Zakes Mda redressing the past Essay Example For Students

Zakes Mda: redressing the past Essay South African playwright Zakes Mda has the outward calm and practiced smile of one who has answered the same obvious questions many times before. In a cool, dark office on the Yale University campus, he sits rather uncomfortably across the table from me, his speech reserved, his hands extended palms downward on the tabletop in a strangely formal gesture. Only occasionally does he raise his fingertips or his voice to punctuate his carefully chosen words. And yet Mdas passion is obvious when the topic turns to American impressions of South African drama. South African theatre is notthe voice and the fingertips come momentarily to lifea homogeneous monolith. What Americans see as representative of South African drama, Mda explains, are plays written purely for export and in a manner which is acceptable to overseas audiences but which fails to depict the rich and varied cultural and political context of contemporary South Africa. What is seen outside of South Africa, touring European and American venues, represents only one or two categories of what makes South African theatre. Outline1 Pocket of resistance  2 No happy endings  3 A taste for sexual equality  4 Bitter stalemate   Pocket of resistance   We will write a custom essay on Zakes Mda: redressing the past specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now For the past year, Mda has been a visiting fellow at Yales South African Research Project. Although his work is virtually unknown in this country (with the notable exception of The Road, which won the American Theater Associations Christina Crawford Award in 1984), Mdas reputation as a political playwright, poet, painter and educator is well established in Europe and in Africa, especially in his native country, where his political writings for the stage have seen frequent production since the late 1970s at the Peoples Space Theatre in Capetown, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and the Grahamstown Festival. His three volumes of published dramatic works include We Shall Sing for the Fatherland (1978), The Hill (1979)both winners of major writing awards and the highly acclaimed And the Girls in Their Sunday Dresses. Born in South Africas impoverished rural Cape Province, Mda was forced as a teenager to follow his parents into political exile in nearby Lesotho, a tiny independent sovereignty surrounded on all sides by South Africa and heavily dependent on the larger nation for economic survival. Lesotho is widely known as a pocket of political resistance in southern Africas landscape, a place of exile for many black refugees. It is also at the heart of South Africas sprawling rural outlands: desolate areas of inhuman living conditions, abusive mining practices and slave-like farm labor which constitute a kind of South African Siberia far from the urban and industrial hubs of Capetown, Johannesburg and their adjacent black townships. It is primarily these urban areas and the experience of the township dwellers (particularly young, unattached males) which serve as the focus of South African drama and literature seen in the U.S. By comparison, Mdas plays evoke a South Africa of rural hardship and exile little known to Americans. Plays such as The Road, The Hill and Dark Voices Ring (1979) document the miles of open, unpaved road and the hostile terrain traversed by mine workers and migrant laborers in search of employment; they are peopled with the unwilling itinerant, the relocated and dispossessed, the political-refugee. Mdas latest play, The Dying Screams of the Moon, written while he was in residence at Yale, dramatizes a controversy regularly making the news in post-apartheid South Africa and, not incidentally, serves as the playwrights response to what he sees as the limited political and racial perspective of another contemporary public event: Athol Fugards most recent work, Playland. Like that drama, Mdas The Dying Screams of the Moon depicts an interracial encounter between two strangers in present-day South Africa. I have always enjoyed Athol Fugards work, says Mda. But at the same time I have vehemently disagreed with him in almost everything he has written. My South Africa is different from Athol Fugards South Africa. Thats the crux of the matter. .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b , .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .postImageUrl , .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b , .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:hover , .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:visited , .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:active { border:0!important; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:active , .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u6ff8599ba4eb54252e42eda60a29e69b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Court clashes over free speech Essay No happy endings   Mda feels that in Playland as well as earlier plays, Fugard has depicted black South Africans as meek, humble, pitiable people who just accept all with stoic endurance. Mda refuses to corroborate this fatalistic typing of his people; he also refuses what he calls the happily ever after ending of Playland, a piece which one South African critic labeled theatre of reconciliation. Reconciliation, nods Mda. Thats a very wishful situation, but the play does not address the crucial issues in South Africa now. The ownership of landand the difference between current government attempts at reconciliation and true reparation for injustices of the pastis the subject of The Dying Screams of the Moon. In Mdas words, The past must be addressed. And not only must it be addressed, it must be redressed as well. Under the Group Areas Act of 1912, the South African government forcibly removed black communities from their ancestral lands, declaring those lands white only areas for purposes of, among other things, economic development. Such development frequently meant that white commercial farmers were given exclusive right to purchase the confiscated property at extremely reasonable prices. Since the repeal of the Act in 1989, thousands of displaced and homeless blacks have redoubled their ongoing attempts to reclaim what was forcibly taken from them. A taste for sexual equality   People have wanted to return to their ancestral lands from day one, insists Mda. They didnt just move away like Boesman and Lena and start wandering around. They refused to move. But the government prevailed because it was all too powerful. Now, explains Mda, the problem is even more complex because the land legally belongs to white farmers, some of whom have been living on it for generations. In The Dying Screams of the Moon, a middle-aged black woman identified only as Lady has returned to the Valley of the Moon to reclaim the land from which she was forcibly removed as a child. The valley is now known as Victory Farms, a title given it by the white landowner whose family purchased the land decades earlier and who has turned it into a highly profitable commercial farm. The farmers interests are represented in the play by his daughter, Missy, a young woman who, like the white veteran Gideon le Roux in Playland, is a former soldier of the South African Defense Force, the military body responsible for forcibly putting down black resistance and for fighting the bloody and long-standing war of occupation with neighboring Namibia. Lady, it turns out, is also a veteran of South Africas violent race struggles, but from the opposite side: She is a former freedom fighter who has planned and executed guerrilla attacks on South African targets while living in forced exile. Bitter stalemate   What these former warriors share, they eventually discover, is a taste for the relative sexual equality they experienced as women given ranking positions of authority in the military. However, that taste has been tainted by the professional jealousy of male comrades and of lovers. Both women have lost their male companions by refusing to resume subservient female roles when returning to civilian life. This shared experience of personal potential cut short by sexual jealousy and oppression becomes a point of bonding between the interracial pair. Like the two men in Fugards Playland, these women enact a communal bearing of witness and a mutual absolution of sins in the course of the play. And yet, Mda ends Dying Screams on a note of bitter stalemate between these two newfound friends over their mutually exclusive claims to the land. In the words of Lady, Healing and redemption will only come when the pain of the past, which is in fact our present pain, has been addressed. .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 , .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .postImageUrl , .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 , .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:hover , .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:visited , .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:active { border:0!important; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:active , .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999 .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub982d9578f150ea203410dcac644c999:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Violet - A Musical by Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley EssayWe would like to have that wishful ending that Playland has, Mda laments, but the perspective of the black people is that as long as justice has not been served, there will never be any true reconciliation. The raised hands now come to rest once more on the tabletop. The voice, which has gradually climbed to a high pitch of insistence, returns to its clear and measured tones. But Mdas practiced smile has disappeared, as have other signs of his earlier discomfort. In the new smile which spreads across his face, one can read the artists desire to engage another in the passionate convictions which have given birth to his work.

