Personal Life and Perfect Dream Vacation Essay

Almost everyone has their own idea of a dream vacation. It’s the perfect place to get away from the reality of everyday life and the stress that goes along with it, and the choices and ideas of the â€Å"perfect vacation† are as varied as the people who dream about them. Some fantasize about lazing on a warm, sunny beach. Some dream of forests and wildlife, and fresh mountain. So what is my idea of the perfect dream vacation? It’s simple. It’s the place where there are no crowds, everything is familiar, the food is prepared to my specific taste, and the bed is my own. For me, there is no place like home. With a little forethought and planning, even home can be turned in to a dream vacation getaway. A leisurely breakfast is the perfect way to start each vacation day. A plate of fresh fruits, fluffy scrambled eggs, toast with butter, and a cup of hot coffee is sure to chase away that sleepy feeling and energize you for the day ahead. Maybe your favorite breakfast includes a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, or a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of tea. Perhaps, while on vacation, you would like to try something new and different. Read more: My dream vacation essay Whatever your choice, be sure to take the time to just enjoy it. Of course, no vacation would be complete without a little bit of pampering and a vacation at home is no exception. If there is a spa in your hometown, make an appointment during one (or more) of the days of your scheduled vacation. Or, if you prefer, there are many different stores that sell all kinds of spa type items for use at home.| | My perfect vacation takes place during the warm summer months so a hammock in the back yard is the perfect place for daydreaming. There is nothing more relaxing than lying in a hammock under a shade tree while the gentle breeze of summer drifts over you and your mind wanders, either lost in carefree thought or traveling through the pages of your favorite book. If you don’t have a shade tree or a back yard, any comfortable place where you can sit back and relax will work. You may also choose to spend your time visiting some favorite local attractions or perhaps a leisurely stroll through a park. It really doesn’t matter what you choose to do, as long as you are having fun.. | | Vacationing at home allows you to take it easy and relax without the stress of schedules, travel plans, lost luggage and gas prices. You don’t have to worry about cab fares, or highway traffic. It can be as quiet and peaceful and exciting as you choose to make it. Your vacation at home can be tailor made to your specifications, wants, and desires. All it takes is a little thought, a little planning, and a little determination to make it the perfect dream vacation.| |

Upland environments are too fragile for intensive leisure use

When looking at upland environments I will need to define what is an upland environment. The difficulty which I found was that it was very hard to define what an upland environment is therefore I questioned four geography teachers of what they thought was an upland environment. They replied that an upland environment is an environment, which is above 200 meteres, and these can include national parks and mountain resorts. Intensive leisure use is an area where a lot of leisure activities are taking place by day-trippers. Fragile is a word which describes an area where a lot of activities are taking place but they having a bad effect on the environment therefore making it unsustainable or that environment is easily destroyed by the activities which are taking place e. g. leisure activities. Leisure activities on national parks both have a positive effect and a negative effect. An example of a positive effect maybe its good for a person health and a negative effect could be destruction of footpaths but what should be done is that upland environments need to be made more sustainable therefore they won't be fragile for intensive leisure use. In this essay I will be looking at national parks and mountain resorts in MEDCS and not in LEDCS, as national parks in these countries need more protection from tourists rather than one-day trippers. Also only upper-class people in these countries can afford to visit national parks and rest of population are far to poor to afford the transport and many are too busy working in order to have a living of some kind. The motorways and railway networks are not as good in LEDCS as they are in MEDCS. When I am looking at MEDCS national parks and mountain resorts. I will be looking at the impacts that leisure activities have had on upland environments. I will look both at the positive and negative effects of leisure activities and look at ways in which it could be more sustainable. Finally I will give conclusion whether or not upland environments are too fragile for intensive leisure use. The first area, which I will be looking at, is a national park in the UK. The national park, which will be looking at, is the peak districts and a village called Castleton. Castleton is a honey pot during the months of April- August it receives up to 900 visitors on Sundays. Already you can see the problems that are going to occur. The visitor numbers are so high on Sundays because many people have a day off work on Sundays and the motorways M1 and M62 are very close which makes it easier for people to travel to peak districts and nowadays nearly everyone can afford a car to travel unlike LEDCS where many people cannot afford the transport and do have high disposable income. The cities of Sheffield (493582) and Manchester (438202) are also very close so many of the one day visitors could come from there. This is another reason for the high number of visitors. The months between April and August is that weather conditions are likely to be good for leisure activities to take place therefore more visits are likely to occur putting pressure on the environment. To make it more sustainable they need to make the winter months more attractive and appealing therefore this would even out the number of visitors and less pressure on the environment and less leisure activities wouldn't only be taking part in the spring and summer months. The leisure activities, which take place in the peak district national park, are as follows sightseeing, hiking, riding, cycling, climbing, caving, hang gliding and canoeing. The impact that hiking and site seeing have is that they destroy the footpaths and therefore footpath erosion takes place and heather and other plants are destroyed and litter may be thrown anywhere. What needs to happen is that people need to be aware of these factors like in Malham there are no bins and people have to take the rubbish away themselves. Climbing and caving have another impact as white powder is left on the rocks which climbers use in order to have a better grip. This can erode rocks and the hooks left behind can crack the rocks. Hang gliding is another leisure activity which affects the environment as it takes along run up and this activity doesn't fit the environment it cause visual pollution. The second region, which I am going to look at, is the Banff National Park in Canada and in a state called Alberta. Over 75% of the visitors are Albertianins and the access is made easy by road, railway, buses and plane services to this area. In addition people now have their own cars than they did about 75 years ago this may have resulted in more one day trippers coming to the area. The popular times of the year are the summer months particularly August and September this is similar to the Peak Districts. There are restrictions placed on all visitors as they are charged fees to enter the park in