The Usefulness Of Financial Statements To Stakeholders

The Usefulness Of Financial Statements To Stakeholders Introduction: Finance for managers is very important subject for businesses. All stakeholders must have to know about it. Because it helps their businesses to run properly and make profit. Finance for managers helps people to know about the purposes and requirements for keeping financial records, what are the techniques for recording financial information, what are the legal and organisational requirements of financial recording, the usefulness of financial statements to stakeholders, what is the difference between management and financial accounting, the budgetary control process and so on. It also helps people how working capital can be effectively managed, how calculate and interpret variances from budget, how to evaluate business project, how business organizations can effectively manage working capital etc. Businesses are mainly depend on finance, managers and budget etc. So if people want to start business they have to know about finance for managers. It helps them to learn some most important things about business. Thats are: what are the legal responsibilities, how to keep financial record, how to control finance, how to control budget, what are the costing and pricing, what are the financial statements, project appraisal methods, usefulness of financial stakeholders etc. Evaluate the purpose and requirements for keeping financial records: In business there are many purposes and requirements for keeping financial records among of those this three are mainly important. Thats are: Legal requirements: It means when people start businesses they need to follow business rules, laws and regulations to run their businesses. Almost every business has some form of legal ruling. Particular forms, licences and other documentations is field with state and local government offices in order to begin. And these documentations may be tax forms, shareholders and payments etc. Without this documentation you may given up from opening. Tax requirements: In every business people must have to pay tax and this tax depends on business structure its called tax requirement. This tax also sometimes depends on business profit, business types, and business quality and so on. Internal control requirements: Internal controls are policies, procedures and mechanisms used to decline business risk. In order to check employees and member from committing a dishonest act the control must be via and wide. It helps business to run properly and to achieve business goals and also help to make good relationship between all business staffs. Analyses the techniques for recording financial information. Analyses the legal and organisational requirements of financial recording: Financial recording is a process and procedure that is used by an organisation to control finance and accountability. This process and procedure include recording, verification and timely reporting of transactions that affect revenues, expenditures, assets, and liabilities. To develop business and making profit accountants have to keep financial records or information. There are some techniques for recording financial information that are given below: Double entry book keeping: It is an account technique which records each transaction as a credit and a debit. Day books and ledgers: A book with an account of sales and purchases made each day is called day books. For example: sales day books, sale return day books etc. On the other hand ledger is an accounting book of final entry where transactions are listed in different accounts. For instance: sales ledger, purchase ledger and general ledger etc. The trail balance: It is totalling of debit balance and credit balance to make sure that total debits equal total credits. From the trail balance figure end of the year an organization can make balance sheet of the business to show the financial position at a particular moment in time. Manual and computerised systems: Manual systems means those transactions are enter manually in business. It is a risky system for business because there are many chances to make mistakes. On the other hand those transactions are enter by computer is called computerised system. It is a very safety system and never makes mistakes. Nowadays most business systems are computerised systems. Because it can also keep more records than manual system. In business there are some requirements for financial reporting and these financial reporting requirements are for sole traders, partnerships, limited companies and public limited companies etc. Financial reports are the documents and records that how much money your business is making or not or how much money your business have to pay or how much money your business already paid etc. Basically it is the documents of money transaction of all purposes that where your business invest money. There are different types of financial reports or statements. These financial statements can be cash flow statement its a summary of the actual incomings and outgoings of cash in a firm over an accounting period (month, quarter, year), it can be also profit and loss account it shows your business that how much money is your profit or loss. And the final statement is called balanced sheet. It focuses on what asset the entity owns, how it paid for them, how much profit or loss etc. This statement is p repared at the end of the year. The purpose of financial reporting is to deliver this