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Education System Analysis
Education System Analysis
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Education System AnalysisEducation is a fundamental requirement for the growth and development of every human being. It is through education that an individual is not only able to read, communicate and write but also influences decision making, knowledge, and skills attainment. Various institutions adopt different educational strategies and systems depending on the locality and the society in which the specific learning organization is sited. The system widely varies ranging from an instructional system component, the project management systems for controlling and planning educational projects, operations research, information management systems for informed decision making to programming budgeting systems to among others to reach the institution’s goal. This paper composes the discussion of a sociological research based on the home education system in regard of the location, demographic composition of staff and students, the performance and the type of the educational institutions in the region.
Influential Factors that will Shape the Future of Religion in America
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Influential Factors that will Shape the Future of Religion in America
Religion is often defined as the existing cultural followings and beliefs, which relate to life, with an order to existence. It usually attempts to provide the meaning of the origin and purpose of life. There are many religions in the world such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity. Furthermore, various religions have holy books, places of worship, rules that guide their members, as well as clergy or people in charge of leading its members. Some unique characteristics exist among the various religions such as holding funeral services, marriage services, initiation rites as well as other religions functions. In the United States, the society accepts all forms of religions and this has promoted its expansion, even in schools. However, in the past, this was not the case as only certain religions thrived and people were skeptical of other religions. This paper seeks to give a critical analysis of the American religion will be shaped in the future.
In the past decades, many traditional religions were fundamental as well as being conservative. As time passes, religion seems to evolve and become quite inclusive and thus the issue of alienation is evaded. People now have a variety of choices to pick from when seeking to join a religion that appeals to them. There are no strict rules regarding joining a religion and this has made many people to develop more appreciation for religion (Rorty & Vattimo 117). The United States is known all over the world for its religious diversity as well as the impact this has had on its corporate world, communities, and society. Religion is meant to ensure that individuals are aware about the meaning of life; hence, there is a sense of meaning and coherence in various life issues.
The United States is accommodating too many religions with the most prominent one being Christianity, which is mainly made up of Catholics and Protestants. In this 21st century, America has witnessed the rise of various forms of religion that have their own unique worship and belief systems. In addition, there has been a rise in the number of atheists since some people do not believe that there is a higher power or even an afterlife. Most times, people will be in a particular religion based on certain factors, such as their culture, ethnicity, and up-bringing among others. For example, if children were brought up in a Christian household, it is most likely that they grow up practicing Christian beliefs and values.
The future of religion in America will most likely be shaped by various factors, especially since it is a diverse nation. Firstly, the religious sects continue to diversify quite intensely because of various reasons. These include leadership wrangles, tough rules, which some members cannot follow, as well as the need to find better religions that will satisfy an individual. Some of the sects that exist in the Christian protestant church are the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran church (Newport 149). They all have different beliefs, especially in terms of how they view gay issues. Some do not support gay people, while others do, therefore, leading to their break-up. In the future, more sects and denominations will come up because of opposing views on issues that exist in society.
During the 1950’s, America mostly had the presence of Jews, Protestants, and Catholics but this has now changed quite significantly. When the September 11th attacks took place, Americans started blaming the Muslims for committing terror acts. Muslims who were living in America endured the humiliation of being viewed with suspicion and often treated like suspects in many crimes. At the moment, Islam is a religion that is fast gaining popularity in America even though most times people seem to believe that Americans hate Muslims. However, this is not the case as people are now aware that Islam is a religion that upholds good moral values. Those who commit acts of terrorism and claim that they are Muslims are just lying in order to give the religion a bad name. It is evident that the number of Muslims in America will increase because people now know a lot concerning this religion.
Many Americans apparently seek to know more concerning spiritual matters and continue to join any religion that can sufficiently address this issue. They want to know more about the meaning of life and what happens to human beings once they die. There are many problems affecting people that prompt them to relate to a higher being in order to feel or have a sense of belonging. In this case, science will make a lot of progress in a bid to give people evidence and information about such issues. For example, neuroscience will definitely continue to discover and develop more information regarding how the human psychology works, as well as the brain and body. It could be even correct to suggest that scientists will be looked upon to give their findings about human existence as religion progresses in the future.
Lastly, the future of religion in America will be influenced by the ideals that exist among the youth. This group of people is often easily influenced into becoming members or joining certain sects that will benefit them. In order for young people to join a religion, it should be able to appeal to them in many ways. The Hollywood craze has gained popularity among American youth who will do anything to be like their idols. It is no wonder that many youth want to join the Scientology Church because it has many celebrity members. In the future, religions that want to attract the youth need to find ways that can attract them. This then brings in the issue of technology being used to promote religion in America. In this case, the social media will have to be improved so that people who use it can know more about religion. For example, churches can stream in their live church services through Facebook. Therefore, it will ensure that a wider population is able to receive the gospel without having to be in an actual church.
Conclusion
It is quite evident that the future of American religion will be affected by various factors. People need to understand that religious identity is just but an existing social construction. It thus should not have a lot of power over people because it seems to be in America. There is an urgent need to resolve many of the global crises and problems, and if religion can help then it must be taken into consideration. Therefore, in the future, religion should be able to accommodate the nature of human beings, which is being open-ended, generous and deep.
Works Cited
Newport, Frank. God Is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America. New York: Gallup Press, 2012.Print.
Rorty, Richard. & Vattimo, Gianni. The Future of Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.Print.
