Going to College Essay Example for Free

Going to College Essay Going to college really does open a new chapter in everyone life, the beginning of new friendships, opportunities and growth. As a college student, a new student will be introduced to new areas of interest, broaden his vision of possibilities, establish and accomplish goals, develop lifelong friendships and define him or her in ways that he can imagine. Anyone on Earth already asked, or will ask himself where he would be in 10, 20 or even 30 years down the road. It is hard enough imagining what his life is going to be like in a year or two. Questions like â€Å"Where do you want to be today, tomorrow and in the future?† might be hard ones for young teenagers, who just graduated from high school. Attending college will help anyone answer those questions, develop a realistic plan for accomplishing his goals, and equip him with the knowledge and skills he will needs to see his goals through to the end. We usually assume that a college degree is necessary when it is not actually. We can also noticed that, because we place so much emphasis on degrees, people who have not attended college think of themselves badly, and this lack of self-confidence can really impede their success. There are some people for whom the college is actually not the best way to learn. However, a college education is an opportunity for everyone to learn what he loves. A new student can actually take the time to enjoy learning what he is truly passionate about. If he is interested in a variety of things and he is not sure where to focus, he can take his time to try them all. Nobody should look at college as a long-term contract that he is not going to be able to get out of once he starts. Anyone should feel like he needs to decide on a major area of study before starting college. College is a time for everyone to test himself, explore his interests, see what the possibilities are, and to see what he can achieve. Most other students attending college are going to be in the exact same boat . There are also a variety of resources, provided by most universities, to help anyone through college, including academic advisors, professors accessible on campus, tutoring academic support, full-time counseling staff and more. While the prospect of attending college may seem a bit daunting and even suffocating, a graduated high school teenager should not forget that he will still get to live his life. He will be able to participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, social groups, maintain a job, or even pursue a career while completing his studies. He may even find that college ends up being much more enjoyable and fulfilling than he ever expected. There are additional reasons as to why it is important to go to college. When students experience a post-secondary education, they have the opportunity to read books and listen to the lectures of top experts in their fields. This stimulation encourages students to think, ask questions, and explore new ideas. So, â€Å"why should you go to college?† The reasoning does not begin and end with the job aspect. A good education is beneficial from many different viewpoints. If any teenager is still asking himself why he should go to college, it is important to remember the significant amount of opportunity available for college graduates. The global economy is becoming increasingly more competitive, and in order to give him the best chance for a well-paying job, he must first understand the importance of college education. Attending college provides students with the knowledge and experience they are unable to receive from a secondary education, and finding a way to fund a higher education now can pay off in a huge way in the years to come.

Link Between Obesity and Lack of Sleep

Link Between Obesity and Lack of Sleep Zara J. Damania Abstract This study aims to investigate whether there is a bidirectional relationship between poor sleep quality, high body mass index (BMI) and disordered eating (binge-eating and night-time eating). Participants were a community-derived sample (N= 330) of people recruited through advertisements placed at the Australian National University (ANU) campus and a number of online platforms. An online questionnaire asked participants for their height, weight and recent experiences of sleep and eating. Multiple regression analyses found that: (a) worse overall sleep quality and binge-eating (but not night-time eating) were positively associated with high BMI accounting for a significant 8% of the variability in BMI; and (b) high BMI and night-time eating (but not binge-eating) were positively associated with worse overall sleep quality accounting for 35.6% of the variability in worse overall sleep quality. These results indicate that disordered eating (binge- and/or night-time eating) partially des cribe the association between poor sleep quality and high BMI. Future research could be conducted using objective- rather than self-reported- measures of sleep quality, BMI and eating behaviour to control for inaccuracies that self-reported measures might pose. The Bidirectional Association between High Body Mass Index, Poor Sleep Quality and Disordered Eating This paper investigates whether