Dark Secrets essays

Dark Secrets essays For our collage drama we chose to base it on youth. I have chosen to perform a scripted piece of drama. A dark secret that is about a teenage girl named Alex who shots her because she cant cope with everything anymore. Alex was always helping her friends and family and never having time for her. When Alex finally does something for her everyone hates her for it. This piece of scripted drama is a sad emotional play. The purpose of the youth performance is to let people know what teenagers go through. The message dark secrets is trying to get across is teenagers go through a lot of personal issues that their closet friend and family dont know about. No matter how you think you are to some one you never know when they might be keeping something from you. Look are deceiving just because they appear to be all happy smiles on the outside doesnt necessarily mean that is them on the inside. A dark secret is a small group performance the group consists of 6 actors. Each actor plays one role each. Our group chose roles that would be easy for us to relate to. Jessie played by Tamara Horne; Jessie is a female character, girl friend of Alex. Alex is the main character who commits suicide. Alex has a twin sister Liz. Sheri Campbell plays Liz. Liz has a hard time coming to terms with what Alex did and trys to find an answer in Chloe. I play Krystal Kavanagh Chloe. Chloe is Alexs best friend who also trys to find answers why did she do it, why did she kill herself. All the characters in dark secrets as them selves repeatedly ask them self-why but one character inpaticular that wonders why is Jamie. Jamie is the only male character in this performance. Chantelle Newton plays him. Chantelle portrays the male character very well. Chris is another one of Alexs friends who has trouble coming to an explanation of WHY? Dark secrets go for roughly 20 minutes. Throughout this pe ...

