Little Rock, Arkansas - New Futures for Youth - an Independent, Non-profit Organization Free Essay Example, 2750 words

Ms Threet possesses a Bachelor s Degree in Psychology and has been with New Futures for seventeen years. Ms Threet possesses a Bachelor s Degree in Psychology and has been with New Futures for seventeen years. When asked how does age, gender, marital status, and tenure affect hiring and supervision decisions, Mr Vogler explained that aside from the administrative and volunteer positions, the major requirement for employment with New Futures is that applicants possess a four-year degree received from an accredited college of higher learning (Vogler, personal communication, July 16, 2010). When Ms Threet was asked the same question, she stated very simply that, maturity and commitment to youth development were the major hiring criteria of New Futures (Threet, personal communication, July 19, 2010). When asked to elaborate, Ms Threet explained that gender, marital status and tenure are not usually applicable. New Futures currently plans to hire three new staff members, to be outplac ed in area high schools, working directly with youth in a pilot project. Gender will be considered in hiring to match male staff with male youth and female staff with female youth. However, this is not a requirement, only a consideration to meet the needs of the youth. Through personal communication with both staff member s, it appeared that they differed in their opinions of what were the most important hiring criteria for employees. Ms Threet explained that an obviously qualified applicant (who was also an internal applicant) applied for a promotion within New Futures and was hired for the position and the applicant did not have a four-year degree. This could very well explain why the two differed in their responses to the hiring criteria of employees. In terms of the professional make-up of the organization, both staff members explained that the organization consisted of a wide variety of disciplines, i.e. social workers (LMSW and LCSW level); Program Specialist; Program Liaisons; Communications Specialist; and Research and Evaluation Analysts. When asked about the types of professional development training that the program offered, both employees provided very different responses. We will write a custom essay sample on Little Rock, Arkansas - New Futures for Youth - an Independent, Non-profit Organization or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now

Essay Marketsoft Harvard- Case Study - 645 Words

Market Soft Case study Situation: MarketSoft founded by Greg Erman, in 1999 had designed an innovative software product that addressed the problem of managing sales leads across the â€Å"extended enterprise†. The product eLeads was strategically developed upon extensive research to address three critical areas many of the fortune 1000 companies in the modern times are facing: 1.Leads get lost 2. No qualifying systems for the leads exist and 3.The leads are never tracked. Problems: 1. The entire product was built based on customer needs that were identified by querying an extensive network of sales and marketing industry professionals. While MarketSoft used an elaborate LP language to ensure that what they heard translated to all of†¦show more content†¦The obvious benefit of targeting this particular blue chip market segment as addressed in the second problem could be both monetary and that a greater number of market leads can be fed into the software when mining a larger market and could lead to minimization of the confidence interval error ratio. However mid-size markets and companies who are players in this segment should not be ignored. The problem in ignoring them is that MarketSoft is leaving a large segment of the market unattended and these mid-level companies have a potential to grow into larger corporations. By ignoring this market segment MarketSoft will essentially have lost an opportunity to have developed a future clientele base Recommendation: Problem 1 can be addressed by following the open-ended questions with specific targeted questions that would allow focused answering, leading to better data mining which will help zero in on exactly what the need is and ultimately help refine the product characteristics with more finesse. A suitable recommendation to address the second problem is that these middle markets should also be targeted and the software should be refined to cater to these current needs with an ability to expand along with the client’s business needs. To make MarketSoft accessible to also companies that

