Speech Intros Essay Example for Free

Speech Intros Essay Keating The purpose of PJ Keatings speech as Prime minister of Australia in 1992 was to encourage Aboriginal People and their supporters to have confidence in a future that would allow them to participate in Australian life to the same extent as other Australians. Keating begins his speech with the conceit that we have committed ourselves to succeeding in the test, which so far we have always failed. Keating continues by using the motif of the test in a direct manner using economical language. To develop his theme of failure to care fore indigenous Australians he suggests that this needs to be addressed and explains idiomatically that by doing so we will truly be the land of the fair go. Geraldine Brooks Geraldine Brooks lecture a home in fiction reflects upon the pleasures of fiction and its importance in our lives. She uses her experience as a foreign correspondent to explain how she graduated from being a journalist unto her role of fiction writes The tone is reflected as she begins her speech with a personal anecdote about maths lecture that she attended. She was immediately transfixed on the terror of the lecture describing it like poetry. She then embellishes the idea with a series of metaphors describing her responses to the maths lecture as a sudden brief shaft of light. This suggests the revelation she felt when she caught a glimpse of the beauty of mathematics where every object sang to her with its own particular music. This lyrical prose allows her audience to share a pivotal moment, when mathematics assumed a greater purpose in her life. Brooks knows that she lacks the expertise to respond to the world and reflects that metaphorically, she swims in a sea of words and his is how she pushes into the full truth of the world. She describes her writing in the extended metaphor of the woodshed and that her experience as a  journalist had given her some durable tools. She continues by referring to writing as a craft where words are stones and the book is a wall and this demonstrates the laborious process of being an author. As she develops her theme i.e. the creating of fiction and its importance she refers to her research here is unearths the voices of the unheard. Thats is the reference in history to the labor of the illiterate. She uses these references to build her stories because she believes fiction matters and says I know is has power.

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INTRODUCTION In California, 2013 marked the direst year on record. Rainfall precipitation statewide was 7 inches, while the previously recorded driest year dates back to 1898, with 11.6 inches. So it was no surprise that on January 27th 2014, Governor Brown declared California in a drought state of emergency and directed state officials to take action (DWR). The Department of Water Resources has reduced water allocations from the State Water Project to zero percent, affecting 29 public water agencies. Not only has the current drought impacted California on a political level, it has evoked panic in the public, especially farmers, who rely on a steady water supply to make their living. There is an urgent need for a solution, but little agreement on an action. Conservation approaches have always been in play, however another proposed solution involves the production of potable water through the process of desalination. Desalination involves the removal of salt and other minerals from saline water to produce pure water. Specialized facilities, referred to as desalination plants, utilize this process to generate fresh water from seawater and brackish ground water. The water produced by these plants can then be used for human consumption and agricultural purposes. Therefore, the construction of desalination plants is being considered as an answer to the state’s current water crisis. Although desalination offers the significant benefit of an increased water supply, there are negative environmental impacts. The problem is its extreme energy demands resulting in high emission of greenhouse gases. Background Desalination is a not a new idea; President Kennedy opened the first desalination plant in 1961. Although interest began in 1952 ... ...lifornia’s water future. Desalination offers a benefit like no other, especially during situations of drought such as the one California is currently experiencing. With a constant supply of fresh water through desalination, farmers will not be subjected to water cuts and thus a reduction in agricultural production. The output of 3 to 4 desalination plants will be large enough to provide water to both the agriculture and the people of California. Conclusions Like any political policy, limiting the number desalination plants in California has its benefits and its costs. The potential water supply produced by these plants will be cut in half. However this is an acceptable cost when you consider the lowered potential of environmental harm. Both sides of the debate will never be in harmony, although the proposed policy offers a compromise that should be considered.