What should the UK Government do to make our transport systems work Essay

What should the UK Government do to make our transport systems work better - Essay Example Road congestion has now become a trend in the society and even for individuals in particular. As we have observed, traffic is very rampant especially during the so-called â€Å"rush hours† wherein people are in the speed for work or school. So, as the inconvenience of road congestion grows, cities world wide are struggling to deal the problem of increasing mobile population (Edwards & Smith, 2008, p1). Not being notice by many, that this simple phenomenon on transport problems can produce other problems in the society, or at least point, it contributes to it. We shall see in the study made by Edwards and Smith, the domino effect of the growing mobile population to other predicted problems and even to unforeseen predicaments. Thus, we can see this scenario in a dynamic complexity manner wherein it is still rational to say (though hardly be seen with just a simple glance), that these effects are a by-product of such occurrence (growing mobile population) and that they are simult aneously linked to one another. Problems in the society today like oil price hikes, global warming and economic recessions are mentioned to be the result of a mounting transport population. In their paper entitled â€Å"Transport Problems Facing by Large Cities†, it depicts relevant factors which cause transportation problems. The researchers focus their study mainly on four large world cities, particularly London, Tokyo, Paris and New York. As a result of the study made, the researchers conclude several factors that affect the transportation and traffic flows as well as the other flaws linked to it. These would include: large population; high car dependency; and ageing transport infrastructure. We can also see in their study the connection of transport predicament as an inevitable result of other world issues that we are facing at present. Simple questions like â€Å"how does a large population affects the expansion of new transportation business?† to a more complex q uestion like â€Å"how can a high mobile dependency scenario can lead to economic recessions?† will be discussed and shown in the later part. What the government can do and must do is to make our transportation system better is to create and enact a law or a policy that will efficiently and effectively solve the issue. Though there are already existing policies with regards to this problem, it is still lacking because it does not yet solve the identified predicament. Moreover, the aspect that we will be focusing will be the factors indicated by Edwards and Smith in their study to come up with a strategic policy to answer the problems on transportation in UK as well as its under-effects. There are already proposals to this matter that this paper will be dealing into to have a competitive policy that will somehow ensure a better transport system. But first we must have to look at the factors which contribute more to transportation problem to have a greater knowledge on which to concentrate more our policy to avoid misusage of effort as well as money and to achieve our desired result in a more effective manner. The diagram in the next page will show relevant connections on the factors mentioned by Edwards and Smith regarding transportation problems and there effects on other problems. MONOPOLY IN TRANSPOTATION BUSINESS LARGE POPULATION EXPANSION OF TRANS. BUSINESS LOW BUSINESS COMPETTIVENESS HIGHER RATE OF TRANSPORTATION DEMAND HIGH MOBILE ROAD DEPENDENCY CONGESTION ECONOMIC RECESSION OIL SCARCITY IN WORLD MARKET HIGH CO2 EMISSION/ AIR POLLUTION OIL PRICE HIKE DECLINE IN PRODUCTION GLOBAL WARMING INFLATIONS LOWER CONSUMPTION The Domino Effect As we can see in the diagram, the primary contributor in the interlinked world problems would be the factor of high mobile dependency. If we notice, there is a cause and effect relations between transportation problems to other economic, societal and environmental predicaments that will

SIMS Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SIMS Review - Essay Example As these discounts are likely to be provided on several years terms, it is impossible to eliminate the cash shortage problem by changing these discount immediately. This measure would affect the quality of the patient care in the hospital and make it lose even more money. The company must try to cut down the variable costs of the company which are usually subject to economies of scale. Up to certain point the marginal cost of providing extra unit of care is less than the average cost and thus the company should try to achieve the optimal level of servicing clients and try to cut down the variable costs. The second problem was estimated as giving nurses too high wages as the need for acute nurses was not met. If the increased wages were due to the fact that there was need for such services, this choice cannot also be eliminated and the staff should not be downsized. On the other hand, the best strategy would be to downsize the agency staff costs which are not directly associated to providing care services and thus must be at the optimal level. The agency staff hiring that the optimal number needed for successful hospital operation was estimated wrong and must be revalued as agency or contract staff is usually paid twice as much as regular workers for the same amount of utility they bring to the hospital. The third problem was low medical reimbursement levels which amounted to 70% charged to clients. As the hospital derives approximately 40% of its' revenues from Medicare patients this is a big loss for the company and this reveals that the staff hired to work in this direction is not performing efficiently thus resulting in working capital shortage. As the Medicare payments cannot be changed directly by the hospital and are set based on historical costs, the company can eliminate this problem only by providing efficient system of monitoring in time receiving these payments. The company has also experienced dramatic growth in current liabilities which mean that the company was spending a lot even though no major purchases for the company were made. This means that the hospital is not allocating resources efficiently. The next problem was estimated as unused equipment in patients' rooms which means some strategic mistakes which lead to purchasing this equipment but now it is not used. Together with reducing agency staff expenses the second strategy was chosen to reduce the staff benefits which include health insurance, retirement, salary increases above the market salaries, different bonuses and paid leave benefits. This can be a bad strategy in the long term as the best doctors can leave the hospital but the optimal choice would be to reduce these benefits for the newcomers to the hospital and reward those who add the highest value to the hospital services quality. This will on the other hand give incentives to newcomers to work harder to achieve higher rewards. This will generate sufficient cash flows for the hospital in the short term and will not affect the customer services quality hypothetically and slightly. These two measures of cost reduction will save the company $4,717,000 while the hospital has savings goal of $900,000 and is expected to receive over $2,300,000 in three months that is why it has to generate some cash until

