Biometrics use in government and corporations Research Paper

Biometrics use in government and corporations - Research Paper Example There are various biometric technologies available and though this paper will look into each of them, the major focus would be on fingerprint and iris biometrics. Fingerprint biometrics has remained popular not only among governments but also in corporate institutions. There would be various advantages as to support this popularity, but Cole (2005) noted that this technology has a false positive rate of between 0.08% and 4.4%. As compared to its counterpart, Cole (2005) further appreciates the accuracy that organizations could enjoy if the recent iris biometrics technology would be used instead. This system has a false acceptance rate at 1 per 1.2 million of two matching irises. This paper seeks to address security agencies from both the government and corporate organizations on concerns on errors in fingerprint biometrics with illustration using relevant examples. In spite of these drawbacks, application of biometrics by governments and corporations enhance border security and data protection. Introduction Biometrics pertains to unique methods of recognizing human beings on the basis of intrinsic behavioral or physical traits. According to Acharya and Kasprzycki (2010), it is the semi-automated or automated use of behavioral or physiological traits to verify or determine identity. Its application in computer science ensures access control and identity access management. Its application has however been extended to persons under surveillance. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, the governments worldwide turned to biometrics capability to increase airport security and border crossings and for production of identity documents that are more secure. Similarly, biometrics has received tremendous demand for employment or testing in commercial applications. Human beings possess various chemical, physiological and behavioral aspects that would be important in biometric authentication. The choice of which aspect to use would be guided by several factors. Liu notes that the chosen aspect sh ould be universal such that all subjects possess it (2011). The trait should be unique for each member of the population for differentiation. Permanence would show how a trait varies with time with a desirable permanence being that with reasonable invariance over time with regard to a specific matching algorithm. The trait should be easy to collect, extract and process. Performance would indicate how robust, fast and accurate a system is while acceptability would indicate how people would accept their biometric trait not only to be captured but also assessed. Finally, the trait should also not be easily circumvented. It is with this in mind that various biometrics have been developed with time in an attempt to have one that would effectively encompass all these traits. Operation of biometrics Any biometric system operates in two modes, namely; verification and identification (Cole, 2005). Verification mode allows for comparison of the captured biometric with a specified pre-existing template saved in a biometric database so as to confirm the person’s claim of identity. It would involve use of ID number, username or smart card to indicate the template to be used in comparison. With identification, the system would be prompted to compare against a whole biometric database

Relevance Of Symbolic Play In Child Development Education Essay

Relevance Of Symbolic Play In Child Development Education Essay This essay looks at the issue of symbolic play being therapeutic play for children. The essay looks at the theory of symbolic play, the use of symbolic play with children, the therapeutic value of symbolic play, using research to support the discussions. The essay discusses what is understood by symbolic play, then moves on to discuss the importance of symbolic play in childrens development, looking at the various theories that have been put forward to explain the importance of play in childrens development. The essay then moves on to look at various instances where therapeutic play has been used, and is considered useful, such as in children who are experiencing a chronic illness, who are hospitalized, who are awaiting surgery or who have experienced some form of trauma. What is symbolic play? Symbolic play is, according to Piaget (1962) one of the main ways in which children learn to think in a representational manner, where representation is understood as a process through which children store information according to the perceptual analysis of their ingoing experiences (Leslie, 1987; Lyytinen et al., 1997). Play essentially allows children to understand the things they experience and to put these things in to perspective. As such, play is fundamentally important for childrens development (Piaget, 1962). Play is one of the ways in which children understand the world, their interactions with others and the rules and regulations that govern their passage through the world. Play is, thus, a fundamental activity for children that allows them to form their personalities and to understand their place in the world, in relation to others. Relevant of symbolic play in child development Symbolic play, which arises around the age of 18 months, basically involves children substituting one item for another, and can constitute incorporating others in to their play, pretend play or sequencing. This can mean that children pretend to be mother (or father) or that they use household items to reproduce day-to-day activities they have seen their parents doing, amongst other common symbolic play activities. This symbolic allows children to experiment with different roles and different forms of being, which, as has been discussed, allows children to understand, and to contextualise, their experiences. As Piaget (1962) argues, such symbolic play allows children to understand the role of self and others, the use of objects and the sequences of actions and activities whilst playing. This allows children to understand objects, to learn about the properties of objects and to learn about consequences and causality (Piaget, 1962). Play thus allows children, amongst other things, to re alize where their boundaries are, to understand why things work in the ways they do and to understand how to interact with others. Symbolic play is thus, as has been discussed, a fundamental developmental tool for children. Watson and Zlotlow (1999) talk about symbolic play as, an important characteristic of childrens early play, through the enactment of activities that are very familiar to the child in contexts that are not typical for those activities. Enacting activities out of context allows the child to explore, and to understand, the role of agents