Washington Crossing the Deleware

CROSSING THE DELEWARE HIST101 George Washington saved not only the continental army at the battle of Trenton, but he also saved and breathed new life into the cause of Independence. After knowing seemingly knowing nothing but defeat and hardship for the latter half of 1776, Washington knew that not only he, but the neophyte country known as the United States, needed a miracle. History dictates that he most certainly delivered that miracle and saved the cause, but what were the effects of his victory?What is the importance of his crossing of the Delaware? The crossing at the Delaware river has become over the years, the symbol of American spirit and resolve. Numerous historical evidence indicates the hardships and hazards that accompanied the crossing that fateful December night. But to discuss the effects of the crossing, one must set the stage of events first. In the winter of 1776, General George Washington and his fledgling continental army stood on the precipice of annihilation.A fter suffering a series of disastrous defeats which resulted in the loss of New York city and it's surrounding areas, Washington gathered the shattered remnants of his once proud army and retreated across the Delaware river into Pennsylvania. Washington knew that the life of not only his army, but the cause was ebbing away daily, more so with their disastrous string of defeats. With low morale, constant desertion, sickness and hunger facing his men, he also knew that there was one other chief problem which would befall him at the end of the year;the expiration of the soldiers enlistments. [1]When the continentals drove the British troops out of Boston in March of 1776, Washington had seventeen thousand troops under his command. By December of 1776, through not only combat but the attrition of war and what entails with it, he now commanded a mere four thousand seven hundred men. At the end of December when the enlistments for the soldiers ran out, he would be fighting with only twelv e hundred men. In a letter that Washington wrote to John Hancock who was residing with the Continental congress in Philadelphia at the time, Washington wrote, â€Å"Ten more days will put an end to the existence of our Army[2]. Washington was not exaggerating when he said this. He had no doubt in his mind that come the end of the year the expiration of enlistments would cause an exodus of his fighting force. Aside from the threat of the ending enlistments, there was also the Hessian mercenary force across the river at Trenton, which Washington had no doubt that the they would cross the Delaware river once it was frozen over and suitable to do so. Washington also realized that if he could end the year with a tremendous victory, it would do wonders not only for the cause, but for recruiting more soldiers to fight for it.With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Washington decided that he would attack the Hessian mercenary force on December 25, 1776. The Hessians were feared by the continental army, and rightfully so. They were some of the Europe's best trained troops at the time and the memories of their massacre of American troops at the Battle of Long Island, lay fresh in their minds. The need for self-preservation seemed almost as strong as the need to avenge the brave soldiers lost. Washington's staff strongly advised him from attacking the Hessians in broad daylight, even crossing the river it's self.Their seemed to be a prevalent feeling that the Hessians would destroy the continentals, even though they had the Hessian'soutnumbered(the Hessians in Trenton were around fifteen-hundred men). While the continentals had numbers on their side, the Hessians had several things they did not. The Hessians were billeted in houses no doubt with fire places and were relatively safe and comfortable from the cold. The Hessians were also no doubt well fed and well cared for. On the contrary, the continental soldier at the time had barely any adequate provisions at all .They were ill fed and ill equipped to face not only the Hessians but the driving winter which was upon them. Most of them wore no shoes, if any shoes at all. On the night of the crossing a major, John Wilkinson, had seen spots of red in the snow, â€Å"tinged here and there†, he wrote, â€Å"with blood from the feet of men who wore broken shoes. †[3] Washington had also lost a significant number of weapons and material during the retreat across the Delaware. Taking over the Hessian garrison in Trenton would not only be a good psychological boost for his troops, but it would also be a start in obtaining much needed supplies for them as well.On Christmas night 1776, Washington assembled his army to cross the Delaware. Several writings on that fateful evening indicated the hardships and perils of the crossing itself. Thomas Rodney who was there that night described it as, â€Å"It was a severe night as I ever saw. The frost was sharp, the current difficult to stem, the ice increasing, the wind high, and at eleven it began to snow. † When the continentals cross the Delaware, all accounted for and behind schedule, they began their march onto Trenton, New Jersey. John Greenwood, a fifer in the Continental Army described the march. What I suffered on the march, cannot be described. They who were with us know best about these things, others cannot believe the tenth part, so I shall say nothing further. 