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March 13th, 2010
Reducing Financial Reporting Risk
Source: Deloitte Development LLC
Increased responsibilities and potentially reduced resources make it difficult for financial executives to find time to fully understand the state of the organization’s financial reporting risk. But CFOs understand that, in the end, responsibility for the quality and timeliness of the organization’s financial reporting process belongs to them.
To help, Deloitte has published a new white paper, “Reducing Financial Reporting Risk: It’s more than fixing financial controls”. The white paper distills the evaluation of financial reporting risk into three major components:
- People and organizational considerations
- Process and policy considerations
- Systems and information considerations
By posing probing questions to those with oversight of these areas, a CFO can develop a clearer view of the organization’s current state of financial reporting risks and can champion improvements designed to reduce reporting risk as well as improve the effectiveness of the process.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 1 MB)
Posted in Business and economics | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding in Severely Obese Adolescents
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
Among obese adolescent participants, use of gastric banding compared with lifestyle intervention resulted in a greater percentage achieving a loss of 50% of excess weight, corrected for age. There were associated benefits to health and quality of life.
Posted in Health and healthcare, Obesity | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for Sector Switchers
Source: Idealist.org
Welcome to the Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for Sector Switchers. This book is a free resource for transitioning professionals pursuing new career options in the nonprofit sector. If you call yourself a “mid-career transitioner”, a “re-careerer”, an “encore careerist”, a “bridger”, or a “sector switcher”, this book is meant for you. Written by the staff of Idealist.org and other experts, the book’s sections are available as PDFs. You can navigate the book using the links in the table of contents below.
+ Full Document (PDF; 13.2 MB)
See also: Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for First-time Job Seekers
Posted in Careers, Nonprofits | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
No-Fault Automobile Insurance’s Fall from Popularity Caused by Increased Medical Costs
Source: RAND Corporation
No-fault automobile insurance, once seen as a way to limit court costs and lower premiums, has declined in popularity among both insurers and consumers because it largely has failed to accomplish either goal, according to a new study issued today by the RAND Corporation.
While no-fault insurance was intended to lower the cost of compensating people involved in automobile accidents by taking most cases out of the court system, it actually increased costs because medical claims rose sharply instead, according to the study.
+ The U.S. Experience with No-Fault Automobile Insurance: A Retrospective
Posted in Business and economics, Consumer issues, Health and healthcare, Legal and law enforcement, Motor vehicles | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
Massive Barriers Exist to the Dismissal of Chronically Ineffective Teachers
Source: Center for American Progress
In schools across the country, there are teachers who should not be teaching. But schools almost never dismiss persistently poor-performing teachers due in large part to legal and policy barriers at the local and state level. This finding comes from a new report from the Center for American Progress titled “Removing Chronically Ineffective Teachers: Barriers and Opportunities” by Robin Chait.
The report is one of the first in-depth analyses of the key barriers to teacher dismissal and details some of the major challenges to removing chronically ineffective teachers from the classroom, including weak evaluation systems, the time and cost of dismissal cases, and a school culture that is uncomfortable with differentiating among teachers. And while most teachers are committed to their students and their profession and are trying hard to meet their students’ needs every day, there are some who consistently fail to improve student achievement, despite being given assistance.
The report includes a set of recommendations for districts, states, and the federal government about ways to reduce the barriers to the dismissal of chronically ineffective teachers. The recommendations include requiring rigorous evaluation systems, making sure that tenure decisions are based upon meaningful evidence of performance, and that states ensure that poor performance is a cause for dismissal in their tenure statutes.
+ Full Report
Posted in Education, K-12, Labor | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
The Children’s Commissioner for England’s follow up report to: The arrest and detention of children subject to immigration control
Source: Children’s Commissioner, UK
From the Executive Summary:
This report concerns the third visit of the Children’s Commissioner to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre which took place in October 2009. It follows on from our visit in May 2008 and the subsequent report The Arrest and Detention of Children Subject to Immigration Control (2009).
