Case Study Concerning The Well-Being Of Mrs. Nancy Jamison

The following document is created to discuss a case study concerning the well-being of Mrs. Nancy Jamison, a 67 rear-old retired woman who is suffering from basilar infiltrates consistent with congestive heart failure. Within this document, the following will be reviewed: Steps in the continuum of care which could have been bypassed in order to expedite care of the patient; observations regarding the care provided for this patient; specialty services in the Philadelphia area that provides care for the following needs: coronary care, trauma care, burn care, complicated obstetrical care, and premature infant care.Upon conclusion, all the previous mentioned will be clearly elucidated. There were a few steps that could have been omitted when Mrs. Jamison arrived to the RediCare located at the local mall. The on-duty care provider there should have checked her insurance and administered her to the appropriate hospital immediately for prompt care. It was very time-consuming to transport he r to other hospitals. Immediately following the medical history and medication list that was provided by the computer system, and the physical assessment was performed, Mrs.Jamison should have been disposition to City Heart Institute cath lab. For prompt attention at arrival, Dr. Miller should contact the cardiologist on call at the City Heart Institute, so that appropriate measures will be applied upon arrival. Other observations regarding the care provided for Mrs. Jamison were the lack of prompt decision making skills, lack of considering the time, lack of administering proper medication for release of pain and various symptoms and lack of researching the insurance information so that Mrs. Jamison is disposition to the correct hospital appropriate for the symptoms she was having.In this case, Mrs. Jamison was provided with the care that she needed. However, the entire process was very time-consuming and much could have been omitted. The entire process took approximately two hours before she received the proper care. It does not take long to have a heart attack or for the problem to worsen. Jana, at RediCare, suggests that Mrs. Jamison is administered to the Marysville Community Hospital, but Mrs. Jamison should have been immediately transported to the City Heart Institute cath lab which would have saved some time.There are several locations in Philadelphia that provide services for various needs: 1. Coronary Care: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The hospital has a special unit for Coronary Care. Located at 3400 Bruce Street in Philadelphia. 2. Trauma Care: Hahnemann University Hospital. Hahnemann University Hospital is a 541-bed academic medical center at Broad & Vine Streets in Philadelphia, Pa. The hospital is a tertiary care institution that specializes in trauma services. 3. Burn Care: Temple University Hospital.The hospital has a Severe Burn Care Unit that specializes specifically on the burn. Located at 3401 North Broad Street 400 Carnell Hall in Philadelphia. 4. Complicated Obstetrical Care: Temple University Hospital. Temple Care University Hospital is a major provider to obstetrical services. Located at 3401 North Broad Street 400 Carnell Hall in Philadelphia. 5. Premature Infant Care: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The hospital has a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) that provides services for complex problems for premature babies who are in need of intensive medical attention.Located on 34th Street and Center Boulevard in Philadelphia. This review was created to discuss a case study concerning the well-being of Mrs. Nancy Jamison, a 67 rear-old retired woman who is suffering from basilar infiltrates consistent with congestive heart failure. Within this document, the following has been reviewed: Steps in the continuum of care which could have been bypassed in order to expedite care of the patient; observations regarding the care provided for this patient; specialty services in the Philadelphia area that provides care for the specific needs.

Gautam Buddha Essay

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautam, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a spiritual teacher from ancient times and the founder of Buddhism. He is universally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammasambuddha) of our age. Yet his exact date of birth and death is uncertain but a majority of historians date his lifetime from circa 623 B. C. to 543 B. C. He is one of the few luminaries in the history of humans who is such a wide and lasting influence to the people. There are countless stories of the Buddha each tradition, each culture, each time period has their own stories . It is believed that, immediately after his birth he took seven steps and on each step a lotus blossomed which represents the seven colours of rainbow. The tales say he was a son of a king raised in a palace with every imaginable luxury, he was called Siddhartha Gautama-a prince among a clan of warriors â€Å"When I was a child† he said â€Å"I was delicately brought up most delicately, a white sunshade was held over me day and night to protect me from cold, heat, dirt and dust. My father gave me three lotus’s ponds one where red lotuses bloomed, one where white lotuses bloomed, one where blue lotuses bloomed† Pali talkie Gautam Buddha is the key figure in Buddhism. Discourses, and monastic rules were summarized only after his death and memorized. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitak- the holy book of Buddhism is also written on pali language only after 400 years of his death which is divided into 3 parts 1st the rules that a Buddhist monk needs to follow, 2nd Buddha’s admonition and 3rd Accounts of Buddha’s life. Siddartha Gautam: Siddhartha Gautam was born in southern Nepal at the foot of the Himalayas on the famous gardens of Lumbini, which is located in the Terai plains of southern Nepal, testified by the inscription on the pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in 249 B. C. Siddhartha was a child with a contemplative bent of mind. He was inclined towards meditation and spiritual pursuits much against the wishes of his father. His father feared that Siddhartha might leave home, and so, kept tried to insulate him from the harsh realities of the world outside by keeping him inside the palace all the time. Sealed from pain and suffering Siddhartha indulged in a life of pure pleasure. Every whim satisfied every desire fulfilled. The Buddha once said â€Å"During the rainy season I stayed in my palace where I was entertained by musicians and dancing girls I never thought of leaving. † when he was sixteen his father draws him in tighter in to palace life, married him to his cousin which wasn’t long before they fell in love. But one day when he goes outside travelling through the kingdom, and he has the first of four encounters he sees an old man and he ask his attendants and attendants replied oh! That is the change, no human being could stay young everybody needs to grow old. Then on his next tour outside he sees a sick man and doesn’t quite understand what it is, again he ask his attendants then his attendants replied oh! That happens to all of us everybody gets sick and don’t think you are a prince and you don’t get sick your father, your mother everybody will become sick. Then he sees that it isn’t just a sick person in fact it’s the universal and something is stimulated inside of him so he keeps getting the chariot to take him out then he sees horror after horror. And on his third trip outside he meets a corps then he recognizes impermanence, suffering and death as a real state of things, the world that he has been protected, sealed or kept from seeing and he was shocked then he realized this is my fate too I will also become old I will also become sick and eventually I will also die, how do I deal with these things. And then on his fourth trip outside he sees the spiritual seeker someone who was decided to live a life completely other than his life in order to escape impermanence, sufferings and death. Soon after he left his family and Kingdom at the age of 29 and went into the forest in search of peace and truth. Siddhartha was alone in the world for the first time, on the bank of the nearby river he drew his sword â€Å"although my father and step mother were grieving with tears on their faces† Siddhartha said â€Å"I cut of my hair I put on the yellow robes and went forth from home into homelessness. I have been wounded by the enjoyment of the world and I had come out longing to obtained peace. † Then he wandered from place to place to gain knowledge. He met many cholars and saints but he was not satisfied. At last he started hard meditation bearing great physical suffering. Emaciated, exhausted Siddhartha tortures’ himself trying to destroy anything within himself that he sees it’s bad. It is said that Siddhartha had lived many life before this one as countless animals, innumerable human beings and even gods across four incalculable ages that secret text say and many eons experiencing life in all at different forms. The Buddha: Gautam Buddha seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya small town in north eastern India. For Buddhist there are hundreds of holy places but none more sacred than Bodh Gaya. It is the sacred point from which the buddhits faith radiates. It is their mecca or jeroselum or any other initiation forms of initiator. Then he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth so he sat down with his rags he was wearing under the shade of Bodhi tree at the bank of the river and began to meditate. It was spring time with a full moon on the sky at night, before the sun would rise Siddhartha’s long search would be over. Siddhartha now got transformed into Buddha or the enlightened one at the age of the thirty five. The pipal tree under which he got Enlightment came to be known as Bodhi Vriksha. Buddha saw nature of the people envy, jealousy and strong negative mental stage. He analyzed all the people in the world they are like the fishes riddling in the very shallow water. So Buddha he himself is afraid to teach the people. Then, the myth says the god BRAHMA himself comes to the Buddha kneeling down and asked Buddha to teach people what he had gains during all his life BRAHMA implies that is what every human needed to satisfied one’s life otherwise the human life would never be fulfilled. And then Buddha decided to give his teachings. For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha devote his rest of his life bringing his teachings the â€Å"Dharma† the fundamental laws of all things into the world. He preached his first sermon in Sarnath, near Varanasi. He taught that the world is full of sorrows and people suffer on account of desire. Hence desires needed to be conquered by following Eightfold Path. Of these eight paths, the first three would ensure physical control, the next two ensures mental control, and the last two would ensure intellectual development. It is said that the Buddha traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Cast was irrelevant to the Buddha so his teachings focused within the universe. From the outset, Buddhism was equally open to all races and classes, and had no caste structure, as was the rule for most Hindus in the-then society. Bliss, nirvana the Buddha taught could be found in a freeing movement through the practice of meditation the Buddha showed to his followers how to come to the terms with their own roiling thoughts and desires by paying attention to them, by becoming aware becoming mindful. What Buddha realizes is that if we can get rid of this fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of itself based on egotism, we won’t screw up everything we do, because we are thinking about it in a wrong way. Once you stop centering your feelings about feelings on yourselves, what naturally arise are simple compassions, compassions for your own sufferings and others as well. For decades the Buddha shared his teachings all across north eastern India that all beings are happy, he taught weak or strong, great or small. He said let us cherish all creatures as a mother her only child. Bare foot in his robes he was still walking along the roads when he was eighty an old age was upon him his back hurt, his stomach was often in pain, â€Å"I am old worn out† he told to a trusted disciple â€Å"like a deflated craft held together within straps†, the world is so sweet he said that he could understands to wanting to live at least another century but he was fragile and exhausted he become ill at the village named Kushinagar near Nepal. Kushinagar is revered by the pilgrims where the Buddha finally left this world. It was in Kushinagar where he grew weak and has to laid on his side in a quite grove of Sal trees as near the end his disciples began to weep striking with grief. But the Buddha reassured them that all things change he said whatever is born is subject to decay. He was saying these is natural process he tells his disciples, use this time, use the energy here even this, for your own awakening , so he use even his own death and their sadness as a time to remind them of what they real task was. In short: Now, Buddhism is more than 2500 years old there are more than 350 million followers in the world who follows Buddhism. The gist is Buddhism arose as a result of Siddhartha Gautam’s quest for Enlightenment in around the 6th century BC. There is no belief in a personal God in Buddhism. It is not centered on the relationship between humanity and god. Buddhists believe that nothing is fixed or permanent- change is always possible. The two main Buddhist Sects are Theravada Buddhism and Mahayam Buddhism, but there are many more. There is not particular place where Buddhists can worships they can worships both at home or at a temple. The path to enlightenment is through the practice and development of morality, mediation and wisdom. â€Å"It may be that after I am gone that some of you will think that now we have no teacher but that is not how you should see it, let the dharma and the discipline that I have taught you be your teacher, all individual things pass away strive on untiringly† Buddha’s last words. The fundamental need for the peace is the peace in the individuals mind. We can give others only the values and idea that we possess. Only the happy and satisfied person, therefore, can provide the happiness and love to others and be able to unite people. The present world situation is the result of our way of thinking. World peace is possible only when all the people love each other. If everybody thinks about each other we would not have problems, but we are habitual in our thinking and define everything according to ourselves or group or community or country. If we steal from another, we steal from ourselves. Instead, we should learn to give and take care of things that belong to our family, to the school, or to the public. Proper conduct shows respect for oneself and others. Our bodies are gifts from our parents, so we should protect them from harm. Young people should especially keep their natures pure and develop their virtue. It is up to them to make the world a better place to live. Religion is religion only when it unites people and not if divides. We therefore, need conversation from leaders to masters, religious persons to spiritual persons to achieve a level of World Peace.