there is a bidirectional relationship between poor sleep quality, high body mass index and disordered eating. Current research corroborates the association between poor sleep quality and being overweight or obese. Sleep quality is a broad concept that includes: sleep duration, difficulty falling and/or staying asleep and the use of sleep medications (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman Kupfer, 1989; Krystal Edinger, 2008). This study makes use of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure sleep quality. PSQI is an effective and widely used self-reported instrument that is high in reliability and validity, consisting of questions that are easy to understand and answer (Buysse et al., 1989; Smyth, 1999). PSQI measures subjective sleep quality in seven distinct areas, including: sleep latency and sleep duration (Krystal Edinger, 2008; Smyth, 1999). One of the key interests in this study is the association between PSQ and having a high body mass index (BMI); i.e., being overweight or obese. According to the World Health Organisation’s classification, a BMI of ≠¥25 indicates that a person is overweight and ≠¥30 indicates that a person is obese (World Health Organization, 2000). Empirical evidence corroborates an association between PSQ and having a high BMI (hBMI). For instance, longitudinal studies and studies on large mixed-race and socioeconomically diverse samples found that sleeping less than seven hours and having trouble falling and/or staying asleep was positively associated with hBMI (Gangwisch, Malaspina, Boden-Albala Heymsfield, 2005; Meyer, Wall, Larson, Laska Neumark-sztainer, 2012). Furthermore, empirical findings from cross-sectional studies with mixed-race samples indicate that: obese individuals experience shorter sleep durations compared to non-obese individuals; for every hour of sleep lost th e risk of obesity increased by 80%; and PSQ leads to decreases in physical activity which is consequently associated with hBMI (Cappuccio, et al., 2008; Gupta, Mueller, Chan Meininger, 2002) Very few studies that attempted to explain how PSQ is associated with hBMI found that sleep apnea might mediate this relationship (Yeh Brown, 2014). Sleep apnea refers to sleep disturbance due to continual interruptions to airflow through the nose and mouth on at least 30 occasions during a seven-hour sleep period (Guilleminault, Tilkian Dement, 1976). However, sleep apnea is relatively uncommon in the population (Tishler, Larkin, Schulchter Redline, 2003) while PSQ is more common (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman Kupfer, 1989). Therefore, it can be inferred that only a small proportion of hBMI individuals with PSQ suffer from sleep apnea and there might be other potential explanations for the association between PSQ and hBMI (Yeh Brown, 2014). Given that no other studies have attempted to further investigate factors that mediate the relationship between PSQ and hBMI, this study attempts to do so by investigating whether disordered eating mediates this relationship. Disordered eating includes both: binge eating and night-time eating. Binge eating (BE) refers to consuming unusually large amounts of food in a relatively short time-span and perceived lack of control over one’s eating behaviour (American Psychiatric Association, as cited in Johnson, Carr-Nangle, Nangle, Antony Zayfert, 1997). This study uses the Binge Eating Scale (BES) a questionnaire that measures whether and to what extent individuals binge eat by inquiring about their eating behaviours and tendencies (Gormally, Black, Daston Rardin, 1982). Whereas, night-time eating (NTE) refers to consuming >25% of one’s caloric intake after dinner and/or after waking up at night, at least twice a week (Allison et al., 2010; Stunkard, GraceWolff). This stud y uses the Night-time Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) to identify whether and the frequency of which participants engage in NTE behaviour (Striegel-Moore, Franko Garcia, 2009). Yeh and Brown (2014) suggest that difficulty falling asleep and shorter sleep durations provide hBMI individuals with more time to eat, consequently leading to weight gain over time. This is in accordance with Andersen, Stunkard, Sorenson, Peterson and Heitmann (2004) and Crispim, Zimberg, dos Reis, Tufik and de Mello (2011) who respectively found that NTE was associated with both PSQ and weight gain in hBMI individuals. Similarly, empirical research has indicated that BE is associated with PSQ and hBMI in obese individuals (Yeh Brown, 2014). In light of both: the lack of research investigating potential mediators of the association between PSQ and hBMI and research indicating that disordered eating is associated with PSQ and hBMI, the present study aimed to determine whether disordered eating (NTE and BE) mediates the relationship between PSQ and hBMI. The hypotheses of this study were: (1) Poor sleep quality and disordered eating will be associated with high BMI; and, (2) High BMI and disordered eating will be associated with higher scores of poor sleep quality. Method Participants Participants were recruited through advertisements placed at the Australian National University (ANU) campus and a number of online platforms. Study