S. A. Rahman's Blog

Make $50 First Day

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Make $50 First Day

A proven method to make affiliate cash online

Make 50 dollars first day you join the program

Marketing Gurus do the same for capital costs

A sure fire method to get you started, no crap

A very fun way to earn, still having a doubt??

Hello Friend,

Today is your lucky day! After reading this book you will be fed-up with good Internet Marketing knowledge that can possibly make you rich online. Don’t get me wrong. This is not one of those bragging e-books: “How to make $100,000 a Day”. However, with the information in this report you can easily start making a $50 daily even if you have no experience.

Trying all the methods together may be confusing, so I suggest that you drop all other activities for a day and focus on this one method that I am going to teach you. This is not about blogging, Google, AdSense, Yahoo, Bing, etc. This is the ultimate perpetual income machine that makes you dollars even when you are sleeping.

I will teach you this method step by step, all nice and easy. Please close all the running applications, websites, music, etc.

Do yourself a favor, read the entire process again and again until or unless you feel it J Trust me, you are about to experience this money maker’s feeling in your heart. I will not show you some fake accounts telling you how much money that I make.

Before we start you ask yourself about your needs regarding money and things you could buy from it? Imagine if you have $50 today what is the first thing you will do? Buy a hosting with domain and set up your own website? Buy your mother some lifesaving drugs if she is ill? Buy milk for you newborn? Buy something that you have been planning for a month but you never had spare money?

Now if you consider yourself needy (not greedy) please proceed, click here to download your copy for FREE.

Google is over the top, again!

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:09:00 +0000

SideWiki, speaking of which, is a democratic tool. It gives people the freedom to comment on certain web pages. Each time a user comments, follow-up users can read helpful information about the target page.
SideWiki will crush all the Con Mans and their fake "heavenly product" but only if contributed honestly and properly.

I am S A Rahman and I salute Google for SideWiki. Yet again you are over the top Google! Keep these gadgets coming.

in reference to: Google Sidewiki (view on Google Sidewiki)

My eBook: Guide Line to Write Ads More Effectively

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:22:00 +0000

What is advertising?
Is it something to be regarded as a work of beauty or art? Is it clever
slogans or amusing prose? Is it workmanship to be judged for an
award or recognition?

It's none of the above.
Advertising is salesmanship multiplied.
Nothing more.

And advertising copy, or copywriting, is salesmanship in print.
The purpose of a copywriter's job is to sell. Period.
The selling is accomplished by persuasion with the written word,
much like a television commercial sells (if done properly) by
persuading with visuals and audio.

As Claude Hopkins wrote in his timeless classic, Scientific Advertising:

"To properly understand advertising or to learn even its rudiments one must
start with the right conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles
are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are
due to like causes. Thus every advertising question should be answered by
the salesman's standards.
"Let us emphasize that point. The only purpose of advertising is to make
sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.
"It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It
is not primarily to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a salesman. Force it
to justify itself. Compare it with other salesmen. Figure its cost and result.
Accept no excuses which good salesmen do not make. Then you will not go
far wrong.
"The difference is only in degree. Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It
may appeal to thousands while the salesman talks to one. It involves a
corresponding cost. Some people spend $10 per word on an average
advertisement. Therefore every ad should be a super-salesman.
"A salesman's mistake may cost little. An advertiser's mistake may cost a
thousand times that much. Be more cautious, more exacting, therefore. A
mediocre salesman may affect a small part of your trade. Mediocre
advertising affects all of your trade."

These points are as true today as they were when they were written
nearly one hundred years ago!

So the goal then becomes: how can we make our advertising as
effective as possible.

The answer is to test. Test again. And then test some more.

If ad "A" receives a two percent response rate, and ad "B" receives
three percent, then we can deduce that ad "B" will continue to
outperform ad "A" on a larger scale.

Testing takes time, however, and can be expensive if not kept in
check. Therefore, it's ideal to start with some proven tested known
ideas and work from there.

For example, if testing has shown for decades or more that targeted
advertising significantly outperforms untargeted advertising (and it
does), then we can start with that assumption and go from there.
If we know based on test results that crafting an ad that speaks
directly to an individual performs better than addressing the masses
(again, it does), then it makes little sense to start testing with the
assumption that it does not. This is common sense.

So it stands to reason that knowing some basic rules or techniques
about writing effective copy is in order. Test results will always trump
everything, but it's better to have a starting point before you test.

So this starting point is the essence of this book.
The ten tips expressed here have been generally time-tested and
known to be effective.

But I can't emphasize enough that when using these
techniques, you should always test them before rolling out a
large (and expensive) campaign.

Sometimes a little tweak here or there is all that is needed to
increase response rates dramatically.
And with that, let's move onward…

Focus on Them, Not You

When a prospect reads your ad, letter, brochure, etc., the one thing
he will be wondering from the start is: "what's in it for me?"
And if your copy doesn't tell him, it'll land in the trash faster than he
can read the headline or lead.

A lot of advertisers make this mistake. They focus on them as a
company. How long they've been in business, who their biggest
customers are, how they've spent ten years of research and millions
of dollars on developing this product, blah, blah.

Actually, those points are important. But they should be expressed in
a way that matters to your potential customer. Remember, once he's
thrown it in the garbage, the sale is lost!

When writing your copy, it helps to think of it as writing a letter to an
old friend. In fact, I often picture a friend of mine who most closely
fits my prospect's profile. What would I say to convince this friend to
try my product? How would I target my friend's objections and
beliefs to help my cause?

When you're writing to a friend, you'll use the pronouns "I" and
"you." When trying to convince your friend, you might say: "Look, I
know you think you've tried every widget out there. But you should
know that…"

And it goes beyond just writing in the second person. That is,
addressing your prospect as "you" within the copy. The fact of the
matter is there are many successful ads that weren't written in the
second person. Some are written in the first person perspective,
where the writer uses "I." Other times the third person is used, with
"she," "he," and "them."

And even if you do write in the second person, it doesn't necessarily
mean your copy is about them.

For example:
"As a real estate agent, you can take comfort in the fact that
I've sold over 10,000 homes and mastered the tricks of the
trade"Although you're writing in the second person, you're really still
focusing on yourself.
So how can you focus on them? Glad you asked. One way is to…
Emphasize Benefits, Not Features
What are features? They are descriptions of what qualities a product
possesses.

The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
Our ladder's frame is made from a lightweight durable steel
alloy.
Our glue is protected by a patent.
This database has a built-in data-mining system.

And what are benefits? They are what those features mean to your
prospects.

You'll save money on gas and cut down on environmentalpollutants when you use our energy saving high-performancehybrid car. Plus, you'll feel the extra oomph when you're passing cars, courtesy of the efficient electric motor, which theydon't have!
Lightweight durable steel-alloy frame means you'll be able totake it with you with ease, and use it in places most other ladders can't go, while still supporting up to 800 pounds. Nomore backaches lugging around that heavy ladder. And it'll lastfor 150 years, so you'll never need to buy another ladder again!
Patent-protected glue ensures you can use it on wood, plastic,metal, ceramic, glass, and tile…without messy cleanup and without ever having to re-glue it again—guaranteed!
You can instantly see the "big picture" hidden in your data, and pull the most arcane statistics on demand. Watch your business do a "180" in no time flat, when you instantly know why it's failing in the first place! It's all done with our built-in data mining system that's so easy to use, my twelve year-old son used it successfully right out of the box.

I just made up those examples, but I think you understand my point.
By the way, did you notice in the list of features where I wrote "steel
alloy?" But in the benefits I wrote "steel-alloy" (with a hyphen). Not
sure off-hand which one is correct, but I know which one I'd use.
Here's why: you are not writing to impress your English teacher or
win any awards. The only award you're after is your copy beating the
control (control being the best-selling copy so far), so take some
liberty in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You want it
to be read and acted upon, not read and admired!

But—back to benefits…

If you were selling an expensive watch, you wouldn't tell your reader
that the face is 2 inches in diameter and the band is made of leather.
You show him how the extra-large face will tell him the time at a
glance. No sir! He won't have to squint and look foolish to everyone
around him trying to read this magnificent timepiece. And how about
the way he'll project success and charisma when he wears the
beautiful gold watch with its handcrafted custom leather band? How
his lover will find him irresistible when he's all dressed up to go out,
wearing the watch. Or how the watch's status and beauty will attract
the ladies.

Incidentally, did you notice how I brought up not squinting as a
benefit? Does that sound like a silly benefit? Not if you are selling to
affluent baby boomers suffering from degrading vision. They
probably hate it when someone they're trying to impress sees them
squint in order to read something. It's all part of their inner desire,
which you need to discover. And which even they may not know
about. That is, until you show them a better way.
The point is to address the benefits of the product, not its features.
And when you do that, you're focusing on your reader and his
interests, his desires. The trick is to highlight those specific benefits
(and word them correctly) that push your reader's emotional hot
buttons.

How do you do that? Read on!

Push Their Emotional Hot Buttons

This is where research really pays off. Because in order to push those
buttons, you need to first know what they are.
Listen to this story first, and I'll tell you what I mean:
Once upon a time a young man walked into a Chevrolet dealer's showroom to
check out a Chevy Camaro. He had the money, and he was ready to make a buying decision. But he couldn't decide if he wanted to buy the Camaro or the Ford Mustang up the road at the Ford dealer. A salesman approached him and soon discovered the man's dilemma.
"Tell me what you like best about the Camaro," said the salesman. "It's a fast car. I like it for its speed." After some more discussion, the salesman learned the man had just
started dating a cute college cheerleader. So what did the salesman
do? Simple. He changed his pitch accordingly, to push the hot buttons he
knew would help advance the sale. He told the man about how
impressed his new girlfriend would be when he came home with this
car! He placed the mental image in the man's mind of he and his
girlfriend cruising to the beach in the Camaro. How all of his friends
will be envious when they see him riding around with a beautiful girl
in a beautiful car.

And suddenly the man saw it. He got it. And the salesman recognized
this and piled it on even more. Before you know it, the man wrote a
nice fat check to the Chevy dealership, because he was sold!
The salesman found those hot buttons and pushed them like never
before until the man realized he wanted the Camaro more than he
wanted his money.

I know what you're thinking…the man said he liked the car because it
was fast, didn't he?

Yes, he did. But subconsciously, what he really desired was a car that
would impress his girlfriend, his friends, and in his mind make them
love him more! In his mind he equated speed with thrill. Not because
he wanted an endless supply of speeding tickets, but because he
thought that thrill would make him more attractive, more likeable.

Perhaps the man didn't even realize this fact himself. But the
salesman sure did. And he knew which emotional hot buttons to
press to get the sale.

Now, where does the research pay off?

Well, a good salesman knows how to ask the kinds of questions that
will tell him which buttons to press on the fly. When you're writing
copy, you don't have that luxury. It's therefore very important to
know upfront the wants, needs, and desires of your prospects for
that very reason. If you haven't done your homework, your prospect
is going to decide that he'd rather keep his money than buy your
product. Remember, copywriting is salesmanship in print!
It's been said many times: People don't like to be sold.

But they do like to buy.

And they buy based on emotion first and foremost. Then they justify
their decision with logic, even after they are already sold emotionally.
So be sure to back up your emotional pitch with logic to nurture that
justification at the end.

And while we're on the subject, let's talk a moment about perceived
"hype" in a sales letter. A lot of more "conservative" advertisers have
decided that they don't like hype, because they consider hype to be
old news, been-there-and-done-that, my customers won't fall for
hype, it's not believable anymore.
What they should realize is that hype itself does not sell well. Some
less experienced copywriters often try to compensate for their lack of
research or not fully understanding their target market or the product
itself by adding tons of adjectives and adverbs and exclamation
points and big bold type.
Whew! If you do your job right, it's just not needed.

That's not to say some adverbs or adjectives don't have their
place…only if they're used sparingly, and only if they advance the
sale.

But I think you'd agree that backing up your copy with proof and
believability will go a lot farther in convincing your prospects than
"power words" alone. I say power words, because there are certain
adverbs and adjectives that have been proven to make a difference
when they're included. This by itself is not hype. But repeated too
often, they become less effective, and they take away (at least in
your prospect's mind) from the proof.

Which brings us into our next tip…

Incorporating Proof and Believability

When your prospect reads your ad, you want to make sure he
believes any claims you make about your product or service. Because
if there's any doubt in his mind, he won't bite, no matter how sweet
the deal. In fact, the "too good to be true" mentality will virtually
guarantee a lost sale…even if it is all true.
So what can you do to increase the perception of believability?
Because after all, it's the perception you need to address up front.
But of course you also must make sure your copy is accurate and
truthful.
Here are some tried and tested methods that will help:
• If you're dealing with existing customers who already know you
deliver as promised, emphasize that trust. Don't leave it up to
them to figure it out. Make them stop, cock their heads, and
say, "Oh, yeah. The ABC Company has never done me wrong
before. I can trust them."
• Include testimonials of satisfied customers. Be sure to put full
names and locations, where possible. Remember, "A.S." is a lot
less believable than "Andy Sherman, Voorhees, NJ." If you can
also include a picture of the customer and/or a professional
title, that's even better. It doesn't matter that your testimonials
aren't from somebody famous or that your prospect does not
know these people personally. If you have enough compelling
testimonials, and they're believable, you're much better off
than not including them at all.
• Pepper your copy with facts and research findings to support
your claims. Be sure to credit all sources, even if the fact is
common knowledge, because a neutral source goes a long way
towards credibility.
• For a direct mail letter or certain space ads where the copy is in
the form of a letter from a specific individual, including a
picture of that person helps. But unlike "traditional" real estate
letters and other similar ads, I'd put the picture at the end near
your signature, or midway through the copy, rather than at the
top where it will detract from your headline. And…if your sales
letter is from a specific individual, be sure to include his
credentials to establish him as an expert in his field (relating to
your product or service, of course).
• If applicable, cite any awards or third-party reviews the product
or service has received.
• If you've sold a lot of widgets, tell them. It's the old "10 million
people can't be wrong" adage (they can be, but your prospect
will likely take your side on the matter).
• Include a GREAT return policy and stand by it! This is just good
business policy. Many times, offering a double refund
guarantee for certain products will result in higher profits. Yes,
you'll dish out more refunds, but if you sell three times as many
widgets as before, and only have to refund twice as much as
before, it may be worth it, depending on your offer and return
on investment. Crunch the numbers and see what makes
sense. More importantly, test! Make them think, "Gee, they
wouldn't be so generous with returns if they didn't stand
behind their product!"
• If you can swing it, adding a celebrity endorsement will always
help to establish credibility. Heck, if 'ol honest Abe Lincoln
recommended your product and backs up your claims, it must
be true! Ok, you get the idea, though.
• When it makes sense, use 3rd party testimonials. What are 3rd
party testimonials? Here's some examples from some Web site
copy I wrote when there weren't many customer testimonials
available yet:

"Spyware, without question, is on an exponential
rise over the last six months."
- Alfred Huger, Senior Director of Engineering,
Symantec Security Response (maker of Norton
security software)

"Simply clicking on a banner ad can install
spyware."
- Dave Methvin, Chief Technology Officer, PC Pitstop

A deployment method is to "trick users into
consenting to a software download they think they
absolutely need"
- Paul Bryan, Director, Security And Technology Unit,
Microsoft

Do you see what I did?

I took quotes from experts in their respective fields and turned
them to my side. But…be sure to get their consent or
permission from the copyright holder if there's ever any
question about copyrighted materials as your source.

Note that I also pushed an emotional hot button: fear.
It's been proven that people will generally do more to avoid
pain than to obtain pleasure. So why not use that tidbit of info
to your advantage?

• Reveal a flaw about your product. This helps alleviate the "too
good to be true" syndrome. You reveal a flaw that isn't really a
flaw. Or reveal a flaw that is minor, just to show that you're
being "up front" about your product's shortcomings.

Example:
"You're probably thinking right now that this tennis racket is a
miracle worker—and it is. But I must tell you that it has one
little…shortcoming.

My racket takes about 2 weeks to get used to. In fact, when you first
start using it, your game will actually get worse. But if you can just
ride it out, you'll see a tremendous improvement in your volleys, net
play, serves, …" And so on.
There's a tendency to think, with all of the ads that we are
bombarded with today that every advertiser is always putting
his best foot forward, so to speak. And I think that line of
reasoning is accurate, to a point.

But isn't it refreshing when someone stands out from the crowd
and is honest? In other words, your reader will start to
subconsciously believe that you are revealing all of the flaws,
even though your best foot still stands forward.

• Use "lift notes." These are a brief note or letter from a person
of authority. Not necessary a celebrity, although that can add
credibility, too. A person of authority is someone well
recognized in their field (which is related to your product) that
they are qualified to talk about. Lift notes may be distributed as
inserts, a separate page altogether, or even as part of the copy
itself. As always, test!
• If you are limiting the offer with a deadline "order by" date, be
sure the deadline is real and does not change. Deadline dates
that change every day are sure to reduce credibility. The
prospect will suspect, "if his deadline date keeps changing, he's
not telling the truth about it…I wonder what else he's not
telling the truth about."
• Avoid baseless "hype." I discussed that in my previous tip.
Enough said.

The Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Also known as the unique selling position, the USP is often one of the
most oft-misunderstood elements of a good sales letter. It's what
separates your product or service from your competitors. Let's take a
quick look at some unique selling propositions for a product itself:

1) Lowest Price – If you've got the corner marketed on budget
prices, flaunt it. Wal-Mart has made this USP famous lately, but
it's not new to them. In fact, selling for cheaper has been
around as long as capitalism itself. Personally, I'm not crazy
about price wars, because someone can always come along
and sell for cheaper. Then it's time for a new strategy…

2) Superior Quality – If it outperforms your competitor's product
or is made with higher quality materials, it's a good bet that
you could use this fact to your advantage. For example,
compare Breyers Ice Cream to their competitor's. From the
packaging to the wholesome superior ingredients, the quality is
evident. It may cost a little more than their competitor's ice
cream, but for their market, it sells.

3) Superior Service – If you offer superior service over your
competitor's, people will buy from you instead. This is
especially true with certain markets that are all about service:
long-distance, Internet service providers, cable television, etc.

4) Exclusive Rights – My favorite! If you can legitimately claim
that your product is protected by a patent or copyright,
licensing agreement, etc., then you have a winner for exclusive
rights. If you have a patent, even the President of the U.S.
must buy it from you.

Ok, what if your product or service is no different than your
competitor's? I would disagree, because there are always differences.
The trick is to turn them into a positive advantage for you. You want
to put your "best foot forward." So what can we do in this scenario?

One way is to present something that your company has devised
internally that no other company does. Look, there's a reason why
computer store "A" offers to beat their competitor's price for the
same product by X%. If you look closely, the two packages are never
exactly the same. Company "B" offers a free scanner, while company
"A" offers a free printer. Or some other difference. They are
comparing apples to oranges. So unless you find a company with the
exact same package (you won't…they've seen to that), you won't be
able to cash in.

But what if you truly have the same widget for sale as the guy up the
road?

Unless your prospect knows the inner workings of both your and your
competitor's product, including the manufacturing process, customer
service, and everything in-between, then you have a little potential
creative licensing here. But you must be truthful.

For example, if I tell my readers that my product is bathed in steam
to ensure purity and cleanliness (like the cans and bottles in most
beer manufacturing processes), it doesn't matter that Joe's Beer up
the road does the same thing. That fact that Joe doesn't advertise
this fact makes it a USP in your prospect's eyes.

Want some more USP examples?

• We are the only car repair shop that will buy your car if you are
not 100 percent satisfied with our work.
• Delivered in 30 minutes or it's on us!
• No other furniture company will pay for your shipping.
• Our recipe is so secret, only three people in the world know it!

As with most ways to boost copy response, research is the key with
your USP. Sometimes your USP is obvious, for example if you have a
patent. Other times you must do a little legwork to discover it (or
shape it to your target market).

Here's where a little persistence and in-person selling really pays off.
Let me give you an example to illustrate what I mean:
Suppose your company sells beanbag chairs for kids. So you, being
the wise marketer that you are, decide to sell these beanbags in
person to prospects before writing your copy. After completing
twenty different pitches for your product, you discover that 75
percent of those you visited asked if the chair would eventually leak.
Since the chairs are for kids, it's only logical that parents would be
concerned about their youngster jumping on it, rolling on it, and
doing all things possible to break the seam and "spill the beans."

So when you write your copy, you make sure you address that issue:
"You can rest assure that our super-strong beanbag chairs are triplestitched
for guaranteed leak-proof performance. No other company
will make this guarantee about their beanbag chairs!"

For a really in depth look at how to perfect a better USP checkout
http://www.informativebooks.com

The Headline
If you're going to make a single change to boost your response rate
the most, focus on your headline (you do have one, don't you?).
Why? Because five times as many people read your headline than
your copy. Quite simply, a headline is…an ad for your ad. People
won't stop their busy lives to read your copy unless you give them a
good reason to do so. So a good headline promises some news and a
benefit.

Perhaps you're thinking, "What's this about news, you say?"
Think about the last time you browsed through your local newspaper.
You checked out the articles, one by one, and occasionally an ad may
have caught your eye. Which ads were the ones most likely to catch
your eye?

The ones that looked like an article, of course.
The ones with the headline that promised news.
The ones with fonts and type that closely resembled the fonts and
type used in articles.

The ones that were placed where articles were placed (as opposed to
being placed on a full page of ads, for example).
And the ones with the most compelling headlines that convinced you
it's worth a few minutes to read the copy.

The headline is that powerful and that important.
I've seen many ads over the years that didn't even have a headline.
And that's just silly. It's the equivalent of flushing good money spent
on advertising right down the toilet.

Why? Because your response can increase dramatically by not only
adding a headline, but by making that headline almost impossible to
resist for your target market.

And those last three words are important. Your target market.
For example, take a look at the following headline:
Announcing…

New High-Tech Gloves Protect Wearer Against Hazardous Waste

News, and a benefit.
Will that headline appeal to everyone?
No, and you don't care about everyone.
But for someone who handles hazardous waste, they would sure
appreciate knowing about this little gem.
That's your target market, and it's your job to get them to read your
ad. Your headline is the way you do that.
Ok, now where do you find great headlines?

You look at other successful ads (especially direct response) that
have stood the test of time. You look for ads that run regularly in
magazines and other publications. How do you know they're good?
Because if they didn't do their job, the advertiser wouldn't keep
running them again and again.

You get on the mailing lists of the big direct response companies like
Agora and Boardroom and save their direct mail packages.
You read the National Enquirer.

Huh? You heard that correctly.
The National Enquirer has some of the best headlines in the
business.
Pick up a recent issue and you'll see what I mean. Ok, now how
could you adapt some of those headlines to your own product or
service?

Your headline should create a sense of urgency. It should be as
specific as possible (i.e. say $1,007,274.23 instead of "a million
dollars").
The headline appearance is also very important. Make sure the type
used is bold and large, and different from the type used in the copy.
Generally, longer headlines tend to out pull shorter ones, even when
targeting more "conservative" prospects.

Some other sites online where you can get great headlines (from
master copywriter John Carlton, no less) are:

On each page, click on the individual products in order to view the
ads and headlines.
It should go without saying that when you use other successful
headlines, you adapt them to your own product or service. Never
copy a headline (or any other written copyrighted piece of work for
that matter) word for word. Copywriters and ad agencies are
notoriously famous for suing for plagiarism. And rightfully so.

The More You Tell, The More You Sell

The debate on using long copy versus short copy never seems to
end. Usually it is a newcomer to copywriting who seems to think that
long copy is boring and, well…long. "I would never read that much
copy," they say.

The fact of the matter is that all things being equal, long copy will
outperform short copy every time. And when I say long copy, I don't
mean long and boring, or long and untargeted.

The person who says he would never read all that copy is making a
big mistaking in copywriting: he is going with his gut reaction instead
of relying on test results. He is thinking that he himself is the
prospect. He's not. We're never our own prospects.

There have been many studies and split tests conducted on the long
copy versus short copy debate. And the clear winner is always long
copy. But that's targeted relevant long copy as opposed to
untargeted boring long copy.

Some significant research has found that readership tends to fall off
dramatically at around 300 words, but does not drop off again until
around 3,000 words.

If I'm selling an expensive set of golf clubs and send my long copy to
a person who's plays golf occasionally, or always wanted to try golf, I
am sending my sales pitch to the wrong prospect. It is not targeted
effectively. And so if a person who receives my long copy doesn't
read past the 300th word, they weren't qualified for my offer in the
first place.

It wouldn't have mattered whether they read up to the 100th word or
10,000th word. They still wouldn't have made a purchase.
However, if I sent my long copy to an avid die-hard golfer, who just
recently purchased other expensive golf products through the mail,
painting an irresistible offer, telling him how my clubs will knock 10
strokes off his game, he'll likely read every word. And if I've targeted
my message correctly, he will buy.

Remember, if your prospect is 3000 miles away, it's not easy for him
to ask you a question. You must anticipate and answer all of his
questions and overcome all objections in your copy if you are to be
successful.

And make sure you don't throw everything you can think of under
the sun in there. You only need to include as much information as
you need to make the sale…and not one word more.
If it takes a 10-page sales letter, so be it. If it takes a 16-page
mega-log, fine. But if the 10-page sales letter tests better than the
16-page mega-log, then by all means go with the winner.
Does that mean every prospect must read every word of your copy
before he will order your product? Of course not.

Some will read every word and then go back and reread it again.
Some will read the headline and lead, then skim much of the body
and land on the close. Some will scan the entire body, then go back
and read it. All of those prospects may end up purchasing the offer,
but they also all may have different styles of reading and skimming.
Which brings us to the next tip…

Write To Be Scanned

Your layout is very important in a sales letter, because you want your
letter to look inviting, refreshing to the eyes. In short, you want your
prospect to stop what he's doing and read your letter.
If he sees a letter with tiny margins, no indentations, no breaks in
the text, no white space, and no subheads…if he sees a page of
nothing but densely-packed words, do you think he'll be tempted to
read it?
Not likely.
If you do have ample white space and generous margins, short
sentences, short paragraphs, subheads, and an italicized or
underlined word here and there for emphasis, it will certainly look
more inviting to read.

When reading your letter, some prospects will start at the beginning
and read word for word. Some will read the headline and maybe the
lead, then read the "P.S." at the end of the letter and see who the
letter is from, then start from the beginning.

And some folks will scan through your letter, noticing the various
subheads strategically positioned by you throughout your letter, then
decide if it's worth their time to read the entire thing. Some may
never read the entire letter, but order anyways.

You must write for all of them. Interesting and compelling long copy
for the studious reader, and short paragraphs and sentences, white
space, and subheads for the skimmer.
Subheads are the smaller headlines sprinkled throughout your copy.
Like this.

When coming up with your headline, some of the headlines that
didn't make the cut can make great subheads. A good subhead
forces your prospect to keep reading, threading him along from start
to finish throughout your copy, while also providing the glue
necessary to keep skimmers skimming.

The Structure of AIDAS
There's a well-known structure in successful sales letters, described
by the acronym AIDA.

AIDA stands for:

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action
First, you capture your prospect's attention. This is done with your
headline and lead. If your ad fails to capture your prospect's
attention, it fails completely. Your prospect doesn't read your stellar
copy, and doesn't order your product or service.

Then you want to build a strong interest in your prospect. You want
him to keep reading, because if he reads, he just might buy.
Next, you channel a desire. Having a targeted market for this is key,
because you're not trying to create a desire where one did not
already exist. You want to capitalize on an existing desire, which your
prospect may or may not know he already has. And you want your
prospect to experience that desire for your product or service.

Finally, you present a call to action. You want him to pick up the
telephone, return the reply card, attend the sales presentation, order
your product, whatever. You need to ask for the sale (or response, if
that's the goal). You don't want to beat around the bush at this point.
If your letter and AIDA structure is sound and persuasive, here's
where you present the terms of your offer and urge the prospect to
act now.

A lot has been written about the AIDA copywriting formula. I'd like to
add one more letter to the acronym: S for Satisfy.
In the end, after the sale is made, you want to satisfy your prospect,
who is now a customer. You want to deliver exactly what you
promised (or even more), by the date you promised, in the manner
you promised. In short, you want to give him every reason in the
world to trust you the next time you sell him a back-end offer. And of
course you'd rather he doesn't return the product (although if he
does, you also execute your return policy as promised).

Either way, you want your customers to be satisfied. It will make you
a lot more money in the long run.

Use Takeaway Selling to Increase the Urgency

When you limit the supply of a product or service in some way (i.e.
takeaway selling), basic economics dictates that the demand will rise.
In other words, people will generally respond better to an offer if
they believe the offer is about to become unavailable or restricted in
some way.

And of course, the opposite is also true. If a prospect knows your
product will be around whenever he needs it, there's no need for him
to act now. And when your ad is put aside by the prospect, the
chance of closing the sale diminishes greatly.
It's your job, therefore, to get your prospect to buy, and buy now.
Using scarcity to sell is a great way to accomplish that.

There are basically three types of takeaways:

1) Limiting the quantity
2) Limiting the time
3) Limiting the offer

In the first method, limiting the quantity, you are presenting a fixed
number of widgets available for sale. After they're gone, that's it.

Some good ways to limit the quantity include:

• only so many units made or obtained
• selling off old stock to make room for new
• limited number of cosmetically-defected items, or a fire sale
• only a limited number being sold so as not to saturate the
market
• etc.

In the second method, limiting the time, a deadline is added to the
offer. It should be a realistic deadline, not one that changes all the
time (especially on a website, where the deadline date always seems
to be that very day at midnight…when you return the next day, the
deadline date has mysteriously changed again to the new day).

Deadlines that change decrease your credibility.
This approach works well when the offer or the price will change, or
the product/service will become unavailable, after the deadline.
The third method, limiting the offer, is accomplished by limiting other
parts of the offer, such as the guarantee, bonuses or premiums, the
price, and so on.
When using takeaway selling, you must be sure to follow-through
with your restrictions. If you say you only have 500 widgets to sell,
then don't sell 501. If you say your offer will expire at the end of the
month, make sure it does. Otherwise your credibility will take a hit.
Prospects will remember the next time another offer from you makes
its way into their hands.

Another important thing you should do is explain the reason why the
offer is being restricted. Don't just say the price will be going up in
three weeks, but decline to tell them why.

Here are some examples of good takeaway selling:

"Unfortunately, I can only handle so many clients. Once my plate is
full, I will be unable to accept any new business. So if you're serious
about strengthening your investment strategies and creating more
wealth than ever before, you should contact me ASAP."

"Remember…you must act by [date] at midnight in order to get my 2
bonuses. These bonuses have been provided by [third-party
company], and we have no control over their availability after that
time."

"We've obtained only 750 of these premiums from our vendor. Once
they are gone, we won't be able to get any more until next year. And
even then we can't guarantee the price will remain the same. In fact,
because of the increasing demand, it's very likely the price could
double or triple by then!"

Remember when I said earlier that people buy based on emotions,
then back up their decision to buy with logic? Well, by using
takeaway selling, that restriction becomes part of that logic to buy
and buy now.

Conclusion

Great copy is made, not born. It is derived from proven test results
designed to do one thing and do it well: sell.
Effective advertising doesn't always use "grammatically correct"
English. It uses short sentences, fragments. Like this.
It convinces you to buy, and buy now. Period.

It talks about benefits, not features. It sells on emotion and
reinforces the decision to buy with logic.

It paints a compelling picture and irresistible offer that forces your
prospect to act and act now! And if it doesn't, then you drop that ad
like a hot potato and go with one that does.

Effective persuasion is like your top salesperson--the one who
continues to break all your sales records year after year--on the job
24 x 7, multiplied by thousands or millions! Just imagine if that
salesperson, the one with proven results, could be multiplied as much
as you wanted.

Now that would be effective (and cost-efficient) marketing!
And that's the kind of proven marketing you need to employ.

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Blogging Ca$h: Increase Blog Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:57:00 +0000

1) Comment on Blogs

Look for large traffic Blogs in your niche, visit them and leave your comments on their blogs posts. You may use blog search engine like www.blogsearchengine.com, www.google.com/blogsearch and www.searchengineblog.com to find blogs in your niche.

2) Submit Articles

Write articles that are related to your blog and submit them to popular article directories such as ezinearticles.com, Isnare.com, Articledashboard.com, Articlealley.com and goarticle.com. Quality articles may drive you a lot of free targeted traffic.

3) Participate in Community Forums

Use google to search for forums that are related to your blog. Look for forums that has over 10,000 members and read the rules of the forums to see whether you can promote your blogs and websites in your signature. Join forums that allow you to add a link to your blog in the signature and start participating in discussion. You can ask questions, answer other members questions and post your articles, ideas and thought in the forums.

4) Submit Your Blog to Directories

This isn't working to me but some bloggers claim that they gain a good amount of traffic from their listings in directories.

5) Post Often

You can lose traffic if you seldom update you blog, try to make it at least 5 posts per week. This not only will maintain your traffic but possibly attract more readers.

6) Write about Blogging

Write helpful and quality articles related to blogging can attract other bloggers link to your articles and gain may be truckload of free traffic.

7) Post Breaking News

If you find a breaking news of your niche very earlier, post it to your blog. It may give your blog's traffic a boost.

8) Social Bookmarking

Bookmark you blog posts in the large social bookmarking sites like Netscape.com, Digg.com, Simply and Reddit.com.

9) Run a Contest

Start a contest on your blog. Think about the prizes that people really want. It will create a viral effect and bring in new visitors.

10) On-page Optimization

Make sure your blog's title tag and description tag contain your targeted keywords. When you have posted plenty of quality blog post and done a lot of blog promotion, don't be surprise to see your blog ranks top 10 in Google and get free search engine traffic daily.