information to the lenders and shareowners (the stakeholders) of your business. Because in business we have mainly two types of stakeholders thats: internal and external. Internal means those stakeholders are dwell inside the company for examples: managers, employees, board members etc. On the other hand those stakeholders are not directly a part of a company is called external stakeholders for examples: shareholders, customers, suppliers etc. Financial reporting must be part of the essential contract between you and them. Your lenders and investors have the right to know if their money is being spent wisely and returning a profit. Besides these the usefulness of financial statements are that: by doing this stakeholders can know that how much is their profit and loss, how do assets stack up against liabilities, where did the business get its capital, and how is it making good use of the money, what s the  cash  flow  from the profit or loss for the period, did the business reinvest all its profit, does the business have enough capital for future growth and so on. Evaluates the usefulness of financial statements to stakeholders: In business there are two types of stakeholders thats: internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders mean those stakeholders are dwell inside the company for examples: managers, employees, board members etc. On the other hand those stakeholders are not directly a part of a company is called external stakeholders for examples: shareholders, customers, suppliers etc. All shareholders want to see the use of their investment and thus asses the management through the financial statements. Because financial statements are very useful for businesses. The usefulness of financial statements to stakeholders is given below thats are: how much is the profit and loss in their business how much money the invest how do assets stack up against liabilities where did the business get its capital how is it making good use of the money What is the  cash  flow  from the profit or loss for the period did the business reinvest all its profit how much is their costs how much money they paid Does the business have enough capital for future growth etc. Explains the difference between management and financial accounting: Financial accounting is concerned with financial transaction and statements that have already taken place. It is a gathering of information about business transactions. For example: profit and loss. These processes are controlled by finance manager. On the other hand management accounting is concerned with providing management of an organisation with recommendations based on accounting information, in order to help in making day to day decisions and in longer term planning. These processes are controlled by management manager. Financial accounting and management accounting provide information into two different user groups. Financial accounting primarily provides information for external users of accounting data, such as investors and creditors. On the other hand, management accounting provides information for internal users of accounting data. Internal users include employees, managers, and executives of the company. Financial accounting is reporting on historical information. The i nformation is reported regularly. It is often broken down into monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting periods. On the contrary, management accounting information is reported continually. Internal users need to evaluate past, present, and potential future information in order to make decisions. Therefore, these users continuously need information in order to make the appropriate decisions. These two accounts are very important for a business. Without these two businesses cannot run properly or cannot make profit. So always try to keep proper account of these two accounting sector. 5 Explain the budgetary control process: To make effective decisions and coordinate the decisions and actions of the various departments according to the capital is called budget. Because every business have a limited budget so it is necessary to control budget. There are many types of budget in businesses such as: advertising budget, purchasing budget, sales budget, cash budget, development budget etc. There are some process to control budget thats are: Good communication and good coordination between departments and authorities can control budget. Besides this well planning helps managers to decide the most effective ways for controlling budget. On the other hand cash flow forecasts are also helpful to control budget. It shows if a firm needs to borrow, how much, when and how it will repay the loan. However evaluation can control budget. Because it means a manager is to compare the budget with actual performance by each person sector. In here control action is also related. Without budgetary plan running a company is difficult. Budget is also important for management. Because managements are also depends on budget and every departments have its own budget. Among them zero based budgeting can control budget because it is a method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified for each new period. Its starts from a zero based and every function within an organisation is analyzed for its needs and costs. Budget is then built aro und what is needed for the upcoming period, regardless of whether the budget is higher or lower than the previous one. Another important process is incremental budgeting. It forecast