The Provisions of the Trustee Act of 2000 Essay - 2

The Provisions of the Trustee Act of 2000 - Essay Example The trustee is the owner of the legal title of property and assets that are held in trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries. As spelled out by Lord Diplock in the case of Gissing v Gissing, a trustee holds the beneficial interest of claimants as cestui Que trust with such testator intention being spelled out in writing. The powers and duties of the trustees are defined in the deed of trust and they must hold regular meetings to demonstrate that they are fulfilling their duties. Trustees are obliged to act in a financially responsible manner to do their best to advance the interests of the trust and to achieve the intent of the testator.In the case of charitable trusts, grants or foundations where the class of beneficiaries is wider and where evidential uncertainties may exist, it places even more importance on the individual discretion of the trustees to invest in a manner that will serve to advance the social goals of the organization rather than be concerned with the accumulatio n of profits. On the whole, trustees have been endowed with the power to exercise their discretion in the matter of investing of the proceeds of the trust and the courts have rarely interfered with the right of the trustees to invest as they see fit. An examination into trust law and history, especially for charitable foundations, reveals the fact that it is not easy to explain why trustees have thus far refrained from investing on the basis of ethical choices.The fiduciary duty of a trustee or a person/s in the position of trustees is set out in the case of Lloyds Bank Limited v Bundy   wherein there is a special relationship between the trustee and beneficiary which places a fiduciary duty on a trustee’s shoulders to faithfully execute the testator’s will and honor his duties. A trustee will be liable for a breach of that trust. Trustees are obliged to act in an even-handed manner without any partiality or undue favoring of one beneficiary over the other, for examp le in the case of Re Smith, the courts held that a failure to act impartially constituted a breach of trust. A trustee is not only expected to exercise a duty in care, he/she is also expected to exercise a duty in cautionary investment and balance them between capital and income investments so that he/she refrains from selecting risky or speculative instruments.

Effective Research Essay Example for Free

Effective Research Essay Research is a structured and systematic approach of looking for answer to questions and producing intended results. The methods used to research a particular topic should directly relate to the aims described in the topic. One should develop a clear, thoughtful, and organized study plan that tests the vital hypothesis. Describe any work concept, tools, and approaches for the anticipated studies. Discuss the possible limitations and difficulties of the anticipated procedures and alternative advances to achieve the aims. Tim Ireland (2008) adds that a tentative sequence for the project ought to be given. An overview of the conceptual framework and proposed design should be included. Study goals ought to relate to the projected hypothesis. Required statistical techniques, proposed timeline, and work plan should be included. Finally, one should be clear about the methods and investigation design used and should avoid correlative experiments. The ways of assessing and evaluating ones research is by checking for correct spelling, general neatness, parts in a reasonable and correct order with nothing missing, proper citation of borrowed material and the support of any arguments or thesis materials with evidence. One can also use rubric; it allows one to see what excellent, acceptable, good, and poor work looks like. Information from research is included in writing by putting all your gathered information together in a presentable format. One should put all his/her notes together according to the order they will come into view in their project (Albert and Podgy 1984). Another is strategy is the use of paraphrasing where one only uses the most important words, synonyms, and highlights and crosses out words (Ireland, 2008). Paraphrase: A good university should focus on equipping students with critical and analytical skills which form an integral part of what is expected of higher learning (Zein 2008).

Zero Based Budgeting Emerged To Overcome The Limitations Of Incremental Budgets Accounting Essay

