Acca Questions Lrp Essay Example

Acca Questions Lrp Essay ‘In the broadest sense, all accounting is management accounting. All financial and cost information generated by accountants is of some interest to management. But, in practice, where management accounting differs from financial accounting ’ (from An Insight into Management Accounting by John Sizer) Required: (a) (b) Give a brief definition of management accounting. 6 marks) Give a discussion of the major differences between management and financial accounting. (20 marks) (Total: 25 marks) 2 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS A COLLEGE A college offers a range of degree courses. The college organisation structure consists of three faculties, each with a number of teaching departments. In addition, there is an administrative/management function and a central services function. The following cost information is available for the year ended 30 June 20X7: (1) Occupancy costs Total ? 1,500,000. Such costs are apportioned on the basis of area used which is: Square feet Faculties 7,500 Teaching departments 20,000 Administration/management 7,000 Central services 3,000 (2) Administration/management costs Direct costs: ? 1,775,000. Indirect costs: an apportionment of occupancy costs. Direct and indirect costs are charged to degree courses on a percentage basis. (3) Faculty costs Direct costs: ? 700,000. Indirect costs: an apportionment of occupancy costs and central service costs. Direct and indirect costs are charged to teaching departments. (4) Teaching departments Direct costs: ? ,525,000. Indirect costs: an apportionment of occupancy costs and central service costs plus all faculty costs. Direct and indirect costs are charged to degree courses on a percentage basis. (5) Central services Direct costs: ? 1,000,000. Indirect costs: an apportionment of occupancy costs. Direct and indirect costs of central services have in previous years been charged to users on a percentage basi s. A study has now been completed which has estimated what user areas would have paid external suppliers for the same services on an individual basis. We will write a custom essay sample on Acca Questions Lrp specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Acca Questions Lrp specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Acca Questions Lrp specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer For the year ended 30 June 20X7, the apportionment of the central services cost is to be recalculated in a manner which recognises the cost savings achieved by using the central services facilities instead of using external service companies. This is to be done by apportioning the overall savings to user areas in proportion to their share of the estimated external costs. KAPLAN PUBLISHING 3 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT The estimated external costs of service provision are as follows: ? 00 Faculties 240 Teaching departments 800 Degree courses: Business studies 32 Mechanical engineering 48 Catering studies 32 All other degrees 448 ____ 1,600 ____ (6) Additional data relating to the degree courses are as follows: Degree course Business Mechanical Studies Engineering Number of graduates 80 50 Apportioned costs (as % of totals) Teaching departments 3% 2. 5% Administration/management 2. 5% 5% Central services are to be apportioned as detailed in (5) above. The total number of graduate s from the college in the year to 30 June 20X7 was 2,500. Required: (a) (b) Prepare a flow diagram which shows the apportionment of costs to user areas. No values need be shown. (5 marks) Calculate the average cost per graduate, for the year ended 30 June 20X7, for the college and for each of the degrees in business studies, mechanical engineering and catering studies, showing all relevant cost analysis. (15 marks) Suggest reasons for any differences in the average cost per graduate from one degree to another, and discuss briefly the relevance of such information to the college management. (5 marks) (Total: 25 marks) Catering Studies 120 7% 4% c) 4 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS ADMER Admer owns several home furnishing stores. In each store, consultations, if needed, are undertaken by specialists, who also visit potential customers in their homes, using specialist software to help customers realise their design objectives. Customers visit the store to make their selections from the wide range of goods offered, a fter which sales staff collect payment and raise a purchase order. Customers then collect their self-assembly goods from the warehouse, using the purchase order as authority to collect. Administration staff process purchase orders and also arrange consultations. Each store operates an absorption costing system and costs other than the cost of goods sold are apportioned on the basis of sales floor area. Results for one of Admer’s stores for the last three months are as follows: Department Kitchens $ Sales Cost of goods sold Other costs Profit/(loss) 210,000 63,000 130,250 _______ 16,750 _______ Bathrooms $ 112,500 137,500 81,406 _______ (6,406) _______ Dining Rooms $ 440,000 176,000 113,968 _______ 150,032 _______ Total $ 762,500 276,500 325,624 _______ 160,376 _______ The management accountant of Admer is concerned that the bathrooms department of the store has been showing a loss for some time, and is considering a proposal to close the bathrooms department in order to concentrate on the more profitable kitchens and dining rooms departments. He has found that other costs for this store for the last three months are made up of: $ Employees Sales staff wages Consultation staff wages Warehouse staff wages Administration staff wages General overheads (light, heat, rates, etc. ) 164,800 124,960 130,240 130,624 175,000 _______ 325,624 _______ 12 4 6 4 KAPLAN PUBLISHING 5 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT He has also collected the following information for the last three months: Department Number of items sold Purchase orders Floor area metres) Number consultations (square of Kitchens 1,000 1,000 16,000 798 Bathrooms 1,500 900 10,000 200 Dining Rooms 4,000 2,500 14,000 250 The management accountant believes that he can use this information to review the store’s performance in the last three months from an activity-based costing (ABC) perspective. Required: (a) (b) Discuss the management accountant’s belief that the information provided can be used in an activity-based costing analysis. 4 marks) Explain and illustrate, using supporting calculations, how an ABC profit statement might be produced from the information provided. Clearly explain the reasons behind your choice of cost drivers. (8 marks) Evaluate and discuss the proposal to close the bathrooms department. (6 marks) (c) (d) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages that may arise for Admer from introducing activity-based costing in its stores. (7 marks) (Total: 25 marks) 6 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS QP PLC QP plc is a food processing company that produces pre-prepared meals for sale to consumers through a number of different supermarkets. The company specialises in three particular preprepared meals and has invested significantly in modern manufacturing processes to ensure a high quality product. The company is very aware of the importance of training and retaining high quality staff in all areas of the company and, in order to ensure their production employees’ commitment to the company, the employees are guaranteed a weekly salary that is equivalent to their normal working hours paid at their normal hourly rate of ? 7 per hour. The meals are produced in batches of 100 units. Costs and selling prices per batch are as follows: Meal Selling price Ingredient K (? /kg) Ingredient L (? 10/kg) Ingredient M (? 15/kg) Labour (? 7/hour) Factory costs absorbed Required: (a) (b) State the principles of throughput accounting and the effects of using it for short-term (6 marks) decision making. QP plc is preparing its production plans for the next three months and has estimated the maximum demand from its customers to be a s follows: TR PN BE 500 batches 400 batches 350 batches TR ? /batch 340 150 70 30 21 20 PN ? /batch 450 120 90 75 28 80 BE ? /batch 270 90 40 45 42 40 QP plc has adopted throughput accounting for its short-term decisions. These demand maximums are amended figures because a customer has just delayed its request for a large order and QP has unusually got some spare capacity over the next three months. However, these demand maximums do include a contract for the delivery of 50 batches of each to an important customer. If this minimum contract is not satisfied, then QP plc will have to pay a substantial financial penalty for nondelivery. The Production Director is concerned at hearing news that two of the ingredients used are expected to be in short supply for the next three months. QP plc does not hold inventory f these ingredients and, although there are no supply problems for ingredient K, the supplies of ingredients L and M are expected to be limited to: Ingredient L Ingredient M 7,000 kilos 3,000 kilos The Production Director has researched the problem and found that ingredient V can be used as a direct substitute for ingredient M. It also costs the same as ingredient M. There is an unlimited supply of ingredient V. Required: Prepare calculations to determine the production mix that will maximise the profit of QP plc during the next three months. (10 marks) KAPLAN PUBLISHING 7 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT c) The World Health Organization has now announced that ingredient V contains dangerously high levels of a chemical that can cause life-threatening illnesses. As a consequence it can no longer be used in the production of food. As a result, the production director has determined the optimal solution to the company’s production mix problem using linear programming. This is set out below: Objective function value TR value PN value BE value TR slack value PN slack value BE slack value L shadow price value M shadow price value Required: Explain the meaning of each of the values contained in the above solution. 9 marks) (Total: 25 marks) 110,714 500 357 71 0 43 279 3 28 8 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS MN LTD MN Ltd manufactures automated in dustrial trolleys, known as TRLs. Each TRL sells for ? 2,000 and the material cost per unit is ? 600. Labour and variable overhead are ? 5,500 and ? 8,000 per week respectively. Fixed production costs are ? 450,000 per annum and marketing and administrative costs are ? 265,000 per annum. The trolleys are made on three different machines. Machine X makes the four frame panels required for each TRL. Its maximum output is 180 frame panels per week. Machine X is old and unreliable and it breaks down from time to time. It is estimated that, on average, between 15 and 20 hours of production are lost per month. Machine Y can manufacture parts for 52 TRLs per week and Machine Z, which is old but reasonably reliable, can process and assemble 30 TRLs per week. The company has recently introduced a just-in-time (JIT) system and it is company policy to hold little work-in-progress and no finished goods stock from week to week. The company operates a 40-hour week, 48 weeks a year (12 months ? weeks) but cannot meet demand. The demand for the next year is predicted to be as follows. This is expected to be typical of the demand for the next four years: Units per week January February March April May June 30 30 33 36 39 44 July August September October November December Units per week 48 45 42 40 33 30 The production manager has suggested that the company replaces Machine Z with either Machin e F or Machine G. Machine F can process 36 TRLs per week and costs ? 330,000. It is expected that labour costs would increase by ? ,500 per week if Machine F were installed. Machine G can process 45 TRLs per week and costs ? 550,000. It is estimated that the variable overhead cost per week will increase by ? 4,500 if TRLs are made on Machine G. The maintenance manager is keen to spend ? 100,000 on a major overhaul of machine X – he says this will make it 100% reliable. The management of MN Ltd is wondering whether it should now install a full standard costing and variance analysis system. At present, standard costs are calculated only as part of the annual budgeting process. Management is concerned about implementing so many changes in a short space of time, but feels the system could be very useful. The company’s cost of capital is 10% per annum. It evaluates projects over four years and depreciates its assets over five years. Required: Using the case of MN Ltd in the scenario above: (a) (b) (c) Explain the concept of throughput accounting. (6 marks) To what uses do advocates of throughput accounting suggest that the throughput ratio be put? (6 marks) Explain how the concept of contribution in throughput accounting differs from that in marginal costing. 7 marks) KAPLAN PUBLISHING 9 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT (d) If MN Ltd has decided to purchase Machine G and spend ? 100,000 on a major overhaul of Machine X, the management accountant and the production manager should collaborate to ensure a new focus for monitoring and reporting production activities. What is the new focus? Explain what should be monitored and reported. 6 marks) (Total: 25 marks) 10 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS BML BML has three product lines: P1, P2 and P3. Since its creation the company has been using a single direct labour cost percentage to assign overhead costs to products. Despite P3, a relatively new line, attracting additional business, increasing overhead costs and a loss of market share, particularly for P2, a major product, have convinced the management that the costing system is in need of some development. A team, led by the management accountant was established to develop an improved system of costing based on activities. The team spent several weeks collecting data (see tables below) for the different activities and products. For the accounting period in question, given in the tables below is data on BML’s three product lines and overhead costs: P1 7,500 units ? 4 ? 18 ? 47 4 0. 5 1 30% 1 P2 12,500 units ? 8 ? 25 ? 80 25 0. 5 5 20% 7 P3 4,000 units ? 6. 40 ? 16 ? 68 50 0. 2 10 50% 22 Overhead cost ? 150,000 390,000 18,688 100,000 60,000 ___________ Production volume Direct labour cost per unit Material cost per unit Selling price per unit Materials movements (in total) Machine hours per unit Set-ups (in total) Proportion of engineering work Orders packed (in total) Activities Material receiving and handling Machine maintenance and depreciation Set-up labour Engineering Packing Total Required: (a) (b) 718,688 ___________ Calculate the overhead rate and the product unit costs under the existing costing system. (5 marks) Identify for each overhead activity, an appropriate cost driver from the information supplied, and then calculate the product unit costs using a system that assigns overheads on the basis of the use of activities. (11 marks) Comment on the results of the two costing systems in (a) and (b) above. 9 marks) (Total: 25 marks) (c) KAPLAN PUBLISHING 11 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ABC PLC ABC plc, a group operating retail stores, is compiling its budget statements for 20X8. In this exercise revenues and costs at each store A, B and C are predicted. Additionally, all central costs of warehousing and a head office are allocated across the three stores in order to arrive at a total cost and net profit of each store operation. In earlier years th e central costs were allocated in total based on the total sales value of each store. But as a result of dissatisfaction expressed by some store managers alternative methods are to be evaluated. The predicted results before any re-allocation of central costs are as follows: A B ? 000 ? 000 Sales 5,000 4,000 Costs of sales 2,800 2,300 ____ ____ Gross margin Local operating expenses Variable Fixed Operating profit The central costs which are to be allocated are: ? 000 Warehouse costs: Depreciation Storage Operating and despatch Delivery Head office: Salaries Advertising Establishment Total 100 80 120 300 200 80 120 2,200 660 700 ___ 840 ___ 1,700 730 600 ___ 370 ___ C ? 