addition there are camping permit fee and a permit fee for fishing unlike the peak Districts as there are no fees for doing these activities. Furthermore there are very dangerous animals such as bears and cougars that could attack the visitors therefore visitors need to be educated about these animals when they are sight seeing. These restrictions do not exist in the peak districts. The leisure activities taking in the Banff National Park are very similar to those of the peak Districts. The leisure activities taking place as follows skiing, snow boarding, other winter sports, sightseeing, hiking, canoeing and camping. Skiing does make the environment more fragile as deforestation has occurred in order to make way for ski runs. This results in habitats being destroyed and more avalanches are going to occur as there are no trees stop them. This could result in more deaths but could benefit them economically as more people are going to spend money on skiing. It will depend on the cost benefit. In order to make more sustainable less trees need to be cut down and winter sports have the same effect as skiing. Hiking and sight seeing may also destroy the footpaths in the park like in the Peak Districts in addition it could disturb the wild animals and plants may be trampled over. Camping may lead to litter thrown everywhere on the grass and this can affect the environment by bear coming getting into the litter either by chewing on coke can or eating ploythene wrapper for sandwiches in addition a fire could occur which result in the destruction of the whole park. This has happened in national parks in the US again destroying habitats for animals and beautiful scenery. The third region I am going to look at is the Mountain resort in north-western region of Italy. It is an alpine region. This region receives a lot of visitors and the main attractions are the skiing resorts. Skinning has brought positive effects to the area and people now have better jobs that are paid more than farming and forestry. Also the standard of living has improved for the local people. Roads, water supplies and sewerage have been improved. The problems that are occurring in this area, is that due to a high demand for skiing more enlarged ski runs are being built but this means that deforestation has occurred at the mountain slopes and furthermore there is an increase in the number of winter sports which has resulted in mountain top soil being eroded away and alpine vegetation has been reduced. All of these actions have resulted in more avalanches as trees have been cleared to make way for the new ski runs. Also the danger flooding has substantially increased during the summer thunderstorms or following snow melt in spring. There are other climatic problems such as some winters the snowfall is light, late in arriving and not lying long at low altitudes which has resulted skiing at higher levels were the environment is more fragile. I will conclude that having looked at each of the different regions for upland environments I have said that upland environments are too fragile for intensive leisure use unless they are made sustainable. Castleton in the Peak Districts needs reduce the number of visitors in the summer either by adding fees. The roads and the vehicles cannot cope with the amount of vehicles in the summer months although efforts have been made to attract visitors to the during the winter months by adding lights furthermore there needs to be a reduction in the number golf courses. At the moment money is brought to the area by these leisure activities but once the environment is destroyed no one will come to the Peak District therefore the economical benefits will disappear. This also goes for Courmayeur as the skiing has brought economical benefits to the area as less people are leaving but once the environments destroyed then the visitors will not come therefore economical benefits will go. People can make National Parks and mountain resorts sustainable now or if they do not make them sustainable then for the future they will be destroyed by the leisure activities taking place and their knock effects in addition to this economic benefits will disappear as well. Evaluation The research, which I have carried out, is secondary research and Primary research could have occurred but I did no have the time and money to go and visit the Banff National Park or Courmayeur. This major downside of this report as the data gathered for primary would have been more accurate and up-to-date.

Does Corporate Governance Drive Financing Decisions Of Saudi Arabian Companies Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3778 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Abstract This paper contributes to the corporate governance literature by examining the effect of corporate governance characteristics on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies. In particular, we examine the effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. We use a multiple regression model to examine how corporate governance variables affect the extent to which Saudi Arabian companies use debt to finance their activities. We use a sample of 37 companies listed in Saudi Stock Market in January 2006 which is based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) who collected their sample from Saudi listed companies websites between October 2005 and January 2006 representing a total number of 77 companies. This helps us to focus on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Does Corporate Governance Drive Financing Decisions Of Saudi Arabian Companies Finance Essay" essay for you Create order After controlling for companies profitability and their growth opportunities, we find that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with debt-to-equity ratio. The findings seem to suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance (large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration). However, the empirical results of the relationships are statistically insignificant in the case of corporate governance reporting. This suggests that firms asymmetric information is not an important driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. This might be due to the nature of the Saudi business environment. 1. Introduction Capital structure decision is a well established part of the accounting and finance research related to determinants of corporate capital structure. Modigliani and Miller (1958) is the first to study this area of research. They find that capital structure decision is unrelated to firm value. They also relax the prefect market assumptions and consider corporate tax into their models (Miller and Modigliani, 1963). Consequently, they find that firm value will be enhanced if the level of debt increases. They explain their findings by the fact that interest rate is a tax deductible and consequently companies would enjoy debt tax shield when funding their activities by long-term debt. However, Miller and Modigliani (1963) don not taken into account the bankruptcy related costs. A natural area of extending these lines of research is to explore other drivers of corporate capital structure decisions. Previous studies offer evidence that corporate governance variables affect firms capital structure decisions (Wen et al., 2002; Du and Dia, 2005; La Rocca, 2007; Driffield et al., 2007; Al-Najjar and Hussainey, 2009a, 2009b). However, there are a very limited number of studies that have examined determinants of capital structure in developing countries and even fewer such studies may be found in the Middle Eastern countries. To the best of our knowledge, no study yet has examined the influence of corporate governance on capital structure decision in Saudi Arabia or Middle Eastern countries. Consequently, this paper is the first to examine the potential corporate governance factors that might drive Saudi Arabian firms to use debt as the main source of finance. This paper is also motivated by the fact that SACMA issued a guidance in 2006 that recommends all listed companies to disclose corporate governance information to the public. Therefore, it would be worthwhile examining the attitude of companies to volunteer report corporate governance rather than being enforced to do so. The paper proceeds as follows. Sections 2 and 3 review prior research on the determinants of capital structure and develop the research hypotheses. Section 4 discusses the research method. Section 5 is the data description. The main regression results are presented in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 concludes and suggests areas for future research. 