘boss’ wants or going against it. This may be because of different beliefs, of which is the right thing to do; or different needs, probably experiencing dire need of money; or maybe even a feeling of powerlessness compared to the boss. An ethical issue such as the situation presented above may entail, for some, deep thinking of what is righteous or not; or with regards to what decision to take when faced with such a ‘choice’. Basically, we know that the society decides what is immoral or not. It is the society’s norms, which refer to what is unethical or not. But is it the person himself who determines what is right. Some people believe some things are right, others believe otherwise. It all depends on the person. Even the ‘rightfulness’ of what is right has always been a question between different cultures with different beliefs and principles. Despite the gift of intellect and rationality, sometimes humans still fail to perform a reasoned judgment of ethical issues, instead fall prey to gut reactions or immediate and ignorant decisions. This may be probably due to the person’s attitudes, how gullible he is, or not, to such ethical situations; the environment or society he grew up in; how ‘imbibed’ choosing between right and wrong is on the person; and his personal decisions as well.

Interview on perceptions of a product or servise and ways of Assignment

Interview on perceptions of a product or servise and ways of motivating customers and increasing customer satisfaction - Assignment Example Being the marketing manager of Samsung Company, I was tasked with the duty of establishing how consumers view our products, specifically the newly introduced Smartphone the Samsung Galaxy S4. This required a survey to be undertaken by interviewing consumers who own the phone. This is very important since in the Smartphone market, consumers are known to shift from one phone to another because of poor experiences and satisfaction. Thus, this paper will explain various aspects of consumer behaviour. It will analyse the findings of the interviews undertaken. Finally, the paper will make a presentation to the board of directors where it will conclude by establishing the importance of various aspects of consumer satisfaction and how it will benefit the company. Concepts in Consumer Behaviour When approaching consumer behaviour there are various concepts, theories and models involved (Sharma, 26). Consumer satisfaction is the level at which consumers feel a commodity has met their need or w ant. Normally customers are satisfied when the product in question fully meets the needs of the customer, which the business establishment has communicated through advertising and other marketing techniques. For example, a consumer is fully satisfied with a smart phone if it meets the technological and physical requirements, which the customer needs, and those that have been indicated on the phone’s specifications that have been communicated by the manufacturer. Thus if a company indicates that a Smartphone has high definition display yet consumers realise it does not, and then the consumer will be unsatisfied. Consumer perception is the manner in which consumers view a particular product with regard to its ability to satisfy them. Consumer perception is a very important aspect of consumer behaviour since it is one of the major motivators behind consumers when they are looking for products to buy in the market (Erlenkamp 26). This is especially the case in the smart phone mar ket, since a phone’s popularity greatly relies on how consumers perceive it regardless of other factors such as the phone’s specification. For example, a study done in the United States of America revealed that most Smartphone users opt to buy phones that they believe are good based on information from their friends and non professional opinions in social media over phones that are better in terms of specifications regardless of the both phones being of the same price range (Himmelsbach 92). Consumer motivation on the other hand, is the process of undertaking various measures and strategies to ensure that consumers in the market are motivated to purchase a particular product or products (Wright 120). Consumer motivation is very significant aspect since it ensures that a business establishment enjoys success since it will attract new customers as well as keep existing customers loyal. Examples of consumer motivation technique include sampling which results in attraction of many consumers. The Product The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a high end Smartphone released by the company in March 2013. The Smartphone was widely anticipated after the company announced its production and the features that the phone would possess. Furthermore, its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3 had been

Determination the Role of the US in War Research Paper

Determination the Role of the US in War - Research Paper Example It tends to be forgotten that war affects all people in a nation. Not just the soldiers who fight on the front lines or their families who must deal with their absences and deaths, but everyone living within that nation. In his speech, Charles Lindberg declared the importance of listening to the nation as a whole as it is the whole nation who is subjected to war and not just a few individuals. This opinion has altered the way that war is viewed. Instead of war being an act of simple revenge, fighting regardless of the outcome, war has become a game that we, as players on the same team, must win. To successfully win, we have to remember the entirety of our nation when we consider starting or entering the war. The position of the United States in war has led to a vital development in society, one in which every person’s opinions, through voting, are taken to heart and the majority wins. As Lindberg stated, â€Å"There is no better way to give comfort to an enemy than to divide the people of a nation over the issue of foreign war.†1 When a nation finds itself in its own battle with citizen pinned against citizen, they are only making themselves easier targets for their enemies. Should they enter a war with their own drama, they stand no chance at winning. When Lindberg gave his speech, he was providing the United States with one of the most effective methods of success that this nation can have when subjected to war: unity. This is why America boasts of its democracy, and it shows especially during times of war.  

Fundamental concepts and techniques in accounting and finance Essay

Fundamental concepts and techniques in accounting and finance - Essay Example Fundamental concepts and techniques in accounting and finance The field of financial management has experienced gradual but significant change during the twentieth century. During the first two decades of the century, financial managers were concerned mostly with the legal issues surrounding the issuance of stocks and bonds. This focus of attention reflected the primitive nature of the capital markets in the early 1900s, the wave of mergers and consolidations occurring at that time, and the lack of what now is considered routine full disclosure of accounting and financial information about companies offering securities to the public. With the Depression of the 1930s, the main focus of financial management shifted to the defensive aspects of business survival. As we enter the twenty-first century, the most significant trend to impact successful corporate financial management will be the continuing globalization of business in general and financial management in particular. There is no major U.S. or foreign corporations that do business solely within the confines of their own country. The need to deal with multiple currencies, worldwide money and capital markets where investment capital moves across borders at an increasing pace facing fewer and fewer barriers, a wide variety of accounting systems and tax laws, and a multitude of political risk environments is now a normal part of the responsibilities of a corporate financial manager. This globalization of business does not change the fundamental theories of corporate financial management, but it does have a substantial impact on corporate financial practice and domestic financial markets. ... t change the fundamental theories of corporate financial management, but it does have a substantial impact on corporate financial practice and domestic financial markets. The only thing certain about the future is that finance and industry will continue to change, offering new challenges and opportunities to financial managers. The importance of competent financial management to the success and even survival of the modern business organization cannot be overemphasized. It is no accident that presidents and board chairpersons of large, successful corporations increasingly rise to their positions by coming up the "finance side of the house" (Kaplan, 1989). In smaller business, experience has shown that the early survival of a new business and prosperity in its developing stages is strongly dependent on effective financial planning and control. The most common reason cited for the high failure rate experienced by new ventures is lack of financial expertise. Similarly, financial administration is receiving increased attention by governmental units at all levels. Financial management in all types of nonprofit corporations and organizations is also benefiti ng from increased attention. Competent financial planning and management are critical components of success in any organization that brings people together to achieve a common goal. The impact of inflation and high interest rates has focused increased attention on the financial implications of nearly all business decisions. Knowledge of financial management principles and techniques has become even more important during our current era of economic uncertainty. Functional specialists in such diverse areas as marketing, production, and human resources management have environment in which the firm operates. A

Quantitative Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Quantitative Analysis - Essay Example Re designing the operations to increase capacity continuing the same number of aircraft can be considered as primary issue. This can increase efficiency and as a consequence reduces congestion in securing seats in piedmont airlines flights. 1 Re modeling and re deploying aircrafts to increase hub operations where there is demand. For example 25% of the passengers traveling in Piedmont flight from charlotte to Boston are paying for another airline to have a connecting flight. If the company is able to introduce the connecting flight it can decrease the loss of market and can save time and charges by issuing tickets from charlotte to the passenger's required destination in charlotte itself. A detailed structure and decision making process should be developed to decide the number of seats that must be allotted by offering discount and the number that can be allowed in full fare. The seats that are allowed on discount must be open to both stimulators and diverters and no diverter (the person paying full fare must not be dissatisfied due to the reason that a discount seat was allotted to a stimulator after he was rejected on the cause of non availability. By increasing the number of seats in each aircraft, that is by remodeli... The decision must be applied both aircraft interiors and mainline operations. The decisions that are to be taken can be as follows (in millions) 2005 2006 Incremental profit improvement initiatives $ 400 $800 Non Pilot pay and benefit savings $250 250 De hubbing of selected flight operations $55 $70 Continuous hub redesign $50 $150 Total non pilot operational improvements $755 $1270 The above table is adopted from following website: https://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/19260/v1/images.delta.com/delta/pdfs/annual_reports/DeltaAR2004.pdf The firm can get benefits by converting banked flights to continuous ones. The other benefits the firm can consider were the concessions from aircraft leassors, creditors and vendors. It can be suggested to introduce more simplified fare structure all over the country and if possible for the flights operating overseas. These simplified fares must be able to meet the needs of all types of customers. They must simplify the way of doing business and must result in cost effectiveness. The implementation of fare cap also can be suggested along with the limitation in allotting the number of seats to H category (the discount category). It should be taken care that the introduction of simpli fares should not affect the revenue inputs negatively. So the implementation must in a step by step process. First the traffic must be stimulated and then the fare structure must be revised. But the both things must be planned with coordination by announcing the decision of fare simplification before the firm starts the stimulating the traffic. The announcement of the simplified fare structure must help in stimulating traffic. Analysis of Industry and company: The deregulation caused the number of

Criminal Law Liability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Criminal Law Liability - Essay Example There is also the legal duty to act because of an actual or implied contract. For example, in R. v. Pitwood (1902)2 a defendant was convicted of manslaughter after he failed to close a level crossing gate with the result of a hay cart and a train colliding. The collision resulted in the death of a man. Pitwood argued that he had no legal duty to the deceased, but Judge Wright held that he did have one arising from his contract of employment. While R. v. Pitwood is often regarded as a classic case of criminal liability for omission, Wright's actual words leave some room for doubt: Thus the judge may actually have been seeing liability coming from the fact that Pitwood had left the level crossing gate open rather than the fact that he had not shot the level crossing gate. Thus did the liability come from an action or an inaction It would seem that the former occurred. This was a case of gross negligence manslaughter, a crime that is a useful background to the whole subject of criminal liability for omission. In general such manslaughter requires the following elements: Duty is imposed by common law statute. ... A breach is the failure to do something or doing something incorrectly according to the standard expected. The causal link is the fact that death has resulted from this failure with no intervening cause while gross negligence is the fact that the standard of performance or non-performance is so bad as to make it criminal. A "reasonable person" standard can apply when there is no actual contractual arrangement. Thus if a 'reasonable person" would have acted in a manner that would have prevented or avoided the resulting damage/injury then the defendant may be found liable. For example, in R. v. Miller4 (1982) a defendant was held liable for criminal damage to a building that had been caused by a fire. Miller was a tramp who had fallen asleep in a disused property while smoking a cigarette. The cigarette fell onto the mattress he was asleep on, and when he woke up because of the smoke, Miller did not attempt to put the cigarette/smoldering out but merely moved to another room and fell asleep. The court found that Miller was bound to act because the dangerous circumstance had been of his own making, and the omission that had subsequently occurred was of a criminal nature. By contrast, if Miller had been a person passing by the house and had seen it smoldering but had done nothing he would not have had a duty to put the fire out and thus the other elements of the crime would be irrelevant. Miller, as well as Pitwood also brings up a problem that has yet to be fully resolved regarding criminal liability for omission. The problem revolves around the fact that a general principle of criminal law is that the mens rea of the offence must exist at the time of the actus reus. Essentially there must be a coincidence of the actus reus and the mens

Existing Home Automaton Systems Controlled via the internet Essay

Existing Home Automaton Systems Controlled via the internet - Essay Example The internet technology plays an important part in such automation, as these homes are also called ‘smart homes’ or ‘e-homes’. The innovative technology and software available currently for home automation systems ensures the safe and secure life, while providing mobile and email alerts about the happenings at home to the specific user who may be away to far-off locations. The ‘know and control kit’ as shown in the picture above puts the mobile phone in control of almost all gadgets in the home. Accordingly, it monitors the lighting devices, temperature of different systems such A/C or heating arrangements, locks and other safety devices, among others. The email notifications and mobile alerts provide reports regarding the function of each device. Although various manufactures supply such kits, the ‘Smart Things’ kit comprises of two multi-sensors, 2 sensors responsible for detecting the presence of anyone in the home, 2 additional motion sensors, Ethernet cable with power cord and the necessary outlet plug. The kit comes with all required batteries. The Ethernet cable ensures connection of the system kit to internet. As and when the kit detects some kind of motion by people, cars or pets, it sends an alert to the owner. It also sends early warnings on the detection of any leakage, presence of carbon monoxide or smoke in the home. There are no installation hassles or any kindly of monthly contract fees attached to this kit. While the user has complete control over the gadgets working at home, there is no remedy in the event of any accident or hazard that occurs due to malfunction of any device. The system cannot help much in such cases except sending immediate email or mobile alerts. The following image represents a ’Belk in’ Net Cam, which has Wife connectivity along with a camera that can

