Social Media and Banking Essay Example for Free

Social Media and Banking Essay Introduction Social media and banking do not seem to have a strong relation at the first look on the topic, but are indeed complexly related in today’s world with the continuous evolution of the banking sector and the huge impact of social media on the masses. While today many international banks are using social media as a connectivity and marketing tool with its customers, Indian banks are also not far behind. ICICI, one of Indias biggest banks, already boasts a Facebook app allowing clients to view their account details, check statements and upgrade their debit card, among other activities, but still maintains a cautious attitude to social media strategy. While there is no doubt that social media is all the rage amongst retail and advertisings sectors, it is yet to make major inroads in the financial services and banking sectors. A new report from Ovum, the technology arm of market analyst firm Datamonitor reveals that a majority of banks worldwide aren’t yet ready to embrace social media. Privacy and Data Security are two of the biggest hindrances to mass-scale social media adoption in the banking sector. Moreover, many banks do not think social media gives them an edge to engage customers. In fact, they believe that it’s a dangerous proposition which may compromise sensitive financial data .Startling as it may seem, the recent Ovum research indicates that 60 per cent of the world’s retail banks have no plans to use social media in the future. There are noticeable exceptions though – UK’s First Direct, Australia’s NAB, Wells Fargo in the US and Rabobank in the Netherlands have adopted social media as a communication channel. While American banks mostly rely on Twitter, Australia’s NAB used YouTube and Twitter to pacify disgruntled customers  after its online banking system fell over. And going by the encouraging response received so far, the move appears to be fetching the desired results. 14 per cent banks currently use social media as a marketing tool, with a further 12 per cent planning to use it to promote their business by the end of 2012. Some challenges which the sectors might face are as follows: The banking sector relies on sensitive financial data all the time. Though Facebook has made several changes to its privacy norms over the last couple of years, a lot more needs to be done in order to simplify who gets to see what information. Perhaps, a different set of privacy controls for banks and financial institutions would help. Given the current situation, it’s unsurprising that most banks prefer Twitter over Facebook as the former has virtually no privacy vulnerabilities. The Ovum report indicates that social media offers a massive untapped opportunity for financial institutions. Consumer confidence in the banking sector has hit an all-time low and a personal touch of social media would serve as a perfect shot in the arm to lift the struggling global financial industry. Before we plunge into this fast deepening relation between social media and banking, let us first understand some basic concepts about banking and social media separately. Banking Under the Central Government Act, Section 5(b) in The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (b) Banking means the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment, of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise, and withdrawable by cheque, draft, order or otherwise; In general, a bank is a financial institution and a financial intermediary that accepts deposits and channels those deposits into lending activities, either directly by loaning or indirectly through capital markets. A bank connects customers who have capital deficits to customers with capital surpluses. Due to their influence within a financial system and an economy, banks are generally highly regulated in most countries. Most banks operate under a system known as fractional reserve banking where they hold only a small  reserve of the funds deposited and lend out the rest for profit. They are generally subject to minimum capital requirements which are based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords. Standard activities Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying checks drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting checks deposited to customers current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as Automated Clearing House (ACH), Wire transfers or telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and automated teller machine (ATM). Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current accounts, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending. Banks provide different payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses and individuals. Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are normally not considered as an adequate substitute for a bank account. Products Retail banking * Checking account * Savings account * Money market account * Certificate of deposit (CD) * Individual retirement account (IRA) * Credit card * Debit card * Mortgage * Home equity loan * Mutual fund * Personal loan * Time deposits * ATM card * Current Accounts Business (or commercial/investment) banking * Business loan * Capital raising (Equity / Debt / Hybrids) * Mezzanine finance * Project finance * Revolving credit * Risk management (FX, interest rates, commodities, derivatives) * Term loan * Cash Management Services (Lock box, Remote Deposit Capture, Merchant Processing) Economic functions The economic functions of banks include: * Issue of money, in the form of banknotes and current accounts subject to check or payment at the customers order. These claims on banks can act as money because they are negotiable or repayable on demand, and hence valued at par. They are effectively transferable by mere delivery, in the case of banknotes, or by drawing a check that the payee may bank or cash. * Netting and settlement of payments – banks act as both collection and paying agents for customers, participating in interbank clearing and settlement systems to collect, present, be presented with, and pay payment instruments. This enables banks to economize on reserves held for settlement of payments, since inward and outward payments offset each other. It also enables the offsetting of payment flows between geographical