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Bloggin: Source of Ca$h

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:11:00 +0000

1) Cost-Per-Click (CPC) Advertising Programs
CPC advertising programs are the best money making programs for most of the bloggers. They are suitable to all kind of blogs with family-friendly content regardless of their traffic level and age. CPC programs work well on blog because they display contextual ads that are highly relevant to blogs content and bloggers will earn anywhere between 10 cents to 50 cents for each contextual ads click by their visitors. With proper CPC ads optimization and consistent amount of traffic, a blogger can earn a steady amount of money displaying CPC ads on his/her blog. Google AdSense is no doubt, the undisputed king of CPC advertising programs and Yahoo Publisher Network is the closest alternative of AdSense.

2) Cost-Per-Action (CPA) Advertising Programs
CPA programs is quite similar to CPC programs except CPA programs don't pay bloggers for each click on the CPA ads hosted by bloggers. The blogger only makes money when the visitor takes an action on the CPA advertiser website. The action can be a sign up, making a purchase, generating a lead, downloading a product and more. CPA networks pay a lot more than CPC programs, for a visitor sent by the blogger from his/her blog to a CPA advertiser website and the visitor taken an action on the advertiser site, the blogger can earn few dollar to fifty dollar depend on the niche. But CPA ads tend to work well on large traffic blogs only. AzoogleAds.com, Commission Junction and Advertising.com are some of the largest CPA networks.

3) Promote Affiliate Programs
Marketing affiliate programs is very common nowadays. You sign up with affiliate program of an online company, then decide whether to use the company's text link or banner ads on your blog to promote the company's products or services and earn affiliate commission when a visitor make a purchase through your affiliate link. Affiliate programs can be promoted without a website and blog too.

4) Pay Per Post Programs
Pay per post programs started last year. The programs pay bloggers to write a blog post about a sponsor's website. The paid blog post can be a review or an introduction on the advertiser's website, products or services. The blogger will be paid a least $5 for each sponsor post. Blogs that have massive traffic, high Google PR and large number of subscribers can charge a few hundred dollar for just writing one sponsor post. Here's are the two most popular Pay per post networks that offer this type of earning opportunities:

www.reviewme.com
www.payperpost.com

The downside of pay per post is that writing too many sponsor posts that are not relevant to your blog content can seriously affect your traffic.

5) Sell Text Link Ads
Selling text links on your blog can be a great source of additional online revenue. It is not difficult to get started, just go to Text-link-ads.com to sign up an account, then decide which part of your pages you want to display paid text links, set your price and you are ready to take order. Text-link-ads.com will handle all the promotional works. Another company that offers the similar services as Text-link-ads.com is Reverselinks.com

6) Hosting Web Poll
Vizu Answer offers a pretty new way to monetize your blog's and website's traffic. The pays the publishers on a cost-per-thousand impression (CPM) basis for hosting targeted web poll. The money a blogger can earn from hosting poll is depending on the page views. The more page views, the higher the earning.

Freelancing Business: Make the most from

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Make the Most from Freelancing by Effectively Promoting Your Online Freelance Business Services
For a freelancer, having a professional presence in their area is of prime importance, be it the internet or offline. The latest equipment and the best technology will not be of any use without that much required 'presence'. This presence is what builds credibility and is acquired by marketing your services in an appropriate and effective manner.
Marketing your freelancing services begins with marketing yourself. You would understand what I am trying to say, if you look at yourself as a 'Brand' that requires a very high level of marketing. Just as companies have reputation, each person you meet offline or interact with online, forms an opinion about you and this reputation (positive of course) is what creates a brand.
There are several ways to promote your services on the internet, through email, websites, articles, e-books, and several others.

Sponsors: Article Maker Pro

Sending e-mails is a great way to let people know about yourself and your services. Send emails to people who you are connected with in some way, such as organizations that you belong to or various groups that you are a member of, or to people that have requested you to. Create signature files with details of your name, address, telephone and links to your websites (if you have a website). A small description of what you do and contact information should be sufficient to peak the interest of people.
You can start sending newsletters. Never send too many and watch the pace at which your newsletters reach people. There should be a decent gap between each. Make readers aware of your services through these newsletters. This may require a little bit of knowledge. Read all about newsletters and how they are done, as these could really be a great help to a freelancer.
Now, here is one of free ways of marketing freelancing services. You can start writing articles and send them to website owners, relating to the topic of their website and have a bio box at the bottom of the article, giving details about your services and this would work better if you have your own website, where they can link to.
When marketing offline, you can use newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, press conferences, and advertisements, to market your services. Giving your telephone number as a point of contact is a must. Then finally, if someone calls showing interest in your services, it becomes inevitable for you to meet them, unlike online when all your services can be marketed without actually coming face-to-face with your client.

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For your offline freelance marketing, remember that you may be asked to submit documentation in relation to your services. Do not be intimidated, although initially when you are new, it may happen, do not show it ever. Be professional to the core.
Do your homework before meeting a prospective client. Get as much information about them as you possibly can. Proper preparation and presentation is the key. Write down the information about what you want the client to know about you and why they should use your services. What is different about you? Do you think just telling them that you are going to do a great job is going to help? NO. Ask questions about their needs and get them to ask you the right questions. Definitely takes some smartness. Use the word 'help', whether online or offline. Make them feel that you are willing to help them and once they understand that, then get the ball rolling.
Whatever method you choose to use, the first and foremost marketing technique that will land you projects is to be able to differentiate yourself from competition. Your clients should begin to see you as their preferred choice. Remember, it's never about what you do, it's always about what you do different that sets you apart from your competition. Work on writing the greatest copy so that your message gets into the minds of your prospective clients.
If you do not taste success in the beginning, persist, and persistence pays off. If you give up, you would never know what could have been. Let your services speak of you, let them bring forth your personality. Aping will not get you anywhere and clients cannot associate you with a particular style.
Focus remains the one most crucial aspect that will take you to great heights in your freelancing career. You have to market in such a way that your clients understand they are going to save money and get quality by hiring your services.
Important aspects of marketing are public relations, direct mail, newsletters, discounts, sponsorship, word of mouth and other tactics of communication. Have a vision and a goal and center your marketing around that. Do not go in a hundred different directions and confusing yourself as well as others.
Once you ensure you have a proper plan on what you are going to be marketing and how you are going about it, and what benefits you are showing your prospective clients, it will be extremely effortless to sell yourself and in turn your services, because people will understand your message loud and clear.
Finally, remember that your reputation is your best marketing manager. Good reputation stands the test of time. You may come across erratic and unreasonable clients, but it is up to you to maintain your calm and take it in your stride. Establish trust in your prospect's mind and you are halfway inside the door. The more people trust you, the more popular you become and offers will come to you knocking at your door.

Freelancing is all about attracting more business with very less effort.

Tips for Avoiding Your AdSense Account Getting Banned by Google

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:58:00 +0000

I have seen quite a lot of AdSense publishers posted in different forums stating that their AdSense accounts were banned by Google due to fraudulent clicks. Most of these people claim that they are innocent and have never clicked on their on AdSense ads. So they have no idea why click fraud can occur on their AdSense accounts. The truth is click fraud can happen in several ways and not necessarily caused by the AdSense publisher himself/herself who accidentally clicked on his/her own AdSense.

Below are some of the tips to protect your AdSense account:

1) Do not use autosurf programs to promote your websites that contain AdSense. Autosurf programs can substantially increase your website traffic or hits, AdSense page view and ecpm but people who surf your site only to earn advertising credit or other type of incentives. So the traffic generated from autosurf programs aren't counted as real and thus against AdSense policies.

2) If possible, do not involve in any traffic exchange networks and programs. If you have join one or more programs or networks that can make you a steady AdSense commission, you should start worry about your AdSense account as this could mean that members of the program(s) were clicking each other AdSense ads all the while whether intentionally or unintentionally. As soon as Google detected a group of people were clicking each other AdSense, many of the members AdSense account in the program will be suspended. Also traffic exchange can be another mean to artificially generate tons of unreal website traffic or hits and boost up AdSense page view & ecpm and it is strictly prohibited by Google .

3) Do not join AdSense exchange networks. They are similar to traffic exchange programs except members are participate just for clicking each other AdSense. This should be a guaranteed way to be banned by Google.

4) Read all the Google AdSense policies at http://www.google.com/adsense to see whether you have against any policies and make the necessary modification.

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5 Tips to Boost Your Adsense Revenue

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Google AdSense program has made it easier for webmasters to make money through a website. Webmasters who run an AdSense campaign will display Google's contextual Ads relevant to the content of their sites and thus encouraging visitors to click the ads and earn money for each ad click.

However you will earn very little AdSense revenue if you don't know how to optimize your AdSense ads on your website. Here are some tips to increase your AdSense earning:

1. Focus on one Adsense ad format. The Large Rectangle (336X280) ad format seems to work better than other ad formats because this format tends to result in higher click through rates (CTR). Another reason is that the ads will look like normal web links that visitors use to click on them. It doesn't matter whether the visitors know that they are clicking AdSense ads or not, as long as there are clicking, you earn AdSense commission.

2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Select a color that matches your website's background. If your site's background is white both, the color of ad border and background should set to be white too. Also the color of the ad title should be similar to coloe of the links in your website. This is to make your AdSense ads look like it is part of the web pages. Again, this will boost AdSense CTR.

3. Don't place your AdSense ads at the bottom of your webpages because it is proven to be less effective. Displaying your AdSense ads at the bottom is like hiding your AdSense and thus leads to low CTR and AdSense revenue. Try to put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between AdSense locations can make when you see your earnings.

4. Try to place your AdSense ads near rich content as visitors main focus usually are your content. There are several ways to insert AdSense ads into your content and one of the ways is place your AdSense just after the end of your content.

5. Try to automate the insertion of your AdSense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your AdSense code in a text file, name it as "AdSense text", and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then use SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. There are other ways to optimize your AdSense that produce high CTR also. You can learn more tricks by reading in AdSense and webmaster forums.

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4 Steps to Creating A Website Specifically to Earn AdSense Revenue

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:38:00 +0000

Building a website to earn Google AdSense advertising revenue has become a popular way to make extra money online nowadays. It is easier to earn AdSense income versus generating sales by selling products or services online. However it does involve works, time and money before you start earning from Adsense program. Below are the steps to creating a content website for earning AdSense revenue.

Step 1
Decide the content of your website. You can write a topic or subject related to your interest, hobbies or experience. You can also provide educational information and advice on your website if you are expert at something.

Step 2
Use a website builder to create your website. One of the easy-to-use website builders that can help you build a website is Bluevoda website builder. Bluevoda site builder allows users to build a website without technical knowledge. You don't need to build your site from scratch. The trick is to use a free professional template provided by the site builder and then start adding your text and links to your website. You can add some graphics and pictures to make your site look nicer. After completing your website project, your next step is register a domain name and sign up for a hosting account to publish your website on the Internet.

Step 3
Join Google AdSense program. It will usually take several days for Google AdSense team to review and approve your site. If Google accepts your application. You can start learning how to generate AdSense code for inserting to your website to generate Adsense revenue. If your site rejected by Google, don't get upset easily. Google will let you know the reasons of the rejection. You can fix the problems and reapply again.

Step 4
You need to drive targeted Visitors/Traffic to your website to generate Adsense revenue. The higher your website's traffic the greater your Adsense earning will be. Below are some of the ways that can help you drive some traffic to your website in short period of time.

Use Per-per-click (PPC) advertising. The two most popular PPC search engines are Google and Yahoo. Google and Yahoo can deliver instant traffic to your website but it is costly to advertise on Google and Yahoo. There are other alternatives like Bidvertise.com and Clicksor.com which are cheaper to advertise with.
Introduce your site to your family and friends.
Write several articles with a link to your website on the resource box and submit them to article directories. You can find a list of article directories by going to Google and entering the search term 'article directory'.
Post messages on community forums with a link to your site on the signature of each message posted.

S. A. Rahman Bukhari
+923219292650
s.a.rahman@gmail.com

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My Blog According to ME: AutoBlogger Bot

According to ME: AutoBlogger Bot

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:14:00 +0000

The reason of my blogging is that I love to write. I like to capture all the words coming across my mind onto the paper, I was maintaining my diary-was a student back then. Now, I am busy with my run to earn marital life with a house sitter wife and kids at home. But still, I would want to write my words, my thoughts, my ideas and emotions myself, cannot allow any automated script to do this for me without knowing; what I be thinking? And I would maintain my blog just because its a passion to me, neither for fame nor for blog fill.

What is a bot?

A bot, derived from robot, just a virtual one not a mechanized. A code written by a computer programmer, to be more precise.

What is an auto-blogger bot?

Search results for auto blogger say;

Yet another Autoblogger (YAAB) plugin for wordpress can create automated blog posts using rss feeds like any other similar plugin, but in addition, Yaab can escape content duplication using auto carnival feature using which you can run a fully carnival in your site on a regular basis (say, every sunday).

I can only laugh at this specification, this is why I don't blog on wordpress.com-Guys at wordpress.com should serioiusly consider the elimination of these autoblogger bots.

This Auto Blog Generator is the only Blog Builder and management system in the world that creates, manages, posts to, and supplies targeted content to your blog.

Excessive lameness, if this bot is going to fill up your blog categories ladies and gentlemen, who is going to read those post? Even if this bot changes the words, it cannot change the way one writes.

Autoblogger will read recent del.icio.us bookmarks marked with a specified tag and create a link to them with the page title, as well as quote a random (filtered, given simple heuristics) excerpt of the text. It's better used for long texts -- so it's more likely to pick up significant excerpts. Autoblogger can be used to create an autoblog -- a page summarizing your recent reading -- or as a blog sidebar plug-in.

Including whatever they say, it seems a good reading tool but again, there are so many of the RSS readers already without illicit names. In fact, this is not a reader for one's ease, this is a post theif!
Most of the coders make post stealing scripts just for wordpress.com, why? Because, look at this;

With any PHP-based content management system (like Wordpress), add the following code to your sidebar template:
    

These dudes are mother of all lamers,

Free Auto Blogger manages many commercial Blogs all from your desktop with auto posting content from rss and xml feeds that you choose. Add your own custom post to "salt and pepper" throughout your blog as advertisement. more....

According to me, either people those who use these automated codes to make their blogs big and money making should quit blogging or come up with their own dedicated posts for that matter.

According to ME: Twitter.com

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:52:00 +0000

What is Twitter?

What?
Why?
How?

Twitter is a service for porn sites, make money scams, and freelance porn stars to mass advertise and keep spamming through the exchange of links, frequently abused 'tiny-url' to one simple question: What are you doing here? (If you are not a porn star/ porn watcher/ make-money scam scum)

Get Annoyed—Now!

Resume

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:41:00 +0000

CAREER PROFILE

“Senior Business Administration Professional with 12 years experience of implementing leading-edge policies”

Strong and effective organizational and communication skills.
Versatile and learns new tasks/skills quickly.
Highly motivated with experience in banking.
First-class analytical, design and problem solving skills.
Dedicated to maintaining high quality standards.
Experienced in day-to-day management of organization and staff with commercial accountability for planning, organizing and directing all technical services.
Proven leadership skills involving managing, developing and motivating teams to achieve their objectives.
Good team player with excellent interpersonal skills.
Able to work on own initiative and as part of a team.

KEY SKILLS

Experience with company accounts and bookkeeping using MRP/ERP. Results-driven, logical and methodical approach to achieving tasks and objectives.
Excellent Microsoft Office and Microsoft Project experience.
Strong planning, organizing and monitoring abilities. Uses initiative to meet and resolve challenges.
Strong and effective organizational and communication skills.
Forward-thinking HR manager with proven ability to take a leadership role and influence management's strategic path.
Experience in gauging and filling the employment needs of the company and bringing on board new skill sets leading to business growth.
Entrepreneurial and pro-active - strong drive and keen business mind. Ability to identify and develop opportunities.
Proven experience with design and production both for terry towel and cotton cloth.
Proven ability to manage and improve sales turnover in a short period of time. Outstanding skills in assessing what is needed, recommending sensible solutions, and effectively motivating staff to implement them through teamwork.

ACHIEVEMENTS

As Accounts Manager,

Implemented new accounting and bill payment system.
Increased company cash flow by carefully managing billings and payments, which enabled company to buy and sell more stock each month, thus increasing sales.
Designed forms to expedite billing system and improved work productivity 50%.

As General Manager,

Estimated unit costs, performed take-offs and obtained production orders working directly with the General Contractors.
Supervised crews of up to 55 people including weaving masters, job-men, weavers, office staff and general laborer personnel. Provided improved work environment for 60 People company in busy administration practice. Calmed labor's fears, created comfortable atmosphere, and acted as emotional support.
Handled full range of administrative secretarial duties-scheduling, work hours, attendance, payroll etc.
Eliminated labor unionism and other socio-political threats like labor strikes, vandalism, extortion etc.

As Production Manager,

Established production standards of efficiency, ensuring minimum waste and maximum utilization of resources (machines, raw material and manpower).
Successfully supervised production processes to ensure implementation of company standards and ISO-9000.
Coordinated the handling, storage, and flow of finished product through the warehouse.
Received daily production and shipping plan; adjusted storage space so that excess can be stored in warehouse.