inclusion criteria were: being ≠¥ 18 years old and a BMI of 18.5 (normal weight) or more. 678 participants opted to participate in this study; however data from only 330 participants were used because the remaining 348 did not meet the study inclusion criteria or did not complete the study. Of the 330 participants, 107 (32.4%) were males, 223 (67.6%) were females, the ages ranged from 18-87 years and the mean age was 27.42 years (SD=10.36). Procedure Participants accessed the study by clicking on an embedded URL in the advertisement. If they met the study criteria and consented to participate, they responded to an online questionnaire inquiring about: their recent experiences of sleep and eating and height and weight, to calculate their BMI. SPSS statistical software (version 22) was used to perform all statistical analyses. Two standard multiple regression analyses were performed to test the two hypotheses. Materials Demographics including education level were collected. BMI was calculated by computing participants’ weight (in kilograms) over their height (in meters); with a BMI of ≠¥25 indicating overweightness and ≠¥30 indicating obesity. Next, the PSQI assessed seven subjective domains of sleep. An overall PSQI score (ranging from 0 to 21) of >5 indicated moderate to severe sleep difficulties. Overall sleep score has high internal consistency reliability with a Cronbachs ÃŽ ± of .83 (Smith Wegener, 2003). Thirdly, BE was measured using the BES; which consists of 16-items reflecting behaviours and feelings related to eating. An overall BES score (ranging from 0 to 46) of >27 indicated binge-eating and a higher overall score indicated worse binge eating. In this study, BES had high internal consistency with a Cronbachs ÃŽ ± of .92. Finally, NTE was measured using NEQ which consists of 15 questions. An overall NEQ score (ranging from 0 to 52) of >25 indicated NTE behaviour. In t his study, the NEQ showed sufficient internal consistency with a Cronbachs alpha of .73. Results A number of outliers were detected for each of the variables; however, none of these were excluded because they represented clinically relevant cases. Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics of overall sleep quality, BMI, BE and NTE were found to be non-significant (i.e., p); which means that these key variables were normally distributed. Two multiple regression analyses (MRA) were conducted to investigate whether: (a) PSQ and disordered eating (BE and NTE) were associated with high BMI; and (b) whether high BMI and disordered eating (BE and NTE) were associated with higher scores of PSQ. Means and standard deviations of the key variables are shown in Table 1. Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations of Key Study Variables The first MRA found that overall PSQ and BE (but not NTE) were positively associated with high BMI (the dependent variable) accounting for a significant 8% of the variability in BMI, R2 =.080, adjusted R2=.071, F (3,326) = 9.40, p=.000. Examination of the beta weights suggested that BE was the strongest unique contributor to high BMI (see Table 2).Unstandardized (B) and standardized (ÃŽ ²) regression coefficients for each predictor in the regression model are provided in Table 2. Table 2 Unstandardized (B) and Standardized (ÃŽ ²) Regression Coefficients for each Predictor in a Regression Model Predicting high BMI *p The second MRA found that high BMI and NTE (but not BE) were positively associated with overall PSQ (the dependent variable) accounting for 35.6% of the variability in overall PSQ, R2 =.356, adjusted R2=.350, F (3,326) = 59.99, p=.000. Unstandardized (B) and standardized (ÃŽ ²) regression coefficients for each predictor in the regression model are provided (see Table 3). Table 3 Unstandardized (B) and Standardized (ÃŽ ²) Regression Coefficients for each Predictor in a Regression Model Predicting Worse Overall Sleep Quality Night-eating .032 .090* *p Discussion This study aimed to determine whether disordered eating (NTE and BE) explains the relationship between PSQ and hBMI. The first hypothesis was mostly supported by the results which indicated that PSQ and BE (but not NTE) were positively associated with hBMI. The second hypothesis was also mostly supported by the results which indicated that hBMI and NTE (but not BE) were positively associated with PSQ. First, the finding that: there is a bidirectional relationship between hBMI and PSQ is in accordance with empirical research findings and meta-analyses which found that: (a) sleeping less than seven hours, having trouble falling and/or staying asleep was positively associated with hBMI; (b) obese individuals experience shorter sleep durations compared to non-obese individuals; and (c) for every hour of sleep lost the risk of obesity increased by 80%; (Cappuccio, et al., 2008; Gangwisch, Malaspina, Boden-Albala Heymsfield, 2005; Gupta, Mueller, Chan Meininger, 2002). Second, the finding that: BE was associated with hBMI was in accordance with Yeh and Brown (2014) whose meta-analyses also found that BE was positively associated with hBMI. Third, the finding that NTE was associated with PSQ is consistent with those of Crispim, Zimberg, dos Reis, Tufik and de Mello (2011) who found that