2. Literature review For placing the findings of this study within its context, as well as other environments with similar characteristics this section provides a general description of the environment of the Saudi business practices. Several environmental factors affect Saudi business practice, this section, however, will summaries some of the most important environmental factors, as suggested by the literature such as the political, economical, and social systems and the 1965 Company Law that regulates the practice of Saudi businesses and the guidance of corporate governance issued by SACMA in 2006. As similar to most countries in the Middle Eastern region, the early stage of the political, economic and social development in the country makes the environment of the Saudi audit practice significantly different from that in developed countries. The political system of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, headed by the King. Within the political system, there are three legislative bodies, which have the authority to initiate and/or approve policies, regulation or rules: the Council of Ministers, the Consultative Council, and various individual Ministries. There are various groups within the political system influence major policy issues and the development of new regulations. The main groups are the royal family, Islamic scholars, state officials, liberal elites, academics, tribal leaders and businessmen; all of whom have different interests and different powers depending on the importance of the issue to its interests and affairs (Al-Amari, 1989; Al-Rumaihi, 1997; Aba-Alkhail, 2001; Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003; Al-Nodel 2004). The Basic Law of Government which was introduced in 1992 is considered to be the constitution of the KSA (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003). As an Islamic country, the legal system of Saudi Arabia is derived from Islamic law (Shariah; Alquran Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah), and coded laws for a number of specific fields, such as commerce, tax and labour. Al-Amari (1989) reported that Islamic law, however, prevails in legal disputes. Saudi society is heavily influenced by its Arabic heritage and Islamic values (Al-Rumaihi, 1997; Aba-Alkhail, 2001; Al-Nodel 2004). All Saudis are Muslim, and the Arab Peninsula is the birthplace of Islam. Al-Rumaihi (1997) described Saudi society as characterised by the impact of the personality and power of particular individuals, the role of family and friend relationships over regulations, privilege given to personal relationships over tasks, and the existence of a high level of secrecy. The economy of Saudi Arabia is an oil-based economy and government exercises strong controls over major economic activities. It possesses 25% of the worlds proven petroleum reserves, ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum, and plays a leading role in OPEC. Worldwide oil prices and production volumes strongly affect Saudi economy. Since the discovery of oil in 1938, oil revenue represents the biggest contribution to the economy. In 1990s, it accounted for around 35% of nominal GDP, about 75% of government revenues, and 85% of export receipts (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003). Table 2 presents the countrys budgetary revenues, expenditures and net surplus or (deficit) for the last three years. Insert Table 1 here Noticeable features of the current practice of Saudi companies are the domination of family businesses, the deep involvement of the government in the private sector, and the existence of a number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies. The domination of family businesses type in Saudi Arabia is argued by Al-Nodel (2004). He explained that joint-stock companies represent only 1.14% of the total number, and account for less than 40% of the total capital of the registered businesses. The existence of a number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies and the involvement of government in businesses represents another significant feature of the Saudi private sector (Presley, 1984; Aba-Alkhail, 2001). The 1965 Company Law regulates the practice of businesses in Saudi Arabia. It sets conditions for establishing businesses, describes the legal framework for business, and requires the publication of annual financial statements audited by an independent party (see also Al-Rehaily, 1992; Aba-Alkhail, 2001 and Al-Nodel 2004). Articles of the 1965 Company Law sets conditions for several aspects of businesses such as legal frameworks through which business companies can be established, the registration requirements, minimum capital to be maintained, number of partners, number of directors, accounts, the annual audit of the accounts, and so on. Shinawi and Crum (1971) asserted that the origin of the 1965 Saudi Company Law goes back to the British Companies Act of 1948. The similarity between the 1965 Saudi Company Law and the UK acts issued in 1948, 1967 and 1976 was also reported by Kahlid (1983). The main features of the 1965 Company Law are the legal frameworks of businesses and the reporting requirements. It provides several legal frameworks through which business companies can be established such as general partnership, joint venture, joint-stock company, limited liability company, and cooperative company[1]. The 1965 Company Law also sets the reporting requirements of businesses. It requires the issuance of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, and a report on the companys operations and financial position every fiscal year. It further stipulates that all corporations, and limited liability companies must issue annual financial statements audited by an independent auditor licensed to practice by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The stock market of Saudi Arabia is underdevelopment. In 1984, the Royal Decree No. 81230 was issued as an attempt to officially regulate the stock exchange (Abdeen and Dale, 1984; El-Sharkawy, 2006). Under this Royal Decree, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) was given actual control over the stock exchange through national commercial banks. The significant change was in 2003 when the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA), which took responsibility from SAMA to oversight the exchange of Saudi stocks, was established (Ramady, 2005). This period observed significant changes with respect to the number of listed companies or market value. Table (3) compares some key numbers of the Saudi stock market between 1996- 2005. Insert Table 2 here In 2006 SACMA intensifies its efforts to provide fairness in the trading of the Saudi stocks. Among these efforts was the issuance of the draft of corporate governance for listed companies in 2006. The draft provides recommendations