Auditing Theory and Practice

Question: Discuss about the Auditing Theory and Practice. Answer: Introduction Bio sustainable Feeds (BSF Ltd) are an Australian Bio Research firm that is conducting the research on the use of bacteria to produce the fish. The firm is engaged in the research of the sustainable aqua culture feeds for two decades. The research firm has brought the issues relating to the conversion rate of low value fish into high value fish. The conversion of high value fish was actually related to the plant based wet feed. The benefit of such conversions are putting the poors at the risks of malnutrition and this diversion of growing the luxury fish by diverting the human quality food crops is at the costs of poor people health. The research conducted by BSF regarding this matter has costs the firm an expense of $ 160 million AUD and is expected to cost $ 200 million AUD in developing the alternative aqua culture feed. The government of the Australia (CSIRO) has made a provision of $ 500 million AUD for the BSF Ltd. However the firm has spent only $ 100 million AUD on alternativ e aquaculture feeds. The firm has committed to spend a total of $ 700 million AUD over the next year to develop the alternative aqua culture feed. It is required to conduct the audit about the BSF research. The audit is conducted by looking into the company group whether it is large or small group. The engagement of the audit should be profitable to the firm being audited. Steps needs to be considered before accepting to do an audit: The audit firm needs to investigate the potential client, the related business activities and the owners. This is done to evaluate that there is any unacceptable risks associated with the client by seeing that the integrity of the client is questioned. This is performed by flowing the customer due diligence procedures. The audit firm should also look in for ethical threats such as is there any issues relating to the confidentiality or conflict of interest. In this context, the BSF Ltd is a research firm, so the structure of the business needs to be evaluated and whether the firm is competent enough to perform the potential work (Biggs et al. 2012). However, the pre conditions of performing the audit of the firm can be listed down below: The auditor has to determine that the framework for the financial reporting in the preparation of the financial statement is acceptable or not. The auditors have to perform several tasks in this regard. The auditor needs to evaluate the nature of the entity to be audited and whether the financial reporting framework is applicable and is prescribed by the rules and regulations. The auditors should seek information about the business of the client and assess the standards which are relevant to the industry. The auditors has to ensure that the firm of the client to be audited has relevant expertise and skills and whether auditing such clients would not pose any problems or leads to conflict of interest of the existing client. The auditors should consider the audit fee whether it is accordance with the level of the auditors work and the ethical requirement. The agreement of management must be obtained by the auditors and the responsibility is understood by the management regarding the preparation of the financial statements according to the applicable framework. The auditor has to make sure that the management is providing him access to all the information, which is necessary to carry out the audit. The auditors have to be ensured that the management has prepared the financial statement, which is free from any material misstatement, which might happen due to fraud or errors. The auditors should decline the audit engagement if the management is imposing the limitation on the work of audit regarding the proposed audit engagement. The limitation is resulting in disclaiming the financial statement opinion. The auditors have to reject the auditing proposals if the framework according to which the financial statements are prepared is not acceptable. However, as per the IFACs code, the decision to accept performing the audit cannot be considered as one off matter. The assessment of the client continuance is very important and it should be fully documented (Budescu et al. 2012). Before accepting the audit of the potential client, the audit firm can obtained the information from the sources such as the financial statements, media, reports prepared by the financial analyst, credit rating by the rating agencies, third party enquiry. Now, if the auditors accept to do the auditing of the concerned firm, it needs to undertake the following procedure: The auditors have to confirm that the previous auditor has been conducted in requirement with the legal and applicable framework. The appointment of the proposed auditors has to be in accordance with the statutory requirements. The last step would be to submit the engagement letter. Audit risk is the risk associated with the opinion of the auditor that the auditor has made the inappropriate opinion on the financial misstatements of the concerned company or the organization. One of the objectives of the auditor is conduct the audit in a way that reduces the audit risks to appropriately low level. The inherent risks of BSF limited stands at 90% The control risk is estimated at 5% The detection risk stands at 80% Now, the audit risks are evaluated by using the Audit risk model. The auditors take into consideration the control risk and inherent risk and they are to make an audit engagement and the detection risk form the residual risk. The inherent and control risks are risk of entity and they are independent of the audit of the financial statements. The audit efforts are not sensitive to the changes in the control risks. However, the effort varies with the changes in the level of inherent risks (Contessotto and Moroney 2014). The detection risks of BSF Ltd are high at 80% which indicate that the auditors would not be able to detect the material misstatement. It shows the effectiveness of the auditors in conducting the audit procedures. Therefore is a high chance that the auditor would not be able to detect the materiality in the financial statements. However, the detection risk cannot be reduced to zero because the auditors cannot inspect the accounts of balances on 100%. The risk can be reduced if the auditors perform their task very efficiently. The