in their lives, allowing them to understand how the world works and what their role is in this world. Symbolic play, therefore, has been argued to have three main features: the use of objects; the use of actions during the play; and individuals enacting the play (i.e., agents) (Watson and Zlotlow, 1999). The use of objects can be undertaken in many forms, either through substitution, in which the object is used to represent something else, through scenario-building, with the object being used to perform some task or in combination, with the object being used in various ways (Watson, 2008). The use of actions in play and the development of the agent in p lay follow certain patterns depending on the age of the child, as does the theme of childrens symbolic play (Watson, 2008). The one thing that all symbolic play has in common, at whatever age or developmental stage the child is at, is that the child uses some representation of self in their play. At age four, for example, children will have progressed to fantasy play, but these fantasies will usually involve themselves in becoming their fantasy a fireman or a prince, for example (Garvey, 1990). This allows them to explore different roles and responsibilities. Symbolic play is, therefore, a natural phenomena, that children follow naturally, as part of their development through childhood. As Reed (2007) argues, symbolic play links all four areas of a childs development, namely cognitive, language, social/emotional and physical, and, as such, is a fundamental part of the development of children. Symbolic play allows the child to acquire knowledge and to express and represent their ideas, thoughts and feelings: as Vygotsky argues, in his sociocultural cognitive theory, symbolic play allows children to develop and to self-regulate and to work out any problems they might face (Reed, 2007). It is in this aspect, then, that the therapeutic value of symbolic play becomes clear. As children constantly experiment with their environment, their peers and the other agents they meet, and as the results of these experiments are constantly being fed back to lead to reinforce certain behaviours or to elicit different patterns of behaviours, the value of pl ay as therapy is clear. Children who are passing through a difficult moment and who need help to understand this, to contextualise these difficulties in the framework of their existing knowledge, can, through engaging in therapeutic play, manage this. Therapeutic play allows them to experiment with the various outcomes and to contextualise the problems they face, allowing them an opportunity to work through these problems/problematic situations, through this working out their difficulties and coming to understand how to deal with them. The use of symbolic play as therapy In terms of the use of symbolic play as therapy with children, as Bettelheim states, Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unresolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks (Schaefer, 1995). Using play as a tool to help children through a difficult stage in their lives is, therefore, grounded in theory and makes sense in light of the fact that children learn through play. The research shows, for example, that therapeutic play can be helpful in aiding children through hospital stays (William, 2007) or through surgery, with this therapeutic play being shown to reduce anxiety and increase overall well-being (Bowmer, 2002). As Moore and Russ (2006) discuss, pretend play can act as a resource for children, relating, as it does, to many areas of adaptive functioning including creativity, coping and emotional regulation. As Moore and Russ (2006) show , pretend play in hospital settings can reduce anxiety and, through this, can reduce the likelihood of complications following surgery and can allow children to adapt better to the complications of chronic illness. The therapeutic value of symbolic play In terms of the therapeutic value of symbolic play, as Axline (1964) discusses, therapeutic play can be delivered through one of two major approaches, namely via non-directive play therapy and via directive play therapy (Oaklander, 1988). According to Axline (1964), play therapy should be governed by eight principles, namely that the therapist and child must be comfortable with each other; that the therapist accepts the child as he/she is; that the child can freely express their feelings; that the therapist is alert to the feelings the child expresses; that the therapist respects the child and their ability to resolve their own problems; that the therapist does not attempt to influence the child; that the therapy is carried out in its own time; and that the only limitations placed on the play therapy are those that anchor the therapy in the real world (Axline, 1964). If the therapeutic play is provided within this framework, the benefits of the therapeutic play can be many and varied , as discussed above, with the troubled child benefitting greatly from this intervention. As Li and Lopez (2008) argue, therapeutic play can be valuable not only in helping children through a difficult stage in their lives but can be useful in helping to in prepare children for a stressful, or difficult, period that they might face. For example, children who are facing surgery or a chronic illness can be helped to come to terms with this through the use of therapeutic play. As Li and Lopez (2008) report, by reinforcing to nursing and medical staff that play is a very important part of the lives of young children, and be employing therapeutic play techniques, this can markedly improve the anxiety that these children experience and can allow these children to have a more positive outlook regarding their situation and the difficult things they will face, meaning that they are better equipped to face these situations. As Li and Lopez (2008) argue, therapeutic play can help to improve the resilience of children who face difficulties and, as such, it is an important tool to use in those children who need help to become more resilient. Children who have faced some form of trauma, for example, can be aided through the fallout of this trauma through engaging in therapeutic play. By allowing the child the space to act out what they saw, or what they have experienced, for example, the child can come to terms with this traumatic experience. This therapeutic play could take the form of using puppets, or drawing, or role playing: anything that allows the child to re-enact the event(s) and, through this, come to terms with what happened. The use of therapeutic play in explaining the loss of someone close to them is known to be particularly valuable, for example, as this can allow them to imagine the person is still here and to resolve any outstanding issues they had with them, or to slowly