Tornado in Oklahama Essay Example for Free

Tornado in Oklahama Essay Tornadoes are violent rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. Tornadoes are known to cause a lot of destruction depending on how violent it occurs. Tornadoes are more common in the United States than any other country. United States receives more than one thousand two hundred tornadoes annually. Most tornadoes in the United States occur in Tornado Alley; an area including states of Oklahama, Texas, Missouri and Kansas. This piece of work will mainly dwell on comparison of data of tornadoes occurring in states of Oklahama, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. METHODS Quantitative Data Analysis This is the method used to correct this piece of work where the various portions of the data where collected from records Time series: the information used to conduct this study was done over a period of time where tornadoes frequency, fatality, injuries and number of deaths are indicated. RESULTS Compared with other states, Oklahama ranks number 2 for frequency to tornadoes, 7 for number of death,9 for injuries and 5 for cost of damages. If we compare this statistics to other states by frequency per square mile, Oklahama ranks number 2 for frequency of tornadoes, number 10 for fatalities, number 15 for injuries per square and number 4 for cost per area. The state of Missouri ranks number 8 for frequency, 12 for number of deaths, 15 for injuries and 9 for cost of damage. Comparing with statistics of other states by frequency per square mile, Missouri ranks number 13 for frequency of tornadoes, 14 for fatalities, 19 for injuries per square and 15 for cost per area. In Kansas we have it ranked 3 for frequency of tornadoes, 8 for number of deaths, 14 for injuries and 3 for cost of damage. In comparison with statistics of other states it ranks number 4 for frequency of tornadoes, 13 for fatalities, 22 for injuries per area and 8 for cost per area. Arkansas is ranked number 16 for frequency of tornadoes, 8 for number of deaths, and 14 for injuries 3 for cost of damage. When compared with statistics of other states by frequency per square mile, Arkansas ranks number 16 for frequency of tornadoes, 5 for fatalities, 7 for injuries per square and 16 per cost per area.

Fichtes Subjective Idealism Essay -- Philosophy Essays

Fichte's Subjective Idealism With a dramatic dialectic style, Fichte expounds his subjective idealism which seriously undermines claims of an external world and which ultimately borders on solipsism. Beginning with the question of Free Will, Fichte concludes that there is none before engaging a mysterious Spirit in a philosophical dialogue over the nature of Fichte's knowledge. In the end, Fichte curses the Spirit for revealing the grim truth: "all reality is transformed into a fabulous dream, without there being any life the dream is about, without there being a mind that dreams." Following the same path of reasoning as the dialogue, the Spirit begins by asking Fichte how he knows of external objects. In answering that the knowledge of external object arrives as a result of direct, immediate sense perception, Fichte concedes that he possesses no direct consciousness of outside objects, but only of himself. "In all perception you only perceive yourself," since perception is merely the conscious recognition of observation statements such as 'I see' ... Fichte's Subjective Idealism Essay -- Philosophy Essays Fichte's Subjective Idealism With a dramatic dialectic style, Fichte expounds his subjective idealism which seriously undermines claims of an external world and which ultimately borders on solipsism. Beginning with the question of Free Will, Fichte concludes that there is none before engaging a mysterious Spirit in a philosophical dialogue over the nature of Fichte's knowledge. In the end, Fichte curses the Spirit for revealing the grim truth: "all reality is transformed into a fabulous dream, without there being any life the dream is about, without there being a mind that dreams." Following the same path of reasoning as the dialogue, the Spirit begins by asking Fichte how he knows of external objects. In answering that the knowledge of external object arrives as a result of direct, immediate sense perception, Fichte concedes that he possesses no direct consciousness of outside objects, but only of himself. "In all perception you only perceive yourself," since perception is merely the conscious recognition of observation statements such as 'I see' ...