detection risk should be reduced that is the auditors should try to reduce the detection risks in face of control and inherent risk (Boritz and Huo 2013). The acceptance of the audit firm in performing the role of the audit of the BSF Limited depends on the overall risks, which would be given by the Audit risk model (Srivastava and Shafer 2012). The formula for calculating the audit risk is given by: Audit risk = inherent risk * detection risk * control risk = 0.9 * 0.8 * 0.05 = .036 The audit risk came out to be 3.6 % . The audit risk is below 10% and the firm generally tries to keep the audit risks below this. The audit risk computed for the BSF ltd is 3.6 %, which is, much less than the accepted level. Therefore, the auditors should accept the role of conducting the audit of the research firm. The auditors develop the audit programs so that the operations and the control system of the firm to be audited are checked. In order for the auditors to obtain the sufficient information and evidence, the audit staffs perform the audit program, which include list of the audit procedures. After the accounting systems are understood and the strategy is developed, the individual audit procedures are developed. The audit program would include the substantive tests and the other test of control, which the auditors intend to perform. In order for the auditors to justify the audit opinion, the auditors prepare the auditors program and it forms a significant part of the auditors working paper. The audit program is conducted to assist the planning and performance of the audit carried out. It forms the mean to review the audit works and to record and control the execution of the audit work conducted (Tabor 2013). The auditors should document such things, which help in providing the evidence to support his opinion in the audit work. The following items is to be included in the audit program The work of the audit banks and the detailed information of their work should be provided in the audit program. The audit program is prepared by considering the nature of the client. The auditors should prepare the work assigned to the assistant separately. The auditors need to prepare the working papers, as it would help in retaining the connection with the audit performance. However, the working papers are prepared in the current and permanent audit files (Kumar and Sharma 2015). The permanent audit file should contain the matters, which would continuously affect the performance of the audit. In this regard, it would include the following: Copy of memorandum of association of BSF Ltd Extracts of important legal documents, minutes and agreements of the BSF Ltd Information about the internal control system and accounting of the BSF Ltd The organizational structure of BSF Ltd should be provided Information about the legal adviser of the BSF Ltd Bankers of the entity Letter of engagement The above listed information and the documents would pertain to more than one financial year. However, the documents pertaining to the current financial year are prepared in the current audit file. The timing, nature and extent of the audit procedures performed by the auditors and the consequences of such procedures on the BSF Ltd Analysis of the accounts of balances of the BSF Ltd The financial statement of BSF Ltd if audited by another auditor, the details of the same has to be provided. The file should also contain the understanding of the auditors regarding the internal control system and accounting of BSF Ltd Working papers form a part of audit programs conducted by the auditors. The performance indicators and the key ratios would help in identifying the trend of the business and this would provide the auditors the information regarding the types of ratio to consider in identifying the trend and analyzing the review. The constitutional documents of BSF Ltd such as the line of business that is here in this context is research firm, structure of the capital , address of the BSF Ltd and its objective are also to be accounted for. The audit program should also identify the time involved in the completion of the job, which would be assigned to the assistant, and this needs to be signed by them after job completion (Griffith et al. 2012). The auditors shall have many issues regarding the recording of the financial transactions for the business entity. These include the authenticity as well as transparency for the transactions for the business entity. Arens et al. (2012) mentioned that such financial transactions have to be recorded earlier in the books of accounts. However, there remains a time lag between the actual occurrence of the financial transactions and the recording of the financial transactions in the books of accounts. This leads to discrepancies in the recording of the journal entries as well results in financial discrepancies. The full set of journal entries in the year 2013 to 2016 shall have an impact on the operational policies of the business entity. The journal entries shall have to be recorded as per the job roles and the operational policies of the business entity. According to Furnham and Gunter (2015), the auditors need to have an intensive study of the organizational policies of the business ent ity to evaluate the operational strategies of the business entity. This would help the auditors to have a proper understanding of the financial situation of the business entity. The primary responsibility of the auditors relates to the treatment of the CISRO grant. The CISRO grant shall have to be measured as per the needs of the business entity. As such, it remains necessary to evaluate that the grant of CISRO is utilized in the bests possible manner for the business entity. Thus, the expenses which are allocated for production and distribution have to be investigated thoroughly. In regard to this, the vouchers have to be examined thoroughly to prevent any manipulation. Chandler and Edwards (2014) mentioned that the primary issue concerning the job role of auditors is misleading information. As such, it remains essential that there is full cooperation between the audit team and the management of the organization to facilitate authenticity as well as transparency in the books of accounts. In addition, the auditors have to identify the discrepancies in the management of the organization. According to Evetts (2014) this is a major obstacle to the growing business