NTE was associated with PSQ. The findings that did not support the hypotheses of the study included: NTE is associated with high BMI and BE is associated with PSQ. These findings are inconsistent with those of Andersen, Stunkard, Sorenson, Peterson and Heitmann (2004) who found that NTE was associated with weight gain in individuals with hBMI and Yeh and Brown (2014) whose meta-analyses found that BE is associated with PSQ. Overall, these findings mostly corroborate empirical findings and theories which claim that: there is a bidirectional positive association between hBMI and PSQ, BE is positively associated with hBMI and NTE is positively associated with PSQ. However, it is possible that there are alternative explanations for the results of this study and /or potential confounds that might have influenced the results. The first limitation of the study is that the majority of the participants were females, well-educated and of a normal weight. Therefore, it is potentially difficult to generalize these findings to the mixed gendered populations, individuals with and less well-educated populations. Second, these findings are based on subjective self-reported measures of sleep quality, eating behaviour and BMI. This is potentially problematic because individuals might be inaccurate- due to not knowing the responses to particular questions or deliberately lying- in providing response. Lastly, internet acce ss was required to participate in this study; this is a limitation because it excludes individuals who cannot gain internet access easily and/or individuals who are not technologically knowledgeable. Overall, the results of this study implicate that individuals should strive to improve their eating and sleeping habits since they seem to affect each other and that NTE should be controlled because it is associated with PSQ. In light of the limitations of this study, future research could include: mixed-gender samples (with equal amounts of male and female patticipants), using paper-based questionnaires and using objective measures of BMI, sleep quality and eating behaviour rather than subjective/self-report methods. Incorporating these suggestions could provide findings that are: more easily generalizable to the general population and more accurate measures of the key variables in the study. In conclusion, this report investigated whether poor sleep quality and disordered eating (binge-eating and night-time eating) were associated with high BMI and whether high BMI and disordered eating were associated with higher scores of poor sleep quality. The findings indicate that poor sleep quality and binge-eating (but not night-time eating) were positively associated with high BMI and high BMI and night-time eating (but not binge-eating) were positively associated with overall poor sleep quality. These findings provide useful implications for future research and for individuals’ health behaviours.

Duplicitous Characters in Shakespeares Othello :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Duplicitous Characters in Othello Throughout Shakespeare’s play Othello, I’ve noticed that a couple of the characters in the play are duplicitous because they act one way when they are encountered with another person and act differently when the other person isn’t around. A duplicitous person is someone who can act like a friend to your face but when they aren’t around that person they tend to talk behind their backs, and don’t act like a friend. Duplicitous people are fake because you never really know if they are your true friends because friends don’t act like that when you aren’t around them. I don’t think there should be duplicitous people in the world because they are hurtful people. Now that you are familiarized with what a duplicitous person is, it is obvious that a couple of the characters in this play fit that category. Iago is a very duplicitous person. He is a villain and is Othello’s ancient. Iago seems to be everyone’s friend but all he really wants is to hurt and destroy the lives of people. Iago uses both Cassio and Roderigo to help him destroy Othello. From the very beginning Iago dislikes Othello because he gave Cassio the job as a lieutenant instead of him. In Act 1 scene 1 lines 10-27 just states how he dislikes Othello because of what he did. Since Roderigo also dislikes Othello because he had eloped with Desdemona his lover, Iago will use Roderigo to help him get back at Othello. Iago wants to notify Brabantio who is Desdemona’s father of what his daughter has done and he as asked Roderigo to help him. Iago says " Call up her father. Rouse him, make after him, poison his delight, proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen, and though he in a fertile climate dwell, plaque him with flies. Though that his joy be joy, yet throw such changes of vexation on ‘t as it may lose color. (Act 1 scene 1 lines 61-75) Iago is using Roderigo hatred towards Othello to help him notify Brabantio of what is going on between his daughter and Othello, thus causing him to be upset and doing something to Othello. Another thing Iago does to Roderigo is make it seem like he was the only one who told Brabantio about what is going on so Iago wouldn’t get in trouble but Roderigo will.

