The Professional Skepticism Continuum

Questions: 1. Critically assess what you understand by the audit concept of professional scepticism and why professional scepticism is important in the audits of financial statements? 2. Identify, research and evaluate any one recent example of your choice of a UK business failure where there was an apparent lack of professional scepticism? Answers: Introduction: Auditors look after the accounts of a company to determine whether they are representing the affairs of the company exactly and accurately on the accounts date or not, by the process of auditing. On the other hand, this auditing provides assurance or comfort to the accounts users that the auditor, who is the independent third party, has checked the accounts and agrees with the management of the company. Thus, both the term audit and assurance are interconnected and interrelated to each other (Vallance-Jones, 2012). Again to perform auditing accurately, professional skepticism is the compulsory factor, as without professional skepticism, the auditors might not understand the fraudulent activities of a particular activity. Thus, professional skepticism should be developed within the auditors to avoid misinterpretation of audit results. As professional skepticism is an attitude, thus it has to be developed within the auditors, and cannot be readily integrated into them. Thus audit is re lated to professional skepticism and vice versa. Therefore, professional skepticism plays a vital role in the procedure of audit of the financial statements of a company. 1. Audit concept regarding professional scepticism: Generally, audit means an evaluation and an unbiased examination of all the financial statements of a particular financial year of any organization by the help of the internal employees of the firm who deals with the financial department of the company or chattered accountants or employees of financial department of other organization (Whittington, 2012). Audit is generally done to verify the accuracy of the financial filings, such that an organization could pay proper amount of tax to the government of the country. Professional skepticism may be defined as an attitude which involves questioning mind and a critical assessment of evidence of audit (Turri, 2011). On other hand, it can be said that, the external or internal auditors should not consider the management of the specified organization to be either dishonest or honest, during the process of financial auditing. According to the annual report of Audit Inspection Unit (AIU), of the year 2011 2012, there is basic importance of professional skepticism in various key audit issues (Pickett, 2011). Thus, the concept of audit is related to the professional skepticism. Auditors are required by any organization or a company for auditing the financial statements. Thus, the auditors of a specified company have to perform the audits with an attitude of professional skepticism, that is, they should possess the questioning mind and should not consider the management of the company to be either dishonest or honest, during the process of auditing (Nolder, 2012). Financial researchers have stated that presently, many auditors have failed to perform the act of auditing correctly, due to lack of professional skepticism, and thus, they are planning for improvement of this attitude within this profession. Fraud is a very common act, which a company may perform for more sales revenue, profit and betterment of the company. Thus, the auditors should remain alert to the misstatement risk, though there may be the strength of the control of the client or the reports of current or prior years by the audit procedures. To consider the type of identified misstatements is another way of implication of professional skepticism. In the past, there had been a tendency to identify any misstatement immediately as an error. But the auditors should examine the misstatements much deeply, as some of them can be fraud too or just an indication of deficiencies in the system of accounting, which could lead to more errors in future (McCoy et al., 2011). The auditors generally apply the attitude of professional skepticism at different stages of audit process they are as follows: When assessing engagement acceptance here, the integrity of the management of the company and the matters that might affect the auditor regarding professional skepticism is considered. When performing risk assessment procedures at the planning stage of audit, an auditor should always be skeptical, when he would perform the procedures of risk assessment. When obtaining audit evidence the auditor should be capable of challenging the management of the specified company, about the subjective and complex matters which are exercised by the management (Lee, Welker and Wang, 2012). When there is risk