The Role Of The Management Accountant Accounting Essay

The Role Of The Management Accountant Accounting Essay At present, there is an argument about whether the role of the management accountant in organisations has changed when the business environment changed at the same time. The role of management accountants in organisations was measured by: (a) their skills requirements, and (b) the way other managers perceive them in their organisations (Tsamenyi and Yazfifar, 2005).In this essay, the author referred to a great number of literatures about this topic, and finally came to a conclusion that the role of management accountant in organisations has changed significantly accompanied by the changes of business environment over these years. Recently, management accountants in organisations did not just execute the traditional functions such as accumulation, analysis and preparation, and play the role like the bean counter and gathers of information that is useful and necessary for decision-makers (Choi, 2002). With the developments and changes of the business environment in some decades, the ro le of management accountant has changed into business partner and strategic partner, and taken the charge of interpretation, evaluation, control and involvement in decision-making (Choi, 2002). The analysis Background The status of the role of management accountant in organisations has been paid enough attentions in these years. Not only academic and professional staff made a huge number of accounting literatures, but also many related people that are not in accounting subject provided increasingly number of research evidences of this area. They all finally came to a point that the changing business environment caused the change of the role of management accountant in organisations. So the first aspect to research the topic is to evaluate the changes of the business environment. Further more, the second aspect is to find the changes of the role of management accountant in organisations. At last, the conclusion of this essay is to build a bridge between the changing business environment and the changes of the role of management accountant in organisations. The changing business environment If people tend to make a clear view of the change, they should get a specific understand of the business and business environment. As a sequence, this survey initially concentrated on the changing business environment. According to the management accounting professionals declared, the principle issue that caused the change of the role of management accountant in corporation is the increasingly fierce competition (Hoque et al., 2001; Krishnan et al., 2002).The new business environment just reflected this kind of competition. In the new business environment, it gave the expression to escalating globalization, fresh regulations that focused on corporate governance, changeable markets, new organizational structures, mergers and acquisitions, new management practices, rapid reaction speed, increasingly intelligent information technology and a potential trend of a more elastic corporation structure because of the need to deal with market requisition and more (Askary et al ,2008). In some s urveys, people see the changes of information technology and organizational restructuring as the most two important issues caused the change of the role of management accountants in organizations. And new accounting software and new management style are other two significant change drivers (Tsamenyi and Yazfifar, 2005). For example, a significant change of the business environment is the change of management accounting practices. There are so many new management accounting techniques had been innovated and implied in business these years. Some experts claimed that the changes of management accounting practices are administrative innovations (Hart and Roslender, 2002). Whether these changes could be successful or not, they are depended on how well behavioral and organizational implications are dealt with. So the process of these changes meets a huge organizational stress, clash and revolt. And these negative issues may cause failure of the innovation (Hart and Roslender, 2002). In this area, the most important issue is the innovation of Strategic Management Accounting (SMA). SMA was considered as the common-sense approach to the matters emerged in a changing business environment (Hart and Roslender, 2002). Some experts claimed accountants did a large number of benefits by using SMA to strategy formul ation and implementation. Some researchers suggested accountants to change their views from traditional accounting issues to concern more business factors. Some persons seen SMA was a tool to help accountants promote their status in organizations (Hart and Roslender, 2002). As a so hot topic, there is no a common conceptual framework about SMA. One definition (Hart and Roslender, 2002) accepted by some people is: The provision and analysis of management accounting data about a business and its competitors for use in developing and monitoring the business strategy, particularly relative levels and trends in real costs and prices, volume, market share, cash flow and the proportion demanded of a firms total resources. In 1981 that SMA was found, Simmonds set a view that the role of management accountants were changed from a pure financial worker to a more important position that need to gain a business opinion and hold the ability of the understand of business environment and represent changes in competitive position to senior management (Hart and Roslender, 2002). To illustrate, intelligent information development is a more important reason that caused the change not only in the past, but also it is going to influence the role of management accountant in companies in the future even for ever (Management Accounting, 1998). Meanwhile, the development of intelligent information occurred in every industry, business aspect and country. It is an obvious trend that computers deal with more daily work (Management Accounting, 1998). People who can hold the ability to learn and master IT and apply advantages of IT to daily works fully, they will gain benefits of a broader and more flexible role, with bigger management responsibilities, and maybe more rewards, and more frequently join in business strategy (Management Accounting, 1998). The application of IT into business work impacted not only on the role of management accountant in organizations, but also on the relationship between management accounting and other function (Management Accounting, 1998). There is another specific example that could be seen as the impact of the changing business environment caused on the role of management accountant. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the chief innovation in the business world as an information technology for companies to get information in 1990 (Kholeif and Jack, 2007). As a result, there are a good many of researches to investigate how the ERP systems to influence management accountant on work. One finding in researches of this topic is the role of management accountants in ERP environments seems to be subject to hybridisation, that means the role broadens to include other business and information movement or other people broaden their roles to take charges that accountant do (Kholeif and Jack, 2007). Consequently, the role of management accountants is changing from those traditional functions towards business partner and strategic partner. In spite of this, the use of ERP system yet may hurt the role of management acco untant as information suppliers because the chief managers can gain information they need directly without through accountant report (Kholeif and Jack, 2007). In recent years, there is another vitally important development concept in management accounting called Balanced Scorecard. It contains two aspects of changes compared with old accounting system. At one hand, it introduced an incorporation of non-financial measures. At the other hand, it joined these measures with organisational strategy (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). This means the top management of corporations could use Balanced Scorecard to strengthen strategies, introduce these strategies to all of the company, and assess the organisations process that pursues the goals of the strategies. At the same time, management accountants also adopt this concept in their works. This helps them enhance their status in companies as important management team partners. The changes of the role of management accountant in organizations It is a well known statement that management accounting practices that mainly include management accounting techniques, information and/or systems have nearly kept been stable in the greater part of a century (Johansson, 1990; Kaplan, 1986b). As a result, it can be concluded that traditional management accounting practices lost the ability of gaining useful information and giving full play in management decision-making in the changing business environment. With the changing business environment, the role of management accountants in organizations also changed obviously. One obvious example of the changes of t management accountants caused by the innovation of Balanced Scorecard could be found in the article Counting More, Counting Less: Transformations in the Management Accounting Profession.(Choi and Latshaw, 2002) In the essay, the authors compared differences of management accounting professions between 1995 and 1999 about accountants in IMA (Institute of Management Accountants). They found some aspects of the changes. First, there are more people considered management accountants gain more benefits for corporations in 1999 than the number in 1995 (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). Second, more workers were aware that management accountants were not only worked for accounting department, they also worked in operating sections as part of business team (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). Third, professors searched that management accountants used more time in internal consulting and the most important action for them is the strategic planning (Choi and Latshaw, 2002) . At last, people claimed that management accountants in companies took charges of both business partner and strategic partner. The vital reason of these changes is that management accountants in organisations take use of Balance Scorecard as a powerful tool to show their abilities to senior managers and strengthen their role as strategic partners (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). With the emergence of a specific accounting practice called Strategic Management Accounting (SMA), the role of management accountants also greeted clear changes. From the research of Bhimani and Bromwich, there two major ways of strategic management accounting: One tends to cost the product attributes provided by a companys products; the other is to cost the functions in the value chain which provide value to the consumer (Bromwich Bhimani, 1994). According to findings of Inman (1999), there are some points of differences between traditional and strategic management accounting: The first significant difference is the way that how cost should be cost; the second difference is the cost analysis goals; the last difference is the cost behavior. SMA put emphasis on the relative cost position; the approach a corporate may keep a continual cost advantages and costs of differentiation. As a result, the new kind of accounting practice requires management accountants to gain more abilities an d broaden their horizon from their usual work, put more eyes on general management, strategies making and implement, marketing and product development (Hart and Roslender, 2002). In modern society, intelligent information development is a common driver caused changes in many areas. The role of management accountants in organizations also changed with this trend. If management accountants want to be competent at their positions, they should possess the ability to stay ahead of change. They need to know well the latest information technology software, as the same time get a comprehensive comprehension of the business (Anastas, 1997). Consequently, there are some changes and trends happened for management accountants. The first trend was more and more management accountants became senior managers such as chief executive officers or chief operating officers, and the responsibility of accountants also