sustainability of the organization in the international market. The auditor has to possess the responsibility to allocate the Research and the development expenses as per the production and the operational department of the organization in an adequate manner. The auditor has to investigate the possible expense that has remained unaccounted. These expenses can lead to the embezzlement of funds as well as the discrepancies in the financial recording of the shareholders of the organization. As such, this shall be necessary for the auditors to develop relevant auditing measures for organizational growth and sustainability. The BSF ltd research has been stated as socially responsible and environmental friendly. As such, the business entity has adhered to the necessary social as well as environmental measures in executing its daily business functionalities. Besides this, it has a strong internal auditing system implemented that to enable frequent monitoring of the environmental processes in the organization. In regard to this, it can be said that the brand has implemented stringent business operational policies. This shall help the workers involved in the production as well as the distribution to get all the aids and amenities to deliver their daily work. According to Hayes et al. (2014), the human resource department of BSF Ltd has to play a major role in the well being of the workers. Thus, the auditing processes that are implemented in the business organization have to be fair and transparent and shall not be biased to any particular party. This has been one of the reasons due to which the BSF resear ch can be called socially responsible. In addition, BSF ltd invested substantially in the research procedure to attain the research objectives However, it can be said that the research procedures has been implemented in the business organization to attain the long term goals and the objectives of the business entity. The research procedure has been subjected to environmental laws as well as regulations in the research work. As such, the society has not been hampered in any manner. Regular consumer feedback was taken from the clients relating to the research procedure. Lenz and Sarens (2012) mentioned that the grant from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, Federal Government of Australia has enabled BSF Lt to implement advanced technology mechanisms in the research procedure. The brand has developed an alternative aquaculture feed to assess the research procedure and take appropriate measures for organizational growth. BSF Ltd has the patent over the bacteria based feed technology. As such this has assisted the business entity to gain a distinctive brand identity in the domestic as well as the international market. As such, the brand possesses the ownership over the patent based technology in the international market. This has ensured that the productivity as well as the level of customer satisfaction for the brand. The brand has made considerable investments for the development of such technology to aid organizational growth (CBC 2016). In this regard, it can be stated that the bacteria based feed technology has been solely the innovation of BSF ltd that has brought considerable enhancements in this sector. The research process has been on the use of bacteria to produce fish feeds from wood chips, sugar cane residue as well as methane gas. Thus these required considerable usage of time as well resources on the part of BSF technology. The research process has cost BSF $ 160 million AUD in the recen t years. In addition, the research process is expected to cost more $ 200 million in the research expenses for the business entity (Rust et al. 2011). Thus, the research process is expected to contribute enormously to the development of newer technology mechanisms. In addition, BSF limited has developed strategically alliances with similar brands operating in the same product and service line. As such, this has brought enormous innovation to that field. Thus, the sharing of technology as well as the financial and the operational processes of the business entity has brought about new innovation in the workplace. Lothe (2013) stated that the BSF Ltd has been the leading business unit that has been able to match the expectations of the consumer through the help of technology. Besides this, BSF ltd has been extensively using the bacteria feed technology in its manufacturing process. As such, this has assisted the business entity to survive in an intensely competitive market. Sarker et al. (2016) mentioned that the bacterial feed technology has been widely used to obtain fish feed from the wood chips as well as the sugar cane residue. The research from the past decade indicates towards the growing need of fish feed for the production of fish. Thus, this innovation from BSF ltd has made it easier for the development and the supply of fish products to the market. As such, BSF Ltd has played a pivotal role in the development in meeting the demand of the market and making the industry productive. Therefore, BSF Limited should have exclusive rights and control over the patent feed technology. References Arens, A.A., Elder, R.J. and Beasley, M.S., 2012. Auditing and assurance services: an integrated approach. Prentice Hall Biggs, S.F., Mock, T.J. and Watkins, P.R., 2012. Auditor's use of analytical review in audit program design.Accounting Review, pp.148-161. Boritz, J.E. and Huo, K., 2013. Business Models and Audit Risk Assessment: An Investigation of Alternative Information Presentation Techniques. InCAAA Annual Conference. Budescu, D.V., Peecher, M.E. and Solomon, I., 2012. The joint influence of the extent and nature of audit evidence, materiality thresholds, and misstatement type on achieved audit risk.Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory,31(2), pp.19-41. Budescu, D.V., Peecher, M.E. and Solomon, I., 2012. The joint influence of the extent and nature of audit evidence, materiality thresholds, and misstatement type on achieved audit risk.Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory,31(2), pp.19-41. CBC. 2016. Shift to plant-based fish feed could hurt health, environment, CBCNews Technology Science, (23 Mar/16). Chandler, R.A. and Edwards, J.R., 2014. Recurring Issues in Auditing (RLE Accounting): Professional Debate 1875-1900. Routledge. Contessotto, C. and Moroney, R., 2014. The association between audit committee effectiveness and audit risk.Accounting Finance,54(2), pp.393-418. Evetts, J., 2014. The concept of professionalism: Professional work, professional practice and learning. In International Handbook of Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning (pp. 29-56). Springer Netherlands. Furnham, A. and Gunter, B., 2015. Corporate Assessment (Routledge Revivals): Auditing a Company's Personality. Routledge. Griffith, E.E., Hammersley, J.S. and Kadous, K., 2012. Auditing complex estimates: Understanding the process used and problems encountered.W orking paper, University of Georgia. Hayes, R., Wallage, P. and Gortemaker, H., 2014. Principles of auditing: an introduction to international standards on auditing. Pearson Higher Ed. Johnstone, K., Gramling, A. and Rittenberg, L.E., 2013.Auditing: A Risk-Based Approach to Conducting a Quality Audit. Cengage Learning. Kumar, R. and Sharma, V., 2015.Auditing: Principles and Practice. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. Lenz, R. and Sarens, G., 2012. Reflections on the internal auditing profession: what might have gone wrong?. Managerial Auditing Journal, 27(6), pp.532-549. Lothe, R. 2013. Fish feed-research may help reduce world hunger, ScienceNordic, 17 Mar/13. Messier Jr, W., 2016.Auditing assurance services: A systematic approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Peters, J.M., 2012. A knowledge-based model of inherent audit risk assessment. Rust, M., Barrows, F., Hardy, R., Lazur, A., Naughten, K., Silverstein, J. 2011. The Future of Aquafeeds, NOAA/USDA Alternative Feeds Initiative, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS F/SPO-124. Sarker, P.K., Kapuscinski, A.R., Lanois, A.J., Livesey, E.D., Bernhard, K.P., Coley, M.L. 2016. Towards Sustainable Aquafeeds: Complete Substitution of Fish Oil with Marine Microalga Schizochytrium sp. Improves Growth and Fatty Acid Deposition in Juvenile Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). PLOS ONE, 2016; 11(6). Seidel, T., 2014.The Effective Use of the Audit Risk Model at the Account Level. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS. Srivastava, R.P. and Shafer, G.R., 2012. Belief-function formulas for audit risk.Accounting Review, pp.249-283. Tabor, R.H., 2013. Internal control evaluations and audit program revisions: some additional evidence.Journal of Accounting Research, pp.348-354. Voiculescu, A. and Bumbescu, S.S., 2014. Explaining The Audit Risk And Its Components: A Comparative Case-Study Based On Audit Reports.Annals-Economy Series,4, pp.138-148. Working papers form a part of audit programs conducted by the auditors.

Quickbooks Notecards Essay Sample free essay sample

The accounting system captures. shops. procedures and communicates information in conformity with applicable professional. industry and authorities criterions and besides meets the organization’s ain demands. A good –designed accounting system enables an organisation to pull off one of its most valuable resources – information. Accounting package plans allow one to pull strings and bring forth information following professional. industry and authorities criterions. every bit good as meet the organization’s ends. If well-designed. it enables the company to pull off it most of import plus. which is information. I. IntroductionB. Introduction about Quickbooks Collins. J. C. ( 2011 ) . A Quick Guide to Quickbooks. Journal of Accountancy. 1. Retrieved November 27. 2012. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. journalof accounting. com/Issues /2011/Dec/20114555. htm More than 4. 5 million companies use QuickBooks. doing it by far the most widely used accounting system in the universe Quickbooks is used around the Earth by more than 4. 5 million houses. II. BodyA. Advantagesa. Company1. Less clip devouring Nelson. S. L. ( 2008 ) . Quickbooks 2008 for silent persons. Hoboken. New Jersey: Wiley Publishing Inc. Quickbooks automatically creates most journal entries for you. construct a test balance by utilizing your journal entry information. and – when asked – produces fiscal statements. Most of the work of double-entry clerking. so. goes on behind the scenes. Quickbooks is besides able to construct a test balance every bit good as produce fiscal statements in a neat and organized manner. which allows more work to be done in a shorter period of clip. compared to utilizing the manual pattern in journalizing minutess and fixing fiscal statements II. BodyB. Disadvantagesa. Company1. Has restrictions Nelson. S. L. ( 2008 ) . Quickbooks 2008 for silent persons. Hoboken. New Jersey: Wiley Publishing Inc. In malice of the fact that Quickbooks may be an uncomplete solution and may non manage stock list the manner you want or need. Quickbooks is still a really good solution. What Quickbooks does. it does rea lly good. Quickbooks is non able to cover with stock list absolutely. but it is still a good option because it does the undertaking of forming good. II. BodyB. Disadvantagesa. Company1. Has restrictions Drew. J. ( 2012 ) . Technology and CPA’s: vision of the hereafter. Journal of Accountancy. 2. Retrieved November 20. 2012. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. journalofaccountancy. com/Issues/2012/Jun/20114844. htm This epoch is similar to the displacement from Lotus 1-2-3 to Excel in the late eightiess and early 1990s. and he envisions the impact of cloud and nomadic engineerings radically revamping the accounting package market place. The use of accounting package may be compared to the passage from Lotus 1-2-3 to Excel. Quickbooks may. in the long tally. be overthrown by cloud and nomadic engineerings. II. BodyB. Disadvantagesa. Company2. Weak security Phatak. O. ( June 2011 ) . Advantages and disadvantages of utilizing computerized accounting. Retrieved November 23. 2012 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. buzzle. com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-computerized-accounting. hypertext markup language If safeguards are non taken. including installing of anti-virus package and securing of office web. there is a security hazard of losing informations due to choping onslaughts and descrying via Internet. Security becomes an issue if the installing of an anti-virus is non done by the company. This may take to choping and descrying onslaughts of rivals through the Internet which consequences to the loss of informations.

