Grammar edit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Grammar edit - Essay Example Together with my group mates, I was forced to present our final project in class. When it was my turn to speak, I felt so nervous. My heart started to beat so fast. Because of my nervousness, I failed to deliver my speech the way I planned to. It also made me forget important facts I was supposed to inform my classmates. Eventually, the only thing that mattered to me is that the presentation has ended so soon. In another class, I was also required to summarize a book chapter in front of my classmates. Since I was so eager to improve my speaking abilities, I decided to spend a few hours a day practicing what I had to say in front of my classmates. To remove my nervousness in front of so many people, I asked some of my friends to be my audience. I also listened to what my friends would say about the way I speak and act during the presentation. Sometimes, I record my own voice and stand in front of the mirror to check the way I pronounce each word and how I was sending out some non-verbal cues to other people. Since then, I was able to ease and control my anxiety. Gradually, I felt so much confident when being asked to speak in public. Personally, I consider my zone of optimal functioning as the low zone. When having low levels of anxiety, I tend to become less stressed. Basically, low level of anxiety and nervousness made me perform better. Each time I experience high levels of stress, I tend to perform

Changing role of women in society Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Changing role of women in society - Assignment Example Therefore, it is well noted that the role of women has changed a lot since the 1860s based on the efforts of the women with respect to economic, cultural and societal factors. To give an insight of the changing role of women in the society, the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott clearly represents the life of women during the 19th Century. It is from her assumptions that the gains, which women have achieved since 1860s can be well depicted. Based on the story composed by Alcott, the novel revolves around the conflicts that emerged between the domestic duties of the women and the need for them to have their own personal growth attributed to the various abilities they possessed. In the cases presented of the four sisters, the character Amy was faced with the challenge of being a dutiful woman and also a professional artist (Alcott 22). This certainly shows that the boundary that was set for the women in the society during the early 19th Century was surpassed. The role and the status of women have gradually changed since the efforts that were set up to change the attitudes that were labelled against them in the society. The most dramatic consequences that were brought about by the industrial revolution in the late 1800s have propelled many economic changes that address the role of women currently in the society (Begun 33). The industrial revolution sparked a lot of changes ever since its inception especially towards the aspects of work and salaries that the women were entitled to in their workplaces. The separation of the domestic duties of the women and their workplace paved ways for women to compete with men for job opportunities. Of course, this did not suit the liking of the men, but there was nothing they could do since times were changing. It is quite obvious that the role of women with regards to employment has faced a number of changes. Women are now entitled to employment

Significance of Security Testing

Significance of Security Testing Premalatha Sampath Abstract Software security testing is an essential means which helps to assure that the software is trustworthy and secure. It is an idea which has been brought from engineering software to check whether it keeps on working properly under malicious outbreaks. Software security testing process is lengthy, complex and costly. It is because several types of bugs are escaped in testing on a routine basis. The application might perform some additional, unspecified task in the process while effectively behaving as indicated by the requirements. Thus, to build secure software as well as meet budget and time constraints it is essential to emphasis testing effort in areas that have a larger number of security vulnerabilities. Therefore, vulnerabilities are classified and various taxonomies have been created by computer security researchers. Along with the taxonomies, there are also various methods and techniques which helps to test the commonly appearing test issues in software. These techniques gener ally include generic tools, fuzzing, checklists of unpredictable depth and quality, vulnerability scanners, hacking or hiring hackers etc. This study focuses on the introduction, importance, vulnerabilities, approaches and methods of security testing. Articles related to these components were chosen. They were then evaluated on the basis of security testing approaches. Furthermore, the study explores the flaws and vulnerabilities of security testing and figures out the importance of security testing. Moreover, the research also highlights various methods and techniques of security testing. In the end, compiling all the articles research questions like what is the importance of security testing and what are the approaches to security testing are answered. Introduction Security is one of the many aspects of software quality. Software turns out to be more complicated, with the wide utilization of computer which likewise increase software security problems. Software security is the ability of software to provide required function when it is attacked as defined by the authors (Tian-yang, Yin-sheng You-yuan, 2010). There are few common types of security testing such as vulnerability assessments, penetration tests, runtime testing and code review. New vulnerabilities are being discovered with the coming of internet age. They are existing because of many reasons: poor development practices, ignoring security policies during design, incorrect configurations, improper initialization, inadequate testing due to deadlines imposed by financial and marketing needs etc. (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008). The significance of security in the life cycle from network security, to system security and application security is currently recognized by the companies and organizations asa coordinated end-to-end procedure stated by (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016). Therefore, in