Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Assignment from the Reading Essay Example for Free

Assignment from the Reading Essay Same Person collects daily fees and deposits the cash and files the wavier forms There should be one person (A) that has visitor fill out the forms and files them, also keeping a tally of the number each day. And a second person (B) collects the cash and deposits it into the lock box. The accountant deposits the cash at the bank and makes the journal entry The manager at the end of the night could deposit the cash, and the next morning the accountant could make the journal entry. No one checks the number of wavier forms filled out against the amount of cash deposited The accountant should also check the amount of waiver forms filled out against the amount of cash deposited to make sure amount deposited is equal to the number of visitors paying a fee Problem 9-15 Identify one or more control procedures (either general or application controls, or both) that would guard against each of the following errors or problems. a.) Leslie Thomas, a secretary at the university, indicated that she had worked 40 hours on her regular time card. The university paid her for 400 hours worked that week. Payroll clerk reviews all inputs before posting, and then the accounting supervisor reviews all checks for reasonableness before sending them out. b.) The aging analysis indicated that the Grab and Run Electronics Company account was so far in arrears that the credit manager decided to cut off any further credit sales to the company until it cleared up its account. Yet, the following  week, the manager noted that three new sales had been made to that company—all on credit. Computer control to disallow issuing new sales on credit to customers should be programmed into the system. c.) The Small Company employed Mr. Fineus Eyeshade to perform all its accounts receivable data processing. Mr. Eyeshade’s 25 years with the company and his unassuming appearance helped him conceal the fact that he was embezzling cash collections from accounts receivable to cover his gambling losses at the race track. Employees are required to take vacation and they should be cross-trained to cover each other’s jobs when they are out. d.) The Blue Mountain Utility Company was having difficulty with its customer payments. The payment amounts were entered directly into a terminal, and the transaction file thus created was used to update the customer master file. Among the problems encountered with this system were the application of customer payments to the wrong accounts and the creation of multiple customer master file records for the same account. They should be matching the invoice number and account numbers; this review should catch the error. Another control is the customers reviewing their statements to make sure that they are not being over charged, ect. e.) The Landsford brothers had lived in Center County all their lives. Ben worked for the local mill in the accounts payable department, and Tom owned the local hardware store. The sheriff couldn’t believe that the brothers had created several dummy companies that sold fictitious merchandise to the mill. Ben had the mill pay for this merchandise in its usual fashion, and he wrote off the missing goods as ‘‘damaged inventory.’’ Access control to create new vendors, and vendor approval procedures is a good control. Problem 9-16 Identify one or more control procedures (either general or application controls, or both) that would guard against each of the following errors or problems. a.) A bank deposit transaction was accidentally coded with a withdrawal code. Having an input that verified what type of transaction was being inputted by personal. Also, at the end of the night count would reveal this problem because there would be extra money from the deposit in the drawer. b.) The key-entry operator keyed in the purchase order number as a nine-digit number instead of an eight-digit number. Input controls through the database form that  limits the number of digits of 8 that can be keyed in by the operator. c.) The date of a customer payment was keyed 2001 instead of 2010. Input control that checks the validity of the data keyed in. If the proper perimeters where set with the application anything that fell short would not be processed until the problem was resolved. d.) A company employee was issued a check in the amount of −$135.65 because he had not worked a certain week, but most of his payroll deductions were automatic each week. Edit programs could perform edit checks that would result in an error for negative amounts before issuing checks to employees. This is done by test of sign and the system would kick back the transaction for correction before issuing the check. Payroll deductions should never be programmed to a specific number each we ek because this does not allow for changes in the number of hours worked and will always result in a mistake. e.) A patient filled out her medical insurance number as 123465 instead of 123456. Edit programs could detect this input error by matching the information with the master file if the correct perimeters were set. f.) An applicant for the company stock option plan filled out her employee number as 84-7634-21.The first two digits are a department