Nelson Mandela's leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nelson Mandela's leadership - Essay Example According to Connor and Mackenzie-Smith (2003: 59), â€Å"leadership is an active interaction with the world and involves bringing into being new possibilities from within real constraints†. Mandela’s leadership was based on his philosophy and way of thinking. His cause and persuasive methods were able to win him many followers and ultimately, adversaries also became his friends. In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela states that â€Å"South Africa will be free only after it achieves the freedom to be free†. He believed that by achieving physical freedom alone, liberty was not possible. It was also essential to support the freedom of others, and live the right life which gives self-respect and confidence (Mandela, 1994: 685). An outline of Nelson Mandela’s life story: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s father was a Xhosa chief of a small village near the capital Transkei in South Africa, where he was born in 1918. Africans living in their own country were discriminated against by the white minority rulers. As a leader of the African resistance that struggled for freedom from apartheid, Mandela was imprisoned for several years. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle against apartheid and was elected as the first black president of South Africa (Mandela, 1994). Nelson Mandela set up law practice in Johannesburg in 1952. Earlier, in 1944, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) which included non-Africans. They tried for resolution in the conflict by a peaceful struggle against aparthed, using non-violent means. The state responded with violence against the Africans. Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress in 1951 and worked for the elimination of discriminatory laws. He led the ANC resistance movement in 1951-1952, was banned and jailed several times (Mandela, 1994). From 1961, the non-violent resistance was given up for violent methods. Mandela was jailed for five years because he illegally

Marketing plan for topps tiles for 2009 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing plan for topps tiles for 2009 - Essay Example The additional spending it had made on a national level TV advertisement campaign coupled with the inflationary trends have resulted in the increased gross expenditure of 43 percent of the total revenue, while it was only 41 percent the last year. On the basic earning reported per share, the results showed a reduction of about 16.5 percent (Topps tile , 2007). But initiatives are being taken to position Topps tiles as the most favoured brand through different customer relationships initiatives, advertisements and also variety of social outreach programmes. The marketing plan for the Topp tiles have been prepared after a very careful analysis of current market position and anticipated growth for the current year. The plans would include all the possible stakeholders in the business of tiles. They are the customers, builders association in UK and also other business players targeting similar set of customer needs. The primary approach is to create a wide range of product choices that would make the customer with excellent choices and hence the purchase could be completed for the choice expected by them. The broad distribution of buyers are shown in the figure 1. Innovative strategies are adopted for the effective marketing of Topp tiles across U K and Holland. The emphasis would be on strengthening the existing customer base at the current sales locations and hence concentrate more to stabilize the leadership position in the tile segment. In one of the important plans proposed, the effort is given to motivate a buyer to have more purchases in the period even though the market studies have shown the prevailing tendency among the customers as to reduce the buying choices to the most minimum levels. Hence, it is to be planned that every prospective customer need to be motivated to have a higher volume of choices, which could

Reasons for the Fall of the Western Roman Empire Essay Example for Free

Reasons for the Fall of the Western Roman Empire Essay There are many pieces of writing containing facts and inferences about the reasons of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. After reading selections from a number of writings on this topic, it is somewhat clear what the main reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire were. The vast majority of the people in those times believed that the old civilization was not worth saving, and that contributed to the fall of the empire, according to Gatzke from what he wrote in a textbook. Another more arguable reason for the fall of the empire is that it was simply too big. Because of its vast size, it was difficult to control and maintain order. Christianity was legalized when Constantine converted to it when he was the Roman Emperor. The introduction of Christianity was another heavy blow to the empire, because Christianity discouraged the active virtues of the society at that time, killed off military spirit, and some public and private wealth was consecrated to Charity. The Roman Empire was so vast because of how many battles it fought in and won. When the empire was out for expansion, they gained conquered territory and used the new resources (such as plundered wealth and markets) to fuel the prosperity, but when the empire ceased to expand, economic progress also ceased. The Roman Empire could not afford to slow economic progress however, because the government had very large expenses, most of which were created by the army and the bureaucracy. The army had its own internal problems rather than just economic. Another factor that contributes to the fall of the Western Roman Empire is that there was a shortage of children, and foreigners began to pour in to be apart of Romes army, soon the Roman empire was composed mostly of Germans. This was internal decay. In an attempt to pay the large expenses owed, the government raised taxes on the people, and this only made matters worse. The effects of high taxation on the people were pretty disastrous, people lost hope and left their responsibilities, tenants fled from farms and businessmen fled from their occupations, private enterprise was crushed, and the state was forced to  take over many kinds of business to keep things going. Welfare was introduced, and although it seems good to society today, back then it made things worse for the empire. People stopped being so self-reliant, and they expected something for doing nothing, basically they were made lazy.

Stabilization of Nitrous Acid

Stabilization of Nitrous Acid Abstract Nitrous acid (HNO2) was stabilized via supporting on Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) and the thermal stabilization and structure were estimated using thermogravimetric analysis measurement and spectroscopic methods, respectively. Some novel heterocyclic azo dyes were synthesized by selective diazotization of aromatic amines followed by coupling with some susceptible aromatic compounds. The stereochemistry structure of the synthesized dyes were optimized using B3LYP at 6-311 G(d,p) basis set and their electron excitation properties were evaluated using calculations of density functional theory. UV-Visible analysis was applied for Photophysical properties evaluation of the new dyes and compared with computed vertical excitation obtained from TD-DFT. Also, the azo-hydrazone tautomerism of the triazine azo dyes was investigated and the results show that for all of the synthesized dyes both azo and hydrazone tautomeric forms exist, while 3a-5 shows more notable hydrazone form than others. Keywords: Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, Nitrous acid, Azo dyes, azo-hydrazone tautomerism 1. Introduction Nitrous acid as a weak inorganic acid has significant applications in organic reactions such as diazotization, nitrosonation and Sandmeyer Reaction,[1,2] but its instability in temperatures upper 5  °C causes some restrictions to using it. In this work, we stabilized nitrous acid via supporting on polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) and then utilized it in synthesis of some novel azo dyes. However, PVPP has been reported as an efficient support in many cases such as trifluoroboride and nitric acid.[3,4] PVPP-HNO2 has many advantages that make it environmentally acceptable in both industrial and laboratory viewpoints. It is applicable for a long time after preparation and the polymer easily remove by washing with water. In particular, nitrous acid absorbed on polyvinylpolypyrrolidone takes part in azo coupling reaction and the polymer remains almost completely intact. However, the literature describing arylamines conversion to diazonium salts using polyvinylpolypyrrolidone supported nitrous acid (PVPP-HNO2) is not available. Herein, we wish to present a convenient procedure for diazotization reaction using this stable reagent. Azo colorants from aromatic heterocyclic amines have sublimation fastness, excellent light and color strength.[5] They are one of the important groups of synthetic organic dyes. They are applied in various fields such as electronic photography, liquid crystal displays, paper printing, bleaching, polymers, laser technology, dyeing, color formers, data storage and solar energy conversion.[6] They also have been known as antibacterial, antifungal and anti-tumor compounds.[7,8] The compound 1,3,5-triazine has an alternative six-membered heterocyclic ring with an equal number of nitrogen and carbon atoms.