Income Smoothing

Journal of Economics, Business and Accountancy Ventura Accreditation No. 110/DIKTI/Kep/2009 Volume 14, No. 1, April 2011, pages 59 – 78 THE THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTION OF INCOME SMOOTHING MEASUREMENT Alwan Sri Kustono Jember University E-Mail: [email  protected] com Tegal Besar Permai 2-E1,Jember,Propinsi Jawa Timur,Indonesia ABSTRACT The income smoothing is a dimension of the accounts manipulation theme that has been a ttracting a great attention in the accounting literature. A goal of manipulation widely as cribed to managers is the desire to smooth.Reported income, Income smoothing reflects reducing the possible income fluctuations so as to make it as stable as possible throughout the ism. Almost of income smoothing research in Indonesia used Eckel’s index to clasify smoother non smoother firms. Empirical evidences have provided support for the existence of an income smoothing behavior. The studies showed inconsistent about factors determining this smoothing. The purp ose of the present investigation is twofold. First, we seek to determine if Eckel index is a reliable instrument to measure income smoothing behavior.Second, we pretend to identify the new instrument to measure incidence of income smoothing. Our research sample comprises manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, over period of 1999-2008. This study confirms Eckel’s index is not reliability instru ment. The new proposed index quantifies the incidence of income smoothing without depend on n periods. The results imply that researchers should re-examine the conclusion of previous studies, particularly that determinant, factors and effect of income smoothing practices. Key words: income smoothing, Eckel’s index, c oefficient of variation, reliability.INTRODUCTION It has been noticed that income statement is considered as one of the statements to be presented in financial reporting. For that reason, the company’s earning is considered vital infor mation for it can be used to measure the corporate performance. In other words, information of the earning can be used to assess the performance or accountability of management and also predict the ability of companies in the effort of contributing to the following earning. In general, earning reporting is frequently not free from the accounting manipulation. Yet it appears different from the fraudulence.Accounting manipulation can be still in tolerant when it is put in the accounting rules. In contrast, fraudulence practices tend to be against the rules and accounting standards. Thus, it is delicately different from income smoothing. In fact, one 59 of the practices of accounting manipulation is income smoothing. In connection with the pursuit of analyzing income smoothing in the companies, some definitions of it can be inferred. First of all, income smoothing is defined as the emphasis on the fluctuations in income levels that are considered normal for the company (Barnea et al. 1 976). For another thing, Beidleman, (1973) defines income smoothing as the management efforts to reduce abnormal variations in the earning to the extent permitted by the principles of good management and accounting. Income smoothing in such instances, is as a tool used by management to reduce the variability of reported income stream relative to the target which is intentionally smoothed by using artificial or real variable. In addition, income smoothing is one-dimensional manipulation of accounts that attract the atten- ISSN 2087-3735 The Theoretical Construction †¦ (Alwan Sri Kustono) ion of many accounting literature in the realm of earnings management. Beside, income smoothing reflects the concern to reduce the possibility of fluctuations in income by making a steady flow Research on income smoothing in Indonesia generally examine several factors which are allegedly to motivate management to do income smoothing. They identify the existence of such practices and followed by testing management motivation. The results of these studies have identified those most public companies in Indonesia have conducted income smoothing. All in all, most of the studies are uniform in terms of inferring he end results. Testing the triggering factor of income smoothing policy by the company management has not consistently been recovered. Among the results of such studies are often inconsistent to one another. For example, Kustono (2010) stated that the inconsistency of their findings was caused by the measuring devices. These devices are thought to be unreliable. For example, Index Eckel does not have the ability to capture the practice of income smoothing between periods. In that situation, it shows that some companies are classified by grading only in one particular year.This is considered to have deviated from the definition of income smoothing. The classification based on Eckel index for one company may also change because of changes in the period used to determine t he coefficient of variation. Change of classification shows that the index is not reliable as a tool. In other words, Eckel is as an identifier of smoothing and not merely for smoothing. Kustono (2010) asserted the idea of the need for new instruments. This research is intended to correct weaknesses of the Eckel and construct an index measuring instrument which is more reliable income smoothing factor.This construction is very important because the use of measuring instrument error will cause errors either in the phase of conclusions related to the classification of sample or the determinants and impact of such classification. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK It is a fact that income smoothing becomes a phenomenon which has been often proved in some previous studies. This practice has been investigated through various levels of different samples. Furthermore, income smoothing is considered to be an important factor. Research by Moses (1987) and Atik & Sensoy (2005) shows that at least 60% of h e sample used in the study can be classified as smoothing the company earnings. Another proponent, such as Barnea et al. (1976) classified accounting income smoothing as inter-temporal smoothing and classification. Inter-temporal smoothing is based on the situation when cost and expenses are recognized and smoothing classification is done with the classification under ordinary cost and extraordinary one in which the ordinary post finally becomes flat. Eckel (1981) distinguishes between income smoothing as a natural smoothing and intended smoothing. Natural smoothing is he alignments resulting from transactions that inherently produce a smoothed earning. In other words, the company's operations to generate income by collecting revenues and expenses are inherently to eliminate fluctuations in income flows. In other words, the process of generating income itself generates a stream of smoothed income. Alignment occurs without the intervention of any party. Income smoothing is accidental ly triggered by the motivation which is based on the management actions. There are two types of income smoothing: intentional, that is income smoothing of the real intention nd the other one is artificial income smoothing. Real income smoothing indicates management actions that seek to control economic conditions that directly affect corporate earnings in the future. In addition, this real income smoothing affects cash flow. On the contrary, artificial income smoothing can show manipulation which is undertaken by management to smooth the earning. Thus, the action of this manipulation resulted in a fundamental or economic condition that can affect cash flow, but shifts 60 Journal of Economics, Business and Accountancy Ventura Accreditation No. 10/DIKTI/Kep/2009 the cost and/or income from one period to another. By taking for granted, such a trend can be traced from several research. Some studies, in fact, have been conducted to identify the smoothing behavior, such as motivation and its impact on future transactions, a company that has been doing income smoothing. This can also be found in other studies such as (Lev & Kunitzky, 1974; Ammihud et al. , 1983, Wang & Williams, 1994; Michelson et al. , 1995; Iniguez & Poveda, 2004). These proponents also provide empirical support toward statement that management reduces he variability of cash flows and earning for the purpose of minimizing the risk of the company. Income smoothing is also intended to increase the value of the firm (Gordon, 1964; Trueman & Titman, 1988; Gibbins et al. , 1990; and Chaney & Lewis, 1995; 1998). Estimator of Income smoothing Income smoothing can only be investigated through some periods by suspecting a certain earning rate of the targeted, e. g. , both highand low-digits earning reports. Some researchers use a two-period model by assuming that the earning target is proportional to the income report in the previous year Copeland, 1968). In other words, the size of alignment is the magnitu de of changes in the earning from one year to the next. Other researchers also evaluated the earning target using multi-period test. The underlying assumption is that it should be an evenly increasing trend (Gordon, 1966). Some of the models used are the exponential model (Dascher and Malcolm, 1970), linear time series models (Barefield and Comiskey, 1972), time trend semi-logaritma (Beidleman, 1973) and model of the market return index (Ronen & Sadan, 1975). For example, Dopuch & Watts (1972) suggest the use ofBox-Jenkins techniques to ensure the alignment model is applicable. Models of earning target are differentiated from the real earning. Often, these models contain errors inherent profit target 61 Volume 14, No. 1, April 2011, pages 59 – 78 because its validity can not be detected empirically. In that case, Ronen & Sadan (1975) suggested that we do income smoothing approach. In particular, income smoothing can be identified if the researcher is faced by the following fo ur questions. 1. What is the object alignment implemented by the management? 2. What is the dimension of management s used to perform smoothing. 3. What instrument of smoothing is used by management 4. What is the object of such smoothing behavior? In connection with the above efforts, Imhoff (1977) and Eckel (1981) developed a methodology based on testing the variability of income associated with the variability of sales. The model used to predict the existence of income smoothing or earnings variation is inter-period variant. They assume that the level of earning depends on the level of sales. The basic idea is that the change in sales can affect the earning. If the variance of income is less than the variance f sales, it can be concluded that the smoothing has been done. Eckel (1981) model of the income smoothing is done by basing on the following premises. 1. Income is a linear function of the sales = sales-cost variable-fixed cost. 2. The ratio of variable costs to sales is in constant currency units 3. Fixed costs are constant or increasing from period to period, but not likely to decline. 4. Gross sales can only be smoothed by real smoothing; gross sales can not be artificially smoothed. Mathematically, Eckel illustrates all the above as the following: when, I=S-VS-FC, and FC;0, and FC t+1 ;=FC t, and 0