00 3,000 1,900 ____ 1,100 310 500 ___ 290 ___ ________ ________ 1,000 The management accountant has carried out discussions with staff at all locations in order to identify more suitable ‘cost drivers’ of some of the central costs. So far the following has been revealed: A B C Number of despatches 550 450 520 Total delivery distances (thousand miles) 70 50 90 Storage space occupied (%) 40 30 30 1 2 3 An analysis of senior management time revealed that 10% of their time was devoted to warehouse issues with the remainder shared equally between the three stores. It was agreed that the only basis on which to allocate the advertising costs was sales revenue. Establishment costs were mainly occupancy costs of senior management. This analysis has been carried out against a background of developments in the company, for example, automated warehousing and greater integration with suppliers. 12 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS Required: As the management accountant prepare a report for the management of the group which: (i) computes the budgeted net profit of each store based on the sales value allocation base originally adopted and explains ‘cost driver’, ‘volume’ and ‘complexity’ issues in relation to cost allocation commenting on the possible implications of the dissatisfaction expressed; (7 marks) computes the budgeted net profit of each store using the additional information provided, discusses the extent to which an improvement has been achieved in the information on the costs and profitability of running the stores and comments on the results. 14 marks) (ii) (b) Explain briefly how regression analysis and coefficient of determination (r2) could be used in confirming the delivery mileage allocation method used in (a) above. (4 marks) (Total: 25 marks) KAPLAN PUBLISHING 13 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT KEY FACTORS AND THROUGHPUT ACCOUNTING Sunglow Estates Com pany (SEL) has acquired a 600-hectare site comprising the following: Land groups (1) Agricultural land in current use (2) Derelict land formerly occupied by factories (3) Contaminated land formerly used for chemical storage 280 hectares 250 hectares 70 hectares It is possible for SEL to develop this site with a combination of houses, apartments and shops. The associated development costs per hectare are as follows: Houses Land group (1) (2) (3) $000 370 340 ? Apartments $000 715 640 ? 820. 52 It is not possible to use land group (3) for houses or apartments, but this land can be used for the development of shops without first decontaminating it. Income per hectare generated by the three types of development are: Sale of leases $000 Houses Apartments Shops 230 480 ? Annual ground rent $000 40 70 200 Shops $000 790 698 SEL’s planning consent for the development specifies that no more than 40 hectares of the development should be occupied by shops and no less than 200 hectares should be occupied by houses. Land developed for houses in excess of the minimum specified by the planning consent will qualify for a government subsidy in the form of an interest-free loan of $200,000 per hectare developed, repayable in four annual instalments of $50,000. It is possible to decontaminate all or part of land group (3) at a cost of $80,000 per hectare. Such decontaminated land is, for development purposes, the same as agricultural land. SEL appraises investments using DCF evaluation, a 10% cost of money for low-risk investments (including development of houses and apartments), a 15% cost of money for high-risk investments (including the development of shops) and an eight-year time horizon. ‘I remember being told about the useful decision-making technique of limiting factor analysis (also known as ‘contribution per unit of the key factor’). If an organisation is prepared to believe that, in the short run, all costs other than direct materials are fixed costs, is this not the same thing that throughput accounting is talking about? Why rename limiting factor analysis as throughput accounting? ’ 14 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS Required: (a) Explain what a limiting (or ‘key’) factor is and what sort of things can become limiting factors in a business situation. Which of the factors in the scenario could become a limiting factor? (8 marks) Explain the techniques that have been developed to assist in business decision-making when single or multiple limiting factors are encountered. (7 marks) Explain the management idea known as throughput accounting. State and justify your opinion on whether or not throughput accounting and limiting factor analysis are the same thing. Briefly comment on whether throughput accounting is likely to be of relevance to SEL. (10 marks) (Total: 25 marks) (b) (c) KAPLAN PUBLISHING 15 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES JB LTD JB Ltd is a small specialist manufacturer of electronic components and much of its output is used by the makers of aircraft for both civil and military purposes. One of the few aircraft manufacturers has offered a contract to JB Ltd for the supply, over the next 12 months, of 400 identical components. The data relating to the production of each component is as follows: (1) Material requirements 3 kg material M1 – see note (i) below 2 kg material P2 – see note (ii) below 1 part no. 678 – see note (iii) below Notes: (i) Material M1 is in continuous use by the company. 1,000 kg are currently held in stock at a book value of ? 4. 70/kg but it is known that future purchases will cost ? 5. 50/kg. 1,200 kg of material P2 are held in stock. The original cost of this material was ? 4. 30/kg but, as the material has not been required for the last two years, it has been written down to ? 1. 50/kg scrap value. The only foreseeable alternative use is as a substitute for material P4 (in current use) but this would involve further processing costs of ? 1. 60/kg. The current cost of material P4 is ? 3. 60/kg. It is estimated that the part no. 678 could be bought for ? 50 each. (ii) (iii) (2) Labour requirements Each component would require five hours of skilled labour and five hours of semiskilled. An employee possessing the necessary skills is available and is currently paid ? 5/hour. A replacement would, however, have to be obtained at a rate of ? 4/hour for the work which would otherwise be done by the skilled employee. The current rate for semi-skilled work is ? 3/hour and an additional employee could be appointed for this work. (3) Overhead JB Ltd absorbs overhead by a machine hour rate, currently ? 20/hour, of which ? 7 is for variable overhead and ? 13 for fixed overhead. If this contract is undertaken, it is estimated that fixed costs will increase for the duration of the contract by ? 3,200. Spare machine capacity is available and each component would require four machine hours. A price of ? 145 per component has been suggested by the large company which makes aircraft. Required: (a) (b) State whether or not the contract should be accepted and support your conclusion with (16 marks) appropriate figures for presentation to management; Comment briefly on three factors which management ought to consider and which may influence their decision. (9 marks) (Total: 25 marks) 16 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS EXE AND WYE A firm manufactures two products, EXE and WYE, in departments dedicated exclusively to them. There are also three service departments, stores, maintenance and administration. No stocks are held as the products deteriorate rapidly. Direct costs of the products, which are variable in the context of the whole business, are identified to each department. The step-wise apportionment of service department costs to the manufacturing departments is based on estimates of the usage of the service provided. These are expressed as percentages and assumed to be reliable over the current capacity range. The general factory overheads of ? 3. 6m, which are fixed, are apportioned based on floor space occupied. The company establishes product costs based on budgeted volume and marks up these costs by 25% in order to set target selling prices. Extracts from the budgets for 20X8 are provided below: Annual volume (units) EXE WYE 200,000 100,000 150,000 70,000 EXE Costs (? m) Material costs Other variable costs Departmental usage (%) Maintenance Administration Stores Floor space (sq m) Required: Workings may be ? 000 with unit prices to the nearest penny. (a) (b) Calculate the budgeted selling price of one unit of EXE and WYE based on the usual mark up. (6 marks) Discuss how the company may respond to each of the following independent events, which represent additional business opportunities: (i) (ii) an enquiry from an overseas customer for 3,000 units only of WYE where a price of ? 5 per unit is offered an enquiry for 50,000 units of WYE to be supplied in full at regular intervals during 20X8 at a price which is equivalent to full cost plus 10%. 1. 8 0. 8 50 40 60 640 WYE 0. 7 0. 5 25 30 40 480 Stores 0. 1 0. 1 25 20 240 Maintenance 0. 1 0. 2 Admin – 0. 2 Maximum capacity Budget 10 80 160 In both cases support your d iscussion with calculations and comment on any assumptions or matters on which you would seek clarification. (13 marks) (c) Explain the implications of preparing product full costs based on maximum capacity rather than annual budget volume. (6 marks) (Total: 25 marks) KAPLAN PUBLISHING 7 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PLASTIC TOOLS A small company is engaged in the production of plastic tools for the garden. Sub-totals on the spreadsheet of budgeted overheads for a year reveal the following: Moulding department 1,600 2,500 0,800 1,200 Finishing department 500 850 600 800 General factory overhead 1,050 1,750 Variable overhead ? 000s Fixed overhead ? 000s Budgeted activity Machine hours (000s) Practical capacity Machine hours (000s) For the purposes of reallocation of general factory overhead it is agreed that the variable overheads accrue in line with the machine hours worked in each department. General factory fixed overhead is to be reallocated on the basis of the practical machine hour capacity of the two departments. It has been a long-standing company practice to establish selling prices by applying a mark-up on full manufacturing cost of between 25% and 35%. A possible price is sought for one new product which is in a final development stage. The total market for this product is estimated at 200,000 units per annum. Market research indicates that the company could expect to obtain and hold about 10% of the market. It is hoped the product will offer some improvement over competitors’ products, which are currently marketed at between ? 90 and ? 100 each. The product development department have determined that the direct material content is ? 9 per unit. Each unit of the product will take two labour hours (four machine hours) in the moulding department and three labour hours (three machine hours) in finishing. Hourly labour rates are ? 5. 00 and ? 5. 50 respectively. Management estimate that the annual fixed costs which would be specifically incurred in relation to the product are: supervision ? 20,000, depreciation of a recently acquired machine ? 20,000 and advertising ? 27,000. It may be assumed that these costs are included in the budget given above. Given the state of development of this new product, management do not consider it necessary to make revisions, to the budgeted activity levels given above, for any possible extra machine hours involved in its manufacture. Required: (a) (b) (c) Briefly explain the role of costs in pricing. (8 marks) Prepare full cost and marginal cost information which may help with the pricing decision. (10 marks) Comment on the cost information and suggest a price range which should be considered. marks) (Total: 25 marks) 18 KAPLAN PUBLISHING LECTURER RESOURCE PACK – QUESTIONS BIL MOTOR COMPONENTS PLC (a) In an attempt to win over key customers in the motor industry and to increase its market share, BIL Motor Components plc have decided to charge a price lower than their normal price for component TD463 when selling to the key customers who are being targeted. Details of component TD463’s standard costs are as follows: Standard cost data Machine Group 1 ? Materials (per unit) 26. 00 Labour (per unit) 2. 00 Variable overheads (per unit) 0. 65 Fixed overheads (per unit) 3. 00 _____ 31. 5 _____ Setting-up costs per batch of 200 units Required: Compute the lowest selling price at which one batch of 200 units could be offer ed, (9 marks) and critically evaluate the adoption of such a pricing policy. (b) The company is also considering the launch of a new product, component TDX489, and have provided you with the following information. Product TDX489 Standard cost per box ? 6. 20 1. 60 ____ 7. 80 ____ Market research ? forecast of demand Selling price (? ) 13 12 11 10 9 Demand (boxes) 5,000 6,000 7,200 11,200 13,400 The company only has enough production capacity to make 7,000 boxes. However, it would be possible to purchase product TDX489 from a sub-contractor at ? 7. 75 per box for orders up to 5,000 boxes, and ? 7 per box if the orders exceed 5,000 boxes. Required: Prepare and present a computation which illustrates which price should be selected in order to maximise profits. (10 marks) (c) Where production capacity is the limiting factor, explain briefly the ways in which management can increase it without having to acquire more plant and machinery. (6 marks) (Total: 25 marks) ? 10 Component TD463 Batch size 200 units Machine Group 7 ? 17. 00 1. 60 0. 72 2. 50 _____ 21. 82 _____ ? 6 Machine Group 29 ? 0. 75 0. 80 1. 50 ____ 3. 05 ____ ? 4 Assembly ? 3. 00 1. 20 0. 36 0. 84 ____ 5. 40 ____ ? Variable cost Fixed cost KAPLAN PUBLISHING 19 PAPER F5 : PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT MOV COMPANY MOV Company produces custom-built sensors. Each sensor has a standard circuit board (SCB) in it. The current average contribution from a sensor is ? 400. MOV Company’s busine ss is steadily expanding and in the year just ending (2001/2002), the company will have produced 55,000 sensors. The demand for MOV Company’s sensors is predicted to grow over the next three years: Year 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 Units 58,000 62,000 65,000 The production of sensors is limited by the number of SCBs the company can produce. The present production level of 55,000 SCBs is the maximum that can be produced without overtime working. Overtime could increase annual output to 60,500, allowing production of sensors to also increase to 60,500. However, the variable cost of SCBs produced in overtime would increase by ? 75 per unit. Because of the pressure on capacity, the company is considering having the SCBs manufactured by another company, CIR Company. This company is very reliable and produces products of good quality. CIR Company has quoted a price of ? 16 per SCB, for orders greater than 50,000 units a year. MOV Company’s own costs per SCB are predicted to be: Direct material Direct labour Variable overhead Fixed overhead Total cost ? 28 40 20 24 112 (based on labour cost) (based on labour cost and output of 55,000 units) The fixed overheads directly attributable to SCBs are ? 250,000 a year; these costs will be avoide d if SCBs are not produced. If more than 59,000 units are produced, SCBs’ fixed overheads will increase by ? 130,000. In addition to the above overheads, MOV Company’s fixed overheads are predicted to be: Sensor production in units: Fixed overhead: 54,001 to 59,000 ? ,600,000 59,001 to 64,000 ? 2,900,000 64,001 to 70,000 ? 3,100,000 MOV Company currently holds a stock of 3,500 SCBs but the production manager feels that a stock of 8,000 should be held if they are bought-in; this would increase stockholding costs by ? 10,000 a year. A purchasing officer, who is paid ? 20,000 a year, spends 50% of her time on SCB duties. If the SCBs are bought-in, a liaison officer will have to be employed at a salary of ? 30,000 in order to liaise with CIR Company and monitor the quality and supply of SCBs. At present, 88 staff are involved in the production of SCBs at an average salary of ? 5,000 a year: if the SCBs were purchased, 72 of these staff would be made redundant at an average cost of ? 4,000 per employee. The SCB department, which occupies an area of 240 ? 120 square metres at the far end of the factory, could be rented out, at a rent of ? 45 per square metre a year. However, if the SCBs were to be bought-in, for the first year only MOV Company would need the space to store the increased stock caused by outsourcing, until the main stockroom had been reorganised and refurbished. From 2009/10, the space could be rented out; this would limit the annual production of