systems to discover which types of vulnerabilities are dominant, security vulnerabilities are categorized so as to focus the type of testing that would be needed to find them. On the basis of these classifications, various taxonomies are developed by computer security researchers. According to the author (AL-Ghamdi, 2013), at the requirements level security should be explicit and must cover both overt functional security and emergent individualities. One great approach to cover that is using abuse cases which portrays the systems behaviors under attack. Two strategies that must be incorporated by security testing are : testing security functionality using standard functional testing techniques and risk based security testing based on attack patterns and threat models. There are normally two categories of vulnerabilities: bugs at the execution level and flaws at the design level (Tondel, Jaatun Meland, 2008). The research done in this article evaluates the security testing approaches and the methods in order to detect the flaws and vulnerabilities of security in the software. All this approaches and methods of security testing will help to make the software more secure, flawless and bug-free. Thus, the goal of this study is to find out the significance of security testing in todays fastest growing internet age and to introduce developers with an esteemed importance of systems security. The literature review is divided into 4 sections. The first section gives the overview of security testing. The next sections answer the research questions like what is the importance of security testing and what are the various approaches to security testing. Literature Review Importance of Security Testing In contrast with simple software testing process, providing security to a system is exceptionally unpredictable. This is because simple software testing only shows the presence of errors but fails to show the absence of certain types of errors which is ultimately achieved by security testing. As per the author (Khatri, 2014), there are two essential things which should be checked by the system: First, validity of implemented security measures. Second, systems behavior when it is attacked by attackers. The loopholes or vulnerabilities in system may cause failure of security functions of system eventually leading to great losses to organization. So, it is extremely fundamental to incorporate testing approaches for data protection. Security Vulnerabilities There are certain types of errors which are termed as security vulnerabilities, flaws or exploits. The authors (Tian-yang, Yin-sheng You-yuan, 2010) states that there are certain flaws present in system design, implementation, operation, management which are referred as vulnerabilities. As per (Tà ¼rpe, 2008), in order to target testing it is important to understand the roots of vulnerabilities and these vulnerabilities vary from system to system. These exploits are broadly categorized on their similarities by (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008) as follows: Environment variables: Information that does not change across executions of a program is encapsulated by such variables. Buffer Overflows: A memory stack is overflowed which leads the program to execute the data after the last address in the stack, generally an attacker gets the full control of the system when an executable program builds a root or command line shell. Operational Misuse: Operating a system in a non-secure mode. Data as Instructions or Script Injections: due to improper input checking, scripting languages include information with executable code which is then executed by the system. Default Settings: If default software settings require user intervention to secure them they may encounter a risk. Programmer Backdoors: The developers of the software leave the unauthorized access paths for easy access. Numeric Overflows:Giving a lesser or greater value than estimated. Race Conditions:Sending a string of data before another is executed. Network Exposures: It is assumed that when messages are sent to a server adequately, clients will check that. Information Exposure: Sensitive information is exposed to unauthorized users which can be used to compromise data or systems. Possible Attacks According to the authors (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008), (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016) and (AL-Ghamdi, 2013), secure software should achieve security requirements such as reliability, resiliency, and recoverability. Then they describe various possible attacks such as: Information Disclosure Attacks: To disclose sensitive or useful data, applications can often be forced. Attacks in this class include directory indexing attacks, path traversal attacks and determination of whether the application resources are allocated from a conventional and accessible location. System Dependency Attacks: By observing the environment of use of the targeted application, vital system resources can be recognized. Attacks of this type include LDAP injection, OS commanding, SQL injection, SSI injection, format strings, large strings, command injection, escape characters, and special/problematic character sets. Authentication/Authorization Attacks: These attacks includes both dictionary attacks and common account/password strings and credentials, exploiting key materials in memory and at component boundaries , insufficient and poorly implemented protection and recovery of passwords. Logic/Implementation (business model) Attacks: For an attacker, the hardest attacks to apply are often the most gainful. These include checking for faulty process validation, broadcast temporary files for sensitive information, attempts to mall-treatment internal functionality to uncover secrets and cause insecure behavior and testing the applications ability to be remote-controlled. Approaches to Security Testing According to the author (Khatri, 2014), approach to security testing involves determining who should do it and what activities they should undertake. Who: This is because there are two approaches which security testing implicates 1) Functional security testing and 2) Risk-based security testing. Risk-based security testing gets challenging for traditional staff to perform because it is more for expertise and experience people. How: There are several testing methods however the issue with each method is the lack of it because most of organizations devote very little time in understanding the non-functional security risks instead it concentrates on features. The two approaches