Analysing The Financial Performance Of Three Oil Companies Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 16 Words: 4766 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Compare and contrast essay Did you like this example? For our assessment we will be analysing three companies form the oil and gas market. The companies that will be analysed are Fortune Oil PLC, Maple Energy PLC and Circle oil PLC. An introduction to the business market and the companies can be found below. Introduction to the oil and gas business market The oil and gas industry is a huge industry facing challenges and has evolved majorly. Most of the oil and gas production takes place under the seas. According to the Cambridge energy research associates, Inc oil demand may double up by 2030. To reduce the expenses of finding and producing oil and gas, new technology is used. Oil and gas provide 60 percent of the daily energy needs to 6.4 billion people and other 40 percent comes from other resources. Oil and gas represent globalization on a large scale. The market is expanding and spending billions of money for the oil and gas production. For country s long-term economic growth maintaining a steady supply of oil and gas is a necessity. Large quantities of oil and gas flows from exporting regions such as Africa, Latin America to the importing regions such as the north America, Europe and far east. This leads to political trade and economic growth. (Petroleumonline.com/Gas industry overview: 2010) Oil and gas industry is co mpeting with a global marketplace and has a higher number of stakes or stakeholders. There is no control over the demand for oil and gas in the world. It is constantly on the rise with the likes of upcoming economies like china and India playing more than an active part in their demand. (Ernst Young: 2010) Oil prices have varied from the year 2007 to 2009.During the year 2007 the average price in nominal and real 2008 US dollars soared to around 100 dollars. In the year 2009,the annual average price faced the great recession leading to loss. During the year 2008,the amount of oil production declined from 80 million barrels per day to 20 million barrels per day .Oil demand is expected to increase steadily until 2030 at about 110 million barrels per day. Iraq has a huge prize at stake for international oil companies. India and China s per capita oil consumption is at a lower level when compared to the other developed countries like UK, United states, Canada and so on. (Jim Burk hard: 2010) Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Analysing The Financial Performance Of Three Oil Companies Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Introduction to Fortune Oil PLC Fortune Oil Plc has built up a portfolio of investments and operations in oil and gas industries through various subsidiaries and joint ventures and associated infrastructure projects that supply fuel to homes and businesses in China. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange main board official list since 1993. It is headquartered in Hong Kong.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   The companys aim is to be the first integrated gas industry in China with both upstream and downstream assets. It is also expanding opportunities in the oil terminal business and is one of the Few  international companies involved in this part.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Fortune Oils assets are categorised into two main areas: oil terminal supply and natural gas. Its investments and operation s are mainly located in the Guangdong and Shanxi provinces and the Beijing hinterland. The Company is now developing coal bed methane reserves, which will integrate with our gas supply business and benefit Chinas environment.    China is the worlds second largest oil market and is also the largest growth market for natural gas. Fortune Oils gas strategy is to form an independent integrated gas company: developing their own resources of unconventional gas; sourcing gas from other producers and then selling this gas to end-users through the city gas companies or CNG vehicle stations.   Fortune Oil has already had Chinas first LNG production plant; the largest CNG station in Beijing and coal bed methane block in Shanxi Province.   At the present, there are no private or foreign companies in China with a regionally integrated gas business. Fortune Oil is now in the process of developing the Liulin block and seeking similar high quality opportunities, particularly in Shanxi Province-the largest CBM reserves in China. Fortune Oil already generates pipelines and city gas companies in the province, and is  exclusively positioned to integrate upstream CBM developments with  their gas distribution network.  Â  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  China is the world second largest purchaser and importer of crude oil. Fortune Oil first developed oil terminals in China and remains one of the few  foreign investors. Currently the company operations include supplying jet fuel to most of the airports in south and central China and distributing 6% of China crude oil imports. The company is well positioned to benefit from the accelerated growth in energy imports and future liberalization of the China oil markets under the WTO agreements Introduction to Circle Oil (plc) Circle Oil is an oil and gas company, which was founded in 2003, and aiming at providing exploration, development and manufacture service for oil-related firms in the sector (Circle Oil: 2009). In order to pursue maximal profit, a clear strategy has been outlined and carried out throughout its development which could be depicted as locating, assessing and confirming licences in new hydrocarbon regions, subsequently Circle attempt to co-operate with other oil and gas firms in manufacturing through negotiation. In addition, Circle Oils share has been traded on AIM of the London Stock Exchange since 2004 (ibid), and its stable upward trend partly reflected the companys constant progression within these years. Its business place mainly involves with MENA area, which stands for Middle East and North Africa (Circle Oil: 2009: 5). Currently it has operated in five countries including Morocco, Egypt, Oman, Tunisia and Namibia. As their strategy stated, Circle is well placed to exploit o pportunities arising from recent industry consolidation and to do business in developing countries (Circle Oil: 2009). Their business activities in those countries might also stimulate local economic development and provide more opportunities for smaller firms to cooperate in the expensive oil industry. Apart from this, MENA area is rich in natural resources including oil and gas, in spite of under development (AAPG: 2003). In terms of performance, Circle Oil has already experienced a series of years excellence (Circle Oil, 2009 p.4). Specifically, in Morocco their six wells campaign had finished in 2009, and five of them have been proven profitable. Furthermore, a new trunk line will be facilitated to enhance its selling. In Tunisia, the completed 2D land seismic programme enables them to analysis-acquired data so that laying a solid foundation for further progress in coming years. In Egypt, Circle continued its success and 10,000 barrels of oil output daily could underpin their confidence significantly. Despite of some delay in Oman and Namibia, the preparation work was conducted properly according to its plan. Based on Circle chairmans statement, a further expansion and development in those countries are expected (Circle Oil, 2009 p.5). At the same time, they would continue to look for suitable projects which in line with their belief and selecting criteria for investment. While for the long run, the company plans to acquire some medium sized reserves. Introduction to Maple Energy PLC Maple energy plc is located in Peru and it is an integrated independent energy company since 1992. Maple mainly focuses on the ethanol project and exploring and producing the crude oil and natural gas. In addition, the main aim of Maple is to ensure its leading position of energy companies in Peru. However, Maple has been admitted to AIM just from 13th July 2007 and also listed in Lima from 21st December 2007. As stated in the Maple annual report from 2007 to 2009, Peru has a significant economic growth in 2007 and 2008, however, in 2009, Perus economic growth has fallen from 9.8% to 0.8%. In particular, Maple has to pay a large amount of deposits to Peru government. The advantage of Perus economic is that it is reported as the lowest inflation country in Latin America. From 2007, Maple planned to increase its cash flow and has set the aim to continue increasing cash flow in the following years. Meanwhile, in 2008, Maple planned to develop its Ethanol Project, which had become the leading company of producing Ethanol in Peru in 2009. Further, Maple was aimed to be the leading company in Peru of energy industry in 2009 and Maple is still working on this aim. Additionally, there are several risks for Maple. Firstly, the fluctuation of ethanol price and market all over the world would affect Maples development. Secondly, the downturn of world economy would affect Perus economy, which would also affect Maple. Thirdly, the policy of government in Peru may affect Maples development and so on. How the Analysis will be conducted To find out which of the three companies discussed above we would choose to invest in several factors will be taken into consideration. Using the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement of all three companies, we will analyse the companies financial performance . The first aspect of financial performance that will be analysed is that of profitability. One of the most important aspects that we will analyse will be the Return on Shareholders Funds (ROSF). This is essential for us to know as (ROSF)ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦compares the amount of profit for the period available to the owners with the owners average stake in the business during that same period (Atrill McLaney: 2008: 188). As well as this ratio it is also essential to analyse the Return on Capital Employed (Roce).ROCE will be use as a performance measure as it ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦is a fundamental measure of business performance (Atrill McLaney: 2008: 189). Along with these the operat ing profit margin and gross profit margin will also be used to help assess the profitability of the company. Once the profitability has been assessed liquidity will be assessed. This will be done as liquidity ratios show the ability of the business to meet its short term financial obligations (Atrill McLaney: 2008: 202). The ratios that will be used to analyse the liquidity of our chosen companies will be the current ratio and the acid test ratio. The analysis will then progress to analyse how much the companies are financed by borrowing, commonly known as the Gearing Ratio (Atrill McLaney: 2008). This is important to our analysis as a heavily geared business, a change in operating profit will lead to a proportionately greater change in the ROSF ratio (Atrill McLaney: 2008: 205). The final analysis will be of the investment ratios. To analyse the investment ratios the following will be used : dividend payout ratio, Earnings per share and price/ earning ratios. Along with this rigorous analysis of performance we will also take into consideration where the companies are primarily based and what markets they primarily trade in. This is important, as already briefly discussed above; the economic growth of a countries economy can affect the companys potential for growth and the companies potential for making profit. The laws of different countries may also have positive or negative effects on a companys financial performance. The findings of our analysis for each individual company will be presented, and then we will compare our findings of the individual companies against one another. Once all the relevant financial information has been analysed our findings will be presented within this document. After this our decision on how best to invest our money will be presented drawing upon the financial analysis that we conducted. Our decision will be presented along with any information that led to this decision. The financial ratios will be displa yed in a table with a descriptive results of our analysis presented underneath, that will include what the ratios shw us and the reasons behind why we chose to invest or not invest in that particular company. Our financial analysis will begin with Fortune Oil PLC. Fortune oils ratios and descriptive analysis 2007 2008 2009 ROSF ROCE 10.41 % 10.15 % 12.4% OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN 13.3% 13.3% 10.05% GROSS PROFIT MARGIN 14.93% 14.59% 18.23% CURRENT RATIO 1.75 1.65 1.19 ACID TEST RATIO 1.7 1.57 1.1 GEARING 31.68% 21 % 13.37% EARNINGS PER SHARE 0.25 pence O.49 pence 0.47 PRICE / EARNINGS RATIO The financial ratios that can be deduced from Fortune oils financial statements are very interesting. What can be noted from all of the ratios presented is that they are all positive, this is very important especially as the oil and energy industry can be very volatile and unpredictable. (Refe rence) Ratios Of Profitability ROSF ROCE- when analysing the return on capital employed a similar trend can be noticed to that of the operating profit margin and the gross profit margin. The year 2008 shows a dip however the ROCE then increases in the year 2009. This dip can be seen to be the result current liabilities having a bigger % increase then the operating profit. However in 2009 the operating profit dramatically increases and represents the 1.89% increase in the return on capital employed Overall this financial ratio is very positive and reflects Fortune oils good financial performance in general. The gross profit margin shows Fortune oils increasing revenue, there is a slight decrease in 2008 from 2007, however in 2009 there is a big increase from both the years 2007 and 2008. The gross profit margin shows an increase in revenue. The gross profit does not take into account other expenses that will affect the business hence there is the operating profit and n et profit. However the gross profit margin is still a useful ratio. The dramatic increase in 2009 can be explained by a dramatic increase of sails through gas (Fortune Oil: 2009). Operating Profit margin Fortune Oil has a healthy operating profit margin, although it steadily decreases over the three years analysed. This is due to increases in costs of operation over the three years due to the expanding operations of Fortune Oil. Ratios Of liquidity Current Ratio In 2007 Fortune Oil had a very healthy Current Ratio, however through the years 2008 and 2009 this can be seen to decline quite dramatically. Although in 2009 the current ratio was still at a good level this decrease over the three years is of concern. The decreasing of the current ratio is a result of both an increase in current liabilities and a decrease in current assets over the three years. Acid Test- the acid test ratios follow a similar pattern and can be explained by the same reasons as the current rati o. However the acid test ratio is also affected by the amount of inventories held by a company. From 2008 2009 the proportion of Fortune Oils current assets that were made up of inventories increased (Fortune Oil: 2009) Gearing