Monday, April 6, 2020
Black Belt free essay sample
It was a February afternoon in South Carolina, and despite the fact that it was still chilly outside, sweat was dripping down my face and my feet stuck to the red mat upon which I knelt. I was facing my instructors, many of whom had worked with me for the past few years and brought me to this point. They were all sitting behind a long table in front of me, holding clipboards, each one of them taking turns speaking. Every once and a while they would glance at the clipboard again and say more. I was only half listening to what they were saying, and even now I can only remember bits and pieces of what they told me. The other half of my mind was preoccupied with what could clearly be seen on their faces. They were disappointed. I had failed. As I look back now, I realize that this was the first time I had ever failed at something into which I had put all my effort. We will write a custom essay sample on Black Belt or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I was a good student and I always worked hard to earn my grades. However, karate was different. I am not a naturally gifted athlete. The reason I started taking karate was because a friend of mine gave me a coupon for one month free. After just a few weeks of classes, I knew I loved karate. After a year, my ultimate goal became to earn my black belt. On that February afternoon, I felt crushed. I sobbed the entire car ride home. My years of training and practice felt worthless. I could not understand how I could have come so far only to fail. I had trained almost every day for months before the test. This training included numerous extra lessons with instructors as well as practice at home. The test was usually four to four and a half hours long. I failed after the third hour, more than halfway through the test. I was exhausted and I could not wait until the test would be over and I could go home. I remember thinking, â€Å"Only one more hour and I’ll be done†right before I was called over to the instructors’ table. Not only was my failure devastating, it was also humiliating. Three other people failed that test, but I was the last one and I was sent home hours after they were. All my classmates watched me step off the mat and leave as they continued on to get their belts. I remember my first day back in class after the test. I walked up to them before class started to join their conversation. They greeted me and the whole group fell into a brief awkward silence, as if they were unsure of what they should say to me. My old red belt seemed inferior to their new black belts that they tied proudly around their waists. It was also very difficult for me to face my instructors. One of my instructors had put a lot of extra time into helping me train for my belt. She had spent countless hours watching me spin hook kick a target over and over again during an extra lesson until I had perfected the kick. She was one of the instructors who sat behind the long table and watched me fail my test. I felt like I had failed her and all the other instructors who had worked with me since I was ten. I felt as if all my years of classes and learning had culminated to this point of failure. However, I knew that these feelings would not defeat me. All karate students adhere to the black belt principles: modesty, courtesy, integrity, self-control, perseverance, and indomitable spirit. This failure was merely a trial of the last two principles. Before this failure, I could only provide the dictionary definitions of perseverance and indomitable spirit. Now I think they are best summed up in the words of Washington Irving: â€Å"Small minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it†. Even during the car ride home from my test, earning my black belt remained my goal. Quitting was not an option. I made sure that I was in class the first week after my test, ready to train harder and try again. I had even more lessons than I had for my first test. I also started fitness kickboxing classes two times a week to improve my endurance. Before I knew it, it was August 2008, and I was stepping onto the mat to test for a second time. The test started around 7:30 pm and it ended around 11:00. Although my endurance was better this time than it was before, I felt awful and by the third hour my hands were shaking and sweat was pouring down my face. It was the most difficult challenge I have ever faced. I am currently a first-degree black belt at Upstate Karate Martial Arts Center and I am working towards my second degree. I know from this experience that failure will not make me give up on what I love. Many great leaders have failed, been ridiculed, and continued to stand for what they knew was right. Their failures only make their stories stronger and more amazing when they succeed. At the end of my second test, one instructor who has been with me since my first week of karate used me as an example of perseverance and pointed out to everyone else that I deserved my belt because I had refused to give up. When I tied my black belt on for the first time, I knew it meant more to me then than it would have if I had passed my first test. I wrote in the first paragraph of my essay that I cannot remember what my instructors said to me after I failed. This statement is true; I can only remember fragments of what they said. I remember they all told me not to give up, to keep working harder, and to try again. However, one of my instructors was silent the entire time and made one brief statement before I was about to go. I still remember his words clearly to this day, â€Å"I’ll see you next week in class.†I have a passion for learning and a desire to succeed. I want to serve others. I have a passion for literature and writing and I hope to instill this passion in others by becoming a teacher or a professor. My black belt test has been the greatest challenge I have faced in my life, but I hope there are much greater challenges in my future. As I have proven throughout my life, I will work tirelessly to achieve my goals. I know with certainty that I will persevere and nothing will stop me from pursuing my passions and beliefs. My next goal is to attend a university that will expect nothing less.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
Dispose Objects in Visual Basic