areas, reducing the cost of settlement between them. * Credit intermediation – banks borrow and lend back-to-back on their own account as middle men. * Credit quality improvement – banks lend money to ordinary commercial and personal borrowers (ordinary credit quality), but are high quality borrowers. The improvement comes from diversification of the banks assets and capital  which provides a buffer to absorb losses without defaulting on its obligations. However, banknotes and deposits are generally unsecured; if the bank gets into difficulty and pledges assets as security, to raise the funding it needs to continue to operate, this puts the note holders and depositors in an economically subordinated position. * Asset liability mismatch/Maturity transformation – banks borrow more on demand debt and short term debt, but provide more long term loans. In other words, they borrow short and lend long. With a stronger credit quality than most other borrowers, banks can do this by aggregating issues (e.g. accepting deposits and issuing banknotes) and redemptions (e.g. withdrawals and redemption of banknotes), maintaining reserves of cash, investing in marketable securities that can be readily converted to cash if needed, and raising replacement funding as needed from various sources (e.g. wholesale cash markets and securities markets). * Money creation – whenever a bank gives out a loan in a fractional-reserve banking system, a new sum of virtual money is created. Laws Related To Banking In India 1.1.Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 1.2.Banking Regulation Act, 1949 1.3.Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 1.4.Consumer Protection Act, 1986 1.5.Limitation Act, 1963 Social Media Social media employ web- and mobile-based technologies to support interactive dialogue and â€Å"introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals.† Social media are social software which mediate human communication. When the technologies are in place, social media is ubiquitously accessible, and enabled by scalable communication techniques. In the year 2012, social media became one of the most powerful sources for news updates through platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Classification of social media Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme in their Business Horizons (2010) article, with six different types of social media: collaborative projects (for example, Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (for example, Twitter), content communities (for example, YouTube), social networking sites (for example, Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing and voice over IP, to name a few. Many of these social media services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms. Social media network websites include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and MySpace. Mobile social media Social media applications used on mobile devices are called mobile social media. In comparison to traditional social media running on computers, mobile social media display a higher location- and time-sensitivity. One can differentiate between four types of mobile social media applications, depending on whether the message takes account of the specific location of the user (location-sensitivity) and whether it is received and processed by the user instantaneously or with a time delay (time-sensitivity). * Space-timers (location and time sensitive): Exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location at one specific point-in time (e.g., Facebook Places; Foursquare) * Space-locators (only location sensitive): Exchange of messages, with relevance for one specific location, which are tagged to a certain place and read later by others (e.g., Yelp; Qype) * Quick-timers (only time sensitive): Transfer of traditional social media applications to mobile devices to increase immediacy (e.g., posting Twitter messages or Facebook status updates) * Slow-timers (neither location, nor time sensitive): Transfer of traditional social media applications to  mobile devices (for example, watching a YouTube video or reading a Wikipedia entry) Mobile social media can also be used on the go when one is not near a personal computer, lap-topetc. With all the new devices that are arriving at our finger tips, gadgets such as tablets, iPods, phones, and many other new products, there is no use for sitting at home using ones PC; mobile social media has made other sources of internet browsing obsolete, and allows users to write, respond, and browse in real-time. New media of social networking such as Instagram allows the world to interconnect and makes space and time much smaller. Instagram allows individuals to snap a photo wherever they may be and share it with the rest of the world instantly, delivering a social media site full of foreign accomplishments and strange scenarios. This feature was introduced by Facebook and other existing social media sites, Instagram is a recent addition to the social media scene, and has made picture sharing much easier. Mobile social media is a relatively new platform since it is contingent on m obile devices ability to access the Internet. There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows: * Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US. * A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009. * Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day. * Over 25% of U.S. Internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before. * Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook, Australia ranks highest, with over nine million users spending almost nine hours per month on the site. * The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site. * As of May 2012 Facebook has 901 million users. * Social media has overtaken pornography as the No. 1 activity on the web. * In June 2011, it was reported that iPhone applications hit one billion in nine months, and Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months. * If Facebook were a country it would be the worlds third largest in terms of population, larger even than the US. * In June 2011, it was also reported that U.S. Department of Education study revealed that online students out-performed those receiving face-to-face instruction. * YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. * In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube. * One in six higher education students are enrolled in an online curriculum. * In November 2011, it was reported Indians spend more time on social media than on any other activity on the Internet. A brief overview of Indian banks-Pictorial statistics Facebook Twitter The Why and How of Social Media w.r.t Banking Why Social media matters to Banks? Whether a bank’s ultimate goal is enhancing its brand, reducing costs, increasing customer satisfaction, boosting innovation ,or driving revenue ,social media can be a valuable pursuit. Enhancing the brand Social media can play an important role in differentiating brands and making them more relevant to consumers. Much of its power in this regard derives from the fact that in a consumer’s mind, the most credible spokesperson a company can have is a â€Å"person like me.