functional and risk-based are defined by the authors (Tà ¸ndel, Jaatun Jensen, 2008) as follows: Functional security testing: On the basis of requirements, this technique will determine whether security mechanisms, such as cryptography settings and access control are executed and configured or not. Adversarial security testing: This technique is based on risk-based security testing and determines whether the software contains vulnerabilities by pretending an attackers approach. Methods and Techniques of Security Testing by (Tian-yang, Yin-sheng You-yuan, 2010), (AL-Ghamdi, 2013) and (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016). Formal security testing To build a mathematical model of the software and to provide software form specification supported by some formal specification language is the basic idea of formal method. Model-based security testing A model by the behavior and structure of software is constructed by model-based testing and then from this test model, test cases are derived. Fault injection based security testing This testing emphasizes on the interaction points of application and environment, including user input, file system, network interface, and environment variable. Fuzzy testing To discover security vulnerability which gets more and more attention, fuzzy testing is effective. To test program, it would inject random data and evaluate whether it can run normally under the clutter input. Vulnerability scanning testing To find software security risks, vulnerability testing is used which includes testing space scanning and known defects scanning. Property based testing By using program slicing technology, this method will extract the code relative to specific property and find infringement of the code against security property specification. White box-based security testing One of common white-box based testing method is static analysis which is great at finding security bug, such as buffer overflow. It includes main features like deducing, data flow analysis and constraint analysis. Risk-based security testing To find high-risk security vulnerabilities as early as possible, risk-based security testing combines the risk analysis, security testing with software development lifecycle. Discussion There are some type of security vulnerabilities which are more serious or are more common than others, therefore classification and rankings of vulnerabilities can be utilized to focus testing. Today, attacks such as Cross-Site Scripting and SQL injection are very common and new vulnerabilities are still being discovered. Basically, security testing can be divided into security vulnerability testing and security functional testing. To ensure whether software security functions are implemented correctly and consistent with security requirements, security functional testing is used. Whereas to discover security vulnerabilities as an attacker, security vulnerability testing is used. Risk-based security testing is useful when a complex system requires numerous tests for adequate coverage in limited time. Recommendation To build a secure system, security testing is used however it has been overlooked for a long time. Protection and security have been given prime significance in todays world, therefore in programming applications, it is highly recommended to look forward for information and operations security which demands critical consideration but it is rather ignored. There is still nothing like 100% security. The old way of doing things and traditional methods must change and new methods should be applied in practice if one wants to ship secure code with confidence. Conclusion The literature review was done taking 8 articles addressing the topic Significance of Security Testing. This report analyses the definition, classification, importance and approaches to software security testing. Classification of vulnerabilities and flaws were identified and what could be the reason behind occurrence of these vulnerabilities were discussed. The study also highlighted the various approaches like the functional and risk-based security testing and various methods in detail to tackle the flaws and errors detected in the system. These methods and techniques helps the system in various aspects like to advance the capability to produce protected and safe software, more cost-effective management of vulnerabilities and measure progress. Though, these approaches and classification makes software secure to a major extent but still security testing has a long way to go. References AL-Ghamdi, A. S. A. M. (2013, April). A Survey on Software Security Testing Techniques. Felderer, M., Bà ¼chler, M., Johns, M., Brucker, A. D., Breu, R., Pretschner, A. (2016). Chapter One-Security Testing: A Survey. Advances in Computers, 101, 1-51. Khatri, M. (2014). Motivation For Security Testing. Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 5(6), 26-32. Preuveneers, D., Berbers, Y., Bhatti, G. (2008, December). Best practices for software security: An overview. In Multitopic Conference, 2008. INMIC 2008. IEEE International (pp. 169-173). IEEE. Tian-yang, G., Yin-Sheng, S., You-yuan, F. (2010). Research on software security testing. World Academy of science, engineering and Technology, 70, 647-651. Tà ¸ndel, I. A., Jaatun, M. G., Jensen, J. (2008, April). Learning from software security testing. In Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, 2008. ICSTW08. IEEE International Conference on (pp. 286-294). IEEE. Tondel, I. A., Jaatun, M. G., Meland, P. H. (2008). Security requirements for the rest of us: A survey. IEEE software, 25(1). Tà ¼rpe, S. (2008, April). Security testing: Turning practice into theory. In Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, 2008. ICSTW08. IEEE International Conference on (pp. 294-302). IEEE. Appendix A Articles Concepts Requirements for Security Testing Vulnerabilities (Exploits, bugs, flaws) Possible Attacks on Software Approaches Techniques or Methods Functional Risk-based Best Practices for Software Security: An Overview (Preuveneers, Berbers Bhatti, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Motivation For Security Testing (Khatri, 2014) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Security Testing: A Survey (Felderer, Bà ¼chler, Johns, Brucker, Breu Pretschner, 2016) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  A Survey on Software Security Testing Techniques (AL-Ghamdi, 2013) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Security Requirements for the Rest of Us: A Survey (Tondel, Jaatun Meland, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Research on software security testing (Tian-yang, Yin-Sheng You-yuan, 2010) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Learning from software security testing (Tà ¸ndel, Jaatun Jensen, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Security testing: Turning practice into theory (Tà ¼rpe, 2008) à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Figure 1: Concept Matrix of the study of Significance of Security Testing