EXPERIENCE

2004 - 2009: Syed Brothers
Position: General Manager

As General Manager, I managed & supervised the entire business of all factories with the assistance of 4 associates, for 5 years (2004 ~ March, 2009). Summarizing general management is not an easy job but still, some of my major duties were;

Management of Accounts section, Production units, Processing factory, Administration block, Shipping company etc. by reading reports and visiting.
Orders arrangement of bathrobes, bathing sets, bar mops and other goods made of towel and cloth from local parties.
Cost-effective purchasing of cotton yarn, packing materials, office stationary, office machines, machines, hardware for machines etc. from various suppliers.
Dealing with over-head manufacturers for toll manufacture.
Making annual contracts of maintenance regarding power generators, heavy machines, office machines etc. with various contractors.
Meetings with various government departments such as excise and taxation, labor division, department of medium and small industries etc. and reporting to Director.

2000 - 2004: Syed Brothers
Position: Production Manager

As Production Manager, I managed & supervised the production routine of all factories with the assistance of 5 associates, for 4 years (2000 ~ 2004). Under this hectic management, some of my major duties were;

Tracking and control of daily production of terry cloth, towel, bathrobes, hand towels, bath towels, bar mops etc. on daily bases - and reporting to General Manager & Director on daily, week and bimonthly bases.
Maintaining the yarn stocks for weaving by sending purchase demands to General Manager for cotton yarn beforehand.
Maintaining the stock of packing material by sending purchase demands to General Manager for mercerized thread, plastic bags, cartons, adhesives etc beforehand.
Delivering yarn to weaving departments, terry cloth and towel to processing unit and deliveries to parties within time.

1997 - 2000: Syed Brothers
Position: Accounts & Finance Manager

As Accounts & Finance Manager, I managed & supervised the entire accounts department consisted of 3 associates, for 3 years (1997 ~ 2000). I was dealing with accounts and finance formalities, internal audit for income tax and general sales tax, payroll, bank accounts of factories, billing and invoicing, computerized bookkeeping, profit and loss analysis, assets tracking and reporting.

EDUCATION

2000-2002: The University of Karachi
Qualification: M. Com (Business Administration and Commerce)

Secured 2nd division and specialized in;

Business Administration & Management

Application of Computer to Business
Business Communication
Business Economics
Business Mathematics
Business Research Methods
Business Policy
Business Law
International Business
Organizational Behavior
Statistical Inference

Accounting and Finance

Specialized Accounting System
Financial Accounting
Cost Accounting
International Banking
Managerial Accounting
Governmental Accounting
Taxation

Marketing

Principle of Marketing
International Market
Improved Marketing
Marketing in Pakistan

1996-1998: The University of Karachi
Qualification: B.Com (Business Administration and Commerce)

Secured 2nd division and specialized in;

Business Applications
Business Communication
Business Law
Economics Analysis and Policy
Chartered Accountancy and Audit
Industries in Pakistan
Advanced Accounting and Finance
Principle of Banking

QUALITIES

I am Honest, loyal & dedicated to my work.
I am punctual, hard working & never give-up.
I am fluent and confident, thus get the attention.
Practically talkative, efficient and capable of working under pressure.

SKILLS

Working knowledge of computing under Ms Windows’s environment.
Ms Office (Ms Word, Ms Excel, Ms Project, Ms Power Point)
Accounting (Quick Books, Peach Tree)
Administration (MRP, ERP)
Fluent in written and spoken English & Urdu.
Superb communication and interpersonal skills.
Vast applied and object oriented knowledge.

References available upon request.
Thanks a lot for reading,

Syed Abdul Rahman Bukhari
+923219292650
http://cvcafe.com/mycv/s-a-rehman

The failure of Operation Khanjar

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:45:00 +0000

58584 square kilometers and a population of more than 0.7 million, Helmand is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Pashtoons are the majority, but there are also larger minorities of Hazara and Tajik, who are primarily resident. Helmand is infamous for its war-loving and reckless youths and is the world's largest opium-producing region, responsible for 42% of the world's total production. Helmand and Pakistan are indissolubly linked. Helmand has 286 kilometers long southern border with the Baluchistan province.
On 2nd July, NATO started a military offensive to bloodshed the Muslim known as "Operation Khanjer". According to American media, this operation is the largest Marine offensive after Obama became the president. About 4,000 U.S Marines 800 British and 650 Afghan troops are involved in this operation, which is Obama's largest offensive against Taliban. Allied forces are well equipped with latest and deterrent armada including dozens of 'death from above' gunship helicopters and 'sending back to stone age' horrifying tanks which can turn valleys and hills into waste lands within minutes.
According to a report of New York Times, Operation Khanjer is very important military offensive after Vietnam because significant numbers of soldiers are participating in this operation. According to NATO Spokesman, the purpose of Operation Khanjer is to clear insurgents and to stabilize the peace for the success of presidential election on 20th August. America-pleasing Governor Helmand Gulab Mangal is claiming success for Operation Khanjer, while American Commander General Larry Nicholas said, regarding this operation, that we will stay, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces.
NATO Commander, Major General Mart Kroff told the media about the presence of 12000 to 18000 Taliban militant within the Helmand region, Allied forces will push them out to control Kandahar and southern Afghanistan. Taliban has commenced a full scale offensive on the other side. Experts of Defense and Warfare say in their assessments that Helmand is a bigger province where people have soft corner for Taliban. Taliban’s war strategy is the same as it was against Soviet Union; they go into cover by the dawn and concentrate on attack after the dusk, to teach Allied forces a lesson. Thus, the entire Western world is eyeing this operation. Remember, after conquering Kabul this is the first major offensive for NATO forces. Helmand and Kandahar in Afghanistan; are two regions considered to be Taliban stronghold and had been the most dangerous sectors for coalition forces, where they are having major losses.
In past, America assigned; British forces to Helmand while Canadian forces to Kandahar, Taliban had a flawless victory by defeating coalition forces in all regions-Including Operation mountain thrust, Operation silicone and Operation Herrick but, with all the pride and power they failed to succeed over Taliban. Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah got killed in Helmand, coalition forces celebrated over the death of Mullah Dadullah assuming that such a loss would have broken Taliban’s chain of command but, spokesman for Mullah Omer had said that the shahadat of Mullah Dadullah was a blessing. Truth is, after the shahadat of Mullah Dadullah Taliban became fan-favorite within the 0.7 million population. Logically, what would be the end of Operation Khanjar? Let’s leave it to near future but, latest report from NATO forces-the result is quite significant.
According to NATO, Taliban increased their attack-run by 60% this year. During past five months Taliban attacked aggressive forces of Cairo 5220 times. This broke the record of attacks on occupier forces of past nine years and increased the hold of Taliban by remarkably 20% to 30%. The result of decisive battle in Helmand can be assessed by news of BBC. According to the news, The British Defense Ministry announced that eight British army men got killed in the past week. Thus, a total of 184 British soldiers got killed in bloodshed and massacre at Helmand. The president of British Conservative Party, David Cameron said with sheer grief that the entire British nation is grieved upon the deaths of their sons. In Kabul, the statements issued by the troop commanders and spokesmen show their great turmoil and agony. American central chief commander General Petraeus said that next few months would be extremely difficult for Allied forces in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal, new commanding chief of Allied forces, accepted that problems for Allied forces are increasing daily, Taliban still holding the rural of Afghanistan. NATO, security advisor to President Obama and American chief of staff General Michael, James Jones says that Taliban resistance is increasing against us, on the other hand in Afghan history, White house’s mules admit; no army has never been able to defeat Afghan in this region.
P. D. H. Down, former British Ambassador for Bosnia, he said in a seminar that we are losing the war and our youths are getting killed there in Afghanistan. After 9/11, The war that Bush and his evil companions started left America with economical crisis and defeat. War expenditure gifted poverty and unemployment to the Americans. Unbelievably, there has been an increase in number of people who are living in tents. One of the American State Assemblies has passed a resolution to draw army from Afghanistan. American commanders and warfare experts are accepting their defeat but, don’t know why Obama did not deny the barbaric policies of Bush and sent more reinforcement, most of which is getting killed by Taliban.
The cry for mercy of NATO and American generals has made one thing clear and that is, like so many other operations against the Afghan in the past-this operation khanjar has also gone in vain. Not any Muslim but, American and British Generals confessed themselves for the defeat. Aristotle once said, there are few mistakes correction of which is possible to an interval, later on, the same mistake makes the nations and states suffer so badly that the existence of super powers and powerful looking nations is vanished. According to the mistakes of NATO, Britain and America-Is not this saying a message of their destruction?

Restructuring industrial estates in Sindh

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:28:00 +0000

A high-level meeting of experts drawn from diverse spheres, recently held in Karachi on the scope of restructuring and revamping industrial estates in Sindh with the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB) reportedly ended on a note of consensus on changes in the organisational structure of Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) Ltd and the other industrial estates.

This came about in the wake of deliberations on other models, Punjab Industrial Estates (PIE) development and management company in particular. So much so, that its CEO Sabir Chohan was requested to make a presentation for sharing experiences of success of Punjab industrial estates for possible borrowing or adoption for restructuring and reorganising the management of public sector expenditure in the industrial estates in Sindh through Site Ltd, as the mother company.

However, as he reportedly put it, PIE is engaged in the development of Sundar Industrial Estate, besides upgrading 565 acres Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate at Lahore, and 743 acres Multan Industrial Estate Phase-I, besides expansion of Multan Industrial Estate (667 acres) Phase-II, setting up of combined effluent treatment plant (CETP), which is expected to be commissioned by mid-2011, and a 390 MW private power plant to be completed by 2010.

There are a number of other attributes associated with the PIE. Reference, in this context, may also be made to his revelation that in Punjab, Chairman and Directors are appointed by the government, and operation is conducted on cost basis of O&M, for which the contributions are made by industrial units.

However, Engr M A Jabbar, Chairman of Site Association of Industry (SAI), made no secret of his reluctance to consider the adoption or borrowing of the PIE organisational structure, with a pointed reference to the appointment of the chairman and directors by government as it brought into play the factors of like and dislike, thereby, creating unnecessary complications.

As against this, he maintained that the chairman should be elected on the votes of all industrial units, ie, in Sindh more than 10,000 in seven industrial estates. Similarly, he argued that the Managing Director and Secretary should be appointed from amongst professionals in the market.

Moreover, on her part, Ms Xiaoqin Fan, Senior ADB Economist, is reported to have stated that her bank regards public-private partnership as the only way for development of industrial estates in Sindh, saying ADB has been working for reforms in Sindh for the last three years so as to improve the quality of life of the people in this province.

Again, recalling that 40 years ago Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were poor Asian countries, she lamented that while Pakistan remains bound in that category, the others have improved by exploiting own resources through good governance. More to this she maintained that in her opinion, Sindh should do better than other provinces because of its geographical location and nearness to sea.

All in all, it will be noted that in so far industrial activity is concerned, Sindh has a distinguishing place of its own for which it has witnessed heaviest concentration not only of mills and factories but also of diverse units of commercial and financial entities. As for the other provinces, for understandable reasons, they need not follow the example of Sindh. Now that ADB has set the pace for development of a tried and tested system of industrial estates it will be in the fitness of things to follow its lead.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:55:00 +0000

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Pub.L. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745, enacted July 30, 2002), also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called Sarbanes-Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002, as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of affected companies collapsed, shook public confidence in the nation's securities markets. Named after sponsors U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and U.S. Representative Michael G. Oxley (R-OH), the act was approved by the House by a vote of 334-90 and by the Senate 99-0. President George W. Bush signed it into law, stating it included "the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt."^[1]

The legislation set new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. It does not apply to privately held companies. The act contains 11 titles, or sections, ranging from additional corporate board responsibilities to criminal penalties, and requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement rulings on requirements to comply with the new law. Harvey Pitt, the 26th chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led the SEC in the adoption of dozens of rules to implement the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Debate continues over the perceived benefits and costs of SOX. Supporters contend the legislation was necessary and has played a useful role in restoring public confidence in the nation's capital markets by, among other things, strengthening corporate accounting controls. Opponents of the bill claim it has reduced America's international competitive edge against foreign financial service providers, saying SOX has introduced an overly complex and regulatory environment into U.S. financial markets.^[2]

The act creates a new, quasi-public agency, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, charged with overseeing, regulating, inspecting and disciplining accounting firms in their roles as auditors of public companies. The act also covers issues such as auditor independence, corporate governance, internal control assessment, and enhanced financial disclosure.

Overview

Sarbanes-Oxley contains 11 titles that describe specific mandates and requirements for financial reporting. Each title consists of several sections, summarized below.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
Title I consists of nine sections and establishes the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, to provide independent oversight of public accounting firms providing audit services ("auditors"). It also creates a central oversight board tasked with registering auditors, defining the specific processes and procedures for compliance audits, inspecting and policing conduct and quality control, and enforcing compliance with the specific mandates of SOX.
Auditor Independence
Title II consists of nine sections and establishes standards for external auditor independence, to limit conflicts of interest. It also addresses new auditor approval requirements, audit partner rotation, and auditor reporting requirements. It restricts auditing companies from providing non-audit services (e.g., consulting) for the same clients.
Corporate Responsibility
Title III consists of eight sections and mandates that senior executives take individual responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of corporate financial reports. It defines the interaction of external auditors and corporate audit committees, and specifies the responsibility of corporate officers for the accuracy and validity of corporate financial reports. It enumerates specific limits on the behaviors of corporate officers and describes specific forfeitures of benefits and civil penalties for non-compliance. For example, Section 302 requires that the company's "principal officers" (typically the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer) certify and approve the integrity of their company financial reports quarterly ^[3]
Enhanced Financial Disclosures
Title IV consists of nine sections. It describes enhanced reporting requirements for financial transactions, including off-balance-sheet transactions, pro-forma figures and stock transactions of corporate officers. It requires internal controls for assuring the accuracy of financial reports and disclosures, and mandates both audits and reports on those controls. It also requires timely reporting of material changes in financial condition and specific enhanced reviews by the SEC or its agents of corporate reports.
Analyst Conflicts of Interest
Title V consists of only one section, which includes measures designed to help restore investor confidence in the reporting of securities analysts. It defines the codes of conduct for securities analysts and requires disclosure of knowable conflicts of interest.
Commission Resources and Authority
Title VI consists of four sections and defines practices to restore investor confidence in securities analysts. It also defines the SEC’s authority to censure or bar securities professionals from practice and defines conditions under which a person can be barred from practicing as a broker, advisor, or dealer.
Studies and Reports
Title VII consists of five sections and requires the Comptroller General and the SEC to perform various studies and report their findings. Studies and reports include the effects of consolidation of public accounting firms, the role of credit rating agencies in the operation of securities markets, securities violations and enforcement actions, and whether investment banks assisted Enron, Global Crossing and others to manipulate earnings and obfuscate true financial conditions.
Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability
Title VIII consists of seven sections and is also referred to as the “Corporate and Criminal Fraud Act of 2002”. It describes specific criminal penalties for manipulation, destruction or alteration of financial records or other interference with investigations, while providing certain protections for whistle-blowers.
White Collar Crime Penalty Enhancement
Title IX consists of two sections. This section is also called the “White Collar Crime Penalty Enhancement Act of 2002.” This section increases the criminal penalties associated with white-collar crimes and conspiracies. It recommends stronger sentencing guidelines and specifically adds failure to certify corporate financial reports as a criminal offense.
Corporate Tax Returns
Title X consists of one section. Section 1001 states that the Chief Executive Officer should sign the company tax return.
Corporate Fraud Accountability
Title XI consists of seven sections. Section 1101 recommends a name for this title as “Corporate Fraud Accountability Act of 2002”. It identifies corporate fraud and records tampering as criminal offenses and joins those offenses to specific penalties. It also revises sentencing guidelines and strengthens their penalties. This enables the SEC the resort to temporarily freeze transactions or payments that has been deemed "large" or "unusual".

History and context: events contributing to the adoption of Sarbanes-Oxley

A variety of complex factors created the conditions and culture in which a series of large corporate frauds occurred between 2000-2002. The spectacular, highly-publicized frauds at Enron (see Enron scandal), WorldCom, and Tyco exposed significant problems with conflicts of interest and incentive compensation practices. The analysis of their complex and contentious root causes contributed to the passage of SOX in 2002.^[4] In a 2004 interview, Senator Paul Sarbanes stated:

“

The Senate Banking Committee undertook a series of hearings on the problems in the markets that had led to a loss of hundreds and hundreds of billions, indeed trillions of dollars in market value. The hearings set out to lay the foundation for legislation. We scheduled 10 hearings over a six-week period, during which we brought in some of the best people in the country to testify...The hearings produced remarkable consensus on the nature of the problems: inadequate oversight of accountants, lack of auditor independence, weak corporate governance procedures, stock analysts' conflict of interests, inadequate disclosure provisions, and grossly inadequate funding of the Securities and Exchange Commission.^[5]

”

Auditor conflicts of interest: Prior to SOX, auditing firms, the primary financial "watchdogs" for investors, were self-regulated. They also performed significant non-audit or consulting work for the companies they audited. Many of these consulting agreements were far more lucrative than the auditing engagement. This presented at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. For example, challenging the company's accounting approach might damage a client relationship, conceivably placing a significant consulting arrangement at risk, damaging the auditing firm's bottom line.

