Innocence and Hostility in Romeo and Juliet and Of Mice and Men Essay

One dictionary defines Innocence as ‘Freedom from sin, moral wrong, or guilt through lack of knowledge of evil. ’ Thus innocence is the state wherein one is, in a sense, pure; free from doubt and dread and woe, unmarred by sorrow or the countless ills running rampant in the world. Innocence is associated with children and animals and nature. But for growth to occur, Innocence must be slain in order for Experience to flourish. This bittersweet transition from child to adult is the natural course of life: one cannot stay innocent forever. Oftentimes, this transition from innocent child to experienced adult occurs in the face of hostility, as in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where the young lovers, to combat the hatred their families have for one another, sacrifice their love, their innocence, and their lives. This theme exists as well in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, where George kills Lennie to save him from suffering, and in the doing so, also slays their shared dream of owning land and being free men. In Romeo and Juliet, the hostility between the Capulets and the Montagues creates the conflict that drives the play. This generation-spanning hatred consumes everything it touches: it causes the deaths of Mercutio at the hands of Tybalt, and drives Romeo to avenge his friend’s death by slaying Tybalt in turn. The hostility borne of this act forces Romeo to flee and Juliet to feign death; Romeo, consumed by grief, kills himself, and Juliet upon waking to find her husband dead, does the same. We see that the hostility permeates every aspect of the play. Innocence, symbolized by the young lovers, is ultimately slain by the hostility shared between the two families. In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie, two farm hands, share a dream to own a piece of land, and in doing so, become free men. George appoints himself caretaker of Lennie, a large, abnormally strong man with the mind of a young child. The hostility that proves the downfall of these two men stems from Curley, the son of the ranch owner. A man possessed of a short temper and a violent streak, his cruelty forces his wife to seek the company of other men. She spends time with Lennie. Warned that her presence causes trouble, he attempts to silence her when she creates a scene, and inadvertently kills her, his actions driven by fear concerning the hostility of Curley. Alarmed by his actions, he flees. The slaying of Innocence occurs when George kills Lennie in order to save him from cruel treatment and death at the hands of Curley and the other men. But in slaying Lennie, George also kills their dream of owning land, and being free men, and his own innocence as well. In both these stories hostility drives the conflict, propelling actions onward to the end, where innocence is slain and experience gleaned. In Romeo and Juliet the death of the two lovers causes the families to ‘grow up,’ and abolish the hatred and hostility between the two houses. In killing themselves the title characters also kill the hostility that led them to their deaths, and though innocence dies, peace is achieved. In Of Mice and Men, the hostility of Curley does not die; what dies is the innocence of a dream and the the innocence of childhood, symbolized by Lennie. George gains experience, he ‘grows up,’ and in doing so realizes the futility of the dream of being free in the face of the hostility of the landowners, as represented by Curley. And so Innocence is slain, and gives way to experience. Hostility remains in the world to aid in that transition. One cannot be Innocent always, and death and tragedy produce lessons one must learn in order to live in the world. Lovers die, as do hopes and dreams, but no matter how tragic or heartbreaking the events may be, one always gains lessons, often severe, from these losses. Such is life, as reflected in these works. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Washington DC: Washington Square Press, 2004 Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1978

Pacific Grove

Question 1: Based on the company’s forecasted financial statements, can the company quickly comply with the banks requirements? It depends on what you consider quickly. If the deadline is to only to have a plan ready by June 30th, 2012 then it looks like they can come pretty close without implementing any major changes. Just by following their expected future growth plans they will almost reach the requirements of the bank within 4 years. Using the information provided from their forecasted financials, by 2015 Pacific Grove will reach a 55% ratio of interest/bearing debt to total assets and their equity multiplier will be 2. 7. (See Exhibit 1) Depending on how stringent the bank is this may not be quick enough of a timeline or progressive enough of a plan. If they want these figures lowered to the required levels by 2012 then Pacific Grove must do something more aggressive reduce interest bearing debt levels. The company should explore ways to reduce its need for working capit al financing. They should see if there are ways of improving their supply chain efficiency and forecasting so that they can reduce their inventory levels.They should look to negotiate with suppliers to reduce the rate they are paying for inventory. Pacific Grove should also see if they can extend the length of their accounts payable. Even if they have to pay a slight price premium, if the rate(APR) is less than what the banks are charging them in interest, it could help to both save money and reduce their capital needs. They should also see if they can adjust the credit policy terms with their customers to shorten the number of days before payment.By reducing receivables and increasing payables they should be able to reduce their financing needs from the bank in notes payable and thus lower their interest-bearing debt. It is unlikely that even with changes in working capital structure they will be able to reduce their debt within a year. Raising funds by selling common stock to pay- off some of their interest bearing debt may be necessary in order to quickly comply with the banks requirements. My suggestion however would be to acquire the other company which has better debt structure.When the two companies are financial are combined Pacific Groves ratios will be under those required by the bank. Exhibit 1: 2. Should the new television program be produced and sponsored by Pacific Grove Spice? If yes how the necessary investment should be financed? I would say no. At first glance the new investment looks good. The upside of the investment is that it would increase the company’s sales, profits, and cash flow above their currently expected levels. Despite this upside it also significantly increases the yearly net working capital investment.The additional funds needed to pay for additional working capital means that the project has negative cash flow for both year 0 and year 1. Pacific Grove would really need to borrow or raise a total $2,573,118 to initially start and fund the venture before positive project cash flows start. If we are only looking at the financial implications of investing in the company using the expected IRR and NPV we may be fooled into thinking this new television program would be a great investment. Even if our WACC were 20%, we can expect the NPV of the project to be $1,716,414.When we look at discounted payback, however, we see that at a WACC of 20% the project payback period would be a little over 4 years and even the simple payback period is 3 years (see exhibit 2). This demonstrates that there is significant risk that the project investments may not be paid off, especially if actual performance is worse than expected. The most important issue currently facing the company is to reduce its interesting bearing debt so that it can continue to receive financing from the bank to support operations and growth.Investing in a project with a payback period of 3 years or longer would not be a wise decision as it would initially raise the level of interest bearing debt unless funded through the selling of equity. Although there may be some synergies between the television network and Pacific Grove which could help to promote their brand, it may also take away needed focus from their core business and lead to a poorer performance and erosion of its competitive position in the market.Pacific Grove’s lack of experience and knowledge about producing a television show add to the level of risk of the project. If they were confident that the investment will work the only viable option to raise capital while not increasing debt would be to sell shares in the company. This may not please current shareholders as they would face dilution in both the value of their shares and their percentage of ownership in the company. Exhibit 2: 3. Should the company issue new common stock to the external investment group?No, I don’t think they should issue the stock. If they decide to issue shares they will lose some percentage of their company control. In fact, Peterson and the Founders will go from controlling a total of 32% of the company to only 23. 8% meaning that the investment group would actually have more control of the company than the founders at 25. 6%. (See exhibit3) Although the share price will only drop slightly to $31. 30, the dilution of shares and drop in stock price may displease current shareholders.The market may respond by the further selling off of existing shares dropping the stock price more and further hurting the company’s financial status. Another problem with issuing the common stock is that although it will provide access to capital which they can use to pay off interest bearing debt If the bank requires the company to lowers its debt levels within the next year and no other banks are willing to lend, then issuing the common stock may be seem like the only viable option to quickly meet the bank’s lending requirements.I would argue, however, that acquiring High Country Seasoning company would be a better choice as it will also resolve the debt issues while also providing other synergies and not lowering the stock price of the company. Exhibit 3: 4. Should Pacific Group Spice acquire High Country Seasonings? Yes. Acquiring High Country Seasoning would help to do several things. First because of the company’s better financial debt structure will improve Pacific Spice Groups overall debt structure upon merging.The deal would not require the issuance of debt and would not lower the company’s current stock price. The two companies also operate in the same business line. This should help them to become a stronger player in the market by capturing more market share in the industry. There should be some cost savings because of economies of scales and the ability to leverage both companies’ assets. The only question remaining is whether the purchase price is greater than the estimated value of the company. E xhibit 4: Exhibit 5:

Liu Bolin?”the Invisible Art, the Repeat and the Lost

Bridge: Critical Reading & Writing Assignment Liu Bolin†the Invisible Art, the Repeat and the Lost Liu Bolin, a Chinese artist who has mastered the power of invisibility and successfully used it to gain an international reputation. As the most known â€Å"invisible man†, Liu Bolin stands out by blending in. The Invisible Man includes controversial photographs such as the image of Liu Bolin's face replacing that of Mao's in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, and several scenes against iconic Chinese national monuments like the Temple of Heaven and famed Nine Dragon Wall (hiding in the ity series).Coming after the fame from â€Å"Hiding in the City' series, Liu Bolin continued using exactly the same form to work on photographs of hiding in different cities, such as â€Å"Hiding in New York†, â€Å"Hiding in California†, and â€Å"Hiding in Italy'. Even Though Liu Bolin's â€Å"The Invisible Man† series has won accolades for the art powerhouses and there is p raise all over the international media, almost all of his photographs essentially repeat the same techniques and concepts, and protest the history, culture and pride of his own country. The Infinite RepeatArtist Liu Bolin began his â€Å"Hiding in the City† series in 2005, after Chinese police destroyed Suo Jia Cun, the Beijing artists' village in which he'd been working. With the help of assistants, he painstakingly painted his clothes, face, and hair to blend into the background of a demolished studio. Since then, the so-called â€Å"Invisible Man† has photographed himself fading into a variety of backgrounds all over Beijing and many other cities. Spot him embedded in a Cultural Revolution slogan painted on a wall, or spy him within tiers of supermarket shelves stocked with soft drinks.The process of all these works has never been changed since 2005: Liu stands still for hours as his assistants paint him to match his surroundings, which helps him to disappear in the scene. And things became even meaningless when Liu Bolin blended himself in New York, California and Europe. He is Just a tourist, who takes pictures as he travels in different city, but invisible as people always see in this works. When I'm looking at Liu Bolin's art works in the exhibition at Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, I feel like I was lingering in a small circle and could not get out.I was drowned in the numerous fell-alike photos, which have extremely similar backgrounds, scenes, mood, colors, subjects, and the same person†Liu Bolin, who is the artist himself. In the series Dragon Panel, there are nine photographs of Liu Bolin blending into the colored wall witn traditional Chinese dragon sculptures . Besides the ditterent colors of the paint coating and the movements of the dragons, which is literally not the point, all of these photos have the same perspective, same lights, same size and same Liu Bolin blending in at the same position in each photo.It's really easy to tell that many of his works are Just repeat of himself. He painted himself to fade in the magazine rack in Beijing (2011) and New York (2013). If I have to say there is something different, it would be the languages on the magazines when people look at the photos very close. Super market seems like another inspired place for Liu Bolin as he painted himself so many times to blend in soft drinks, fast noodles, toys, and vegetables†¦ which happened in different years since 2009. There is a photo named â€Å"in front of red flag† (2006) caught my eyes in which he is blending in ChineseNational Flag. Not surprised to me, in 2007, he blended three families, which look similar, into the same background†the Chinese national flag, and named those work â€Å"family'. At the same year, he created another work using American national flag and named it â€Å"American National flag†. Single countries can't satisfy Liu, in 2008, he created another work name â€Å"UN f lag† using the UN flag. A few examples â€Å"Hiding in the City' series, the Dragon Panel 2010, 4 of 9: Magazine Rack, form â€Å"Hiding in New York† 2013 and â€Å"Hiding in the City' 2011: Super Market from â€Å"Hiding in the City' series 2011, 2010, and 2009:Cereal, Made in China, and Panda, â€Å"Hiding in New York† series 2013: In front of Red Flag and Family, â€Å"Hidng in the City' series 2006, 2007: The American National Flag and the UN flag, â€Å"Hidng in the City' 2007 and 2008: The very important part of Liu Bolin's works is silently against the iconic Chinese national monuments like the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, the Palace Museum and famed Nine Dragon Wall (hiding in the city series). He had photographed himself to all over the scenic spots and historical sites where represents the time-honored istory and culture of China and are the treasure and pride for an ancient civilization.The concept is as still as the form, he wants to compel people to ponder the contentious relationship between the individual and society by silently commenting on modern sociopolitical conditions in China, because â€Å"l was a meaningless person, according to society,† Liu says. By repeating the same techniques and subjects in almost all of his photographs, Liu Bolin is well playing the â€Å"hero† of opening â€Å"China's national identity' and at the same time for tacit protest against the government, which Just caters to the values of the estern world.It's actually not a new trick to capture the attention of art moguls, spectators and critics for some artists who cannot get social recognition by the mainstream culture in their countries or communities. Recently, this â€Å"invisible man† who cannot even speak a complete sentence in English seems like living a pretty good life out of his country. In most of the interviews, Liu expresses so many times about how hard it is for people like him to survive in China an d his meaningless position in that society.However, as long as I was born in China nd raised there for twenty years, his experience most sounds like a story of a typical loser who got above himself with advanced degrees but has no ability to adapt to the real world after graduation. Just as what he said in an interview (his words were translated), â€Å"after graduating from school, for a long time I had no family, no Job and no love in my life. During those four years without love and income, I felt I had been dumped by this society and that I had no position within it. I was meaningless in this environment.