Character analysis Essay Example for Free

Character analysis Essay Priestley describes him in the opening stage directions as a rather portentous man, full of his own self-importance. In the play, he is certainly very concerned with his social position he twice mentions that he was Lord Mayor as a way of impressing Gerald (pp.8, 11), and mentions the knighthood to him, even though it is far from definite. He is solely worried about how his familys reputation will suffer at the inquest when he hears of Mrs Birlings part in the girls death (p. 45), and he is more concerned about how to coverup Erics thefts (p.54) than about how to put them right. He tries to use first Geralds family name (p.13) and then his friendship with the Chief Constable (p.16) as ways of bullying the Inspector; he obviously believes that others are as easily impressed by social connections as he is. (We know he is easily impressed because of his evident pride at Geralds family background; he obviously believes he has made a good match for Sheila.) His key characteristic is his complacency. He is well-off (as the opening stage directions suggest), and he believes he always will be: that were in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity (p.6). This success, however, has been at the expense of others he threw the girl out of her job for asking for a modest rise, and intends in the future to work with Crofts Limited for lower costs and higher prices (p.4), exploiting his power as a capitalist to profit at the expense of others. Birling does not believe he has a responsibility to society, only to his family: a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own (p.10). He is not upset, unlike Eric, at hearing the details of the girls death (p.12), which shows him to be a little heartless. He is suspiciously defensive when he thinks the Inspector is accusing him of causing it, and like Mrs Birling is relieved when he thinks the finger is no longer pointing at him. This is hypocritical because, as the Inspector says, the girls [still] dead, though (p.18). He also has double standards: for he sees nothing strange in wanting to protect Sheila from the unpleasantness of the girls life and death, yet feels no guilt at not having protected the girl herself. Crucially, Priestley undermines this self-important, complacent man, who believes his only responsibility is to his family, right at the start of the play. He is shown as short-sighted and wrong:  Prediction  Reality  Were in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity  The Wall Street Crash (1929) and the Great Depression within a generation  There isnt a chance of war  World war within two years, with a second to follow within the same lifetime  In 1940youll be living in a world thatll have forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations  The General Strike (1926) and the continued rise of the Trade Union Movement. The Titanic: unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable  SS Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage  This dramatic irony at his expense encourages us to question how many of his other beliefs are correct; Priestley, as a socialist, is not sympathetic to what this capitalist believes.  He also undermines Birlings relationship with his family, the only institution that Birling believes matters. In Act Two, both his children who learn from the Inspector in a way Birling never does behave badly in front of him (pp.32-33), and his heir Eric is later revealed as both an alcoholic and a thief. After the Inspector has gone, Birling simply wants things to return to the way they were. He cannot understand Sheilas and Erics insistence that there is something to be learnt, and he is relieved and triumphant when he feels that scandal has been avoided and everything is all right. Right up until the end, he claims that theres every excuse for what both your mother and I did it turned out unfortunately, thats all (p.57). Birling is not the cold and narrow-minded person that his wife is; he simply believes in what he says. He is a limited man, who is shown to be wrong about many things in the play; it is the Birlings of the world whom Priestley feared in 1945 would not be willing or able to learn the lessons of the past, and so it is to the younger generation that Priestley hopefully looked instead  Mrs Birling  Priestley describes her in the opening stage directions as a rather cold woman (p.1).  She expects Sheila to make the same sacrifices in marriage that she had to (p.3); she has a clear sense of her duty within the family.

Lewinsky Scandal Essay Example for Free

Lewinsky Scandal Essay The Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998, from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 by the U. S. House of Representatives and his subsequent acquittal on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial * In 1995, Monica Lewinsky, a graduate of Lewis amp; Clark College, was hired to work as an intern at the White House during Clintons first term and began a personal relationship with him, the details of which she later confided to her friend and Defense department co-worker Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded their telephone conversations. When Tripp discovered in January 1998 that Lewinsky had signed an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying a relationship with Clinton, she delivered the tapes to Kenneth Starr, the Independent Counsel who was investigating Clinton on other matters, including the Whitewater scandal, the White House FBI files controversy, and the White House travel office controversy. During the grand jury testimony Clintons responses were carefully worded, and he argued, It depends on what the meaning of the word is is, in regards to the truthfulness of his statement that there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship. * The wide reporting of the scandal led to criticism of the press for over-coverage. The scandal is sometimes referred to as Monicagate, Lewinskygate, Tailgate, Sexgate and Zippergate, following the -gate nickname construction that has been popular since the Watergate scandal. Lewinsky claimed to have had sexual encounters with Bill Clinton on nine occasions from November 1995 to March 1997. According to her published schedule, First Lady Hillary Clinton was at the White House for at least some portion of seven of those days. * Lewinsky confided in a coworker named Linda Tripp about her relationship with Clinton. Tripp convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her, a nd not to dry clean what would later be known as the infamous blue dress. Tripp reported these conversations to literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, who advised her to secretly record them, which Tripp began doing in September 1997. Goldberg also urged Tripp to take the tapes to Kenneth Starr and bring them to the attention of people working on the Paula Jones case. In the fall of 1997, Goldberg began speaking to reporters about the tapes * In January 1998, after Lewinsky had submitted an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton, she attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in the Jones case. Instead, Tripp gave the tapes to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr who was investigating the Whitewater controversy and other matters. Now armed with evidence of Lewinskys admission of a physical relationship with Clinton, he broadened the investigation to include Lewinsky and her possible perjury in the Jones case. * News of the scandal first broke on January 17, 1998, on the Drudge Report, which reported that Newsweek editors were sitting on a story by investigative reporter Michael Isikoff exposing the affair. The story broke in the mainstream press on January 21 in The Washington Post. The story swirled for several days and, despite swift denials from Clinton, the clamor for answers from the White House grew louder. On January 26, President Clinton, standing with his wife, spoke at a White House press conference, and issued a forceful denial, which contained what would later become one of the best-known sound bites of his presidency: â€Å"Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. Im going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you! † * Hillary Clinton stood by her husband throughout the scandal. On January 27, in an appearance on NBCs Today she famously said: The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. * For the next several months and through the summer, the media debated whether or not an affair had occurred and whether or not Clinton had lied or obstructed justice, but nothing could be definitively established beyond the taped recordings because Lewinsky was unwilling to discuss the affair or testify about it. On July 28, 1998, a substantial delay after the public break of the scandal, Lewinsky received t ransactional immunity in exchange for grand jury testimony concerning her relationship with Clinton. She also turned over a semen-stained blue dress (which Linda Tripp had encouraged her to save without dry cleaning) to the Starr investigators, thereby providing unambiguous DNA evidence that could prove the relationship despite Clintons official denials. * Clinton admitted in taped grand jury testimony on August 17, 1998, that he had had an improper physical relationship with Lewinsky. That evening he gave a nationally televised statement admitting his relationship with Lewinsky which was not appropriate. Perjury charges and Impeachment * In his deposition for the Jones lawsuit, Clinton denied having sexual relations with Lewinsky. Based on the evidence provided by Tripp, a blue dress with Clintons semen, Starr concluded that this sworn testimony was false and perjurious. * During the deposition, Clinton was asked Have you ever had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, as that term is defined in Deposition Exhibit 1? The judge ordered that Clinton be given an opportunity to review the agreed definition. Afterwards, based on the definition created by the Independent Counsels Office, Clinton answered I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton later stated, I thought the definition included any activity by [me], where [I] was the actor and came in contact with those parts of the bodies which had been explicitly listed (and with an intent to gratify or arouse the sexual desire of any person). * Two months after the Senate failed to convict him, President Clinton was held in civil contempt of court by Judge Susan D. Webber Wright. His license to practice law was suspended in Arkansas for five years and later by the United States Supreme Court. He was also fined $90,000 for giving false testimony. * In December 1998, Clintons political party, the Democratic Party, was in the minority in both chambers of Congress. Some Democratic members of Congress, and most in the opposition Republican Party, believed that Clintons giving false testimony and allegedly influencing Lewinskys testimony were crimes of obstruction of justice and perjury and thus impeachable offenses. The House of Representatives voted to issue Articles of Impeachment against him which was followed by a 21-day trial in the Senate. * All of the Democrats in the Senate voted for acquittal on both the perjury and the obstruction of justice charges. Ten Republicans voted for acquittal for perjury and five Republicans voted for acquittal for obstruction of justice. * President Clinton was thereby acquitted of all charges and remained in office. There were attempts to censure the President by the House of Representatives, but those attempts failed. Effect on 2000 presidential election The scandal arguably affected the 2000 U. S. Presidential election in two contradicting ways. Democratic Party candidate and sitting Vice President Al Gore claimed that Clintons scandal had been a drag that deflated the enthusiasm of their partys base, effectively suppressing Democratic votes. Clinton claimed that the scandal had made Gores campaign too cautious, and that if Clinton had been allowed to campaign for Gore in Arkansas and New Hampshire, either state would have delivered Gores needed electoral votes regardless of what happened in Florida. Political analysts have supported both views. Before and after the 2000 election, John Cochran of ABC News connected the Lewinsky scandal with a voter phenomenon he called Clinton fatigue. Polling showed that the scandal continued to affect Clintons low personal approval ratings through the election and analysts such as Vanderbilt Universitys John G. Geer later concluded Clinton fatigue or a kind of moral retrospective voting had a significant impact on Gores chances. Other analysts sided with Clintons argument, and argued that Gores refusal to have Clinton campaign with him damaged his appeal. Collateral scandals * During the scandal, supporters of President Clinton alleged that the matter was private and they claimed hypocrisy by at least some of those who advocated for his removal. For example, during the House investigation it was revealed that Henry Hyde, Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee and lead House manager, also had an affair while in office, as a state legislator. Hyde, aged 70 during the Lewinsky hearings, dismissed it as a youthful indiscretion when he was 41. * A highly publicized investigation campaign actively sought information which might embarrass politicians who supported impeachment. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Larry Flynt the publisher of Hustler magazine, offered a $1 million reward Flynt was a sworn enemy of the Republican party and sought to dig up dirt on the Republican members of Congress who were leading the impeachment campaign against President Clinton. Although] Flynt claimed at the time to have the goods on up to a dozen prominent Republicans, the ad campaign helped to bring down only one. Robert Livingston – a congressman from Louisiana abruptly retired after learning that Mr Flynt was about to reveal that he had also had an affair. * Republican congressman Bob Livingston had been widely expected to become Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the next Congressional session, then just weeks away, until Flynt revealed the affair. Livingston resigned and challenged Clinton to do the same. Flynts investigation also claimed that Congressman Bob Barr, another Republican House manager, had an affair while married; Barr had been the first lawmaker in either chamber to call for Clintons resignation due to the Lewinsky affair. Barr lost a primary challenge less than three years after the impeachment proceedings. * Dan Burton, Republican Representative from Indiana, had stated No one, regardless of what party they serve, no one, regardless of what branch of government they serve, should be allowed to get away with these alleged sexual improprieties . In 1998, Burton admitted that he himself had an affair in 1983 that produced a child. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Representative from Georgia and leader of the Republican Revolution of 1994, admitted in 1998 to having had an affair with a House intern while he was married to his second wife, at the same time as he was leading the impeachment of Bill Clinton for perjury regarding an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. * Republican Helen Chenoweth-Hage from Idaho aggressively called for the resignation of Bill Clinton, and admitted to her own six-year affair with a married rancher during the 1980s Personal cceptance * Historian Taylor Branch implied that Clinton had requested changes to Branchs 2009 Clinton biography, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, regarding Clintons revelation that the Lewinsky affair began because I cracked; I just cracked. Branch writes that Clinton had felt beleaguered, unappreciated and open to a liaison with Lewinsky following the Democrats loss of Congress in the November 1994 elections, the death of his mother the previous January, and the ongoing Whitewater investigation. Publicly, Clinton had previously blamed the affair on a terrible moral error and on anger at Republicans, stating, if people have unresolved anger, it makes them do non-rational, destructive things. * The Lewinsky affair aroused deep divisions and total disagreement among Americans, to the point that no issue in memory prompted such thorough and passionate incomprehension of the other sides position. In response, Middle Easterners view the wildly diverse views with utter amazement and more than a bit of amusement. It is possible to find certain broad, though not consistent, threads in their arguments. * Middle Easterners looked at the presidents problems as they would in their own societies—as personal problems in Israel, as moral ones in the Muslim world. This goes far to explain the near-consensus, even among those Iranian commentators otherwise critical of the United States: that Republicans had blown the controversy way out of proportion. Middle Eastern commentaries virtually ignored the legal issues—lying under oath, obstruction of justice.