† In fact, research shows that the number of people who trust such a hypothetical person more than they trust brands or organizations increases around the world each year. How can banks take advantage of â€Å"people like me?† American Express, for one, created OPEN Forum, an online community dedicated to connecting businesses with each other and providing valuable content to customers with which the company wants to have relationships. Today, OPEN Forum has more than 10,000  businesses involved, monthly traffic has reached as high as 1.5 million visits,5 and the majority of content is produced by the community. The result is a new touch point that drives brand affinity, provides American Express w ith an immense opportunity to create brand impressions, and gives the company a chance to be at the center of important conversations among its customers. Reducing Costs Social media can be a major contributor to banks’ ongoing cost reduction efforts, especially as they pertain to service, sales, and marketing. For instance, banks can use social media as a low-cost channel to distribute messages, host conversations, provide customer service, identify dissatisfied customers, and increase the impact and reach of traditional media efforts. Consider Bank of America, which was the first and largest bank in the world to use Twitter for customer service. The bank uses a dedicated Twitter page on which a wide variety of real people—with their actual photos— help customers solve their issues. User feedback reveals the sentiment among customers that receiving help through this page is easier and faster than traditional customer service. In addition to driving customer service costs down, the page creates brand impressions across consumers’ social graphs, thereby allowing other consumers to see the value of the channel for a variety of goals. The channel also can enhance the impact of marketing. Consider, for example, how Discover Bank recently created a Facebook identity for â€Å"Peggy,† a character from its popular series of TV ads. Today, that character is â€Å"liked† by nearly 9,000 consumers, and interacts with them several times a day. Such campaigns create millions of additional brand impressions inside of Facebook, as well as new opportunities for brands to interact with their customers in a low-cost format. Creating and improving innovation : Banks can use the channel to create better, more innovative products and services that reflect real-time consumer demand. Chase, for example, created an online community of mass-affluent consumers and tasked the group with designing a credit card purpose-built to their specific wants and needs. The result: its highly successful Chase Priority Club Rewards card. Chase also created a Community Giving program that allows consumers to direct the  bank’s donations to specific charities. As of this writing, that community had directed more than $5 million to 100 local charities. Through this initiative, Chase’s philanthropic entity is opening up its decision-making to crowds and involving millions of people in the process Increasing revenue While the use of social media to drive revenue within banks is still in its infancy, results from other industries further along the growth curve are encouraging. Avis, for example, has been able to use a variety of coordinated social me dia efforts to boost its sales by 9 percent—in a competitive, commoditized industry with flat or declining revenues. As an example of a more specific and successful effort, USAA, a financial services provider for members of the US armed forces, allows site visitors to rate products like auto insurance or home equity lines of credit and add a written review. In fact, USAA customers have added thousands of reviews to products, and consumers have responded strongly: In the first year of adding product reviews to the site, USAA claims incremental sales of over 15,000 products. This tactic clearly shows a direct impact on growth and demonstrates the value of â€Å"people like me.† In both cases, using social media to unlock increased revenue requires firms to focus on fundamentals. Providing service that customers want to talk about and delivering products that are worth recommending. Once those conditions exist, the chance of successfully using social media to drive revenue goes up exponentially. A uniquely challenging industry For many banks, all of the examples in the world are not enough to get off the starting blocks. Typical challenges include: †¢ External communications are strictly governed by a host of rules and regulations that limit what they can and cannot say. †¢ Banks must observe strict rules regarding consumers’ personal information and data security. †¢ Sanctioned employees, whether from customer service, marketing, or another functional group, must be knowledgeable about products, services, rules, and how to get things done within the bank—and they must be mature enough to make decisions and craft responses to difficult questions. Plus, all this must be done within the strict legal and regulatory framework that banks inhabit and occur within real time in order to be effective. For many banks, technology itself is a major concern when it comes to implementing a social  media strategy. Banks must identify and implement the tools they will need to be active in social networks, from simple listening platforms to sophisticated tools that enable the integration of social media with legacy CRM systems, customer service tools and workflows, reporting and record keeping requirements, and overall