Tax & Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tax & Ethics - Essay Example This paper will evaluate the role of companies, their professionals, and HM Revenue and Customs and will discuss whether ethical principles should be applied to the payment of tax. The four major sources used for drafting this paper are BBC, The Guardian, KPMG, and HMRC, because these sources were found potential for providing analytical information about the topic under consideration. However, only facts and figures have been mainly taken from such sources, for news reports tend to be biased depending on the reporters’ personal outlook. A BBC report dated on 21st November 2012 reflects that UK lost billions in lost revenues as a result of corporate tax avoidance by multinational corporations. The report points out that new tax avoidance schemes are emerging each year and the situation makes it difficult for HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) to curb this issue. According to National Audit Office, taxation authorities identified nearly 2,300 avoidance schemes between 2004 and 2011 (ibid). Since the actual figures of tax avoidance are not available, the UK government cannot estimate the accurate amount of loss. It has been identified that specialist tax advisers suggest best tax avoidance schemes for their clients; and this practice significantly contributes to the issue. Recently, Margaret Hodge walloped the big four accounting firm for helping companies avoid corporate taxes (as cited in Toynbee 2011). According to another BBC report dated on 3rd December 2012, some leading multinational companies including Starbucks, Amazon, and Google were severely criticised by UK government authorities for paying little or no tax. The UK government officials point that it is unfair for these companies to practice different schemes to avoid corporate taxes despite the fact that their UK operations account for hundreds of millions of pounds (BBC 2012). UK Prime Minister David Cameron states that international co-operation is necessary to tackle this issue because some for ms of tax avoidance are very difficult to address (David Cameron). In order to publicly express UK’ stance on tax avoidance, the HM Revenue & Customs publicly named top tax dodgers for the first time (as cited in King). Reportedly, Starbucks, Google, and Amazon are the three major multinational corporations that have practiced schemes to avoid corporate taxes. In addition, small businesses including Cheshire wine merchant, Menemis, and Brian Clifford Tattersall were also criticised for tax avoidance. Yet another BBC report says that Starbucks sold goods worth ?400m in UK in 2001 but paid nothing in corporate taxes (BBC news Business 2012). Starbucks managed to avoid corporate taxes by transferring some of its funds to a sister company in the form of royalty payments, buying coffee beans from Switzerland, and paying high interests rates other parts of the business in the account of borrowing (ibid). Similarly, on the strength of some well structured schemes, Google also notabl y reduced the amount paid in corporate taxes. As per reports, Google could trim down its tax bill by approximately $1bn a year by transferring profits to subsidiaries having low tax rates (O’Carroll 2011). A subsidiary located in Bermuda assisted Google to save nearly $3.1bn over a period of three years because corporate tax rate is zero in Bermuda (ibid). In response to this criticism, a Google spokesperson said: â€Å"we have an obligation to our shareholders to set up a tax-efficient

Sam 488 unit 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sam 488 unit 5 - Assignment Example As argued by Fay (2011), the mechanism that defines the user access control is based on the elements that are necessary for an effective visitor access control system. Some of these elements include the access control directory, specific users, specific locations, and AICs principles. It is also important to note that these elements directly operate under the access control principles. In this case, the authentication provided by the user in the bind operation, when the security server receives a request that is defined in the server, allows or deny access to directory information. The Selection, purchase, installation, and operation of security devices that promote restricted security for safety are very critical to the security system. In this case, the purchase and installation of the locking devices for security purposes also depends on a number of factors. Some of these factors include the security cameras to be used, type of the locking devices, card readers, and a proper response protocol (Fay, 2011). Motion detectors are employed to successfully guard an in-house perimeter that has proven highly unpredictable for a circuit alarms. Using the reflective effects of certain waves, the motion detector is a device that seeks a disturbance situation in the room when an intruder enters the parameter, and the reflection pattern is disturbed. The sensor sends a signal, when this happens, and the door opens to send an alarm signal ultimately (Fay, 2011). The ultrasonic motion detectors work or s employed efficiently using the sound waves. When the movements disrupt the air and the sound waves, the sensors sound alerts of intrusion. Automatically, the waves strike objects within the field of detection and as long as there is no movement, the waves are not disrupted. Otherwise, the sound waves become interrupted and are reflected back to the receiver of the security system. The principle