come to terms with the fact that they are no longer alive and no longer able to be physically present with the child. The simple act of playing can, therefore, allow the child to come to terms with many difficult emotions, allowing the c hild to slowly become more able to cope with the negative emotions that a traumatic event (such as witnessing a violent act or the unexpected death of a close family member), allowing them to deal with these negative emotions (Schaefer and OConnor, 1994). As Schaefer and OConnor (1994) argue, role playing in particular can help children to face the negative post-trauma reactions that children might face, with role-play allowing children to relive the trauma and to find various solutions to their negative experiences and emotions. Conclusion In summary, then, this essay has looked at the issue of symbolic play being therapeutic play for children. The essay has looked, in particular, at the theory of symbolic play, the use of symbolic play with children and the therapeutic value of symbolic play. In regards to the theory of symbolic play, it has been seen that various theories have been proposed to explain the importance of symbolic play in childrens development, with all of these theories agreeing that play is a fundamental part of childrens development and that this play allows them to contextualise their experiences and to understand how these experiences dictate how they should act and should behave in different situations. It is this attribute of symbolic play that lends itself to being useful in helping children come to terms with difficult events in their lives: as has been discussed, play allows children to explore different scenarios (even difficult scenarios), with this play enabling them to overcome any negative emotions or feelings they might have had towards these scenarios. A child who is facing a difficult surgery, for example, might be scared, might be worried for themselves and for their families, but engaging in role play with this child (for example) allows them the opportunity to explore different possibilities and to release some of their anxieties and concerns. This has been shown, as discussed, to reduce the anxiety these children feel and to enable the childs health and well-being to be maintained, even under difficult circumstances. Similarly, a child who has experienced trauma can be helped through their post-traumatic period by engaging in some form of therapeutic play. This would normally consist of helping the child to act out their fears and their experiences, allowing the child to get rid of all of their negative emotions and feelings with regards to the even, allowing the child to expel these from their psyche and then to carry on without carrying this burden along with them. In conclusion, then, the essay has shown that play is fundamental for children and that, given its experimental nature and its ability to contextualise events and interactions for children, play is, at its very essence, therapeutic. Using play with children who need therapeutic interventions, then, makes perfect sense to allow children to understand the negative events/emotions and to overcome their fears and anxieties regarding these negative events and emotions. Therapeutic play has been shown to be a useful intervention in many cases, including in hospitalized children and in children living with chronic illnesses, who can be helped through this difficult period by engaging in therapeutic play, which has been shown to reduce their anxiety levels. In conclusion, then, therapeutic play is an extension of the symbolic play that children engage in as a normal developmental process and can be useful in helping children through difficult periods in their life.

Marketing :: essays research papers

WELFARE STATE- A social system whereby the state assumes primary responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.It was created by FDR during the New Deal. TRADITIONAL ECONOMY-It's a characteristic of unendustrialized society. Societies that produce tradition in the old fashioned way where the son inherits the job that the father had. It's harder for that economy to modernize when people are fixed in certain roles and traditional occupations. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT-In 1935, guaranteed workers the right to orgonize unions adn forbade employers to adopt unfair labor practices. This marked the beginning of the rise of the uninization in the US. JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES-British economist who proposed that high unemployment, being a result of insufficient consumer spending, could be relieved by government-sponsored programs. WAR ON POVERTY-It was a program of Linden Johnson where in 1964, in kansian style he sought to spend a lot of money to end the problem of poverty in the US. OPEC- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It was an organization of primarily Middle Eastern oil producing countries that vurtually crippled the economy for many nations when they raised the price of oil. Cap ·i ·tal ·ism-An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation of profits gained in a free market. Dust Bowl-this was th ephenomenon during the depression in 1932 on were large area of the Middle West in the US due to drought the top soil became so dry that the winds came and blew this dust all over the place. Agriculture was just strangled and people had to move out of mid-west. Bretton Woods-In 1946, this agreement established taht the value of the US dollar in terms of gold would be fixed at $35 per ouns, and other curancies would be valued at fixed ate in relations to the dollar indirectly to gold. It established the US as the leader in world trade and it really defines the begining of the golden age capitalism. Deindustrialization-the decline in production due to the change in the economy. It refers to the end of heavy industry of steel production, factory work. It is replacing it with McDonalds, Banks,etc. STAGFLATION-slow economic growth coupled with a high rate of inflation and unemployment. It is the end of the Golden Age in 1973. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS- it was part of the first new deal. It was when the gov't put millions of young men to work in conservation projects

Case Study of Lyons Document Storage Corporation