tristans Tragedy :: essays research papers

"Tristan's Tragedy" As told to (author's name) By Tristan "What an unusual Christian name, '(author's name)'! And you say you know but two languages? You must jest to render the title of 'scholar' upon yourself. During my training, I have learned seven, all the while being taught horsemanship and swordsmanship. Alas, all of my accolades serve me not here. True nobility never makes excuses for shortcomings; however, in this despair I can know no greater loss. After being wounded in battle with the giant Morolt (who was subsequently slain by my steel) I journeyed to Ireland in search of Queen Isolt and her medicinal power. Disguised as a wandering minstrel, I succeeded in endearing myself to her court by performing deeds impossible for the average. I also taught her daughter, my beautiful Isolt, the art of the lyre. I returned to Cornwall, and upon hearing my account of Isolt's charm, my king Mark resolved to make her his own. After convincing her family to allow her to wed the king, we set back on a ship for Cornwall. I remember the night on which we fell in love. Perhaps it was the wine, or perhaps I was merely intoxicated by her. Nonetheless, she amazingly felt the same drawing to me, and we were unable to contain our affections. We continued seeing one another in secret after the wedding; after all, without love her marriage was invalid. After a while, though, our conniving king took aware of our dealings and banished me to the barren Arundel. It was there I met a woman of average beauty, but with the only name worthy of my attentions: Isolt des Mains-Blancs. (That's "of the white hands" if your other language fails you.) I could not betray my love however, so our marriage was never consummated. Rightly so, because in due time I received a letter from my true Isolt, giving account of her flight from the king. She requested a meeting with me, saying her ship would bear a white sail. I kept the new Isolt on guard for weeks. Finally, I was informed that my Isolt was spotted on a ship,

Public and Private Sector Accounting Essay

Accounting, known by and large to be a skilled, remunerative, but rather dry profession, has a long and fascinating history. In existence practically from the dawn of civilization, in one form or the other, accounting activity has been integral to some of the most important phases of history. Responsible for the invention of writing, accountants have over the ages, (because of their organic and fundamental association with the processes of trade, business, industry, governance, and taxation), been involved in monarchy and empire expansion, the process of colonisation, the industrial revolution, the World Wars, scientific progress, globalisation, and the spread of neo liberal economics across the world. Confucius, as a government official, was responsible for accounting, and much of what we know about the daily lives of ancient peoples comes from accounting records, such as inventories and sales records, found at archaeological sites. Accounting evolution has followed dissimilar routes in different countries and states and has been extensively shaped by the immediate and larger environment. Japan’s accounting processes, for example, which were significantly shaped by western influences, are very dissimilar from that of neighbouring China and have played an important role in the country’s far more rapid advancement in business, industry and international trade in the 19th and 20th centuries. Accounting policies and procedures in the modern day have, in somewhat similar fashion, evolved rather differently for private sector businesses and public sector corporations, being shaped and constructed by the unlike needs of the two sectors, the dissimilar nature of their income and expenditure streams, the different control processes under which they operate, and their diverse reporting requirements. Recent years have however witnessed significant rethinking in and rerouting of the functioning of public enterprises; the steadily increasing application of neo-liberal economic principles and greater accountability for the commercial and financial success of public sector corporations, leading to increasing convergence between the accounting policies and practices of the public with that of the private sector. This essay attempts to investigate the reasons for the differences in their historical evolution, and the current worldwide efforts to bring about greater convergence between the two accounting methods. Commentary and Discussion Historical Overview of Evolution of Accounting Whilst the extent of involvement of accounting activity in historical life across cultures is becoming clearer with the progress of archaeological work, the accounting profession has historically chosen to adopt a low profile, there being very few pioneers who can be identified with major accounting developments. The most important historical name to arise, in this connection, is that of Luca Pacioli, who in 1494 wrote a book on mathematics, in which he discussed the concept of double entry book keeping. The chapter on practical mathematics addressed mathematics in business. He said that the successful merchant needs three things: sufficient cash or credit, an accounting system that can tell him how he’s doing, and good bookkeeper to operate it. His accounting system consisted of journals and ledgers. It rested on the invention of double-entry bookkeeping. Debits were on the left side because that’ s what â€Å"debit† meant, â€Å"the left†. The numbers on the right were named â€Å"credits†. If everything was done right, then the bookkeeper could do a trial balance (â€Å"summa summarium†). Add up all the debits and then add up all the credits, he said. If everything had been done right, the totals should match. If not, â€Å"that would indicate a mistake in your Ledger, which mistake you will have to look for diligently with the industry and intelligence God gave you. † He wrote† It is difficult to overestimate the importance of double entry bookkeeping. Simple and adequate for the needs of business, it caught on immediately