Accrual Accounting in Public Sector Essay Example for Free

Accrual Accounting in Public Sector Essay In the present age, accounting seems to be an indispensable tool for modern business activities. However, not only for the profit orientated commercial business, it also plays an important role in the non-profit profit organizations, such as public sectors. Moreover, due to several deficiencies and drawbacks of government accounting and financial-management systems, such as unclear accountability, poorly maintained assets and hided losses and long-term liabilities, reforms in the public sector have been conducted over the last several decades across the word from New Zealand, Australia to England (Ball and et al, 1999). Accounting innovation by implementing accrual accounting in the public sector is one of the major part of the reforms and an important element of the wider concept of the so called New Public Management, and draws much of public concern and debate (Connolly and Hyndman, 2006). Under this background, this essay is going to discuss the implications arising from the process of implementing and actual using of accrual accounting in the public sector in several aspects, and try to put forward some possible solutions. See more:  Perseverance essay Generally, two main accounting methods are use to determine when and how to record income and expenses in the books, namely, cash accounting and accrual accounting. The major difference between these two is the timing of when the transactions are recorded in the account (Tudor and Mutiu, 2006). To be specific, under the cash accounting method, income and payment are not counted until cash is actually received or made; while under the accrual accounting basis, transactions are recorded as soon as they incurred, regardless whether the cash is received or made. Comparing to cash accounting, accruals accounting place more emphasis on how the capital assets used and recorded (Connolly and Hyndman, 2006). More reliable figures of performance based on revenues earned and resources consumed will be achieved through accruals accounting. Owning to this, it is believed that accruals accounting will contribute to better longer-term perspective of governmental policies, resource management and decision making (Ball and et al, 1999); and both internal and external transparency may be enhanced. Moreover, it is also considered that comparability between different government departments will be improved, even between the pre and post privatization (Wynne, 2004 and FEE, 2006). Although several potential advantages are suggested that will be brought by implementing accrual accounting in the public sector, it is still under debate that whether it is really appropriate to use accrual accounting system, which is initially devised for private sector, in the public sector (CESifo, 2007). In the private sector, commonly, accounting tends to be seen as a neutral technology to record past activities and provide financial and other necessary information to operate the business more efficiently and profitable. However, due to the difference in the nature and role of the public sector, this description seems not appropriate. For example, the primary purpose of public sector accounting is not serving to generate more profit but controlling people’s behavior to protect public money (Ellwood and Newberry, 2007), and the ultimate users are electorate instead of stakeholders (CESifo, 2007). Due to the fundamental mismatch of the objects, potential inadaptable problems may emerge during utilization (Carlin, 2005). As for the incurred cost of implementation and operation of an accrual accounting, in the North Ireland (NI) case study conducted by Connolly and Hyndman (2006), almost all the â€Å"overseers† and â€Å"Operational Accountants† believed that the views of cost neutral of the transition process, which came up by the UK HM Treasury, are not conform to the reality. Besides that, another case study based on UK and Republic of Ireland (RoI) , the result also revealed that all the interviewees questioned the value of the changes whether can justify the substantial cost (Connolly and Hyndman, 2010). Usually, the additional introducing cost will occur mainly in four aspects, identifying and valuing existing assets, developing accounting policies, establishing accounting systems (such as computer systems), hiring or providing training for both the preparers and users of financial information; and some of those cost will persist (Wynne, 2004). The amount of the cost is significant, for example, according to the New Zealand Audit Office, there is about NZ$160-180 million expenditure accrued by the financial-management reform during 1987 to 1992 (Ball and et al, 1999). Upon the previous experience and data, special resource should be added to the budget separately to ensure that the normal department services will not be impacted by the implementation of accrual accounting. The actual cost associated with process can also be reckoned more easily by doing this. Through comparing several case studies, the perceptions of usefulness of accruals information and the extent of the information used in reality tend to be very different in different cases. Both of the two researches conducted by Connolly and Hyndman (2006 and 2010), based on UK and RoI, showed that almost all the interviewees agreed that the accrual accounting information was limited used