Fin 370 Ethics and Compliance Paper

Ethics and Compliance FIN/370 Dec/14/2011 Ethics and Compliance â€Å"The mission of the Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world† (According to  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Walt Disney Company Mission Statement†Ã‚  (2011) Walt Disney began as a cartoon studio in the 1920s more than eight decades later is become a global corporation, and premier provider of quality family entertainment across America and around the world. What is the secret of the Walt Disney success? What are the rules and standard that make Walt Disney one of the biggest corporations in the world? Team C is going to discuss in this presentation the role of ethics compliance, the procedures and ethical behavior, the processes that the company uses to comply with the SEC regulations, and assess the financial performance of Walt Disney Company. Disney’s Ethics Since the beginning of the Walt Disney Company, ethics and compliance were very important for the entire organization and the Walt Disney Company of today the business standards and ethics are well written, and outlined in great detail. One of the reasons that the ethics and compliance standards were implemented is to ensure that the financial health of the company is not compromised by the misused of proprietary information to gain wealth illegally by the employees and the Board of Directors. All employees, managers and Directors are responsible for the financial health of the company and the best interest of the stockholders. Walt Disney Company used internal audits to ensure that all documentation and reports are accurate and also that all financial statements are in compliance with the general accounting practices. Each individual shall report and record all information, and complete Company document, accurately and honestly. These include, for example, time cards, reimbursable business expense requests, invoices, payroll records, safety records, business records and performance evaluations. † According to  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Walt Disney Company†Ã‚  (2011) Walt Disney Company has taken steps to ensure the ethical behavior in the organization, honesty is emphasized in the 2011 employee handbook, employee and upper management is accountable for all documentation are accurate. Evaluation of Disclosure control and procedures is a division of Walt Disney Company created to ensure that all employees, management, and Directors are following the ethical behavior established by the company and all financial reports files within the time mandated the General Accounting Practices. SEC Regulations The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in place to ensure that people who invest in publicly traded companies are protected, and that an efficient market is maintained in a fair and orderly fashion. The SEC has put in place several laws and rules to ensure that all investors have access to certain financial information before they buy stock in a company. This information is to remain public and readily available as long as the company is publicly traded. This means that the companies that are publicly traded must disclose this financial and other related information to anyone who requests it. Most companies have it posted online on their company website. These rules and laws ensure that investors are making informed decisions both before they buy stock and the entire time they are owners of company stock. Every year, the SEC finds companies who are in violation of the rules they have in place. Some companies will neglect their duty to post their annual financial data, or they may manipulate the data that they post. These violations can be viewed as insider trading, account fraud, or purposefully misleading company shareholders. Those companies who are found guilty of these types of offenses face serious fines against the company, and may include jail time for the people who manipulated the data. Disney is a publicly traded company, and as such, is expected to follow the rules and regulations set forth by the SEC. To comply with the regulations, Disney has made available all of the required annual financial statements on their company website. This website is separate from their storefront and theme park websites, and is dedicated to providing information about the Disney Corporation. This information includes the history of the company, investor relations, news releases, career information and job listings, and all of the required financial documents for investors. This way, any existing or potential investors can readily find information about the Disney Company that can be useful when trying to make sound decisions regarding buying or selling shares of Disney stock. Disney’s Financial Performance | | | The Walt Disney Company has several different operations: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, customer products and interactive media (Disney,  2010). Based upon Disney’s 2009 and 2010 financial statements, we have calculated these key ratios: Key ratios:| 2010| 2009| Current ratio| 1. 11| 13. 31| Debt ratio| 0. 90| 0. 08| Average collection period| 55. 46| 49. 01| Return on equity| 0. 11| 0. 10| Disney’s revenues increased on 2010 compared to 2009. The overall liquidity of the company was better on 2009. On 2010 Disney acquired a bigger debt because of the current financial crisis. They took a bigger risk by doing this, but the risk turned into a positive outcome. Their collection period extended more in 2010, but this allow them to generate more businesses as suppose they would have kept a more extract payment regiment. Disney managed its resources efficiently, making a bigger profit on 2010 than they did on the previous year. Between all of their operations, some more popular than others, they could produce a higher profit margin on 2010. They also focused on the new trends such as technology, and product globalization, to stay competitive and profitable. Disney has adapted to the economy changes and taken risks in order to keep up with the competition and to maintain the business growth. 2009 was more stable and secure in every aspect, but the risk taken was necessary to increase the company’s profit. Conclusion The Disney Corporation is a company that has been publically traded for many years, and has grown to be one of the largest companies that is publically raded. The company strives to follow the regulations set forth by the SEC so that stockholders in the company can easily make sound decisions regarding their shares of stock. For 56 consecutive years, Disney has been able to pay dividends to their shareholders, even through the most recent financial recession. Most recently, the annually pa id dividend increased by 50% for the 2011 fiscal year. (Disney, 2011) Over the last couple of years, the company has shown steady growth, and could be considered a wise investment for someone interested in buying shares of stock. References The Walt Disney Company,  (2010). Retrieved from http://corporate. disney. go. com/investors/annual_reports. html The Walt Disney Company,  (2011). Retrieved from http://corporate. disney. go. com/corporate/complete_history. html The Walt Disney Company,  (2011). Retrieved from http://corporate. disney. go. com/news/corporate/2011/2011_1201_board_increases_annual_dividend. html Walt Disney Company Mission Statement,  (2011),  Retrieved from http://retailindustry. about. com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Walt-Disney-Mission-Statement. htm