Microeconomics Discussion Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Microeconomics Discussion Questions - Coursework Example The dispersed sponsorship of many interested parties also expands the costs of the advertising and revenues over a larger pool of potential recipients. In the end, the provision of these seemingly enormous salaries is craftily calculated to ensure that the highest bidder gets to retain Jordon’s talents for maximum return. Economic rent is â€Å"any excess payment for a service, good or property above and beyond the minimum amount at which the person receiving payment would still have agreed to the deal.† It refers to the money above and beyond the minimum amount to employ a given resource or employee in this case. There is certainly what some would refer to as inflated salaries in professional sports where about 60% of the revenue goes to a few employees in the company. At the other end of the spectrum, one can visit any number of fast food restaurants and discover that all the employees are making more than minimum wage because the rents are required to attract service staff. Whether a college student, entrepreneur or salaried employee, companies and entities have to offer salaries above and beyond what will satisfy simply keeping the lights on.

Religion in Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Religion in Society - Essay Example Several religious organizations have been put up. These organizations are based on issues like abortion, family planning, gay marriages and education to disadvantaged children in the society. In the United States, the religious organizations are obtaining a lot of financial support from the political leaders by taking advantage of the development funds that each political leader receives (Wald, & Allison, 24). On the issue of elections, the fundamentalist Christians strongly support the association between politics and religious since they feel that when Christians are elected to participate in political leadership they will lead to a positive transformation of the government policies through application of Christianity principles. In the 2002 and 2004 election for instance, the evangelists united and voted for George W. Bush (Wald, & Allison, 210). The Muslims on the other hand have no distinction between the Muslim religious leaders and Muslim Government officials. In countries lik e Iran, the president takes orders from the Islamic Ayatollah. In the political and religious platforms, the most common feature is that the leaders want to take full control of people in all aspects. The strategy for success of these leaders is based on their ability to convince more people, in order to make them famous. In religion, the religious leaders are working towards having more converts while in the political, the political leaders are working towards having more voters in order to maintain their leadership roles. The religious leaders have authority over the converts; thus, they can influence the congregation in political matters by advising them to avoid voting for a particular political leader by using religious doctrines (Wald, & Allison, 97). Religion has an impact on legislation, because the major function of the government is to pass rules that are beneficial to the citizens.

Term paper on Capital market efficiency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Term paper on Capital market efficiency - Essay Example In addition, reference is made to market ethics, at the level that ethics can secure, at least up to a level, market efficiency, being related to all three aspects of market efficiency, i.e. information, institutions and transactions. The literature developed in this field proves that existing research in regard to market risks and potentials focuses on the potentials of markets to become efficient but also on the ability of certain financial systems to promote market efficiency. This is the case of the Islamic finance system which is highly differentiated from the conventional finance system at the following point: in Islamic finance emphasis is given on the intervention of ethics in economic transactions. Because of this reason the reference to the Islamic finance system has been considered as quite necessary for evaluating the issues explored in this paper. It has been proved that it is not quite difficult for a market to be efficient, especially since efficient markets are not co nsidered as perfect markets. Still, it can be rather difficult for those managing financial products to promote ethics in all financial transactions. Indeed, certain aspects of each market are not aligned with the rules of market efficiency, as analyzed below. ... veloped in each market can be an indicative example of market efficiency, as described by theorists who have studied the particular subject (Palan 2007). It should be noted that market efficiency is also described as capital market efficiency (Kevin 2006). The two terms reflect almost the same phenomenon: the development of a high range of economic activities with no delays or other failures within an environment that it is highly influenced by ethics (Kevin 2006). The only difference between the above two terms is the following one: capital market efficiency refers to the potential of specific financial products to respond to the expectations of their investors while market efficiency refers to the expectations of all people living locally, i.e. within the territory in which the market involved is based, to take a return from their deposits or other investments (Palan 2007). The characteristics and the role of market efficiency have been highly explored in the literature. Different approaches have been used though for describing the particular concept (Mama 2010). In any case, it seems that the content of market efficiency is not standardized, depending on the market conditions and economic activities that the particular term has to reflect (Mama 2010). Reference can be made, in particular to the following forms of efficiency, as appeared in the modern market: a) transactional efficiency; this term is used in order to show the ‘costs and speed of reliably transferring funds between market participants’ (Mama 2010, p.10); b) from a different perspective, informational efficiency is a term used in order to show the efficiency in regard to information (Mama 2010, p.11), meaning not only the information gathered in regard to the performance of a particular market but

International Business - Trade and Currency Essay

International Business - Trade and Currency - Essay Example The reason of this paper and the discussion is to prove that counter-trade has more benefits. Through illustration of examples I have tried to prove why counter- trade persist despite currency conversion is possible. Counter- Trade is a form of trade where the importer and the exporter agree to the certain terms where they exchange goods as payment to the goods they will receive. The exchange does not have to occur at the same time. O'Connell. J [2005]. According to London counter trade round table LCR "Counter trade is inherently an ad hoc activity - practice varies according to local regulations and requirements, the nature of the goods to be exported and the current priorities of thee parties involved. Also, the terms used to describe the main modes of trading vary, often interchangeably causing confusion. " There are six division of counter trade. Barter: Exchange of goods or services directly for other goods or services. This does not involve money as a mode of payment. For example if Country A sells electric equipment to Country B in return for cotton - they will hold electric equipment back until they make good profit out of cotton. Switch trading: This is a kind of purchase where the importing Country is obliged to make future purchase from the exporting country. For example, Country A at one time had a large surplus of Rice. If Country B exports goods to Country A, they can use Country A's rice to finance exports by selling it. Counter purchase: When a company in a specific country makes a sale of good or any services that country in return promises to make a future purchase of a particular product from that company. Buyback: This practice is most common with exports of process plant, mining equipment. It's an export of any industrial equipment and in return promise to paid by the outcome of the investment they will make with that product. Offset: A company makes an agreement that they will offset hard - currency purchase of an unspecified product from the other exporting country in the future. For example a country buying an airplane may demand that some parts and components can be obtain in their local economy. Counter trade is also sometimes referred as compensatory trade as it is a kind of trade where both parties are putting them into an agreement, which compensate for hard currency. Counter trade Role in the world market According to Vertariu [1972], that among all business countries there were around 15 of them who are pursuing counter- trade; and up till 1979 the figure reached to about 27; and by the start of 1990s there were almost 100 countries which preferred counter -trade as their choice of business. Officials of the GATT organization have claimed that counter trade accounts have reached to about 5% of the world trade. The British Industry have exceeded to about 15%. As with east-west trade who are more popular with this kind of trade have raised the figure as high as 50%. A consensus of expert opinions Okaroafo [1989] has put the percentage of the value of world trade counter trade from 20% to 25%. Desirability of counter trade: According to (Choi S.R, Tschoegl, A. E., [2003]), counter trade is a safer option, as both parties of a counter-trade deal on the

PEST Analysis OF Mount Brydges Bulldogs hockey team in Canada Research Paper

PEST Analysis OF Mount Brydges Bulldogs hockey team in Canada - Research Paper Example Mount Brydges Bulldogs allows new applications from 15 year olds to start training with other team players. Acceptance shall be dependent on the residence of the applicant and existence of a vacancy within the club training resources. Hockey is a contact game with high chances of players being injured while playing. The situation is made worse through the use of Hockey sticks while playing. Management trains its players well and provides them with comfortable and stanLard playing equipment to limit the number and magnitude of accidents hence lower lawsuits. Hockey is a big tournament in Canada with a large number of young people applying each year to join this tournament. Employment rates are low given the little number (6) of NHL franchises in Canada. The government regulates the number of teams to create a scarcity of teams hence increase competition among towns that compete to host the tournament. These regulations aim at increasing viewership and to make the tournament more popular. Canadians love watching Hockey teams lay with TV viewership averaging 1.5 million per game (Keller & McGuire, 2011). The high demand results from the stiff competition among cities to host the tournament given that few cities are homes to NHL teams. Mount Brydges Bulldogs has participated in every single tournament since 1975 with three wins. The competitive nature of the team’s management guarantees that the team will always participate and perform well at the tournaments. The huge demand for viewership of the NHL tournament has not been affected by inflation rates. Ticket sales have been high all time round given the competitive nature of the league. Inflation, however, has affected the team’s ability to provide quality safe training equipment for its players prompting management to seek support from well-wishers who will assist to pay part of the bills. NHL regulates

Strategic delivery of change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic delivery of change - Essay Example Change management process can be defined as an approach undertaken for transitioning organizations, individuals or teams so as to achieve the desired state in the future. This report deals with two different forms of approaches that can be incorporated so as to deliver strategic change in the organizational system. The problem identified in relation to the case of British Petroleum was accusation at the top management in terms of taking an active role so as to manage aftermath of the disaster of Deepwater Horizon. The major problem was that the organization followed a top down approach and as a result the disaster that could have been prevented by taking feedback from the person in charge of the project and the other workforce was not incorporated in the system. This in turn had resulted into that explosion and triggered a change throughout the organization so that innovative ideas and opinions can be incorporated by the organization for future growth and success. The other problem a rea was that the organization did not maintain transparency as well as proper communication channels with all the employees and neither with the public in relation to conveying the factors that led to the disaster and the initiatives that is taken by the top management so as to restrict such disasters in the future and align their operations towards being eco-friendly in nature. The report would aim at designing the approach that would communicate the change that is needed in the organization to every level and all the departments so as to ensure proper implementation of the change. Storytelling is one of the most dynamic approaches that are incorporated by many companies so as to illuminate needs for change and then generate response or actions. Storytelling approach at all its levels conveys the message to the employees on how they need

Reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading - Essay Example The historical changes that have taken place over the centuries have enabled authors to certainty and snatch up what was understood as the missing links of life and text (Mavor, 273). According to Mavor, the essay â€Å"Dearth of the Author,† was part of the force that propelled the change towards postmodernism The article Life Made Art, Art Made from Life by Miguel A. Medina, demonstrates that there are many artists whose artwork can be known without references of their biographies. However, there are other artists whose work cannot be separated from their life. In this case, their works of art are sustained by the events of their life. A third group of artists is the group that practices confessional art, in this article the most extreme case of confessional art is done by Tracey Emin. Emin’s artistic production revolves around her life experiences and has turned her life into a public display. According to Medina, in order to understand the sincerity and truth in the confessional art done by Emin, one has to understand confessional culture (Medina, 58). In addition, creativity in Emin’s artwork is inspired by her obsessions and she uses painting, monotypes, neon, bedspreads, films, installations photographs, and books (Medina,

Foreign Reserves Essay Example for Free

Foreign Reserves Essay According to the article entitled â€Å"UNDP urges prudent use of excess crude funds, foreign reserves† by Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna on April 24, 2008, the Nigeria and other African nations are having several problems when it comes to socio-economic aspects. One of the best examples in this context is the country of Nigeria. Based on research, it has been said if Nigeria utilized their crude resources in a good position, they will have an economic stability. The problem in this country is that there are no source of guidance and help from other sectors so that they can use their resources properly. The Nigerian government looses its capability to obtain greater perspectives in the issue of natural resources especially crude oil that costs billions during these times. Based on my own interpretation of this article, the author discusses all the details in simple form. The author used descriptive elements to illustrate the happenings or situations in the Nigeria as well as the issues that they experience during this day aside from poverty. However, there is no concrete resolution with the problem that the author discussed because these are sensitive issues that should not be taken for granted by the authority. It is the right of the whole Nigeria to know the real situation in their society and not only within their personal lives for the reason that it manifests their everyday living. Work Cited Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna. (2008). â€Å"UNDP Urges Prudent Use of Excess Crude Funds, Foreign Reserves† http://www. guardiannewsngr. com/news/article03//indexn2_html? pdate=240408ptitle=UNDP%20urges%20prudent%20use%20of%20excess%20crude%20funds,%20foreign%20reserves

Great deal of documentation Essay Example for Free

Great deal of documentation Essay These two documents need to be completed by the company and sent off to the companies of house where they will assess if the organisation meets the requirements to trade under the name PLC. The companies of house will provide the organisation of a certificate of incorporation which gives them the legal right to start trading. Apart from the legal requirements the formation of a public limited company is a very expensive process compared to a sole trader or partnership and requires a great deal of documentation. The company also needs to have at least  50,000 of share available before it can become a PLC. Another disadvantage is that the founder(s) of the company can end up losing total control of the organisation due to the company shares being readily available for sale on the stock exchange. Large organisations such as Tesco can become difficult to manage efficiently due to the size and capacity of the organisation which often results in staff feeling ignored by a remote management and the decision making can be difficult and take a great deal of time to be able to reach a conclusion. Also detailed financial accounts of the organisation must be published each year, which provides valuable information on how the company is performing to competitors and prospective take-over companies. OBJECTIVES OF TESCO PLC Tesco is already the number one food retailer in Britain and one of the top three in the world, but the organisations wants to improve in stature and minimise the chances of potential competitors catching up. Tesco PLC has one main aims which it expects to achieve in order to continue it success in the competitive UK retail market against such competitors as Sainsbury and Asda. To increase value for customers continually and to earn their lifetime loyalty For this specific aim, they have also set themselves several objectives to increase their chances of achieving the aim such as: 1. To understand our customers better than any of our competitors do. This objective was set so that the customer service provided and the understanding of customers by Tesco PLC is the best in the market and to ensure their closest competitors are not capable of competing. 2. To earn the respect of our staff for these values and to appreciate their contribution to achieving them. Tesco PLC not only wants to appreciate the contribution of their external customers but also the internal one. Tesco want to show that it cares for the needs and expectations of it staff. 3. To recognise that we have brilliant people working for us and to use this strength to make our customers shopping enjoyable in a way that no competitor can. Tesco PLC want to appreciate what their staff are doing for them and that will increase the staff moral and motivate them to continue with the work so potential competitors are kept at bay.

