Ibm Risk Analysis

Relative Size in the Industry IBM is part of the technology sectors in the diversified computer systems industry (IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance). The market cap is 254 billion with IBM making up 218. 6 billion. IBM is the largest company relative to the diversified computer systems industry. In a less specific industry of computers IBM only trails Microsoft Corporation by 12 billion dollars (â€Å"International Business Machines Corp. â€Å").Because of IBM’s large size relative to its industry the relative size does not pose a large business risk to IBM because they can leverage their large market share, capabilities, and achieve economies of scales. Acceptable audit risk is affected by the relative size of IBM in the industry it operates. IBM is a large global corporation and thus there are a very large number of financial statement users. The large number of financial statement users causes the auditors to set acceptable audit risk at a lower number and thus lowering planned detection risk and increasing the amount of evidence that must be accumulated.Major Competitors IBM’s major competitors in the diversified computer systems industry are Hewlett Packard Company Common, Teradata Corporation, Cray Inc. , and Silicon Graphics International (IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance). These competitors do not pose a large risk to IBM because they have much smaller market-shares than IBM Hewlett Packard Company Common IBM’s closest competitor only has a market capitalization of 24. 4 billion and the next closes which is Teradata Corporation only has a market cap of 10. billion (IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance). In the computer industry IBM’s major competitors are Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Cisco Systems, and Intel Corporation (â€Å"International Business Machines Corp. â€Å") IBM due to operating in over 170 different countries in multipl e different industry segments and competitors vary by segment from large international enterprises to smaller narrowly focused entities and thus IBM recognizes 100s of competitors (International Business Machines Corporation 2011).Intense competition regardless of IBM being a leader in almost all segments however does increase risks for IBM such as price competition which lowers gross margin ratios, losing market share, and obsolescence of current products. IBM’s major competitors by business segment are discussed in the next section. Major Products & Competition by Product IBM’s major business segments are Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing.Global Technology Services includes strategic Information Technology outsourcing services to transform clients existing infrastructures, global process services which includes process platforms and business process outsourcing, integrated technology services which are a project based portfolio of services to optimize IT which is built around key assets and patented software to drive efficiency, flexibility, productivity, and reduce costs, and the GTS services delivery which is responsibly or delivery of IBM technology worldwide. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) Global Business Services provides consulting and system integration which bring value to the customer by improving strategy and transformation, application innovation services, enterprise application, and business analytics and optimization. Global Business Services also includes application management services which provide assistance in application development, management, maintenance and support for software and custom and legacy applications. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) IBM faces major competition in the global services segments global technology services and global business services from the broad based competitors Accenture, Computer S ciences Corporation, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard Company. IBM also competes with India-based service providers, public accounting firms providing consulting services, and companies that focus on local market and niche service areas. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) IBMs software segment includes the sale of middleware software which enables clients to integrate systems, processes, and applications across a standard software platform. Operating systems are the software engines that run computers. Two thirds of the revenue from software is from annuity based recurring license charges and ongoing subscription and support.One third of the revenue comes from one time charge arrangements where customers pay up front for a license which is typically from one year of subscription and support but they can purchase subscriptions and support after the first year. Software offerings include information management software, trivoli software, lotus software, rational software, se curity systems software and operating systems. This segment is in a highly competitive market and the companies main competitors are CA. Inc. , Microsoft Corporation and Oracle Corporation. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) The IBM systems System Z, Power Systems, and System X range from general purpose and integrated systems designed and optimized for specific business, public, and scientific computing needs and form the foundation for IBM’s integrated offerings. Storage includes data storage products and solutions to help clients retain and manage complex volumes or rapidly growing digital information. They address vitally important issues such as security, compliance, storage optimization, and retention and archiving, availability, etc.Retail store solutions include Point-of Sales and self-service systems and include hardware, software and services. Lastly microelectronics include semiconductor design and manufacturing primarily for use in IBM systems. In s ystems and technology IBM’s major competitors are Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, and EMC Corporation. (International Business Machines Corporation 2011) Global Financing facilitates customers acquisition of IBM systems, software and services and includes client financing, commercial financing, and remanufacturing and remarketing.Client financing includes lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients with terms between 1 and 7 years. Internal financing supports long term client service contracts in the Global Services department and Global financing also factors a portion of the company’s accounts receivable. Commercial financing includes short term inventory and accounts receivable financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products. Remanufacturing and Remarketing includes equipment which is returned at the conclusion of a lease contract which is they sold or leased to another client internally or externally.The company competes with Cisco HP and non-captive fi nancing entities of companies like General Electric and banks and financial institutions and in remarketing the company competes with local and regional brokers and original manufacturers. (International Business Machines Corporation 2011) The nature of IBM’s products and the intense competition in all its business segments causes many risks on the audit as a whole and the audit of specific accounts.The overall audit risks because there are many inherent risks associated with intensely competitive environments which can cause products to become obsolete, loss in market share and lowering gross margin, and the inherent risks associated with financing. One particular account that is affected by this is inventory which should be checked for realizable value and possible obsolescence. The software and services that are provided to customers are highly complicated and are bundled together and thus sales and accounts receivable should be checked for proper classification and timing .Global financing poses many risks to IBM because of its exposure to the risk of economic downturns and the tightening of credit spreads and also there is a risk that the clients they provide financing for will not be able to meet contractual obligations and or default on payments. With global financing the auditors must make sure that leasing arrangements are properly accounted for and that the appropriate presentation and disclosures are included in the notes to the financial statements.For leases the audit objectives of classification, accuracy, and realizable value are of particular importance. Major Customers No clients represent more than 10% of the company’s revenue so lack of major customers reduces risk. (International Business Machines Corporation 2011). Having major customers could be risky because losing the major customer could have a large impact on sales; also having major customers could allow those customers to have bargaining power over IBM.IBM while it does not have any major customers it is overly dependent on the geographic region of the Americas for revenue. In 2011 the Americas were the source of 43. 