Zero Based Budgeting Emerged To Overcome The Limitations Of Incremental Budgets Accounting Essay Zero-based budgeting emerged to overcome the limitations of incremental budgets. This approach requires that all activities are justified and prioritized before decisions are taken relating to the amount of resources allocated to each activity. Besides adopting a zero-based approach zero-base budgeting also focuses on programmes or activities instead of functional departments based on line-items which is a feature of traditional budgeting. Programmes normally relate to various activities undertaken by municipal or government organizations. Zero-based budgeting works from the premise that projected expenditure for existing programmes should start from base zero, with each years budgets being compiled as if the programmes were being launched for the first time. The budgetees should present their requirements for appropriations in such a fashion that all funds can be allocated on the basis of cost-benefit or some similar kind of evaluative analysis. The cost-benefit approach is an attempt to ensure value of money, it question long-standing assumptions and serves as a toll for systematically examining and perhaps abandoning any unproductive projects. Thats why more and more non-profit making organizations, including Oxfam Hong Kong, consider using Zero-based budgeting as an approach to judge a best solution of the organizations. Background of Oxfam Hong Kong Oxfam Hong Kong is one of non-profit making organizations. It is an independent international development and humanitarian organization working against poverty and related injustice. It recognized that much poverty is caused by injustice and that poverty alleviation requires economic, social and structural change. It worked with people facing poverty and with partner organizations on development, humanitarian, policy advocacy and public education programmes. How zero-based budgeting could be used at Oxfam Hong Kong Most organizations, including Oxfam Hong Kong, may use incremental budgeting system for their budgetary process. However, this approach has a serious drawback. The budgetary process for coming year usually uses previous budget allocation as a basis of allocation. That may incurred increase or decrease in budget for the coming year based on the budget allocation. It is because the percentage of allocation is without full examination of this allocation basis. Incremental budgeting system assumes that the situation will continue in the same way. Zero-based budgeting could be used to remedy this serious drawback in incremental budgeting system. The best suitable activities in Zero-based budgeting To use zero-based budgeting as an approach, some activities are very suitable to use. For example: Limited resource of labours Oxfam Hong Kong is a non-profit making organization that it is always faced with limited resource of labours because major labours are volunteers that it often has not salaries. To organize an activity such as donation of poverty countries, it is a large project that it needs a lot of human resource. The allocation of resource is very important if the organization is faced with limited resource of labours. Zero-based budgeting can efficiently allocate resource of each department. Zero-based budgeting will define and evaluate decision packages of human resource and appropriate allocation by ranking of decision packages. Judgment of consignment or in-house Oxfam Hong Kong always creates a lot of activities about the donation of poverty countries. To encourage more donations, the organization always produces some souvenirs to donators. The souvenirs are also a part of cost that Oxfam Hong Kong will be considered to produce by consignment or in-house processing. It is because Oxfam Hong Kong would likely choose inexpensive method. It is very suitable to use zero-based budgeting to the identification. Although incremental budgeting system or activity-based budgeting can determine the cost of production by consignment or in-house processing, it only use department as a base which is less accurate than zero-based budgeting. It is because zero-based budgeting is based on activity which is more accurate than incremental budgeting system or activity-based budgeting. The advantages of Zero-based budgeting More and more non-profit organizations choose Zero-based budgeting rather than Incremental budgeting for their decision making because Zero-based budgeting has following advantages which Incremental budgeting is ignored. Inappropriate activities are not undertaken Traditional budgeting trends to extrapolate the past by adding a percentage increase to the current year. Zero-based budgeting avoids the deficiencies of incremental budgeting and represents a move towards the allocation of resources by need or benefit. Thus, unlike traditional budgeting the level of funding is not taken for granted. For example, when Oxfam Hong Kong has limited resource such as labour hour, the allocation of resources is being very important. Then Zero-based budgeting can help Oxfam Hong Kong to select the best solution of the allocation by ranking of decision packages. Finally, inappropriate solutions are not adopted. Enhance motivation The documentation of decision packages also leads to a deeper staff and management knowledge of all the operation and activities of the organization and can enhance communication, participation and therefore motivation. Oxfam Hong Kong can indirectly motivate the staff. It is because all departments especially management department in Oxfam Hong Kong need to communicate with other departments to make a consensus of the decision packages. Concerning value for money Zero-based budgeting focuses attention on outputs in relation to value for money. Through this value for money approach, inefficient and obsolete operations are identified so that wastage can be eliminated and a more efficient allocation of resources to activities and departments can be achieved. Therefore, Oxfam Hong Kong can indirectly reduce the cost of selection of decision because the wastage is reduced and the allocation of resource is being efficient. Problem of Zero-based budgeting Actually, no method is perfect. Zero-based budgeting also exists problems that Oxfam Hong Kong should be faced. More costly and time consuming The preparation of decision packages can generate a great volume of paperwork especially for a large project or activity and will require a considerable management skill. Therefore, Oxfam Hong Kong should be provided more training and education about concepts of application of Zero-based budgeting to the management department because Zero-based budgeting must be clearly understood by managers at various levels to be successfully implemented. The running cost is directly increased. Also, Zero-based budgeting will requires gathering, analysis and evaluation of large amounts of data that the management department faced with much workload and it is very time consuming. Problems of identifying ranking packages Subjective judgment and political pressure are unavoidable in ranking packages and allocation of resources and may create departmental conflicts. Different types and natures of activities across different departments, particularly with qualitative rather than quantitative benefits, may give rise to the problem of ranking. Oxfam Hong Kong is confused of the decision packages because it is difficult to define decision units and decision packages and sometimes subjective judgment is needed. Also, management may be exaggerated skews the results if it is unreliable. Then, the decision packages are became inaccurate. Relationship between management and staff deterioration The questioning attitude of zero-based budgeting is not always acceptable to staff or management because they may view it as a threat to their existing implied rights. For example, management department and accounting department have different ideas of decision packages. Each department does not agree with the other side ideas. The cooperation and motivation among the management and staff may deteriorate. Therefore, it may influence the relationship of each department in Oxfam Hong Kong. http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/accounting/zero-based-budgeting.php http://www.finweb.com/financial-planning/pros-and-cons-of-zero-based-budgeting.html http://www1.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/fm_nov07_p48-53.pdf

