Advanced auditing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Advanced auditing - Essay Example Rob Gray tries to identify the scope of social accounting as "the preparation and publication of an account about an organisation's social,environmental,employee,community, customer and other stakeholders' interactions and activities and where possible the consequences of those interactions and activities" With the increase in the business activities backed by globalization, business enterprises have started locating their production facilities across the world, breaking cross border barriers. Such a rapid development, many a times will result in the firms overlooking their social obligations in the interest of maximizing their profits. Hence there has been a good deal of efforts being taken to devise the techniques that measure the contribution of an enterprise to the society. These developments may be considered as the result of the increasing realization of the Social Responsibilities of the enterprises and it becomes necessary that the performance of these enterprises should be s een in the context of their fulfilling their social obligations.According to George Clark "What is now coming to be called Social Auditing is similar in many ways to Financial Auditing except that it is about everything else that an organisation does apart from handling money."There has been a number of proposals put forth to design an extended accounting system that measures the social performance of an enterprise. Linowes has proposed the preparation of a Socio-Economic Operating Statement (SEOS) to show the various social costs and benefits of actions of enterprises. This statement proposes to indicate monetary values of various actions of an enterprise classified in to following categories: Relations with people - to include items like training programmes for handicapped workers, contribution to schools for employees, extra costs incurred in hiring persons from minority or suppressed communities. These items would constitute the contribution of the enterprise in 'improving' the relations with the people. The 'detriments' that need to be shown may be items like postponement of installing safety devices etc Relations with Environment - monetary values of improvements and detriments are to be listed and the net effect shown separately. Relations with Products - In a similar way, monetary values of improvements and detriments are to be listed. Since there is yet to be a significant development to take place in this area, many of the existing models aim at measuring the performance of an enterprise vis--vis the society tales into account the factors like human resource contribution, public contribution, environmental contribution, product or service contribution and net income of the enterprise. 1.2 Environmental Audit: "An environmental audit is a means by which businesses can assess the environmental impacts of their operations. At its core is the measurement and evaluation of all inputs and outputs from the production process." (Australian Government) In the context of the increasing emphasis on protection of environment, environmental accounting and auditing have assumed special importance in recent years. Environmental Accounting aims at measuring the impact of the activities of an organization on the environment. The resultant product is the environmental statement, containing the following among other things to be asserted by the management: A brief description of the activities of the organization and the effect of such activities on the environment as envisaged by the organization A description of the organisation's environmental policy, programme and management systems to implement the stated policies A summary of the figures of emissions which may cause pollution of air and water, waste generation, consumption of raw material, energy, water and other significant environmental aspects. There should also be presented a comparison of such data with the legal norms if any

Development of Management and Education in Nursing Practice Dissertation

Development of Management and Education in Nursing Practice - Dissertation Example Two specialised assignments afforded me such opportunities. The first involved preparing and delivering a Teaching Session to my peers on a topic of clinical interest that related to my work at the trust. After the session I analysed both the content and the process of the Teaching Session. The second assignment involved interviewing a Lead Health Professional in an area related to the topic of the Teaching Session. Afterwards I assessed and reviewed the interview as a function of local and national health care policies such as Clinical Governance and for the subject matter discussed. The topic of both my Teaching Session and the interview with the Lead Health Professional related to controlling the transmission of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA infection and control is a significant public health threat in the UK, a topic of which students should be aware, and one about which senior leaders have much to say. I became interested in the topic during my placement at a trust in London. Since then have maintained a keen eye for mention of it in the media and, as discussed in Part II of the Portfolio, have decided to take action to try to get my trust to implement one of the particularly significant MRSA control programmes. The Portfolio is divided into two parts, plus Appendices. Each part is a comprehensive assessment and analytic essay, complete with a References section with more than 15 references per essay.For ease of evaluation, the References for Part One immediately follow the essay for Part One., rather than being presented in a consolidated reference section at the end of the entire portfolio as in standard for essays and research projects. The Portfolio's two parts, Summary, and Appendices include: Part One - Evaluation of a Teaching Session Part Two - Assessment of an Interview with a Lead Health Professional Portfolio Summary Appendix A - Interview Record Appendix B - Notes and Details of the Interview with the Secretary General of the Royal College of Nursing As evidenced in each essay individually, and my summary comments, the Portfolio project had a significant impact on my perception of nursing, and of myself as a nurse. Fortunately, it was all positive and certainly helped me grow. Part One - Reflections on a Teaching Session The Teaching Session provided me an opportunity both to teach and to learn. Although I was the teacher as I presented the material to the students, I also learned a lot, about teaching, about my chosen topic, and about myself as I took on a previously unfamiliar role. This essay, a critical reflection on the many aspects of the Teaching Session experience, is divided into seven parts: Rationale Planning Preparation Delivery Evaluation/Feedback Action Plan for the Future Whilst I thing the Teaching Session went well, it also heightened my awareness of ways I can be a more effective teacher, to one person or a hundred. Rationale During clinical practice, I noticed that infection control standards, especially staff hand washing techniques following care for patients with MRSA, were inconsistent. Standards were not evidence-based, likely not reflecting best practices. Given the importance of proper hand washing techniques in arresting MRSA transmission, I decided MRSA and proper hand washing techniques would be the topic of my Teaching Session. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a form of the Staphylococcus aureus organism resistant to commonly used antibiotics (About MRSA: What is MRSA). As Eaton (2005) notes, hand