CompStat in America Does It Work

CompStat in America Does It Work CompStat was introduced in 1994 by the New York Police Department. Since its implementation it has been used by many law enforcement departments around the country. The New York Police Department claimed a dramatic decrease in crime due to CompStat. With the research available this paper examines whether the use of CompStat actually led to a significant decrease in crime in New York. This research will expose the strengths and weaknesses of the CompStat program to determine if the New York crime reduction was a result of CompStat or a combination of other factors. Results show that although CompStat lead to a decrease in crime in New York it also led to many unethical police practices in order to maintain the decrease in crime rate. Keywords: CompStat, compare statistics, crime reduction, NYPD Introduction CompStat, short for compare statistics, is the New York City Police Departments (NYDP) central management accountability model whereby commanders are held responsible for crime in their areas(Eterno Silverman, 2010, pp. 426-427). Implemented in 1994, the intention of the program was to escalate accountability inside the department with a viewpoint to additional effectual felony lessening. It is important to note that since external conditions, for instance, the economy and changing demographics do have an impact the level of felony in a society, crime rates do not directly reveal how fine a police department is operating. Nevertheless, the focal point of police functions and the deployment of capital may have an effect on the degree of crime. As far as CompStat is concerned, department commanders and department executives convene on an ordinary basis to assess performance capacity. The performance is usually assessed in the form of felony statistics and institutional data. Moreover, they converse tactics for plummeting felony in addition to administration of resources. (Willis, Mastrofski, Weisburd, 2007). The police commissioner and his managerial workforce query any person, whose precinct or department is not doing well, in accordance to their reputable performance objectives. If a department commander has not replied to the Commissioners demand over numerous CompStat assemblies, he might be subsequently detached from his position. Generally the department commander is relegated to a lower rank in the precinct. The latest data permit management to hold junior staff accountable for performance. This capacity to hold overseers accountable for their performance is, in accordance to New York Police Division, a chief motive for the program triumph. Even though CompStat has been mentioned as radical, owing to the lessening in felony rates in New York City, it is actually an application of attempted and genuine management and organizational techniques employed by corporations (Bratton Malinowski, 2008). The Accountability at CompStat In accordance with the New York police department, the primary step in CompStats means of accountability is to build up precise and well-timed intelligence. In order to evaluate performance in any class and expand a tactic for tackling particular objectives, the organization should at first have comprehensive, exact, and the latest information on present circumstances. These data are collected and scrutinized by a data analysis group. The data and outcomes are then submitted at frequently planned gatherings of all precincts leaders. Data are usually presented on charts of the city. The data normally depicts geographic patterns and tendencies over time. The second step of CompStat procedure is augmenting effectual strategies. Strategies are augmented to attempt to resolve any tribulations that are uncovered through data scrutiny. This normally happens during the ordinary planned or strategy tactic gatherings. These strategy tactic gatherings which are a medium or forum for not only endorsing accountability, but for assessing the information and spotting problems. Better still, setting objectives, suggestion of solutions, and harmonization of efforts are also accomplished at these meetings. One of the gains of these gatherings is that management staff from all precincts are in attendance, which makes communication in the precincts more effectual. Under the CompStat procedure, tactic progression is planned around data compilation and performance assessment. The third step in the CompStat process or procedure is fast progression of personnel and capital. After the first step notifies a manager regarding what is going on in their vicinity or precincts, and once more tactics have been augmented, it is vital to permit people in the field to assemble as quickly as possible. The organization yet has a responsibility in organizing the provision of resources. Nevertheless the verdicts regarding how to most excellently make use of the existing resources are frequently made at the inferior management levels. For instance, the patrols that ought to be utilized in a neighborhood and also at what time of the day. Provided that all of the objectives of the organizations are realized, superior management does not worry too much concerning the facts of how situations get resolved. The ending step in the CompStat process is persistent trial and evaluation. Once a predicament is spotted, a tactic augmented and resources marshaled to put into effect, the organization evaluates its evolution. Is the tactic functioning? Are there some problems? Are there some fresh problems? A lot of people inside the New York Police Division believe that follow-up has been the main significant contributing aspect in plummeting felony cases in New York City. Crime Strategy Meeting and the Technology Employed In New York City the police precinct is split amongst seventy-six departments, nine police service regions, and twelve transit districts. Each one of these ninety-seven divisions gather together weekly and evaluates the data for each and every division. Crime strategy meetings are carried out each week, even though not each person gives a presentation at each meeting. This is as a result of the big size of the precinct. Nevertheless, given that presenters at the meetings are called on arbitrarily, each person should be set to present at each assembly. To pool on the data from the ninety-seven divisions, the New York Police Divisions CompStat entity takes fifteen statisticians to evaluate the data. In addition to the statisticians, ten personnel members usually assist in collecting the statistics. Also, three to five personnel members at every division assist in the data compilation efforts. The information in its entirety is published in a weekly CompStat manuscript. The manuscript o r the book is henceforth disseminated at the meetings. The New York Police Division normally makes use of an amalgamation of off-the ledge software such as, Google Maps or MapInfo Professional, pooled with a number of internally augmented data analysis programs(Skogan Hartnett, 2005). Basically, the system permits commanding officials the chance to reply to queries concerning patterns or differences in the data. In addition, the system permits commanding officials the chance to reply to available solutions. Once more, as a result of the size of the New York Police Division, the meetings are moderately planned. The data are split into two classes. The first class is the felony data and the commander profile report (CPR). A departments CPR is comprised of all of the relevant information concerning that commander, as well as meeting dates, years in grade, education, and special training. It also includes administrative data regarding his or her command. For instance, overtime, departmental vehicle accidents, and civilian complaints. Crime data are split into two classes. The first class is chief felonies. The second class is the slight felonies. A top priority of the New York Police Divisions crime averting tactic has been to put into effect infringements of slight f elonies such as, panhandling or public drinking. Imprisoning a person inadvertently prohibits that person from committing any other felonies while off the streets. An illustration of this is a crowd of people on the street drinking beer. One of them begins a brawl and individuals end up being detained for provoked physical attack or sent to the hospital. By apprehending individuals for public use of alcohol, the brawl never happens, and one gets harmed. The crime strategy gatherings are essentially a medium for sharing facts and holding commanders accountable for their departments efforts. In addition, the meetings are meant to decrease felony crime rates and for their administration of their departments performance. Managerial personnel members pose queries concerning felonies and apprehensions. In addition, they do pose questions regarding explicit cases and actions taken up by the commander, so as to depict faults or verify enhancements. Commanders are anticipated to discern precise details concerning felony in their department and augmenting tactics to lessen it. While commanders augment precise tactics, the managerial staff keeps vigil on their accomplishments and disappointments. Incapability to acclimatize to new tribulations opens commanders to censure and probable criticism (Zink, 2004). One of the strategies employed used by managerial staff members during the gatherings is to openly rebuke commanding officials for sub-equ ality performance or deficiency of facts. This disgrace of persons who are not performing which has turn out to be unpopular amongst a number of police precincts, has been mentioned by creators of CompStat as a major contributing factor in put into effect accountability and encouraging officials to do well.(Weisburd Eck, 2004) CompStat in the New York Police Division focused on revealing problems. The New York Police Division has extended CompStat by attracting a number of other precincts to partake in the gatherings. CompStat regularly incorporates crime mapping systems for instance ArcGIS and MapInfo Professional. It has also integrated a database collection system. This system can be home-produced or from off-the shelf providers for instance Information Builders. In some circumstances, police divisions have begun providing information to the general public through their very own web sites (Roberts Roberts, 2007). Hypothesis Hypothesis 1: The New York Police Departments effectiveness was inversely correlated to crime rate. This hypothesis was formulated so as to establish whether the introduction of CompStat has so far led to significant crime reduction in New York City. If New York has a low crime rate it means that the police have been effective in implementing the CompStat crime model. On the other hand, it also means that when the police are ineffective in their implementation of the CompStat crime model the crime rate increases. Methodology The focus of this study of the future of CompStat was primarily conducted using scholarly literature searches, or secondary analysis, of all of the readily available peer-reviewed research. This includes online databases, as well as, web and library literature searches. The literature assessed highlights the positive, as well as, the negative aspects of the CompStat crime model. The research established the disillusion between the theortical concept of CompStat and its actual implementation and the effect that it has on the law enforcement officers involved. The library based.research allowed for the careful selection and application of already established key concepts, prevalent themes and issues for investigation into the subject area (Hobbs, 2008, p. 10). There was no production of new evidence only the examination and integration of existing ideologies. Possibilities and obstacles of CompStat paradigm Ironically, the remarkable achievement of CompStat model raises some possible problems. The first problem is that there is a discrete trend all through American policing to find a number of policies or practices that a different agency has put to good exploitation and to apposite it. Agencies loan these policies from other agencies made of diverse people with a unlike organizational culture and structure. Thus the broad principles of CompStat should be cautiously customized to the precise conditions, situations, and realities experienced by other agencies in other frameworks (Henry, 2002) CompStat doctrines can be extremely adapted and applied to any police agencys specific requirements and goals. As a management model, CompStat has demonstrated its applicability all through the public and private segments. (Weisburd, Mastrofski, McNally, Greenspan, Willis, 2003) CompStat persists to advance and to create outstanding changes in other areas. However, its roots are decisively planted in policing. CompStat persists to develop and to create outstanding challenges in the years to come. The CompStat model stands for a significant chance for the type of flexible and effectual administration style these challenges need. The quality of living enjoyed by those who frequent and stay in New York has turned out to be better over the past ten years. There is a conspicuous positive change in this sense of security and civility all through the city. The greatly enhanced quality of life in conjunction with great decline in serious crime has dramatically improved the New York City ima ge (Herbert, 2005). Even though quality of life pointers are greatly hard to compute than reported felonies, it is apparent that New Yorkers see less graffiti and come across fewer thugs. It is also apparent that the New Yorkers are far less often approached by violent panhandlers than they were some years ago. Not only do New Yorkers have a great deal of lower actuarial possibility of becoming a crime casualty but they feel safer in addition. According to Susan Geoghehan (2006): Two components that are integral to the CompStat paradigm are also key features of community policing: solving problems versus simply responding to them, and recognizing quality-of-life issues as vehicles for criminal activity. The Broken Windows Theory asserts that if deteriorating conditions within a community are left untended, they will lead to more serious crime. The rapid deployment of resources that is a key component of CompStat gets immediate results, as opposed to other forms of community policing that make vague references to the eventuality of change.(p. 46) Conclusion According to Kelling Sousa (2001), the CompStat program is perhaps the single most important organizational/administrative innovation in policing during the latter half of the 20th century(p. 6) but, even the greatest innovations have drawbacks. CompStats making New York Police Division commanders accountable for regulating felony has worsened into a state of affairs where the police leadership presses the junior staff to keep numbers low by any methods essential. The precincts middle managers will do whatever they have to do to evade being hauled onto the carpet at the weekly CompStat gatherings. They are, by nature, determined individuals who yearn for promotions, and rising felony rates wont aid anybodys profession. The other drawback of CompStat is that when it was begun , it didnt foresee the fudge factor.( Cordner Biebel, 2005). Thats the trait that permits local commanders to make it appear as if like felony has reduced when it has actually surged. Furthermore, in the early days, it was simple for a department commander to gain from CompStat. He or she had felony-ridden neighborhoods where basic policing methods might bring felony down. The problem is that once crime is under control the commanders have to become creative to keep their numbers down. No mayor or police commissioner desires to be the one clutching the purse when crime begins shooting up (Zink, 2004). Additionally, no departmental commander desires to be the one to convey the bad news that he or she does not have sufficient police to carry out the task. A major drawback associated with CompStat is that some police managers who spot the magnificent things CompStat can bring to the organization can take on in ritualistic recurrence of the obvious behaviors they have seen while the bigger picture avoids them(Cyr, 2010).

