Investment Data Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Investment Data - Essay Example It came into existence as a result of several mergers and acquisitions. Based on the latest Annual Report of the company, it has not issued shares of common stock using investment bankers or a syndicate of investment bankers, or at least there is no mention of any from accessible official documents ; in fact, it has been known to be buying back its shares. The only reference which could give one an inkling of common stocks being handled is this excerpt from its Notes to Financial Statements: â€Å"The merger was accounted for using the purchase method in accordance with SFAS No. 141, and the aggregate transaction value was $6,890 million, consisting of $5,829 million of cash and common stock issued at closing, $973 million of consideration for the shares acquired from . . . .† One major investment bank, Morgan Stanley, has probably handled some negotiations leading to some acquisitions. However, there is no explicit mention of Morgan Stanley anywhere in the companys most recent Annual Report, although the investment company has on several occasions made evaluative comments concerning Verizon. If anything, there seems to be a close relationship between the firm and Morgan Stanley. One of its Directors has had former ties with the investment bank: â€Å"Mr. Nicolaisen, 63, . . . has been a Director since 2005. He is also a director of MGIC Investment Corporation, Morgan Stanley and Zurich Financial Services.† (Annual Report 2007) Investment Dictionary defines Financial Intermediary as an institution that acts as the middleman between investors and firms raising funds. Often referred to as financial institutions. Investopedia states that it can include chartered banks, insurance companies, investment dealers, mutual funds, and pension funds. building societies, credit unions and financial advisers or brokers. Evidently, the investment banker also serves as financial adviser and broker/dealer for

Define And Discuss The Term Ethics From Your Own Perspective Coursework

Define And Discuss The Term Ethics From Your Own Perspective - Coursework Example al., 2012, p. 3). Acceptable behaviour is usually dictated by laws and religious norms. General perceptions are that persons who are ethical will usually conduct themselves according to norms dictating what is good and what is right and persons who are not ethical will act in ways that are not good and inherently evil. However, ethics is not merely concerned with acting in appropriate ways, but also concerned with omitting to act in ways that enable wrongdoing or is complicit in wrongdoing (Braswell, et. al., 2012). It would therefore appear that ethics not only demand that ethical individuals act in ethical or good ways, but that they also police unethical behavior. Whether or not this is realistic or fair, does not appear to be a concern. It does appear to be lofty goal for individuals to follow. However, when looked at within the parameters and operations of the criminal justice system the definition of ethics as a tool for moral responsibility and accountability makes sense. As Pollock (1993) informs, ethics in criminal justice studies ensures that those involved in the criminal justice system are able to identify â€Å"ethical issues†, gain empathy with others regardless of where they stand on an issue, and to â€Å"evaluate alternatives to dilemmas using ethical rather than legal or egotistic criteria† (Pollock, 1993, p. 377). Ethics permits all parts of the criminal justice system to be understood and supported as key components of the necessary machinery for engendering social order and social control in a free and open society. Ethics helps criminal justice actors to understand how all parts of the criminal justice system fit together in ordering of society (Pollock, 1993). Ethics in this regard is also important for individuals who make up parts of the social order and the social system. The individual’s ethics education begins at home and is branched out into the community in which we come into contact with others. Thus what we learn at home is inevitably taken into the larger community. Thus when both family and community values are ethical, crime and justice is not only understood but minimized via a collective sense of right and wrong and fairness and justice (Braswell, et. al, 2012). In this regard, ethics is directly connected to criminal behaviour and appropriate responses to criminal behavior. 2. Explain and Discuss Kant's categorical imperative. How appropriate are his views in today's criminal justice field? Kant was of the opinion that consequential theories in evaluating and explaining ethics did not pay enough attention to the issue of duty. Kant also took the position that these theories did not pay sufficient attention to the question of â€Å"basic morality† or â€Å"good will† or the intention to do good† (Braswell, et. al., 2012, p. 16). Thus Kant developed what is referred to as the categorical imperative which is contrasted with the â€Å"hypothetical imperativeâ €  (Braswell, et. al., 2012, p. 17). Hypothetical imperatives make allowances for a â€Å"command that begin with ‘if’† (Braswell, 2012, p. 17). For instance, a hypothetical imperative might function in the sense that an individual may decide that if he wanted to obtain a satisfactory academic outcome, the individual should be more academically prepared. Categorical imperatives are not hypothetical and therefore not prefaced by ‘ifs† (Braswell, 2012, p. 17). Kant formulated a number of aspects of categorical imperative. Two of those formulations are the universalizability