with Italian merchants, was central to their success, and contributed towards the impetus that led to the emergence of the Renaissance. Whilst the conceptualisation and implementation of the double entry system of bookkeeping in the 15th century was the first major watershed in the development of modern day accounting theory, the following centuries were also witness to a number of major developments in Europe and Asia in the area of business recording and accounting, many of which contributed to the development of modern day accounting principles and policies. Notwithstanding Pacioli’s seminal contribution to accounting methodology, a number of other renaissance forces also helped in giving body and shape to the discipline; key factors among these being the concept of private property, capital, widespread commerce, money, the use of credit, the development of arithmetic, and the growing use of writing for recording transactions. Although many of these factors did exist in ancient times, they were not found together, until the Middle-Ages, in a form and strength necessary to push for the innovation of double entry. Accounting rules, policies and practices evolved over time in response to the needs of businesses and to a range of developments. The emergence of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century led accountants to devise accounting methods for finding the cost of production; large scale production of goods in the United States led to the formulation of cost accounting procedures, the arrival of income tax laws saw substantial modifications in the practice of keeping accounting records, and the great depression of the early decades of the 20th century led to the introduction of standards, the establishment of accounting principles and accounting frameworks. Josiah Wedgwood, the famous potter, contributed significantly to cost accounting by studying his books, manufacturing cost structure, overhead, and market structure to avoid bankruptcy during the recession. He became an accounting pioneer and his firm survives even today. Accountancy practices in recent years have been repeatedly scrutinised, modified and clarified through the setting up of accounting standards, the establishment of auditor responsibilities and the enactment of laws for appropriate disclosure. The reputation of the accounting profession has been severely tarnished by corporate scams and frauds like Enron, which has led to the questioning of accounting methods and principles, as well the integrity of the accounting profession. Accounting systems and practices, whilst developing side by side all over the world have followed distinctly different routes, being influenced by institutional and cultural factors. Institutional factors like legal systems, taxation laws, financing norms and methods, credit availability and stock exchange requirements, which have been markedly different for Anglo-Saxon, European, Central Asian, and East Asian environments have shaped the development of accounting systems accordingly. Researchers like Hofstede and Gray have theorised that cultural differences have also played a significant role in the establishment of different accounting systems in different countries. Gray took up Hofstede’s cultural hypotheses and linked them to the development of accounting systems in a meaningful way, stating that cultural or societal values permeated through organisational and occupational subcultures, and vice versa, though obviously the degree of integration differed from place to place. â€Å"Accounting systems and practices can influence and reinforce societal values† Development of Accounting Methods in the Public and Private Sectors The power of various influences to shape the development of accounting systems and methodologies is also evident in the shaping of accounting norms for the public sector and their significant differences from those adopted by or enforced upon the private sector; the public sector, basically implying corporations whose ownership vested with governments, and whose control was accordingly decided by government diktat. Whilst governments had until the 1930s focussed mainly on the controlling of law and order, defence, foreign policy, and similar other areas, the end of the Second World War saw them taking a far greater interest in business and commercial affairs, as well as in infrastructural sectors. Whilst some of these developments were due to the influence of socialist thought and the example set by socialist states, (where all businesses were controlled by the government), they were also influenced by the widespread disenchantment with the capitalist way of governance after the great depression of the 1930s. The huge task of nation building after the devastation caused by World War II made it necessary for governments to actually contribute to infrastructure building, nursing of revived industries, and setting up of new businesses. In the UK, activities like mining and railways were controlled by the government. In Italy the state owned IRI (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction) owned companies engaged in mining, steel, airlines, banking, telephones, and automobile manufacture, and in India the government, apart from controlling all infrastructural activity also controlled the majority of heavy business investment and activity. Substantial governmental control over infrastructural and commercial activity, in addition to its existing control over governmental departments, led to the evolution of a significantly different form of accounting than what was followed by the private sector. The most important of these differences concerned the mode of booking expenditures and incomes, which in the private sector worked on the accrual basis, even whilst the public sector chose to stay with the older method of recording them only after they had been realised in cash or kind. The cash basis of accounting, which records income or expenditure transactions only after such transactions have resulted in the physical receipt or payment of cash, constituted the commonly followed way of accounting for all enterprises, until the adoption of the accrual way of accounting by businesses, changed commonly held accounting perspectives. The cash system records accounting events when they become tangible, e. g. , when a customer’s check arrives, when a shipped product reaches the customer, or when money for a business-related expense is removed from the bank. Cash accounting registers income when money arrives and registers expenses when money goes out of the