The aim of this report is to examine the progress made in addressing the concerns raised regarding children’s experience of the immigration removal process and detention. In doing so we are mindful of our statutory duty to promote awareness of the views and interests of children in England and to have awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children Act 2004 also requires the Commissioner to have particular regard to groups of children who do not have other adequate means by which they can make their views known.
While we fully acknowledge the Government’s right to determine who is allowed to stay in this country, my contention remains that detention is harmful to children and therefore never likely to be in their best interests, and we continue to argue that the detention of children for immigration control should cease.
+ Download Full Report from this page (PDF; 1.1 MB)
+ Download Executive Summary from this page (PDF; 406 KB)
Posted in Children and families, Europe, Human rights, Immigration, International, Legal and law enforcement, Race, Social and cultural issues, United Kingdom | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
Hospitality Vision: U.S. Performance Review
Source: Deloitte Development LLC
The United States (U.S.) hotel industry welcomed the dawn of 2010. Performance measures in the first half of 2009 were particularly troublesome for many companies, and only in the closing months of that year were there glimmers of hope that the worst was over. By December 2009, a number of major markets started to experience increases in occupancy and revenue per available room (revPAR), following what in some cases had been multi-year, record-breaking declines. In particular, steep price discounting appeared to be a less important strategy in filling rooms. As noted in this report, domestic tourism activity was starting to revive for a few select markets, while declines in international travel were lessening, and business travel remained mostly stagnant.
In this publication, titled “Hospitality Vision: U.S. Performance Review,” we review a ranking of the top-performing U.S. markets and examine key cities with the highest growth in revenue per available room, average daily rate, and occupancy rate.
+ Full Document (PDF; 644 KB)
Posted in Business and economics, Transportation and travel | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era
Source: RAND Corporation
This volume chronicles RAND’s involvement in researching insurgency and counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand during the Vietnam War era, from the period preceding the dispatch of U.S. troops, to the most intensive combat years, to the Tet Offensive of 1968, to the end of the war in 1975. The author draws on interviews with RAND staff who were involved in research in the region, the hundreds of studies that RAND produced on these topics, and documentary sources outside RAND to provide a narrative that captures the tenor of the times, conveys the attitudes and thinking of those involved, and recounts their personal stories and experiences. Elliott assesses both the extent to which RAND’s research influenced U.S. policies and decisionmakers during the war and the effect that the war had on RAND — culminating with the release of the Pentagon Papers, which became a national controversy in 1971.
Posted in Asia, Government and politics, Military and defense | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
Cost estimate for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PDF; 1.4 MB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
From CBO Director’s Blog:
CBO has just released an estimate of the budgetary effects of the health bill, H.R. 3590, that passed the Senate on December 24. Today’s estimate differs from the estimate for a slightly earlier version of the legislation that we released on December 19 in that it encompasses all of the amendments that were adopted by the Senate, reflects a revised assumption about its enactment date, and incorporates some technical revisions. Like the December 19 estimate, this estimate is based on CBO’s baseline projections from March 2009. We and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) prepared this updated estimate in preparation for further consideration of health care legislation. However, the changes we have made do not result in an estimate that differs substantially from the earlier one.
CBO and JCT now estimate that, on balance, the direct (mandatory) spending and revenue effects of enacting H.R. 3590 as passed by the Senate would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $118 billion over the 2010–2019 period. (Direct spending—as distinguished from discretionary spending—is spending that stems from legislation other than appropriation acts.) In our earlier estimate, the budgetary impact was a net reduction in deficits of $132 billion.