Directly Incurred In Manufacturing Product â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Directly Incurred In Manufacturing Product? Answer: Introducation a) Flexible budget is a budget where the budgeted costs differ for different levels of activity. The expenses of a business are classified into variable, semi variable and fixed costs with utmost accuracy as the importance of the budget depends upon the accuracy to which the costs have been properly classified. Flexible budget helps in identifying the deviation of the actual costs of the actual quantity from the budgeted costs of the actual quantity(Hilton Paltt, 2016) .This is very important for cost control as the reason of the deviation of actual performance from the planned performance can be known. For example, management has prepared a budget for production of 2000 units of product A as follows: Standard Budget Flexible budget Actual 2000 1500 1500 Variable costs ($10 per unit) $20,000 $15,000 $17,000 Fixed cost $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 From the above we see that the actual deviation of variable costs has been an excess of $2000 over budgeted. If we were to go by standard budget, the deviation would be favourable $3,000 which is unrealistic. Flexible budgets overcome the shortcoming of the static budgets in performance evaluation. Under static budget, the actual results are compared to the budgeted ones irrespective of the level of sales. So if the sales volume increase, the corresponding variable costs are bound to increase, however, static budget does not consider this. Flexible budgets increase the budgeted costs with an increase in the volume of sales and thus provide for a more realistic performance evaluation thus eliminating the scope of volume variances. b) Before a cash budget is prepared, the budgets that need to be prepared include Sales budget, Materials budget, and Selling and expenses budget. The likely timing of the cash flows and their impact on the cash budget is discussed below: i) Sales budget this is the first budget and depending on the sales forecasted, other budgets follow. The sales budget will increase the cash flows as the revenues will result in receipts. The timings of the cash flow depend on the collection policy of the company. If sales are made for cash, the cash flow will increase in the month of sale. For credit sales, the cash flow will increase in the month the cash is collected for the credit sales. ii) Materials budget depending on the production budget, the materials required to produce the required quantity is determined by the materials budget. The materials are purchased to be used in production and hence will result in outflow/disbursements in the cash budget. The cash outflow depends on the credit the company gets from its suppliers. For cash purchases, the month in which the material is purchased is effected and for credit purchases, the month in which the payment is being made is affected. iii) Selling expenses budget this budget results in cash outflow and hence will increase the cash disbursements in cash budget. The cash is normally paid when such expenses are incurred. c) Operating cycle is the time required to acquire the inventory, sell it and receive cash from the customers for the inventory sold. A cash cycle is the time taken to release cash tied up in production and sales processes. Operating cycle and cash cycle can be used interchangeably however; operating cycle measures the operating efficiencies whereas cash cycle measures the effectiveness of cash flow management. Operating cycle is a sum of the days inventory outstanding and days sales outstanding whereas the cash cycle is the sum of days inventory outstanding and days sales outstanding less the days payables outstanding. A shorter operating and cash cycle means effective working capital management as the inventory is converted into sales and the sales are paid for in a shorter time period. Also the time taken to pay the suppliers is more than the time taken to receive payment. The various ratios that can be used in measuring the working capital efficiency include inventory turnover, r eceivables turnover and payables turnover. Inventory turnover is the number of times the company is able to turn its inventory into sales in a year. Higher the ratio, the better it is. Receivables turnover is the number of times a company can convert its receivables into cash during the year. A higher ratio means the receivables are fast moving and debtors are paying on time. Higher the ratio, the better it is. Payables turnover is the number of times the company is paying its average accounts payables in a year. Higher the ratio the better it is because this means the company is able to pay its bills on time and the ratio can be used to negotiate favourable credit terms for the company. d) No, we do not agree that government organisations do not need accounting; rather it is important for these organisations to have transparency and uniformity in the financial data being reported. Accounting refers to recording all financial transactions and thereby interpreting, reporting and summarizing this data. The source of funding for these organisations is grants or taxes both of which are public money. The government uses this money to provide valuable goods and services to the public like roads, infrastructure, and other public amenities. The source and use of such funds should be properly recorded in the books of accounts to be reported to the public as the public would want to know where their money is being spent. The financial data can also be used by the government agencies for preparing annual budgets. Accounting helps to keep a check on the expenditures so that the expenditures remain within the limit of the budget as approved by the government also to ensure that t he expenditures are made as per the rules, regulations and the legal provisions of the government. The accounting data can be used to prepare financial statements and various reports of use to the government and the public. The government organisations should use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for accounting purposes. e) A costing system is used by a company to accurately estimate the costs of the products in order to determine the selling price of the products. The system uses various cost control measures, reports, processes and forms to report on the revenues and a cost incurred for the product and therefore measures the profitability of the product. A costing system also helps in multiple product profitability analysis, comparison of budgeted and actual results, and accurate estimation of futura) Manufacturing overheads allocation rate for Wonder Products on the basis of machine hours. Manufacturing overhead rate = total manufacturing overheads / total machine hours = 598080 / 7000 = $85.44 b) Administrative overheads allocation rate for Wonder Products on the basis of direct labour hours. Administrative overhead rate = total administrative overheads / total direct labour hours = 695520 / 14000 = $49.68 c) Price to be quoted to Bushy for the wonderful creation is calculated below: Particulars Amount Direct material $19,000 Manufacturing overhead (400*85.44) $34,176 Administrative overhead (750*49.68) $37,260 Total costs $90,436 Mark up of 40% on total costs $36,174.4 Price of Wonderful Creation $126,610.4 d) It is important to carefully allocate overhead expenses to products for accurate pricing. The prices are determined on the basis of costs for products. Overhead expenses are not directly incurred in manufacturing the product rather these may relate to support services costs. Since the product is indirectly using such services, it is necessary to include these costs in the total product cost as it also helps in decision making. The most common and old method of overhead allocation is traditional costing where the overheads are allocated to the products on the basis of a predetermined rate irrespective of the complexity of the activities undertaken to incur the cost. Hence, this method does not accurately allocate the overhead costs. Another costing method Activity Based Costing solves the problem by allocating overhead costs by dividing overheads into various activities and identifying cost drivers. On the basis of the usage of the various activities, the costs are allocated. e) The companies use a predetermined rate rather than actual overhead costs in allocating overheads because these overheads are not directly incurred in manufacturing the product. Administrative and manufacturing overheads like salaries, rent, electricity, insurance are not incurred for production but are rather support services. Hence, these costs need to be allocated on a predetermined basis. References Hilton, R., Paltt, D. (2016). Managerial Accounting: Creating Value In a Dynamic Business Environment. Australia. Weygandt, J., Kimmel, P., Kieso, D. (n.d.). Managerial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making, 7th Edition. Australia: Wiley.