[9] The triazines are analogues of benzene rings, which makes them as an aromatic compound like benzene. 1,3,5-Triazine, a common reagent which is used as herbicides and pharmaceuticals.[9] The diazonium salts of triazines derivatives have been reported as a diazotization targets in the synthesis of a variety of heterocyclic azo dyes[10,11] but no report found in direct diazotization of triazines with more than one aromatic amine group. The existence of azo-hydrazone equilibrium in azo colorants having the hydroxyl group at ortho or para position to azo linkage was proved in 1983.[12] In hydrazone form, due to the hydrogen bonding, a coplanar six-membered ring is formed with higher thermal stability than azo form ones.[13] After reductive cleavage, the azo chromophoric system gives carcinogenic amines,[14] while in the hydrazone tautomer will be cleaved the C-N bond instead of N=N bond.[15] The study of azo-hydrazone tautomerism gives the great information for degradation of azo chromophores with least toxicological effect on the environment. Finally, we report preparation of polyvinylpolypyrrolidone supported nitrous acid (PVPP-HNO2) and synthesis of novel azo dyes by diazotization of 6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine (1)and 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine (2), followed by coupling with hydroxyl and amine substituted of aromatic compounds (Scheme 1). The absorption spectra were obtained using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer and the structures of the triazine azo dyes were confirmed by spectral analysis. Also, DFT calculation was used for study of their azo-hydrazone tautomerism. The structures in azo and hydrazone forms were optimized in the TD-SCF method using B3LYP/6-311 G(d,p) basis sets. 3. Results and discussions 3.1. Stabilization of HNO2 over PVPP PVPP-HNO2 was prepared by a simple route. As regards the nitrous acid is extremely unstable in temperatures over than 5  °C, polyvinylpolypyrrolidone which previously has been applied as an efficient support,[3,4] was used and the spectroscopic and experimental results showed that PVPP can stabilize nitrous acid by formation of PVPP-HNO2. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) investigation of the polymer and PVPP-HNO2 was performed to study their thermal stability (Fig. 1). The thermal decomposition of PVPP starts at near 330  °C and a sharp burning of polymer chains in pure PVPP sample occurs between 360  °C with the weight loss of ~75% of the initial weight. TGA spectra of PVPP-HNO2 demonstrate a mass degradation at 70  °C in PVPP-HNO2, whereas there is no similar situation in TGA spectra of pure PVPP. In other words, TGA spectra of PVPP-HNO2 show that stability of nitrous acid has been increased to 70  °C.   Due to that, the probable hydrogen bonding causes the stability of nitrous acid via prevention of its decomposition to nitrogen oxides. Furthermore the results of acid-base titration show that the PVPP-HNO2 is clearly more acidic than pure PVPP. While pH of the 0.1% solution of PVPP in water is about 7.0, but the same of PVPP-HNO2 is about 2.92. In other word, [H+] is 1.2ÃÆ'-10-3 M and it shows that [HNO2] is about 0.0032 M and it reveals there is about 0.02 g of nitrous acid in 1 g of PVPP-HNO2 which shows good accordance with TGA results. PVPP-HNO2 was prepared in different ratios of PVPP and HNO2.The best result that showed the maximum capacity of acid in the polymer was 20% w/w. The ratios determined by acid-base titration was consistent with TGA degradation analysis. Besides, the synthesis of PVPP-HNO2 was confirmed by FT-IR spectrum. It shows carbonyl band at 1658 cm-1, whereas the same band in pure PVPP has appeared at 1668 cm-1. This can attribute to hydrogen bonding between nitrous acid and PVPP (Figure 2). This type of interaction has been reported between PVPP and polyphenols.[16] The existence of the N-O band stretching at 1380 and 1572 cm-1 in PVPP-HNO2 and absence of this band on PVPP, gives the indication that nitrous acid has been linked to PVPP polymer (Figure 3). 3.2. Synthesis and characterization of azo dyes A simple and facile synthetic route was presented for the preparation of triazine azo dyes. We found that these products can participate in azo coupling reaction to form various and already known azo dyes. Therefore, we treated diazonium salts with 1-naphtol, 2-naphtol and other amino and hydroxy aromatic compounds to obtain a variety of azo dyes in good yields. The compound 4-amino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine-2-diazonium was synthesized from mixture of 6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine (1)and PVPP-HNO2 in 1 mmol of diamine to 2.0 g of PVPP-HNO2 ratio and further coupled with 1 mmol of 2-naphthol in DMSO to obtain 1-((4-amino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)diazenyl)naphthalen-2-ol (3a-2)in good yield. Other derivatives have been synthesized by different coupling components (Scheme 2). The chemical structure of the new dyes was confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. 2-naphtholic dyes 3a-2 and 3b-2 contain the hydroxyl group at ortho-position to the azo bridge and have the susceptibility to make a six-membered ring due to intramolecular hydrogen transfer. The result of this type of interaction is chemical shift deshielding of hydroxyl group proton than usual. 1H NMR spectra summarized in Table 1 indicates the dye 3a-5 shows an extra singlet at ÃŽÂ ´ 12.11 ppm attributed to N-H proton which is in hydrazone form.   The protons of NH2 in the heterocyclic ring of series 3a show singlet peaks at ÃŽÂ ´ 8.16 to 8.63 ppm while the same at series 3b appear at ÃŽÂ ´ 6.77 to 6.99 ppm. The 13C NMR spectrum of heterocyclic ring carbons shows down field peaks at ÃŽÂ ´ 180-190 ppm. Except compound 3a-4 which have three non-aromatic carbons, all of the other compounds just have aromatic carbons. 13C NMR spectrum of 3a-4 shows two peaks at ÃŽÂ ´ 96.2 and 151 .3 ppm that attributed to the carbons which have been linked to azo group and the hydroxyl group, respectively and a peak at ÃŽÂ ´ 162.0 ppm which assigned as ester carbon of coumarin ring. Infrared spectra of the synthesized chromophores show the band at 1500-1570 cm-1 related to the N=N bond.   A unique band at 2200 cm-1 in 3a-5 reveals the existence of C=N group which can be another evidence for the existence of hydrazone form in this compound. Electron ionization mass spectroscopy (EI-MS) was used to verify structure of the synthesized azo dyes. The base peak in all of the dyes is due to fragmentation of the molecules in the azo bridge. Series 3a and 3b show a base peak at m/z 171 and 110, respectively which attributed to the ionized heterocyclic rings. 3.3. Photo-physical properties and solvent effects To find out the color properties with structural correlation of the synthesized azo dyes, UV-Visible spectra of the dyes were recorded in solvents such as n-hexane, ethanol, acetonitrile and dimethyl sulfoxide at concentration of ~10-4 M and at room temperature. The results are tabulated in Table 1. Although a moderate bathochromic shift in ethanol and acetonitrile was seen, but generally no significant bathochromic shift was observed.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   The UV-Vis absorption spectra of all of the dyes in all solvents show the main band at 290-330 nm which can be assigned to moderate energy transition of the aromatic ring. All of the 3b series and compounds 3a-2, 3a-4 and 3a-5 in all solvents, two bands are displayed arising from the à Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ Ã¢â€š ¬* transitions in the backbone. The second bands appear at 360-500 nm can be assigned to azo bridge or intermolecular azo-aromatic chromophore. 3.4. Computational study: Gaussian 03 program package was employed to study Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) and the profusion of the synthesized azo dyes in their azo and hydrazone tautomeric forms.[17] TD-DFT calculations were applied using B3LYP/6-311 G(d,p) basis set with the default convergence criteria and without any limitation on the geometry. The TD-DFT provide the most powerful and effective computational tool for examining the ground and excited state properties of the azo molecules compared with obtained UV-Vis data. Time-dependent DFT method was applied for determination of the UV-Vis spectra, electronic transitions, and vertical excitation energies. 