Dispose Objects in Visual Basic In the article, Coding New Instances of Objects, I wrote about the various ways that New instances of objects can be created. The opposite problem, disposing an object, is something that you wont have to worry about in VB.NET very often. .NET includes a technology called Garbage Collector (GC) that usually takes care of everything behind the scenes silently and efficiently. But occasionally, usually when using file streams, sql objects or graphics (GDI) objects (that is, unmanaged resources), you may need to take control of disposing objects in your own code. First, Some Background Just as a constructor (the New keyword) creates a new object, a destructor is a method that is called when an object is destroyed. But theres a catch. The people who created .NET realized that it was a formula for bugs if two different pieces of code could actually destroy an object. So the .NET GC is actually in control and its usually the only code that can destroy the instance of the object. The GC destroys an object when it decides to and not before. Normally, after an object leaves scope, it is released by the common language runtime (CLR). The GC destroys objects when the CLR needs more free memory. So the bottom line is that you cant predict when GC will actually destroy the object. (Welllll ... Thats true nearly all of the time. You can call GC.Collect and force a garbage collection cycle, but authorities universally say its a bad idea and totally unnecessary.) For example, if your code has created a Customer object, it may seem that this code will destroy it again. Customer = Nothing But it doesnt. (Setting a an object to Nothing is commonly called, dereferencing the object.) Actually, it just means that the variable isnt associated with an object anymore. At some time later, the GC will notice that the object is available for destruction. By the way, for managed objects, none of this is really necessary. Although an object like a Button will offer a Dispose method, its not necessary to use it and few people do. Windows Forms components, for example, are added to a container object named components. When you close a form, its Dispose method is called automatically. Usually, you only have to worry about any of this when using unmanaged objects, and even then just to optomize your program. The recommended way to release any resources that might be held by an object is to call the Dispose method for the object (if one is available) and then dereference the object. Customer.Dispose() Customer Nothing Because GC will destroy an orphaned object, whether or not you set the object variable to Nothing, its not really necessary. Another recommended way to make sure that objects are destroyed when theyre not needed anymore is to put the code that uses an object into a Using block. A Using block guarantees the disposal of one or more such resources when your code is finished with them. In the GDI series, the Using block is put to use quite frequently to manage those pesky graphics objects. For example ... Using myBrush As LinearGradientBrush _ New LinearGradientBrush( _ Me.ClientRectangle, _ Color.Blue, Color.Red, _ LinearGradientMode.Horizontal) ... more code ... End Using myBrush is disposed of automagically when the end of the block is executed. The GC approach to managing memory is a big change from the way VB6 did it. COM objects (used by VB6) were destroyed when an internal counter of references reached zero. But it was too easy to make a mistake so the internal counter was off. (Because memory was tied up and not available to other objects when this happened, this was called a memory leak.) Instead, GC actually checks to see whether anything is referencing an object and destroys it when there are no more references. The GC approach has a good history in languages like Java and is one of the big improvements in .NET. On the next page, we look into the IDisposable interface... the interface to use when you need to Dispose unmanaged objects in your own code. If you code your own object that uses unmanaged resources, you should use the IDisposable interface for the object. Microsoft makes this easy by including a code snippet that creates the right pattern for you. Click Here to display the illustrationClick the Back button on your browser to return The code that is added looks like this (VB.NET 2008): Class ResourceClass    Implements IDisposable    To detect redundant calls    Private disposed As Boolean False    IDisposable    Protected Overridable Sub Dispose( _       ByVal disposing As Boolean)       If Not Me.disposed Then          If disposing Then          Free other state (managed objects).          End If          Free your own state (unmanaged objects).          Set large fields to null.       End If       Me.disposed True    End Sub #Region IDisposable Support    This code added by Visual Basic to    correctly implement the disposable pattern.    Public Sub Dispose() Implements IDisposable.Dispose       Do not change this code.       Put cleanup code in       Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean) above.       Dispose(True)       GC.SuppressFinalize(Me)    End Sub    Protected Overrides Sub Finalize()       Do not change this code.       Put cleanup code in       Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean) above.       Dispose(False)       MyBase.Finalize()    End Sub #End Region End Class Dispose is almost an enforced developer design pattern in .NET. Theres really only one correct way to do it and this is it. You might think this code does something magic. It doesnt. First note that the internal flag disposed simply short-circuits the whole thing so you can call Dispose(disposing) as often as you like. The code ... GC.SuppressFinalize(Me) ... makes your code more efficient by telling the GC that the object has already been disposed (an expensive operation in terms of execution cycles). Finalize is Protected because GC calls it automatically when an object is destroyed. You should never call Finalize. The Boolean disposing tells the code whether your code initiated the objects disposal (True) or whether the GC did it (as part of the Finalize sub. Note that the only code that uses the Boolean disposing is: If disposing Then    Free other state (managed objects). End If When you dispose of an object, all of its resources must be disposed of. When the CLR garbage collector disposes of an object only the unmanaged resources must be disposed of because the garbage collector automatically takes care of the managed resources. The idea behind this code snippet is that you add code to take care of managed and unmanaged objects in the indicated locations. When you derive a class from a base class that implements IDisposable, you dont have to override any of the base methods unless you use other resources that also need to be disposed. If that happens, the derived class should override the base classs Dispose(disposing) method to dispose of the derived classs resources. But remember to call the base classs Dispose(disposing) method. Protected Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)    If Not Me.disposed Then       If disposing Then       Add your code to free managed resources.       End If       Add your code to free unmanaged resources.    End If    MyBase.Dispose(disposing) End Sub The subject can be slightly overwhelming. The purpose of the explanation here is to demystify whats actually happening because most of the information you can find doesnt tell you!