Affirmative action and Its affect on women Research Paper

Affirmative action and Its affect on women - Research Paper Example Through the years, women in most cultures have been viewed as instruments or properties and worst, as sexual objects who need to satisfy the fantasies of men. This paper discusses this certain issue on feminism wherein women are placed on a lower pedestal as prostitutes. The common perception that women are regarded as such is due to how men treat women in general and that women have the right for a better image than a lowly sex object. If prostitution is considered as a career, then women should be given equal rights as the men so that they will be able to step out from such a shameful status. The movie â€Å"Pretty Women† (Marshall) is the story of a prostitute, Vivian Ward portrayed by Julia Roberts who was hired by a businessman, Edward Lewis played by Richard Gere. The businessman was in Los Angeles for a week and he got lost in the city. That was when he met the prostitute who offered to bring the rich businessman to his destination. The man then hires Ward not as a sexu al partner but as an escort to social events and the two agreed on the price. With the way Ward dressed, she was given queer stares from the employees and other clients of the hotel where Lewis stayed. With such dilemma, the man encouraged her to buy a new wardrobe. With much money on hand, Ward gleefully went to expensive stores but was given an unexpected cold reception. The salespersons did not treat her well because of the way she looked, obviously of an unsophisticated breeding. However, she tries to get back at them when Lewis accompanied her the following day to go shopping, approaching the salesladies that they made a big mistake. As the story unfolds, the protagonist finds herself in love with the businessman and the latter offered to find her a place to stay so they could continue seeing each other. However, affected by the play the two earlier watched, the woman identified her love story with the main characters’ so that she felt insulted with Lewis’ proposa l. The man then leaves for work and the woman was left in the hotel. Later, a colleague of Lewis’ arrived at the hotel tried to sexually assault Ward after some argument. However, Lewis comes in the nick of time to save the woman. He then tries to convince the woman to stay with him but she refuses. The story ends the way the woman wanted to, with Lewis rushing to Ward’s apartment who did not walk through the door but climbed the fire escape ladder with a bouquet of roses clenched in his teeth. The two then kissed and the story ended with the classic tale of two lovers living together happily ever after. The film portrays a very sensitive social issue on feminism that could perhaps be one of the oldest social problems concerning the so-called â€Å"weaker sex†. First, the protagonist was shown on the streets at night, without regard to the dangers that might befall her in her job as a prostitute. The woman along with her companions did not seem to mind what kind of men they would sleep with as long as they have customers who would be able to pay them well and enable them to buy their necessities with their payments. Their job did not just expose them to sexually transmitted diseases but also to physical dangers brought about by criminal activities in their dangerous environment. This is similarly dangerous as other jobs with high health risks such as careers in mining and chemical companies. With the known risks in such work areas, employees are often guaranteed safety through frequent inspections of the work place, training sessions and provision of protective gadgets. However, for prostitutes, no such measures

See order instructions. It is one page discussion question. reference Coursework

See order instructions. It is one page discussion question. reference source within last 5 years thank you - Coursework Example Heart diseases account for 25% of the total number of deaths in the US. Obesity is another health problem that is very prevalent among the middle-aged adults. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 34.9% of the US citizens are obese (2009). However, the rate of obesity has been found to be higher in the African Americans. The third health problem that can be minimized by regular exercise is depression. Anxiety and depression are the most prevalent mental illnesses in the US today. Almost 40% of the middle-aged adults have been affected by these mental illnesses (ADAA, 2012). As a nurse I would carry out a health promotion on regular exercise that will help the society eliminate the aforesaid health complications. I would reach the targeted group through the available community based organizations and offer a practical teaching on exercise and healthy living. I will use pictures and videos as teaching aids. The middle-aged adults will be encouraged to involve themselves in activities such as walking and running to keep them fit. However, they should not overdo it; too much exercise might make them very tired and prevent them from doing their jobs

Television and Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Television and Children - Essay Example This was agreed on by a number of agencies including the US Surgeon General, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, the American Psychology Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other scientific and public health agencies and organizations. Kunkel reports on three major conclusions of a National Television Violence Study which was carried out. The first was that the incidence of violence is indeed very high. According to the study 60% of approximately 10,000 programs sampled in the study contained violent material. The researchers identified an average of 6,000 violent interactions in a single week on 23 channels. The study also pointed out that the way in which violence is presented on television increases the harmful risk to children. The reasons suggested for this were that the harm caused by the violence on television is not portrayed realistically. The way violence is presented understates how much harm these acts in reality cause the victim. It also shows violence performed by role model who show no remorse and suffer no repercussions for their aggressive behavior. The third conclusion of the study was also worrisome. The portrayal of violence has remained consistent over the past years. This stability indicates that efforts are not effective to change the portrayal of violence on television. The potential for violence on television to lead to aggressive behavior in children is not the only negative effect of television viewing in young children. Children can develop a fear of the world around them when they are exposed to violent and scary happenings on television. These images can be seen by children on regular television shows or even on the news. When children cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy they can become affected

Paper 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper 2 - Coursework Example The Chinese distinguish the time through the use of animals (and one mythical creature), naming years and hours as these animals. The selection of these animals, and the arrangement thereof, came from an old legend from the Chinese dynasty, possibly around the Zhan Guo period. Legend tells of Buddha or the Jade Emperor calling for all animals to a race across a raging river. The rat, thinking smartly, overcame its disability to swim by hopping and free-riding on the strongest animal on the race: the buffalo. Just before the buffalo was to cross the finish line, the rat jumped off ahead of the buffalo and landed first. The tiger, being strong as it is, was the next to arrive. As the rabbit came near to the finish line, hoping his way from stone to stone, it slipped and landed on a floating log, which the rabbit used to float to the finish line. The dragon, which everybody thought would finish the first, came after the rabbit, giving the alibi that it had to help the townspeople and th e rabbit in crossing the finish line. The next to approach the finish line was the horse, but the snake, just like the rat, subtly hid itself on the horse’s hooves.

Vision Change Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vision Change Analysis - Research Paper Example The vision and mission of firms are intrinsic part of its strategic planning. Organizational vision is very important because it informs about the future perspectives of the organization and its future position in the industry. The organizational mission helps formulate the processes to achieve its vision. Application of vision concept to the strategic change initiatives is imperative because it helps to adopt proactive measure to meet the challenges of changing times. Application analysis The case study of Mentor Graphics Corporation clearly displays the need to adopt strategic change initiatives within the broader context of its vision. The company repeatedly changed its vision that it had developed for its future in 10 years’ time. Its initial vision that ‘it would build something that people would buy’ was quickly changed to ‘beat Daisy’ which had fast emerged as its rival in the industry. While the new vision was able to help the company in incre asing its revenue but unfortunately the company was deprived of its creative inputs and had stagnated growth. The company again adopted new vision under ‘six boxes’ that would help it to diversify and gain market leadership in six different areas of business.

Fats - Details listed below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Fats - Details listed below - Essay Example It is actually a major component of the cell membrane and in involved in many activities of our body especially in the metabolism. The major kinds of fat that are present in our diet include the monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, saturated and trans fatty acids. These kinds of fats are classified based on the differences in their chemical structure which also determines if these fats have a â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad† effect on the cardiovascular system. Before presenting the good and bad fats, let’s first discuss the implication of cholesterol which greatly affects our cardiovascular health. Cholesterol is a steroid alcohol which is performs many functions in the body. It is an important component of cell membranes which regulates its fluidity. It is also a precursor for important substances in the body like bile acids, steroid hormones, and vitamin D. However, there are good or bad types of cholesterol (Jonas, 2002). The bad cholesterol includes the LDLs (low dens ity lipoprotein) while the good cholesterol includes the HDLs (high density lipoprotein). The HDL helps keep the LDL from getting deposited into the blood vessel walls. Moreover, high level of HDL and low levels of LDL may help protect us from heart attack and stroke, while low levels of HDL and high levels of LDL have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease.

Contemporary issues in american society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary issues in american society - Essay Example The PATRIOT Act is but one example of a continuing authoritarian, totalitarian and some would argue treasonous breech of power has far-reaching consequences, not only for the battle for control in Washington D.C. but also in the way it affects the liberties that people enjoy both in the U.S. and abroad. The enacting of the PATRIOT Act initiated an avalanche of legislation that eroded civil liberties. The Act, as many citizens and legal experts alike have argued, violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. This includes the freedom of speech and assembly (First Amendment); the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure (Fourth Amendment); the right to due process of law (Fifth Amendment); the right to a speedy, public and fair trial along with the right to counsel and to confront the accuser, (Sixth Amendment), the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment) and freedom from punishment without conviction (13th Amendment). (Sinnar, 2003) According to former President Bush, â€Å"The PATRIOT Act defends our liberty. The Act makes it able for those of us in positions of responsibility to defend the liberty of the American people. It’s essential law† (Allen, 2004). Paul Rosenzweig, a senior legal research fellow at Heritage is convinced that Ronald Reagan, the champion of modern-day conservatism, would support the PATRIOT Act. (Lakely, 2005). According to some conservatives such as Rosenzweig, the Patriot Act poses no threat to civil liberties because it â€Å"has all the checks and balances on police authority that has been around for years† (Lakely, 2005). Despite the vehement opposition to the PATRIOT Act, its critics even acknowledge that it has been effective in building a more cohesive link between all levels of law enforcement including the intelligence agencies. The Act does not give away the civil liberties that were earned by the bloodshed of our

Employment and Discrimination Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Employment and Discrimination Law - Essay Example These laws are called the employment laws and they have proved effective in enhancing proper business conduct within the business world. Some of these laws which have been in place include those that govern employee dismissal, child labour, employee benefits and labour contracts among other contracts and their applications in various business enterprises have worked well in ensuring the well being of both the employers and their employees. In the course of business conduct, employee - employer relationship is crucial in determining the success of each of the two parties in the business world. However, sometimes achieving a cordial relationship becomes impossible with the eruption of personal issues that come in a day to day basis. This has sometimes led to discrimination and in this case it is the employee who suffers the brunt sometimes leaving the employer to go scot-free after committing some unfavourable and inhumane acts against his/her employee. The case of Anne is a similar one where she is forced to unfairly suffer the consequences of being in bad terms with her boss. Employer retaliation, like in Anne's case is an aspect of employment law in which a lot of emphasis has been put and attorneys have had to defend their clients in regular basis under such circumstances. As an attorney, I would consider Anne's case as a solid one and which she is capable of winning should she press legal charges against her employer. (Robert Hill, Nick Dent and Adam Lambert: Labour and Employment: United Kingdom: Associative Discrimination). Also According to The ACAS statutory Code of Practice on discipline and grievance, the proper procedure for disciplining Anne would not put her career at risk but to hold a meeting with her and discuss the issues. Her boss would be recommended to express his grievances directly to Anne after which he would make clear his decision to give poor reference to Anne which according to the law is not encouraged. In dealing with such a case, it is important to consider whether Anne's employer informed her of her employment rights as postulated in the labour law. This law which is concerned with the rights of employers demands that all employers should take charge and sensitize their employees considering the rights which they hold as workers in their workplace. Freedom from retaliation is one of the major subjects which are dealt with in this law. In a case whereby the employer had not informed Anne and maybe other employers of their rights as his employers, Anne should be able to sue him of that as the first offence committed against her by her employer. Anne would then go ahead and sue Jim, her boss for the offence of hindering her from exploring and obtaining other employment opportunities on grounds of unfounded accusations (Office of Public Sector Information (united kingdom) Employment Rights Act 1996, chapter 18). Jim has definitely committed an offence against Anne. With regard to the employment and labour law, Anne should seek legal redress since as an employees and a human being for that matter, she has her rights regarding the choice of how she relates with other individuals either within or without her office environment. In order to establish a concrete case against the crime of employer retaliation which Jim committed against

Observation Checklist Essay Example for Free

Observation Checklist Essay Philosophy on Education is the belief that the passion to learn, the commitment to succeed, and the motivation to try, is the passage through the core values that a teacher instills to a student, as learning becomes a way of guidance that encourages pupils to improve. It is an educators duty to provide an environment that exhibits a multitude of ways for children to engage in the process of learning. When I was a young child, I always wanted to show people the things I have learned through my family, friends, manuals, and teachers. Then, I entered the field of teaching, where I was able to present to an audience of children, various techniques in reading, writing, and arithmetic under the auspices of the head teacher. Let alone, I wanted to help those whom where much more challenge than others. This interest has catapulted me towards the beginning of my career in education. The journey through my past experiences as a teacher assistant foreshadowed my teaching styles. Under the auspices of the certified staff, I was given the opportunity to work in a population that requires an extra bit of patience. In formulating my approach to each class lesson, there was a need to implement hands-on learning as the basis for each work session. An adulating engagement with the student, while promoting encouragement, and confidence in taking tasks has its role in part with the learning process. Once the student becomes self sufficient, then the teaching has effectively accomplish its role. Furthermore, the importance of a teacher making assessments on a students capabilities is vital to facilitating education. In the successful grasping of an academic material and its content, being able to have rapport with the students to gain better understanding of their capabilities should intertwine directly with each learning style. Fostering a positive teaching environment requires that the student receives an invitation to participate in a friendly atmosphere. As a proclamation, there should be willingness for each student to express themselves with an utmost pride towards their work and success. In conclusion, my goal as a teacher is to provide to in each and every student with the necessary skills and knowledge so they could succeed on their own. I want to leave a memory of myself as teacher who was not afraid to roll up the sleeves to help another student in any way and influenced others to do the right thing. My colleagues recall me a teacher who regularly participates and who was active to contribute assistance to the school community.

After Wwi East Asia and North Merica Ap World History Essay Example for Free

After Wwi East Asia and North Merica Ap World History Essay After world war one East Asia and North America responded similarly to economic growth and social structure, while taking opposite decisions concerning politics and international relations. Both countries grew economically due to industrialism and their standard living improved by opting for western lifestyle. But japan was involved in war and with no thoughts of stopping while the United States was remaining out of it. To start with, United States and japan had similar ideas regarding their social structure. As the united stated was evolving in improving standard living, japan was moving towards western cultural values. In the United States woman’s rights and labor was beginning to be a normal idea and even birth control comes into the picture. While in japan gender equality, freedom of expression and dignity of the individual where being embraced. All of this because allot of men had to fight in war and people where needed to do work, women took a step and did it becoming not only efficient for working but also economically independent. In other words countries standard living was rising with more people being comfortable with their way of living and not rebelling because of having more rights. Moreover United States and japan had their difference regarding their international political position. While japan gets involved in war, the United States opts for isolationism. Although world war was over and japan had seen the deaths and devastation they decided to invade Manchuria a city in china and one year later invades Shanghai because of a minor conflict but also because Japanese where waiting for an excuse to conquer china for resources, after the battle of Shanghai 22 major battles followed. Meanwhile the United States stayed in their side provoking little problems. Not forgetting to mention that Japan and war one. Like that the United States and japan where in opposite sides of the war after The Great War, japan inside and the united states outside. In addition United States and japan both grew economically after world war one because their industrialism. Both of them got involved in the war very late that gave them more advantage because they had more weapons. Also their industry grew allot making more weapons to export and also they had more manufacturing. As well the United States was giving out loans to countries that where in a bad shape after war. These made both countries economically grow and become economically superior from other countries. In conclusion the United States and japan where similar regarding social structure and economics, they had their differences in their decisions to enter war again. Even more important is what would happened next and that despite their similarities they would end up as rivals and fighting against each other. Was that really the right choice?