Misery of Sylvia Plath Essay -- Poetry

Sylvia Plath: Slanting the Scale of Misery It is often the dismal and gloomy poems that compel us as readers to wonder what was occurring in the poet’s mind, rather than the rhymes of flowers and sunshine. Poems about despair and sadness induce our own emotions and generate speculation as to how such negative thoughts transfer from one’s own mind to the paper, maintaining their sense of torment. Sylvia Plath’s inner suffering is effectively conveyed by way of her disturbing images and noticeable language. To communicate her private pain, she uses a mass event, the Holocaust, as her own expression and by doing so she is robbing the true victims of this historically tragic event for her personal representation. Plath is a Massachusetts native who sustained an exterior perfection throughout her childhood and into her early years at Smith College. However, the death of her father years before seemed to hold lasting distress upon her and a few years into her college career she attempted to commit suicide, which proved to be only the start of her emotional trepidations. After college, she married the English poet, Ted Hughes, with whom she moved back and forth from London to Massachusetts and eventually had two children. After suspicions of infidelity their unstable marriage came to an end. Plath remained in London with her children where she continued writing. Ultimately, during one of the coldest winters on record, her loneliness overcame her ambition and Sylvia Plath killed herself. It was a tragic end to an even more tragically forlorn life, but she left the world with admirable literary works to remember her by. (www.sylviaplath.info) Plath’s poems are recognized for their personally honest annotations of he... ...lved in the Holocaust. To say that Sylvia Plath is a Holocaust writer is incorrect. To say that she attempted to compare her sorrows to that of years of severe suffering by millions accurate. To say that Sylvia Plath’s comparison is shocking and offensive is correct. Works Cited Kutner, Bob. "Bob Kutner: Lamp Shade Made Out of Skin." Holocaust Memorial Day. 26 Nov. 2007 _kutner/lamp_shade_made_out_of_skin.htm>. Olidort, Shoshana. "Sylvia Plath and the Holocaust." The Commentator. 22 Nov. 2005. 26 Nov. 2007 Culture/Sylvia.Plath.And.The.Holocaust-1058400-page2.shtml>. Steinberg, Peter K. "A Celebration, This Is." Biography. 5 Nov. 2002. 26 Nov. 2007 .

Proposed Design for a Garden for the Blind :: Architecture Design Essays

Proposed Design for a Garden for the Blind As a largely visually-reliant society, much of botanical garden design have focused primarily on visual presentation, whether in flower color or in garden composition. Slowly, however, sensory gardens appealing to our more underutilized senses of smell, sound, touch, and even taste are appearing around the country and the globe. While these unique parks may specifically have blind individuals in mind, sensory gardens also appeal to anyone in the general population who would like to expand their sensory horizons. The following is just one proposal for a sensory garden design: The entrance to the garden should be visually, nasally, and tactilely stimulating. A metal gate covered with entangled goldflame honeysuckle vines (Lonicera x heckrottii ) would serve as a colorful, aromatic greeting and give visitors a small taste of the experience to come. These perennial plants also attract hummingbirds and butterflies, whose activities would surely stimulate the ears. The general layout of the garden would include a continuous serpentine path lined with raised plant beds (to minimize stooping and bending) on both sides. The path can even wrap around a standing rectangular planter to maximize usable area. The path would also have several alcoves or nooks, which would give visitors a resting area where they could linger about, smelling flowers and feeling leaf textures. Park benches present throughout the park would accommodate walking visitors who want to simply breathe in the lovely smells of the tea olive tree, for instance. Smooth wood railings on both sides of the path should run all throughout the garden to serve as directional guides. A change in material texture (to a metal, for instance) could be used to indicate an alcove area. Metal plaques in Braille embedded in the edges of the concretealcoves would provide general information about the various plants. These plaques can also have buttons that can be pushed for an audio reading of the inscription. According to the book Sensory Design, uneven pathways heighten our awareness of surfaces by compelling us to use our kinesthetic sense to perceive the changes in the ground. For the disabled, a slow-sloping path (upward and downward) would engage the visitor in using this sensory system. Proposed Design for a Garden for the Blind :: Architecture Design Essays Proposed Design for a Garden for the Blind As a largely visually-reliant society, much of botanical garden design have focused primarily on visual presentation, whether in flower color or in garden composition. Slowly, however, sensory gardens appealing to our more underutilized senses of smell, sound, touch, and even taste are appearing around the country and the globe. While these unique parks may specifically have blind individuals in mind, sensory gardens also appeal to anyone in the general population who would like to expand their sensory horizons. The following is just one proposal for a sensory garden design: The entrance to the garden should be visually, nasally, and tactilely stimulating. A metal gate covered with entangled goldflame honeysuckle vines (Lonicera x heckrottii ) would serve as a colorful, aromatic greeting and give visitors a small taste of the experience to come. These perennial plants also attract hummingbirds and butterflies, whose activities would surely stimulate the ears. The general layout of the garden would include a continuous serpentine path lined with raised plant beds (to minimize stooping and bending) on both sides. The path can even wrap around a standing rectangular planter to maximize usable area. The path would also have several alcoves or nooks, which would give visitors a resting area where they could linger about, smelling flowers and feeling leaf textures. Park benches present throughout the park would accommodate walking visitors who want to simply breathe in the lovely smells of the tea olive tree, for instance. Smooth wood railings on both sides of the path should run all throughout the garden to serve as directional guides. A change in material texture (to a metal, for instance) could be used to indicate an alcove area. Metal plaques in Braille embedded in the edges of the concretealcoves would provide general information about the various plants. These plaques can also have buttons that can be pushed for an audio reading of the inscription. According to the book Sensory Design, uneven pathways heighten our awareness of surfaces by compelling us to use our kinesthetic sense to perceive the changes in the ground. For the disabled, a slow-sloping path (upward and downward) would engage the visitor in using this sensory system.

