Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Literature - 754 Words

Wars will affect everyone in the countries that are fighting, but nobody more than the soldiers. This is true for all wars, but especially World War I because at the time it was the largest war the world had ever seen. Young men from all over were sent to the frontlines to be killed in the trenches or in the open fields. Over 8.5 million men ended up dying during the â€Å"Great War†, changing the lives of many people. The families of the men lost their family member, children lost their fathers, and many men lost their lives. Some soldiers who didn’t die would return very different from when they left because of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). The perspective of some soldiers as well as the life changing events that took place in their lives are shown through the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, and The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the main character is Paul Bà ¤umer. Before the war he was a very lively and happy young man, but after fighting he changes and starts to feel much depressed. Throughout the book, Paul changes from a compassionate, sensitive young man into a less joyful person. This detachment from his feelings and emotions are caused by the horrors he witnessed during the war and the anxiety that it brought him. As a result of the war, he is unable to feel at home among his family and cannot talk about his experiences in the war. One of the most powerful moments inShow MoreRelatedPost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd )987 Words   |  4 PagesPost Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) PTSD can be traced back to antiquity. It was called soldier s heart during the American Civil War and morphed into shell shock in the First World War and battle fatigue during the Second. It became operational exhaustion in Korea and PTSD only after Vietnam, when the American Psychiatric Association added the term to its list of recognized mental disorders (Thompson, 2015, pg. 41). PTSD was originally observed in the military context, but more recentlyRead MoreThe Fire Service Advances And Changes887 Words   |  4 PagesAs the fire service advances and changes there will be continuous stress and dangerous/ traumatic events that impact the firefighters mental health in a negative way. These mental health issues are labeled as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and firefighter suicide. There are large arrays of people who believe that firefighters were brave and no situation would ever change a firefighter’s way of thinking. However, as time moved on side effects from the emergencies that firefighters were respondingRead More Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Essay1266 Words   |  6 Pages Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be a very serious and debilitating condition that occurs after a person has been exposed to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical danger happened or was threatened. The kinds of traumatic events triggering PTSD in people include violent personal assaults (rape, mugging), natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes), man-made disasters (bombings), accidents or military combat. People who suffer from PTSD often reliveRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) Essay1162 Words   |  5 PagesIdentity, Groups, and PTSD In 1980, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD,) was officially categorized as a mental disorder even though after three decades it is still seen as controversial. The controversy is mainly founded around the relationship between post-traumatic stress (PTS) and politics. The author believes that a group level analysis will assist in understanding the contradictory positions in the debate of whether or not PTSD is a true disorder. The literature regarding this topic can be dividedRead More Use of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to Evaluate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder1541 Words   |  7 PagesPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) frequently headlines newspapers and newscasts across America. Veterans fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan return to a life they left but inside they are tormented with flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, anger, and depression. Many people suffer from PTSD after experiencing traumatic events in his or her life. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inven tory (MMPI-2) is chosen for the basis of this assignment to evaluate someone who exhibits symptoms of PTSD. SometimesRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder And Its Effect On Soldiers2563 Words   |  11 Pages Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its Effect on Soldiers Luke D. Kern The Catholic University of America Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Soldiers Post traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder in which the survivors of a traumatic incident or experience. Examples of this could include but are not limited to death, rape, survivors of a terrorist attack, or soldiers at war. Survivors of these incidents have a series of various symptoms (Wangelin, Tuerk, 2014). TheseRead MoreSocial Workers And Mental Health Providers1477 Words   |  6 Pagesare more likely to experience what is called â€Å"secondary traumatization†, â€Å"vicarious traumatization† or â€Å"compassion fatigue†. These terms all essentially describe the negative impact of bonding with a trauma survivor and exposure to the survivor’s traumatic encounters (McCann Pearlman 1990). These terms are different than and should not be confused â€Å"with burnout†. The term â€Å"burnout† refers to â€Å"a psychological syndrome in response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job† (Devilly, Wright, Read MoreAnalyzing The Coping Mechanisms And Strategies Of Missing Children Essay997 Words   |  4 Pageshealthy productive way, while still in the processing of trying to go throw the legal proceedings. Also parents of missing children many hold on to an inkling of hope because they’re child hasn’t been found of presumed deceased. II. Review of the literature: A. Yes, I believe the citation is this passage are very factual and they go along well with the message they are trying to prevail. B. The citations are among the years of 1987-2003, while the article itself was published in 2006,so perceivablyRead MoreDifferent Types Of Treatments For Ptsd1819 Words   |  8 PagesIn this paper that I am writing, I will be discussing the different types of treatments for PTSD also knows as post-traumatic stress disorder. More in specifically I will be discussing PTSD in veterans who have been diagnosed already. A little history about PTSD is that it first began as a disorder people would acquire after coming back from certain wars in our history, and back then they really did not know that much about it. Living in this day and age there have been so many more studies, trialsRead MoreNatural Disasters3617 Words   |  15 PagesZyy06mku SWK Psychological Consequences of Earthquakes Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and cyclones, floods, and tornadoes are some of the traumatic experiences that may cause posttraumatic stress disorders. This type of disorders and other disaster related psychological problems are prevalent after natural disasters. As a result it is important to analyse those individuals that develop psychological problems especially to prepare and plan

Postman’s thesis on the ‘disappearance’ of childhood.

There is no single set of beliefs about children; childhood is a social and cultural construct. Social constructionism is concerned with ideas about children, not facts about them. Indeed, many social constructionists would deny the existence of any universal facts about children (Woodhead and Montgomery 2003:46). Ideas about children change because they are dependent on their social, cultural and historical context. The ideas held concerning children have consequences, they affect the way children are treated and thought about (James and James 2008:122). Postman (1994) believes that childhood in its’ current conception is ‘disappearing.’ The following text will critically discuss Postman’s (1994) theory, principally it will consider†¦show more content†¦Postman (1994) recognises that childhood as we know it is an idea not a fact, he states, â€Å"When I speak about the disappearance of childhood, I am speaking about the disappearance of an idea.† (Postman 1994:52) During the years 1850-1950 childhood began to take shape as the model we recognise as childhood currently. Children were removed from factories and put into schools, children’s clothing, furniture, literature and games were developed; law also changed to recognise childhood. The stereotypical family also developed during this period (Postman 1994:67). Childhood became a birthright, due to theories such as, Piaget’s (1896-1980) theory of cognitive development childhood came to defined as a biological state as well as psychological (Postman 1994:67). Postman (1994:74/75) argues that childhood became obsolete at the same time that it was perceived as a permanent fixture, 1950. He choose this time as it coincides with the rise of television; as he believes it is through television that the divide between adulthood and childhood can be seen most clearly. Postman (1994:75) argues, it is television as we know it that is causing childhood to ‘disappear’. He believes there are several reasons to support this notion, most importantly, is the idea of accessibility to adult information. Prior to television only fully literate adults had access to this information. People watch

