Accounting for Costa Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Accounting for Costa Company - Essay Example expenses 4,500 Property taxes 6,500 Rent 22,000 Operating Income 84,100 1. The case of Costa Company reflects a case having one error in the valuation of closing inventory recorded in the company’s books and one omission of sale transaction. Both types of mistakes made by the company can have significant impact on the true reflection of the company’s financial position. As in the case of incorrect valuation of inventories being overstated has a negative impact on the book value of the company and at the same time it causes costs of goods sold to be understated. The understatement of cost of goods sold has a positive impact on the company’s profitability (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010). This is often done by managers in order to fictitiously boost the company’s profits in the short term to gain certain financial benefits and later on losses are recorded in books, which would ultimately have a negative effect on shareholders’ value invested in the c ompany. Moreover, companies are often involved in changing methods of inventory valuation i.e. FIFO, LIFO, and Average Costing between accounting periods, which if performed without proper scrutiny could lead to major change in the value of the company’s closing inventory and hence, making the financial statements incorrect reflections of the business position. It is therefore necessary for businesses and regulators to ensure that companies maintain uniformity in the selection and application of the accounting standards. If it is deemed necessary then previous accounts must also be revised to reflect the true position of the company’s business (Fridson & Alvarez, 2011). On the other hand, omissions are regarded as certain transactions or amounts deliberately or non-deliberately left out of the company’s books and no entries are made by the company (Warren, Reeve, & Duchac, 2012). In the case of Costa Company, although the amount of sale transaction was not signi ficantly high, but certain transactions could surely mislead the company’s financial position reported to shareholders. This would cause understate profit of the company and hence, it would affect the equity position of the company which is reported as retained earnings in the company’s balance sheet (Porter & Norton, 2010). 2. From the income statement of Costa Company as prepared above it could be indicated that the company is generating a gross profit of $211,790 which is arrived at after deducting costs of goods sold after making adjustment to the closing inventory value from the company’s revenues, which are also adjusted for the missing transaction of $5,000. This reflects that the company is operating at high gross profit margin of almost 34% in the year 2012. After deducting all operating expenses and property taxes the company has generated a net income of $84,100. This is lesser than before which was recorded without taking into account errors and miss tatements. This indicates that if companies fail to take into business transactions or wrongly value and report an entry then this could lead to falsification of the entire financial statement and incorrect information passed onto shareholders who rely on the financial statements for their decisions (Fridson & Alvarez, 2011). This reflects that the company has a net profit margin of 13.5%. All these indicators reflect that the company is a profitable entity and shareholders can expect good returns on their investments in the company. 3. Costa Company 31-Dec-12 Balance Sheet Current Assets Accounts receivable 18,000 Cash 41,500 Inventory

Advertising PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Advertising - PowerPoint Presentation Example Total investment in advertising media has been forecasted to be USD 558.4 billion by the year 2016 (Neoadvertising, 2011). There are several challenges that the advertisers face when marketing their products. Advertising is a costly affair and thus it increases the cost of the product. It at times misleads the public and also creates dissatisfaction among them (The Guardian, 2012). Junk food can be referred as an informal expression that is used for food. It does not have much nutritional values. It has been observed that junk foods have negative impacts upon the health of the people (Nawathe & et. al., 2007). Government has stated that the junk food marketers must not advertise their products to the kids because such advertisements may attract the kids and may create harm to their health. Although several efforts are being made to reduce such marketing towards the children, there has been rise in the fast food advertisement aimed towards 2-to-18 years’ old children (Noguchi, 2012). The main marketers that tend to advertise their products to the teens are McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Domino’s, Taco Bell, Burger King and Dunkin’s Donut. These companies target the teens because they are heavy users of social networking sites, cell phone messages as well as games. Therefore, targeting them becomes easier (Melnick, 2010). The main objective of the advertising done by the fast food marketers is to stimulate brand affinity that begins at early age. Most of the marketers advertise targeting at parents as well with the perception that greater exposure held by parents will lead to more routine fast food dining (Melnick, 2010) It has been noted that in the year 2002, a group of over-weight children filed a complaint against McDonald’s from New York. They stated that certain food products of the company lead to several diseases such as over-weight,