of the criteria for the best corporate governance practice that should listed companies counsel. It has covered to some extent the main five principles issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): the rights of shareholders, the equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders in corporate governance, disclosure and transparency, the responsibility of the board of directors. According to the recommendations of SACMA, listed companies are required to report to SACMA about their compliance with the criteria of corporate governance as issued by SACMA or reasons for uncompliance if any. The disclosure contains, for example, the board of directors functions, responsibilities, formation, committees of board of directors; audit committee; Nomination and Remuneration Committee; Meetings of the Board and Remuneration and Indemnification of Board Members[2]. Finally, SACMA asserted that the criteria for the best corporate governance practice mostly constitutes the guiding principles for all listed companies unless any other regulations, laws or rules require such requirement. Although, corporate governance has been the subject for an extensive research in developed countries[3], limited research has been carried out to investigate the issue of corporate governance in business environment of developing countries. Furthermore, those limited research studies approach the issue whether to describe the state of corporate governance from an official perspective or from the perspective of what should the practical applications of its principles be. For example, Al-Motairy (2003) explores the state of corporate governance practices in Saudi Arabia. He concludes that there is a vital need for (1) a review of these regulations to reflect the current practices of corporate governance, (2) the issuance of guidance for best practices for management and financial affair in corporations and (3) the establishment of an organisation to accelerate the adoption of best practices of corporate governance. Similarly, Fouzy (2003) evaluates the practices of corporate governances principles in Egypt. He recognises the development in Egyptian official regulations toward the application of best practices of corporate governance. He then argues that these developments are not met enough by Egyptian companies in their practical applications. Another example is the study which was carried out by Oyelere and Mohammed (2005) investigating the practices of corporate governance in Oman and how it is being communicated to stakeholders. They recommend enhanced regulation and communication for the Omani stock market to keep pace with the international developments. Finally, a research paper by the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE, 2003) examines the corporate governance practice in four Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Lebanon). It finds that corporate governance practice is approached differently by each country. This is depended on the sophistication of the financial market in each country. The research paper further provides several recommendations to improve the application of the principles of corporate governance in the region as a whole. In conclusion, research studies that investigated the issue of corporate governance assert the importance of better regulations of the corporate governance in the region in order to increase the public confidence in financial markets 3. Research hypotheses Although the relationship between corporate governance and capital structure has been the subject for an extensive research in developed countries, limited research has been carried out to investigate the issue in business environment of developing countries. In the subsequent paragraphs we formulate three research hypotheses. Board size hypothesis The association between board size and capital structure decisions have been well established in prior accounting and finance research. In particular, Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), Wiwattanakantang (1999), Wen et al. (2002), Du and Dia (2005), Abor and Biekpe (2005) and Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009a and 2009b) examine the association between board size and corporate capital structure decision, but the results are mixed. Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), and Abor and Biekpe (2005) find a significant negative association between the size of the board of directors and debt-to-equity ratios. However, Jensen (1986) finds a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Other researchers (Wiwattanakantang, 1999; Wen et al., 2002; Al-Najjar and Hussainey, 2009) find that there is no significant association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios. Given the above mixed results, we also revisit this research area and examine the association between board size and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following first research hypothesis for the impact of board size on capital structure: H1: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between board size and debt-to-equity ratio. Ownership concentration hypothesis Ownership concentration is considered as one of the key determinants of capital structure decision. Wiwattanakantang (1999) finds that managerial shareholdings have consistent positive influence on family-owned firm leverage. In addition, Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009a) find that insider ownership is positively and significantly associated with the debt-to-equity ratio. However, Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009b) did not find the expected significant results. Given the above results are to some extent mixed, we also revisit this research area and examine the association between ownership concentration and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following second research hypothesis for the impact of ownership concentration on capital structure: H2: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between ownership concentration and debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reporting A new and growing number of studies have investigated the association between asymmetric information and corporate decisions (see Li and Zhao, 2006 for more details). In a recent paper, Bharath et al. (2009) use a novel information asymmetry index and examine the extent to which information asymmetry is a determinant of capital structure decisions. They found that information asymmetry affects capital structure decisions of US companies. In particular, they found a significant positive association between information asymmetry and debt-to-equity ratio. In other words, their results suggest that firms will higher levels of information asymmetric are more likely to use debt in financing their activities than equity. Based on the above results, we explore the role of the information environment on capital structure decision in Saudi Arabian companies. We use a corporate governance voluntary disclosure index as a measure of a firms information environment. Prior research finds that voluntary disclosure is negatively related to asymmetric information. For example, Hussainey et al. (2003) find higher levels of voluntary disclosure reduce information asymmetry between the firm and investors and hence increase investors ability to better anticipate future earnings. We set the following third research hypothesis for the impact of corporate governance reporting on capital structure: H3: Ceteris paribus, there is a negative relationship between corporate governance reporting and debt-to-equity ratio. 