Ratio The gearing ratio represents the ratio between the level of investment and the level of borrowings (Atrill McLaney: 2008). Although Fortune oils gearing ratio decreases over the three years due to increased amounts of borrowing, the gearing levels for all three years are healthy. The increase in borrowings are due to the expanding operations of Fortune oil and the investment in exploratory projects which in the coming years should generate a healthy amount of revenue for Fortune Oil (Fortune Oil: 2007: 2008: 2009) Investment Ratios The earnings per share follows a slightly strange pattern after a dramatic increase in 2008 form 2007 the earnings per share drops very slightly in 2009. This is an affect of the increase in Fortune Oils net pr ofits over the years, and the slight decrease can be seen by as light increase in the number of ordinary shares in issue Explanations for ratios The oil and gas industry can be extremely volatile (Reference) bearing this in mind Fortune Oils ratios are impressive. The slight decreases that are seen in some of the ratios such as the operating profit margin and the current ratio are a result of Fortune oil dealing with the severe recession that affected the business environment. The increase of current liabilities between 2007 2009 is an affect of this. The dramatic increase in the gross profit margin reflects Fortune Oil bouncing back from the recession with record sales and a buoyant Chinese economy (Fortune Oil: 2009). After an extremely volatile 2008 the economic environment was stable and this was reflected in stable energy prices (Fortune Oil: 2009). Fortune oil survived the economic recession with healthy financial ratios and managed to produce Fortune oils best revenues and net profits in the year 2009. The future also looks bright for Fortune oil with new development projects having been certified by the Chinese Government, Fortune oil can push forward their exploratory projects such as their operation in Liulin and joint partnerships with other companies. The alliance Fortune Oil has with the Chinese Government is extremely important for future success of the company and has enabled them to gain certification for operations that have generated significant amounts of income (Fortune oil: 2007: 2008: 2009) After surviving and moving out of the recessions with healthy financial statements and ratios 2010 could be an extremely profitable year for Fortune Oil and a chance to build upon their success of the last three years. Circle Oil Ratios and descriptive analysis 2007 2008 2009 ROSF ROCE -7.7% -18.3% -0.29% OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN NO REVENUE NO REVENUE -2.28% GROSS PROFIT MARGIN NO REVENUE NO REVENUE 48.84% CURRENT RATIO 3.37 3.16 2.4 ACID TEST 3.7 3.16 2.4 GEARING 59.6% 26.2% 31% EARNINGS PER SHARE LOS SPER SHARE 1.68c Loss per share 4.60 Loss per share 3.66c For the past three years (2007-2009) Circle oil company has been facing loss.According to the circle oil company s ratios , there is no return on ordinary share holders funds(ROSF) for the year 2007-2009.ROSF compares the amount of profit available to the owners with the owners average stake in the business during that same period(Atrill McLaney:2008:p188).For the money invested in the company in the year 2007 ,there s an operating loss . So return on capital employed (ROCE) is about -7.7 % .In the following year 2008, company faced a decrease in operating loss at about -18.3% and in year 2009 it went down to -0.29%. For the year 2007 and 2009 no revenue was obtained which lead to a loss whereas in the year 2009 ,cost of sales was about 15,093 US$.So the operati ng profit margin was about -2.28% which relates the operating profit to the sales revenue and the company recovered with the gross profit margin at about 48.84% which is a difference between sales revenue and cost of sales. Circle oil company is under debt as it has borrowed convertible loan.For the past three years there were no dividends which lead to a major loss and the money invested was not recovered by the shareholders Liquidity Ratios analysis The ratio of liquidity normally consists of current ratio and acid test ratio, and both of them have function of testing whether a company has capability of paying off short-term liabilities (Atrill McLaney, 2008). In this case, generally Circle Oil had a fantastic performance in liquidity ratios in successive three years as shown in the table above (Table 1). Specifically, in terms of current ratio Circle Oil had figures of 3.37, 3.16 and 2.4 from 2007 to 2009 respectively. Although the trend of downturn had been shown in thi s case, each of them, by comparing with benchmark of 2, could be labeled very high (Atrill McLaney, 2008). Similarly, the acid test ratio had nearly identical performance here, mainly because the three years inventories (excluding part) are extremely small that can barely make contribution in calculating of acid test ratios. Theoretically, the data had been revealed above should be encouraging for not only the company but also stakeholders. However, through carefully examining the detail of annual report, it had considerable amount of cash and cash equivalents in hand in all three years, and these may be problematic in terms of running business productively (Atrill McLaney, 2008). In addition, it is reasonable for us to imply that this result may have something to do with its business undergoing in recent years. According to chairmans statement (Circle Oil, 2009), Circle Oil has just changed from an oil explorative company to an oil production company, and everything relating to production is still in the preparatory phase, namely acquiring licenses, testing wells etc. Obviously, this explanation is in line with their data, but their performance in the future is questionable. Gearing ratio analysis As to gearing ratio, it enables analysts to work out how much proportion the long-term liabilities accounting for in businesss equity (Atrill McLaney, 2008). Ideally, the proportion of long-term liabilities should be limited within a specific range that firms can have some control over it as the more non-current liabilities possess, the more risk the company would have in future (ibid). In the context of Circle Oil, it had rather high figure of 59.6% in 2007 and reasonable one in 2008 with 26.2%. Finally the number bounced back a bit to 31% in 2009. The reason for having a abnormal gearing ratio in 2007 lies in the share premium in that year was much less than following two years by comparison. What is also worth mentioning is that base on Atrill McLaney (2008), if a highly geared firm has even some minor change in operating profit, the effect of returning to shareholders would be significant. It is not difficult to find out that the relationship between gearing ratio and operating profit at Circle Oil is direct proportion during that three years. Investment Ratio analysis Investment ratios are designed to help investors assess the returns on their investment (Atrill McLaney, 2008). In the case of Circle Oil, since there were not dividends announced for 2007, 2008 and 2009 (Circle Oil, 2001-2009), which might result from no profit generation, the two dividend-related ratios cannot be calculated. From this point, it is obvious that the company did not perform well in terms of giving benefits back to their investors in recent years. However, the earning per share ratio tells again that Circle Oil had some difficulties in generating profits for its shareholders. Specifically, in 2007 the loss per share stood at only 1.68c, while in 2008 this figure went up to 4.60, even though it had dropped down to 3.66 in 2009 (Table1), these information altogether convinced that the company may be a wrong place for investor to put their money in, at least for those three years. At the same time, it is also important to take the companys situation into account, meaning it is a new oil business and a number of gas and oil wells are still under testing and may have potential to be profitable source in the future. Therefore, this company may be a choice for people who intend to invest for a long haul. Maple Energy ratios and descriptive analysis 2007 2008 2009 ROSF -1.75% -5.33% -22.73% ROCE -0.74% -3.5% -6.97% OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN -1.2% -5.59% -14.3% GROSS PROFT MARGIN 26.62% 22.67% 24.1% CURRENT RATIO 3.27 1.56 0.63 ACID TEST 3.06 1.05 0.51 GEARING 13.5% 12.98% 17.89 EARNING PER SHARE LOSS PER SHARE 3.38 LOSS PER SH ARE 7.90 LOSS PER SHARE 26.06 The ratio analysis of Maple Energy Plc. The ratio analysis of Maple Energy Plc. This part will analyze Maples performance through profitability, liquidity, gearing, efficiency and investment ratios which are established from its annual financial report from 2007 to 2009. Profitability 2007 2008 2009 ROSF -1.75% -5.33% -22.73% ROCE -0.74% -3.5% -6.97% OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN -1.2% -5.59% -14.3% GROSS PROFIT MARGIN 26.62% 22.67% 24.1% The profitability ratios show the ability to make profits of a firm and the degree of success (Atrill McLaney, 2008). From the table above, the profitability ratios reveal main downfalls through the last three years. First, the return on capital employed ratio figures illustrate a steady decline in returns to all suppliers. In particular, the figures are negative because the operating profits of the three years are all negative. From 2007 to 20 09, the operating expenses were exceeding the gross profit although the company has got a large amount of gross profit. These ratios show a poor performance of Maple from 2007 to 2009. Consequently, this company has to pay not only its borrowed funds, but also the interests on the borrowed funds. Particularly, this is awful information for suppliers of long-term finance. Second, the return on ordinary shareholders funds ratios show a sharp decline in relation to the companys profit which were left to the owner. The figures are negative as well because the operating profit was already negative and the finance cost was exceeding the finance revenue. In particular, by 2009, loss for the year was almost three times than the loss for 2008. From the annual report for Maple Energy Plc, it is clearly that the finance cost has a rapid increase until 2009. As Atrill McLaney (2008) emphasized that companies are seeking as high as possible for return on ordinary shareholders funds ratio. Th ese negative ratios imply that Maple seems not possible to take some new businesses, such as a new investment. In addition, their negative profit for the year was a threat to their shareholders. Furthermore, a sharp decline of the operating profit margin ratios reveals that the company has a very poor performance for operating profit. For oil and energy companies, they tend to operate on high prices, thus compared to these negative ratios, Maples expenses were extremely higher than gross profit. Maple needs to either increase the sales revenue to exceed its cost or to reduce its operating expenses. Finally, for the gross profit margin ratios, they have a slight decline from 2007 to 2009. However, these figures are positive which means that the turnover is exceeding the cost of sales. Although the gross profit margin ratios have declined, from 2008 to 2009, both of the sales revenue and cost of sales have reduced. This means that the gross profit was still high related to the t urnover for Maple. Below is the graph to show the profitability ratios of Maple from 2007 to 2009 Liquidity ratios Liquidity determines the ability of a company to meet their immediate financial obligations (Atrill McLaney, 2008). When choosing an investment of the period less than 5 years, whether the company has the possibility to give back their trade payables and short-term obligations should be in consideration. The ratios used to measure the companys liquidity are the current ratio and the acid test ratio. 2007 2008 2009 CURRENT RATIO 3.27 1.56 0.63 ACID TEST 3.06 1.05 0.51 Maple Energys current ratios reveal the dramatically decreasing trend of the ability to pay off the short-term debts from the year 2007 to 2009. In the year 2007 the company had the highest amount of $ 34.34 million dollars cash at bank and in hand, but in the year 2008 and 2009 the amount has significantly dropped to 8.54 and 5.38 million dollars respectively( londonstockexchange, 2010). Moreover, the current liability has gone up triple for the year 2009. The acid test ratios from the year 2007 to 2009 are hardly different from the current ratios. The ratio has significantly dropped in the past 3 years, suggesting that 2009s liquidity is the main problem as the company has less than 70 cents to cover every $1 invested in the company. Graph for the trends of Liquidity ratios from 2007 to 2009 Gearing 2007 2008 2009 GEARING 13.5% 12.98% 17.89% INTEREST COVER -6 19.1 6.1 As Atrill McLaney (2008) stated, financial gearing is essential to evaluate the risk of business and the relationship between long-term loans and capitals. From the table above, the gearing ratio figures demonstrate a slight increase from 2007 to 2009. By 2009, the gearing ratio has increased to 17.89%, which could be considered as an acceptable figure. However, it seems that Maple could still increase its investment on loans, w hich could contribute to the long-term lenders and return to shareholders capital. In addition, from the balance for Maple, the reserves from 2007 to 2009 have not increased, which indicates that the low reserves are a potential risks for Maples business. Additionally, the interest cover ratios show an instable trend from 2007 to 2009. Due to the negative operating profit all three years, the operating profit could not cover the interest payable. As a consequence, it is an enormous risk for the shareholders of Maple that the lenders will try to recover their outstanding of interest by crack down on the business, especially by 2009, there was a large amount of operating losses. Efficiency ratios The Sales Revenue to Capital employed ratio is a main factor of the Return on Capital employed ratio, and the table mentioned below indicates the efficiency of the company by the usage of its assets generating sales revenues. Maple Energy 2007 2008 2009 Sales Revenue T o Capital Employed 0.61 0.63 0.49 Return on Capital Employed -0.74% -3.5% -6.97% There is a fluctuation of the sales revenue to capital employed, in the year 2008 the ratio slightly went up to 0.63. But then the ratio went down to 0.49 in the year 2009. Moreover, the company is still unable to provide the return to the shareholders as the return on capital employed has dramatically dropped down to -6.97% in 2009. The decline in ROCE due to the increase in the amount of operating loss, also suggesting the poor performance of the company. Earnings per share The earnings per share ratio are essential to examine the share performance of Maple energy. As shown in the graph above, the earnings per share ratio figures illustrate a sharp decline from 2007 to 2009. In particular, for the share performance, Maple was making loss all three years. Due to the fast increase of loss per share every year, there is a big risk that the shareholders or potential investors are not possible to invest into Maple. It is important for Maple to improve their operating profit and net profit. All in all, Maple has to reduce its cost and expenses to make its profit to be positive.