business. Even today the cash accounting method is a more familiar accounting method because of its use by most individuals in tracking of personal finances. Under this method, one’s income is taxable when it is received, and expenses are deductible when they are paid. Cash accounting remains a straightforward and easily understood method of record-keeping for tax purposes. The accrual method on the other hand approaches accounting events in real time. A sale is registered as soon as a customer receives a consignment even though the actual payment could come much later. Similarly an expense is recorded as soon as the event occurs and a liability recorded as soon as an event occur, whether it is purchase of material, use of services like water or electricity and use of employed or contracted labor, even though such transactions do not involve the simultaneous exchange of money. Over time most private sector businesses, apart from those controlled by small individuals or which were small in size, chose to switch over to the accrual system, forced as much by pressure from regulatory bodies and lending institutions, as by their desire to reflect more logical and realistic business and accounting outcomes. Most tax systems stipulate the compulsory use of accrual systems for private businesses after they achieve a certain size or adopt specified legal structures like those of privately owned or joint stock companies. Most public sector organisations, across the world, however chose to remain with the cash based system of accounting. Such decisions grew out of certain specific circumstances. Governments are essentially different in their nature from businesses, the information required for better understanding and assessment of the financial operations of government organisations extending beyond the reporting of surpluses and deficits. Governments, unlike the private sector, whilst required to run their operations efficiently, are required to provide goods and services to the public, which in some cases becomes more important than making profits. The measurement of surpluses or deficits is in many cases not the primary indicator of the performance of government working. In many countries the public sector continues to retain a separate and different approach from the private sector. Their services are often provided free at the point of use and there is little or no direct link between the cost of these and government income, which is mainly in the form of taxation. The government, in many cases, decides upon the amount of grants required for specific public sector organisations through the formulation of budgets and provides the same on a periodic basis; many such organisations preferring to call their financial statements â€Å"receipt and expenditure† rather than profit and loss statements. The accounting policies of public sector organisations are also shaped by their different reporting requirements. Private sector organisations, especially those that are legally structured as joint stock companies need to provide a true and fair description of their financial performance for the benefit of their shareholders, the tax authorities, and other stakeholders. Even smaller organisations need to necessarily satisfy the requirements of tax departments and their owners, and their accountants routinely adopt the accrual system for recording transactions and preparing statements. Reporting requirements for government controlled organizations is significantly different. Comparison of actual disbursals and expenses with those budgeted is a routine requirement, a need that is more conveniently filled through the use of cash accounting records. The managements of such organisations also have to report on specific information needs of various bodies, including supervisory government departments, parliamentary bodies, and the governmental auditors. Conclusion Recent years have seen extensive debate in public sector accounting and the changes made in many countries for shifting from the cash to the accrual basis of accounting. Public sector working has been influenced during the last three decades by the concepts of New Public Management, (NPM), which expressly calls for enhancement of the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of public service delivery through the implementation of a wide range of changes that include deregulation, decentralisation, outsourcing, substitution of input control by output control, result orientation, responsibility assignment and introduction and implementation of private sector management techniques. Whilst the adoption of the accrual system of accounting will lead to the production of more logical and more accurate financial statements, the convergence process will need extensive retraining and education not just of public sector accountants but also of public sector auditors and the users of these financial statements. Such lack of familiarity may lead to inaccuracies in the preparation of financial statements and will need to be addressed through appropriate training and skills upgradation of the concerned people. With the aim of public sector reforms being the dismantling of bureaucracy and more efficient use of resources, increased managerial autonomy and discretion is being accompanied by an emphasis on more extensive accounting practices. Again with accounting playing a key role in NPM implementation and in public sector reforms, the need for greater convergence between public and private sector accounting is being increasingly evidenced. Significant accounting reforms are taking place in many countries, more specifically in the United States, the UK, and West and Nordic Europe. Many public sector companies are changing their accounting policies to institutionalise accrual accounting for budgetary and external financial reporting purposes in order to provide useful information about liabilities, debt, usage of assets, and the cost of public services Whilst change is coming about slowly in public sector accounting, the issue is still being debated vigorously in many countries. The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) formulated the â€Å"Guideline for Governmental Financial Reporting† in 1998 to help public sector units at all levels to prepare their financial reports on the basis of accruals. The IFAC Guideline, along with the International Accounting Standards (IAS) followed by the private sector, make the basis for the International Public sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) developed by the Public sector Committee (PSC) of IFAC.