4. Model Development In order to test the above hypotheses, we regress debt-to-equity ratio on some corporate governance characteristics and some control variables. The study will investigate the following model: = ++ Where: is defined as long term debt to equity ratio; is the intercept. is the slope coefficient estimates of regressors. is the corporate governance variables (and control variables) for firm i at time t. Dependent variable: The dependent variable () is defined as the long term debt to equity ratio. Independent variables: We have three independent variables and two control variables. We identify three types of corporate governance variables: (1) Board size (BOARD): This represents the number of executive and non executive directors on the board. (2) Ownership concentration (OWNERSHIP): This represents the total percentage of the companys shares that owned by owners. (3) Corporate governance reporting (DISCLOSURE): This is calculated as the number of sentences that include at least one corporate governance related information. Control variables: (1) Profitability (PROF): we use return on total assets as a measure for firms profitability. (2) Growth opportunity (MB): we use share price to book value ratio as a measure for firms growth opportunity. 5. Data Our data collection is based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008). This helps us to focus on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites. Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) collected their sample from Saudi listed companies websites between October 2005 and January 2006. At that time, the total number of companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market was 77 representing eight sectors: agriculture, services, cement, industrial, banks, electrical, telecommunication and insurance. They used TADAWUL website (www.tdwl.net) and Google website (www.google.com) to access every companys website. They deleted some companies from their analysis for a number of reasons. These include 11 firms without websites; one firm with a website under construction and one firm with a restricted website. This reduced their sample to 64 companies. We also further 27 firms because of missing corporate governance and accounting information. This leads to a sample of 37 l isted firms for the current study. Data on debt-to-equity ratio, Board size, ownership concentration, profitability and price-to-book value ratio are collected from TADAWUL website. Following Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008), we use the content analysis approach to measure the number of sentences that contain corporate governance information. Accordingly we use the corporate governance disclosure index developed by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) to analyse the content of every companys website. 6. Empirical Results This section discusses the descriptive analysis, the correlation analysis and the empirical results. Descriptive analysis Table 1 shows the descriptive analysis (mean, minimum, maximum and the standard deviation). It shows that on average the number of directors on board in Saudi Arabia companies is around 8, with a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 11 members. Mean ownership concentration is 35.6 and the mean corporate governance disclosure is 5 sentences with a minimum of zero corporate governance sentence and a maximum of 21 corporate governance sentences. A broad range of variation in financial variables is also evident in our sample. The debt-to-equity ratio ranges from 0 to 97 with a mean of 24.52 and a standard deviation of 32.576. The return on total assets ratio ranges from -37.3 to 71.74 with a mean of 8.8535 and a standard deviation of 13.81767. The share price to book value ratio ranges from 0 to 21 with a mean of 5.03 and a standard deviation of 5.336. Insert table 3 here Table 2 shows the correlation analysis. The correlation between each of the independent variables is not too high. The highest correlation found between corporate governance disclosure and share price to book value ratio (MB) is 43.5, which is acceptable. This confirms that no multicollinearity problem exists between the independent variables. Insert table 4 here Table 3 shows our empirical results. It shows that the coefficient estimate on board size is positive significant with a p-value of 0.059 (see model 4). This is consistent with Jensen (1986) who also finds a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Our finding indicates that larger board size puts Saudi Arabian firms in a good position to finance their activities by using debt. This is consistent with the fact that higher quality of corporate governance improves companies financial performance (Bhagat and Bolton, 2008) and hence leads increase the ability of the company to obtain debt. Liang and Zheng (2005) provide an explanation for this positive sign. They argue that boards with a large board size are more likely to have a difficulty in getting an agreement because of different and conflict opinions and views. Accordingly, firms with large number of directors on board might not choose equity financing which requires high transaction cost to resolve co mmunication and coordination dilemma. In addition, they argue that directors would choose debt for financing their activities because this source of finance will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position. This leads us to accept hypothesis 1. Table 3 also shows that the coefficient estimate on ownership concentration is positive significant with a p-value of 0.005 (see model 4). This result is consistent with Wiwattanakantang (1999) Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009a). This indicates that when the total percentage of the companys shares is concentrated internally, managers will prefer to use debt to finance their companies activities. This is because as mentioned in Liang and Zheng (2005) debt will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position. This leads us to accept hypothesis 2. Finally, corporate governance disclosure as a proxy for asymmetric information between managers and investors is expected to be negative and statistically significant. However, Table 3 shows that the coefficient estimate of DISCLOSURE variable is positive, indicating that firms with higher levels of corporate governance disclosure (less information asymmetry) has higher debt-to-equity ratio. This finding is statistically insignificant and not consistent with prior research. This leads us to reject hypothesis 3. 7. Conclusion The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on capital structure for Saudi Arabian listed companies. Our results show that the corporate capital structure decisions in Saudi Arabia is driven by some of the same corporate governance determinates suggested in prior research. Based on a sample of 37 Saudi Arabian listed companies, our results show that the number of directors on boards and ownership concentration are the main drivers of Saudi companies for capital structure decisions. As mentioned in Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008), the main limitation of the study is that it did not cover the whole market so the sample may not be representative of the population of Saudi companies. This, however, is justified by the nature of the study, which relied on the availability of companies websites. So companies that are not included in our study are more likely to have either no website, with a website under construction or the access to the information in their website is restricted. This is evident by checking the type of companies, which are not included. We found that these companies are in general small and less likely to use the online reporting. Nevertheless, a study with a large number of companies is needed for future research.