Hurricanes Essays - Vortices, Tropical Cyclone, Eye, Free Essays

Hurricanes Essays - Vortices, Tropical Cyclone, Eye, Free Essays Hurricanes HURRICANES Of all of natures forces that exist hurricanes could be considered one of the most powerful of all these forces that can cause tremendous amounts of destruction is such a little amount of time. A hurricane is a powerful whirling storm of winds that measure 200-300 miles in diameter. Hurricanes are an area of low pressure that forms over the oceans in tropical regions in either the north Atlantic Ocean or eastern north Pacific Ocean. In the west Pacific Ocean hurricanes are called typhoons, and in the Indian Ocean they are called Cyclones. Hurricanes develop from easterly waves that over the oceans warm waters. These easterly waves are long narrow regions of low pressure that occur in ocean winds called trade winds. The waves may grow into a tropical depression, which are winds from 1 to 31 miles per hour. Then they can grow into a tropical storm, which are winds from 32 to 73 miles per hour. These waves then turn into what you call hurricanes and hurricanes are winds greater than 74 miles per hour. The winds swirl around a portion of the storm called the eye. This is a calm area in the center of the storm. It is about 20 miles in diameter and has little wind and clouds. The storm clouds called that are around the eye of the storm are called wall clouds. Inside these wall clouds are where most of the heaviest rains are and where the strongest winds are. Outside of the wall clouds are clouds called rain clouds. They have winds and rain and make up most of the diameter of the storm but nothing as powerful as the wall clouds. Hurricanes usually occur within the months of June to November, most occur in the month of September. Eight Hurricanes occur a year on average but as many as 15 have occurred in one years time in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Northern Hemisphere the winds of a Hurricane move around the eye counter clockwise due the gravitational pull from the North Pole. In the Southern Hemisphere the winds move around the eye clockwise. The eye of the hurricane travels over land at an average of 10 to 15 miles per hour. The atmospheric disturbance that causes hurricanes start approximately in the latitudes between 5-30 degrees on both sides of the equator. Hurricanes start moving towards land picking speed, strength, and size. They will then drift away from the equator as they reach temperate latitude where they are called extra tropical and travel over the land bring havoc and destruction to all that they pass over. The winds and the rains over the sea along with the force of the sea produce huge waves called a storm surge. These storm surges cause lots of flooding and damage to coastlines, especially if they happen at high tide. The storm weakens as it moves over land because hurricanes need the warm sea to supp ly energy to it through evaporation. Also the friction of the storm over the land causes the storm to slow down. Meteorologists of the National Weather Service keep a close watch over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to see of there are any storms brewing. They collect such information as air pressure, temperature, and wind speeds. By doing all this they will be able to forecast where and when a hurricane will begin, where it will travel, and how strong it is going to be. Meteorologists get information about hurricanes by satellites, airplanes and by radar. It is shocking to see the amount of destruction from the power of a hurricane that can be caused. To put this in a better perspective: A hurricane in one day averages 1.6 X 1013 kilowatt-hour, which is 8000 times more than all the electrical power generated in the United States in one day. This is also equivalent to a daily explosion of 500000 atomic bombs, the 20-kiloton Nagasaki variety. This is absolutely amazing to think about. Many people have been trying to find ways to slow down the speeds of hurricanes for the longest time now. What is needed is a small input that can make a large amount of natural instability. The first attempt

Investigative report Assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

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Defining and Assessing Modern CSR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Defining and Assessing Modern CSR - Essay Example Ethical responsibility means the delivery treatment to the stakeholders in a manner that society previously prescribed as acceptable. All companies, especially the Oil Sands Development Corporation, must comply with Canada’s prescribed corporate social responsibility provisions. Further, the entities’ social responsibility is divided in two major areas. One area is economic in nature. The business entities’ survival is grounded on generating revenues. The revenues must be high enough to generate net profits. If the company does not generate a net profit in the current or future accounting period, there is high probability that the entities may file for bankruptcy. The usual step for a bankrupt company is to close shop. Next, another major area of the entities’ social responsibility is environmental responsibility (Hopkins, 2012). The nation compulsorily requires all companies to implement all environmental protection law provisions. The companies must not pollute the environment. The entities should never pollute the waters of our plants (rivers, lakes, and oceans). In addition, the entities should not pollute the air. The factories must build high smoke stacks to reduce polluting the community air. Further, one environment-friendly news report divulged one Canadian company’s blatant violation of its corporate social responsibility (Wingrove, 2013). Wingrove observed the Oil Sands Development Company’s business activities continue to pollute the nearby Alberta lakes. The Canadian government reiterated that Canadian companies can set up their business to generate profits. However, the Canadian government reiterates all locally set up companies should not violate any of Canada’s environmental protection statutes. The continuing pollution of the nearby Alberta lakes will snap out the life of the current and future marine life. The marine life includes the fishes and other