Stress is a social construct. Discuss Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Stress is a social construct. Discuss - Essay Example What stress does to the psyche of man is something to gain comprehension from. This has put the different manifestations of mankind under quite a lot of worry since criminal issues have come to the fore due to stress and its different predicaments. This paper will outline the ways and means through which stress could be seen from a psychological perspective and under the auspices of the criminological fields. Research within the related domains of psychology has revealed that stress causes quite a number of problems for the people who are in authority positions. These people seem to experience stress when they are denied their due rights by the people who are senior to them or have more commanding dignity than them. Then there are other issues within these positions like gender harassment, inequality in wages, non-payment of dues, denial of leaves, etc which makes them feel even more stressed than they were before. Thus it would not be wrong to suggest that stress is one such tangent that negatively reinforces one’s energy levels to do something wrong or one that is ethically unacceptable. Having said that criminology takes its basis from similar settings of stress, and therefore the fact that criminology has been highlighted as a significant aspect in the studies related with psychology of stress and anxiety has all the more bearing on the subject at hand. Stress makes the worker s feel disjointed from their work regimes; they lack the alertness when it comes to their respective performance levels and have an overall feel of dizziness and boredom on the job (Desmond 2001). They want to do something different but the daily grind of work starts to take its toll on their bodies. The fact that they are not given the room to exploit their true strengths and just concentrate upon getting the job at hand done for the sake of meeting the deadlines, makes them feel itchy and irritated. Thus stress starts triggering them for

Exploring Song Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exploring Song - Essay Example This paper is an analysis of the poem, â€Å"Dear March, Come In!† in a musical setting. It will explain the choices made in order to place the song in a musical setting. It will then compare the poem with a recorded version of the song, â€Å"Dream Variations† and finally draw conclusions on whether there were any effects of the recorded version of the song to the poem. Part I: Poem Analysis in a Musical Setting The poem, â€Å"Dear March, Come In!† is a cheerful song, one in which the author expresses joy and happiness in the arrival of the month of March. In the poem, the speaker, while expressing his joy to the arrival of March, uses different expressions and words to explain his feelings. In a musical setting, I would use the through-composed form of music in order to express these feelings of the speaker. Since through-composed form contains different music for every stanza, and the poem has different ideas and mixed feelings in the various stanzas, then, t his would be the best way to go about the song. In a musical setting, using the correct singers, combined with the right instruments is the best way of creating the best record song. In a musical setting, due to the high range of the poem, I would use singers with a high range of voice, signifying the mood of the song, which is cheerful. As the song starts, I would use baritone, which is the voice falling between tenor and bass. Coupling this with tenor, which is the highest male voice, I would get a good combination expressing the speaker’s feelings in the song. The entire sing would then have a rich tenor. However, there would be the harmony in the singer’s voices in the last stanza. These, combined with the piano, a saxophone and a violin would blend well enough to make a great piece. While creating a musical setting of the poem, I would use a number of musical elements in order to get the right combination and come up with a great piece. Texture in a song, often re garded as the density, thickness, range, or width between the lowest and the highest pitches, determines the relationship between the various voices in a particular song (Stein 64). A song texture comprises of the monophony, homophony or polyphony. While monophony describes a clear text setting, polyphony describes a less clear setting. Since the poem, â€Å"Dear March, Come In!† has a clear text setting, I would use monophony in the first and second stanzas, but later switch briefly to homophony at the beginning of the third stanza to the line, â€Å"As soon as you have come†, but pick up homophony from the line, â€Å"That blame is just as dear as praise.† Tone in a song describes the system or the language of music, describing the hierarchical relationship between the pitch, based on the key centre. Tone in a song could be either happy or sad (Rumery web). In a musical setting of the poem, â€Å"Dear March, Come In†, there are tonal variations in the v erses, as the singer expresses his emotions to March. At the beginning, the author indicates a cheerful tone, one that shows delight and the happiness of the singer, in celebration of March. However, after the stay and April knocks on the door, the author shows reluctance in opening the door. This shows some of sadness, after realizing that match is about to leave. Analysis and Comparison After listening to the recorded version of the song, it is possible to draw a number of conclusions.

