Propolis To Be Selected For Winter Promotion Essay Example for Free

Propolis To Be Selected For Winter Promotion Essay Introduction In coming winter, there will be a special promotion event and a brand of propolis capsules will be selected to present. The aim of this report is to describe the basic information of propolis, show the popularity of propolis and evaluate the advantages and reputation of best seller on market. Firstly the method of research is described, followed by the findings. Then conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made. Methodology Research was conducted to find out the information about propolis. Firstly, table of information about basic information of propolis and research results of evaluation of Comvita Propolis Capsules were conducted by Mr. Tim Burch. Then, websites of two exhibition were visited to get information on Popularity of propolis as a health supplement product. Findings (a) Basic information of propolis According to the table of information, propolis is produced by bee and it is used to build the hives in nature. It is 100% natural substance. Regarding the function, propolis has special power in strengthen and accelerate regeneration of cell as to speed up wound healing. It helps to whiten skin and make skin fine. Besides, boosting immune system is another unique effect of propolis. It contains some anti-allergies like asthma and nasal allergy. Therefore, it helps fight inflammation caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi and lower the chance for other complication occur. (b) Popularity of propolis as a health supplement product Propolis has a board usage as a health supplement product. From the website of MedinePlus(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/390.html) shows the following findings. There sufficient evidence to rate effectiveness for Cold sores, Genital herpes and Mouth surgery. Propolis is very popular as it has many medicinal uses today and it presents over the world. From the website of JAFRA(http://www.jafra.gr.jp/eng/propolis1.html)  shows the findings that just in Japan, there are 300 companies are selling propolis health foods and the market is still increasing. Thus, it shows that propolis is very well-received now. (c) Evaluation of Comvita Propolis Capsules Based on research results from Mr. Tim Burch about the best seller on market, Comvita Propolis Capsules. It evaluates this brand of propolis has two major advantages. High purity and flavonoid has found in Comvita Propolis Capsules, it has competitive content of purity and flavonoid than other product. One of the unique features of the product is † additives free†. Comvita Propolis Capsules is a natural product with no artificial colourings lavourings or preservatives. Other than advantages, it has a reputation for honesty and efficiency. There is more than 1000 positive reviews by users on online shopping websites. And Comvita Propolis Capsules becomes the finalist of ‘Product of the Year’ by the Women’s Weekly Health Wellbeing magazine in Australia. It is perceived that Comvita Propolis Capsules is the best seller on market. Nevertheless, the products are not very stable during winter due to the peak consuming season. Pre-order is needed for porduct s supply.

Reflective Log On Personal And Professional Development Skills Nursing Essay

Reflective Log On Personal And Professional Development Skills Nursing Essay Stress has always been a part of my life. I have experienced it during exam revision, my Duke of Edinburgh expedition, being the captain of a tennis team and performing in a play. My reason for choosing this SSC was to help me to identify and manage my stress, plan my goals and improve my time management so that excessive stress can be avoided in the future. We began the course by studying the graph of performance versus arousal, illustrating the human response to stress. Performance initially increased with stress. I have always perceived stress as a negative thing and something that should be avoided at all costs. I soon learned that some stress is good for you; some stressors keep you motivated and working at the optimum rate; without them, I would become bored and feel like I was underachieving. When stress is excessive, however, the graph starts plateauing and then going down. The body starts suffering and displaying signs of being overstressed leading to lowered productivity and finally breakdown and illness. When I am very stressed, I find myself experiencing a combination of symptoms. Anxiety, procrastination, increased heart rate, diarrhoea, sensitivity to criticism, negative self-critical thoughts and occasional emotional outbursts are not uncommon to me. Being on such a demanding course as Medicine, it is important to manage stress efficiently to keep productivity at optimum levels. Knowing about the manifestations of stress is useful both when directly administering healthcare and to inform professional conduct. The understanding of the manifesting symptoms of stress will allow me to identify it in myself and others: I can later use this either to prescribe the right course of action to the patient, or to manage underlying problems at work. The two types of stress are acute and chronic. The General Adaptation Syndrome proposed by Seyle explains the stages the body goes through when faced with stress: Alarm, Resistance and Exhaustion1. The alarm stage involves the fight or flight mechanism as well as activation of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal axis, leading to down-regulation of the immune system. In the resistance phase, the body tries to cope with the increased stress. In the exhaustion phase, sustained stress has depleted the body of resources and we suffer from diseases of adaptation. I experience acute stress on a frequent basis, for example when I get a minor injury or am trying to meet an essay deadline, leading to alarm and resistance. Chronic stress is more long term, such as occupational stress, commonly leading to the exhaustion phase of the General Adaptation Syndrome. This occurs when I am stressed for a longer period of time, such as when struggling to catch up with work or preparing for exams. Extended periods of high stress situations can lead to burnout, which is characterised by emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, leading to low productivity and feelings of low achievement. I have experienced similar feelings when, after pushing myself too hard, I feel negative, run down and as though my work is barely progressing. The extreme demands of a medical career can easily drive a doctor to burnout. I was glad that this SSC gave us space to consider burnout, as it brought my attention to aspects of my own conduct when under pressure. With an awareness of my personal difficulties in mind, I often try to use action and emotionally orientated skills to manage my stress levels. I plan ahead in terms of work and other commitments, and prefer to work steadily over time and not get emotionally worked up about it. However, acceptance-orientated stress management comes into play when stressors seem more imminent. With the associated stress of an oncoming exam, for instance, I accept it and work, trying to avoid further stress by reminding myself that I am doing my best. I was surprised to learn about the extent to which personal stress effects those who surround us. Stress is infectious and in a clinical scenario it is important to seem calm to the patient to build a rapport and gain their trust. A visibly stressed doctor