Healthy Food and Junk Food Essays

Healthy Food and Junk Food Essays Healthy Food and Junk Food Paper Healthy Food and Junk Food Paper Healthy Food and Junk Food: An Annotated Bibliography This article discusses the effects of eating junk food on children’s development, health, and behavior. It provides the physiological and psychological effects of junk food eating. The article points out the demise of the traditional value of dining because of the preference for junk food. It cites the common diseases that children may experience later on in their lives out of their habit of eating junk food. Food to Have Sometimes.   March 2007. Better Health Channel. 13 November 2007 betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Food_to_have_sometimes?open. This fact sheet provides information regarding the common ingredients in junk food. It also discusses how these ingredients harm the body when consumed regularly. However, the fact sheet also states that eating junk food occasionally is still healthy. It suggests that the important thing is to eat healthy and natural food regularly and to moderate the intake of junk foods. Bauer, Joy. Can Junk Foods be Good for you? March 8, 2007.   Today Show, MSNBC. 13 November 2007 http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17515303/. This article attempts to show that junk foods will never be good for an individual if taken excessively. With the emergence of healthy junk food, such as whole-grain, low-fat, or low-salt versions of the common types of junk food, Bauer answers the question, â€Å"Are these really healthy?† Bauer’s answer is no. In using the Krispy Kreme Whole Wheat Doughnut as an example, Bauer points out that despite the use of whole wheat, the doughnut has still a large amount of trans fat and still has a high calorie count.   Basically, Bauer points out that there are no substitutes for the natural and more nutritious snacks like fruits and vegetables. More importantly, some treats are just meant to be taken occasionally, whatever vitamins, mineral or grains are added to them. Larsen, Joanne. Junk Foods. Ask the Dietitian. 13 November 2007 dietitian.com/junkfood.html. This article provides a definition of what junk food really is. Larsen describes junk foods as those that are high in sugar, salt, fat, or calories and have low nutrient content. Larsen states that junk foods usually have empty calories. Some of the common junk food are salted snack foods, candy, most sweet desserts, fried fast food, and carbonated beverages. The article then characterizes each of these. Also, the article lists down ways of how to identify junk food. It emphasizes the need to consult the nutritional label of each food item. It provides suggestions of how to classify foods as junk or not. Koh, Vivienne. The Battle Between Junk Food and Health Food. Ezine Articles. 13 November 2007 http://ezinearticles.com/?id=708154. This article describes junk foods. It provides a definition of what junk food really is. It lists down some reasons why junk foods are so popular. It cites the taste, price, and availability as common reasons for its popularity. Koh also identifies the reasons why junk foods should be avoided as much as possible. She points out the health hazards that can result out of eating too much junk food. She cites the common diseases and attributes these health hazards to the ingredients of these food items. The article ends with a call to consumers to be more wary of what they buy. It calls consumers to consult nutrition labels for medical bills are far more costly than junk food.