Othello: Is its Enduring Universality Explainable Essay example -- Oth

Othello: Is its Enduring Universality Explainable?  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The Shakespearean drama Othello is recognized by literary critics, with few exceptions, as having a universal appeal. What are the reasons for this universality?    The universality of the play perhaps depends on the universal appeal of its main characters, for example Iago the antagonist. In the essay â€Å"Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello† Robert B. Heilman explains the universality of the antagonist:    As the spiritual have-not, Iago is universal, that is, many things at once, and of many times at once. He is our contemporary, and the special instances of his temper and style – as distinct from the Iagoism to which all men are liable – will be clear to whoever is alert to Shakespeare’s abundant formulations. Seen in limited and stereotyped form, he is the villain of all melodrama. He is Elizabethan – as Envy or Machiavel. And to go further back still, we see in how many parts of Dante’s Inferno he might appear. He could be placed among the angry and violent. But his truer place is down among those who act in fraud and malice – the lowest category of sinner who on earth had least of spiritual substance and relied most on wit. (342)    To the modern audience the play’s biggest shortcoming may be the inability of the audience to relate to the protagonist. In the volume Shakespeare and Tragedy John Bayley explains why the modern audience has difficulty identifying with the protagonist in this play:    Othello’s need to kill Cassio and Desdemona belongs only to him; not only because we know it to be deluded, but because the nature and extent of the delusion is such that we cannot imagine ourselves becoming involved in it. We cannot ju... ... Heilman, Robert B. â€Å"The Role We Give Shakespeare.† Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.    -- -- --.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello.† Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. Rev. Ed. Rpt. from The Sewanee Review, LXIV, 1 (Winter 1956), 1-4, 8-10; and Arizona Quarterly (Spring 1956), pp.5-16.       Levin, Harry. General Introduction. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. â€Å"Shakespeare.† Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.   

Socrates’ Trial Defense in Terms of His Values Essay -- Plato Socrates

Socrates’ Trial Defense in Terms of His Values In his Apology, Plato recounted the trial that led to the execution of his friend and mentor, Socrates. The account revealed that values of Socrates’ accusers and his own fundamentally differed, and that they had been angered because he tried to prove that they had misplaced theirs. Those differences created conflict between the two parties that culminated in his trial. With the understanding that a jury condemned Socrates to death and his defense nevertheless pleased him because he gave it truthfully, it is most sensible to call it a good defense because he felt it was the best that he could do. In reply to the first charge against him, Socrates effectively recounted the reason that he had been privately questioning Athenians and claiming that some of their personal beliefs had been ill-founded. The affidavit read, â€Å"Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others.† (Plato, 2) The abstractness of that accusation made it an odd one to refute, so Socrates attempted to do so by explaining how he became unpopular with his accusers. Socrates established very early in his defense that he knew he had no wisdom, and he based his investigations of Athenians’ wisdom on finding at least one person wiser than he was. He recalled a story of Chaerephon, an old Athenian friend, who went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask whether anybody had more wisdom than Socrates did, and she â€Å"’†¦answered that there was no man wiser.’† (Plato, 3) Socrates explained that since he knew he had no wisdom, he began a search to find a ... ...ur persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to take care about the greatest improvement of the soul.† (Plato, 11) His mission attempted to show Athenians that the way to do that is to live in truth and justice. Socrates’ defense maintained the integrity of the values that he lived by. He affirmed that he was not angered at being condemned to death, saying, â€Å"I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.† (Plato, 17) He devoted himself so completely to improving his soul and the souls of others that, while he faced enormous odds in convincing jury members who considered him evil, he undoubtedly believed that his defense left his soul in its best condition before he died. In those terms, Socrates could not have delivered a better defense. Sources: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

African American & Societys Influence Essay -- essays research papers

I. Introduction We can begin to draw comparisons and highlight distinctions about the meaning attached to youth violence, from the modern era to present day. Based on this meaning, we are able to understand the myriad of ways delinquent juveniles are affected by certain policies. Specifically, African Americans are over-represented in the juvenile justice system of Cook County, Chicago. Thus, they are a vulnerable population that is singled out by the system, and this further exacerbates and stigmatizes them. II. Historical Background: Children As Villains In Modern America Until the late 19th century, children were tried in criminal courts with adults. According to common law, the law regarded children under the age of seven, as still in the infancy stage of moral development, while those over the age of fourteen, were morally developed and thus responsible for criminal offenses. An early response, to the reasoning of juvenile delinquency, was that the blame was directed at the child. Children faced harsh punishment, such as prison and death. Eventually, reform efforts were established to provide a more acceptable approach. The Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, viewed delinquents as needing a place to rehabilitate, and punishment was built in (Shepherd). As a penalty, the children worked an 8-hour day at trades and attended school for another 4 hours. Records reveal that many of them had not committed any criminal act, and a number of juvenile delinquents could be categorized as committing status offenders (Shepherd). Juveniles were susceptible to court hearings that were informal, and the ideology was based on the principle that judges will act as a parental guide, and provide an approach to guide children. In addition, another response to the growing concern of youth delinquency was with the establishment of the first juvenile court system created in Cook County, Chicago. This act was unique, since it attempted to reduce the stigma of juvenile crime and create a new approach for the process of offenders. They philosophized that children were not to be treated as criminals but in need of encouragement. III. Current View of Juvenile delinquency Over the decades, the perspective of juvenile delinquency has seemed to intensify, as it has been regarded as an epidemic. Youth violence has appeared to proliferate in some ar... ...are inadequately being taken care of. Consequently, there is the possibility that America’s poor children will grow up in a socially disorganized neighborhood, and ultimately they will be exposed to violence. As they grow up, they will attach meaning to the surroundings and people around them, and depending on the resource in their life they will eventually become molded. References Bennet, J. and Fraser, L. (2002) â€Å"Urban Violence among African American Males: Integrating Family, Neighborhood, and Peer Perspectives†. 1-2. Chicago Gangs. Retrieved December 13, 2004 from http://gangresearch.net Collins, J.W. and Hawkes, E.K. (1997) â€Å"Pathways to Juvenile Detention Reform: Reducing Racial Disparities in Juvenile Detention†. 21-24. Dumke, M. (2000, September. Race, Poverty, & defining failing schools. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 5, 2004, from http://www.chicagotribune.com. Sheney, R. (2004). Armed and Dangerous. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 12, 2004 from www.chicagotribune.com Shepherd, R. Jr. â€Å"The Juvenile Court at 100 Years Back: A Look Back†. Retrieved Decmber 13, 2004 from http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/jjjournal1299/2.html