Friday, February 21, 2020
The Collapse of the Soviet Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
The Collapse of the Soviet Union - Essay Example This essay describes the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Firstly, the researcher introducts Mikhail Gorbachev, who was elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party on March 11, 1985. The researcher discusses different slogans and policies that were established by Gorbachev, such as â€Å"Uskoreniye†, â€Å"Perestroika†, â€Å"Glasnost†and â€Å"Demokratizatsiya†. The researcher also concluds that historical period and states that the Soviet Union left a legacy of economic inefficiency and deterioration to the fifteen constituent republics after its breakup in December 1991. Arguably, the shortcomings of the Gorbachev reforms had contributed to the economic decline and eventual destruction of the So-viet Union, leaving Russia and the other successor states to pick up the pieces and to try to mold market economies. At the same time, one should admit, that the Gorbachev programs did start Russia on the precarious road to full-scale econom ic reform. The collapse of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics radically changed the world's eco-nomic and political environment. The speed with which the Soviet system was transformed and the Soviet state disintegrated took almost everyone by surprise. However, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics's collapse was the result of many unsolved problems. Gorbachev’s appointment and his early reforms allowed the problems of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to be uncovered and become public knowledge, which, in turn, be-came the cause of the collapse.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Significance of Austrian and Post-Keynesian criticisms of the standard Essay
Significance of Austrian and Post-Keynesian criticisms of the standard neoclassical view of the competitive process - Essay Example These markets which are referred to in the neoclassical viewpoint are considered to be a group of optimizing individuals trading amongst each other at predetermined prices and are endowed with the means of production given (Henry, 2012, p. 321). The concept of competitive process in neoclassical view revolves around the utility optimization in an environment of Perfect Competition. Perfect Competition is where there is no market power exhibited by the firms and they act as the price takers. Thus, the extent of the market power indicated the competition in a particular market. The economists of this theory believe that the equilibrium is the point where the utility is maximized. Profit maximization is an example of this as it is a fundamental aspect of a firm within their market structure. Equilibrium, according to them, also provides the market clearing process to take place. As this theory has been providing a simple ideology for the functioning of the market under the Perfect Co mpetition, there are many modern economists who have considered the real life situations and concluded that a number of other factors are also to be included to analyze the competitive process in the markets (Leask, Parnell, 2005, p. 469). There have been some theorists that have criticized the traditional approach over the time as modern aspects were introduced, and so alternative schools of thought were created. Two of these alternative schools are the Austrian and the Post-Keynesian theories. The Austrian school of thought is rooted from the work of Menger, Hayek and Mises. The approach was concerned with the significance of Subjectivism,... This paper stresses that the perfect competition structure of the market is the key approach of the neoclassical theory of competition and on the other hand, the Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories emphasize on the importance of Oligopoly as greater in the modern economics. Being philosophically distant from one another, the neoclassic view had been under constant pressure throughout the years. As much as it is important to assess the criticisms, it is also important to assess the significance of those criticisms and their affects. The author talks that the concept of competitive process in neoclassical view revolves around the utility optimization in an environment of Perfect Competition. Perfect Competition is where there is no market power exhibited by the firms and they act as the price takers. Thus, the extent of the market power indicated the competition in a particular market. This report makes a conlusion that it is evident that the criticisms made by the Austrian and the Post-Keynesians hold a very significant impact on the business economics and this impact is unquestionable. These criticisms were a rise to much advancement that was needed in the modern economics. In fact, the impact that they had were not only on the academics but also on the general knowledge for the public. These criticisms drove the extensions to the neoclassical theories and gave them a sense of realism. These criticisms are however, significant only until the neoclassical school finds a way to enhance their role and advance their models to come up to the level of the two alternative schools. Modern economics and realism are the key factors to be looked upon.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Security Valuation
Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Security Valuation In this study we examine the role of permanent and transitory earnings and cash flows in explaining security r in three major capital markets, UK, USA and France. We hypothesize that the relationship between cash flows and security returns improves when earnings are transitory and this robustness is country specific. The dataset consists of more than 40,000 USA, UK and French firm-year observations over a nine year period. Multivariate statistical regression analysis is undertaken to test the major research hypotheses. Results indicate that when earnings are transitory (not stable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, the evidence provided in this study supports that indeed there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in the UK, France and the USA. These results shou ld be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially after the recent global financial crisis and the collapse of giant organizations worldwide. Keywords: Permanent and Transitory Earnings, Capital markets, Earnings, Cash flows, France, Empirical. * Dr. Melita Charitou is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Accounting, University of Nicosia, Cyprus. Address for correspondence: Division of Finance and Economics, School of Business, University of Nicosia, Cyprus, email: [emailprotected] .1. INTRODUCTION Capital markets emphasized to a great extent the value relevance of earnings in the marketplace. The usefulness of earnings has also been examined recently in conjunction with cash flows (Bali et al (2009), Banker et al (2009), Bartov et al., 2001; Charitou et al., 2001, Ball et al., 2000, among others). Empirical research provided evidence to support that earnings are more useful than cash flows in the capital markets. Existing evidence on the association of operating cash flows beyond earnings in explaining security returns has been inconclusive. Furthermore, to date comparative international research on the value relevance of cash flows has been