of fraud, reliable and sufficient evidence should be considered. When evaluating evidence the reliable and sufficient evidences should be evaluated critically. Finally, it can be said that, the application of professional skepticism should reduce the risk as it enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of audit procedures. It also reduces the possibility of reaching inappropriate conclusion. Importance of professional scepticism: According to chairman of IAASB, large numbers of auditors are needed for application of professional skepticism. The reason for this is the enlarged use of the subjectivity and judgment in the financial reporting decisions of the management of the company. This is due to the decision of Financial Reporting Standards, for the application of principle based and often requires the financial statement preparers to perform the significant judgment during decision making on treatments of accounting. The global financial crisis of 2009 2010, also aimed on professional skepticism. In many jurisdictions, the auditors were critically criticized for not applying enough professional skepticism, especially in relation to the fair values audit, transactions of related party and assessments on going concern concept. Staff Questions and Answers document is issued by IAASB, for re-emphasizing the importance of professional skepticism, especially in the field of auditing of the financial statements, which includes the high risk of misstatement of material due to financial distress (Keating, 2011). The Financial Reporting Council of U.K. has issued a paper on professional skepticism, which advices that in audit quality, professional skepticism is the cornerstone. It also proposes that, the auditor should look for material misstatement risks. This activity is possible only when a high quality of knowledge about the business of audited entity and its environment is known to the person. Thus from these, we can understand the increasing importance of professional skepticism. But the reasons for which professional skepticism is important in audits of financial statements are: Skill test of auditor the skills of an auditor is tested through the quality of audit he or she performed for a particular organization. And also through the exercise of professional judgment regarding the misstatements, the quality or the skill of an auditor can be understood (Glover and Prawitt, 2014). Audit procedure enhancement Reducing the possibility of a. Selection of inappropriate procedures of audit. b. Application of inappropriate procedures of audit. c. Misinterpretation of audit results. d. Unusual circumstances are overlooked. Appropriate decisions can be made on a. The extent or timing or nature of the procedures of audit with the aim to reduce the high risk to an appropriate level. b. Sufficient evidence of audit has been obtained or not, and according to that, more evidence should be obtained, to achieve the goals of assurance standards (Cascarino and Cascarino, 2012). c. Evaluation can be done on the judgment of the management, based on the financial reporting of the entity, regarding the annual audit. d. Conclusions can be drawn based on the evidence of the audit obtained. Thus, the application of professional skepticism increases the effectiveness of the procedure of audit and of its application and also lowers the chance of selecting inappropriate procedure of audit. 2. The Professional Scepticism of a company means the prediction of companys performance through audit. The future planning or strategy of a company depends on its professional scepticism. Due to the lack of professional scepticism, a company may suffer from loss or slower growth in profit. In U.K., there are some companies, which suffer from apparent lack of the professional Scepticism. Among these companies, is the Cannary Limited of U.K (Ashton, 2015). On 1st February 2012, Canary Limited has appointed the auditor named C.S. Group of the new subsidiary. This group has planned the audit for the individual financial statement of the firm named Canary Limited and then has analyzed its significance of the audit on the consolidated financial statements. The selling process of Canary Limited is related to the online selling. Since, there is complexity related to the online selling system, the professional scepticism focus on the requirement of expert and the computed-oriented audit techniques, which is used to get the higher profit. It is necessary to understand the financial performance and position of that company, and for this, the review of preliminary analysis on a full set of Canary Ltd.s financial statement should be done besides forecasting the revenue and profit for the year (Bland, 2015). The financial audit process of Canary Ltd.:- At that time, the management of Canary Ltd. Company was unfamiliar