3.4.1. UV-Vis spectral analysis The UV-Vis spectra of azo dyes molecules were measured in dimethyl sulfoxide solution as shown in Figure 4. The calculated absorption maximum wavelength (ÃŽÂ »max), electron transition energies and oscillator strength both in solvent phase (DMSO as solvent) along with recorded UV-Visible data are shown in tables 2 and 3. The main characteristic of the spectra is determined by the general structure of the molecules. Each molecule has a double band Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ N (azo group) which is directly conjugated with a homocyclic and heterocyclic aromatic ring. This group has a wide electronic delocalization. Therefore, it is possible to predict the presence of the main absorption band associated to a à Ã¢â€š ¬-delocalized system that involves the fragment Nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ N and other associated internal transitions that emerge from the aromatic and/or heterocyclic system. In this sense and in according with the structure of the compounds, we can determine that the first absorption band ÃŽÂ »1 located in the range of 290-320 nm with low intensity that appears as shoulder is attributed to à Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ Ã¢â€š ¬* transition that involves the aromatic rings, while the second absorption band ÃŽÂ »2 located in the range of 300-400 nm, attributed to a à Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ à Ã¢ ‚ ¬* transition. This transition involves the azo bridge. The remaining absorption band located at lower energy corresponds to ÃŽÂ »3 and is assigned as the type nà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ à Ã¢â€š ¬* transition. A similar behavior of the previous transition is observed. In tables 2 and 3, the experimental and calculated maximum absorption and the corresponding orbital contribution are shown. As observed, shorter wavelengths (ÃŽÂ »1) and in some cases ÃŽÂ »2 belong to lower occupied MOs such as HOMO-4, HOMO-6 and HOMO-8 and LUMO while longer wavelengths (ÃŽÂ »3) involves frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs). The description of FMO will be discussed in the DFT section. An example of the involved MOs for compound 3a-2 is presented in Figure 5. The entire former assignations were corroborated using TD-DFT calculations. The involved MOs for all of the synthesized compounds are presented in Figure S1-9. 3.4.2. DFT calculations For prediction of the molecules electronic spectra, the TD-DFT calculation is used because of low computational cost and high accuracy. The electronic structure of the molecule in ground state can be determined from the wave function of the electron moving within molecule because molecular orbital can be treated as electron channels.[18] The Gauss View program is applied to calculate group contribution of molecular orbitals, i.e. the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs). In almost every calculated transitions, the FMO are involved, vide supra. The FMO of all compounds shows similar characteristics as observed in supplementary data (Fig. S1-9). In all cases, HOMO is delocalized over the homo-aromatic ring and azo bridge. The HOMO-1 is composed in every case mainly by the azo bridge. In terms of unoccupied MOs, the LUMO is mainly centered over the homocyclic and heterocyclic aromatic rings and azo bridge. On the other hand LUMO+1 of naphtholic compounds 3a-1, 3a-2, 3b-1 and 3b-2 is located almost over the triazine ring while in other compounds, LUMO+1 attributed to non-triazine aromatic rings. The ionization potential (IP), electron affinity and GAP energies do not follow any trend and the calculated values are similar and do not depend on the substituted coupled to triazine rings.[19] The estimated reactivity indexes such as chemical potential (ÃŽÂ ¼), chemical hardness (ÃŽÂ ·) and electrophilicity (à Ã¢â‚¬ °) are reported for make the approach of the potential reactivity of these synthesized dyes (Table 4). Chemical hardness is a measure of the resistance of chemical species to change its electronic configuration.[19] It is an index of the stability and chemical reactivity of compounds. The highest value of ÃŽÂ · is shown by compounds 3a-5 and 3b-4 in 3a and 3b series, respectively, which have 2-nitroaniline as coupling aromatic agent and are the most electron attracting substituent. On the other hand, the smallest value is shown by 3a-2 and 3b-2 which have 2-naphtol in the structure as a good electron-donor substituent. Chemical potential characterizes the tendency of escaping of electrons from the equilibrium system.[19,20] This index shows an opposite behavior to that of ÃŽÂ ·, where the highest value belongs to 3a-2 and 3b-2 which have electron donor substituent and the smallest value is shown by 3a-1 and 3b-4 which the second compound acts as an electron acceptor substituent while the first can acts as an electron acceptor via induction. Electrophilicity index (à Ã¢â‚¬ °) c ould give information comparing two in which one is nucleophile/electrophile via lower/higher à Ã¢â‚¬ °.[20] For example comparing between 3a-1 and 3a-2 shows that 3a-1 has higher à Ã¢â‚¬ ° and it can attribute to more electron attraction of 4-hydroxy substituent rather than 2-hydroxy in the naphtholic system. Another attractive comparison between 3a-1 and 3b-1 shows more electron attraction in triazine ring in 3a-1. A phenyl group which replaced with the amine group has increased electrophilicity of 3a-1 than to 3b-1. Although some contradictions are found in case 3a-5 that it can appropriate to azo-hydrazone tautomerism that it will be discussed in the tautomerism section. 3.4.3. Optimized geometries of azo-hydrazone tautomeric forms The optimized ground state geometries of the dyes in azo-hydrazone tautomeric forms are shown in figures 6 and 7. Figure 7. Ground state optimized structure of dyes 3a series in their azo and hydrazone tautomeric forms Optimized ground state geometries of the compounds in azo forms are almost planar such as 3a-1 and 3a-2 which show a mild dihedral angular twist less than 5 ° at N15-N14-C11-N12 and at N7-N14-C9-C14. All hydrazone forms show a dihedral angle twist by near 30 ° which follows no trend. Optimized bond lengths of the synthesized triazine azo dyes (3a and 3b) have been calculated. The O-H bond lengths of azo forms for all of the naphtholic series (3a-1, 3a-2, 3b-1 and 3b-2) is 0.960 Ã…. Similarly, the N-H bond lengths are 1.015 Ã… for 3a-1 and 3a-2 and 1.000 Ã… for 3b-1 and 3b-2. This calculated information shows no significant trend to determine azo-hydrazone tautomerism but the obtained N-N bond can signify the single-double bond character of the bond. The N-N bond length in hydrazone form falls shorter to the model value of 1.400 Ã… for single bond.[21] N-N bond length in 3a and 3b azo series are 1.232 Ã… and this bond length in 3a and 3b hydrazone forms are 1.400 Ã… except in 3a-5 which N-N bond length in hydrazone form is 1.330 Ã… and this confirms our 1H NMR observation in the existence of 3a-5 in both azo-hydrazone forms in significant ratio, while in other compounds this rate of ratio is not impressive. 3.4.4. Calculated energies of azo-hydrazone tautomeric forms The free energies (E/hartree) and relative energies (ΆE/ kJmol-1) of the synthesized dyes in both azo and hydrazone forms calculated using the B3LYP/6-311G (d,p) level to check theoretical stability difference between tautomeric forms and the values tabulated in Table 5. Contrary to this expectation that hydrazone forms have relative stability than azo tautomers,[15,22] in our TDDFT calculations, only hydrazone form of 3a-1 shows more relative stability than the same of azo form by 26.26 kJmol-1. 2-naphtholic dyes 3a-2 and 3b-2 show a significant stability in azo forms than hydrazone forms by 1260.48 and 498.94 kJmol-1, respectively. In the other compounds there is no difference between the stability of azo and hydrzone form and it shows that in comparison to experimental data, there is no notable accordance in TDDFT structures energy. 4. Conclusion In summary, we have successfully developed an efficient protocol to stabilize nitrous acid by supporting on polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP). Synthesized PVPP-HNO2 confirmed by simple titration and FT-IR analysis. The TGA results show that the supported system has acceptable thermal stability. In the following, we have synthesized nine heterocyclic triazine azo dyes and they were confirmed by FT-IR, 1H NMR, and mass spectral analysis. UV-Visible spectral analysis was compared with calculated data. TDDFT calculations were performed showing enough adaption with experimental observations. The optimized structure of azo and hydrazone form using B3LYP/6-311 G(d,p) basis set of calculation shows that azo is more stable form in all of the synthesized dyes except 3a-5, which exist in both azo and hydrazone forms. Acknowledgement.   We are thankful to the Yasouj University for partial support of this work. References T. Turney, G. Wright, Chem. Rev. 1959, 59, 497. N. Suzuki, Y. Kaneko, T. Nomoto, Y. Izawa, Chem. Commun. 1984, 22, 1523. M. Mokhtary, S. Refahati, Dyes Pigments 2013, 99, 378. M. Nogami, Y. Sugiyama, T. Kawasaki, M. Harada, Y. Morita, T. Kikuchi, Y. Ikeda, J. Radioanal. Nucl. chem. 2010, 283, 541. H. S. Bhatti, S. Seshadri., Color. Tech. 2004, 120, 151. M. Ghasemian, A. Kakanejadifard, F. Azarbani, A. Zabardasti, S. Shirali, Z. Saki, S. Kakanejadifard, Spectrochim. Acta A. 2015, 138, 643. I. M. Awad, Phosphorus Sulfur 1996, 114, 17. G. Powis, M. Seewald, D. Melder, M. Hoke, C. Gratas, T. Christensen, D. E. Chapman, Cancer Chemoth. Pharm. 1992, 31, 223. W. Hua, E. R. Bennett, R. J. Letcher, Water Res. 2006, 40, 2259. M. A. Satam, R. K. Raut, N. Sekar, Dyes Pigments 2013, 96, 92. D. R. Patel, K. C. Patel, Dyes Pigments 2011, 90, 1. A. LyÄ ka, Collect. Czech. Chem. C. 1983, 48, 3104. Y. Do Kim, J. H. Cho, C. R. Park, J. H. Choi, C. Yoon, J. P. Kim, Dyes Pigments 2011, 89, 1. H. Pinheiro, E. Touraud, O. Thomas, Dyes Pigments 2004, 61, 121. P. G. Umape, V. S. Patil, V. S. Padalkar, K. R. Phatangare, V. D. Gupta, A. B. Thate, N. Sekar, Dyes Pigments 2013, 99, 291. K. J. Siebert, P. Y. Lynn, J. Agr. Food. Chem. 1997, 45, 4275. M. Frisch, G. Trucks, H. Schlegel, G. Scuseria, M. Robb, J. Cheeseman, Gaussian 03, revision C. 02 2008. G. W. Drake, Springer handbook of atomic, molecular and optical physics, Springer Science Business Media 2006. R. G. Pearson, J. Mol. Struc-Theochem. 1992, 255, 261. P. K. Chattaraj, S. Giri, Annu. Rep. Prog. Chem., Sect. C: Phys. Chem. 2009, 105, 13. Y. Ebead, Dyes Pigments 2012, 92, 705. M. S. Deshmukh, N. N. Sekar, Can. Chem. Trans. 1, 2013, 305.