code. There is no department 84. Edit programs could detect this input error by matching the information with the master file if the correct perimeters were set. Once it’s noticed the employee would not be able to continue until they inputted their correct employee number. g.) A high school student was able to log onto the telephone company’s computer as soon as he learned what telephone number to call. There should be a user name and password to access any company’s computer. h.) The accounts receivable department sent 87 checks to the computer center for processing. No one realized that one check was dropped along the way and that the computer therefore processed only 86 checks. Set up a checksum to check the number of checks sent against the number of checks received. They would then realize that they are missing a check and can look for it or get another one and void out the one that was dropped.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Ernst Mayrs One Long Argument - Creationism vs. Evolutionism :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Ernst Mayr's One Long Argument - Creationism vs. Evolutionism Challenging the accepted order of society always brings a wave of criticism and contempt. In Ernst Mayr's One Long Argument, he aggressively brings to the forefront of debate the notion that his predecessors had heatedly argued for years, that man is not a divinely created creature, but rather just another animal in a state of constant change. Examining the path Charles Darwin, had followed in his attempt to better understand the evolutionary path of man, noted biologist Ernst Mayr explains Darwinian theory in respects to not only evolution but also in respect to the belief that man is somehow a creature made of a higher divinity than all else. And it is this challenge of man's role as something divine that caught me as being quite profound. It has been the belief of man since the dawn of civilization that somehow he was created above all other creatures, and that life for him, existed outside of the natural world. The interesting perspective Mayr brings to the topic of man and God is that, man may not be so divine as to be able to stand outside the natural order of evolution. Yet despite anthropological evidence, such as fossils, the public has a difficulty in accepting that man and animal had a common ancestor: that man had to evolve to his present state. But in contrast many are not be so surprised to believe that animals underwent and still undergo a constant change. Further still Mayr makes the attempt at understanding the phenomena of why man cannot agree to having evolved from the same common ancestor as the wild animal the chimpanzee. It may seem that, according to Mayr, that man's own inability to come to terms with his own evolution, stems from a feeling of not wanting to be reduced to just another animal in the chain of life. For hundreds of years, as Mayr examines, religion after religion has always placed man on some sort of pedestal, superior to all other species. And when Darwin confronted the world with possibly another truth, he shattered man's perception of himself. Even today, a hundred years after Darwin first challenged the accepted order of man as a divine being, Mayr still raises controversy in the debate over man as being just another animal undergoing a constant evolutionary change like all other animals.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Google And Motorola Essay

This $12. 5 billion deal is Google’s first step into the mobile device hardware market and can therefore be seen as a non- ­? horizontal or vertical merger, as Google has been active in the market at a different stage of the supply chain through the development of one of the major mobile device operating systems (OSs): Android OS. This merger will strengthen Google’s stance in the market for mobile devices and will mainly boost Google’s patent portfolio. Nearly one third of all mobile device sales in 2011 were smartphones with a growth rate of 58 percent from 2010. In this rapidly eveloping market with such a high number of consumers, it is of great importance that there is high competition in order to keep the prices low and to drive innovation. As this market is also very global, antitrust organisations all over the world, for example the United States Department of Justice or the European Commission need to check, whether a merger like the one that is presented in the following could harm competition or increase a firm’s market power in a market above an acceptable level. Additionally, this paper will face the question, whether the sinergies of this merger are big enough to influence the competition ommissions’ decisions. In order to answer these questions, this paper will firstly present the case and the decisions from both the European and the US point of view. Secondly, it will show an analysis of the economic background of the case to trace the steps of the two antitrust commissions and then, thirdly it will conclude with a competition analysis and a search for efficiency gains that justify the commissions’ decisions, followed by a short outlook. As an introductory part to this paper, I will give some general information about the firms, their operations prior to the merger and a projection of their ombined future. I will also present the notifying party’s (i. e. Google’s) reasons for why they would like to acquire Motorola. Following this are the EU and U. S. decisions and a short abstract on the differences in their approaches. 