Common Law Jurisdictions Cases and Materials

Question: Discuss about the case study Common Law Jurisdictions for Cases and Materials. Answer: Introduction The doctrine of provocation is generally invoked to reduce murder to manslaughter. The acceptance of doctrine of provocation essentially denotes that the offender was himself or herself not at entire fault and the victim had also played a part leading the offender to take such a step. The doctrine has found its application in the case of battered women who were left with no other option but to kill their husbands in cases of extreme torture and subjugation. This paper deals with an analysis of a judgment relating to the case of a battered woman. Summary of the Judgments Case: R v R (1981) 28 SASR 321 The appeal had arisen out of the decision of the trial court which had convicted the accused for killing her husband on 2nd April, 1981 with an axe while he was sleeping. The defence of provocation was raised by the counsel of the accused in the trial court but it was refused by the trial court and the accused was convicted of murder. The main issue in the appeal was that whether the trial court has erred in refusing the defence of provocation or not. The appeal had been heard by a bench of three judges and majority of the judges allowed the appeal. The summary of the judgments of the three judges are as follows: King C.J. made a close analysis of the facts of events that took place which led to the killing of the deceased by the accused. The accused has been subjected to torture for a very long time by the deceased. The deceased was not a person of good character and his habits and practices had been simply intolerable and unbearable. The most shocking event which took place was that the deceased had sexually abused his daughter and this is something which was really unacceptable and unforgivable. The daughters were really scared of the deceased and they eventually left the house so that they could get rid of the torture done by their father. The accused was thus very much tensed and was under tremendous mental agony. At the night when the killing took place, the deceased cuddled up with the accused and promised her that they would live happily and he would never repeat whatever he had done in the past. These words of the deceased actually indicated that he would continue to treat the accused and the daughters in a cruel and exploiting manner, having regard to the infamous acts which he had committed in the past. The judge referred to the decision of Dixon J. in the case of Parker vs. Queen who recognised the effect of cruelty over the years in determining whether the killing took place out of provocation or not. The Judge also emphasized on the fact that the rule of provocation which required that a conduct in order to be provoking must be unlawful has become obsolete. It was no longer needed to show that the conduct that amount to provocation was unlawful; what was needed to be shown was that the conduct had led to a br each of peace and was sufficient enough to lead an ordinary person to lose his self control. The words of the deceased clearly indicated that the deceased would continue with his cruel behaviour towards the accused and their daughters. It had the effect of leading an ordinary person to lose his self control and had a tendency of causing a breach of peace. Under the circumstances, the accused had committed the ferocious act of killing the deceased. Thus there was a provocation which played a role in the killing of the deceased. The judge also emphasized on the fact that the accused in various occasions had shown her intention to kill the deceased in order to ensure that her daughters live safely and not get molested by the deceased any further. The learned judge, therefore, ordered for a fresh trial in which the facts and evidences would be examined in order to determine whether there was provocation or not. The learned judge highlighted the series of events that took place precedent to the killing of the accused. The events clearly showed on various occasions the intention of the accused to kill the deceased. The accused was not happy with the deceased and she had a feeling of hatred towards the deceased. It has been emphasized by the learned judge that the accused wanted to get rid of the cruel behaviour of the deceased and let her daughters live safely. The fact that the deceased had molested his daughters was a threat to the life and liberty of the daughters. The accused, being the mothers of the daughters, considered herself responsible for ensuring safety and security of the daughters. The accused heart was filled with hatred against the deceased and she was looking for an opportunity to kill the deceased. Moreover, the judge pointed out that a provocative act causes an element of suddenness which was missing in the present scenario. The judge relied on the decisions Berry J. in Re g vs Jeffrey which laid down that suddenness is an important element for a provocative act. The learned judge, therefore, was of the opinion that the killing of the deceased took place out of hatred and anger and in pursuance of an evil intention which was formed in the mind of the accused. An intention to kill the deceased existed before the act of cuddling up of the deceased with the accused and before the deceased made a promise to live happily with the accused for the rest of the life. The learned judge referred to the decision given in the case of Bullard vs. the Queen where it was held that provocation may coexist with an intention to kill. The learned judge, therefore, was of the opinion that the act of killing had not been carried out of provocation but it was a clear case of intended killing of the deceased and consequently the judge dismissed the appeal. The learned Judge seemed to take a similar view as had been taken by King CJ. in this case. The learned judge emphasized on the manner in which the killing took place and pointed out that such killing could only take place when an ordinary person loses his self control. The accused and her daughters had been subjected to immense torture by the deceased and conduct of the deceased gradually filled the heart of the accused with full of hatred and revulsion. This was an important element to be considered in understanding the context in which the killing took place. The Judge relied on the decision given in Lee-Chun-Chuen vs. the Queen[5] which stressed on the point that evidence of any material which shows loss of self control is not dispensed with by the law. Therefore, the learned was of the opinion that an element of provocation was somewhere present under which the ferocious act of killing took place. The act of cuddling up of the deceased with the accused and the promise made there after to live happily forever clearly reflected his past cruel and inhuman behavior towards his wife and daughters. The judge also laid emphasis on the fact that one thing which the accused had in her mind was to get rid of the cruelty and torture of her husband. This could have possibly leaded to a formation of intention in the mind of the accused to commit an act of killing of the husband. The judge was of the opinion that all these facts and evidences need to be examined in a fresh trial and therefore concurred with the opinion of the Chief Justice. Liberal perspective Liberalism is based on the ideas of equality and liberty. The doctrine of provocation rests on the test whether an ordinary person under similar circumstances would lose his power of self control or not. This is the objective standard which the doctrine of provocation has to meet in order to act as a valid defence against conviction for murder. However, this standard has been mainly imposed through a male epistemological context and has been biased towards the women. The doctrine of provocation mainly emerged and developed from a male view of human conduct. The doctrine was used to suit male responses when the men went with arms and the premium on honor was high. The doctrine had actually no application in the context of domestic violence. Over the years, women have been subjected to ill treatment and cruelty by their husbands or their in-laws and they have been subjugated and oppressed to a great extent. Women have been a subject of exploitation since long and there have been many i nstances where the women have fought back or retaliated. Being unable to tolerate such level of oppression, in many domestic violence cases, women have resorted to take step towards killing their husbands to get rid of the cruelty caused by their husbands. But unfortunately, the defence of provocation has not been admitted in various cases and as a result the women had to suffer longer sentences and harsh punishment. Need for defence of provocation in battered women cases Under the criminal law jurisprudence, the defence of provocation reflects a compromise. Various competing interests and ideals are balanced through the defence of provocation. There is undoubtedly a difference between an intended act of killing and a killing caused by an act of provocation. The society does not condemn heavily the killing of the abusers by the battered women. A person may be provoked by the words or conduct of another person and out of such provocation may take steps which may result into killing of such persons. These hot blooded killings, however, cannot be equated with an intended act of killing and an offender is ought to be less punished if he commits an act of killing being provoked by the deceased. Thus, the defence of provocation reduces an offence of murder to manslaughter. The law of provocation can also be explained to justify that the victim got what he deserved. Therefore, under the doctrine of provocation, the law in fact does not treat an offender who commits manslaughter in the same level as it treats a murderer. Human rights point of view The liberal strand also recognizes that there are certain human rights which every persons enjoy for being born as a human being. The human rights of the battered woman who are subjected to torture and oppression have been at stake and they have all the right to fight back for living with dignity in the society. They are entitled to the basic human rights and under no circumstances can these rights be compromised with. Some of these rights include right to personal life and liberty, right to marry and found a family, right to work, etc. The international community has taken initiative towards ensuring basic human rights to all individuals. These rights will be meaningful only when the individuals are allowed to exercise these rights to the fullest. The Courts are there to address human rights issues and they have played a significant role in ensuring basic human rights to all citizens but sometimes there arises occasions when people may tend to lose their power of self-control and ma y take some steps which may result into killing of human beings. In such occasions it is important to invoke the doctrine of provocation by virtue of which their punishment may be reduced to a considerable level. Thus the doctrine of provocation is in consonance with the protection of human rights of the battered woman. Utilitarianism view The utilitarianism view advocates the theory of greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. The torturing of married women and causing cruelty to daughters undoubtedly causes problem to the society at large. The society at large tends to live peacefully and happily with each other. People loves to peacefully and also expect others to the live peacefully. A family where married women are subjected to cruelty and physical harassment or sexual abuse will not be liked by the society. If a married woman tends to retaliate and take some steps towards combatting such sexual abuse or cruelty will undoubtedly be motivated by others. In certain circumstances, where a married woman is subjected to too much cruelty of a grave nature, the killing of the abuser may even be preferred by the members of the society. The doctrine of provocation reduces the punishment of the offenders and accordingly brings greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. The society does not condemn heavi ly the killing of a brutal abuser. Thus the utilitarianism theory supports the doctrine of provocation. Conclusion The law of provocation thus is essential to be invoked in appropriate cases to do complete justice to the society at large. It is more essential with respect to battered woman so that they can set examples and in a way deter others form indulging in cruel activities. Brutality and cruelty done by a person to his wife not only endangers the life of the woman but at the same time is an unfortunate sight for others. It produces a negative vibe and is highly harmful to the productivity and development of a society. King C.J. and Jacobs J. have appropriately leaned towards applying the doctrine of provocation in the present case and have taken a liberal approach for balancing various competing interests and ideals in the society. Zelling J. on the other hand has disfavored the application of doctrine and has failed to approach liberally towards the matter. Bibliography Bagaric, Mirko, Ken Arenson, and Peter Gillies. Australian criminal law in the common law jurisdictions: cases and materials. Oxford University Press, 2014. Conte, Alex, and Richard Burchill. Defining civil and political rights: The jurisprudence of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Routledge, 2016. Cook, Rebecca J., ed. Human rights of women: National and international perspectives. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012. Donnelly, Jack. Universal human rights in theory and practice. Cornell University Press, 2013. Dressler, Joshua. "Rethinking Criminal Homicide Statutes: Giving Juries More Discretion." Tex. Tech L. Rev. 47 (2014): 89. Fitz-Gibbon, Kate. "Addressing the Provocation Problem." Homicide Law Reform, Gender and the Provocation Defence. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. 91-107. Fitz-Gibbon, Kate. Homicide law reform, gender and the provocation defence: A comparative perspective. Springer, 2014. Fitz-Gibbon, Kate. Homicide law reform, gender and the provocation defence: A comparative perspective. Springer, 2014. Lynch, Heather. "Seeking Ethical SymmetryAn Analysis of Criminal Justice Social Work Practice with a Female Offender." Ethics and Social Welfare 8.4 (2014): 408-416. Mulgan, Tim. Understanding utilitarianism. Routledge, 2014. Oesterblad, jacquelyn nikole. "all murders are illegal, but some are more illegal than others: a feminist analysis of the common law doctrine of provocation." (2016). Raphael, Jody. Saving Bernice: Battered women, welfare, and poverty. Northeastern University Press, 2015. Sheehy, Elizabeth A., Julie Stubbs, and Julia Tolmie. "Defences to homicide for battered women: A comparative analysis of laws in Australia, Canada and New Zealand." Canada and New Zealand (January 21, 2013) 34 (2012): 2013-7. Smith, Rhona KM. Textbook on international human rights. Oxford University Press, 2016. Tyson, Danielle. Sex, culpability and the defence of provocation. Routledge, 2012. Von Mises, Ludwig. Liberalism. Laissez Faire Books, 2012.

Zoos free essay sample

Are zoos prisons or sanctuaries? This is quite a controversial topic to discuss, mainly because everyone has a different point of view and opinion. Some people think zoos are bad, while some think they are good and help the animals. In this argumentative essay, I am against zoos – they cause more bad than good. Forced killings of animals is one of the things they sometimes do in zoos. Keeping animals in a ‘prison’ is one thing, but killing them is crossing the line. One good example of this is the Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire, England who admitted to killing monkeys. They stated that (the monkeys) cost too much to continue feed the monkeys, so the animals were shot and just left to die. Another type of mistreatment of animals is illegal substances that were made from these animals. Another example is the tiger bone wine (banned in 1993) that has been sold to the Chinese black market for several years. We will write a custom essay sample on Zoos or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page From a person’s neutral point of view, zoos save endangered species and provide a safe, sound, enriching and better habitat for animals – sadly, the damage and harm it create are far worse. There are better solutions/alternatives, however. One of the examples are wildlife sanctuaries. They provide a natural environment for these species and do not lock up the animals like prisoners – instead, they roam freely like how they should be (like a sanctuary). They also provide biodiversity and protect them from harm. Additionally, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the world’s leading animal rights organization, are against zoos. They have stated that there are a handful of cases where animals are locked and are given anti-depressants. â€Å"The Humboldt penguins at Scarborough Sea Life Centre have been prescribed antidepressants because they’re so unhappy† –www. peta. org In retrospect, zoos cause more trouble than good for animals. Animals have rights and shouldn’t be kept in zoos for entertainment and profit.