limited. Moreover, researchers argue that when aggregate data is used, it is assumed that the relationship between earnings and cash flows with security returns is homogeneous across firms. It should be noted that this assumption that investors react identically to earnings and cash flows of all firms is not that pragmatic.The present stud y hypothesizes the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and it depends on the transitoriness of earnings. Earnings persistence studies consistently report that earnings persistence is significantly positively associated with ERC (Easton and Zmijewski, 1989; Donnelly and Walker, 1995; Ali and Zarowin, 1992; Chambers, 2004). Cheng et al. (1996) extended prior studies on this topic and added cash flow variables in their models. They found that the incremental information content of cash flow from operations(CFO) should increase with a decrease in the permanence of earnings. Furthermore, Ali (1994) using non-linear models concluded that earnings, cash flows and working capital from operations(WCFO) have incremental information, which increases the lower are the absolute changes in earnings, cash flows and WCFO respectively. Finally, Ali and Zarowin (1992) show that the more transitory the previous periods earnings are, the greater the increase in the ERC and the expected incremental explanatory power from inclusion of the level variable. According to Cho and Chung (1991) the persistence meas ure used in those studies has 3 limitations: first, although persistence is changing over time, a constant parameter assumption is made which is problematic, especially when estimations are based on annual data for several year time series. Second, a measurement error problem exists, from using time-series reported earnings. Easton and Zmijewski (1989) use revision coefficient avoiding to some extend the latter problem. The third limitation is that persistence as measured by the time series of earnings is a crude proxy for the construct because it contains little economic content. Researchers also extended prior studies in order to examine the value relevance of the permanent and transitory earnings. Cheng et al (1996), Ali (1994), Ali and Zarowin (1992) and Easton and Zmijewski (1989) among others examine the impact of permanent and transitory earnings on the relations between returns and earnings or between returns and cash flows. Ali and Zarowin (1992) concluded that for firms with permanent earnings in the previous period, when the earnings level variable is included in the model, the incremental explanatory power and the increase in Earnings Response Coefficient (ERC) are small. Cheng et al. (1996) investigated whether the incremental information content of cash flows increases when earnings are transitory. Transitory earnings have smaller marginal impact on security returns. Moreover, their results showed that the incremental information content of accounting earnings decreases, and the incremental information content of cash flows increases with a decre ase in the permanence of earnings. Regression analysis was undertaken to test the major hypothesis. A sample of more than 40,000 USA, UK and French firm year observations was used to test the research hypotheses. The major conclusions of the empirical results are summarized as follows. First, regarding our basic proposition which stated that earnings and cash flows are associated with stock prices in USA, UK and France, results indicate that indeed both earnings and cash flows are taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions. Second, regarding our major hypothesis which stated that the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and depends on the transitoriness of earnings, results indicate that when earnings are transitory (not stable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, evidence provided in this study supports that indeed there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in UK, France and USA and that the value relevance of cash flows depends on the transitoriness of earnings. .2. LITERATURE REVIEW and Hypotheses development. Earnings are of primary importance to managers, because managerial executive compensation contracts are usually based on earnings. Managers select financial reporting methods to maximize the value of their bonus awards through incentives created by bonus schemes. In addition, managers indulge in income smoothing, that is, taking actions to dampen fluctuations in their organizations earnings, as investors pay more for a firm with a smoother income stream (Dechow et al. 2003; Barth et al. 2005). In the past few years there has been an increased interest in the role of earnings and cash flows in explaining security returns. Contextual factors, such as earnings transitoriness, have a common objective. To identify specific circumstances where the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is altered (improves or deteriorates). Using USA data, Freeman and Tse (1992) and Ali (1994) showed that transitory earnings have smaller marginal impact on security returns. Cheng et al (1996) and Charitou et al (2001) extended these studies by hypothesizing that when earnings are transitory, the value relevance of earnings diminishes, whereas the value relevance of cash flows is expected to increase. Earnings transitoriness was measured as the earnings change scaled by the beginning of period price and also by the earnings to price ratio. Extreme values of these measures could be considered as an indication of earnings transitoriness. Transitory items are expected to have limited valuation implications. Examples of transitory items in earnings include current and long-term accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition through asset sales of previous periods increases in market values, one time impact on income from changes in accounting standards. The results of the Cheng et al. (1996) study indicated that a) when level and changes in earnings and cash flows are included in the model, all are value relevant in the marketplace, and b) when earnings are transitory the value relevance of earnings diminishes substantially, and simultaneously the value relevance of cash flows increases. In summary, these results are indeed of great importance since earlier studies assumed that the earnings returns relation is homogeneous across firms. These studies, however, disprove this assumption and indeed show that the value relevance of earnings and cash flows depends on the permanence or transitoriness of these measures. The present study goes a step further to examine whether the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and whether it depends on the transitoriness of earnings. 