fixed overhead costs, computed by adding or subtracting a predetermined percentage from the historical costs. There are also some advantages and disadvantages of the budgetary control system. Thats are: It enables the management of a business concern to conduct its business activities in the efficient manner. It provides a yardstick for measuring and evaluating the performance of individuals and their departments. It reveals the deviations to management, from the budgeted figures after making a comparison with actual figure. Effective utilization of various resources like men, material, machinery and money is made possible, as the production is planned after taking them into account. It helps in the review of current trends and framing of future policies. It creates suitable conditions for the implementation of standard costing system in a business organization. It inculcates the feeling of cost consciousness among workers. Budgets may or may not be true, as they are based on estimates. The assumptions about future events may or may not actually happen. Rigidity: Budgets are considered as rigid document. Too much emphasis on budgets may affect day-to-day operations and ignores the dynamic state of organizational functioning. False Sense of Security: Mere budgeting cannot lead to profitability. Budgets cannot be executed automatically. It may create a false sense of security that everything has been taken care of in the budgets. Lack of coordination: Staff cooperation is usually not available during Budgetary Control exercise. Time and Cost: The introduction and implementation of the system may be expensive. Evaluates the use of different costing methods used for pricing purposes: In business there are different types of costs. For pricing purposes industries need to classify there costs. For example: direct costs, indirect costs, fixed costs etc. Each of these costs has separate unit. For pricing and costing a business must calculate unit cost to make sure how much are their costs. Then they have to deal with over heads thats are: raw materials, utility, rents etc. After that they have to make sure about pricing but it is depends on the firms average costs and on the customers opinion of a product value. For pricing purposes some important costs have to be calculated, such as: cost plus, marginal cost, price taker etc. In here they have to identify that which contractor is paid for the costs incurred and is paid an agreed upon percentage of such costs as contractors profit is called cost plus. Besides this a firm have to calculate marginal costs, its allocates only variable costs i.e. direct materials, direct labour and other direct expenses and variable over heads to the production. It does not take into account the fixed cost of production. This type of costing emphasizes the distinction between fixed and variable costs. However most investors are price takers as their actions in selling and buying stocks isnt enough to change the price. Also note that a company can be regarded as a price taker if the price sets and quantity of the goods it produces doesnt have any influence on the actual market price, so forcing the company to go with the market price. Any individual consumer is also considered to be a price taker; this is because the purchase made doesnt affect the price a company sets for its products. There is also an important costing method that is break even it means neither a profit nor loss has been gained, this can be seen after balancing the costs. Conclusion: We can learn a lot of about Business by reading finance for managers. Business is everywhere in the world, it help us to know about the purposes and requirements for keeping financial records, what are the techniques for recording financial information, what are the legal and organisational requirements of financial recording, the usefulness of financial statements to stakeholders, what is the difference between management and financial accounting, the budgetary control process and so on. It also helps people how working capital can be effectively managed, how calculate and interpret variances from budget, how to evaluate business project, how business organizations can effectively manage working capital etc. Its also help u to know what are the legal responsibilities, how to keep financial record, how to control finance, how to control budget, what are the costing and pricing, what are the financial statements, project appraisal methods, usefulness of financial stakeholders etc. From our point of view the most important aspects are finance, budget, stakeholders etc. Failure and success of a business fully depends on theses aspects. There also varies minor aspects to consider also as well, these are also vital to grow your business and gain profits. To grow your business you have look into ways on increasing the amount of sales, both to existing customers and new customers, improving your products and services by researching and testing changes with your customers. Furthermore, developing new products and services, and selling them to new or existing markets, also taking on staff or training your current staff includes working with apprentices and mentors. Lastly you can look for additional sources of funding, such as binging in new investors. To know about businesses very well people have to know about finance for managers because all these things are related here. So it is necessary to learn finance for mangers because it helps quite a lot for businesses.