Overview and Evaluation of the Smart Grid

Overview and Evaluation of the Smart Grid The Smart Grid, Smart City Program was arguably one of the widest-ranging technology assessments of smart grid products in the world. It saw: The deployment and testing of several smart in-grid and customer-focussed technology groupings across the Ausgrid network and EnergyAustralia retail business in New South Wales Examined the impacts and benefits of additional distributed generation and distributed storage solutions Involved approximately 17,000 electricity customers in consumer-focussed trials examining how residential customers could contribute to peak demand management through behavioural changes The Smart Grid, Smart City Program focused on residential customers, as they represent the largest user group in Australia, and generally have more discretion over when and how much energy they use. Little was known before the Smart Grid, Smart City trials about how customers perceived, or how they might respond to, the opportunities that smart grid technologies offer. Most residen tial electricity customers in Australia are currently provided with limited information and very few incentives and tools to manage their domestic electricity use. A quarterly electricity bill is the main source of customer feedback, and this only shows the total amount of energy used during the previous three months, limiting the opportunities to systematically modify behaviour in order to save electricity and money. Based on the trials undertaken, this final Smart Grid, Smart City report, Shaping Australias Energy Future: National Cost Benefit Assessment found the potential for a net economic benefit of up to $28 billion ($2014) over the next 20 years from the deployment of smart grid technologies in Australia. This report demonstrates that there are four key aspects to realising these benefits and improving consumer pricing outcomes: Technological development and deployment of enabling (smart grid) technologies The introduction of cost reflective electricity pricing including d ynamic tariffs Consumer behaviour change with respect to electricity consumption (to better manage any future growth in peak demand) Energy market reform4 (many aspects of which are already underway) Realising the potential benefits requires an integrated solution if any one aspect is not implemented, then the extent of net national economic benefits available will be reduced. A large proportion of the net benefits identified can be derived from the economic deployment of a number of in-grid technologies which improve operational efficiency, reduce capital investment (through better managing peak demand) and deliver improved reliability for consumers at a lower cost. There are vast differences across Australias electricity grid, from highly populated suburban areas to sparsely populated rural areas, and different smart grid technologies are better suited in different circumstances. For those Australians living in suburban areas, there are significant potential benefits from certa in in-grid technologies. Likewise, for less densely populated rural networks, there are alternative in-grid technologies which can assist in improving the reliability and cost of managing the grid. Smart grid can simply be defined as the deployment of Information technology and also communication technology with the aim of improving the way electricity is generated, transported, distributed and stored. Across Australia, the distribution and the retail value chain elements primarily makes up the smart grid system. However, the impact also cut across how electricity is generated and transmitted. In this report, the smart grid smart city program which was funded by the Australian Government will be examined. The smart grid study focused primarily on residential distribution network and also with the introduction of a data centre for information processing. Smart grid technology find application in several purposes which can be grouped into customer side application, key enabling application, grid-side application, renewables, distributed energy and electric vehicles, data collection, processing and back-office. Several logical layers can also be used to represent each of the appli cations which could be traditional power systems equipment, communications network, computing capability, and also smart grid application layer. The Smart Grid Smart City (SGSC) program is one of the largest smart grid projects in the world. It was announced in 2009 by the Australian government with the aim of implementing smart grid technology at a large scale in line with the National Energy Efficiency Initiative (NEEI). It happen to be the first large scale smart grid project in Australia which was executed by Ausgrid and its partners. The project was aimed at showcasing the importance of the deployment of smart grid technology in commercial scale, building both public and corporate awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of smart grids, gathering an elaborate data with the aim of informing wider industry implementation of the various applications of smart grid across Australia, and also to investigate the interaction with other existing infrastructure. So many trial s were examined in the program which includes the deployment of smart meter infrastructure, distributed generation and distributed storage, and also the utilisation of electric vehicles in the Australias electricity distribution network. So many trials were deployed in the program. Part of the trials that is of interest to me is the deployment of the smart meter infrastructure. This trial entails the installation of smart meter at various residential buildings. The various components that make up the smart meter infrastructure are the communication technologies for information transfer to and from the smart meters communication unit, the meter management system, home-office operational systems. (Energy Australia, Sydney Water and other partners) and also the customer acquisition application. With the deployment of smart meter, data for electricity usage, storage and delivery were obtained for participating household. Another fascinating part of the Smart Grid Smart City program is t he distributed generation and distributed storage work stream which was initiated with the aim of providing critical data and information to help understand the implication of greater penetration of the combination of distributed storage and generation in conjunction with other smart grid technologies. In addition to the aforementioned, the electric vehicles project is also a part of the Smart Grid Smart City program I find interesting and it was aimed at understanding the potential impact of the utilisation of electric vehicles in Australias electricity distribution network.