marketing analytics. Finally, some banks will need to overcome a lack of organizational structures and in-house talent to derive full business value from social media. More specifically, many banks may find they have to close talent gaps and bridge internal divisions between product-oriented teams, all while gaining senior leadership support for a company-wide approach to social media. This is no small task, especially given the fact that most senior leaders are not well-versed in social media. A path toward social media mastery While the preceding paints a picture of industry-wide challenges, there is a path that banks can use to begin their social media journey. It starts with gathering critical knowledge that will guide the development of their strategy and assure positive outcomes. To begin, banks must strive to understand what their customers, prospects, and competitors are discussing online, as well as the social technologies that seem most relevant. This includes developing profiles of how various customer segments actually use social technology and understanding the practical implications of those uses. For example, strategies for student loan customers may vary widely from those designed for private wealth management clients in areas of execution, content, and technology. Banks also must assess their current social media capabilities and activities: All too often there are separate, potentially conflicting social media initiatives under way, as well as underutilized technology, insights, and experie nce. Banks must begin to consider their collective presence versus that of individual lines of business. Consumers don’t make those distinctions, and neither should banks. It is critical for banks to get a firm grasp on what competitors are doing in the social media space, and where â€Å"white space† exists. Bank of America, American Express, and Chase all have done this with their respective social media efforts, but that does not mean no space is left to establish a presence. To find this space, banks have to ask two questions of themselves : What can we deliver to our customers that we don’t offer today, and how  will it provide them with value? Social media sponsors must critically review risk. Specifically, they must identify specific social media concerns, assess their likeliness, and establish processes to handle adverse events. Prior to involving senior management, it is necessary to have answers to these questions, examples of how others have navigated similar waters, and concrete ideas on the trade-offs between risk and reward. And as mentioned earlier, banks must establish clear business objectives and map them to specific areas in which social media can generate value. All of the above becomes a moot point if efforts are not driven by real business goals. By addressing each of the preceding areas, social media teams can build senior leadership support for and sponsorship of overall social media efforts. In Accenture’s experience, successful initiatives typically involve one or more executives with deep passion for and experience with technology and social media. It is crucial to find and engage these people and use their influence to open the eyes of the broader C-suite. Crafting a Social Media Strategy All of this work will prepare banks for the successful development and implementation of a comprehensive social media strategy. To be effective , such a strategy must encompass the following areas: Crafting the Vision: With an overarching framework in place, social media can be designed from the ground up , versus as a collection of disparate tactics .It also can focus on a specific segments and experiences, as well as on the necessary internal ‘piping’ to implement social media connections across channels. Indeed, every good customer experience is carefully designed and good social media experiences must follow suit. Defining and Measuring Success : A Bank’s Social media strategy must encompass well-defined metrics that reflect progress toward the bank’s business goals ( as defined in the vision). However, first and foremost , they must align with the same type of metrics that drive business today . For Example, a social media strategy focused on sales as an outcome should look at driving traffic from social media, converting that traffic into leads, and successfully cross-selling  and up-selling customers that are interacting across social media channels. In effect, viewing the efforts through the same eyes that traditional channels evaluate success. Governance: A social media strategy should include clear governance and effective organizational structures, whether that means establishing a dedicated social media center of excellence or appointing social media champions across the bank’s functional groups and/or product lines. Regardless of the specific measures or structures in place , the bank’s goal should be to support efficient , effective engagement in social media with the right skills, staff, and controls . this Structure must be nimble, include processes for iteration ,and have senior leadership included. Technology: Perhaps counter-intuitively, it is only when the vision, metrics , and organizational structures have been defined that the bank should start thinking about technologies and the tactics they dictate. Banks Should start with basic learning and listening platforms that allow them to â€Å"test the waters† and identify areas of potential engagement, and then progressively integrate that platform with existing CRM tools to achieve a single view of customers. Banks must also consider what technologies are appropriate for record keeping and adherence to the policy. Recognizing that not all starting points are the same: The level of Social Media experience that a bank has plays an important role while crafting a social media strategy. The scope of the social media strategy depends on the relative social media maturity of the bank. The strategy used by a bank that has significant experience in social media will differ in some aspects from the strategy used by a bank which is new to social media. Banks with less experience in Social Media: The social media strategy used by the banks with no or relatively less experience in social media should address the following questions: * They should pay attention to the scope in terms of the functional areas covered by the strategy, important