Service Capabilities Vignettes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Service Capabilities Vignettes - Assignment Example Navy Services The services have the capability to operate in any threat environment expanded warfare capability on both land and at sea thus a good way to provide operational freedom. The Naval services have a composition and capabilities of major deployment elements. These elements are the Carrier Strike Group, Ambitious Ready Group, Surface Strike Group and Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force. The Carrier Strike Group offers its services in all threat environments. It has the capabilities to offer full support in non-permissive environment. This is because it has all the anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles, fighter aircrafts, electromagnetic jammers, cruise missile equipped surface combatants and submarines. These war weapons ensure that the group has the force power to offer great services in time of any crisis. The Amphibious Ready Group consist of three amphibious ships with naval elements, a fleet of surgical team which offers medical capabilities, Tactical Air Control Squadron and both displacement and non-displacement landing crafts. The Surface Strike Group capabilities support crisis response missions or sustained missions and may employed in limited non-permissive environments characterized by multiple threats. In this case therefore, it offers passive surveillance and tracking, passive defense and early warning, strike operations and sea control. It is equipped with three surface ships: two strike capable surface combatants and one surface combatant ship. With these equipments, the Surface Strike Groups capabilities include maritime ballistic missile defense. The Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force has forty ships that act as supply lines to the U.S. Navy ships at sea. Ideally, the group provides everything to the Navy fleet to remain at sea, on station and combat ready for extended periods. In addition, it conducts towing, rescue and salvage operations. With such capabilities, they can support initial crisis response missions in non-permissive environments char acterized by multiple threats. Algeria is an uncertain environment because its Islamic militia wants to overturn the government as well as intrude into the Moroccan territory. This means it does not support any US military services. The U.S. Army Services The army services play a critical role in any type of calamity. It protects its people as well as the resources that are of great interest to the people. Title 10 USC is an army inside an army that has the land combat and service forces. It offers prompt and sustained combat incident to operations on land. Therefore, it responsible for the preparation of all land forces necessary for effective prosecution of war. The army is organized into three Army Commands (TRADOC, FORSCOM and AMC), nine other commands that are Army Service Component Commands (ASCC) of unified or sub unified combatant commands and eleven direct reporting units. Army Service Component Command or rather the Theater Army is responsible for organizing, equipping, tr aining, maintaining and logistically sustaining the army forces. It has the capabilities to maneuver large land-force weaponry during offensive attacks thus capable of long-range strategic and operational missions. Maturity of the theater always has a great influence on the army capabilities because it determines how the army force will operate. It therefore will be based as the Joint task Force- capable headquarters to control all the forces for effectiveness. The Army commands include the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine

Police Misconduct Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Police Misconduct - Research Paper Example guilty men to walk the street and innocent men to sit in jail, governments should have appropriate measures in place to protect the public from police misconduct. 1) Carnell, Yvette. "Dont Shoot! A Case for Reigning in Rogue Cops." The Atlanta Post. 3 May 2011. Web. 27 May 2011. . 4) "Indian Diplomats Daughter, 18, Sues for $1.5m over police Cells Toilet Humiliation | Mail Online." Mail Online. 25 May 2011. Web. 27 May 2011. . 5) Kaariainen, Juha, Tomi Lintonen, Ahti Laitinen, and Joycelyn Pollock. "The Code of Silence: Are Self-Report Surveys a Viable Means for Studying Police Misconducts?" Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention 9.2 (2008): 86-96. Print. 6) "Man Shot 6 times by Billings Police Officer Sues for Excessive Force." The Republic. 20 May 2011. Web. 27 May 2011. . 7) Miller, Joel, and Robert C. Davis. "Unpacking Public Attitudes to the Police: Contrasting Perceptions of Misconduct with Traditional Measures of Satisfaction." International Journal of Police Science and Management 10.1 (2008): 9-22.

Australia's Apparel Industry Analysis Research Paper

Australia's Apparel Industry Analysis - Research Paper Example The Australian apparel industry can be classified into menswear and womenswear market. In the menswear segment the total revenues in 2008 was $3524.4 million. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) during the period 2004-2008 was 3.9%. The total revenue generated by the apparel retail industry of Australia in 2008 was $12.8 billion with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% during the period 2004 to 2008 (researchandmarkets, n.d.). The total number of apparel retailers in 2001 was 10,673 and they were distributed across Australia unequally depending on population density. The apparel retailers were mainly located in key cities like Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. Victoria and New South Wales account for more than 80% turnover in in the textile, clothing and footwear segment (Ahern, 2004). Designer Wears: Australian designers are very well updated of the latest fashion trends in Europe, US and the local trends in Australia. They produce quality fashion products at competitive prices and some of them are also able to compete with international players. Designer wear particularly from Italy are highly respected and accepted by the Australians. Products from Italy usually cater to the premium segment since they are priced high and mainly include high end leather wears. The Australian apparel market like other western markets is highly fragmented or segmented. The segmentation is not only based on income but also on gender, body type, age and aesthetic preference. This result in the market being broken up into small national markets based on lifestyle. Moreover compared to other western countries Australians spend less on apparel because of the moderate climate and their casual lifestyle. Australians spend a large portion of their income on housing, communication equipment and transportation. The price reductions prompted by trade liberalization has reduced the share of apparels in household expenditure considerably in the past ten

The Similarities and Differences in Perceptions of a Thai Boutique Essay

The Similarities and Differences in Perceptions of a Thai Boutique Hotel Between Hoteliers and Guests - Essay Example The guests assert that a boutique hotel is distinguished by its size. It has less than a hundrded rooms and does not form part of a big hotel chain. Moreover, it is usually found in an urban setting, and are uniquely designed. On the contrary, managers emphasize the hotels uniqueness rather than its size. On the rationale for choosing such hotels, the response of the guests can be summarized into five main factors: (1) design; (2) services; (3) atmosphere; (4) location; and (5) price. The managers, on the other hand, emphasize the boutique hotels leverage on price. On attributes, it can be said that for majority of guests, the atmosphere is one very influential factor in helping them choose a hotel to check in.   Another variable that a guest considers important in the choice of hotels is the design, which is affirmed by the respondent managers, indicating that a unique concept is a strong selling point of boutique hotels.   Finally, all managers have the same opinion that the lo cation is also as important as the design and the atmosphere noting that the right location can be an advantage if the boutique hotels cannot compete with the prestige of the chain hotels. It may also be concluded that in terms of guest expectations, convenient location, radiant style, quality product offerings, available amenities and facilities, excellent customer service are among the services and/or attributes that a guest would expect the most from the boutique hotel. Boutique hotels originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s when Anouska Hempel designed the first boutique hotel called Blake’s located in London. However, there has been much debate going on regarding this issue, with some individuals arguing that the concept of boutique hotels started in 1984 thanks to a certain Ian Schrager and Steve Ribell, both of which opened Morgans Hotel in New York (Brights, 2007). In this chapter, the researcher would like to give a brief introduction about