The gross cost of the proposed expansions in insurance coverage over those 10 years is now projected to be $875 billion, reflecting subsidies provided through insurance exchanges, increased net outlays for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax credits for small employers. Those costs are partly offset by revenues from an excise tax on high-premium insurance plans and net savings from other coverage-related sources, leaving a net cost of $624 billion for the coverage provisions. Other provisions affecting direct spending save $478 billion, on net—mostly in Medicare—and other provisions affecting revenues reduce the deficit by $264 billion, on net. Thus, the net effect on deficits of the bill as a whole equals $624 billion less $478 billion less $264 billion, or a reduction of $118 billion over the 2010-2019 period. In total, CBO and JCT estimate that the legislation would increase outlays by $355 billion and increase revenues by $473 billion between 2010 and 2019.
Posted in Business and economics, Government and politics, Health and healthcare | No Comments »
March 13th, 2010
IRS Releases 2009 Data Book
Source: Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service today announced the release of the 2009 IRS Data Book, an annual snapshot of agency activities for the fiscal year.
The report describes activities conducted by the IRS from Oct. 1, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2009, and includes information about returns filed, tax collections, enforcement and taxpayer assistance, as well as the IRS budget and workforce.
During fiscal year 2009, the IRS collected more than $1.9 trillion in taxes, net of refunds, and processed more than 236 million returns. Nearly 110 million returns, including 66 percent of individual income tax returns, were filed electronically. Nearly 124 million individual income tax return filers received a tax refund and/or economic stimulus payment during the fiscal year. Individual income tax refunds totaled $321.3 billion, and economic stimulus payments totaled over $11.5 billion. In fiscal year 2009, IRS spent an average of 50 cents to collect each $100 of tax revenue.
IRS examined more than 1.4 million individual income tax returns and about 28,000 returns filed by corporations, excluding S corporations. IRS personnel answered nearly 68 million toll-free calls from taxpayers during the fiscal year, and the IRS Web site received more than 296 million visits.
+ Full Document
Posted in Government and politics, Taxation | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
New GAO Report and Correspondence (PDF; )
Source: Government Accountability Office
12 March 2010
+ Report
1. Electronic Government: Implementation of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
–
+ Correspondence
1. Revitalization Programs: Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and Renewal Communities
–
+ Reissued Product
1. Higher Education: Information on Incentive Compensation Violations Substantiated by the U.S. Department of Education
Posted in GAO, Government and politics | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Family Factors and Student Outcomes
Source: RAND Corporation
To examine the effects of family process variables (specific things families do) and family status variables (who families are) on students’ academic achievement and nonacademic outcomes, the author uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a U.S. longitudinal dataset that follows a nationally representative sample of children from kindergarten through fifth grade, and the Programme for International Student Assessment, a cross-country cross-sectional dataset that assesses academic achievement of 15-year-old students. The U.S. data indicate that even after controlling for demographics and school inputs, student achievement was associated with such process variables as parental expectations and beliefs, learning structure, resource availability, home environment, parenting and disciplinary practices, and parental involvement. In addition, doing homework more frequently, having home Internet access, and owning a community library card had higher returns in terms of student achievement for black children or children from low socio-economic families than for their counterparts. U.S. students did not fare as well as their peers in other countries and economies, and family process variables, especially considered collectively, are important factors in explaining student achievement in an international setting.