A Comparative Analysis of Overstock and Amazon

Financial Reporting, Analysis and Ethics: A Comparative Analysis of Overstock. com and Amazon Robert Baird BU7545 Fall 2011 Financial Reporting, Analysis and Ethics: A Comparative Analysis of Overstock. com and Amazon Robert Baird BU7545 Fall 2011 Table of Contents| | | Executive Summary| 2| | | Company and Industry Information| 3| | | Accounting Issues| 6| | | Accounting Policies and Disclosure Practices| 9| | | Financial Statement Analysis| 10| | | Corporate Governance| 13| | | Conclusion| 15| | |References| 18| | | Appendices| 21| Executive Summary This paper covers the accounting errors related to freight costs that led Overstock. com in 2006 to restate its financial statements for 2002, 2003, 2004 and quarterly reports for 2004 and 2005, and the subsequent SEC investigation in which they were cleared of wrongdoing. It also covers a second restatement from 2009, in which the financial statements for 2009 and 2008 were restated and another SEC investigation related to those restat ements.The paper details a glaring problem for Overstock related to its accounting controls and even the company’s admittance in its annual report that it does not have an appropriate number of qualified accounting professionals able to produce financial statements that are free of material errors. Overstock is compared against a direct competitor, Amazon, who although is a much larger company that Overstock, has become the standard in the industry against which all other companies are judged.The financial statements and financial ratios from 2006-2008 of both Amazon and Overstock are shown in comparison with one another to offer some insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each company and to evaluate their performance, and include consolidated statements of operations and consolidated balance sheets from 2005-2008 and common-size statements of operations and balance sheets for each company from 2005-2008, as well as trend statements of operations and balance sheets for each company from 2005-2008.The paper also examines the corporate structure of each company, including the board of directors, the different board committees that exist and compensation practices for senior company executives. The paper concludes that Overstock must put in place the proper controls and hire competent accounting and auditing professionals to ensure the validity of their financial statements. Company and Industry Information Overstock. com (Overstock) was incorporated in Utah in December 1998, originally as D2-Discounts Direct, Inc. , later reincorporated in the state of Delaware in 2002 and changed its name to Deals. om, Inc. in 1999. Overstock adopted its present name on October 25, 1999 and is based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Overstock is an online retailer that sells discount merchandise to consumers through its online website. According to Mergent Online, â€Å"Overstock. com is an online retailer providing discount brand name, non-brand name and closeout mer chandise, including bed-and-bath goods, home decor, kitchenware, furniture, watches and jewelry apparel, electronics and computers, sporting goods, and designer accessories, among other products† (2011).Overstock also sells â€Å"run books, magazines, compact discs, digital video disk and video games† (Mergent Online, 2011). The company conducts direct business, in which it orders are fulfilled at Overstock’s warehouses in Salt Lake City, Utah and shipped to final consumers or business, and business with fulfillment partners, which occurs when Overstock sells another manufacturers or retailers merchandise on their website and those third parties pack and ship orders. Overstock, however, does â€Å"handle returns and customer service related to substantially all orders placed through its website† (Mergent Online, 2011).According to Mergent Online, as of the end of 2010, Overstock â€Å"sells to customers in over 90 countries† but â€Å"does not have sales operations outside the United States† and â€Å"is using a United States based third party to provide logistics and fulfillment for all international orders† (2011). Overstock does ship goods to suppliers on consignment, and includes car and real estate listings, insurance quotes and an online auction service on its website. Amazon was originally incorporated in Washington in 1994 and later reincorporated in the state of Delaware in 1996. Amazon. om (Amazon), like Overstock is an online retailer that sells all sorts of different products and merchandise on its website. According to Mergent Online, the products on Amazon’s website â€Å"primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those provided by party sellers, and it also manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader† and they also provide â€Å"services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), fulfillment, miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as onli ne advertising and co-branded credit cards. Amazon consists of two separate business segments, North America and International.North America consists of â€Å"amounts earned from retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and subscriptions through North America-focused websites such as www. amazon. com and www. amazon. ca and include amounts earned from AWS† and includes the export sales from the above mentioned websites (Mergent Online, 2011). The International business segment consists of â€Å"amounts earned from retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and subscriptions through internationally focused locations† and the segment includes â€Å"export sales from these internationally ased locations (including export sales from these sites to customers in the United States and Canada), but excludes export sales from the company’s United States and Canadian locations† (Mergent Online, 2011). According to Standard & Poorâ €™s NetAdvantage, Amazon â€Å"has virtually unlimited online shelf space, and can offer customers a vast selection of products through an efficient search and retrieval interface† (2011). In addition to being the seller of record for a broad range of new products, Amazon allows other businesses and individuals to sell new, used and collectible products on its websites through its Merchant and Amazon Marketplace programs† in which Amazon â€Å"earns fixed fees, sales commissions and/or per unit activity fees,† as well as serving developers and â€Å"enterprises of all sizes through AWS, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to virtually enable any type of business† (S&P NetAdvantage, 2011).The online retail industry is an industry that is thriving as more and more consumer purchase products online. As the supply chain and logistics processes have become increasingly advanced and streamlined, online retailing has tak en major strides in the past two decades. According to the Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys (Computers: Consumer Services & the Internet), â€Å"United States online retail sales (excluding the auto, travel and prescription drug categories) increased 13% in 2010 to $17. billion† and â€Å"improvements in multi-channel initiatives, better online merchandising, more personalized offerings and increasingly sophisticated marketing efforts drove growth in 2010,† while S&P Capital IQ forecasts internet retail sales will rise to 11% in 2011 (2011, p. 10) . The S&P Industry Survey also states that â€Å"worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) internet spending may increase from $708 billion in 2010 to $1. trillion in 2014† and the three most popular categories of merchandise sold online in 2009 were (in order) â€Å"apparel, accessories and footwear; software and peripherals; and consumer electronics,† and a â€Å"number of exclusive online retailers have also been successful, among (them) major publicly traded online retailers like Amazon. com Inc. and Overstock. com Inc. † (2011, p. 17). Amazon, however, is far and away the leader of its industry. At first it seemed like a business model that was destined to ail, but is has since become â€Å"the model† for its industry and â€Å"has been the breakaway leader in global e-commerce for a number of years† (S&P Industry Surveys, 2011, p. 18). Overstock is trying to emulate the strategy used by Amazon, but it is difficult for any online retailer to differentiate itself from a company like Amazon, with its huge market share and market capitalization. Amazon is an incredibly tough act to follow and according to the S&P Industry Survey, it is predicted that in 2011, Amazon â€Å"will achieve its sixth straight year with revenue growth of greater than 25%† (2011, p. 18).Amazon has â€Å"achieved strong and sustained success by continuing to focus on its customers † and â€Å"has looked to innovate and take risks, despite potential near-term negative impacts to its financial performance† (S&P Industry Surveys, 2011, p. 18). Accounting Issues Overstock has had numerous instances of accounting and control errors that have resulted in restatements of financial statements and probes by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In 2006, Overstock announced that it would restate its previously reported financial statements going back to 2002 due to an error in the way it accounted for its freight costs.According to the Deseret News on March 1, 2006, â€Å"the accounting errors relate to how the Salt Lake-based company immediately expensed inbound freight costs in the periods they were incurred, instead of capitalizing such costs as part of inventory and expensing them as it sold off the inventory† and the error â€Å"effects annual financial reports for 2002, 2003, 2004 and quarterly reports for 2004 and 2005à ¢â‚¬  (2006, p. E1). The correction of the freight cost error actually increased the inventory by $3. million as of the third quarter of 2005, and lowered the net losses for fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004. In an interview on CNBC in 2006, Overstock CEO said of the restatement â€Å"our restatement was $3. 5 million to the good† and â€Å"our auditors have said that we understated our results by $3. 5 million† (CEO Wire, 2006). He went on to say in the interview with Becky Quick on CNBC that â€Å"it turns out we had – turns out that we have understated our performance, that our books are too conservative, is what the auditors have said† (CEO Wire, 2006).Overstock vice president of corporate affairs, echoed this sentiment in an interview with the Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, saying â€Å"when you look at what this restatement is really, it is positive† (Sims, 2006, p. 1). In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Overstock President Jon athan Johnson said of the accounting errors: â€Å"When we order comforters, we pay the manufacturer and the freight bill. We’ve been accounting for the freight bill as we paid it, expensing it. We should have been capitalizing the freight bill as we sold the goods, as opposed to when we actually paid it† (Keahey, 2009).These are just some examples from the corporate officers at Overstock that they just clearly do not get it, and do not understand the impact of a financial restatement. The Deseret News describes the effects of the accounting error as follows, â€Å"for 2005, the accounting change will narrow the reported net loss by $1. 8 million for the quarter ended September 30 and by $592,000 for the quarter ended June 30† and â€Å"widen the net loss by $107,000 for the quarter ended March 31. For 2004, the correction will lower the full-year loss by $461,000.The accounting change will also reduce the net losses for the 2002 and 2003 fiscal years† (2 006, p. E1). This restatement led to an investigation of Overstock by the SEC resulting in a subpoena from the SEC for internal documents relating to â€Å"its accounting policies, targets and projections† (Wall Street Journal, 2006). On June 6, 2008 the SEC informed Overstock that it had completed its investigation â€Å"of the company and its officers and does not intend to recommend any enforcement action† (Financial Wire, 2008).Overstock apparently did not learn much from the above mentioned restatement and subsequent SEC investigation, and on September 15, 2009, Overstock received yet another notice from the SEC, putting the company on notice that the SEC was â€Å"conducting an investigation concerning Overstock’s previously-announced restatements of its financial statements in 2006 and 2008 and other matters† and the subpoena that accompanied the notice â€Å"covers documents related to the restatements and also to Overstock’s billings to i ts partners in the fourth quarter of 2008 and related collections, and Overstock’s accounting for and implementation of software relating to its accounting for customer refunds and credit, including offsets to partners, and related matters† (PR Newswire, 2009). In February 2010, Overstock announced it was restating its financial statements for 2008 and 2009, shifting $1. 