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One Essay on English - Academic Development

1703HUM Effective Writing Skills Griffith University Assessment 3

This is a 1,500 essay that I worked on in 2010. The subject is usually offered to international students (similar to Academic and Professional Skills Development).

Topic

You are required to write either an academic essay or personal essay of 1,500 words. You must respond to ONE of the following two questions/directives: 1) Academic essay: Discuss the following statement – ‘The intimate and highly subjective approach of the personal essay might be entertaining but it does not aid or develop knowledge on a subject.’

2) Personal essay: Write a personal essay on essay writing and its relationship to knowledge.

Essay - Topic 1

There are a lot of distinctions between personal essay and academic essay, with the former is often regarded as a form of entertainment, while the later is used an educational device. In fact, some authors have argued that: “The intimate and highly subjective approach of the personal essay might be entertaining but it does not aid or develop knowledge on a subject”. This essay would discuss about the above statement.

The discussion of this essay will include three main parts. Firstly, it will provide a definition of personal essay in order to point out the differences of objective and purpose of personal essay to those of academic essay. Next, the essay will present some main characteristics of personal essay. These will serve as the basis for the discussion about why the writing style in personal essay is considered to be more entertaining than that of academic essay. Then, the topic of the discussion will be changed to knowledge and it will explain why personal essay is said not to contribute to the development of knowledge on a subject.

According to Andrew Crichton (2010), a personal essay on any subject is described as a representation of the author and how he or she can come up with his or her opinion about that subject. Most of the time, the ideas are taken from the author’s direct experience in life. Thus, the purpose and objective of personal essay are to provide a personal opinion about a topic. However, everybody’s opinion is quite different from each other. Therefore, it is safe to say that what the author wants is to present a one-person’s point of view, which is his or her own. In contrast, even though an academic essay or research paper is also designed to answer question on a topic, the answer has to be based on the author’s research or a scientific approach rather than the author’s pure opinion. The purpose in here is to develop a persuasive argument that is backed up by supporting evidence (Coloe 2008).   Furthermore, unlike an academic essay, which targets a specific group of readers such as lecturers or industry specialists, the personal essay is written for quite a wider range of audience (Crichton 2010). This causes the writing style to be quite different between the two types of essay.

Because of differences in the purpose and objective between personal and academic paper, there are two main characteristics in personal essay that helps to explain why it is more entertaining than academic essay. They are the information content and writing style. Firstly, in writing a personal essay, the author’s ideas are often drawn from his direct experience about the subject. According to Priestley (1925), he discusses about the use of one’s own experience as a resource of ideas that writers could rely on as follow: “This type of essay begins with an experience; it may be some remembrance of childhood or something that happened yesterday, and then gradually, almost insensibly, draws out of this experience some general idea that is then expanded, touched gently, as it were, with the philosophic finger and then laid down.”  

Because of this experience-oriented approach, the ideas that the writer lays down in his essay would be unique as different people may look at the same event in different ways or each of them may have a different interpretation for a particular event. As a result, the readers are invited to consider the topic through the eyes of the writer. A good example about using different perspectives to look at an event is given by Carl Burns, who was quoted by Sharman and Vujicich, as: “A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveller on the plane sees the farmhouse, and thinks of home” (Sharman & Vujicich 2003, p. 70). Since each person has a unique way of perceiving the world around him, by putting on the writer’s perspective, readers can experience a whole new world. Thus, the new and varied experience contained in personal essay is one reason that makes it more entertaining to read (Harris 1996, p. 934). On the other hand, one of the requirements in academic essay is that the ideas should never be used based on personal experience without the support of empirical research (Coloe 2008). Academic essay is aimed at speaking only the real facts, which leave no room for speculation or subjective assumption. Therefore, the writer in academic essay gets to be very careful about what being written down on papers unless he has proof for it. Because of this limitation, the author in academic writing cannot use imagination, which, in contrast, is used freely in personal essay, to colour the content of the essay (Harris 1996, p. 934).        

The second characteristic worth mentioning is about the difference in the writing style between personal essay and academic essay. On the one hand, personal essay, like its name suggests, requires author to include not just his personal opinion, but also his attitudes, feelings, and emotions. These expressions act as a supporting background for the essay, which makes it more real, which according to Harris (1996, p.934), as if the author was talking face-to-face to readers in a conversation. This connection actually helps to establish a relationship between the author and the audience. In other words, by expressing the feelings and thoughts of the author about the topic, personal essay can actually gain empathy and appreciation from its readers. This makes the reading experience a lot more interesting compared to the dull and impersonal writing style of academic essay (Sullivan 2003, p.41). In fact, author Sullivan (2003, p.41) actually describes academic writing is one in which the self must remains off stage and that the facts should be delivered without any emotion or comment.

Furthermore, in his article “Literary boredom”, Professor Jonathan Wolff (2007) describes one reason why academic writing is boring is because the writing has to be ordered, precise and all ideas must be explicit. By “explicit” he means that there is no “hint” or “implied” or “surprise” in the essay. As a result, the structure of academic essay is too rigid and too predictable to make it exciting for readers. This is in contrast with personal essay, which often relies on the unsaid, for example like the “Iceberg theory”, which was pioneered by Hemingway. As discussed by Thomas Strychacz (2003, p. 128), this theory uses a metaphor of an iceberg, which reveals only one-eighth of its size on the surface and the remaining hidden under the water. This hidden meaning is what makes the writing much more mysterious, full of surprise that keeps readers’ attention.  

Before discussing about why personal essay is not contributing to the development of knowledge on a subject, it is worthwhile to discuss about the real meaning of knowledge in this context. According to Bruce Aune (2008), there are three main groups of knowledge. The first group contains cognitive abilities that result from learning and practice such as the ability to use English for a non-English speaker. The second group involves familiarity and personal experience, which is referred to as recognitional abilities. For example, by acquaintance someone may know a person by name or sight. The last group refers knowledge as facts that are gathered through study or observation (Aune 2008). This last group about the meaning of knowledge is what academic paper tries to develop. Through empirical research or the support of other study, academic essay can draw an objective conclusion about the subject. There is no room for speculation, assumption or pure opinion in here. In fact, it also draws a boundary between personal essay and academic essay. Because personal essay presents subjective one-side opinions of the author about a topic, these opinions are not persuasive enough and do not fit in the definition of knowledge and they can only be treated as personal beliefs. For these beliefs to qualify as knowledge, they must be based upon sufficiently good reasons (Klein 1998). Because personal essay is often written based on personal opinions without supporting evidence, then if knowledge is regarded as a truth, personal essay can only provide a limited truth (Harris 1996, p. 934). Moreover, as personal essay utilises the imagination and the implicit as tools to help expanding the author’s ideas, it is difficult for readers to form a consensus on the exact meaning of what is being implied or conveyed. For this to aid in the human knowledge, it has to be accurate and able to be measured in reasonable proportions (Crichton 2010). However, it also does not mean that the information contained in personal essay is false or misleading. It only means that this information is untested, thus people do not yet regard it as contributing to the knowledge base on a subject. As a result, this type of essay does not develop knowledge on a subject.    

In conclusion, some authors have argued that: “The intimate and highly subjective approach of the personal essay might be entertaining but it does not aid or develop knowledge on a subject”. The two main reasons explaining why personal essay is more entertaining are related to its information content, which is based on personal experience, and its casual writing style. However, the lack of a scientific approach and supporting evidence is what makes personal essay less useful in developing knowledge on a subject.

Reference List

Aune, Bruce 2008, ‘What is knowledge’, viewed 4 June 2010, <http://www.hist-analytic.org/ETC1.pdf>

Coloe, Mary 2008, ‘How to write an academic essay’, viewed 4 June 2010, <http://www.acu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/114310/essay_writing_guide.m.coloe.pdf>

Crichton, Andrew 2010, ‘A Subjective Look on Objective Knowledge’, viewed 4 June 2010, < http://www.andrewcrichtons.com/articles/a-subjective-look-on-objective-knowledge/>

Harris, Wendell V. 1996, ‘Reflections on the peculiar status of the personal essay’, College English, vol. 58, no. 8, p. 934.

Klein, Peter 1998, ‘Knowledge, concept of’, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London: Routledge.

Priestley, J. B. 1925, ‘Essayists Past and Present: A Selection of English Essays’, NY Books for Libraries P.

Sharman, June & Vujicich, Traci 2003, If I die before I wake..., iUniverse, New York.

Strychacz, Thomas F. 2003, Hemingway's theaters of masculinity, Louisiana State University Press, USA.