1 2. 1 Google, Inc. Google is mainly known as a provider of its internet search platform and online advertising services. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, it became a publically traded company in 2004 and since then it has become one of the biggest players in web- ­? based enterprises around the world. Its broad range of products goes from web search tools, via advertising services ike AdSense or AdWords, communication and publishing services, development resources, map- ­? related products, statistical tools and desktop applications to mobile applications and the operating systems Android for mobile devices and ChromeOS for personal computers. (Google, Inc. , 2012a) 2. 2 Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. MMI, formerly the mobile devices division of Motorola Inc. , became its own publically traded company in January 2011. In the 1990s it was the pioneer of the flip phone, the StarTac. With this and through its focus on this market segment it was able to develop its hit product, the super- ­? thin flip phone: Motorola RAZR. While these boosted its position in the analogue mobile phone market for a while, MMI’s slow adaption to digital technology made it lose the race to its rivals, e. g. Sony Ericsson or Nokia, in the beginning of the 21st century (Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. , 2010). Its market share began to drop with a record $1. 2 billion loss in 2007 and continued to drop in the years thereafter towards 2. 7 percent in 2010. This, amongst other issues, has led some people to believe that Motorola was nearing bankruptcy. (Gartner, Inc. , 2011) 2. 3 Reasons for a Merger In its own press release, Google Inc. (2012) states the ain benefits of the deal to be: 1. An acceleration of innovation and choice in mobile computing through which consumers will get better phones at lower prices and 2. A protection of the Android Ecosystem through Motorola’s patent portfolio, which guarantees Android to stay open- ­? source software, which is vital to completion in the mobile device space, as it is ensuring hardware manufacturers, application developers, mobile phone carriers and consumers all to have choice. Since 2008 Motorola has fully implemented the Android operating system for their 2 smartphones, which creates a â€Å"natural fit between [the two] companies† Google, Inc. , 2012b, p. 1). This, as well as Motorola being a member of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a consortium to create open standards for mobile devices, which now includes 84 firms from every part of the supply chain, will enable faster innovation. Another point that Google stresses in their facts about the acquisition is the long history of innovation in communications technology at Motorola Mobility and additionally the development of intellectual property. The latter is very important to Google as it will support their own, so far very small, patent portfolio to defend Android OS against the strong competition rom Apple and Microsoft, which is well explained in an extra paragraph in their press release. It is very important to Google to support the constant competition it has injected into the smartphone market since the introduction of the first Android phone in 2008. They are trying to give â€Å"consumers, application developers, and mobile carriers high- ­? quality alternatives to products like Apple? s iPhone and iPad and RIM’s BlackBerryâ€Å" (Google, Inc. , 2012b, p. 2). Google especially highlights what they will not be trying to do with the merger, in order to keep competitors and consumers calm. They do not want to close the Android cosystem and favour Motorola over other hardware manufactures. The Android OS will stay available to everyone on an open source basis. Google will also not force their partners to use Google search (in order to boost their own advertising revenues). 2. 4 The EU Decision The European Commission (EC) was notified of the proposed merger in late November 2011. Since Google and Motorola Mobility have a combined world- ­? wide turnover exceeding â‚ ¬5 billion and each have an EU- ­? wide turnover of more than â‚ ¬250 million, as well as neither one company is achieving more than two- ­? thirds of its EU- ­? Wide turnover within one European ountry, the merger has an EU dimension and has therefore to be allowed by the EC. In their analysis of whether the merger would bring about competition issues, the EC concluded to focus on the vertical relationships between â€Å"Google as the supplier of the open source Android OS and online services on the one hand and Motorola Mobility as a supplier of mobile devices and holder of important Intellectual Property Rights for mobile devices on the other hand† (European Commission, 2012, p. 4). The EC splits its initial market analysis into three parts: Firstly it focusses on the market for operating systems, secondly it analyses he market for mobile devices and thirdly it discusses the Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) 3 Google acquires from MMI. With their market analysis they conduct a competition analysis and conclude in all areas that the merger does not raise any competition issues, which can also be seen in the economic analysis that follows later. Their decision therefore is to drop the investigation and allow the deal to go through without any remedies or changes to be made. 2. 