Nyu Bloomberg Essays

Nyu Bloomberg Essays Nyu Bloomberg Essays Using the Bloomberg terminal for data Contents of Package 1.Getting information on your company 2.Getting information on comparable companies 3.Getting macro economic information Pages 2-31 Pages 32-39 Pages 40 1 Instructions for Getting Bloomberg Data Pick Equity Under Finding Securities, choose Ticker Symbol Look up (TK) Enter the name of your company. You will get all of the equity listings that the company has. Choose the one that you are interested in. For instance, if you look up Nestle, you will get Nestle’s local listings in Switzerland (Registered and Bearer Stock) as well as all of Nestle’s ADR listings around the world. You might have to work through the listings by trial and error until you get the listing that has all of the financial information that you want. (One quick test that seems to work is to try the DES page below. The right listing will have 10-11 pages. All the other listings will have only 2-4 pages) Once you are in equity screen for your company, Type HDS: Print page 1 off Choose Description (DES): Print first 10 pages off; Ignore beta on first page. Chose Debt Distibution (DDIS): Print off just first page Choose Financial Analysis (FA): The ful l report option that was available until last year is more difficult to get to now. Instead, print off the following subreports Enterprise Value (Will give you market value of equity, total book debt and cash for the last 10 years) Income Statement Summary Assets Liabilities Cashflow If you want quarterly data, you can change your preferences in FA and print quarterly data. Choose Earnings Estimates (EE) Choose Zacks Print off first page If you do not have a beta, pick Beta Calculations (BETA) Using the tab button, you can change the period to M Using the tab button, you can change the range to a 5-year range Using the tab button, you can also change the market index. Go back to the main menu (out of equity). Pick Corp Bond. Enter the name of your company You will get a list of corporate bonds issued by your company, if any. Choose a long-term bond (preferable without special features like convertibility) from the list. Choose Description 2 Using Bloomberg to get information on your company To get all other information Equity Finding Securities Ticker Symbol Look Up (TK) Enter the name of your company To get ratings information Corp 1. Finding Securities Ticker Symbol Look Up Enter the name of your company Choose the listing for your company that you are interested in Choose the listing for your company that you are interested in. If you have a company with multiple listings, this may take some work. Try the DES page (see below). If you get only 2 pages, you have the wrong listing. Pick a long term bond for the company Issue/Issuer Information Description Risk and Volatilitiy Beta Calculation (BETA) Historical Volatility (HVT) 2. Company Information /Description 1. Description (DES) 2. Debt Detail (DDIS) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Fundamentals and Earnings Analysis 1. Financial Analysis (FA) 13. Earnings Estimates (EE) Stockholder Information HDS (Just Pg 1) Enterprise Value Income Statement Assets Liabilities Cashflows 3) Zacks Change defaults: Period to M Starting point: 5 yrs ago Leave ending point as is Shadow: Indicates menu choices on Bloomberg Shadow Regular font: Indicates input that you have to provide or change 3 WHERE TO FIND THE DATA This is a listing of all of the financial data that you will need to analyze your company and where exactly on the Bloomberg output you will find the data. Once you have identified what you would like to look up, use the item number and go to the specified page number on Bloomberg to look it up. Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Input Beta Current EPS Payout Ratio Total Debt Book Value of Equity Number of Shares Outstanding Effective Tax Rate Chg in Non-Cash Working Capital Capital Expenditures Depreciation EPS - 5 years

How To Drive a $221 ROI Using Promoted Content on Facebook

How To Drive a $221 ROI Using Promoted Content on Facebook How would you like to make $22 on every $1 spent promoting content? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, let’s find out. Today, we’re talking to Freyja Spaven and Daniel Daines-Hutt, authors of How We Drive A $22:1 ROI From Cold Traffic, Using Facebook And Promoted Content. They share secrets to their success when it comes to researching, planning, designing, copywriting, and testing to promote content via paid ads on Facebook. AmpMyContent helps small business that have funds, but are time poor and unable to leverage content Tweaking content to make it 10X more effective Paid Ad Process: Ad goes to cold audience Drives them to piece of content Presents hyper-specific, next-step offer with a highly efficient lead magnet Over-inundation of content; 83.6 million new posts are published every month Facebook ads allow you to get a lot reach, without spending a lot of money Research: Push traffic to good, not bad content; determine if ad is profitable; and interview readers regarding a problem that needs a solution Avoid creating a lot of content that doesn’t highlight your expertise about a topic Ads start at a loss; use bottom-up testing to make ads profitable Create an ideal audience for your content to make an ad that resonates with them Supply and Demand: More specific your ads, the more Facebook charges How people consume a newsfeed ad; on auto-pilot with their attention, interest Use Facebook machine learning to your advantage to obtain user data and create an algorithm to achieve conversion goals Branded Solution: Ad content should educate readers about specific systems and processes that reduce stress and solve relevant problems Getting people into a room, but not offering them anything; every piece of content should have a call to action Email is an effective channel to make sales Links: The Definitive Guide to Paid Content Promotion: Facebook Edition How to Create Killer Content That Gets Results In Any Industry AmpMyContent Freyja Spaven on Twitter Daniel Daines-Hutt on Twitter The 10X Marketing Formula by Garrett Moon Mad Men Machine Learning Facebook What topics and guests do you want on the Actionable Marketing Podcast? Send me your suggestions! If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes: â€Å"There are so many benefits to promoting content, rather than just writing new stuff all the time.† Daniel Daines-Hutt â€Å"It’s a very simple process. Like everything when it comes to marketing, it’s the subtleties.† Daniel Daines-Hutt â€Å"Marketing really is connecting someone from A to B, from their problem to the solution.† Daniel Daines-Hutt â€Å"One of the big mistakes that we see is people creating a great breadth of content and not really showing their expertise in their content by going deep into a subject.† Freyja Spaven

Intenational Trade Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Intenational Trade Policy - Essay Example Trade is the driving force for the economic development of theses countries. Countries connected by common currencies, policies and institutions could converge their incomes to the richer countries by improving the trade between the countries. Faster economic growth is largely depended on trade openness. Many countries adopted the trade liberalization policy and joined in the world trade for achieving the economic growth all most all the countries have achieved their goals of through liberalized trade policy. World bank studies show that during 1946 and 1986 strong and sustained liberalization led to the rapid growth of exports, which further led to economic growth (Jagdish N. Bhagwati, 1978, Annatomy and Consequences of Exchage control Regimes) 1. 1994 study reveals that poorest countries also grew and develop between 1960 and 1986 due to openness of the trade, which led to higher productivity (Alberto F. Ades and Edward L. Glaeser, 1999, evidence on Growth, Increasing Returns, and Extent of the Market) 2 When we study the history of economic development we witness that trade is a driving force for economic growth in developed and under developing countries. Since World War II the expansion of trade has played a dynamic role in global economic growth. Till 1994 before the World Trade Organization came into existence multilateral trade was limited to industrial countries. From 1994 the multilateral trade has expanded, to many countries of developed and underdeveloped including the countries of agricultural base due to liberalization. As a result of multinational liberalization all countries are benefited in their economic growth by unveiling their unexploited potentials. Since early 1970s world economy is in the midst of strongest period of sustained global growth duly maintaining the inflation at low levels, same trend is continued into 2007. We witness an unexpected and robust growth in India and China including other developing countries. Strong performance is also witnessed in low-income countries, such as sub-Saharan Africa (Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, IMF, Sustaining Global Growth, March 30, 2007)1 The main cause of this prodigious performance is attributed to solid growth in productivity, which led to growth in profits and real wages and also absorbing the sharp increase in prices to maintain the inflation at low levels. This global economic growth is made possible not merely on solid growth in productivity but rapid growth in international trade especially the developed and underdeveloped countries joining the global market. Entry of India, China and Eastern Bloc of Europe in the multilateral trade has made a substantial contribution to global economic growth. Besides other factors such as introduction of new technologies in manufacturing and service activities, increasing international mobility of capital, large-scale movements of underemployed labor out of agriculture into manufacturing and service in many developing counties and migration flow of poor counties towards the advanced economies, global integration of trade and financial market has produced tremendous benefits and trade is the driving force for this global economic growth (Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, IMF, Sustaining Global Growth, March 30, 2007)1 If we examine the development of economic growth of individual member countries

Operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 5

Operations management - Essay Example The intended audience of the article are risk management authority in companies and organizations. The text is approved by the Institute of Publishers in Germany. The article defined the term risk management that might help organizations to identify some of the potential risk that are likely to face a company. The text is related to the risk concepts and themes based on the ways in which risk can interfere the functionality and operations of a business. Additionally, the major strength of the article is that the research question on risk management overview is well defined. One limitation of the article is that it does not address proper ways of managing risk. The article asserts that the objective of the risk management is reducing various risks that are related to the pre-selected domain to those that are acceptable. Additionally, it may entail various threats that are caused by technology, environment, politics, humans, and organizations. Additionally, the paper explains that the risks are not easy to avoid and is present in each situation of human. The risks are present in daily operations, private, and public sector companies. Therefore, irrespective of the risk context, risk management is generally universal in either technical or stakeholder causes. The author of this article is a lecturer of university of Chicago. The intended audience of the article are risk management oversight committee in parastatals and other government offices. The New York publishers approve the text. The article defined the term risk management that might help organizations to identify some of the potential risk that are likely to face a company. The text is related to the risk concepts and themes based on the ways in which risk can interfere the functionality and operations of a business. Additionally, the major strength of the article is that the research