changed from just analysis of past to strategic planning (Anastas, 1997). The reason of this phenomenon was because of the ability of accountants that they can translate financial data and results to strategic planning word. The second change was under the pressure o f the development of information technology, management accountants became advisors or internal consultants (Anastas, 1997). Accountants now join in the activities such as creating strategies and recommendations to influence management decisions. Management accountants play the role as a pivot among different departments. Heading accountants are the centre point to ensure companies on track. The third change is management accountants increasingly involved in decision-making activities (Anastas, 1997). They no longer just do book-keeping; they also make decisions for the whole company strategies. The forth change is management accountants became information managers because they are always the first consumers of new technology (Anastas, 1997). As a result, accountants usually adjusted more quickly and smoothly to new information technology than other departments in organizations. Accountants used the new technology to transform their eyes from looking backward to looking forward. So accountants could use new technology to calculate and forecast future environment the corporation will meet. Even sometimes accountants became sellers rather that reporters as the reason that they can sell the suggestions they got from the new information about what to do in the future (Anastas, 1997). Conclusion As been found the changes of business environment and the changes of the role of management accountants in organizations and the relationship between two kinds of changes, the conclusion could be gained. As a clear research finding, the major changes in business environment are these aspects: communications and information technology, organisational restructuring, globalisation and internationalisation and improvements and new innovations of management accounting practices (Management Accounting, 1998). And the major functions of management accountants these years focused on: design and improve the information systems of companies (especially understand and make use of IT system), give suggestions for business projects, join in strategic planning (plan and operate business and marketing objectives), deal with customers demands and taxation matters (Management Accounting, 1998). To summarise these aspects in some common and incisive points, the changes of the role of management accoun tants in organisations are chiefly as these respects: Firstly, the role of management accountants has been changed to business partners in corporations. They joined in more and more activities in functional departments, and they also participated in the plan and renew of information. Secondly, management accountants increasingly move their location from offices towards more near to plants. Thus they can get more specifically understanding of the business. This is also a clear point about accountants now play the role as business partners and they usually joined in a project from the just beginning and decision of results, and take charge of all outcomes. Thirdly, management accountants now naturally are seen as members of management team and business managers because their unique knowledge of finance and accounting can take huge benefits for management actions (ODea and Pierce, 2003). In one sentence, the role of the management accountant has changed in recent years from traditional accounting functions to that of a strategic planner and a business partner in the changing business environment. Bibliography Anastas.M. (1997) The changing world of management accounting and financial management. Journal of Management accounting. .48-51. Askarany.D et al. (2008) Management Accountants Role in Dependent and Independent Companies: Does Ownership Matter? Journal of Accounting Business Management. 15(2), .1-21. Bhimani, A. and Keshtvarz, M. H. (1999). British management accountants: strategically oriented. Journal of Cost Management. 13(2), .25-31. Cable.R.J et al. (2009) Teaching future management accountants. Journal of Management accounting quarterly. 10(4), .44-50. Choi.Y and Latshaw.C.A. (2002) The Balanced Scorecard and the Accountant as a Valued Strategic Partner. Journal of Review of Business. .27-29. Hart.S.J and Roslender.R. (2002) Integrating Management accounting and marketing in the pursuit of competitive advantage: the case for strategic management accounting. Journal of Critical Perspectives on Accounting. 13, .255-277. Johansson, H. (1990). Accounting System Changes. Journal of Management Accounting. .37-41. Hoque, Z., Mia, L. and Manzurul, A. (2001). Market competition, computer-aided manufacturing and use of multiple performance measures: an empirical study. Journal of British Accounting Review. 33(1), .23-45. Kaplan, R. S. (1986b) The Role for Empirical Research in Management Accounting. Journal of Accounting, Organizations and Society. 11(4), .429-452. Kholeif.A and Jack.L. (2008) Enterprise Resource Planning and a contest to limit the role of management accountants: A strong structuration perspective. Journal of Accounting Forum. 32, .30-45. Management Accounting. (1998) The changing role of the management accountant and its implications for qualification development. Journal of Management Accounting: Magazine for Chartered Management Accountants. 76(8), .68. ODEA.T and Pierce.B. (2001) Management accounting information and the needs of managers Perceptions of managers and accountants compared. Journal of The British Accounting Review. 35, .257-290. Tayles.M and Ma.Y. (2009) On the emergence of strategic management accounting: an institutional perspective. Journal of Accounting and Business Research. 39(5),.473-495. Tsamenyi.M and Yazdifar.H. (2005) Management accounting changes and the changing roles of management accountants: a comparative analysis between dependent and independent organizations. Journal of Accounting Organizational. 1(2), .180-198. Yazdifar. H Askarany. D Askary. S. (2008), Management Accountants Role in Dependent and Independent Companies: Does Ownership Matter? Journal of Accounting Business Management, 15(2), .1-21.