8 million of income from 2009 to 2008. Overstock attributed this restatement to â€Å"some accounting confusion involving other companies that sell goods on its website† and a related problem involving incorrect invoices from a freight vendor† (Deseret News, 2010, p. A10).Overstock also stated in a filing with the SEC that it was â€Å"applying different accounting standards for its stock option plans that will mean decreased income of $350,000 for 2008 and about $900,000 for 2009† (Harvey, 2010). As if the restatement of financial reports was not bad enough, Overstock admitted to a â€Å"deficiency in its financial controls related to its relationship with certain business partners† and informed the SEC that â€Å"management’s report on internal control over financial reporting for fiscal 2008 can no longer be relied upon† (Harvey, 2010). On his blog on Phil’s Stock World, Sam Antar (who discloses that he is a convicted felon and former CPA who now works closely with government and law enforcement agencies in cases of white-collar crimes and regularly refers cases to them) wrote that â€Å"in 2009†¦Overstock. om violated GAAP in accounting for its recoveries of certain offsetting costs and reimbursements amounts due to the company from its fulfillment partners (suppliers) who were under-billed in previous reporting periods† and that Overstock should have â€Å"restated its financial reports to recognize income when those offsetting costs and reimbursements were actually earned by the company in those previous reporting periods† (Phil’s Stock World, 2010). Antar claims that accounting errors are bordering on criminal and that the company â€Å"improperly recognized income as those amounts were collected in future accounting periods on a non-GAAP cash basis† and that Overstock even reported profits in the fourth quarter of 2008 when they should have reported a loss under GAAP (Phil’s Stock World, 2010).Antar made some even stronger claims against Overstock, saying that accounting errors have become commonplace at Overstock at that the officers of the company do not seemed interested or inclined to put the proper controls in place to detect these errors. Antar writes that â€Å"so far, from 1999 to Q3 2009 every single financial report issued by Overstock. com had to be restated at least once, sometimes twice or even three times to correct material accounting errors† with the company even claiming that the last two restatements were caused by â€Å"technology proble ms† (Phil’s Stock World, 2010). In the 2009 10-K issued by Overstock it stated that Overstock’s â€Å"information technology program change and program development controls were inadequately designed to prevent changes in our accounting systems which led to the failure to appropriately capture and accurately process data† (2010, p. 18).The two previously mentioned instances of financial report restatements mean that in 2006, the annual financial statements for 2002, 2003 and 2004 were restated; then the 2006 financial statements were restated again along with the statements for 2008. Both restatements had little or no effect on the stock price of the company and after each restatement was announced the stock price either fall modestly or even went up slightly. Accounting Policies and Disclosure Practices As shown in the numerous instances of accounting errors and restatements, Overstock clearly has an issue with its internal controls over financial reporti ng to detect basic GAAP errors before their financial statement are released to the SEC.In its 2010 10-K, Overstock acknowledges that they have a problem and states, â€Å"we lacked a sufficient number of accounting professionals with the necessary knowledge, experience and training to adequately account for and perform adequate supervisory reviews of significant transactions that resulted in misapplications of GAAP† (2010, p. 22). This is a fascinating admittance by a major publicly traded company that it simply does not have accountants to properly produce correct financial statements free of significant accounting errors. Amazon, for its part, is the leader in online retailing and a much larger company with a global footprint that outstretches most companies, and especially that of Overstock, yet their accounting policies are sound.There exists nothing in their annual reports to the SEC that outlines anything of the sort that Overstock has admitted related to not having a sufficient number of accountants. The information listed in their financial reports seems to be standard language related to GAAP. Both companies, Amazon and Overstock account for their inventory using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method, valued at lower of cost or market value and depreciate their fixed assets on a straight-line basis. Financial Statement Analysis In its 2009 10-K report, Amazon gives an interesting overview to its business. It states that its’ â€Å"primary source of revenue is the sale of a wide range of products and services to customers† and that their â€Å"financial focus is on long-term, sustainable growth in free cash flow per share† (2009, p. 21).It also states that â€Å"we seek to reduce our variable costs per unit and work to leverage our fixed costs† and â€Å"because of our model we are able to turn over inventory quicker and have a cash-generating operating cycle† (2009, p. 22). Amazon’s inventory turnover, as shown in the financial ratios in the appendix, was 11. 46 times in 2008 (consistent with 11. 06 times in 2007 and 11. 44 times in 2006) and with a receivables turnover of 24. 95 times in 2008 and payables turnover of 5. 98 times in 2008, they have a sufficient operating cycle and cash conversion cycle. Overstock’s inventory turnover was 31. 68 times in 2008, up from 12. 21 times in 2006, and means their sales are stronger and they are moving inventory at a much better rate. The receivables turnover for Overstock 75. 49 times in 2008 and accounts payable turnover of 12. 53 times in 2008.Amazon gets more bang for their buck than Overstock, and is able to leverage their considerable size and operational capacity to achieve significant returns on their assets, equity and income. In 2008, Amazon’s return on assets (ROA) was 8. 69 percent, compared with Overstock’s -6. 23 percent ROA. Overstock’s ROA has improved from 2006 when it was -34. 43 percent but be cause of consistent net losses their return ratios are negative. Overstock’s return on equity (ROE) was -105. 88 percent, and improvement from -131. 38 percent in 2006, but nothing compared to Amazon’s ROE of 33. 25 percent in 2008. Amazon also has a significant return on operating income (ROI) of 28. 93 percent in 2008, as contrasted with Overstock’s ROI of -12. 82 percent in 2008 (up from -57. 89 percent in 2006).A look at the common-size consolidated statement of operations of Amazon and Overstock (restated) offers some insights into the considerable differences between a company with the size and stature of Amazon and a company that would like to achieve that status, like Overstock. Amazon had a gross profit in 2008 of 22. 3 percent of sales (consistent to the gross profit for 2005 through 2007), whereas Overstock had a gross profit of 17. 1 percent of revenue (consistent with gross profit percentages from 2005 through 2007). Both Amazon and Overstock had si milar total operating expenses, 17. 9 percent of sales for Amazon in 2008 and 18. 4 percent of revenue for Overstock in 2008. The numbers that are the most telling are the income statistics, with Amazon having a net income as a percentage of sales of 3. 4 percent in 2008, whereas Overstock had a net loss s a percentage of revenue of -1. 5 percent, which improved significantly from 2006 when it was -13. 7 percent and 2007 when it was -6. 3 percent. The trend consolidate statements of operations for Amazon and Overstock (restated), in which the base year of 2005 equals 100 percent, the discrepancies between a global leader in its industry, Amazon, and its competitor, Overstock, are even more compelling. Net sales for Amazon more than doubled from 2005 to 2008, and in 2008 net sales were 225. 7 percent of the net sales from 2005. Total revenue for Overstock was only up slightly from 2005 to 2008, and in 2008 total revenues were 104. 4 percent of the total revenues from 2005.Amazon also doubled its gross profit from 2005 in, up 209. 4 percent, whereas Overstock’s gross profit in 2008 was 122. 3 percent of its’ 2005 gross profit. Overstock’s total operating expenses stayed relatively close to their 2005 level in 2006, 2007 and 2008, only rising slightly. Amazon, on the other hand had a significant increase in total operating expenses. Operating expenses in 2008 were 213. 3 percent of the 2005 total operating expenses. Net income for Amazon for 2008 was 179. 7 percent of its 2005 net income and increased from 132. 6 in 2007 and from a very off year in 2006, when net income was 52. 9 percent of the previous year 2005.Overstock has lowered its net losses, and in 2008 the net loss was half (50. 8 percent) of the 2005 level, and they too had a rough year in 2006 when the net loss was four times (428. 5 percent) that of 2005. Analysis of the restated common-size consolidate balance sheet for Overstock and the common-size consolidate balance sheet for Amazon show that both companies have a similar number of current assets, as would be expected from two companies that sell products online and have significant sales and inventory turnover, but Overstock has more cash and cash equivalents when compared to Amazon. Overstock had, as a percentage of total assets, 58. 3 percent of cash and cash equivalents, up drastically from 17. percent in 2005, while Amazon had cash and cash equivalents of one-third (33. 3 percent) of total sales, up slightly from 27. 4 percent in 2005. Amazon’s total current assets were 74 percent of total assets, whereas Overstock had total current assets that totaled 84. 7 percent of total assets, which increased from 72. 1 percent of total assets in 2005. Since current assets were a large percentage of total assets, the reverse would be expected, and total current liabilities for an online retailer would also be a significant portion of total liabilities and stockholders’ equity. Most consumers mak e purchases online using credit cards and those purchases are often paid off within a year, making them current.Total current liabilities for Amazon in 2008 were 57 percent of total assets, remaining stable year over year between 2008 and 2005, while total current liabilities for Overstock were 61. 6 percent of total assets, up from 47. 5 percent in 2005. Corporate Governance Overstock has a board of directors that is comprised of four members, three of whom are independent, and is chaired by the CEO Patrick Byrne. According to the proxy statement (DEF 14A) filed on April 2, 2009, the board of directors held ten meeting during 2008 and each director attended at least 75 percent of the meetings of the board (2009, p. 14). Overstock has an audit committee and compensation committee, but no standing nominations committee.According to the proxy statement, the audit committee held 11 meetings during 2008 and the compensation committee held six meetings, and like board meetings each direc tor attended at least 75 percent of the committee meetings on which he or she served in 2008 (2009, p. 14). The audit committee is chaired by Allison Abraham and includes two financial experts, as defined by the SEC. The audit committee is responsible for â€Å"reviewing and monitoring our financial statements and internal accounting procedures, selecting, reviewing and monitoring our independent registered public accounting firm, evaluating the scope of the annual audit, reviewing audit results and consulting with management and our independent registered public accounting firm prior to presentation of financial statements to stockholders† (2009, p. 15).The compensation committee is responsible for â€Å"determining salaries, incentives and other forms of compensation for our directors, officers and other employees and administering various incentive compensation and benefit plans† (2009, p. 15). The 208 proxy statement says the compensation objectives are to â€Å"s eek to attract and retain highly competent executive management who will build long-term economic value for the Company† and that â€Å"our compensation philosophy is that the executive salary and bonus levels should be modest in comparison to those paid at comparable companies, and that executives’ opportunities for more significant compensation should be tied closely to the Company’s performance (2009, p. 20).The elements of total compensation, as laid out by the 2009 proxy statement include â€Å"base salary, annual individual cash bonuses, payments under our Performance Share Plan, awards under our 2005 Equity Incentive Plan, matching contributions under our 401 (k) plan and benefits under our health and welfare benefits plans† (2009, p. 20-21). The board of directors for Amazon consists of nine members, eight of whom are independent, and is chaired by the CEO of Amazon, Jeffrey Bezos. The 2009 proxy statement reads that the board is responsible for à ¢â‚¬Å"the control and direction of the Company† and â€Å"represents the Company’s shareholders and its primary purpose is to build long-term shareholder value† (2009, p. 8). In 2008, the board of directors met nine times and that all directors attended at least 75 percent of the â€Å"aggregate of the meetings of the board and committees occurring while they were members† (2009, p. 9).Amazon has an audit committee, leadership development and compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. The audit committee is chaired by Tom Alberg, who meets the requirement of a financial expert as defined by the SEC. According to the 2009 proxy statement, the audit committee â€Å"represents and assists the board in fulfilling its oversight responsibility relating to the Company’s financial statements and reporting process, the qualifications, independence and performance of the Company’s independent registered public accounti ng firm, the performance of the Company’s internal audit function and the Company’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements† (2009, p. 9).The leadership development and compensation committee, as stated in the 2009 proxy statement, â€Å"evaluates the Company’s programs and practices relating to leadership development, reviews and establishes compensation of the Company’s executive officers, and administers the Company’s stock-based and certain other compensation plans, all with a view toward maximizing long-term shareholder value† (2009, p. 10). The proxy statement for 2009, also lays out the responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee, and says it â€Å"reviews and assesses the composition of the board, assists in identifying potential new candidates for director, recommends candidates for election as director and provides a leadership role with respect to corporate governance of the Company† (2009, p. 10).According to the 2009 proxy statement, Amazon’s executive compensation approach is â€Å"to tie total compensation to long-term shareholder value, as reflected primarily in the Company’s stock price† and therefore the â€Å"primary component of a named executive officer’s total compensation is stock-based compensation† (2009, p. 17). In addition to stock-based compensation, executives also receive a base salary, new-hire cash bonuses and other compensation and benefits, including vacation, medical, 401 (k) and relocation benefits. Conclusion When it comes to online retailing, Amazon is far and away the leader of the industry and the model for all companies to follow. Amazon has an enormous share of the market and their market capitalization is tremendous. Their financial ratios are sound and their year over year statistics are rather impressive. Overstock, on the other hand, is a company that leaves a lot to be desired.They have had numerous restatements of their financial reports, and two instances of these restatements have been covered in detail above. Overstock has yet to have a positive net income and has had net losses every year. Due to the sheer amount of restatements that have occurred, many executives have fired or resigned their positions and taken the fall for their accounting errors and subsequent SEC investigations. Overstock seems to need to branch out into different revenue streams, such as car and real estate listings, insurance quotes and travel services in order to differentiate themselves from Amazon and capture some market share back from the titan of the industry.Amazon has its eyes on bigger targets, and wants to stand toe to toe with another gigantic company, Apple. Amazon’s manufacturing and subsequent sales of the various incarnations of the Kindle and an online music service are bold ideas that have paid off handsomely for the company, as have their investments in supply chain and shipping processes, as well as third party relationships. Overstock, for its part, would most likely just like a piece of Amazon’s market share and still has a long way to go before it is anywhere near the level of an Amazon. Overstock first needs to get its accounting controls in order and make sure that the financial statements they release in their annual reports to the SEC will not be restated in the future.The audit committee, auditors, CFO and accountants need to work together to ensure that their work is free from error, and there clearly needs to be a change in the corporate culture at Overstock because change needs to come from the top. These accounting errors should have been caught before the statements were released and given their history of investigations by the SEC, Overstock should have made every effort to clean up its act and bring in competent accounting and auditing professionals that would have the requisite attention to detail required in producing mistake free financial reports. If Overstock has any hope of ever reaching the level of an Amazon, it needs to fix its accounting issues and to install investor confidence in the company.Outside of their ROA, ROE, and ROI ratios, which are negative due to their net losses, Overstock’s financial ratios stack up nicely against the financial ratios of Amazon, which are a good sign for the company moving forward, if they can right the ship. The fact that Overstock is still around today has to be a good sign for the company, in that is has come through adversity and still remains a going concern. References Amazon, Inc. (2009). 