Competitive advantage and the Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria

Competitive advantage and the Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria The efficiency and effectiveness of any firm is dependent on the activities of other companies, be it a competitor, a supplier of raw materials to the firm or the distributor of its finished goods. In an attempt for a firm to expand its growth and further improve on its performance, it seeks a means of gaining a competitive advantage in the market. As such the firm may want to gain more control of activities that leads to the creation and distribution of its product, delivery of services or the chose to merger with or acquire similar companies so as to curb the threat to which competing firms pose. For the purpose of this research, the study would shed light on the activities of two firms based in Nigeria Dangote Group MTN Nigeria Both companies have impacted greatly on the economy of Nigeria and are leading figures in their respective sectors. These companies have had to employ business Integration methods to further boost the products or services they provide. The primary aim of a firm that chooses to employing vertical, horizontal or conglomerate integration is for the company to grow and gain market power thereby increasing its market share and/or product and service range. The research will explore Integration, the types of integration. It will also provide insight into how the firms were able to exploit the various integration methods furthermore the benefits of integration to the firms and the disadvantages of employing these forms of organising production. Before analysing the various forms of integration adopted by both companies, the work will offer a proper understanding of the following What is Vertical Integration? What is Horizontal Integration? What is Conglomerate Integration? Vertical Integration Vertical integration can be referred to as the process by which a company or firm takes control of the activities that influence the production and/or distribution of its goods and services. This to gain more control of the activities related to production and distribution of company goods, for strategic reasons and also to cut cost by owning the sources to which it relies on for raw materials, intermediate or complimentary goods. At the completion of a product, the distribution of these finished goods to the final consumer in the most efficient and efficient manner is crucial to the company, the company can either delivers the goods to middlemen or retail outlet, it can also rely on the distribution companies such as Inter-Distribution Company in Nigeria. The control of activities for which a company relies on for the completion of its product or service is referred to as backward (upstream) integration, this means that the company tries to gain control of the services provided by its suppliers; these could be raw materials, intermediate goods and complimentary goods. An example of backward integration is when a company that manufactures Chocolate decides to start growing Cocoa. When a company takes control of close to sale post-production activities such as distribution, it is referred to as forward (downstream) integration. An example of this is how the Coca Cola Company distributes its products to numerous outlets. The firm can also opt to engage both backward and forward integration, this is referred to as balanced integration. Horizontal integration Horizontal integration can be referred to as an expansion of a firm either by the act merging or acquiring a business or businesses in the same industry that produce similar products and/or provide similar services. It is a course of action that allows companies that are competitors of the same products or services to come together as one, thereby broadening its activities, scope and market size. An example is the recent consolidation exercise that took place in the Nigerian Banking Industry, which saw Banks being acquired or merging with another Bank in trying to meet up with the N25 billion Naira minimum capital base set by the Central bank of Nigeria. Horizontal Integration can result in a company producing different varieties of the same product or different products that meet the same demand. Horizontal Integration is not without its setbacks, this will be analysed proper with particular reference to MTN Nigeria. Conglomerate Integration Conglomerate Integration can be referred as the coming together of diverse businesses to form as one, providing a wide range of services to different market segments. The businesses that come together are not rivals, as they do not produce the same goods or render similar services. This is in an attempt to create a solid corporate body that is able to reach out into different markets. DANGOTE GROUP The company started as a small cement trading business in 1981 and later diversified into a conglomerate with businesses located in Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Togo. It is currently engaged in the activities listed below Sugar Manufacturing Refining, Packaging and Distribution Salt Refining, Packaging and Distribution Cement Manufacturing/ Importing, Packing and Distribution Noodles Manufacturing and Distribution Flour Milling, Packaging and Distribution Poly Products Manufacturing Pasta Manufacturing and Distribution Real Estate Logistics Port Management Logistics Haulage Dangote Group in itself is a conglomerate and it has employed the various forms of integration, a relationship exists between these businesses. It should be noted that figures quoted about Dangote Group are related only to their activities within Nigeria and were sourced from the information the firm made available to the public. DANGOTE CEMENT PLC Dangote Cement Plc (DCP) is made up of a combination of six cement terminals and three plants, including the widely publicized Obajana Cement plant, which is the largest cement plant is the sub-Saharan Africa. The company recently merged with Benue Cement Company (BCC), in previous years, the Dangote Cement Plc (DCP) owned shares in Benue Cement Company (BCC). The coming together of these two companies is a horizontal Integration. Cement is produced and imported in trying to meet demand, the transportation of these materials from the sea port to factories and distribution of finished goods is carried out by a company called Dangote Transport (DanTrans). The haulage business is run by Dangote Group and it provides freight services with a fleet of over 5,000 trucks. By controlling the movement of materials and finished goods, the firm has employed vertical integration. It has expanded in a way that it now controls downstream activities. This is also referred to as forward integration. The merger of Dangote Cement Plc and Benue Cement Company has presented enormous benefits. The merger has streamlined the management of both companies, giving the newly merged companies positional advantage which will in turn give the company the power to act effectively, thereby leading to a positive operational and administrative economies of scale. The merger will increase the production capacity, as the company will see its production capacity increase to 20 million metric tonnes annually. Obajana plant alone currently has an annual production capacity of 5.2 million metric tonnes which will increase product capacity by 5 million metric tonnes at the end of the first half of 2011. Benue Cement Company currently produces 3 million metric tonnes and is also expected to increase to four million metric tonnes by the end of 2011. The increase in capacity is made possible because the coming together of the two companies has led to better access to financing. Nigeria cement production is below demand, that is why Dangote Cement Company imports cement, so as to meet demand. A rise in production will see the companys dependence on import reduce which will in turn lead to an increase in turnover, this means that shareholders will reap greater dividend and also gain in share value. The merger will lead to greater operational integration between the two companies, because they will be able to share facilities, inventory and other resources. This is referred to as Synergies. Benue Cement Company will be able to benefit from the superior production technology of DCP and this will significantly reduce the cost of operation. As the company production increases, more profit is made. In line with the companys ambition to expand it will create more jobs, as there will be an increase in the demand for manpower. Dangote Cement Company is the highest producer in the country, it is not without competition. One of its core competitors is the Ashaka Cement Company located mainly in the northern region of the country. With regards to the threat posed by rival companies, the merger will further strengthen the company giving it a wider geographical advantage by the size of its market share. DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc manufactures Sugar and has its refinery located in lagos, Nigeria. It started production in 2000 and currently has an annual production capacity of 1.4 million metric tonnes. Its production capacity is currently being increased to 2.5 metric tonnes a year which will make it the largest sugar refinery in the world. Dangote Group operates a Sugarcane farming, processing and refining plant called Savannah Sugar Company Limited (SSCL) located in Adamawa, Nigeria. This company was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1997 and was acquired by Dangote Group in 2003. Savannah Sugar Company Limited has a current production capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes per annum as such Dangote Sugar Refinery partly relies on the importation of raw sugar from Brazil, it intends to further reduce that dependency with its recent projection of cultivating 18,000 hectares a year, with approximately of 50,000 employees on board at the end of 2010 which will see raw material production increase to 200,000 metric tonnes annually The sugar cane farm is a backward integration supplying raw material to the sugar refinery, and the sugar refinery in itself is also a backward integration. This is because it supplies Dangote beverages (Dansa Food Ltd) with sugar. The company has two categories of customers Super industrial users who are largely blue chip Nigerian companies which account for about 18 per cent of its sales revenue. These include Nestle Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc and Nigerian Bottling Company Plc (NBC). The other group is the distributors who service the retail end of the market (i.e. household and micro industrial users). This group trades in wholesale white sugar and are responsible for near 82 per cent of Dangote Sugars sales revenue. Dangote Sugar Plc also enjoys the services of Dangote Transport (DanTrans) for movement of its raw materials and finished goods, this phase of vertical integration touches both forward and backward integration. Some of the benefit s of integration enjoyed by the Dangote Sugar Plc are listed below Growing Sugar has substantially given Dangote Sugar Plc more control over the source of its raw materials, thereby reducing its reliance on importation. Sugar farming has also reduced the general cost of production, this is because internally sourcing for raw materials does not match the cost of purchasing them from suppliers whose choice of profit can affect the company negatively and it does not attract extra charges that come with importation of raw materials. By adopting the services provided by DanTrans, there is better coordination of company activities and also a reduction in the cost of transportation. Dangote Flour Mills Plc Dangote Flour Mills Plc comprises of 3 factories located in Lagos, Kano and Kwara State with a combined production output of 2.7 million metric tonnes a year. The company imports wheat from the US and some of its products are semolina and flour. Dangote Group has two companies that are heavily dependent on the flour mills company, they are the Dangote Pasta Limited and Dangote Noodles Limited. These two companies rely on the flour mills for raw materials; the form of production adopted here is vertical integration which sees the both companies source for its raw materials from within. Dangote Pasta Limited and Dangote Noodles Limited also share various benefits mentioned earlier about other companies which are Lower cost of acquiring raw materials Better coordination of company activities Dangote Agro Sacks Limited A variety of Dangote Products like cement, salt, flour and sugar needs to be packaged before they are distributed, because of the large volume of sacks that will be needed for this purpose, Dangote Group introduced Dangote Agro Sacks Limited. The company produces polypropylene bags primarily for internal use, and is able to produce 500 million 50kg sacks a year. Agro sacks are able to meet the total packaging demand of Dangote Group. By vertically integrating the activities of Dangote Group, it saves the company millions of naira. Dangote Transportation Limited (DanTrans) With a total of 5,000 trucks, DanTrans is able to meet the transportation needs of Dangote group. These activities range from the transportation of bulk cement from terminals, distribution of finished goods like noodle, cement, beverages, sugar, salt and many others; and also the movement of raw materials to factories for processing. Movement of raw materials to factories are not a close to sale activity, therefore it is regarded as backward integration The distributions of finished goods are downstream activities referred to as forward integration, both are forms of vertical integration. Disadvantages The application of the various integration methods in company activities are not without their shortcomings. Trust Issues: The merger was put on hold for several years as properties of Benue Cement Company were vandalized and set ablaze by protesting workers who saw the merger from a religious and regional perspective. Judging that the Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote is a muslim from the northern part of Nigeria and Benue Cement Company is located in Benue State, with a predominantly Christian population in the Central part of Nigeria. A repeat of such an act will have a negative effect on the companys profit and growth forecast. Emergence of monopoly: The merger of Dangote Cement which is an already sound company with Benue Cement Company will put rival companies at risk of losing their share of the market. This is because competing companies will be restricted by their size, technology and borrowing power, this can lead to the emergence of a monopoly. Vertical Integration is Limited: Though Dangote Group has gained so much control of related inter-company activities, it is still dependant on other companies for materials, an example is Doy Packs Limited which packages Dansa Products. Sustenance: The introduction of new activities poses the question as to whether these companies can be sustained. The larger a company is, the more complex it is to manage. With particular reference to Dangote Flour Mills which also sells flour to consumers through middlemen. In trying to compete with other flour products which have established themselves in the market, Dangote Flour Mills give out goods on credit to middlemen with the hope that when the goods are sold, the middlemen will hold on to their profits and pay for the purchase. This is not the case because many middlemen refuse to pay up even after the goods have been sold, a recent attempt to involve the police in debt recovery has seen middlemen threaten to shift to rival products. Little or no competition: Some companies like Dangote Agro Sacks, which manufactures company sacks and DanTrans, which transports finished goods and raw materials primarily exist to satisfy company needs, as such these companies are less efficient in the areas of innovation and management as a result of the lack of competition. This can be seen in the behaviour of DanTrans truck driver who have continued to give Dangote Group a bad image in the eyes of the public by the manner in which the drive. They have been said to be responsible for accidents that have caused the loss of lives, this has resulted in the burning down of 3 DanTrans Trucks by angry sympathisers along lokoja road, Nigeria this year. Additional Expenses: The merger of the two cement companies will see the companies incur higher expense at Annual General Meetings, Board of Directors and Communication with Shareholders MTN NIGERIA MTN Nigeria is a Telecommunication company which got its license in 2001, it is a part of MTN Group. The company has a heavily rooted presence in Nigeria with an estimated 35 million subscribers and offers a wide range of products and services which include voice communication services, video calling, internet services, street cam service and tracking services. MTN Nigeria has made tremendous investments in Nigeria by rooting telecommunication infrastructure in all 36 states of Nigeria, the transmission has reached over 10,000 villages and over 223 cities. Any company which wishes to succeed aspires to grow, the telecommunication industry has been subject to stiff competition as there are other major players like Glo Nigeria, Etisalat, and Zain Nigeria. In trying to gain competitive advantage in the market, MTN Nigeria horizontally integrated by acquiring VGC Communications for 70 million US Dollars. VGC Communications also provided Telecom services such as fixed line and internet services but it was a relatively smaller company which had a little over 20,000 customers. It is a company that was unheard of in many parts of the country and had only established itself solidly in Lagos state. What used to be known as VGC communications is now known as MTN Hyconnect. MTN Hyconnect now provides broadband internet services and landline services, this is with the aim of tackling the poor internet speed that has plagued the country and also to provide voice services. This act of horizontal integration is targeted at homes, offices, small and me dium enterprises; this acquisition has provided MTN Nigeria with some benefits Cost Savings: Though MTN Nigeria paid $70 million to acquire VGC communications, it has benefited by the already existing structures, the goodwill the company had and also the existing customers. It has been able to save the time and money that would have been needed to start a company from scratch. Economies of Scale: MTN Nigeria has been able to provide similar services to a new range of customers by acquiring VGC Communications. By this geographical expansion it has grown in the number of its customers and the type of services it provides. Competitive Advantage: Once again MTN Nigeria has proven to be a pioneer in the Telecommunication industry as rival companies have continued their competitive onslaught by brings out competing tariff packages and lowering call cost. This brilliant move has seen MTN Nigeria venture into a terrain with lots of opportunities to be exploited. Diversification: By the acquisition MTN Nigeria has ventured into another aspect of telecommunication which is fixed network, this has seen the emergence of a new market with the telecommunication industry. Better access to financing: MTN Hyconnect has grown signifacantly in recent years, tthis is because the company now has access to more funds and has been able to grow ever since, MTN Hyconnect now exists in 3 other places which are Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan. It has not been a situation of smooth sailing all through, as the following disadvantages have emerged from the acquisition Restricted Growth: MTN Hyconnect is still trying to establish a strong footing, this is because companies like Starcomms provide similar services at relatively lower rates. The continues decline in the general standard of living has also seen homes embrace these services at a slower rate as some will see it as a luxury. Takeover of smaller companies: Acquisition of smaller companies has seen these companies vanish, thereby limiting the choices consumers have and also reduces competition in the industry. Another disadvantage faced by MTN Hyconnect is that, it was a small company at the point of acquisition and has left MTN Nigeria with the giant task of reaching out to the whole country, so far, it exist in 3 states and the federal capital, Abuja. For Hyconnect to succeed, it will require large sums and also a lengthy period of time. Summary Vertical, Horizontal and Conglomerate Integration are different forms of organising production which involves a company gain control of the activities of suppliers and distributors, acquiring or merging with companies that offer similar goods and services, and companies that offer totally different goods and services respectively. Dangote Group is made up of different companies that manufacture cement, salt, sugar, sacks, noodles, flour, beverages and over transport services for company use. It has adopted horizontal integration by merging with Benue Cement Company and has employed vertical integration by producing company sacks, transporting the firms raw materials and finished goods, growing sugar cane for the sugar factory, and sourcing flour for the production of noodles and pasta. With integration, Dangote Group has benefited from economies of scale, saved cost, gain more control of related company activities and has as gained a competitive edge. The application of vertical and horizontal integration has brought forward issues of coordinating larger company activities, incurring additional expense, trust issues, reduced competition in the industry and the fear of an emergence of a monopoly. MTN Nigeria provides telecommunication services ranging from voice communication services, internet services to tracking services. The bid to gain competitive edge has seen the company acquire VGC Communication, a fixed network provider which is now called Hyconnect. The acquisition which has seen MTN Nigeria diversify within the same industry has reaped competitive advantage, growth, cost savings, and the economies of scale that comes with a merger or acquisition. Hyconnect has not fully gain footing because of the activities competing companies and the general standard of living, acquisition has seen smaller companies fade away giving consumers lesser choices. Conclusion Adopting the various forms of organising production has seen the companies grow tremendous, it should also be noted that this has positively affects on the GDP of Nigeria. The fear of the emergence of a monopoly is evident, yet this has further strengthened the positioning of Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria in a very unstable economy.

Destiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice in Oedipus the King - Fates

The Power of Fate in Oedipus Rex  Ã‚   Oedipus, the fated tragic hero of Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, is a complex character who, through slow realization, learns that one cannot escape fate.   Throughout the course of the tragedy, Oedipus’s attitude evolves from arrogance to humbleness as he learns to seek for truth and finds that fate is impossible to control. In the beginning of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is a strong, noble king in search of justice for the slain former King Laios. Oedipus is both arrogant and ignorant of his future misfortune. â€Å"With the help of God, we shall be saved,†... ... full of rage, curiosity, impatience, ignorance, denial, and finally, remorse.   His persisting denial to accept the enormous coincidences that are made known to him and his complete ignorance towards these facts lead Oedipus to his tragic downfall from a noble king to a blind, humbled, man.

Dark Overtones And Their Contrasts In My Antonia :: essays research papers

Dark Overtones, and Their Contrasts in My Antonia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In My Antonia by Willa Cather, there are many dark overtones that pervade the novel. It is through the use of symbolism and contrast these overtones are made real. The prairie is the predominant setting of the novel. It may be shaped, and it conforms to the desires of those working it. The prairie ¹s loneliness, shown by the wide open spaces, is a brilliant way of revealing internal conflict by using a setting. Also, it brings out the characters true meaning. Cather shows through the character of Lena Lengard that society ¹s next generation would not be as good, or quite as noble as that of Cather ¹s childhood. The primary inscription on the first page states that the best days are the first to flee. Cather contrasts these ideas with Antonia ¹s personality, which is always bright. This contributes to the dreariness of the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the novel the prairie is a metaphor for internal conflict. Cather brilliantly demonstrates the prairie as a representation for internal conflict being portrayed by a setting (Kelley, Sean). It symbolizes loneliness and depression. When Jim, one of the main characters, was young, the prairie was uncultivated and there were not as many settlers; it was a lonely place. Being isolated from society with little or no human contact could drive anyone insane. Despair, bad luck, greed, and self-absorbtion make one lose hope also, but it is mostly the lack, or the underuse of, imagination (Kelley, Sean). The prairie was a desolate strip of land that continued as far as could be seen. In the beginning of the novel, Jim Burden states about the land:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There seemed to be nothing to see, no fences, no creek or trees, no hills or fields. I   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  had the  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  feeling that the world was left behind, that we had gone over the edge of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  it.... If we never arrived anywhere, it did not matter. Between that earth, and that   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  sky, I felt erased, blotted out. (3 - 4) It seems that Jim tries to express that the prairie is forlorn, and deprived of life, making one aware of being alone. Because Jim has left behind all that is familiar, and started over his life, he has a clean slate, and that is what the prairie is. E. K. Brown, once wrote,  ³The impersonal vastness of the land is the freedom it represents.

Paper on Population Control

In early years human population and population growth has not been an issue. This is because of the variety of different environmental factors. Sickness and disease has played a large role in keeping human population under control since the beginning of time. It seemed that when a population would get over crowded an epidemic such as, the influenza or small pox would break out. This would drastically decrease the population enough that it would be under control again. Famine is another great controller of population. When a famine strikes an area only the few with enough food will be able to reproduce or even survive. An examination of world population control would not be complete with out including war. War also performs wonders at controlling population by murdering most men of child rearing age. In today†s day and age, with our current technology increases disease outbreak and famine (except in some 3rd world countries) is not much of a factor any more. War is not considered a valid population control method due to today†s â€Å"new† wars. Without the three largest population controllers much of a factor anymore population is free to run out of control. This provides us with an ever-increasing controversy; this is whether government or society should dictate family size. I believe that society can infringe indirect controls over family size, but these are considered more community norms as opposed to hard fast rules such as governments can set. Two examples will follow. First, we will look at our society. Yes, the USA†s turn to no child and one child families. This was caused by society. Society pushes Americans to have successful careers both male and female. There has been a switch from families to careers. This not providing Americans with the time or means for multiple children, but cutting the number down to one or none. Another example of society's control, is the push in some Asian/Middle Eastern countries for a family†s first child to be male. Even when there is no government regulation many cultures push for your first child to be male. This forces families to abort females and even murder them once they have been born. Once again this is a society/cultural push not a mandated rule. These instances are what different societies have created for themselves, when included in one of these societies it is hard to say whether it is right or wrong. I will first address the aspect that government should not control family size. First of all, it is a natural and religious right to produce offspring. Breed, multiply and populate has been the belief since the beginning of time. The idea is to grow population so that our beliefs and way of life may be spread and passed on. Who is government to take these right away? Governmental control over family size goes against everything that the USA stands for. This would be an age-old idea called freedom. When a government starts dictating the kind and size of family a person can have. Almost all freedom is lost. Another topic briefly addressed above is the aborting and murdering of babies that aren†t male. A first hand example of this is China. China regulates or gives incentives to families that only produce one child. This is where the problem begins because most families want this child to be male. Male children are providers and will go out and join the working world. They will be â€Å"successful†. Many female babies are aborted once sex is determined. If sex is not determined before birth, once born many female babies are abandoned or destroyed. This showing the cruelty that government controlled family size will push people to. Government should control family size because in most instances the general population can not handle this for themselves. A prime example of this is our already over crowded inner cities. People with chemical addictions and no financial means are cranking out babies right and left. They have no means of providing for all of these children. Government currently provides for these under privileged children, that as cruel as it sounds, should not have been born. I have had a first hand example of this problem. A family friend in another state has adopted three crack babies from the same mother; this mother is also on welfare. This certain mother is by no means an exception. China is another example of why government needs to control population. Look at the current problems that they are faced with because in previous years they have done nothing. Left uncontrolled, population will snowball out of control. Government needs to be aware of the ever -increasing population growth problem. I believe that rather that mandating how many children a family can have. They should educate its population on different means of birth control and possibly start providing for free. Especially in this country a harsher penalties needs to be imposed for chemical dependent mothers that become baby factories. An education/management plan can be imposed allowing individuals the freedom to determine the number of children they desire to have.