How an ideal life is to be led by men Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How an ideal life is to be led by men - Essay Example Ultimately, Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics provide different discourses on the different kinds of love, and through Socrates' conversation with Diotima, it is concluded that through love, in the purest and most powerful form, men may arrive at the highest good. In Plato's symposium, different speeches in praise of Eros was given about how great a god he is. Phaedrus began by saying how Eros was a great god, and went on to explain that love, above everything else, is the driving force of man in living a good life. He goes on to justify that love in its superior form, is one wherein a lover is willling to die for another, citing the case of Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, who was willing to die to be able to gain entrance to the underworld to be with her lover (Plato 179c). Pausanias spoke about love of the "common" and "heavenly" kind. The common love is that which falls on ove with the body rather than the mind, and is concerned with merely the sexual act, while the heavenly love is that is free from lust, and is based on friendship and a lifetime together (Plato 180e). Pausanias also claimed that open love is better than secret love. He concludes by saying that love does not come in only one form, and love is neither right nor wrong as well, but only depends on how it is done. Eryximachus approves the dualities presented by Pausanias yet he attempts to reconcile the physical and spiritual kind of love, and in respect to his profession, cites the human anatomy and physiology as an example. He claims that just like the body, there are good and healthy elements that need to be satisfied, while there are bad and unhealthy elements that need to be kept away from (Plato 186c). Aristophanes, on the other hand, relates love to the myth that says that originally, the human being had four legs, four hands, two heads, etc. and that it was just then divided into male and female, that is why in love, two people would come together and unite as one body and one soul (Plato 190). Agathon, however, argued that love is from where all things are created. All these arguments eventually lead to the summation of all their arguments that are better said in the encounter of Socrates with Diotima. What Diotima basically preaches is that as there are many forms of love, it is neither beautiful nor good, and is neither ugly nor bad. As such, it does not really follow that what is not beautiful is ugly and that what is not bad is good (Plato 202b). In a nutshell, true happiness is found in true beauty, which is, as the clich goes, in the eyes of the beholder, and is recognized only by the mind. This powerful and purest form of love, according to Diotima, is the highest form of happiness that which man aims for. If Plato's Symposium speaks about happiness in the pursuit of love, Arostitle's Nicomahcean Ethics discusses ethics and virtue in the pursuit of happiness. The Nichomachean Ethics of Aristotle begins with the premise that "every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason, the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim." (Aristotle 363) Aristotle poses that there are different goods for which different people aim for, yet at the end of it all, it is happines that is being pursued. Furthermore, Aristotle focuses his Nichomachean ethics on virtues and that for a person to be able to succeed in his aims to

Battle of art and science Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Battle of art and science - Research Proposal Example Richard Dawkins, a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and an accepted science writer was also a professor at New College, Oxford. In 1982, his prominence was further accepted due to his contribution to the field with the theory described in his book The Extended Phenotype, that the phenotypic impact of a gene isn’t restricted to just the body of the organism, but was capable of spreading out into the environment, influencing other organisms as well. Dawkins, an atheist, cynic, methodical rationalist, and an advocator of the Darwin’s theory of natural selection was a loud critic of religion. Dawkins argued that a paranormal creator was non-existent and that belief meets the criteria of a delusion, a permanent misbelieve. Dawkins has established the foundation theory which was presented in the volume Adaptation and Natural Selection authored by George C. Williams's. He presented the term selfish gene as a means of articulating the gene-centric theory of evolution, which give out the idea that evolution, was best observed as acting on genes and that selection at the organism level almost never dominates selection based on genes. Dawkins was of the opinion that organism tries to evolve to capitalize on its inclusive fitness i.e., the numerous replicas of its genes passed on globally rather than by a certain individual. This led to populations being headed towards an evolutionarily stable approach.