Goya foods Essay

Started in 1936, Goya food is more famous in the American market where it has targeted the diverse Hispanic market the in the new markets it is targeting. With its headquarters in Secaucus, New Jersey the company deals in canned foods and other food products such as juice and cooking oil. Some of the major brand names in the market are extra virgin oil, Paela, Adobo and an assortment of designed recipes and mixes for the market. These products are spread out in four major industries †¢ Bakeries †¢ Beverage manufacture and bottling †¢ Coffee and tea manufacturing Fruit and vegetable processing †¢ Meat and food products processing †¢ Cereals and other foods processing Conrad Colon, the group’s marketing director says that the idea behind their vesting into different food products such as beans and rice is to transform ordinary products to Goya specials (Luther, 2008, pp 69). Ranked number 366 in the Forbes magazine largest private companies the company has shown that it is on its way from climbing form the small enterprises category to one of the top 20 multinationals. The firma has grown over time in size and form. At the moment the company is using its success in the American and South American market as a motivation to launch its products in the Asian market such as Singapore and Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong otherwise known as the Asian tiger economies. These economies are currently experiencing very high economic growth. Consumer spending is on the rise as the welfare of the society improves (Thang, 2008, pp 28). Competitive analysis Goya Foods is to enter the market at the height of its success as a brand offering something more than the common. Its brand is synonymous with creativity in recipes (Luther, 2008, pp 67). In addition to this, Luther (2008 says that the company has transformed canned beans to more than canned beans to Goya beans. He notes that this is the notion that the company is riding high on: brand identification with quality and customer loyalty. Goya Foods, which had revenues of $713 million last year, has become synonymous with Hispanic packaged products of every persuasion. He cites the case where retail outlets and supermarkets have transformed form labeling Hispanic food aisles as so to Goya foods. This is against the traditional labeling systems where aisles are labeled as â€Å"Asian foods†. Of this, Conrad says â€Å"We have been selling our products for 60 years, so that some of our products, like our black beans, fruit nectars and olives, have become part of the culture†. The company has reciprocated this embrace with recognition of Hispanic culture such as celebrating the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York. Advertising and promotion is done both in English and Spanish even in their websites (Telvin, 2006 pp110) Moving on to the culturally rich market could then be a turning point for the company and the market if the entry to the market is well strategized and the timing is correct. This gives the company a competitive advantage in that the markets in Asia have traditionally been shaped by the Asian culture. Making a move into the market would appear to critics as â€Å"banging your head on a wall. † This is more so because China has dominated the processed foods market in China and has manage to penetrate the US and European market. The strength of this growth in the market for Chinese products is pegged on low pricing other than brand name and quality. However, Colon sees this as a marvelous opportunity to challenge the status quo and introduce another culture in the market. He believes that the same cultural experimentation that has taken place in the US can be replicated in Asia using the right marketing strategies. He says their strength lies in the identification of the company’s brand name with Hispanic culture which is very important in targeting the culturally adventurous market in that region. Therefore, Goya’s entry into the Asian market can be viewed as a cultural export form the Hispanic world. Telvin (2006, pp112) sees that the 2005 donation by Goya foods to tsunami victims in South East Asia as courting strategy in the region before the marketer makes a lurk into the market. Goya Foods recognizes their major competitors in the American market are Del Monte, Can Agra and Kraft foods as shown in the company’s website. Del Monte is one of the largest competitors with a global presence well represented in Asia by its Del Monte Pacific branch. The growth of this Pacific branch serving the Asian and American market has been experiencing double digits growth since the turn of the millennium. Former Chairman of Del Monte Pacific, Tony Chew says that the company’s 100 plus years presence in the industry has created strong brand name for the company whose regional head marketer attributes to â€Å"leveraging our strengths in production, marketing, and distribution, and expanding our business through synergistic alliances or strategic acquisitions† One of the integration alliances are with the Cadbury Schweppes in US, Nabisco in Canada and Seven-up. Such alliances combined with an experienced management, strong financial base from shareholders and a long history has contributed to the company’s labeling as â€Å"one of Asia’s highest value creators† This has created a kind of market entry barrier in