will result in stressed patients, or even cause stress in other members of staff leading to poor patient care, often due to non-verbal communication such as body language. With the understanding that interactions with patients, and teamwork situations will feature a lot in my career, knowing about the infectious nature of stress has reinforced my belief that I must manage my stress and be cautious of how (or what) I communicate. To improve my stress management, it is important to become aware of my stressors, and how I react physically and emotionally to them, while bearing in mind the three main variables of stress: intensity, duration and number of stressors present. This will allow me to evaluate what I can change and to moderate my physical and emotional responses. Keeping fit by going to the gym and playing sports, as well as socialising allows me to unwind and feel good about myself. I find these very effective in stress management as they allow build-up of physical and emotional reserves. However, I need to improve my prioritising mechanisms, as sometimes prioritising is my downfall: for example I often find myself persuaded to go out with friends before an important deadline. Doing work when it is important rather than urgent will also leave me room to do the things I enjoy, without the avoidable pressure of time constraints and outstanding work: thus by starting assignments sooner rather than later, and studying lectures and tutorials after having them I will reduce my exposure to the stressors, and the intensity and duration of the stress With those plans in mind, I found learning about the methods of stress manipulation halting, interrupting and coping useful and insightful. In the past I have used halting and coping as my primary methods of manipulating stress. However, I now feel that these are not best in all situations; indeed, they can result in more when work accumulates and must be completed later. I am now putting into place interruption, which involves reducing the stress rather than stopping it altogether by preventing it from building up; this works well when it incorporates the management of variables of stress. I found it a surprise that such a thing as eustress existed; once again challenging my perceptions that stress is almost always a negative thing. I then recalled when I had experienced this in the past, for example when exams are over and I have almost unlimited time to do whatever I want. Learning how to identify stressors, as well as enhancing relevant communication skills, was useful. As a doctor, using the interrogative words Who, What, When, Where and How when interviewing patients will help me to take good patient histories: they will allow me to direct the patients answers in a way which will help identify the stressors efficiently. The areas which cause stress are occupation, personal relationships, environment and non-work time. Using the aforementioned words will create open yet specific questions, prompting the patient to open up and provide a better history. However, the interrogator why should not be used as it is too vague and not productive enough when trying to determine the causes of stress. Thought awareness refers to negative thinking. I have experienced this myself, when the approach of exams causes me to doubt my knowledge and anticipate failure. However, I have addressed this by making sure I prepare in enough time and by using my time efficiently. I am now able to think more clearly, remain calmer and make informed decisions in more stressful situations. I recognise the importance of being optimistic, and believe that even when things do not go according to plan, I must see the experience as positive and an opportunity to learn. As well as that, I am quite a confident person and apply myself to most situations with a confident mind-set even if they are in uncharted territory. This allows me to push my boundaries, and this boosts my confidence when I am pleasantly surprised to discover a new skill. On my Duke of Edinburgh expedition, I was leading my team. Unfortunately due to torrential rain and wind, a part of our route was impassable; this meant I was responsible to plan a new route within a short period of time as it was getting very late and dark. I successfully managed to get the team to the camp with very little delay to our original plan. The final step in stress management is rest, relaxation and sleep. In my experience, all three have suffered during stressful times, especially rest and relaxation. I play badminton, tennis and go to the gym as forms of recreation, and enjoy music and television to distract me from the stress. I sometimes stop doing these during intense times in order to make time for work. I now realise that it is important not to halt these activities. However the biggest change I will be making is implementing the self-hypnosis techniques learnt in the classes. I think that the hypnosis allows me to be more awake and refreshed than by taking a quick nap, which often leaves me feeling worse when I wake up which I learnt was due to me interrupting a sleep cycle. To be someone who works productively, efficiently and in a professional manner, I must set realistic goals and then achieve them, borrowing some aspects of the tycoon mentality. Namely, it is necessary firstly to know what I want; the best way of going about this is to maintain focussed on it by not bothering too much about what I dont want. To remain focussed on achieving my goals, it is important that I constantly visualise them to keep myself striving towards them. This means clearing your mind of any clutter such as goals that are now unattainable and past events. I often find myself thinking of what has happened in the past and replaying them in my mind and thinking about what I could have done differently, for example I once said something rash to a friend in the heat of the moment which I later regretted; I kept thinking about all the time and got really stressed. I now realise that this is merely a waste of time and I could use this time to make more use of the present to cre ate a better future. Tycoons realise the importance of compartmentalising, that is, not carrying emotional baggage from one thing to another. As a doctor for me this will be imperative: I must not carry any sentiments about one patient to another when dealing with another case. I already compartmentalise in day to day life, and for instance when I get upset about one thing, I do not allow the associated emotions to interfere with other aspects of my life. I have also set myself some clear cut and realistic goals which I am working towards and know how to get there. In some ways I do have tycoon mentality, which is valuable as a medical student and future doctor. Although the importance of hard work is undeniable, anticipating success will help me to achieve it, as the ensuing excitement which in turn motivates me to strive towards my ambition. Anticipation also allows me to change my goal if my current goal no longer seems to be the right one for me. Past experiences have shown me that whatever seems like a huge effort will only become habitual in time, usually a period of three weeks according to Maltzs Psychocybernetics2. For example, when I promised myself to visit the gym to improve my fitness, it initially seemed a huge effort to make time for it, but after some time I stopped seeing it as an effort. It became a part of my schedule, and I am able to fit other activities around it: this is goal maintenance I have a goal in my career of becoming a liver surgeon, it is a definitive long term goal and I am determined to achieve it. I will need to achieve several goals such as passing my exams and attending surgical society meetings to achieve the long term goal. By having a time frame to achieve my goal, I will always endeavour to achieve the goals I set myself. It is not just enough to have a goal; you need to make it a reality. I am good at operating on my own initiative and try to take the necessary steps to climb up the ladder towards my goals. Desire results in sustained effort: For instance, I will not let progress made towards my ambition deter me from trying harder. I am currently searching for placements with surgeons and gaining career advice to set me apart when I apply for a job. Loss of desire can mean you can get side tracked from your goals and result in you not achieving them; I am always trying to keep a focus on my goals in order to prevent this from happening. In order to gain satisfaction from achieving my goals, I need to make sure that I keep doing my on-going activities such as gym, tennis and badminton. Otherwise, I would have lost this aspect of my life as well as it being detrimental to my fitness. I am often guilty of stopping these activities when Im busy with other work, but from now on will incorporate them into my goals. Goals are something you want to achieve; dreams go beyond goals and are on the horizon beyond the path to your goal. This made me think whether some of my goals are actually goals or whether they are dreams. I then realised that my goal of becoming a well renowned surgeon is actually a dream, I will need to hit all my goals and go beyond before I can make my dream a reality. I also realise that no one is going to create my success; only I am solely responsible for creating my success. I have set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and within a Time frame) and I am now forming a personalised goal portfolio so that I can hit my targets; to supplement this, I am also going to make lists of tasks that I need to do. Though I have never used lists in the past, I feel that making lists facilitates organisation and aids the memory, thus increasing chances of success. I feel that this SSC has equipped me with a platform of skills which will be useful in my career as a doctor. Mainly these fall under the categories of stress management, motivation techniques, time management and relaxation. Surprisingly, though, the course has shed light on the importance of communication and body language with regards to stress management, and familiarised me with concepts I did not previously know about, such as eustress and the positive influence of stress for productivity. Nevertheless I feel that the most important things I learned were the skill of identifying that I was stressed, and the knowledge that sometimes I need to relax. Above all, though, I feel that this SSC has been one of the most influential aspects of my medical education, as it has taught me to recognise that stress is not merely a black and white issue: it resides neither in the situation or the person, it depends on a transaction between the two.3

Evaluate The Usefulness Of The Product Lifecycle To A Firm Essay

In this essay I will look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a product lifecycle, as well as evaluating the usefulness of such a model to a firm. The Product Lifecycle is a part of the portfolio analysis, in which a firm can analyse the stages in a products life. It is a model used to aid with decision making in a firm, and part of the marketing planning process. The shape and length of the lifecycle varies with the different products, as each one is unique. The different stages are launch, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. How useful is the Product Lifecycle?. There are several different uses it holds to a firm. Managers use it because it highlights the need for a firm to change its marketing policies at the different stages of a products life. It then aids them in planning out their marketing strategies. A firm might draw out a Product Lifecycle to identify the stage at which its product is at in the lifecycle, from there they can decide what to do to keep the product alive or to maintain high sales. The Product Lifecycle can be used as an aid to set budgets within a firm as well. For example, if a firm produces a product lifecycle for a product and identifies the stage it is in, this can set budgets for its marketing/promotion department, its production department and its distribution department. For example if a firm sees that its product is still in the growth stages of the lifecycle, they are going to have to invest a lot of money in its development (...

The Symbolism of the Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence Essay -- Stone A

The Symbolism of the Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence Margaret Laurence's novel, The Stone Angel is a compelling journey of flashbacks seen through the eyes of Hagar Shipley, a ninety year-old woman nearing the end of her life.   In the novel, Margaret Laurence, uses the stone angel to effectively symbolize fictional characters.     The term symbolism in its broadest sense means the use of an object to stand for something other than itself.   In The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence uses the stone angel to sybmolize the Currie family values and pride and in particular, the pride and cold personality traits of Hagar Shipley.   There are three primary areas where the stone angel is used to symbolize characters in the novel.   They are: the Currie family pride as a symbol of egoism and materialism, Hagar's lack of compassion for her family and friends as symbolized by a heart of stone, and Hagar's blindness to the feelings and needs of the others as symbolized by the blindness of the angel.     The stone angel is symbolic of the Currie family pride and values.   The stone angel memorial is purchased and brought from Italy by Jason Currie at great expense and placed at the grave site of his wife, in the Manawaka cemetery.   The stone angel is the largest and most expensive memorial in the cemetery.   Although the stone angel is intended to be a memorial for Mrs. Currie, it was not really suitable because Hagar describes her as being meek and a feeble ghost.   The angel is not intended for Mrs. Currie, but in fact, represents the materialistic and egotistical values that characterizes Jason and later, Hagar.   Jason purchases the stone angel in pride and not in grief over the death of this wife: "bought in pride to mark her bones and ... ...from her point of view and is blind to the needs and aspirations of others.   She can only see things from her side of the fence and cannot see how others view the world from the other side.   She is a blind as the stone statue. Although the Currie?s family pride is symbolized repeatedly by the stone angel throughout the novel, it is Hagar who is best symbolized the stone angel.   The angel aptly symbolizes the blindness, hardness, and lack of feelings that are characteristics Hagar displays during her life.   In retrospect, Hagar is the stone angel. Works Cited and Consulted Blewett, D.. "The Unity of the Manawaka Cycle." The World of the Novel: A Student's Guide to Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel. Ed. Lillian Perigoe and Beverly Copping. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Inc., 1983. Laurence, Margaret. The Stone Angel. Toronto: McClelland &Stewart Inc., 1988.

Symbolism in Piggys Specs :: essays research papers

The Symbolism of Piggy's glasses Symbolism pervades throughout the entire narrative of Lord of the Flies and is used to illustrate the fears and tensions that exist within the boys trapped on the island. One of the novel's strength is that it weaves these vivid symbols together to assist its themes and ideas rather than labour them. Piggy's glasses become an important symbol representing the social order of the boys as they try to determine how to lead themselves. Although not a leader Piggy is the voice of reason as he mends the early splits between the boys by way of compromising. Of all the boys on the island it is Piggy who can seen as the most symbolic. His organisation helps the boys make the early decisions and he can be seen as the natural law of order, the reason thinking of humanity. Although despite being described as short and fat in the terms you might describe an animal as Piggy is the most willing to strive for survival in a civialised way. It is Piggy who says the most important words describing how the boys should act "What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages. What are grownups going to think?" It is this desire for docorum that underlines Piggy's belief that they will all be saved from the island - the only person to believe this will happen. Therefore Piggy himself becomes symbolic of the boys' hope to be saved from the island. The hope literally comes from his glasses. Piggy's spectacles are taken from him and used to start smoke signals. Without glasses Piggy's sight, like the boys' vision of what is in their best interests, becomes blurred. Piggy, now weakened, is no longer able to aid Ralph in his struggle to lead the group. Without the voice of adulthood that is Piggy, Ralph loses his moral guidance and begins to make bad judgments. The greater Piggy's will to escape and claim salvation so Ralph is drawn into the confusion and misguided pleasures of The Beast". As each pig is killed so a small part of what Piggy represents is corroded away. When Piggy's glasses are broken all apparent hope of escaping with them is destroyed as well. By making the glasses useless the boys are rejecting what the spectacles stand for. Now no longer able to function at all the 'short and fat' Piggy becomes an animal like the rest of the boys, where only the fittest survive.

Write Up on Detection of Fraud

DETECTION OF FRAUD (A Study on the Relations of Fraud Detection, Redress and Reporting by Auditors, Protecting against Fraud Detection: the Case of Auditors and the Effect of Auditors Personality) Prepared by:- _________________________________________________________________________ PREFACE The objective of this assignment is to promote critical thinking on to what extent auditors comply with auditing standards once they encounter fraud and auditors’ compliance on managing fraud, the debate on auditors’ negligence when it comes to fraud and the side effects of fraud detection towards personality.A selection of three articles that were chosen in identifying and subsequently analyse the impact of fraud towards an individual, group or within an organisation. The three articles are:- * Protecting against Detection: The Case of Auditors and Fraud? * Fraud detection, redress and reporting by auditors, * Fraud Risk Assessment and Detection of Fraud: The Moderating Effect of P ersonality. The objective for this assignment is to aim on the relationship between the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk and the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud.Also, this study considers the overall trend of development and the prospects for future changes regarding the auditor’s fraud detection responsibilities. INTRODUCTION Most of the individuals feel that auditors fail to comply with some important elements of fraud standards. Fraud represents a significant and challenging issue throughout the accounting profession practically almost everywhere in the world.Dramatic financial scandals often takes place as soon after companies received apparent â€Å"green light† from their auditors have kept the issue of fraud and the responsibility for its detection closely relate to auditors in particular. Auditors are required by the auditing standards to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from any misstatements. Inability to accomplish so particularly fraud may expose the auditors to litigation. The detection of fraud is the most important portion of the auditor’s duties.Therefore, auditors should assiduously cultivate this branch of their activities. (Dicksee, 1990). Whenever there is a sudden alarm and collapse within the company, people tend to assume that the auditors negligently failed to spot something was wrong and the auditors failed to solve the issue. Detection of fraud is no longer the principal audit objective but rather the subsidiary to the determination of the truth and fairness of corporate financial statements.This development in stated audit objectives is often portrayed as a process of natural, uncontroversial evolution in which professional guidance came to meet changing public expectations and circumstances (Tricker, 1982). The growth in the size of business, the assumption of corporate management of a greater responsibility for fraud detection and a broad acceptance of t he increasingly uneconomic nature of audit-based fraud detection are usually identified as the main causes of the changing nature of audit responsibilities (CACA, 1986).CENTRAL ISSUES & PROBLEMS When it comes to redress, it relates to the auditee taking measures situations where fraud has been detected. Given the existing standards on the role of auditors in fraud situations, the existence performance gap in this context can be due to several factors, including the lack of knowledge or competence on how to act once corporate fraud is detected, lack of care in following protocol or the lack of independence of the auditor possibly because conflicting of interest.Given the sensitive nature of fraud reporting towards the society’s expectations, compliance with fraud standards is crucial nowadays. 56% from recent surveys said that expectations of auditors rely on the auditor’s duty to detect fraud, while 42% believed that it is the responsibility to search actively for frau d (Steen, 1990). The issue of fraud is very essential for public accountants and auditors because litigation actions may be taken against them should they not be able to detect fraud during the conduct of the audit.Take for example when Xerox was sanctioned for overstating earnings by US$3 billion, its auditor KPMG was liable for US$22 million in penalties (Ettradge, Sun, Lee & Anandarajan, 2005). The present scenario is an extension whereby study shown that the effect of the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk on their ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. High fraud risk scenario, the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk has positive effect on their ability to detect the likelihood of fraud, whereas in a low fraud risk scenario not.Adding to that study, another factor which is the personality may affect the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. The study predicts that there might be other factor that affects the auditor’s job performance that is in the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. LITERATURE REVIEW The present study predicts that personality might have only moderating effect on the fraud detection ability.The present study illustrates and examines Big-5 factors of personality that are neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness because these factors are the basic dimensions of personality and it is predominantly viewed that many personality traits are subsumed under these five categories. This shows that personality does influence job performance and by investigating the moderating affects of the personality factors on the relationship between the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk and their ability to detect the likelihood of fraud.Attribution Theory This theory suggests that the level of future expected performance, in a particular task depends mainly on the particular causes to which prior success or failure in the same task is attributed. This theory i s appropriate because there is a need to assess the causal attribution of the auditors’ performance, i. e: ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. With this study, the level of the future expected liability to detect the likelihood of fraud is attributed by the auditors’ prior ability to assess the level of fraud risk.Five-factor Theory 1. Neuroticism as a personality trait * This study shows that auditors who are high on neuroticism will not be able to perform effectively in their job as compared to those who are low on neuroticism, because those with high neuroticism tend to show negative attitudes. With such attitudes demonstrate, the auditors may not be able to appropriately detect the likelihood of fraud. In any fraud situation, high on neuroticism would diminish the relationship between the ability to assess the risk and the ability to detect fraud altogether. . Extraversion as a personality trait * When a person is experiencing positive emotions, it may influ ence them to perform well in their job. In any risk situation, high on extraversion would have positive influence on the relationship between the auditors’ ability to assess fraud risk. 3. Conscientiousness as a personality trait * Individuals with high level of conscientiousness may be able to perform well in the job because of the characters such as organized and reliable are important facets for carrying out the audit work. 4.Openness to experience as a personality trait * An auditor is more open to experience; he/she should be more able to detect the likelihood of fraud. Possessing traits such as intellectually curious, behaviorally flexible and nondogmatic in attitude and values can be considered as essential to conduct risk. 5. Agreeableness as a personality trait * Auditor who demonstrates high level of agreeableness in his/her personality such as cooperativeness, trustfulness and adaptability would make them more competent in performing the jobs.METHODOLOGY The inform ation pertaining to the study on the role of auditors in fraud cases, survey was conducted among audit partners of Dutch firms. The questionnaire contained three questions which were:- 1. Questions relating to the features of the fraud cases auditors had experienced in the period. 2. Questions on the reporting and redress of the fraud cases 3. Questions on the perceived role of auditor in the redress process. The overall respond is satisfactory, especially considering the sensitive nature of the study.Secondly, in the study of the personality traits, two levels of ability to assess fraud risk and two levels of each dimension of personality factor. The factors of personality are neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness. The study also practicing the independent auditors registered in Malaysia, designated as audit partner or audit manager who are attached to the auditing firms in Malaysia. FINDINGS Most auditors who do have experience elim inated fraud believe that fraud detection and process are often significant in order to minimize risk.Auditors reporting of fraud according to the fraud standards and regulations are defined as below. 1. Reporting to management. – As soon as auditors detect fraud or receive signals that could interpret as such, the auditor needs to report this to management in writing. 2. Reporting to the supervisory Board. – auditing standards explicitly required certain types of fraud to be reported in writing to the supervisory board such as cases of management fraud, cases of material fraud, and cases whereby management refuses to redress the fraud. 3.The redress process. – when the auditor has detected fraud and management has not yet taken appropriate steps to redress the effects of fraud, the auditor is required to demand that the fraud be redressed, i. e. the consequences of the fraud have to be rectified as far as possible and recurrence needs to be prevented. 4. Audito r resignation. – The auditing standards allowed auditor to resign from the assignment of the fraud but required the auditor to resign if the case of material fraud was not redressed. 5. External reporting of fraud. Finally, the auditing standards state that when material fraud discovered during a statutory audit has not been redressed by the audit client within a reasonable time frame, the auditor is not only required to resign from the engagement, but also to notify the dedicated government agency. Such procedure also plus the expansion of auditor’s fraud detection responsibilities by assuming of willingness to play more active role in assessing and reporting on the adequacy of the company’s system and internal controls.Matters that should take into consideration when considering the disclosure is justified in the public interest may include: * Fraud irregularities is likely to result in material gain or loss that effect a large number of people, * The extent t o which non-disclosure of fraud is likely to enable it to be repeated with impunity, * Whether there is general management ethos within the entity of flouting the law and regulations, * The weight of evidence and the auditor’s assessment of the likelihood that fraud has been committed. CONCLUSIONIn attempting to interpret and understand changing audit responsibilities, there would appear to be much to be gained by moving beyond traditional rationalizations of a profession responding directly to public demands. Various changes can be regarded as reflective of the conflicting, political nature of a self-regulated accounting profession and the outcomes dependent on the profession’s pursuit of professional interests and the profession’s attempts to manage the interplay between its own interests and any competing public duties and obligations.It is right to acknowledge that public expectation that auditors should report suspected fraud was reasonable. It is recommend ed that auditors should be given greater encouragement to report whatever that is necessary and fit in reporting fraud detection. Additionally, it emphasized the role of internal control in the prevention and detection of fraud and suggested that where there was a legal responsibility for internal control systems, auditors should have a formal duty to report on their adequacy.Changes in the law would have a statutory duty to report suspected fraud at the same time. It stated that auditors should be left at â€Å"liberty to report cases of fraud to the authorities without statutory backing† and that any change in the current position could be accomplished through revising the ethical guidance to auditors on professional conduct. Auditors have the duties to the rest of the community of which they are part and they owe to the community a more compelling duty which must on occasion take first place.Public expectation must be given full weight in all matters (Accountancy Age, 12 D ecember 1985). In developing auditing guidance concerning to fraud, three considerations have proved dominant: * The relative responsibilities of management and auditors for the prevention and detection of fraud, other illegal acts and irregularities and errors; * The conduct of an audit in order to have a reasonable expectations of detecting significant misstatements; * The action to be taken when errors are discovered.With respect to the prevention and detection, all proposed guidance has emphasized the paramount responsibility of management, with the auditor’s responsibility being couched consistently in terms of materiality and the truth and fairness of the financial statements. The role of auditors is to properly plan, perform and evaluate his/her audit work so as to have a reasonable expectation of detecting material misstatements in the financial statements, whether they are caused by fraud, irregularities or errors.LIMITATIONS Auditors in any circumstances have no dut y to act as an informer to the extent where it would jeopardise or destroy the trust and confidentiality on which it felt that auditing depended. The use of word â€Å"informer† indicates a somewhat dismissive attitude to the possibility of breaking the confidential relationship with the management or public’s expectation.Considerable resistance among auditors to the ideas that they should accept a general responsibility to detect fraud or extend their reporting responsibilities in the interest of the public. Whether changing audit responsibilities concerning detection of fraud come voluntarily or statutorily, such changes need to be based on greater awareness and continuing public investigation of the operation and capabilities of the audit function is this regard. Otherwise, it would anticipate that the position in the future will be with nfortunate, be little different in the roles and responsibilities of the accountancy profession towards the public interest. REFER ENCES 1. Fraud Detection, Redress and Reporting by Auditors by Harold Hassink, Roger Meuwissen and Lauren Bollen. 2. Protecting against Detection: The Case of Auditors and fraud? By Christopher Humphrey and Stuart Turley. 3. Fraud Risk Assessment and Detection of Fraud: The Moderating Effect of Personality by Nahariah Jaffar, Hasnah Haron, Takiah Mohd Iskandar and Arfah Salleh.

Zimbabwe

Q. 1. The potential revenue of the field. Find the most reliable figure for this, tell where you obtained it and explain why you think it is the most reliable figure that you could obtain. Ans. 1. Zimbabwe started selling diamonds and earned more than ?1 billion by selling diamonds (The Press Association). The soldiers forced people to work harder. They also tortured them and their children with heavily armed force. There is no official estimate for the revenue from selling stones and diamonds in that sector but an unofficial estimated range is showing ?1. billion from that field in Zimbabwe (The Press Association). The eastern alluvial diamond fields of diamond estimated to meet one-forth demand of the total demand of diamond across the world in 2006. They earned high revenue and profit by trading diamonds into several countries, like, Israel, India, Lebanon and Russia. The government of Zimbabwe earned $20 million from the legal sale of diamonds in 2008 (The Press Association). But the important thing is that most of the earned income and revenue of mining diamonds is illegal and it has no governmental or official record. If a Chinese mining company wants to set up a legal partnership with Zimbabwe government then it will achieve great revenue with high profit and growth through mining diamond in Marange which is a newly founded diamond field in Zimbabwe. This particular field of diamond is situated in the eastern field which earned high revenue through diamond mining in Zimbabwe. To expand their trade facilities, they arranged some private planes to bring buyers from foreign countries. Most of the diamond fields in Zimbabwe are illegal and distributing conflicting diamonds to many countries. These illegal mining fields are expecting high profit and thus they forced poor people to work harder under the mechanism of ‘Dig or Die’ (The Press Association). Poor people are bound to work under the heavily armed security guard in these illegal fields of diamond. According to Abbey Chikane, the Kimberley Process monitor for Zimbabwe, marked the Marange Diamond field in Zimbabwe as a certified diamond field to export conflict-free diamonds to meet the demand of diamond across the world (Mutsaka, Wonacott and Childress, 2010). The human right organization of Zimbabwe is protesting the diamond mining though several illegal diamond fields which are doing illegal activities through killing many poor helpless men, raping women and torturing children to get hard work from them. To solve these problems, the government of Zimbabwe has become very serious to set up legal diamond mines to export conflict-free diamonds. Q. 2. Who controls the Mining Development Corporation? Do they have any existing joint venture partners? Who in the Zimbabwean government will influence decisions regarding the investment? Ans. 2. Diamond exporting and supplying business is currently controlled by the government of Zimbabwe. Though it is controlled by the government, there is a presence of powerful illegal diamond fields in Zimbabwe and these fields are engaged in several illegal and non-ethical activities with the help of the armed police and security guard force of Zimbabwe. The presence of political battle and high rate of corruption in the Zimbabwean economic, political and social atmospheres guided the government to a wrong direction. Being the Zimbabwe monitor of the world diamond control body, Abbey Chikane, also stated that the diamonds are ready for sale in the international market to provide minimum international standard of diamond (Mutsaka, Wonacott and Childress, 2010). According to the investors, the mining of diamond in Marange was conducted through use of virtual slaves under the control of armed soldiers in 2008 (Mutsaka, Wonacott and Childress, 2010). Therefore, this field is not working legally or the government may be not serious about fact of diamond mining in Zimbabwe. The Kimberley Process is an international monitoring body to control conflict-free diamond supply from certified diamond fields under governmental rules and regulations. Mr. Chikane announced that Zimbabwe can start trading the Marange diamonds under proper guidance of the government of Zimbabwe. According to him, the Zimbabwe government has taken several effective steps to regulate legal diamond fields and to remove illegal sources of diamond. The Kimberley Process did not consider the fact of taking steps against governments which violated the rules of the human-rights organization in Zimbabwe in diamond mining. The Kimberley team investigated that the heavily armed security forces killed many people, raped women who were illegally mining in the Marange fields in July, 2008 (Mutsaka, Wonacott and Childress, 2010). But the officials denied these charges against them and the government and they told that the security guards were there to give protection to the governmental part of the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe. The Kimberley members restricted sales of diamonds by the Marange diamond fields as they were supplying non-certified stones in the international market with proper certificates. This helped to get certification for the diamond fields in Zimbabwe. It also allowed exporting several other legal diamond fields into the foreign market. Zimbabwe's government earned $20 million from the legal fields of diamonds in 2008 (The Press Association). There are some political conflicts in Zimbabwe in the issue of diamond exporting and mining from legal and illegal diamond fields of the country. After the election in Zimbabwe in 2008, the situation in Marange diamond field has become very much concern about their effectiveness of the Kimberley Process. A top member of the World Diamond Council, Martin Rapaport reigned from the Kimberley Process to protest against their activity and controlling mechanism of the process. Human rights organizations in Zimbabwe are now become very much concern about the export of diamond in the international market after getting the green signal to restart the sale of diamonds from the Marange diamond fields, where heavily armed soldiers deployed by the President Robert Mugabe have been charged for conducting illegal activities (Peta, 2010). The Zimbabwean government investigated that more than 4 million carats of diamonds were founded from the controversial fields of the Zimbabwean diamond fields. Marange was one of them. The estimated value of the total sale of diamonds will be around $1. 7bn according to the Zimbabwe's 2010 budget and that will be very much helpful to provide a boost to the economic condition of Zimbabwe (Peta, 2010). Investment from the foreign investors is always encouraged the mining development corporation of Zimbabwe. To meet the international demand of diamond, they are gradually expanding their international business through legal export of conflict-free diamonds of certified diamond fields of Zimbabwe. To increase their revenue, the government of Zimbabwe is very much interested to incorporate many foreign investors across the world. The director of the Centre for Research and Development which is a Zimbabwean human-rights organization was tracking the operations in Marange diamond field in Zimbabwe (Peta, 2010). According to them at the end of 2008, there was no improvement in the condition of the human rights in the Marange diamond field. Mr. Maguwu, the director of the research and development centre, also showed how diamonds from the Marange Diamond field were being smuggled out from Zimbabwe to Mozambique and it became a profitable strategy for the soldiers of Zimbabwe through illegal diamond export to other foreign countries (Peta, 2010). The Zimbabwe government forced the African Consolidated Resources to take back their claims against the government and their officials in the issue of diamond supply and export from the Marange diamond field in Zimbabwe at the end of 2006. The high court of Zimbabwe decided that all diamond mines should hand over their power of illegal diamond export to the central bank of Zimbabwe and those mines could get back their power after resolving the dispute in 2008 (Peta, 2010). Therefore, after the political and social battle in Zimbabwean diamond fields, it has become mandatory to get certified by the government, the diamond research and development centre and also by the human rights organization of Zimbabwe. Game Theory: Q. 3. Game theory is very useful in planning strategy. Your firm, if it decides that it is a good investment, wants to win the rights to develop the mine. Explain how you can use game theory to plot a winning strategy. Ans. 3. If the Chinese firm decides that it will be a good investment and also wants to win the rights to develop the diamond mines in Zimbabwe, then they should follow a strategic plan with game theory application. The firm can invest in the Marange diamond field through legal contract of partnership with the mining company. They should be aware of the fact that there are no illegal activities in the mining field against the human rights organization in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe should follow ethics of the social and political aspects in the case of diamond mining from different legal fields of diamond. According to the perfect formation of the game of this case of development in the field of diamonds, the most effective and suitable pay-off will be the combination of the investment of the Chinese firm and the investment in the legal fields