or even not used and helpless for decision making; and several â€Å"Operational Accountant† participants expressed the view that the very complicated process may be one of the leading factors. Nevertheless, the situations seem to be rather dissimilar in Australia and New Zealand, where more comprehensively accrual accounting have been adopted. Especially in New Zealand, a significant decrease, from about 52% of GDP to just above 10%, of net debt could be found after the reforms during 1992 to 2005 (Champoux, 2006). The differences of performance of implementation of accrual accounting may attribute to three main reasons, the extent of the whole reform involved, insufficient implementing time and relevant people lack of professional knowledge. One of the possible reasons for the success of New Zealand is that New Zealand was the first country which had completely implemented accrual accounting system at both national and agency level (Carlin, 2005). According to Lye and et al (2005), the reform process in New Zealand not only occurred in economic level, but also extended to a much broader aspects, such as simplifying the machinery of government and changing industrial relations. In contrast, the extent of reform in the other countries which were also implementing accrual based accounting system, like the UK and the USA, is in a rather surface degree. Furthermore, the politicians who were responsible for the reforms in those two countries were right- wing, and may always hold conservative attitude to the reforms (Lye and et al, 2005). However, a thorough reform could generate many benefits and potential advantages. Turning to the issue of implementing time, â€Å"Overseers† participants in the research of Connolly and Hyndman (2006) also typically emphasized that the ineffectiveness of utilization could be a result of being the early stages of the development, and some â€Å"Operational Accountant† also showed positive attitude to the future through time increasing. The process of implementing accrual accounting in the public sector takes far more than 1 or 2 years until the whole system working effectively and efficiently. According to previous experience, the process of fully implementing the new accounting system and necessary reforms will take about 8 to 10 years; and it may be take even longer in the UK case (Wynne, 2004). Upon this, it can be found that the process may take a relatively longer time than people used to expect before the benefit being realized. One other reason is that relevant staffs and managers are unqualified because of lack of professional accounting knowledge. It is commonly accepted that better insight information, such as more complete financial performance and position, which could reveal the features of operation of public sector may be provided by accrual accounting. However, those characteristics make the statements more difficult to understand, especially for people with inadequate accounting knowledge. Comparing to cash accounting, the information provided by cash accounting seems more easily to understand and more straightforward for the general public (CESifo, 2007 and FEE, 2006). Moreover, in Connolly and Hyndman’ s research (2006), both â€Å"Overseer† and â€Å"Operational Accountant† participants particularly complained that, mostly, their efforts, spending extra time to process the complex information, are useless, because the potential users are lack of relevant accounting skills. Several participates also believed that the majority of senior managers are not equipped with necessary accounting knowledge and do not have a strong desire to learn and adopt the new accounting system. Besides that, in another Connolly and Hyndman’s research (2010), according to reflection of politicians to the new accounting information, the interviewees believed that not only the senior managers, but also the politicians, who are essentially responsible for decision-making, had inadequate accounting knowledge and superficial level of understanding of accrual accounting system. However, if politicians do not have certain level of accounting knowledge, they will not be able to evaluate and act upon accrual statements (FEE, 2006). The following is a case in point. Wynne (2004, p10) states that â€Å"only 20% of ministries had a director of finance who was a professionally qualified accountant and not all these were members of the ministry’s management board† in the UK central government. In order to ensure implementation of accrual accounting more smoothly, several approaches could be taken to achieve that. Firstly, one of the most effective ways is providing more accessible accrual information for the public, for instance, summarizing the important information and presenting it without using specialized vocabulary. Secondly, it is vital to provide more training programmes, which teach practically useful accrual accounting knowledge, for both the staffs and managers. Finally, based on the New Zealand experience, it was found that a strong communication with politicians is an indispensable part in the implementation process. The politicians need to realize the potential value of which the accrual based accounting system can bring. Thus, practical strategies, such as illustrating the core concept and benefit of accrual accounting and providing key figures, which can show the features of accrual information, will be needed. (FEE, 2006) In conclusion, through