business goals, and the business processes used to achieve those goals. * They should also focus on building engagement among key stakeholders and assessing their willingness to participate in the  initiative This is as much about creating an initial â€Å"coalition of the willing† as it is about telling a compelling story on how social media can positively impact business results. * They should also learn from lean on agency partners and others that have been through the fire before. Banks with significant experience in Social Media: The social media strategy used by the banks with significant experience in social media should address the following questions: * The Social media champions within these banks must know when it is time to seek help from inside and outside the firm. This is needed because the expanding range of social media analysis and reporting will begin to overwhelm marketing staff and merits the involvement of dedicated analytical and technical staff. * As these banks begin to expand the use of social media across product lines, they have to design governance models that can keep pace, as well as focus on integrating social media technologies with CRM systems to achieve a truly holistic view of cross-channel, multi-product customers. Successful Integration of Social Media into the Operations: Banks that have been successful in integrating social media into their operations often have grass-roots efforts to thank. These banks have passionate leaders who have led social media efforts for individual product or service lines. The key to moving beyond grass roots and getting the entire organization pulling in the same direction is actively engaging senior leadership. Only then will the full brand-building power of social media truly be realized. How banks use social media According to the survey conducted by MHP Communications amongst the heads of communications and public relations specialists at more than 35 global banks to gain an understanding into social media habits across the banking industry. In broad terms, use of social media is high with the majority of respondents (53%), using social media both in a private and a business capacity. 30% use social media outside of a work context and 3% for business purposes only. 15% of all respondents do not use social media at all, which is a high percentage given that social media generally sits under the communications department’s remit. Whilst social media has become a mainstream activity, it is notable that more respondents use social media  for personal means than in a business context. When looking at the purpose of social media, it is widely seen as a good source of information on what is happening in the media (75% of respondents). Interestingly it is less seen as a direct route to the customer, but more to communicate broadly and advertise products and solutions: More than two thirds say they use social media for communications and public relations purposes, whereas 42% use it for marketing and sales activities. Customer service is a key purpose for 25% only. In the retail banking sector social media has a more established footprint than in the investment banking world. This follows the logical conclusion that for customer service and customer engagement purposes the mass consumer market is appreciative of being able to communicate with banks through these new, yet very much established platforms. And banks are increasingly keen to appear more customer-friendly whilst tackling the image the sector has as consisting of traditional and staid organizations. In the investment banking world social media takes on a different purpose, and has even become a platform to be feared and avoided. It is also not seen as a traditional direct route to clients. This is changing however, and one senior PR manager commented that the bank’s trading desk recently received a client request for traders to be given access to Twitter to monitor and engage with client comments throughout the trading day. The use of social media within the internal communications function is relevant for around one third of respondents (36%) – which represents a vast untapped potential given the range of opportunities to share knowledge and information internally that social media creates. Free tools such as Yammer, Twitter with protected tweets or Google+ with individual circles make information available only to a selection of people, so they can be used to streamline internal communication processes. However, and this is a key problem for a heavily regulated industry such as the banking sector, social media platforms are provided by external third parties. Any shared data which is of a sensitive or confidential nature will in many cases be stored on the provider’s servers which may not provide sufficient protection or peace of mind for the banking sector. Most providers are based in the US where legislation may, under certain circumstances, require them to reveal their clients’ identities or other data. Also, social media platform providers are commercial operations and there is the risk that data is misused, misplaced  or falsely allocated. Many banks feel that sensitive data should only be stored and transmitted on their own infrastructure to ensure full compliance. At the same time, regulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK aim to make social media more widely user-friendly for banks by publishing guidelines and recommendations. As a consequence there is a high level of insecurity as to what can and cannot be done. Despite these issues, social media is now seen as forming a strategic part of a communications program rather than representing solely a tactical activity, with 84% of banks now having a specific social media strategy. Nearly one third has started to execute a strategy, and 15% have a fully developed strategy in place. More than 40% are currently in the process of creating a strategy, and only 16% have not started thinking about or have decided not to have a social media strategy in place. A number of banks do have a social media strategy, but no defined goals for the strategy: 27% responded that they have not established specific goals for their social media strategy. Measuring the success of a social media program is perceived to be more complicated than for traditional PR which may explain why metrics and, in effect, goals remain vague.