Case study of Lyons Document Storage Corporation: Bond Accounting Introduction The Lyons Company is currently a company providing storage of documents for other corporate customers. Lyons had operated conservatively without any long-term debt until it issued bonds in 1999. The bounds issued were $10 million in 20-year bonds, offering a coupon rate of 8% with interest paid semiannually, and sold to yield the 9% market rate of interest at the time. In the following essay, we take it as Alternative 1. These bonds were issued on July 2, 1999 and would be due July 2, 2019. But now, the investment bankers told the company’s owner, Mr.Lyons, that $10 million in new 6% bonds with semiannual interest payments could be issued to provide the company with exactly $10 million in principal at the end of 10 years. The new interest payments would be $200,000 less each year than old bonds, which still had 12 years before they would be paid off. We take issuing these new bonds as Alternative 2. If it is selected, 11542K/1K=11542 new bonds will Lyons have to issue to refund the old bonds. There is also a third alternative: Issuing $11. 54 million of 10-year 6% bonds to completely pay-off the existing bonds with no need for additional cash from the company.Now, we are facing the problem that if Lyons should issue one of the new bonds with lower interest rate or keep the existing bonds. One Concept about Bond First I want to talk about the terms of â€Å"premium† and â€Å"discount†. Usually there will be difference between the face value of the bond and the actual amount of money that the borrower receives when the bond is originally issued. This difference is called premium or discount. If the amount received is larger than the face value, it is called premium. If it is smaller than the face value, it is called discount. With this definition, we come to compute exactly how much the company eceived from its 8% bonds amount received by the borrower. The value, VN, is given by the following equation. VN=rZ(P/A,i%,N)+C(P/F,i%,N) Where: VN: bond value or balance sheet liability with N remaining periods r: bond interest rate Z: bond face value i: prevailing yield at time of issued C: redemption value at maturity For the old bonds, r=8% with semiannual payments, i=9%, Z=C=$10 million, N=40(one period is half a year). VN=0. 04*10(P/A, 4. 5%, 40)+10(P/F, 4. 5%, 40)= 9. 08 million. Thus, the company actually received $9. 08 million from the old bond, which is less than the face value $10 million. This is a discount bond.We can also using this equation to recalculate the amount shown in the balance sheet at December 31, 2006: VN=0. 04*10(P/A, 4. 5%, 25)+10(P/F, 4. 5%, 25)= 9. 26 million (number of remaining half-year period=25) At December 31, 2007: VN=0. 04*10(P/A, 4. 5%, 23)+10(P/F, 4. 5%, 23)= 9. 29 million The current market value of the bonds outstanding at the current interest rate of 6% equals to the actual amount of money the borrower will receive at that time. We can also use the above equation to do the calculation. This time r=6% with semiannual payments, i=6%, Z=C=$10 million, remaining number of period=21.VN=0. 03*10(P/A, 3%, 21)+10(P/F, 3%, 21)=$11. 54million Comparison between three Alternatives We can compare these three alternatives based on two aspects: cash flows and book earnings. First, let’s compare the cash flow. Here we use the differential PW method and set alternative 1 as the base. For Alternative 2, there is $1. 54 million cash outflow in Jan. 2009, since $11. 54 million is paid to retire the old bonds. In the following years, alternative 2 will pay $100K less than alternative 1 semiannually, till July. 2019. But for alternative 3, as the new bonds’ face value is $11. 4 million, we do not have to pay the $1. 54 million in Jan. 2009. And the differential annual cash flow is $53. 8K, which is $11. 54 million times 3% interest rate. Besides, we need to pay $1. 54 million more when it co mes to maturity. This is because the redemption value equals to the face value, $11. 54million. The differential cash flow is listed in Exhibit 1. With the cash flow of every period, we can calculate the differential cumulative PW. The differential cumulative PW for alternative 2: PW2=-1542K+100K(P/A,3%,21)=-$0. 5K. The differential PW for alternative 3: PW3=53. 8K(P/A,3%,21)-1542K(P/F,3%,21)=$0. K. The negative differential PW for alternative 2 means the company will eventually pay more money compared to alternative 1. The positive differential PW for alternative 3 means it will eventually receive more money. From the cash flow perspective, it seems the company may issue the $11. 54 million of 10-year 6% bonds. Another aspect is book earnings. Earnings will be affected by: (i) the $2. 2 million loss on refunding in 2009, (ii) differential interest payments in every period, and (iii) differential â€Å"amortized discount† expense in every period. The $2. 2 million is from $11 . 4 million spent to retire bonds minus the $9. 3 million listed on the balance sheet at that time. The differential interest payments are the same as those in the cash flow perspective. The amortized discount of alternative 2 and 3 is zero for each period. This is because the interest expense is $10 million*3%=$300K semiannually. The actual payment is also $300K semiannually. There is no difference between these two values. Therefore, the old amortized discount equals to the differential amortized discount. Old Amortized Discount=Interest Expense-Payment. (See Exhibit 2) For alternative 1, first we use $9079. K, which is calculated in â€Å"One Concept about Bond†, as the liability at the beginning of the first period. The interest expense of every period equals to the liability at the beginning of that period times the interest rate. Liability at the end of the period before payment (column D) equals to column B plus column C. Finally, after deducting $400k from column D, w e get the liability at the end of the period, which is $9088. 5K. Use this value as the liability at the beginning of period 2 and repeat the calculation above, we can finish the left side part Exhibit 2. This table shows how the liability increases with each period.At the end of the 20 years it is exactly equal to $10 million face value. To compare the differential book earnings for alternative 2 and 3, we just add an extra part to the left side of the original table. There will be a $2. 2 million loss in the first period, and differential interest payments and amortized discount in the following periods. We add up these 3 differential values and get the New Earnings Effects. (See Exhibit 2 and 3) Conclusion From the book earning perspective, we can see that if the company issue any kind of new bond, there will be increases in future years’ earnings and a loss in current year’s earnings.The loss will make Mr. Lyons unhappy. As a matter of fact, this perspective just g ives us an implication of the company’s financial status. It is more reasonable to use cash flow to compare these 3 alternatives, since it takes the time value into consideration. From the cash flow perspective, since PW3> 0 but PW2< 0, which means Alternative 3 finally makes us pay less money than Alternative 1 but Alternative 2 finally makes us pay more money than Alternative 1. Thus we should choose Alternative 3.