2008 Annual Report. Seattle, WA: Amazon, Inc. , 2009. Amazon, Inc. (2008). 2007 Annual Report. Seattle, WA: Amazon, Inc. , 2008. Amazon, Inc. (2007). 2006 Annual Report. Seattle, WA: Amazon, Inc. , 2007. Amazon, Inc. (2006). 2005 Annual Report. Seattle, WA: Amazon, Inc. , 2006. Amazon, Inc. (2009) Definitive Proxy Statements.Seattle, WA: Amazon, Inc. 2009. Amazon, Inc. (2008) Definitive Proxy Statements. Seattle, WA: Amazon, Inc. 2008. Antar, S. (2010, October 16). Does Overstock. com CEO Patrick Byrne know when to shut up, especially while the SEC investigates his company? Retrieved October 30, 2011, from Phil’s Stock World Web site: http:// www. philstockworld. com Boyd, R. (2007, May 11). Company Byrne-d on probe report. New York Post, pp39. Cheng, A. (2006, May 11). Overstock cancels its share sale after SEC subpoena. Deseret News, pp. E4. Harvey, T. (2010, February 5). Overstock hit by another restatement. The Salt Lake Tribune. Hendrick, D. (2009, November 18).Online retailer fires auditor over accounting fight. SNL Kagan Media & Communications Report. Kanaracus, C. (2008, November 3). Overstock’s ERP woes force it to restate results. Computerworld, 42(44), pp. 7. Keahey, J. (2009, September 23). Overstock CEO and his critics differ over SEC probe. The Salt Lake Tribune. Kessler, S. (2011, October 13). Industry sur veys computers: consumer services & the internet. Standard & Poor’s. Mergent, Inc. (2011). Mergent Online. Mims, B. (2006, March 1). Overstock to restate earnings. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, pp. 1. Moving the market: Overstock. com corrects results back to 2002; losses are narrowed. (2006, March 1).Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), pp. 1. Overstock. com, Inc. (2009) 2008 Amended Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2009. Overstock. com, Inc. (2008) 2007 Amended Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2008. Overstock. com, Inc. (2007) 2006 Amended Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2007. Overstock. com, Inc. (2006) 2005 Amended Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2006. Overstock. com, Inc. (2009) 2008 Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2009. Overstock. com, Inc. (2008) 2007 Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2008.Overstock . com, Inc. (2007) 2006 Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2007. Overstock. com, Inc. (2006) 2005 Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2006. Overstock. com announces receipt of another SEC subpoena. (2009, September 17). PR Newswire. Overstock. com – President interview. (2006, March 1). CEO Wire. Overstock corrects its financial results. (2006, March 1). Deseret News, pp. E1. Overstock. com, Inc. (2009). Definitive proxy statement. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2009. Overstock. com, Inc. (2008). Definitive proxy statement. Salt Lake City, Utah: Overstock. com, Inc. , 2008.Overstock gets SEC subpoena. (2006, May 10). Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition). Overstock. com shifting income. (2010, February 6). Deseret News, pp. A10. Q3 2008 Overstock Com Inc earnings conference call – final. (2008, October 24). Fair Disclosure Wire. SEC closes Overstock. com probe, will take no action. (2008, June 7). Financial Wire. Standard & Poor’s. (2011) Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage. Taub, S. (2006, February 28). Freight costs spur Overstock restatement. CFO. com, pp. 1. Appendices Overstock Original Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands)| | | | Year Ended December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Revenue| | | | |Direct Revenue| 174,203| 195,622| 303,202| 324,875| Fulfillment partner revenue| 660,164| 564,539| 484,948| 478,947| Total Revenue| 834,367| 760,161| 788,150| 803,822| | | | | | Cost of goods sold:| | | | | Direct| 154,501| 164,368| 284,943| 283,377| Fulfillment partner| 536,957| 468,222| 408,407| 400,889| Total cost of goods sold| 691,458| 632,590| 693,350| 683,266| Gross profit| 142,909| 127,571| 94,800| 120,556| | | | | | Operating expenses:| | | | | Sales and Marketing| 57,634| 55,458| 70,897| 79,651| Technology| 57,815| 59,453| 65,158| 28,132| General and administrative| 38,373| 41,976| 46,837| 36,495| Restructuring| —| 12,283| 5,674| —|Amortiza tion of stock-based compensation| —| —| —| 72| Total operating expenses| 153,822| 169,170| 188,566| 144,350| | | | | | Operating loss| (10,913)| (41,599)| (93,766)| (23,794)| Interest income, net| 3,163| 4,788| 3,566| (270)| Interest expense| (3,462)| (4,188)| (4,765)| (5,582)| Other income (expense), net| (1,446)| (92)| 81| 4,728| | | | | | Loss from continuing operations| (12,658)| (41,091)| (94,884)| —| Loss from discontinued operations| —| (3,924)| (6,882)| —| | | | | | Net loss| (12,658)| (45,015)| (101,856)| (24,918)| | | | Overstock Restated Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands)| | | | For Year Ended December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Revenue| | | | | Direct Revenue| 174,203| 197,088| 301,509| 324,875|Fulfillment partner revenue| 660,164| 568,814| 478,628| 474,441| Total Revenue| 834,367| 765,902| 780,137| 799,316| | | | | | Cost of goods sold| | | | | Direct| 154,501| 168,008| 284,774| 282,383| Fulfillment partner | 536,957| 473,344| 405,559| 400,057| Total cost of goods sold| 691,458| 641,352| 690,333| 682,440| Gross profit| 142,909| 124,550| 89,804| 116,876| | | | | | Operating expenses:| | | | | Sales and Marketing| 57,634| 57,815| 38,373| 77,155| Technology| 57,815| 59,453| 70,897| 27,901| General and administrative| 38,373| 41,976| 46,837| 33,043| Restructuring| —| 12,283| 5,674| —| Amortization of stock-based compensation| —| —| —| —| Total operating expenses| 153,822| 169,170| 188,566| 138,099| | | | | |Operating loss| (10,913)| (44,620)| (98,762)| (21,223)| Interest income, net| 3,163| 4,788| 3,566| (270)| Interest expense| (3,462)| (4,188)| (4,765)| (5,582)| Other income (expense), net| (1,446)| (92)| 81| 4,728| | | | | | Loss from continuing operations| (12,658)| (44,112)| (99,880)| (22,347)| Loss from discontinued operations| —| (3,924)| (6,882)| (2,571)| | | | | | Net loss| (12,658)| (48,036)| (106,762)| (24,918)| Overstock Common-S ize Consolidated Statements of Operations| | | | | | | Year Ended December, 31| (% of revenue)| 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Total Revenue| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Total cost of goods sold| 82. 9%| 83. 2%| 88%| 85%| Gross profit| 17. 1%| 16. 7%| 12%| 15%| Operating expenses:| | | | |Sales and Marketing| 6. 9%| 7. 3%| 9%| 9. 9%| Technology| 6. 9%| 7. 8%| 8. 3%| 3. 5%| General and administrative| 4. 6%| 5. 5%| 6%| 4. 5%| Restructuring| —| 1. 6%| . 7%| —| Amortization of stock-based compensation| —| —| —| . 009%| Total operating expenses| 18. 4%| 22. 3%| 23. 9%| 18%| | | | | | Operating loss| -1. 3%| -5. 5%| -11. 9%| -3%| Interest income, net| . 3%| . 6%| . 5%| -. 03%| Interest expense| -. 4%| -. 6%| -. 6%| -. 7%| Other income (expense), net| -. 1%| -. 01%| . 01%| . 6%| | | | | | Loss from continuing operations| -1. 5%| -5. 4%| -12%| —| Loss from discontinued operations| —| -. 5%| -. 9%| —| | | | | | Net loss| -1. %| -5. 9%| -12. 9%| - 3. 1%| | | | | | Overstock Trend Consolidated Statements of Operations (2005= 100%)| | | | | | | For Year Ended December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Total Revenue| 103. 8%| 94. 6%| 98. 1%| 100%| Total cost of goods sold| 101. 2%| 92. 6%| 101. 5%| 100%| Gross profit| 118. 5%| 105. 8%| 78. 7%| 100%| Operating expenses:| | | | | Sales and Marketing| 72. 4%| 69. 7%| 89%| 100%| Technology| 205. 6%| 211. 3%| 231. 6%| 100%| General and administrative| 105. 1%| 115%| 128. 3%| 100%| Total operating expenses| 106. 6%| 117. 2%| 130. 6%| 100%| | | | | | Operating loss| 45. 9%| 174. 8%| 394. 1%| 100%| Interest expense| 62%| 75%| 85. %| 100%| | | | | | Loss from continuing operations| 13. 3%| 43. 3%| 100%| —| Loss from discontinued operations| —| 57%| 100%| —| | | | | | Net loss| 50. 8%| 180. 7%| 408. 8%| 100%| Overstock Restated Common-Size Consolidated Statements of Operations| | | | | | | For Year Ended December 31,| (% of revenue)| 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Total Revenue | 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Total cost of goods sold| 82. 9%| 83. 7%| 88. 5%| 85. 4%| Gross profit| 17. 1%| 16. 3%| 11. 5%| 14. 6%| Operating expenses:| | | | | Sales and Marketing| 6. 9%| 7. 5%| 4. 9%| 9. 7%| Technology| 6. 9%| 7. 8%| 9. 1%| 3. 5%| General and administrative| 4. 6%| 5. 5%| 6%| 4. 1%|Restructuring| —| 1. 6%| . 7%| —| Amortization of stock-based compensation| —| —| —| —-| Total operating expenses| 18. 4%| 22. 1%| 24. 2%| 17. 3%| | | | | | Operating loss| -1. 3%| -5. 8%| -12. 7%| -2. 7%| Interest income, net| . 4%| . 6%| . 5%| -. 03%| Interest expense| -. 4%| . 5%| -. 6%| -. 7%| Other income (expense), net| -. 2%| . 01%| . 01%| . 6%| | | | | | Loss from continuing operations| -1. 5%| -5. 8%| -12. 8%| -2. 8%| Loss from discontinued operations| —| -. 5%| -. 9%| -. 3%| | | | | | Net loss| -1. 5%| -6. 3%| -13. 7%| -3. 1%| | | | | | Overstock Trend Restated Consolidated Statements of Operations (2005= 100%)| | | | | | For Year Ended December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Total Revenue| 104. 4%| 95. 8%| 97. 6%| 100%| Total cost of goods sold| 101. 3%| 94%| 101. 2%| 100%| Gross profit| 122. 3%| 106. 6%| 76. 8%| 100%| Operating expenses:| | | | | Sales and Marketing| 74. 7%| 75%| 50%| 100%| Technology| 207. 2%| 213. 1%| 254. 1%| 100%| General and administrative| 116. 1%| 127%| 141. 7%| 100%| Total operating expenses| 111. 3%| 122. 5%| 136. 5%| 100%| | | | | | Operating loss| 51. 4%| 210. 2%| 465. 4%| 100%| Interest expense| 62%| 75%| 85. 4%| 100%| | | | | | Loss from continuing operations| 56. 6%| 197. 4%| 447%| 100%| Loss from discontinued operations| —| 152. 6%| 267. %| 100%| | | | | | Net loss| 50. 8%| 192. 9%| 428. 5%| 100%| Overstock Original Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands)| | | | December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| | Assets| Current Assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 100,577| 101,394| 126,965| 56,224| Marketable securities| 8,959| 46,000| —| 55,799| Cash, cash eq uivalents and marketable securities| 109,566| 147,394| 126,965| 112,023| Accounts receivable, net| 6,985| 12,304| 11,638| 11,695| Notes receivable| 1,250| 1,506| 6,702| —| Inventories, net| 17,723| 25,933| 20,274| 93,269| Prepaid inventory, net| 761| 3,572| 2,241| 9,633| Prepaid expense| 9,694| 7,572| 7,473| 8,508|Current assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 4,718| | Total current assets| 145,975| 198,281| 180,011| 235,128| Restricted cash| —| —| —| 253| Fixed assets, net| 23,142| 27,197| 56,198| 61,914| Goodwill| 2,784| 2,784| 2,784| 13,169| Other long-term assets, net| 538| 86| 578| 15,449| Notes receivable| —| 4,181| —| —| Long-term assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 16,594| | Total assets| 172,441| 235,529| 265,165| 325,913| | | | | | Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)| Current liabilities:| | | | | Accounts payable| 62,120| 70,648| 66,039| 101,436| Accrued liabilities| 25,154| 52,598| 40,142| 46,847| De ferred Revenue| 19,026| —| —| —| Capital lease obligations| —| 3,796| 5,074| 6,683|Current liabilities of held for sale subsidiary| | | 3,684| | Total current liabilities| 106,300| 127,042| 114,939| 154,966| Other long-term liabilities| 2,572| 3,034| —| —| Capital lease obligations, non-current| —-| —-| 3,983| 3,058| Convertible senior notes| 66,558| 75,623| 75,279| 74,935| Total liabilities| 175,430| 205,699| 194,201| 232,959| | | | | | Stockholders’ equity (deficit):| | | | | Preferred stock| —| —| —| —| Common stock| 2| 2| 2| 2| Additional paid in capital| 338,620| 333,909| 325,771| 251,244| Accumulated deficit| (264,985)| (243,709)| (198,694)| (96,829)| Unearned stock-based compensation| | | | (305)|Treasury stock| (76,670)| (63,278)| (64,983)| (65,325)| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)| 48| (94)| (132)| 962| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)| (2,985)| 26,830| 61,964 | 89,749| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity (deficit)| 172,445| 232,529| 265,165| 325,913| | | | | | Overstock Restated Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands)| | | | December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| | Assets| Current Assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 100,577| 101,394| 126,965| 55,875| Marketable securities| 8,989| 46,000| —| 55,799| Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities| 109,566| 147,394| 126,965| 111,674| Accounts receivable, net| 6,985| 11,208| 16,330| 10,021| Notes receivable| 1,250| 1,506| 6,702| —|Inventories, net| 17,723| 25,643| 23,970| 93,269| Prepaid inventory, net| 761| 3,572| 2,241| 9,633| Prepaid expense| 9,694| 7,572| 7,473| 8,477| Current assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 4,718| 2,054| Total current assets| 145,979| 196,895| 188,299| 235,128| Restricted cash| | | | 253| Fixed assets, net| 23,144| 27,197| 56,198| 60,850| Goodwill| 2,784| 2,784| 2,784| 2,784| Other long-term assets, net| 538| 86| 578| 3, 333| Notes receivable| —| 4,181| —| —| Long-term assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 16,594| 23,565| Total assets| 172,445| 231,143| 264,453| 325,913| | | | | | Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)| Current liabilities:| | | | |Accounts payable| 62,120| 70,358| 58,412| 100,188| Accrued liabilities| 25,154| 37,155| 38,434| 45,934| Deferred Revenue| 19,026| 22,965| 23,220| 6,683| Capital lease obligations| —| 3,796| 5,074| —| Current liabilities of held for sale subsidiary| | | 3,684| 2,161| Total current liabilities| 106,300| 134,274| 128,824| 154,966| Other long-term liabilities| 2,572| 3,034| —| —| Capital lease obligations, non-current| —| —| 3,983| 3,058| Convertible senior notes| 66,558| 75,623| 75,279| 74,935| Total liabilities| 175,430| 212,931| 208,086| 232,959| | | | | | Stockholders’ equity (deficit):| | | | | Preferred stock| —| —| —| —| Common stock| 2| 2 | 2| 2|Additional paid in capital| 338,620| 333,909| 325,771| 250,939| Accumulated deficit| (264,985)| (252,327)| (204,291)| (96,829)| Treasury stock| (76,670)| (63,278)| (64,983)| (65,325)| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)| 48| (94)| (132)| 962| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)| (2,985)| 18,212| 56,367| 89,749| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity (deficit)| 172,445| 231,143| 264,453| 325,913| Overstock Restated Common-Size Consolidated Balance Sheets| | | | | | | December 31,| (% of total assets)| 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Assets| | | | | Current Assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 58. 