Increasing Rates of Child Malnutrition in India Essay -- world hunger

INTRODUCTION Malnutrition is a critical issue that affects children worldwide. Given that, the social determinants of health are defined as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system"(World Health Organization, 2009). These conditions are ''shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels"( World Health Organization, 2009). More generally, when dealing with the issue of child malnutrition, there are many leading factors that contribute to the issue. A basic definition of malnutrition is "lack of the minimum amount of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients essential for health and proper growth"(San Francisco Aids Foundation, 2009). Some social determinants of health factors that lead to child malnutrition can be a lack of nutrition, socio economic status, poor housing, food security, immunity and employment. The social determinants of health framework that will be examined to understand the issue of poverty is nutrition and socioeconomic status. A lack of nutrition can affect the child in its inability to grow to their full potential. Also, socioeconomic status is a very significant factor as one of the leading causes of malnutrition. Living in a third world country, like India, it is difficult to have a high socioeconomic status due little income, as well as people are not really educated to have good employment opportunities. In saying this, Henry Chu's Los Angeles Times article "India's gnawing pain; Almost hair the children are malnourished in a nation that touts its economic growth and sees itself as a rising power" discusses the socioeconomic factors, as well as the factor of nutrition whic... ..., because it would also benefit the economy in the future. Since the economy is rising in India, policies such as better health care and nutritional programmes should be in place. Acting on this issue immediately will result in a lower health costs for the children’s future. From a global perspective people are deprived from certain rights due to poverty. Children face many challenges to transition from a child to a young adult because their health is not taken into consideration. Later in life, children can have many complications that affect their mental health that will stay with them forever. Treatment needs to be done earlier in a child’s life so it does not affect their mental health in the future. In saying this, Chu's article elaborates on the effect of nutrition in children, but more policies are needed to ensure that children will be set for their futures.

Disclosure issues- voluntary versus mandatory

Now a day’s most of the companies are trying to find out ways to attract as much capital as possible. With the continuation to wards market globalisation the urge to introduce harmonise global accounting standards have been increased. In order to attract larger amount of capital in the different regions of the world it is important for the companies to present the information in the financial statements, which is understandable by a diverse group of people. Most of the world organisations are trying to find out ways towards the general standards.The formation of IASC in 1973, was the result of such efforts by different countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, UK and US. This international body has issued more than 30 International Accounting Standards and has given a general presentation of the framework of the preparation and information availability of information in the financial statements. Although the organisation has adopted English as its formal language but the standards are translated into many other languages used in the world to make them understandable by as many people as possible.The main hindrance in the way of the use of common standards between the nations is that they are not legally imposed. The use of International Accounting Standards is a voluntary act of the countries. (Taylor & Pincus, 2002; p. 39) 2. Definition of Risk: Smith (1999) defines risk as a decision expressed by a range or possible outcomes with attached probabilities. When there is a range of possible outcomes but no assumed probabilities, there is only uncertainty (ibid. ).Hertz & Thomas (1984) have suggested that â€Å". Risk means uncertainty and the results of uncertainty†¦ risk refers to a lack of predictability about problem structure, outcomes or consequences in a decision or planning situation. † Risk is defined, as a bad notion is the most important stimulants for life. Uncertainty, far from being a symptom of im perfection, is in fact a natural property of economics, indeed, probably of all life systems . . .. Uncertainty is the name of the game in the service economy. (Giarini, 2000)According to (Feynman, 1998) it is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man. † Adams (1995) defines risk as the â€Å"balancing act† in which the actors â€Å"balance the expected rewards of their actions against the perceived costs of failure† in a world in which both it and our perceptions of it are constantly being transformed by our effect on the world and its effect on us.In a ISO/TMB Risk Management Terminology Paper (1999) risk is defined as combination of the probability of an event and its negative or positive consequences,† The royal Society (1983) defined ri sk as â€Å"a particular adverse event occurs during a stated period of time, or results from a particular challenge. † Importance of Risk Disclosure: Murphy (1999) sees Financial reporting and financial statements in particular can be thought of as a lens through which one could view a business.Financial reporting provides a broader view of the business than that provided by financial statements only. In other words, financial reporting encompassed financial statements, but it is not limited to financial statements. It is assumed that by providing information that meets the needs of investors and creditors, the company also meet the information needs of other external parties, it would be able to provide superior information if it treated each potential group of external users separately and prepared different information for each group.This