3† Exhausted, starving, frightened and freezing, the Continentals commenced battle with the Hessian at Trenton around eight in the morning, catching most of the Hessian unaware, most of which were still sleeping. From the start of the engagement, the continentals were fully in control of the tempo of the battle and seized the initiative. The Hessians became completely surrounded and their units became isolated and they were forced to surrender.They also suffered heavy losses with twenty-two men dead, eighty three wounded, and nearly one thous and and one hundred troops captured by the Americans. The American's only suffered two dead and five wounded. (statistics differ to a varying degree on the casualties and material obtained by Washington and his men). Washington had originally planed to march the army further to Princeton and New Brunswick, but after consideration and discussion from his staff, dropped the plan. He ordered his troops to recross the Delaware, where they took back with them not only the Hessian prisoners, but much needed quipment and supplies needed to sustain his army. The battle despite its seemingly small proportion increased not only morale among the men which had been dangerously low to begin with, but also their confidence. They had defeated one Europe, even one of the world's most respected troops at the time. Despite the victory and the bold gamble it was, there was still the issue of the expiration of enlistments. Washington seized the advantage and the boost the victory had given him, and two days after the battle, only a few days before the expiration, implored his exhausted, underfed and underpaid troops to stay longer.Fifty years after, a sergeant whom was present at the time gave his account of what Washington said to a group of soldiers. â€Å"My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably expected. But your country is at stake, your wives, your houses, all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves put with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay but one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which you probably can never do under any other circumstances.The present is emphatically the crisis that will decide our destiny. †3 Before this gambit, there were some members of the Congress and even Washington’s own soldiers and staff whom questioned his military ability and handling of the army. The victory at Trenton, and later at Princeton, quelled these fears. Faith was not only renewed in him, but also in his army. The victory also had a tremendous effect upon morale not only within the troops but in Congress as well. The victory also broke the psychological hold that the Hessians had over the continentals as well.They knew now and full realized that they were a capable army as any in the world. The defeat of the Hessians also caused the British to abandon their efforts of protection to the loyalist leaning peoples of New Jersey. When looking at the crossing of the Delaware and the victory at Trenton on a tactical scale, it seems to be a minor engagement. But the significance and the psychological impact, saved the not only the continental army, but it pulled the cause out of the depths of a sea of despondency and defeat.Over the years the American people have come to see the crossing of the Delaware, as a symbol of American resolve, and that we as a people will never give into tyranny and opp ression. Bibliography 1. â€Å"The Continental Army†, http://www. history. army. mil/books/RevWar/ContArmy/CA-05. htm 2. â€Å"George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress†, last modified Feb-16-1999, http://memory. loc. gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome. html 3. â€Å"Washington Crossing Historical Park†, http://www. ushistory. org/washingtoncrossing/history/revwartimeline. htm ———————– 1]â€Å"The Continental Army†, http://www. history. army. mil/books/RevWar/ContArmy/CA-05. htm [2]â€Å"George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress†, last modified Feb-16-1999, http://memory. loc. gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome. html [3]Washington Crossing Historical Park†, http://www. ushistory. org/washingtoncrossing/history/revwartimeline. htm 3Washington Crossing Historical Park†, http://www. ushistory. org/washingtoncrossing/history/revwartimeline. htm 3Washington Crossing Historical Park† , http://www. ushistory. org/washingtoncrossing/history/revwartimeline. htm

Financial Statement Analysis Of The Blackmore Company Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2226 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? A firms earning capability and financial position can be predicted, compared and evaluated with the help of analysis of information available in the major financial statements i.e., balance sheet and income sheet. Balance sheet indicates the firms financial condition or the state of affairs of the business where as Income sheet reflects earning capacity and financial strength of a firm. To practically implement the knowledge gained so far about these financial statements, and to perform the analysis on a realistic data; the following study has been conducted on the firm Blackmore. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial Statement Analysis Of The Blackmore Company Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Blackmore, being a leading supplier of different products which includes equipment, plastic trays to the horticulture industry; had faced great loses despite of increasing plant capacity and undergoing new market campaigns. This study tries to analyze the financial statements of Blackmore and comment on the changes that could be taken for surviving and establishing itself as a profitable business. Contents Introduction Companys financial information is foundation of financial planning analysis which is needed to predict, compare and evaluate a firms earning ability. This financial information is provided in the companys financial statements or accounting reports i.e., balance sheet, income sheet and cash flow statement. Balance sheet and Income sheet are amongst the most significant financial statements, used to determine the financial condition and financial strength of a firm. Balance sheet provides information about assets, liabilities and owners equity for a business firm as on a specific date. It reflects the financial position of the firm at the close of the firms accounting period. Income sheet presents summary of revenues, expenses and net income of a firm. It acts a measure of firms profitability. Financial health of the firm can be judged by proper financial analysis. Financial analysis needs careful relation establishment between different financial statements like balance sheet and the income statements. Relative analysis of items of cash flow