Analysis Of Malasias Foreign Policies Since Independence Politics Essay

Analysis Of Malasias Foreign Policies Since Independence Politics Essay The Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Wisma Putra as it is commonly known has been mandated to pursue the nations foreign policy in accordance with the Federal Constitution of Malaysia with the objective of protecting and promoting the nations interest at the international level. Malaysias foreign policy is premised on establishing close and friendly relations with countries in the community of nations.   It will continue to respect the internal affairs of other nations and advocate a policy of non-interference recognizing the sovereignty of nations. Since Malaysias independence in 1957 till today, the vision of our foreign policy remains consistent that is to safeguard Malaysias national interests as well as contribute towards a just and equitable community of nations.   This is achieved through upholding the countrys sovereignty and promoting universal peace; fostering friendly relations with foreign countries and protecting Malaysias interests in the regional and international arena.   In other words, Malaysia will continue to consolidate its relations with other countries and international organisations, both at the regional and international level. In line with the objectives of promoting and protecting Malaysian national interest abroad, the Ministry has established a total of 105 missions in 83 countries and appointed 53 Honorary Consuls who provide support and assistance in promoting Malaysias interest abroad. Since the independence of Malaya in 1957, the nations foreign policy has gone through several phases of significant transition with different emphases under five previous premierships.   The policy has been largely determined by the established national characteristics and succession of political leadership as well as by the dynamic regional and international environment. Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia held a markedly anti-Communist and pro-Western posture as the era saw the country threatened by the Communist insurgency.   The foreign policy during Tunkus time had to take into consideration the bipolar power struggle between opposing ideas of democracy and communism. Under the stewardship of Malaysias second premier Tun Abdul Razak, Malaysias foreign policy began to shift towards non-alignment and internationalism with Malaysia joining the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). A period of consolidation ensued under Tun Hussein Onn with ASEAN becoming the cornerstone of Malaysias foreign policy following the collapse of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1975, the withdrawal of the US military presence from Southeast Asia and the invasion of Kampuchea (now Cambodia) by Vietnam. During the premiership of Tun Dr. Mahathir in 1981, Malaysia began opening its doors to foster relations with more nations and became a symbol of a rising developing country.   Under Tun Mahathirs tenure, the nations foreign policy began adopting a much greater economic orientation in the countrys external relations while championing the rights, interests and aspirations of developing countries.   This approach led to the advocacy of the South-South Cooperation, a more proactive role in the G-77, the establishment of the G-15 and saw the Look East Policy being instituted.   This shift to the East greatly influenced Malaysias economic development.   Malaysia became the voice of the developing world and was a role model for many developing countries as it become well known for its active stance at the UN and other international conferences.   Malaysias participation in peacekeeping missions under the UN is also a testimony of the nations seriousness in instilling the will of the international community.   Since 1960, Malaysia has committed troops to Republic of Congo, Bosnia Herzegovina, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Western Sahara, Iraq, Timor Leste and Lebanon. The fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi continued to ensure that Malaysia was active in the international arena.   During his tenure, Malaysia played an instrumental role in the formulation and adoption of the ASEAN Charter which has been ratified by all ASEAN member states and subsequently entered into force on 15th December 2008.  During this period, Malaysia was also active in expanding the focus of OIC from being an organisation focused solely on political issues into one which focuses on the socio-economic development of Islamic countries.   The Islam Hadhari concept which promotes a form of civilisational Islam was also introduced by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and was accepted and recognised by the OIC member states at the 3rd Special Summit of OIC at Makkah in December 2005. Under the leadership of Prime Minister YAB Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak, Malaysia will continue to project a forward-looking and pragmatic foreign policy whilst continuing to facilitate trade, attract foreign investment as well as project Malaysia as a stable and peaceful country. Upon taking office in April 2009, the Prime Minister also stressed that Malaysias foreign policy under his administration would be shaped significantly by the 1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now concept. Among the key elements of the 1Malaysia concept is in realising the strength of Malaysia lies in its diversity.   This concept bodes well with the main vision of Malaysias Foreign Policy that is to protect and promote interests abroad and at the same time responsibly and effectively contribute towards the building of a fair and just world.   Dato Sri Najib believes that the interconnectedness of nations in the world means that Malaysia would benefit in applying 1Malaysia in its efforts in diplomacy and foreign relations. Synonymous with the 1Malaysia concept, Malaysia will continue to maintain close relations with all countries in the world and will continue to work with like-minded nations in pursuing national interest. YAB PM also introduced the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) that identified Key Results Area (KRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the Ministry as a promise of commitment by the Government to the rakyat.   In line with this, the Ministry has identified 14 Key Performance Indicators to measure the success of the Ministry. The KRAs of the Ministry are as follows: a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Protection and promotion of Malaysias interests bilaterally, regionally and internationally through proactive diplomacy; b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Realisation of an ASEAN Community by 2015 via the ASEAN Political Security Community Blueprint, ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint and ASEAN Social Cultural Blueprint; c.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Enhancing Malaysias standing in the international community particularly in the framework of 1Malaysia in an ever changing geopolitical scenario; and d.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Provision of prompt and effective services locally and abroad. Malaysia has also maintained excellent relations with other countries, bilaterally and multilaterally through existing regional and international mechanisms of ASEAN, UN and other organisations which we are a member of. Malaysias foreign policy is structured upon a framework of bilateralism, regionalism and multilateralism where its outreach is likening to a pattern of concentric circles.   ASEAN forms the core priority of Malaysias current foreign policy, in consideration of our neighbours as our closest allies.   Looking further afield, as a country with a strong Muslim majority, Malaysia also gives importance to the solidarity of the Ummah and the spirit of cooperation among the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).   Malaysias status as a developing nation makes it imperative for the country to engage actively in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Commonwealth, Group of Seventy Seven (G77), Developing Eight (D8), Asia Middle East Dialogue (AMED), Far East Asia Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).   No less important is the countrys continued active participation in the Commonwealth, the United Nations and other international organisations.   Through these organisations, Malaysia has sought to promote the South-South Cooperation among the developing countries and the Muslim world.   Malaysia also advocates the Prosper thy neighbour policy to enhance economic relations and cooperation with its neighbouring countries through Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMTGT) and other entities. Malaysia will continue to play a significant role in the various multilateral issues that affect our interests.   These issues include disarmament, counter terrorism, trafficking in persons, climate change and environmental issues.  Ã‚   As a member of the UN, Malaysia is a firm believer of international peace and security and an upholder of international law.   Malaysias election as the President of United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for 2010 and the Chairmanship of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were a further testimony of Malaysias positive international image. Malaysia will also continue to engage with like-minded nations, both in the region and beyond in ensuring its sovereignty and economic well being are preserved and protected.   Malaysia will continue with the principles of engagement and cooperation rather than isolationism and unilateral action.  Trade and investment opportunities will continue to be explored with our traditional trading partners and at the same time to develop strategic partnerships for trade and investment with countries in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia. In the decade leading up to 2020, Malaysia would have to deal with great changes in the global environment whilst improving and upgrading the countrys domestic conditions.   In recognising this challenge, it is vital that Malaysias foreign policy continues to focus on protecting national interests while responsibly and effectively contributing towards the building of a fair and just world. The fundamental principles of sovereign equality, mutual respect for territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes as well as mutual benefit in relations are the guiding principles that would continue to guide Malaysias relations with other countries.   Ã‚  These principles have stood the test of time. Indeed, our steadfast adherence to these principles, supported by a consistent foreign policy, has established for Malaysia a credible image in the eyes of the international community. OBJECTIVE   Implementing foreign policy is a complex and challenging task. With the dynamic environment of world politics, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to be constantly aware of changes and be able to effectively respond to ensure that Malaysias sovereignty and national interests are adequately protected and Malaysias views and positions are duly articulated in the international arena. The Ministry will coordinate and work closely with relevant Ministries and Agencies to establish workable terms of reference in implementing Malaysias national interests and to coordinate marketing and branding strategies for Malaysia abroad. In the formulation of foreign policy, every country has its own objective. In the case of Malaysia, it is as simple as the pursuit of Malaysias national interest at the international level. The Malaysian government will strive to ensure that Malaysia continues to play an active role in international relations for the benefit of the country. Principal emphasis in the pursuit of Malaysias foreign policy objectives include: Maintaining peaceful relations with all countries regardless of its ideology and political system; Adopting an independent, non-aligned, and principled stance in regional and international diplomatic affairs; Forging close relations and economic partnerships with all nations, particularly with ASEAN and other regional friends; Promoting peace and stability in the region through capacity building and conflict resolution measures; Playing an influential leadership role as Chair of the ASEAN, Non-aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) (As we did in the last few years); Participating actively and meaningfully in the United Nations, especially in the efforts to end injustice and oppression, and to uphold international law; and Projecting Malaysia as a leading example of a tolerant and progressive Islamic nation. FORMULATION OF FOREIGN POLICY    Malaysias foreign policy is basically an extension of Malaysias domestic policy. It is designed to defend and promote the countrys national, political, security, economic and other vital interests. It is geared towards promoting a peaceful regional and international environment, which would give Malaysia space to achieve all its national objectives without disruption from external threats.    Despite the diversity of views regarding the perception and explanation of foreign policy, no foreign policy can be formulated in a vacuum. It must serve to function in a dynamic environment. Malaysias foreign policy is no exception. Various geographical, historical, social and political determinants contributed to shaping the nature of Malaysias foreign policy and the conduct of the countrys international relations.    Our foreign policy seeks to promote mutual tolerance and cooperation amongst all countries that make up the fabric of international community. To this, Malaysia pursues an independent, principled and pragmatic foreign policy which rests on the values of peace, humanity, justice, and equality. Malaysias foreign policy is also premised on the principles of respect for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the affairs of other nations, peaceful settlement of disputes, peaceful co-existence and mutual benefit in relations. Due to globalization and the rise of powerful non-state actors, such as Multinational Corporations (MNCs), non-governmental organizations, and a variety of transnational groups, it is imperative for small nation states to cooperate even more closely. To this, Malaysia maintains friendly diplomatic, and trade relations with many countries throughout the world.    As a trading nation, we advocate a multilateral rule-based global trading system which would promote and safeguard the interests of all countries, whether developed or developing, in a fair and equitable manner. In this respect, Malaysia has long advocated the economic principle of prosper-thy-neighbor and not beggar-thy-neighbor. We believe that the global economic infrastructure should be that prosperity will beget prosperity. CRITERIA AND CHARACTERISTICS OF MALAYSIAS FOREIGN POLICY   Malaysias foreign policy is guided by three criteria: a) First, it must be a CREDIBLE policy: Exudes trust and confidence from other nations. In this regard, it has to be based on certain  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   internationally cherished principles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Serves the countrys best interest and remain a responsible member of the international community.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   b) Second, it must be an ENLIGHTENED policy: Takes care of the interest of its citizens above all else.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Brings international recognition and admiration for Malaysia and   allows Malaysians to be good citizens of the     Ã‚  Ã‚   world. c) Third, it must be a CONSISTENT AND COHERENT policy:   Makes Malaysia an acceptable and reliable partner in interstate affairs. Succeeds in making Malaysia the preferred brand name in international relations. EVOLUTION OF MALAYSIAS FOREIGN POLICY    Foreign policy is not static. Its formulation is essentially a dynamic process. Hence, over the years, our foreign policy has evolved, taking account of the change in leadership as well as developments in the ever-changing global political and economic landscapes. Moreover, the advent of globalization and the transformation of interstate relations brought about by new and rapid changes in information technologies necessarily means that our foreign policy has to be adjusted and fine tuned to meet new challenges in a globalised world. The style and approaches in enunciating Malaysias foreign policy may differ in keeping with the personality of each past and present prime minister of Malaysia. A critical examination of Malaysias foreign policy since 1957 would show its steady evolution characterized by notable changes in emphasis, which took place with the change in Malaysias political stewardship. Briefly;   a) In the period 1957-1969, our country has just gained its independence. During this post independence period, under our first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, our foreign policy was geared towards the survival of our newly independent nation. Our foreign policy then was markedly anti-Communist and pro-western in posture with close links to the Commonwealth. We were also a strong opponent of apartheid. Our posture towards regional cooperation also began to take root with the birth of ASA (1960), MAPHILINDO (1963) and ASEAN (1967). b) In the period 1970 -1976, under Tun Abdul Razak, as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Malaysia began to identify itself as a Muslim nation. The search for new friends substantially increased the importance of NAM to Malaysia. We became markedly non-aligned and postured towards neutrality, peaceful co-existence and independence. We also began to distance ourselves from major powers, put strong emphasis on regionalism and developed contacts and diplomatic relations with communist countries. Investments from other than British sources began to be also welcomed.   c) A period of consolidation ensued under Tun Hussein Onn (1976-1981) with ASEAN becoming the cornerstone of Malaysias foreign policy following the collapse of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1975, the withdrawal of the US military presence from Southeast Asia and the invasion of Kampuchea (now Cambodia) by Vietnam. The First ASEAN Summit was held and Malaysia signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Bali in 1976. Further emphasis on independence, non-alignment and equidistance from the major powers was also made. d) A more dramatic shift in emphasis occurred when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad took over as the fourth Prime Minister in 1981. Malaysias foreign policy stance began to take a much greater economic orientation than ever before, coupled with a strong and nationalistic defence of the rights, interests and aspirations of developing countries and the advocacy of south-south co-operation. Tun Dr. Mahathirs premiership saw the pursuit of numerous new initiatives such as: Antarctica as the Common Heritage of Mankind. The Look East Policy (LEP). Championing of the cause of developing countries on major social issues like environment, human rights and democracy. With the advent of globalization, Malaysians identified both the beneficial and adverse impact of globalization to the developing countries. Pro-active and passionate approach on Apartheid and Palestinian issues. Islamic Unity Chairmanship and hosting of the 10th OIC Summit, hosting of 1st Expo OIC, formation of D-8. International peace and security Malaysias membership in UNSC, peacekeeping role in a number of countries such as Cambodia, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Namibia and East Timor. Malaysia also actively championed against selectivity, double standards and pre-emptive action outside the ambit of the UN. Terrorism Malaysia forged strong regional and international cooperation in combating terrorism, strongly advocated against profiling by religion or ethnicity, proposed multifaceted approach in combating terrorism including identifying and eliminating the root causes, hosted OIC Foreign Ministers Meeting on Terrorism in 2002, established SEARCCT to primarily focus on training and capacity building. Opening of New Frontiers: Active bilateral engagements with African, Latin American and Eastern Europe countries, particularly in trade, investment and transfer technology in the spirit of South-South Cooperation. Includes opening of Diplomatic Missions and extension of Malaysian Technical Cooperation Program (MTCP) in these countries. Economic Orientation: East Asia Economic Cooperation (from EAEG to EAEC to ASEAN +3). Regional Development Cooperation Growth Triangle concept such as IMTGT, IMSGT, BIMP-EAGA. Group of 15 (G15) first advocated by Malaysia. Economic diplomacy reverse investments prosper thy neighbors, South-South cooperation, MIGHT, Langkawi International Dialogue (LID), South Africa International Dialogue (SAID). e) In the period 2003   and onwards, under the leadership of Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, foreign policy initiatives were further refined and fine- tuned to project: Pragmatic response in meeting the current geopolitical and economic challenges. More sophisticated articulation of Malaysias views. Substance as a dynamic extension to existing policies. Influential leadership role as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and ASEAN; and Malaysia as a leading example of a tolerant and progressive Islamic Nation Islam Hadhari The evolution of the countrys foreign policy under successive prime ministers reflects a pragmatic response to the geopolitical and economic changes of their times. To be continually relevant to the countrys needs, foreign policy cannot remain static. But whilst changes in emphasis have become a general feature of Malaysian foreign policy, continuity has also been evident. Both the change and continuity mark a higher level of confidence and maturing of the country in the conduct of its international affairs. Indeed, in many ways Malaysias leadership role has been recognized on several issues of deep interest to the developing world.    As a trading nation, we are very much dependent on a peaceful international environment for our well being. Naturally, our foreign policy has to be oriented to allow for a greater focus on economic diplomacy. In the past, when we were producing mainly raw materials for the world, Malaysia had to compete with only a handful of countries. But now, when we have become an industrialized trading nation, we have no choice but to work harder, to compete better and to find new markets for our goods and services. We must find better ways to do business with the outside world. We need to find niches in which we have a competitive edge.    Towards this end, Malaysia has implemented a number of policies that have a strong foreign policy component that will contribute to the creation of a strong, dynamic and resilient economy. These policies include amongst others: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢LookEastPolicy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ReverseInvestment-ProsperThyNeighbour à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢MalaysiaIncorporated à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢South-SouthCooperation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢MalaysianTechnicalCooperationProgramme(MTCP) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Langkawi International Dialogue CONLUSION   One significant phenomenon that will impact strongly on Malaysias foreign policy as we move forward is globalization. Our greatest challenge would be to extract the best from the process of globalization and to give our best to the system. And in return to contribute towards making the world a much more peaceful and equitable place to live in, to provide leadership within our region and to demonstrate exemplary and responsible membership of the international community. On the political front, we see the end of the cold war. Yet the world today is no safer than we had been led to believe. The so-called friendly global village has not come about. Old conflicts either refuse to die or simply have a way of coming out of their graves to haunt us. In the meantime, new conflicts, at times much bloodier and brutal than the old ones, continue to emerge and rage or remain unresolved. Added to this, two other issues of great concern also remain, namely terrorism which continue to threaten Terrorism which continue to threaten the lives and property of innocent victims; and The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction which brings fourth the prospect of nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare. It is important; therefore, that our foreign policy be geared towards ensuring that more and more nations sign and ratify the relevant international conventions such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and the Convention on Land Mines (CLM). The economic dimension of globalization has been even more disappointing. The financial crisis that descended upon East Asia in 1997 brought about not only social misery and economic disaster but political instability as well. Massive Unemployment, negative growth, stock market crashes and severe currency devaluation have pulled down millions of people below the poverty lines. And now, we are anxiously watching the effects of the possible economic meltdown following the global financial crisis. The severity of the situation calls for the whole business of economic globalization and financial and trade liberalization to be seriously addressed. This is another biggest foreign policy challenge for Malaysia. Malaysia will continue to press for the reforming the international financial architecture that is so prone to speculative manipulations and frequently excessive fluctuation. Malaysias activism at the international front has of course attracted attention and reaction from various quarters. Until recently, Malaysia had been the target for criticism for being too vocal. But this is something that we need to take in our own stride if Malaysia is to be proactive at the global level. Our foreign policy principles have stood the test of time. Indeed, our steadfast adherence to these principles, supported by a consistent foreign policy, has established for Malaysia certain credibility in the eyes of the international community. Malaysias initiatives at various regional and international fora have put the country on the world map. Increased economic prosperity and political stability has in fact enabled Malaysia to carve its own niche in the international scene. Making its presence felt has allowed Malaysia to exercise some influence in setting the international agenda. Being less dependent on foreign aid and assistance, Malaysia has been able to speak up on issues that other developing countries feel constrained to voice for fear of retribution by the major, particularly western, powers. The years ahead therefore would see our foreign policy specially oriented towards not only ensuring Malaysias domestic success but also internationally, as a geopolitical and economic player at the global level.