analyzing and comparing several case studies of implementation of accrual accounting, it can be found that a significant number of countries had already started to implement accrual accounting and use accrual information in practice, and the number is still increasing. However, only minority of them realized the substantial benefits from the new accounting system. The reasons for this status can be vary, such as Insufficient implementing time and relevant people lack of professional knowledge mentioned above. Several possible solutions can be used to tackle those problems, but it can be more complicate in the real case; and some gaps still exist in understanding of the implications of use of accrual accounting in the public sector (Carlin, 2005). For this reason, further research based on each countries own circumstances is still needed. Moreover, it is also quite certain that for many countries there are still a number of barriers to be overcome before accrual accounting can be utilized to its full potential. List of references Ball, I. and et al. (1999). â€Å"Reforming Financial Management in the Public Sector: Lessons U.S. Officials Can Learn from New Zealand.† Policy Study No. 258. Reason Public Policy Institute. Carlin, T, M. (2005), â€Å"Debating the Impact of Accrual Accounting and Reporting in the Public Sector†, Financial Accountability Management, 21(3) Center for Economic Studies., the Ifo Institute. and the CESifo GmbH (CESifo). (2007). â€Å"Accrual Accounting in The Public Sector†, CESifo DICE Report, 5 (3), pp. 43-45 Connolly, C. and Hyndman, N. (2006), â€Å"The actual implementation of accruals accounting: Caveats from a case within the UK public sector†, Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal, [e-journal] 19 (2), pp. 272 – 290. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570610656123 [Accessed 1 December 2012] Connolly, C. and Hyndman, N. (2010), â€Å"Accruals accounting in the public sector: A road not always taken†, Management Accountin g Research, 22 (1), pp. 36–45 Ellwood, S. and Newberry, S. (2007), â€Å"Public sector accrual accounting: institutionalising neo-liberal principles ? †. Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal, [e-journal] 20(4), pp. 549 – 573. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570710762584 [Accessed 1 December 2012] Federation des Experts des Comtables Europeens (FEE). (2006), â€Å"Accrual Accounting for More Effective Public Policy†, paper of the FEE Public Sector Committee. Lye, J., Perera, H. and Rahman, A. (2005), â€Å"The evolution of accruals-based Crown (government) financial statements in New Zealand†, Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal, [e-journal] 18(6), pp. 784-815. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570510627711 [Accessed 1 December 2012] Tiron-Todor, A. and Mutiu, A. (2005), â€Å"Cash versus Accrual Accounting in Public Sector†, Studia Universitatis Babes Bolyai Oeconomica 1990, available at SSRN: http//s srn.com/abstract=906813. [Accessed 1 December 2012] Wynne, A. (2004), â€Å"Is the Move to Accrual Based Accounting a Real Priority for Public Sector Accounting†, Public Fund Digest, [e-journal] 6(1) . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1320219 [Accessed 1 December 2012]

Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829) :: Biographies Biography Lamarck Essays

Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829) Jean Baptiste Lamarck was one of the first people to propose a theory of evolution to the public. Although his ideas were not widely accepted they paved the way for others to do work in that field. Even before his work on evolution he did extensive work with invertebrates. His work on invertebrates inevitably led him to his theory of evolution. This theory was not accepted at his time and has since been proven wrong. The way he was raised and the institutions he attended gave him the opportunity to perform his work. BACKGROUND Jean Baptiste Lamarck was born in the village of Bazentin-le-Petit in northern France on August 1,1744. He was born into a military family as the youngest of eleven children. Around 1756 Lamarck joined a Jesuit seminary at Amiens, but left to join the French military after his fathers death in 1761. He remained in the army until illness forced him to leave in 1768. Not too long after leaving the army Lamarck started to study medicine and plants. (Waggoner 2) Lamarck took many excursions with Jean-Jacques Rousseau which led him to an interest in plants rather than medicine. (Weber 49) Ten years later he gained attention and notoriety from his book Flore Francaise, about the plants of France. He had the help of well known botanist Buffon on this book, which helped with his credibility. From this book he was given the position of assistant botanist at the royal botanical garden, the Jardin des Plantes. This position was not well paid and Lamarck was forced to live in pover ty. (Clifford 1) But in 1793 the Jardin des Plantes was reorganized to become the National Museum of Natural History. This museum was run by twelve professors in twelve different scientific fields. Lamarck was appointed to the professorship of the natural history of insects and worms. Lamarck later gave these organisms the term invertebrates. (Waggoner 1-2) WORK WITH INVERTEBRATES Lamarck knew nothing about the subject of invertebrates at this time in his life. Not many scientists did know anything about invertebrates. Some even included snakes and crocodiles in this classification. The name invertebrate did not even exist at this time, Lamarck coined the phrase after he had done his research. Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829) :: Biographies Biography Lamarck Essays Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829) Jean Baptiste Lamarck was one of the first people to propose a theory of evolution to the public. Although his ideas were not widely accepted they paved the way for others to do work in that field. Even before his work on evolution he did extensive work with invertebrates. His work on invertebrates inevitably led him to his theory of evolution. This theory was not accepted at his time and has since been proven wrong. The way he was raised and the institutions he attended gave him the opportunity to perform his work. BACKGROUND Jean Baptiste Lamarck was born in the village of Bazentin-le-Petit in northern France on August 1,1744. He was born into a military family as the youngest of eleven children. Around 1756 Lamarck joined a Jesuit seminary at Amiens, but left to join the French military after his fathers death in 1761. He remained in the army until illness forced him to leave in 1768. Not too long after leaving the army Lamarck started to study medicine and plants. (Waggoner 2) Lamarck took many excursions with Jean-Jacques Rousseau which led him to an interest in plants rather than medicine. (Weber 49) Ten years later he gained attention and notoriety from his book Flore Francaise, about the plants of France. He had the help of well known botanist Buffon on this book, which helped with his credibility. From this book he was given the position of assistant botanist at the royal botanical garden, the Jardin des Plantes. This position was not well paid and Lamarck was forced to live in pover ty. (Clifford 1) But in 1793 the Jardin des Plantes was reorganized to become the National Museum of Natural History. This museum was run by twelve professors in twelve different scientific fields. Lamarck was appointed to the professorship of the natural history of insects and worms. Lamarck later gave these organisms the term invertebrates. (Waggoner 1-2) WORK WITH INVERTEBRATES Lamarck knew nothing about the subject of invertebrates at this time in his life. Not many scientists did know anything about invertebrates. Some even included snakes and crocodiles in this classification. The name invertebrate did not even exist at this time, Lamarck coined the phrase after he had done his research.

Success and Failures of Low-Cost (Rdp) Housing Post- Apatheid.South Africa

Introduction According to Tonkin (2008), low –cost housing is dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed affordable to a group of people within a specified income range, low cost housing includes social housing and low income housing. In South Africa these houses have been provided through the Reconstruction Development Program (RDP). Since 1994, the government has been implementing this program to address the housing backlog which is continuously increasing. The post-Apartheid has era has been enlightened by different successes and failures of low cost housing.Some of the successes include provision of housing to the poor at affordable rates and failures include that it promotes continuous segregation of people in accordance with economic class and race (Tonkin, 2008). The main purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the successes and failures of low cost housing (RDP). The Successes of Low-Cost housing in Post-Apartheid Low cost housing has brought attentio n of excellence to South Africa by different countries in the world. South Africa has been classified as the world‘s leading country in relation to the provision of houses and its inspiration to eliminate informal settlements.Researchers have suggested that South Africa by 2011 had build-up 2 million houses for the poor. South Africa has been identified on the international arena as a country leading by example in relation to the initiatives it takes to provide low cost housing (Tonkin, 2008). Furthermore, Tonkin (2008) suggests that low-cost housing has managed to provide housing to the poor who could not afford housing on the market. The market forces could not provide for choice and selection for these people to have housing of their preferred choices. Low cost housing has played a role of making equitable selection for those who cannot afford housing.This has helped in improving the living conditions for these poor households. In addition, jobs have been created due to the low cost housing provision process. Low cost housing has played the role of job creation strategy. South Africa has been hit by massive unemployment rates since 1994, which has made most to survive on nothing, due to no shortage of employment opportunities (Tonkin, 2008). Moreover, Tonkin (2008) indicates that the historically black population, which has been supressed by the apartheid system, have been catered for, by low cost housing.Back under the apartheid blacks were not allowed to have accommodation especially in towns. Exclusionary zoning was the ordinance which dominated the housing allocation, favouring those with money and those who are racially deemed acceptable. Low cost housing has been a catalyst in addressing this issue. Lastly, low cost housing has made availability of cheap