Posted in Children and families, Education, Ethnic, K-12, Poverty, Race, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
The Cocaine Trade
Source: House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, UK
Key Facts:
Cocaine is a class A stimulant drug. Importation, dealing and possession are all illegal attracting penalties of up to life imprisonment and unlimited fines
• Cocaine comes in two forms: cocaine powder which is snorted, and crack cocaine which is smoked; both forms can be injected
• The street price of cocaine powder has halved over the past ten years, from £80 per gram in 1999 to £40 in 2009. A line of cocaine in London now costs between £2–£8, depending on its size
• Cocaine is heavily cut with other substances, including anaesthetics and animal worming agents; police seizures of cocaine in 2009 averaged 27% purity, with some as low as 5%
• The UK has the second highest number of cocaine users in Europe: the number of adults who used cocaine powder within the last year quintupled from 0.6% in 1996 to 3.0% in 2008/09
• The number of people in treatment for cocaine powder addiction increased by 17% between 2006/07 and 2007/08
• The number of non-fatal hospital admissions for cocaine poisoning in England more than tripled between 2000/01 and 2006/07
• There were 235 cocaine-related deaths in England and Wales in 2008, an increase of 20% compared with 2007
• Combining cocaine with alcohol forms a highly toxic third substance, cocaethylene, which has been associated with a 25–fold increase in sudden death
• For each gram of cocaine consumed, 4 square metres of tropical forest are destroyed
• Drugs mules are often forced to swallow up to 20 pellets of cocaine, or insert 500g pellets the size of a pint glass into body cavities
+ Direct link to Report (PDF; 2.8 MB)
+ Evidence (PDF; 1.4 MB)
Posted in Documents in the news, Europe, Health and healthcare, International, Legal and law enforcement, Mental health and substance abuse, Social and cultural issues, United Kingdom | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
America’s Tomorrow: A Profile of Latino Youth
SOurce: National Council of La Raza
This statistical brief examines the status of Latino youth in the United States. Latino youth, who compose nearly 20% of all youth in the country, experience high levels of poverty, high dropout rates, low graduation rates, high unemployment rates, and low rates of health insurance. Given that Latinos will compose about 30% of the U.S. population by 2050, the ability of Latino youth to overcome these pressing challenges today will directly impact the economic and social success of our nation in the future.
Posted in Ethnic, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Protect Yourself and Your Pet: Be Online Pet Pharmacy A.W.A.R.E.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
If you’ve ever searched online for prescription pet medicines, you’ve no doubt seen eye-catching, attention-grabbing claims. They sound convincing in their promises of convenience and lower prices. But are these claims really true?
Internet sites that sell pet drugs can be reputable pharmacies. However, others are fronts for businesses breaking Federal, State, and sometimes, International laws. Illegal online pharmacies may sell medicines that are counterfeit, outdated, mislabeled, incorrectly formulated, or improperly made or stored. These medicines may not contain the actual drug, or the correct amount of drug, may contain contaminants, may not work as well due to age or being stored in conditions that were too hot, cold, or humid, and may not have the proper directions for use. If you are unhappy with ordered products, illegal online pharmacies may fraudulently leave you with no way to get your money back. In the end, you may find buying prescription pet medicines online costly to your pet’s health and your wallet.
If you find a cheaper medicine online, ask your veterinarian to consider matching the price. Many veterinarians are willing to competitively charge based on the online price you’ve found (and can show proof of). You should also know that neither the drug maker nor your veterinarian will stand behind a product’s guarantee if you purchase the product online.
If you still want to purchase your pet’s prescription medicines online, remember there is no fool-proof way to tell if an online pharmacy is legal. However, you can protect yourself by doing your homework and being online pharmacy A.W.A.R.E.
Posted in Business and economics, Consumer issues, Internet, Prescription drugs, Safety, Veterinary Medicine/Animal Welfare | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Record Number of Tax Filers Paid No Federal Income Taxes in 2008
Source: Tax Foundation
A record number of the 142 million tax returns filed in 2008 resulted in no tax payment, according to a Tax Foundation analysis of IRS data. That means the tax filers got back every dollar that had been withheld from their paychecks, and often more. Roughly 51.6 million tax returns, or 36.3 percent, were filed by such “nonpayers,” people whose exemptions, deductions and credits wiped out any federal income tax due.
A family of four earning more than $50,000 can have no income tax liability after taking the standard deduction and the child tax credit.
“Two records were set in 2008: the most nonpayers and the highest-earning nonpayers,” said Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge, who authored Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact, No. 214, “Record Numbers of People Paying No Income Tax; Over 50 Million ‘Nonpayers’ Include Families Making over $50,000.”