Mound Builders Of North America Essays - Mound Builders,

Mound Builders Of North America Mound Builders of North America The mound builders of North America have allured the curiosity of scholars and architects since the days of de Soto. Having such a long history, and being the most advanced civilization in the United States portion of North America, their history, vague and ancient, has continued to excite scholars up until current times. Mounds are scattered all over the United States as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Some, especially in Illinois and the Mississippi region, are very impressive, reaching as much as 100 feet high and covering sixteen square acres. Likewise, there are many very small mounds that are often mistaken for natural geographical features. Mounds have been classified by scholars into three major categories: effigy mounds, burial mounds, and temple mounds. Effigy mounds are most common in the northern part of the United States near the Great Lakes and as far up as the Canadian Shield. These cleverly designed effigies are remarkable in geometric precision and very impressive, especially since it is so far unexplained how they were constructed. The purpose for the creation of these amazing earthen artworks is also obscured, hidden somewhere in the far past, but it can be assumed, judging by the general patterns of other ancient cultures, that ancient mound building people had originally designed them for spiritual purposes. Burial mounds are usually distinguishable by their cone shape, and received their name from theories concerning their purpose. The majority of architects agree that mounds did serve as mortuaries and that the elite were buried in them. The possibility that the mounds contained human sacrifices has also been considered, and many theorist that base their inferences on the similarities between the mound builders and the Mexican cultures have not overlooked this theory. The temple mounds in the southern regions of the United States are famous for the pyramid-like structure and their layered construction. They are comparable, though not nearly as analogous in size, to the great Egyptian pyramids, and have several brow-raising similarities to the Mayan mounds and other mounds built by the Mexican Indians. The temple mounds are also noted for having had temples built at the top of each one. The chroniclers that journeyed with the Spanish explorers during the 1 500's described the temples as not places of worship, but rather shrines. In addition to their mounds, the Mound Builders also left behind large enclosures. Enclosures found at the tops of mounds are thought to have been used for military and defensive purposes. James A. Brown of Northwestern University, however, argued in an article he had written that the construction of the enclosures offered no evidence of military objective, and that all archeological evidence pointed to mortuary and ritual use only. Mounds that were built on broad river bottoms were characteristically geometrical, and they were often times connected paths bordered by low embankments. The period when the Mound Builders ruled the Mississippi valley and the central and eastern United States is actually divided into three epochs. The Mound Building cultures can be dated as far back as 1500 BC, and that time until around 700 BC archeologist identify as the Poverty Point Culture. The Hopwellian period spans from 500 BC to 400 AD, and the last period begins in the year 700 AD and ends in 1550. The Poverty Point Culture and the Hopwellian period remain mysterious, but researchers were able to gather a relatively large, however wanting, amount of information from the Mississippian era simply because it was not yet ended when the conquistadors and adventurers came to North America. When Hernando de Soto journeyed through Florida (then a name given to basically any region where Mound Builders resided) his chroniclers repeatedly remarked on the density of the population and the abundance of maize. Maize became a staple crop around 800 AD, around the same time that the Missis sippian Era began. Another feature that distinguishes the Mississippian from the other earlier eras was their use of bows and arrows to strike down game. Prior to the use of this tool, Mound Builders used the atlatl (a type of spear) for hunting. The lifestyle of the Mound Builders reflected their geographical orientation. Since they were mainly