labour especially in areas, where low cost housing is located near heavy industries. The availability of the labour has made industries to operate on low cost strategies and help them utilize th eir resources more efficiently and effectively.In addition expenses for these industries reduce especially in relation to wage expenses (Tonkin, 2008). Failures of Low-Cost housing in Post-Apartheid On the other hand, Low cost housing has had its failures . One of the failures of low cost housing is that a small number of the population have benefited from the program. In South Africa a larger share of the total population lives in informal self-built houses. In reality low cost housing has failed to benefit large groups of people (Zhang, 2008).To add more, Zhang (2008) clarifies that low cost housing has even made lives of the poor to become more difficult, this is because the (RDP)s have been characterised by the issue of being of low quality. Reports have made variously about their lack of quality by occupiers. Some of the issues raised include that the roofs in some instances are always leaking when it rains, another issue has been of the material used which can be easily get da maged by wind or other elements of nature. Furthermore, low cost housing has been responsible for the failure to link efficiently and effectively people to employment areas (Zhang, 2008).Land near the central business district is mainly expensive, therefore cheaper land is found in the outskirts of towns and that’s where low cost housing is built. This has made people to travel longer distances to their employment areas, eventually people will be forced to fork out large sums of money. Tonkin (2008) has highlighted that most (RDP) houses have become residential dormitories because most beneficiaries choose to rent their homes and move back to informal settlements or other housing closer to work. In addition, Tonkin (2008) suggests that low cost hosing has een unable to create or provide integrated development. Segregation of the poor households still exists and in some racial segregation is also present. Therefore this perpetuates marginalisation of the poor and does not cont ribute to the compaction, integration and restructuring of the apartheid city (Zhang ,2008) This segregation has made South African cities to be identified as some of the least dense cities in the world and eventually in the end low cost housing does not allow mixed housing as an alternative solution.According to Zhang (2008), (RDP) housing in some instances has promoted violent clashes amongst different groups of low cost housing recipients, the main reason is that housing has not been adequately distributed effectively enough to cover the whole section of those who cannot afford it. Housing delivery process has been poor. It is estimated that the 2million+ houses which were built by the government, only offered accommodation to 5 million people out of the total of the total 12million people who have been identified to have no proper housing (Tonkin, 2008).In addition, the major part of the land where the houses for RDP are built was once used as mainly farm land (Zhang, 2008). Pro duction in the agriculture sector has been affected because land as a factor of production has been reduced. Food production has been affected by this move. The country has been forced to go through a lot of expenses to balance this situation. The use of genetically modified technologies which promote quick growth of food crops, in the same time being harmful to the human body have been adopted as options by the government (Tonkin, 2008).Low cost housing has been responsible for this effect in agriculture production. Moreover, low-cost housing has failed to leverage growth in the economy. The main reason is that government has been the main actor alone in the delivery and the private sector has only put in little effort. The Gross Domestic Product has not benefited much from the low cost housing, because of lack of investments and clarifications of the benefits of low cost housing entrepreneurship (Tonkin, 2008).Lastly, low cost housing has not been able to combat crime but rather h as promoted the rate of crime to increase (Zhang 2008). The main reason is that the services within the vicinity of the housing have not been distributed efficiently and effectively . Another cause of crime is that most people are overcrowded and do not have ways to sustain their lives. Statistics in South Africa suggest that areas associated with low cost housing are prone to crime and that’s were the highest crime rates are situated in the country (Tonkin, 2008). ConclusionIn a nutshell, low cost housing has been a controversial issue where it has been characterised by successes and failures. The main drawback which makes RDP housing to be a failure is the legacies of the post-apartheid system which hinder success. RDP housing has been helpful in providing accommodation for the poor and at the same time it has been of low quality making lives even difficult for the users. Reference page Guy, A 2000, The New South Africa, Macmillan Press, London. Tonkin, A 2008, Sustainable Medium Density Housing: A Resource Book, Development Action Group, Cape Town.Tonkin, A & Muthambi, L 2012, ‘’ Challenges for interest groups and their advocacy campaigns: The case of sustainable medium density housing† , in Thuynsma H A (ed. ), Public Opinion and Interest Groups Politics: South Africa’s Missing Links? , Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria. Watson, V 2002, Change and Community in Spatial Planning: Metropolitan planning in Cape Town under political transition, Routledge, London. Zhang, X Q 2008, Housing Finance System in South Africa, UN-HABITAT, Nairobi. Success and Failures of Low-Cost (Rdp) Housing Post- Apatheid.South Africa Introduction According to Tonkin (2008), low –cost housing is dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed affordable to a group of people within a specified income range, low cost housing includes social housing and low income housing. In South Africa these houses have been provided through the Reconstruction Development Program (RDP). Since 1994, the government has been implementing this program to address the housing backlog which is continuously increasing. The post-Apartheid has era has been enlightened by different successes and failures of low cost housing.Some of the successes include provision of housing to the poor at affordable rates and failures include that it promotes continuous segregation of people in accordance with economic class and race (Tonkin, 2008). The main purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the successes and failures of low cost housing (RDP). The Successes of Low-Cost housing in Post-Apartheid Low cost housing has brought attentio n of excellence to South Africa by different countries in the world. South Africa has been classified as the world‘s leading country in relation to the provision of houses and its inspiration to eliminate informal settlements.Researchers have suggested that South Africa by 2011 had build-up 2 million houses for the poor. South Africa has been identified on the international arena as a country leading by example in relation to the initiatives it takes to provide low cost housing (Tonkin, 2008). Furthermore, Tonkin (2008) suggests that low-cost housing has managed to provide housing to the poor who could not afford housing on the market. The market forces could not provide for choice and selection for these people to have housing of their preferred choices. Low cost housing has played a role of making equitable selection for those who cannot afford housing.This has helped in improving the living conditions for these poor households. In addition, jobs have been created due to the low cost housing provision process. Low cost housing has played the role of job creation strategy. South Africa has been hit by massive unemployment rates since 1994, which has made most to survive on nothing, due to no shortage of employment opportunities (Tonkin, 2008). Moreover, Tonkin (2008) indicates that the historically black population, which has been supressed by the apartheid system, have been catered for, by low cost housing.Back under the apartheid blacks were not allowed to have accommodation especially in towns. Exclusionary zoning was the ordinance which dominated the housing allocation, favouring those with money and those who are racially deemed acceptable. Low cost housing has been a catalyst in addressing this issue. Lastly, low cost housing has made availability of cheap labour especially in areas, where low cost housing is located near heavy industries. The availability of the labour has made industries to operate on low cost strategies and help them utilize th eir resources more efficiently and effectively.In addition expenses for these industries reduce especially in relation to wage expenses (Tonkin, 2008). Failures of Low-Cost housing in Post-Apartheid On the other hand, Low cost housing has had its failures . One of the failures of low cost housing is that a small number of the population have benefited from the program. In South Africa a larger share of the total population lives in informal self-built houses. In reality low cost housing has failed to benefit large groups of people (Zhang, 2008).To add more, Zhang (2008) clarifies that low cost housing has even made lives of the poor to become more difficult, this is because the (RDP)s have been characterised by the issue of being of low quality. Reports have made variously about their lack of quality by occupiers. Some of the issues raised include that the roofs in some instances are always leaking when it rains, another issue has been of the material used which can be easily get da maged by wind or other elements of nature. Furthermore, low cost housing has been responsible for the failure to link efficiently and effectively people to employment areas (Zhang, 2008).Land near the central business district is mainly expensive, therefore cheaper land is found in the outskirts of towns and that’s where low cost housing is built. This has made people to travel longer distances to their employment areas, eventually people will be forced to fork out large sums of money. Tonkin (2008) has highlighted that most (RDP) houses have become residential dormitories because most beneficiaries choose to rent their homes and move back to informal settlements or other housing closer to work. In addition, Tonkin (2008) suggests that low cost hosing has een unable to create or provide integrated development. Segregation of the poor households still exists and in some racial segregation is also present. Therefore this perpetuates marginalisation of the poor and does not cont ribute to the compaction, integration and restructuring of the apartheid city (Zhang ,2008) This