the militia Essay - 1075 Words

nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Officially, a militia is part of the organized armed forces of a country that is called upon only in an emergency. There have been paramilitary groups with revolutionary ideas throughout America’s history, but today’s militia movement is a new more organized and violent presence (Meyers). Today the militia are unofficial citizens’ armies organized by private individuals, usually with antigovernment, far right agendas. They rationalize that the American people need armed force to help defend themselves against an increasingly oppressive government that is becoming part of a global conspiracy called the â€Å"New World Order† (Sonder, 2000). These armed groups call themselves militias; to both imply the image of the†¦show more content†¦Militia growth appears to have been steady throughout 1995 and the first half of 1996 (Sonder, 2000). The primary illegal activities among militia groups are related to weapons and explosives. Militia groups in Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California, and a number of other states have seen members arrested for possession of illegal weapons and explosives. People in the movement tend to give inflated numbers, in order to make their movement seem larger, and at the same time, because they are so paranoid, will refuse to allow people to actually count their numbers. In addition, groups go in and out of existence all the time, and there are many people who are part of the movement, without being card-carrying members of any one particular group. There are some groups few people know about because they are underground. All these factors together make it impossible to say with any certainty how many militia groups there are. The number of groups is certainly in the hundreds. The militia movement has many people who could be called law-abiding citizens. However, many members conduct criminal activity (Dees, 1996). The most common is the collection of illegal weapons and explosives. Sometimes these illegal arsenals are stunning in their size. Since militia members tend to believe that they have the right to own whatever sort of weapon theyShow MoreRelatedEssay on A Well Regulated Militia by Saul Cornell1495 Words   |  6 Pagespeople should be allowed to carry a gun on them. This free county not only for speech and religion, but also allows people to have the right to bear arms. The Second Amendment of the United States was written by our Founding Fathers,â€Å"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed† (Government). The main purpose of the Second Amendment when our Founding Fathers wrote this amendment was to help the AmericanRead MoreA Well Reg ulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America1153 Words   |  5 Pageswere an important part of the militia debate. â€Å"Shays’s Rebellion was the largest violent uprising in the new nation’s history, would become the first test of the radical potential of the militia and the right to bear arms in post-Revolutionary America†(Cornell, 31). Shays’s Rebellion revealed a tension in American constitutional theory if the militia was an agent of government authority or a popular system serving as a check on government. The notion that the militia refused to enforce an unjust lawRead More Gun Control - We All Have a Right to Bear Arms Essay1427 Words   |  6 Pagesto ourselves and our posterity    The bill of rights is the set of amendments to the constitution intended to secure these objectives for the individual citizens of the United States. The second amendment states:    A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.    This amendment was written in the wake of the revolutionary war, when the ability to raise arms against the imperial forceRead MoreThe Battle Between Gun Control and Gun Rights Essay1113 Words   |  5 Pagespoliticians on the liberal and conservative side along with issues such as abortion, capital punishment, and gay marriage. The Supreme Court has officially defined the controversial Second Amendment by stating that states have the right to maintain a militia separate from a federally controlled army (Gale Encyclopedia, pg. 155-162). However, â€Å"Courts have consistently held that the state and federal governments may lawfully regulate the sale, transfer, receipt, possession, and use of certain categoriesRead MoreGun Control Pros and Cons in the United States2511 Words   |  11 Pagesstatistical analysis. Anti-gun control lobbyists’ arguments include the guarantee of the 2nd Amendment, the definition of â€Å"militia† as any adult male, self-defense, the relat ive uselessness of permits and regulations, and court cases in favor of firearm possession. Pro-gun control activists counter with the anachronism of the 2nd Amendment, the traditional definition of â€Å"militia† as a government-authorized army, the multitude of gun-related deaths, the need for stronger regulations, and the precedentRead MoreThe Debate Over Gun Control1732 Words   |  7 Pageshave been publicized as in recent years? While researching gun control, one of the first major sources that I found was of course the second amendment to the United States constitution. The second amendment is as follows, â€Å"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.† This has been the source of much controversy between pro and anti gun control activists since the late 20th century and is aRead MoreThe Issue Of The Second Amendment1704 Words   |  7 Pagesofficer. The part of the Second Amendment that is quoted by both sides is always â€Å"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed†. Did you know that there are actually two versions used by the federal and state government? The only difference is the punctuation. Congress passed, â€Å"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free Sate, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shallRead MoreThe Second Amendment Of The United States1725 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Americans are deeply divided over the Second Amendment. Some passionately assert that the Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns. Others, that it does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias† (Cornell). The Second Amendment of the constitution gives citizens the right to bear arms, and is therefore one of the most important laws of the nation. This amendment holds an important value to our nation because, it prevents tyranny but, it also protects, spreads, andRead MoreGun Control Debate Throughout Contemporary America1725 Words   |  7 Pageslaw. The Second Amendment is significant in this debate, providing the basis upon which those supporting robust gun regulation as fundamental, collective, and civic right and in particular its preamble concreting the usefulness of a well-regulated militia. Emphasis has been placed by gun rights advocates, comparing this to press freedom in enabling citizens to possess firearms for self-protection, hunting, or to wage revolution against the government itself in collective action for public defenseRead MoreCase Study : Chief Officer Of Apple1132 Words   |  5 PagesFor, years the Congo has been in a bloody civil war that has ravaged the nation. Consequently, this is because of three minerals: Tungsten, , and Gold. Sadly, each of which can be found in your technology. The government has perilously fought rebel militia groups in which try and control these prized resources for the accumulation of great wealth and power. Whenever you purchase conflict minerals, you are funding war leaders. The money they earn is used to buy guns which consequently, give them more