Same-Sex Marriage - 962 Words

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America has been said to be the â€Å"land of the free,† but when it comes to homosexual couples, it is far from that. If same-sex marriage was legalized, many positive outcomes could emerge from it; the society would be closer to equality, adoption would increase, gained social support for families would developRead Moreno to same-sex marriage!894 Words   |  4 Pageseverything builds up. I Corinthians 10:23 Against Same Sex Marriage - The Six Point Case Each of these six points against same sex marriage will be explained in detail in the following articles. Click on each link for more explanation. Natural marriage is the foundation of a civilized society. Homosexual behavior is inherently destructive. The law is a great teacher, and it encourages or discourages behavior. Government-backed same-sex marriage would encourage and normalize homosexual behaviorRead MoreSame Sex Marriage1152 Words   |  5 PagesBiological Sex-Marriage: â€Å"An Alteration to Humanity† Submitted by: Ellicia Jiona Candelaria Submitted to: Mrs. Joan Bataclan ABSTRACT Biological Sex-Marriage: â€Å"An Alteration to Humanity† This study describes the advantages and also the disadvantages of couples of the same sex being married. It aims to explore how it affects the society and most importantly the church. Same-sex marriage, popularly known as gay marriage, is a socially or legally reorganized wedlock between two persons of similarRead MoreSame Sex Marriage884 Words   |  4 PagesSame Sex Marriage Is the definition of marriage being threatened in the United States? President Bill Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act into law on September 21, 1996. This Act defined marriage at the federal level as between a man and a woman. The federal DOMA statute ensured that no state would be forced to recognize gay marriages performed in other states and prevented same-sex couples from receiving federal protections and benefits given to married heterosexual couples. OnRead MoreSame Sex Marriage990 Words   |  4 PagesSupporters of gay marriage argue around the concept of equality in America. Our country is said to be found on the principle that all men are created equal, so that make it hypocritical to deny the rights of homosexuals, as it was hypocritical to deny freedom to African Americans or to prohibit women s suffrage. Supporters also believe that Gays should be allows the same benefits as regular married couples. For instance, only through marriage do same sex couple s have the rights to their partnerRead MoreSame Sex Marriage1120 Words   |  5 PagesSame sex marriage has been a topic on the rise throughout the U.S. It is what some of us may consider one of the more important topics of discussion for this time period. So far 17 states out of 50 have declared same sex marriage legal (States, 2013). Same sex marriage should be legal throughout the U.S. because same sex couples have a civil right to get married, along with a right to have access to the same benefits as heterosexual couples, and to be treated as equals without fear of discriminationRead MoreSame-sex Marriage604 Words   |  2 Pages in the media, same sex marriage has been widely discussed and debated. Some feel it should be legalized, while others believe that it is a sin and should remain illegal. Their are many pros and cons on both sides of this argument, however there are main points leading to why gay marriage should be legal. Legalizing gay marriage will not harm heterosexual marriages or family values, and society will continue to function normally. This is a true statement, because when two people getRead MoreThe Marriage Of Same Sex Marriage941 Words   |  4 Pagesyears, anxiety toward obviously pervasive same-sex unions reached a peak when the state passed a law promising punishment to anyone entering a same-sex marriage. Today, romantic love between same-sex couples remains largely opposed to the political norm in modern-day America, but American tradition provides for some freedom for praiseworthy and devoted same-sex unions within communities, where the elders officially decide what constitutes an acceptable marriage. The idea has precedence in Scandinavia

Wedding Toast free essay sample

Wedding Toast General Purpose: To deliver an epideictic speech Specific Purpose: To deliver a wedding toast for my sister, Candace Central Idea: Glenn is a perfect match for Candace and he will make a wonderful addition to our family Introduction 1. To those of you who may not know me personally, my name is Amy, and I am Candace’s little sister. I’d like to thank the bride and groom for welcoming us all to share with them this day that they will remember forever. I. How they met 1. As you may know, Candace and Glenn met using an online dating site.When she first told me she was going to try this I was skeptical. What do you think of when you think of online dating? Ridiculous personality questionnaires and bad, awkward first dates pop into my head. But as a sister it was my job to be as supportive as I could. We will write a custom essay sample on Wedding Toast or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2. After only a couple weeks, she told me she had been talking with someone named Glenn and that she was going on a date with him that coming weekend 3. Although I was still skeptical, I could tell she was happy and I was very happy for her.However, like any good sister would, I let her know that I’d be sitting by my phone waiting to fake an emergency for her if the date wasn’t going well. 4. Fortunately that wasn’t necessary, and the day I met Glenn I saw why. II. Glenn and the Cole family 1. The first time we met Glenn was pretty shy. He didn’t say much but as the night went on and he started to warm up I could tell that we were going to get along just fine. 2. As time went on and his relationship with my sister got more and more serious I got to know him a lot better. . After a while he started to take on a sort of brotherly role in my life. 4. I remember the day of my senior prom I got a text from Glenn as I was getting ready. It said â€Å"Be careful tonight. If you need a ride home call me. † To you that may seem insignificant, but Glenn was aware of the traditions following prom in my town and that was his way of letting me know that he cared about me enough to make sure I was safe and that he was there for me if I needed him. 5.It was then that I realized that Glenn’s loving and caring qualities were going to make a perfect addition to our family. 6. More Importantly however, he made great match for my sister because.. III. A Perfect Match for Candace 1. Candace and Glenn are the perfect opposites. 2. Glenn is quiet and shy around people he doesn’t know and Candace is wild and outgoing. 3. Glenn loves to hunt and Candace loves to make new recipes with what he brings home. 4. When Candace wanted to learn how to knit, she bought herself a how-to book.She tried to teach herself but she is more of a visual learner and couldn’t get it from the book. Glenn however learns best from a book so he read it and taught himself how to knit so he could show n Candace so she could visualize it. 5. He truly is her other half. IV. Conclusion 1. I am more than happy to admit that I was wrong to be skeptical of online dating. It couldn’t have worked out better for them. 2. So let’s raise a glass and wish these two a long and happy marriage! 3. To Candace and Glenn!