Sullivan, Patricia A. 2003, ‘A place for the personal’, College English, vol. 66, no. 1, p. 41.

Wolff, Jonathan 2007, ‘Literary boredom’, viewed 4 June 2010, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/sep/04/highereducation.news>

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A High Distinction Essay on Banking & Finance Major

1203AFE (former 2002ECS) Money, Banking and Finance Griffith University Individual Essay

This is one essay really long time ago that I got good grade (17/20) for the course Money, Banking and Finance.

Topic

Modern technology has changed the form, location and cost of financial transactions in both financial markets and financial institutions. Discuss this statement and the implications of these changes on financial system regulation.

It is argued that modern technology has changed the form, location and cost of financial transactions in both financial markets and financial institutions. This essay would discuss the statement above. In brief, there are three sections. First of all, changes in financial markets are discussed and then it figures out what responses financial institutions have made according to those changes. Next, risks that arise as a result of such changes are studied. Lastly, the essay discusses about what actions have been taken by regulators to manage changes in the financial system.

Modern technology, particularly online technology, has made financial markets become electronic marketplace (Valentine, Ford, & Copp 2003: 275). This is where financial transactions are performed electronically. This means that through online network systems, this market can be accessed at anytime and from anywhere across regional and national boundaries. Valentine et al suggest that electronic marketplace differs from traditional market in three main areas (Valentine et al 2003: 276). They are transparency, accessibility, and cost.

Firstly, transparency refers to the situation in which market participants become immediately aware of what happening in the market at that time. It could be change in exchange rates or interest rates offered by banks and corporate companies, or volumes of shares issued. In the traditional market, this may be difficult without incurring agent fee (Valentine et al 2003: 276). For example, one basic function of brokers is providing update information to facilitate buyers and sellers. Now using advanced search engines, one can access to the same information as them. Therefore, the transparency in electronic marketplace plays the role of broker to improve liquidity in the secondary market, thus help in the success of primary market as well.

Secondly, this market eliminates geographical barriers between buyers and sellers, and makes them become closer (Valentine et al 2003: 276). This characteristic, therefore, contributes to the globalization on the world. For instance, offering products and services on the website of a company is often regarded as the first step to coming global because they are available to visitors around the world. Moreover, the easy accessibility increases significantly the number of potential customers (Valentine et al 2003: 276). Let think about the case of foreign exchange market, which often deals with international companies. An importer who needs foreign currency to pay for imported goods may concern about the ask rates offered by different dealers. It may use the Internet network to search for the most favorable dealer, regardless that dealer is located in the home country or in the foreign one.

Another advantage over traditional market is low transaction costs (Valentine et al 2003: 276). In the customers’ viewpoint, low cost relates to the cost of searching information, which is traditionally paid to brokers. However, in e-markets, the only cost they have to pay is the tiny cost of internet connection, and perhaps plus the time spent to collect information. Moreover, they can conduct financial transactions online. This gives them a lot of choices, rather than being restricted to the marketplace where they have a physical presence (BIS 2003: 10). As a result, e-market reduces the searching costs and eliminate traveling fee for customers. From financial institutions’ perspective, customer services performed through electronic network systems dramatically reduce the cost per transaction (Wenninger 2000: 2). With the same point of view, Valentine et al (2003: 281) explain this as because customers serve themselves rather than dealing face-to-face with bank officers. Consequently, the transaction cost of internet is around  $0.20, considerably lower than $5 of branch networks (ANZ Bank 2000).

Given such changes in the financial markets, financial institutions have also been quick to response to these changes. Many studies about banking industry have mentioned a recent trend toward electronic banking. Also, technology developments and increase in  competition have forced banks to design new products and services exclusively for e-commerce (Businessline 2001: 1). Other financial institutions like brokers have started to seek for new sources of profit by providing their services online. Lastly, technology has provided opportunities for new entrants to offer electronic banking products, thereby raises competition in banking industry (BIS 2003: 4).

At the current time, many banks have moved aggressively to e-commerce. Researches suggest that five years ago, banks did not concern too much about running their business on the Internet (Wenninger 2000: 2). In fact, the main automatic payment instruments used at that time were the ATM and EFTPOS networks (Hunt & Terry 2002: 21), whereas online network such as websites was only used to provide information. However, in recent years, banks have started using their websites to delivery products. These include basic banking functions such as checking balances, transferring funds, or applying for credit cards (Wenninger 2002: 2). The popularization of this may be reflected by the fact that between 1995 and 2000, the number of points of access for internet rose quickly from 800000 to 6000000, while the number of branches fell from 6655 to 5358 (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2000). Therefore, websites are regarded as an alternative access channel, like ATM or EFTPOS channel, for branch networks in order to reduce operating costs.

Along with the use of websites for traditional functions, banks have been developing new products exclusively for e-commerce. Stewart, the first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has said: "No longer will it be possible for banks to develop all of their business products and systems in-house" (Corporate EFT report 2000: 1). According to Wenninger (2002: 2-3), among of those are two noticeable products: electronic billing and integrating the ATM and Internet networks. The fundamental idea here is to combine information technology with the payment networks. For instance, electronic billing is a combination of the use of email and banks' electronic payment networks (Valentine et al 2003: 280). The billing company will send billing information in a form of electronic files to its bank. Then the bank would distribute these files to the relevant customers' mailbox or websites. Payments would be made electronically, thereby credited to the account of the billing company. In this case, the bank acts as a facilitator between buyer and seller, and thus earns fee income (Valentine et al 2003: 280). Therefore, if this service is possible, banks would benefit because income -is earned from off-balance-sheet activities without using any deposit fund. Many authors, like American Bankers Association (2003: 58) and Adams (2002: 1), also suggest a trend toward a product that can integrate separate systems.

While Valentine et al (2003: 277) see a threat to brokers because of the low-cost accessibility and online information offered to customers in e-market, Wenninger (2002: 4) recognizes that these companies still benefit from information advantages. In fact, they offer a search service, in which the prices or rates of similar financial products offered by different institutions are found and made online. As a result, through this service, customers can compare different prices and choose the best one or they can ask for professional investment opinion.

Along with the benefits offered by electronic banking products, there are considerable risks. Just like Adams, who says that: "New is never easy" (2002: 1). According to the BIS report, there are three main risks: strategic risk, operational risk, and reputational risk (BIS 2003: 5).

Firstly, uncertainty about rapid changes in technology and new sources of competition may be sources of strategic risk. If in the past, new banking products were developed and tested for a long time before coming into practice, today competition pressure forces banks to shorten the process, to "only a few months from concept to production" (BIS 2003: 5). Consequently, it increases the probability of having mistakes or errors in the system. A famous evidence for this would be the investment in electronic distribution channels. In theory, the new channels would reduce dramatically the transaction costs compared to the branch networks. However, what actually happened was the total cost has increased significantly as a result of the rise in the number of transactions (Valentine et al 2003: 282). The reason is, based on the study of McKinsey, while the cost per transaction falls, the cost per customer still rises (Maude, Raghunath, Sahay & Sands 2000: 86-97).

Because of uncertainty about changes in technology, it seems to be a good idea for bank managers to wait without doing anything until they catch the whole picture of changing environment. Again, it does not work. Wenninger explains this as because banks may lose potential customers due to weak competition against other rivals, who are active in e-commerce (Wenninger 2002: 1-2).

Another risk could be operational risk, which is the risk of lost business due to technological failures: system failure, security breaches, and problems from outsourcing (Valentine et al 2003: 285). For system failure, it can be explained as because the automation of electronic transactions gives no chance for error or default (BIS 2003: 5). For example, a shutdown or delay in the network could cause a large amount of business to be lost. The idea here is similar to the assembly line. A mistake caused during the production process may result in poor-quality products. Beside of that, electronic networks such as the Internet, which is an open network accessible from anywhere, may be susceptible to outsiders' bad behavior. For instance, hackers can illegally penetrate into the system to take important information about customers, companies, and account passwords.

Outsourcing to a third-party vendor may also cause problem. It is because over a long period, banks may lose control over the system since they rely on the vendor about system maintenance and operations (Wenninger 2002: 4). More serious than that, the vendor may have access to all information about the banks. This may be the potential for criminal behavior.

The last risk involved in electronic banking is reputational risk, which is "the risk of lost business, rising cost or reduced access of funding arising from negative public opinion about the bank involved" (Valentine et al 2003: 286). In some cases, it does not necessarily mean that the institution, which suffers loss must involve in the events. This is the case for online payment services such as Flooz, Beenz and Cyber Cash. In fact, online shoppers are afraid of putting their private information into the system, which is perceived as "the blackhole of cyberspace" (Bruno 2002: 1). Another example given by Valentine et al (2003: 286) is that a failure caused by an outsourcing vendor may have a reputational effect on the bank. That is because the customers who suffer losses due to this problem are likely to blame the bank rather than the vendor.