Charlotte Bronte :: Free Essays Online

Charlotte Bronte Charlotte Brontà «, born in 1816 at Thornton, Yorkshire, is known for her short but fulfilling career as a novelist in Victorian England. Suffering tragedies within her lifetime that quickly would have restrained many from prosperity, Charlotte was capable of redirecting the pain of her afflictions into a creative energy that she used to etch an existence that provided her with fame. Tragically, she suffered the loss of her mother at the very young age of five, and was then forced to endure the deaths of her four sisters and her brother throughout the following years of her life. Understandably, much of her existence "was spent in mourning, in a struggle against the grim realities which surrounded her -- abandonment, brutalization, emotional deprivation, death and the search for reality, for her own identity" (Cody). Eventually, these very ordeals become the foundation for Charlotte's success. After a number of unfulfilling career attempts as an educator, Charlotte proposed the collaboration of a collection of poems to her two surviving sisters. They accepted, and in 1846, the trio published their first book, Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Due to the unfavorable reactions to female writers at this time, Charlotte, Emily and Anne felt it necessary to assume male pseudonyms. They utilized the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton, respectively, in order to disguise their gender. This attempt did not aid in the public notice of the amateur novelists, so thinking it better if they separated, continued to write exclusively while retaining their male pseudonyms. In the same year Charlotte completed her first independent creation titled The Professor, which she was unable to publish during her lifetime. However, this did not dishearten the artist. She immediately began writing a second novel, which in the following year would yield such fame that Charlotte herself was amazed. This is the famous text of Jane Eyre, an autobiographical account of Charlotte's own life, which not only solidified Charlotte's position among her literary companions but also secured the achievement that Charlotte so desperately sought. The form that the plot of Jane Eyre follows is commonly referred to as a Bildungsroman. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms defines this as "a novel that recounts the development (psychological and sometimes spiritual) of an individual from childhood to maturity, to the point at which the main character recognizes his or her place and role in the world" (31).

A question of theft

Evidently, there is a problem in the management of shifts and the auditing of the money hence the front office manager named Chad refuses to take action of the situation. When conflict arose, the cash registrar’s earnings were found out to be short; Chad tried to look for the culprit. Critically analyzing the situation, how did Chad found out that there has been an amount missing?He was so certain of the amount missing despite of his non-presence in the area and also the lack of eagerness to monitor the finances. Internal Control is the process to achieve the objectives with effectiveness and efficiency, reliable financial statements and strict compliance to the law. In this case, Chad can be classified as an ineffective leader for efficient workers.His managerial skills would have taken care of the problem hence he neglected the idea because he was confident about his employees. Another problem is that there is no consistent financial report for every employee who dwells in t he counter. For example, for every end of a shift the money should be counted and audited so that there would no discrepancies for the next employee to work and also it would be much easier to determine if there is a shortage in the finances.For this instance, the manager must have the control over his employees and authoritatively impose the rules such that the employees would develop loyalty and honesty among the system.I think the managerial position must be filled by a person that is experienced and also has good interpersonal skills so that the firm would not suffer from these small lapses.Also I would like to point out that there should be a financial report on every change in shift so that the manager can monitor the movement of the money in the cash registrar. What is needed is the end amount after each shift. Lastly, the effectiveness and efficiency of a working group must come from both the leader and its subordinates, with this, there are limitless endeavors and opportuni ties for a good working system.ReferencesUniversity Business Practices (2007). Understanding Internal Control. [on-line] Retrieved from: http://www.ucop.edu/ctlacct/under-ic.pdf on: March 5, 2008Comptroller’s Handbook (2001). Internal Control. [on-line] Retrieved from: http://www.occ.treas.gov/handbook/intcntrl2.pdf on March 5, 2008

Describe the various stages of the typical lifecycle of an individual in the UK today and identify the most relevant financial products that should be considered at each stage Essay