Research Proposal on Outsourcing Essay Example

Research Proposal on Outsourcing Paper Outsourcing is the practice of the transmission of certain business processes and functions of one company to the sourcing of another company, which works in the same sphere. Outsourcing is the youngest business process, which is considered to be very effective for both sides which signed the contract. When one company can not or does not want to carry out some processes, mostly connected with finance, it can devote this job to the related company. The main advantage of outsourcing is that the company can get rid of the work connected with calculation and finance and use the released workforce to develop some new branches and new productions of the company. For example, the company can devote energy and material supply to another company and simply concentrate on production of the goods and improving their quality of technology and developing new kinds of goods. Other typical functions transmitted for outsourcing are advertising, translation, transportation services, network security, etc. Outsourcing is widely practised in the world and many companies owe their success to it. Without outsourcing every company would be like a small system, which has to do much work in order to exist and prosper. When a student is asked to prepare a research proposal on outsourcing, he is expected to offer a range of new solutions and ideas connected with the improvement of the practice of outsourcing. Students mostly write proposals when they have brainstormed interesting new ideas connected with the topic under research and in order to persuade the professor their investigation is useful, they have to write a convincing proposal on the topic. A good research proposal should be informative, logical and interesting. One should not include odd data into the paper but be as brief as possible. Then, the paper should be written in a special emotional way and contain reliable evidence which will persuade the professor that the topic is worth attention at once. We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Outsourcing specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Outsourcing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Outsourcing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Writing the proposal a student should devote much efforts to get to know about the topic under investigation much. When one knows about the problem, he is able to analyze it successfully and draw sober objective conclusions. In order to get to know about outsourcing in more concrete cases it is useful to read free sample research proposals on outsourcing in the Internet. One can easily find a great number of well-organized papers on this topic and learn many new facts about it. The structure of the proposal is a serious problem for nearly every student, so young people require good help of the professional. If you read a free example research proposal on outsourcing in India, you will learn to format the paper correctly, compose the paper logically and in the proper convincing manner. *** ATTENTION! Free sample research proposals and research paper examples on Outsourcing are 100% plagiarized!!! At EssayLib.com writing service you can order a custom research proposal on Outsourcing topics. Your research paper proposal will be written from scratch. We hire top-rated Ph.D. and Master’s writers only to provide students with professional research proposal help at affordable rates. Each customer will get a non-plagiarized paper with timely delivery. Just visit our website and fill in the order form with all proposal details: Enjoy our professional research proposal writing service!

The Meaning and Origin of Morales

The Meaning and Origin of Morales Surnames can tell us a lot about our family and where they came from. In some languages, surnames reference families occupations or kinship with other families. Sometimes surnames can even point to the particular town or region of a country that a family hails from. Finding out what your name means and where it originates from can be a fun start to exploring your genealogy. You can start here with the name Morales which is a very common among Hispanic people. The common Hispanic Morales surname has several possible derivations: A topographical surname was given to someone who lived near a mulberry or blackberry bush, from mora,  meaning mulberry or blackberry. The es ending indicates a patronymic surname, so more specifically the name Morales means son of Moral, or son of someone who lived near a mulberry or blackberry tree.A name used to indicate someone from Morales, the name of several Spanish towns. While Morales is the 94th most common surname in the United States and the 16th most common Hispanic surname. The name originates from Spanish but is also common in Portuguese as well.   Alternate surname spellings of this common name are Moralez, Moral, Moreira, Mora, and Morais. Where Do People With the Morales Surname Live? According to WorldNames publicprofiler, individuals with the Morales surname are most commonly found living in Spain and Argentina. In Spain, the surname is most prevalent in the Canary Islands. In Argentina, the surname is most common in the Cuyo region. However, people with this surname can live anywhere in the world.   Famous People with the Surname Morales Erik Morales - professional American boxerEsai Morales - American TV and film starLeo Morales - holds the world record for  deep-diving  with a disabilityEvo Morales -  Bolivias first Indian president Genealogy Resources for the Surname Morales 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? Morales Family DNA ProjectThe Morales Family Project currently has 38 members working together to find common heritage through sharing of genealogical information and DNA testing. Anyone with a variant spelling of the Morales surname is also welcome to join. Morales Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Morales surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Morales query. FamilySearch - MORALES GenealogyExplore over 3.4 million historical records and lineage-linked family trees for individuals with the Morales surname and its variations, including census records, vital records, military records, church records, and more. MORALES Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Morales surname. Search the archives  or post a question about your own Morales family research. DistantCousin.com - MORALES Genealogy Family HistoryExplore a variety of free databases and genealogy links for the last name Morales.

Chain Reaction Definition in Chemistry and Physics

Chain Reaction Definition in Chemistry and Physics In science, a chain reaction is a series of reactions where the products contribute to the reactants of another reaction without outside influence. The idea of chain reactions was introduced by German chemist Max Bodenstein in 1913 in reference to chemical reactions. Chain Reactions Examples A nuclear chain reaction is a fission reaction where the neutrons generated by the fission process go on and initiate fission in other atoms. The chemical reaction between hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to form water is another example of a chain reaction. In the reaction, one hydrogen atom is replaced by another as well as two OH radicals. The propagation of the reaction can lead to an explosion. Chain Reaction Steps A typical chain reaction follows a sequence of steps: Initiation: Active particles form that serve as the basis for the reaction.Propagation: Active particles react with each other and may serve as catalysts to perpetuate the cycle.Termination: The active particles lose their activity, slowing and ending the reaction.

Media Ethic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media Ethic - Essay Example A Free Press serves the nation successfully when it serves its family fairly.† (Babu and Shetty, 255) Though context of delivering the judgment was different, but role and ethical importance of the news media have reflected from his judgment. Role of ethics in journalism has become so important that media ethics has emerged as a new discipline of study in this field. Progress in the field of media ethics depends greatly over â€Å"responsible journalism’ as it aims at conveying â€Å"truth and enlightenment.† (Berry, 82) Media ethics has been provided with so much important these days as it has failed to comply with its integral relationship with social justice. The morality factor plays an important role in the development of media ethics and factors like ‘social and self-responsibilities, duties, rights, consequences, truth, trust, objectivity-subjectivity, public interest, representation and purpose’ are associated with it. In the book, Social Justice, Matthew Clayton, Andrew Williams have commented, â€Å"Issues of social justice, in the broadest sense, arise when decisions affect the distribution of benefits and burdens between different individuals or groups.† (Clayton, Williams, 1) The concept of social justice is essentially related with common people and issues related to the sense of justice. It is expected that all forms of media will attempt to heighten the aspect of justice from different perspectives. Looking into the current condition of news media it is widely regarded that it has declined to some extent from its actual role. There are several occasions, where news media has failed to comply with its role as voice of people. This is the main reason that ethics in case of news media is provided with special attention. Recently, the unequal distribution of power factor is becoming increasingly conspicuous in the society and on several occasions the news media has intentionally refused to pay attention to such factor. Judging from the

Women in management in the 21st centuary Term Paper

Women in management in the 21st centuary - Term Paper Example This is sensible in that these professionals have long been involved in assisting organizations and individuals manage and control deviation in a manner that permits individuals from all backgrounds to hear and be heard and work together efficiently. Diversity and inclusion has been focused on hiring, retaining and promoting women. Women have become a significant force in many nations across the globe. For countless organizations, diversity policies offer a competitive edge, as it allows them to benefit from all the prospective arising from the positive variations among the workers. It is significant to realize that gender plays a considerable role in elements of the business functioning process. Across the world, the number of women in management positions has increased considerably. However, many women have not attained the top positions of organizations and face numerous pressures, both external and internal, to the companies where they work. Traditionally, women were observed as physically and intellectually inferior to men and earlier writers had noted that these discernments have generated obstacles to women’s profession development and resulted to favoritism. It is not challenging for women to attain employment at the low levels of management in companies since the benchmarks for recruitment and advancement are impartial. However, it is still challenging for them to climb to top management positions where the selection benchmarks are biased. Studies indicate that women’s progress towards what has traditionally been referred as men’s careers is particularly minimal. Internationally, the perception of women as possessing less needed management attributes is common among many male management personnel. Percentage of women in Senior Management Positions in multi nationals and Government Agencies globally Women’s status is a primary pointer of social advancement. Sustaining equality between women and men is basic to heighten the nu mber of women in management levels in organizations. Over the past few years, women have attained a considerable portion of limelight in almost every sector and corner of the world. For instance, in the arts, more women directors were capable of getting their work into the cinemas, theatres and televisions. In politics, a high number of women won elections, for instance, South Korea swore in its first female president. According to the Grant Thorton International Business Report (2013), almost 21 nations across the world have women as the head of state or the government and the number of women in parliament totaled to 21percent. In the corporate world, numerous women have led multinational corporations, for instance, Marissa Mayer broke the ground when she took over the leadership of Yahoo when almost six months pregnant. The discussion continues as to whether women will ever attain equality with men in the workforce. Although the past four decades have witnessed a gigantic generati onal transformation, with more women inflowing the labor force across the world, a lot requires to be done to progress women to top management positions. In 2012, women in United States constituted over 30 percent of the entire work force. However, they occupy only 14 percent of the top management positions of the Fortune 500 companies and merely 8 percent of executive officer top earner ranks. Among the FTSE 100, women only held 16% of the board positions and 7 percent of the executive positions in 2012. On the other hand, the number of women in board positions was half of the number in United States (Grant