Caught Red-Handed Essay

I couldn’t remember where I was. As I came back to sense I found myself lying in an old attic. Everywhere was darkness and silence. The attic had only three holes in the top which provided me with a ray of light. My head was bursting with pain as if someone had banged on my head with a thick wooden stick. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what went wrong and how I came here. I remember, it was twelve o’clock at night when I decided to start my work and that time my target was the rich man’s house of the city, Dr. Andrew. I used to work with Dr. Andrew as his assistant. As I stepped toward he door an ominous black cat crossed my way which I hardly paid attention to. Everyone was sleeping and the lights were switched off. I managed to crept through the passage toward the main locker which was located in the child’s bed room. The little girl was playing with her dol. I hold the mouth of the girl from behind with a napkin which contained chloroform. With a blink of an eye the girl fainted. I was Dr. Andrew’s only assistant whom I worked with for about more than ten years. I used to work with him in the daylight and at night it was my profession to steal which I ended up badly. Gradually I opened the locker and my eyes popped out by seeing the bundle of currency notes. I filled my bag with all ten bundles except one as a formality. I looked at the window and decided to make my escape through it but somehow my hand stroke with a vase and it fall down with a loud noise. I hurriedly jumped through the window and ran as fast as I could. As I reached half of my way towards the gate someone banged o my head hardly and I fell down. For the first and the last time I was caught red-handed. I heard the hooting of the owl and gradually fainted. I heard some footstep coming near the door of the attic and I opened my eyes. My stomach churned into fear as I saw Dr. Andrew entered the attic with cops.