statement, income statement balance sheet gives clear view of financial health of organization. Blackmore is a leading supplier company of different items like equipments. It had recently increased plant capacity and had undertaken a new market campaign to go national. Despite of these efforts, it had faced great losses in the year 2008 and is concerned about its survival. Faisal, Blackmores chairman, who is planning to bring back the firm into sound financial position, has appointed Hazza as his assistant. Examining the monthly data and comparing it with the annual data, Hazza found that the lags between spending money and deriving benefits were longer than that of Blackmores managers had anticipated. Thus, they could see a hope for the company if it could survive in the short run. This study proceeds further, to help Hazza by analyzing the balance and income sheets of the firm and commenting on further proceedings. Project Discussion As mentioned above, financial health can be predicted accurately by good financial analysis. There are various tools for performing financial analysis. These include: Ratio Analysis, Time Series Analysis, Cross sectional Analysis, Industry Analysis and Performa Analysis. Now, with the help of relevant tools; let us proceed further towards our study about financial health of Blackmore Company. (Blackman, 1995) From the balance sheet of the Blackmore Company, the following details can be summarized: Blackmores sources of funds include equity as well as debts. The capital employed in the years 2007, 2008 and estimated 2009 values are as follows: CE 2007: $1,952,352 + 400,000 = $2,352,352 CE 2008: $492,592 + 723,432 = $1,216,024 CE 2009 estimated: $663,768 + 323,432 = $987,200 It is clear from the above that in the year 2008, the firm has gone for larger debt source compared to 2007, and unable to generate the profits, has faced great loses. Estimating a lesser amount in the debt source seems to be a good sign for stabilizing the financial position of the firm. It is very much necessary for any organization to meet its obligation at earliest. An organization should have enough resources to meet its short term obligation because this plays an important role in success of any organization. Firms ability to meet its short term obligation can be measured by Liquidity ratios. The most common measures of liquidity are Current Ratio and Quick Ratio. All these ratio measures liquidity of a company but quick ratio use more strict liquidity measure. Current Ratio: CR= Current Assets/ Current Liabilities. It is a measure of the firms short term solvency. Quick Ratio: QR= Current Assets- Inventories/ Current Liabilities. Inventories are considered to be less liquid and require some time for realizing into cash. The following table 1 displays the liquidity ratios of Blackmore firm in the years 2007, 2008 and the estimated values for 2009. 2009E 2008 2007 Current Ratio 2.34 1.17 2.33 Quick Ratio 0.84 0.39 0.85 Table 1: Blackmore Company Liquidity Ratios Ratios in the above table indicates that the year 2008 has shown quite low figures compared to 2007, and the estimation by the experts for 2009 shows a hope for the good performance of the firm. In the year 2008, current and quick ratio being low, and as seen above debt source being larger; they faced great loses. Hazza can proceed with the estimated source, and try achieving the anticipated figures as per the estimated values regarding liquidity. A firm should have strong both short and long term financial position. Short term financial position is identified by liquidity ratio while financial leverage ratios are used to identify and calculate long term financial position of any organization. Financial Leverage Ratios are calculated as shown in the table 2. The Financial Leverage Ratios include Long term Debt Ratio, Debt Equity Ratio and Equity ratios. These ratios are calculated based on the below mentioned formulae: Long term Debt Ratio= Total Long term Debt/ Capital employed Where Capital employed is the total capital kept in the business from various sources which include debt as well as equity sources of funds. Debt- Equity Ratio= Total debt/ Net worth Where Net worth is equivalent total equity and from the given information, total debt is considered as the total long term debt since no other sources were mentioned in the balance sheet of the firm. Equity ratio = Total Equity or Net Worth/ Capital Employed. Interest Coverage= EBITDA/ Interest Where EBITDA is the operating income or the earnings obtained after deducting operating, selling and administrative expenses only. 2009E 2008 2007 Long term Debt Ratio 0.17 0.59 0.33 Debt- Equity Ratio 0.21 1.47 0.49 Equity Ratio 0.83 0.41 0.67 Interest coverage 4.78 -0.11 8.71 Table 2: Blackmore Company Leverage Ratios Observing the debt equity ratio, the estimated figure is quite satisfactory to maintain a good financial health. In the year 2008, the value of 1.47 of debt- equity ratio indicates that creditors have got a greater claim than owners, which implies a certain amount would be at a risk to be paid to the creditors and company in case of not reaching the estimated profits would have to face great loses as in this case. Interest Coverage ratio which helps in testing the firms debt servicing capacity; obviously because of loss in earnings would be less and negative for the year 2008 where as the firm is sound in the year 2007 with the ratio equals to 4.71 and well performing for the estimated value for the year 2009. The above discussed ratios are static in nature, and might not indicate the firms ability to meet interest obligations. Interest Coverage ratio, which is computed by dividing earnings before interest and tax by interest charges, determines the firms debt servicing capacity. Blackmore Companys interest coverage ratio is as follows: 4.35, -0.96 and 7.03 for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009E. From the income sheet it can be seen that EBIT is negative for the year 2008 due to which the ratio also turned to be negative implying that minimum interest expense could also be not earned by the firm in that year. The 