Obesity in African American Culture Essay Example for Free

Obesity in African American Culture Essay ?Obesity has more that just a physical effect on the body. Obesity also greatly affects the mental and emotional part of the body as well. Although you cannot directly correlate metal and emotional health to obesity, you can see that its effects do in fact play a role in the mental and emotional health of an obese person. While the effects of obesity do indeed reach out to all races, it is easy to see that mental and emotional problems from obesity in the African American culture are present in the culture. Depression, anxiety, and discrimination, are all results that are caused by obesity in the African American community. Many people are familiar with depression, whether it be a friend or family member that went through it or that they themselves went though it. â€Å"Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can have a negative effect on a persons thoughts, behavior, feelings, world view and physical well-being† (Salmans 1997). African American obesity has a close tie with depression in African American people. When people are self-conscious about their weight they may think that people look down on them for this. This would cause them to think less of themselves or believe that others are better then them. In turn it can cause the obese African American to have a bad view of themselves, other people, and the world in general. This is exactly what depression is. You can see that depression can be caused by obesity in the African American culture. Anxiety is another emotional distress many people are familiar with. Anxiety is know as, â€Å"the displeasing feeling of fear and concern† (Davison 2008). Many people have felt the effects of anxiety in their own lives, whether it is before an important test, a speech in front of many people, or the big gam; many people feel anxiety. Looking only at anxiety caused by obesity in African American people is a different situation. Anxiety or nervousness before a big event is common and in many ways healthy because it motivates us to do the very best we can. Anxiety in African Americans because of obesity is not healthy; in fact it can be dangerous and destructive. By feeling displeased and concerned about their weight African Americans can struggle all through out life to over come these feelings. It could limit their goals and overall make them settle for less then they really can do. Anxiety do to obesity in the African American community is not a healthy and can severely constrain someone’s life. Discrimination in the African American community has always been a problem through out history. Slavery is a very obvious product of discrimination. Taking a more specific look at discrimination of the African American community because of obesity is a different situation. When people discriminate African Americans because of their weight it seriously prohibits their chances of succeeding in life. It could be in the work place or at school. By placing these barriers we are limiting the ability of the African American community and hurting their chances of having a successful and meaningful life. These mental and emotional effects of obesity in the African American community are unfair and wrong. People should not be judged on their weight. Davison, Gerald C. (2008). Abnormal Psychology. Toronto: Veronica Visentin. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-470-84072-6. Salmans, Sandra (1997). Depression: Questions You Have – Answers You Need. Peoples Medical Society. ISBN 978-1-882606-14-6.

Comparing Story Openings of Bleak House by Charles Dickens to The Outsi

At the opening of the story 'The Outsider', the writer Albert Camus places time in the wrong order. This creates the impression that we are seeing into the character's thoughts rather than a story being told to us. It works very effectively as the paragraphs are spontaneous and not in any form of order, thus creating a mental picture in our heads of one or two day?s worth of events, as if we were remembering them ourselves. This, however, does not apply to Bleak house. Dickens does not use any form of time, but instead decides to describe what is happening and makes the days, time, week or month irrelevant. It could be any day, but Dickens does not want time to be the focal point of his story. This is effective because our interest is drawn to the descriptions and happenings of the city. Surprisingly, both story start with short, improperly composed sentences, most of the time with little or no verbs. This works differently for each story. In ?The Outsider?, the short, blunt sentences arouse interest that forces you to continue reading, this is because the ?thoughts? of the character are rather cold and blunt about a situation that should be upsetting, for example ?Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday?, as the opening paragraph. The punctuation break up the sentence into emphasized words. Camus directs us to feel slightly disturbed by his descriptions of the events taken place and puts us in the position of psychologist, eager to hear what comes next, but wary of it also. In ?Bleak House? the short, improper sentences create a very descriptive picture of a cold, dark city, the blunt words mimicking the blunt feelings and people in the city. This is very effective as he uses the same words over again to emphasize the poin... ...he Chancellor and Chancery both being the cause and the centre of the fog, paralleling the weather with the situation. Fog is not a good thing in the court of Chancery and the narrator describes the Chancery as having a dark and unclear vision. They are not good at their jobs and the narrator calls the old Chancellor as being ?leaden-headed? or ?stupid? to emphasizing his views on that particular character. Both story openings, although composed differently, draw the reader in. Both author?s, Albert Camus and Charles Dickens, use a variety of techniques, which are all very effective when the author uses them to his will. Either way we get a clear and pointed view of the spot-lit aspects that the author wants us to focus on, and maybe sometime miss the subtle, important information between the lines that are not the centre of attention at that moment in the story.

Audience Analysis Memo Essay

Per the week one assignment, I have reviewed and compared two Websites offering information on the same subject. My chosen subject is kidney disease and hemodialysis and the source Websites are: The National Kidney Foundation (http://www.kidney.org) and The Merck Manual-Professional (http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional). When reviewing the National Kidney Foundation site, I initially had difficulty determining who the intended audience actually was. You can’t help but notice, a significant goal of the page is to generate donations. The donations tab is highlighted with a blue border against an orange background. The information tabs are simply white print against the same orange background. That being said, there is also well prepared information regarding kidney disease and hemodialysis intended for the general public. The Website provides information regarding diagnosis, treatments and lifestyle changes. It appears, the primary purpose of the National Kidney Foundation Website is education and the secondary purpose is soliciting donations. The Merck Manual Professional site, appears to target healthcare professionals with a secondary audience of students in the medical and/or nursing fields. The National Kidney Foundation Website is very appealing with pictures, videos and banners. Two banner items that caught my eye were â€Å"the initial shock of the dialysis diet† followed by a chicken fajita recipe. It further incorporates information about coping with the diagnosis and treatment plan. The Merck Manual website is stark in comparison as it incorporates muted colors of gray, blue and green. The Merck Manual presents only related facts and treatment modalities. Advertising on each page is limited. The National Kidney Foundation’s Website advertisements are geared to generate donations, whereas, the advertisements on the Merck Manual site, offer additional ways to receive the Merck Manual information. Each site provides icons intended to provide the user with the option to share the Websites  with many of the social media networks. The Merck Manual Website is intended for information and education. The National Kidney Foundation site provides education in addition to soliciting donations. The National Kidney Foundation information is provided in a question and answer format with one or two sentence simple answers provided. The Merck Manual site utilizes headers with information ranging between one to three paragraphs. Links available on the National Kidney Foundation Website keep the reader on the site and frequently take them back to the donation page. The Website provides a section for â€Å"Professional† users, however, the majority of the area is again written for the general public. One area reviewed provides an â€Å"Education and Research† option that takes the professional reader to more technical writing sources contained within the National Kidney Foundation Website. The Merck Manual links allow the reader to visit other Websites for additional subject information. The National Kidney Foundation Website offers additional educational opportunities via Webinars and seminars. No such offerings were noted on the Merck Manual site. The Merck Manual is written with the professional audience in mind. The information is technical and clinical in its presentation. Whereas, the National Kidney Foundation Website, refers to the site visitor on multiple occasions as â€Å"family†. Visitors are encouraged to â€Å"join our family† and â€Å"be a part of the National Kidney Foundation family† with prom ises of â€Å"we will be there for you†. The information provided in a well written conversational form and would be easily understood by the nonprofessional general public wanting additional information about kidney disease and support services available. Newly diagnosed patients visiting the National Kidney Foundation Website would be provided with an additional source of information. In addition to the general diagnosis and treatment information provided, the Website offers encouragement and support to those effected by kidney disease. Patients, families and friends can find support information. The Merck Manual is intended to be used as a source of information and education for the healthcare professional and/or student. It represents a good source of information for research and/or bedside practice. Although both sites provide information on Kidney Disease and Hemodialysis, the content is presented in completely different ways. The National Kidney Foundation is written for the general public who may be effected by kidney disease. The  Merck Manual in professional in appearance and content. In conclusion, I feel each site is well developed for their intended audience and purpose. The National Kidney Foundation Website is easy to use and provides the reader with basic information regarding the diagnosis, treatment and necessary lifestyle changes. The Website offers support services and the opp  ortunity to donate if the reader so desires. The Merck Manual Website is intent is to provide educational information to the medical professional and students in the medical field.