2.2 Research HypothesIs Empirical evidence supports that earnings are valued more than cash flows in the marketplace. Extant evidence though on the incremental information content of cash flows beyond earnings in different countries when earnings are transitory has been inconclusive (Barth et al., 2004, Bartov et al., 2001). The inconclusive results in prior studies, and the limited research on this issue provide motivation for this study. The research hypothesis to be tested is: Hypothesis 1: The value relevance of cash flows improves when earnings are transitory, whereas the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory. The framework developed thus far suggests that both earnings levels and changes have explanatory power when they are included simultaneously in explaining stock returns. Earning changes are used as a proxy for unexpected earnings, following the assumption that earnings follow a random walk. Based on these arguments, in developing the theoretical framework on the transitoriness of earnings, it is proposed that annual earnings follow an Integrated Moving Average, IMA (1,1) process, which includes both levels and changes, i.e. permits for both transitory and permanent components. IMA was chosen because prior theoretical and empirical evidence shows that annual earnings follow a random walk (Cheng et al., 1996; Easton and Harris, 1991). This hypothesis predicts that the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory and therefore, the value relevance of cash flows improves in all three countries when earnings are transitory. The issue of the time permanence of earnings has raised the stimulus in the present study in examining the role of operating cash flows when earnings are transitory. As Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996) argue, earnings may contain transitory items with limited valuation implications. For example, transitory items that may be included are current and long- term accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition (through asset sales) of increases in market value previously (or currently), one-time impact on income from changes in accounting standards etc. Moreover, because of compensation contracts and debt covenants are often based on reported accounting income, incentives exist for managers to introduce transitory elements in earnings. Dechow (1994) and Charitou et al (2001) also argue that because management has some discretion over the recognition of accruals, this can be used to manipulate earnings. Following Ali and Zarowin (1992) and Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996), included in the theoretical framework, both levels and changes in order to characterise the unexpected components of earnings, whereas they also include levels and changes of cash flows from operations. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that when earnings are transitory the earnings response coefficients (ERCs) on both levels and changes will have reduced significance in explaining security returns. In this situation the importance of cash flows from operations will be greater. As in Freeman and Tse (1992) and Ali (1994) transitory elements are more likely to be present when unexpected earning values are large relative to price. Hence in the model [58], the coefficients c1t + c2t and c3t+ c4t represent the estimates of the earnings and cash flow response coefficients when earnings are mainly permanent. The coefficients c5t+ c6t and c7t+ c8t capture the additional information content of earnings and cash fl ows for firms with predominantly transitory earnings. It is expected c5t+ c6t to be negative and c7t+ c8t to be positive. In summary, following the aforementioned theoretical framework, I hypothesize that the incremental information content of cash flows from operations is expected to increase as the permanence of earnings decreases (see also Freeman and Tse, 1992; Ali, 1994; and Cheng, Liu and Schafer, 1996. Prior studies that examined earnings transitoriness include Cheng et al (1996) for the USA and Charitou et al (2000) for the UK. Prior studies have not examined the role of the cash flows when earnings are transitory in both Anglo-Saxon and code law countries. 3.0 Research Design 3.1 Dataset All industrial firms that belong in the Manufacturing Industry (SIC 100-4299, 4400-4799), Retail Industry (SIC 5000-5999) and Service Industry (SIC 7000-8999) from the USA, UK and France over the recent nine year period were selected. Industrial firms that had all the information available for the computation of operating cash flows, operating earnings and security returns were included in the sample, resulting in the following firm-year observations for the recent nine year period: USA =36695, UK =4234 and France = 1181. Consistent with prior empirical studies, observations that were regarded as outliers were excluded from the sample, i.e. observations with absolute change in earnings/market value, absolute change in cash flows/market value, earnings/market value and cash flow/market value greater than 150%. Also observations that were in excess of three absolute studentized residuals were considered outliers and were excluded from the sample. These restrictions resulted in approxim ate reduction of the sample size of about 2%, which is consistent with prior empirical studies. Therefore, the final sample size used for regression analysis purposes equals to 35872 firm-year observations for the USA sample, 4178 firm-year observations for the UK sample and 1165 firm-year observations for the French sample. 3.2 Measurement of financial and market variables In order to examine whether investors in UK, USA and France take into consideration in their investment decisions the levels and changes of earnings and cash flows, independent of each other, the following univariate regression model will be used: Univariate (Simple Regression) Model: RETit = b0 + biXi + eI (1) where: Xi: is replaced by: E: Operating Earnings ÃŽâ€E: Change in operating-earnings CFO: Operating cash flows ÃŽâ€CFO: Change in operating cash flows. RETit: stock return for firm i measured over a 12-month return interval ending three months after the fiscal-year-end. b0: the intercept term bi: slope coefficient ei: error term In order to test whether both the levels and changes of earnings and cash flows are valued differently in the capital markets, namely in USA, UK and France, the following multivariate regression model will be used: 3.3 Permanent vs transitory earnings models: In order to investigate the role of permanence of earnings, the basic regression model that includes the level and changes of earnings and cash flows will be extended to include additional dummy variables. The following model will be tested: RETit = c0 + c1Eit + c2 „Eit + c3CFOit + c4 „CFOit + c5Eit*D + c6 „Eit*D + c7CFOit*D + c8 „CFOit*D + eit where RETit= Security returns for the year, Eit = operating earnings CFOit = operating cash flows for firm i in period t,  „ denotes the change in a variable, eit is the error term for firm i in period t D is a dummy variable taking a value of one when earnings are transitory and zero otherwise. Consistent with Cheng et al. (1996), two alternative definitions are used to determine D. Under one approach, D equals 1 (0) when |  „Eit/ Pit-1 | is greater than (less than) its yearly cross-sectional median (Ali, 1994). Under the second approach, firms are ranked each year according to their Eit/ Pit-1 , placing firms with positive Eit/ Pit-1 into the first nine groups with equal number of firms per group and firms with negative earnings in the tenth group. Earnings are classified in the bottom two and top two groups as transitory (D=1) and earnings in the middle six groups as permanent (D=0) (Ali and Zarowin, 1992, Charitou et al, 2001). 