Does Ma Relevant

Has The Management Accounting Information in Malaysia Losing Its Relevancy? Rosniza Binti Ramli Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia. Abstract Malaysia is one of the developing countries that affected by the globalization process and emerging economic environment throughout the world. To be sustain in future, Malaysia organization especially should cope and response effectively with the changes in economic sector. But, has the management accounting information can help the manager in making good decision for their organization?Does management accounting in Malaysia also evolve or changes due to an emerging economic environment? Research papers on Relevance Lost: The rise and Falls of Management Accounting and Evolution of Management Accounting (IFAC, 1998) will be discussed further in this research in order to have better understanding about changes and evolution of management accounting in Malaysia. This research done by reviewing the prior research, articles, thesis and journals. Th e changes and evolution has been found based on the reviewed of prior research.Introduction Research papers on Relevance Lost by Johnson and Kaplan found and gave us the picture of the rise and fall of management accounting throughout the centuries. The authors explored about nineteenth-century cost management system, efficiency, profit and scientific management on 1880 to 1910 until management lost its relevance on 1980s. Furthermore they analysed and explored the new global competition and new systems for process control and product costing and also performance measurement system for the future.In nineteeth- century, companies having a transformation process from two or more process into a single economic activity. In all cases, the information focus on how to improve the process of managing the resources effectively and also do determine the sources of companies profit. In late nineteenth-century, conversion cost system was emerged to systematic management where focused on determ ination of correct information about efficiency of workers in mass-produced complex machine –made. Taylor and Emerson devised new accounting procedures to assess the efficiency of the task and processes in complex machine-making firms.Futhermore, Church’s devices to use product costing in order to determine how much profit of individual product contribute to the firm’s overall profitability. But, G. P Norton rely on th standard cost information and comparing an integrated multiprocesstextile company’s performance with profit earned internally. After 1900, the integrated firms developed system to track the performance of the company and use one common denominator, return on investment that give attention to the amount of capital invested in the enterprise.Furthermore, after 1900, based on discussion on cost accounting’s lost relevance for cost management, the managers not compile accurate product costs data and affect their judgement on the costs an d benefits of such information not lost sense of the relevant information to management decision. The inventory costs information did not reflect the accurate guide to determine the product cost and in complex real-word setting, it also not relevant for actual management decisions.When multidivisional organization first appear around 1920, they used ROI (return on investment) targets to assess the performance of managers. On 1980s, the author claimed that contemporary management accounting systems were became obsolete and affected the large organization. The information provided were not help in reflected the effective and efficiency of internal process. Besides that, the organization were became vulnerable to competiton and more focused organization. In the nest chapter, authors discussed the new global competiton of the 1980s.The revolution of economic condition were contributed by the Japanese manufacturing where develop the innovative practice in management accounting such as to tal quality management, just-in –time inventory system and computer integrated manufacturing system. Most of the firm more focused not on the reducing cost of product but on the different strategies to attract customer with special product and services. In other word, competitive advantage that made organization more competitive than their rivals.They were more interested to create the value of the firms and how to create long term economic wealth. Since the early twentieth century, technology has taken part and eliminated all manual operation and replaced with digital technology. Products can be processed using machine for controlled manufacturing operations company. Furthermore, the new challenges to the firm is to develop the new approach, tools and technique to design the effective cost accounting, management control and performance measurement system.Other than that, the authors also discussed on process control and product costing systems. The objectives requires separa te system for financial reporting, process control and product costing because each systems have different time frame for the activities, where process costing reported hourly, daily, weekly. Financial reporting system reported annually and quartelly and product cost information requires a longer time horizon. They also differ in terms of traceability and allocation, behaviour, set of relevant costs and audiences.In the last chapter, authors argued that existing sytems are not posible to measure the performance of the firms. The short-term financial performance measurement has been undermined by changes in technology and innovation in the firms production operations. The measurement should be reflects the greater complexity of product and process in the firm and consisten with the firms goal and objectives. Firm should also need to determined the inadequacy of any single financial measure in order to summarie the economic performance of the firm during short periods.Research paper o f Evolution of Management Accounting (IFAC, 1998) were discussed the evolution of management accounting by Financial and Management Accounting Committee (FMAC) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). They claimed that management accounting has developed through four evolutionary stages under Western approach. First stage, prior to 1950 focus was on cost determination and financial control and the main source of data was from financial statement. On that time, ratio and financial statement analysis were very popular.The second stage, years of 1965, focus changed to the provision of information for management decision-making, planning and control such as decision analysis and responsibility accounting. The techniques that support the decision analysis were Cost-volume –profit, and marginal costing. By