The Death Of Ivan And The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Tiffani Cao ENG 2850 Professor Sylvor Self-knowledge Death is an inevitable concern that no one can understand completely. While it has the potential to instill fear, the thought of death also instigates individuals to reflect upon the life he or she has lived. In â€Å"The Death of Ivan Ilych† by Leo Tolstoy and â€Å"The Metamorphosis† by Franz Kafka, the two authors capture this reflecting of life within the lives of Ivan Ilych and Gregor Samsa. Although both Ivan Ilych and Gregor Samsa experience an unfortunate fate of death, the protagonists were able to find self-knowledge through analytical observations of their surroundings and were able to resolve the issues before their death. Before Ivan Ilych accepted his fate of death, he was known as an examining magistrate. Ivan Ilych attended the School of Law assimilating the values and behaviors of bourgeois,’ thus Ilych’s view of a â€Å"perfect† lifestyle consists of being wealthy and achieving high social class. His view is ironic because it contradicts with the natural self and propriety self that he is living in. Ilych imitates the ideals of social acceptability and the proprietary morals of how he must act like. For example, Ilych comments â€Å"What must I do to be like others, to be accepted†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (749). Ilych’s mortality comes from the people around him, thus he has no meaning to his life because he does not have his own idealistic beliefs of what his life should be. Additionally, Ivan Ilych discusses of the matter of when his wife,Show MoreRelatedThe Death Of Ivan Ilych By Leo Tolstoy And Franz Kafka s The Metamorphosis1103 Words   |  5 Pagesout because their plot is both driven by the central character, but also the effect the minor character has on both the central character and the overall plot, those works being â€Å"The Death of Ivan Ilych† by Leo Tolstoy and Franz Kafka’s â€Å"The Metamorphosis†. â€Å"The Death of Ivan Ilyich† by Leo Tolstoy is about a man (Ivan) in middle age who has lived a â€Å"most simple and most ordinary life and therefor the most terrible† (pg. 1446). He spent his life climbing the social ladder, he married a woman becauseRead MoreSurvival in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn and The Metamorphosis by Kafka1245 Words   |  5 PagesSurvival in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn and The Metamorphosis by Kafka In both One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, written by Solzhenitsyn, and The Metamorphosis, written by Kafka, there were struggles for survival in face of oppression. Both of the protagonists Read MoreAn Existential Crisis2417 Words   |  10 Pagesquestions the very foundations of their life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose, or value. Sometimes there are men who will accept their fate graciously. Two works that depict these ideas are â€Å"The Death of Ivan Ilych† by Leo Tolstoy and â€Å"The Metamorphosis† by Kafka. In both works by Tolstoy and Kafka, the main characters at some point question their lives’ and what life means to them. In order to question one’s life, it would be necessary that one evaluate the decisions they make. A person’s lifeRead MoreBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 Pageswikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner Hosseini, Khaled A thousand splendid suns AF YA Irving, John The cider house rules AF Ishiguro, Kazuo Never let me go AF Hulme, Keri The bone people AF Jones, Lloyd Mister Pip AF Joyce, James Ulysses AF Kafka, Franz Metamor phosis AF Kesey, Ken One flew over the cuckoo’s nest AF Keneally, Thomas The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith AF King, Stephen Carrie AF Lee, Harper To kill a mockingbird AF YA Li, Yiyun A thousand years of good prayers AF London, Jack White fang AFRead MoreThe Theory, History, and Development of Magical Realism Essay examples3188 Words   |  13 PagesMagical realism is more a literary mode than a distinguishable genre and it aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites such as time and timelessness, life and death, dream and reality and the pre-colonial past and the post-industrial present. It is characterized by two conflicting perspectives. While accepting the rational view of reality, it also considers the supernatural as a part of reality. The setting in a magical realist text is a normal world with authentic human characters. It isRead MoreExistentialism vs Essentialism23287 Words   |  94 PagesCamus Moving beyond Sartre s existentialism, Camus explored the meaninglessness and absurd nature of the human condition. Many Others Other existential philosophers include  Simone de Beauvoir,  Martin Heidegger,  Karl Jaspers,  Gabriel Marcel  and  Franz Kafka. Existentialist philosophy was also influenced by many other works, including those of  Friedrich Nietzsche, G. W. F. Hegel, Fyodor Dostoevsky and  Edmund Husserl. 1. Sà ¸ren Kierkegaard  (1813–1855) was a Danish philosopher who contributed greatly

Pitts Special S-2B free essay sample

A paper which introduces the Pitts Special aircraft. The paper discusses Pitts Special planes which are used specifically in aerobatic competitions and have been in operation since 1943 when Curtis Pitts designed his first special plane. The paper examines the features and purpose of Pitts S-2B which is one of the modern versions of the original Pitts Special aircraft. The range of Pitts Special then grew steadily and some other models were made available which were all used for aerobatic competitions and thus quickly gained popularity in the industry for their unique features and designs. Not only were these planes stronger than many other counterparts, their designs were also developed keeping in mind their purpose. This colorful range therefore attracted media and public attention when they participated in national air-shows and exhibitions. But it is important to know that Pitts Special range became more popular during the 1960s era when Curtis Pitts developed some constructions sets and sold them to amateurs for a price of 5 per set. We will write a custom essay sample on Pitts Special S-2B or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page