approach is impractical, however, and the company instead out for preparing what is referred to as general-purpose information that we believe is useful to multiple user groups. With the change in the economic environment the list of factors of production has included intangible assets such as information and knowledge. The intangible assets are replacing the old sets of assets. â€Å"In order to keep on delivering profits the business must keep on investing in different projects in order to improve their organizational capabilities.These investments improve the capabilities of the business to respond to the customer demands, the external contacts of business reduces the risks attached to the products, internal integration improve the productivity of organization continuous experimenting not only improve the value creation but also enhance the image of the organization in business. These investments are very important for the businesses to survive it is necessary to measure the cost, inventory, space and quality savings measured by traditional capital budgeting systems.Most of the traditional accounting techniques measure the future flow of income by undertaking an investment which is not easy to calculate since the stream of income is expected to increase in future and the managers cannot decide to assign the right value to the future benefit. Rather than that it is easier to the calculate investment. This is due to the difficulty the future organisation face in calculating the future benefits; most organisations normally do not undertake new investments. (Enterweb, 2005)The use of intangible assets has created difficulties on the other hand also. People believe in what they see. The process of interaction of ideas and assets has been revolutionised. Developing trust and understanding with stakeholders is very important in order to turn knowledge in value. Today, the companies are required to report the performances not only on financial basis but also should under cover the issues such as vision, strategy, risks, value drivers, KPIs etc.The founders of the Global Association of Risk Profes sionals (GARP), Lev Borodovsky and Marc Lore, wrote in Risk Professional, â€Å"no matter what types of methods are used, the key to risk management is delivering risk information, in a timely and succinct fashion, while ensuring that key decision makers have the time, the tools, and the incentive to act upon it. † (Lev & Lore, 1997) Externally reported financial information is largely historical in nature. It looks back in time and reports the results of events and transaction that already have occurred.While historical information is very useful in assessing the future, the information itself is more about the past than it is about the future. A comparison of the historical trends with the future trends can be found helpful in better understanding of the information by the shareholders and other related people. (Financial Economists Roundtable, 1996) The improvement in public scrutiny and controlled market discipline is largely dependent upon the meaningful and accurate dis closure of information.This not only helps the shareholders but also helps the organisation to conduct business in a safe and efficient manner by achieving their targets through improving their risk management processes. The researchers find many gaps in the appropriate disclosure of risk by the organisations. Many surveys have been conducted, a wide variety of studies and interviews from the information users and shareholders have pointed out towards gaps in the currently disclosed information. The demand of provision of accurate and timely information is increasing.Business reporting effect people from every work of life an effective allocation of resources strengthens an economy by promoting productivity, innovations and an efficient and liquid market. Adequate information plays an important role in reporting the risks and opportunities of investing in business venture. To make effective decisions people need accurate information. The completeness and timeliness of information en hances the probability of taking the most appropriate decisions by the investors.Perhaps the foremost social and ethical responsibility levied upon private and public organisation in recent decades is the adoption of fair and just accounting practices. This responsibility is being increasingly codified in laws and various accounting standards. Its influence is becoming increasingly pervasive through a constant series of new and improved standards as well as steady enlargement in the size and scope of administering agencies.The voluntary disclosure of information by the companies will lead to the competitive advantage for the company in the market and will provide help to gain enormous amounts of capital all over the world. US Regulations for Risk disclosure: The US GAAP was founded in 1930 after one year of the historical depression in the US stock market in 1929. Till 1934 the companies kept on disclosing the information voluntarily. SEC was established in 1934 with the authority t o establish the accounting standards but also to make sure that these standards are used in the preparation of the disclosures.Since the issue was very complex the private sector also started assisting the SEC in 1938 in order to settle the accounting standards. The most important and unique characteristic of the US GAAP is that its strength is tested in the market in which retail investors with banks and entrepreneurs invest. Now FASB is responsible to set US accounting standards. The ultimate responsibility of protecting the interest of the financial information users lies on SEC and it is fulfilling its functions since decades by constantly forming and developing set of accounting standards according to changing needs.A history of 70 years of interpretation and implementation of US GAAP in different industries has make it one of the most reliable and applicable set of standards. This application of 70 years has helped the accounting practitioners and professionals in filling the gaps and flaws in these standards which has not make them perfect but improved their reliability and tested their strength. The main