The Dysfunctional Family in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights Essay -- Wuther

The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Creating a haven from the cruel outside world, families ideally provide protection and support for each of their members. In Emily Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights, however, bitterness grows between the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Within these two families, siblings rival for power and parents fail to fulfill their roles as caregivers. The intertwining relationships of the Earnshaws and the Lintons are marked by physical abuse, degradation, and emotional negligence. These reduce each of the family members’ life to a lonely and meaningless journey though the cold and misty moors. Unforgiving as the moors that surround them, the Earnshaws and the Lintons often resort to physical violence when interacting with one another. When Lockwood first visits the protagonist Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights, he tries to caress one of Heathcliff’s dogs but is met with angry snarls. Heathcliff, seeing this, kicks the dog and informs his visitor: â€Å"You’d better let the dog alone. She’s not accustomed to be spoiled – not kept for a pet†(12). Like Heathcliff’s dog, no one in the Earnshaw or the Linton family is accustomed to affection. Nelly, the servant who has worked for the Earnshaws and the Lintons for many years, is considered to be a part of these two families. She has grown so accustomed to her master Hindley Earnshaw’s physical violence that she is unfazed when he sticks a knife between her teeth. Hindley tries to use physical violence as a means of re-establishing his power within his household, for he has lost his stranglehold on it when he spiralled into depression over his wife Frances’ death. An alcoholic and a gambler, Hindley is unsuccessful in obtaining his son Hareton’s a... ...s purposes. When Edgar Linton marries his beloved Catherine, Heathcliff revenges on his adoptive brother-in-law by marrying Isabella so that he may inherit the family fortune. He is only playing a game of emotions though, for he does not love Isabella at all. As Isabella laments to Nelly of her husband Heathcliff: â€Å"I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death, and flung it back to me† (168). Cruel and false, the Earnshaws and the Lintons wreck havoc with each other’s hearts. They abuse each other physically, degrade their children, and withhold affection. The family structure collapses as the spirit is crushed. These two families banish the warmth of love and care from their midst and embrace the coldness of the still, harsh moors between their two houses. WORK CITED Brontà «, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: New American Library, 1959. The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Essay -- Wuther The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Creating a haven from the cruel outside world, families ideally provide protection and support for each of their members. In Emily Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights, however, bitterness grows between the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Within these two families, siblings rival for power and parents fail to fulfill their roles as caregivers. The intertwining relationships of the Earnshaws and the Lintons are marked by physical abuse, degradation, and emotional negligence. These reduce each of the family members’ life to a lonely and meaningless journey though the cold and misty moors. Unforgiving as the moors that surround them, the Earnshaws and the Lintons often resort to physical violence when interacting with one another. When Lockwood first visits the protagonist Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights, he tries to caress one of Heathcliff’s dogs but is met with angry snarls. Heathcliff, seeing this, kicks the dog and informs his visitor: â€Å"You’d better let the dog alone. She’s not accustomed to be spoiled – not kept for a pet†(12). Like Heathcliff’s dog, no one in the Earnshaw or the Linton family is accustomed to affection. Nelly, the servant who has worked for the Earnshaws and the Lintons for many years, is considered to be a part of these two families. She has grown so accustomed to her master Hindley Earnshaw’s physical violence that she is unfazed when he sticks a knife between her teeth. Hindley tries to use physical violence as a means of re-establishing his power within his household, for he has lost his stranglehold on it when he spiralled into depression over his wife Frances’ death. An alcoholic and a gambler, Hindley is unsuccessful in obtaining his son Hareton’s a... ...s purposes. When Edgar Linton marries his beloved Catherine, Heathcliff revenges on his adoptive brother-in-law by marrying Isabella so that he may inherit the family fortune. He is only playing a game of emotions though, for he does not love Isabella at all. As Isabella laments to Nelly of her husband Heathcliff: â€Å"I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death, and flung it back to me† (168). Cruel and false, the Earnshaws and the Lintons wreck havoc with each other’s hearts. They abuse each other physically, degrade their children, and withhold affection. The family structure collapses as the spirit is crushed. These two families banish the warmth of love and care from their midst and embrace the coldness of the still, harsh moors between their two houses. WORK CITED Brontà «, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: New American Library, 1959.

Venus :: essays research papers

The Planet Venus Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The planet we know as Venus is the second planet from the Sun in our solar system. The Planet is also the brightest if we were looking at it from earth. According to a some information I have found it â€Å"is the third brightest celestial object in the sky (after the Sun and Moon)†¦[And] is also one of the few bodies in our Solar System that rotates east to west (retrograde) (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hanger/9188/venu.html).† It takes Venus around two hundred and twenty-four days on Earth for it to complete one full rotation. This makes Venus the planet with the slowest rotation in our Solar System. Venus’s year is shorter than its day being only two hundred and twenty-five days on Earth. Venus is also the Planet that comes the closest to our planet Earth. Venus comes about twenty-five million miles or fifteen million kilometers from the Earth’s surface. â€Å"Venus has a thick atmosphere and extreme atmospheric pressure, 9 2 times the Earth’s pressure. The clouds are composed primarily of sulfur compounds, most notably sulfuric acid (Http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hanger/9188/venu.html).† The Surface   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We gathered data from a satellite we sent to Venus showing us that Venus is a highly Volcanically active planet. With more and more satellite images being produced we see that the surface of the planet is changing. We have found that some Volcanoes that were on Venus some odd years ago have become dormant and new Volcanoes have been made, Thus proving the Plates under Venus’s surface are still moving and the planet is not dead; actually, it is very alive! Venus has many Mountains and Volcanoes on its surface. â€Å"There are also several board depressions: Atlanta Planitia, Guinevere Planitia, Lavinia Planitia. There two large highland areas: Istar Terra in the northern hemisphere (about the size of Australia) and Aphrodite Terra along the equator (about the size of South America). The interior of Ishtar consists mainly of a high plateau, Lakshmi Planum, which is surrounded by the highest mountains on Venus including the enormous Maxwell Montes (Http://sed s.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html).† The Atmosphere   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I copied the following chart to show the comparison of the atmosphere between Earth and Venus. (Davison E. Soper, Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 USA soper@bovine.uoregon.edu) Earth Venus N_2 0.79 3 O_2 0.20 < 0.002 Ar 0.01 small CO_2 0.0003 86 H_2O ~ 0.02 ~ 0.01 Total 1.00 90 -------------------------- H_2O 3 km 30 cm liquid + vapor Clouds (50 to 70 km above surface) H_2SO_4 (sulfuric acid). (http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/Venus/atmosphere.html) Because of all the gasses in Venus’s atmosphere it has been named one of the most poisonous planets in our solar system.