1% of the total geographic revenue. (â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. â€Å") This over dependence on the Americas could cause substantial business risk due to the economic downturn in the Americas and if conditions were to become adverse and or demand were to decline this could hurt the business. â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. â€Å") Locations IBM operates in over 170 different countries and one of its major strategies is to expand into emerging markets. IBM’s major markets are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the UK, the Bahamas, Belgium, the Caribbean, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzer land (International Business Machines Corporation 2011).The emerging markets that IBM is focusing on which have higher market growth rates than the global average are countries in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America (International Business Machines Corporation 2011). This causes substantial risk for the company because each country is going to have different laws to which IBM must comply with or face possible law suits.The fluctuations in different currencies can cause a lot of risk to IBM because the value of revenue in certain countries could decrease substantially and they also must value the different currencies in US dollars for the financial statements. Other risks for companies that operate internationally include acquiring export licenses, laws and business practices that favor local businesses, trade restrictions, duties and tariffs, and the risk of not accounting for taxes correctly in the multiple jurisdictions that the company operates in.IB M operating in over 170 companies and is looking to expand into other emerging markets causes a substantial amount of risk for the company and should be considered when conducting the audit. First it affects the audit as a whole because the inherent risk and therefore risk of material misstatement is increased because of IBM’s international operations. Specific accounts and or assertions that are affected by this risk would be sales. Sales should be checked to make sure that the values are accurate and that the appropriate currency conversion rates were applied when changing foreign currency to US dollars.Another balance related audit objective would be accuracy and classification related to taxes payable and tax expense because tax laws are highly complex and the company would owe taxes to multiple local, state, and federal jurisdictions due to global operations. Another audit objective that should be checked would be that all necessary disclosures regarding law suits and ot her contingencies related to foreign operations are present in the notes to the financial statements and thus satisfy the completeness audit objective and the accuracy and valuation objectives in the presentation and disclosure-related udit objectives. Impact of Technology on Business Operations IBM is part of the technology sector and thus the impact of technology on the business operations of IBM is huge. In IBM’s business of being a computer and software manufacturer and service provider the pace of technological change is extremely rapid. IBM in order to be competitive with other major companies in the industry must be a leader in innovation and constantly be developing new products and capabilities to be competitive with other companies also trying to provide similar services in the same sector.Due to the rapid change in technology IBM must invest heavily in research and development which it does with annual expenses of approximately 6. 258 billion dollars, 5. 99 billion was for scientific research and application of scientific advances for new and improved products, their uses, and also services and their applications and the other 267 million was for product engineering (International Business Machines Corporation 2011).This investment in research and development is necessary but still has inherent risks because if competitors are able to come out with similar products to IBM’s products before IBM then they could lose a substantial amount of market share also the research and development process itself is a long and risky process because it may or may not result in a marketable product with sufficient consumer demand. Rapid technological change also has the inherent risks of causing IBM’s inventory to become out- dated and thus obsolete.Rapid technological change also affects the business operations of IBM because IBM will have a lot of intellectual property as a part of their assets on the balance sheet. In 2011 alone IBM was award ed 6,180 patents and in the last 19 years IBM has been awarded 47,000 patents and been the leader in receiving patents (â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. â€Å") There is a risk that IBM won’t value these intangible items properly and thus cause misstatements in the financial statements.Rapid technological change has the overall effect on the audit of increasing the amount of inherent risk in such accounts as intangible assets, and also research and development expenses. Specifically the audit of intangible assets will be affected because the auditor must pay specific attention to the valuation and allocation assertion and make sure that the intangible assets are valued at the correct amounts and that any necessary adjustments to the value of the intangible assets is made. Another balance related objective they should make sure the client satisfies is rights and obligations.The auditor should make sure that the clien t has the right to this intellectual property which can be satisfied by checking the related patents. The other account that must receive special attention is research and development. The auditor needs to make sure that all research and development is being expensed and is not capitalized and thus the classification of transactions related to research and development are properly classified as expenses and that related product expenses are only capitalized once the product has hit the market. Special Accounting PracticesIBM is affected by special accounting principles for revenue recognition. Revenue recognition for software vendors can be extremely complex and one of the complexities for software vendors is for multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements. Software vendors are able to account for individual products and services that are bundled together as a package separately if they can make a best estimate of each items fair value selling price. Companies must come up with vendor specific objective evidence (VSOE) of the fair value in order to account for them separately.If VSOE exists for undelivered items but not for delivered items the company uses the residual method but if VSOE of fair value doesn’t exist for the undelivered items then revenue cannot be recognized until VSOE of fair value does exist or all items have been delivered. Other issues that complicate revenue recognition for software companies such as IBM are whether or not new products are more than minimally different from existing products or whether it is just an upgrade.If an arrangement does include the right to an upgrade it must be determined whether the right is specified and whether VSOE of fair value can be determined or if it is unspecified and just included in PCS. Lastly if the company makes price concessions those must be analyzed to see whether they are stand-alone concessions or whether they expect to make similar price concessions to other customers because this could have a large effect on the realizable value of accounts receivable and the appropriate numbers to report in sales. (Triplett & Miller)The complexity of multiple deliverable revenue arrangements has a large impact on the audit. First and foremost the complexity of these accounting rules causes a large increase in the inherent risk. Specific audit objectives which are affected by these risks would be the realizable value of accounts receivable, the accuracy of sales, and the timing of revenue recognition in the sales cycle. If the company commonly makes price concessions then the realizable value of accounts receivable could be over-valued unless the company makes reasonable estimates of this and recognizes it with the original sales.Sales could be over or under valued if the VSOE of fair value is not accurate and the auditors must check that there is substantial evidence to support the prices the vendors come up with. Lastly the timing of sales could be greatly affected by these acc ounting principles because if VSOE of fair value cannot be established then revenue recognition must be delayed until all items in the arrangement are delivered. Works Cited â€Å"Diversified Computer Systems Overview: Industry Center – Yahoo!Finance. †Ã‚  Diversified Computer Systems Overview: Industry Center – Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"FASB Accounting Standards Update Number 2011-02. †Ã‚  FASB. org. Financial Accounting Standards Board of the Financial Accounting Foundation, Apr. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance. †Ã‚  Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo, 2012. Web. 0 Nov. 2012. http://finance. yahoo. com/q? s=IBM â€Å"International Business Machines Corp. †Ã‚  International Business Machines Corp. : NYSE:IBM Quotes & News – Google Finance. Google, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . International Business Machines Corporation (2011). 10-K Annual Report 2011. Re trieved from SEC EDGAR website  http://www. sec. gov/edgar. shtml â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. † Global