Berkshire Hathaway Essay

ISSUES Warren Buffet invoked the substance-over-form concept to justify accounting for the GEICO and General Foods transactions as dividends distributions rather than sales of stock. Do you agree with Buffet that the substance of each of the proportionate redemptions was a dividend and not a sale of stock? In deciding how to account for an unusual or unique transaction for financial reporting purposes, should one consider the tax treatment applied to the transaction? Did Peat Marwick have a right to change its position on the proper accounting treatment for the stock redemptions? What factor or factors may have been responsible for Peat Marwick’s decision to change its position regarding these transactions? FACTS In 1983, GEICO announced plans to purchase several million shares of its outstanding common stock for $60 per share. Among GEICO’s largest stockholders was Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., an investment company. Executives of the two companies decided that Berkshire would tender approximately 350,000 if its GEICO shares in the stock buyback plan, which would allow Berkshire to treat the transaction as a proportionate redemption. In a proportionate redemption, the percentage equity interest of on company in a second company is maintained at the level that existed immediately before the transaction. For federal taxation purposes, the proceeds received by the investor company in a proportionate redemption are taxed as dividends by applying the effective intercorporate dividend tax rate. In 1983, that tax rate was approximately 6.9 percent. Berkshire also chose to treat the proceeds from the redemption of the GEICO stock as dividend income in its 1983 financial statements. Berkshire’s audit firm, Marwick, Mitchell & Company, approved that accounting treatment. In 1984, another company in which Berkshire had a significant equity interest,  General Foods, announced a stock buyback plan. Again, Berkshire structured the sale of stock to General Foods so that the transaction qualified as a proportionate redemption. Berkshire also opted to report the proceeds received from General Foods as dividend income in its 1984 financial statements. In late 1984, representatives of Peat Marwick told Berkshire executives that the proceeds of the General Foods stock redemption should not be considered dividend income for financial reporting purposes. Instead, Peat Marwick maintained that the transaction should be recorded as a sale of stock with the difference between the selling price and cost reported as a capital gain on Berkshire’s income statement. This treatment of the transaction was less favorable for financial reporting purposes that the option preferred by Berkshire since it did not allow the total proceeds received from General Foods to be reported as revenue. Peat Marwick’s recommendation annoyed Berkshire’s executives. The accounting firm’s next decision irritated those executives even more. Marwick insisted that Berkshire restate its 1983 financial statements to reflect the GECICO stock redemption as a sale of stock rather than as a dividend distribution. Warren Buffet, Berkshire’s CEO, discussed the GEICO and General Foods stock redemption at length in his company’s 1984 annual report. Buffet disputed Peat Marwick’s contention that the transactions should be treated as sales of stock and not as dividend distributions. He then explained why he eventually agreed to accept the audit firm’s position by saying â€Å"†¦to avoid a qualified auditor’s opinion, we have adopted Peat Marwick’s 1984 view and restated 1983 accordingly.† Buffet as confirmed that Marwick’s decision had no effect on Berkshire’s business with GEICO or General Foods, their cash, taxes, and market value and tax basis of our holdings all remain the same. However, treating the General Foods transaction as a sale of stock reduced Berkshire’s 1984 net income by 8 percent. Applying that accounting treatment to the 1983 GEICO transaction reduced Berkshire’s previously reported net income for 19 83 by 1 percent. The Wall Street Journal reported the disagreement between Berkshire  executives and Peat Marwick that evolved from the proportionate redemption transactions. When asked to comment on Buffet’s criticism of Peat Marwick in his company’s 1984 annual report, a Peat Marwick partner simply noted, â€Å"It’s the client’s prerogative to disagree. Our report speaks for itself.† Another prerogative of an audit client is to change auditors. In 1985, Berkshire retained Touche Ross & Company to audit its financial statements. As required by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire filed an 8-K statement with that federal agency to disclose the change in auditors. In that statement, Berkshire reported it was â€Å"dissatisfied† with Peat Marwick’s inconsistency regarding the proper accounting treatment for stock redemptions. AUTHORITY/ANALYSIS The substance over form accounting concept means that the economic substance of transactions and events must be recorded in the financial statements rather than just their legal form in order to present a true and fair view of the affairs of the entity. Preparers of the financial statements should use their judgment when employing the substance over form concept, which helps to derive the business sense from the transactions and events and to present them in a manner that best reflects their true essence. In some instances