of certified diamonds in Zimbabwe. The investment of the Chinese firm will be more profitable if the firm can invest into a legal field of diamonds, rather than investment into an illegal field of diamonds. There are some other factors related with social, ethical and legal perspectives of the country in the case of diamond mining. These aspects should be highly concerned by the Chinese company who is very much interested to get with some Zimbabwean mining company through legal partnership contract. The Chinese company can get high revenue and profit if it makes a contract with an illegal company but other social, legal and ethical aspects will not be there. There may be several strategies but only one pay-off will be economically, financially, legally and ethically viable for this case. Pricing Strategies: Q. 4. Explain why the price of diamonds in international markets is so high. Note that a good answer to this question will involve research into the pricing strategies of the firms that sell diamonds as well as the application of basic economic principles. Ans. 4. The price of diamond is very high in the international market. If demand increases for a commodity, the price of that commodity will also increase keeping other factors as unchanged. The demand curve of a commodity is downward slopping in the price of the commodity and the quantity demanded for the commodity framework. Demand Curve of commodity: Price Demand Curve †¢ Quantity Demanded (Source: varian, 2003, pp. 4-6) The price of the commodity and the quantity demanded of the commodity are taken respectively as the vertical and the horizontal line of the diagram. The demand of diamond is gradually increasing in the international market. In the above diagram, according to the basic concept of the demand curve, the demand is dependent on the price of the commodity. Therefore, the price of any commodity should also be dependent on the demand of the commodity. In general, if the demand increases, the price should fall according to the demand curve. But in this case, the price of diamonds is gradually increasing with the increase in the price of the diamonds. The price of the diamonds is very high in the international market to reduce the demand of diamonds in scarcity of diamonds in the global market. The scarcity of diamonds is the main reason for the increasing price of diamonds in the international market. At present, there are few diamond mines from which high quality diamonds can be found. On the other hand, there are few diamond mining companies in the world. Therefore, the competition in these companies is negligible. If a firm with monopoly power in a market increases the price of its commodity, there will be no change in the demand of the commodity. This advantage for the diamond mining companies encourages them to increase the price to achieve high revenue and profit from this business. In the competitive market the firms can not increase the prices of their products because if they increase the price the demand of the product will reduce in those firms and the consumer will prefer to buy from any other firm at lower price of the commodity. There is another important reason for the increment of the price of diamonds in the international market. Most of the exported diamonds are smuggled out from the African diamond fields in different countries. These smugglers have fixed very high price for these diamonds in the foreign market. Though this reason is illegal and not providing any economic theory, it is a very important reason for the high price of diamonds. Ethics: Q. 5. What is the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme? What are the elements of the scheme? Does this investment satisfy these? Why or why not? Ans. 5. Mines Minister of Zimbabwe, Obert Mpofu, stated that more than 90% of the total demand from the international market was achieved by the trade watchdog, the Kimberley Process group in November in 2009 (BBC News, 2009). The armed police force in the diamond mining field killed more than 200 poor people by torturing them at the Marange field of diamonds (The Press Association). The activists wanted to remove these pathetic and illegal activities which were gradually reducing the socio-economic culture of the economy. They also announced to reform the planning and controlling strategies of diamond fields in Zimbabwe and they fixed 2010 as the deadline of this reformation (BBC News, 2009). The Kimberley process is a controlling body under the governmental power in Zimbabwe. With the help of this organization, the government earned a lot revenue and profit but it was not helpful to maintain social, legal and ethical aspects of the economy. To achieve high profit and growth, this organization forced people to work harder in the diamond fields of Marange. The security guards killed many people, raped women and forced children to work continuously in the fields. The Kimberley Process decided to work against the human rights groups of Zimbabwe. Therefore, this process is not concern about the ethics of the organization and they are away from maintaining social responsibilities in Zimbabwe. The government denied these charges against their officials and they are still not very much worried about the fact. The 70-member Kimberley Process group approved a compromise diamond contract at a summit in Namibia in 2009 (BBC News, 2009). To maintain balance in the socio-economic aspects of the economy, an independent monitoring body with independent inspector was established. This organization mainly monitors the diamond mining from the controversial fields. As this process is completely away from maintaining ethics and any other social responsibilities, the investment in this organization will not provide any knowledge of social, economic, legal and ethical responsibilities. This will not be suitable or helpful for the future in a long-run perspective. Q. 6. Do you think that this investment is ethical? Why or why not? Ans. 6. Investment in this organization or process will not be an ethical decision for the Chinese mining company. This process helped to work illegally to achieve high profit in an illegal diamond mining sector. This process is not maintaining any ethics which should be helpful for long-term planning. This process also affects the environmental degradation in Zimbabwe. It is also damaging farming irrigation systems in Zimbabwe (Conflict & Blood Diamonds, 2009). If the Chinese mining company wants to observe a sustainable growth and development for a long-term perspective, they should not go for the partnership contract with the Marange Diamond mining fields and should not even go for investing in these illegal unauthorized and non-certified diamond mining fields in Zimbabwe.