Smoking in the Workplace an Example of the Topic Career by

Smoking in the Workplace Since1998, the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Heath Administration (OSHA) had been studying the effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) through their scientific workshops. ETS or much commonly known as second hand smoke or passive smoke is a known human carcinogen according to the American Heart Association. Carcinogen is the collective term to all substance that is scientifically proven to cause cancer. Need essay sample on "Smoking in the Workplace" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Each state had been reevaluating their laws concerning the safety of their citizens primarily their working force that is most exposed to this kind of smoke. New York, the last state that had reexamined their state laws regarding this matter, had followed the revisions made by our state Los Angeles, and the state Delaware to include the bars and restaurants in the smoking ban. The state had weighted more the health issue in spite of some peoples opposition. Some people concerned were arguing that the state was intruding the peoples right to choose. The owners of some bars and restaurants were among of them. They were saying that with the states declaration, their business would be affected considering the fact that their usual costumers stay in their establishments while smoking. Furthermore, their employees had at first place know that their establishment permits smoking within their workplace. The owners then are sure that no one in his employees would complain with regards to the workplaces air condition. This claim had been considered in the OSHAs first rules with regards to these workplaces. But with the state laws intervention, this considered loophole had been closed to its smoking citizens (Umansky 1997). Bars and Restaurants lawyers proposed a truce with this amendment by offering that their clients would build a separately ventilated area in their establishment so that their employees would not be affected with their costumers smoke. Casino owners were also requesting for an exemption with the said state law on the ground the same as to the bars and restaurant owners. Last 2003, Nations Restaurant News gave the stand of Peter Christie, president and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. "We don't support passage, but we don't oppose it," the article had quoted from him. This neutral stance of Christie suggest that they were not opposing the move of the state to protect their citizens with second hand smoke, but the state should also must consider the effect of banning cigarettes to their business. Another restaurant owner expressing his sentiments, Dennis Gallagher of the Cellar Bar in Larchmont, N.Y and The Willett House in Port Chester, N.Y, said I think its a bad law. He thinks that his costumers would switch to the other restaurants in other states that dont have this kind of law. Does the state wrong with the inclusion of bars and restaurants in the ban? But the owners were pided on what would be their stand regarding this matter. Some owners that do not include cigarettes in their product list support the law in order that they can strictly implement the No Smoking sign they posted in their establishment premises. They encounter persons that were not obeying their rules even if they had already seen their no smoking sign. With the law, they would now be brave enough to say to the costumers that their establishments are a no smoking area. Their employees then would be spared of this dangerous second hand smoke. Some restaurant owners have no stance against or in promotion of the state law. As long as they where abiding with the law and as long as they had their customers, and then why not implement it? This is their counterpart stance. Therefore, the state then had finally decided. They had included the bars and restaurants in the smoking ban. In the long run, people would be accustomed with the smoking ban. Rick Sampson, resident and chief executive of the New York State Restaurant Association, said This is a good bill, and we can live with it. Brad Rosentein, treasurer of NYSRA and the current owner of the 90 year old Jacks Oyster Sauce in Albany, N.Y., said that there might be costumers that would boycott restaurants and bars in the beginning, but people would later understand that this is also for the benefit of them. The state had swiftly made their decisions believed to be because of restaurant associations like NYSRA that had supported the passage of the bill. This workplace issue should be resolved immediately caused the health of many is in concern with this matter. The waiters, the bartenders, the entertainers who do not have a choice on where would they work are the one who first suffer. There were a number of these employees that do not smoke and though they dont complain, this does not imply that they permit themselves to inhale second hand smoke. Governor Pataki is right with his decision. This is for the welfare of his constituents. May the state of New York, Los Angeles and Delaware be an example to other states? We dont know, maybe in the passing of years, all of the states would consider the three states action as a good precedent. Some people also wish that maybe a national action is necessary so that this would be a nationwide move that would serve then as a good example for other countries. As the government warning included in every packs of cigarettes, Cigarrete Smokingis Dangerous to your health. Maybe, the state laws are not yet enough. The peoples initiative to stop smoking should be the best move on how we could live better in all part of our community not just only in our workplace. References: Environmental Tobacco Smoke (2007). American Heart Association. Retrieved Oct 31, 2007 Fact Sheet for Workers in Secondary Response and Other Supporting Roles at the World Trade Center (2001). Retrieved Oct 31, 2007 Fact Sheet: Secondhand Smoke (2006). Retrieved Oct 31, 2007 Paul Frumkin. (2003). New York state outlaws smoking in all enclosed workplaces: as in Calif., Del., law snuffs habit in restaurants, bars, hotels. Nation's Restaurant News Eric Umansky. (1997). The tobacco deal would pinch OSHA's power to protect workers from secondhand smoke. MotherJones.