The Role of Economic Fertility and Population in Economic Growth Essay

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Racism - Essay Example The concept of ‘other’ creates the boundaries between people. Racism is prevalent everywhere one goes. Asians go to the European countries and do menial jobs for minimum wages. It is hard for them to score jobs they dream of doing. Even the economic analysts consider the Asian community as the labor community; washing dishes, working at gas stations or flipping burgers. The situation is not only prevalent in European countries, Silicon Valley United States is considered a dream place to get a job. However such a statement is highly overrated because the situation on ground is based on segregation. Hence it is true that racism is not only physical but it is a mental state. And in Silicon Valley it is termed as environmental racism. The immigrants are the ‘others’. The definition of other is that there is always ‘us’ and there is ‘other’ which is different from ‘us’. The other looks, different, talks, walks and eats different. These differences create imaginary walls between the two (i-e us and them). On the same psychological basis people divide other people in nations, ethnicities and races. This segregation goes on to include religions, cultures and any other classifications. There are two aspects of racism. One is when a white person feels superior because of the skin color. The other is when a black person feels inferior because of his color. The standards of beauty are defined by the modern media (especially Hollywood productions) that project white beauty and white lifestyle as the symbol of success and prosperity. Screenwriters, storytellers, movie directors and producers are biased in portraying a story or a life event. Hollywood movies do not explicitly show racist culture in their movies. But the majority of the movies in Hollywood show white lead role. The black guy is in his accomplice. The black guy is usually