Boardroom failures: Boards of Directors, specifically Audit Committees, are charged with establishing oversight mechanisms for financial reporting in U.S. corporations on the behalf of investors. These scandals identified Board members who either did not exercise their responsibilities or did not have the expertise to understand the complexities of the businesses. In many cases, Audit Committee members were not truly independent of management.

Securities analysts' conflicts of interest: The roles of securities analysts, who make buy and sell recommendations on company stocks and bonds, and investment bankers, who help provide companies loans or handle mergers and acquisitions, provide opportunities for conflicts. Similar to the auditor conflict, issuing a buy or sell recommendation on a stock while providing lucrative investment banking services creates at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Inadequate funding of the SEC: The SEC budget has steadily increased to nearly double the pre-SOX level.^[6]In the interview cited above, Sarbanes indicated that enforcement and rule-making are more effective post-SOX.

Banking practices: Lending to a firm sends signals to investors regarding the firm's risk. In the case of Enron, several major banks provided large loans to the company without understanding, or while ignoring, the risks of the company. Investors of these banks and their clients were hurt by such bad loans, resulting in large settlement payments by the banks. Others interpreted the willingness of banks to lend money to the company as an indication of its health and integrity, and were led to invest in Enron as a result. These investors were hurt as well.

Internet bubble: Investors had been stung in 2000 by the sharp declines in technology stocks and to a lesser extent, by declines in the overall market. Certain mutual fund managers were alleged to have advocated the purchasing of particular technology stocks, while quietly selling them. The losses sustained also helped create a general anger among investors.

Executive compensation: Stock option and bonus practices, combined with volatility in stock prices for even small earnings "misses," resulted in pressures to manage earnings.^[7] Stock options were not treated as compensation expense by companies, encouraging this form of compensation. With a large stock-based bonus at risk, managers were pressured to meet their targets.

Timeline and passage of Sarbanes-Oxley

The House passed Rep. Oxley's bill (H.R. 3763) on April 25, 2002, by a vote of 334 to 90. The House then referred the "Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act" or "CAARTA" to the Senate Banking Committee with the support of President George W. Bush and the SEC. At the time, however, the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), was preparing his own proposal, Senate Bill 2673.

Senator Sarbanes’s bill passed the Senate Banking Committee on June 18, 2002, by a vote of 17 to 4. On June 25, 2002, WorldCom revealed it had overstated its earnings by more than $3.8 billion during the past five quarters (15 months), primarily by improperly accounting for its operating costs. Sen. Sarbanes introduced Senate Bill 2673 to the full Senate that same day, and it passed 97-0 less than three weeks later on July 15, 2002.

The House and the Senate formed a Conference Committee to reconcile the differences between Sen. Sarbanes's bill (S. 2673) and Rep. Oxley's bill (H.R. 3763). The conference committee relied heavily on S. 2673 and “most changes made by the conference committee strengthened the prescriptions of S. 2673 or added new prescriptions.” (John T. Bostelman, The Sarbanes-Oxley Deskbook § 2-31.)

The Committee approved the final conference bill on July 24, 2002, and gave it the name "the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002." The next day, both houses of Congress voted on it without change, producing an overwhelming margin of victory: 423 to 3 in the House and 99 to 0 in the Senate. On July 30, 2002, President George W. Bush signed it into law, stating it included "the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt." ^[1]

Analyzing the cost-benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley

A significant body of academic research and opinion exists regarding the costs and benefits of SOX, with significant differences in conclusions. This is due in part to the difficulty of isolating the impact of SOX from other variables affecting the stock market and corporate earnings.^[8]^[9] Conclusions from several of these studies and related criticism are summarized below:

Compliance costs

FEI Survey (Annual): Finance Executives International (FEI) provides an annual survey on SOX Section 404 costs. These costs have continued to decline relative to revenues since 2004. The 2007 study indicated that, for 168 companies with average revenues of $4.7 billion, the average compliance costs were $1.7 million (0.036% of revenue).^[10] The 2006 study indicated that, for 200 companies with average revenues of $6.8 billion, the average compliance costs were $2.9 million (0.043% of revenue), down 23% from 2005. Cost for decentralized companies (i.e., those with multiple segments or divisions) were considerably more than centralized companies. Survey scores related to the positive effect of SOX on investor confidence, reliability of financial statements, and fraud prevention continue to rise. However, when asked in 2006 whether the benefits of compliance with Section 404 have exceeded costs in 2006, only 22 percent agreed.^[11]

Foley & Lardner Survey (2007): This annual study focused on changes in the total costs of being a U.S. public company, which were significantly affected by SOX. Such costs include external auditor fees, directors and officers (D&O) insurance, board compensation, lost productivity, and legal costs. Each of these cost categories increased significantly between FY2001-FY2006. Nearly 70% of survey respondents indicated public companies with revenues under $251 million should be exempt from SOX Section 404.^[12]

Zhang (2005): This research paper estimated SOX compliance costs as high as $1.4 trillion, by measuring changes in market value around key SOX legislative "events." This number is based on the assumption that SOX was the cause of related short-duration market value changes, which the author acknowledges as a drawback of the study.^[13]

Benefits to firms and investors

Iliev (2007): This research paper indicated that SOX 404 indeed led to conservative reported earnings, but also reduced -- rightly or wrongly -- stock valuations of small firms.^[14] Lower earnings often cause the share price to decrease.

Butler/Ribstein (2006): Their book proposed a comprehensive overhaul or repeal of SOX and a variety of other reforms. For example, they indicate that investors could diversify their stock investments, efficiently managing the risk of a few catastrophic corporate failures, whether due to fraud or competition. However, if each company is required to spend a significant amount of money and resources on SOX compliance, this cost is borne across all publicly traded companies and therefore cannot be diversified away by the investor.^[15]

Skaife/Collins/Kinney/Lefond (2006): This research paper indicates that borrowing costs are lower for companies that improved their internal control, by between 50 and 150 basis points (.5 to 1.5 percentage points).^[16]

Lord & Benoit Report (2006): Do the Benefits of 404 Exceed the Cost? A study of a population of nearly 2,500 companies indicated that those with no material weaknesses in their internal controls, or companies that corrected them in a timely manner, experienced much greater increases in share prices than companies that did not.^[17]^[18] The report indicated that the benefits to a compliant company in share price (10% above Russell 3000 index) were greater than their SOX Section 404 costs.

Institute of Internal Auditors (2005): The research paper indicates that corporations have improved their internal controls and that financial statements are perceived to be more reliable.^[19]

Effects on exchange listing choice of non-US companies

Some have asserted that Sarbanes-Oxley legislation has helped displace business from New York to London, where the Financial Services Authority regulates the financial sector with a lighter touch. In the UK, the non-statutory Combined Code of Corporate Governance plays a somewhat similar role to SOX. See Howell E. Jackson & Mark J. Roe, “Public Enforcement of Securities Laws: Preliminary Evidence” (Working Paper January 16, 2007). The Alternative Investment Market claims that its spectacular growth in listings almost entirely coincided with the Sarbanes Oxley legislation. In December 2006 Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, and Charles Schumer, a US senator, expressed their concern.^[20]

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act's effect on non-US companies cross-listed in the US is different on firms from developed and well regulated countries than on firms from less developed countries according to Kate Litvak.^[21] Companies from badly regulated countries benefit from better credit ratings by complying to regulations in a highly regulated country (USA) that is higher than the cost, but companies from developed countries only incur the cost, since transparency is adequate in their home countries as well. On the other hand, the benefit of better credit rating also comes with listing on other stock exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange.

Piotroski and Srinivasan (2008) examine a comprehensive sample of international companies that list onto U.S. and U.K. stock exchanges before and after the enactment of the Act in 2002. Using a sample of all listing events onto U.S. and U.K. exchanges from 1995-2006, they find that the listing preferences of large foreign firms choosing between U.S. exchanges and the LSE's Main Market did not change following SOX. In contrast, they find that the likelihood of a U.S. listing among small foreign firms choosing between the Nasdaq and LSE's Alternative Investment Market decreased following SOX. The negative effect among small firms is consistent with these companies being less able to absorb the incremental costs associated with SOX compliance. The screening of smaller firms with weaker governance attributes from U.S. exchanges is consistent with the heightened governance costs imposed by the Act increasing the bonding-related benefits of a U.S. listing. ^[22]

Implementation of key provisions

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 302: Internal controls

Under Sarbanes-Oxley, two separate sections came into effect—one civil and the other criminal. 15 U.S.C. § 7241 (Section 302) (civil provision); 18 U.S.C. § 1350 (Section 906) (criminal provision).

Section 302 of the Act mandates a set of internal procedures designed to ensure accurate financial disclosure. The signing officers must certify that they are “responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls” and “have designed such internal controls to ensure that material information relating to the company and its consolidated subsidiaries is made known to such officers by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which the periodic reports are being prepared.” 15 U.S.C. § 7241(a)(4). The officers must “have evaluated the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls as of a date within 90 days prior to the report” and “have presented in the report their conclusions about the effectiveness of their internal controls based on their evaluation as of that date.” Id..

The SEC interpreted the intention of Sec. 302 in Final Rule 33-8124. In it, the SEC defines the new term "disclosure controls and procedures", which are distinct from "internal controls over financial reporting".^[23] Under both Section 302 and Section 404, Congress directed the SEC to promulgate regulations enforcing these provisions.^[24]

External auditors are required to issue an opinion on whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects by management. This is in addition to the financial statement opinion regarding the accuracy of the financial statements. The requirement to issue a third opinion regarding management's assessment was removed in 2007.

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: Assessment of internal control

Further information: SOX 404 top-down risk assessment

The most contentious aspect of SOX is Section 404, which requires management and the external auditor to report on the adequacy of the company's internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). This is the most costly aspect of the legislation for companies to implement, as documenting and testing important financial manual and automated controls requires enormous effort.^[25]

Under Section 404 of the Act, management is required to produce an “internal control report” as part of each annual Exchange Act report. See 15 U.S.C. § 7262. The report must affirm “the responsibility of management for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting.” 15 U.S.C. § 7262(a). The report must also “contain an assessment, as of the end of the most recent fiscal year of the Company, of the effectiveness of the internal control structure and procedures of the issuer for financial reporting.” To do this, managers are generally adopting an internal control framework such as that described in COSO.

To help alleviate the high costs of compliance, guidance and practice have continued to evolve. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) approved Auditing Standard No. 5 for public accounting firms on July 25, 2007.^[26] This standard superseded Auditing Standard No. 2, the initial guidance provided in 2004. The SEC also released its interpretive guidance ^[27] on June 27, 2007. It is generally consistent with the PCAOB's guidance, but intended to provide guidance for management. Both management and the external auditor are responsible for performing their assessment in the context of a top-down risk assessment, which requires management to base both the scope of its assessment and evidence gathered on risk. This gives management wider discretion in its assessment approach. These two standards together require management to:

Assess both the design and operating effectiveness of selected internal controls related to significant accounts and relevant assertions, in the context of material misstatement risks;
Understand the flow of transactions, including IT aspects, sufficient enough to identify points at which a misstatement could arise;
Evaluate company-level (entity-level) controls, which correspond to the components of the COSO framework;
Perform a fraud risk assessment;
Evaluate controls designed to prevent or detect fraud, including management override of controls;
Evaluate controls over the period-end financial reporting process;
Scale the assessment based on the size and complexity of the company;
Rely on management's work based on factors such as competency, objectivity, and risk;
Conclude on the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting.

SOX 404 compliance costs represent a tax on inefficiency, encouraging companies to centralize and automate their financial reporting systems. This is apparent in the comparative costs of companies with decentralized operations and systems, versus those with centralized, more efficient systems. For example, the 2007 FEI survey indicated average compliance costs for decentralized companies were $1.9 million, while centralized company costs were $1.3 million.^[28] Costs of evaluating manual control procedures are dramatically reduced through automation.

Sarbanes-Oxley 404 and smaller public companies

The cost of complying with SOX 404 impacts smaller companies disproportionately, as there is a significant fixed cost involved in completing the assessment. For example, during 2004 U.S. companies with revenues exceeding $5 billion spent 0.06% of revenue on SOX compliance, while companies with less than $100 million in revenue spent 2.55%.^[29]

This disparity is a focal point of 2007 SEC and U.S. Senate action.^[30] The PCAOB intends to issue further guidance to help companies scale their assessment based on company size and complexity during 2007. The SEC issued their guidance to management in June, 2007.^[31]

After the SEC and PCAOB issued their guidance, the SEC required smaller public companies (non-accelerated filers) with fiscal years ending after December 15, 2007 to document a Management Assessment of their Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR). Outside auditors of non-accelerated filers however opine or test internal controls under PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) Auditing Standards for years ending after December 15, 2008. Another extension was granted by the SEC for the outside auditor assessment until years ending after December 15, 2009. The reason for the timing disparity was to address the House Committee on Small Business concern that the cost of complying with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was still unknown and could therefore be disproportionately high for smaller publicly held companies.^[32]

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 802: Criminal penalties for violation of SOX

Section 802(a) of the SOX, 18 U.S.C. § 1519 states:

“

Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

”

[edit] Sarbanes Oxley Section 1107: Criminal penalties for retaliation against whistle blowers

Section 1107 of the SOX 18 U.S.C. § 1513(e) states:^[33]

“

Whoever knowingly, with the intent to retaliate, takes any action harmful to any person, including interference with the lawful employment or livelihood of any person, for providing to a law enforcement officer any truthful information relating to the commission or possible commission of any federal offense, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

”

Criticism

Congressman Ron Paul and others contend that SOX was an unnecessary and costly government intrusion into corporate management that places U.S. corporations at a competitive disadvantage with foreign firms, driving businesses out of the United States. In an April 14, 2005 speech before the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul stated, "These regulations are damaging American capital markets by providing an incentive for small US firms and foreign firms to deregister from US stock exchanges. According to a study by Wharton Business School, the number of American companies deregistering from public stock exchanges nearly tripled during the year after Sarbanes-Oxley became law, while the New York Stock Exchange had only 10 new foreign listings in all of 2004. The reluctance of small businesses and foreign firms to register on American stock exchanges is easily understood when one considers the costs Sarbanes-Oxley imposes on businesses. According to a survey by Korn/Ferry International, Sarbanes-Oxley cost Fortune 500 companies an average of $5.1 million in compliance expenses in 2004, while a study by the law firm of Foley and Lardner found the Act increased costs associated with being a publicly held company by 130 percent." ^[34]

A research study published by Joseph Piotroski of Stanford University and Suraj Srinivasan of Harvard Business School titled "Regulation and Bonding: Sarbanes Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings" in the Journal of Accounting Research in 2008 found that following the act's passage, smaller international companies were more likely to list in stock exchanges in the U.K. rather than U.S. stock exchanges.^[35]

During the financial crisis, critics blamed Sarbanes-Oxley for the low number of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on American stock exchanges during 2008. In November 2008, Newt Gingrich and co-author David W. Kralik called on Congress to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.^[36]

A December 21, 2008 Wall St. Journal editorial stated, "The new laws and regulations have neither prevented frauds nor instituted fairness. But they have managed to kill the creation of new public companies in the U.S., cripple the venture capital business, and damage entrepreneurship. According to the National Venture Capital Association, in all of 2008 there have been just six companies that have gone public. Compare that with 269 IPOs in 1999, 272 in 1996, and 365 in 1986."

Hoover's IPO Scorecard notes 31 IPOs in 2008 ^[37].

The editorial concludes that: "For all of this, we can first thank Sarbanes-Oxley. Cooked up in the wake of accounting scandals earlier this decade, it has essentially killed the creation of new public companies in America, hamstrung the NYSE and Nasdaq (while making the London Stock Exchange rich), and cost U.S. industry more than $200 billion by some estimates." ^[38]

Previously the number of IPOs had declined to 87 in 2001, well down from the highs, but before Sarbanes-Oxley was passed. ^[39] In 2004, IPOs were up 195% from the previous year to 233.^[40]. There were 196 IPOs in 2005, 205 in 2006 (with a sevenfold increase in deals over $1 billion) and 209 in 2007. ^[41]^[42]

Praise

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan praised the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: "I am surprised that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, so rapidly developed and enacted, has functioned as well as it has...the act importantly reinforced the principle that shareholders own our corporations and that corporate managers should be working on behalf of shareholders to allocate business resources to their optimum use.”^[43]

SOX has been praised by a cross-section of financial industry experts, citing improved investor confidence and more accurate, reliable financial statements. The CEO and CFO are now required to unequivocally take ownership for their financial statements under Section 302, which was not the case prior to SOX. Further, auditor conflicts of interest have been addressed, by prohibiting auditors from also having lucrative consulting agreements with the firms they audit under Section 201. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox stated in 2007: "Sarbanes-Oxley helped restore trust in U.S. markets by increasing accountability, speeding up reporting, and making audits more independent."^[44]

The FEI 2007 study and research by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) also indicate SOX has improved investor confidence in financial reporting, a primary objective of the legislation. The IIA study also indicated improvements in board, audit committee, and senior management engagement in financial reporting and improvements in financial controls.^[45]^[46]

Financial restatements increased significantly in the wake of the SOX legislation and have since dramatically declined, as companies "cleaned up" their books. Glass, Lewis & Co. LLC is a San Francisco-based firm that tracks the volume of do-overs by public companies. Its March 2006 report, "Getting It Wrong the First Time," shows 1,295 restatements of financial earnings in 2005 for companies listed on U.S. securities markets, almost twice the number for 2004. "That's about one restatement for every 12 public companies—up from one for every 23 in 2004," says the report.^[47]

Legal challenges

A lawsuit (Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) was filed in 2006 challenging the constitutionality (legality) of the PCAOB. The complaint argues that because the PCAOB has regulatory powers over the accounting industry, its officers should be appointed by the President, rather than the SEC.^[48]Further, because the law lacks a "severability clause," if part of the law is judged unconstitutional, so is the remainder. If the plaintiff prevails, the U.S. Congress may have to devise a different method of officer appointment. Further, the other parts of the law may be open to revision.^[49] The lawsuit was dismissed from a District Court; the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals on August 22, 2008.^[50] Judge Kavanaugh, in his dissent, argued strongly against the constitutionality of the law.^[51] On May 18, 2009, The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear this case.