the market with a lot of customer loyalty and strategic alliances forming the base of the barriers. Industry forecast The bakeries industry as on of the very competitive market is expected to grow by 5% in 2009. This is a significant rise after the decrease in consumer spending hurt the market with estimated growth for 2008 only expected to be 2% in the American market. The growth will steady up to around 4% in the next four years as per market predictions. Colon attributes their continued growth and dominance in the Hispanic American market to â€Å"knowing the Hispanic market better than any competitor† through market research. Given that there exist many of opportunities in a country like Malaysia, good market research in the country should be expected to yield good results. According to an industry report on the status of the processed food industry in Malaysia the industry has a lot of opportunities short listed as flour based products such as pasta, biscuits, pre-mixes, frozen pastries and chocolate confectionery †¢ cereal-based products such as breakfast cereals, muesli and rolled oats †¢ pure fruit juices, orange juice concentrates, frozen vegetables, edible nuts and canned fruit †¢ condiments, seasoning and sauces †¢ nutritional snacks such as fruit rolls and yoghurt bars †¢ health foods and bars †¢ halal-processed meat such as corned beef CanAgra as a competitor to Goya deals in brands such as Rosarita, Blue bonnet and Gilroys foods is already making a gradual exit from the Asian market after years of disappointing sales by cutting operations. With an extra room created by CanAgra, Goya can enter the making to have a share of the profits. Canned, frozen food processing industry is experiencing good growth despite the fall in this year’s consumer spending which has hurt sales across all industries. This industry is expected to register a increment of 1% to 5% from last year’s and maintain the same in 2009. Subsequent years are estimated to see the industry fall back to 4%. This increase in growth is largely tied to increase in population. In addition, India’s processed food industry is growing at an average of 12% per year. Such opportunities exist for companies such as Goya to make full use of by venturing into the market. Goya’s product strategy Recognition of culture as the main selling pint by the company has been put into full utilization through market segmentation by culture. Goya recognizes that eating habits from one cultural grouping to the other changes a lot. Therefore the company has realized the need to satisfy all markets by segmenting the niche markets and developing specific products for that market. According to a link in the company’s website http://www. goya. com/english/recipes/recipe_category. html? id=6 the markets are divided into four major categories. These are Mexico, Central and South America, Spanish and the Caribbean. In each market there are various products in form of recipes that are unique to that market only. However, the aspect of cultural exchanges does allow variety in that cultural experimentation through Goya products is facilitated. The company has strategically made use of promotional and marketing campaigns that are well publicized. Alliances with traditional supermarkets and large retail outlets have helped in product placement as a form of advertising. In addition, the fact that Hispanic foods are all being labeled Goya is working well for the company’s policy. However, the same labeling can lead to loss of market. Poor quality products meant for the Hispanic market can be viewed by the market as belonging to Goya which is not the case and hence the company loses customer loyalty on the basis of poor quality products. This would d be against the company’s slogan: If it’s Goya, it has to be good. Profitability and budget analysis Increased commodity prices and decreased consumer sending has for the better of this year proved problematic to marketers. In a bid to remain afloat, Goya and her other industry competitors were forced to increase their prices. Therefore, as Kraft foods admitted their increase in profits this year was partly due to a 7% increase in the prices of their products. Again, going by the same argument, the target of Goya hitting the $1 billion mark this year in sales is definitely going to be a reality (Thang, 2008, pg 27). Del Monte as the other competitor has also reported profits at 11. 1%. Given that all the industries in which Goya operates are estimated to be on the rise ceteris paribus, then the market share for Goya in particular and to all the players in the industry is going to increase in the near future. Marked by such an increase in sales and profits, Goya is increasing her expenditure on marketing and promotional activities. Last year the company reportedly tripled its marketing budget to counter market encroachment by competitors. Again, there have been increased sponsorship and philanthoppy activities by the company. As a result more Americans in addition to the Latinos are turning to Goya foods for an alternative to the traditional American food to more stylized processed food.

Attributes of a Organized Crime Group Essay