with the process used of financial audit and failed to provide required information to CS group in preparing the consolidated statements, as the Canary Ltd. management was involved with the group financial reporting for the first time. Therefore, there was a risk related to inaccurate and incomplete information of the company such as incomplete information related to the inter-company transactions (Frc.org.uk, 2015). Financial performance of Canary Ltd.:- Considering the consolidated profit and revenue figure of Canary Ltd. in 2012, the group financial result was encouraged before the tax of 1-2% with a rise in revenue of eight percent and in profit. The 2012 result of Canary Ltd. include the report of six months revenue and profit of that company. By comparing its result with the previous year combined financial year of the Crow Ltd and Starling Ltd. it can be said that, there was a reduction in profit of the combined companies Craw Ltd and Starling Ltd. for the year 2012, as the revenue reduced slightly. To do with the acquisition of Canary Ltd. like legal costs and diligence, the one-off costs may results the apparent rise in costs with the acquisition of Canary of Canary Ltd. As costs could be overstated or revenue may be understated, there was risk misstatement in this company (Gaaaccounting.com, 2015). Forecast of Crow Ltd in 2012 ( million) Forecast of Starling Ltd in 2012 ( million) Forecast of Crow Ltd and Starling Ltd in 2012 ( million) Actual report of Crow Ltd and Starling Ltd in 2011 ( million) Change in percentage Revenue 69 50 119 125 4.8% Profit before tax 3.5 3 6.5 8.4 22.6% Professional Scepticism of financial statement:- As the financial statements of Canary Ltd. have been prone to manipulation, a risk or misstatement that leads to a lack of professional scepticism. Particularly, to protect the good sale price for the company, its management may overstate the revenue and profit of the company. As the groups avoid the additional consideration, the existence of consideration of contingent related to the acquisition revenue of group post is also treated as a contributing factor for the possible manipulation (Hancox et al., 2015). Risks related to the lack of Professional Scepticism of the financial statement of Canary Ltd:- Risk related to General matters:- Due to the lack of Professional Scepticism, there is a risk related to the material misstatement of the company. This will leads to some changes to corporate structure of the company like moving into large business, installation of new significant IT system and large acquisitions etc. Since the CS Group was involved in all these three changes during the financial year, the audit is involved with the high risk (Hartl, 2015). Risk related to Goodwill:- There are specific risks attached with the various components of goodwill. According to the professional scepticism, on the acquisition of Canary Ltd, the goodwill of the company will rise to 45 million, which will represent the 8.2 percent of total assets. As the measurement of the goodwill of the company, involves the judgement, which is judged based on the probability of the amount to be paid, the contingent element of consideration is inherently risky. If there is the incorrect assessment of this probability of payment, the consideration part can be overstated. In case of the individual financial statement of Craw Ltd., there are also some risk factors related to its goodwill. The value of identifiable assets is another component of assessing the goodwill of the company. Therefore, it is essential to measure the fair value at the date of acquisition. Since, the estimation of fair value involves the uncertainty, so there is a risk factor related to this estimation. Therefore, if t he management fails to conduct an impairment hypothesis or Professional Scepticism, then there will arise a risk regarding the goodwill of the company (Kang, Trotman and Trotman, 2015). Risk related to the loan stock:- The management of the company has issued 100 million loan stock, which represents the 18.2% of total assets of crow Ltd. As the loan will be paid at a significant premium of 20 million, this will recognized as a financial cost of the company over the period. There arises a risk of misstatement if the premium of the financial year, has not been included under the financial cost. Moreover, if interest payable has not been accrued, the financial cost could be understated. Besides these types of risks, regarding the loan in the financial statement, there is a risk associated to financial disclosure, as the required narrative and financial disclosure are related to financial instruments, which provide the risk exposure. Regarding the loan in the notes to the financial statement, there is also a risk of inadequate disclosure (MACHUCA, 2015). Risk related to the online