References

^ ^a ^b Bumiller, Elisabeth (2002-07-31). "Bush Signs Bill Aimed at Fraud in Corporations". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E0D91E38F932A05754C0A9649C8B63.
^ A Mckinsey & Company study commissioned by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.), cites this as one reason America's financial sector is losing market share to other financial centers worldwide. Reference http://www.senate.gov/~schumer/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/special_reports/2007/NY_REPORT%20_FINAL.pdf
^ Kuschnik, Bernhard; The Sarbanes Oxley Act: "Big Brother is watching" you or Adequate Measures of Corporate Governance Regulation? 5 Rutgers Business Law Journal [2008], 64 - 95; available at http://businesslaw.newark.rutgers.edu/RBLJ_vol5_no1_kuschnik.pdf
^ Farrell, Greg. "America Robbed Blind." Wizard Academy Press: 2005
^ Sarbanes Interview
^ SEC Annual Budget
^ SEC Levitt Speech The Numbers Game
^ "Five years of Sarbanes-Oxley". The Economist. 2007-07-26. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9545905.
^ Shakespeare, Catharine (2008). "Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Five Years On: What Have We Learned?". Journal of Business & Technology Law: 333.
^ FEI 2007 Survey of SOX 404 Costs
^ FEI 2006 Survey of SOX 404 Costs
^ Foley & Lardner 2007 Study
^ Zhang-Economic Costs of SOX
^ The Effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Section 404) Management's Report on Audit Fees, Accruals and Stock Returns
^ The Sarbanes-Oxley Debacle
^ The Effect of Internal Control Deficiencies on Firm Risk and Cost of Capital
^ Lord & Benoit Report
^ Benoit WSJ
^ IIA Research SOX Looking at the Benefits
^ Bloomberg-Schumer report
^ SSRN-The Effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Non-US Companies Cross-Listed in the US by Kate Litvak
^ Piotroski, Joseph D. and Srinivasan, Suraj, Regulation and Bonding: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings(January 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=956987
^ http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8124.htm
^ SEC Final Rules 33-8238
^ See New Center for Data Analysis Report
^ PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5
^ SEC Interpretive Guidance
^ FEI Survey 2007
^ SEC Advisory Cmte. Report - See charts on pages 33-34.
^ Dodd-Shelby Amendment
^ SEC 2007 SOX Guidance
^ Sarbanes-Oxley: Progressive Punishment for Regressive Victimization, 44 Hous. L. Rev. 95 (2007)
^ Stephen M. Kohn, Michael D. Kohn, and David K. Colapinto (2004). Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-98127-4
^ Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley! Ron Paul, April 14, 2005
^ Piotroski, Joseph D. and Srinivasan, Suraj, Regulation and Bonding: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Flow of International Listings(January 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=956987
^ Gingrich
^ http://www.hoovers.com/business-information/--pageid__16750--/global-corp-press-index.xhtml Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals Major Decline In 2008
^ Washington Is Killing Silicon Valley, Wall St. Journal, December 21, 2008
^ http://www.hoovers.com/business-information/--pageid__4046--/global-corp-press-index.xhtmlr
^ http://www.hoovers.com/business-information Number of IPOs in 2004 Increased by 195%
^ http://www.hoovers.com/business-information/--pageid__15824--/global-corp-press-index.xhtml Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals Increase In Momentum In 2006, Along With Seven-Fold Increase In Number of $1 Billion-Plus Deals
^ http://www.hoovers.com/business-information/--pageid__16356--/global-corp-press-index.xhtml Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals Only Slight Growth in 2007.
^ Greenspan praises SOX
^ USA Today - SOX Law Has Been a Pretty Clean Sweep
^ FEI Survey
^ IIA Study
^ Glass Lewis Survey of Restatements
^ http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/PCAOBcomplaint.pdf
^ Washington Post
^ PCAOB News Release
^ http://www.nysun.com/editorials/sell-sarbanes-oxley/84635/ NY Sun Editorial

External links

Banking in Pakistan: State Bank of Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:51:00 +0000

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) (Urdu: بینک دولت پاکستان) is the central bank of Pakistan. While its constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until January 1, 1974, when the bank was nationalized, the scope of its functions was considerably enlarged. The State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956, with subsequent amendments, forms the basis of its operations today. The headquarters are located in the financial capital of Pakistan, Karachi with its second headquarters in the capital, Islamabad.

History

Before independence on 14 August 1947, the Reserve Bank of India (central bank of India) was the central bank for what is now Pakistan. On 30 December 1948 the British Government's commission distributed the Bank of India's reserves between Pakistan and India - 30 percent (750 M gold) for Pakistan and 70 percent for India.

The losses incurred in the transition to independence were taken from Pakistan's share (a total of 230 million). In May, 1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) took steps to establish the State Bank of Pakistan immediately. These were implemented in June 1948, and the State Bank of Pakistan commenced operation on July 1, 1948.

^[1] FUNCTION

Under the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, the state bank of Pakistan was charged with the duty to "regulate the issue of bank notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in Pakistan and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage".

A large section of the state bank's duties were widened when the State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956 was introduced. It required the state bank to "regulate the monetary and credit system of Pakistan and to foster its growth in the best national interest with a view to securing monetary stability and fuller utilisation of the country’s productive resources". In February 1994, the State Bank was given full autonomy, during the financial sector reforms.

On January 21, 1997, this autonomy was further strengthened when the government issued three Amendment Ordinances (which were approved by the Parliament in May 1997). Those included were the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956, Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962 and Banks Nationalisation Act, 1974. These changes gave full and exclusive authority to the State Bank to regulate the banking sector, to conduct an independent monetary policy and to set limit on government borrowings from the State Bank of Pakistan. The amendments to the Banks Nationalisation Act brought the end of the Pakistan Banking Council (an institution established to look after the affairs of NCBs) and allowed the jobs of the council to be appointed to the Chief Executives, Boards of the Nationalised Commercial Banks (NCBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). The State Bank having a role in their appointment and removal. The amendments also increased the autonomy and accountability of the chief executives, the Boards of Directors of banks and DFIs.

The State Bank of Pakistan also performs both the traditional and developmental functions to achieve macroeconomic goals. The traditional functions, may be classified into two groups:

The primary functions including issue of notes, regulation and supervision of the financial system, bankers’ bank, lender of the last resort, banker to Government, and conduct of monetary policy.
The secondary functions including the agency functions like management of public debt, management of foreign exchange, etc., and other functions like advising the government on policy matters and maintaining close relationships with international financial institutions.

The non-traditional or promotional functions, performed by the State Bank include development of financial framework, institutionalisation of savings and investment, provision of training facilities to bankers, and provision of credit to priority sectors. The State Bank also has been playing an active part in the process of islamisation of the banking system.

Regulation of liquidity

The State Bank of Pakistan has also been entrusted with the responsibility to carry out monetary and credit policy in accordance with Government targets for growth and inflation with the recommendations of the Monetary and Fiscal Policies Co-ordination Board without trying to effect the macroeconomic policy objectives.

The state bank also regulates the volume and the direction of flow of credit to different uses and sectors, the state bank makes use of both direct and indirect instruments of monetary management. During the 1980s, Pakistan embarked upon a program of financial sector reforms, which lead to a number of fundamental changes. Due to these changed the conduct of monetary management which brought about changes to the administrative controls and quantitative restrictions to market based monetary management. A reserve money management programme has been developed, for intermediate target of M2, that would be achieved by observing the desired path of reserve money - the operating target.

State Bank of Pakistan has changed the format and designs of many bank notes which are currently in circulation in Pakistan. These steps were taken to overcome the problems of fraudulent activities.

Banking

The State Bank of Pakistan looks into a lot of different ranges of banking to deal with the changes in economic climate and different purchasing and buying powers. Here are some of the banking areas that the state bank looks into;

State Bank’s Shariah Board Approves Essentials and Model Agreements for Islamic Modes of Financing
Procudure For Submitting Claims With Sbp In Respect of Unclaimed Deposits Surrendered By Banks/Dfis.
Banking Sector Supervision in Pakistan
Micro Finance
Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Minimum Capital Requirements for Banks
Remittance Facilities in Pakistan
Opening of Foreign Currency Accounts with Banks in Pakistan under new scheme.
Handbok of Corporate Governance
Guidelines on Risk Management
Guidelines on Commercial Paper
Guidelines on Securitization
SBP.Scheme for Agricultural Financing

Bank Assets and Liabilities

This is a chart of trend of major assets and liabilities reported by scheduled commercial banks to the State Bank of Pakistan with figures in millions of Pakistani Rupees.[1][2][3]

Year	Deposits	Advances	Investments
2002	1,466,019	932,059	559,542
2006	2,806,645	2,189,368	799,285

Departments

Agricultural Credit
Audit
Banking Inspection
Banking Policy
Banking Supervision
Corporate Services
Economic Analysis
Monetary Policy
Research
Statistics and Dataware House
Exchange and Debt Management
Exchange Policy
Human Resource
Information System
Islamic Banking
Legal Services
Library
Payment System
Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS System)
Small and Medium Enterprises
Training and Development Department (TDD)

Governor

The principal officer of the SBP is the Governor. The current Governor of State Bank of Pakistan is Syed Salim Raza who took over from Dr. Shamshad in January 2009 for a three year term. He is a retired professional from Citibank and was the Chairman of Pakistan Business Council. See his profile

Central Board of Directors

Syed Salim Raza Chairman
The Secretary Finance Member
Mr. Khair Mohamed Junejo Member
Mr. Ehsen Rashid
Mr. M. Yaqoob Vardag Member
Mr. Mohsin Aziz Member
Dr. Wasim Azhar Member
Mr. Kamran Y. Mirza Member
Mr. Alman A. Aslam Member
Mr. Riaz Ahmed Secretary

Trivia

Old Five hundred rupee note featuring the State Bank's premises in Islamabad

An image of the Islamabad branch appears on the former five-hundred-rupee banknote.

References

^ state bank of pakistan and central bank

1. State Bank of Pakistan Evolution, Functions and Organization by M Farooq Arby

External links

Basel II Accord

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The purpose of Basel II, which was initially published in June 2004, is to create an international standard that banking regulators can use when creating regulations about how much capital banks need to put aside to guard against the types of financial and operational risks banks face. Advocates of Basel II believe that such an international standard can help protect the international financial system from the types of problems that might arise should a major bank or a series of banks collapse. In practice, Basel II attempts to accomplish this by setting up rigorous risk and capital management requirements designed to ensure that a bank holds capital reserves appropriate to the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending and investment practices. Generally speaking, these rules mean that the greater risk to which the bank is exposed, the greater the amount of capital the bank needs to hold to safeguard its solvency and overall economic stability.

The final version aims at:

Ensuring that capital allocation is more risk sensitive;
Separating operational risk from credit risk, and quantifying both;
Attempting to align economic and regulatory capital more closely to reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage.

While the final accord has largely addressed the regulatory arbitrage issue, there are still areas where regulatory capital requirements will diverge from the economic.

Basel II has largely left unchanged the question of how to actually define bank capital, which diverges from accounting equity in important respects. The Basel I definition, as modified up to the present, remains in place.

The Accord in operation

Basel II uses a "three pillars" concept – (1) minimum capital requirements (addressing risk), (2) supervisory review and (3) market discipline – to promote greater stability in the financial system.

The Basel I accord dealt with only parts of each of these pillars. For example: with respect to the first Basel II pillar, only one risk, credit risk, was dealt with in a simple manner while market risk was an afterthought; operational risk was not dealt with at all.

The first pillar

The first pillar deals with maintenance of regulatory capital calculated for three major components of risk that a bank faces: credit risk, operational risk and market risk. Other risks are not considered fully quantifiable at this stage.

The credit risk component can be calculated in three different ways of varying degree of sophistication, namely standardized approach, Foundation IRB and Advanced IRB. IRB stands for "Internal Rating-Based Approach".

For operational risk, there are three different approaches - basic indicator approach or BIA, standardized approach or TSA, and advanced measurement approach or AMA.

For market risk the preferred approach is VaR (value at risk).

As the Basel 2 recommendations are phased in by the banking industry it will move from standardized requirements to more refined and specific requirements that have been developed for each risk category by each individual bank. The upside for banks that do develop their own bespoke risk measurement systems is that they will be rewarded with potentially lower risk capital requirements. In future there will be closer links between the concepts of economic profit and regulatory capital.

Credit Risk can be calculated by using one of three approaches

1. Standardized Approach

2. Foundation IRB (Internal Ratings Based) Approach

3. Advanced IRB Approach

The standardized approach sets out specific risk weights for certain types of credit risk. The standard risk weight categories are used under Basel 1 and are 0% for short term government bonds, 20% for exposures to OECD Banks, 50% for residential mortgages and 100% weighting on commercial loans. A new 150% rating comes in for borrowers with poor credit ratings. The minimum capital requirement (the percentage of risk weighted assets to be held as capital) remains at 8%.

For those Banks that decide to adopt the standardised ratings approach they will be forced to rely on the ratings generated by external agencies. Certain Banks are developing the IRB approach as a result.

The second pillar

The second pillar deals with the regulatory response to the first pillar, giving regulators much improved 'tools' over those available to them under Basel I. It also provides a framework for dealing with all the other risks a bank may face, such as systemic risk, pension risk, concentration risk, strategic risk, reputation risk, liquidity risk and legal risk, which the accord combines under the title of residual risk. It gives banks a power to review their risk management system.

The third pillar

The third pillar greatly increases the disclosures that the bank must make. This is designed to allow the market to have a better picture of the overall risk position of the bank and to allow the counterparties of the bank to price and deal appropriately.

September 2005 update

On September 30, 2005, the four US Federal banking agencies (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision) announced their revised plans for the U.S. implementation of the Basel II accord. This delays implementation of the accord for US banks by 12 months.^[1]

November 2005 update

On November 15, 2005, the committee released a revised version of the Accord, incorporating changes to the calculations for market risk and the treatment of double default effects. These changes had been flagged well in advance, as part of a paper released in July 2005.^[2]

July 2006 update

On July 4, 2006, the committee released a comprehensive version of the Accord, incorporating the June 2004 Basel II Framework, the elements of the 1988 Accord that were not revised during the Basel II process, the 1996 Amendment to the Capital Accord to Incorporate Market Risks, and the November 2005 paper on Basel II: International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework. No new elements have been introduced in this compilation. This version is now the current version.^[3]

November 2007 update

On November 1, 2007, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (U.S. Department of the Treasury) approved a final rule implementing the advanced approaches of the Basel II Capital Accord. This rule establishes regulatory and supervisory expectations for credit risk, through the Internal Ratings Based Approach (IRB), and operational risk, through the Advanced Measurement Approach (AMA), and articulates enhanced standards for the supervisory review of capital adequacy and public disclosures for the largest U.S. banks.^[4]

July 16, 2008 update

On July 16, 2008 The federal banking and thrift agencies ( The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and; the Office of Thrift Supervision) issued a final guidance outlining the supervisory review process for the banking institutions that are implementing the new advanced capital adequacy framework (known as Basel II). The final guidance, relating to the supervisory review, is aimed at helping banking institutions meet certain qualification requirements in the advanced approaches rule, which took effect on April 1, 2008. ^[5]

Basel II and the regulators

One of the most difficult aspects of implementing an international agreement is the need to accommodate differing cultures, varying structural models, and the complexities of public policy and existing regulation. Banks’ senior management will determine corporate strategy, as well as the country in which to base a particular type of business, based in part on how Basel II is ultimately interpreted by various countries' legislatures and regulators.

To assist banks operating with multiple reporting requirements for different regulators according to geographic location, there are several software applications available. These include capital calculation engines and extend to automated reporting solutions which include the reports required under COREP/FINREP.

