Critically assess the provisions of the Corporate Manslaughter and Essay

Critically assess the provisions of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 - Essay Example Thus, existing laws against corporate manslaughter are generally compared to a paper tiger. This used to be the case in UK where organized labor and other concerned sectors had for many years railed against the growing number of deaths at work in which nobody gets the blame and receives the appropriate penalty. In 2003, the country’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) noted that 10,000 Britons die at work each year, or one for every single hour. The report said in 2002 alone, 249 workers and 384 innocent bystanders were killed in workplace incidents, with 4,000 more dying from asbestos-related diseases and 6,000 from other occupational illnesses9. Media likewise estimated that over 40,000 people in UK had been killed in commercially related circumstances between 1966 and 200610, but under the old common law of manslaughter, only 34 companies were prosecuted for homicide and only seven resulted in convictions. The old laws such as the law of gross negligence treated work-related deaths like common crimes, which seldom gave justice to the victims because of the inherent difficulty of pinpointing blame in a corporate setting. Under this common-law crime of manslaughter, government solicitors prosecuted erring firms in many celebrated cases but failed. Among these cases were the 1990 capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry boat owned and operated by P & O Ferries (Dover), which killed 192 people, and the Southall rail crash in 1997, which caused seven deaths and injuries to 151 others. In both cases there were difficulties in finding one senior person in the company who knew enough to incriminate him6. What was found galling in these disasters was that they were not caused by mere individual mistakes but were part of a systemic failure of safety management10, which cries for the prosecution of an entire organization. There was one case in which government

Correct Weaknesses in Freeze-Times system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Correct Weaknesses in Freeze-Times system - Essay Example This escalates the potential of theft and concealment. Moreover, receiving transactions should not be generated without actually receiving goods accompanied with proper evidence of delivery. This is because goods may not be reported or reported inaccurately that may lead to misstated inventory. In addition, the ordering department should be independent from the accounting and operating departments that process data the responsibilities for requisitioning, purchasing, receiving should be clearly divided from those of invoice processing, accounts payable etc. This is because an employee can order inventory from a fake supplier and send payment to post office box rented by him. Hence, Rosa and Benita should take segregate duties and appoint specific individuals for each task. Moreover, periodic physical inventory count of merchandise should be conducted to determine if it corresponds with the amount recorded in the books. Not only should Rosa check receiving reports before making payments, but she should also cross-check it against price stated on vendor invoices. 1. It is the management that decides activities/transactions that require supervisory or other approval to be performed. Normally only expenditures beyond capital addition levels require management approval. 2. Segregation of duties of inventory purchaser and equipment purchaser is critical to protect equipment so that no one person controls everything. Additionally, this will often lead to errors in the financial statements by confusing purchasing inventory with equipment and vice-versa; hence, misstated financial statements. Law requires employees are to fill appropriate forms regarding receipt and responsibility over of equipment. Therefore, a specific person should authorize equipment purchases, correctly record new purchases and record changes in equipment in order to be held accountable. 4. Retired and