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Constructivism And Discovery Learning Education Essay In 1960 Bruner published  The Process of Education. This was a landmark book which led to much experimentation and a broad range of educational programs in the 1960s. Howard Gardner and other young researchers worked under Bruner and were much-influenced by his work. In the early 70s Bruner left Harvard to teach at University of Oxford for several years (1972 1979). He returned to Harvard in 1979.   Later he joined the New York University of Law, where he is a senior research fellow (at the age of 93).   Theory   Bruner was one of the founding fathers of constructivist theory.Constructivism  is a broad conceptual framework with numerous perspectives, and Bruners is only one. Bruners theoretical framework is based on the theme that learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon existing knowledge. Learning is an active process. Facets of the process include selection and transformation of information, decision making, generating hypotheses, and making meaning from information and experiences.   Bruners theories emphasize the significance of categorization in learning. To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize. Interpreting information and experiences by similarities and differences is a key concept.   Bruner was influenced by  Piagets  ideas about cognitive development in children. During the 1940s his early work focused on the impact of needs, motivations, expectations (mental sets) and their influence on perception. He also looked at the role of strategies in the process of human categorization, and development of human cognition. He presented the point of view that children are active problem-solvers and capable of exploring difficult subjects. This was widely divergent from the dominant views in education at the time, but found an audience.   Four Key themes emerged in Bruners early work:   Bruner emphasized the role of structure in learning and how it may be made central in teaching. Structure refers to relationships among factual elements and techniques. See the section on categorization, below.   He introduced the ideas of readiness for learning and  spiral curriculum. Bruner believed that any subject could be taught at any stage of development in a way that fit the childs cognitive abilities. Spiral curriculum refers to the idea of revisiting basic ideas over and over, building upon them and elaborating to the level of full understanding and mastery.   Bruner believed that intuitive and analytical thinking should both be encouraged and rewarded. He believed the intuitive skills were under-emphasized and he reflected on the ability of experts in every field to make intuitive leaps.   He investigated motivation for learning. He felt that ideally, interest in the subject matter is the best stimulus for learning. Bruner did not like external competitive goals such as grades or class ranking.   Eventually Bruner was strongly influenced by Vygotskys writings and began to turn away from the intrapersonal focus he had had for learning, and began to adopt a social and political view of learning. Bruner argued that aspects of cognitive performance are facilitated by language. He stressed the importance of the social setting in the acquisition of language. His views are similar to those of  Piaget,  but he places more emphasis on the social influences on development. The earliest social setting is the mother-child dyad, where children work out the meanings of utterances to which they are repeatedly exposed. Bruner identified several important social devices including joint attention, mutual gaze, and turn-taking.   Bruner also incorporated Darwinian thinking into his basic assumptions about learning. He believed it was necessary to refer to human culture and primate evolution in order to understand growth and development. He did, however, believe there were individual differences and that no standard sequence could be found for all learners. He considered instruction as an effort to assist or shape growth.In 1996 he published The Culture of Education.. This book reflected his changes in viewpoints since the 1960s. He adopted the point of view that culture shapes the mind and provides the raw material with which we constrict our world and our self-conception.   Four features of Bruners theory of instruction.   1. Predisposition to learn. This feature specifically states the experiences which move the learner toward a love of learning in general, or of learning something in particular. Motivational, cultural, and personal factors contribute to this. Bruner emphasized social factors and early teachers and parents influence on this. He believed learning and problem solving emerged out of exploration. Part of the task of a teacher is to maintain and direct a childs spontaneous explorations.   2. Structure of knowledge.it is possible to structure knowledge in a way that enables the learner to most readily grasp the information. This is a relative feature, as there are many ways to structure a body of knowledge and many preferences among learners. Bruner offered considerable detail about structuring knowledge.   Understanding the fundamental structure of a subject makes it more comprehensible. Bruner viewed categorization as a fundamental process in the structuring of knowledge. (See the section below on categorization.)   Details are better retained when placed within the contest of an ordered and structured pattern.   To generate knowledge which is transferable to other contexts, fundamental principles or patterns are best suited.   The discrepancy between beginning and advanced knowledge in a subject area is diminished when instruction centers on a structure and principles of orientation. This means that a body of knowledge must be in a simple enough form for the learner to understand it and it must be in a form recognizable to the students experience.   3. Modes of representation: visual, words, symbols.   4. Effective sequencing- no one sequencing will fit every learner, but in general, increasing difficulty. Sequencing, or lack of it, can make learning easier or more difficult.   