While many Americans are familiar with groups such as Al-Qaida, they are less knowledgeable about a group spreading terror within the United States inner cites. This group is the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. This essay will focus on the history, structure, operation, activities and participants of the group known as MS-13. The focus will also include the group’s involvement in the drug trade and law enforcement efforts to thwart the group’s activities. As the group gains strength in numbers and with knowledge, it becomes increasingly more dangerous for anyone to encounter them. During the early 1980’s, a civil war took place in El Salvador. The war lasted over 12 years and resulted in approximately 100,000 casualties (Valdez, 2000). The war caused fear among the citizens in El Salvador and as a result, over one million people fled to the United States. El Salvador refuges began to settle in Southern California and Washington D.C., with the largest initial group settling in Los Angeles. When the first group of El Salvadorians refuges settled in the Rampart area of Los Angeles, they were met with opposition. The Mexican residents did not welcome them and they became targets of local gang violence (known Gangs, n.d.). As a result, a group of refugees created a new gang to protect themselves. This gang became known as Mara Salvatrucha. The name is believed to have been derived from combining the word â€Å"Mara,† which is the Spanish word for â€Å"army ant,† with the word â€Å"Salvatrucha,† which is slang for Salvadorian (Wikipedia, n.d.) When Mara Salvatrucha initially formed, their goal was to protect themselves from other Los Angeles gangs. Many initial members of Mara Salvatrucha had connections with a violent street gang from El Salvador, called La Mara. Several others previously belonged to paramilitary groups. One such group, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMNL), was comprised of Salvadorians trained in guerilla warfare. Many in this group were knowledgeable in the use of explosives, booby traps and other firearms (Valdez, 2000). Soon after organizing, Mara Salvatrucha gained a reputation for being greatly organized and became known for extreme violence and criminal activity (Valdez, 2000). Today, this gang is known as one of the most violent gangs in existence. This group adopted the letter â€Å"M† as their symbol or gang sign. Members display this symbol by pointing three fingers downward. Mara Salvatrucha also identifies with the number 13, which is their way of paying homage to the prison gang, the Mexican Mafia (Know Gangs, n.d.). In addition, Mara Salvatrucha members also use the term â€Å"sureno† as a form of identification. The term â€Å"sureno† means â€Å"southerner† and is often abbreviated as â€Å"SUR† (Valdez, 2000). Mara Salvatrucha members are usually heavily tattooed with these symbols. Since there are other gangs using some of these symbols, Mara Salvatrucha members may be hard to identify. This gang will use ‘M† or â€Å"MS† in addition to the number 13 or â€Å"Sureno† (Valdez, 2000). Today, Mara Salvatrucha has many associate gangs, or cliques. At times, other tattoos may include the name of an associate gang or clique (Valdez, 2000). Upon initial organization of the gang, many members were arrested and deported. Initially, the deportees were sent to the Guezaltepeque Prison in El  Salvador. While in prison, deportees recruited members, which extended Mara Salvatrucha into prison gangs. As a result, this gang began to grow in the streets of El Salvador as well as the United States (Know Gangs, n.d.). When Mara Salvatrucha was first organized the members were of El Salvadorian descent. Today, the group participates in many criminal activities which include other gangs. Therefore, Mara Salvatrucha has now allowed other racial groups to join their organization. Today, Mara Salvatrucha includes members from Guatemal4 Honduras and Mexico. Mara Salvatrucha also has a small number of Black members (Valdez, 2000). Mara Salvatrucha is becoming a big problem for law enforcement. They are involved in many criminal activities and a number of high level criminal enterprises (Valdez, 2000). Some of their criminal activities include car theft, carjacking, sexual assaults, robbery, home invasion, weapons smuggling, car jacking, murder, illegal firearm sales and drug trafficking. Mara Salvatrucha commonly traffic cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine. Additionally, Mara Salvatrucha members initiated a tax payment for all non-member drug dealers and prostitutes who â€Å"work† on their turf. These non-members must pay the tax or face consequences of guaranteed violence (Valdez, 2000). Structure â€Å"Mara Salvatrucha is a loosely structured street gang. There is no single leader of governing authority directing the daily activity of all Mara Salvatrucha cliques† (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). The Los Angeles-based clique is the most prominent clique of this gang throughout  the country. The cliques’ throughout the country usually follow the Los Angeles clique. For example, when the Los Angeles-based clique designates another street gang as an enemy (The 18ft street Gang) or forms an alliance with another street gang (The Mexican Mafia) the other cliques throughout the country often follow suit. â€Å"The members of Mara Salvatrucha in Los Angeles, New York city and Washington D.C./Northern Virginia maintain strong ties with one another. This is often done through family relationships and friendships, and