In response to these risks, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) have recently released a "Risk management principles for electronic banking" in order to help banks to recognize, address, and manage the challenges in e-banking. This report contains only guidance rather than a model that best suits any bank's circumstance (BIS 2003: 6). In fact, it seems to construct the objectives about "what" banks expected to do, but it does not show much about "how" they can do it. The reason is that banks have different risk profiles, thus they need to tailor and adopt these principles to suit their own situation (Businessline 2001: 1).

These principles are divided into three broad categories to deal with different risks. They are: Board and management oversight, security controls, and legal and reputational risk management (BIS 2003: 7-21). The first section focuses on the development of a strategic plan for banks intending to come into e-commerce. The next section discusses different issues on security control in order to prevent operational risk. The last part looks at what banks expected to do to maintain customer privacy and to manage unexpected events both inside and outside the organizations.

In addition to this report, the BIS is intending to implement the "New Basel Capital Accord", which is known as the "Basel II". According to the BIS (2003: 8) and Valentine et al (2003: 147-152), the improvements are that it takes into account not only credit risk, but also market risk, operational risk, and the liquidity risk of asset-backed securities. Beside that, the credit rating of corporate companies would affect the weights of their loans. These changes give rise for some criticisms. For instance, it would be unfair for small or lower-rated businesses since banks now would be more willing to make loans to powerful corporations (BIS 2003: 8). Or put in this way, banks would argue that because they are required to hold more capital for loans of small businesses, they need to increase the borrowing rate of these loans.

Although the regulatory response from the BIS has some limitations, it is still positive in the sense that it raises the attention of national regulators about electronic banking issues. The difficulty, said as Valentine et al (2003: 288), is to catch up with the rapid change of electronic developments, which could make any regulation become obsolescent. As a result, the response should be made on an on-going basis along with the process of changing technology.

In conclusion, electronic marketplace has gradually replaced the traditional market as a result of online technology. This has been proved to bring many benefits such as transparency, easy accessibility, and low transaction costs. Such advantages have forced many financial institutions to reform their structures and services in order to utilize those benefits, thus increase competition and efficiency in the financial system. Some companies actually have put more commitments to promote new products exclusively for e-commerce. However, changes usually mean more challenging and riskier. Some noticeable risks are strategic, operational, and reputational risk. As an attempt to manage these risks, the BIS has publicized a report called “Risk management principles for electronic banking” and the “New Basel Capital Accord”. They are expected to provide guidance for national regulators and financial institutions on dealing with those risks.

Reference List

Adams, J. (2002). “Cover story: the new next thing; web services get ready to go mainstream”. Bank Technology News, 15(8), p.1.

Anonymous (2003). “New regulatory-capital rule looming”. Asset – Backed Alert, p.8.

Anonymous (2003). “Technology innovation you can bank on”. American Bankers Association, 95(11), p.58.

BIS (2003), “Risk management principles for electronic banking”, at www.fsa.go.jp/inter/bis/bj_20030718/02.pdf, viewed 7 September 2004.

Bruno, M. (2002). “E-banking: e-checks get a chance; experts are mixed, but some banks give it a go”. Bank Technology News, 15(9), p.1.

Businessline (2001). “India: BIS study highlights e-banking risks”. Businessline, p.1.

Corporate EFT Report (2000). “Payment systems must deal with e-commerce driven change”. Corporate EFT Report, 20(10), p.1.

Hunt, B. & Terry, C. (2002). Financial institutions and markets 3rd. Thomson: Vic.

Mearian, L. (2003). “Global standard will force changes in banks’ IT”. Computerworld, 37(35), p.11.

Valentine, T. and Ford, G. and Copp, R. (2003). Financial markets and institutions in Australia. Pearson Education Australia: NSW.

Wenninger, J. (2000). “The emerging role of banks in e-commerce”. Current issues in economics and finance, 6(3), at http://www.ny.frb.org/research/current_issues/ci6-3.html, viewed 7 September 2004.

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One Distinction Essay 2,000 words on Criminology

1013CCJ Introduction to Criminology Griffith College (former Queensland Institute of Business and Technology - QIBT)

Assessment Task:

We have a strange situation in Australia. At a time when people seem to be more worried by crime, the research evidence suggests crime rates are not increasing. How can we explain this apparent contradiction?

Essay

We have a strange situation in Australia. At a time when people seem to be more worried by crime, the research evidence suggests crime rates are not increasing. So, this essay presents what evidence suggesting that crime rates are not increasing, but actually decreasing, and explains why police data and crime survey often fail to record all crime incidents, and why actual crime may be declining. It then presents evidence that people seem to be more worried by crime, and discusses what influences public perception, which leads them to believe crime are increasing.

Different from the common belief, crime in Australia, especially violent crime, has been falling steadily since 2001. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reflected this trend during this period from 2001-2003 by showing that most major categories of police-recorded crime have declined (Indermaur & Roberts, 2005, p.143). More recently, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported a similar trend up to 2012 for both violent crime (2013, p.2) and property crime (2013, p.7). Remarkably, serious violent crime, such as homicide, assaults, and sexual assaults, have all dropped significantly, despite of the small number of incidents. For instance, the number of homicides in 2002 was 354, which dropped to only 274 cases in 2011 (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013, p.2). The idea that crime rates are decreasing, particularly violent crime, would be even more convincing, if the rapid increase in Australian population during this same period is contrasted to the decrease of violent crime. In other words, the rate of homicide incidents per 100,000 population is too tiny, only one per 100,000 population, that statisticians decided to cite them in number rather than percentage (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013, p.6). Also, the situation is similar in Germany, where crime that “people perceive as very threatening or generally worrying”, like murders, have gone down dramatically since 1995 (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.260).                

There are many theories explaining for recorded crime rates to be down. Criminologists usually cite limitations in administrative data and surveys, which leave many crime incidents unreported. Hayes and Prenzler argue that police records do not reflect real crime rates, because many incidents are not detected by the police or reported by victims (2012, p.36). This is particularly so for violent crime, such as sexual assaults or sexual harassments, in which offenders are known to victims. As a result, crime might actually be rising, but researchers suggest crime rates are not increasing, because they fail to record all crime incidents.

On the other hand, aging population, stabilization in migration, and effective policing could be accounted for crime reduction, which leads to lower recorded crime rates. Aging population is usually a concern in developed countries, because it reduces the labor force, but increases health costs. However, on the positive side, if crime was considered to be a different kind of labor or illegal work, criminals would stop committing crime after they retired. Because of that, there would be less crime to be recorded, especially the violent ones, such as homicides and assaults, which require physical labor and plenty of energy, as opposed to high-tech crime. This explains why violent crime has gone down in Germany during the last decade, when the age group 18-30, which accounts for a majority of violent crime, has shrunk from 9.4 to 7% of the population. At the same time, there has been a 4% increase of Germans aged 60 or over, who account for less than 3% of all crime (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.260). The same thing is likely applicable to Australia.

Secondly, immigrants are very likely to suffer from poverty and unemployment, which are argued to be strong contributors of rising crime (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.273). Therefore, a stabilization in migration could be one factor leading to lower crime rate, as there are fewer migrants, and existing migrants are less likely to commit crime after settling down. Moreover, in Australia, the strict control of migrants’ qualification also ensures that immigrants could find jobs quickly, thus eliminating the possibility of them staying unemployed and committing crime.

Last but not least, police are becoming more and more effective in preventing and detecting crime. So, many crime activities are detected timely and prevented from happening. Thus, the result is there are less crime incidents to be recorded (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.260).    

Research evidence has been shown to suggest crime rates are not increasing and it has been proved that crime has, in fact, been going down. However, people seem to be more worried by crime, because they believe crime is more frequent than ever. This belief has been confirmed not only once, but twice, by the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA), which asks respondents “if they believe that crime has increased or decreased” (Indermaur & Roberts, 2005, p.142). In 2003, almost 70% of respondents believed that crime has increased. Then, nearly the same proportion of respondents (64%) held similar belief in 2007 (Davis & Dossetor, 2010, p.2). Clearly, people have wrong perception of crime.