the year 1985 in the stage three, attention was focused on the reduction or managed the waste in business resources, through the elimination of non-value added acti vities, use of mathematical formula such as Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), inventory evaluation such as FIFO, LIFO and multiple regressions.The fourth stage by 1995, focused had shifted to the generation or creation of value through the effective use of resources, through the use of technologies which examine the drivers of customer value, shareholder value and organizational innovation. The advanced management accounting methods that were popular such as Just-in-Time (JIT), Balanced Score Card, and Strategic management. IFAC (1998) had identified most of the developed countries had shifted to this stage between the years of 1985 to 1995.Japanese or Eastern perspective on the evolution of management accounting also consists of four stages, namely Drifting, Traditional, Quantitative and Integrative Management Accounting. The drifting management accounting such as ratio analysis, traditional such as budgetary control and standard costing, while quantitative such as mathematical formul a and equation and integrative such as JIT, Target Costing and Kaizen. Literature review Based on the review of the prior study, there are some purposes to be review. First, the problems with modern US cost accounting and management control system and challenges and recommendation to overcome it.Second, changes in management accounting practices in Malaysia. Third, the rise and fall of activity based costing. Forth, the management accounting practice in selected Asian country. Fifth, the current state of mangement accounting practice in selected Malaysian companies. Problems, challenges and recommendation of modern US cost accounting and management control system The problems arose in the cost accounting and management accounting were, the business ran by the manager based on the financial performance or in numbers.Johnson and Kaplan addressed that the process of cost and management accouting have developed to the stage where senior executives believe they can run their firms by the numbers (p 15). They were recommended that the firm should relates the human performance in organization both internally through management accounting and externally through financial accounting. They also suggested that Western approach to managing by the numbers, based in financial measure of control were became powerful of control in US and increasingly in UK business organization and remain acceptable in Japanese industry.Based on the prior research Mahmoud Ezzamel (1990), he and collegues criticts on the suggestion by Johnson and Kaplan and gave alternative ways of acounting for the problem with cost accounting. They do not agree with the precise history that Johnson and Kaplan told, with the understanding of accounting and its power to which their history leads them. They told a history that basically good but went increasingly wrong. Mahmoud Ezzamel also argued that cost management based upon accounting has problem and bound to be problematic and that this is what the histor y of 19th century accounting such as how to find true cost shows.From the historical development of cost management and cost accounting, Johnson and Kaplan derive a diagnosis of the causes of a modern ‘disease’. Changes in management accounting practices in Malaysia Malaysia has moved towards global competitivenesss, this changes makes manufacturing companies in Malaysia need to ensure their business operation and management cope with the current changes. ( Tuan Zainun, 2011). This prior study carried out to investigate how changes in Management accounting practice took place in Malaysia companies.Following Johnson and Kaplan (1987), MAP have been further developed for better decision making and management control. Globalization has brought the new and advanced technology and made a developing country open to greater competition (Kassim et al, 2003). This condition were affect the MAP in a business organization in order to fit the changes in the business operation. This study can be an evidence that the management accounting information change due to certain reason and made it relevance to be used by the companies. The rise and fall of activity based costing.Activity based costing tool can help the firm to determine the cost effectively based on the cost pool and cost driver. ABC is still the most appropriate cost system in management accounting. Many advantages of using ABC system in the firm such as ABC data is more accurate and reliable than traditional costing. It also can be used for decision making and performance evaluation. Furthermore, Kaplan, Weiss and Desheh (1997) reported the successful implementation of ABC transfer prices at Pharmaceutical Industries, which diminished the endless disputes between the marketing and production departments.ABC also handles overhead costs and leads to a better understanding of the cost drivers that generate these cost. Besides that, ABC also suitable to implemented by the service organization sucha s go vernment organization, insurance firms and banks. But, ABC also have the weaknesses such as ABC is based on subective arbitary cost allocations where ABC costing system more complicated and cannot predict profits and not adequate for decision making. ABC also ignores constraints and not take an account a bottleneck. The cost of the various products are irrelevant for product mix decision.ABC regards the relation between activities and resource consumption as linear, absolute and certain, where in reality the cost is discontinue. Even though most of firms tried ABC ultimately decided to abandon it, they did seem to regard it favorably, based on many case studies and articles (R. Cooper and R. S. Kaplan, 1991). ABC should emphasize the need to focus and cut down the cost of operational complexity. Management accounting practice in selected Asian country Prior study by Maliah Sulaiman observed the management accounting practices in Asian countries, Singapore, India, Malaysia and China. Authors claimed to be excellent in running the business and to be competitive in the global economic, firm should use the advance management techniques such as Just in Time, ABC, TQM and process re-engineering. Various authors have argued that traditional budgeting and cost volume profit analysis are no longer adequate to be used as planning andd control tools in the present manufacturing environment (Brownwich and Bhimani,1994). Many have predicted that traditional tools cannot cope with the changes of the shorter product life cycles, advanced manufacturing technologies and global competition.Its very important to determine the