Form and pacing of reinforcement   Categorization:   Bruner gave much attention to categorization of information in the construction of internal cognitive maps. He believed that perception, conceptualization, learning, decision making, and making inferences all involved categorization.   Bruner suggested a system of coding in which people form a hierarchical arrangement of related categories. Each successively higher level of categories becomes more specific, echoing Benjamin Blooms understanding of knowledge acquisition as well as the related idea of instructional scaffolding (Blooms Taxonomy).   Categories  are rules that specify four thing about objects.   1. Criterial attributes required characteristics for inclusion of an object in a category. (Example, for an object to be included in the category car it must have an engine, 4 wheels, and be a possible means of transportation,   2. The second rule prescribes how the criteral attributes are combined.   3. The third rule assignees weight to various properties. (Example, it could be a car even if a tire was missing, and if it was used for hauling cargo it would be shifted to a different category of truck or perhaps van.   4. The fourth rule sets acceptance limits on attributes. Some attributes can vary widely, such as color. Others are fixed. For example a vehicle without an engine is not a car. Likewise, a vehicle with only two wheels would not be included in car.   There a several kinds of categories:   Identity categories categories include objects based on their attributes or features.   Equivalent categories (provide rules for combining categories. Equivalence can be determined by affective criteria, which render objects equivalent by emotional reactions, functional criteria, based on related functions (for example, car, truck, van could all be combined in an inclusive category called motor vehicle), or by formal criteria, for example by science, law, or cultural agreement. For example, and apple is still an apple whether it is green, ripe, dried, etc (identity). It is food (functional), and it is a member of of a botanical classification group (formal).   Coding systems  are categories serve to recognize sensory input. They are major organizational variables in higher cognitive functioning. Going beyond immediate sensory data involves making inferences on the basis of related categories. Related categories form a coding system. These are hierarchical arrangements of related categories.   Bruners theories introduced the idea that people interpret the world largely in terms of similarities and differences.   This is a significant contribution to how individuals construct their unique models of the world.   Application   Bruner emphasized four characteristics of effective instruction which emerged from his theoretical constructs.   1. Personalized: instruction should relate to learners predisposition, and facilitate interest toward learning,   2. Content Structure: content should be structured so it can be most easily grasped by the learner   3. Sequencing: sequencing is an important aspect for presentation of material   4. Reinforcement: rewards and punishment should be selected and paced appropriately.   Intellectual Development   Bruner postulated three stages of intellectual development.   The first stage he termed Enactive, when a person learns about the world through actions on physical objects and the outcomes of these actions.   The second stage was called Iconic where learning can be obtained through using models and pictures.   The final stage was Symbolic in which the learner develops the capacity to think in abstract terms. Based on this three-stage notion, Bruner recommended using a combination of concrete, pictorial then symbolic activities will lead to more effective learning.   Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press   Harley, 1995   http://tip.psychology.org/bruner.html   LeFrancois, 1972   Sahakian, 1976 The Importance of Language Language is important for the increased ability to deal with abstract concepts.Bruner  argues that  language  can code stimuli and free an individual from the constraints of dealing only with appearances, to provide a more complex yet flexible cognition. The use of words can aid the development of the concepts they represent and can remove the constraints of the here now concept. Basically, he sees the infant as an intelligent active problem solver from birth, with intellectual abilities basically similar to those of the mature adult. According to Bruner the child represents the world to himself in three different ways. Educational Implications of Bruners Theory For Bruner (1961), the purpose of education is not to impart knowledge, but instead to facilitate a childs thinking and problem solving skills which can then be transferred to a range of situations. Specifically, education should also develop symbolic thinking in children. In 1960 Bruners text,  The Process of Education  was published. The main premise of Bruners text was that students are active learners who construct their own knowledge. Bruner (1960) opposed  Piagets  notion of readiness. He argued that schools waste time trying to match the complexity of subject material to a childs cognitive stage of development. This means students are held back by teachers as certain topics are deemed to difficult to understand and must be taught when the teacher believes the child has reached the appropriate state of cognitive maturity. Bruner (1960) adopts a different view and believes a child (of any age) is capable of understanding complex information:  We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. (p. 33) Bruner (1960) explained how this was possible through the concept of the  spiral curriculum. This involved information being structured so that complex ideas can be taught at a simplified level first, and then re-visited at more complex levels later on. Therefore, subjects would be taught at levels of gradually increasing difficultly (hence the spiral analogy). Ideally teaching his way should lead to children being able to solve problems by themselves. Bruner (1961) proposes that learners construct their own knowledge and do this by organizing and categorizing information using a coding system. Bruner believe that the most effect way to develop a coding system is to discover it rather than being told it by the teacher. The concept of  discovery learning  implies that students construct their own knowledge for themselves (also known as a constructist approach). The role of the teacher should not be to teach information by rote learning, but instead to facilitate the learning process. This means that a good teacher will design lessons that help student discover the relationship between bits of information. To do this a teacher must give students the information they need, but without organizing for them. The use of the spiral curriculum can aid the process of  discovery learning. Bruner and Vygotsky Both Bruner and Vygotsky emphasise a childs environment, especially the social environment, more than Piaget did. Both agree that adults should play an active role in assisting the childs learning. Bruner, like Vygotksy, emphasised the social nature of learning, citing that other people should help a child develop skills through the process of  scaffolding. The term scaffolding first appeared in the literature when Wood, Bruner and Ross described how tutors interacted with pre-schooler to help them solve a block reconstruction problem (Wood et al., 1976). The concept of scaffolding is very similar to  Vygotskys  notion of the  zone of proximal development, and it not uncommon for the terms to be used interchangeably.Scaffolding  involves helpful, structured interaction between an adult and a child with the aim of helping the child achieve a specific goal. Difference Between Bruner and Piaget Obviously there are similarities between  Piaget  and Bruner, but an importantdifference  is that Bruners modes are not related in terms of which presuppose the one that precedes it. Whilst sometimes one mode may dominate in usage, they co-exist. Bruner states that what determines the level of intellectual development is the extent to which the child has been given appropriate instruction together with practice or experience. So the right way of presentation and the right explanation will enable a child to grasp a concept usually only understood by an adult. His theory stresses the role of education and the adult. Although  Bruner proposes  stages of cognitive development, he doesnt see them as representing different separate modes of thought at different points of development (like Piaget). Instead, he sees a gradual development of cognitive skills and techniques into more integrated adult cognitive techniques. Bruner views  symbolic representation  as crucial for cognitive development and since language is our primary means of symbolizing the world, he attaches great importance to language in determining cognitive development. BRUNER AGREES WITH PIAGET BRUNER DISAGREES WITH PIAGET 1. Children are PRE-ADAPTED to learning 1. Development is a CONTINUOUS PROCESS not a series of stages 2. Children have a NATURAL CURIOSITY 2. The development of LANGUAGE is a cause not a consequence of cognitive development 3. Childrens COGNITIVE STRUCTURES develop over time 3. You can SPEED-UP cognitive development. You dont have to wait for the child to be ready 4. Children are ACTIVE participants in the learning process 4. The involvement of ADULTS and MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE PEERS makes a big difference 5. Cognitive development entails the acquisition of SYMBOLS 5. Symbolic thought does NOT REPLACE EARLIER MODES OF REPRESENTATION

Speeches in The Tempest versus As You Like It :: William Shakespeare

The speeches delivered by Prospero and Jacques each hold extensive contrasting differences. Both Prospero, the tempestuous protagonist in The Tempest, and Jacques, a minor melancholy character in As You Like It, see things in a dissimilar light. They have gone through things in their lives that have shaped their thoughts and opinions on certain topics. Prospero and Jacques’ show this in their moods and then in the subjects of which they speak. By perceiving the contrasting objects in Prospero and Jacques’ speeches, we find that they are quite different in character. Things that have happened, to both Prospero and Jacques, have had an effect on their moods. Before Prospero delivers his speech, he discovers that Miranda and Ferdinand are in love and declares happily, â€Å"It goes on, I see, as my soul prompts it† (Act 1 scene 2, (424-425). Then cheerfully adds, â€Å"So glad of this as they I cannot be, who are surprised withal. But my rejoicing† (Act 3 scene 1, (95-97). Jacques, on the other hand, when hearing Duke Senior state, â€Å"Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy† (Act 2 scene 7, (138-141) openly disagrees. He then proclaims, â€Å"to speak my mind, and I will through and through cleanse the foul body th’ infected world, if they will patiently receive my medicine† (Act 2 scene 7, (138-141). His view of the word seems to poison his mind resulting in his despondent mood. The events that occurred to Prospero and Jacques find a place in their thoughts and are responsible for altering their attitu des. The disposition of Prospero and Jacques’s speeches differ seeing as Prospero’s shows signs of happiness while Jacques’ only shows a depressing hue. Prospero shows a happy tint to his speech namely when he says â€Å"Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended† (Act4 scene1, (147-148). Jacques, contrastingly, shows his ever-present melancholy personality by saying words that have negative tones such as â€Å"Mewling†¦puking†¦ whining†¦ [and] †¦unwilling† (Act2 scene7, (147†¦150). The attitudes that Prospero and Jacques have, reflect in the content of their speeches. Prospero speaks more about heavenly things while Jacques spends his whole speech addressing the life of man. Prospero seems to be fascinated by mostly spirits and heavenly structures as found in the following passage: â€Å"These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air †¦[along with] the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, [and] the solemn temples† (Act4 scene1, (148-153).