sale:- In case of online sale of Canary Ltd., when the revenue recognition criteria of IAS 18 Revenue have been met it is difficult to establish with the online selling process. As a result, there will arise a risk that the revenue can be recognised at the correct time. As 30% of Canary Ltds sales are made online, which is amounting to sales of 4.8 million or 3.6% of consolidated revenue of the year, this will treated as a significant issue and it is predicted that when a full year revenue of the Canary Ltd sales is consolidated, there will be a higher percentage of total sales in the next year. This refers to the fact that the revenue and profit are underestimated over the period. Here will be the Professional Scepticism in this case, as the CG group had no experience of online sales, for online revenue recognition, there will be no group accounting policy. The risks arising from the system may not operate effectively and there is a deficient control, which leads to inaccurate recording of the sales (Orcpa.org, 2013). Risk related to the Grant received:- There is a risk related to the recognition of the needs and types of grant received by the company. The company has not been yet spent 10 million, which results for the further risks and represents 1.8% of the consolidated assets. Risk associated with new IT system:- The IT system is related to the financial reporting. Therefore, a risk of material misstatement is related to this system (Sweeney and McGarry, 2011). Conclusion:- Hence, from the above analysis it can be said that for every company, there is a need for proper Professional Scepticism, which help the company to take the appropriate business policy for future. A company may suffer from indecision, due to the lack of proper Professional Scepticism as this wrongly predict (either overestimate or underestimate) the performance of the company in future. References Cascarino, R. and Cascarino, R. (2012).Auditor's guide to IT auditing. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Glover, S. and Prawitt, D. (2014). Enhancing Auditor Professional Skepticism: The Professional Skepticism Continuum.Current Issues in Auditing, 8(2), pp.P1-P10. Keating, L. (2011).Performance auditing of public sector property contracts. Burlington, Vt.: Gower. Lee, C., Welker, R. and Wang, T. (2012). An Experimental Investigation of Professional Skepticism in Audit Interviews.International Journal of Auditing, 17(2), pp.213-226. McCoy, N., Burnett, R., Friedman, M. and Morris, M. (2011). Internal audit: How to develop professional skepticism.J. Corp. Acct. Fin., 22(4), pp.3-14. Nolder, C. (2012).The role of professional skepticism, attitudes and emotions on auditor's judgments. Pickett, K. (2011).The essential guide to internal auditing. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley. Turri, J. (2011). Knowledge and Skepticism.International Journal for the Study of Skepticism, 1(2), pp.155-157. Vallance-Jones, F. (2012).National freedom of information audit 2012. Toronto, Ont.: Newspapers Canada. Whittington, R. (2012).Auditing and attestation 2012. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Ashton, N. (2015). Undercutting Underdetermination-Based Scepticism.Theoria, p.n/a-n/a. Bland, S. (2015). Circularity, Scepticism and Epistemic Relativism.Social Epistemology, pp.1-13. Frc.org.uk, (2015). [online] Available at: https://www.frc.org.uk/getattachment/2a1e0146-a92c-4b7e-bf33-305b3b10fcd2/Discussion-Paper-Auditor-Scepticism-Raising-the-Ba.aspx [Accessed 14 Jul. 2015]. Gaaaccounting.com, (2015).The Pros and Cons of Professional Scepticism | GAA Accounting. [online] Available at: https://www.gaaaccounting.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-professional-scepticism/ [Accessed 14 Jul. 2015]. Hancox, D., Hancox, D., Hancox, D. and Hancox, D. (2015).Professional Skepticism is Still Lacking in Audits. [online] LinkedIn Pulse. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/professional-skepticism-still-lacking-audits-dave-hancox [Accessed 14 Jul. 2015]. Hartl, P. (2015). Modal scepticism, Yablo-style conceivability, and analogical reasoning.Synthese. Kang, Y., Trotman, A. and Trotman, K. (2015). The effect of an Audit Judgment Rule on audit committee members professional skepticism: The case of accounting estimates.Accounting, Organizations and Society. MACHUCA, D. (2015). Conciliationism and the Menace of Scepticism.Dialogue, pp.1-20. Orcpa.org, (2013).PCAOB Finds Lack of Professional Skepticism Main Cause of Audit Deficiencies News. [online] Available at: https://www.orcpa.org/about/news/12/1662-pcaob_finds_lack_of_professional_skepticism_main_cause_of_audit_deficiencies [Accessed 14 Jul. 2015]. Sweeney, B. and McGarry, C. (2011). Commercial and Professional Audit Goals: Inculcation of Audit Seniors.International Journal of Auditing, 15(3), pp.316-332.