The Sinking of the Aragon Essay Example for Free

The Sinking of the Aragon Essay With the outbreak of world one war the royal mail moved its home port to Newport, South Wales. However the Brittish government was in dire need of battle ships to strengthen their naval force. Many ships were converted from simply postal delivery vessels into war ready troop carrying ships. One of these ships was the Aragon The Aragon built in harland and wolf in Belfast was 9588 tons and could carry 306 first class 66 second class and 632 third class passengers. It was launched on the 23rd of Febuary 1905. The following information was gathered from an unsigned letter written by an officer of the Aragon to a Mr.  John William Hannay the father of a VAD on board the Aragon on her way to serve in palestine and Egypt. For two weeks the Aragon laid at anchor in the shelter of the harbour at Marseilles. Every day they would await sailing orders. At last they recieved orders and the ship, set sail. It set of in company with another transporter ship called the Nile and also with an escort of destroyers. On board there was 160 nursing sisters, 150 military officers, 2200 troops and the ships own officers and crew. In total there was 2700 poeople on board the Aragon. One of these men was my great grand uncle Thomas Cassin who was an Irish man and inlisted as a British solider. Along with the thousands of people on board ready to serve there was also 2500 bags of Christmas destined for Egypt. From Marseilles they set sail to Malta in safety. However There was some fierce weather and the sea became quite heavy. Many became sick. Miss Hannay the VAD nurse being sick for just one day. They arrived at the windy bay in Malta on the 23rd of December where they remained for four days until the 27th. They spent their Christmass holidays here in safety. On the fourth day they set out to sail again still in the company of the NIle and a fresh escort of destroyers. There were three destroyers in number, two of which were Japanese and the other British. They arrived near their destination, Alexandria Egypt, on the 30th of December in the morning. The port was just becoming visible to the naked eye on the horizion. Everyone was very excited to reach shore and every vantage point on the boat was filled with eager passengers looking on ward at the port. Many had packed their luggage and were already attired for disembarkation. It was heard that many were congradulating themselves on a safe voyage. The Aragon with the British destroyer Attack was entering the channel that leads to the port. They were already past the first buoy which indicated entrance into the channel. At this point a wireless message was intercepted from trawlers in the channels that there were mines further on. The Attack, being the senior ship, imediately signalled to the Aragon to follow them as they turned seawards. The trawelers which were there to direct the ships through the channel were doing the same and retreating. The Aragon had to keep well away from the buoy that they had already passed by when entering the port. Unkown to both the Aragon and the Attack there was a German submarine lurking in the depths of the waters right beside the buoy. It was unable to fire before because of the close proximity of the ship, if they did they would have endangered their own submarine. However now that the Aragon was turning seawards, she presented a perfect target for the Germans who took full advantage. The officers of the Aragon on duty on the bridge saw the periscope of the submarine and at the next instant the wake of a torpedo which was heading straight for the ship. In a desperate effort for surrvival the passengers and crew tried to turn the ship to avoid the torpedo but this was to no avail as the ship was quite slow. The explosion was a dull crashing blast and the ship shuddered violently. An officer who was on duty at the time was covered in glass as all the windows on the boat shattered. In the next instant the ship became aware to the fact that they had all been dreading. Everyone on board was at their sations in record time, orders were obeyed with precision. The first order given was the rescue of every sister. They were lowered into the rescue boats before doing anything else. This only took a few minutes and was carried out without a hitch. The boats they got on were the best in the ship and in a position to afford greatest possible facility for getting off. The Aragon sent a call for assitance to the shore and recieved a reply within seconds. By the time the sisters ships had got clear, the ship had