For example, U.S. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair criticized the Basel II standards during June 2007: "There are strong reasons for believing that banks left to their own devices would maintain less capital -- not more -- than would be prudent. The fact is, banks do benefit from implicit and explicit government safety nets. Investing in a bank is perceived as a safe bet. Without proper capital regulation, banks can operate in the marketplace with little or no capital. And governments and deposit insurers end up holding the bag, bearing much of the risk and cost of failure. History shows this problem is very real … as we saw with the U.S. banking and S & L crisis in the late 1980s and 1990s. The final bill for inadequate capital regulation can be very heavy. In short, regulators can't leave capital decisions totally to the banks. We wouldn't be doing our jobs or serving the public interest if we did.^[6]

Implementation progress

Regulators in most jurisdictions around the world plan to implement the new Accord, but with widely varying timelines and use of the varying methodologies being restricted. The United States of America's various regulators have agreed on a final approach.^[7] They have required the Internal Ratings-Based approach for the largest banks, and the standardized approach will not be available to anyone.(See http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20080626b.htm for an update on proposed Standardized Approach)

In India, RBI has implemented the Basel II standardized norms on 31st march 2009 and is moving to Internal ratings in credit and AMA norms fr operational risks in banks.

In response to a questionnaire released by the Financial Stability Institute (FSI), 95 national regulators indicated they were to implement Basel II, in some form or another, by 2015.^[8]

The European Union has already implemented the Accord via the EU Capital Requirements Directives and many European banks already report their capital adequacy ratios according to the new system. All the credit institutions will adopt it by 2008.

Australia, through its Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, implemented the Basel II Framework on 1 January 2008^[9].

References

External links

http://www.occ.gov/ftp/release/2008-81a.pdf
http://www.occ.gov/ftp/release/2007-123.htm OCC Approves Basel II Capital Rule for U.S. Banks
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsca.htm Basel II: Revised international capital framework (BCBS)
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs107.htm Basel II: International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: a Revised Framework (BCBS)
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs118.htm Basel II: International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: a Revised Framework (BCBS) (November 2005 Revision)
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs128.pdf Basel II: International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: a Revised Framework, Comprehensive Version (BCBS) (June 2006 Revision)
Impact of Basel II on IT investments Global Data and Risk Management Survey 2005
http://www.math.ethz.ch/~baltes/ftp/Responsev3.pdf An academic response to Basel II
http://www.math.ethz.ch/~delbaen/ftp/preprints/CoherentMF.pdf Coherent measures of risk. a widely quoted paper
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp/wp2006/wp0613.htm FRB Boston paper on measurement of operational risk.
Daníelsson, Jón. "The Emperor Has No Clothes: Limits to Risk Modelling." Journal of Banking and Finance, 2002, 26, pp. 1273–96.
http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/eng/bank/spma/attach/CA-G-4.pdf Validating Risk Rating Systems under the IRB Approaches, HKMA
http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/eng/basel2/index.htm Return of capital adequacy ratio (final version) - Completion instructions, HKMA
http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/eng/bank/retform/pdf/MA(BS)3.pdf Return Templates of capital Adequacy Ratio, HKMA
http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/app/DocRepository/1/eng/guidelines/capital/guidelines/car_a1_e.pdf Canada Capital Adequacy Requirements, OSFI

Euro jumps against dollar

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:24:00 +0000

The euro jumped against the dollar Monday on robust stock market gains that emboldened investors to take positions in currencies considered riskier than the greenback.
The euro in late-day trade was at 1.4217 dollars against 1.4096 late Friday in New York.
The dollar was meanwhile trading at 94.49 yen, up from 94.17 on Friday.
"The US dollar is trading with a weaker tone as equity markets continue to gain ground," said analyst Audrey Childe-Freeman of Brown Brothers Harriman.
At BNP Paribas bank analysts said in a note that "optimism regarding the recovery process has continued to increase, with reports globally suggesting that the worst is over and providing support for the asset market as well as allowing currencies to extend their rebound against the dollar and the yen."
The prevailing optimism encouraged investors to venture out of the dollar and yen and into currencies, such as the euro, seen as carrying greater risk. Trading sentiment got a boost Monday from reports that a rescue deal with creditors had been reached for CIT, a US lender to small- and mid-sized businesses, helping ease concerns that the recovering financial sector could face a fresh setback.
Still in the United States, the Conference Board economic survey for June was up 0.7 percent, a third straight monthly increase and above forecasts for a 0.5 percent gain, helping to strengthen hopes for an end to the long recession.
In further upbeat reports, the German finance ministry and central bank said the country's worst recession since World War II had lost much of its intensity.
After a disastrous first quarter, "the recessionary trend has clearly weakened" in Europe's biggest economy, the Bundesbank central bank said.
Economic activity "should have fallen only slightly" after a record contraction of 3.8 percent in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter, it added.
Finance ministry officials agreed, saying: "Available economic data support the hypothesis that second quarter economic activity was undoubtedly better than expected."
The currency market is now turning its attention to Congressional testimony Tuesday and Wednesday from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
"The financial markets will want to know how optimistic the (Fed policymakers) have become since the data began improving and what this means for the policy of quantitative easing," said Derek Halpenny of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
Quantitative easing is a process by which central banks such as the Fed, having reduced interest rates to near zero, turn to measures to increase the money supply in order to relieve a credit squeeze.
In trading here on Monday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4217 dollars against 1.4096 dollars late on Friday, 134.19 yen (132.84), 0.8628 pounds (0.8630) and 1.5202 Swiss francs (1.5181).
The dollar stood at 94.49 yen (94.17) and 1.0704 Swiss francs (1.0761).
The pound was at 1.6460 dollars (1.6333).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to 952.75 dollars an ounce from 937.50 dollars an ounce late on Friday.

Fast Short Term Cost Reductions in a Company

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:24:00 +0000

In a crisis, businesses have to reduce expenses immediately to make sure the company stays solvent in the short run. Here are some strategies to get over the hump.

When a company is having a problem with a drop in sales, or a cash shortfall, management needs to find real reductions in expense. Many strategies will work in a number of industries.

Reducing Salary Cost

In many industries, salary and benefits are major components of expense, up to 80% of total cost of business in some sectors. A reduction in work force (RIF) can reduce cost, but generally takes time to take effect. There can be the immediate cost of severance, outplacement assistance or benefits that delay savings. A better short term effect is the reduction of hours from full to part time, or cutting the work day, for example from eight hours a day to seven. Lunches can be expanded in order to maintain coverage. Reducing overtime is a key strategy for immediate savings. Hourly employees, especially those on time clocks can earn incidental overtime, loosely defined as extra tenths or quarters of an hour by clocking in early or out late. Any kind outside labor, or contract labor should be reviewed. Companies pay a premium for contract labor, and unless the contract stipulates a certain number of hours, these hours can be reduced quickly in a crisis.

Some industries utilize bonuses for coverage or payments for employees to be on-call. These should always be watched closely, and if not needed, can be cut first. Position controls are listings of employees and positions listing the scheduled hours for an employee. If a position control exists, management should compare the actual worked hours to what is scheduled. They may find that some part-time employees are working full time hours.

Cutting Supply Expense

Another large area of cost in many companies is supply expense. During a major downturn, businesses can save cash by spending down inventories of supplies. In the balance sheet if something is recognized as inventory, cutting into inventory will not result in an expense saving, since this will just reduce an asset the next time supplies are inventoried. It will save cash, however, and this generally the most important goal. If the supply is expensive when purchased, using up excess stock will reduce both general ledger expense and cash outflow.

Reducing Other Expenses

Short-term savings can be achieved by cutting other non-necessary items:

Purchased Services – Anything that is bought from vendors outside the company should be questioned. If an service can be brought in-house using current staff, employees are better utilized and expenses reduced.
Travel and Seminar Expense – Cutting education may be a negative in the long run, but surviving to make the long run may require cutbacks. Alternatives such as webinars and distance learning may prove to more efficient and equally valuable.
Preventative Maintenance - This tactic may prove to be short-sighted, because not maintaining equipment will be costly later on. It may be necessary to postpone cosmetic repairs or delay others. Equipment that is vital to core operations should be maintained in top working order.

Getting past a difficult period for the company will involve tough choices, but strengthening the business can help the business survive the downturn.

Sales tax zero rating facility for EPZ construction material

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:04:00 +0000

The government is likely to announce sales tax zero rating facility on the import and supply of construction material by investors of Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Gwadar or development of the infrastructure through amendment in the zero rating SRO.549(I)/2008. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also given permission to export upto 50 percent of the production from zone to tariff area of the country on payment of normal duties rates.

Sources told Business Recorder on Wednesday that the amendment in the SRO.549(I)/2008 would be made after vetting by the Law and Justice Division to allow sales tax zero rating on import and supply of construction material by EPZ investors. The construction materials may be incorporated in the SRO.549(I)/2008, which deals with the goods on which sales tax shall be charged at the rate of zero per cent.

Details revealed that the government has granted a number of incentives to the EPZ, Gwadar. Firstly, the Cabinet decision of June 3, 2009 regarding "Package of Incentives for Export Processing Zone Gwadar" has been implemented vide SRO No 606(I)/2009. Through this notification, tax holiday for 10 years from the commencement of commercial operation of the project has been granted to EPZ Gwadar.

Secondly, the FBR has also granted permission to export upto 50% of the production from zone to tariff area of the country on payment of usual duties. The summary for the Cabinet dated June 2, 2009 submitted by Ministry of Industries & Productions regarding package of incentives for EPZ Gwadar relating to Export Wing has been implemented by issuing SRO.600(I)/2009 amending the Customs Rules, 2001.

Thirdly, all exports from Pakistan are zero-rated for the purpose of sales tax under section 4 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 and this facility is available to all including projects established in Export Processing Zones without any discrimination. Fourthly, presently SRO.11(I)/2008 of February 06, 2008 provides exemption from sales tax for a period of 40 years on the import and supply of materials and equipment for construction and operation of Gwadar Port and Development of Free Zone for Gwadar Port and Ship Bunker Oils bought and sold to the ships calling on/visiting Gwadar Port.

Similarly, supply of raw materials, components and goods for further manufacturer of goods in the Export -Processing Zones and import or supply made to Gwadar Economic Zones excluding vehicles are zero-rated vide S.No 5 and 8 of Fifth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 respectively. Moreover, SRO 551(I)/2008 provides exemption on import of machinery, equipment and materials either for exclusive use within the limits of Export Processing Zone or for making exports there from and goods imported for warehousing purpose in Export Processing Zone.

According to ME: Obama's speech

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:41:00 +0000

The Obama's Speech

"President Obama's speech is divided into a number of sections. He starts by urging greater mutual understanding between the United States and Islam. He then considers seven issues that have to be, in his view, confronted.

"These are violent extremism, the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, nuclear weapons (with a reference to Iran), democracy, religious freedom, rights of women and economic development. He finishes with a flourish about the future."

"The key phrase here and of the whole speech is a new beginning, with mutual interest and mutual trust added for good effect. In this opening section, the president seeks the common ground - he will leave differences until afterwards.

"He quotes from the Koran (Be conscious of God and always speak the truth) before he quotes from the Bible and the Torah as a way of flattering his audience.

"But he also uses the authority of the quotation to justify being quite blunt in places. But first, this part is about creating a sense of shared experiences.

"Right at the top he refers to 9/11 and violent extremists (no mention of al-Qaeda by name - that would accord it respect) among a small but potent minority of Muslims. He wants to break this cycle of suspicion.

"The president's own family connections to Islam stand him in good stead here as he tries to build rapport, but he is careful also to state that he is a Christian, having been subject to comments at home about his background. He does not want that debate restarted.

"He emphasises the peaceful characteristics of Islam, with a romantic allusion to Muslims in Chicago finding dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

He then reaches into history to recall the achievements of Islamic countries in the development of learning - navigation and algebra among them - and to tie Islam and America together by bringing in revered figures from early US history - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

But he carefully introduces the idea that Muslims also thrive in modern America - Muslims have enriched America - an important theme of the speech.

"Here he begins to get tougher, using the phrase negative stereotypes, with the important principle that while there should not be stereotyping of Muslims by Amercians Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, nor should there be stereotyping of Americans by Muslims - America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire.

"The speech is designed to break down negative perceptions on both sides. And he notes that seven million Muslims in the US enjoy a higher than average standard of living.

"He points out that US government supports the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab. He sums up Islam is a part of America.

"Now he begins to get tough. Having created goodwill and stated his aims, he tackles the first of the issues that we must finally confront together.

The first issue is violent extremism, by which he means Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, the Taliban and sympathisers.

He seeks to separate the extremists who claim to speak in Islam's name from the ordinary people of all faiths, who reject the killing of innocent men, women and children.

"Repeating his line from his earlier speech in Turkey - America is not and never will be at war with Islam - he tackles the problem of the war in Afghanistan, trying to explain why the US went in after 9/11.

"He stresses al-Qaeda's responsibility for 9/11, thereby rejecting claims widely circulating in the Muslim world that it was the US government itself that carried out the attacks in some way: Let us be clear: al-Qaeda killed 3,000 people on that day.

"He states that the US does not want to keep its troops in Afghanistan, offering a reassurance that there is no long-term plan of occupation. But he also stresses that America's commitment will not weaken.

He urges Muslims to reject extremists. None of us should tolerate these extremists. He is getting into the nitty gritty.

"Iraq - a big issue. He does not criticise his predecessor President Bush but does say that this was a war of choice (meaning it was not his choice) while trying to put a gloss on the results in that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off.

"He lays down his own foreign policy approach by contrast: diplomacy and international consensus. This is really the heart of his philosophy on foreign affairs - a switch from interventionism to a more detached but determined effort at persuasion.

"He is careful to repeat his commitment to the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The message is - whatever happened in the past might have been bad, but the future will be better.

"He reminds his audience that he is also closing Guantanamo Bay, which has done untold damage to the US reputation across the Muslim world.

"But that dual message - you must do your bit as well as us - is also there when he says that extremists should be isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities.

"Now comes one of the core issues - the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. Remember that the President has previously signalled his intention to revive peace talks and that he has distanced himself from the Israeli settlement policy, calling for an absolute freeze.

First, however, he has to reaffirm US support for Israel. He does not want expectations of differences to get out of hand: This bond is unbreakable.

And in a passage designed to refute Holocaust deniers, of whom there are quite a few in the Muslim world, he dwells for a time on reasserting the truth: Six million Jews were killed… denying that fact is baseless, ignorant and hateful. It could hardly be stronger.

But he has to balance support for Israel by support for the Palestinians - and a Palestinian state. He does this very clearly, emphasising how the Palestinian people have suffered in pursuit of a homeland and are under occupation with daily humiliations in a situation that is intolerable. He says America will not turn its back on the Palestinians.

"Here he gets into the detail of how a settlement might be reached.

"It is not new - very little in the Middle East 'peace process' is new. The President seeks to reaffirm the two-state solution - a swipe at those on each side who reject this, or perhaps, like the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who are equivocal.

"The aspiration of both peoples must be met through two states, he says. It is interesting how even-handed he is in his vision.

"He sticks by the currently little-read 'roadmap', an international plan drawn up but not followed up.

"Both sides have responsibilities - Palestinians must abandon violence and Israelis must acknowledge Palestine and its right to exist.

"He repeats his opposition to continued Israeli settlements and states firmly: It is time for these settlements to stop.

He ends quite a long section by calling on Arab states to help and he finishes by making the expected reference in such speeches - calling for peace for all of the children of Abraham.

"This is the final flourish. President Obama lets rip a bit with his rhetoric - Choose the right path, not just the easy path. He repeats this key phrase new beginning and echoes the references to the need for change that brought him to power: We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning…

"He lays out what he hopes will be the results of his policies - "a world where extremists no longer threaten our people" and American troops have come home, where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own and where nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes. (This last phrase is a reference to Iran).

And he ends by quoting from the Koran, the Talmud and The Bible.

President Obama: Egypt speech

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Here is analysis report of this speech according to me.
"I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be

hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years,
Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a
century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement.
Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress.
I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the
people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of
the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities
in my country: assalaamu alaykum.

We meet at a time of tension between the United States and
Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that
go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam
and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but
also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been
fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many
Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too
often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.
Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization
led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of
Islam.

Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but
potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and
the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence
against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as
inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but
also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we
will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote
conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people
achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord
must end.

I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United
States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest
and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and
Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead,
they overlap, and share common principles principles of justice and
progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No
single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in
the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to
this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we
must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often
are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort
to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one
another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be
conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will
try to do -- to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task
before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as
human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us
apart.

Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a
Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes
generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia
and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of
dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many
found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to
Islam. It was Islam -- at places like Al-Azhar University -- that
carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the
way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in
Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic
compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing;
our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed.
Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires;
timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places
of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has
demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious
tolerance and racial equality.

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's
story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In
signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John
Adams wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity
against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our
founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They
have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil
rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in
our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and
lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was
recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our
Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding
Fathers -- Thomas Jefferson -- kept in his personal library.

So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the
region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my
conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based
on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my
responsibility as President of the United States to fight against
negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.