Science Investigatory Format free essay sample

Content Apply/demonstrate scientific principles or attempt to provide new knowledge; Be a result of continuing or parallel scientific research and investigation not a copy of any previous research; Have socio-economic significance and relevance to livelihood development; and Contribute to the advancement of ST and the development of the community. II. Physical Set-up/Visual Display The physical set-up must be attractive and informative. Interested spectators and judges should easily asses the study and the results obtained. Use clear and concise displays. Make headings stand-out, draw graphs and diagrams clearly and label them correctly. A one-page project abstract must be posted in one corner of the booth. Be sure to adhere to the size limitations and safety rules when preparing the display. The maximum size of project display must be: 76 cm (30 inches) deep 122 cm (48 inches) wide 183 cm (40 inches) high excluding table A Sample Diagram of a Science Fair Display Fair organizers shall provide the participants with one (1) table two (2) chairs to participants during the division regional science fair. We will write a custom essay sample on Science Investigatory Format or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Flames or highly flammable materials Batteries with open-top cells Photographs depicting vertebrate animals in surgical techniques, dissections, improper handling methods and improper housing conditions Glasswares Computer units peripherals Prototype or model for technology projects maybe displayed but within allotted space for each project only. III. Abstract Should consist of short, concise descriptions of the problem its solution. It must be typewritten in the IPSF Official Abstract Form, one page only, single-spaced with a maximum of 250 words, in Times Roman style, font The abstract must state the following: Purpose Procedure Used Results Conclusion IV. Research Paper The research paper for an IPSF entry should contain the following: Problem/s Objectives Methods Procedures (described in detail) Results Conclusions and Recommendations Bibliography (at least 3 major references) Ethics Statement. Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. Plagiarism, use or presentation of other researchers work as ones own forgery of approval signature and fabrication or falsification of data will not be tolerated. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for the competition. III. Format of Research Paper The project write-up must be typewritten double-spaced in short bond paper (8†x11†) and follows the following format: Title Page – title of the project must be brief, simple and catchy. Abstract should consist of short, concise descriptions of the problem its solution. It must be one page only, single-spaced with a maximum of 250 words, typewritten in Times Roman style; font 11. It must also state the following: Purpose Procedure used Results Conclusion Acknowledgement – contains the names of people agencies that helped in the conduct of the work described. Table of Contents – lists the different parts of the whole report with the corresponding page number of each part. The wording grammar of the chapter titles, heading title of tables figures should be consistent. Introduction – informs the reader of the problem under study. It shows the nature of scope and the problem, its historical theoretical background a review of literature relevant to the problem. Background of the Study- states the rationale of the study. It explains briefly why the investigator chose this study to work on. Statement of Problem/Objectives – the nature scope of the problem should be presented with clarity. Two types of objectives maybe stated: General Objective – this is related to the problem as given in the early part of the section. Specific Objective – this states the purpose of each experiment conducted. Significance of the Study- the importance of the study is explained in this part. Scope and Limitations – states the coverage extent of the study. Review of Related Literature – sufficient background information should be presented for readers to understand evaluate the results of the present study. Only the most important studies and theories written on the topic should be included. Methodology – provides enough details so that a competent worker can repeat the experiments. Materials/Equipment – the exact technical specifications, quantities and source of method of preparation for all materials used should be given. Specifically built equipment used in the study must be described and the description accompanied by a picture. Treatment/General Procedure – the manner sequence by which each experiment or set of observations were done how measurements were obtained should be described in detail. Avoid using the â€Å"recipe style† when stating the step-by-step procedure. Use the narrative form in the past tense. Results and Discussion – this maybe divided into sub-sections describing each set of experiment or observations. Findings – the data maybe presented in full discussed descriptively in the text or these maybe summarized in tables, pictures graphs. The statistical test used to determine the possible significance of the finding should be described. Tables, pictures graphs should make the presentation of the data more meaningful. Analysis of Data – the interpretation of the findings are discussed the significant features shown in the table, figures or graphs are pointed out. Ethics Statement. Scientific fraud and misconduct is not condoned at any level of research or competition. Plagiarism, use or presentation of other researchers work as ones own and fabrication or falsification of data will not be tolerated. Fraudulent projects are disqualified for the competition. Conclusions – the general truth implied or illustrated by the results should be clearly stated. The evidence based on the results should be summarized for each statement. Recommendations – consists of suggestions on future actions such as a new direction of research or further experiments to be performed, practices that might be adapted or discarded in order to attain certain goals or objectives.