Text messaging and the positive effects on literature Essay

Text messaging and the positive effects on literature - Essay Example Some even stated that they extensively text message on a regular basis. When those young adolescents spoke up regarding the use of cell phones, we were not surprised when they stated that they are using text messages as a primary form of communication between friends and family. According to the Mobile Life Report, 52% of children consider text messaging their number one form of communication with their friends. (Dunstone, 2008) Another factor driving the widespread adoption of cell phone use is parents want their children to carry cell phones for safety reasons. In fact, parents often object to school policies that ban cell phones, staging rallies and threatening lawsuits (Wallace, P., 2011). So with such a wide spread implementation of cell phones being purchased by parents for their children, why is it so hard to understand that children and adults are going to be using mobile devices as a primary form of communication? As you will see in this paper, using cell phones can actually improve the literacy of the users when text messages are the primary source of communication used. Even though text messaging can cause children and adults to use the abbreviated text spelling, text messaging its the largest form of communication for children and adults alike. Some studies have evidence that suggests that text messaging is positively affecting literacy skills in adults and children around the world. As many parents and teachers know, keeping an adolescent focused on learning to read is a daunting task. According to the Institute of Education Science, school, districts had total expenditures of approximately $596.6 billion in 2007–08 in the United States. How much of that money goes into programs that are designed to keep young adolescents focused and motivated to learn? Why are the schools not using all the mobile technology at their fingertips? Students enjoy learning as

Segment 4,5,and 6 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Segment 4,5,and 6 - Term Paper Example lberger recounts that the migrant passengers were â€Å"packed densely, like herrings† into the ships awaited them in harbors of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Each person received no more than 2-ft. wide bedstead, as a typical ship carried over 400 to 600 passengers. The miseries of the passengers usually began in the Dutch waters already, as the ships were compelled to pass through 8-14-day long customs examination at British ports, as they arrived there. However, the real hardship was to begin during the voyage across the Atlantic, as the vessels carrying migrants took 8 to 12 weeks until they reached Philadelphia. During such trips, gales and epidemics often struck the passengers, leading to rather high mortality levels and general discontent. In particular, infants and 1 to 7 year-old children were rarely to survive such trip. The most degrading part of the voyage, nevertheless, was to begin in the harbor of Philadelphia, as the destitute passengers were effectively sold to those who could pay for their new servants’ passage money. Usually adult persons were to serve for 3 to 6 years for the benefit of their purchasers, while the adolescents could be purchased to serve until they would be 21 year old. During such sale procedures, whole families were frequently torn apart. Segment 5. William Pitt’s Speech on the Stamp Act, 14 January 1766. This speech by William Pitt, Sr., who was at that time a leader of the Opposition, was to play one of the decisive roles in the repeal of the Stamp Act and the temporary softening of the British position with respect to the Colonies. Pitt pointed out that even â€Å"under former arbitrary reigns† it had been assumed that taxation entails the right of representation in the Parliament, and vice versa. He cited the example of Wales to show that the Colonists were right to demand the same attitude towards themselves. Pitt warned that the attempts of â€Å"the late administration† to â€Å"rob† the Colonies would be a dangerous

Pre-certification assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pre-certification assignment - Essay Example In level 212 the patients reach 211 (1, 3 and 4,) the history of the patient also demonstrates the patient to have had episodes of sore throat with is a sign of tenderness of the tonsils. The patient also has difficulty in swallowing which is a typical sign of tonsillar enlargement. In addition, the patient presents with fever in the history. Finally, in level three, the patient seems to have taken two courses of antibiotics even though it is nonspecific; most strep antibiotics are 7 to 12 days The patient should have a history of snoring, bleeding, suspected sleep apnea hyponasal speech persistent drooling or more than six months accompanied by grade three or four tonsillar enlargements with the patient having normal palate This patient qualifies for the criteria 400 for the diagnosis of adenotonsillar hypertrophy. In 412, the patient snores a sign of sleep apnea she also has signs of bleeding. In 411, the speech is hyponasal with the sore strep throat; the patient, however, does not meet the level 413. 420 The patient also meets the criteria 413 as he has a 4+ tonsillar enlargement on the right that touches the uvula and 3+ in the left tonsil that is pink in appearance. The patient seems to meet the 430 criteria, as there is no physical pathology with the palate for it is not reported. In this, the assumption is that only the pathological findings are recorded. The patient, therefore, meets all the requirements for these criteria for the insurance cover The patient needs to present with symptoms of tonsillar history enlargement of grade 3 or for by physical exam. Besides, on the physical exam the patient should have a normal palate. Also, the patient needs to have history any of the following symptoms, bleeding, suspected sleep apnea hyponasal speech persistent drooling or more than six months. The patient meets the criteria for this

Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Security Valuation

Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Security Valuation In this study we examine the role of permanent and transitory earnings and cash flows in explaining security r in three major capital markets, UK, USA and France. We hypothesize that the relationship between cash flows and security returns improves when earnings are transitory and this robustness is country specific. The dataset consists of more than 40,000 USA, UK and French firm-year observations over a nine year period. Multivariate statistical regression analysis is undertaken to test the major research hypotheses. Results indicate that when earnings are transitory (not stable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, the evidence provided in this study supports that indeed there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in the UK, France and the USA. These results shou ld be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially after the recent global financial crisis and the collapse of giant organizations worldwide. Keywords: Permanent and Transitory Earnings, Capital markets, Earnings, Cash flows, France, Empirical. * Dr. Melita Charitou is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Accounting, University of Nicosia, Cyprus. Address for correspondence: Division of Finance and Economics, School of Business, University of Nicosia, Cyprus, email: [emailprotected] .1. INTRODUCTION Capital markets emphasized to a great extent the value relevance of earnings in the marketplace. The usefulness of earnings has also been examined recently in conjunction with cash flows (Bali et al (2009), Banker et al (2009), Bartov et al., 2001; Charitou et al., 2001, Ball et al., 2000, among others). Empirical research provided evidence to support that earnings are more useful than cash flows in the capital markets. Existing evidence on the association of operating cash flows beyond earnings in explaining security returns has been inconclusive. Furthermore, to date comparative international research on the value relevance of cash flows has been limited. Moreover, researchers argue that when aggregate data is used, it is assumed that the relationship between earnings and cash flows with security returns is homogeneous across firms. It should be noted that this assumption that investors react identically to earnings and cash flows of all firms is not that pragmatic.The present stud y hypothesizes the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and it depends on the transitoriness of earnings. Earnings persistence studies consistently report that earnings persistence is significantly positively associated with ERC (Easton and Zmijewski, 1989; Donnelly and Walker, 1995; Ali and Zarowin, 1992; Chambers, 2004). Cheng et al. (1996) extended prior studies on this topic and added cash flow variables in their models. They found that the incremental information content of cash flow from operations(CFO) should increase with a decrease in the permanence of earnings. Furthermore, Ali (1994) using non-linear models concluded that earnings, cash flows and working capital from operations(WCFO) have incremental information, which increases the lower are the absolute changes in earnings, cash flows and WCFO respectively. Finally, Ali and Zarowin (1992) show that the more transitory the previous periods earnings are, the greater the increase in the ERC and the expected incremental explanatory power from inclusion of the level variable. According to Cho and Chung (1991) the persistence meas ure used in those studies has 3 limitations: first, although persistence is changing over time, a constant parameter assumption is made which is problematic, especially when estimations are based on annual data for several year time series. Second, a measurement error problem exists, from using time-series reported earnings. Easton and Zmijewski (1989) use revision coefficient avoiding to some extend the latter problem. The third limitation is that persistence as measured by the time series of earnings is a crude proxy for the construct because it contains little economic content. Researchers also extended prior studies in order to examine the value relevance of the permanent and transitory earnings. Cheng et al (1996), Ali (1994), Ali and Zarowin (1992) and Easton and Zmijewski (1989) among others examine the impact of permanent and transitory earnings on the relations between returns and earnings or between returns and cash flows. Ali and Zarowin (1992) concluded that for firms with permanent earnings in the previous period, when the earnings level variable is included in the model, the incremental explanatory power and the increase in Earnings Response Coefficient (ERC) are small. Cheng et al. (1996) investigated whether the incremental information content of cash flows increases when earnings are transitory. Transitory earnings have smaller marginal impact on security returns. Moreover, their results showed that the incremental information content of accounting earnings decreases, and the incremental information content of cash flows increases with a decre ase in the permanence of earnings. Regression analysis was undertaken to test the major hypothesis. A sample of more than 40,000 USA, UK and French firm year observations was used to test the research hypotheses. The major conclusions of the empirical results are summarized as follows. First, regarding our basic proposition which stated that earnings and cash flows are associated with stock prices in USA, UK and France, results indicate that indeed both earnings and cash flows are taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions. Second, regarding our major hypothesis which stated that the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and depends on the transitoriness of earnings, results indicate that when earnings are transitory (not stable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, evidence provided in this study supports that indeed there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in UK, France and USA and that the value relevance of cash flows depends on the transitoriness of earnings. .2. LITERATURE REVIEW and Hypotheses development. Earnings are of primary importance to managers, because managerial executive compensation contracts are usually based on earnings. Managers select financial reporting methods to maximize the value of their bonus awards through incentives created by bonus schemes. In addition, managers indulge in income smoothing, that is, taking actions to dampen fluctuations in their organizations earnings, as investors pay more for a firm with a smoother income stream (Dechow et al. 2003; Barth et al. 2005). In the past few years there has been an increased interest in the role of earnings and cash flows in explaining security returns. Contextual factors, such as earnings transitoriness, have a common objective. To identify specific circumstances where the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is altered (improves or deteriorates). Using USA data, Freeman and Tse (1992) and Ali (1994) showed that transitory earnings have smaller marginal impact on security returns. Cheng et al (1996) and Charitou et al (2001) extended these studies by hypothesizing that when earnings are transitory, the value relevance of earnings diminishes, whereas the value relevance of cash flows is expected to increase. Earnings transitoriness was measured as the earnings change scaled by the beginning of period price and also by the earnings to price ratio. Extreme values of these measures could be considered as an indication of earnings transitoriness. Transitory items are expected to have limited valuation implications. Examples of transitory items in earnings include current and long-term accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition through asset sales of previous periods increases in market values, one time impact on income from changes in accounting standards. The results of the Cheng et al. (1996) study indicated that a) when level and changes in earnings and cash flows are included in the model, all are value relevant in the marketplace, and b) when earnings are transitory the value relevance of earnings diminishes substantially, and simultaneously the value relevance of cash flows increases. In summary, these results are indeed of great importance since earlier studies assumed that the earnings returns relation is homogeneous across firms. These studies, however, disprove this assumption and indeed show that the value relevance of earnings and cash flows depends on the permanence or transitoriness of these measures. The present study goes a step further to examine whether the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and whether it depends on the transitoriness of earnings. 2.2 Research HypothesIs Empirical evidence supports that earnings are valued more than cash flows in the marketplace. Extant evidence though on the incremental information content of cash flows beyond earnings in different countries when earnings are transitory has been inconclusive (Barth et al., 2004, Bartov et al., 2001). The inconclusive results in prior studies, and the limited research on this issue provide motivation for this study. The research hypothesis to be tested is: Hypothesis 1: The value relevance of cash flows improves when earnings are transitory, whereas the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory. The framework developed thus far suggests that both earnings levels and changes have explanatory power when they are included simultaneously in explaining stock returns. Earning changes are used as a proxy for unexpected earnings, following the assumption that earnings follow a random walk. Based on these arguments, in developing the theoretical framework on the transitoriness of earnings, it is proposed that annual earnings follow an Integrated Moving Average, IMA (1,1) process, which includes both levels and changes, i.e. permits for both transitory and permanent components. IMA was chosen because prior theoretical and empirical evidence shows that annual earnings follow a random walk (Cheng et al., 1996; Easton and Harris, 1991). This hypothesis predicts that the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory and therefore, the value relevance of cash flows improves in all three countries when earnings are transitory. The issue of the time permanence of earnings has raised the stimulus in the present study in examining the role of operating cash flows when earnings are transitory. As Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996) argue, earnings may contain transitory items with limited valuation implications. For example, transitory items that may be included are current and long- term accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition (through asset sales) of increases in market value previously (or currently), one-time impact on income from changes in accounting standards etc. Moreover, because of compensation contracts and debt covenants are often based on reported accounting income, incentives exist for managers to introduce transitory elements in earnings. Dechow (1994) and Charitou et al (2001) also argue that because management has some discretion over the recognition of accruals, this can be used to manipulate earnings. Following Ali and Zarowin (1992) and Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996), included in the theoretical framework, both levels and changes in order to characterise the unexpected components of earnings, whereas they also include levels and changes of cash flows from operations. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that when earnings are transitory the earnings response coefficients (ERCs) on both levels and changes will have reduced significance in explaining security returns. In this situation the importance of cash flows from operations will be greater. As in Freeman and Tse (1992) and Ali (1994) transitory elements are more likely to be present when unexpected earning values are large relative to price. Hence in the model [58], the coefficients c1t + c2t and c3t+ c4t represent the estimates of the earnings and cash flow response coefficients when earnings are mainly permanent. The coefficients c5t+ c6t and c7t+ c8t capture the additional information content of earnings and cash fl ows for firms with predominantly transitory earnings. It is expected c5t+ c6t to be negative and c7t+ c8t to be positive. In summary, following the aforementioned theoretical framework, I hypothesize that the incremental information content of cash flows from operations is expected to increase as the permanence of earnings decreases (see also Freeman and Tse, 1992; Ali, 1994; and Cheng, Liu and Schafer, 1996. Prior studies that examined earnings transitoriness include Cheng et al (1996) for the USA and Charitou et al (2000) for the UK. Prior studies have not examined the role of the cash flows when earnings are transitory in both Anglo-Saxon and code law countries. 3.0 Research Design 3.1 Dataset All industrial firms that belong in the Manufacturing Industry (SIC 100-4299, 4400-4799), Retail Industry (SIC 5000-5999) and Service Industry (SIC 7000-8999) from the USA, UK and France over the recent nine year period were selected. Industrial firms that had all the information available for the computation of operating cash flows, operating earnings and security returns were included in the sample, resulting in the following firm-year observations for the recent nine year period: USA =36695, UK =4234 and France = 1181. Consistent with prior empirical studies, observations that were regarded as outliers were excluded from the sample, i.e. observations with absolute change in earnings/market value, absolute change in cash flows/market value, earnings/market value and cash flow/market value greater than 150%. Also observations that were in excess of three absolute studentized residuals were considered outliers and were excluded from the sample. These restrictions resulted in approxim ate reduction of the sample size of about 2%, which is consistent with prior empirical studies. Therefore, the final sample size used for regression analysis purposes equals to 35872 firm-year observations for the USA sample, 4178 firm-year observations for the UK sample and 1165 firm-year observations for the French sample. 