Enron Case Study

When Sharron Watkins, the former UP of Corporate Development offered to show the problems in counting decisions, Ken Lay, the Chair of the Board refused and said â€Å"He rather not see it†. 2. Regulatory Agencies, SEC and BAS Enron was able to hide their losses behind their ESP. or Special Purpose Entities by omitting an Spec's assets and liabilities from its consolidated financial statements and both SEC and BAS failed to provide formal guidelines for companies to follow in ESP. accounting and reporting.As a result of the minimal legal and accounting guidelines for Esp., Enron along with other companies was able to divert huge amounts of their liabilities and asses to off-balance sheet entities. 3. Management and Accounting team of Enron Both management and accounting team Of Enron manipulated the revenue recognition principle by making vague assumptions that inflated the profits booked on Enron's commodity contracts. There attempt was to keep the stock prices high by showin g inflated financial statements in order to receive high credit ratings and increased lender cash flow into the company. 4.Anderson Accounting Firm The Anderson firm, an independent audit firm failed to provide a more transparent financial statements of Enron. Anderson firm audited the many for 1 5 years where its auditors failed to perform their duties and professional standards of accounting. In fact, Anderson made efforts to restructure Enron's ESP. to continue to qualify as unconsolidated entities once they became aware of Enron's rapidly deteriorating financial condition. Anderson firm was more interested in retaining Enron as their client to provide consulting services hence creating a conflict of interest.Lists three type of consulting services that audit firm have provided to their audit client in recent years. For each item, indicate the specific threats, if any, that the reversion of the given services can pose for an audit firm independence. Auditors independence is consi dered a cornerstone in the accounting profession since they are entrusted by the general public to provide true picture of a company's financial position. It is believed that non-audit services provided by audit firms impair auditors independence to fairly attest the financial statements produced by the client company.Consulting and audit a same firm causes conflict of interest. Anderson firm earned approximately $52 million in fees from Enron in 2000, less than half of which was directly elated to the auditing, rest were for non-audit services. Audit firm may provide many types of consulting services such as: 1. Tax consulting services 2. Accounting system design services 3. Bookkeeping or other related services 4. Financial advice services, including internal audit consulting service. In this highly competitive market, non-audit services have taken precedence over the traditional accounting and auditing services.Even if an audit firm is fairly attesting financial statements and pr ovides honest opinion of a company, its stakeholders and other users may still presume otherwise due o the recent accounting debacles such as Enron and Anderson firm. The additional non-audit services may prove to be a threat to the audit firm's independence. By providing financial advice services for Enron's accounting procedures, Anderson provided them an opportunity to manipulate the reporting and treatment of the Esp..Bookkeeping and following correct accounting procedures are very important components of preparing financial statements. Manipulations of these data are likely to show up when it is audited accurately, and with precision. When the same company repaper and audits the financial statements, it can create conflict of interest just like in this case, where the creators of accounting procedures I. E the management and Anderson team fabricated the financial statements by using complex accounting procedures and loopholes that users could not understand.Any other consulting services such as tax advisory also creates a threat to the independence of the auditing firm, where manipulations are more likely to happen which can hurt the creditability of the audited statements and the auditor's opinion about the company. For purpose of this question, assume that the excerpts from the Power Report shown in Exhibit 3 provide accurate description of Andersen's involvement in Enron accounting and financial reporting decisions. Given this assumption, do you believe that Andersen's involvement in those decisions violated any professional auditing standards?If so, lists those standards and briefly explain your rationale. Arthur Anderson, once known as one of the top accounting firms in nation, was ridiculed and criticized for their questionable accounting and auditing procedures of their client Enron, which ultimately lead to its demise. Their faulty accounting practices shattered investor confidence in auditors throughout the country and made way to Serbians-Solely Act of 2002 and the creation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PEPCO) to oversee the rule-making process for independent audit function.Anderson provided external auditing, internal auditing and consulting services to Enron. They violated several of their professional and ethical standards by accepting large suns in fees and perhaps by looking the other way to the faulty accounting practices contemplated by Enron's management ND giving them an unqualified audit opinion on the financial statements. Andersen earned around $52 million from Enron during 2000, but only $25 million was payment in reference to the 2000 audit. With such an involvement in non-audit services they were not independent of the company, violating the most important standard of auditing.They put their own interest before the interest of the users of their audited financial statements and opinion. From the excerpts it can be concluded that they were deeply involved in the accounting and structuring of the Esp., where they were more interested in electing millions of dollars in fees and failed to provide objective accounting judgment that should have prevented these transactions from going forward. Andersen failed to bring to the attention of Enron internal Audit and Compliance Committee about the serious reservations brought on internally about the related-party transactions, I. . Esp., which clearly shows the violation of professional auditing standards. Anderson firm should have supervised the auditing services provided by its auditors to maintain independence. This lacks of planning and supervision made Anderson to be highly involved in client accounting and financial porting decisions. Anderson had concerns about the disclosures of the related third-party transactions in the financial statement footnotes and instead of pointing those out to the Audit and Compliance Committee they vouched on its accuracy and issued an unqualified opinion on the financial. Enron Case Study Executive Summary: As per requested this group assignment prepared from Group 2 (NASA) contributed by Norazman Saharum , Shaufi Akil , Abd Manaf Jalil and Zubir Zainal Abidin . This group assignment part of final course entitle for 25 marks . This assignment to fulfill our MSU MBA Syllabus for subject Accounting For Corporate and Evaluation (DAC 5013) instructed by Dr Mazlinah Mat Zain . Our group have chosen The Arthur Andersen Troubles. The most famous scandal case Arthur Anderson scandal was involved in was the fraudulent auditing of Enron. In this case Arthur Anderson shredded vital documents sourcing the audit of Enron which occurred in the year 2002. Enron has clearly done some damage to the U. S. economy, but it will not hold up recovery from the current recession. The fundamental health of the U. S. economy is strong and now getting stronger. Some individual new economy companies will have depressed stock prices for some time, but they, too, will recover as they demonstrate that they are prepared to prevent Enron-like behaviour. We do believe Enron will be the morality play of the new economy. It will teach executives and the American public the most important ethics lessons of this decade. We will discuss more information on this issues based on the question given on Arthur Andersen and among them are the conflict of interest between the two roles played by Arthur Andersen, as auditor but also as consultant to Enron; the lack of attention shown by members of the Enron board of directors to the off-books financial entities with which Enron did business; and the lack of truthfulness by management about the health of the company and its business operations. Lastly, we would like to thanks to Dr Mazlinah on her dedicated and helpful to achieve our mission and mission to be a successful entrepreneur for the future. Arthur Andersen case study reminds us the most important ethics lessons of this decade. AMIN. Introduction; Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one the â€Å"Big Five† accounting firms among Price Water House Coopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG , providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations. In 2002, the firm voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accounting in the United States after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm’s handling of the auditing of Enron, the energy corporation, resulting in the loss of 85,000 jobs. In this case Arthur Andersen shredded the vital documents sourcing the audit of Enron which occurred in the year 2002 . Although the verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States, it has not returned as a viable business. However, how did this company get the reputation that it has while following such a moral slogan? As the clients demanded for more profit margins , Arthur Andersen scandal had to compromise his morality leading to the allegation that he had fraudulently altered the statement of such companies and corporation for example