increasingly are meeting to coordinate and conduct criminal activity† (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). â€Å"Mara Salvatrucha cliques in Los Angeles often have established internal organizations with designated leaders. Several Los Angeles cliques have adopted a military-type organizational structure, appointing captains, lieutenants, and soldiers† (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). The cliques that are based outside of Los Angeles tend to not appoint official leaders. There are few assigned roles for the members of these cliques. The senior members of such cliques lead meetings and plan the criminal activities of the cliques. The senior members are usually entrusted with the treasury aspects of the cliques as well. â€Å"Despite all its acts of violence, what may be most alarming about the MS-13 gang is its increasing organization and structure that many leading experts are comparing to criminal factions of the 1950s such as the Mafia and Hell’s Angels,’ (Logan and Morse, 2007). In 2004 the National Drug Intelligence Center stated that the gang â€Å"may be increasing its coordination with MS-13 chapters in Los Angeles, Washington D.C./Northern Virginia and New York City, possibly signaling an attempt to build a national command structure† (Logan and Morse, 2002). Law enforcement has questioned the organized, national leadership structure of the MS-13. There is thought by law enforcement that MS-13 members of various cliques might â€Å"simply engage in networking.† Operation In order to join or to be introduced into the gang, one must under go a ceremony of being â€Å"jumped in.† In Washington D.C. a young boy of the tender age of 1l sought after membership because some kids from a local school kept beating him up, in order for those beatings to come to a stop he would have to undergo one more beating and that would be from his â€Å"friends† in the gang- As the 11 year old child was placed in the circle of gang members, the five strongest of the group entered the arena made up of humans. And as the members proceeded to count slowly to 13, the child was kicked and beaten over and over until he finally lay motionless on the ground. If this had been a girl, the ceremony would have not only included her being beaten, but also being gang raped by six members of this group. (et, al 1998) This of course is to prove your worth and loyalty and of course this is only the beginning of the process of initiation into this gang. In regards to MS- I 3 you must also prove yourself, by committing a violent act against someone else, and according to what they have written you can accomplish this act in three different ways; beating, raping, or murdering someone. (et, al 1998) Once in Mara Salvatrucha you are in for life. There have been numerous occasions where a member of the gang has wanted to leave and when this happens the gang members have permission to kill, maim or commit whatever act they choose on that member whose intentions are to leave the gang. Another defining characteristic attribute ofMS-l3 is their absolute intolerance for any person who has the inclination of going to the police and informing them of any activity that the gang is in or has been involved in. One unfortunate individual had his hands completely removed and then was shot in the head. (et, al 1998) One, tell tell sign that an individual is in the lustrous gang is the  numerous tattoos that are all over the body, even on the face. Most common are the numbers 1 and 3, or text MS, and even l8 tattooed on any part of their body. Symbols also represent the gang and those consists of crossbones’, daggers, and dice. Most importantly the symbol will represent what that particular individual brings to the cell or group; i.e. if a individual has a grenade on part of his body he/she is known for weapons or explosives in some fashion or form. (et, al 1998), (Valdez 2000) Activities and Participants The Mara, or MS-l3 gang members, are large in number. Like al-Qaid4 they operate loose, autonomous cells that form a broad transnational network (cells are groups of at least 20 members). The individual cells are very sophisticated. Some are devoted to intelligence gathering, propaganda, recruitment and logistics as well as their more common activities of drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, and murder (Elkus, 2007). Specifically, MS members are engaged in retail drug trafficking, primarily trafficking in powdered cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana, and to a lesser extent, in methamphetamine and heroin. The drug proceeds are then laundered through seemingly legitimate businesses in the communities (FBI, 2005). ln the cities or other areas under MS control, members have managed to create zones of autonomy where they provide a system of patronage and protection to the people in exchange for allegiance and tribute. Mara Salvatrucha is considered the fastest growing, most violent and least understood of the nation’s street gangs. There are believed to be an estimated 10,000 members across 33 states in the United States (Campo-Flores, 2007). This is possibly due in part to the nation’s focus on the war against terrorism post 9/11. Focus on gang and gang activity was reduced and resources were aimed elsewhere in most law enforcement agencies, specifically at the