Reimbursement and Pay-for-Performance Essay

Introduction As we come into the 21st Century, we find Healthcare is at a crisis level. Every agency is working on healthcare reform from policymakers to the public and private sector, as well as federally funded Medicare and Medicaid. The business of Medicine is greatly influenced by the government (federal, state and local levels) and private health sections that initiate policies. Pay for Performance is a reimbursement method where physicians and hospitals can receive a higher reimbursement for duplicate services based on the fact that they deliver better quality care with better results and outcomes. This payment reform offers initiates intended to improve efficiency, value, and quality of health care (Hood, 2007). If all doctors receive the same dollar amount as a doctor with poor outcomes, then the doctor with great outcomes should receive a little more and there will be patients that do not mind paying a higher deductible for better medical services (Mayes, 2006). Definition for Pay for performance Kimmel (2005), â€Å"Pay for performance is a payment approach used in healthcare that is based on clinical information-driven reform. The fundamental concept is to tie payment to how well providers adhere to practice standards. The practice standards are evidence-based and tied to clinical outcomes. The primary areas of focus are preventive care delivery and disease management for chronic illnesses†. Effects on Reimbursement Pay for performance (P4P) is literally a group of performance indicators that are coupled with an incentive. The performance indicators supports the performance aspect of P4P while the incentive indicator is the pay component. Measuring patient outcomes and understanding the variances that  they have, has in part lead to the increasing rise in how pay for performance reimbursement is looked at. This style of reimbursement allows health plans and employers to pay increasing reimbursements to medical providers that have the better outcomes, give average outcome medical providers a chance to improve, and pay those medical providers with the lowest outcomes the least amount of money or not pay them at all (Cromwell, Trisolini, Pope, Mitchell, & Greenwald. 2011). In order to have a pay for performance system in place, you must decide what domains or areas you wish to track, measure, and reward. Some areas in this domain are clinical process, quality and patient safety, access to and availability of care, cost efficiency or cost of care, cost-effectiveness, administrative efficiency and compliance, adoption of information technology, and reporting of performance indicators. These can be set up as a single performance tracker or a multi-domain performance tracker and the measure needed for improvement, importance, and cost. Performance indicators should be valid, reliable, and informative (Cromwell, Trisolini, Pope, Mitchell, & Greenwald. 2011). The Incentive Schemes reward the performance measures, and is another important part of a pay for performance system. Funding proves to be another important part of this type of a reimbursement system. Types of funding include redistributing existing payments where additional funds will not have to be made and the quality of service is already high; however, medical providers with a lower quality of service will receive lower reimburs ements. Generated Savings and New Money are other sources of funding for performance measures. Generated savings claim that an increased quality of service will generate savings, although there are others who feel that new money should be used to fund the performance system. (Cromwell, Trisolini, Pope, Mitchell, & Greenwald. 2011). Impact of System Cost Reductions on the Quality and Efficiency of Health Care The Medicare Physicians Group Practice (PGP) was the first physician pay for performance model used by the federal government. The PGP believes that higher quality and better cost efficiency could be achieved by managing and coordinating patient care and by engaging in wider choices of care management that are able to improve cost efficiency and quality of health care. Interventions include; chronic disease management, high risk and higher cost care management, transitional care management, end-of-life and palliative care programs. If there were a more  successful payment and delivery method to increase the value of health care and improve quality of care, the cost would grow at a slower pace. The American people would be more likely to purchase health insurance coverage that is affordable and more valuable. (Kautter, Pope, & Trisolini, 2007). More progress toward effective delivery and system reform is one of the key elements to achieving the goals to push expanded coverage. Information technology is one of these key elements and a major part of pay for performance system. Information systems uses electronic medical records and patient registries have been created to improve the efficiency and quality of health care delivery. These type of initiatives that are being tested to see if cost savings are generated by reducing avoidable hospital stays, cutting down on readmissions and emergency room visits, while simultaneously improving quality of care (Kautter, Pope, & Trisolini, 2007). Effect of Pay for performance on Health Care Providers and Their Customers Meredith B. Rosenthal states, â€Å"Pay for performance will not replace the existing payment structure in either system, but it does allow