3.2 Measurement of financial and market variables In order to examine whether investors in UK, USA and France take into consideration in their investment decisions the levels and changes of earnings and cash flows, independent of each other, the following univariate regression model will be used: Univariate (Simple Regression) Model: RETit = b0 + biXi + eI (1) where: Xi: is replaced by: E: Operating Earnings ΔE: Change in operating-earnings CFO: Operating cash flows ΔCFO: Change in operating cash flows. RETit: stock return for firm i measured over a 12-month return interval ending three months after the fiscal-year-end. b0: the intercept term bi: slope coefficient ei: error term In order to test whether both the levels and changes of earnings and cash flows are valued differently in the capital markets, namely in USA, UK and France, the following multivariate regression model will be used: 3.3 Permanent vs transitory earnings models: In order to investigate the role of permanence of earnings, the basic regression model that includes the level and changes of earnings and cash flows will be extended to include additional dummy variables. The following model will be tested: RETit = c0 + c1Eit + c2 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Eit + c3CFOit + c4 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾CFOit + c5Eit*D + c6 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Eit*D + c7CFOit*D + c8 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾CFOit*D + eit where RETit= Security returns for the year, Eit = operating earnings CFOit = operating cash flows for firm i in period t,  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ denotes the change in a variable, eit is the error term for firm i in period t D is a dummy variable taking a value of one when earnings are transitory and zero otherwise. Consistent with Cheng et al. (1996), two alternative definitions are used to determine D. Under one approach, D equals 1 (0) when |  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Eit/ Pit-1 | is greater than (less than) its yearly cross-sectional median (Ali, 1994). Under the second approach, firms are ranked each year according to their Eit/ Pit-1 , placing firms with positive Eit/ Pit-1 into the first nine groups with equal number of firms per group and firms with negative earnings in the tenth group. Earnings are classified in the bottom two and top two groups as transitory (D=1) and earnings in the middle six groups as permanent (D=0) (Ali and Zarowin, 1992, Charitou et al, 2001). 4.0 EMPIRICAL RESULTS 4.1. Descriptive Statistics Table 1 presents basic descriptive statistics for all the earnings, cash flows and security returns variables examined in the study for all three countries (USA, UK and France) for the recent nine year period. Results indicate the following: a) the mean security return for UK and USA is the highest (0.092 and 0.08, respectively), whereas in France is somewhat lower, 0.055, b) the mean earnings level is higher for UK (0.057) and lowest for USA. For the French dataset the mean of earnings levels is 0.037; c) the mean of the cash flow levels is shown to be the highest for the French dataset (0.184) and lower for UK and USA (0.123 and 0.057, respectively); d) as expected the standard deviation of the levels and changes of cash flows is always higher than the level and changes of earnings in all three countries. These results are consistent with the results provided in prior empirical studies. Moreover, untabultated correlation analysis results indicate that there are no significant corre lations that may possibly affect the results. 4.2. Regression analysis results 4.2.1 Univariate and multivariate regression analysis results on the value relevance of earnings and cash flows for the USA, UK and France. Univariate results presented in table 2 indicate the following. First, as far as the value relevance of earnings is concerned, as expected, the results indicate that both the levels and changes in earnings are positive and statistically significant in all three countries. Interestingly, the size of the levels of earnings and the size of the changes in earnings is approximately equal in all three countries, in spite of the fact that the French financial reporting system is much more conservative. Specifically, the coefficients of the level of earnings are 0.759, 0.767 and 0.793 for the USA, the UK, and France, respectively. The coefficients of the changes in earnings are 0.701, 0.612 and 0.669, for the US, UK and France, respectively. As far as the R2 is concerned, results indicate that French earnings (levels and changes) are more value relevant than the earnings in the USA and the UK, even though the financial reporting system in France in more conservative. The R2 for the level of earnings is 11.20%, 8.80% and 6.70% for France, the UK and the USA. The same ranking applies to the changes in earnings, although the R2 is somewhat lower, indicating that the level of earnings is more value relevant than the changes in earnings. As far as the value relevance of cash flows is concerned, as expected, results indicate that cash flows are value relevant in all three countries. All the coefficients of the levels and changes in cash flows are positive and statistically significant. The size of the coefficients of cash flows as well as the magnitude of the R2 are somewhat higher in the Anglo-Saxon countries, suggesting that cash flows could be less value relevant in France. Moreover, as it was expected the size of the earnings coefficients and the magnitude of the R2 are relatively higher than the equivalent cash flow statistics. These results are consistent with our hypotheses, expectations and consistent with prior empirical evidence. This is due to the fact that earnings are considered more value relevant in the stock markets. 4.2.2 Multivariate regression analysis results for examining the valuation of earnings and cash flows when the earnings are transitory. Hypothesis 1 predicts that the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory and thus, the value relevance of cash flows is expected to improve in all three countries when earnings are transitory. The issue of the earnings permanence has raised the stimulus in the present study in examining the role of operating cash flows when earnings are transitory. As Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996) argue, earnings may contain transitory items with limited valuation implications. For example, transitory items that may be included are accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition through sale of assets of previous periods, increases in market value, one-time impact on income from changes in accounting standards etc. Moreover, because of compensation contracts and debt covenants are usually based on profit, incentives exist for managers to introduce transitory elements in earnings and thus manipulate earnings. Results in Table 3 provide evidence to support hypothesis 1, that is, when earnings are transitory the role of earnings in stock markets decreases and the role of cash flows improves. Consistent with prior studies and with my theoretical framework, I included in my multivariate regression model in Table 3 both the level and changes of earnings and cash flows (Cheng, Liu and Schafer, 1996), in order to characterise the unexpected components of earnings and the unexpected components of cash flows from operations. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that when earnings are transitory the earnings response coefficients on both levels and changes will have reduced significance in explaining security returns. In this situation the importance of cash flows from operations will be greater. Therefore, in the model in Table 3, the coefficients c1t + c2t and c3t+ c4t represent the estimates of the earnings and cash flow response coefficients when earnings are mainly permanent. The coeff icients c5t+ c6t and c7t+ c8t capture the additional information content of earnings and cash flows for firms with predominantly transitory earnings. It is expected that c5t+ c6t to be negative and c7t + c8t to be positive. Specifically, results in Table 3 indicate the following. First, as expected, the sum of the coefficients of earnings (c3+c4) are positive and statistically significant in all three countries, the USA, the UK and France. These results indicate that in all three countries, the earnings are taken into consideration in the valuation of stock prices by security analysts and investors. Second, as expected, the sum of the coefficients of cash flows is positive and statistically significant in all three countries. Again, these results show that cash flows are important to security analysts and investors in the USA, the UK and France for stock valuation purposes. These results are consistent with the results provided thus far in all previous models. Third, the sum of the coefficients of earnings c5+c6 is negative and statistically significant in all three countries, the UK, the USA and France. These results are consistent with my expectations and with my hypothesis. These results mean that wh en earnings are transitory, i.e. when the variation of the earnings compare to stock prices is relatively high (in the present study above its median), then the stock market does not perceive this information as good news and the relative importance of earnings on stock prices decreases. This is measured by the sum of the coefficients of (c1+c2) + (c5+c6). To give an example to make things clearer, let us assume that earnings are stable, not transitory. In that case the effect of earnings on stock prices in the UK will be 5.65 (sum of coefficients of earnings c1+c2). In contrast, when earnings are transitory for a firm in the UK, the effect of earnings on stock prices will not be 5.65 as above, but it will be 5.65 minus 4.933 (b5+b6), which is 0.68 only. So for, stable or permanent earnings firms in the UK the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.65 whereas for transitory earnings firms the effect of earnings on stock prices in the UK is only 0.68. As far as the USA and France is concerned the results are consistent with the UK results just discussed. Specifically, in the USA results indicate that when earnings are permanent the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.88 (c1+c2), but when earnings are transitory (not permanent), then the effect of earnings on stock prices is only 1.08 (i.e. 5.88 minus 4.8 or c1+c2 minus c5+c6). Results in France also support the results of the UK and the USA. French results in Table 20 indicate that when earnings are permanent, the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.66 (c1+c2), but when earnings are transitory (not permanent), then the effect of earnings on stock prices is only 1.15 (ie., 5.66 minus 4.51 or c1+c2 minus c5+c6). Fourth, as hypothesised, results in Table 3 support that the cash flow variables are taken into consideration by investors in investment decisions. Specifically, the sum of the coefficients of cash flows c3+c4 is positive and statistically significant in all three countries. For example, in the UK it is 0.15, in the USA it is 0.095 and in France is 0.18. These results are consistent with the results provided thus far in all previous models and hypotheses. Fifth, as hypothesised, results in Table 3 support that when earnings are transitory, investors and security analysts in the UK and the USA pay more attention to cash flows. This is evidenced by the sum of the coefficients of cash flows c7+c8. For example, in the UK when earnings are transitory, stock prices are affected more by 0.03 (c7+c8) from changes in cash flows. Similarly, in the USA, when earnings are transitory, stock prices are affected by 0.02 more from changes in cash flows. These results are very interesting because they show that in Anglo-Saxon countries such as the USA and the UK, investors do pay additional attention to cash flows because they do know that earnings are of lower value when they are transitory. On the other hand, consistent with prior evidence in previous models and tables of this study, French analysts and investors pay more attention to earnings because their code law system make financial reporting in France much more conservative, and thus the varia bility of earnings is not that high as the variability of earnings in the UK and the USA. Sixth, in all countries examined, results support that the model is statistically significant and the variation of stock returns as explained by the R2 is 15.6 in the UK, 12.8 in the USA and 17.2% in France. In summary, results presented in Table 3 support my hypothesis that when earnings are transitory (not permanent), investors pay less attention to earnings and more attention to cash flows. 5.0 Conclusions Consistent with our hypotheses and our expectations, these results indicate that earnings and cash flow information is country specific, that is investors and financial analysts pay different attention to earnings and cash flows depending on the country under investigation and on whether earnings are transitory or permanent. Specifically, results indicate that earnings and cash flows are perceived differently by investors, depending on the country to which they belong. When earnings are transitory, investors in Anglo-Saxon countries penalize more these firms because the effect of earnings on stock returns is much more negative (c5+c6= -4.933 and -4.8 for UK and USA, respectively, whereas it is only -4.51 for France). The results of this study have practical implications as well and should be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially with the latest events that are taking place, and the major collapses of giant organizations worldwide such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, among others. Regulatory bodies, investors, financial analysts and the financial press, blamed among others, the possible manipulation of financial information supplied to the investors by these organizations. The question raised, is whether this type of information is taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions.