Christian Values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- essays re

Christian Values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Thesis Statement: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world. I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taking a Stand A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Worthiness B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sir Gawain stands C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trial overcome II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Staying True A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Three temptations B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Three hunts III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Repentance A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A promise kept B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Confession of sin Christian Values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Symbolism is used throughout literature to give deeper meaning to a variety of literary works. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight symbolism is seen through the actions of Sir Gawain against the trials he faces. The poem is first set during Christmas time at Camelot, showing that they were Christian for they were celebrating Christmas. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world. Symbolically, one can see Sir Gawain holding true to Christian values: first, by standing up for what he believes in; second, by staying true to a future mate; and thirdly by repenting from sins due to a broken promise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the opening scene Sir Gawain faces his first trial when the Green Knight proposes his â€Å"Christmas game.† The room falls silent for â€Å"If he astonished them at first, stiller were then/ All that household in hall, the high and low;† (lines 301-302). The Green Knight begins to mock the court; and then boldly, King Arthur accepts h...

Leadership Development Plan Essay

Section 1: What is Leadership and What Kind of Leader are You? Leadership means influencing others towards a common goal. This was how I viewed leadership ten weeks prior, before I started this online class. The definition itself stems from experiences brought about by memberships of the Junior Jaycees, university student councils and medical organizations. Extracting the definition comes easily. It may be correct but not necessarily complete. It is implementing it that’s tricky. Previously, I viewed leadership as it is in a box. A common goal is handed out to you. Then you’ll have to pick out which roads to travel to reach that goal. There was no formal training. At the conclusion of this course, the leadership definition above still holds true. But it is not as it is in a box anymore. It’s like trying your hand at golf. You may score a hole-in-one without perfecting your swing. But crafting your swing based on appropriate training and stance would definitely increase your chances of achieving that hole-in-one. The journey towards that coveted hole-in-one would be more meaningful as it would be objectively guided. According to Dan Clark1, â€Å"Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent†. Based on this definition and the concepts learned during the course, I would view myself as using more of the ‘transformational’ leadership style with a tinge of ‘transactional’, and just currently implementing the ‘empowering’ style. Transformational leadership entails inspiration and the conversion of a follower’s motivational state.3 I have always evoked inspiration as a leader, ever since I started taking responsibilities in small organizations in high school. This was how I managed to extract a good outcome out of the members. The transactional aspect just came into existence on an accidental discovery. Having been raised frugal, I used to just purchase myself a warm creamy Starbucks coffee on a really bad day as a pick-me-up. When I felt good after a sweet sip at the start of the day, I noticed my productivity increased. So, I bought some for my staff. It was the best day ever at work. Everyone shared a smile despite the high workload and stress. This also strengthened my bond with the staff. They viewed the free morning gourmet coffee as a personal reward. So once in a while, I give out incentives to staff to boost up their creativity and efficiency. That small gesture of a gourmet coffee led to gift cards, birthday party celebrations, etc. On the other hand, the empowering style of my leadership has just been developed during this course. It is indeed a new concept and is a work in progress. It does make sense. Not only would I be able to delegate tasks to the members, but this would also foster ownership and further training for them. Empowering the staff would increase their self-esteem, skills and productivity. There is a lot of overlap between the leadership styles and collaborative leadership. According to The Community Toolbox by the University of Kansas2, the traits of collaborative leadership can be summarized as follows: †¢ Collaborative problem-solving and decision-making. It’s not the leader’s job to decide what to do and then tell the group. Rather, the group considers the problem, decides what to do, and counts on the leader to help them focus their effort . †¢ Open process. The leader, or some other interested party, doesn’t just start with his goals in mind and steer the group in that direction. Collaborative leadership means that the process of decision-making is truly collaborative, and has no set end-point when it begins. The end result is worked out among all the participants: that’s collaboration. †¢ Leadership of the process, rather than the group. The purpose of collaborative leadership is to help the collaborative process work, rather than to lead the people involved toward something – to a particular decision, for instance, or in a particular direction. For me, ‘collaboration’ is taking all of the leadership styles mentioned above and gently infusing them into your members’ style, so that they would be leaders in their own small fields as well. This would definitely not unfold itself overnight but would definitely entail tons of patience and training, as well as rewards. With these concepts, equipped with the course discussions and readings, which were applied to experiences in the past, present and the future, led me to the discovery of my own authentic leadership. We all have the capacity to inspire and empower others, but we must first be willing to devote ourselves to our personal growth and development as leaders4 to attain success. How we lead others is indeed a product of our life stories and hardships. It is for this reason that finding out your own authentic leadership should begin with awareness of self and the environment. In lieu to this, the leadership development plan would serve as the first step towards discovering my authentic leadership. The objectives of this leadership and development plan are as follows: a) Based on the assessment questionnaires done, on top of