orwell :: essays research papers

Animal Farm and The Russian Revolution Minor characters and events of the novel Animal Farm symbolize things that are related to the history of Russia. Animal Farm is a story on Stalinism and the Russian Revolution. The characters in Animal Farm all have a part in the Soviet Union meaning the Russian Revolution. The similarities of Mr. Jones and Czar Nicholas II, the leader previous to Stalin tie into each other. There was a strike wave go on in Petrograd. Over 300,000 people went through economic crisis. Factories had a lack of fuel and there were power cuts. The railways were collapsing and there was no meat, and a shortage of flour. Hunger spread through the country. The bourgeois liberals of the â€Å"Progressive Bloc† pleaded with Tsar Nicholas for reform trying to frighten him with revolution. That revolution broke into the February Revolution. Farmer Jones came home drunk one night and didn’t feed the animals making it worse than it already was as they were already starving. The animals got the image of the revolution from Old Major in their heads and attacked. They succeeded and won the battle against Mr. Jones as they drove him off the farm. The animals were now free to do what ever they wanted and needed to pick a leader. Out of all of the animals the pigs were considered to be the most brilliant. The two pigs that stood out the most were Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon is not a good speaker, but he can assert himself. Snowball is a better speaker because he has a lot of ideas. These two pigs did not get along, much like Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The Russian leaders fought for power and Stalin achieved sole power and Trotsky was exiled. Trotsky escaped Stalin’s dilemmas. Stalin hated his opponent so much that he caused his name to be written simply â€Å"Judas Trotsky.† Stalin stole many of Trotsky’s ideas and methods. Eventually Trotsky was expelled from Russia. In the same manner, Snowball and Napoleon always argued over ideas. Napoleon was already power hungry and had a plan to get rid of Snowball after the rebellion. In the middle of this all, Snowball was planning out to build a windmill for power to energize the farm. Napoleon then directed the dogs he raised since they were puppies on Snowball and chased him off the farm. Napoleon eliminated his only enemy and was free to control the farm.

Praxis Statement :: Education Teacher Essays

Praxis Statement When I first decided to be a teacher I had many thoughts and opinions about teaching and education. Some of my thoughts and opinions have stayed them same; however, many have changed from the discussions and readings in LL ED 411 and 480. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher I thought that most students learned in the same manner. I also thought that the teacher should have power over the classroom. Likewise, I thought that technology should not be used in the classroom--except to type papers. I now know that there is not much truth to my ideas and thoughts because my thoughts were shaped only from my experiences. My experiences are narrow because they were shaped from the problems in schools and the old ideas that teachers still have. Now that I have learned the other sides to these problems I know that my thoughts about teaching and education are not fully developed. One of the ideas that I have learned is that all students learn in different ways and teachers need to teach to their needs. This is described with an analogy in Finding Freedom. The analogy used is, â€Å" . . . anyone would laugh themselves silly at the thought that children with different body sizes ought to be made to wear the same size clothes . . .† (Hinchey, 67). We would laugh if someone said all children should wear the same size clothing, yet teachers are still teaching students all in the same way. Some students learn from lecturing and memorizing, whereas others learn from examples and trial and error. Finding Freedom states that teachers need to modify work for students so that they can learn the material (Hinchey, 11). Delpit also states, â€Å"Some of the [black students] even learned how to read, but none of them as quickly as my white students. I was doing the same thing for all of my kids--what was the problem?† (Delpit, 13). Before reading these two statements as well as others and discussing them in class I thought that almost all students learned in the same way. I thought this because I learned from lecturing, memorizing, and a few examples. I figured that if I could learn in that way and most of my peers learned in that way then most students could. Praxis Statement :: Education Teacher Essays Praxis Statement When I first decided to be a teacher I had many thoughts and opinions about teaching and education. Some of my thoughts and opinions have stayed them same; however, many have changed from the discussions and readings in LL ED 411 and 480. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher I thought that most students learned in the same manner. I also thought that the teacher should have power over the classroom. Likewise, I thought that technology should not be used in the classroom--except to type papers. I now know that there is not much truth to my ideas and thoughts because my thoughts were shaped only from my experiences. My experiences are narrow because they were shaped from the problems in schools and the old ideas that teachers still have. Now that I have learned the other sides to these problems I know that my thoughts about teaching and education are not fully developed. One of the ideas that I have learned is that all students learn in different ways and teachers need to teach to their needs. This is described with an analogy in Finding Freedom. The analogy used is, â€Å" . . . anyone would laugh themselves silly at the thought that children with different body sizes ought to be made to wear the same size clothes . . .† (Hinchey, 67). We would laugh if someone said all children should wear the same size clothing, yet teachers are still teaching students all in the same way. Some students learn from lecturing and memorizing, whereas others learn from examples and trial and error. Finding Freedom states that teachers need to modify work for students so that they can learn the material (Hinchey, 11). Delpit also states, â€Å"Some of the [black students] even learned how to read, but none of them as quickly as my white students. I was doing the same thing for all of my kids--what was the problem?† (Delpit, 13). Before reading these two statements as well as others and discussing them in class I thought that almost all students learned in the same way. I thought this because I learned from lecturing, memorizing, and a few examples. I figured that if I could learn in that way and most of my peers learned in that way then most students could.

A Reluctant Move :: Personal Narrative Moving Essays

A Reluctant Move One of my favorite quotes is, â€Å"If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it† by Mary Engelbreit. After going through a huge change myself, I have chosen to accept that change is good. It is important to make the best out of the way things turn out, and adapt to it. As I sat there wondering what it was going to be like, I couldn’t help but get tears in my eye. What was about to happen would change my life and outlook forever. This was a big life-changing decision. As far as I knew, moving to America was the opposite direction I wanted to go, but this decision ended-up changing my life. Why was I so reluctant to move? It’s widely accepted that America is known for its endless opportunities, wealth, independence and excitement. The land of possibilities some say. Many foreigners dream of living in America, but not me. From the stories I had heard, my father was relocating us to a place full of materialistic people and places. We had the same routine, the same places we all hung out, and the same culture that I was so used to in Germany. Leaving my friends, family and home was a huge turn around that I was afraid and skeptical of. Growing up in Wiesbaden, Germany gave me a great appreciation for European cultures. It was the only lifestyle I knew. Even though I didn’t know much about the American way of life, I had the understanding of most all the countries in Europe. I knew my city like the back of my hand and all the people in it. I knew where I could take my dog for a walk and where the best places to shop were. I knew all the options that my friends and I had on Friday nights and where the fun places downtown were. I was very comfortable and self-reliant in my environment. Wiesbaden was my home and I was very nervous about giving that up. I think my biggest fear was the fear of the unknown. I like to know what’s going on and what to expect.

