Written Expressions 3rd Year Classes
Collected by GUELLIL MABROUK (mgbay13.com)
Unit Two: Ill-gotten gains never prosper
Topic24:
Write a composition on creative accounting.
Typical Essay:
Creative accounting, also called aggressive accounting, is the manipulation of financial numbers, usually within
the letter of the law and accounting standards, but very much against their spirit and certainly not providing the
"true and fair" view of a company that accounts are supposed to.
A typical aim of creative accounting will be to inflate profit figures. Some companies may also reduce reported
profits in good years to smooth results. Assets and liabilities may also be manipulated, either to remain within
limits such as debt covenants, or to hide problems.
Typical creative accounting tricks include off balance sheet financing, over-optimistic revenue recognition and the
use of exaggerated non-recurring items.
The term "window dressing" has similar meaning when applied to accounts, but is a broader term that can be
applied to other areas. In the US it is often used to describe the manipulation of investment portfolio performance
numbers. In the context of accounts, "window dressing" is more likely than "creative accounting" to imply illegal or
fraudulent practices, but it need to do so.
Topic25:
Write a composition on currency counterfeiting.
Typical Essay:
Counterfeiting refers to the imitation of something with the intent to deceive. As a general rule, people use the
term specifically to refer to people who replicate currency in the hopes of passing it off as legal tender. However, a
variety of things can be counterfeited, from designer handbags to legal documents. In terms of counterfeiting
money, counterfeiting comes with severe consequences, as it is treated as a very serious crime in most nations
around the world.
Most modern counterfeiting is focused on paper money, because paper money has a higher face value.
Counterfeiters use a variety of techniques to produce replicas of the desired currency, depending on the security
features which a nation uses to protect the integrity of its money and the level of realism desired. For example, a
color photocopier can sometimes render a credible replica of legal currency, especially when the currency is run
through a washer to age it, but counterfeiters may also use sophisticated printing techniques like those used at a
national mint.
Most mints around the world use a number of safety systems to protect their money. For example, many nations
print engraved money, meaning that specially engraved plates which are very hard to replicate are used in the
production of currency. Many countries also use specialized papers and inks, along with complex designs which are
hard to copy, and they may change the look of their currency frequently in an attempt to foil counterfeiters.
Someone who is convicted of counterfeiting will spend at least a decade in prison. He or she may also be forced
to pay fines or restitution, and the property used in the counterfeiting process may be seized. Counterfeiting is
treated as an extremely serious crime because it devalues a nation's currency, potentially threatening its economic
stability and global standi
Topic26:
Write a composition on extortion.
Typical Essay:
Extortion is a crime which involves the illegal acquisition of money, property, or favors through the use of force, or
the threat of force. Historically, extortion was defined as an abuse of privilege on the part of a public official who
used his or her position to get money or favors, but today, people at all levels of society could potentially commit
extortion. Penalties for extortion vary, depending on the specifics of the crime. In some countries, extortion is
treated especially seriously because it is linked with organized crime, and sometimes special laws are designed to
make it easier to prosecute and punish extortion.
To the casual ear, extortion can sound very similar to blackmail, in which people use a threat to demand
payments or favors, and robbery, in which a criminal takes something by force. However, extortion is slightly
different from both of these crimes. In blackmail, someone threatens to do something which is entirely legal, such
as publishing a set of photographs, with the blackmailee offering payment to avoid exposure and humiliation.
Extortion is entirely illegal, as it involves threats of violence or other illegal acts.
In a robbery, the violence is very real, and also very immediate. In extortion, violence may never progress beyond
the stage of being a threat, assuming that the person being extorted pays up. For example, if someone is
threatened at gunpoint and ordered to surrender all valuables, this is a robbery. If, on the other hand, a criminal
strolls into a shop and threatens to shoot the clerk's family unless the criminal receives a share of the store's
income each week, this is extortion.
Organized crime is perhaps the most famous user of extortion. For example, members of the Mafia have
historically demanded “protection money” from businesses, suggesting that if the businesses don't pay up, they
may be robbed or otherwise harassed. Extortion has also been used to keep community groups in fear so that they
will not seek prosecution for members of a criminal organization. However, individuals may also commit extortion,
as may officials, especially in corrupt agencies or governments.
In order to prove charges of extortion, a prosecutor must be able to prove either that an illegal threat was made,
or that goods or services were received in exchange for such a threat. Proving such charges can sometimes be very
difficult, as people may be too intimidated to testify.
Topic27:
Write a composition on blackmail.
Typical Essay:
Blackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal damaging or embarrassing information in order to coerce money or
other goods or forms of cooperation out of the victim. For blackmail to be effective, the blackmailer must, in most
cases, have physical proof of the information he or she threatens to reveal, such as photographs or letters.
Blackmail is often considered synonymous with extortion, and in this sense it may rely on a threat of action other
than exposing the victim's secrets.
Some laws distinguish between blackmail and extortion, while others do not. Blackmail may be defined as
extortion attempts in writing. Alternatively, blackmail may refer only to threats of action that is not illegal per se,
such as revealing compromising photographs, while extortion relies on more active threats, such as physical harm.
The victim of blackmail is typically threatened with exposure of his or her private life, the consequences of which
can range from embarrassing to socially devastating to legally damning. A blackmailer may threaten to expose the
victim's extramarital affair, for example. Homosexuals were often blackmailed in the past, though this is less
common as alternative sexualities are increasingly more accepted. At its most serious, blackmail may rest on the
exposure of a serious crime, which would do infinitely more damage to the victim than complying with the
blackmailer. Even secret information that is not of a criminal nature, however, can make the victim of blackmail
feel that he or she has no recourse against the crime.
A relatively new form of blackmail, more similar to extortion, is known as commercial blackmail. In this crime, a
business is the victim. The blackmailer threatens an action which would be devastating to the company's sales or
reputation and typically demands a large payment. The perpetrator may, for example, threaten to interfere with the
company's ability to conduct Internet sales. In a recent case of commercial blackmail in Australia, the blackmailer
claimed to have poisoned a small random selection of the victim's candy bar products.
Topic28:
Write a composition on child labour.
Typical Essay:
Any child under the age specified by law worldwide works full time, mentally or physically to earn for own survival
or adding to family income, that interrupts childs social development and education is called child labour. It is any
kind of work children are made to do that harms or exploits them physically, mentally, morally, or by preventing
access to education.
However, one must also understand that all work is not bad or exploitive for children. In fact, certain jobs help in
enhancing the overall personality of the child. For instance, children delivering newspapers prior to going to school.
Or then children taking up light summer jobs that do not interfere with their school timings. When they are given
pocket money earning oriented tasks, they understand the value of money, as well as respect it even more.
While this are the positive aspects of tasks and working, the actual universal problem of child labour is the
exploitive and dangerous work and working conditions children are put through. For instance, in north India young
children, below the age of 14 are made to work in the carpet industry. Their delicate fingers create the world’s
finest and most expensive carpets. The children are working twelve to fourteen hours a day. Many lose their
fingers. Some are starved. And a number die each year because of the torturous circumstances under which they
are made to work.
This is a crime. There have been instances of so-called decent middle class, as well as upper-class people
employing young children as domestic helpers. But, they are not working as helpers, but bonded labour. They are
made slaves. Frightening stories of how they have been physically tortured are printed in the daily newspapers.
And in spite of stringent action being taken against such employers, the problem continues.
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