But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of
America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is
not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United
States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the
world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an
empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal,
and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning
to those words -- within our borders, and around the world. We are
shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and
dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one."

Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the
name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my
personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all
people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise
exists for all who come to our shores -- that includes nearly seven
million American Muslims in our country today who enjoy incomes and
education that are higher than average.

Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to
practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every
state of our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That
is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of
women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would
deny it.

So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I
believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of
race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common
aspirations -- to live in peace and security; to get an education
and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and
our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.

Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning
of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These
needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if
we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our
failure to meet them will hurt us all.

For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial
system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a
new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation
pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all
nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of
mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. And when innocents
in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our
collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in
the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another
as human beings.

This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history
has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one
another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such
attitudes are self-defeating. Given our interdependence, any world
order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will
inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be
prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through
partnership; progress must be shared.

That does not mean we should ignore sources of tension. Indeed,
it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely. And
so in that spirit, let me speak as clearly and plainly as I can
about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront
together.

"The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism
in all of its forms.

In Ankara, I made clear that America is not -- and never will be
-- at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront
violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because
we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the
killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first
duty as President to protect the American people.

The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America's goals, and
our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States
pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support.
We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity. I am aware
that some question or justify the events of 9/11. But let us be
clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims
were innocent men, women and children from America and many other
nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet Al Qaeda chose
to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack,
and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale.
They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand
their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts
to be dealt with.

Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in
Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for
America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and
politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly
bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident
that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan
determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that
is not yet the case.

That's why we're partnering with a coalition of forty-six
countries. And despite the costs involved, America's commitment will
not weaken. Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists.
They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of
different faiths -- more than any other, they have killed Muslims.
Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings,
the progress of nations, and with Islam. The Holy Koran teaches that
whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind;
and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.
The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than
the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in
combating violent extremism -- it is an important part of promoting
peace.

We also know that military power alone is not going to solve the
problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is why we plan to invest
$1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with
Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and
hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced. And that
is why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans
develop their economy and deliver services that people depend upon.

Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq
was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country
and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are
ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also
believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use
diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems
whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas
Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our
power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it
will be."

Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a
better future -- and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. I have made it clear
to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their
territory or resources. Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I
ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. That is
why we will honor our agreement with Iraq's democratically-elected
government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to
remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012. We will help Iraq train its
Security Forces and develop its economy. But we will support a
secure and united Iraq as a partner, and never as a patron.

And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by
extremists, we must never alter our principles. 9/11 was an enormous
trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was
understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our
ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have
unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States,
and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next
year.

So America will defend itself respectful of the sovereignty of
nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with
Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the
extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the
sooner we will all be safer.

The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is
the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.

America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is
unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the
recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a
tragic history that cannot be denied.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for
centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an
unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which
was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured,
shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were
killed -- more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today.
Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening
Israel with destruction -- or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews
-- is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of
Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace
that the people of this region deserve.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian
people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a
homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of
dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and
neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have
never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations -- large
and small -- that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt:
the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America
will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for
dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.

For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with
legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes
compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers -- for Palestinians
to point to the displacement brought by Israel's founding, and for
Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout
its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see
this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind
to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both
sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians
each live in peace and security.

That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's
interest, and the world's interest. That is why I intend to
personally pursue this outcome with all the patience that the task
requires. The obligations that the parties have agreed to under the
Road Map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them -- and
all of us -- to live up to our responsibilities.

Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence
and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black
people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the
humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full
and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon
the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can
be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern
Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence
is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot
rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That
is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is
surrendered.

Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can
build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to
govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas
does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have
responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian
aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an
end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's
right to exist.

At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as
Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's.
The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued
Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements
and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these
settlements to stop.

Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that
Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just
as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian
crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the
continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the
daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to
peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.

Finally, the Arab States must recognize that the Arab Peace
Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their
responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used
to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead,
it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop
the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognize
Israel's legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating
focus on the past.

America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and
say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians
and Arabs. We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims
recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis
recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act
on what everyone knows to be true.

Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of
us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of
Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without
fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace
that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting
home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the
children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of
Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in
prayer.

"The third source of tension is our shared interest in the
rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons.

This issue has been a source of tension between the United
States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years, Iran has
defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is
indeed a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold
War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a
democratically-elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic
Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and
violence against U.S. troops and civilians. This history is well
known. Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear
to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move
forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather
what future it wants to build.

It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will
proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many
issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to
move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect.
But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear
weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about
America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in
the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a
hugely dangerous path.

I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons
that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which
nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed
America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold
nuclear weapons. And any nation -- including Iran -- should have the
right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its
responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That
commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all
who fully abide by it. And I am hopeful that all countries in the
region can share in this goal.

The fourth issue that I will address is democracy.

I know there has been controversy about the promotion of
democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected
to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can
or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.

That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that
reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this
principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own
people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone,
just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful
election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn
for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in
how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal
administration of justice; government that is transparent and
doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.
Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that
is why we will support them everywhere.

There is no straight line to realize this promise. But this much
is clear: governments that protect these rights are ultimately more
stable, successful and secure. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in
making them go away. America respects the right of all peaceful and
law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree
with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments --
provided they govern with respect for all their people.

This last point is important because there are some who advocate
for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they
are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it
takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single
standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power
through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of
minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and
compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the
legitimate workings of the political process above your party.
Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true
democracy.

The fifth issue that we must address together is religious
freedom.

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the
history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it
firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped
freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we
need today. People in every country should be free to choose and
live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and
soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it is
being challenged in many different ways.

Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure
one's own faith by the rejection of another's. The richness of
religious diversity must be upheld -- whether it is for Maronites in
Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among
Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to
tragic violence, particularly in Iraq.

Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live
together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it.
For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have
made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation.
That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to
ensure that they can fulfill zakat.

Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid
impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit --
for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear.
We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the
pretence of liberalism.

Indeed, faith should bring us together. That is why we are
forging service projects in America that bring together Christians,
Muslims, and Jews. That is why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian
King Abdullah's Interfaith dialogue and Turkey's leadership in the
Alliance of Civilizations. Around the world, we can turn dialogue
into Interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action
--whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief
after a natural disaster.

The sixth issue that I want to address is women's rights.

I know there is debate about this issue. I reject the view of
some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is
somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an
education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that
countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be
prosperous.

Now let me be clear: issues of women's equality are by no means
simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to
lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many
aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.

Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our
sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all
humanity -- men and women -- to reach their full potential. I do not
believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be
equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in
traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the
United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to
support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue
employment through micro-financing that helps people live their
dreams.

Finally, I want to discuss economic development and
opportunity.

I know that for many, the face of globalization is
contradictory. The Internet and television can bring knowledge and
information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence.
Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge
disruptions and changing communities. In all nations -- including my
own -- this change can bring fear. Fear that because of modernity we
will lose of control over our economic choices, our politics, and
most importantly our identities -- those things we most cherish
about our communities, our families, our traditions, and our faith.

But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need
not be contradiction between development and tradition. Countries
like Japan and South Korea grew their economies while maintaining
distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress
within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. In
ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the
forefront of innovation and education.

This is important because no development strategy can be based
only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained
while young people are out of work. Many Gulf States have enjoyed
great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to
focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that
education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century,
and in too many Muslim communities there remains underinvestment in
these areas. I am emphasizing such investments within my country.
And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas in this
part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.

On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase
scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while
encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we
will match promising Muslim students with internships in America;
invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the
world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can
communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo.

On economic development, we will create a new corps of business
volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority
countries. And I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to
identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders,
foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim
communities around the world.

On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support
technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help
transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create jobs. We will
open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and
Southeast Asia, and appoint new Science Envoys to collaborate on
programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs,
digitize records, clean water, and grow new crops. And today I am
announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic
Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships
with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.

All these things must be done in partnership. Americans are
ready to join with citizens and governments; community
organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim
communities around the world to help our people pursue a better
life.

The issues that I have described will not be easy to address.
But we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world
we seek -- a world where extremists no longer threaten our people,
and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and
Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear
energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments
serve their citizens, and the rights of all God's children are
respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek.
But we can only achieve it together.

I know there are many -- Muslim and non-Muslim -- who question
whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the
flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some
suggest that it isn't worth the effort -- that we are fated to
disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are
simply skeptical that real change can occur. There is so much fear,
so much mistrust. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will
never move forward. And I want to particularly say this to young
people of every faith, in every country "you, more than anyone, have
the ability to remake this world".

All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The
question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us
apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort -- a sustained
effort -- to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for
our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to
blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about
someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the
right path, not just the easy path. There is also one rule that lies
at the heart of every religion --that we do unto others as we would
have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a
belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that
isn't Christian, or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the
cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of
billions. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me
here today.

We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have
the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been
written.

The Holy Koran tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male
and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that
you may know one another".

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose
of promoting peace."

The Holy Bible tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called sons of God."

The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that
is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank
you. And may God's peace be upon you."

What Is Internal Auditing?

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 01:57:00 +0000

What do internal auditors do and why? Why is internal auditing needed?

Internal auditing is a function that can take a variety of forms and internal auditors can perform many different services. Internal auditing has come into the public eye in recent years due to Sarbanes-Oxley regulation and business’ effort to comply with the new regulations. Broadly speaking, internal auditing is a discipline that addresses a wide range of assurance and consulting services. Internal auditing services can be thought of as a general control function for businesses that are becoming increasingly decentralized. The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is the organization that leads the internal auditing field and certifies accountants as Certified Internal Auditors (CIA).

The Purpose of Internal Auditing

While the form taken for internal auditing can vary somewhat by organization, the general purpose of internal auditing is to provide control and feedback on business operations. According to the standards for internal auditing, internal auditors must remain as independent and objective as possible to perform their job correctly. Some of the duties engaged in by an internal auditor include:

Evaluation of a company or department’s compliance with laws and regulations

Assessing the reliability of financial information,

Determining the efficiency and usefulness of operations,

Detection of fraud,

Prevention of fraud and,

Working with external auditors to ensure that all auditing needs are being met but not overlapping where unnecessary.

Objectivity and Independence for Internal Auditors

Objectivity and independence are just as important for internal auditors and they are for external auditors. To maintain these directives, internal auditing departments and the auditors themselves must have the support of upper-level management and internal auditors must be selected and assigned carefully to avoid situations where conflicts of interest could occur. For example, an internal auditor should not be assigned to evaluate a department or position that he or she was recently assigned to.

The Span of Internal Auditing

While the first area of expertise that may come to mind when a person considers the span of an internal auditor’s responsibility may be financial, internal auditors are also responsible for other areas of auditing. These areas include operational and compliance responsibilities. These responsibilities can range from evaluating quality control procedures to making sure that all documentation is in order for applicable environmental regulations, to ensuring that contracts are not being violated by auditing financial information. Internal auditors may also be utilized for miscellaneous consulting services.

While Sarbanes-Oxley and other issues may have brought what internal auditors do to the public eye, the profession itself is quite broad and reaches into more areas than a person might think. With businesses becoming decentralized, the importance of internal auditors will only continue to increase, as will the need for individuals with the specialized training needed to become Certified Internal Auditors (CIA).

The Field of Business Accounting

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 01:54:00 +0000

Differences between Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting

The field of business accounting is divided into financial accounting and managerial accounting. They are different by purpose, target audience, and standards.

The purpose of business accounting is to provide the company’s management with valid and up-to-date information regarding the company’s operations and financial performance. This information is needed for the decision-makers to have a firm ground for designing the strategies for future operations.

The major purposes of business accounting are identifying, measuring, recording, classifying and summarizing financial transactions and events as well as further analyzing, interpreting and communicating the gathered financial information. All this is needed for a business to have enough information to base strategic decisions upon. In addition, financial accounting information is required to be issued according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Financial Accounting

Financial accounting works mostly for external users. They may be investors, creditors, auditors or analysts. This type of business accounting is supposed to correspond to specific principles and guidelines – Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). These principles outline the major rules according to which the company’s accounting processes should be conducted and managed. Besides, they define the standards and terms for issuing reports on the company’s financial information.

The information provided by financial accounting has a general informative purpose. It does not contain many estimates, is used mostly for investment and credit decisions, and is issued on a regular basis - annually or quarterly. In particular, financial accounting provides financial statements that include information about the loss and profit of an organization, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for the reporting periods.

Managerial Accounting

Unlike financial accounting, managerial accounting is aimed at internal users, such as the company’s management or board of directors. Its purpose is to provide information which will help to control the company’s operations and make decisions.

Managerial accounting reports are prepared on an as-needed basis, and contain more detailed information than those for financial accounting. Such information is needed for the management to have a full picture of the current state of the whole organization or a specific project. In addition, managerial accounting statements do not have to comply with GAAP or any other regulations, and internal cost/benefit evaluation determines what kind and how much information they should report. Examples of managerial accounting reports are sales forecasting or budget analysis reports.

So, an important feature that differentiates the two types of business accounting is that financial accounting provides historical data and current financial information of the company for a wide range of users, while managerial accounting includes analysis and estimates for the future, focuses on providing confidential data for taking decisions to influence upcoming decisions and future operations.

Basic Bookkeeping Concepts

noreply@blogger.com (S. A. Rahman) — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:01:00 +0000

Tracking your income and expenses are most business owners' primary concern in the business. Therefore basic bookkeeping knowledge is useful, regardles of the size of your business. While bookkeeping and accounting are more complex than they may first appear, this knowledge willhelp you to understand what your bookkeeper or accountant is talking about, and it can even help you start to do the books yourself in a smaller business.

The Business Income

Tracking your income is important. You do want to know how much you make, and how much you should be taking in. This is your revenue. It is the sum of all of the money that you take from your clients, before taxes. Your revenue is not your actual income, since it does not yet account for the costs of running your business. It is simply the money you take in, whether it be cash, cheques, credit cards, or on invoice to your clients. Add these all up and you have your total revenue. Some businesses will count this with sales taxes, but that is incorrect and sales taxes need to be accounted for separately.

The Costs of Running Your Business

The costs associated with operating a business are called the expenses. These are any cost that is required to make the business work and are associated directly with the business. It is your payroll expenses (including any benefits and government taxes that the business is responsible for – not the employee deductions that are taken off their cheques). It is the rent and operating expenses of your building or office. It is the cost of all the goods you produce or sell. It is also the costs of advertising, licensing, cleaning, and so-forth. These all together make up your expenses.

Direct expenses are those that can be tied directly into the sale of your product or service, whatever it might be. These could be the wholesale cost of a product (or its manufacturing cost), commissions on selling the product, and any maintenance and repairs needed on a product before it is sold (say it was damaged on your sales floor and you had to fix it). Once you subtract the direct expenses from your revenue, then you are left with your Gross Income. This means your income before your indirect expenses.

Indirect expenses are those that cannot be tied to the product itself. These can include your rent, professional fees (lawyer, consultant, accountant), administrative salaries, sales promotions and advertising that are general to the whole business (rather than one specific product), and so forth. Once these are accounted for, you should have all of the expenses of your business and any amount that is left over on your Income Statement is your Net Income (or Loss). Don’t feel bad if you are just starting out and there is a loss. It’s quite common to have a loss in the first couple of years of a business, but to have a loss past three years is something you seriously need to look at.

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Resume

The failure of Operation Khanjar

Restructuring industrial estates in Sindh

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Overview

History and context: events contributing to the adoption of Sarbanes-Oxley

Timeline and passage of Sarbanes-Oxley

Analyzing the cost-benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley

Compliance costs

Benefits to firms and investors

Effects on exchange listing choice of non-US companies

Implementation of key provisions

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 302: Internal controls

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: Assessment of internal control

Sarbanes-Oxley 404 and smaller public companies

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 802: Criminal penalties for violation of SOX

[edit] Sarbanes Oxley Section 1107: Criminal penalties for retaliation against whistle blowers

Criticism

Praise

Legal challenges

See also

Similar laws in other countries

References

External links

Banking in Pakistan: State Bank of Pakistan

History

Regulation of liquidity

Banking

Bank Assets and Liabilities

Departments

Governor

Central Board of Directors

Trivia

See also

References

External links

Basel II Accord

The Accord in operation

The first pillar

The second pillar

The third pillar

September 2005 update

November 2005 update

July 2006 update

November 2007 update

July 16, 2008 update

Basel II and the regulators

Implementation progress

External links

Other links

Euro jumps against dollar

Fast Short Term Cost Reductions in a Company

Reducing Salary Cost

Cutting Supply Expense

Reducing Other Expenses

Sales tax zero rating facility for EPZ construction material

According to ME: Obama's speech

President Obama: Egypt speech

What Is Internal Auditing?

The Purpose of Internal Auditing

Objectivity and Independence for Internal Auditors

The Span of Internal Auditing

The Field of Business Accounting

Differences between Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting

Financial Accounting

Managerial Accounting

Basic Bookkeeping Concepts