The First World War (WWI) :: World War 1 I One

WWI Web activity   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The propaganda at that time was aimed at was aimed the working class of the U.S. The propaganda was directed to the average person, or people that the government thought would help support the war. My first picture shows a little girl asking her dad to but her a war bond. It trying to imply that every family should go out a get a war bond. That little girl is trying to imply to the world that that buying a war bond is a cute or necessary in order to keep a little girl happy. A father never wants to see his little girl cry so he usually gets her what she wants. The government is trying to imply that everyone has to buy a war bond in order to help the little girl (U.S) in order for it to be happy. So the average person might feel somewhat required to go and buy a war bond to keep the U.S happy. Also the image is trying to show that the little war bond is for a good cause. Little children sometimes try say that they will be good in return for the gift. The reality is that the war bonds weren’t doing anything except letting thousand of soldier die for issue that was happening on the other side of the pacific.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  War is probably something that this little girl didn’t want to promote. But she did and she made it seem like if this was a giant wedding or a happy occasion. But in reality war is this torturous place were one side wins just because they have the better weapons or strategy. But in the process killing thousand s of innocent kids. Also when they die there was no one to give them a proper funeral. They were left there to die in mass graves or were left there for parasites to eat their body.

Computer Hacking Essay

Abstract: Recent discussions of computer ‘hacking’ make explicit reference to the disproportionate involvement of juveniles in this form of computer crime. While criminal justice, computer security, public and popular reï ¬â€šections on hacking seldom refer to formal criminological analyses of youth offending, they nonetheless offer a range of explanations for the over-representation of young people amongst computer hackers. Such accounts of hacking can be seen to converge with criminological analyses, by stressing a range of causal factors related to gender psychology, adolescent moral development, family dysfunction and peer-group and subcultural association. The homologies between ‘lay’, ‘administrative’, ‘expert’, ‘popular’ and criminological discourses, it is suggested, offer considerable scope for developing a critical, academically-informed, and policyoriented debate on young people’s participation in computer crim e. It has been noted that ‘youthfulness’ or ‘being a teenager’ appears as ‘a constant source of fascination and concern for politicians, media commentators and academic analysts’ (Muncie 1999, p.2), not least when involvement in supposedly ‘criminal’, ‘deviant’ and ‘anti-social’ activities is concerned. Whenever anxieties erupt about new threats to the moral and social order, ‘youth’ are seldom far away from the line-up of society’s ‘usual suspects’. Society’s perennial fascination with ‘youth and crime’ has itself become the object of sociological and criminological analysis, furnishing numerous explorations of the ways in which young people and their cultural commitments have become the ‘folk devils’ in successive waves of ‘moral panics’ about crime and disorder (Young 1971; Cohen 1972; Hall et al. 1978; Pearson 1983; Hay 1995; Sp ringhall 1998). Since the 1990s, academic commentators have observed how the Internet has emerged as a new locus of criminal activity that has become the object of public and political anxieties, sometimes leading to over-reaction (Thomas and Loader 2000, p.8; Littlewood 2003). Yet again, the category of ‘youth’ has ï ¬ gured centrally in discussions of the threat, especially in relation to ‘computer hacking’, the unauthorised access to and manipulation of computer systems. Politicians, law enforcement ofï ¬ cials, computer security experts and journalists have identiï ¬ ed ‘hacking’ as a form of criminal and deviant behaviour closely associated with ‘teenagers’ (see, inter alia, Bowker 1999; DeMarco 2001; Verton 2002). This association has been cemented in the realm of popular cultural representations, with Hollywood ï ¬ lms such as Wargames (1983) and Hackers (1995) constructing the hacker as a quintessentially teenage miscreant (Levi 2001, pp.46–7). While hacking in general has garnered considerable attention from academics working in the emergent ï ¬ eld of ‘cybercrime’ studies (see Taylor 1999, 2000, 2003; Thomas 2000), and some attention has been given to questions of youth (see Furnell 2002), few connections are made with the rich and extensive criminological literature of delinquency studies. On the other hand, those specialising in the study of youth crime and delinquency have largely neglected this apparently new area of juvenile offending (for an exception, see Fream and Skinner 1997). The aim of this article is not to offer such a new account of hacking as ‘juvenile delinquency’; nor is it to contest or ‘deconstruct’ the public and popular association between youth and computer crime. Rather, the article aims to map out the different modes of reasoning by which the purported involvement of juveniles in hacking is explained across a range of ofï ¬ cial, ‘expert’ and public discourses. In other words, it aims to reconstruct the ‘folk aetiology’ by which different commentators seek to account for youth involvement in hacking. Substantively, I suggest that the kinds of accounts offered in fact map clearly onto the existing explanatory repertoires comprising the criminological canon. Implicit within most non-academic and/or non-criminological accounts of teenage hacking are recognisable criminological assumptions relating, for example, to adolescent psychological disturbance, familial breakdown, peer inï ¬â€šuence and subcultural association. Drawing out the latent or implicit criminological assumptions in these accounts of teenage hacking will help, I suggest, to gain both greater critical purchase upon their claims, and to introduce academic criminology to a set of substantive issues in youth offending that have thus far largely escaped sustained scholarly attention. The article begins with a brief discussion of deï ¬ nitional disputes about computer hacking, arguing in particular that competing constructions can be viewed as part of a process in which deviant labels are applied by authorities and contested by those young people subjected to them. The second section considers the ways in which ‘motivations’ are attributed to hackers by ‘experts’ and the public, and the ways in which young hackers themselves construct alternative narrations of their activities which use common understandings of the problematic and conï ¬â€šict-ridden relationship between youth and society. The third section considers the ways in which discourses of ‘addiction’ are mobilised, and the ways in which they make associations with illicit drug use as a behaviour commonly attributed to young people. The fourth section turns to consider the place attributed to gender in explanations of teenage hacking. The ï ¬ fth part explores the ways in which adolescence is used as an explanatory category, drawing variously upon psychologically and socially oriented understandings of developmental crisis, peer inï ¬â€šuence, and subcultural belonging. In concluding, I suggest that the apparent convergence between ‘lay’ and criminological understandings of the origins of youth offending offer considerable scope for developing a critical, academically-informed debate on young people’s participation in computer crime. Hackers and Hacking: Contested Deï ¬ nitions and the Social Construction of Deviance A few decades ago, the terms ‘hacker’ and ‘hacking’ were known only to a relatively small number of people, mainly those in the technically specialised world of computing. Today they have become ‘common knowledge’, something with which most people are familiar, if only through hearsay and exposure to mass media and popular cultural accounts. Current discussion has coalesced around a relatively clear-cut deï ¬ nition, which understands hacking as: ‘the unauthorised access and subsequent use of other people’s computer systems’ (Taylor 1999, p.xi). It is this widely accepted sense of hacking as ‘computer break-in’, and of its perpetrators as ‘break-in artists’ and ‘intruders’, that structures most media, political and criminal justice responses. However, the term has in fact undergone a series of changes in meaning over the years, and continues to be deeply contested, not least amongst those within the computing community. The term ‘hacker’ originated in the world of computer programming in the 1960s, where it was a positive label used to describe someone who was highly skilled in developing creative, elegant and effective solutions to computing problems. A ‘hack’ was, correspondingly, an innovative use of technology (especially the production of computer code or programmes) that yielded positive results and beneï ¬ ts. On this understanding, the pioneers of the Internet, those who brought computing to ‘the masses’, and the developers of new and exciting computer applications (such as video gaming), were all considered to be ‘hackers’ par excellence, the brave new pioneers of the ‘computer revolution’ (Levy 1984; Naughton 2000, p.313). These hackers were said to form a community with its own clearly deï ¬ ned ‘ethic’, one closely associated with the social and political values of the 1960s and 1970s ‘counter-culture’ and protest movements (movements themselves closely associated with youth rebellion and resistance – Muncie (1999, pp.178– 83)). Their ethic emphasised, amongst other things, the right to freely access and exchange knowledge and information; a belief in the capacity of science and technology (especially computing) to enhance individuals’ lives; a distrust of political, military and corporate authorities; and a resistance to ‘conventional’ and ‘mainstream’ lifestyles, attitudes and social hierarchies (Taylor 1999, pp.24–6; Thomas 2002). While such hackers would often engage in ‘exploration’ of others’ computer systems, they purported to do so out of curiosity, a desire to learn and discover, and to free ly share what they had found with others; damaging those systems while ‘exploring’, intentionally or otherwise, was considered both incompetent and unethical. This earlier understanding of hacking and its ethos has since largely been over-ridden by its more negative counterpart, with its stress upon intrusion, violation, theft and sabotage. Hackers of the ‘old school’ angrily refute their depiction in such terms, and use the term ‘cracker’ to distinguish the malicious type of computer enthusiast from hackers proper. Interestingly, this conï ¬â€šict between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ is often presented in inter-generational terms, with the ‘old school’ lamenting the ways in which today’s ‘youngsters’ have lost touch with the more principled and idealistic motivations of their predecessors (Taylor 1999, p.26). Some have suggested that these differences are of little more than historical interest, and insist that the current, ‘negative’ and ‘criminal’ deï ¬ nition of hacking and hackers should be adopted, since this is the dominant way in which the terms are now understood and used (Twist 2003). There is considerable value to this pragmatic approach, and through the rest of this article the terms ‘hackingâ€℠¢ and ‘hackers’ will be used to denote those illegal activities associated with computer intrusion and manipulation, and to denote those persons who engage in such activities. The contested nature of the terms is, however, worth bearing in mind, for a good criminological reason. It shows how hacking, as a form of criminal activity, is actively constructed by governments, law enforcement, the computer security industry, businesses, and media; and how the equation of such activities with ‘crime’ and ‘criminality’ is both embraced and challenged by those who engage in them. In other words, the contest over characterising hackers and hacking is a prime example of what sociologists such as Becker (1963) identify as the ‘labelling process’, the process by which categories of criminal/deviant activity and identity are socially produced. Reactions to hacking and hackers cannot be understood independently from how their meanings are socially created, negotiated and resisted. Criminal justice and other agents propagate, disseminate and utilise negative constructions of hacking as part of the ‘war on computer crime’ . Those who ï ¬ nd themselves so positioned may reject the label, insisting that they are misunderstood, and try to persuade others that they are not ‘criminals’; alternatively, they may seek out and embrace the label, and act accordingly, thereby setting in motion a process of ‘deviance ampliï ¬ cation’ (Young 1971) which ends up producing the very behaviour that the forces of ‘law and order’ are seeking to prevent. In extremis, such constructions can be seen to make hackers into ‘folk devils’ (Cohen 1972), an apparently urgent threat to society which fuels the kinds of ‘moral panic’ about computer crime alluded to in the introduction. As we shall see, such processes of labelling, negotiation and resistance are a central feature of ongoing social contestation about young people’s involvement in hacking. Hacker Motivations: ‘Insider’ and ‘Outsider’ Accounts Inquiries into crime have long dwelt on the causes and motivations behind offending behaviour – in the words of Hirschi (1969), one of the most frequently asked questions is: ‘why do they do it?’. In this respect, deliberations on computer crime are no different, with a range of actors such as journalists, academics, politicians, law enforcement operatives, and members of the public all indicating what they perceive to be the factors underlying hackers’ dedication to computer crime. Many commentators focus upon ‘motivations’, effectively viewing hackers as ‘rational actors’ (Clarke and Felson 1993) who consciously choose to engage in their illicit activities in expectation of some kind of reward or satisfaction. The motivations variously attributed to hackers are wide-ranging and often contradictory. Amongst those concerned with combating hacking activity, there is a tendency to emphasise maliciousness, vandalism, and the desire to commit wanton destruction (Kovacich 1999); attribution of such motivations from law enforcement and computer security agencies is unsurprising, as it offers the most clear-cut way of denying hacking any socially recognised legitimacy. Amongst a wider public, hackers are perceived to act on motivations ranging from self-assertion, curiosity, and thrill seeking, to greed and hooliganism (Dowland et al. 1999, p.720; Voiskounsky, Babeva and Smyslova 2000, p.71). Noteworthy here is the convergence between motives attributed for involvement in hacking and those commonly attributed to youth delinquency in general – the framing of hacking in terms of ‘vandalism’, ‘hooliganism’, ‘curiosity’ and ‘thrill seeking’ clearly references socially available constructions of juvenile offending and offenders (on à ¢â‚¬Ëœhooliganism’ see Pearson (1983); on ‘thrill seeking’ see Katz (1988); Presdee (2000)). One way in which commentators have attempted to reï ¬ ne their understandings of hacker motivations is to elicit from hackers themselves their reasons for engaging in computer crimes. There now exist a number of studies, both ‘popular’ and ‘scholarly’ in which (primarily young) hackers have been interviewed about their illicit activities (for example, Clough and Mungo 1992; Taylor 1999; Verton 2002). In addition, hackers themselves have authored texts and documents in which they elaborate upon their ethos and aims (see, for example, Dr K 2004). Such ‘insider’ accounts cite motivations very different from those cited by ‘outsiders’. In fact, they consistently invoke a rationale for hacking that explicitly mobilises the ‘hacker ethic’ of an earlier generation of computer enthusiasts. In hackers’ self-presentations, they are motivated by factors such as intellectual curiosity, the desire for expanding the boundaries of knowledge, a commitment to the free ï ¬â€šow and exchange of information, resistance to political authoritarianism and corporate domination, and the aim of improving computer security by exposing the laxity and ineptitude of those charged with safeguarding socially sensitive data. However, such accounts ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’ do not necessarily furnish insights into hacker motivations that are any more objectively true than those attributed by outside observers. As Taylor (1999) notes: ‘it is difï ¬ cult . . . to separate cleanly the ex ante motivations of hackers from their ex post justiï ¬ cations’ (p.44, italics in original). In other words, such self-attributed motivations may well be rhetorical devices mobilised by hackers to justify their law-breaking and defend themselves against accusat ions of criminality and deviance. Viewed in this way, hackers’ accounts can be seen as part of what criminologists Sykes and Matza (1957) call ‘techniques of neutralisation’. According to Sykes and Matza, ‘delinquents’ will make recourse to such techniques as a way of overcoming the inhibitions or guilt they may otherwise feel when embarking upon law-breaking activity. These techniques include strategies such as ‘denial of injury’, ‘denial of the victim’, ‘condemnation of the condemners’ and ‘appeal to higher loyalties’. The view of hackers’ self-narrations as instances of such techniques can be supported if we examine hacker accounts. A clear illustration is provided by a now famous (or infamous) document called The Conscience of a Hacker authored by ‘The Mentor’ in 1986, now better know as The Hacker’s Manifesto. In the Manifesto, its author explains hackers’ motivations by citing factors such as: the boredom experienced by ‘smart kids’ at the mercy of incompetent school teachers and ‘sadists’; the experience of being constantly dismissed by teachers and parents as ‘damn kids’ who are ‘all alike’; the desire to access a service that ‘could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by proï ¬ teering gluttons’; the desire to explore and learn which is denied by ‘you’ who ‘build atomic bombs, [. . .] wage wars, [. . .] murder, cheat and lie’ (The Mentor 1986). Such reasoning clearly justiï ¬ es hacking activities by re-labelling ‘harm’ as ‘curiosity’, by suggesting that victims are in some sense ‘getting what they deserve’ as a consequence of their greed, and turning tables on accusers by claiming the ‘moral high ground’ through a citation of †˜real’ crimes committed by the legitimate political and economic establishment. Again, we see an inter-generational dimension that references commonplace understandings of ‘misunderstood youth’ and the corrupt and neglectful nature of the ‘adult world’. Thus young hackers themselves invest in and mobilise a perennial, socially available discourse about the ‘gulf ’ between ‘society’ and its ‘youth’. Discourses of Addiction: Computers, Drugs and the ‘Slippery Slope’ A second strand of thinking about hacking downplays ‘motivations’ and ‘choices’, and emphasises instead the psychological and/or social factors that seemingly dispose certain individuals or groups toward law-breaking behaviour. In such accounts, ‘free choice’ is sidelined in favour of a view of human actions as fundamentally caused by forces acting within or upon the offender. From an individualistic perspective, some psychologists have attempted to explain hacking by viewing it as an extension of compulsive computer use over which the actor has limited control. So-called ‘Internet Addiction Disorder’ is viewed as an addiction akin to alcoholism and narcotic dependence, in which the sufferer loses the capacity to exercise restraint over his or her own habituated desire (Young 1998; Young, Pistner and O’Mara 1999). Some accounts of teenage hacking draw explicit parallels with drug addiction, going so far as to suggest that engagement in relatively innocuous hacking activities can lead to more serious infractions, just as use of ‘soft’ drugs like marijuana is commonly claimed to constitute a ‘slippery slope’ leading to the use of ‘hard’ drugs like crack cocaine and heroin (Verton 2002, pp.35, 39, 41, 51).