4.0 EMPIRICAL RESULTS 4.1. Descriptive Statistics Table 1 presents basic descriptive statistics for all the earnings, cash flows and security returns variables examined in the study for all three countries (USA, UK and France) for the recent nine year period. Results indicate the following: a) the mean security return for UK and USA is the highest (0.092 and 0.08, respectively), whereas in France is somewhat lower, 0.055, b) the mean earnings level is higher for UK (0.057) and lowest for USA. For the French dataset the mean of earnings levels is 0.037; c) the mean of the cash flow levels is shown to be the highest for the French dataset (0.184) and lower for UK and USA (0.123 and 0.057, respectively); d) as expected the standard deviation of the levels and changes of cash flows is always higher than the level and changes of earnings in all three countries. These results are consistent with the results provided in prior empirical studies. Moreover, untabultated correlation analysis results indicate that there are no significant corre lations that may possibly affect the results. 4.2. Regression analysis results 4.2.1 Univariate and multivariate regression analysis results on the value relevance of earnings and cash flows for the USA, UK and France. Univariate results presented in table 2 indicate the following. First, as far as the value relevance of earnings is concerned, as expected, the results indicate that both the levels and changes in earnings are positive and statistically significant in all three countries. Interestingly, the size of the levels of earnings and the size of the changes in earnings is approximately equal in all three countries, in spite of the fact that the French financial reporting system is much more conservative. Specifically, the coefficients of the level of earnings are 0.759, 0.767 and 0.793 for the USA, the UK, and France, respectively. The coefficients of the changes in earnings are 0.701, 0.612 and 0.669, for the US, UK and France, respectively. As far as the R2 is concerned, results indicate that French earnings (levels and changes) are more value relevant than the earnings in the USA and the UK, even though the financial reporting system in France in more conservative. The R2 for the level of earnings is 11.20%, 8.80% and 6.70% for France, the UK and the USA. The same ranking applies to the changes in earnings, although the R2 is somewhat lower, indicating that the level of earnings is more value relevant than the changes in earnings. As far as the value relevance of cash flows is concerned, as expected, results indicate that cash flows are value relevant in all three countries. All the coefficients of the levels and changes in cash flows are positive and statistically significant. The size of the coefficients of cash flows as well as the magnitude of the R2 are somewhat higher in the Anglo-Saxon countries, suggesting that cash flows could be less value relevant in France. Moreover, as it was expected the size of the earnings coefficients and the magnitude of the R2 are relatively higher than the equivalent cash flow statistics. These results are consistent with our hypotheses, expectations and consistent with prior empirical evidence. This is due to the fact that earnings are considered more value relevant in the stock markets. 4.2.2 Multivariate regression analysis results for examining the valuation of earnings and cash flows when the earnings are transitory. Hypothesis 1 predicts that the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory and thus, the value relevance of cash flows is expected to improve in all three countries when earnings are transitory. The issue of the earnings permanence has raised the stimulus in the present study in examining the role of operating cash flows when earnings are transitory. As Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996) argue, earnings may contain transitory items with limited valuation implications. For example, transitory items that may be included are accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition through sale of assets of previous periods, increases in market value, one-time impact on income from changes in accounting standards etc. Moreover, because of compensation contracts and debt covenants are usually based on profit, incentives exist for managers to introduce transitory elements in earnings and thus manipulate earnings. Results in Table 3 provide evidence to support hypothesis 1, that is, when earnings are transitory the role of earnings in stock markets decreases and the role of cash flows improves. Consistent with prior studies and with my theoretical framework, I included in my multivariate regression model in Table 3 both the level and changes of earnings and cash flows (Cheng, Liu and Schafer, 1996), in order to characterise the unexpected components of earnings and the unexpected components of cash flows from operations. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that when earnings are transitory the earnings response coefficients on both levels and changes will have reduced significance in explaining security returns. In this situation the importance of cash flows from operations will be greater. Therefore, in the model in Table 3, the coefficients c1t + c2t and c3t+ c4t represent the estimates of the earnings and cash flow response coefficients when earnings are mainly permanent. The coeff icients c5t+ c6t and c7t+ c8t capture the additional information content of earnings and cash flows for firms with predominantly transitory earnings. It is expected that c5t+ c6t to be negative and c7t + c8t to be positive. Specifically, results in Table 3 indicate the following. First, as expected, the sum of the coefficients of earnings (c3+c4) are positive and statistically significant in all three countries, the USA, the UK and France. These results indicate that in all three countries, the earnings are taken into consideration in the valuation of stock prices by security analysts and investors. Second, as expected, the sum of the coefficients of cash flows is positive and statistically significant in all three countries. Again, these results show that cash flows are important to security analysts and investors in the USA, the UK and France for stock valuation purposes. These results are consistent with the results provided thus far in all previous models. Third, the sum of the coefficients of earnings c5+c6 is negative and statistically significant in all three countries, the UK, the USA and France. These results are consistent with my expectations and with my hypothesis. These results mean that wh en earnings are transitory, i.e. when the variation of the earnings compare to stock prices is relatively high (in the present study above its median), then the stock market does not perceive this information as good news and the relative importance of earnings on stock prices decreases. This is measured by the sum of the coefficients of (c1+c2) + (c5+c6). To give an example to make things clearer, let us assume that earnings are stable, not transitory. In that case the effect of earnings on stock prices in the UK will be 5.65 (sum of coefficients of earnings c1+c2). In contrast, when earnings are transitory for a firm in the UK, the effect of earnings on stock prices will not be 5.65 as above, but it will be 5.65 minus 4.933 (b5+b6), which is 0.68 only. So for, stable or permanent earnings firms in the UK the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.65 whereas for transitory earnings firms the effect of earnings on stock prices in the UK is only 0.68. As far as the USA and France is concerned the results are consistent with the UK results just discussed. Specifically, in the USA results indicate that when earnings are permanent the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.88 (c1+c2), but when earnings