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) particularly Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAPs)
Executive Summary
The Arthur Andersen case sequentially describes the events that were responsible for the rise and fall of an accounting firm (hereinafter referred to as “the firm”). It was evident from the case that organizations do not exist independently or in an isolated homeostatic environment rather it remains immensely affected by certain internal and external factors which can be regarded as risks and challenges. It was quite obvious from the case that if such risks are not mitigated to an acceptable low level can give rise to severe harmful repercussions which had eventually caused the demise of the firm. The internal factors however include the firm’s internal specific risks which include set of ethical values such as independence and avoidance of any conflict of interest, integrity and objectivity, professional skepticism and due care, competency and professional behavior when rendering professional services to the clients. It also includes the firm’s internal quality control policies and procedures such as recruitment of competent and professional staff, providing on job-trainings and providing necessary skills and expertise to the engagement team, adherence towards the professional and industry regulations and pronouncements of professional bodies such as promulgated by Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) particularly Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAPs). In contrast, the external factors include the environment within which the organization operates includes not only the stakeholders whose interest is directly affected by the activities of the organization such as investors including banks and stock holders of a listed client but also compliance towards legal and regulatory environment thereto such as the directives issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), securities act, and other corporate laws that are being in force such as Sarbanes Oxley Act, 2002. Furthermore, although growth and expansion is regarded as success of the business such widespread of operations across international boundaries also give rise to certain risks such as lack of control on overseas branches and communication gaps, political, economical and legal risks, and arousal of conflicts due to diversification. Therefore, due-diligence is also required on the part of its partners as strategic planners to keep up with the consistency of the services it provides to its client and continual adaptation with the environment. Hence, this capitulates that change is inevitable. The firm needs adaptability in accordance with situation.
Case Analysis and Insights
Arthur Andersen, the firm was founded by Arthur E. Andersen in 1907 who laid the foundation on the solely on the principles of integrity which is regarded as a key business reputation of the firm in the profession’s industry. However, as we see, with the passage of time as new laws enacted and significant developments made in the economy gave rise to certain challenges for the industry and particularly the firm as well. After World War – II; there had been repaid growth of the United States economy as a result of which the firm had expanded its operations across worldwide regions. This in turn necessitates more staffing, compliance with local laws within territorial jurisdiction, better coordination and communication, due care in performing professional work with skeptic attitude as the firm is held accountable for the opinion it provides on the financial statements by signing off.
However, we can see the firm has been suffering with the internal crisis due to unethical culture and conflict of interest of its newly inducted partners which consequently resulted in the demise of many growing companies. As we know, the audit profession is very sensitive in terms of the word “ethics”. Such ethics however include integrity and honesty, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behavior. The firm does not only provide its services to the client but it also serves the interest of so many entities which are regarded as stakeholders which include the investors who hold stock in the companies, banks who have provided loans and financing to the organization, suppliers who have advanced goods/services on credit, and the local regulatory authorities such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and compliance with the local laws thereto.
However, the firm and its partners have had exploited the repute of firm for the sake of undue money as bribery by compromising the authenticity of the work and signing off on the financial statements as those were giving true and fair view. It resulted in several law suits and penalties which had also harmed the reputation of the firm in the industry as the firm also lost its credibility and trust of stakeholders on all the reports it issued. One reason for this is associated with the fact that the firm has not incorporated any quality control systems, policies and procedures to hold check for the engagement partner and the team as a whole. Such quality control policies and procedures could identify and evaluate whether the firm and its personnel are in compliance with the ethical principles and whether their independence is not impaired whether they possess necessary technical skills and competence to perform the work, whether their work was properly supervised, reviewed and documented and whether there adequate procedures for retention of audit documentation. As in case of Enron, David Duncan had unlawfully destroyed the accounting records after the subpoena from SEC. However, if the firm had adequate control and restricted access to the completed audit documentation; he might not be able to do this. Moreover, the firm and its partners also remain negligent and did not exhibit professional skepticism in performing audits as in the case of WorldCom whereby a $ 3.8 billion accounting error costs shareholders $ 110 million which was considered a big loss to the company and the economy at large.
Furthermore, as mentioned in the case, there were also instances where the partners had been involved in false illegitimate collusion with the top management in manipulating accounting records and gaining unlawful advantage resulting in the demise of the client’s business. This can be truly considered as a fraudulent activity and if the senior partners might have reviewed the work of that partner such unfavorable incident might not have occurred.
Conclusion
As mentioned in the case the series of events truly prescribe that firm has been facing significant internal risks due to newly inducted partners in the firm who had exploited the culture of honesty and integrity. The partners and staff members were exhibiting improper and unprofessional behavior, violating the professional standards by committing such fraudulent activities. Obviously, the auditor’s independence is impaired when it has conflict of interest towards the client when providing financial services. It also indicates lack of transparency in the audit process and has resulted in loss of credibility of the audited financial statements thus harming the confidence of the investors.
Recommendations for all stakeholders and Implementation Plans
There is a need to inculcate a strong emphasis on the firm’s set of ethical values primarily focusing on independence and integrity. The firm should review its quality control policies and procedures by recruiting competent professional staff which should avoid any bias or conflict of interest when providing financial services and have skeptic approach. The senior partners should act as leaders and set values as commitment towards competence and integrity. There should be independence checks inside the firm’s staff and necessary trainings workshops must be conducted on timely basis. The engagement partner must ensure whether the team has necessary skills and expertise to perform the engagement. The firm and the engagement team comply with all the local laws and regulations including professional standards and industry regulations. For all SEC clients, there should be rotation among the engagement partners to avoid any issue caused due to familiarity or relationship threat.