This perception could be caused by two main reasons. Firstly, the way AuSSA asked the question is misleading, because people have different definition of crime. Indermaur and Roberts (2005, p.142) argue that when referring to “crime”, most people mean “violent crime” exclusively, rather than a combination of property and violent crime. So, respondents really mean that violent crime is increasing. This is confirmed in AuSSA 2007 survey (Davis & Dossetor, 2010, p.3), which showed that 52% of respondents believed violent crime account for at least half of all crime, and another 12% thought violent crime occupy 90% of crime, when in fact, they only account for 10% of all crimes. Another reason for inaccurate perception of crime is that people overestimate crime rates, especially violent crime. For instance, compared to the true crime rates, the public’s estimation could be two times more than the actual number of murder, or six times for sexual murders (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.263). Consequently, the widespread fear of crime is explained by the fact that people mistake crime to be rising, due to their overestimation of crime, or more accurately, violent crime.

This misperception is well-known in criminology, and referred to by many researchers as the perception gap of crime. Hough and Roberts (as cited in Davis and Dossetor, 2010, p.2) report a similar phenomenon, in which people believe there is an increase in juvenile offenders amidst a decline in this offender group. Likewise, people also overestimate the percentage of juvenile crime as violent, but in fact they are mostly minor issues or petty thefts. Therefore, the remaining part of the discussion attempts to explain the cause behind this perception gap. There are two parts. Part one explains how the media influences the public’s social construction of reality, so that people equate crime to violent crime and overestimate the likelihood of this crime happening. In addition to media influence, the criminal justice system’s failure to impose strict sentences to criminals, who commit serious crimes, causes the public to believe that these criminals are available everywhere and ready to kill, so this amplifies the fear of crime.        

Surette and Otto (2001, p.144) argue that the construction of reality process plays major role in how people form their perception of crime. Adoni and Mane define the reality construction process as the “objectification of one own’s internalised and subjective meanings, experiences” into the world (1984, p.325). It means that the reality that people create is not objective, but subjective, because it relies on individual experience and the knowledge gained through social interactions. Individual experience is direct experience with crime, like suffering attacks personally; the latter refers to various forms of symbolic expression, such as shared experience of other people, expression in literature or media contents (Adoni & Mane, 1984, p.325). So, the created reality might not reflect the objective reality, especially when there is a lack of input, such as direct experience, and biased symbolic influences. The most biased symbolic influence is claimed to be coming from the media. Adoni and Mane (1984, p.331) find evidence to confirm their hypothesis about the media’s influence, which is a function of personal experience and subsequent reliance on media for information to interpret an event. Therefore, for people who lack direct experience, media influence is much stronger than those who do have personal experience, or are well informed about the event through other sources. Consequently, people, who do not experience violent crime, have a big knowledge gap, which allows the media to fill up. Still, the media is not the only source of crime information, because people may gain such knowledge through other social networks, such friends or relatives. However, Chiricos, Eschholz, and Gertz (1997, p.344) argue that most people do not encounter crime personally, especially seriously violent crime. Therefore, they contend that even crime incidents shared by friends are often obtained via the mass media. Consequently, besides of limited experience, for the public, the media is believed to be a “prime information source” of crime (Chiricos, Eschholz, & Gertz, 1997, p.353).

So, the media heavily influence the public’s perception of crime. The problem is that this source of information is biased toward statistically exceptional violent crime. Criminologists attribute this selective tendency as due to “newsworthiness”, which main purpose is attracting audience readership (Oliver & Meyers, 1999, p.40; McCarthy, McPhail, & Smith, 1996, p.483). The authors define newsworthiness as containing various characteristics, such as immediacy – preferring recent crime to long-ago incidents; dramatization – focusing on uncommon and dramatic incidents, with provocative and vivid language to dramatize what happened in the events; simplification – concentrating on describing the crime activities, without presenting proper details of the social context surrounding the crime; titillation – preferring horrific crime, such as murder and sexual violence; and novelty – preferring uncommon incidents or renewing crime on taboo topics. Obviously, the newsworthiness motivates journalists to report violent crime that are unusual and different from the norms, not ordinary, odd and novel, rather than routine and mundane events (Lundman, 2003, p.360). The result is that manslaughters, psychic serial-killers, and sexual predators fill the front page of newspapers, despite of the fact that these events only account for under 1% of all crime; in fact, we are referring to crime that happen at the rate of 1.2 murdered victims, or 76 sexual-assaulted victims, per 100,000 population (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013, p.16, 22). Conversely, the media neglects minor violent crime and property crime, because they lack entertaining characteristics. Pfeiffer, Windzio, and Kleimann (2005, p.266) argue that the audience consumes news not only to obtain information, but also to gain entertainment and excitement. Consequently, the media shapes the public’s misperception of crime as the only violent crime being aggressively on the rise by over-representing them and neglecting the others. Moreover, it dramatizes crime as a force of evil compared to the reality, which fuels the public’s fear of crime.          

Moreover, according to the construction of reality process, perception of crime is made up of experienced reality and symbolic expression, which is dominated by the media (Surette & Otto, 2001, p.144). Therefore, it could be that people, who have experienced violent crime, tend to believe that such crime is rising. Then, people with this belief are more inclined to seek and interpret news that accord with their preexisting opinions, thus this reinforces their fear of crime. Consequently, the process by which the media influence the public’s perception of crime is interdependent, because news of violent crime that are congruent with experienced reality serve as “double dose”, which amplifies the fear of crime (Chiricos, Eschholz, & Gertz, 1997, p.345).      

Another point, which relates to immediacy and novelty characteristics, is that to ensure newsworthiness, journalists tend to find and report crime news that are currently the hot topics in public attention, like kidnapping and sexually enslaving teenagers (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.268). Therefore, although this crime is rare, suddenly newspapers and magazines are flooded with this type of crime. That makes the public feel that this crime could happen anywhere and anytime.    

Besides of media influence, the public’s disappointment toward the court system’s too lenient penalty could be another reason causing the perception gap. Indermaur and Roberts (2005, p.152) find that a majority of people have lost confidence in sentencing as a way to deter criminals from reoffending, because the penalties are not strict enough. Similarly, other authors (Pfeiffer, Windzio, & Kleimann, 2005, p.273) suggest that people have leaned toward harsher punishments, rather than offender resocialization as a purpose of sentencing. Thus, cruel criminals are thought to receive too much mercy from the court. This fuels the public’s anger and fear of these criminals, because they believe that light sentencing would not be able to deter and alter criminal tendency, or incapacitate them to prevent re-victimization (Indermaur & Roberts, 2005, p.156). Therefore, despite of effective policing leading to more criminals being captured, people still fear that these criminals are, or soon to be, available everywhere and ready to kill.

In conclusion, this essay explains the contradiction that while people seem to be more worried by crime, the research evidence suggests crime rates are not increasing. It is stated that researchers suggest crime rates are not increasing, because they fail to record all crime incidents. On the other hand, aging population, stabilization in migration, and effective policing could be accounted for crime reduction, which leads to lower recorded crime rates. Secondly, the public’s misperception and fear of crime are explained by the fact that people often mistake crime to be rising, due to their overestimation of violent crime.

More specifically, the essay argues that the media influences the public’s social construction of reality, so that people equate crime to violent crime and overestimate the likelihood of this crime happening. In addition to media influence, the criminal justice system’s failure to impose strict sentences to criminals, who commit serious crimes, causes the public to believe that these criminals are available everywhere and ready to kill, so this amplifies the fear of crime.

Reference List

Adoni, H., & Mane, S. (1984). Media and the social construction of reality: Toward an integration of theory and research. Communication Research, 11(3), 323-340.

Australian Institute of Criminology. (2013). Australian crime: Facts & figures 2012. Retrieved from http://portal.qibt.qld.edu.au/moodle2/pluginfile.php/79020/mod_resource/content/1/4.1%20AIC%202012%20Facts%20and%20Figures.pdf

Chiricos, T., Eschholz, S., & Gertz, M. (1997). Crime, news and fear of crime: Toward an identification of audience effects. Social Problems, 44(3), 342-357.

Davis, B., & Dossetor, K. (2010). (Mis)perceptions of crime in Australia. Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends & Issues in crime and criminal justice, 396.

Hayes, H., & Prenzler, T. (2012). An introduction to crime and criminology (3ed.). New South Wales, Australia: Pearson Australia.

Indermaur, D., & Roberts, L. (2005). Perceptions of crime and justice. In S. Wilson, G. Meagher, R. Gibson, D. Denemark, & M. Western (Eds.), Australian social attitudes: The first report (pp. 141-160). Sydney: UNSW Press.

Lundman, R. J. (2003). The newsworthiness and selection bias in news about murder: Comparative and relative effects of novelty and race and gender typifications on newspaper coverage of homicide. Sociological Forum, 18(3), 357-386.

