Introduction
Mandatory vaccination of children is a controversial topic in the United States, where many people have negative preconceptions about vaccination and are unwilling to vaccinate their children. However, achieving a high percentage of vaccinated children is essential to ensuring the well-being of this population and preventing outbursts of various diseases. This letter will show that the current policy on this issue is inadequate and that an urgent change is required to prevent negative consequences.
Mandatory Vaccination of Children
The need to vaccinate all children has been recognized ever since vaccines became a widespread disease prevention method. As a result, all states have regulations regarding the vaccination of children in schools and other learning institutions. Nevertheless, most states’ legislation also provides for exemptions, thus allowing the parents of some children to refuse to vaccinate their child. For example, in Florida, both medical and religious exemptions are allowed (Florida Department of Health, 2016).
While medical exemptions are based on objective health data, such as the presence of a particular condition, parents can request a religious exemption freely by stating that the required immunizations conflict with their beliefs or practices. As a result of religious exemptions, thousands of children remain unvaccinated every year. Several other states also grant exemptions based on religious or philosophical beliefs, as reported by Crawford (2019). This creates a significant gap in legislation, which should be addressed by federal regulations.
The need for change is based primarily on the concept of herd immunity and the threat of disease outbreaks resulting from poor immunization rates. According to the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO, 2017), herd immunity means that if a high percentage of people in the community are vaccinated, the risk of epidemics decreases substantially. Thus, even if a small number of unvaccinated people become ill, it will not result in an outbreak.
Given that some people cannot receive vaccinations due to medical reasons, the suggested change is to make child vaccinations mandatory on the federal level and refuse exemptions based on philosophical or religious beliefs. While this change would still allow people to receive medical exemptions, the share of vaccinated children will become higher, thus achieving herd immunity on a national level. This, in turn, will promote population health and reduce healthcare expenditures associated with preventable diseases, such as measles or pneumococcal disease.
If the proposed change is implemented, each state will experience a percentage increase in costs compared to the share of non-medical exemptions that used to be issued. For example, in Florida, 1.7% of children received religious exemptions from vaccinations in 2015 (Veiga, Alcantara, & Dapena, 2015). Hence, if child vaccinations become mandatory and these exemptions are not only allowed, the state will face an increase of 1.7% in costs associated with childhood vaccinations. Compared to the costs of treating preventable diseases and their complications, this increase is minor and will result in reduced healthcare expenses in the long term.
Conclusion
The issue of child immunization is particularly relevant to nursing, as nurses see the consequences of poor vaccination rates regularly. Thus, nurses can become important change agents during policy change. In the present case, the nurse will provide all the required information and assistance to policymakers to support the decision-making process. They could also introduce the issue to policymakers and contact professional agencies, such as the American Nurses’ Association, to ensure support of the bill.
References
Crawford, L. (2019). This is how Florida parents are avoiding vaccinating their kids. 10 News. Web.
Florida Department of Health. (2016). Exemption from required immunizations.
The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO). (2017). Vaccines protect your community.
Veiga, C., Alcantara, C., & Dapena, K. (2015). Half of Florida counties meet state’s vaccination goal. Miami Herald. Web.
Film Festivals And Awards Effect On Cinematography
The early era of cinematography was shaped by striving to achieve success in terms of creating masterpieces that are unique and precious. However, gradually, the primary priorities of creators involved in the film industry have shifted in favor of material profit. The contemporary cinematography is most known not for its immense contribution to the development of culture and arts but for the extensive sums of money that rotate inside of it.
Film festivals and awards have become the tools used for effective marketing. Winning such an award as the Oscar is not only about prestige, it gives huge financial profits1. The modern cinematography is heavily influenced by awards and festivals industry. Some of the movies depict this situation and reveal the hidden side of the film industry in a unique manner. The analysis and comparison of the movies “For Your Consideration” and “All the Love You Cannes” will help to reveal how the films explore the specifics of the process of modern filmmaking and the roles film festivals, and awards play in the modern film industry.
“For Your Consideration”
“For Your Consideration” (2006) is a movie revealing the hidden side of modern cinematography2. The comedy directed by Christopher Guest depicts a story about the actors starring in a low-budget film that, according to some rumors, is supposed to become a subject of award-season buzz. The title of the movie reflects the phrase used in advertisements to promote films for honors. The reception of the movie was two-fold, as nearly half of critics reviewed it positively. Catherine O’Hara, starring in the movie, received many good reviews and was nominated for several awards.
The process of filmmaking is largely explored in the movie, as its plot is mostly related to the creation of the film-within-a-film. The director, the film-within-a-film seems to be more obsessed with adding extravagant camera shots than on making the film full of meaning. The producer focuses on her bizarre appearance instead of exploring how to contribute to the film’s success. The actors involved in filmmaking do not possess significant skills or talents, but after the rumor about the nomination for the Oscar is spread, they start behaving like real stars. They are obsessed with finding a way to ensure their nomination much more than with mastering their acting in the film. The process of filmmaking depicted in the movie appears to reveal the negative side of contemporary low-cost cinematography.
Besides revealing the specifics of filmmaking, the movie reflects the common features of the whole film industry. It satirizes modern cinematography and demonstrates that striving for receiving awards often substitute striving for providing a high-quality performance. The movie shows that press appearances and other methods of PR management receive much more attention that the film-within-a-film itself. Putting more effort into the promotion of the film than in the process of its creation is the feature of the modern film industry that is caricatured in the movie. By satirizing modern filmmaking, the movie demonstrates that film awards are business models or the models of “cultural prize as trademarked property” serving as a “publicity vehicle” and lucrative media franchise3.
“All the Love You Cannes”
“All the Love You Cannes” (2002) is a documentary about the way Troma studios attempt to popularize its production at the Cannes film festival4. The movie was directed by Lloyd Kaufman, Sean McGrath, and Gabriel Fridman. The film earned controversial reviews due to the extensive amount of scenes with naked people and inappropriate language.
The process of filmmaking presented in the movie differs a lot from everything the ordinary viewers are used to think about it. The movie demonstrates the specifics of indie cinema and gives a wholly new independent view on filmmaking. Most of the movie is filmed with the help of a low-cost video camera without using any special equipment for creating high-quality shots. The cast consists of Lloyd Kaufman and the fans of Troma, who came to promote their favorite film studio at the festival. The plot has an unusual narrative structure as it is a real-time video recording of everything happening with the heroes during their trip to Cannes. The filmmaking depicted in the movie can be characterized as unusual, extremely extravagant, and shocking. It opposes conventional filmmaking.
The film industry is presented in the movie as highly commercialized and profit-motivated. The movie reveals the specifics of film promotion by including scenes of the attempts to contact media conglomerates and big-time movie executives. The movie industry is presented as a business governed by certain rules and aimed at achieving pecuniary goals. It is the business ‘of selling art and culture” that values good management more than films’ artistic quality5. The film demonstrates the hidden side of film festivals, which are promoted like the contributors to the development of cinematography and, in fact, serve for purely commercial purposes. The movie shows the Cannes film festivals as the place used by filmmakers for selling their products to theaters and video markets all over the world.
Comparison
While both of the movies show the hidden side of the modern film industry and the way it is influenced by awards and festivals, each of them has its distinctive features related to the specifics of the themes, the cast, the crew, plot, style, and methods of revealing the vital problems.
The theme of the first movie is the obsession with awards typical for modern filmmakers and actors, while the theme of the second movie is the financial side of big film festivals (on the example of the Cannes film festival). In fact, both of the movies explore how global cinematography is affected by the extensive awards and festival business.
The cast and crew of “For Your Consideration” consist of professional actors, directors, and producers, while “All the Love You Cannes” can be considered as an example of amateur video.
The plot of “For Your Consideration” is based on demonstrating how the life and behavior of actors starring in the film-within-a-film change after learning about the possibility of being nominated for the Oscar. The heroes do not realize how much obsession with awards affects their life and professional goals. On the contrary, the plot of “All the Love You Cannes” depicts the story about the heroes who clearly understand the commercial goals of the film industry and pragmatically attempt to become the part of business earning huge revenues.
The style of narration in “For Your Consideration” has the main features of traditional comedy typical of New Hollywood cinema. It is bounded by certain social and cinematographic norms and standards. The narrative structure follows the classical three-act rule. The flow of actions is logic and causal-motivated. The movie presents an example of an ordinary comedy. On the contrary, “All the Love You Cannes,” as an example of Indie cinema, violates all standards and is full of indecent scenes and rude language. It does not follow classic rules and present a unique and unprecedented example of a documentary.
The methods of exploring the major problems in the movies also differ. While the first movie satirizes the film industry, the second one simply reflects reality in a shocking and bizarre manner. The aim of the first movie is to caricature modern cinematography and provoke the viewer to discover its negative sides. The main aim of the second movie is to shock the viewer by revealing the reality of the festival. Though the methods of depicting the commercializing of the film industry are different in each of the movies, their main aims are similar.
The analysis of the depiction of filmmaking and film industry in “For Your Consideration” and “All the Love You Canes” reveals that the movies have numerous differences in the style and methods of exploring the main issues. However, both of the movies strive to demonstrate the negative effects of domination of film awards and the festivals industry in modern cinematography.
Bibliography
All the Love You Cannes. Directed by Lloyd Kaufman, Sean McGrath, and Gabriel Fridman. 2002. New York: Troma Entertainment, 2010. DVD.
English, James. Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
For Your Consideration. Directed by Christopher Guest. 2006. Los Angeles, CA: Warners Independent Pictures, 2010. DVD.
Kernan, Lisa. “Hollywood on the Head of a Pin: Montage and Marketing at the Oscars.” Mediascape. Last modified 2009. Web.
Wong, Cindy Hing-Yuk. Film Festivals: Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2011.
Footnotes
- Lisa Kernan, “Hollywood on the Head of a Pin: Montage and Marketing at the Oscars,” Mediascape, last modified 2009. Web.
- For Your Consideration, directed by Christopher Guest (2006; Los Angeles, CA: Warner Independent Pictures, 2010), DVD.
- James English, Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), 84.
- All the Love You Cannes, directed by Lloyd Kaufman, Sean McGrath, and Gabriel Fridman (2002; New York: Troma Entertainment, 2010), DVD.
- Cindy Hing-Yuk Wong, Film Festivals: Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2011), 143.
Government Accounting, Its Approaches And Future
Introduction
All entities involved in the management and the oversight of governmental operations and all parties that work in the sphere of local or state finances need to have an understanding of governmental accounting, which is based on a specific set of principles and procedures. Thus, government accounting is defined as a process targeted at recording, analyzing, and interpreting financial data relevant to a specific government. Critical objectives of government accounting are making sure that all relevant financial operations are carried out in time and keeping track of financial records necessary for efficient budgetary control. In this paper, the goal is to review relevant research articles on the topic of government accounting in order to get a deeper understanding of the subject.
Summary
All resources are chosen for the assignment review the concept of government accounting from different perspectives. The complex nature of government accounting as a process is given extensive attention in order to provide an explanation of how the procedure takes place. The relevant keywords used in the articles chosen for analysis include accounting, government accounting, accrual accounting, national governments, and budgeting. As the definition of government accounting has already been provided, it is important to define the following:
- Accounting is a comprehensive and continuous recording of financial information relevant to a business for the purpose of analyzing and reporting them to tax collection and oversight agencies;
- Accrual accounting refers to a method of accounting that focuses on the position and the performance of an entity on the basis of economic events and environment, disregarding the occurrence of cash transactions;
- The national government is defined as a government that has members from multiple political parties and can often refer to the central government in unitary states;
- Budgeting refers to the process of collecting and preparing financial statements in great detail in order to provide coverage for a relevant time period.
Literature Review
Issues in Government Accounting
Upon reviewing relevant literature on the topic of government accounting, it was revealed that the process itself is extremely complex and requires continuous improvement and modernization to ensure that it is done correctly and efficiently. According to the study by Caperchione, Christiaens, and Lapsley (2013), specific principles that relate to the complexity of government accounting include reform processes, ambiguity in accounting implementation, as well as accounting and power. When it comes to ambiguity, it is revealed that performance indicators are rarely used for making decisions related to governmental accounting, which often leads to inconsistencies (Caperchione et al., 2013). In terms of power relationships, government accounting also relies on the nature of political contexts within countries as well as interrelationships of partnerships and joint ventures within the public sector. The most important point that influences government accounting refers to reform procedures. Caperchione et al. (2013) pointed out that despite the continuous efforts of governments to pass unified accounting and budgeting reforms, there is still continuous struggle in terms of reaching a consensus.
Accrual accounting has been the main focus of researchers who investigated government accounting due to its higher reliability in measuring the financial performance of government activities (Salleh, Aziz, & Bakar, 2014). Thus, the key goal of accrual accounting within the governmental context is showing the financial condition of the country and adopting relevant measures for optimizing the utilization of available funds. Compared to fund accounting, accrual accounting offers several advantages that governments can use. For instance, it can show the financial position of an entity in the context of economic changes, provide an opportunity for demonstrating successful resource management, evaluate an ongoing ability of an entity to finance its activities, as well as evaluate performance on the basis of efficiency, costs, and accomplishments (Salleh et al., 2014). Overall, government accounting encompasses a broad range of activities that depend on the state of the financial environment in a country.
Differences in Approaches
The process of government accounting is complex and may range from one country to another due to the variability of financial policies that different countries establish. When comparing financial accounting procedures, it can be revealed that there are numerous issues associated with the nature of assets or that there are constant debates over policy development and implementation (Caperchione & Lapsley, 2011). In addition, different countries may approach the process of government accounting due to the challenges in reforms and accounting regulations, as mentioned by Caperchione and Lapsley (2011). Therefore, the comparative approach toward the analysis of accounting procedures in different countries usually reveals interesting insights about states’ financial policies and operations.
In order to provide examples of how different government accounting can be in various contexts, Jones, Lande, Lüder, and Portal’s (2013) research should be reviewed. Their study focuses on providing a comparison of government accounting reforms and budgeting efforts in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Germany. Jones et al. (2013) reveal that there is “no consensus” among the mentioned countries in terms of establishing the most appropriate package of reform possibilities (p. 421).
France is identified as a commitment- and cash-based accounting system that has changed throughout its development. For instance, the form of the annual budget has changed to a system of programs, missions, and actions that are being expressed at low levels in measurable outputs (Jones et al., 2013). Also, the country added continuous and annual accrual-based accounting to measure the effectiveness of the new budget systems. Germany has modified its accounting system in order to restructure the approach toward its budget to structure it according to departments. As a result, the country now manages two sets of accrual-based data: the data for liabilities and assets and the data for revenues and expenses (Jones et al., 2013). This shows that countries cannot establish the same systems for government accounting because all of them started developing their processes differently.
After comparing the budgeting and accounting efforts in four countries, Jones et al. (2013) came to a conclusion that the United Kingdom was an exception because it had its “own budgeting basis and its own basis for accrual valuations, and it defined the reporting entity for the whole of government uniquely” (p. 438). In France, the UK, and Germany, each set of accrual accounting policies is based on business accounting; in the US, however, such policies do not explicitly rely on the same principles of accounting (Jones et al., 2013). This means that it is challenging to establish unified policies regarding government accounting since different countries approach this process in various ways. On the other hand, neither harmonization nor standardization of government accounting and budgeting efforts is necessary for resolving economic crises.
Future of Government Accounting
Government accounting has reached its best performance and development in highly populated areas, which means that the existing processes can vary from one part of a country to another (Chatters, 2002). This occurs due to the lack of coordination between local governments as well as inconsistencies in terms of office between county and city officials. Therefore, the future of government accounting depends on the financial and economic trends in a governmental organization as well as the employment of qualified practitioners.
Chatters (2002) identified that constructive accounting in the government field was needed for strengthening the financial system and making sure that audits of municipal and other accounts reach a satisfactory stage. In order to do so, appropriate measures and reforms are needed for laying a solid foundation for future accounting procedures. As mentioned by Gan (2016), when countries establish effective government accounting standards under the supervision of a certified governmental accounting board, future endeavors associated with the measurement of financial performance will be more consistent.
Analysis of Findings
Government accounting is shown to be a complex process that requires countries to understand the nature of their financial transactions for meeting the requirements of success. Accrual-based accounting is the preferred approach due to its focus on the financial position of an entity rather than on transactions that it makes. However, countries significantly vary in the way their governmental accounting efforts developed because of the differences in their financial progression. Jones’ et al. (2013) contribution to the comparison of countries’ approaches toward government accounting is especially important to note because the researchers managed to conclude that there was no need in enforcing the unification of accounting procedures because it would not solve the problems that came along with economic instabilities.
On the other hand, it should be mentioned that despite the efforts of introducing unified systems of government accounting, countries still have different procedures for ensuring the effectiveness of accountants’ operations. It is also important to note that in governmental contexts, budgeting and accounting can be either separate or joined elements of a country’s accounting framework, which makes it harder to establish one system in different governments (Jones et al., 2013). Overall, the future outlook for government accounting suggests that countries need to have a deeper understanding of the economic and political trends in order to establish effective accounting policies. It is expected that governments that cooperate on the financial basis will lean toward the trend of unification; however, the primary goal of any government accounting agency is making sure that their efforts align with the environment in which financial operations take place.
Concluding Remarks
Research on government accounting showed that countries around the world do not have the same approach toward the procedure. This does not mean that there should be one unified way of analyzing and communicating relevant financial data; rather, it indicates that various economic and political environments shape the way in which governmental accounting takes place. The outlook for governmental accounting implies the understanding of unique processes within the economic environment and implementing relevant measures to adapt to these processes. Codes of practices created by major financial institutions should take into account the developments and guidelines in matters of internal governance in order to ensure that governmental accounting efforts do not undermine the financial integrity of a country or any other jurisdiction.
References
Caperchione, E., & Lapsley, I. (2011). Making comparisons in government accounting. Financial Accountability and Management, 27(2), 103-106.
Caperchione, E., Christiaens, J., & Lapsley, I. (2013). The primacy of, and complexity of, accounting for government. Financial Accountability and Management, 29(4), 349-353.
Chatters, C. (2002). Present and future of government accounting. The Accounting Review, 14(1), 48-51.
Gan, F. (2016). New achievements of government accounting reform in China – “Governmental accounting standards – basic standards.” Modern Economy, 7(4), 450-455.
Jones, R., Lande, E., Lüder, K., & Portal, M. (2013). A comparison of budgeting and accounting reforms in the national governments of France, Germany, the UK and the US. Financial Accountability and Management, 29(4), 419-441.
Salleh, K., Aziz, A. R., & Bakar, Y. N. A. (2014). Accrual accounting in government: Is fund accounting still relevant? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 164, 172-179.