Unit 1 Business Enviroment

Describe how John Lewis would be influenced by economic factors in a time of economic recession and economic growth in the UK economy The two economic environments that I would be describing about are recession and growth on the business activities of John Lewis. Growth occurs when more goods are being produced and consumed, and also incomes are rising. During growth people spend more money on goods and services as they have more money to spend and also businesses would invest more and hire more labour as it links to increasing demand.Recession however occurs when people involved in business become more cautious so they cut their spending down and also cut back on their orders as well as making workers unemployed or redundant. Growth affects the business activities for John Lewis because just as economy can change for a business so can demand for products and both could be associated with each other. During periods of growth you expect to see a fairly high demand for John Lewisâ€⠄¢ good quality products so customers and potential customers would buy as during this time customers behaviours over money is more care free compared to when its in a period of recession.Mostly you could see John Lewis looking into recruiting more workers as since demand can increase a lot during the growth environment they’ll need more workers to spread out the job load for the employees otherwise if the business didn’t and just overloaded a employee with workload it could de-motivate that worker a lot it would contradict with the theory of Frederick Herzberg about the 5 factors to bring the potential to satisfy in a worker and the other 5 factors to motivate a worker after the you fulfil the factors that bring the potential to satisfy first.Or John Lewis could get the employees internally through transferring existing employees from other John Lewis branches of which are not at a so busy period as some other branches. Since customers and potential customers become m ore care free on how they spend their money, this is the period within the economy where you’re mostly likely to see customer switching back to their normal spending traits and return to spending money happily on good quality products, so demand in substitute products would decrease around this period.This will benefit John Lewis as sales for the good quality products would be increasing which furthermore could lead to John Lewis recovering from their losses if they were in one and go into break even or begin to start getting profits. John Lewis would buy more stock from its suppliers at this period of the economic environment as when demand increases you must get more supply to meet that demand.Also John Lewis at the time since they buy in bulk from their suppliers they can benefit from getting more stock at a good price that gives good value for money, as usually suppliers would offer you extra amounts of stock if you buy in large quantities.During this period of time inter est rates would be low compared to in recession because there isn’t as much financial institutions to try get as much finance as they can from small amounts of borrowings from their company in this period as customers, business etc intend to borrow more money in this period of time as they are fairly financially stable, so to encourage the businesses and customers to begin taking sources of finance they lower the rates. So John Lewis is more likely to start borrowing sources of finance if needed then in the period of growth.Recession affects the business activities for John Lewis because in recessions it causes a drop within demand for most good quality products potential customers and customers use to buy before. As during this period of time customer’s behaviours change to usually only spending on good quality products for what they essentially need but nevertheless if it was a want customers usually look for a substitute product that still meets the needs and purpos e of a particular product but is just found at a cheaper price because of the type of brand it is etc.As usually this is when we see customers taking more care of their money and become more cautious on what they spend their money on. When customers change their behaviour in spending it would affect also John Lewis as since it’s concentrated solely on selling good quality products at high prices they would suffer from a reduced amount of income coming into the business at times of recession. Therefore businesses would usually cover their losses and begin unemploying workers at the business so it reduces businesses costs in the long term.As a result John Lewis may start encountering losses during this period of economic recession as most of the products they sell are high quality products which are sold at its reasonable valued price so the price may still be high for most existing customers at the time, therefore sales in these products would reduce. The methods John Lewis wo uld try to recover from the losses in the short term would be to begin unemploying workers and making other employees redundant.However, in recession John Lewis would have a drawback of not benefiting at all from their suppliers as since demand is falling they would buy smaller quantities of stock so you will no longer benefit from getting extra stock as you didn’t buy in bulk, so value for money decreases and also you will still be charged for full price deliveries etc as you have to pay for their transport, and the amount you pay is determined by how much they have to travel.In recessions we see interest rates intend to be high as financial institutions would like to benefit as much as they can from small amounts of finance borrowed therefore it can help the economy get out this economic environment quicker. M2 – Compare the challenges faced by John Lewis in the periods of growth and recession Challenges faced by John Lewis in economic period of growth are maintainin g a high performance team, managing cash flow and knowing when to say no to the right or wrong opportunities.Managing cash flow is a challenge for John Lewis because when they enter the period of growth they must manage their cash inflows and outflows on a daily basis and avoid getting too engaged in the change of economic environment. Maintaining a high performance team is a challenge faced by John Lewis because they must first make sure they are hiring the right talented people for the job as well to train the employees to the degree of what high performance means for John Lewis. This is very time consuming and costs a lot of money.Knowing when to say no to the right or wrong opportunities is a challenge for John Lewis because good opportunities will strengthen things about John Lewis and will end in a convincing value plan. Whereas bad opportunities will do the opposite to John Lewis and bring their business reputation down and will bring problems to the business. So overall, kno wing when to say could determine the business’ future and is very time consuming as you must think thoroughly about the decisions the business as a whole is going to make.John Lewis faced challenges in the recession in our economic environments of which are increased unemployment, economic uncertainty and the engagement of employees. Increased unemployment is a big challenge for the recruiting department of John Lewis because as unemployment is rising so are the number of applicants looking for jobs therefore the recruitment department would need to work even harder to make sure the select the right talented worker as well go through all the application. This is time consuming and costs the business money.Economic uncertainty is a challenge for John Lewis because since government spending is reducing, debt crisis and looming threat of recession are occurring; John Lewis can’t manage to keep reducing their costs forever so they direct their new attention into growth and expansion in order to find a method to get out of the period of recession. Engagement of employees to John Lewis because during difficult economic periods their employees must be supported well and efficiently so labour productivity can stay at a fairly stable level to keep the business running properly.So overall challenges faced in recession are tougher than challenges in growth for John Lewis because more money tends to goes out of the business rather than in as during the recession they have to pay redundancy, deal with loads of applications for jobs, pay the usual business running costs as well as lower prices for their products and services customers are more cautious over their spending. Whereas during the growth period money coming into the business and out can seem to break even or you will get more money coming in then out.This is because during growth customers’ behavior over spending tends to be more carefree and also John Lewis won’t have to keep their lo wered prices like in recession because they could still manage to sell their products and services at a higher cost. Also in growth since demand is likely to be higher, business costs for stock and materials will be better value for money than to recession as you don’t buy in bulk as much during recession periods unless the product or service is a substitute to expensive versions of the product or service. So John Lewis could benefit more from their suppliers during growth periods.

Essay Sample on the Egoistic Part of the Altruistic Whole

Essay Sample on the Egoistic Part of the Altruistic Whole The internal condition of every person is strongly influenced by the environment he/she lives in. People, events, customs, beliefs are the important factors that formulate our essence. In the modern world life is usually perceived as a battle, where everyone stands for himself, each one is individualistic, separated from another. Thus, its not surprising that we can recognize the flourishing of egoism, a feature, which is generated by this separation. On the one hand, being individualistic is quite important and even necessary. This lets a person keep ones head above water and get a steady position in life. Seeking maximum personal benefit is not so terrible, if consider that this is a primary goal of everyone, rooted deeply in history. Very often to achieve the necessary result a person must be exactly egoistic, because those around are the same and in such circumstances the best defense is attack. Besides, being self-centered does not only mean doing harm to others to achieve best for oneself. It implies strong persistence, decisiveness, and courage, seemingly, positive features. The point is how to use them and what are the fruits of such a policy? Of course, satisfaction and pride, but is there a place for self-fulfillment and self-respect? What do I want to feel afterwards and how do I want to look like? – is the question that should be asked. Many try to avoid thoughts about their act being unethical or unfair toward someone. People justify themselves with the idea that others would do the same and not care a bit, so why not doing this too? Unfortunately, this is the main pitfall, which makes us all alike. Very often we do not care about others, because think that others do not care about us – a vicious circle, created by humans. No one wants to be ignored or harmed, no one wants to hear inflicting words or be used and then thrown away. The proverb The end justifies the means is not always useful, especially, if these means bring negative consequences. Being altruistic today is difficult, but still possible. People should not forget that they live in a community, where everyone is connected, dependent on and influenced by each others decisions and deeds. A society is like a swarm of bees: every member must make his own little, but very important contribution in order for all to survive – help others to help oneself. There is one great sentence in the Bible that sounds very simply, but has a deep and beautiful nature: Treat others as you would like to be treated. The best way is to make this phrase a golden rule of ones life. I believe that every person has a positive soul, altruistic by its nature, able and willing to do a good, to bring light and joy into the world. The other part of this soul, the egoistic one, is a reflection of the environment we live in, people we see around, beliefs and attitudes. I am sure it is possible to combine altruism and egoism, so that they create one strong and fruitful whole, which allows pursuing own targets while not forgetting about the existence of other members of a society, who also have needs, wants and concerns, the whole which allows us to feel Humans. If you need custom essays, research papers, term papers, thesis, dissertation on Sociology, Psychology or other discipline feel free to contact our professional custom writing service.

How the 1947 Truman Doctrine Contained Communism

How the 1947 Truman Doctrine Contained Communism When President Harry S. Truman issued what came to be known as the Truman Doctrine in March 1947, he was outlining the basic foreign policy that the United States would use against the Soviet Union and Communism for the next 44 years. The doctrine, which had both economic and military elements, pledged support for countries attempting to hold back Soviet-style revolutionary Communism. It symbolized the United States post-World War II global leadership role. Countering Communism in Greece Truman formulated the doctrine in response to the Greek Civil War, which itself was an extension of World War II. German troops had occupied Greece since April 1941, but as the war progressed, Communist insurgents known as the National Liberation Front (or EAM/ELAS) challenged Nazi control. In October 1944, with Germany losing the war on both the western and eastern fronts, Nazi troops abandoned Greece. Soviet General Secretary Josef Stalin supported the EAM/LEAM, but he ordered them to stand down and let British troops take over Greek occupation to avoid irritating his British and American wartime allies. World War II had destroyed Greeces economy and infrastructure and created a political vacuum that Communists sought to fill. By late 1946, EAM/ELAM fighters, now backed by Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito (who was no Stalinist puppet), forced war-weary England to commit as many as 40,000 troops to Greece to ensure it did not fall to Communism. Great Britain, however, was also financially strapped from World War II, and on February 21, 1947, it informed the United States that it was no longer able to financially sustain its operations in Greece. If the United States wanted to halt the spread of Communism into Greece, it would have to do so itself. Containment Halting the spread of Communism had, in fact, become the United States basic foreign policy. In 1946, American diplomat George Kennan, who was minister-counselor and chargà © daffaires at the American Embassy in Moscow, suggested that the United States could hold Communism at its 1945 boundaries with what he described as a patient and long-term containment of the Soviet system. While Kennan would later disagree with some elements of American implementation of his theory (such as involvement in Vietnam), containment became the basis of American foreign policy with Communist nations for the next four decades. The Doctrine to Stop Communism On March 12, Truman unveiled the Truman Doctrine in an address to the United States Congress. It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure, Truman said. He asked Congress for $400 million in aid for Greek anti-communist forces, as well as for the defense of Turkey, which the Soviet Union was pressuring to allow joint control of the Dardanelles. In April 1948, Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act, better known as the Marshall Plan. The plan was the economic arm of the Truman Doctrine. Named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall (who had been United States Army chief of staff during the war), the plan offered money to war-torn areas for the rebuilding of cities and their infrastructures. American policy-makers recognized that, without quick rebuilding of war damage, countries across Europe were likely to  turn to Communism.