hurdle in the way of adoption of IFRS for US is that the application and strength of IFRS is not tested for as long as the US GAAP.IFRS are relatively newly developed as compare to US GAAP. The decision to change the US GAAP into the IFRS cannot be taken in a snapshot the process will be time taking, as a huge change is needed to be brought. The EU adoption of the IFRS was very steady and easier as compare to the US. This is because the unification of 25 countries in a union with different economic, cultural and social background is a big task in itself hence the change of accounting standards is a relatively important but small part of it.Despite all the differences in the financial market environment the U. S see the implementation of the IFRS as an opportunity to implement and introduce the better standards to improve the creditors accessibility. Th e process of convergence has started of the U. S GAAP in the IFRS, which will come to success if mutual consensus will be developed. The cutting edge IFRS has that they have prepared by the most experienced and brilliant accounting professionals but has a negative point of not having a long history of implementation and strength testing.International Accounting Standards: In the January of the year 2006 the accounts of all the listed companies shifted to the International Financial Reporting Standards. Under the International Financial Reporting standards all the listed companies should present their fair information regarding the company’s financial position, performance and cash flows. Despite the pressure from the International accounting agencies, some of the Governments are still reluctant to impose International accounting standards in their stock markets.Although there are big differences in the accounting standards in most of the economies of the world but the main ai m of all the accounting systems is to ensure fair and transparent corporate governance and financial reporting. The adoption of the International standards will lead to decrease in the accounting scandals and increase the adoption of common standard all over the world. Conclusion: Degree of Information varies largely from institution to institution. The amount of information made available to the shareholders largely depends upon the volume of financial instruments and the type of financial instruments used by the company.It is estimated that the shareholders of a financial institution is more required to have the risk related information as compare to that of the shareholder of an industrial company. Financial risks are the important part of the financial business operations on the other hands it is generally a by-product of an industrial company’s daily business. At the very minimum, a company should keep shareholders informed about the types of financial instruments used a nd their purposes.It must make a distinction between instruments that are used for hedging and those that are not, as well as the relevant accounting policies. It should disclose the notional principal of these instruments, their maturity, cash requirements, market value and credit risk. It should also tell shareholders how the firm monitors the values of these instruments. Where possible, firms should also disclose the firm’s market risks; if quantitative information is not possible then a qualitative discussion should be included. (13 Questions on Risk Management)

Medical Test with Answers Essay example - 16933 Words

HESI RN Practice Test - Comprehensive Test (125 Questions) A male client who lives in an area endemic with Lyme disease asks the nurse what to do if he thinks he may have been exposed. Which response should the nurse provide? A. Cover the ticks with oil to suffocate and kill them to prevent transmission. B. Look for early signs of a lesion that increases in size with a red border, clear center. Correct C. See a healthcare provider if nausea, vomiting, and joint pain occur after a tick bite. Incorrect D. Obtain early treatment with antiviral agents to prevent cardiac manifestations. The client should look for the early signs of localized Lyme disease known as erythema migrans, a skin lesion that slowly expands to form a large round lesion†¦show more content†¦(B, C, and D) require only 15 to 20% more than the basic metabolic rate. Category: Fundamentals  ¶ Preoperatively, a client is to receive 75 mg of meperidine (Demerol) IM. The Demerol solution contains 50 mg/ml. How much solution should the nurse administer? A. 0.5 ml. B. 1 ml. C. 1.5 ml. Correct D. 2 ml. To correctly tabulate this problem, use the formula: Desired/On Hand, Or the algebraic formula: 75: x = 50 : 1. 50x = 75 x = 75/50 or reduced to 1.5 ml (C). Category: Fundamentals  ¶ The nurse is preparing to administer IV fluid to a client with a strict fluid restriction. IV tubing with which feature is most important for the nurse to select? A. Micro drop factor. B. Drop factor of 15 gtt/ml. C. An intact inline filter. D. A buretrol attachment. Correct A buretrol attachment is used to restrict the total volume of IV fluids that a client receives (D). (A and B) control the rate of administration, but not the total volume infused. (C) reduces the risk of infusion of particulates but does not control the volume infused. Category: Fundamentals  ¶ Which action should the nurse implement when administering a prescription drug that should be given on an empty stomach? A. Administer after an eight-hour fast. B. Give one hour before or two hours after a meal. Correct C. Provide the dose after the client has missed a meal. D. Take with liquids, but no solid foods. When administering a drug on an emptyShow MoreRelatedThe Brief Educational Intervention Of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, And Hyperlipidemia Essay707 Words   |  3 Pages The brief educational intervention for this study was conducted among Meharry medical students during their Family and Community Medicine clerkship between May 2014 and December 2015. An existing ninety-minute didactic education session for Preventive Medicine topics was enhanced through the addition of nutrition content related to chronic disease prevention and treatment. 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