McCarthy, J. D., McPhail, C., & Smith, J.
(1996). Images of protest: Dimensions of selection bias in media coverage of Washington demonstrations, 1982 and 1991. American Sociological Review, 61(3), 478-499.

Oliver, P. E., & Meyers, D. J. (1999). How events enter the public sphere: Conflict, location, and sponsorship in local newspaper coverage of public events. American Journal of Sociology, 105(1), 38-87.

Pfeiffer, C., Windzio, M., & Kleimann, M. (2005). Media use and its impacts on crime perception, sentencing attitudes and crime policy. European Journal of Criminology, 2(3), 259-285.

Surette, R., & Otto, C. (2001). The media’s role in the definition of crime. In H. Stuart & M. Lanier (Eds.), What is crime?: Controversies over the nature of crime and what to do about it (pp. 139-154). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

[rumithetutor]

A Distinction Assignment on Accounting Major

ACC3116 Accounting and Society University of Southern Queensland Assignment 2

This is one assessment that received Distinction grade for Accounting and Society (Accounting Theory) in 2013.

SECTION A

(a) What is a conceptual framework in accounting? How can the conceptual framework help users and preparers understand accounting requirements and financial statements? 
(4 marks) A conceptual framework (CF) in accounting is a group of concepts and principles that are used as guidelines in the preparation of general purpose financial reports (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 26). The framework is a normative theory, because it prescribes principles that serve as guidance for accountants on improving quality and creating consistency in financial reporting. The CF developed by IASB (2010) covers four main areas: • the objective of financial reporting; • the qualitative characteristics of useful financial information; • the definition, recognition and measurement of the elements from which financial statements are constructed; and • concepts of capital and capital maintenance (IASB 2010, p. 7)

CF helps users and preparers understand accounting requirements and financial statements, because it contains general principles of accounting that assist people to understand the meaning of various accounting elements; for example: assets, liabilities, equities, income and expense, and understand basis for criteria in recognising and measuring these items. Without these principles, accountants would have different and inconsistent definitions due to specific circumstances in their workplaces. Consequently, this may cause confusion to users of financial reports, who are external to the reporting entities. Moreover, CF has been used as foundation by Australian standard setters in the development of accounting standards (Booth 2003, p. 310).      

(b) Why is accounting said to be political in nature? How can a conceptual framework help in the setting of accounting standards? 
(4 marks) The idea that accounting standards and the accounting-standard setting process are political was suggested by Fogarty et al. (1994, p. 29), because different parties, who participate in financial reports of the reporting entities, have conflicting interests. For instance, users, such as shareholders and creditors, rely on financial information to make investment decisions; management and accountants’ performance and bonus are evaluated using financial figures; auditors are concerned about the appropriateness and objectivity of accounting standards (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 75). Consequently, these parties, whose interests are affected by accounting standards, are motivated to lobby regulators in the setting of accounting standards so that their interests are promoted (Georgiou 2004, p. 237).        

In the past, accounting standards used to be developed without the help of CF. However, the problem was that the development was very slow and those standards were incompatible with others, like international standards (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 41). Therefore, one of the purposes of the CF is to assist regulators in setting accounting standards (IASB 2010, p. 6), by providing a set of principles and fundamentals that are generally accepted. Because of this common acceptance, regulators have a foundation upon which they can develop specific accounting standards quickly.

(c) Which stakeholders within society are likely to benefit from the development of a conceptual framework of accounting? 
(4 marks) As stated, the major contribution of CF is to provide general principles of accounting. Therefore, it obviously benefits preparers of financial reports, who would rely on these principles to make financial statements, and users of these reports, who can understand financial information for decision-making. The users of financial reports are many, such as shareholders, creditors, analysts, regulatory bodies and other interested parties, like environmental groups or social groups.  

Furthermore, accounting standard-setters are also likely to benefit from the development of CF. The CF contains established and widely-accepted accounting principles. These principles serve as foundation for regulators in making accounting rules. Moreover, these principles set the boundary, within which regulators can develop accounting standards. The standards developed within this limit are easier to be accepted, thus this eliminates the need of debating and so speed up the development process (Zeff 2002, p. 54). Another benefit that Australian regulators enjoy is CF promoting the harmonization with international accounting standards (IASB 2010, p. 6).      

Another stakeholder benefited is the accounting profession. Rankin et al. suggest that the reason of CF is to “provide the appearance of having a unique body of knowledge so that it can maintain its status as a profession and so that its members can gain the benefits of professional status” (2012, p. 44).

(d) What advantages/benefits have been put forward by standard setters to support the development of a conceptual framework in accounting? Do you think such benefits will be achieved in practice? 
(6 marks) The development of a CF has been motivated by three main reasons. Firstly, Australian accounting standards are principle-based. Likewise, because CF provides general guidance for the application of accounting theories, its development is benefiting the standard setting process due to its similarity and flexibility like a principle-based system (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 69). Secondly, due to the conflicting interests of different parties affected by accounting standards, the standard setter, which is AASB in Australia, intends to use the CF as a basis to develop accounting standards to reduce the tension among these parties (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 75). This is because the CF is widely accepted within the business world. Another advantage that commonly applies over the world is that the development of a CF is a response of regulators during economic crisis, in which accounting often takes the blame (Xiao & Pan 1997, p. 282).

The above are advantages that have been put forward by standard setters to support the development of CF. The real benefit, however, may be that the CF is used as a defence to legitimise the methods that are used in the standard-setting process (Solomons 1986, p. 119).

The first three advantages are on theory only. In reality, I think it is hard to achieve those benefits. The CF, like principle-based accounting standards, does not provide specific guidance. Therefore, its application depends on experience and judgments of the accountants. Different people may interpret these principles differently, so this may lead to misunderstanding and inconsistency in application. Next, although CF could be used as a means to reduce tension of various conflicting parties, it could also be used by one party, while lobbying the government, to promote its own interest.  

(e) Hines (1991)* argues that conceptual frameworks ‘presume, legitimise and reproduce the assumption of an objective world and as such they play a part in constituting the social world … conceptual frameworks provide social legitimacy to the accounting profession’. Explain what Hines means. 
(4 marks) By stating the above sentence, Hines means that the CF could be used as a means by professional accountants to promote their profession, because accountants have a privilege to construct reality, rather than reporting what reality actually is. This is because the CF presumes that financial reports are prepared based on the principles of objectivity, representational faithfulness, neutrality and reliability. Even though the CF provides some guidance indicating what constitute these qualities, its standards could be very different from what the society considers them to be. The problem is that, by giving financial information the above qualities, which are fundamental standards of what society considers being “real”, CF helps accountants to give credibility to financial information. An implication of this is that although information in financial reports might not be “real”, their impact would become reality, when external users act upon such information. Another issue is that accountants do not have strict guidance on the preparation of financial reports; they have to use their judgments in selecting different accounting methods to calculate, measure and estimate financial figures, for example profit. How could one say such figures, which are based upon someone’s experience and opinion, objective?

(f) In 400 words or less, describe and summarise the current state in the development of a conceptual framework in accounting in Australia and internationally. 
(8 marks) In 2004, the IASB and FASB of the United States started a joint project to develop a common conceptual framework, which contains principles assisting the preparation and presentation of financial reports. This was in part an effort of the United States to adopt the principle-based approach (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 30). This project was originally being conducted in eight phases, each of which focuses on different aspects of accounting: • Phase A: focus on objectives and qualitative characteristics • Phase B: reconsider accounting elements like assets and liabilities, and the recognition criteria of these elements. • Phase C: provide guidance on selecting measurement bases for accounting elements. • Phase D: Redefine reporting entity to determine the boundaries of financial reporting. • Phase E: focus on presentation and disclosure. • Phase F: focus on purpose and status. • Phase G: address the application of the CF to not-for-profit entities. • Phase H: consider any remaining issues that occur during the previous phases.

Until 2012, the parties had been working up until phase D. However, in 2012, the IASB decided to discontinue these phases and develop a complete revised conceptual framework instead (IASB 2013, p. 16).  

The reason why IASB decided to revise the original CF is due to a number of problems with the existing CF. Firstly, some important areas such as measurement, presentation, or disclosure were not covered sufficiently. Secondly, some of the principles and definitions in the existing CF were not clear enough. This caused many debates and confusion among accounting professionals and researchers. The last issue is that many concepts presented were out of date and they do not reflect the new trend of thinking.  

In 2013, the IASB released a discussion paper, which contains the organisation’s initial views and opinions on the revised issues. This discussion paper presents IASB’s current views and is open for comments and discussion, so that IASB will take into consideration in the revised CF.