5 The US Decision The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has approached the case in a similar, however, slightly different way. It combined the investigations f the merger case with acquisitions of certain patents by Apple Inc. , Microsoft Corporation and Research In Motion Ltd. , as all of these were linked to each other. In their analysis, the DOJ followed a similar approach to the EU, checking, whether the proposed acquisitions would create incentives and abilities for the acquiring firms to â€Å"exploit ambiguities in the SSOs’ F/RAND [fair/ reasonable and non- ­? discriminatory terms] licensing commitments to hold up rivals, this preventing or inhibiting innovation and competition† (U. S. Department of Justice, 2012, p. 2). In terms of Microsoft Corp. ’s and Apple’s acquisition of Nortel patents, the division’s concerns were lessened by the â€Å"clear commitments by Apple And Microsoft to license SEPsâ€Å" (U. S. Department of Justice, 2012, p. 1) on FRAND terms, as well as their commitments not to seek injunctions in disputes involving SEPs. However, the Department of Justice identifies Google’s commitments to be less clear. The Department refers to Google’s open letter to all Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs) and argues that Google’s statement does not directly provide the same assurance, as for example the other companies mentioned before. Google for example mentions in their letter that it will not seek njunctions for the infringement of SEPs against a competitor, however only for disputes involving future license revenues, and only if the counterparty â€Å"forgoes certain defenses such as challenging the validity of the patent; pays the full disputed amount into escrow; and agrees to a reciprocal assurance as the other companies’ statements concerning the exercise of its newly acquired patent rightsâ€Å" (Lo, 2012, p. 3). These are, however, only reasons for the Department to decide on further monitoring of how competitors are exercising their patents, in order to identify potential misuses of the SEPs and not to prohibit the merger.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

The Design of Life - God or Evolution Essay - 1325 Words

The Design of Life - God or Evolution? Life has indeed been designed, but by whom or what is the central controversy. Creationists believe it was an intelligent designer, namely, God; evolutionists believe it was a driving force of nature, namely, natural selection. Natural selection works when life forms with advantageous survival traits live long enough to breed, therefore passing on those traits to the next generation. Life forms with weaker traits die before breeding, and therefore disappear from the gene pool. Genetic diversity results in slight variations of these hereditary traits from generation to generation, which allows a species to adapt to the changing demands of a changing environment. This results in a suitability†¦show more content†¦The problem is one of choosing the correct analogy. He pointed out that the universe more resembles a living organism than a mechanical watch -- which indicates that the universe must have started as a fetus in a cosmic womb! Other scholars also lampooned Paleys argum ent; Voltaire argued that noses must have been designed to hold up glasses, and that bunny rabbits must have been given white tails so they could be easier to shoot. The idea of design was so thoroughly and effectively ridiculed that theologians of the time actually stopped using it as an argument, although, curiously enough, it would resurface in the 20th century. Darwin essentially agreed that life had been designed, although not necessarily by the designer that Paley evoked. Darwins advance on the argument was that the designer did not have to be an intelligent being, but could also be a driving force of nature. Consider the example of horse-breeding. A rancher can select any trait among his horses that he would like to emphasize -- for example, small size. By breeding his smallest horses together, he will eventually obtain a line of miniature horses. Evolutionists cite this as proof that species can change as a result of selective breeding. Creationists respond -- quite rightly -- that the process needs a designer, in this case the rancher. But evolutionists point out that the same process happens in nature. Imagine a land separated by a mountain range a thousand miles long.Show MoreRelatedEssay on Intelligent Design: The Best of Both Theories1112 Words   |  5 PagesShould schools be allowed to teach evolution without teaching creationis m? The courts have ruled, the answer is no, the theory of creationism cannot be included in a public school’s academic curriculum. With the court’s decision, it has been made clear there is no place for faith based theories to be taught in our public schools. What if there was a different approach that took God out of the equation? 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