Realism vs. Surrealism

Why is he so important? What makes is death so significant? † Realism vs.. Surrealism Books are a major piece in the puzzle of life. When books, a source that points out a society's imperfections, are taken away, humanity is lost. In Ray Bradbury scientific novel Fahrenheit 451 , firemen are the people to start fires, rather than extinguish them, as they do in the modern world. They also investigate homes that are reported to be sheltering books.Owning books and reading books is against the law in this eating, and if any are found during the investigation, the owner is arrested and the books are burned. Captain Beauty, the leader of the firemen, is portrayed as a mysterious and suspicious man, who goes around quoting books during the day, and burning them at night. Later on in the story it was made clear that Captain Beauty has read books in his lifetime; however he turned away from them because he was required to think on his own.Ray Bradbury created this character to show th at the awareness of imperfections in society can, in some case, lead to the missing desire to use the knowledge. Beauty is the type of person, who after learning the truth and reality, returns to the unreality he was used to. This relates to Plat's Allegory of the Cave. The cave that Plato thought of was set up with prisoners chained up, facing a wall that projects shadows originating from puppets behind the prisoners on a platform. Beneath the platform and behind the prisoners is an opening which leads into the real world.The essence of the philosophy is that a prisoner is let go into the real world with the knowledge they have, such as the puppets' shadows. For example, if a prisoner saw a go in the real world, he would think that it is fake, because he accepted the reality of the shadow of the dog projected on the cave wall. The slave then realizes, the images shown in the cave are an unreality. Once they are exposed to the truth they cannot return to the life they once knew. The character Beauty was a representation of a prisoner or slave chained up in the cave.Beauty became free, and he started reading books and questioning society, representing the transition from the cave to the real world. The moment he was exposed to the truth, he did not enjoy it, because he had o think on his own. Beauty then returned to the life he knows is a lie. Despite the fact that Beauty returned to the cave, he read the books so intuitively that he was able to quote them and give them some significance to his life. When Montage felt sick, Beauty visited him because he knew Montage had stolen a book from the reported house they investigated the previous night. He lectured Montage on how nothing valuable comes from books.For example, during the lecture Beauty says â€Å"Well, Montage, take my word for it, I've had to read a few in my time, to know what I was about, and the books say thing! Nothing you can teach or believe† (62). By saying this to Montage, Beauty is tryin g to prevent him from â€Å"leaving the cave† or learning that humanity has many imperfections. Beauty feared that if Montage learns the truth about the society they live in, he will also be cowardly to make a difference and return to the unreality as Beauty has done. Despite the fact that Beauty returned to the false world, his ‘contaminated' mind could not forget the lessons he had learned from books.Beauty's character served a purpose to demonstrate that there is a restriction towards what en can do; however, with all the knowledge of humanity Beauty has acquired, he chooses not to do anything. Beauty served as a very significant character throughout the novel. He is a combination of Montage, someone who wanted to learn about the imperfections, and Mildred, a shallow and a cowardly person. He is similar to Montage in the sense that he read books, and questioned society. Montage, however, wanted to make a difference, so he came up with a plan. â€Å"If you thought it would be a plan worth trying, I'd have to take you word it would help† (86).Montage thought of a plan to sabotage he lives of the firemen by planting books in their houses, having them arrested, and as a result their houses would be burned. They would be left with nothing and they would be in Jail. This would give Montage and his helper, Faber, time to plant more books in other civilian homes. Beauty displayed many of the qualities that Montage possessed, despite the fact that Montage was proactive to solve problems. Beauty is similar to Mildred because he learned all this valuable information, yet he threw it away, because he did not want to burden himself with thinking about the books and hat they truly meant.When Montage shows Mildred, his wife, all of the books he has been hiding, he asks her to read them with him. As they are reading Mildred, who is too confused and frustrated, shouts â€Å"What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything! † (68). Mildred did not under stand why she had to think about the book, and Beauty returned to the cave' for the same reason. He did not want to go through the tedious process of thinking about what the books mean. Despite the frustration, when Beauty quotes the books throughout the novel, it indicates he received meeting from books; however, it was not enough for him to completely leave the cave.With Beauty being aware of the knowledge he has, but refusing to make a change, his death is instantly made significant. Before