Declining Fish Stocks in Oceans Essay Example for Free

Declining Fish Stocks in Oceans Essay There is an inherent ocean fish stocks decline causing sustainability to be at risk. Specifically, there have been a notable decrease in â€Å"Atlantic cod stock off Newfoundland in 1992 and the poor state of the southern bluefin tuna stocks in the Southern ocean. † (Williams, 2005) This problem on declining fish stocks is a predicament that goes mainly with a growing human population together with many other factors. If the trend continues, where the population constantly grows and the oceans’ size remain the same, the fish population and fish supply can be totally consumed by humans and sustainability would not exist. This means that in the long-run, not only the fish risks of being extinct and depleted but humans as well when there would be lesser food to it. II. Living and Non-Living Organisms Causing the Problem The decline in the fish supply or stocks of fish in the ocean, or in any other bodies of water are brought about by many factors. These factors however, can be both independent or dependent of each other. This means that one factor might lead to another factor and so on. However, as previously mentioned, the first cause is the growing human population. Aside from food consumption in the form of fishing, other ocean activities that are not directly related to fish consumption are nowadays possible and actually ongoing due to growing human existence. These are the activities that disturbs and/or destroys fish habitats in the ocean as well as damaging the ocean itself preventing fishes to multiply or reproduce normally. Following are the factors, both direct and indirect, both dependent and independent that cause a decline in fish stocks in the ocean: a. ) the growing population with growing demand on food consumption; b. ) a greater demand for transferring from traditional small-scale fishing to commercialized large ocean vessel fishing; c. ) a growing move from coastal waters fishing into fishing from international bodies of water; d. ) lack of time for various fish species to hatch and breed due to continuous catching/fishing; e. ) growing human activities both from other bodies of water and in the oceans itself where toxics and pollutants are involved and disturbance of the habitat of the fish in the ocean are caused by these human activities such as ocean floor exploration, oil rigging, etc. ; f. ) Other natural factors such as natural predator-prey process, where the fishes are preys to other ocean organisms coupled by natural calamities and natural causes that result to fishes’ deaths such as global warming, etc. III. Living and Non-Living Organisms Affected by the Problem The reason why humans must be concerned about the declining fish stocks in the ocean is due to the fact that humanity is also at stake when sustainability in fish supplies cannot be attained. The most obvious of these reasons is on food supply. However, the problem does not stop there when and if ever fish supply would be depleted. Other stakeholders affected by the problem on declining fish stocks in the ocean include the environment and the ecosystems themselves and if there would be not enough fish, the balance of life forms in the ocean would be destroyed. As previously mentioned, one problem causes another and in this way, calamities can be expected to happen and it can be said that without fishes and other organisms and when a lot creatures dying in it, a body of water can be a â€Å"dead body of water† or, in case of the oceans, a â€Å"dead ocean†. IV. Positive and/or Negative Human Impacts With a strict judgment, it is difficult to say that a declining fish stock in the ocean will result to any positive effect to humans. Aside from lack of food supply, or difficulty of hunting for fish, the problem leads to expensive fish products and suffering health. Reciprocally, so far humans are only causing negative effects to the ocean and they are the main cause of declining fish stocks in there, be it a direct or indirect cause. With a growing human population, everything happens, from overfishing to water pollution, to water and ocean floor exploration leading to fish habitat destruction or demolition, to other environment balance destruction leading to global warming and other nature abuse or excesses. Global warming affect fish supply because Even though the effect of humans to fish stocks are negative, a move to lessen it in order to attain sustainability in terms of fish supply would improve the current situation. This however, involves a lot of sacrifice and discipline in the part of the humanity but in the long-run, it will be a big benefit as to human existence itself. V. Evaluation of Current Sustainability Strategies and Solutions The overall goal of any current or future sustainability strategies and solutions is, naturally, for sustainable fishing. Sustainable fishing looks at the long-term and overall fishing activity and tries to maintain the stocks of fish wherein the future generation can have their own share in the entire fish supply the ocean and other bodies of water offer. To evaluate the current strategies and solutions geared toward sustainability, it is first important to note some of them. One of the existing strategies is the implemented 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery to be unpredictable whether it would make relaxed enforcement of annual catch limits for each fishery or impose strict limits. (Senate Entwined in Debate, 2006, p. A02) Thus, the total control is on the side of the implementing body which is the government. The public however has the right to criticize it and be vocal if it is too lax in its imposition. Another good strategy in the process is the individual fishing quota (IFQ) system that limit fishing operations by allocating the total allowable catch to participants based on historical catch and fishing effort (Sanchirico Hanna, 2004) In fact, this is a brilliant idea only if implemented strictly. Overall, the existing strategies have noble intentions with them. The only problem is on the implementation side. VI. Plan to Reach Sustainability Since it is easier said than done, a plan is easy to make. It is however, very important to practice what is planned to actually reach sustainability. A mere plan is not enough but the implementation is the most important aspect of attaining the aim of having sustainable fishing. The following plans to reach sustainability may or may not be in existence already. The plan would involve fishing that is not solely reliant from the ocean but as well as in other bodies of water or even inland. This means that fish farms and fish ponds would be developed all throughout every nation. Government promotion and support in each country is very essential in attaining this project. Aside from funding, the governing body of a country/nation as well needs to deal with the existing fishing companies who have already invested much to sail their fishing ships in the depths of the ocean for greater catch and for greater chunks of fishy profits. This also includes providing incentives to those who are dedicated in making the project successful. Setting quotas/limits to ocean fishing large vessels owned by commercial companies would be part of the plan. This would lead to discouragement of excesses in fishing by levying very expensive fines and taxes if the mentioned quotas or limits would be surpassed. Although penalties are on the punitive side of the plan and not on the preventive side, it is still useful to enforce penalties, stricter and harsher ones, to poaching fishing vessels who fish and violates and cross some fishing boundaries in the international context is also part of the plan. Moreover, the plan includes massive public information dissemination as to the future effect if fish supply would be depleted and encouraging the public to boycott any brand or any company that violates the rules on sustainable fishing or any company that pollutes the ocean causing fishes to die or companies that are greatly hindering fishes’ reproduction process. Lastly and more importantly, the public must know that the main stakeholders as to the availability of fish, which is at risk if drastic disciplines on fishing and other ocean activities would not be imposed, are human beings. The general public, or the humanity of this earth must be aware that without fish, it is them that will suffer the most and that educating them to prevent this harsh happening is to make positive actions and be disciplined so that the aim for sustainable fishing would be attained. Moreover, humans should be educated that fish supply depletion means hunger, health crisis and in the long-run, can as well result to human depletion! VII. Benefits and Challenges of the Plan As to the benefits of the plan, there is none unless it is fully implemented. The benefits start to take effect right after such plans are strictly implemented in many countries in the world. This means that right after such implementation, the following may take into view: a. ) a disciplined and sustainable approach to fishing; b. ) an educated and well aware public that helps to the attainment of the goal which is sustainable fishing; c. ) restoration of fish stocks in the ocean for they could start to hatch and breed normally and naturally; d. ) a cleaner and calmer ocean where balance is maintained; e. ) a sustainable fishing is attained; and more importantly f. ) humans would be at ease in terms of fish/food supply with reasonable prices, healthy catch, a continuous supply and fish meals that are life and health supporting. A sustainable human existence starts here as well. Naturally, the plan is not as smooth as anyone can wish it could be. It will be full of challenges and difficulties as to the attainment of its goal. It would be difficult to implement considering the selfishness of humans. Funding would not be easy to find and produce as to the plan of giving incentives to those who make coastal and inland fish farms and ponds. Additionally, each person in the government have their own sets of constituents and more often than not, they are more afraid to hurt the financing constituents such as the owners of large commercial fishing ships and fishing and fish processing companies than to be more concerned about declining fish supplies. Nowadays, profit maximizations seems to be the biggest goal of the majority and very little notice the suffering nature. A plan to have sustainable fishing would be far buried to the current issues that always make their way to be sensational. These include the issues on war and peace processes, terrorism, hunger, scandals, and political issues, among others. Lucky enough when environmental concerns get noticed without something bad, such as calamities happening and hurting a lot of people. Humans are such selfish beings and even though lessons are already sent their way, they still find it difficult to take care of nature, even for their own ends. VIII. Required Government, Societal and Global Support The move to have sustainable fishing would never be successful, or, would not even start without the initiative and leadership of the government. In the first place, any rules and laws regarding fishing starts in the congress or the legislative body. The same is true with the desired implementation of such rules where government bodies are, again, the major role players, such as in the case of coast guards and ocean police. Moreover, the funding starts with the government. Although there might be concerned groups making donations and a lot of volunteering, the main tasks are still laid out in the hands of the government to look for enough funds to encourage the public. The government has also the power to run ads or public notices in various media entities encouraging the public to help reach the goal. The public or the society on the other hand, are required to give their full cooperation when it comes to the success of a certain government projects. Without societies’ support and cooperation, the government cannot make it alone. In this case, the government may offer large amount for developing inland fish ponds but there are times that the public are simply uninterested or simply take the things for granted, receive the funds and do not work for the purpose the fund should be spent at. This can happen when the public is aware that the government is too loose on its policies, too corrupt, too desperate or too helpless. Finally, the global community is the extension of each little society. The same support is required towards their corresponding government but globally, governments of each countries may not agree themselves. In this case, their own cooperation is also required. There are a lot of cases where fishing vessels of another country poaches from the oceans of another territory. Thus, only if selfishness is set aside this plan to have sustainable fishing can be attained. Globally, this would be a great challenge because in many ways, countries are found to be not in agreement with each other especially because fishing on the high seas was a feature of societies long before large areas of the worlds seas were claimed by nation states. (Williams, 2005) In fact wars are happening spending lives when countries disagree with each other. Thus, it would be a great wish to enable each country to unite for the survival of humanity through sustainable agriculture, sustainable development, sustainable fishing and the rest of human activities to be sustainable. Everyone have their own purposes, selfish motives and plans. There is still hope though. This happens when humanity is faced with unforgettable lessons with regards to taking care of nature at their own risks!

Crawling Inside the Mind of Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- GCSE Coursew

Crawling Inside the Mind of Hamlet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Much of the dramatic action of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet is within the head of the main character, Hamlet.  Ã‚   His wordplay represents the amazing, contradictory, unsettled, mocking, nature of his mind, as it is torn by disappointment and positive love, as Hamlet seeks both acceptance and punishment, action and stillness, and wishes for consummation and annihilation. He can be abruptly silent or vicious; he is capable of wild laughter and tears, and also polite badinage. One of the first things which a reader learns about Hamlet is that he uses words with startling agility. He plays on words that sound alike, or nearly alike: King. But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-- Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind. King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun. (I.ii.64-67) The king withdraws from this exchange, and his mother begins more lovingly, on a different tack. But still Hamlet takes words that others have used and returns them changed or challenged: â€Å"Ay, madam, it is common./. . . Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems'† (I.ii.74-76).   Although the prince is speaking in public, he uses verbal rhetorical devices most critics in Shakespeare's day would consider unseemly. Hamlet's first words are rhetorically complicated, and also challenging and puzzling. Does he pretend to be flippant or boorish in order to keep his thoughts to himself, or to contain his pain? Or does he express rational criticism in savagely sarcastic comments spoken only to himself? Or is the energy of his mind such that he thinks and speaks with instinctive ambiguity? Words are restless within his mind, changing meaning, sh... ...espeare, William. 1985. Hamlet. The New Cambridge Shakespeare edn, edited by Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vickers, Brian. 1993. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Quarrels. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Watson, Robert N. 1990. 'Giving up the Ghost in a World of Decay: Hamlet, Revenge and Denial.' Renaissance Drama 21:199-223. Wright, George T. 1981. 'Hendiadys and Hamlet.' PMLA 96:168-193. Shakespeare, William. The Tradegy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark.   New York: Washington Square Press, 1992 Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes and Variations, Fourth Editon. Boston: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1998 Watson, Robert N. 1990. 'Giving up the Ghost in a World of Decay: Hamlet, Revenge and Denial.' Renaissance Drama 21:199-223. Wright, George T. 1981. 'Hendiadys and Hamlet.' PMLA 96:168-193.