The Hunt for Red October essays

The Hunt for Red October essays This book was written as a sequel to Hatchet. At the end of Hatchet Brian was saved from the island that the plane had crashed on. This book acts as if that had never happened. You might call it a 'what if' book. Brian has learned to take care of himself with only his hatchet and his surroundings. Now, winter is coming and he will have to face new obsticals. When the cold begins to near he decides he needs a way to keep the fire going. He worked out a ventilation system in his small hut. After this, he procedes to find a source of clothing to keep his body warm. He uses deer hide. He sews this together with twine from the survival pack he retrieved from the plane. As time goes on he notices the ice will freeze over and fish will no longer be his primary source of food. He manages to build a bow and arrow acurate enough to kill rabbits. Later, he kill a deer to make the clothing I mentioned earlier. After many trial and errors he manages to successfully survive. During the winter he had to overcome a bear who spontaneously raided Brian's camp, the cold, and hunger. One time, in late winter, Brian thought he heard a gun shot. I turned out the water in trees froze and expanded causing the tree to have almost a small explsion. The next time he heard this it was far too warm for the water to freeze and expand. He deccided the next day to travel towards the noise and investigate the sound. When he came to the spot he had anticipated the sound he found tracks that had dog track outlined by two solid lines. He followed these to a small cabin. He was met by a man who simply smiled and welcomed him. Brian later finds out the man and his family knew about him and his whereabouts the whole time. They thought he was a hermit type who insisted on being alone since there wer ...

Literature Review on Management of Cancer Pain Essay

Literature Review on Management of Cancer Pain - Essay Example The Global Association engaged in the research of pain, states that it is a woeful sensual and emotive feeling in connotation with real or possible tissue injury, or defined in relations to such harm. However, pain is a feeling that hurts and it has bodily and emotive features to consider. Pain can be of two types, acute or chronic: Acute pain normally experienced unexpectedly, can be severe, and frequently causes noticeable physical responses, for example, sweating, high blood pressure, and so on. Usually acute pain is an indication of sudden onset of an injury to the body, and it gets cured once the pain relief medicine is administered or the injury is treated. Pain is well-thought-out to be chronic once it continues further than the usual time anticipated for an injury to heal. Chronic cancer pain can be very tense for the body and the soul, and needs cautious, constant care to be properly treated. Together with enduring cancer pain, occasionally people have severe bursts of pain. Normally, these pains are termed as breakthrough pain, can as well be restricted by medications (Cancer-pain.org, 2002). The intensity of pain people experience due to cancer subject to the type of cancer they have, the phase the ailment is at, and the treatment they get. Around 25% to 50% of people with cancer grumble about pain at the time of diagnosis, and usually up to 75% of people with cancer whine of pain as the stages of cancer gradually progresses. Cancer pain can be further explained as an intricate feeling that reproduces harm to the physique and the physique's reaction to the injury. Even though physicians come to an understanding that controlling cancer pain is urgency, pain isn't each time understood or treated

Fredric Jones' Positive Discipline Model Research Paper

Fredric Jones' Positive Discipline Model - Research Paper Example Fredric Jones assessed the classroom environment of those he considered as natural teachers. On the basis of his research and observation, Jones created the Positive Discipline Model for the management and success of the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to consider Jones’ Positive Discipline Model, discussing its inherent features and applicability. Jones’ model concludes that discipline must always take precedence over instruction. Consequently, Jones suggests that teachers should take time to explain, re-teach and reexamine procedures inherent in the classroom throughout the academic year. According to Jones, a classroom routine is a critical teacher’s labor-saving device. Notably, it is not sufficient to merely define discipline standards required for the classroom, but rather take the time to teach these standards and procedures as though they are part of other lessons taught in the classroom. According to Tauber (2007), all discipline-based procedures must be taught the same as other lessons within the curriculum, complete with stage setting, molding, clarification, and application until students get these procedures right. Therefore, when discipline is required, instruction should be terminated in order to provide an opportunity for the engraining of discipline in the students’ classroom mannerisms. For Jones, the maxim of prevention is better than cure holds true. At the heart of his model is the need to establish proactive and deterrent discipline measures in all teachers’ strategies such as motivation, discipline and instruction. Therefore,

Reflecting On The Importance Of Oral Hygiene Nursing Essay