Sunbeam Products, Waste Management Inc. , Asia Pulp and Paper, The Baptist Foundation of Arizona , and WorldCom . Due to the downfall of Arthur Andersen, it lost nearly all of its business and clients. It lost not millions but billions of dollars due to this intense investigation. Although it is still in business and operating under Omega Management and has not as of yet declared bankruptcy, the firm will never reach its past legacy. Arthur Anderson's motto of â€Å"Think straight, talk straight† has forever been tainted in the eyes of Americans corporations. This devastation of fraudulent activity has forever left a deep and painful scar on America’s businesses. . The Arthur Andersen’s Troubles: Question 1: What did Arthur Andersen (AA) contribute to the Enron disaster? The most famous scandal case Arthur Andersen was involved in was the fraudulent auditing of Enron. In this case Arthur Andersen shredded vital documents sourcing the audit of Enron which occurred in the year 2002. According to Watkin, a financial executive who worked with Andrew Fastow told Enron CEO Kenneth Lay she feared that Enron would â€Å"implode in a wave of accounting audit scandal â€Å" (1: USA Today, Wed, Jan 16, 2002) AA apparent mistakes may have been made for several reasons to the Enron disaster including: †¢ Incompetence , as displayed and admitted in the rhythms case . Judgement errors; . as to the significants of each of the audit findings, or of the aggregate impact in any fiscal year. †¢ Lack of information caused by Enron staff not providing critical information, or failure on the part of AA personal to search it out . †¢ Time pressures :related to revenue generations and budget pressures that prevented adequate audit work and the full considera tions of complex SPE and prepay financial arrangements . †¢ Desire not to confront Enron management or advise the Enron board in order not to upset management, and particularly fastow, Skilling and Lay Lack of Independence. The Board of Directors failed to ensure the independence of the company auditor , allowing AA to provide internal audit and consulting services while serving the Enron outside auditors . †¢ A failure of AA’s internal policies whereby the concerns of a quality control or practice standards partner can and was overruled by the audit partner in charge of the Enron account. AA was the only one of the Big 5 accounting forms to have this flaw and it left the entire firm vulnerable to the decisions of the person with the most to lose by saying no to a client. A misunderstanding of the fiduciary role required by auditors . for example AA allowing Enron to engage in high risk accounting , inappropriate conflict of interest transactions, extensive undisclo sed off-the-books activities and excessive executive compensation . Given this â€Å"tone at the top’. It is reasonable to assume that AA partners were going to be motivated by revenue generations. But if too many risks are taken in the pursuit of revenue the probability of a series of audit problems leading to increasingly unfavorable consequences becomes greater . That is exactly what happened to Enron disaster. Unfortunately, the leaders of AA failed to recognize the cumulative degree to which the public, the politicians, and the SEC (The Securities and Exchange Commission) were angered by the progression of AA audit failures . Question 2: What Arthur Andersen (AA) decision were faulty? Arthur Andersen (AA) decision were faulty . This is the ‘ Enron Debacle† section presented previously covers in detail many of the questionable accounting transactions, legal structures, and related disclosures that AA reviewed as auditors of and consultants to Enron. AA faulty may have been made for several reason , including: †¢ AA apparently approved as auditors and consultants (and collected fees for the consulting advice) the structure of many special purpose entities (SPEs) that were used to generate false profits, hide losses, and keep financing off Enron’s consolidated financial statements , failed to meet the required outsiders 3 percent equity at risk, and decision control criteria for non consolidation . AA failed to recognize the generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) that prohibits the recording of shares issued as an increase in shareholders’ equity unless they are issued for cash . †¢ AA did not advise Enron’s audit committee that Andrew Fastow, Enron’s CFO and his helpers were involved in significant conflict of interest situations without adequate alternative means of managing these conflicts. †¢ AA did not advise the Enron audit committee that Enron’s policies and internal control were not adequate to protect the shareholders’ interests even though AA had assumed Enron’s internal audit functions . Many transactions between Enron and the SPEs were not in the interest of Enron shareholders since: a) Enron profits and cash flow were manipulated and grossly inflated, misleading investors and falsely boosting management bonus arrangements. b) Extraordinarily overgenerous deals, fees, and liquidation arrangements were made by Fastow, or under his influence, with SPEs owned to Fastow , his family, and Kopper, who was also as employee of Enron . AA aparently did not adequately consider, the advice of its quality control partner, Carl Bass. He asked AA for an accounting change that would have resulted in a $30 – $50 million charge to Enron’s earnings. †¢ AA apparently did not find significant audit evidence, or did not act upon evidence found, related to the: 1)Mistaken valuation of shares or share rights transferred to SPEs 2 )Side deals between Enron and banks removing the bank’s risk from transactions such as the : a) Chewco SPE Rhythms hedge. ) Numerous prepay deals for energy futures, even though AA made a presentations to Enron on the GAAP and AA requirements that preclude such arrangements. Questions 3: What was the prime motivation behind the decision of Arthur Andersen’s audit partners on the Enron, WorldCom, Waste Management the public interest or†¦? Cite examples that reveal this motivation . The AA was motivated by greed instead of serving the public interest. The amount of money they got from the consulting fee has compromised their auditing works. In 1997, client Waste Management Inc. had the largest earnings restatement to date, wiping out $1. 7 billion in profits that it pulled in through the 1990s. The lead auditor on Waste Management was Robert Allgyer, who was known inside the firm as â€Å"the Rainmaker† for his success in cross-selling extra services to auditing clients. He was clearly successful at selling to Waste Management, which paid $17. 8 million in fees unrelated to the audit between 1991 and 1997, against audit fees of $7. 5 million. But he was also signing off on drastically inaccurate books. Among other things, the fast-growing trash hauler wasn't properly writing off the value of assets such as garbage trucks as they aged, a ruse that pumped up reported profits. The SEC's acting commissioner, Laura Unger, concluded that the agency had the â€Å"smoking gun† it was looking for to prove that the lure of consulting fees compromised auditor independence. The SEC filed suit in March 2002, accusing six former Waste Management executives of fraud. It alleges that Mr. Allgyer's judgment was skewed by consulting fees, in particular a $3. 7 million â€Å"strategic overview† of Waste Management operations. The project lasted for 11 months, but the client didn't adopt the recommendations. Bellow table shown example AA’s involvements in the major financial scandals as the audit firm that failed to discover their mistakes that reveal this motivation: |CLIENT |PROBLEM MISSED, DATE |LOSSES TO SHAREHOLDERS |JOB LOSSES |AA FINE | |WorldCom |$4. billion overstatement of |4179. 3 Million |17,000 |N. A | | |earnings announced on June 25,| | | | | |2002 | | | | | | | | | | | |Inflation of ncome, asset, | | | | | |etc bankrupt Dec 2, 2001 | | | | |Enron | |$66. 4 Billion |6,100 |$. 5 Million | | |Overstatement of income by | | |(for shredding) | | |$1. billion, 1992-1996 | | | | | | | | |$7 Million | | | | | | | |Waste Management | |420. 5 Billion |11,000 | | Question 7: Under what circumstances should audit firm shred or destroy working paper ? According to section 802 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, accountants who audit or review an issuer's financial statements are required to retain certain records relevant to that audit or review. These records include workpapers and other documents that form the basis of the audit or review, and memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and records (including electronic records), which are created, sent or received in connection with the audit or review, and contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the audit or review. To coordinate with forthcoming auditing standards concerning the retention of audit documentation, the rule requires that these records be retained for seven years after the auditor concludes the audit or review of the financial statements. Refer to the above question, for example if we as a professional audit firm can’t simply shred or destroy working paper. How long to keep a document, when and how to store the document, and how to dispose of the document, will depend on the type of document . As any internal auditor knows, there are numerous types of documents that may be accumulated as part f an audit or review. The final rule here requires the retention of all records relevant to the audit, including working papers and other documents that form the basis of the audited financial statements, as well as certain supporting documents. The guideline for document retention is that they must meet two criteria: (1) Documents are created, sent, or received in connection with the a udit or review, (2) the documents contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the audit or review. Both Enron and Arthur Andersen are now