practices of management accounting in the real world because it can help the academician to have an accurate pictures for their teaching, if not, the accounting curriculum should be change to better reflect the needs of industry. Willett et al (1997) concern that studies on the management accounting practices in this region lag behind studies in financial ac counting. Choi and Mueller, 1992 cited that accounting is a product of it environment, means accounting is shaped by the environment, so different countries have different practice on mangement accounting.The current state of mangement accounting practice in selected Malaysian companies Prior study, Ghosh and Chan (1997) indicated that management accounting practice in Singapore, many of the firms already used various of management accounting techniques but not more used new technique such as the ABC and TQM system. Most of the local company were not competitive and lag behind the multinational companies. The study also indicated that Singapore companies not improve their management tools since 1997. they also avoided of used the advanced toos because they claimed that the implementation of the dvanced tools required complex process and additional resources needed. Then, Adelegan (2001) were studied on companies in Nigeria, where most of the companies only focused on process of cost determination and financial control uing budgets and cost accounting technologies. They has fully in the second stage and on the move to the third stage of evolution. Nishimura (2002) that conducted research on the Japanese affiliates in three Asian countries of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand claimed that most of the companies in that countries had shifted from the traditional management accounting practices to the next stage of evolution.It was also found that some of the companies were move towards by using the advanced management accounting technique. There also research conducted in Malaysia that studied on the small and medium industry by Omar, Abdul Rahman and Zainal Abidin in year 2002. The research found that SMIs in the Klang Valley were still relying on the simple and not complicated management accounting practices such as budget and standard costing but they seemed to have acceptance of the advanced management accounting techniques and there was a positive trend toward s the implementation of these new techniques in the future.Findings The result from the review of the articles, found that, Johnson and Kaplan rediscovery the management accounting system in the nineteenth century history is more about the practical business management not only the historical question. These major achievements were important to the international management accounting and culture. But, in the 1980s, the management accounting has been developed. Then due to modern process of production technologies and global competition, the information was become irrelevant.They claimed that the cost accounting is by-product of the financial accounting, so firms decided not to maintain Management accounting system separated from financial accounting system because of too expensive for them. Besides that, the irrelevance became worsen due to short-termism where the financial accounting only focuses on the short-term results, the control function, timing being too aggregated and unhel pful to organization. Then the academic accounting also failed to focus on the routine financial accounting consistently and the academic writing has lost touch with real world concerns.Furthermore, the major innovations in US firms lead to the failure of the MAS to provide managers with the information they need. The recommendations There are third recommendations by Johnson and Kaplan, first MAS should render more relevant time frames for the activities undertaken by the firm, where should have reporting cycle specific with the process control such as daily, weekly or hourly. In product costing, MAS should change the short –term decisions in management accounting texts into longer time horizon to have better strategic decisions.Second, the allocation of the cost between product and process control should be different to be focused on flexible budgets. Then the cost allocation for the product should be trace in order for the firms to develop strategic decisions on the produc t development and discontinuance. Third, the future performance measurement should be based on long term measures, not forgotten the non-financial indicators to highlight the firms performance in many areas such as marketing and manufacturing.The changes of Management accounting practices in Asian country Furthermore, from the reviewed of the articles and journals, found that the Management Accounting practices have a significant change in traditional and advanced MAP in Malaysia manufacturing companies from 2003 to 2007. The changes might be because of changes in the business environment and the competition and advanced technology used by the firms.This factor encourages the emergence of MAP in order to serves the organization with the accurate and reliable information to make a better decision in achieving the objectives of the organization. It also found that the manufacturing companies in Malaysia relied on the foreign multinational companies for export. This condition leads to sharing or transferring the advanced MAS to be adopted by Malaysian manufacturing companies. Besides that, the result showed that the increased in the use of MAP in manufacturing companies in parallel with the advanced technology used in the manufacturing.The changes also shows that the management accounting in Malaysia recently have through the process of evolution and keep changes to cope with the business environment challenges. In the other hand, management accounting practices in Asians countries such as Singapore, India, Malaysia, and China the evidence reviewed suggest that there were not used the contemporary management accounting tools as a whole. For example evidence in India, most of the company still uses traditional management accounting techniques (Joshi, 2001).They resistance to change to the new tools were because of the manager perception and culture that risk averse or not a risk taker. They also claimed that a lot of cost will incur in implementing the new tools i n their organization. Same goes in Singapore where most of the companies used the traditional tools because they claimed that no reasons for them to change to the new tools. It also due to lack of expertise, knowledge and top management support to implement the new tools of management accounting.In Malaysia and China, most of the company there also still uses the traditional method and they claimed maybe they will change to new tools such as