3%| 43. 9%| 48%| 17. 1%| Marketable securities| 5. 2%| 19. 9%| —| 17. 1%| Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities| 63. 5%| 63. 8%| 48%| 34. 2%| Accounts receivable, net| 4. 1%| . 5%| 6. %| 3. 1%| Notes receivable| . 7%| . 7%| 2. 5%| —| Inventories, net| 10. 3%| 11. 1%| 9. 1%| 28. 6%| Prepaid inventory, net| . 4%| 1. 5%| . 8%| 3%| Prep aid expense| 5. 6%| 3. 3%| 2. 8%| 2. 6%| Current assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 1. 8%| . 6%| Total current assets| 84. 7%| 85. 2%| 71. 2%| 72. 1%| Restricted cash| | | | . 07%| Fixed assets, net| 13. 4%| 11. 8%| 21. 3%| 18. 7%| Goodwill| 1. 6%| 1. 2%| 1. 1%| . 9%| Other long-term assets, net| . 3%| . 04%| . 2%| 1%| Notes receivable| —| 1. 8%| —| —| Long-term assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 6. 3%| 7. 2%| Total assets| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| | | | | | Liabilities| | | | |Current liabilities:| | | | | Accounts payable| 36%| 30. 4%| 22. 1%| 30. 7%| Accrued liabilities| 14. 6%| 16. 1%| 14. 5%| 14. 1%| Deferred Revenue| 11%| 10%| 8. 8%| 2. 1%| Capital lease obligations| —| 1. 6%| 1. 9%| —| Current liabilities of held for sale subsidiary| | | 1. 4%| . 7%| Total current liabilities| 61. 6%| 58. 1%| 48. 7%| 47. 5%| Other long-term liabilities| 1. 5%| 1. 3%| —| —| Capital lease obligations, non-current| —| —| 1. 5%| . 9%| Convertible senior notes| 38. 6%| 32. 7%| 28. 5%| 23%| Total liabilities| 101. 7%| 92. 1%| 78. 7%| 71. 5%| | | | | | Stockholders’ Equity| | | | | Stockholders’ equity (deficit):| | | | |Preferred stock| —| —| —| —| Common stock| —| —| —| —| Additional paid in capital| 196. 4%| 144. 5%| 123. 2%| 77%| Accumulated deficit| -153. 7%| -109. 2%| -77. 3%| -29. 7%| Treasury stock| -44. 5%| -27. 4%| -24. 6%| -20%| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)| . 03%| -. 04%| -. 05%| . 3%| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)| -1. 7%| 7. 9%| 21. 3%| 27. 5%| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity (deficit)| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Overstock Restated Trend Consolidated Balance Sheets (2005 = 100%)| | | | | | | December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Assets| | | | | Current Assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 180%| 181. 5%| 227. %| 100%| Marketable securities| 16. 1%| 82. 4%| —| 100% | Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities| 98. 1%| 132%| 113. 7%| 100%| Accounts receivable, net| 69. 7%| 111. 8%| 163%| 100%| Notes receivable| 18. 7%| 22. 5%| 100%| | Inventories, net| 19%| 27. 5%| 25. 7%| 100%| Prepaid inventory, net| 7. 9%| 37. 1%| 23. 3%| 100%| Prepaid expense| 114. 4%| 89. 3%| 88. 2%| 100%| Current assets of held for sale subsidiary| —| —| 229. 7%| 100%| Total current assets| 62. 1%| 83. 7%| 80. 1%| 100%| Restricted cash| —| —| —| 100%| Fixed assets, net| 38%| 44. 7%| 92. 4%| 100%| Goodwill| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Other long-term assets, net| 16. 1%| 2. %| 17. 3%| 100%| Notes receivable| —| 100%| —| —| Long-term assets of held for sale subsidiary| | | 70. 4%| 100%| Total assets| 53%| 71%| 81. 1%| 100%| | | | | | Liabilities| | | | | Current liabilities:| | | | | Accounts payable| 62%| 70. 2%| 58. 3%| 100%| Accrued liabilities| 54. 8%| 80. 9%| 83. 7%| 100%| Deferred Revenue| 284. 7%| 343. 6%| 347 . 4%| 100%| Capital lease obligations| —| 74. 8%| 100%| 00%| Current liabilities of held for sale subsidiary| | | 170. 5%| 100%| Total current liabilities| 68. 6%| 86. 6%| 83. 1%| 100%| Other long-term liabilities| 84. 8%| 100%| —| —00%| Capital lease obligations, non-current| —| —| 130. %| 100%| Convertible senior notes| 88. 8%| 101%| 100. 5%| 100%| Total liabilities| 75. 3%| 91. 4%| 89. 3%| 100%| | | | | | Stockholders’ Equity| | | | | Stockholders’ equity (deficit):| | | | | Preferred stock| —| —| —| —00%| Common stock| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Additional paid in capital| 134. 9%| 133. 1%| 129. 8%| 100%| Accumulated deficit| 273. 7%| 260. 6%| 211%| 100%| Treasury stock| 117. 4%| 96. 9%| 99. 5%| 100%| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)| 5%| -9. 8%| -13. 7%| 100%| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)| -3. 3%| 20. 3%| 62. 8| 100%| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity (deficit)| 52. 9%| 70. 9%| 81. 1%| 100%|Amazon Consolidated Statements of Operations (in millions)| | | | Year Ended December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Net sales| 19,166| 14,835| 10,711| 8,490| Cost of sales| 14,896| 11,482| 8,255| 6,451| Gross profit| 4,270| 3,353| 2,456| 2,039| Operating expenses:| | | | | Fulfillment| 1,658| 1,292| 937| 745| Marketing| 482| 344| 263| 198| Technology and content| 1,033| 818| 662| 451| General and administrative| 279| 235| 195| 166| Other operating expense (income), net| (24)| 9| 10| 47| Total operating expenses| 3,428| 2,698| 2,067| 1,607| Income from operations| 842| 655| 389| 432| Interest income| 83| 90| 59| 44| Interest expense| (71)| (77)| (78)| (92)| Other income (expense), net| 47| (8)| 7| 2|Total non-operating income (expense)| 59| 5| 12| 42| Income before income taxes| 901| 660| 377| 428| Provision for income taxes| (247)| (184)| (187)| 95| Equity-method investment activity, net of tax| (9)| —| —| —| Income before cumulati ve effect of change in accounting principle| | | | 333| Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle| | | | 26| Net income| 645| 476| 190| 359| Amazon Common-Size Consolidated Statements of Operations| | | | | | | Year Ended December 31,| (% of sales)| 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Net sales| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Cost of sales| 77. 7%| 77. 4%| 77. 1%| 76%| Gross profit| 22. 3%| 22. 6%| 22. 9%| 24%| Operating expenses:| | | | |Fulfillment| 8. 7%| 8. 7%| 8. 7%| 8. 8%| Marketing| 2. 5%| 2. 3%| 2. 5%| 2. 3%| Technology and content| 5. 4%| 5. 5%| 6. 2%| 5. 3%| General and administrative| 1. 5%| 1. 6%| 1. 8%| 2%| Other operating expense (income), net| -. 1%| . 06%| . 09%| . 6%| Total operating expenses| 17. 9%| 18. 2%| 19. 3%| 18. 9%| Income from operations| 4. 4%| 4. 4%| 3. 6%| 5. 1%| Interest income| . 4%| . 6%| . 6%| . 5%| Interest expense| -. 4%| -. 5%| -. 7%| -1. 1%| Other income (expense), net| . 2%| -. 05%| . 07%| . 02%| Total non-operating income (expense)| . 3%| . 03%| . 1%| . 5%| Income before income taxes| 4. 7%| 4. 4%| 3. 5%| 5%| Provision for income taxes| -1. 3%| -1. %| -1. 7%| 1. 1%| Equity-method investment activity, net of tax| -. 05%| —| —| —| Income before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle| | | | 3. 9%| Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle| | | | . 3%| Net income| 3. 4%| 3. 2%| 1. 8%| 4. 2%| | | | | | | Amazon Trend Consolidated Statements of Operations (2005 = 100%)| | | | | | | For Year Ended December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Net sales| 225. 7%| 174. 7%| 126. 2%| 100%| Cost of sales| 231%| 178%| 1278%| 100%| Gross profit| 209. 4%| 164. 4%| 120. 5%| 100%| Operating expenses:| | | | | Fulfillment| 222. 6%| 173. 4%| 125. 8%| 100%| Marketing| 243. 4%| 173. %| 132. 8%| 100%| Technology and content| 229%| 181. 4%| 146. 8%| 100%| General and administrative| 168. 1%| 141. 6%| 117. 5%| 100%| Other operating expense (income), net| -51. 1%| 19. 1%| 21. 3%| 100%| Total operating expenses| 213. 3%| 167. 9%| 128. 6%| 100%| Income from operations| 194. 9%| 151. 6%| 90%| 100%| Interest income| 180. 6%| 204. 5%| 134. 1%| 100%| Interest expense| 77. 2%| 83. 7%| 84. 8%| 100%| Other income (expense), net| 2350%| -400%| 350%| 100%| Total non-operating income (expense)| 140. 5%| 11. 9%| 28. 6%| 100%| Income before income taxes| 210. 5%| 154. 2%| 88. 1%| 100%| Provision for income taxes| -260%| -193. 7%| -196. %| 100%| Equity-method investment activity, net of tax| 100%| —| —| —| Income before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle| | | | 100%| Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle| | | | 100%| Net income| 179. 7%| 132. 6%| 52. 9%| 100%| Amazon Consolidated Balance Sheets (in millions)| | | | December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| | Assets| Current assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 2,769| 2,539| 1,022| 1,013| Marketable securities| 958| 573| 997| 987| Inventories| 1,399| 1,200| 877| 566| Accounts receivable, net and other| 8 27| 705| 399| 274| Deferred tax assets| 204| 147| 78| 89| Total current assets| 6,157| 5,164| 3,373| 2,929| Fixed assets, net| 854| 543| 457| 348| Deferred tax assets| 145| 260| 199| 223|Goodwill| 438| 222| 195| 159| Other assets| 720| 296| 139| 37| Total assets| 8,324| 6,485| 4,363| 3,696| | Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity| Current liabilities:| | | | | Accounts payable| 3,594| 2,795| 1,816| 1,366| Accrued expenses and other| 1,093| 902| 716| 533| Current portion of long-term debt| 59| 17| —| —| Total current liabilities| 4,746| 3,714| 2,532| 1,899| Long-term debt| 409| 1,282| 1,247| 1,480| Other long-term liabilities| 487| 292| 153| 71| Commitments and contingencies| | | | | Stockholders’ equity:| | | | | Preferred stock| —| —| —| —| Common stock| 4| 4| 4| 4| Treasury stock, at cost| (600)| (500)| (252)| —|Additional paid-in capital| 4,121| 3,063| 2,517| 2,263| Accumulate other comprehensive income (loss)| (123)| 5| (1)| 6| Accumulated deficit| (730)| (1,375)| (1,837)| (2,027)| Total stockholders’ equity| 2,672| 1,197| 431| 246| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity| 8,314| 6,485| 4,363| 3,696| Amazon Common-Size Consolidated Balance Sheets| | | | | | | December 31,| (% of total assets)| 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Assets| | | | | Current assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 33. 3%| 39. 2%| 23. 4%| 27. 4%| Marketable securities| 11. 6%| 8. 8%| 22. 9%| 26. 7%| Inventories| 16. 8%| 18. 5%| 20. 1%| 15. 3%| Accounts receivable, net and other| 9. 9%| 10. 9%| 9. 1%| 7. 4%| Deferred tax assets| 2. 5%| 2. 3%| 1. 8%| 2. 4%|Total current assets| 74%| 79. 6%| 77. 3%| 79. 2%| Fixed assets, net| 10. 3%| 8. 4%| 10. 5%| 9. 4%| Deferred tax assets| 1. 7%| 4%| 4. 6%| 6%| Goodwill| 5. 3%| 3. 4%| 4. 5%| 4. 3%| Other assets| 8. 6%| 4. 6%| 3. 2%| 1%| Total assets| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| | | | | | Liabilities| | | | | Current liabilities:| | | | | Accounts payable| 43. 2%| 43. 1%| 41. 6%| 3 7%| Accrued expenses and other| 13. 1%| 13. 9%| 16. 4%| 14. 4%| Current portion of long-term debt| . 7%| . 3%| —| —| Total current liabilities| 57%| 57. 3%| 58%| 51. 4%| Long-term debt| 4. 9%| 19. 8%| 28. 6%| 40%| Other long-term liabilities| 5. 9%| 4. 5%| 3. 5%| 1. 9%| | | | | | Stockholders’ Equity| | | | |Preferred stock| —| —| —| —| Common stock| . 05%| . 06%| . 09%| . 1%| Treasury stock, at cost| -7. 2%| -7. 7%| -5. 8%| —| Additional paid-in capital| 49. 5%| 47. 2%| 57. 7%| 61. 2%| Accumulate other comprehensive income (loss)| -1. 5%| . 08%| -. 02%| . 2%| Accumulated deficit| -8. 8%| -21. 2%| -42. 1%| -54. 8%| Total stockholders’ equity| 32. 1%| 18. 5%| 9. 9%| 6. 7%| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| | | | | | Amazon Trend Consolidated Balance Sheets (2005 = 100%)| | | | | | | December 31,| | 2008| 2007| 2006| 2005| Assets| | | | | Current assets:| | | | | Cash and cash equiv alents| 273. 3%| 250. 6%| 100. %| 100%| Marketable securities| 97. 1%| 58. 1%| 101%| 100%| Inventories| 247. 2%| 212%| 155%| 100%| Accounts receivable, net and other| 301. 8%| 257. 3%| 145. 6%| 100%| Deferred tax assets| 229. 2%| 165. 2%| 87. 6%| 100%| Total current assets| 210. 2%| 176. 3%| 115. 2%| 100%| Fixed assets, net| 245. 4%| 156%| 131. 3%| 100%| Deferred tax assets| 65%| 116. 6%| 89. 2%| 100%| Goodwill| 275. 5%| 139. 6%| 122. 6%| 100%| Other assets| 1945. 9%| 800%| 375. 7%| 100%| Total assets| 225. 2%| 175. 5%| 118%| 100%| | | | | | Liabilities| | | | | Current liabilities:| | | | | Accounts payable| 263. 1%| 204. 6%| 132. 9%| 100%| Accrued expenses and other| 205. 1%| 169. %| 134. 3%| 100%| Current portion of long-term debt| 347. 1%| 100%| —| —| Total current liabilities| 249. 9%| 195. 6%| 133. 3%| 100%| Long-term debt| 27. 6%| 86. 6%| 84. 3%| 100%| Other long-term liabilities| 685. 9%| 411. 3%| 215. 5%| 100%| | | | | | Stockholders’ Equity| | | | | Pr eferred stock| —| —| —| —| Common stock| 100%| 100%| 100%| 100%| Treasury stock, at cost| 240%| 200%| 100%| —| Additional paid-in capital| 182. 1%| 135. 4%| 111. 2%| 100%| Accumulate other comprehensive income (loss)| -2050%| 83. 3%| -16. 7%| 100%| Accumulated deficit| 36%| 67. 8%| 90. 1%| 100%| Total stockholders’ equity| 1086. 2%| 486. 6%| 175. %| 100%| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity| 224. 9%| 175. 5%| 118%| 100%| Overstock Financial Ratios| | | | | | 2008| 2007| 2006| Return on assets (net)(ROA)| -6. 23%| -18. 09%| -34. 43%| Return on equity (net) (ROE)| -105. 88%| -101. 39%| -131. 38%| Return on income (Operating) (ROI)| -12. 82%| -32. 94%| -57. 89%| EBITDA Margin| 1. 24| -1. 6| -7. 8| Calculated tax rate| —| —| —| Revenue per employee| $803,173| $900,665| $912,211| Quick ratio| 1. 04| 1. 21| 1. 2| Current ratio| 1. 37| 1. 56| 1. 57| Net current assets| 23. 01%| 30. 64%| 24. 54%| Long-term debt to equity| —| 2. 82| 1. 28| Total debt to equity| —| 2. 96| 1. 36|Interest coverage| —| —| —| Total asset turnover| 4. 11x| 3. 05x| 2. 67x| Receivables turnover| 75. 49x| 47. 29x| 52. 48x| Inventory turnover| 31. 68x| 27. 38x| 12. 21x| Accounts payable turnover| 12. 53x| 11. 12x| 9. 41x| Accrued expenses turnover| 27. 55x| 20. 9x| 19. 13x| Property, plant and equipment turnover| 33. 06x| 18. 23x| 13. 35x| Cash and cash equivalents turnover| 6. 48x| 5. 54x| 6. 6x| | | | | Amazon Financial Ratios| | | | | | 2008| 2007| 2006| Return on assets (net)(ROA)| 8. 69%| 8. 78%| 4. 72%| Return on equity (net) (ROE)| 33. 25%| 58. 48%| 56. 13%| Return on income (Operating) (ROI)| 28. 93%| 30. 9%| 22. 45%| EBITDA Margin| 6. 26%| 6. 1%| 5. 56%|Calculated tax rate| 27. 41%| 27. 88%| 49. 6%| Revenue per employee| $923,364| $872,647| $770,576| Quick ratio| . 96| 1. 03| . 95| Current ratio| 1. 3| 1. 39| 1. 33| Net current assets| 16. 97%| 22. 36%| 19. 28%| Long-term debt to equity| . 2| 1. 12| 2. 94| Total debt to equity| . 22| 1. 12| 2. 94| Interest coverage| —| —| 20. 47x| Total asset turnover| 2. 58x| 2. 74x| 2. 66x| Receivables turnover| 24. 95x| 26. 88x| 31. 83x| Inventory turnover| 11. 46x| 11. 06x| 11. 44x| Accounts payable turnover| 5. 98x| 6. 43x| 6. 73x| Property, plant and equipment turnover| 27. 36x| 29. 67x| 26. 61x| Cash and cash equivalents turnover| 5. 59x| 5. 78x| 5. 33x|