gone, but this audit work-paper clean-up exercise, no doubt, was a major motivating factor for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act , Section 802 rules outlining penalties for the destruction of documents. The rules require external auditors who audit or review an enterprise's financial statements to retain certain records relevant to that work, including work papers and other documents that form the basis of the audit or review. These retention requirements include memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and records, as well as related electronic records that are created, sent, or received in connection with the audit work and contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the work. These records are to be retained for seven years after the auditor concludes the financial statements review. This rule was nothing new for many internal auditors as many audit functions have followed similar document retention rules based on U. S. tax document retention guidelines. The rules also states that if you know your company is under investigation, or even suspect that it might be, all document destruction and alteration must stop immediately. And, you must create a company records showing that you’ve ordered a halt to all automatic e-data destruction practices. Question 8: Answer the â€Å"Lingering Question† on page 94 . Enron has clearly done some damage to the U. S. economy, but it will not hold up recovery from the current recession. The fundamental health of the U. S. economy is strong and now getting stronger. I do believe Enron will be the morality play of the new economy. It will teach executives and the American public the most important ethics lessons of this decade. Among these lessons are: 1. You make money in the new economy in the same ways you make money in the old economy – by providing goods or services that have real value. 2. Financial cleverness is no substitute for a good corporate strategy. . The arrogance of corporate executives who claim they are the best and the brightest, â€Å"the most innovative,† and who present themselves as superstars should be a â€Å"red flag† for investors, directors and the public. 4. Executives who are paid too much can think they are above the rules and can be tempted to cut ethical corners to retain their wealth and perquisites. 5. Government regulations and rules need to be updated for the new economy, not relaxed and eliminated. Due to the downfall of Arthur Anderson, it lost nearly all of its business ,employees, and clients. It lost not millions but billions of dollars due to this intense investigation. Although it is still in business and operating under Omega Management and has not as of yet declared bankruptcy, the firm will never reach its past legacy. We believe accounting regulations should be altered to prohibit ownership of both auditing and consulting services by the same accounting firm. Accounting firms are already moving to sever their consulting businesses. The SEC should probably adopt additional disclosure requirements. Various regulators should tighten requirements for directors to be alert and provide protections for whistleblowers who bring improper behaviour to public attention. But, in the final analysis, the solution to an Enron-type scandal lies in the attentiveness of directors and in the truthfulness and integrity of executives. Clever individuals will always find ways to conceal information or to engage in fraud. Enron Case Study Executive Summary: As per requested this group assignment prepared from Group 2 (NASA) contributed by Norazman Saharum , Shaufi Akil , Abd Manaf Jalil and Zubir Zainal Abidin . This group assignment part of final course entitle for 25 marks . This assignment to fulfill our MSU MBA Syllabus for subject Accounting For Corporate and Evaluation (DAC 5013) instructed by Dr Mazlinah Mat Zain . Our group have chosen The Arthur Andersen Troubles. The most famous scandal case Arthur Anderson scandal was involved in was the fraudulent auditing of Enron. In this case Arthur Anderson shredded vital documents sourcing the audit of Enron which occurred in the year 2002. Enron has clearly done some damage to the U. S. economy, but it will not hold up recovery from the current recession. The fundamental health of the U. S. economy is strong and now getting stronger. Some individual new economy companies will have depressed stock prices for some time, but they, too, will recover as they demonstrate that they are prepared to prevent Enron-like behaviour. We do believe Enron will be the morality play of the new economy. It will teach executives and the American public the most important ethics lessons of this decade. We will discuss more information on this issues based on the question given on Arthur Andersen and among them are the conflict of interest between the two roles played by Arthur Andersen, as auditor but also as consultant to Enron; the lack of attention shown by members of the Enron board of directors to the off-books financial entities with which Enron did business; and the lack of truthfulness by management about the health of the company and its business operations. Lastly, we would like to thanks to Dr Mazlinah on her dedicated and helpful to achieve our mission and mission to be a successful entrepreneur for the future. Arthur Andersen case study reminds us the most important ethics lessons of this decade. AMIN. Introduction; Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one the â€Å"Big Five† accounting firms among Price Water House Coopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG , providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations. In 2002, the firm voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accounting in the United States after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm’s handling of the auditing of Enron, the energy corporation, resulting in the loss of 85,000 jobs. In this case Arthur Andersen shredded the vital documents sourcing the audit of Enron which occurred in the year 2002 . Although the verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States, it has not returned as a viable business. However, how did this company get the reputation that it has while following such a moral slogan? As the clients demanded for more profit margins , Arthur Andersen scandal had to compromise his morality leading to the allegation that he had fraudulently altered the statement of such companies and corporation for example Sunbeam Products, Waste Management Inc. , Asia Pulp and Paper, The Baptist Foundation of Arizona , and WorldCom . Due to the downfall of Arthur Andersen, it lost nearly all of its business and clients. It lost not millions but billions of dollars due to this intense investigation. Although it is still in business and operating under Omega Management and has not as of yet declared bankruptcy, the firm will never reach its past legacy. Arthur Anderson's motto of â€Å"Think straight, talk straight† has forever been tainted in the eyes of Americans corporations. This devastation of fraudulent activity has forever left a deep and painful scar on America’s businesses. . The Arthur Andersen’s Troubles: Question 1: What did Arthur Andersen (AA) contribute to the Enron disaster? The most famous scandal case Arthur Andersen was involved in was the fraudulent auditing of Enron. In this case Arthur Andersen shredded vital documents sourcing the audit of Enron which occurred in the year 2002. According to Watkin, a financial executive who worked with Andrew Fastow told Enron CEO Kenneth Lay she feared that Enron would â€Å"implode in a wave of accounting audit scandal â€Å" (1: USA Today, Wed, Jan 16, 2002) AA apparent mistakes may have been made for several reasons to the Enron disaster including: †¢ Incompetence , as displayed and admitted in the rhythms case . Judgement errors; . as to the significants of each of the audit findings, or of the aggregate impact in any fiscal year. †¢ Lack of information caused by Enron staff not providing critical information, or failure on the part of AA personal to search it out . †¢ Time pressures :related to revenue generations and budget pressures that prevented adequate audit work and the full considera tions of complex SPE and prepay financial arrangements . †¢ Desire not to confront Enron management or advise the Enron board in order not to upset management, and particularly fastow, Skilling and Lay Lack of Independence. The Board of Directors failed to ensure the independence of the company auditor , allowing AA to provide internal audit and consulting services while serving the Enron outside auditors . †¢ A failure of AA’s internal policies whereby the concerns of a quality control or practice standards partner can and was overruled by the audit partner in charge of the Enron account. AA was the only one of the Big 5 accounting forms to have this flaw and it left the entire firm vulnerable to the decisions of the person with the most to lose by saying no to a client. A misunderstanding of the fiduciary role required by auditors . for example AA allowing Enron to engage in high risk accounting , inappropriate conflict of interest transactions, extensive undisclo sed off-the-books activities and excessive executive compensation . Given this â€Å"tone at the top’. It is reasonable to assume that AA partners were going to be motivated by revenue generations. But if too many risks are taken in the pursuit of revenue the probability of a series of audit problems leading to increasingly unfavorable consequences becomes greater . That is exactly what happened to Enron disaster. Unfortunately, the leaders of AA failed to recognize the cumulative degree to which the public, the politicians, and the SEC (The Securities and Exchange Commission) were angered by the progression of AA audit failures . Question 2: What Arthur Andersen (AA) decision were faulty? Arthur Andersen (AA) decision were faulty . This is the ‘ Enron