Reflecting On The Importance Of Oral Hygiene Nursing Essay The care of a patients mouth forms an important component of assisting hygiene needs and yet is an aspect of practice which is not always afforded the attention it fully deserves. It is also a role which too often delegated to health care assistants. Research shows that, in the United States, nosocomial pneumonia ranks second in morbidity and first in mortality among nosocomial infections. The treatment of nosocomial pneumonia adds 5 to 7 days to the hospital stay of surviving patients and billions of dollars to healthcare costs. REFLECTION There are different models of reflection one of which is Gibbs (1988). Reflection is the process of reviewing an experience in order to describe, analyses, evaluate and so inform learning about practice (Reid1993). I will use this reflection model in guiding me because it has helped focusing on different aspects of an experience, and exploiting their full potential for learning will be more appreciated. Reflection in professional practice, however, gives back not what it is, but what might be, an improvement on the original (Moon 1999). Description As part of placement simulation, I was part of a group introduced to oral hygiene care. It is one of the core requirements in maintaining the hygiene needs of a patient. When we were told to bring in a towel and tooth brush, I was taken aback as to what was the need for them? I went to the multi-skills laboratory not knowing what will befall me. My lecturer introduced us to a range of chemicals for oral hygiene. I had used some before but on this occasion, there was one I had not tried and used before. I was assigned a colleague to have the opportunity of experiencing the giving and receiving of oral hygiene by cleaning his teeth with toothbrush and pepsodent and vice versa.We performed as instructed. Feelings Upon commencement of activity, my views of healthy oral care were not very clear to me. Generally I perceived cleaning your teeth as being much like washing a face. I felt very embarrassed and inadequate and consequently, felt very uncomfortable as I have not done this to anyone outside of my family. On his part, it was obvious from his reaction that he had no confidence in me, thinking I was going to brush his teeth hard. It highlighted the complex problems I have to solve in practice and the provision of care needs to patients for whom I may not have had contact with before. I thought my pride and dignity had been taken away from me but later felt comfortable having understood what it was generally. Critical Analysis Helping patients/service users to meet their hygiene needs is a fundamental component of nursing care. Again, helping patients to meet their personal hygiene needs provides any nurse with an ideal opportunity to undertake a thorough physical, emotional and cognitive assessment of the patient. Although it seemed difficult at the beginning, by the time we performed on each other for the third time with encouragement we had developed a good working relationship. Encouraging students to acknowledge their intuitive capacity helps them to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses (SWOT). Jasper (2003) regards SWOT analysis as getting to know yourself. The understanding of our skills and abilities and the awareness of where our limits lie is seen as crucial to being able to act as a professional practitioner. After identifying and analyzing of my own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, I showed no more discomfort and shown more interest in the activity as our lecturer continued talked us through. Jackson and Mannix (2001) note that amount of interest the nurse shows in the learning needs of the student and the key role he or she plays in their achievement are essential to the students development. It is strange that sometimes you do things or know what things are without ever really stopping and analysing it. Most students and many professionals note that learning acquired from placement experience is much more meaningful and relevant than that acquired in the lecture room (Quinn 2000). Boud et al 1985 argue: it is common for reflection to be treated as if it were an intellectual exercise a simple matter of thinking rigorously. However, reflection is not solely a cognitive process; emotions are central to all learning. Conclusion Caring for a patient requires a relationship and empathy. By developing collaborative relationship with patients, I can provide prompt and focused interventions which can limit illness. Action Plan My aim is to be proactive in the future by promptly opening up. I aim to develop the skill of emotional resilience to be able to deliver and receive any care. Conclusion Like many others on the group, I thought that students were there through choice, they wanted to learn. As a result of this I expected the group to be mature and behaved. Due to my lack of experience in care and the job title of student nurse, I perceived that most sessions would run in a lecture format. This was probably a very naive move on my part, however following my first two sessions, I realised that if I was to be a successful student nurse, I had to adapt my approach. I needed to focus more upon my involvement and participation, getting the group involved in sessions would help to improve my learning process. However as I develop my nursing skills and also my ability to reflect, I have begun to realise that the process of reflection is more complex than Gibbs (1988) suggests. Whilst Gibbs highlights key areas of the process, I feel that reflection is not as cyclical as this model implies. As my reflective skills develop, I am finding myself jumping some stages of the cycle, revisiting others and in some instances digressing in different directions. I feel that this represents my views of reflection as I have a start point (the experience) and an end point (the outcomes/actions), but how I get there is down to my trail of thought. Whilst at this stage of my development I would not class myself as a successful, I believe I am working to develop the skills required to be successful.