SECTION B

(a) Income smoothing and ‘big bath accounting’ are two methods accountants/managers use in earnings management. Explain how these methods work, discuss the motivations in doing so and the circumstances in which management would consider in engaging in these practices. 
(10 marks) Income smoothing and big bath accounting are two different methods that management use in earnings management. Income smoothing is used with the purpose of transferring earnings from profitable financial years to less successful ones, so that net income could be growing steadily (Stolowy & Breton 2004, p. 13). There are several ways for achieving this. They could be realising sales revenue early or deferring sales to a later year; changing estimations in bad debt and warranty provisions; or delaying asset impairments (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 260). The reason why these techniques could be implemented is because they are often based on accountants’ judgment and estimation, in other words, their subjective opinion.

The main motivation encouraging management to use earnings management in general, and income smoothing in particular, is because managers would like to artificially manage earnings to align it with some preconceived levels of external stakeholders (Stolowy & Breton 2004, p. 13). This leads to two outcomes: it encourages investors to buy more stocks and thus increase firm’s value. Moreover, managers may also be motivated to smooth income, especially when it is tied to their job performance and compensation (DeFond & Park 1997, p. 116). The circumstances that give rise to income smoothing are: when firm performance is bad, it may affect management’s performance and bonus aversely. Therefore, management has the tendency to shift future earnings to the current year to protect their own interests. On the other hand, if they perceive that future performance is bad, they will want to transfer some earnings of this year to the future years.          

Big bath accounting is defined as taking many income-decreasing accruals, like expensing large outgoings rather than capitalising them as assets, to reduce current profit (Healy 1985, p. 86). The reason motivating managers doing this is that if the current year’s earnings is well below the level at which managers is qualified for a bonus, it would be better to take big baths, or expenses, in order to allow room for profit to grow in the future. Stolowy and Breton (2004, p. 15) suggest that this technique is very common whenever there is a change of management. By adjusting assets’ values downward and taking large expenses, new management could blame the previous colleagues for poor performance, while set a low bar for future comparison. Moreover, future earnings will be benefited from this restructure. Another situation that often requires management to take big baths is when the organization has been performing very poorly, so that a major restructure is required. They could be unprofitable operations that need closing down, high debt-equity structure, or asset impairment. The motivation for doing this is that the market often perceives restructure during such a time might eventually lead to positive outcome in the company’s performance (Rankin et al. 2012, p. 261). Thus, share price may go down in the short run, but will reverse in the long run.

(b) Why might managers choose accounting methods to increase current period earnings? Explain with relevant concepts and principles using one example. 
(5 marks) Positive accounting theory that is proposed by Watts and Zimmerman (1990) explains the two main reasons why managers might choose accounting methods to increase current reported earnings. The first one is under the bonus-plan hypothesis, which suggests that shareholders often have management compensation plans tied to accounting earnings in order to align their own interests with management’s interest. However, such plans give managers incentive to select accounting methods to increase earnings to the extend that greater earnings will increase their bonus.

An example is management could recognize revenue for services agreed but not yet performed, like recording customer prepayments as income rather than unearned revenue. Another method could be expanding useful life and residual value of non-current assets to reduce depreciation expense.  

The second reason is explained under the debt hypothesis (Watts & Zimmerman 1990, p. 139). The hypothesis suggests that firms with high debt/equity ratio will be more likely to adopt accounting methods that increase earnings and assets in order to prevent breaching accounting-based debt covenants. These debt covenants are agreements between companies and creditors, so that creditors can restrict management’s risky actions. High debt/equity ratio increases the likelihood that firms breach these agreements, thus creates incentive for management to manipulate profit figures. These could be done by capitalising expenses as assets, or declining to revaluate obsolete inventory to overstate assets. There are many other methods, suggested by Stolowy and Breton (2004, p. 14), that have the same impact on earnings.

(c) Why might managers choose accounting methods that reduce current period earnings? Explain with relevant concepts and principles using one example. 
(5 marks) The main reason why managers choose accounting methods that reduce current earnings is explained under the political cost hypothesis of positive accounting theory (Watts & Zimmerman 1978, p. 115). High reported earnings often draw public attention and they are normally associated with unethical practices such as monopoly or abusive exploitation. These could make the society and other humanitarian organisations putting pressure on the government, which lead to unwanted government intervention and intrusions that are harmful to the company’s operations. These intrusions could be more tax, increase of tariff, or rise in wages. Because of this, managers have incentive to select accounting methods to reduce reported earnings to minimize such political costs. One method to reduce accounting earnings is expensing large outgoings rather than capitalising them. However, different companies face different degrees of political pressure. Watts and Zimmerman (1978, p. 131) point out that firm size is the determining factor that indicates the degree of public attention. Large firms are more likely to face government intervention. An example of the public scrutinizing firms for earning excessive profit happens to Shell, which achieved a record $35 billion profit in 2008. In response, people accused Shell for over-charging on petrol and called for government action to penalize the company.

Other situations relating to political costs could be avoiding environmental regulation, minising income tax, or using low profit as a defence while negotiating labor contracts.

Reference List

Booth, B 2003, ‘The Conceptual Framework as a Coherent System for the Development of Accounting Standards’, Abacus, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 310-324.

Defond, ML & Park, CW 1997, ‘Smoothing income in anticipation of future earnings’, Joumal of Accounting and Economics, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 115-139.

Fogarty, TJ, Hussein, MEA, & Ketz, JE 1994, ‘Political aspects of financial accounting standard setting in the USA’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 24-46.

Georgiou, G 2004, ‘Corporate lobbying on accounting standards: methods, timing and perceived effectiveness’, Abacus, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 219-237.

Healy, PM 1985, ‘The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions���, Journal of Accounting and Economics, vol. 7, no. 1-3, pp. 85-107.

International Accounting Standards Board 2010, Conceptual Framework
for Financial Reporting 2010, viewed 13 September 2013, <http://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content102/c3/Oct_2010_AP_9.3_Conceptual_Framework_Financial_Reporting_2010.pdf>.

Rankin, M, Stanton, P, McGowan, S, Ferlauto, K, & Tilling, M 2012, Contemporary Issues in Accounting, 1e, John Wiley & Sons, Milton.

Solomons, D 1986, ‘The FASB's Conceptual Framework: An Evaluation’, Journal of Accountancy, vol. 161, no. 6, pp. 114-124.

Stolowy, H & Breton, G 2004, ‘Accounts manipulation: a literature review and proposed conceptual framework’, Review of Accounting and Finance, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 5–69.

Watts, R & Zimmerman, JL 1978, ‘Towards a Positive Theory of the Determination of Accounting Standards’, The Accounting Review, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 112-134.

Watts, R & Zimmerman, JL 1990, ‘Positive Accounting Theory: A Ten Year Perspective’, The Accounting Review, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 131-156.

Xiao, Z & Pan, A 1997, ‘Developing accounting standards on the basis of a conceptual framework by the Chinese government’, The International Journal of Accounting, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 279-299.

Zeff, SA 2002, ‘“Political” lobbying on proposed standards: a challenge to the IASB’, Accounting Horizons, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 43-54.

[rumithetutor]

One of my work on Management major that received a grade of 36/45 (80%)

MGT2002 - Managing Organisations University of Southern Queensland Assignment 2

This is one of my work on Management major that received a grade of 36/45 (80%)

A. Assignment 2 details

This assignment is made up of three (3) structured reflection papers of the kind that you completed in Assignment 1

Question 1 (a total of 15 marks) The first part of this question – titled ‘The experience’ – requires you to write up a brief but specific case study of a personal experience you have had with an organisation. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

The second part of this question – titled ‘Integrating theory with experience’ – asks you to make some quite specific types of links between your experience of this organisation and theory about the learning organisation as presented in of the course materials. You are however expected to include theory beyond the course materials. In the best papers students will articulate one major learning about or insight into the theory that they have identified by integrating their experience with the theory. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

The third part of the question – titled personal reflections – asks you to engage in a more personal and introspective form of reflection where you are asked to identify previously unidentified personal strengths of yours that are worth cultivating and or previously unidentified (and possibly unhelpful) assumptions you have made about relevant theory. Or you could identify a preferred approach to work that you use, which you have only just identified. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

Question 2 (a total of 15 marks) The first part of this question – titled ‘The experience’ – requires you to write up a brief but specific case study of a personal cross-cultural experience. In this section you are asked to reflect on an incident that foregrounds your cultural intelligence. This section is to be 300 words(10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