the legal aspects of transactions and events may have to be disregarded in order to provide more useful and relevant information to the users of financial statements. The concept of substance over form is imperative to the representation and reliability of information contained in the financial statements. A proportionate stock redemption is a transaction in which ownership interests are redeemed proportionate to the total shares outstanding. As a result, each shareholder owns the same percentage of the company after the redemption as before. Buffet was justified in recording each of the proportionate redemptions as a dividend and not as a sale of stock, because although GEICO and General Foods repurchased their stocks, Berkshire still maintained the same percentage of equity interest as it did before the transaction. Also, Buffet followed federal taxation purposes, which stated  that the proceeds received by the investor company in a proportionate redemption are taxed as dividends; therefore the transaction was recorded as dividends not sale of stock. By placing the responsibility on the preparers of the financial statements to actively consider the economic reality of transactions and events to be reflected in the financial statements, it will be more difficult for the preparers to justify the accounting of transactions in a manner that does fairly reflect the substance of the situation. According to the PCAOB’s AU Section 316.66, â€Å"†¦the auditor may become aware of significant transactions that are outside the normal course of business for the entity, or that otherwise appear to be unusual given the auditor’s understanding of the entity and its environment. The auditor should gain an understanding of the business rationale for such transactions and whether that rational (or the lack thereof) suggests that the transactions may have been entered into to engage in fraudulent financial reporting or conceal misappropriation of assets.† (PCAOB, 2002) AU Section 314.21 states that the auditors’ understanding of the entity and its environment consists of an understanding of several aspects, including industry, regulatory, and other external factors (PCAOB, 2002). Taxation would be an example of the regulatory aspect; therefore, one should consider the tax treatment when deciding how to account for unusual transactions. In the case of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., since the IRS considers proportionate redemptions to be equivalent to dividend distributions, and the proceeds from the repurchasing of stock are taxed as dividends; to ensure consistency, the transaction should have been recorded as dividends. The PCAOB states that the auditor should recognize an adjustment to correct a misstatement in previously issued financial statements to ensure the company’s financial statements remain consistent in the auditor’s report, especially if the matter has a material effect on the financial statements (PCAOB, AU 508.16, 2004). Since Peat Marwick was the auditing firm, it had the right to change its position on the proper accounting treatment for the stock redemptions, and since Berkshire wanted to preserve the unqualified  opinion, the company complied with the auditors. In order for Peat Marwick to maintain its reputation as professional auditors and providing quality audits, the firm decided it was in their best interest to record the GEICO and General Foods transactions as sales of stock by Berkshire, rather than as the receipt of dividends. Under this accounting approach, a portion of the cost of the Berkshire’s investment in the stock of each company would be charged against the redemption payment and any gain would be reported as a capital gain, not as dividend income. This is an accounting approach only, having no bearing on taxes; although, Peat Marwick agreed that the transactions were dividends for IRS purposes. Since the change in accounting treatment reduced Berkshire’s net income by 1% and 8% in 1983 and 1984, respectively, Peat Marwick might have deemed this as material and thought it was necessary to correct the way the transactions were recorded. According to the PCAOB, in evaluating consistency of financial statements, the auditor should evaluate a change in accounting principle to determine whether: the newly adopted accounting principle under GAAP, the method of accounting for the effect of the change is in conformity with GAAP, the disclosures related to the accounting change are adequate, and the company has justified that the alternative accounting principle is preferable (PCAOB, AU 508.17A, 2004). Any of these factors may have been responsible for Peat Marwick’s decision to change its position regarding these transactions. Although recording the stock redemption as a dividend complied with taxation rules under the IRS, it may not have been in accordance with GAAP. Berkshire may not have justified that recording the stock redemption as a dividend was preferable. Although it was preferable to Berkshire, because total proceeds from General Foods would have been reported as revenue, increasing Berkshire’s net income; it may not have been preferable to all the users of Berkshire’s financial statements, because net income would have been over stated. Lastly, in Berkshire’s letter to its shareholders, it stated that the GEICO and General Foods transactions were â€Å"virtually† identical, except  that General Foods repurchased its stock over