the concepts learned in class, I would be able to increase my awareness of self and environment, acknowledging my strengths and weaknesses. b) By summarizing the concepts significant to my situation, I would be able to discover my current leadership style and modify or develop it as best as possible according to what I have learned. c) I would be able to create a specific action plan towards the development of my authentic leadership style. d) I would be able to apply the modified leadership style on a real-life situation. By preparing this leadership and development plan, I hope to achieve the objectives as listed above. This would serve as my unbiased guide as I embark on my most significant real-life leadership journey, which actual ly started a few weeks ago. Section 2: Lessons Learned This course has defined some previously unknown leadership traits and taught me lessons that would be valuable tools for the development of my authentic leadership style. I have summarized them as follows: a) Awareness of self and environment Awareness of self and the environment have been recurrent themes during the whole course. I should agree that I have unfolded some layers of myself as the weeks went by. I have repositioned myself in my career environment differently. Working as a primary care physician and opening up a new private practice during the current economic environment requires a lot of courage. The Obamacare health plans have recently reduced reimbursements to physicians. Although some positive changes are already in effect, health insurances still remain a huge business industry in which patients and physicians fall victims of. Having a Protean Career Orientation, and being aware of it through the assessment questionnaires, provided a cushion against these changes. Nothing provides more reassurance than knowing that regardless of how difficult the business climate might be, my boundaryless career orientation would somehow survive and prosper. Of course, the latter depends on the subjective definition of success. Having filled out the â€Å"Meaning of Career and Life Success† questionnaires helped confirm what matters to me as I find my way through this journey. Helping other people, achieving a work/life balance and personal growth have been consistent in what I want in life and career. This is important because the health care system for physicians has been very rigid. With a young career, as mine, most of my colleagues resort to being employed and managed by hospitals or larger private groups. It is not financially conducive to open up a private practice at the onset. So, I am technically swimming against an opposite current, and the lessons from the readings have pushed me into moving forward despite of. I do not deny, of course, that there would be tough moments when I sometimes get tempted to choose the easy path and revisit the generous employment offers I had. When this does occur, the Protean trait comes in handy and muffles out all doubts and anxiety. b) Leadership style/vision In a few weeks, I will be managing a business on my own. This definitely requires a multitude of organizational skills. As much as I have already implemented most of the lessons learned in this course, I would still be requiring the assistance of and probably revisit these reviews most often. The transition from being an employee to embracing an employer status would surely extract all the leadership qualities that I could muster. First off, I envision myself as a collaborative leader, making more use of the transformational as well as empowering leadership styles with a tinge of transactional method as well. The balance of these techniques depends on every situation I would encounter. Empowering others and myself has been one of my strengths, mainly because helping out and teaching have always been my calling. This would definitely come in handy when I exercise these different leadership styles. Furthermore, I also want to be a leader who would embrace technology and use all resources available in my grasp for the betterment of the organization. Currently, social media has done away with geographical barriers. When used appropriately, it would also bridge the cultural gap and communication barriers within the company. I wonder what the outcome would be if I implement a supervised â€Å"facebook/twitter† equivalent among the staff and management, tapping into hidden resources and skills within the group. In my line of business, I want recommendations from patients and staff heard. But because the latter sometimes become hesitant to give out ideas, it is difficult to pry their walls open unless they feel comfortable to expose themselves. That would be interesting to see. I bet there are still tons of instances when you can make technology work for you. I would want to be that kind of leader who listens to those needs/changes and responds appropriately, with or without technology. On the other hand, aside from leading with both the head and the heart, I also want to lead by example. I have been raised with a solid Catholic foundation and ethics. I want to employ this kind of culture in my organization and allow it to trickle down to the staff as well. I have seen a lot of employer physicians take advantage of employed doctors due to monetary benefits. There is nothing wrong about prioritizing the balance sheets and net profits, as long as you have not crossed the ethical boundary lines. Business should be practiced with a conscience. c) Leadership behavior changes When work demands increase, I find myself accidentally encroaching on family life. This is why the readings on work/life balance impacted me the most. The assessment questionnaires on this topic realigned my priorities. My husband and I, both physicians, strive so hard to give our two young children the quality time they deserve. From the onset, I have done away with inpatient practice and just focused on working in an outpatient setting with no weekend calls. Although most of the time, office hours go beyond the usual 8am-6pm schedule, as we tend to finish patient charts on time and actually sometimes bring work home. From the lessons learned, I have learned to balance work/life more in terms of quality and quantity of time. Instead of restricting my kids’ schedule and designing it to accommodate mine more, I have given up some activities that would take away parent time. For instance, instead of attending a dinner lecture presentation for continuing medical education, I would just spend this time with my family and read up on the topic whenever I can during work time. Another topic that brought great impact to me was on managing the boss. As a leader, you have to stay in tune to the needs of your superiors as well as your subordinates. The lessons learned from these readings were an eye-opener. I have experienced instances when I went beyond the employed physician job description. The intentions were noble as I saw opportunities for improvements. However, my superiors took these the wrong way. Awkward relationships would have been avoided then. Now I definitely know better.

The Mayan Civilization and Their Troubles †Humanities Essay

The Mayan Civilization and Their Troubles – Humanities Essay Free Online Research Papers The Mayan Civilization and Their Troubles Humanities Essay The Mayan civilization had many troubles and obstacles that would normally stunt the growth of a blooming civilization. Yet the Mayans prevailed by changing the landscape to suit their needs to flourish as a civilization. In the next paragraph I will detail how the Mayans resolved such problems as lowlands with very poor soil. The Mayan civilization overcame the obstacle of planting on mountainsides by simply creating terraces. Terraces are the equivalent of huge steps on the side of a mountain or a structure, to create an area suitable for building and agriculture. The Mayans also had a similar problem with the lowlands. Since the lowlands were comprised of thin nutrient lacking soil, they imported their soil. They gathered soil from riverbanks, and beds and placed it on the lowlands, thus creating a new layer of farming suitable soil. Another obstacle was getting water to places with no rivers. They built complicated irrigation system to bring water to the farms and the people. Therefore we can establish that the Mayan civilization had its fare share of obstacles. Their solution was ingenious back then, and we have adopted them to form our civilization. We are the little brothers of the Mayan civilization. We get to learn from their mistakes, and learn what they did right and how to do it. Research Papers on The Mayan Civilization and Their Troubles - Humanities EssayBringing Democracy to AfricaBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfGenetic EngineeringMind TravelAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationHip-Hop is ArtRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThe Hockey Game