The second part of this question – titled ‘Integrating theory with experience’ – asks you to make some quite specific types of links between your experience and theory about cultural intelligence as presented in the course materials. You are however expected to include theory beyond the course materials. In the best papers students will articulate one major learning about or insight into the theory that they have identified by integrating their experience with the theory. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

The third part of the question – titled ‘Personal reflections’ – asks you to engage in a more personal and introspective form of reflection where you are asked to identify previously unidentified personal strengths of yours that are worth cultivating and or previously unidentified (and possibly unhelpful) assumptions you have made about relevant theory. Or you could identify a preferred approach to work that you use, which you have only just identified. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

Question 3 (a total of 15 marks) The first part of this question – titled ‘The experience’ – requires you to write up a brief but specific case study of a personal experience you have had that relates either to ethics or to sustainability within an organisation or management context. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

The second part of this question – titled ‘Integrating theory with experience’ – asks you to make some quite specific types of links between your experience and relevant theory presented in the course materials. You are however expected to include theory beyond the course materials. In the best papers students will articulate one major learning about or insight into the theory that they have identified by integrating their experience with the theory. This section is to be 300 words(10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

The third part of the question – titled ‘Personal reflections’ – asks you to engage in a more personal and introspective form of reflection where you are asked to identify previously unidentified personal strengths of yours that are worth cultivating and or previously unidentified (and possibly unhelpful) assumptions you have made about relevant theory. Or you could identify a preferred approach to work that you use, which you have only just identified. This section is to be 300 words(10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length.

B. Response

Essay Number: 1

Word Length: The experience 318 Integrating theory with experience 311 Personal Reflection 303

The Experience I was scared when I heard my name being called upon by my grade 9 math teacher for a review. Back then we must stand in front of the class to do the review, so a student would easily become a target for humiliation, if he could not answer a question. That was exactly what happened to me. I could not answer my teacher’s question, which was to restate a formula we studied earlier. I was really embarrassed when he asked whether there was something wrong with my brain. So to defend myself, I told him that I actually did not try to memorize the formula, because I could not understand from where it came and the principle behind it; instead, I had developed another way that can help me to solve the question of that type without relying on the formula. In fact, I was quite proud of my “discovery”, of a new way to solve that math problem.

I then proceeded to demonstrate my way in another question that he made. Unfortunately, contrary to what I was expecting, my teacher criticized my way as too long and strange. He even made fun of it by calling it as “heresy”. I felt absolutely disappointed, not because my way was not as good as his, but because of the way my teacher refused to acknowledge my effort of figuring out a new way solving math problem. He made it clear to all of us not to think that we were smart, and that we “just follow what I told you to do if you want to pass the exam”.    

I also felt very embarrassed because of the way he dramatized about my “discovery” in front of the class. That made me think of myself as some kind of a freak. This event made me hate schooling a lot, very much due to my non-conformity and rebellious mind.                

Integrating theory with experience Linking this incident with module 2 The Learning Organisation helps me to understand how my teacher’s teaching style and the education system in Saudi Arabia as a whole do not fit into the learning organisation paradigm. Samson and Daft describe a learning organisation as one in which “everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems, enabling the organisation to continuously experiment, improve and increase its capability to grow” (2009, p. 56). Imbedded in this organisation is a supportive culture that promotes openness, creativity, and experimentation among members (Cummings & Worley 2009, p. 543). So if education is the outcome of schooling, then I believe that the teacher is a leader or manager, and pupils as employees. So to me the theory requires that learning is a process, in which not only teacher but also students are empowered in determining what and how they should learn, and this learning process should be open to new ideas.

However, the experience with my math teacher and my schooling experience in general were quite opposite. We were told what to do, follow specific instructions, memorise certain things despite of not knowing why we got to do so, just because they help us solve the questions to pass the exam. This was frustrated for me because I always believe that education should teach us the ability to think and grow. My schooling, however, only handed us knowledge in the form of memorised information and taught us how to conform without questioning, which to me is disastrous to the learning process (Bui & Baruch 2010, p. 231). Without growing, therefore, the high-school institution has failed in being a learning organisation. The capacity to learn and grow is very important because like Bui and Baruch (2011, p. 2) argue, rapid changes in today’s turbulent business environment require it much more than knowledge for us to adapt and confront changes.  

Personal Reflection I had always thought that I was not the type of person that fits in education because I often have trouble following instructions without knowing why or accepting things for granted without understanding the principle behind. Now, however, I discover that it is actually a strength that is worth cultivated. It is because my philosophy about learning is aligned with the double-loop learning that Argyris and Schon promoted as explained in Smith (2001). Double-loop learning occurs when the learner questions existing assumptions and conditions rather than simply accepting these features for granted. This is also consistent with another study about how the higher education process should be, in which the authors suggest that rather than controlling the learner and preventing mistakes, educators should encourage students to try new things, question and challenge learning issues, and learn from their mistakes (Silins & Mulford 2002, p. 441).

Another insight that I realise is based on Drucker’s idea about how do I perform in the learning process. I realise that the reason why I did not do well in high school was because there was a mismatch between my values and the school’s values regarding to learning, not because of my intelligence. I will work best whenever I am given clear idea about why I have to do certain things and have freedom of how to accomplish them. Unlike my math teacher, I prefer to take instructions but not orders. This understanding significantly rebuilds my confidence. Moreover, to prevent a similar frustration that might happen in the future, the company I choose to work for must have a similar philosophy like mine. At best, it should mirror a learning organisation because like Samson and Daft (2009, pp. 57-60) point out, this organisation is built upon employee empowerment, supportive leadership, and strong adaptive organisational culture.

Essay Number: 2

Word Length: The experience 314 Integrating theory with experience 311 Personal Reflection 329

The Experience It was the first time I went to a shop to buy a new phone, shortly after arriving to Australia. I was treated by a nice young lady. After introducing her name, she offered to shake hands with me. Because it is a sin in my religion for a man to shake hands with a woman, so I felt a bit embarrassed and backed away, saying that “Sorry I don’t want to”. She looked startled for a second, said it was fine, and asked which product I was looking for. At that point I could sense an awkwardness between us, and I realised that I should have explained to her the reason why I could not shake her hands, instead of simply rejecting her polite gesture. However, I was shy and did not have the courage to admit my rudeness. After all, I thought she was not supposed to be such friendly to a stranger male.

I showed her the phone and we discussed about some features around it. The lady seemed like not able to understand the questions I asked, because she kept asking me to repeat the questions many times. She stared at me incessantly while we were talking. That made me feel very uncomfortable, to the point that I tried to avoid looking at her directly.

After paying for the phone, as a sign of thanking her to help me, I offered for her to keep the change. To my surprise, she replied bluntly that she would not do that if she was me. I felt very embarrassed because it never happened for me before, and especially when this happened in the public. I left the store feeling confused and promised myself never coming to that store again. It seemed to me that Australians were so strange that I were not sure how to act appropriately in another situation like this.              

Integrating theory with experience The work of Earley and Mosakowski (2004) helps me a lot in realising the importance of cultural intelligence and assessing the three facets of my own cultural intelligence. It is the ability that allows a person to interpret unfamiliar gestures and act appropriately while dealing with various cultures (Samson & Daft 2009, p. 162). This interpretation, according to Triandis (2006, p. 21), is related more on the external contextual factors such as norms and roles, than the internal factors like attitudes and personalities. Furthermore, cultural intelligence is built upon the integration of three elements: cognitive, emotional, and physical (Earley & Mosakowski 2004, pp. 141-142).

Related to the incident, if I were having high cultural intelligence, I would not have seen the lady’s actions as a flaw in her personality, but as a difference between the Australian culture and Middle Eastern culture. For instance, in Australia, it is acceptable for a woman to shake hands with another stranger; it is polite to keep eye-contact to show your respect while listening to another person; and it is uncommon to give tips to shop attendants. Moreover, I should have known how to react more appropriately as well.    

Assessing what I did, I actually failed at all three facets of cultural quotient, and acted just like a provincial (Earley & Mosakowski 2004, p. 141), because I did not have sufficient knowledge about Australian culture or noticed clues that might help me understand the differences between the two cultures (cognitive); instead of using the incident as an opportunity to motivate myself to grow and become better at the next encounter (Moon 2010, p. 463), I felt embarrassed and blamed the other (emotional); I could not adjust my behavior appropriately, like maintaining eye-contact more often with the lady (physical). It is no wonder why my scores in the CQ strength test are low: 2.75, 3, and 1.25.  

