Expanding Public Safety in the Era of Black Lives Matter

The narrative of "Black Lives Matter" offers a new framework for policymakers, activists, practitioners, and other stakeholders to think about a public safety strategy that is not solely defined by arrests and admissions to prison. This essay provides an overview of evidence-based approaches for public safety interventions that exist outside of law enforcement interactions

Wild Emptiness: A Zen Approach to Environmental Ethics

When Buddhism took root in China and integrated with the nation’s Taoist intellectual climate, the tradition retained the orthodox central objective of overcoming suffering. While conserving this principal aspiration, the rise of Zen is associated with deviation from the orthodox practice of monasticism and toward the practical embodiment of emptiness while integrated in society, which can be likened to the practice of unwavering compassion. This piece offers a Zen approach to environmental ethics such that it is an attempt to explicate how and why an individual practicing Zen should compassionately engage with the earth. With respect to the Buddhist employment of skillful means, different approaches are offered as tailored ethical frameworks to appeal to individuals at different stages in their path to awakening. Furthermore, the environmental ethic appealed to by the awakened individual is explicated as spontaneous harmonization with the flow of emptiness, that which the Buddhists regard to be the driving force of the phenomenal realm. The awakened individual is considered to non-deliberately take on a lifestyle that provides perpetual intimacy with the rhythms of wild emptines

Monetary Perspective On Underground Economic Activity In The United States

There are widespread reports of a growing underground, or unobserved, economy in the United States and in other countries. The unobserved economy seems to develop principally from efforts to evade taxes and government regulation. Although no single definition of such activity has been universally accepted, the term generally refers to activity – whether legal or illegal – generating income that either is underreported or not reported at all (see Chapter 1 in this volume). Some authors narrow the definition to cover income produced in legal activity that is not set down in the recorded national income statistics. Recent discussion of underground economic activity was stimulated by publication of two estimates, one by Gutmann (1977) and the other by Feige (1979), of the size of the underground economy in the United States; these estimates were derived from aggregate monetary statistics. In the ensuing years, numerous other estimates have been made of the underground economy in the United States and in other countries. The magnitude of some of these estimates has prompted congressional hearings and various government studies. In 1979, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS, 1979) estimated that, for 1976, individuals failed to report between $75 billion and$100 billion in income from legal sources and another $25 billion to$35 billion from three types of illegal activity – drugs, gambling, and prostitution. In a more recent study, the IRS estimated that unreported income from legal sources rose from $93.9 billion in 1973 to$249.7 billion in 1981 whereas unreported income from these same three illegal activities rose from $9.3 billion to$34 billion (IRS, 1983)

Sustainable Fisheries & Coastal Zoning in Montserrat: Legal & Institutional Assessment of Authorities & Approaches

In February 2015, the Government of Montserrat and the Waitt Institute signed a memorandum of understanding to launch Blue Halo Montserrat, a comprehensive ocean and coastal management project with a goal of sustainable management of Montserrat's ocean and coastal waters. BHM seeks to develop a Montserrat Sustainable Ocean Policy that will ensure long-term health of Montserrat's waters through ocean zoning, protected areas, and fisheries reforms. This Report is an evaluation of Montserrat's laws and institutions to support the design and implementation of a comprehensive ocean zoning and management system in the country as part of the Blue Halo Initiative. The Report identifies existing authorities to achieve a comprehensive ocean zoning system in the waters surrounding Montserrat, evaluates potential options for ocean planning and management implementation, and provides recommendations for ways to develop a comprehensive ocean management system for Montserrat. The Report recognizes that comprehensive ocean management should build from the existing legal system, take pragmatic steps given anticipated capacity and funding, and provide effective incentives and requirements to ensure compliance and long-term sustainability of ocean resources

Information and Accountants in the Role of Strategic Planning

This article on strategic planning practices is based upon a field study of five world-class companies. The strategic planning practices discussed in this article were extracted from the corporate environment. The information contained in this article, however, is of value alike to CPAs assisting with the enhancement of strategic planning practices in corporations and public accounting firms

Your EQ Skills: Got What it Takes?

Your EQ skills: got what it takes? So you thought the CPA exam was your last test? Read on. Question: Is success in life and career determined primarily by rational intelligence (the IQ or intelligence quotient) or emotional intelligence (the EQ or emotional quotient)? In other words, what\u27s more important: intelligence or intuition? Historically the professional accounting literature has placed little emphasis on behavioral issues such as EQ, although human behavior underlies most of what is written and taught about professional accounting. Now managers place increased value on behavioral skills that help people in the workplace. Look at this statistic: The productivity of one-third of American workers is measured by how they add value to information. Doesn\u27t that describe CPAs exactly? This article will examine the ways in which EQ is crucial to CPAs\u27 success and how they can cultivate EQ if they haven\u27t got a lot of it. The AICPA and the Institute of Management Accountants recognize that emotional intelligence skills are critical for the success of the accounting profession. In CPA Vision 2011 and Beyond: Focus on the Horizon (www.cpavision.org), the AICPA identifies emotional ..