Accounting Attachment Report

1. 0 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 The objectives of the Industrial attachment The purpose of industrial attachment is to bridge the gap between the theory and the practise of coursework learnt in the University of Botswana. It is meant to give students a clearer perspective of concepts learnt in the academic environment and in turn prepare them for the work environment upon completion of the degree programme. Internship is also aimed at give students a chance to apply the material learnt into a practical environment and get to know the work industry.In applying academic material, it is understood more and in familiarising with the work environment, a career option can be chosen. Part of the attachment was for students to create networks. networks are useful in securing jobs and getting information about the industry. 1. 2 Methodology The industrial attachment was conducted over the period between May 10th and July 27th 2012. This period amounted to a total of 10 weeks over the school holidays. It was after the third year of study in the degree. Each student, with the help of the internship coordinator had to find a company of their choice in the relevant field of study to work in.A place was to be secured through an application letter accompanied by a copy of a transcript, a letter of acknowledgement of student status from the University. A letter of acceptance would then be sent to the university by the company that agreed to attach a student and the area in which the student will work. Students were expected to work in various sectors of the company, but within their course of study while under attachment. The students were also to keep weekly log sheets which were to be signed by the supervisor with the work they had conducted. ? 2. 0 BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANISATION . 1 History of Great Advisory Services Dotaka Investments (Pty) Ltd was incorporated in Namibia in the year 2005. It has two businesses operating, an insurance brokerage called Coverage Insurance and an acco unting business called Great Advisory Services. The company has two directors namely Alex Mundey and Gracia Hunde. Mr Mundey is a non-executive director while Miss Hunde is an executive director. The insurance brokerage was the first business to be registered by the company in 2005 and has since grown to be one of the most renowned insurance broking firms in Namibia.The business headquarters are situated in the Windhoek International Finance Park while another branch operates in the Caesar International Office Park. This is because all insurance companies are found in the Caesar Office Park, making it convenient to get quotes upon request or to make an inquiry quicker. Having become a success and seeing the need for better accounting practise for the smaller businesses, the company diversified into the accounting field and registered a business named Great Advisory Services.The role of Great Advisory Services is to assist entrepreneurs to sustain their businesses by upholding proper and consistent accounting ethos. Great Advisory Services was registered in September 2011 and has been in operation since then. Not only does the business deal with accounting but it also in company secretarial and consultancy. It registers companies, sits as a director on the board and act as agents on submitting applications for permits. The staff includes Gracia Hunde, Elaine Chatonga and Palesa Mosa.Gracia Hunde is the executive director having gained all her knowledge from experience and is currently pursuing a degree in the University of South Africa. She mainly deals in company secretarial and business consultancy. Elaine Chatonga is the head accountant, having graduated with an Honourary degree in accounting and is pursuing chartered accountancy. She draws up the financial statements and calculates the tax returns due for all the clients and for the business as well. As head accountant, it is also her duty to supervise the work of the cler and make necessary changes.Palesa Mosa is the accounting clerk, having acquired an AAT qualification. As a clerk she does the day to day recording of accounts for the business and for the clients. She is also in charge of the petty cash book, answering calls, submitting tax returns and miscellaneous work. MISSION The mission of Geat Advisory Services is to provide accounting services to small, medium and large enterprises. In providing accounting services, the aim is to also influence the practise of proper accounting ethos and to improve the running and quality of business in the country.This is will be accomplished by building a relationship with the clients and explaining accounting procedures to them. By building relationships with clients and keeping a small number of clients, the company is able to focus on each client and not do a rush job. By targeting smaller businesses, the company is also able to probe into the finer details. Clientele These consist mainly of small businesses with very few employees as th ese are the main target of the business. Most of the clients are in the motoring industry and have just been contracted; hence there is not much history that has been built.The range of clients runs from auto mechanics to caterers, and interior designers. Clients are drawn in through word of mouth and through networking, as the company barely advertises itself. The biggest client of the firm is its own spear header- Coverage Insurance Brokers. Most of the clients are for accounting services as opposed to the other branches of the business. The business started with a small clientele base of 4, and has since increased to over 10 contracted clients in the accounting branch. 3. 0 MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND EMPLOYEE INFORMATION 3. 2 Supervisor assistanceI was also debriefed on other office duties that I would be taught which would have nothing to do with schoolwork but were skills needed in the office for example, filing, photocopying, faxing, filling bank cheques and deposit slips and go ing to the bank. I was also told that I would not have any specific responsibilities but work would come up as and when needed which I would be given a briefing on how to do what at that moment. 3. 3 Qualities and skills possessed and developed The job called for speed, teamwork capabilities, versatility, fluency, flexibility and grasping concepts quickly.This I had no problem with, having gone through internship before and being a member of clubs that required teamwork. Being tossed around between jobs, and not knowing what to be doing when you get to work in the office ensured that I was always on my toes. As the job went by, I learnt to be quick but thorough, to ask questions; to be accountable- work was tossed form one person to the other. If I was capturing information, I had to be thorough so that the next person, in this case the accountant, would be able to use the information. If I gave her the wrong information, it would mess all the accounts up.I also had to learn to be r esponsible ? 3. 0 MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND EMPLOYEE INFORMATION 3. 1 Job orientation A brief meeting was held on the first day of work in which an assessment of my course work and accounting knowledge was made. The information available on the transcript and curriculum vitae was used for the assessment. This same meeting was also used for the purpose of giving me a tour through the company, debriefing on company history and the services offered by the company. I also got the opportunity to familiarise with the business environment and the rest of the staff around.The next step was to test the skills I had I stated that I had. I was shown how to capture information form a receipt, change it, delete it and create a file for a company in the accounting software. After a series of examples, I was asked to do the same. I went through a series of tests in using the accounting system, which in this case was called Quick books. Having shown adequate knowledge, I was informed that I would as sist in that part of the job. The main job was capturing, but some more office jobs were to be done, which I was kindly briefed on.I was to be the extra hand in the office; hence I would be tossed around everywhere, having been given a short tutorial prior to execution of a task. There were no specific responsibilities that were given to me; most of the work to be done would be broken down before being done. Having been briefed on the jobs to be done, I was shown the office space that I would use. A few minutes later I was assigned to my primary role for the week- filing, organising documents prior to capturing, checking if transactions had been captured properly and at the correct amounts and banking.In between the small jobs, I was to familiarise myself with the software and practise before I could be given any work concerning that. 3. 2 Supervisor assistance My supervisor adequately explained all duties and responsibilities before I undertook them. The first question before doing anything was an enquiry as to whether I had done any such thing. If I answered in the negative, I was shown how to do it. I would then attempt the same job under her watch until I had perfected my work In cases were computer use was required, a different document altogether would be opened for the sake of demonstration.A supervisor was always ready to help if I did not understand anything. As this is a small company, help was easy to find as my slowing down would also affect the other operations. My supervisors were quick to explain and guide through new processes especially those that involved going to NURS, going to clients and going to Company registration. I would receive office calls whenever I spent more time than usual. During the first days in the office, I would also get momentary calls just to check on progress or if everything under control 3. 3 Qualities needed and qualities gainedVersatility and flexibility were needed to succeed in this position as I would be tossed i nto any work. This meant I would have to be a receptionist, or an accountant, or the driver so adaptation and was needed. There was much work to do in the office so I had to be quick to catch onto the job as I would often receive crash courses to do a new task. In a job where there were had no fixed duties, and work to do decided on each morning, it was critical to grasp the concept quickly. The job also called for an ability to work without supervision as there was a lot of work to be done between the three services offered by the company.There was a need to be organised and to ask questions to do with more clarification to get an understanding as soon as a task was given in order to curb backlog. The amount of work to be done was much so that made round the clock assistance rather impossible. Time keeping was also very critical. We all depended on each other as one person’s slow delivery affected everyone. There was a need to pay attention to detail when doing accounts so a s to come up with the correct financial statements and prevent reworking which would waste time.Ten client companies would expected their returns to be calculated every second month so each company had specific time slots for doing their books which had to be maximised in order to prevent a rush job being done or eating into another company’s time. Fluency in English and articulation was a needed quality because there were clients to talk to, going to the Registrar of Companies and calls to be answered when the clerk/receptionist was not around. Qualities gained during the process included the ability to think on my feet, tenacity, responsibility and team working.Concerning the ability to think on my feet, jobs done outside the office required decisions to be made quickly if things did not go according to plan this needed one to exercise discretion and take control without having to call the office first. Thinking on one’s feet required the ability to reason carefully and objectively. Over time, I developed tenacity. It became apparent that not only did the job call for work to be done, but to be completed on or before time. Working after hours became normality and not burdensome and neither was it something to complain over.The key was to understand the importance of completing a task before the next day, regardless of working hours. Honesty and responsibility came with the job. Whenever personal resources were used in incurring company expenses, they had to be accounted for. This called for keeping of receipts and disclosing the corrected amounts actually spent in order to qualify for a refund. These expenses also had to be incurred wholly towards the company and not be mixed with personal expenses. Every business can only achieve its goals through teamwork.Work was passed from one person to the other as processes were interlinked. The clerk and I did most of the primary work- capturing and organising files and it had to be understood by the ne xt user of the information. Having done my part for the day, I would not sit around as others worked but pitch in to also help in order for the task to be completed. ? 4. 0 SPECIFIC JOB INFORMATION 4. 1 Daily Responsibilities There were no specific daily responsibilities given as work arose as and when needed but there were things that became routine, for example filing, faxing and photocopying.The other jobs included capturing invoices and receipts into the accounting system, checking if receipts and invoices had been entered into the system, helping to separate receipts into different expenses and banking. Accounting Capturing accounting information from invoices was a daily task. Expenses had to be separated into cost of sales, company expenses and capital expenditures. That done, a list of all transactions entered would be printed and cross-checked with the corresponding receipts as an internal check on capturing all expenditure and at their correct amounts.Every month end, tax return forms were filled out and withholding tax charges calculated. For those companies which took the liberty to calculate their own taxes, their figures would be matched with those in the tax tables to ensure consistency. The difficult part of this was working with companies that pay employees through commission as they had a different way of calculating applicable charges. Bank reconciliation at the end of each month was a required duty.The task was to go through a monthly bank statement, reconcile the figures with those in the cheque book, adjust for unpresented cheques, account for stop orders and total the bank interest charges for the month. After that the money drawn out for personal use would be calculated for drawings. Filing The first thing upon receipt of files from a client was to sort them out in chronological order. This made it easier to account for the dates on transactions as the date would not be changed with each receipt, it also made it easier to find a missing receipt or to look fo r a query on the receipt if they were in order.The filing work included the tax returns that would come from NURS, documents from the clients in the form of bills, contracts and agreements made between the client and the firm. For withholding taxes, each company had a separate filing place for rental withholding taxes and employee withholding taxes. Printing, copying and faxing Accounting involves a lot of printing, faxing and photocopying. The responsibility assigned was to do exactly that. It was of utmost importance to make sure that the company had one file while the client also had another copy. BankingThis involved drawing up cheques for clients, having been given the due amounts, fill in cheque deposit slips whenever a client made a payment via cheque, signing and accounting for the cheque in the company books before going to the bank to deposit it. This also involved cashing some cheques and depositing them in the respective employee accounts at the en d of the month for salaries. 