Factors on the Four Functions of Management Essay

In regards to internal and external factors that can significantly influence the four functions of management, include such items as globalization, technology, diversity, ethics and innovation. Furthermore, all of these items pay an important role in the dominance of General Motors in the automotive industry. GM has changed manufacture attitudes to concentrate on some strategic priorities those being to become common, envision lean and compete fast, participate on a worldwide footing, cultivate the business and as a rule significantly keep their attention on the finished goods. General Motors is determined to be committed to a lean and familiar single, global manufacturing approach (Automotive Intelligence News, 2003). The external factor of globalization is a major factor in today’s business world. Globalization additionally adds to the factors of cultural diversity and cultural ethics as it pertains to business climate, culture and organization. Likewise, even in the US General Motors deals with the issues of diversity and values based of the many cultures that live within the country. Diversity can be both a help and a hindrance to the four function of management, in that when cultural diversity is utilized correctly it aids in all phases of business. However, if both the countries or the individual workers feel that their culture or beliefs are being looked down upon or are demeaned this can lead to serious repercussion. The same ca be said concerning the ethics each culture holds management must walk a fine line to ensure no vilification or no indignity occurs. Globalization needs a firm touch and a steady hand in the first planning, which entails what countries a company wants to build and sell their goods to, while maintaining a presence in that country. What value the product will bring, the cost of materials, taxes or tariffs, and if the people of those countries have a  need, the cost, and the desire to purchase their vehicles. As to organizing, in globalization GM must ensure that local customs will not be pushed aside and must they maintain a proper level of respect and decorum in dealing with the local population and their cultural identity. Manager must organize by creating a dialog with other countries on GM’s products, explaining the utilization of each countries environmental assets and capital, showing how that being a partnering country with GM will help their country and its people. They must correspondingly incorporate the concept of co-design and systems approach, during the organization function to ensure each country has the belief that they are truly partners with GM. General Motors is currently in the process of restructuring their Global Vehicle Engineering organization. The reason they are doing this is to enhance cross-system integration and to bring more coherent implementation across vehicle platforms. They are also further addressing the functional safety and compliance in its vehicles worldwide (GM News, 2014). Whereas this reorganization moves GM away from long-established regional authority toward an organization built on global functions. As to the role of leading, globalization brings with it a different set of problems and requirements. In General Motors situation the leading function of management, in the terms of what the role intention is remains the same and can be defined as the focus of guiding the activities of personnel with motivation. However, the challenges of doing so on a global scale are daunting because of issues in cultural difference, in ethics and diversity. Managers must have a working knowledge of the country’s culture, its ethical stances, and language differences both verbal and nonverbal. The controlling function of management within globalization again comes with its own set of issues that need to be overcome. Likewise, to be able to establish standards, then measure the performance in contrast to those standards and make corrective changes to those standards and plans that have been determined ineffective (Merchant, 1982). In a global setting put additional meaning to the controlling function of management. Management for General Motors have been successful in the endeavor and proof of this can be seen in how they continue to rank near or at the top the list of vehicles sold worldwide. GM is closing the gap on Toyota lead in sales, because of changes in how they are using the control function of management to correct the situation.  Since, GM began to renovate its vehicle roster into one of the keenest and newest in the automotive industry from one of the eldest and more outdated ones (Jie, & Horie, 2014). So any and everyone can see how globalization as an external factor affects a company such as General Motors in its operations of the four functions of management. Technology in this case should be considered both and external and internal factor that can affect a company such as GM. Since, technology deals with not only information and enterprise systems to run a business, it also deals with the creation of new products and equipment to be use in their cars and trucks. General Motors in being such a large global company have an extensive enterprise system to deal with employees, customers, security, and data collection to enable it to run both effectively and efficiently on a global scale. However, technology in the creation and advancement of products goes hand in hand with innovation. We can see how technology is part of innovation, in the way GM addresses the idea of a fully electric car that can go 200 miles between charges. Additionally, the connection of technology and innovation is seen in General Motor’s electric and gas hybrid car the Chevy Volt. GM similarly has an all-electric car that can go 82 miles on a charge called the Chevy Spark (The Denver Post, 2013). General Motor’s innovations created a need for better technology in electric car batteries, charging systems. They also created a need for electric charging facilities for people who are traveling on long trips, which are still under research as to cost, viability, and the possibility. All of this innovation leads to technology to design and build components that will be needed to compete in this sector of the industry. What is more, all four functions of management are thoroughly affected by globalization, diversity, ethics, innovation and technology as these elements play a crucial role in the structure and running of any business in today world economy. References Automotive Intelligence News. (2003). GM’s Global Manufacturing System – A System To Build Great Cars and Trucks. Retrieved from http://www.autointell.com/News-2003/January-2003/January-2003-1/January-03-03-p6.htm GM News. (2014). GM Restructures Global Engineering for Cross-System Integration. Retrieved from http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2014/Apr/0422-global-eng.html Jie, M. & Horie, M. (2014). Toyota Beats GM in 2013 as 10 Million Vehicles Seen. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-23/toyota-beats-gm-vw-in-2013-car-sales-sees-3-growth-this-year.html Merchant, K. (1982). Controlling Function of Management. Retrieved from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/ The Denver Post. (2013). General Motors working on 200-mile electric car, exec says. Retrieved from http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_24109259/general-motors-working-200-mile-electric-car-exec

Financial Reporting Quality: Red Flags and Accounting Warning Signs

mo crystalizeary Reporting calibre and enthronization expertness Rodrigo S. Verdi The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania 1303 Steinberg H entirely-Dietrich H some(prenominal) Philadelphia, PA 19104 Email emailprotected upenn. edu Ph adept (215) 898-7783 Abstract This motif studies the singing surrounded by pecuniary report tincture and enthronization might on a savour of 49,543 bulletproof- family observations amidst 1980 and 2003. m unrivaled(a)tary report feel has been posited to repair enthronisation dexterity, merely there has been little verifiable narrate surviveing this claim to date. accordant with this claim, I play that proxies for mo shed light onary reportage lineament ar banly associated with close to(prenominal) watertight under investiture and over investing. Further, fiscal report eccentric is to a greater extent strongly associated with under coronation specie for signs face up m bingletary vertebral columning co ldnesss and with over investiture for blottos with spacious bang-up balances, which suggests that monetary report blood line lowers instruction asymmetries arising from ominous ersatz problems and chest of drawers conflicts.Fin every last(predicate)y, the sexual congress mingled with pecuniary report woodland and coronation funds skill is stronger for rigids with downcast musical note stateation milieus. Over all in all, this round topic has implications for seek examining the determinants of enthronisation power and the frugal consequences of deepen fiscal account. Current interpretation February 14, 2006 _____________________________________________ I thank members of my dissertation military commission John Core, Gary Gorton, Christian Leuz, Scott Richardson, and Catherine Schrand (Chair) for their guidance on this news news report.I appreciate comments from Patrick Beatty, Jennifer Blouin, Brian Bushee, Gavin Cassar, Francesca Franco, Wayne Guay, Luzi Hail, Bob Holtha implementn, bend Lambert, Frank Moers, Jeffrey Ng, Tjomme Rusticus, Irem Tuna, Ro Verrecchia, Missaka Warusawitharana, Sarah Zechman, Zili Zhuang, and seminar participants at the Wharton School. I as well grate full(a)y acknowledge the fiscal support from the Wharton School and from the Deloitte Foundation. Any phantasms ar my own. monetary Reporting Quality and investing capacity . Introduction This light uponup studies the coitus in the midst of monetary coverage role and coronation readiness. Recent written document (e. g. , Healy and Palepu, 2001 Bushman and Smith, 2001 Lambert, Leuz, and Verrecchia, 2005) suggest that recruit monetary reportage stick fall out save authorized scotch implications much(prenominal) as increase coronation talent. However, despite consentient theoretical support for such a notification, there is little empirical licence load-bearing(a) these claims.I hypothe surface that monetary coverag e choice laughing banal mend investing cleverness by focus learning dissymmetry in devil ways (1) it reduces the development imbalance mingled with the fast and investors and thereof dispirits the unshakables personify of re mathematical production funds and (2) it reduces info dissymmetry amidst investors and the manager and thereof lowers the sh atomic number 18holders court of overseeing managers and improves drift choice. The dickens key causes in the depth psychology ar investing aptitude and monetary reportage part.I abstractly define a plastered as investing stintingly if it undertakes all and save go outs with despotic net commit value (NPV) under the scenario of no market frictions such as inauspicious substitute(a) or dominance be. because(prenominal)ce un scotchal enthronement embroils passing up investing opportunities that would have confident(p) NPV in the absence of uncomely pickax (under enthronisati on). Likewise, in incumbranceive enthronisation implys undertaking projects with contradictly charged NPV (over enthronization).I prize out enthronization readiness as re primary(prenominal)ders from evaluate investing victimization a parsimonious enthronization exemplification which predicts pass judgment coronation as a wreak of ontogenesis opportunities (Tobin, 1982). Thus, some(prenominal) underinvestment funds ( ban conflicts from expected investment) and 1 overinvestment (positive going aways from expected investment) be considered uneconomical investment. I conceptually define pecuniary account calibre as the precision with which pecuniary describe conveys tuition virtually the business unbendables ope balancens, in event its expected notes melts, in consecrate to inform beauteousness investors.As described in the FASB Statement of Financial explanation Concepts null(prenominal) 1, pecuniary reportage should stick out selective study that is useable to bewilder and probable investors in making lucid investment decisions (par. 34) and entrust tuition to help present and electric potential investors in assessing the amounts, timing, and uncertainty of prospective specie receipts (par. 37). Further, expected notes leads is a key input to securely groovy budgeting, which is particularly big in the place setting of this writing which studies monetary insurance coverage implications for corporate investment.I placeholder for monetary insurance coverage look exploitation nibs of accruals whole step base on the idea that accruals improve the instructiveness of lucre by smoothing out transitory fluctuations in notes scats (Dechow and Dichev, 2002 McNichols, 2002). The use of accruals prime(prenominal) relies upon the until nowt that accruals be enumerates of future tense silver flows and scratch get out be much(prenominal) than exercise of future change flows when t here is lower thought error embedded in the accruals process.I mull the coitus in the midst of fiscal describe superior and investment might on a take in of 49,543 stiff- family observations during the taste plosive speech sound of 1980 to 2003. The psycho compend yields tether key bewilderings. First, the proxies for pecuniary report prize argon negatively associated with both star sign underinvestment and overinvestment. This result extends explore in Wang (2003) who predicts and amazes a positive likeness among 2 superior allocation capability and trio internet attri thoes (value-relevance, persistence, and precision) without making the distinction among under- and overinvestment.Second, cross- particleal tests indicate that the impact of financial reportage spirit on investment efficiency is callable to the alleviation of adverse selection and deputation addresss. For instance, financial report prime(prenominal) is to a greater extent(prenom inal) strongly negatively associated with underinvestment for trustworthys facing pay constraints. This result suggests that, for this caliber of crocked, financial report whole tone improves investment efficiency by lowering its cost of raising funds. Likewise, financial describe timber is more strongly negatively associated with overinvestment for dissolutes with expectant specie balances.This result suggests that financial coverage choice improves investment efficiency for these degradeds by lowering sh atomic number 18holders cost of supervise managers and improve project selection. Finally, I predict that the tattle amidst financial insurance coverage fiber and investment efficiency is stronger for pixilateds with poor teaching environss. Financial reports be except one origination of reading to investors, and investors be more probably to rely on financial be training to empathise the economic conditions of the bulletproofs trading oper ations for companies with some former(a) than wispy education environments.I deputy for the schooling environment utilise the keep down of analysts sp atomic number 18-time activity a steadfastly as an ex-ante round for the amount of publicly serve wellal schooling nearly the sign of the zodiac, and bid-ask pass ons as an ex-post posting of the entropy asymmetry in the midst of the flying and investors (e. g. , Amihud and Mendelson, 1986 Roulstone, 2003). Consistent with the prevision, the coition betwixt financial reportage whole step and investment efficiency is stronger for firms with low analyst avocation and for firms with senior laid-back bid-ask facing pagess. These results suggest that financial reporting musical note give the bounce venture investment efficiency swayly in addition to the linkup finished bell informativeness documented in Durnev, Morck, and Yeung (2004). In addition, the findings utilize analyst succeeding(a) ar luci d with Botosan (1997) who finds that greater revealing is associated with lower cost of capital for firms with low analyst following. Although my results suggest that firms with high financial reporting pure tone argon associated with more efficient investment, one go offnot conclude from this topic that change magnitude financial reporting prime(prenominal) would necessarily translate into higher investor welf ar. deepen financial reporting whitethorn improve investment efficiency by bring down discipline asymmetry. However, firms must weigh this value against the costs (e. g. , proprietary costs) and against alternative ways to reduce entropy asymmetry such as courting more analysts. Further, it may even be impossible for or so firms to increase financial reporting fiber abandoned the limitations imposed by GAAP. zero(prenominal)etheless(prenominal), this root word contributes to literature on the economic consequences of enhanced financial reporting by present that financial reporting property can be associated with more fficient investment. The retainder of the paper proceeds as follows. persona 2 develops the hypotheses and section 3 describes the bar of investment efficiency and financial reporting feel. Section 4 presents the results. Section 5 offers some predisposition depth psychology and Section 6 concludes. 2. opening development In this section I graduation re peck the determinants of investment efficiency. bygone I discuss how financial reporting forest can meet investment efficiency. Finally, I develop predictions on the affinity mingled with financial reporting character reference and investment efficiency, and the channels through which this apprisal is expected to take place. image 1 describes these links. 2. 1. Determinants of investment efficiency in that location exist at least(prenominal) ii determinants of investment efficiency. First, a firm postulate to procession capital in pronounce to pay its investment opportunities. In a perfect market, all projects with positive net present values should be funded however, a enlarged literature in pay has proven that firms face pay constraints that limit managers might to pay potential projects (Hubbard, 1998). peerless coating of this literature is that a firm facing financial backing constraints will pass up positive NPV projects due to large costs of raising capital, resulting in underinvestment (Arrow 1 in blueprint 1). Second, even if the firm decides to raise capital, there is no guarantee that the crystallize investments be implemented. For instance, managers could choose to invest inefficiently by making hazardous project selections, con subject mattering perquisites, or even by expropriating lively resources. approximately of the literature in this bea predicts that poor project selection leads the firm to overinvest (Stein, 2003), but there ar in some(prenominal) case a few papers which predict the fir m could underinvest (e. g. , Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2003). These links argon presented singlely by Arrows 2A and 2B in Figure 1. entropy asymmetry can reckon the cost of raising funds and project selection. For instance, information asymmetry amidst the firm and investors ( naturally referred as an adverse selection problem) is an of import driver of a firms cost of raising the capital necessary to pay its investment opportunities Arrow 3 in Figure 1). Myers and Majluf (1984) develop a regulate in which information asymmetry in the midst of the firm and investors gives rise to firm underinvestment. They show that when managers act in prefer 5 of existing shargonholders and the firm require to raise funds to finance an existing positive NPV project, managers may refuse to raise funds at a discounted price even if that thinks passing up good investment opportunities. Also, information asymmetry can prevent efficient investment because of the several(predicate)ial de tail of information in the midst of managers and shargonholders ( mutually referred as a principal-agent conflict).Since managers maximize their individual(prenominal) welfare, they can choose investment opportunities that are not in the beaver gratify of shareholders (Berle and Means, 1932 Jensen and Meckling, 1976). The exact reason why managers inefficiently invest shareholders capital varies across variant baby-sits, but it let ins perquisite consumption (Jensen, 1986, 1993), passage concerns (Holmstrom, 1999), and preference for a quiet living (Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2003), among others.More of importly, the predicted sexual intercourse is that agency problems can affect investment efficiency due to poor project selection (Arrow 4A in Figure 1) and can increase the cost of raising funds if investors anticipate that managers could expropriate funded resources (Arrow 4B in Figure 1) (Lambert, Leuz, and Verrecchia, 2005). In sum, the give-and-take above suggests tha t information asymmetries among the firm and investors and mingled with the principal and the agent can prevent efficient investment. In the following section, I discuss how financial reporting quality can enhance investment efficiency by mitigating these information asymmetries. . 2. manipulation of financial reporting Financial reporting quality can be associated with investment efficiency in at least two ways. First, it is comm merely postulated that financial reporting mitigates adverse selection costs (Arrow 5 in Figure 1) by lessen the information asymmetry between the 6 firm and investors, and among investors (Verrecchia, 2001). For instance, Leuz and Verrecchia (2000) find that a inscription to more manifestation reduces such information asymmetries and increases firm liquidity.On the other hand, the population of information asymmetry between the firm and investors could lead suppliers of capital to discount the note price and to increase the cost of raising capi tal because investors would infer that firms raising funds is of a bad type (Myers and Majluf, 1984). Thus, if financial reporting quality reduces adverse selection costs, it can improve investment efficiency by reducing the costs of outer financing and, as discussed in more detail downstairs, the potential for financial reporting quality to improve investment efficiency is greatest in firms facing financing constraints.Second, a large literature in be suggests that financial reporting plays a critical role in mitigating agency problems. For instance, financial news report information is comm yet utilize as a direct input into compensation contracts (Lambert, 2001) and is an central source of information use by shareholders to monitor managers (Bushman and Smith, 2001). Further, financial accounting system information contributes to the monitoring role of stock markets as an important source of firmspecific information (e. g. Holmstrom and Tirole, 1993 Bushman and Indjejikia n, 1993 Kanodia and Lee, 1998). Thus, if financial reporting quality reduces agency problems (Arrow 6 in Figure 1), it can then improve investment efficiency by increase shareholder superpower to monitor managers and hence improve project selection and reduce financing costs. 1 2. 3. Predictions For example, Bens and Monahan (2004) find a positive railroad tie between AIMR disclosure ratings and the profusion value of diversification as defined by Berger and Ofek (1995).They conclude that disclosure plays a monitoring role in mitigating managements investment decisions. 1 7 Based on the word of honor above that financial reporting affects both adverse selection and agency conflicts, I predict an modal(a) negative relation between financial reporting quality and both underinvestment and overinvestment. These links complement research in Bushman, Piotroski, and Smith (2005), which studies the relation between country judges of timely loss realization and the country propensit y to liquidate bad projects (i. e. , itigate overinvestment), and in Wang (2003) which explores the relation between capital allocation efficiency and accounting information quality for a taste of US firms, without making a distinction between under- and overinvestment. 2 H1 Financial reporting quality is negatively associated with underinvestment. H2 Financial reporting quality is negatively associated with overinvestment. In addition to canvass the modal(a) relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency, I to a fault canvass the mechanisms through which financial reporting quality can affect investment efficiency use cross-section(a) analysis.First, I predict that the relation between financial reporting quality and firm underinvestment is stronger for firms facing financing constraints. By definition, restrain firms are those for which the ability to raise funds is the most probably impediment to efficient investment, and for these firms, financial reporting quality is especially important in mitigating adverse selection costs. H3 The relation between financial reporting quality and underinvestment is stronger for financing constrained firms. 2One concern with Hypotheses 1 and 2 is that causality goes the other way. For instance, poorly bring to passing managers could be investing inefficiently and thus choose to report low quality financial information in point to hide their bad executeance (e. g. , Leuz, Nanda, and Wysocki, 2003). I discuss the empirical tests utilise to spoken language this alternative venture in Section 4. 8 Second, I predict that the relation between financial reporting quality and firm overinvestment is stronger for firms with large money balances and escaped currency flows.Managers of firms with large cash balances and dissolve cash flows have more fortune to engage in value destroying investment activities (e. g. , Jensen, 1986 Blanchard, Lopezde-Silanes, and Shleifer, 1994 Harford, 1999 Opl er et al. , 1999 Richardson, 2006). Consequently, financial reporting quality can play a more important monitoring role in mitigating agency problems for these firms. H4 The relation between financial reporting quality and overinvestment is stronger for firms safekeeping large cash balances and extra cash flows.Third, I study the complementary and substitute relation between financial reporting quality and a firms information environment, and how it affects investment efficiency. Financial reporting quality is just one source of information astir(predicate) the firms operations employ by investors. For instance, investors in firms followed by a large number of analysts or firms with informative stock prices may be less symbiotic on financial reports when other elements of the firms information environment are of high quality.Thus I hypothe surface that financial reporting quality is more important in change investment efficiency when the amount of information publicly access ible about the firm is low. 3 H5 The relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency is stronger for firms with relatively poor information environments. 3. existential work 3. 1. Proxies for investment efficiency One concern with Hypothesis 5 is that financial reporting quality and the firms information environment are likely to be agree.Indeed, Verdi (2005) shows that the firm information environment can be aggregated in accounting- found and market-establish check constructs. Hypothesis 5 implicitly assumes away this correlativity by analyse the meat of financial reporting quality on investment efficiency holding the market-based information environment constant. 3 9 In decree to construct banknotes of investment efficiency, I stolon estimate a mannequin that predicts firm investment trains and then use residuals from this mildew as a proxy for inefficient investment.The data are from the Compustat Annual file during the course of instructions 1980 to 2003. congeries new enthronement in a attached firm- course of study is the sum of capital expenditures (item 128), R&D expenditures (item 46), and acquisitions (item 129) negatively charged sales of PPE (item 107) and derogation and amortisation (item 125) multiplied by deoxycytidine monophosphate and scaled by average natural assets (item 6), following Richardson (2006). This heartbeat uses an accounting-based framework to estimate new investment as the renewing between quantity investment and investment needed for maintenance of assets in place.In the aesthesia section I in like manner discuss the robustness of the results to the use of only capital expenditures as an alternative proxy for investment that is frequently apply in the literature (e. g. , Hubbard, 1998). I estimate a parsimonious pretence for investment posit as a function of egress opportunities mensural by Tobins Q (Tobin, 1982). This toughie is based on the rivalry that growth opport unities should explain corporate investment when markets are perfect (Hubbard, 1998). Investmenti,t = ? 0 j,t + ? 1 j,t * Qi,t-1 + ? i,t (1) I estimate the sit cross-section(a)ly for all industries with at least 20 observations in a habituated year based on the Fama and French (1997) 48- manufacturing variety. Q is calculated as the ratio of the market value of rack up assets (defined as 4 A large finance literature uses investment cash flow sensitivities as a proxy for inefficient investment (or market frictions).I do not use this ascend for two reasons First, traditional papers measure cash flow without making the distinction between cash flows and accruals, and Bushman, Smith, and Zhang (2005) illustrate the sensitivity of the results to the tolerate measurement of operating cash flows. Second, positive investment cash flow sensitivities could guess both financing constraints and/or agency problems which makes it impossible to test the cross-sectional hypotheses of the pa per (Hypotheses 3 to 5). 10 otal assets (item 6) plus the product of stock price (item 199) and the number of common shares outstanding (item 199) damaging the book value of impartiality (item 60)) to book value of keep down assets (item 6) at the cash in ones chips of the fiscal year. The prove consists of 98,675 firm-year observations with useable data to estimate Investment and Q during the stress period of 1980 to 2003. Consistent with forward literature, financial firms (i. e. , SIC codes in the 6000 and 6999 send) are excluded because of the divergent nature of investment for these firms.In format to mitigate the influence of outliers I winsorize all unsettleds at the 1% and 99% levels by year. 5 submit 1 presents the results from the investment standard in comparability 1. grace A offers descriptive statistics for Investment and Q. The mean (median) firm in the sample invests 7. 26% (3. 84%) of arrive assets per year and has an average (median) Q equal to 1. 9 0 (1. 32), unvarying with relate literature (e. g. , Richardson, 2006 Almeida, Campello, and Weisbach, 2004).Panel B presents mean and median values of the estimated industry coefficients on Q, the average R-square, and the number of profound positive coefficients for classly year. In all years the mean and median coefficients are positive and relatively stable during the sample period. The mean R-square ranges from 6% in 1997 to 14% in 1991. 6 Finally, in each year, more than half of the industry coefficients on Q are positive and statistically different from zero at a pentad percent significance level. 7The sit in comparability 1 includes an tease which imposes that for each industry-year the mean firm will have a zero residual. In untabulated analysis, I re-estimate the bewilder adding the intercept back to the residual so that it allows industry-years to have a non-zero mean (for example, industries that overinvest or periods with large economic growth). The results ar e robust (in general even stronger) to this test. 6 nonee that the reported R-squares measure only the within industry-year translation because the model is estimated separately for each industry-year.An equivalent get down in which the model is estimated across all industry-years with separate intercepts and coefficients for each industry-year leads to an R-square of 23. 5%, suggesting that the boilersuit explanatory power of the model is big than that reported in dodge 1. 7 A watercourse ongoing contend in the finance literature is the implications for measurement error in the friendship of Q (Erickson and Whited, 2000 Gomes, 2001 Alti, 2003). Since the ulterior analysis hinges on the investment model in Equation 1, I perform two sensitivity tests First, I include erstwhile(prenominal) make its in 5 1 I measure investment efficiency victimisation the residuals from the model in Equation 1. Overinvestment is the positive residuals of the investment model and Underinvest ment is the negative residuals of the investment model multiplied by negative one, such that both measures are decreasing in investment efficiency. In untabulated analysis, I repeat all tests accomp eachingly excluding firms with the smallest 10% and 20% investment residuals because these firms are more likely to be affect by measurement error in the investment model (i. e. , mis classified advertisement as overinvesting or underinvesting firms).The results for these analyses are exchangeable to those reported below. confuse 1 Panel C presents descriptive statistics for Investment symmetry, Overinvestment and Underinvestment. By construction, Investment remainder has a mean value of zero ranging from -64. 46% to 80. 43%. There are 39,107 (59,568) firms classified as overinvesting (underinvesting) firms. The mean (median) value is 9. 73% (5. 63%) for Overinvestment and 6. 39% (4. 71%) for Underinvestment. These results show that the residuals from the investment model are more frequently negative, although in littler magnitude.Panel D presents Pearson correlations between the measures of investment efficiency and firm characteristics. Investment remainder is uncorrelated with firm size (measured as the log of total assets (item 6) at the start of the fiscal year) and sparingly negatively correlated with return excitability (measured as the exemplar deviation of daily returns during the prior fiscal year). However, when the residuals are separated into Overinvestment and Underinvestment, I find that these uncertains are negatively correlated with size and positively correlated with return volatility and Q (the magnitude of the he investment model to capture growth opportunities not reflected in Q (Lamont, 2000 Richardson, 2006) and consequence, I exclude all industry-year observations in which the estimated coefficient on Q is not positive and of import. The accompanying results are not sensitive to these tests. 12 correlations range from 0. 18 to 0 . 32). These results suggest each that (1) small firms, with more growth opportunities and vaporific operations, have more inefficient investment or (2) the investment model is a poor fit for these firms.In any case, it highlights the importance to apply for these firm characteristics in the subsequent analysis. In order to part understand the properties of the residuals from the investment model I perform analyses testing the persistence of investment efficiency over time. First, I find that 40% (48%) of the firms in the top ( crumb) Investment Residual quintile in a given year remain in the top (bottom) quintile in the following year, and 27% (36%) remain third years later (Panel E).In addition, one lag of Investment Residual in an autoregressive model explains 16% of current Investment Residual (untabulated). The inclusion of higher orders of past residuals has a small part in explanatory power (R-square of only 18% if five lags are include in the model). These analyses sug gest that residuals of the investment model are not random, which seems to support the view that they capture a firm investment characteristic. However, I cannot rule out the bill that the persistence in the residuals is a function of an omitted correlated inconstant in the investment model. . 2. Proxies for financial reporting quality The conceptual definition of financial reporting quality use in this paper is the the true with which financial reporting conveys information about the firms operations, in particular its expected cash flows, in order to inform investors in terms of equity investment decisions. This definition is consistent with the FASB SFAC No. 1 which states that one objective of financial reporting is to inform present and potential investors 13 in making rational investment decisions and in assessing the expected firm cash flows.I proxy for financial reporting quality using measures of accruals quality derived in prior work (Dechow and Dichev, 2002 McNichols, 2002) based on the idea that accruals are estimates of future cash flows, and earnings will be more representative of future cash flows when there is lower inclination error embedded in the accruals process (McNichols, 2002). 8 I estimate discretionary accruals using the Dechow and Dichev (2002) model augmented by the inherent uncertains in the Jones (1991) model as suggested by McNichols (2002). The model is a regression of work(a) capital ccruals on lagged, current, and future cash flows plus the change in gross and PPE. All variables are scaled by average total assets. Accrualsi,t = ? + ? 1* silver tendi,t-1 + ? 2*CashFlowi,t + ? 3*CashFlowi,t+1 + ? 4*? Revenuei,t + ? 5*PPEi,t + ? i,t. (2) where Accruals = (? CA ? Cash) (? CL ? STD) Dep, ? CA = castrate in current assets (item 4), ? Cash = win over in cash/cash equivalents (item 1), ? CL = change over in current liabilities (item 5), ? STD = Change in short(p)-term debt (item 34), Dep = Depreciation and amortization expense (item 14), CashFlow = Net income forrader droll items (item 18) minus Accruals ?Revenue = Change in revenue (item 12), and PPE = Gross property, plant, and equipment (item 7). All variables are chapfallen by average total assets (item 6). Following Francis et al. (2005), I estimate the model in Equation 2 crosssectionally for each industry with at least 20 observations in a given year based on the Fama and French (1997) 48-industry classification. AccrualsQuality at year t is the 8 I discuss the sensitivity of the results to the use of alternative measures of accruals quality and other attributes of earnings in Section 5. 4 standard deviation of the firm-level residuals from Equation 2 during the years t-5 to t-1, ensure that all explanatory variables are measured before period t for the figuring of AccrualsQuality in that year. I work out AccrualsQuality by negative one so that this variable becomes increase in financial reporting quality. As discussed in Dechow and Dichev (2002) and McNichols (2002), the estimation of AccrualsQuality captures the out-and-out(a) variation in the residuals of Equation 2 rather than the variation relative to a benchmark.One concern with this preliminary is that AccrualsQuality may be capturing some underlying degree of volatility in the business, and the results in consider panel 1 show that investment efficiency is negatively correlated with firm uncertainty. Thus, I follow the suggestion in McNichols (2002) and puddle a relative measure of accruals quality. In particular, I measure AccrualsQualityRel as the ratio of the standard deviation of the residuals from Equation 2 during the years t-5 to t-1 to the standard deviation of total accruals during the years t-5 to t-1 multiplied by negative one.This measure captures the relative variance of the estimation errors in accruals compared to the total variance. I show below that this measure is only slightly correlated with firm size and cash flow volatility, m itigating the concern that the proxies for financial reporting quality are associated with investment efficiency because of the spurious effect of firm uncertainty. 4. Results To enquire hypotheses 1 and 2, I first present preliminary analysis on the univariate relation between the measures of investment efficiency and financial reporting quality.Table 2 Panel A presents descriptive statistics for a little sample than reported in Table 1 due to data availableness for AccrualsQuality and AccrualsQualityRel. 15 The sample consists of 49,543 firm-year observations and all variables are winsorized at the 1% and 99% levels by year. In this sample, there are 19,473 (30,070) firms classified as overinvesting (underinvesting) firms. The mean (median) value for Overinvestment is 7. 81% (4. 45%) and for Underinvestment is 5. 37% (4. 09%).The magnitudes are little than reported in Table 1 because the data required to estimate AccrualsQuality and AccrualsQualityRel preconceived idea the s ample toward larger firms. Among the financial reporting quality proxies, the mean (median) firm in the sample has an AccrualsQuality of -0. 04 (0. 03) and an AccrualsQualityRel of -0. 74 (-0. 64). Finally, I include descriptive statistics on firm size, cash flow volatility, and Tobin Q because these firm characteristics are shown to be associated with investment efficiency in Table 1. The distribution of Q is slightly changed (as compared to Table 1) to a mean (median) Q of 1. 63 (1. 23) again reflecting the sample bias toward larger firms. Panel B presents Pearson (Spearman) correlations above (below) the main diagonal for the variables in Panel A. By construction, Overinvestment and Underinvestment cannot be correlated because each firm-year observation can only be in one group. Most importantly, Overinvestment is negatively correlated with AccrualsQuality (Pearson correlation equals -0. 19) and with AccrualsQualityRel (Pearson correlation equals -0. 8) the akin is true for Und erinvestment (Pearson correlations equal -0. 22 and -0. 10 respectively). These results present preliminary enjoin for the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency in hypotheses 1 and 2. Finally, as in Dechow and Dichev (2002), AccrualsQuality is super correlated In Table 1, I use return volatility kind of of cash flow volatility to fend off imposing the five-year data requirement for the estimation of cash flow volatility. However, this data is required to estimate AccrualsQuality and does not impose any sample bias at this grade of the analysis.I use cash flow volatility in the remainder of the paper because AccrualsQuality is highly correlated with cash flow volatility as discussed by Dechow and Dichev (2002). However, the results are not sensitive to this choice. 9 16 with coat (Pearson correlation equals 0. 42) and with CashFlowVol (Pearson correlation equals -0. 66). However, note that AccrualsQualityRel is much less correlated with these va riables (correlations of -0. 08 and 0. 04 with size and cash flow volatility respectively), supporting the argument that this variable is uncorrelated with firm uncertainty. 0 Table 3 presents the thirdfold regressions. The estimated model is a regression of investment efficiency on financial reporting quality, firm characteristics, and industry (based on the Fama and French (1997) 48-industry classification) and year fixed effects. The leechlike variable is Underinvestment in the first two columns and Overinvestment in the remaining columns. All standard errors are clustered by firm using the HuberWhite procedure. 11 As predicted in speculation 1, Underinvestment is negatively related to AccrualsQuality and AccrualsQualityRel (both coefficients are prodigious at 1% level).The estimated coefficients are also negative and meaningful for Overinvestment, supporting the prediction in possibility 2. The estimated coefficients suggest that increasing AccrualsQuality (AccrualsQualit yRel) by one standard deviation is associated with a reduction on Underinvestment of 0. 21% (0. 11%) and on Overinvestment of 0. 31% (0. 22%). Given that the mean values for Underinvestment and Overinvestment in Table 2 are 5. 73% and 7. 81%, these changes average between 1% and 5%, suggesting that the economic significance of the effect is moderate.One alternative explanation for the results in Table 3 is that causality goes the other way. For instance, suppose that poorly performing managers are more likely to The signs of the correlations between AccrualsQuality and size and cash flow volatility are the opposite of the ones presented in Dechow and Dichev (2002) because I multiply AccrualsQuality by negative one so that this variable is increasing in reporting quality. 11 Petersen (2005) suggests two regularitys to correct for both cross-sectional and time-series dependence in the data the Huber-White procedure and adjusted Fama-MacBeth.Since, n all method is perfect, I repeat al l subsequent analysis using Fama-MacBeth (1973) estimators adjusting for time-series dependence. The results lead to the same inferences as reported in the text. 10 17 invest inefficiently and also choose to report low quality financial information in order to hide their bad performance (e. g. , Leuz, Nanda, and Wysocki, 2003). Then one could spuriously find a positive association between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency. In order to address this concern, I perform two tests.First, I repeat the analysis using the financial reporting quality proxies lagged by two periods (the variables in the model are already lagged by one period). Second, I explicitly control for past investment efficiency in the model. The mistrust behind this test is that if past investment efficiency drives financial reporting quality then there should be no relation between financial reporting quality and future investment efficiency after controlling for past investment efficiency. Table 4 Panel A presents the results of the two sensitivity analyses when Underinvestment is use as the dependent variable.When AccrualsQuality and AccrualsQualityRel (Columns I and II) are lagged by two periods, the inferences are unchanged. The estimated coefficients are statistically negative at conventional levels. In Columns III and IV, I include past Underinvestment in the model. In this case, the estimated coefficient on AccrualsQuality is unbosom negative and significant, while the coefficient on AccrualsQualityRel is negative but only peripherally significant (two-sided p-value of 0. 14). Table 4 Panel B repeats the analysis for Overinvestment.Again, all the inferences are unchanged since the estimated coefficients on AccrualsQuality and AccrualsQualityRel are statistically negative in all models. general, the results in Tables 3 and 4 support hypotheses 1 and 2 that financial reporting quality is negatively associated with both underinvestment and overinvestment, 18 consis tent with the argument that financial reporting mitigates both adverse selection and agency costs. 4. 1. Cross-sectional zones In this section, I discuss the empirical approach employ to test hypotheses 3, 4, and 5.These hypotheses involve cross-sectional predictions about the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency across sub-groups of the sample. Thus, I estimate separate coefficients for these sub-groups as described in the model below (Investment Inefficiency) i,t = ? 0 + ? 1* district i,t-1 + ? 2* ReportingQuality i,t-1 + ? 3* ReportingQuality* Partition i,t-1 + ? 4* Controls i,t-1 ? ? t * Year t + ? ? j * persistence j + ? it. where Investment Inefficiency is either Underinvestment or (3) Overinvestment, ReportingQuality is either AccrualsQuality or AccrualsQualityRel.Partition is coded as an indicant variable based on measures of financing constraints, excess cash, or information environment described below (results are uniform if the Part ition is used as a continuous or ranked (deciles) variable). The partitioning variables are defined such that a negative coefficient on the fundamental fundamental fundamental interaction term (? 3) implies that the relation between financial reporting quality and inefficient investment is stronger for firms in the subgroup of interest (e. g. , financially constrained firms). As additional analysis, I test the null theory that the sum of the coefficients ? and ? 3 is equal to zero in order to test whether the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency is at least present in the sub-group of interest. 12 12 Hypotheses 3 to 5 are also important in mitigating the concern that an omitted correlated variable could be driving the positive association between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency. For instance, if managers choose better (worse) investment projects and report more (less) informative financial accounting information when they know more (less) about growth opportunities and expected cash flows, 9 4. 