“Interests” and Accounting Standard Setting in Malaysia

AAAJ 12,3 â€Å"Interests† and accounting standard setting in Malaysia Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Keywords Accounting profession, Malaysia, Standards Abstract This paper offers insights into the conflicts and tensions within the Malaysian accounting profession and the power struggle therein to dominate the accounting standard setting process, within the context of a rapidly developing country.It shows how interest groups and parochial interests, along with issues of self-protection, affected the process of standard setting, which was controlled by different interests over the period under study. At one time the profession dominated. But far from being a monolithic body, it was in turn split according to various interests: the Big Six behind the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) and the smaller firms behind the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).At other times big business prevailed. These conflicts and power struggles are revealed through an analysis of the case of the Goodwill Accounting Standard. Selvaraj D. Susela 358 Introduction This paper offers an understanding of the struggle within the accounting profession for control of the standard setting process, in the context of a developing nation. The focus on standard setting is specially geared to reveal the impact of that process on the profession, market, state and community, and vice versa.Susela (1996) illustrates that because standards clearly impact on practitioners (the profession), it is hardly surprising that they develop â€Å"interests† around standard setting, whether expressed through accounting associations or firms. The standard setting arena is here viewed as a site of struggle between interest groups, both within the profession and outside it. To date, no such study has been done of the Malaysian accountancy and standard setting domains. In particular, there has been very little scholarly a nalysis of events discussed here. The paper follows the actors and institutions involved in setting an accounting tandard based on goodwill, through a grounded study of the policy makers and their social context. The focus of the analysis is not the technical aspects of goodwill accounting but rather the process by which the standard was adopted. The analysis below highlights conflict within the profession, in particular the power struggle between vested interest groups: the Big Six and the smaller firms, or rather the chartered (including CPAs) and the non-chartered accountants. The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the guest editor of this special edition for comments and suggestions that improved this article substantially.I also acknowledge the helpful comments of participants at the Fifth Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Accounting Conference, University of Manchester, UK, 7-9 July, 1997. The views expressed in this paper are solely the responsibility of t he author. Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 12 No. 3, 1999, pp. 358-387. # MCB University Press, 0951-3574 The Goodwill Standard is an eminently suitable vehicle for empirical Accounting analysis. First, it is an issue which has been of concern to standard setters and standard setting regulators in Malaysia since 1971.Second, it is also intimately linked with the in Malaysia dynamic growth of the Malaysian economy and the shift in the state's objectives over the last 20 to 30 years. As these have recently involved encouragement of the corporate sector, a powerful group affected by, and 359 impinging upon, standard setting, tracking the goodwill issue is a way of analysing the corporate sector's entry into the standard setting process. Third, the historical analysis captures the changing attitudes to local initiatives versus overseas influences over time.Fourth, this is the only standard which was considered controversial at the time of the study. The existence of t wo accountancy bodies, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) set up in 1967 by the state as a statutory body to regulate the accounting profession, and the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) set up as a private association in 1958, complicates the notion of interests. The conflicts surrounding the two major professional bodies became the focal point as each strove to dominate the standard setting process. For a time, the MIA and MACPA collaborated on the GoodwillStandard. The outcome was the Malaysian Accounting Standard (MAS) 6, which required the amortisation of goodwill over 25 years. However, MIA adopted the standard in 1993, whereas MACPA deferred its approval. Furthermore, other players lobbied the state, and MIA was asked to defer its adoption of the standard. This paper analyses these events with a view to identifying the interests involved and the dynamic relationship between these interests. The discussion is organised as follows: the next section discusses briefly the notion of interests and the view of standard setting embedded in the empirical analysis.Then follows a brief review of the historical and institutional context in Malaysia, the object of which is to identify relevant features of the Malaysian context which may be unfamiliar to non-Malaysian readers. A historical analysis of the shifting fortunes of, and arguments put forward by, the various participants in the standard setting process appears in succeeding sections. The contribution of the paper is summarised in the conclusion. Interests Watts and Zimmerman (1978) heralded their study of the lobbying behaviour of companies as the beginnings of a theory that might explain the determination of accounting standards.Similar studies (Haring, 1979; McKee et al. , 1984; Watts and Zimmerman, 1986) also analysed the association between characteristics of respondents lobbying on specific accounting issues. The model employed was a â€Å"rational choice/rational actor† model. The concern in this section is not directly with the epistemological claims of the writers, although these claims have been subject to penetrating criticisms (Chua, 1986; Hines, 1988; Whitley, 1988; Robson, 1993). Rather, the aim is to contrast the approach taken here with the rational choice model employed by positive accounting theorists.AAAJ 12,3 360 Clearly, there are definite connections between actors' social locations and the interests they acknowledge or act upon, but there is no simple correspondence between the two (Hindess, 1989, p. 83). Actors are not mere creatures of their positions in sets of social relations, or their class, gender, or group. The forms of assessment available to them are rarely so limited as to be given uniquely by their social location. The conclusions of their deliberations depend on complex internal and discursive processes.They are not determined solely by the forms of assessment employed. This implies that interests do not f unction as a mere transmission device between social structure, on the one hand, and individual action, on the other. Interests cannot determine the means whereby the structure of society produces its effects. In other words, social structure is by no means a given entity operating outside of and above actors, manipulating them to produce its necessary effects. But this does not negate the perception of the existence of relatively pervasive and enduring social conditions.Instead, it provides a view of interests as â€Å"conceptions†. If they are to have consequences, it must be possible for them to be formulated by some actor or actors, and in this or some other way, to provide them with reasons for action. Therefore, the interests and reasons for action developed by actors depend on how they assess the contextual resources they are in a position to employ. Robson (1993) uses this mode of inquiry in his study of SSAP 13 on Research and Development.Being attentive to the forms of assessment utilised by actors in the standard setting process, he suggests not only that interests are an outcome of a historical process but that the identification of a particular accounting issue as a problem is also the outcome of a historical process. The conditions under which an accounting issue is conceived as a problem at a specific point of time are seen as matters for investigation (Hindess, 1988, 1989; Robson, 1993). In other words, any accounting standard contains a â€Å"representation† of a specific social and political context.Cooper and Sherer (1984, p. 208) contend that: . researchers should be aware of the possibility that actual policy outcomes may be an imperfect match with the underlying intentions and motivations; and . the strategic consensus and patterns of outcomes (in this case the accounting standards) may more or less consistently support some specific interest above others. These tenets have guided the analysis of interests presented below. O ne important implication is that analysis of standard setting must not be restricted to key actors in isolation.Instead, an overall understanding of the domestic political economy and the global political economy is necessary. Figure 1 shows that the interaction of the four organising principles  ± the state, the profession, the market and the Community  ± has to be studied within the local and global context, with due emphasis on the specific historical and DOMESTIC POLITICAL ECONOMY Interaction of State, Profession, Market and Community Constituencies of Regulation Interaction of Various Interest Groups Standard-setting Accounting standard setting in Malaysia 361DOMESTIC POLITICAL ECONOMY Stages of Economic Development Colonial History Socio-political economic systems GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY Impact of Transnational Corporations International Trade International Accounting Standards International Accounting Firms Figure 1. Framework for understanding the accounting standard se tting process institutional environment of the society in which accounting operates. It must be recognised that the economy is now dominated by large corporations, and that the state is actively involved in managing the economy (Jesudason, 1990).The historical and institutional context Brief history of the accounting profession in Malaysia Since its formation, the MACPA has been actively involved in providing its members with technical guidance and training as well as setting the professional examinations. The dominant force behind the MACPA is the chartered accountants (CAs) from the UK and Australia. During the period 1958 to 1967, there was no legislation to regulate the accountancy profession.There were in Malaysia many accountants trained through various overseas bodies, with the balance trained through local examinations and training conducted by the MACPA, the only active local accountancy body during this period. Its membership consisted mainly of foreign qualified accountan ts, specifically CAs from the UK and Australia, and a handful of local CPAs. Membership of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) in Malaysia was also growing. The Big Six[1] supported the MACPA and locals training in the Big Six firms were encouraged to sit the MACPA examinations.However, ACCA and Australian Society of Accountants (ASA) members received little support from Big Six firms (Susela, 1996). The ACCA and ASA AAAJ 12,3 362 graduates found it difficult to gain MACPA membership[2]. The state was persuaded by disgruntled ACCA and ASA members to set up a local authority to regulate the accountancy profession. The Accountancy Act 1967 provided for the registration of accountants and the establishment of the MIA. The MIA recognised ten professional bodies for admission purposes  ± the ASA and ACCA included.However, MACPA continued to dominate the development of the accountancy profession as the MIA was content with the statutory function of registering acco untants practising in the country (MIA, 1987). Since 1973 there have been several attempts by the two bodies to form a single national body through merger (MACPA, 1974). The state was keen to see the two bodies merge. At one stage the then Deputy Prime Minister (currently the Prime Minister) supported the formation of a unified profession (MACPA, 1980). Finally, the two bodies arrived at a merger proposal which was submitted to Cabinet but was rejected in 1985 (MACPA, 1985).The reasons for the failure of the merger are examined below, at the empirical stage. When the merger proposal failed, the Ministry of Finance in 1986 appointed a practising accountant (formerly a Council member of MACPA, and partner of a Big Six firm) to become MIA President, replacing the Accountant-General who had served as President since 1967. At the first Annual General Meeting of MIA held in September 1987[3], 700 out of over 2,500 ACCA members attended and voted in a new Council committed into turning MIA into an active regulatory professional body (De Freitas, 1992).The history of standard setting (focussing on goodwill) MACPA was at the forefront of developing and issuing accounting standards prior to the activation of MIA in 1987. Standard setting activities commenced during the early 1970s. The relatively laissez-faire atmosphere of the 1960s was replaced by greater state intervention with the introduction of the New Economic Policy in 1970, which sought to increase the Bumiputras[4] ownership of the corporate sector to 30 percent by 1990.Part of the effort to restructure the society was directed at reducing foreign ownership of assets in Malaysia. The New Economic Policy created an environment conducive to corporate mergers and takeovers (Tan, 1981, p. 9). Several foreign-owned companies were acquired by local corporations and by public enterprises operated by the state. The Malaysian government set up various government-controlled organisations to acquire interests in the corp orate sector in trust for Bumiputras.In circumstances such as these, the intention of such planned acquisitions was to achieve socio-political rather than corporate objectives. In this process, huge amounts of goodwill were recorded by big conglomerates. A Technical Committee was set up by MACPA in 1971, its immediate function being to act on a letter dated 10 September 1971 sent by Bank Negara Malaysia (the Central Bank) to the then President of MACPA[5], which pointed out, amongst other things, that there was a need for: . . rofessional standards to guide reporting by the accounting profession; Accounting guidance on specific accounting matters, including revaluation of assets, standard setting the creation of goodwill, and the criteria by which accountants would be in Malaysia prepared to recognise such items, and the treatment of stock in trade (MACPA Technical Committee, 1971). In that letter the Governor also urged that â€Å"MACPA take steps to establish for its members a st atement of generally accepted accounting principles and a statement of generally accepted auditing standards†.In the same letter, the Governor referred to the issue of goodwill as follows: F F F these analyses give rise to serious reservations about the upward revaluations of certain assets and the creation of â€Å"goodwill† by companies prior to offering their shares to the public or applying for listing on the Stock Exchange †¦ Generally, our Committee tends to view â€Å"goodwill† with scepticism and I would like to have the assurance that the auditing profession would not support the valuation placed on goodwill without full confidence that it is fairly stated. 63 After 1976, the MACPA Technical Committee undertook the review and consideration of international accounting standards (IASs) for possible local adoption, as well as studying the accounting policy of industries of particular importance to the Malaysian economy, or otherwise of interest to Mala ysia. During this phase (1970-1980), standard setting was very much an ad hoc activity as basic infrastructure was being put in place.The Central Bank, the Capital Issues Committee (CIC  ± part of the Ministry of Finance) and the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) were setting the standard setting agenda in a context where the proliferation of IASs was noted and welcomed, particularly as IASs were regarded as a means for achieving international recognition (Susela, 1996)[6]. However, beginning from 1980, the focus of the standard setters was on developing guidelines on issues that were peculiar to the Malaysian environment and for which there were no IASs, or where the IAS treatment was contrary to local legislation.Hence the emphasis was directed towards developing technical bulletins and recommendations which were later issued as definitive Malaysian Accounting Standards (MAS). When the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) issued IAS 22 on Business Combinations in 1985, two issues were found to be contentious in the Malaysian environment: (1) merger accounting; and (2) accounting for goodwill. MACPA had to consider two separate accounting standards to deal with these issues adequately. MAS 2 on Accounting for Acquisitions and Mergers was issued in 1989.Goodwill was the other issue. Why goodwill was a particularly problematic issue is clarified in the empirical section. Until 1986, MACPA issued its own standards (or adapted IAS standards) for adoption by its members. There was no other standard setting process. When the MIA was reactivated in 1987, it adopted all the standards previously AAAJ 12,3 364 adopted by MACPA. On 14 April 1986, a Joint MIA/MACPA Working Committee had been formed to discuss possible co-operation between the two bodies.From May 1987 until 1992, all technical standards were developed jointly by MIA and MACPA and issued as joint statements. The efforts of the Joint MACPA/MIA Working Committee resulted in the establishmen t of a Common Working Technical Committee in March 1989, consisting of members of MACPA and MIA. This also marked an important era in the standard setting history where both bodies worked jointly on the standards, especially addressing issues pertinent to the local environment, for example, MAS 1 on Earnings Per Share; MAS 2 on Mergers and Acquisitions and MAS 5 on Accounting for Aquaculture.One of the standards that resulted from this joint effort was the Goodwill Standard. Although the Goodwill Standard had been on the agenda of the MACPA Technical Committee since 1971, it was not pursued until much later. It is not clear why this was so[7]. The issue was raised several times by the CIC and the MIA was approached to develop a standard in 1987[8]. This prodded both bodies to work jointly, as by this time MACPA had immense expertise in standard setting.The MIA, in its enthusiasm to take over the leadership of the accountancy profession and maintain its privileged corporatist arrange ment with the state, and MACPA, in its eagerness to uphold the self-regulatory status quo, seized this opportunity to demonstrate their responsiveness to the call from the state and the prevailing â€Å"public interest† rhetoric. On 1 July 1987, the Presidents of the MIA and MACPA signed a circular to members which contained a questionnaire inviting comments on a discussion paper on goodwill accounting.The views received were so diverse that the issuance of a standard was deferred. While the debate continued, the need to establish an acceptable method of goodwill became more crucial. However, the two bodies did not pursue the matter until there was further prompting from the CIC. The CIC decided to take matters into its own hands by including in its guidelines subsection 17. 