2007 figure is quite appreciable that it has earned 4.35 times the required expense and the estimated figure for 2009 also is sufficient to maintain sound financial position. So, Hezza should take care to reach the estimated EBIT for the year 2009. Since most of the above ratios and their analysis says that the firm has to run efficiently to reach out the estimated figures for the year 2009 to have a profitable business; we now try to calculate firms ability to use its assets efficiently which will tell about firms managements ability of best resource utilization. These can be calculated with the help of Activity or turn over ratios. The following table 3 displays the firms activity ratios which are calculated as explained below: Current Assets turnover Ratio= Sales/ Current assets. (Financial Ratios ) The other turnover ratios can be similarly calculated replacing the denominator with the corresponding value. These ratios as explained above would help in evaluating the efficiency of the firm in the application of funds. 2009E 2008 2007 Current Assets turnover 2.63 3.13 3.05 Net Current Assets turnover 4.58 21.84 5.34 Fixed Assets turnover 8.61 6.42 9.95 Total assets turnover 2.01 2.10 2.34 Net Assets turnover 2.99 4.96 3.48 Table 3: Blackmore Companys Turnover Ratios The above values in the table imply that a sale of Rs. 2. 63 can be generated from the capital employed of Rs. 1 on current assets in the year 2009E. In other words to generate a sale of Rs. 1 in the year 2009, the firm needs to invest Rs. 0.38 investment in current assets and Rs. 0.12 in fixed assets. But these ratios alone cannot reflect the efficiency of the firm, since it depends on the liabilities as well. For example, in the year 2008, though it is seen that the turn over ratios of all the assets except for fixed assets are high; still it is said that the firm faced great loses. This is because the firm has invested remaining percentage through debts and hence has faced great loss irrespective of the high turnover ratios. Having a optimal ratio of debt to equity in the year 2009, the efficiency of the firm is satisfactory and should be maintained as per the estimation. Further the firms earning power can be determined with the help of profitability ratios. DuPont Analysis helps in evaluating this. These profitability ratios can be determined with respect to sales or investment. The following table 4 shows the Blackmore Companys analysis of earning power. Gross Margin = Gross Profit/ Sales Where gross profit equals to sales reduced by the selling and administrative expenses. ROE/ Return on Equity = Profit after Tax/ Net Worth Where profit after tax is EBIT reduced by the interest expense and tax deduction. 2009E 2008 2007 Net Assets turnover 2.99 4.96 3.48 Gross Margin 0.16 0.08 0.17 Operating Leverage 0.42 -0.26 0.34 Return on Net Assets 0.21 -0.11 0.19 Return on Equity 0.13 -0.33 0.13 Table 4: Blackmore Companys Analysis of Earning Power Looking at the Gross Profit margin, we can see that cost of goods and sold has increased in the year 2008 which has given a significant impact in reducing the gross profit. Further the operating and administrative expenses have also increased and thus landed up with negative EBIT. The operating and administrative expenses occurred in the year 2008, could not generate profits to maintain financial position. But looking at the estimated figures, the profits are seen in the next year and were sufficient and satisfactory as discussed above with the help of various ratios. Thus as well found by Hazza, it is that the lags between spending money and deriving benefits were longer than Blackmores managers had anticipated, could be the major problem as discussed above. So the management has to concentrate more on the current asset turnover and concentrate its investment accordingly to see the benefits and bring sound financial position back in the firm. Since the estimated values generate good profit and as found above, those figures would be leading to an efficient firm. Thus, they have to concentrate on achieving these figures. As well estimated, debt source can be reduced and large amount can be invested on current assets, to derive benefits and run the firm successfully. (Helfert, 2002) Conclusion: Thus, from the above study and analysis of various ratios it is clear that the firm is growing compared to year 2008. The reasons behind the loses faced in the year 2008 could be that it has financed high amount through debt, decreased the amount of retained earnings and utilized these amount into increasing the plant capacity and in marketing campaigns. These dont give an immediate impact, thus added up to the expenses without having any immediate positive profits. This could not be anticipated by the firm, which led to great loses in the year 2008. The benefits could have started affecting the market which led to good estimation of sales without any extra expenses leading to profits. Thus, in future the firm should take care while investing in such expenses keeping in mind the estimation of earnings that would be made in that particular year and anticipating the lags between the investments made benefits that would be obtained. Since as discussed above, overall the firms financial position would be sound and healthy if it achieves the estimated targets for the year 2009, it should be trying to achieve the same while taking care of above mentioned points. Hazza should concentrate more on achieving the estimated values for the future and should be more careful while investing in such marketing campaigns looking into the impact period. Overall, by the end of the year 2009, Blackmore would be able to sound and healthy financially. Recommendations: This study would have been more effective, if the cash flow statement and the cost of goods sheet were provided. Also since the company is broad in its products, it would have been more effective if the nature of marketing campaign undertaken is also mentioned to assess its impact on the customers. Overall, the given data is sufficient to analyze the firms financial position and to comment on the issues required.