Debacle† section presented previously covers in detail many of the questionable accounting transactions, legal structures, and related disclosures that AA reviewed as auditors of and consultants to Enron. AA faulty may have been made for several reason , including: †¢ AA apparently approved as auditors and consultants (and collected fees for the consulting advice) the structure of many special purpose entities (SPEs) that were used to generate false profits, hide losses, and keep financing off Enron’s consolidated financial statements , failed to meet the required outsiders 3 percent equity at risk, and decision control criteria for non consolidation . AA failed to recognize the generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) that prohibits the recording of shares issued as an increase in shareholders’ equity unless they are issued for cash . †¢ AA did not advise Enron’s audit committee that Andrew Fastow, Enron’s CFO and his helpers were involved in significant conflict of interest situations without adequate alternative means of managing these conflicts. †¢ AA did not advise the Enron audit committee that Enron’s policies and internal control were not adequate to protect the shareholders’ interests even though AA had assumed Enron’s internal audit functions . Many transactions between Enron and the SPEs were not in the interest of Enron shareholders since: a) Enron profits and cash flow were manipulated and grossly inflated, misleading investors and falsely boosting management bonus arrangements. b) Extraordinarily overgenerous deals, fees, and liquidation arrangements were made by Fastow, or under his influence, with SPEs owned to Fastow , his family, and Kopper, who was also as employee of Enron . AA aparently did not adequately consider, the advice of its quality control partner, Carl Bass. He asked AA for an accounting change that would have resulted in a $30 – $50 million charge to Enron’s earnings. †¢ AA apparently did not find significant audit evidence, or did not act upon evidence found, related to the: 1)Mistaken valuation of shares or share rights transferred to SPEs 2 )Side deals between Enron and banks removing the bank’s risk from transactions such as the : a) Chewco SPE Rhythms hedge. ) Numerous prepay deals for energy futures, even though AA made a presentations to Enron on the GAAP and AA requirements that preclude such arrangements. Questions 3: What was the prime motivation behind the decision of Arthur Andersen’s audit partners on the Enron, WorldCom, Waste Management the public interest or†¦? Cite examples that reveal this motivation . The AA was motivated by greed instead of serving the public interest. The amount of money they got from the consulting fee has compromised their auditing works. In 1997, client Waste Management Inc. had the largest earnings restatement to date, wiping out $1. 7 billion in profits that it pulled in through the 1990s. The lead auditor on Waste Management was Robert Allgyer, who was known inside the firm as â€Å"the Rainmaker† for his success in cross-selling extra services to auditing clients. He was clearly successful at selling to Waste Management, which paid $17. 8 million in fees unrelated to the audit between 1991 and 1997, against audit fees of $7. 5 million. But he was also signing off on drastically inaccurate books. Among other things, the fast-growing trash hauler wasn't properly writing off the value of assets such as garbage trucks as they aged, a ruse that pumped up reported profits. The SEC's acting commissioner, Laura Unger, concluded that the agency had the â€Å"smoking gun† it was looking for to prove that the lure of consulting fees compromised auditor independence. The SEC filed suit in March 2002, accusing six former Waste Management executives of fraud. It alleges that Mr. Allgyer's judgment was skewed by consulting fees, in particular a $3. 7 million â€Å"strategic overview† of Waste Management operations. The project lasted for 11 months, but the client didn't adopt the recommendations. Bellow table shown example AA’s involvements in the major financial scandals as the audit firm that failed to discover their mistakes that reveal this motivation: |CLIENT |PROBLEM MISSED, DATE |LOSSES TO SHAREHOLDERS |JOB LOSSES |AA FINE | |WorldCom |$4. billion overstatement of |4179. 3 Million |17,000 |N. A | | |earnings announced on June 25,| | | | | |2002 | | | | | | | | | | | |Inflation of ncome, asset, | | | | | |etc bankrupt Dec 2, 2001 | | | | |Enron | |$66. 4 Billion |6,100 |$. 5 Million | | |Overstatement of income by | | |(for shredding) | | |$1. billion, 1992-1996 | | | | | | | | |$7 Million | | | | | | | |Waste Management | |420. 5 Billion |11,000 | | Question 7: Under what circumstances should audit firm shred or destroy working paper ? According to section 802 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, accountants who audit or review an issuer's financial statements are required to retain certain records relevant to that audit or review. These records include workpapers and other documents that form the basis of the audit or review, and memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and records (including electronic records), which are created, sent or received in connection with the audit or review, and contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the audit or review. To coordinate with forthcoming auditing standards concerning the retention of audit documentation, the rule requires that these records be retained for seven years after the auditor concludes the audit or review of the financial statements. Refer to the above question, for example if we as a professional audit firm can’t simply shred or destroy working paper. How long to keep a document, when and how to store the document, and how to dispose of the document, will depend on the type of document . As any internal auditor knows, there are numerous types of documents that may be accumulated as part f an audit or review. The final rule here requires the retention of all records relevant to the audit, including working papers and other documents that form the basis of the audited financial statements, as well as certain supporting documents. The guideline for document retention is that they must meet two criteria: (1) Documents are created, sent, or received in connection with the a udit or review, (2) the documents contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the audit or review. Both Enron and Arthur Andersen are now gone, but this audit work-paper clean-up exercise, no doubt, was a major motivating factor for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act , Section 802 rules outlining penalties for the destruction of documents. The rules require external auditors who audit or review an enterprise's financial statements to retain certain records relevant to that work, including work papers and other documents that form the basis of the audit or review. These retention requirements include memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and records, as well as related electronic records that are created, sent, or received in connection with the audit work and contain conclusions, opinions, analyses, or financial data related to the work. These records are to be retained for seven years after the auditor concludes the financial statements review. This rule was nothing new for many internal auditors as many audit functions have followed similar document retention rules based on U. S. tax document retention guidelines. The rules also states that if you know your company is under investigation, or even suspect that it might be, all document destruction and alteration must stop immediately. And, you must create a company records showing that you’ve ordered a halt to all automatic e-data destruction practices. Question 8: Answer the â€Å"Lingering Question† on page 94 . Enron has clearly done some damage to the U. S. economy, but it will not hold up recovery from the current recession. The fundamental health of the U. S. economy is strong and now getting stronger. I do believe Enron will be the morality play of the new economy. It will teach executives and the American public the most important ethics lessons of this decade. Among these lessons are: 1. You make money in the new economy in the same ways you make money in the old economy – by providing goods or services that have real value. 2. Financial cleverness is no substitute for a good corporate strategy. . The arrogance of corporate executives who claim they are the best and the brightest, â€Å"the most innovative,† and who present themselves as superstars should be a â€Å"red flag† for investors, directors and the public. 4. Executives who are paid too much can think they are above the rules and can be tempted to cut ethical corners to retain their wealth and perquisites. 5. Government regulations and rules need to be updated for the new economy, not relaxed and eliminated. Due to the downfall of Arthur Anderson, it lost nearly all of its business ,employees, and clients. It lost not millions but billions of dollars due to this intense investigation. Although it is still in business and operating under Omega Management and has not as of yet declared bankruptcy, the firm will never reach its past legacy. We believe accounting regulations should be altered to prohibit ownership of both auditing and consulting services by the same accounting firm. Accounting firms are already moving to sever their consulting businesses. The SEC should probably adopt additional disclosure requirements. Various regulators should tighten requirements for directors to be alert and provide protections for whistleblowers who bring improper behaviour to public attention. But, in the final analysis, the solution to an Enron-type scandal lies in the attentiveness of directors and in the truthfulness and integrity of executives. Clever individuals will always find ways to conceal information or to engage in fraud.