Balance score card and ABC in the next five years. Based on other articles, the current state of management accounting practice in Malaysia, there have seven techniques of management accounting that popular such as, budgets, income statement analysis, cash flow analysis, balance sheet and financial ratio analysis, cost and benefit analysis and finally the product costing.This is indicated that the stage one and stage two of management accounting still be practice by selected Malaysian companies. For the use of stage three and stage four among th em are extremely low. But most of the selected companies in Malaysia have evolved into the third and fourth stage of management accounting evolution. (Rosmawati, 2004) In order to enhancing the management accounting practice in Malaysia, the professional body should have unit to implement and promotes the use of advance management accounting practices.Furthermore, academician and also practitioner, or business organization should work together and discuss further about the needs and roles of management accountant in order to develop new definition of the management accounting in the country. It’s important to build a communication between the academician and practitioner because practitioner should informed the changes of the practices uses in organization to academician, so it will help in constructing the better curriculum for students that can reflects the real world practices.Other than that, proper planning should be constructing to educate the practitioner and also publ ic by conducting the seminar in management accounting, so they will alert and realize with the evolution and new techniques in management accounting. Next, academician especially should be encouraged to write the articles, journal and research that reflects the evolution of the current management accounting practices. Then, it should be publicize in the magazines in order to spread the new information regarding the new management accounting practices to the business organization or public. The rise and fall of Activity based costingActivity based costing now still being used in most of the companies in the world, even though the system have problem because many organizations regard their cost systems for financial reporting, decision-making decentralization, price justification, control and performance measurement. But, ABC requires more efforts and skills without better results, so, the alternative are to hold to the traditional cost system. Prior case study, Y. Eden (2002) said it was disappointment with traditional cost accounting and lack of appropriate alternatives that prompted the initial enthusiasm for ABC.Managers also felt that the traditional cost accounting is not relevance, so they should do something to overcome it. Even though most firms that tried ABC decided to neglect it, they did seem to regard it favorably. However, the benefits to the firms not from the cost allocation data but from the ABC pilots involved thorough analysis of processes and costs and drew attention to neglected aspects of organizational activities. ABC systems just need to focus and to cut down the cost of operational complexity.But when manager realized these lessons, the complex data not make the improvements, so they used non-financial measurements. Conclusion From the reviewed, the management accounting practices and information in Malaysia will lost it relevancy if process of evolution did not take into action. Due to rapid changing in the global business environment, management accounting information should not lag behind it in order to stand in line with the advanced technology changes. With that, Malaysia should start to implement the advanced management accounting techniques in managing and control the business activities.It’s important to help them use the resources effectively and to measure the performance efficiently. New advanced management accounting practice implementation will contribute significantly for creating the value and also to maintain the sustainability of the organization in the future. Management accountant also should play role and becoming a part of management team in the organization. This is to make sure that the management accounting information will remain relevant in the new challenging business environment.Nishimura (2003), management accountant should work together with other practitioner such as engineer, marketing directors, designer and product directors so management accountant will understand more the ir work field and they will share opinion and recommendation with fulfill the various needs and goal from different departments and then come out will ultimate goal and objectives that can help the organization to achieve it successfully. Moreover, the suitable changes in their MAP especially in manufacturing companies should maintain effectiveness of the business activities.The advanced and traditional system should be used both to compliment and substitute for each other. When the traditional system can be useful and able to provide some information, the organization should adopt new advanced system to assist the more useful information to make decision. But when the traditional system fail to provide useful information, then it should be replaced with a more advanced system. This is very crucial to the management accounting and should be careful when making decision on what MAP that suitable for the condition of the business. If not it might be jeopardize the firms’ perfor mance. References H.Thomas Johnson, Robert S. Kaplan. (1987), â€Å"Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts. Rosmawati Mahfar, Normah Omar. (2004), â€Å"The current state of Management Accounting practice in selected Malaysian Companies: An empirical evidence†, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, International Business Management Conference 2004. Mahmoud Ezzamel, Keith Hoskin and Richard Macve. (1990), Managing It All By numbers: A review of Johnson & Kaplan’s ‘Relevance Lost’†, Accounting and Business Research, Vol. 20, No. 78, pp. 153-166, 1990. Maliah Sulaiman, Nik Nazli Nik Ahmad and Norhayati Alwi. 2004), â€Å"Management Accounting Practices in selected Asian countries: A review of the literature†, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Tuan Zainun Tuanmat, Malom Smith. (2011), â€Å"Changes in management accounting practices in Malaysia†, Asi an Review of Accounting, Vol. 19 Iss: 3 ppp. 221 – 242. Nitza Geri, Boaz Ronen. (2005), â€Å"Relevance lost: the rise and fall of activity- based costing†, Human System Management 24 (2005) 133-144 IOS Press. Martijin van der Steen. (2011), â€Å"The emergence and change of management accounting routines†, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 24 No. 4, 2011 pp. 502-547.