are transitory (not permanent), then the effect of earnings on stock prices is only 1.08 (i.e. 5.88 minus 4.8 or c1+c2 minus c5+c6). Results in France also support the results of the UK and the USA. French results in Table 20 indicate that when earnings are permanent, the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.66 (c1+c2), but when earnings are transitory (not permanent), then the effect of earnings on stock prices is only 1.15 (ie., 5.66 minus 4.51 or c1+c2 minus c5+c6). Fourth, as hypothesised, results in Table 3 support that the cash flow variables are taken into consideration by investors in investment decisions. Specifically, the sum of the coefficients of cash flows c3+c4 is positive and statistically significant in all three countries. For example, in the UK it is 0.15, in the USA it is 0.095 and in France is 0.18. These results are consistent with the results provided thus far in all previous models and hypotheses. Fifth, as hypothesised, results in Table 3 support that when earnings are transitory, investors and security analysts in the UK and the USA pay more attention to cash flows. This is evidenced by the sum of the coefficients of cash flows c7+c8. For example, in the UK when earnings are transitory, stock prices are affected more by 0.03 (c7+c8) from changes in cash flows. Similarly, in the USA, when earnings are transitory, stock prices are affected by 0.02 more from changes in cash flows. These results are very interesting because they show that in Anglo-Saxon countries such as the USA and the UK, investors do pay additional attention to cash flows because they do know that earnings are of lower value when they are transitory. On the other hand, consistent with prior evidence in previous models and tables of this study, French analysts and investors pay more attention to earnings because their code law system make financial reporting in France much more conservative, and thus the varia bility of earnings is not that high as the variability of earnings in the UK and the USA. Sixth, in all countries examined, results support that the model is statistically significant and the variation of stock returns as explained by the R2 is 15.6 in the UK, 12.8 in the USA and 17.2% in France. In summary, results presented in Table 3 support my hypothesis that when earnings are transitory (not permanent), investors pay less attention to earnings and more attention to cash flows. 5.0 Conclusions Consistent with our hypotheses and our expectations, these results indicate that earnings and cash flow information is country specific, that is investors and financial analysts pay different attention to earnings and cash flows depending on the country under investigation and on whether earnings are transitory or permanent. Specifically, results indicate that earnings and cash flows are perceived differently by investors, depending on the country to which they belong. When earnings are transitory, investors in Anglo-Saxon countries penalize more these firms because the effect of earnings on stock returns is much more negative (c5+c6= -4.933 and -4.8 for UK and USA, respectively, whereas it is only -4.51 for France). The results of this study have practical implications as well and should be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially with the latest events that are taking place, and the major collapses of giant organizations worldwide such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, among others. Regulatory bodies, investors, financial analysts and the financial press, blamed among others, the possible manipulation of financial information supplied to the investors by these organizations. The question raised, is whether this type of information is taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Genocide in Sudan Essay -- Africa Political History
Since gaining its independence in 1956 from the United Kingdom and Egypt, Sudan has been a country stricken with violence. This violence continues on even today in the form of genocide. The genocide committed in this country has horrified the international community for the last 15 years. According to the Washington Post, over 450,000 Sudanese have died as a result of fighting, famine, or disease since 2003 alone. There are several factors that contribute to the all out violence between the Sudanese people. The first factor is the multicultural make up of the Sudan. Sudan is a country with hundreds of tribes that do not see themselves in a nationalistic light. This is a major cause of the internal fight of Sudan. The second is China’s influence over Sudan. China is currently the largest importer of Sudan’s natural resources, and has supplied North Sudan with arms and finances. China has also ignored most of the UN sanctions placed against Sudan. The third is Sudan’s neighboring countries. Most of these countries have experienced some sort of turmoil themselves over the last 20 years, and contribute to a good portion of displaced persons found in Sudan. Unless the Sudanese can address these factors, violence will continue in the Sudan. Firstly, one must consider the multicultural composition of Sudan. Being the largest country in Africa, Sedan has approximately 600 tribes within their borders. Tribes in the North are considered Arab tribes, and tribes in the South are considered African or non-Arab. Many of these tribes have unique cultures of their own. Take South Sudan for example, according to Peter Gatluak of the Sudan Vision Daily, â€Å"They do not see themselves as South Sudanese... ...nter for Transitional Justice , 1. Deeb, S. E. (2011). North Sudan faces its likely truncated future. Associate Press , 1. Gatluak, P. C. (2011). Focus on the South. Sudan Vision Daily , 1. noted, N. a. (2008, Feb 22). China defends arms sales to Sudan. BBC News , p. 1. Noted, N. A. (2007, May 9). Darfour watch: China, Russia still supplying weapons used in attacks. The World Tribune , p. 1. Noted, N. A. (2011, Jan 15). South Sudan referendum wraps up. Bloomberg News , p. 1. Noted, N. (2010, Decmber 1). South Sudan’s secession will rid the country from 3 "lousy neighbors": official. Sudan Tribune , p. 1. Solomon, L. (2010, Dec 09). Lawrence Solomon: To Islam’s dismay, a new oil nation is born. Financial Post , p. 1. State, U. D. (2010). Travel Warning, Chad. US Department of State. Walker, R. (2010, Nov 20). Hello country number 193. The Economist , p. 1.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Oil Drilling
Have you ever seen an animal covered in sludge, helpless and weak? Offshore oil drilling is one of our world’s biggest concerns. Offshore oil drilling is the discovery of finding oil or gasoline resources underwater. Usually the oil is found off the coasts of each continent and can also be found in lakes and small seas. Drilling for oil provides the energy to make fuels for cars and other machinery. Many different platforms can be used for offshore oil drilling such as drill ships, jack up barges, steel jackets, and semi-submersibles for deeper water areas. The issue at hand is that oil drilling can lead to oil spills into oceans, seas, and lakes and can harm the environment. Barge collisions, explosions, leaks, spills, and pipeline corrosion are all key factors in the harmful effects of oil drilling. Drilling leads to pollution in the environment and kills many organisms and aquatic animals. Animals play a key role in society, especially the marine animals. Long term effects create damage to the food chain, fisheries, health, the ecosystem balance, and enjoyment of nature. Oil spills harm the lives of marine life and the federal government allows them to be killed during gas and oil drilling. When explosives are used to remove the oil rigs, pipelines can be demolished the oil will spill everywhere. Aquatic life is endangered around these oil rigs and causes many hatchlings not to be brought into the world. Sea turtles are attracted to bright lights and if the oil rig has created an explosion, they will head toward that direction, endangering their own lives for vicious predators along the way. Not only is marine life affected, but birds. Many types of birds are endangered as well like ducks, seagulls, and pelicans. If the ocean is polluted with toxic oil and they decide to swim in it, all the oil will get stuck on their feathers not allowing them to fly. Oil drilling is dangerous and can lead to the extinction of many animals. The United States needs oil, but offshore drilling is not the way to get it. There are plenty of other alternatives we can use to create gasoline such an ethanol. Ethanol uses agricultural products to make an alternative gas product and it has proven to proven to be cost effective. The U. S. should also use hybrid cars and electric vehicles instead of relying on oil. Forms of transportation should also be aware of the oil efficiency and should begin using smart growth to make less pollution and reduce gridlock. Air pollution will be cut and the amount of oil used will be reduced for a better environment. Offshore oil drilling does provide large amounts of oil, but there should be a limit on how much should be consumed at one given time. Another key factor of oil drilling is the cost. President Barack Obama has come up with energy proposals to help the environment and cut the costs our nation has put on oil. â€Å"In order to save energy and taxpayer dollars, my administration is doubling the number of hybrid vehicles in the federal fleet, even as we seek to reduce the number of cars and trucks used by our government overall,†Obama said. His plans are too drill along the Southern Atlantic coastlines and move away from Alaska, for it is too dangerous and risky for the environment. Expanding drilling is definitely not the solution our country needs and therefore; something needs to be done. Since the land that is going to be drilled cannot provide a base for offshore drilling as it does for onshore drilling, an artificial platform must be created. This artificial platform can take many forms, depending on the characteristics of the well to be drilled, including how far underwater the drilling target is. One of the most important pieces of equipment for offshore drilling is the subsea drilling template. Essentially, this piece of equipment connects the underwater well site to the drilling platform on the surface of the water. This device, resembling a cookie cutter, consists of an open steel box with multiple holes in it, dependent on the number of wells to be drilled. This drilling template is placed over the well site, and usually lowered into the exact position required using satellite and GPS technology. A relatively shallow hole is then dug, in which the drilling template is cemented into place. The drilling template, secured to the sea floor and attached to the drilling platform above with cables, allows for accurate drilling to take place, but allows for the movement of the platform, which will inevitably be affected by shifting wind and water currents. There are two basic types of offshore drilling rigs: those that can be moved from place to place, allowing for drilling in multiple locations, and those rigs that are permanently placed. Moveable rigs are often used for exploratory purposes because they are much cheaper to use than permanent platforms. Once large deposits of hydrocarbons have been found, a permanent platform is built to allow their extraction. The sections below describe a number of different types of moveable offshore platforms. Drilling barges are used mostly for inland, shallow water drilling. This typically takes place in lakes, swamps, rivers, and canals. Drilling barges are large, floating platforms, which must be towed by tugboat from location to location. Suitable for still, shallow waters, drilling barges are not able to withstand the water movement experienced in large open water situations. Semisubmersible rigs are the most common type of offshore drilling rigs, combining the advantages of submersible rigs with the ability to drill in deep water. A semisubmersible rig works on the same principle as a submersible rig: through the ‘inflating' and ‘deflating' of its lower hull. The main difference with a semisubmersible rig, however, is that when the air is let out of the lower hull, the rig does not submerge to the sea floor. Instead, the rig is partially submerged, but still floats above the drill site. When drilling, the lower hull, filled with water, provides stability to the rig. Semisubmersible rigs are held in place by huge anchors, each weighing upwards of 10 tons. These anchors, combined with the submerged portion of the rig, ensure that the platform is stable and safe enough to be used in turbulent offshore waters. Semisubmersible rigs can be used to drill in much deeper water than the rigs mentioned above. Drillships are exactly as they sound: ships designed to carry out drilling operations. These boats are specially designed to carry drilling platforms out to deep-sea locations. A typical drillship will have, in addition to all of the equipment normally found on a large ocean ship, a drilling platform and derrick located on the middle of its deck. In addition, drillships contain a hole (or ‘moonpool'), extending right through the ship down through the hull, which allows for the drill string to extend through the boat down into the water. Drillships are often used to drill in very deep water, which can often be turbulent. Drillships use what is known as ‘dynamic positioning' systems. Drillships are equipped with electric motors on the underside of the ship’s hull, capable of propelling the ship in any direction. These motors are integrated into the ship’s computer system, which uses satellite positioning technology, in conjunction with sensors located on the drilling template, to ensure that the ship is directly above the drill site at all times. Offshore oil drilling creates disasters not only in the ocean or seas, but generates explosions of the oil rig itself. Bits and pieces of the rig can rust at the bottom of the ocean and endanger precious reefs and homes of animals. I believe offshore oil drilling is a mistake and should be limited around the world. There are plenty of renewable energy sources to survive off of. Fuels can be costly but the environment would be a safer place to live in. Having a limited supply of oil can save millions of aquatic lives and provide worries from environmentalists will be satisfied. Drilling should be banned all together to save human lives as well. Many have been lost because of accidental explosives. Hopefully oil drilling will end soon and promote the general welfare of living in a clean, oil-free environment. Works Cited http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2525743/posts http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2010/03/201033118235692566.html
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