taken a heavy list to starboard and had sunk deep astern. It remained like this for a few minutes. The Destroyer took this time to run up along side and the remaing passengers were ordered to get off. They managed to do this by attaching ropes from the Aragon to the Destoryer Attack. On other parts of the ship troops were ordered to take water as the rafts were let loose. In just moments the sea was full of struggling men. Many of the officers and troops were trying to get the remaining life boats into the water but they had become jammed by the list. The crew could now feel her sinking fast. It had become impossible to stand upon the deck. It was about fifteen minutes after the inicial explosion. The commander gave the order every man for himself! . There was a rush to get over the side of the boat but nowhere was there any sign of panic. The discipline was astounding as the troops clung on to each other, singing and cheering until they reached the water level. Then they broke into struggling masses. Then it was heard shes going and the Aragon began to sink rapidly astern. The Destroyer was still at rescue work but only one rope remained. One officer was trying to cross when they finally cut the remaining rope. He was thrown into the water between the two ships. He sank like a stone because his full uniform restricted him to swim. However he still managed to get to the surface and make his way onto the Destroyer. The Attack was full of both injured and dying. The Aragon was sinking rapidly, one could hear a roar of rushing water and smashing of internal fittings. Dozens of men still clung to the decks and at the last moment jumping into the water rather than be sucked under along with the ship. Many of their efforts for survial were futile as with the height that the bow had been raised because the ship had turned whilst it was sinking, they died on impact with the water. With a great surge, a roar of rushing water and the explosion of the ships boilers the Aragon was no more and it went beneath the surface. There was now silence over the men. The place where the ship once was, was now replaced by struggling men clinging to upturned boats and wreckage. The Destroyer was now alive with activity. As they attempted to move ahead to the safety of the harbour with all their injured on board, one man shouted and screamed and next instant there was a terrible explosion. The Destroyer was hit by another torpedo. The middle of the Destroyer had been smashed sending men flying into the air. OIl, fumes, splinters of wood and steel were sent in every direction. She broke into two halves and began to sink immedietly. Both the bow and the stern rising into the air as the middle(wher the torpedo hit) sank rapidly. Everyone jumped for the water. It was chaos around the remains of the destroyer. The only hope left for survival was two trawlers which were near at hand. Except for the trawlers the only rescue boats were the rafts from the Aragon which were already on their way to shore. Only wreckage and struggling men remained in the water, everything else had disappeared. However the rafts did an ecellent job, bringing hundreads to the trawlers near by. Other trawlers became visable on the horizon as the rushed at full speed towars the wreckage. However as the port was 80 miles away it took them some time to arrive and many men perished in this time. The temperature of the water was very cold and this contributed to some of the deaths. It took the trawlers an hour to reach the men but without them few would have survived. The VAD sisters who were the first to leave the Aragon arrived on shore at arround 2:30pm. It wasnt untill 4:30pm when the trawlers with the wounded and survivours arrived. The people on the shore were ready for them when they arrived and the wounded were rushed to hospital. In conclusion the Aragon was torpedoed 8 miles from Alexandria Egypt at 11am on Sunday December 30th 1917 and sank in twenty minutes. The escort for the Aragon the British Destroyer The Attack was also torpedoed about 5 minutes later. It took between 5 to 7 minutes to sink. The other transport ship The Nile with two Japanese destroyer escorts left the Aragon at day break, the day of the attack. They also came under submarine attack but managed to reach their destination safely. My great uncle unfortunately perished that day. It was hard for an Irish man to join the Brittish army. I imagine he would have recieved a lot of criticism for doing so, but he did what he thought was right. He fought with the allies and aggainst evil and for that my family is very proud of him.