his death he quotes the famous line from the Shakespearian tragedy Julius Caesar â€Å"There is no terror, Cassias, in your threats, for I am arm's so strong in honesty that they pass me as an idle wind, which I respect not! † (119). Beauty says this to Montage, while he is pointing a flamethrower directly at Beauty, to show him that he is not scared to die. In that same vein, when Montage kills Beauty, before him is the path he must take to make a difference; however, without the obsta cle: Beauty.Montage is no longer surrounded with the constant reminder that books and independent thoughts are useless. Later on in the novel, a terrifying realization dawns over Montage; that Beauty wanted to purposefully die. He says â€Å"Beauty wanted to die,† as he comes up with an explanation for Beauty's unusual wish. Beats desire to die, was because he was not satisfied with what his life has become. He had gone through the trouble of escaping the cave, reading the kooks and trying to understand their content. Unfortunately, Beauty was unwilling to think on his own, therefore he returned to the unrealistic life.While seconds away from his death, Beauty sees an image of what he could have become if he put aside his frustration with comprehending the books ; Montage, a person who chooses to use the knowledge he has gained. Both firemen started out the same way. They both loved their Job, but one day they started questioning society which led them to reading books. Monta ge, however, wanted to make a differ Renee and learn to understand the world that was hidden away from him, while Beauty returned to the cave because it was the easier life to live.Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 follows the framework of Plat's Allegory of the Cave, and although many characters have to partake in the Journey of leaving the cave, a single character Beauty, has a unique participation in the Journey of exiting the cave. When Beauty is introduced in the setting quoting books, his character's demeanor takes an unexpected turn. He is perceived as a tough and loyal fireman; however, no one knows that in the past, he was a law-breaker.Beauty was curious to discover the content of those mysterious books and he read many attentively, and received enough knowledge to quote them in any type of circumstance. He became too frustrated with comprehending the books which led to his willing transition from reality to unreality. Ray Bradbury created this character to show the ignora nce of humanity when one must think independently. Captain Beauty was important to the novel because he was a controversy between Mildred, a shallow prisoner, and Montage, a prisoner trying to escape. Without the combination of the two, there would to be any balance.Captain Beauty's death, allowed Montage to continue his Journey with the eradication of his main obstacle. It also was significant because it revealed to the reader that Captain Beauty was miserable living in the fake world when he had already been exposed to the true imperfections of society, and he could not live with himself that he sacrificed a chance to make a change, the way Montage has. Without books, the imperfections of society are not pointed out and many people gain the courage to understand the truth rather than accepting the reality that is presented to them.

Importance Of Mathematics For Teaching By Ball, Hill Bass,...

I had many reflections—as a student, teacher, and educator—after reading the article, â€Å"Knowing Mathematics for Teaching† by Ball, Hill-Bass, and Bass (2005). Ball and her colleagues (2005) discuss the issue that there are many different schools of thoughts and practices about the way teachers should be prepared and supported to teach mathematics in classrooms. On the one hand, teachers are asked to take additional math content classes, attend teaching- practice and new curriculum workshops. On the other hand, Bass et al. (2005) tell us there have been efforts to recruit teacher based on strong college grades in mathematics majors. Yet, Ball et al. suggests the need to continue to research the relationship between the level of preparation and knowledge in mathematical to student achievement to â€Å"ensure that every student has a teacher who comes to the classroom equipped with the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching† (p. 44). First, as a st udent, the article initially led me to reflect on my own experience as a student in K-12. For example, I thought about my experience with mathematical content and the resources I was exposed to attending urban public schools and the issue with limited resources. Indeed, I believe my K-12 mathematic teachers were teaching me the best they could, however, as I got older I have realized that it is not my strongest academic content. As I continue to analyze and reflect on my experience I continued to come across the juxtapose idea ofShow MoreRelatedFactors Affecting the Low Performance in National Achievement Test of Grade 6 Pupils6433 Words   |  26 Pagesmaster the basic facts—including children with learning disabilities. To master their facts, they must be exposed to a variety of strategies and be able to construct efficient mental tools that will help them. Maths is a wonderful subject. 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Then they conduct basic mathematics and English skills training classes at workplace sites for employees with deficiencies. Some employers also sponsor programs for employees and their family members to aid them in obtaining general equivalency diplomas. To address the skills deficienciesRead MoreOcd - Symptoms, Causes, Treatment131367 Words   |  526 Pagestheories and research that are the basis of contemporary CBT for OCD. Chapter 7 presents an expanded cognitive-behavioral model that might provide a more complete account of obsessional phenomena. This new formulation of obsessions emphasizes the importance of faulty secondary appraisals of mental control, as well as the erroneous primary appraisals of the obsession itself. Chapters 8 through 13 provide step-by-step, detailed descr iptions of cognitive and behavioral strategies for the assessment and