federal level. That has since changed. In December of2004 a multi-agency MS-13 National Gang Task Force was created with focus on the dismantling of MS- I 3 (FBI, 2005). This was done because of the violence exhibited by MS-13 and based on the historical precedent of other similar gangs and organized criminal organizations. According to  intelligence gathered by the FBI, MS-13 still appears to be a loosely structured street gang; however, its threat is based on its violence and its potential to grow, not only geographically, but in its organization and sophistication. As mentioned earlier, these gang members affiliate themselves into groups known as cliques. Each clique will have a local leader called the â€Å"shot caller† and according to the FBI, there is no evidence to support the existence of a single leader or governing authority which is directing the daily activity of all MS-13 cliques. There is some evidence, however, of an increased level of sophistication and some indications of a hierarchy of leadership (FBI, 2005). The National Gang Task Force continues to gather information make arrests of known MS-13 members and continues to develop strategies to control this group. Law Enforcement Efforts According to Valdez, MS gang members have no trepidation towards law enforcement. They act mostly defiant and are not easily persuaded once they have a goal in mind. The Mara Salvatrucha group is responsible for the deaths of three federal agents and of many more shootings of police officers across the country. (Valdez, 2000) What the police and the courts have used to deter criminal activity from this particular group is arrest/incarceration and deportation. â€Å"From April 1994 thru August 1995, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) detained and deported over 100 MS members to El Salvador.† (Valdez, 2000) A good number of the Mara Salvatrucha group are here in the United States illegally, and are apprehensive in regards to this particular matter. In the event they do get deported their families will be unprotected and by transporting the gang members back to El Salvador they are at risk for losing their lives by the Sombra Negra (Black Shadow) death squad. The Sombra Negra is a group made up of miscreant police and military personnel whose intention is to do away with unwanted criminals’ and gang members for vigilante ‘Justice.† (Valdez, 2000) References Campo-Flores, A. (2007). The Most Dangerous Gang in America: Inside the battle to police Mara Salvatrucha. _Newsweek_ March 28, 2007. Elkus, A. (2007). _Foreign Policy in Focus: Gangs, Terrorists, and Trade._ April12, 2007 Retrieved February 2, 2008 from http://www.fuif.ore/fpiftxt/4144 FBI. (2005). Federal Bureau of Investigation-Press Room-Headline Archives. Retrieved January 28, 2008 from http://www.fbi.gov/paee2ljuly05/ms/07 1 305.htm Know Gangs.Com. (n.d.). Mara Salvatrucha MS-13. Retrieved January 28, 2008 from www.knowganes.con/eang resources/profiles/ms13 MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha 13). Retrieved January 28, 2008, from Altered Dimisions Web site: http://www.altereddimensions.net/crime/MS13Gang.htm Valdez, Al. (2000). Mara Salvatrucha Street Gang (Al Queda’s Friends). Retrieved January 28, 2008 from: www.freereoublic.com/focus/f-news Valdez, Al. (2000). Mara Salvatrucha ‘A South American Import’. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from: National Alliance of Gang Investigators’ Associations Web site: http://www.nagia.ore/Gang-Related%2OAfiicles.htm Wikipedia (n.d.). Mara Salvatrucha. Retrieved January 28, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mara_Salvatrucha

The Impact that Alcohol Abuse Has on Community Health and Social Care Free Essay Example, 2000 words

The health problems that alcohol is known to cause within the body of the persons who use it cannot be ignored. Statistics has it that there are approximately 60 kinds of diseases that are linked to alcohol consumption due to the harmful effect it has on the body (Lanarkshire 2009). At the same time, a number of injuries have occasionally been linked to the consumption of alcohol e. g. the great number of the road accidents that are caused under the influence of the alcohol most of which turn extremely fatal. This state also causes injury to the people like when they fall on sharp or knock part of their bodies on hard surfaces due to loss of balance caused by excessive intake of alcohol. The consumption of alcohol has been blamed for the death caused by liver cirrhosis that has risen by a whopping 450% in the United Kingdom over the past 30 years. It is a pity that this condition is known to peak at a younger age putting the life of many youngsters to danger. The percentage of inci dences of liver cirrhosis in Scotland rose to 52% between the years 1998 and 2002 according to Leon 2002 in his book Liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Britain. Intake of alcohol has also been associated with various other diseases like the cancer of the mouth, liver and the oesophagus. We will write a custom essay sample on The Impact that Alcohol Abuse Has on Community Health and Social Care or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page A common case also associated with the condition is acute pancreatitis and arrest of the cardiac muscles- a condition that may lead to acute cardiac arrhythmias.