Study Shakespeare's Hamlet and Webster's White Devil to compare the Essay

Study Shakespeare's Hamlet and Webster's White Devil to compare the ways that women in the plays are victims of male pride. Cri - Essay Example Among the female characters of William Shakespeare the role of Ophelia is supreme. She is considered as the most fragile character in his heroines. The attributes of Ophelia are far in high whereas the other female character in the play, Gertrude does not get much acclaim. The character Vittoria in The White Devil has been put to many comments. For many she is considered as the white devil in the play. As the other female characters of the play carry the attributes of innocence and good heartedness the chief lady, Vittoria is remarked for her wisdom, courage and harshness. The present essay tries to make an analysis on the female characters in these two plays. Further, a study is being conducted on the females as victims of male pride in these two plays. True, the Elizabethan and Jacobean attitudes of considering the females are also seen in these plays. As females they had to undergo male dominance and male chauvinism which caused the tragedy of the women characters vividly in these two. Women characters in the play Hamlet: The major women characters who enriched the play, Hamlet are Ophelia, the lover of Prince Hamlet and Gertrude, mother of prince Hamlet. The King of Denmark is killed by Claudius, his own brother and the uncle of prince Hamlet who later marries the former queen, Gertrude. It really infuriates prince Hamlet who was well aware of the plot of his uncle. The ghost of the King Hamlet appears before his son Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus reveals the story of his tragedy. The thoughts of revenge engulf in the mind of young Hamlet and the whole play is centred on his revenge against his uncle Claudius who killed his father and married his mother. The five long acts of the play tells his attempts to take revenge on his uncle and in the meanwhile it can be seen that Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius, the trusted courtier of Claudius is making love with Hamlet. The suffering of Ophelia begins when Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius by thinking it as Clau dius. She becomes mad due to her father’s death and moreover at the rejection of Hamlet and commits suicide. Christy Desmet (1999, p.11) makes clear assessment about the character of Ophelia when he writes, â€Å"Ophelia is a cipher, or a â€Å"plot device† or pawn used by her father, her lover and Shakespeare himself; at most she seems a â€Å"sacrifice to the general meaninglessness and loneliness pervading the play.† The words of Gabriel A. Rieger (2009, p. 47) is also notable when he remarked thus; â€Å"Ophelia is an inversion to the prince.† Laertes, the brother of Ophelia is ravaged to take revenge on Hamlet and in the final scene it can be seen that the sword of Laertes is poisoned as instructed by Claudius and again a cup of bowl filled with poison was made ready for Hamlet. Meanwhile Gertrude drinks the cup for Hamlet and dies and she at the time of death announces the evil works of her present husband. Laertes wounds Hamlet and is himself woun ded by the poisoned sword. When Laertes is seen dying he tells all about the plans of Claudius and at the end Hamlet stabs Claudius and makes him drink the poison prepared by himself. Thus in the final scene of the play a series of murders can be seen. Gertrude’s death is seen a part of her husband’s folly. Horatio, a friend of Hamlet becomes a witness to all the disgraceful acts that happened at the final scene. Two main characters in the play, Ophelia and