segregation has made South African cities to be identified as some of the least dense cities in the world and eventually in the end low cost housing does not allow mixed housing as an alternative solution.According to Zhang (2008), (RDP) housing in some instances has promoted violent clashes amongst different groups of low cost housing recipients, the main reason is that housing has not been adequately distributed effectively enough to cover the whole section of those who cannot afford it. Housing delivery process has been poor. It is estimated that the 2million+ houses which were built by the government, only offered accommodation to 5 million people out of the total of the total 12million people who have been identified to have no proper housing (Tonkin, 2008).In addition, the major part of the land where the houses for RDP are built was once used as mainly farm land (Zhang, 2008). Pro duction in the agriculture sector has been affected because land as a factor of production has been reduced. Food production has been affected by this move. The country has been forced to go through a lot of expenses to balance this situation. The use of genetically modified technologies which promote quick growth of food crops, in the same time being harmful to the human body have been adopted as options by the government (Tonkin, 2008).Low cost housing has been responsible for this effect in agriculture production. Moreover, low-cost housing has failed to leverage growth in the economy. The main reason is that government has been the main actor alone in the delivery and the private sector has only put in little effort. The Gross Domestic Product has not benefited much from the low cost housing, because of lack of investments and clarifications of the benefits of low cost housing entrepreneurship (Tonkin, 2008).Lastly, low cost housing has not been able to combat crime but rather h as promoted the rate of crime to increase (Zhang 2008). The main reason is that the services within the vicinity of the housing have not been distributed efficiently and effectively . Another cause of crime is that most people are overcrowded and do not have ways to sustain their lives. Statistics in South Africa suggest that areas associated with low cost housing are prone to crime and that’s were the highest crime rates are situated in the country (Tonkin, 2008). ConclusionIn a nutshell, low cost housing has been a controversial issue where it has been characterised by successes and failures. The main drawback which makes RDP housing to be a failure is the legacies of the post-apartheid system which hinder success. RDP housing has been helpful in providing accommodation for the poor and at the same time it has been of low quality making lives even difficult for the users. Reference page Guy, A 2000, The New South Africa, Macmillan Press, London. Tonkin, A 2008, Sustainable Medium Density Housing: A Resource Book, Development Action Group, Cape Town.Tonkin, A & Muthambi, L 2012, ‘’ Challenges for interest groups and their advocacy campaigns: The case of sustainable medium density housing† , in Thuynsma H A (ed. ), Public Opinion and Interest Groups Politics: South Africa’s Missing Links? , Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria. Watson, V 2002, Change and Community in Spatial Planning: Metropolitan planning in Cape Town under political transition, Routledge, London. Zhang, X Q 2008, Housing Finance System in South Africa, UN-HABITAT, Nairobi.

The Decline Of Western Culture - 896 Words

Schaeffer Critique Purpose of Text and Intended Audience The purpose of the book is to discuss the decline of Western culture by analyzing history from his perspective from Rome to his present day (the 1970’s). Schaeffer (2005) presents the idea that to redeem society Christians must live as God desires and completely live by the Bible’s teachings of morals and values. The intended audience would be Christians, because the entire tone of the book comes from a Christian worldview. Although, non-believers may read the book, they may not glean insights from it like believers. Thesis and Bias Schaeffer’s (2005) thesis was on how we should live now by understanding our history and culture through philosophical, scientific, and religious knowledge. Throughout the book Schaeffer (2005) displays bias because the book is written from a Christian perspective. Therefore, the way history is presented is skewed due to his Christian intent. Theoretical Assumptions and Issues One of the first concepts Schaeffer (2005) explores in the book is the significance of peoples’ presuppositions of Western history. Schaeffer (2005) believes that everyone has presuppositions and that they are gained through our family, peers, and our culture. His issue is that Western Civilization is declining and tracing history can shed light on why and how we should live to reverse the effects (Schaeffer, 2005). Historical and Current Issues and Implications The book begins in Rome. Schaeffer (2005)Show MoreRelatedThe Early Middle Ages And Early Medieval Period Essay1435 Words   |  6 Pagescrucial in the formation of modern government, philosophy, culture as well as many other aspects and qualities of society today. The late antiquity, the early middle ages and the early modern period were all named by historians to mark significant changes in politics, culture and spirituality. 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