+ Full Document
Posted in Government and politics, Taxation | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Worldwide Box Office Continues to Soar; U.S. Admissions on the Rise (PDF; 178 KB)
Source: Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today released its annual Theatrical Market Statistics Report for 2009. The report shows that global box office receipts reached an all time high of $29.9 billion, an increase of 7.6% over 2008 and almost 30% from 2005. The U.S./Canada market reached $10.6 billion, an increase of more than 10%, and International receipts increased 6.3% to $19.3 billion in 2009. The 3D market gave the U.S./Canada box office a boost accounting for 11% of the total compared to just 2% in 2008. With 20 films released in 3D compared to just eight in 2008, higher value entertainment contributed significantly to box office revenues.
…
Ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada rose more than 5.5% from 2008, the first admissions increase in two years. Per capita ticket purchases in the U.S. and Canada also increased 4.6% to 4.3 tickets per person, the first significant increase since 2002. Sales were fueled by repeated visits to the cinema by frequent moviegoers – those who go to the movies once a month or more and who make up only 10% of the population – who bought half of all tickets sold in 2009.
Posted in Business and economics, Canada, Media and entertainment | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Joint Economic Committee Releases Report on Benefits of Paid Sick Leave
Source: U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee
Representative Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Vice Chair of the JEC, released a report today estimating the impact of the Healthy Families Act (S. 1152, introduced by Senator Chris Dodd, and H.R. 2460, introduced by Representative Rosa DeLauro), on access to paid sick leave. The report, “Expanding Access to Paid Sick Leave: The Impact of the Healthy Families Act on America’s Workers,” was requested by the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families and analyzes the demographics of workers who currently have access to paid sick leave and workers who would gain access to paid sick leave under the Healthy Families Act.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the JEC estimated that:
- As a result of the Healthy Families Act, at least 30.3 million additional workers would have access to paid sick leave.
- The Healthy Families Act would significantly expand access to paid sick leave for many of America’s most vulnerable workers, including lower-wage workers, women, and minorities.
- Almost half of the increased access to paid sick leave (14.7 million additional workers) would accrue to workers in the bottom wage quartile;
- Nearly half (13.3 million workers) of the increased access to paid sick leave would accrue to women workers; and,
- Almost one-third of the increased access to paid sick leave would accrue to minority workers, including 3.9 million additional African-American workers and 5.6 million additional Latino workers.
+ Full Report (PDF: 540 KB)
Posted in Business and economics, Government and politics, Health and healthcare, Labor, Social and cultural issues | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
H.R. 4213, American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (PDF; 154 KB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
Estimate of direct spending and revenues and the pay-as-you-go impact for the bill as passed by the Senate on March 10, 2010
Posted in Business and economics, Government and politics | No Comments »
March 12th, 2010
Estimate of the Budgetary Effects of the Senate-Passed Health Bill
Source: Congressional Budget Office
CBO has just released an estimate of the budgetary effects of the health bill, H.R. 3590, that passed the Senate on December 24. Today’s estimate differs from the estimate for a slightly earlier version of the legislation that we released on December 19 in that it encompasses all of the amendments that were adopted by the Senate, reflects a revised assumption about its enactment date, and incorporates some technical revisions. Like the December 19 estimate, this estimate is based on CBO’s baseline projections from March 2009. We and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) prepared this updated estimate in preparation for further consideration of health care legislation. However, the changes we have made do not result in an estimate that differs substantially from the earlier one.
CBO and JCT now estimate that, on balance, the direct (mandatory) spending and revenue effects of enacting H.R. 3590 as passed by the Senate would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $118 billion over the 2010–2019 period. (Direct spending—as distinguished from discretionary spending—is spending that stems from legislation other than appropriation acts.) In our earlier estimate, the budgetary impact was a net reduction in deficits of $132 billion.
+ Full Document (PDF; 1.4 MB)
Posted in Business and economics, Government and politics, Health and healthcare | No Comments »