Personal Reflection It is hard to identify any strength in someone, who scores very low in three aspects of the cultural intelligence. However, after reviewing the test, I realise that I do have an ability to immediately sense whether something is going wrong in the current situation. In fact, that ability makes me remember the incident so vivid and helps me very much in my reflection so that I can learn so much about myself, even after a long time have passed.

This awareness is important not only in regard to improving cultural intelligence (Crowne 2010, p. 392), but also to my learning according to Drucker. Unlike other people, who learn by writing or listening (Drucker 1999, p. 4), I learn better by reflecting on my own experience. Therefore, from now on, I will pay more attention to what happen around me, and perhaps set some time away every day or week to reflect on these things, so that the experience I get can be reinvested in the next encounter. Imagine what my life would be like to have the experience this year invested so that next year is even better.                

A clear example I can see for myself is also in cultural intelligence. After three years studying in Australia, I now realise that I behave not like a provincial anymore, but more like a mimic, according to (Earley & Mosakowski 2004, p. 144). However, I do not believe that I am a mimic by nature; instead, I think it is because of all the experience I have collected while studying in Australia has made me adopt some of the Australian features. Moreover, I also feel more comfortable dealing with people from other countries, because I no longer assume the Middle Eastern culture as the only one. Like McNamee and Faulkner (2001, p. 78) point out, studying abroad is one of the best ways to develop cultural intelligence. So I will consider this option should I decide to take postgraduate study later on.          

Essay Number: 3

Word Length: The experience 321 Integrating theory with experience 328 Personal Reflection 320

The Experience This incident happened during my first semester studying Data Analysis in Australia. I was very worried about the subject because it was difficult to understand and I was not used to the way Australians study. One day I came to ask my professor in class about how to prepare for the subject’s homework and assessments. My lecturer expressed great difficulty while dealing with me because she said that she could not understand what I meant. I repeated my question again. This time, she replied by throwing the same question back to me and asked: “What do you mean, exactly?” Then she commented that I should take an English course to improve my accent and pronunciation.

This made me upset, because I came to her asking not for an advice of how to improve English but for tips about my study. However, I did not say that out loud because I feared of possible unfavorable treatment from her. I said I was sorry for my bad English and I just wanted to know what to focus on while working on the assessment. Now she raised her voice: “You didn’t listen to me in class, did you? What did I say back then?” I started shaking, I told her that I did, but I could not follow her because she talked too fast. At this point, I heard her mumbling that she could not understand how they accept a student with such a poor English. She then explained the key points of the lesson to me. However, I was in such a bad mood that I could not remember much details of what she said to me.  

I discovered later that I was not the only exception, as some of my Middle Eastern and Asian friends experienced similar things with this lecturer. The experience made me feel embarrassed and stressful in class. Consequently, I stopped asking questions and just be quiet in class.  

Integrating theory with experience Although my lecturer’s behavior do not involve a break of the discrimination law, I believe the situation represents an ethical issue. This is because of two reasons according to Samson and Daft (2009, p. 174), firstly the domain of ethics does not require a specific law, but it is governed mainly by shared principles and moral conduct; secondly, the actions of one person give harm to another. To demonstrate, while it is hard to accuse my lecturer of committing a discrimination act as all of what she did was quite subtle and indirect; however, it would be easier to argue that her behavior violate the Australian spirit regarding to discrimination (National Anti-Discrimination Information Gateway 2012). Therefore, in terms of Kohlberg’s conventional level of moral development Samson and Daft (2009, p. 180), she is expected to live up to the expectation of a wider society, not only the law. Moreover, her behavior brought me stress and affected my study in a negative way.

If I was to deal with this ethical dilemma today, I could apply Velasquez et al.’ framework (2009) to choose the best action. Instead of stop asking question and keep quiet, I could either confront my lecturer politely to resolve the misunderstanding directly, or report the incident to the university. For the first option, the result is hard to predict as either the conflict is solved or it may be worse than before. It is because it is very difficult to challenge the attitude and belief of the discriminating staff, especially when she is not aware of it (Lee & Rice 2007, p. 397). Therefore, if I were to apply the utilitarian approach, I would not know how to weigh the benefits of the first option as they are indeterminable (Clegg 2000, p. 2). The outcome of the second option, if successful, could protect my interest and many others that are treated similar ways. So it seems to be aligned with the utilitarian and justice approach.

Personal Reflection It is understandably easy for a discriminated victim to say that “Not like me, I won’t commit such a shameful act!”. However, there is a true insight in that. Firstly, because I can look at the incident through a victim’s glasses, I understand what the feeling and consequence will be like for just a subtle form of discrimination like that. Moreover, I also realise that I myself have done something like this before to other people, whose country I will not discuss here, because to do that is another form of discrimination as well. As a result, I will be more careful in dealing with other people to avoid causing similar incidents in the future. Maybe my lecturer was not meant to be discriminating because another study (Robertson et al. 2000, p. 89) shows that teaching staff is often unaware of foreign students’ problems such as English, culture shocks, or homesickness so that they misunderstand students’ performance as lack of interest or competence. If she had known the impact of her behavior on her students, I would argue that she would have tried to express her points more carefully. This is because Hayibor and Wasieleski (2009, p. 162) find that people often conduct unethical acts because they are not aware of the potential consequences of their actions.  

Another insight I learn is that if the incident had happened in my country, then I would probably not consider the option of reporting to the university. The reason is because the attitude toward anti-discrimination is not that serious compared to Australia. Therefore, studying here has made me adopt some of the Australian’s expectations. Similarly, relating this to the company I am going to work for, it would be better for me to choose a company, which culture represents ethical standards that are compatible to mine or a little higher than what I am striving for (Elango et al. 2010, p. 553).  

Reference List

Bui, H & Baruch, Y 2010, ‘Creating learning organizations in higher education: applying a systems perspective’, The Learning Organization, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 228-42.

Bui, H & Baruch, Y 2011, ‘Learning organizations in higher education: An empirical evaluation within an international context’, Management Learning, pp. 1-30, viewed 20 August 2012, <http://mlq.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/01/31/1350507611431212>.

Clegg, J 2000, ‘Beyond ethical individualism’, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 1-11.

Crowne, KA 2008, ‘What leads to cultural intelligence?’, Business Horizons, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 391-9.

Cummings, T & Worley, C 2009, Organisation development & change, 9th edn, South-Western/Cengage Learning, Mason, Ohio.

Drucker, P 1999, ‘Managing oneself’, Best of Harvard Business Review 1999, pp. 1– 12, Cleveland Clinic Academy, Cleveland, viewed 20 August 2012, <http://academy.clevelandclinic.org/Portals/40/managingoneself.pdf>.

Earley, PC & Mosakowski, E 2004, ‘Cultural intelligence’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 82, no. 10, pp. 139-46.  

Elango, B, Paul, K, Kundu, SK & Paudel, SK 2010, ‘Organizational Ethics, Individual Ethics, and Ethical Intentions in International Decision-Making’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 543-61.  

Hayibor, S & Wasieleski, DM 2009, ‘Effects of the Use of the Availability Heuristic on Ethical Decision-Making in Organizations’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 151-65.  

Lee, JJ & Rice, C 2007, ‘Welcome to America? International student perceptions of discrimination’, Higher Education, vol. 53, pp. 381-409.

McNamee, SJ & Faulkner, GL 2001, ‘The International Exchange Experience and the Social Construction of Meaning’, Journal of Studies in International Education, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 64-78.

Moon, T 2010, ‘Organizational Cultural Intelligence: Dynamic Capability Perspective’, Group & Organization Management, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 456-93.  

National Anti-Discrimination Information Gateway (2012), viewed 15 September 2012, <http://www.antidiscrimination.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx>.

Robertson, M, Line, M, Jones, S & Thomas, S 2000, ‘International students, learning environments and perceptions: A case study using the Delphi technique’, Higher Education Research and Development, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 89-102.

Samson, D & Daft, RL 2009, Management, 3rd edn, Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne.

Silins, H & Mulford, B 2002, ‘Schools as learning organisations: The case for system, teacher and student learning’, Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 425-46.

Smith, MK 2001, ‘Chris Argyris: theories of action, double-loop learning and organizational learning’, The encyclopedia of informal education, viewed 20 August 2012, <www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm>.

Triandis, HC 2006, ‘Cultural Intelligence in Organizations’, Group & Organization Management, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 20-6.

Velasquez, M, Moberg, D, Meyer, MJ, Shanks, T, McLean, MR, DeCosse, D, André, C & Hanson, KO 2009, ‘A framework for thinking ethically’, Santa Clara University, viewed 15 September 2012, <http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html>.

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