51 (CIC, 1991), which specifically states: Intangible assets fall into two (2) broad categories as follows: (i) (ii) goodwill; and identifiable intangible assets, such as patents, franchises, etc.The firs t category should be treated in accordance with the relevant accounting guidelines or accounting standards acceptable to the CIC. The second category should be amortised systematically over its useful economic life. It should not be revalued or have previous amortisation reversed and it should be written off immediately in respect of any permanent diminution in value. The promulgation of the CIC guidelines was considered to be timely (Tan, 1991, p. 3). However, it left many issues unanswered, such as the recognition and measurement criteria for intangibles.It was recommended that these issues be addressed using a holistic approach, and that the local professional bodies were most qualified to deal with the issues. This led to the next line of action by MACPA and the MIA: the Accounting commissioning of a study by an academic to determine the extant practice of standard setting goodwill accounting in Malaysia. A survey of published annual reports of 276 in Malaysia companies listed o n the main board of the KLSE was conducted in 1991. It was found that 155 of the 276 companies had a goodwill accounting policy.The treatments used were as shown in Table I. 365 The analysis clearly indicated a diversity of goodwill accounting treatments adopted by publicly listed companies in Malaysia. In fact, there was quite an even spread of companies between the three major approaches to goodwill. The MIA/MACPA subsequently jointly reissued another discussion paper on goodwill to obtain views from members and user groups on the preferred treatment of purchased goodwill. The revised discussion paper was issued in August 1991. A total of 112 responses were received.An analysis of their preferences is shown in Table II. Note that Table II refers to the preferred method of accounting for goodwill rather than the actual method used by listed companies. Of the respondents, 69 percent were senior officers of commercial, industrial and financial institutions. The preference for the amo rtisation method at that time contrasts both with the diversity of practice and hostility shown to this method later[9]. Based on the comments obtained, MAS 6 was issued as an exposure draft by the MIA in September 1992.MAS 6 was based on the UK ED 47, which had raised considerable controversy in the UK and had been shelved by then. However, based on the same responses to the survey, MACPA decided that existing views were too diverse and decided to defer MAS 6 until the fate of the UK ED 47 was determined. MAS 6 required that goodwill be amortised over 25 Treatment of goodwill Amortisation Permanent item Immediate write-off Others Total Source: Tan (1991) Number of companies 55 52 42 6 155 Percent 35 34 27 4 100 Table I. Treatment of goodwill  ± 1990 surveyTreatment of goodwill Amortisation Permanent item Immediate write-off Total Source: Tan (1991) Number of companies 85 25 2 112 Percent 76 22 2 100 Table II. Treatment of goodwill  ± preferences AAAJ 12,3 366 years. Although th e standard was the result of the joint effort of both professional bodies, MACPA decided to defer adoption of the standard until the IASC issued its revised standard on goodwill. Due to the disagreement over the adoption of the final standard (MAS 6), the Common Working Technical Committee was dissolved in 1992 and the MACPA/MIA collaboration accordingly ceased.It has been hinted (by most respondents from the profession and market, in particular, from both MIA and MACPA committees) that the goodwill issue contributed significantly to the cooperative gesture on the part of both the bodies, as well as to the subsequent dissolution of the co-operative charade. After the Committee was dissolved, both professional bodies pursued separate ways of developing standards. The now separate accounting standards committee of the MIA recommended that the MIA Council adopt MAS 6 in 1993 as a definitive standard to be effective commencing on or after 1 January 1995, whereas MACPA deferred its adopt ion.This led to confusion. It also threatened MACPA's control over standard setting and over the profession more generally[10]. The adoption of MAS 6 raised objections from certain big corporations, and the Federation of Public Listed Companies (FPLC)[11] decided to take the matter up with the Minister of Finance, who referred the matter to the MIA. A memorandum, submitted to the MIA by the FPLC, was delivered by hand to the MIA on 6 December 1993. The MIA firmly initially stood by its decision to implement the Standard.However, towards the end of 1994, faced with increased state pressure, the MIA deferred implementation of the standard to 1 January 1997. In July 1997, the Financial Reporting Act 1997 was passed and the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) was formed to issue legally binding accounting standards[12]. Apparently, standard setting activity was taken out of the hands of the profession. Subsequently, the Companies Act 1965 was amended to require compliance with a pproved accounting standards[13]. Until the establishment of MASB, enforcement of standards had been undertaken by the professional bodies.However, this mechanism was felt to be less effective as the profession could only take action against their own members rather than the directors responsible for financial statements. MACPA and MIA members were likely to be auditors or employees rather than directors of non-complying companies (Susela, 1996). With accounting standards now enforceable by law, the stakes for players affected by the number of accountants were raised, intensifying the contested nature of standard setting. Interaction of state, profession, market and community Puxty et al. 1987) identify three organising principles of accounting regulation. Within each principle, there are actors. Puxty et al. (1987) refer to â€Å"diverse state managers† such as politicians and senior civil servants representing the state; â€Å"agents of factions of capital† represent ing the market, and representatives of organised interest groups representing the community. An explicit corporatist Accounting theorising is built into Streeck and Schmitter (1985), which raises the standard setting possibility of a fourth organising principle, the â€Å"corporative-associative†.This in Malaysia implies an acknowledgment of a substantial degree of autonomy on the part of the state from the business sector (market). In Malaysia, the state has shown that it is capable of pursuing interests other than that related directly to the 367 economic sphere (Jesudason, 1990). Most notably for our purposes, the state intervened in accounting regulation in 1967 by setting up the MIA, a move seen as aiming to achieve social objectives. In particular, with the implementation of the New Economic Policy, the state sought to adjust the economic inequality among the various races.The setting up of the MIA was viewed as a step to increase the number of Bumiputra accountants in the country. Under the Accountants Act 1967, accounting graduates from local universities were given recognition by the MIA, thereby significantly increasing the accountant population, especially amongst Bumiputras (Susela, 1996). Under the corporative-associative arrangement devised in Malaysia some power and autonomy of the state was delegated to the MIA. It was this arrangement that an activist MIA used some 20 years later to attempt to usurp the standard setting authority of MACPA.This paper views institutions and practices as an outcome of interactions between parties who are positioned within a structure of politico-economic relations that is simultaneously united and divided by internal contradictions, tensions and struggles. Accordingly, the actions and accounts of these parties are theorised as an expression of the fusing of the principles of market, state, association[14], and community. Actors As noted earlier, certain modes of analysis only recognise human individuals as actors (for example, rational choice; liberal political economy).However, the importance of actors other than human individuals, such as capitalist enterprises, churches, political parties, state agencies, trade unions, and professional associations, has been recognised. Hindess (1989, p. 92) calls these social actors and argues that they have a place in social inquiry. On the other hand, Puxty et al. (1987) note that it is a mistake to stress the explanatory power of structural conflict if the effect is to deny or neglect the critical role of agents in the reproduction of social systems.They argue that although the agents are clearly conditioned by the location of their positions within the class structure, the â€Å"inventive† responses by the agents to the manifestation of contradictions that are continuously â€Å"thrown up† are not programmed by this location. The â€Å"state, profession, market and community† categorisation is not used here to suggest tha t predetermined interests are thereby created or presumed. It is against this background that the conceptions of â€Å"interest† formed by individual actors are discussed below.However, it is necessary first to identify the actors whose conceptions will be analysed. AAAJ 12,3 368 Constituencies of standard setting in Malaysia At various times, different institutions and interested parties have become involved with the standard setting process. These parties, referred to here as constituencies[15] in the standard setting process, form the target group for the empirical study. Through the review of the annual reports of both MACPA and MIA during the period 1971 to 1995, a listing of all persons involved in the accounting standards committees of both bodies was constructed.A total of 101 persons were involved. This represented the initial research sample and a total of 101 letters were sent out. The breakdown of the respondents is provided in Table III. The sample has been categ orised[16] according to the social location of the actors as follows: State: (1) Ministry of Finance. (2) Treasury. (3) Accountant General. (4) Bank Negara Malaysia. (5) Securities Commission. (6) Inland Revenue Department[17]. (7) Director General of Insurance. (8) Auditor General. (9) Registrar of Companies.Profession: (1) The â€Å"Big Six† public accounting firms. (2) Small and medium public accounting firms. Market: (1) Listed corporations. (2) Unlisted corporations. (3) Investors' association. Response Initial sample State Profession Market Community Total 19 45 23 14 101 Percent 19 45 23 14 100 Number 12 26 16 11 65 Percent 18 40 25 17 100. 0 Table III. Analysis of responses (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. The Federation of Public Listed Companies. Multinational companies.Financial institutions. Merchant and Commercial Banks. Tax and Management Consultancy firms. Federation of Financial Analysts. Association of Merchant Bankers. Accou nting standard setting in Malaysia 369 Community: (1) Institutions of Higher Learning. (2) Other institutions such as the Institute of Strategic Issues (ISIS), Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), Malaysian Economic Association (MEA), Institute of Surveyors. (3) Consumers' Association. (4) Trade Unions. (5) Environmental groups.The responses of the above 65 actors to follow-up in-depth interviews provide the evidential basis for the empirical analysis below. In order to maintain the anonymity of the respondents in this paper, the respondents are quoted by reference to the interview number, that is interview number 1 to 65 (i-no-1 to ino-65). A brief overview of the constituencies and actors involved in goodwill standard setting is provided below, prior to the discussion below of the conceptions of â€Å"interests† brought into play in that arena.From Table III, it can be noted that participants from the profession (45 percent) and market (23 percent) formed the bi ggest group of players in the standard setting process. With regard to the professional accounting bodies, up until the formation of the MASB, the standard setting machinery operated under the auspices of MACPA and the MIA (from 1987). They were the standard setters. As late as 1995, one practitioner noted that â€Å"the way standards are set today and what it was, in the last ten years, has not changed dramatically as to who are the key players doing it† (i-no-18).However, as argued below, the corporate sector had lately been adopting an active role and the autonomy of MACPA and the MIA from the corporate sector were subsequently questioned, or compromised, or both. The accounting firms were identified as players in the process (i-no-18), but they did not speak with one voice. Most respondents emphasised that it was the Big Six (predominantly CAs and CPAs) that were the major players in the standard setting process in the MACPA camp, whereas the smaller firms drove the show in the MIA (predominantly ACCA members). However, until the AAAJ 12,3 370 ormation of the MASB, the significance of this division derived from the fact that standards issued by MIA were influential with respect to all accountants, whereas standards issued by MACPA impacted only on its own members. The participation of the major publicly listed companies, including multinationals, in standard setting increased in tempo with the rapid growth in the country. In 1992, MACPA set up a Commerce and Industry Committee to â€Å"ensure that the interests and views of members in commerce and industry are properly reflected in the Association's policies and activities† (MACPA, 1992, p. ). The involvement of commerce and industry came to the fore with the MIA's adoption of MAS 6. The business sector had previously been quite content with the standard setting regime until a standard was adopted that appeared unfavourable to a lot of the publicly listed companies. Even then, the FPLC only b ecame involved when MACPA's request to the MIA to defer the standard was turned down (i-no-8). Multinationals had various representatives, accounting and others, participating in the regulatory authorities and also in the profession.As one multinational respondent explained: I am in MACPA, we have got people in MIA, we have got people in MIT (Malaysian Institute of Taxation), MAICSA (the Malaysian Association of The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators), CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)  ± we encourage people to participate in local regulatory bodies. Our chief executive used to sit in the CIC (Capital Issues Committee) before the present SC (Securities Commission) was set up (i-no-64).While some respondents welcomed the involvement of multinationals in standard setting because of the resources they might contribute to the process, others were also aware that the multinationals had their own agendas (i-no-64; i-no-9). Many respondents (e. g. i- no-34; i-no-13; i-no-3) claimed MACPA was stalling on the goodwill standards because of objections from industry: There was a lot of objections from industry and might be MACPA in some ways foresaw that and it did not want to get involved in that sort of problems. But MIA did  ± they are new? ecause they new to the game and did not think it will be a problem. They thought they can make a rule and impose it (i-no-34). The Accountant General was seen by some respondents (i-no-7; i-no-10; i-no-22; i-no-28; i-no-35; i-no-37; i-no-51) as the intermediary between the profession and the state and was believed to be on the MIA Council in order to represent the national interest. The extent of the Accountant General's involvement in standard setting was unclear. Although not a member of the Accounting Standards Committee, he was a member of the MIA Council that approved the Goodwill Standard.The Accountant General's view was that due consideration was not given to the views of all parties potentially affected by the Goodwill Standard. The state's views on the standard were not considered before the adoption of the standard, as one might expect in a corporatist context. This view was supported by one respondent from the Accountant General's office, who said that the state only reacted after the Goodwill Standard had been issued (i-no-35). Subsequently, however, the state called a meeting of the MIA nd the other parties to discuss the objections to the standard and the Ministry Accounting of Finance â€Å"requested† the MIA to defer MAS 6. standard setting As previous sections have noted, regulatory bodies such as the Bank Negara in Malaysia and the CIC[18] played a significant role in getting goodwill onto the standard setting agenda of the professional bodies in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, the perception that accountancy might become an occupation to which 371 Bumiputras could be directed was part of the New Economic Policy.By the 1990s, however, with th e corporate sector and the Big Six lobbying strenuously against MAS 6, the state did not feel inclined to defend the standard. Accounting standard setting and interests Perceptions about the professional bodies As shown in Appendix, respondents were asked six open-ended questions. The third question was aimed at understanding perceptions regarding the existence of the two professional bodies. The question was as follows: The proposal for a merger of MIA and MACPA is again being pursued.Why do you think this issue is currently being pursued in spite of failures of such attempts in the past? Do you consider that circumstances have changed now? Certain themes have been extracted from the transcripts of interviews on grounds of their relevance to issues raised in this paper. As noted earlier, the professional bodies had discussed merging in the early 1970s. Eventually, a merger proposal was submitted to Cabinet in 1985 in order to amend the Accountants Act 1967 accordingly. In fact the merger was encouraged by the Deputy Prime Minister at that time.However, the proposal was rejected. A common understanding from the accounts of respondents within the profession was that the merger was seen by some groups as contrary to their interests. For example, the Institute of Cooperative Auditors, which had approximately 40 members at that time, wanted to be included in the merger, a demand not acceded to by other key players (i-no-3). Following successful lobbying of the Ministries concerned, the opposition of a key Minister to the merger was sufficient to derail it[19].One respondent recounted the situation when the merger proposal was rejected. There was rising discontent within the ACCA regarding its lack of activity vis-a-vis MACPA. This inevitably led to strong support for the A reactivation of the MIA. The efforts of the newly appointed President (a discontented former MACPA Council member) to revive the MIA and establish it as the one and only national professional bo dy were supported by the ACCA camp (i-no-24; i-no-33). One ACCA member noted further that â€Å"those who got into MIA from ACCA then had a bit of `missionary' zeal† (i-no-29).He reasoned that when MIA was resuscitated, the ACCA members feared that if they did not take an active role in running the MIA, then it would become another MACPAcontrolled body. In 1994, the two bodies were subtly forced[20] to sign a memorandum of understanding to work towards a merger. At the time of the field study, the AAAJ 12,3 372 negotiations between the two bodies were in earnest. However, by the end of 1995, the talks were called off. Most respondents (from the profession and the market) alluded to the existence of friction and professional jealousy between MIA and MACPA.This dynamic was seen to contribute to the intensity of the struggle over standard setting, as that arena was one where the dominance of one body over the other could be sought and resisted, and the outcome made more or less visible. Contributing to the struggle was the fact that both bodies were supported by â€Å"powers† seen to be equally dominating (i-no-19; i-no-16; ino-17; i-no-48). Respondents also noted that MACPA supporters were concerned about the withdrawal of government recognition if it did not get in with MIA (i-no-23).It was felt that the rivalry between the two bodies extended to the arena of standard setting. As noted previously, MACPA's Accounting Standards Committee was viewed by respondents in the profession as dominated and supported by the Big Six, and it was said to have the advantage in terms of technical support and resources. On the other hand, MIA's Standards Committee was dominated by small firms. As noted by a former Chairman of the Committee, its concern was with parochial interests (i-no-13).This comment from a practitioner typified the feeling: F F F really MIA in all respects has done a lot for the smaller accountants but they have lost a sense of perspective in d ealing with MACPA. I know there have been lots of provocation on both sides and that has all mucked up the standard setting process (i-no-43). Views about the profession Respondents from the state revealed mixed perceptions about the profession. On one hand, those who had been in close contact with the profession (i-no-14) had reservations about its ability to set standards.On the other hand, those who were mere observers (not in touch with the developments in accounting circles) still held onto the image of the professional as