Good Cholesterol and Breast Cancer risk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Good Cholesterol and Breast Cancer risk - Essay Example This phenomenon reduces the risk of heart diseases but at the same time HDL also stimulates migration and activates signal transduction pathways in the human breast cancer cell lines, thus acting like a catalyst in the development of breast cancer. Thus knocking down the HDL receptor, SR-BI by some pharmacological methodologies play an essential role in regulating cellular proliferation and migration, thus controlling the growth of tumor cells, and hence SR-BI can be essentially used in the treatment of breast cancer in humans. The Popular article, Good cholesterol and breast cancer risk explains about the above detailed primary research article in a crisp manner. Though HDL that is, good cholesterol is good for health and acts like a protective shield against heart disorders, it has a negative impact on breast cancer development in humans. Higher the level of HDL in blood, higher is the risk of developing breast cancer. Thus limiting the HDL receptor, SR-BI the rapid proliferation o f tumor cells were found to be greatly reduced. The popular article also interacts with Dr. Philippe Frank, head of the research team and a cancer biologist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Thomas Jefferson University who stresses on the importance of inventing more specific drugs to inhibit SR- BI and the safer level of HDL to be mentioned in cancer patients. How it relates to the theme – ‘Gender, Science and Technology’ Both the articles are interlinked and have a strong correlation with the theme of ‘Gender, Science and Technology’. The main focus of both the articles is about the treatment for breast cancer. Though the exact cause for breast cancer is still a topic under research, analysing the risk factors can show who is most likely to develop the disease. Lifestyle choices, genetic disorders and medications taken for some kind of diseases may be some of the risk factors for developing the disease but some risk factors are more vulnerable, particularly one’s ‘Gender’. Breast cancer is most common in women because they have more breast tissue than men. Breast cancer causes include what stimulates the breast tissue to grow and develop. Female relatives can also be a risk factor for getting breast cancer. If one’s mother, sister or daughter have breast cancer, the chances of getting the disease is doubled. Though cancer of several types is the leading cause of death in the world, medical science and technology has empowered people to make life changing decisions by matching them with modern and advanced treatment options based on individual conditions of the patients. Modern science and technology has revolutionized the breast cancer research therapies and now chances of overcoming breast cancer are much better than in earlier days. Main Scientific Claim The authors claim that their examination about the role of HDL and SR-BI in the regulation of cellular signalling pathwa ys in breast cancer cell lines and development of tumors show that, HDL can stimulate the signal transduction pathways in the human breast cancer cell lines. Then, accelerate the formation of tumors and hence knocking down of HDL receptor, SR-BI limits the

Energy Flow Through an Ecosystem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Energy Flow Through an Ecosystem - Essay Example As Lindeman (1942) stated, â€Å"Only 10% of the total chemical energy is retained at each trophic level.† This is known as the ten per cent law. The second law of thermodynamics says that at each progressive trophic level in the food chain, there is a gradual decrease in the available energy. The pyramid of energy is always upright or straight because out of the total amount of energy transferred from the lower trophic level, as much as 80-90% is lost in the form of heat. The net primary productivity (the resultant plant biomass) is the difference of the gross primary productivity (total plant biomass) and the amount used for plant respiration. Therefore, it is only the net photosynthesis that is presented to the next trophic level of the food chain or the herbivores. The carnivores receive the gross secondary productivity from the herbivores. Lakes, ponds, rivers and steams are representative of fresh water biomes. There are the shallow or eutrophic lakes and deep or olitrophic lakes. On the basis of the penetration of light, a deep lake has three zones. The transition zone or thermocline, the basal layer or the hypolimnion and the upper layer that is warmer in summer and cooler in winter called the