4. 2 Other responsibilities Messenger Jobs that were done outside the office included fetching files with client’s receipts and invoices for the month and returning them, submitting and collecting returns forms to NURS, getting clients to stamp taxes due forms.Being a messenger also involved following up on company or business name reservations with the Registrar of Companies. The other tasks at the Registrar of Companies were submission of forms for the change of directors and the transfer of ownership of a firm. All paperwork generated from this would be copied and sent to the concerned client Office jobs Part of the office odd jobs was answering the phone when the person responsible was not available. This would involve taking messages and answering for where the required person was, putting through phone calls and answering whatever questions a client had about the business.When clients arrived before their appointed time had to be attended an d entertained until their attendant returned. This was achieved by preparing refreshments and chatting up the client, sitting them comfortably and continuous reassurance that the required person would be with them. Ensuring office security involved locking up doors and cabinets, closing windows, switching off the air conditioners by the last person to leave the office. 4. 3 Knowledge from course work Three years of in the University of Botswana has come with grasping many skills and concepts.Some proved necessary, other premature and some skills use stood out more than others. Knowledge from Accounting Information Systems learnt in BIS309 was the most used and hence the most helpful. It offered a foundation to be able to use any accounting software. BIS309 also helped because it dealt with the daily running of business and how to enter daily transactions into the books of accounts, the separation of bills and invoices and how to create a debit or credit note. BIS309 also included ho w to account for a refund, how to add an account into the list of accounts.Most accounting now is done by software so the ability to use software and the knowledge of the way around the software was an added advantage Knowledge of basic accounting and bank reconciliations was taught in Financial Accounting I (ACC100) and it offered know how on entering costs into books of accounts and drawing up bank reconciliations and treating unpresented cheques. Some clients, being new, lacked adequate accounting information. This amounted to missing receipts and invoices, misnumbered invoices, missing bank cheques or narrations to the cheques.In order to deal with this one had to work backwards from the bank statement to find missing figures and asking for rough estimates for jobs done. Incomplete Records aught in Financial Accounting II (Acc200) was a useful resource. For the purpose of separation of business costs into cost of sales and expenses Introduction to Cost Accounting (ACC201) was ve ry useful. Some business incurred expenses that had to be charged to their cost of sales, not costs of running the business, for example the cost of delivery, the cost of assembly, etc.One company was a delivery company and conducted trade by going to South Africa and taking goods for delivery into Namibia, the cost of the job did not only include fuel to travel to South Africa but it included the driver’s accommodation and food and the cost of toll gates. Dealing with these expenses was leant in Managaemnt accounting applications ACC303. Final accounts are drawn at the end of each month and they have to be drawn up according to the formats in the accounting standards.Knowledge of accounting standards and presentation formats was acquired in Auditing I (ACC301) and Financial Accounting II (ACC 300. ) Upon the calculation of taxes for individual employees, calculating the gross taxes, doing a bank reconciliation, comparison of figures, checking if all receipts had been entered Microsoft excel was used. BIS 205 dealt with the primary use of computers and plugging in formulae. General Education Courses dealt with the use of computers and communication.Businesses require a lot of communication and etiquette. Gec 121,introduction to Computers was useful for the purpose of using email, Introduction to Communication (GEC111 and 112) helped in articulation and Introduction to Rhetoric and Public Speaking (GEC 364) helped in building confidence and addressing people. For the sake of company registration, the difference between a company and a business grasped in Introduction to Company Law (LAW351) was a critical tool in knowing the difference, lest the two be wrongly interchanged.This difference was also critical whenever capturing expenses, keeping in mind that sole traders were not separated from the business and withdrawals made were charged as drawings. 4. 4 Beneficial things to have learnt It would have been very helpful to have gone through an introductor y lesson in tax so as to understand the format, the applicable tax figures had and to fill in a tax from with understanding. Most of the workings in tax were done out of memory, having been briefed on before but with no adequate understanding as to why they were done that way for example amounts exempt from tax and the calculations of allowable deductions.Cash flow Statements are part of the final accounts drawn up at the end of the month. This was also something learnt on the job but without full comprehension of what exactly to be done and what to be done. 4. 5 new skills acquired The reservation of a company name and creation of a shelf company is one of the stand out skills I acquired on the job. A lot of companies open new branches, since Botswana is a developing country and there is positive economic growth, many businesses and companies are being opened as a result and know how in reserving a name and registering a business has become a crucial tool that one may use as an age nt.In learning how to reserve company names and creating shelf companies, it was inevitable that I had to learn how to change directors of a company. Some companies do not immediately operate upon been granted approval or even fail to start, these companies can then be taken over by other persons. Forms for changes in directors of a company are retrieved from the Registrar of Companies’ website. The website hosts many forms that can just be downloaded and printed without necessarily collecting them from their offices. I learnt how to collect a tax return form. These forms are collects directly from NURS.A tax return form has to types, one being for VAT and the other being income tax. The person collecting the tax returns forms has to have knowledge of their Tax Identity Number. Other small skills acquired include:- †¢Calculation of PAYE. Pay as You Earn tax is calculated using the tax tables. Each income has a specific tax matched to it and those that go beyond the norma l amount have a specific extra amount to apply. †¢How to register a company for tax. The form is collected from NURS and it contains various areas to be filled out including the type of business, the name of the business.The bank needs to also certify that an account by that person exists. †¢How to fax and photocopy. This was part of daily office work. No knowledge of such skills had been possessed before. †¢How to use Quickbooks. This was the accounting software used by the company. Knowledge of Pastel Accounting and the use of Microsoft in Accounting were the only prior knowledge. Most companies use Quickbooks so this is a relevant skill upon job search at the completion of the degree. †¢How to use office stationery properly. There is some stationery designed for office use that we fail to use properly.Documents need to be filed neatly and in an orderly manner. That said, learnt how to align a paper before punching, refill staples and to use the various types o f files. ? 5. 0 Conclusions and recommendation 5. 1 Career goals versus industrial attachment The Industrial attachment surely did bring some perspective. The daily work in accounting is significantly different from the theory learnt in school. Day to day accounts is routine and very simple. Within a short period of time, one begins to know the routine of recording and creating financial statements at the end of the year.That said, I realise now that accounting needs to be supplemented with other courses, for example ACCA, CFA, CIMA, etc. These professional courses give one the ability to review policies placed by the business in their accounting. They also help one to become more marketable in the industry and prevent the boredom inherent in most office jobs with routine tasks. Looking at the clientele of the business, there is a dire need for accountants and for people to learn to be ‘accounts smart’. Most companies do not even have a clerk and most small businesses d o not have an accounts department as the owner does everything and the results nd up being very poor. I have also come to realise that the lack of consultancy and knowledge of cost versus revenue makes some businesses fail or not realise their full potential as much is taken from the business without replacement via drawings. That said, may career goals really have changed and I would not want to end up sitting in the office, day by day, drawing accounts for people, but instead to give advice on running a business and creating strategies that work. I would like to move into explaining accounts to business owners and creating strategies for the purpose of cost reduction and ensuring longevity in a business.Clients constantly complain about the return on their taxes, some do not even know what it means or how it is calculated and are always disgruntled when they see an accountant coming through. Clients therefore need tutorials in the accounting field so that they just do not accept a nything or begin to distrust their accountants. 5. 2 derivations from the attachment Two stand out lessons were derived from internship, the first being that university education alone does not fully equip one for the work environment; one needs a bit of experience.The second lesson being, there is a lot of ignorance concerning accounting in Namibia, to the point of business owners doing their own book-keeping. This comes from a lack of appreciation of the role of accounting in business. Concerning the equipping by the University, there is not enough room for doing accounting practically. There are too many courses from other faculties that students are encouraged to take up in their first year, which leaves little room for proper accounting courses in the degree.The result is that most accounting is taught in a rush manner without adequate understanding and the result is that students cram without grasping concepts fully. This became apparent on the calculation of a businessâ€℠¢ daily expenses. In the examples given us in school, the figures are already summed up and apparent, most of the work involves drawing final accounts, but in businesses, final accounts are drawn up only once a month. The recording of a business’ daily expenses is critical and needs to be given attention in the foundation courses of the degree.Concerning ignorance of accounting , most businesses have no accountant and do not keep the relevant information used in drawing up accounts. The use of interns is also a wide spread normality among those who wish to have some form of book-keeping in their business. However, interns are fresh from university and often make mistakes. This results in backlogs during work as some of the books have to be redone. 5. 3 most significant learning experience The most significant learning process was that on the importance of teamwork. Business processes are intertwined that each person relied the other person.Slacking was therefore intolerable a s it affected everyone else’s progress. That said, I learnt to rely on other people, and to become a person to be relied upon. I also learnt to value the contribution of other people and the vitality of making a significant contribution in a team. 5. 4 self-evaluation The key strengths I possessed for this job were adaptation and quick-learning. I understood whatever work was assigned to me in a very short space of time. There was a lot of tossing around involved in the job as I had no specific responsibilities, this meant I had to be versatile and ready for anything.The ability to think quickly and summon best judgement in a rash situation was very useful when running errands and things would not go according to plan or clients were late. This required changing things or rearranging with a client on my own without calling the office first. The ability to work without supervision and being self-motivated was an added advantage. Because of the lack of space, I shared the offic e with the other company branch of Dotaka Investments called Coverage Insurance. This meant I had no round the clock supervision in my work. I however managed to complete all my work before time or on time.Being reliable is another quality I possess that the executive director would allow me to run errands for her with her car while she would be in the office. She relied on me to represent her well wherever she sent me on her behalf. Dress was no problem for me as I made sure I was clad formally and presentable each day. Articulation and fluency in English was an added quality as well that enabled me to win over clients and explain to them adequately what we required of them. im formal. time keeping My time keeping in the morning was not the most efficient.Most of the time i was not punctual to work and i would arrive a little bit after time. I however compensated for this shortfall by personally working during lunch or working late. 5. 5 recomendations for improvement in the organi sation Great Advisory Services needs bigger office space. During this period of attachment, there were five employees sharing two rooms. This meant that the main office had three employees which is too large a number for a small space. The room became crowded to the point that clients would notice and either mention in a joking manner or just showed unpleasantness.The company vision has to be printed and stuck on the wall and be used in company stamps. I only knew the vision when I had. A company vision helps in boosting employee morale by showing them that whatever they are doing is contributing to the achievement of the vision. Grievances in the company need to be addressed. There were matters that were swept under the carpet even though they were important. There were times were there would be some tension in the office or gossip over another person over things that were not properly stipulated yet could be solved with a sit down meeting.There needs to be an investment towards th e training of employees. An accounts consultant was employed by the firm for enquiries’ sake. However, his availability was after hours which could go on till midnight this was not an efficient way of working. The problem can be overcome by putting one of the accountants through an ACCA program. Also the clerks’ work was not up to standard as most of it had to be redone. Employee training should also be in answering calls, using appropriate register as there was a tendency for employees to use an incorrect tone or a colloquial term in a formal set-up. Accounting Attachment Report 1. 0 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 The objectives of the Industrial attachment The purpose of industrial attachment is to bridge the gap between the theory and the practise of coursework learnt in the University of Botswana. It is meant to give students a clearer perspective of concepts learnt in the academic environment and in turn prepare them for the work environment upon completion of the degree programme. Internship is also aimed at give students a chance to apply the material learnt into a practical environment and get to know the work industry.In applying academic material, it is understood more and in familiarising with the work environment, a career option can be chosen. Part of the attachment was for students to create networks. networks are useful in securing jobs and getting information about the industry. 1. 2 Methodology The industrial attachment was conducted over the period between May 10th and July 27th 2012. This period amounted to a total of 10 weeks over the school holidays. It was after the third year of study in the degree. Each student, with the help of the internship coordinator had to find a company of their choice in the relevant field of study to work in.A place was to be secured through an application letter accompanied by a copy of a transcript, a letter of acknowledgement of student status from the University. A letter of acceptance would then be sent to the university by the company that agreed to attach a student and the area in which the student will work. Students were expected to work in various sectors of the company, but within their course of study while under attachment. The students were also to keep weekly log sheets which were to be signed by the supervisor with the work they had conducted. ? 2. 0 BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANISATION . 1 History of Great Advisory Services Dotaka Investments (Pty) Ltd was incorporated in Namibia in the year 2005. It has two businesses operating, an insurance brokerage called Coverage Insurance and an acco unting business called Great Advisory Services. The company has two directors namely Alex Mundey and Gracia Hunde. Mr Mundey is a non-executive director while Miss Hunde is an executive director. The insurance brokerage was the first business to be registered by the company in 2005 and has since grown to be one of the most renowned insurance broking firms in Namibia.The business headquarters are situated in the Windhoek International Finance Park while another branch operates in the Caesar International Office Park. This is because all insurance companies are found in the Caesar Office Park, making it convenient to get quotes upon request or to make an inquiry quicker. Having become a success and seeing the need for better accounting practise for the smaller businesses, the company diversified into the accounting field and registered a business named Great Advisory Services.The role of Great Advisory Services is to assist entrepreneurs to sustain their businesses by upholding proper and consistent accounting ethos. Great Advisory Services was registered in September 2011 and has been in operation since then. Not only does the business deal with accounting but it also in company secretarial and consultancy. It registers companies, sits as a director on the board and act as agents on submitting applications for permits. The staff includes Gracia Hunde, Elaine Chatonga and Palesa Mosa.Gracia Hunde is the executive director having gained all her knowledge from experience and is currently pursuing a degree in the University of South Africa. She mainly deals in company secretarial and business consultancy. Elaine Chatonga is the head accountant, having graduated with an Honourary degree in accounting and is pursuing chartered accountancy. She draws up the financial statements and calculates the tax returns due for all the clients and for the business as well. As head accountant, it is also her duty to supervise the work of the cler and make necessary changes.Palesa Mosa is the accounting clerk, having acquired an AAT qualification. As a clerk she does the day to day recording of accounts for the business and for the clients. She is also in charge of the petty cash book, answering calls, submitting tax returns and miscellaneous work. MISSION The mission of Geat Advisory Services is to provide accounting services to small, medium and large enterprises. In providing accounting services, the aim is to also influence the practise of proper accounting ethos and to improve the running and quality of business in the country.This is will be accomplished by building a relationship with the clients and explaining accounting procedures to them. By building relationships with clients and keeping a small number of clients, the company is able to focus on each client and not do a rush job. By targeting smaller businesses, the company is also able to probe into the finer details. Clientele These consist mainly of small businesses with very few employees as th ese are the main target of the business. Most of the clients are in the motoring industry and have just been contracted; hence there is not much history that has been built.The range of clients runs from auto mechanics to caterers, and interior designers. Clients are drawn in through word of mouth and through networking, as the company barely advertises itself. The biggest client of the firm is its own spear header- Coverage Insurance Brokers. Most of the clients are for accounting services as opposed to the other branches of the business. The business started with a small clientele base of 4, and has since increased to over 10 contracted clients in the accounting branch. 3. 0 MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND EMPLOYEE INFORMATION 3. 2 Supervisor assistanceI was also debriefed on other office duties that I would be taught which would have nothing to do with schoolwork but were skills needed in the office for example, filing, photocopying, faxing, filling bank cheques and deposit slips and go ing to the bank. I was also told that I would not have any specific responsibilities but work would come up as and when needed which I would be given a briefing on how to do what at that moment. 3. 3 Qualities and skills possessed and developed The job called for speed, teamwork capabilities, versatility, fluency, flexibility and grasping concepts quickly.This I had no problem with, having gone through internship before and being a member of clubs that required teamwork. Being tossed around between jobs, and not knowing what to be doing when you get to work in the office ensured that I was always on my toes. As the job went by, I learnt to be quick but thorough, to ask questions; to be accountable- work was tossed form one person to the other. If I was capturing information, I had to be thorough so that the next person, in this case the accountant, would be able to use the information. If I gave her the wrong information, it would mess all the accounts up.I also had to learn to be r esponsible ? 3. 0 MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND EMPLOYEE INFORMATION 3. 1 Job orientation A brief meeting was held on the first day of work in which an assessment of my course work and accounting knowledge was made. The information available on the transcript and curriculum vitae was used for the assessment. This same meeting was also used for the purpose of giving me a tour through the company, debriefing on company history and the services offered by the company. I also got the opportunity to familiarise with the business environment and the rest of the staff around.The next step was to test the skills I had I stated that I had. I was shown how to capture information form a receipt, change it, delete it and create a file for a company in the accounting software. After a series of examples, I was asked to do the same. I went through a series of tests in using the accounting system, which in this case was called Quick books. Having shown adequate knowledge, I was informed that I would as sist in that part of the job. The main job was capturing, but some more office jobs were to be done, which I was kindly briefed on.I was to be the extra hand in the office; hence I would be tossed around everywhere, having been given a short tutorial prior to execution of a task. There were no specific responsibilities that were given to me; most of the work to be done would be broken down before being done. Having been briefed on the jobs to be done, I was shown the office space that I would use. A few minutes later I was assigned to my primary role for the week- filing, organising documents prior to capturing, checking if transactions had been captured properly and at the correct amounts and banking.In between the small jobs, I was to familiarise myself with the software and practise before I could be given any work concerning that. 3. 2 Supervisor assistance My supervisor adequately explained all duties and responsibilities before I undertook them. The first question before doing anything was an enquiry as to whether I had done any such thing. If I answered in the negative, I was shown how to do it. I would then attempt the same job under her watch until I had perfected my work In cases were computer use was required, a different document altogether would be opened for the sake of demonstration.A supervisor was always ready to help if I did not understand anything. As this is a small company, help was easy to find as my slowing down would also affect the other operations. My supervisors were quick to explain and guide through new processes especially those that involved going to NURS, going to clients and going to Company registration. I would receive office calls whenever I spent more time than usual. During the first days in the office, I would also get momentary calls just to check on progress or if everything under control 3. 3 Qualities needed and qualities gainedVersatility and flexibility were needed to succeed in this position as I would be tossed i nto any work. This meant I would have to be a receptionist, or an accountant, or the driver so adaptation and was needed. There was much work to do in the office so I had to be quick to catch onto the job as I would often receive crash courses to do a new task. In a job where there were had no fixed duties, and work to do decided on each morning, it was critical to grasp the concept quickly. The job also called for an ability to work without supervision as there was a lot of work to be done between the three services offered by the company.There was a need to be organised and to ask questions to do with more clarification to get an understanding as soon as a task was given in order to curb backlog. The amount of work to be done was much so that made round the clock assistance rather impossible. Time keeping was also very critical. We all depended on each other as one person’s slow delivery affected everyone. There was a need to pay attention to detail when doing accounts so a s to come up with the correct financial statements and prevent reworking which would waste time.Ten client companies would expected their returns to be calculated every second month so each company had specific time slots for doing their books which had to be maximised in order to prevent a rush job being done or eating into another company’s time. Fluency in English and articulation was a needed quality because there were clients to talk to, going to the Registrar of Companies and calls to be answered when the clerk/receptionist was not around. Qualities gained during the process included the ability to think on my feet, tenacity, responsibility and team working.Concerning the ability to think on my feet, jobs done outside the office required decisions to be made quickly if things did not go according to plan this needed one to exercise discretion and take control without having to call the office first. Thinking on one’s feet required the ability to reason carefully and objectively. Over time, I developed tenacity. It became apparent that not only did the job call for work to be done, but to be completed on or before time. Working after hours became normality and not burdensome and neither was it something to complain over.The key was to understand the importance of completing a task before the next day, regardless of working hours. Honesty and responsibility came with the job. Whenever personal resources were used in incurring company expenses, they had to be accounted for. This called for keeping of receipts and disclosing the corrected amounts actually spent in order to qualify for a refund. These expenses also had to be incurred wholly towards the company and not be mixed with personal expenses. Every business can only achieve its goals through teamwork.Work was passed from one person to the other as processes were interlinked. The clerk and I did most of the primary work- capturing and organising files and it had to be understood by the ne xt user of the information. Having done my part for the day, I would not sit around as others worked but pitch in to also help in order for the task to be completed. ? 4. 0 SPECIFIC JOB INFORMATION 4. 1 Daily Responsibilities There were no specific daily responsibilities given as work arose as and when needed but there were things that became routine, for example filing, faxing and photocopying.The other jobs included capturing invoices and receipts into the accounting system, checking if receipts and invoices had been entered into the system, helping to separate receipts into different expenses and banking. Accounting Capturing accounting information from invoices was a daily task. Expenses had to be separated into cost of sales, company expenses and capital expenditures. That done, a list of all transactions entered would be printed and cross-checked with the corresponding receipts as an internal check on capturing all expenditure and at their correct amounts.Every month end, tax return forms were filled out and withholding tax charges calculated. For those companies which took the liberty to calculate their own taxes, their figures would be matched with those in the tax tables to ensure consistency. The difficult part of this was working with companies that pay employees through commission as they had a different way of calculating applicable charges. Bank reconciliation at the end of each month was a required duty.The task was to go through a monthly bank statement, reconcile the figures with those in the cheque book, adjust for unpresented cheques, account for stop orders and total the bank interest charges for the month. After that the money drawn out for personal use would be calculated for drawings. Filing The first thing upon receipt of files from a client was to sort them out in chronological order. This made it easier to account for the dates on transactions as the date would not be changed with each receipt, it also made it easier to find a missing receipt or to look fo r a query on the receipt if they were in order.The filing work included the tax returns that would come from NURS, documents from the clients in the form of bills, contracts and agreements made between the client and the firm. For withholding taxes, each company had a separate filing place for rental withholding taxes and employee withholding taxes. Printing, copying and faxing Accounting involves a lot of printing, faxing and photocopying. The responsibility assigned was to do exactly that. It was of utmost importance to make sure that the company had one file while the client also had another copy. BankingThis involved drawing up cheques for clients, having been given the due amounts, fill in cheque deposit slips whenever a client made a payment via cheque, signing and accounting for the cheque in the company books before going to the bank to deposit it. This also involved cashing some cheques and depositing them in the respective employee accounts at the en d of the month for salaries. 4. 2 Other responsibilities Messenger Jobs that were done outside the office included fetching files with client’s receipts and invoices for the month and returning them, submitting and collecting returns forms to NURS, getting clients to stamp taxes due forms.Being a messenger also involved following up on company or business name reservations with the Registrar of Companies. The other tasks at the Registrar of Companies were submission of forms for the change of directors and the transfer of ownership of a firm. All paperwork generated from this would be copied and sent to the concerned client Office jobs Part of the office odd jobs was answering the phone when the person responsible was not available. This would involve taking messages and answering for where the required person was, putting through phone calls and answering whatever questions a client had about the business.When clients arrived before their appointed time had to be attended an d entertained until their attendant returned. This was achieved by preparing refreshments and chatting up the client, sitting them comfortably and continuous reassurance that the required person would be with them. Ensuring office security involved locking up doors and cabinets, closing windows, switching off the air conditioners by the last person to leave the office. 4. 3 Knowledge from course work Three years of in the University of Botswana has come with grasping many skills and concepts.Some proved necessary, other premature and some skills use stood out more than others. Knowledge from Accounting Information Systems learnt in BIS309 was the most used and hence the most helpful. It offered a foundation to be able to use any accounting software. BIS309 also helped because it dealt with the daily running of business and how to enter daily transactions into the books of accounts, the separation of bills and invoices and how to create a debit or credit note. BIS309 also included ho w to account for a refund, how to add an account into the list of accounts.Most accounting now is done by software so the ability to use software and the knowledge of the way around the software was an added advantage Knowledge of basic accounting and bank reconciliations was taught in Financial Accounting I (ACC100) and it offered know how on entering costs into books of accounts and drawing up bank reconciliations and treating unpresented cheques. Some clients, being new, lacked adequate accounting information. This amounted to missing receipts and invoices, misnumbered invoices, missing bank cheques or narrations to the cheques.In order to deal with this one had to work backwards from the bank statement to find missing figures and asking for rough estimates for jobs done. Incomplete Records aught in Financial Accounting II (Acc200) was a useful resource. For the purpose of separation of business costs into cost of sales and expenses Introduction to Cost Accounting (ACC201) was ve ry useful. Some business incurred expenses that had to be charged to their cost of sales, not costs of running the business, for example the cost of delivery, the cost of assembly, etc.One company was a delivery company and conducted trade by going to South Africa and taking goods for delivery into Namibia, the cost of the job did not only include fuel to travel to South Africa but it included the driver’s accommodation and food and the cost of toll gates. Dealing with these expenses was leant in Managaemnt accounting applications ACC303. Final accounts are drawn at the end of each month and they have to be drawn up according to the formats in the accounting standards.Knowledge of accounting standards and presentation formats was acquired in Auditing I (ACC301) and Financial Accounting II (ACC 300. ) Upon the calculation of taxes for individual employees, calculating the gross taxes, doing a bank reconciliation, comparison of figures, checking if all receipts had been entered Microsoft excel was used. BIS 205 dealt with the primary use of computers and plugging in formulae. General Education Courses dealt with the use of computers and communication.Businesses require a lot of communication and etiquette. Gec 121,introduction to Computers was useful for the purpose of using email, Introduction to Communication (GEC111 and 112) helped in articulation and Introduction to Rhetoric and Public Speaking (GEC 364) helped in building confidence and addressing people. For the sake of company registration, the difference between a company and a business grasped in Introduction to Company Law (LAW351) was a critical tool in knowing the difference, lest the two be wrongly interchanged.This difference was also critical whenever capturing expenses, keeping in mind that sole traders were not separated from the business and withdrawals made were charged as drawings. 4. 4 Beneficial things to have learnt It would have been very helpful to have gone through an introductor y lesson in tax so as to understand the format, the applicable tax figures had and to fill in a tax from with understanding. Most of the workings in tax were done out of memory, having been briefed on before but with no adequate understanding as to why they were done that way for example amounts exempt from tax and the calculations of allowable deductions.Cash flow Statements are part of the final accounts drawn up at the end of the month. This was also something learnt on the job but without full comprehension of what exactly to be done and what to be done. 4. 5 new skills acquired The reservation of a company name and creation of a shelf company is one of the stand out skills I acquired on the job. A lot of companies open new branches, since Botswana is a developing country and there is positive economic growth, many businesses and companies are being opened as a result and know how in reserving a name and registering a business has become a crucial tool that one may use as an age nt.In learning how to reserve company names and creating shelf companies, it was inevitable that I had to learn how to change directors of a company. Some companies do not immediately operate upon been granted approval or even fail to start, these companies can then be taken over by other persons. Forms for changes in directors of a company are retrieved from the Registrar of Companies’ website. The website hosts many forms that can just be downloaded and printed without necessarily collecting them from their offices. I learnt how to collect a tax return form. These forms are collects directly from NURS.A tax return form has to types, one being for VAT and the other being income tax. The person collecting the tax returns forms has to have knowledge of their Tax Identity Number. Other small skills acquired include:- †¢Calculation of PAYE. Pay as You Earn tax is calculated using the tax tables. Each income has a specific tax matched to it and those that go beyond the norma l amount have a specific extra amount to apply. †¢How to register a company for tax. The form is collected from NURS and it contains various areas to be filled out including the type of business, the name of the business.The bank needs to also certify that an account by that person exists. †¢How to fax and photocopy. This was part of daily office work. No knowledge of such skills had been possessed before. †¢How to use Quickbooks. This was the accounting software used by the company. Knowledge of Pastel Accounting and the use of Microsoft in Accounting were the only prior knowledge. Most companies use Quickbooks so this is a relevant skill upon job search at the completion of the degree. †¢How to use office stationery properly. There is some stationery designed for office use that we fail to use properly.Documents need to be filed neatly and in an orderly manner. That said, learnt how to align a paper before punching, refill staples and to use the various types o f files. ? 5. 0 Conclusions and recommendation 5. 1 Career goals versus industrial attachment The Industrial attachment surely did bring some perspective. The daily work in accounting is significantly different from the theory learnt in school. Day to day accounts is routine and very simple. Within a short period of time, one begins to know the routine of recording and creating financial statements at the end of the year.That said, I realise now that accounting needs to be supplemented with other courses, for example ACCA, CFA, CIMA, etc. These professional courses give one the ability to review policies placed by the business in their accounting. They also help one to become more marketable in the industry and prevent the boredom inherent in most office jobs with routine tasks. Looking at the clientele of the business, there is a dire need for accountants and for people to learn to be ‘accounts smart’. Most companies do not even have a clerk and most small businesses d o not have an accounts department as the owner does everything and the results nd up being very poor. I have also come to realise that the lack of consultancy and knowledge of cost versus revenue makes some businesses fail or not realise their full potential as much is taken from the business without replacement via drawings. That said, may career goals really have changed and I would not want to end up sitting in the office, day by day, drawing accounts for people, but instead to give advice on running a business and creating strategies that work. I would like to move into explaining accounts to business owners and creating strategies for the purpose of cost reduction and ensuring longevity in a business.Clients constantly complain about the return on their taxes, some do not even know what it means or how it is calculated and are always disgruntled when they see an accountant coming through. Clients therefore need tutorials in the accounting field so that they just do not accept a nything or begin to distrust their accountants. 5. 2 derivations from the attachment Two stand out lessons were derived from internship, the first being that university education alone does not fully equip one for the work environment; one needs a bit of experience.The second lesson being, there is a lot of ignorance concerning accounting in Namibia, to the point of business owners doing their own book-keeping. This comes from a lack of appreciation of the role of accounting in business. Concerning the equipping by the University, there is not enough room for doing accounting practically. There are too many courses from other faculties that students are encouraged to take up in their first year, which leaves little room for proper accounting courses in the degree.The result is that most accounting is taught in a rush manner without adequate understanding and the result is that students cram without grasping concepts fully. This became apparent on the calculation of a businessâ€℠¢ daily expenses. In the examples given us in school, the figures are already summed up and apparent, most of the work involves drawing final accounts, but in businesses, final accounts are drawn up only once a month. The recording of a business’ daily expenses is critical and needs to be given attention in the foundation courses of the degree.Concerning ignorance of accounting , most businesses have no accountant and do not keep the relevant information used in drawing up accounts. The use of interns is also a wide spread normality among those who wish to have some form of book-keeping in their business. However, interns are fresh from university and often make mistakes. This results in backlogs during work as some of the books have to be redone. 5. 3 most significant learning experience The most significant learning process was that on the importance of teamwork. Business processes are intertwined that each person relied the other person.Slacking was therefore intolerable a s it affected everyone else’s progress. That said, I learnt to rely on other people, and to become a person to be relied upon. I also learnt to value the contribution of other people and the vitality of making a significant contribution in a team. 5. 4 self-evaluation The key strengths I possessed for this job were adaptation and quick-learning. I understood whatever work was assigned to me in a very short space of time. There was a lot of tossing around involved in the job as I had no specific responsibilities, this meant I had to be versatile and ready for anything.The ability to think quickly and summon best judgement in a rash situation was very useful when running errands and things would not go according to plan or clients were late. This required changing things or rearranging with a client on my own without calling the office first. The ability to work without supervision and being self-motivated was an added advantage. Because of the lack of space, I shared the offic e with the other company branch of Dotaka Investments called Coverage Insurance. This meant I had no round the clock supervision in my work. I however managed to complete all my work before time or on time.Being reliable is another quality I possess that the executive director would allow me to run errands for her with her car while she would be in the office. She relied on me to represent her well wherever she sent me on her behalf. Dress was no problem for me as I made sure I was clad formally and presentable each day. Articulation and fluency in English was an added quality as well that enabled me to win over clients and explain to them adequately what we required of them. im formal. time keeping My time keeping in the morning was not the most efficient.Most of the time i was not punctual to work and i would arrive a little bit after time. I however compensated for this shortfall by personally working during lunch or working late. 5. 5 recomendations for improvement in the organi sation Great Advisory Services needs bigger office space. During this period of attachment, there were five employees sharing two rooms. This meant that the main office had three employees which is too large a number for a small space. The room became crowded to the point that clients would notice and either mention in a joking manner or just showed unpleasantness.The company vision has to be printed and stuck on the wall and be used in company stamps. I only knew the vision when I had. A company vision helps in boosting employee morale by showing them that whatever they are doing is contributing to the achievement of the vision. Grievances in the company need to be addressed. There were matters that were swept under the carpet even though they were important. There were times were there would be some tension in the office or gossip over another person over things that were not properly stipulated yet could be solved with a sit down meeting.There needs to be an investment towards th e training of employees. An accounts consultant was employed by the firm for enquiries’ sake. However, his availability was after hours which could go on till midnight this was not an efficient way of working. The problem can be overcome by putting one of the accountants through an ACCA program. Also the clerks’ work was not up to standard as most of it had to be redone. Employee training should also be in answering calls, using appropriate register as there was a tendency for employees to use an incorrect tone or a colloquial term in a formal set-up.