payors to take into account a set of quality indicators, in addition to volume of service (as fee-for-service does now) or the nu mber of covered lives (in the case of capitation). In this view, pay for performance can be viewed as a mechanism to correct some of the distortionary incentives that already exist in the reimbursement system†. Physicians in the United States are paid on a fee-for-service basis. This encourages high volumes of services, where there is no regard to the value of services in regards to a patient. When services are reimbursed more generously than others it allows the payment system to influence additional medical services with a heavy emphasis on procedure-based care. Since the physicians pay is not attached to medical services provided, there is really no direct incentive to provide any services (How Will Paying for Performance Affect Patient Care?. (2006, March). Virtual Mentor, 8(3), 162-165). Effects of Pay for performance on the Future of Health Care Goldberg lists three points regarding the most significant implications of the movement toward paying for quality outcomes. These are that the quality and value become real parts of contractual reimbursement, the differences based on quality outcomes will be more evident grouped with provider tiers,  and quality metrics evolve to outcome-based and chronic disease management (Goldberg 2006). P4P is an incentive-based reimbursement system that rewards the best players. This pay for performance system is currently active in health systems, managed care settings, and private and group physician’s practices. P4P is likely to impact the entire health care environment and will provide yet another opportunity for pharmacy to become an active role player and leader with improving quality and efficient health care. The focus is not on value but on quality and cost. Pay for performance is not a new program, but in the age of informed choice, evidence based medicine, and patient safety, it can become the solution to our current health care dilemma (Pay for performance (P4P): Evaluating Current and Future Implications). Conclusion These pay for performance systems and programs will lead expansion across the United States health care industry in the near future. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, there has been a great amount of provision made to encourage continued improvement with quality of care. â€Å"Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of providers that agree to coordinate care and to be held accountable for the quality and cost of the services they provide† (James, 2012). There needs to be a consensus as to how much of an incentive will have to be given in order to affect the needed change and how should these incentive’s be paid out monthly, quarterly, or yearly; and how can these improvements be sustained over time. Continued experimentation with the pay for performance model should begin to incorporate monitoring and evaluation in identifying design elements that will also affect outcomes in a positive way. Variations in health care markets should be evaluated and include comparison groups to isolate pay for performance from other types of factors. Pay for performance has some great attributes to it and could definitely be the beginning to improvements in quality of service. If physicians are receiving patients and referrals based on their ability to provide quality of service with reduced readmissions and more satisfied consumers, then the care they take in providing services to patients from admission to discharge will create positive change. References Cromwell, J., Trisolini, M. G., Pope, G. C., Mitchell, J. B., and Greenwald, L. M., Eds. (2011). Pay for Performance in Health Care: Methods and Approaches. RTI Press publication No. BK-0002-1103. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.rti.org/rtipress Goldberg, L. (2006). Paying for performance a call for quality health care. Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Retrieved from http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_chs_p4p_032806%281%29.pdf Hood, R. (2007). Pay-for-Performance-Financial Health Disparities and the Impact on Healthcare Disparities. Journal of the National Medical Association, 99, 1-6. James, J. (2012). Pay-for-Performance. New payment systems reward doctors and hospitals for improving the quality of care, but studies to date show mixed results.. Health Policy Brief, 1-6, Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief.php?brief_id=78. Kautter, J., Pope, G., & Trisolini, M. (2007, Fall). Medicare physician group practice demonstration design: quality and efficiency pay for performance. Health Care Financing Review, 29(1), 15-29. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Demonstration-Projects/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/downloads/PGP_ Demo_Design.pdf Kimmel, K. (2005). Pay for Performance: An Economic Imperative for Clinical Information Systems. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.himss.org/content/files/PayForPerformance.pdf Mayes, R. (2006). The Origins of and Economic Momentum Behind â€Å"Pay for Performance† Reimbursement. Health Law Review, 15, 17-22. Pay for performance (P4P): Evaluating Current and Future Implications. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from https://www.ashp.org/DocLibrary/Policy/QII/Pay for performance.aspx Rosenthal, M. (2006). How Will Paying for Performance Affect Patient Care?. Virtual Mentor, 8, 162-165.