3 Strategies for Combining Sentences

3 Strategies for Combining Sentences 3 Strategies for Combining Sentences 3 Strategies for Combining Sentences By Mark Nichol One approach to making prose more concise is to stitch together two related sentences by revising one so that it serves as a subordinate clause to the other rather than an independent statement. Here are three ways to accomplish this goal. 1. Firms are increasingly susceptible to noncompliance, as demonstrated by the stream of regulatory enforcement actions seen over recent years. These regulatory enforcement actions could have been avoided by taking an agile approach to managing the compliance requirements inventory. When a sentence repeats a noun phrase from a previous sentence, those statements are candidates for combination. Convert the second sentence to a subordinate clause, as shown here: â€Å"Firms are increasingly susceptible to noncompliance, as demonstrated by the stream of regulatory enforcement actions seen over recent years- actions that could have been avoided by taking an agile approach to managing the compliance requirements inventory.† 2. Crafting and managing these agreements is a unique and valuable skill. This is the case because the financial risks of violating their terms can be substantial. When an assertion is supported in a subsequent sentence by a statement that provides an explanation, splice the sentences by deleting the subject from the second one, as shown here: â€Å"Crafting and managing these agreements is a unique and valuable skill because the financial risks of violating their terms can be substantial.† 3. Uber continues to disrupt other geographies internationally, including London’s taxicab industry. Uber is now often also cited as an example of how disruptive technology is affecting established industries. When a subject is repeated in two consecutive sentences, it’s often possible to transform the first sentence into a parenthetical subordinate clause of the second one, as shown here: â€Å"Uber, which continues to disrupt other geographies internationally, including London’s taxicab industry, is now often also cited as an example of how disruptive technology is affecting established industries.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Compared "to" or Compared "with"?How to Punctuate Descriptions of ColorsUsing Writing Bursts to Generate Ideas and Enthusiasm

Antigone Creon is a Failed Statesman essays

Antigone Creon is a Failed Statesman essays Three dead bodies, angry Gods, and a bad omen foreseen by a prophet come true. Such are the effects of a foolish kings actions. In Sophocless Antigone, Creon fails as a statesman because of three primary faults: he makes governing decisions without taking advice from others, he abuses his absolute power as a king, and he has an extremely quick and volatile temper. The foremost of Creons faults is making his decisions without first consulting and receiving an opinion from other people. For example, Creon and Haemon argue whether Antigones actions are honorable: Since when do I take my orders from the people of Thebes? (Sc. 3.628-630). Creon is being very stubborn and refuses to even think about the thoughts of his people whom he governs. Creon uses his absolute power to ensure his opinion as the correct and only belief, and he does not even take into consideration the view of the Theban civilians. In addition, when Teiresias comes to give counsel, the prophet blames the king of Thebes for all the disatrous omens. Creon, in turn, accuses Teiresias of bribery and falsehood. The foolish king again shows his obstinacy by not listening to advice from anyone. This time it is much worse because he is brushing aside the words of Teiresias, a prophet who had yet to ever be proven wrong. Creon is not being fair and just to the people, and Teiresi as warns him to be reasonable. Even with this warning, the king still does not change his opinion and misuses his power. Not taking guidance from other people can be a statesmans most serious mistake, and for Creon this is the fault which starts the entire sequence of events leading up to the death of his family. Abusing ones power can also lead to a downfall as a leader, and for Creon it is another fault which leads to his spectacular failure as a statesman. For instance, Creon issues a decree that Polynices is to be left for the wild animals...

Frederick Winslow Taylors Life. Scientific management theory Research Paper

Frederick Winslow Taylors Life. Scientific management theory - Research Paper Example It is important to posit elucidate the fact that much of the explanations and resolutions he developed were founded on his personal understanding, knowledge, and practice. At his prime, he joined the working class as a worker on the floor of a factor and gradually climbed the ranks to become an executive. Other than describing the life of Taylor, this paper described scientific management theory, experiments conducted by Taylor, and the applications of his theories in the modern word. Available sources assert that Taylor started his work life as a trainee in the field of engineering. Subsequently, he jumped ship and joined Midvale steel company as a mere worker and eventually became a supervisor. In his escapade in this steel company, he came up with his theory of scientific management. Later in his working life, he joined Bethlehem steel company and it was at this company where he merged all his thoughts and suggestions and later carried out a number of tests and trials on his thoughts aimed at enhancing efficiency and output in employment. He is credited for ensuring that his thoughts, suggestions, tests, and trials are passed on to the next generation. In doing so, he put down his thoughts and tests into writing in the year 1911. A combination of all his contributions were printed and made public (Cole 16). Scientific management theory Towards the end of the nineteenth century, many factory executives and owners believed that competence and effectiveness of the techniques or processes of performance was a topic of major concern. Suddenly, there was a flood of labor associated with the establishment of novel factories and other companies. Company executives were therefore faced with a lot of difficulties in systematically putting these essentials into order. This, combined with his infatuation with competence of working techniques is the origin of Taylor’s theory on scientific management. In the course of his studies, he comprehended the fact that the solution and explanation to these predicaments rested on methodical scrutiny and investigation of labor (Taylor 22). According to Cole, through practice, he had gained familiarity on the fact that a very low percentage of employees incorporated substantial exertion in their day to day duties. This propensity was illustrate and depicted by Taylor as soldiering. Soldiering was subsequently categorized into natural and systematic soldiering. According to Taylor, natural soldiering is refe rred to as the innate propensity of effortlessness depicted by human beings. Systematic soldiering on the other hand is referred to as an intentional and systematic constraint or limitation of the speed or pace of conducting various duties and activities portrayed by workers. He asserted that soldering resulted from workers’ dread of joblessness, variations in stipends, and the violent and handy advances introduced by the management (16). During this period, techniques and ways of conducting activities and duties were the enterprise of the employees whereby they were allowed to plan and program their duties. According to Taylor’s proposition in his theory, this should be the work of individuals in management positions. In support of his proposition, he argued that employees favored working conditions whereby they are bestowed with specific duties with precise principles. He elucidated the importance of disconnecting preparation, development, and scheduling of operation s with the work itself. The theory of scientific management also postulates that ongoing and continuing decline on the level of skills within the workplace is goes together with growing and increasing