Influenza Vaccine During Pregnancy Research Paper

Influenza Vaccine During Pregnancy - Research Paper Example after the first dose, whereas previously unvaccinated children below 9 years were recommended with two doses of vaccine, the priming dose as well as the booster dose. The adverse reaction observed in these individuals involves soreness, fever, malaise and Guillian- Barre Syndrome (GBS) (1/100,000) recipients, other adverse drug reports encompass nasal congestion, headache, myalgias or fever (Stinhoff et al, 2012). Pregnancy is a condition that affects immune system to a greater extent as a result woman becomes prone to the health hazards caused by the flu or other complicated condition such as pneumonia or respiratory distress. Further, these conditions may culminate into premature labor or delivery of a preterm baby. Prevention of flu is therefore highly imperative. Vaccination as a preventive measure is a way to protect the fetus, infant stage. Childhood flu vaccines can be provided at or after 6 months of age. However, vaccination during the pregnancy results in the formation of a ntibodies which are passed on to the developing fetus and hence a passive protection or immunity is provided to the fetus. This flu vaccine is prepared from the inactivated virus while the nasal spray is prepared from the live virus which is contraindicated during pregnancy (Ayoub & Yazbak, 2006). Symptoms of Influenza Symptoms of influenza involve fever, myalgia, malaise, headache, fatigue, cough, sore throat, rhinitis etc. Such conditions could be assessed by performing viral culture and testing for the presence of viral antigen. Influenza virus possesses airborne transmission and person to person contact. The virus possesses an incubation period of two days and there is an abrupt onset of these symptoms. Observations reveal that influenza is accompanied by the complications like... Influenza spreads potentially in the community and is capable of causing spread and intensity of illness of the patient. The virus is capable of changing its antigenic forms from 1918 to 2009. Human is the indirect host and is known that pig serves as a host for human as well as avian species. Its transmission is through droplet nuclei as well as body discharges. The virus invades the respiratory epithelium after the incubation duration of 1-7 days. A damage to epithelium we followed by the immune response. Characters displayed by the patients encompass fever, cough, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting followed by hospitalization. Vaccination against the devastating disease influenza is highly essential to prevent the development of complications, especially pneumonia in children. During pregnancy the immunity provided to the developing fetus is passive, it can prevent the fetus from influenza. Reports of teratogenic as well as carcinogenic implications of the condition have been observe d. Although with research studies the success rate has augmented still a lot of controversies regarding the influenza vaccine are gaining prevalence. On one hand, the reports highlight the positive consequences of the influenza vaccine in preventing the disease condition while on the other hand there are reported the incidence to display the teratogenic as well as the carcinogenic impact of the influenza vaccine. Dreaded diseases like pH1N1 could be combated due to the administration of pH1N1 vaccination.

The Great Wall China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Great Wall China - Research Paper Example It is a truly captivating site. The Great Wall was never intended to stand as a testament of art or the grandeur of architecture, it served a far more simpler and practical purpose. Yet, all the same it is remarked as one of the greatest architectural feats of human history, like the pyramids at Giza and the city of Machu Pichu; and remains so today. It is still worthy of further research and discussion. History There is a myth that has become truly intertwined with the legend of the Great Wall of China. The myth tells the story of the wall as one great single undertaking, spanning, decades, of continuous building. However, this is, simply, not the case. The wall was built in different sections, in different locations, ultimately linked, throughout the years. ("Chinese Heritage Quarterly" 1) It is Qin Shih Huang, or the First Emperor, who is credited with conceiving of the idea to create a wall of immense length and strength that would prevent the invasion of the threatening Huns. Ho wever, many scholars today acknowledge that there are portions of the wall that may date back to smaller construction efforts that predates the rule of Qin Shih Huang. All the same the greatest portions were inspired by his intention to protect China from outsiders. There were, in fact, several Chinese Dynasties that contributed to the Wall, the Qi, the Wei, and the Zhao, however, it is three dynasties that are attributed with the greatest contributions. Qin Dynasty Again, Qin Shih Huang is responsible for the many of the oldest parts of the Great Wall. He foresaw the Wall as a fortification to protect the country from Hun invaders, as well as, ensure the rule of his descendents and future emperors who will take power after him. As one can see in the photograph these older sections of the wall have are formed of simple, natural materials, and are bit worse for wear in some sections. However, Qin, despite all of the innovations he brought during his rule, book printing and road build ing, but much of his rule was considered harsh and, even, cruel. The use of force to maintain work on the wall, along with a number of other sources of social unrest, resulted in a rebellion that ended his dynasty just after his death ("Chinese Heritage Quarterly" 1). Han Dynasty The Han Dynasty, regarded as one of the most powerful of Chinese dynasties, also, feared invasion from Hun Forces. This diplomatic rule attempted to make peace with by offering trade and economic incentives. However, this had little success and the Chinese resorted to a few offensive battles, but they became too costly to finance. The Han focused on adding to portions of the Great Wall, again as a defense, but this time it moved west toward the Gobi Desert; the intention being to protect the Silk Roads that were so essential to the empires economy ("The Great Wall of China"). As can be seen in the photograph, there is distinct difference in style and coloring of the stones in comparison between the Qin and the Han contributions; the Hans stones are darker and red Ming Dynasty The Ming Dynasty is credited with being the most prolific contributor to the building of the Great Wall. In fact, the majority of the wall that we are familiar with today is remnants of the works of this dynasty added between the years of 1368-1644 C.E. The Ming

Cesar Guarin First Filipino Ultra-Marathoner Essay Example for Free

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