Should America and Canada Have a Common Economy

People have always wondered what it would be like to step in the shoes of others – people that are completely different from them and see the differences and similarities in their lives. These days even countries are thinking of the same question. For example, what if, Canada started sharing its economy with the US? Canada and the United States have different economic systems even though the countries are geographically close to each other. In the economic continuum of planned, mixed and market economies, Canada has a mixed economy, and U. S has a market economy. Generally speaking, Canadians and Americans are very different people. Creating a single economy could have disastrous effects on the lives of the people and should not be done. First off, with less government involvement Canada would no longer have the things that Canadians celebrate. Secondly, the switch would go down hard on the homeless people of Canada who would now not have the government help that they desperately need and in a colder climate like that of Canada, it would be very hard for them to survive with the new economy not helping them much. And lastly, Canada already has the North American Free Trade Agreement which gives Canada, good cooperation with the United States and obviates the necessity of such a move. If the Canadian economy integrated into the American economy, the future of Canada would be destined to collapse because of the things that the people would lose. At the moment, Canada is a welfare state, where there are things such as senior pension plans, free healthcare and free education from K-12. If the economy converted, these would be no more. That would lead to the start of these services being commercialized which would make the prices skyrocket (refer to figure 1). Cost of living would go up. Health conditions would deteriorate and the workforce would not be as skilled due to higher cost of education. Also immigrant and refugee population would drop. That will adversely affect Canada's workforce. To sum up, the Canadian economy will suffer heavily. In the United States, the government, leaves much of the economy to the private sector and this leads to a higher cost of living. To the homeless people of Canada this is bad news. First of all, Canadian homeless people live in a very cold climate where they have to buy winter jackets and such. With a higher cost, the homeless people simply cannot afford the all the things to survive winter and will have lots of problems. This would add approximately 300,000 homeless protesters that would go against the integration along with the others that want free healthcare back and would cause big problems to the government. In 1994, The North American Free Trade Association started to be implemented and free trade started between Canada, America and Mexico. Canada has the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) that makes Canada, United States and Mexico very good cooperative nations and together they have made the largest free trade area. [1] John McCain from the Republican party[5] said â€Å"Last year alone, we (U. S. ) exchanged some 560 billion dollars in goods, and Canada is the leading export market for 36 of the 50 United States. [2] The countries have agreed to many things that they will do for each other such as strengthen the special bonds of friendship and cooperation among their nations, contribute to the harmonious development and expansion of world trade and provide a catalyst to broader international cooperation and many more things[3] NAFTA has created a very strong foundation for future and created good cooperation for the three economies. So why does Canada need to share economies? In fact, what Canada gets from it, is not worth the expenses and risks it faces during the transition. So as a summary, making such an integration possible could lead to devastation, and a lot of struggle for the people. So this should not be done. Making the switch, takes away the joys that we celebrate such as free healthcare and makes big problems in the lives of people that depend on these services. This also raises the prices of the goods in the market making a problem for not only the common people but even more drastically for the homeless people of Canada. Also, due to NAFTA, we have very good cooperation with the United States. Is all this really worth the change? Are we going to get enough back by doing this change?