a period of time in the open market, whereas GEICO had made a â€Å"one-shot† tender offer. In the General Foods case we sold to the company, on each day that it repurchased shares, but left Berkshire’s ownership percentage unchanged. Maybe this difference triggered Peat Marwick to look back into the stock redemption, where they found discrepancies with the accounting treatments and recommended that Berkshire make adjustments to report the transactions appropriately. RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSIONS After Berkshire’s 1984 audit, the company released Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Company as its auditing firm. Berkshire reported that it was â€Å"dissatisfied† with Peat Marwick’s inconsistency regarding the proper accounting treatment for stock redemption. Corporate non-liquidating distributions to shareholders are usually treated as dividends income; however, distributions that qualify as stock redemptions are treated the same as a sale of stock by the investor to the investee. Therefore, capital gain treatment normally results. Corporate shareholders prefer stock redemptions to be treated as dividend income, because corporate shareholders received the benefits of the dividends, which are deductible and in most cases escape taxation. Qualifying stock redemption results in capital gains that are fully taxable at the corporation’s highest marginal rate. Warren Buffet employed the substance over form concept while accounting for Berkshire’s stock redemption transactions. Since the IRS considers proportionate redemptions to be equivalent to dividend distributions and are taxed accordingly, Buffet justified the accounting treatment used to record these truncations. References http://www.accountax.us/Taxation-%20Corporations%20Lecture%20V.pdf http://www.aicpa.org/Research/Standards/AuditAttest/DownloadableDocuments/AU-00314.pdf http://pcaobus.org/standards/auditing/pages/au508.aspx http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1984.html http://pcaobus.org/standards/auditing/pages/au316.aspx#au_316.52

Marketing Strategies Essay

Marketing strategies are not effective and they are just a fad for different organizations. Agree/Disagree Sultan Lashari In statement Marketing strategies are not effective and they are just a fad does not fit in the parameters of agreeable statement; it forces us to consider the health of the statement in terms of profit impact of marketing strategy. Marketing strategy many have its share of setbacks in the marketing moves if that is given the status â€Å"not being effective†. It does not mean holding back growth. Companies often desire a balanced product portfolio. [ (Kotler) ] To treat marketing strategy as just a fad is on the wrong basis, because the strategy changes in terms of several key strategic factors that can be explored to make changes of the situation. The term fad is a product life cycle type and a fad curve represents quick popularity and a sudden decline and extended fad except that residual sales at a fraction of earlier sales after the initial success . A sophisticated marketing planner must be able to ask the right questions and planning strategy must relate to the problem of building right kind of approach which is nothing but a path way to achieve the desired end in competitive market environment. [ (Forsyth) ] In order that marketing strategy is shaped to win-win situation that is to be termed effective, it must see that marketing strategy is devise around the stage, a particular product is in the product life cycle which has a typical pattern from traditional, boom or classic, fad, extended fad, seasonal or fashion, revival or nostalgia and bust. In fad time, sales look like: FAD Sales Time In devising marketing strategy, we must keep in mind that it can only be considered effective if we do not disregard the basic fact that product promotion has a direct bearing to the stage a product is at in the product life cycle. Formulating and implementing marketing strategy is a distinct decision-making focus. Planning and executing the marketing strategy involves many inter-related decisions such as: what to do, when to do it, and how it should be done. [ (Forsyth) ] This is got to be based on the nature of the organization and its product portfolio. The reason for calling marketing strategies ineffective or different organizations could be attributed to something for saying sake. As a matter of fact, marketing strategies involve various market situations and one need to make decisions intelligently. The process of formulating and implementing marketing strategies involves corporate objectives and strategy. [ (Forsyth) ] The marketing is the game of variable and by placing heavier accent on one or more of the marketing variables that is product, price, promotion and distribution, the winning platform can be labeled. The entire marketing concept leaves much to imagination in developing correct mix [ (Kotler) ]. In a nutshell, devising marketing strategies necessitates due diligence on the stage, the product is in the product life cycle because you have to understand market opportunities in or business level objective, for new market entries, for growth markets an or mature and declining markets. This enables the marketers for correct target marketing and product positioning. [ (Kotler) ] Works Cited Forsyth, P. Every thing you need to know. Kotler, P. Management skills in marketing.