being somewhat â€Å"neutral† (i-no-22; i-no-59). The views of practitioners differed between the Big Six and others. On one hand, the Big Six practitioners were of the view that the profession needed to be more proactive and responsive to change, to be flexible and visionary (i-no-18; ino-29; i-no-57). It seems the profession was beginning to acknowledge other â€Å"players† in the standard setting arena.There was also a willingness to allow ma rket forces to play a role. On the other hand, the small practitioners emphasised the notion of holding onto the ideals of â€Å"sanctity† and independence. However, they conceded that accounting might not be as â€Å"objective† as it has made itself out to be (i-no-8; i-no-24). The market respondents (mostly businessmen who were also accountants and members of the professional bodies) stressed the need for a unified profession (i-no-47; i-no-15) and they saw themselves as important players in the standards setting process (i-no-2; i-no-3; i-no-15).The perception amongst the business community was clearly that accounting standards should facilitate business, and that the accounting profession's role was to serve the business community. There was unanimous agreement that accounting Accounting standards should not be the monopoly of the accountants and that the standard setting profession should not be left to regulate standards because of vested interests in Malaysia (i -no-12; i-no- 52). The community respondents emphasised the ethical foundations of the profession.There was still a sense of â€Å"respect† accorded to the profession. In 373 particular, the moral obligation associated with being accorded the status of a profession was emphasised by such respondents, who further saw the involvement of the state in accounting regulation as being limited to achieving socio-political goals. Some respondents held that the MIA was set up to partly ensure the New Economic Policy objectives were met in terms of ethnic composition of professionals.Their feeling was that the state should be involved in the development of the profession as a whole, but at the same time they supported self-regulation. A clear message comes through from the analysis of the perspectives of the four groups. The state respondents had become aware that the profession had internal conflicts and vested interests. They gave the impression that although the state might have an i nterest in the development of the profession, they preferred to keep an eye from a distance.That is, division within the profession had not seriously disrupted the commitment of state agencies to corporatism. The profession and market respondents were also aware of the internal struggles and conflicts and therefore wanted to be actively involved in the regulatory process. However, the community respondents, whilst acknowledging conflict within the profession, preferred to hold onto the notion that â€Å"the profession knows best†. To summarise: the internal conflicts and tensions within the profession impacted on the standard setting process.The MIA, the national accountancy body with the advantage of being formally constituted as the accounting player in corporatist arrangements, became a problem for MACPA when the MIA was reactivated in 1987. Because of the close links between MACPA and the Big Six, the MIA's adoption of an active stance was a threat to the Big Six and the foreign accountants employed by them. MIA, representing quite different constituencies, became a vehicle through which small, indigenous firms could become involved in standards setting.In particular the authority inherent in corporatism gave the MIA constituents the opportunity to usurp the authority of their MACPA counterparts in an important arena of professional activity. It was precisely the Goodwill Standard that provided the first opportunity to exercise that authority. However, the respondents' comments indicate that the struggle between MIA and MACPA was conditioned by and a function of the authority of other powerful players, for example the state and, most particularly, the business sector, as will be shown below.Accounting for goodwill: analysis of discourses Analysis of responses to question 6 (in Appendix) is discussed in this section. The question was: â€Å"What are your feelings about the Goodwill Standard issue? † AAAJ 12,3 374 The aim in this section is not to validate or dispute these claims but rather to draw attention to the conceptions of â€Å"interest† they reveal. The issues raised fall into three categories: (1) those concerned with the technical and professional rivalry; (2) those concerned with socio-economic consequences; (3) those concerned with the need to study the problem in relation to the specifics of the Malaysian environment.Concerns about technical and professional rivalry An MIA Council member (i-no-58) believed the Goodwill Standard was objected to because it was perceived that MIA was trying to lead the world. The respondent admitted there was a lack of understanding of the issues: F F F in fact the FPLC people were with us too. The secretary was surprised that amortisation of goodwill you can still pay out dividends. It is just at group consolidation only. Just affects group accounts  ± does not affect the companies' accounts †¦ There was a lack of understanding of accounting.Because everybody tho ught that goodwill here is mostly brands, patents and those sort of things  ± we are not talking about that  ± it is just goodwill on consolidation. This position focuses on the impact of MAS 6 on dividend policy. Opponents of the standard  ± even the FPLC, cited here in support  ± later criticised it on the basis of its socio-economic consequences. As well as illustrating further the shifting of positions throughout the goodwill controversy, the MIA Council member's statement could be seen as part of the MIA's concern with technical purity.Those arguing on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles also supported the implementation of the standard because the amount of reported goodwill was rising as intercorporate acquisitions proceeded; hence the need to implement a standard (i-no-20; i-no-42; i-no-33). Another argument used by the proponents of MAS 6 (especially the MIA Council) was that the standard, apart from allowing a longer maximum amortisation period (2 5 years instead of 20), was similar to overseas standards and therefore should apply to Malaysia. However, it appears that there were other concerns as well.In particular, the then Chairman of the MIA Standards Committee recounted: I was Chairman  ± I had no role in so far as structuring the Goodwill Standard  ± I was chairman of the committee which passed a resolution to say â€Å"we adopt it† and recommend the Council to adopt it †¦ We were not concerned with the technical aspect of the Goodwill Standard †¦ were concerned with the administrative aspect and I did an administrative role  ± MIA can't be subservient to MACPA (i-no-8). The link between professional rivalry and standard setting is apparent here.Socio-economic and political issues Opponents of MAS 6 attacked the MIA's technical arguments. Those concerned with the socio-economic consequences argued that the accountant's concept of goodwill is merely a meaningless balancing figure, the result of an a ccounting treatment which produces meaningless information (i-no-2; i-no-3, i-no-15). In Accounting 1992 Price Waterhouse circulated a document to clients which stated: standard setting The proposals as set out in the exposure draft on accounting for goodwill would, if adopted, have a major impact on the earnings record of many Malaysian Groups.We, therefore, encourage you to consider the proposals carefully and write to the MIA and MACPA (Price Waterhouse, 1992). in Malaysia 375 Soon after, the FPLC produced a memorandum (1993, p. 8) which claimed that MAS 6 â€Å"ignores business and economic realities†. Echoing the Price Waterhouse position, it claimed that goodwill amortisation reduces postacquisition earnings and is a disincentive to businessmen and entrepreneurs who assume significant risks in their investments, thereby discouraging the growth of companies through mergers and acquisitions (FPLC, 1993).A practitioner from a Big Six firm simply said â€Å"there is a broa der picture to it† (i-no-19). Another respondent expanded on this broader picture: F F F we are arguing that we are in the stage of experiencing growth and therefore, it might be too early to adopt the goodwill standard as it might have a severe impact upon the profit of listed companies (i-no-20). Other opponents also made similar arguments, adding that goodwill amortisation would, in the absence of associated tax relief, hamper development of capital markets through its impact on reported earnings.The other concern expressed was that Malaysian companies would be placed at a competitive disadvantage by the standard. A practitioner from a Big Six firm explained: F F F they actually said †¦ â€Å"look †¦ why don't we just ride for a while †¦ first, given that IAS 22 was then under revision †¦ let us look where, which direction they are moving and when that standard comes we can look at our standard, I think also looking at UK, there isn't a need †¦ why should Malaysian companies be put at a competitive disadvantage? ‘ (i-no-33). Another respondent (an analyst) remarked: F F F some of us are able to see beyond accounting policies  ± the significance of it †¦ if you are really looking at the economic worth of the company, you know that whether you write off goodwill over 40 years or one year or whatever, the economic worth of the company is the same †¦ it is just an accounting policy (i-no-11). In the analyst's view greater discussion should have ensued among the various interest groups on the economic consequences of the standard.The â€Å"economic consequences† discourses cited here indicate how the interests of the corporate sector were now being constructed and represented through a vision of commercial reality standing in contrast to the arcane technical discourses of accountants[21]. Whatever the validity of these claims, the interests of the sector were now firmly embedded in debates about standard s etting. Consideration of the specific nature of the economy Some respondents appealed for a consideration of the specific nature of the Malaysian economy, pointing out that Malaysia was a developing economyAAAJ 12,3 376 with particular state policies in place. The result was a unique socio-economic context that required consideration before any standard on goodwill was imposed. For example, a former banker pointed out that it was the peculiar regulated environment in Malaysia that created huge goodwill accounting numbers, some portion of which might be represented by identifiable intangibles. MAS 6's amortisation requirements were problematic because they did not acknowledge that Malaysia was different: F F F my concern now is the user †¦ ow I am on the other side †¦ when I look at some standards, I say, it is not practical †¦ then I would have to structure the business deals in such a manner so I can overcome this problem †¦ For example, the goodwill issue †¦ you are going to have a lot of problems †¦ one of which is the peculiarities of listing in the country  ± because in Australia, you can go up and get the cost of listing, say $250,000 and merchant bankers fees, that is it.In Malaysia, because of the restricted nature and a premium allowed for listing  ± there is a value  ± sometimes if it is a loss-making company, there is a bigger value  ± so, you actually have this value concern that is there †¦ is being created because of the supply and demand †¦ may be until such a time as the premium drop (i-no-3). A corporate director, also involved in the standard committee, made a similar observation: F F F maybe in a developed country like the UK and Australia and all that †¦ ot much goodwill paid anyway when you acquire a company because their markets are very matured, their businesses are very matured, so maybe their purchase price is very close to their NTAs, but in a country like Malaysia, where there is h igh growth and lots of growth prospects, very often the valuation is on the basis of price-earnings capabilities and on that basis, you find that a high portion of the purchase price is in goodwill, the NTA is actually very low but the value of it is in the licence.If you took over Genting (the only Casino in Malaysia), for example †¦ the value is in the licence to operate a casino †¦ that is the main crux of the issue and it makes a lot of difference to the companies here because when you acquire other companies and you pay very high goodwill, obviously, you as a businessman, when you acquire it and you pay cash for it, unless you think it is really worth, why would you want to pay for it †¦ why should your accountant come and tell you it is not of value and depreciate it †¦I have got to write off $4 million a year for what? It is not necessary but because of your (the accounting profession's) insistence and your discomfort with goodwill as a concept, you arbitr arily ask me to write off $4 million a year and because of that my results get impacted by $4 million write-off and the public doesn't know  ± they don't understand the issues involved  ± so they think we haven't done well. That is the crux of it (i-no-2). The FPLC memorandum further supported the above views.In Malaysia, licences for activities such as banking, stockbroking, gaming and broadcasting are controlled and regulated. For example, no new banking licences have been or will be issued. Other licences are issued in a very restricted manner. The resulting scarcity leads to significant premiums being attributed to companies that hold such licences, more so than in developed countries that do regulate such industries but do not freeze the issuance of new licences (FPLC, 1993, p. 11).Therefore, the proponents of this view advocated that an accounting standard for goodwill should not be implemented in isolation from consideration of intangibles such as licences, brands, franch ises and trademarks. A member of the standards committee, being the technical manager of a Big Accounting Six firm, expressed a similar view: standard setting F F F in our environment, considering the regulated context F F F a developing country F F F there could be a need to kind of modify the standard in that light (i-no-42). in Malaysia 377 So did a technical consultant with a Big Six firm:There is a special case F F F because there are more special equity arrangements in Malaysia, whoever buys or sells a company F F F where there has been enormous amount of corporatisation activities F F F in the Malaysian accounts than in any other country in the world F F F it appears to be a reflection of the fragmented capital structure of the companies F F F when share price gets high F F F they like to cash in and try something else F F F whereas in the US, once a company has bought something F F F they tend to sit on it for a very long time F F F so it is wiped F F F Unless we push for a goodwill standard when the economy is good as it is now (early 1995)[22] (i-no-43; similar comments were made by a corporate executive (i-no-9)). A practitioner from the Big Six very much involved in the MACPA Standards Committees observed that: F F F in Malaysia, we pay excessively for companies that we buy.There again, can we say we are paying excessively when those prices that are paid are justified, when these prices that are paid are justified on relative low P/E ratios and those prices are vetted and allowed by the Securities Commission (SC)? The SC is not going to allow excessive pricing. I don't know whether developed countries are different from developing countries in that sense †¦ A country that is developing must be permitted or given a chance to develop. I am sure in the early days, the huge goodwill that was paid to US or European companies were not written off or amortised. But there came a point in time, through inflation and all that, over the years  ± those huge goodwill came to nothing.There could very well come a point of time where the half billion goodwill paid by Malaysian companies, 30 years down the road, the half billion still left in the books  ± it is so insignificant  ± the directors will write it off in one year (i-no-6). What this illustrates is that MACPA-linked practitioners and market respondents were more attentive to the implications of MAS 6 for the corporate sector than the MIA committee composed of non-Big Six personnel. The market respondents expressed concern that the profession (meaning the MIA) could not be expected to consider the socio-political implications of a standard, focusing instead on technical or theoretical considerations. That MACPA would not feel bound by such considerations is hardly surprising as a majority of the publicly listed companies are audited by the Big Six[23].Analysis of respondents' attitudes to MAS 6 further highlights the hostility of the MACPA/Big Six camp to MAS 6, as seen in Tables IV and V. Views on MAS 6 For Against No comments Total MACPA 0 21 12 33 MIA 6 2 6 14 Non-accountants 2 1 15 18 Total 8 24 33 65 Note: â€Å"Non-accountants† includes all respondents who were neither members of the MACPA or MIA Table IV. Respondents' views on MAS 6, highlighting MACPA/MIA differences AAAJ 12,3 MAS 6 received no support at all from MACPA or the Big Six. A significant majority of MIA people supported the standard; the non-Big Six firms also supported it, but only marginally[24]. The views of non-accountants were also more evenly divided than those of the MACPA/Big Six camp. `Interests† and the politicisation of standard setting Previous sections have already implied that standard setting in Malaysia became politicised over the course of the goodwill saga. This development was widely appreciated by the participants themselves and is explored in more detail below. The key point is that by the 1990s, the corporate sector was being taken very seriously , even by influential players within the profession. For example, one respondent from the Big Six noted: F F F basically, you have to know what the world is like in real terms †¦ whether businesses will adopt it freely, happily or not. Something which is good during a rising market will not necessarily be good during a falling market.So, this idea of accountants that anything you adopt should be consistent is an easy concept for certain things and to be realistic the consistency should be under certain circumstances of the market. Otherwise, you can make a rule over action, other people are not happy to abide by it, so people find arguments not to do it (i-no-34). 378 There was unanimous agreement among Big Six standard setters that business's wholehearted acceptance was crucial. Furthermore, the state was expected to acknowledge, or at least be aware of, this very point. A practitioner from a medium-sized firm said: Certainly, it is not racial politics  ± it is more governme nt in being democratically elected †¦ ust listen to people who have vested interest to protect and the government thinks their interest is more important than accountants  ± the accountants have no interest except they have a formalised way of doing things and since they have formalised a way of doing things, there is commonality in dealing with particular issues. Accountants do not gain or lose by implementing the standard  ± accountants can say because we have this standard, we know the financial statement would have some common feature F F F Otherwise you see goodwill going up and up all the time (i-no-8). The political nature of the standard setting process is evidenced by the lobbying activities carried out after MAS 6 was adopted by the MIA.Respondents felt that the state was more attentive to the big business lobby Views on MAS 6 For Against No comments Total Big Six 0 15 4 19 Non-Big Six 3 2 7 12 Others 5 7 22 34 Total 8 24 33 65 Table V. Respondents' views on MAS 6 , highlighting Big Six/Non-Big Six differences Note: â€Å"Others† includes MACPA/MIA members who had moved out of public practice. The MACPA respondents who had no comments had not been involved in the goodwill accounting discussions than to accounting principles. One saw the state's stand as â€Å"protecting the Accounting interest of certain parties against others† (i-no-58). standard setting Arguing interests As indicated above, the goodwill controversy underlined the segmentation of the Malaysian accountancy profession over time, under pressure from st