Art and Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Art and Revolution - Essay Example Racism is obviously the key theme to the story since in Richard wright’s life, it is the central theme. In the 1900s the black community is disrespected and suffers at the hands of its white counterpart. Richard does not see any difference between whites and blacks when he is young but his view in life and particularly in relation to the subject above changes as he grows up (Wright 38). At the time of the death of his friend’s brother and his uncle Hoskins his eyes are opened to the truth. The white people being the ones behind this tragedy that engulfs him, makes him yearn for freedom from racism. Hand in hand with racism is the violence around. This is extreme in the southern states where violence is the order of the day. In as much as Richard looks for comfort from his own people when the whites are suppressing them the opposite is what he gets. He is often beaten by his relatives and family members. This experience together with encouragement from his mother forces him to fight against those who attack and suppress him thus becoming violent himself. He gets into fights in school with the hope and expectation that this will attain the respect and freedom he wants from his peers. It doesn’t stop there because at some point he threatens his aunt Addie and his uncle with razor blades. This is a show that he is desperate and hungry for freedom from violence and even if it means him turning into a violent guy, he is ready to play that card (Wright 58). He is always fighting against someone to be himself, express himself and even better himself in case there is a greater challenge the next day. Richard fights and claws his way through everything in life all in an attempt to accomplish the goals that everyone deemed pointless. The other point clearly coming out in our emphasis that there was a hunger for freedom is the issue on oppression. Oppression occurs between couples of different groups of people throughout the novel. The main being the o ppression of the white community over the black community in terms of availed opportunities, preference and outright hatred just but to the mention a few. As we scrutinize this point we should be careful to not forget that oppression is also evident within the black community itself. Be it in the family setting where it is either the father against the children, a husband against a wife or a brother against a sister. Richard is ridiculed and discriminated against for his intellectualism and desire to write by his neighbors, classmates and even his own family members. The people who should have your back at each and every point pulling you down (Wright 74). One word to describe this, very demoralizing. It is not just the white people that hold black people back but the ones oppressed try and hold back those who want and yearn for a better life. Maldoror and the Complete Works of the Comte De Lautreamont The career of Ducasse is a posthumous one since it is chronically complicated by the interpretation of Lautreamont and Malodor which is a mystery and an enigma. He is born in the month of April 1846. His father being well-to-do and he even goes on to become a chancellor but little is known about his mother (Lautreamont 19). The book is first printed in 1868 under the title les chants de Malodor but the next year, the complete Malodor is printed and bound in Belgium where the author is identified as Comte de Lautreamont. This is because of the fear of

Fair and Equitable Treatment on Foreign Investment and its Effects Essay - 1

Fair and Equitable Treatment on Foreign Investment and its Effects - Essay Example xposes the claimant to sectional or racial prejudice, or involves a leak of due process†.7 However, the jurisprudential doctrine of understanding the international law minimum standard has also been developed under international investment agreements.8 Essentially, there have been two views surrounding the understanding of the minimum standard of treatment, wherein breaches lead to violations of the FET standard. Firstly, the traditional view, understands the customary international law minimum standard as was reflected in the Neer case in the 1920s.9 For instance, in Alex Genin v Estonia,10 where the respond authorities revoked the claimant’s bank licence, the tribunal illustrated the conducts that would violate the minimum standard; they concluded that they â€Å"would include acts showing a wilful neglect of duty, an insufficiency of action falling far below international standards, or even subjective bad faith†.11 Thus, it appears clear that the tribunal deals with the traditional view because it believes that the FET standard would be breached in case State acts in bad faith. Secondly, the evolutionary view, considers that the customary international law minimum standard has been evolved since the Neer case. For example, in Azurix case,12 after analysing some awards inside and outside NAFTA the tribunal believed that the minimum requirement to satisfy the FET standard has evolved, and held that â€Å"such intention and bad faith can aggravate the situation but are not an essential element of the standard. It is also understood that the conduct of the State has to be below international standards but those are not at the level of 1927s†.13 Furthermore, in the Railroad case,14 the tribunal also discussed the evolution of the minimum standard and adopted the conclusion that â€Å"the minimum standard of treatment is constantly in a process of development including since Neer’s formulation†.15 Therefore, after examining the ways of interpreting the FET standard, it is logical to say that the controversy between the equating and plain meaning approaches is constantly reviewed in most cases. This, without a doubt, appears in many arbitral awards both within and outside NAFTA, because tribunals are quite reluctant to resolve this controversy.16 In addition, investors almost adopt an expensive view, as in the case of the Pope & Talbot case, while host States seek to support the NAFTA FTC approach of interpreting FET. However, it seems that none of the advanced approaches are able to provide persuasive reasons for their construction of FET, due to the fact that â€Å"this controversy is misguided, and the dichotomy presented by

Critical Response Papers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical Response Papers - Research Paper Example In the meantime, the three candidates have to confront the disapproving society that considers their relationship as somewhat unconventional. The homosexual relationships illustrate some form of deviation from normative practices, which disallow sexual relationships that fall outside the accepted forms of behavior in the society. In essence, the three men have to build a private world that exists within the larger external world and attempt by different means to redefine the conventions that determine the rules of sexuality. It becomes important to consider the fact that some of the issues that connect to the reality around the world have to be considered from the point of view of masculinity and sexuality. In normal practice, it is important to consider the fact that some issues that relate to matters of general interest have to be determined from the point of view of desire as it affects the male characters. The kind of relationship that defines the character of the different peopl e has to be considered within the context of a range of issues that influence perceptions and conventions. Desire, according to the conventions of the society, relates to the differences in perceptions involving sexual orientations, which appear to challenge and disrupt normative practices. The confusion that characterizes the lives of the characters in the movie is most telling when considered from the point of view of Tina’s life. The film explores the question of gender in a way that opens up the possibility of individuals converting into another gender. Tina switches from being a boy to a girl in order to engage in a love relationship with her father. The film illustrates the aspect of transcending normative practices and increasing the possibility of transformation across the lines of gender. In essence, it becomes important to consider the fact that some of the issues that connect within the structure have to relate to various issues that affect and are, in turn, affect ed by the practices of the main characters. Lesbianism and gay relationships are explored in ways that demonstrate the variations from norms and dominant perspectives of the society. Male attraction to fellow men features prominently in the film in ways that illustrate the unconventional nature of inner feelings and unstable conditions that define the kind of relationship between the male subjects. The male characters are portrayed as generally capable of engaging the major differences between the main actors and the different issues that affect perceptions on matters of sexuality and sexual relationships of one gender. In this manner, it becomes appropriate to consider the fact that some of the issues that concern the differences in character are considered as a sum of various influences that determine the worldview of the characters as perceived from the relationship of the major characters. Tina’s relationship with her father shows the extreme form of sexual disorientation that redefines the relationship between the male subjects. Generally, the movie explores the various angles of gender and sexuality with specific attention to the male characters. The definition of gender acquires multiple understandings because it is separated from the dominant perceptions