Magnetars Neutron Stars with a Kick

Neutron stars are weird, enigmatic objects out there in the galaxy. Theyve been studied for decades as astronomers get better instruments capable of observing them. Think of a quivering, solid ball of neutrons squished together tightly into a space the size of a city.   One class of neutron stars in particular is very intriguing; theyre called magnetars. The name comes from what they are: objects  with extremely powerful magnetic fields. While normal neutron stars themselves have incredibly strong  magnetic fields (on the order of 1012 Gauss, for those of you who like to keep track of these things), magnetars are many times more powerful. The most powerful ones can be upwards of a TRILLION Gauss!   By comparison, the magnetic field strength of the Sun is about 1 Gauss; the average field strength on Earth is half a Gauss. (A Gauss is the unit of measurement scientists use to describe the strength of a magnetic field.) Creation of Magnetars So, how do magnetars form? It starts with a neutron star. These are created when a massive star runs out of hydrogen fuel to burn in its core. Eventually, the star loses its outer envelope and collapses. The result is a tremendous explosion called a supernova. During the supernova, the core of a supermassive star gets crammed down into a ball only about 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) across. During the final catastrophic explosion, the core collapses even more, making an incredibly dense ball about 20 km or 12 miles in diameter. That incredible pressure causes hydrogen nuclei to absorb electrons and release neutrinos. Whats left after the core is through collapsing is a mass of neutrons (which are components of an atomic nucleus) with incredibly high gravity and a very strong magnetic field.   To get a magnetar, you need slightly different conditions during the stellar core collapse, which create the  final core that rotates very slowly, but also has a much stronger magnetic field.   Where Do We Find  Magnetars? A couple of dozen known magnetars have been observed, and other possible ones are still being studied. Among the closest is one discovered in a star cluster about 16,000 light-years away from us. The cluster is called  Westerlund 1, and it contains some of the most massive main-sequence stars in the universe. Some of these giants are so big their atmospheres would reach to Saturns orbit, and many are as luminous as a million Suns. The stars in this cluster are quite extraordinary. With all of them being 30 to 40 times the mass of the Sun, it also makes the cluster quite young. (More massive stars age more quickly.) But this also implies that stars that have already left the main sequence contained at least 35 solar masses. This in of itself is not a startling discovery, however the ensuing detection of a magnetar in the midst of Westerlund 1 sent tremors through the world of astronomy. Conventionally, neutron stars (and therefore magnetars) form when a 10 - 25 solar mass star leaves the main sequence and dies in a massive supernova. However, with all the stars in Westerlund 1 having formed at nearly the same time (and considering mass is the key factor in the aging rate) the original star  must have been greater than  40 solar masses. It is not clear why this star did not collapse into a black hole. One possibility is that perhaps magnetars form in a completely different manner from normal neutron stars. Maybe there was a companion star interacting with the evolving star, which made it spend much of its energy prematurely. Much of the mass of the object might have escaped, leaving too little behind to fully evolve into a black hole. However, there is no companion detected. Of course, the companion star could have been destroyed during the energetic interactions with the magnetars progenitor. Clearly astronomers need to study these objects to understand more about them and how they form. Magnetic Field Strength However a magnetar is born, its incredibly powerful magnetic field is its most defining characteristic. Even at distances of 600 miles from a magnetar, the field strength would be so great as to literally rip human tissue apart. If the magnetar floated halfway between the Earth and the Moon, its magnetic field would be strong enough to lift metal objects such as pens or paperclips from your pockets, and completely demagnetize all of the credit cards on Earth. Thats not all. The radiation environment around them would be incredibly hazardous. These magnetic fields are so powerful that acceleration of particles easily produce x-ray emissions and gamma-ray photons, the highest energy light in the universe. Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen.