Friday, January 24, 2020

Lee, Robert E. (Edward) 1807 -- 1870 Essay -- Essays Papers

Lee, Robert E. (Edward) 1807 -- 1870 General in chief of the Confederate armies in the American Civil War. Born in Virginia's Westmoreland County on January 19, 1807, the third son of Henry ("Light Horse Harry") and Ann Hill Carter Lee. Declining fortunes forced the family's removal to Alexandria, where Robert distinguished himself in local schools. His father's death in 1811 increased responsibilities on all the sons; Robert, especially, cared for his invalid mother. Lee graduated number two in his class from the U.S. Military Academy in 1829. Commissioned a brevet lieutenant of engineers, he spent a few years at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, and Fort Monroe, Virginia. At Fort Monroe on June 30, 1831, he married Mary Ann Randolph Custis, with whom he had seven children. Lee worked in the chief engineer's office in Washington, D.C., from 1834 to 1837. He was transferred to Fort Hamilton, New York, where he remained until 1846. In August 1846 Lee joined General John E. Wool's army in Texas. In the battle of Buena Vista, Lee's boldness drew his superiors' attention. Transferred to General Winfield Scott's Veracruz expedition, in the battle at Veracruz and in the advance on Mexico he won additional acclaim. Following American occupation of the Mexican capital, he worked on maps for possible future campaigns. Already a captain in the regular service, he was made brevet colonel for his gallantry in the war. Lee returned to engineer duty at Baltimore's Fort Carroll until 1852, when he reluctantly became superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point. In 1855 he was made lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Cavalry, one of the Army's elite units. The years 1857-1859 were bleak. Lee had to take several furloughs to deal with family business and seriously thought of resigning his commission. However, in 1859 he and his men successfully put down John Brown's insurrection at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. In 1860 he became commander of the Department of Texas. Talk of secession in the South grew strident during Lee's Texas sojourn. No secessionist, he was loyal to the Union and the U.S. Army; yet he had no doubts about his loyalties if Virginia departed the Union. Ties of blood bound him to the South. Lee accepted a commission as colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry in March 1861. But offered command of the entire U.S. Army a month later, he hesitated. If he accepted... ...in chief of all Confederate armies in February 1865, could give only general direction to lingering disaster. Sherman marched upward through the Carolinas, threatening Petersburg. Lee failed to split Grant's front. On April 2, Grant's attack snapped Lee's lines; the Confederates began evacuating Petersburg and Richmond. Lee was compelled to surrender his shadow force of no more than 9,000 soldiers at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. Arlington, the Custis family seat, was gone now; the Lees had no real home. They remained in Richmond, well treated by the Federals. In September Lee accepted the presidency of Washington College, in Lexington, Virginia, where he remained until his death. Devoted to education and to resurrecting the South, Lee became a symbol of reunification. He refused to abandon his distressed country, hoped for Southern reassimilation, and set a lofty example. Without bitterness, he obeyed the law and counseled all Southerners to do the same. Indicted for treason, he never stood trial; and although never granted a pardon, he lived in comfort and in great honor. In September 1870 he was stricken, probably with an acute attack of angina, and died on October 12.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Ethical Standards in Health Care Accounting Essay

As a health care manager, there is a need to understand the basic accounting principles and the need to be able to look at a financial report and understand what it says. Without these keys and a good ethical compass, there could be serious consequences and could result in loss of revenue, funds, termination, or even prison time. Now this may seem like an extreme statement, but without using the four elements of financial management and some good common sense, it might not be a far stretch of the truth. This paper will address the four elements of financial management and how good ethical standards and common sense ensure the best results. The Four Elements of Financial Management Financial management is simply put managing the financial aspect of a business. That involves cash coming in and cash going out. There are four elements of financial management which include planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making. These four elements are important and need to be discussed separately. Planning â€Å"The purpose (of planning) is to identify objectives and then to identify the steps required for accomplishing these objectives† (Baker & Baker, 2011, p. 5). Planning allows a manager to understand what his or her organization is about, or what it wants to achieve. This stage allows a manager to lay out the basic roadmap for what needs to happen. This does not meant that this is exactly what will happen, but still it provides a starting point. Creating a plan also requires thought into developing checks and balances. Who will be in charge of what, and who will be watching over whom. Plan to make it difficult for someone to make unethical decisions. According to Chuck Gallagher, a business ethics and fraud prevention expert; â€Å"Unethical behavior(s) that morphs into fraud will always have (need, opportunity, and rationalization) at their core† (Gallagher, 2009, p.41). Planning helps eliminate the opportunity for fraud. Controlling â€Å"The purpose of controlling is to ensure that plans are being followed† (Baker & Baker, 2011, p. 5). At this stage managers use reports to see what areas are and what areas are not following their plans. The manager uses reports to ensure that financial targets are being met and that fraud is not occurring. Depending on the size of the organization, there may be many layers of controls put into place. It might be best to have someone that keeps everyone honest, at multiple levels. According to a quote in an article in Healthcare Financial Management, â€Å"’every organization ought to have a set of fairly detailed internal controls that protect its key assets. These controls should be reviewed by external and internal auditors or staff to make sure they are being adhered to’† (Sandrik, 1993, p. 4). Organizing and Directing Organizing is determining how best to use existing resources to achieve the goals of the company or organization. A few examples of this could be whether to have multiple nurses in the pediatric department today when they are needed in the ER, or whether to keep an ultrasound machine that is rarely used in a clinic, when it could best be served somewhere else. Directing is the day to day job of ensuring that resources are organized or designated in the most efficient manner. Decision Making Decision making is done continually throughout the other three elements or stages. Every time something is planned, controlled, or organized, it was because someone made a decision. Remember when making decisions to base them on the four principles of business ethics, â€Å"autonomy, which assumes every human being is capable of making his or her own choices; justice, which requires actions and practices to be fair and nondiscriminatory; beneficence, which promotes human welfare; and non-maleficence, which ensures protection of individuals from harm† (Sandrik, 1993, p. 5). Keeping transparency in a business is a great way to keep people honest as well. In July, 2010, The Healthcare Group Purchasing Industry Initiative (HGPII) received rave reviews for it â€Å"activating a formal process to ensure prompt and fair resolution of supplier complaints† and for â€Å"implementing an Independent Advisory Council to have outside observers make sure they are doing everything possible in terms of ethical standards† (Freeman, 2010, pp. 3). Conclusion Financial accounting might look like pages of numbers or gibberish; however they are the key to unlocking income potential, and success. Whether a manager is directly in charge of the reporting or in charge of something completely different, understanding these reports can help make an organization more efficient, able to offer more services, or even more profitable.