1. 1. Financing Constraints In this section, I investigate hypothesis 3 which predicts that the relation between financial reporting quality and Underinvestment is stronger for financing constrained firms because these firms are, by definition, bound in their ability to raise funds. I follow the approach in Hubbard (1998) to tell apart firms into financially constrained and drop by the wayside categories. In particular, I use five different criteria because of the lack of consensus about which approach provides the best classification (Almeida, Campello, and Weisbach, 2004).First, I classify firms into Payout labored if the firm is in the bottom one-third quartiles in terms of total payout in a given year and unconstrained otherwise. I measure total payout as the sum of dividends and share repurchases collapse by year-end market capitalization using the method described in Boudoukh et al. (2005). Second, I cl assify firms into years labored if the firm is in the bottom three quartiles of firm age in a given year (and unconstrained otherwise) based on the argument that young firms are more likely to face financing constraints.Age is measured as the difference in years since the first year the firm appears in the CRSP database. Third, I classify firms into Size Constrained if the firm is in the bottom three quartiles of total assets in a given year and unconstrained otherwise. Fourth, I measure Rating Constrained if the firm has long-term debt outstanding (item 9) but does not have public debt rated by S&P (item 280) and unconstrained otherwise. Finally, I construct the KZ Index following the approach in Kaplan and Zingales (1997) and classify a firm as KZ Index Constrained hen a positive relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency could just be a observation of the quality of the managers information set and might not be related to financial reporting quality. However, this alternative hypothesis would not predict the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency to be dependent on financing constraints, cash balances, or the existing information environment. Thus, if such interactions exist, then it would strengthen the result that financial reporting quality per se is associated with investment efficiency. 0 if the firm is in the top three quartiles of the KZ Index in a given year and unconstrained otherwise. 13 Untabulated analysis show that the first quaternsome classifications are positively correlated (Pearson correlations ranging from 0. 11 to 0. 45) but the KZ Index classification is not correlated with the remaining criteria (Pearson correlations ranging from -0. 01 to 0. 11), consistent with previous research (e. g. , Almeida, Campello, and Weisbach, 2004). 14 Further, all financing constraint proxies are positively correlated with Underinvestment (Pearson correlations range from 0. 1 to 0. 14). Table 5 presents the results related to hypothesis 3. All models include the control variables size, cash flow volatility, Q, and industry and year fixed effects as before but the coefficient estimates on these variables are not tabulated for brevity. The estimated coefficients on the control variables are akin(predicate) to those reported in Table 3. The results are separated for AccrualsQuality and for AccrualsQualityRel. For AccrualsQuality, the estimated coefficients on the main effect (third column labeled Reporting Quality) are all egative with only one statistically significant coefficient. These results indicate that, for a sample of unconstrained firms, the relation between AccrualsQuality and Underinvestment is basically not significant. The estimated coefficients on the interaction terms, however, are negative in four out of five cases and significant in two. Further, the F-test rejects the hypothesis of no relation between AccrualsQuality and Underinvestment in almost all ca ses for the sample of financially constrained firms. The only riddance is 3 The KZ Index is calculated using the following formula KZ Index = -1. 002 * CashFlow + 0. 283 * Q + 3. 139 * supplement 39. 368 * Dividends 1. 315 * Cash. For more details see Almeida, Campello, and Weisbach (2004, p. 1790). 14 Principal component analysis on the five financing constraints proxies yields two factors. The first factor explains 40% of the variation and laden on all proxies but the KZ Index. The second factor explains another 20% of the variation in the data and loads on the Payout and the KZ Index measures. 1 when the KZ Index is used as the criteria for financing constraint classification. 15 When AccrualsQualityRel is used as the financial reporting quality proxy, the results are largely the same. In terms of economic significance, increasing AccrualsQuality (AccrualsQualityRel) by one standard deviation is associated with a reduction in Underinvestment of 0. 26% (0. 16%) for firms clas sified as Rating Constrained and 0. 08% (0. 06%) for unconstrained firms (compared to 0. 21% (0. 11%) for the full sample as discussed above).Overall, the results present marginal support for hypothesis 3 that the relation between financial reporting quality and Underinvestment is stronger for financing constrained firms. 4. 1. 2. Cash Balances In this section, I investigate hypothesis 4 which predicts that the relation between financial reporting quality and Overinvestment is stronger for firms with large cash balances and expel cash flows because these firms are more likely to overspend existing resources (Jensen, 1986). I use two criteria to classify firms based on cash holdings and one proxy for ease cash flow.First, I create an indicator variable, exalted Cash, coded as 1 if the firm is above the median in the distribution of cash balances deflated by total assets in a given year and 0 otherwise. Second, I follow the approach in Opler et al. (1999) who predict cash balances as a function of firms characteristics, and use residuals from this model as a proxy for excess cash. Opler et al. show that firms hold more cash in the presence of growth opportunities and firm uncertainty, and less cash when they are strained to payout interest obligations and have more entryway to financing (proxied by leverage and size).Thus, I estimate yearly regressions of cash balances (item 1) deflated by total 15 The mismatched result using the KZ Index is consistent with prior work in the finance literature (e. g. , Almeida, Campello, and Weisbach, 2004 Almeida and Campello, 2005) which finds opposite results when this variable is used as a proxy for financing constraints. 22 assets (item 6) on firm size, leverage, Q, and cash flow volatility. Leverage is measured as the sum of the book value of short term (item 34) and long term debt (item 9) deflated by the book value of equity (item 60) and the remaining variables are the same as described above.The explanatory power of the models ranges from 16% in 1986 to 42% in 2003. I create an indicator variable, Excess Cash, coded as 1 if the firm has a positive residual from the model predicting cash balances, and 0 otherwise. Finally, following Richardson (2006), Free Cash Flow is equal to cash flow from operations plus R&D expenses minus depreciation and the predicted investment for the firm as estimated in Table 1. Free Cash Flow is recoded as an indicator variable coded as 1 if the computation of free cash flow is positive and 0 otherwise.Table 6 presents the results related to hypothesis 4. As before, all models include the control variables size, cash flow volatility, Q, and industry and year fixed effects (estimates not tabulated). The first set of results presents estimated coefficients for AccrualsQuality and the second reports coefficients for AccrualsQualityRel. The results show that the estimated coefficients on the main effect of financial reporting quality are negative but not significant i n all six models (three models for AccrualsQuality and three for AccrualsQualityRel).The estimated coefficients on the interaction term, on the other hand, are negative in all cases and significant in three out of six cases, and the F-test rejects the hypothesis of no relation in all cases. In terms of economic significance, increasing AccrualsQuality (AccrualsQualityRel) by one standard deviation is associated with a reduction on Overinvestment of 0. 41% (0. 35%) for firms classified as High Cash and 0. 06% (0. 06%) for firms with low cash (compared to 0. 31% (0. 22%) for the full sample as discussed above).Overall, the results support hypothesis 4 by showing that the 23 relation between financial reporting quality and Overinvestment is stronger for firms with large and excessive cash balances but the results are not statistically significant for firms generating free cash flows. This support the hypothesis that financial reporting quality reduces firm overinvestment by lowering sh areholders cost of monitoring managers and thus limiting managers ability to undertake inefficient investment projects. 4. 1. 3.Information Environment In this section, I investigate hypothesis 5 which predicts that the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency is stronger for firms with poor information environments because investors of these firms are more likely to rely on financial accounting information to infer the economic conditions of the firms operations. I use two proxies for the firm information environment the number of analysts following the firm and the bid-ask give out. I use the number of analysts following a firm as a proxy for the amount of publicly available information about the firm. analysts are an important source of information for investors they issue forecasts, reports about individual companies, and stock recommendations. Roulstone (2003) examines the role of analysts in ameliorate market liquidity and finds that analysts pr ovide public information that reduces information asymmetries between firms and market participants. I collect data on analyst following from IBES and measure the number of analysts following the firm as the maximum number of analysts forecasting annual earnings for a firm during the fiscal year t.If the firm is not followed by IBES I assume that the number of analysts following the firm is zero. I consider a firm as Low Analyst if the firm is in the bottom three quartiles in a given year (coded as 1 and 0 otherwise). 24 The second proxy for a firms information environment is the bid-ask spread. ascertain Amihud and Mendelson (1986) and Roulstone (2003) among others for discussions of spreads as a proxy for the information asymmetry between the firm and investors.I collect intra solar day trade data to bet bid-ask spread from the Trades and Quotes database (TAQ) and from the Institute for the Study of gage Markets database (ISSM). The TAQ database includes trades and quotes start ing in 1993, and the ISSM database contains intraday data for big board/AMEX firms from 1983 to 1992 and for NASDAQ firms from 1987 to 1992. I measure quoted bid-ask spread as the ask price minus the bid price split up by the average of the bid and ask prices. The bid-ask spread is averaged across all transactions during the day for each firm, then daily mean bid-ask spreads are averaged during the month t.Finally I compute bid-ask spread as the average of the monthly bid-ask spreads during the fiscal year t. I consider a firm as High Spread if the firm is in the top three quartiles in a given year (coded as 1 and 0 otherwise). Table 7 presents the results related to hypothesis 5. As before, all models include the control variables (estimates are untabulated). The table is divided into Underinvestment and Overinvestment results. The first set of results presents estimated coefficients for AccrualsQuality and the second reports coefficients forAccrualsQualityRel. When bid-ask spread is used as the partitioning variable, I find that none of the coefficients on the main effect of financial reporting quality are significant, and three out of four coefficients on the interaction term are significant. The only exception is the coefficient on the interaction between High Spread and AccrualsQualityRel for Underinvestment. Further, in three out of four cases the F-test rejects the hypothesis of no effect of financial reporting quality on investment efficiency 25 for the sample of firms with High Spread.As for Low Analyst, the results on the estimated coefficients on the interaction terms are feebleer only one coefficient is statistically negative. Still, in three out of four models the F-test rejects the hypothesis of no relation for the sample of firms with Low Analyst. Overall, the results provide weak support for the hypothesis that the effect of financial reporting on investment efficiency is more important when the firm information environment is of low quality. 16 5. esthesia Analysis In this section I discuss some robustness tests to the analysis presented in the paper.First, I study the sensitivity of the results to inclusion of omitted control variables using firm fixed-effect estimation. The advantage of this approach is that it controls for all time-invariant unperceivable firm characteristics. However, since the estimation of AccrualsQuality and AccrualsQualityRel is done using five years of data, the within-firm variation is small, which makes the fixed-effect estimation very conservative. The analysis is done for all firms with at least five, ten, or 15 years of data in order to increase the within firm variation (sample sizes of 43,739, 33,454, and 24,420 firm-year observations respectively).Untabulated analyses show that the results in Hypotheses 1 and 4 are more often than not robust to the firm fixed-effect estimation. Results of Hypotheses 2 and 3 are weaker (coefficients are of the same sign but in most cases not signifi cant at conventional levels) and, in the case of Hypothesis 5, the results are similar (weaker) when Underinvestment (Overinvestment) is used as the dependent variable. I also performed tests using a 22 classification based on the firms financial reporting quality and information environment (sorted independently as a low/high).Either high financial reporting quality or high information environment is sufficient to mitigate Underinvestment but only financial reporting quality is sufficient to mitigate Overinvestment, suggesting a substitute relation between financial reporting quality and the firm information environment in improving investment efficiency. 16 26 Second, I investigate the sensitivity of the results to the use of alternative measures of accruals quality such as the non-linear discretionary accruals model in musket ball and Shivakumar (2005) and the accrual quality measures developed by Wysocki (2006).The key unveiling in Wysockis (2006) measures is to remove the sua vity effect of accruals in the Dechow and Dichev (2002) model. Results using the Ball and Shivakumar (2005) model are very similar to those reported on the paper. The use of Wysockis measure, on the other hand, leads to similar results for hypotheses 1, 2, and 5 but insignificant results for hypotheses 3 and 4. As discussed in more detail below, these results are not surprising given that Wysockis (2006) measure excludes the insipidness component of accruals, and insipidness is positively associated with investment efficiency.In addition, I investigate the sensitivity of the results to the use of alternative attributes of earnings as proxies for financial reporting quality. Accruals quality represents one dimension of financial reporting quality but other dimensions of earnings have also been used as a proxy for financial reporting quality (Francis et al. , 2004). These attributes of earnings would not necessarily affect investment efficiency in the same way.For instance, one coul d argue Timeliness and Conservatism are more important in conveying information about bad firms economic states, thus improving Overinvestment but may not be associated with Underinvestment. Nevertheless, it is useful to see how these measures are related and the respective association with investment efficiency (Verdi, 2005). Francis et al. (2004) depict six earnings attributes (other than AccrualsQuality) previously used in accounting research to characterise desirable features of earnings. The six attributes are Persistence, Predictability, Smoothness, 27 ValueRelevance, Timeliness, and Conservatism.I also include a measure of price informativeness as used by Durnev, Morck, and Yeung (2004). When Underinvestment is used as the dependent variable (Hypotheses 1 and 3), I find consistent results using Persistence, Predictability, and Smoothness but insignificant results for the remaining variables (with the exception of Informativeness in which the relation is positive and signifi cant, against the prediction). The analysis using Overinvestment (Hypotheses 2 and 4) yield weaker results since only the estimated coefficients on Smoothness and Informativeness are negative and significant in the expected direction.The remaining coefficients are either insignificantly negative or positive in the case of Persistence. Overall the results provide marginal support for the relation between other dimensions of earnings and Underinvestment, and weak support for Overinvestment. The finding that Smoothness is negatively associated with both Underinvestment and Overinvestment explains the weaker results using Wysockis measure of accruals quality given that this measure excludes the smoothness component in the accruals quality measure developed by Dechow and Dichev (2002).In the third sensitivity test, I repeat the analysis using capital expenditures (deflated by average total assets) as a measure of investment in order to make the results more comparable with the extant fin ance literature. In addition, the investment measure used in the paper includes only cash acquisitions and ignores stock acquisitions which constitute the majority of M&A transactions. Untabulated analyses using CAPEX show that the results in Hypothesis 1, 3, and 5 are similar to those reported. Results in Hypothesis 2 are consistent but weaker when AccrualsQuality is used as the proxy for 28 inancial reporting quality. Finally, results are inconsistent with Hypothesis 4 (estimated coefficients on the interaction terms are mostly insignificant). Finally, I include good will (item 204) in the discretionary accruals model. As discussed in Jones (1991), PPE is include in the model to capture the normal level of depreciation, and using the same logic, gracility would capture the normal level of amortization in accruals. This inclusion is justified because the measure of investment includes acquisitions. Goodwill is only available from Compustat starting in 1988 which is why it is exclu ded in the main tests.In untabulated analysis I find little impact on the discretionary accruals model (the Pearson correlation between discretionary accruals including and excluding goodwill is 0. 99), and the results presented in the paper are unchanged if I flash back the sample to post 1988 and include goodwill in the discretionary accruals model. 6. Summary and destruction Despite recent claims that financial reporting quality can have economic implications for investment efficiency, there is little evidence on this relation empirically. This paper studies the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency.The analysis is done on a sample of 49,543 firm-year observations during the sample period of 1980 to 2003. I find that proxies for financial reporting quality, namely measures of accruals quality, are negatively associated with both firm underinvestment and overinvestment. The relation between financial reporting quality and underinvestment is stron ger for firms facing financing constraints, consistent with the argument that financial accounting information can reduce the information asymmetry between the firm and investors, and 29 thus lower the firms cost of raising funds.Likewise, the relation between financial reporting quality and overinvestment is stronger for firms with large cash balances, which suggests that financial reporting quality can reduce the information asymmetry between the principal and the agent and thus lower shareholders cost of monitoring managers and improving project selection. Finally, I find that the relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency is stronger for firms with low quality information environments. 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