Financial regulation in United Kingdom

Financial regulation in United Kingdom Introduction What policy-maker should do to improve the system of financial regulation to achieve its objectives more effectively becomes a hot topic especially after the financial crisis 2008. More and more people begin to pay attention to financial regulation. According to a survey from FSA in 2009, the spontaneous awareness of financial regulation amongst people living in Great Britain aged 16 was 21% and it is the highest level since the survey began[1]. This essay will analyse financial regulation in United Kingdom into three perspectives; the first part will explain how the system of financial regulation operates in the United Kingdom. Then, the reasons why financial services industry should be supervised by regulation such as FSA, and new challenges in this system in response to the financial crisis 2008 will be discussed in second part, final part will be some problems with the current system in my point of view to better protect the economy and consumer. The financial regulation system in United Kingdom First of all, a brief review of the history in the late 20th century of financial regulation system in United Kingdom may be necessary and useful to establish a better background and deeper understanding. Londons financial district is known as The City for many years, until the end of 1970s there was no specific banking law in the UK, however, prompted by the secondary banking crisis in 1972, the Banking Act 1979 was promulgated and assigned formal responsibility for supervision of the UK banks (Heffernan 2007)[2]. The evolution of the UKs financial sector since the early 1980s can be thought of as the gradual confluence of three previously quite separate streams. These are the primary banking sector, monitored and supervised by the Bank of England; the organized markets in the City, and the rest of the financial sector, including building societies and insurance companies and licensed securities dealers, each of these steams exhibited significant differences in the style and nature of regulation, especially in the balance between statutory and self-regulation(Blair)[3]. As the consequence of the Stock Exchanges Big Bang, which means a series of financial reforms to encourage greater competition, the aim of Financial Services Act (1986) was to protect investors. One year after, the Bank Act 1987 was amended to the Banking Act 1979, this Act established a new Board of Bank Supervision, which assists the Bank of England in regulating other banks. The closure of BCCI (1991) and the bankruptcy of Barings (1995) exposed the problems of the supervisory abilities of the Bank of England and the drawbacks of the self-regulation (Heffernan, 2007)[4]. On 20 May 1997, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the reform of financial services regulation. In this resolution, banking supervision and investment services regulation were merged into the Securities and Investments Board (SIB), which changed its name to the Financial Services Authority in October 1997. Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 made the FSA became the sole regulator of all United Kingdom financial institutions. Since that time, FSA took the responsibility for all aspects of financial regulation progressively. According to the Financial Services and Markets Act, several other organisations responsibilities were transferred to the FSA, such as Building Societies Commission, Friendly Societies Commission, and Investment Management Regulatory Organisation. FSA superv ises the financial services industry as an independent non-governmental body, given statutory powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; We are a company limited by guarantee and financed by the financial services industry. The Treasury appoints the FSA Board, which currently consists of a Chairman, a Chief Executive Officer, two Managing Directors, and ten non-executive directors (including a lead non-executive member, the Deputy Chairman). This Board sets our overall policy, but day-to-day decisions and management of the staff are the responsibility of the Executive. FSA has four statutory objectives, maintaining confidence in the financial system, promoting public understanding of the financial system, securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and reducing the extent to which it is possible for a business to be used for a purpose connected with financial crime (FSA, 2005)[5]. According to Heffernan (2007)[6], FSA tries to make a balance between risk and competition. RTO (risk to our objectives) approach is used widely to manage the risk in firms that supervised by the FSA (except the telecommunications and utilities sectors, etc), RTO also gives a score of probability of a certain firm to be a target for preventing the FSA from achieving its four statutory objectives. The score is easily calculated through: Impact score = (impact of the problem) * (probability of the problem arising) Each firm will be scored from A (very high risk) to D (low risk), and the score will also indicate the strength of supervision that FSA implements in a firm. Being a member of EU, UK financial regulation is influenced by EUs regulation in financial service industry, which is Financial Service Action Plan. An article named The EU Financial Services Action Plan: A Guide[7](2003), which prepared by HM Treasure, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England, introduced that UK financial law was effectively determined by the FSAP. It means that any UK financial regulation should not be conflict contradictory, and the UK authorities should be keen to ensure that the UK financial sector, corporate sector and consumer groups are consulted on, and fully understand the impact of, FSAP measures. European Commission uses FSAP to improve EU financial markets to be a Single Market, FSAP aims to fill gaps and eliminate remaining barriers among all EU members. Furthermore, in order to make EU financial services worked more effectively, Lamfalussy process was launched by EU Committee. It is a four-level, regulatory approach for adoption. Trying to consider the relationship between FSA and FSAP, the article also addressed that the FSA not only has extreme influence in UKs financial services, but also make its own contributions in EU, HM Treasury, the FSA and the Bank play key roles in identifying, influencing, promoting and overseeing the UKs interests in financial services in the EU. Promoting public understanding of the financial system and ensuring an appropriate degree of protection for consumers are objectives of FSA which also inform in EU. Why we need financial services industry to be regulated A brief history of UK financial regulation, which was introduced at the beginning of this article, may be a part of the whole picture. However, there are other extremely important reasons that hastened the coming of a type of financial regulation represented by FSA. At first, it is still necessary to review an important feature, which is self-regulation, in the development of the FSA. Self-regulation has proved to be an effective and reasonably efficient system for the British securities industry until very recently[8] (Rider). However, just like the historical review that illustrated above, with the upward rising of scandals and the dramatic change in security market, the foundation of the monopoly of self-regulation mechanism was challenged before the emergence of the super-regulator. Although FSA 1986 seemed that make a balance between statutory framework and self-regulation, the financial regulation system was still largely depended on self-regulation. The issue of mis-selling pensions has the most impact to make the government to make the final decision to end the self-regulation. Public confidence was significantly lost in personal pensions at that time and the truth that SIB lack adequate enforcement powers to take regulatory actions prec ipitated the process of giving financial service industry a statutory regulation system. After FSMA 2000, FSAs enforcement is safeguarded and the whole financial system in United Kingdom has leaned to be supervised in statutory way rather than self-regulated. The economic rationale for regulation will be examined as follow. According to an article, The Economic Rationale for Financial Regulation[9], written by David Llewelyn (1999), he analyses several reasons why there is a demand for a systematic regulation in economic world. Firstly, there are potential systemic risks in financial industry especially in banking industry. The main systemic risk is bank run, and worse still; this can leads to a solvent bank becoming insolvent since the limitation of most bank assets to be marketable, and due to asymmetric information problems, bank assets cannot be sold at par as potential buyers, these will add a high risk premium in the purchase price. Therefore, for the sake of depositors and banking institutions, a type for regulation on the bases of systemic risk is necessary. Secondly, market is not perfectly competitive. The main reason of market imperfection is that not all the investors can get adequate information of a certain market which they are engaging in, and this will impose costs on the consumer. Consequently, regulation plays a significant role to make sure the process of information disclosure and reinforce an effective market environment. In the article, he also explained the economies of scale in monitoring. Because of the nature of financial contracts between financial firms and their customers there is a need for continuous monitoring of the behaviour of financial firms. Regulatory agencies should monitor the financial firms in the name of consumers, since regulatory agencies are more effective and cost less in monitoring financial firms. After financial crisis 2008 Almost all of the financial regulation agency aim to maintain the stability of the financial market and consumers confidence; however, the change of real market circumstance seems faster than policy-makers precautionary measures. According to a speech, The financial crisis and the future of financial regulation[10] from Adair Turner, the Chairman of the FSA, he explained the main reason why this extreme crisis happened is the interaction between macroeconomic imbalances and the fast development in financial market which happened last ten years. In his speech, since the decline of the real risk free rates of interest, such as government bonds, credit extension was got a chance of dramatic growth especially in residential industry with deteriorated credit standards. Moreover, a desire to find a substitute for government bonds among investors who want to gain as much as possible spread above the risk-free rate was exploded. Sophisticated investment banks created a new kind of securitized credit instruments and it boomed so quickly, but unfortunately, like Lord Turner said: Not all innovation is equally useful, it collapsed since the investors became irrational. To reduce the adverse impact in economy, rebuild th e investor confidence and avoid future crisis, he pointed several strategies that regulators may concentrate on improving the regulation system. He argued that financial system should modify originate and distribute model which refer to securitized credit model easier to be understood, and more transparent to end investors. He also suggested that a new regime for capital adequacy and liquidity is necessary to lower the possibility of future crisis. In the end of his speech, he emphasized that financial regulation should always ensure that financial activities are regulated on the basis of their economic substance instead of their legal form. In the Turner Review[11] published by FSA in March 2009, there are more specific approaches about banking supervision that FSA plans to change and introduce. All the recommends can be highly summarized to be seven key measures as follow: Increasing the quantity and quality of bank capital. Significant increases in trading book capital: and the need for fundamental review. Avoiding procyclicality in Basel 2 implementation. Creating counter-cyclical capital buffers. Offsetting procyclicaality in published accounts. A gross leverage ratio backstop. Containing liquidity risks: in individual banks and at the systemic level. (FSA, 2009) After the financial crisis happened, FSA has been undertaking massive actions to improve regulation system. For example, according to FSA Annual Report 2008/09[12], the Banking Act 2009 is mainly able to resolve default problem and strengthen financial stability; as a result, a new bank insolvency procedure was introduced. A statement from FSA about Banking Act 2009 from FSA in July 2009 claimed that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) can not only pay compensation to eligible customers of a financial firm if that firm including deposit takers is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it but also can also be required to contribute to the costs arising from the actions taken under the SRR.[13] In addition, FSA increased the general depositor protection limit from  £35,000 to  £50,000 per person per deposit-taking institution which will cover most of retail deposits in October 2008. In the aspect of supervising firms capital adequacy, FSA made efforts to let firms which have most impact know essential controls and standards by Dear CEO letter. Closely cooperated with EU and global regulation, FSA played an important role in G20 London Summit in April 2009, which focused on the future priorities for global financial regulation, and Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Many recommendations, which became detailed international agreements, were from FSA. According to FSA Business Plan 2009/10[14], the FSA will intensively focus on the competence of Significant Influence Functions (SIF) individuals in high-impact firms. The Plan announced five core improvements that FSA will be focus on, which included an upgraded Training and Competence (TC) scheme for relationship-management supervisors, a new tenure policy (it will provide a framework for the minimum and maximum time a supervisor should manage a firm). My view in current UKs financial supervisory system During the accumulation of the knowledge of the history about the development of UKs financial regulation and the causes of financial crisis 2008, I find it is a process that the financial regulation continuously suits the changeable financial services industry, financial regulations solutions seem behind a certain innovations in financial market which has already begun cause negative effects in the whole economy. Financial crisis 2008 is evidence to prove that if financial regulation does not detect potential problems in a certain financial innovation and does not make adjustment promptly, a new crisis would be inevitably and it would cost a lot to correct the system along the right track. Therefore, an important lesson from crisis 2008 is financial regulation should always pay close attention to the moving direction of the market and fully analyses a financial innovation. A suggestion in my point of view is that financial regulation may has legislative to investigate and estimate p otential risk within a new financial product before it begin it to sell, and this procedure may require close cooperation with related financial institution. On the other hand, financial crisis 2008 make regulators intensively focus on risk-based analysis especially in banking or like-banking institutions, but it should not equal to discourage financial innovation. Almost all the financial derivatives contain risk, while, as long as regulators estimate it appropriately, these new financial products that contained huge intelligence can benefit consumers. Conclusion Being a single financial regulator in United Kingdom, Financial Services Authority has powers which was given by Financial Services and Market Act (FSMA) to supervise Britain financial industry. Demand for such kind of regulation can be observed in history and economic perspectives. Financial crisis 2008 as a prelude to FSA reinforces its system, supervision in banking industry become more intensively. The crisis also gave regulators a lesson that it is necessary to establish a balance between surpluses and deficits on the global level in the long-term, in addition, prudential analysis should be in a more effective way in order to reduce systematic risk. Finally, not just FSA, but all the other financial regulations should cooperate closely to build a more stable global financial system and avoid future crisis. Word Count: 2564/2500 Reference: Consumer awareness of the FSA and financial regulation, Consumer Research 80, FSA, 2009 Heffernan, S. (2007). Modern banking. John Wiley Sons, Ltd, pp.200-242 Blair et al, Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, pp. 1-16 Heffernan, S. (2007). Modern banking. John Wiley Sons, Ltd, pp. 231-232 FSA, 2005, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/About/Who/History/index.shtml Heffernan, S. (2007). Modern banking. John Wiley Sons, Ltd, pp. 235-237 THE EU FINANCIAL SERVICES ACTION PLAN: A GUIDE, 31 July 2003, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/fsap_guide.pdf Rider, Abrams and Ashe, Guide to Financial Services Regulation, pp. 1-26 The Economic Rationale for Financial Regulation, FSA Occasional Paper Series 1, April 1999, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/occpapers/OP01.pdf The financial crisis and the future of financial regulation, Speech by Adair Turner, The Economists Inaugural City Lecture, 21 January 2009 The Turner Review: A regulatory response to the global banking crisis, FSA, March 2009, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/turner_review.pdf FSA Annual Report 2008/09, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Corporate/Annual/ar08_09.shtml Policy Statement 09/11, Banking and compensation reform, FSA, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/policy/ps09_11.pdf FSA Business Plan 2009/10, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Corporate/Plan/bp2009.shtml Consumer awareness of the FSA and financial regulation, Consumer Research 80, FSA, 2009 Heffernan, S. (2007). Modern banking. John Wiley Sons, Ltd, pp.200-242 Blair et al, Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, pp. 1-16 Heffernan, S. (2007). Modern banking. John Wiley Sons, Ltd, pp. 231-232 FSA, 2005, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/About/Who/History/index.shtml Heffernan, S. (2007). Modern banking. John Wiley Sons, Ltd, pp. 235-237 THE EU FINANCIAL SERVICES ACTION PLAN: A GUIDE, 31 July 2003, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/fsap_guide.pdf Rider, Abrams and Ashe, Guide to Financial Services Regulation, pp. 1-26 The Economic Rationale for Financial Regulation, FSA Occasional Paper Series 1, April 1999, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/occpapers/OP01.pdf The financial crisis and the future of financial regulation, Speech by Adair Turner, The Economists Inaugural City Lecture, 21 January 2009 The Turner Review: A regulatory response to the global banking crisis, FSA, March 2009, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/turner_review.pdf FSA Annual Report 2008/09, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Corporate/Annual/ar08_09.shtml Policy Statement 09/11, Banking and compensation reform, FSA, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/policy/ps09_11.pdf FSA Business Plan 2009/10, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Corporate/Plan/bp2009.shtml