Describe the various stages of the typical lifecycle of an individual in the UK today and identify the most relevant financial products that should be considered at each stage To date, the interpretation of the concept of â€Å"life cycle of the individual† has a lot of variations. In this case, the main of them wearing in one degree or another echo of the financial and economic issues, is: – The sequence of qualitatively different stages of development of the organism. – Model income and consumption over the life. With regard to the first definition, then there also exists a certain gradation, which is the existence of several theories regarding the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the stages of the life cycle. The most famous theory of division of the life cycle of an individual on the steps of the theory are researchers such as Alpheus Hyatt, Sullivan, Thomas S. Dalton, Randy B. Evans, and also such theory as of E. Erikson and Joel Martin. The most expedient and convenient to the financial context of the question is the theory of the division of the life cycle of an individual to a number of stages by Alpheus Hyatt. This theory is the basis for the division of the life cycle of an individual to 3 stages: formation, productive phase and effective step. Phase formation covers the time period from the moment of birth of the individual up to 25 – 32 years. This period is due to the formation of life basis, so on the first stage of the life cycle is the formation of the moral aspects of the personality, the initial accumulation of experience and the formation of an information foundation that actually affects the formation of a set of financial products most commonly consumed by the population of the United Kingdom in the future. Productive stage is the second stage in the life cycle of an individual, including an individual residing in the United Kingdom. This stage lasts from the end of the formation phase of up to 54 – 62 years. This cycle is considered to be working during it productively apply the knowledge and experience gained and accumulated during the formation phase. These years were marked by a high capacity for work and the desire to implement ideas and achieve their goals. Finally, the third stage of the life cycle – score is final. It extends from the end of the productive phase until the end of life. It was during this cycle; individuals are satisfied with the achievements and receive a reward for all his works and deeds, not only morally, but also in material terms. As for the second definition of the life cycle of the individual, in this case it should be noted that in the context of the problem, the latter is more rational in terms of financial and economic sense, and as the former requires more detailed consideration, but at the same time, the latter is specifies the elements of a continuation and development stages of the first definition, namely, its financial and economic sense. In this regard, it is worth noting that in the present world context of the above issue, it is a rational assumption that, as a rule, children who actually represent the first stage in the life cycle, live at the expense of their parents, if we talk about the first part of the first phase life cycle, namely up to 18 years, speaking about the citizens of the United Kingdom. In addition, the first stage of the life cycle, as well as generally achieved the highest level of consumption, which is due to a period of the early years of adulthood, and forcing a number of items to purchase household goods and parenting. Such financial and economic characteristics of the first period of the life cycle, flows smoothly into the second, but in the first case applies the highest consumption level in the second half stage , what concerns the productive phase of the life cycle, in this case, the highest consumption level in the first half of the spread phase. This model leads to a model of savings, which are usually small in the early years of adulthood, high in the period after the children have grown and become negative during retirement. Thus, the youth begins with low incomes (1th stage of the life cycle), which is gradually increased until it reaches middle age (the 2nd stage of the life cycle), and then the characteristic of income is the sharp decline stage (third stage of life cycle), due to retirement. Usually, the third stage of the life cycle as well due to the receipt of earned income and more (to the end of life), but usually in smaller amounts. Consequently, the assets of households tend to grow until retirement and a reduction thereafter. â€Å"Start† and whether the â€Å"finish† if in fact the assets at zero depends on how society relates to the question of inheritance: the majority of people, particularly those who living in the UK leave positive assets at the time of his death, if only because they do not know when it will happen. Also worth noting, and take into account when considering the life cycle of a typical person in the UK today, the fact that the life-cycle model of savings assumes that the distribution of assets will be uneven between households, even if their incomes and social positions within the same life cycle. Along with all the above, it should be noted that all life cycle stages listed above are typical for any individual residing in the territory of more and less economically developed countries in general, and for individuals residing in the territory particularly the United Kingdom. Considering the financial products as part of normal everyday life of individuals living in the United Kingdom in each of these stages of the life cycle, it should be noted that financial products are integral part of daily life. With regard to the factors described through the use of financial products throughout the life cycle of the individual resided in the UK to date, it should be noted that the most common financial products today are shares, loans, particularly mortgages, deposits, options, futures, swaps, those insurance some aspect of life and objects, as well as commodity contracts and interest rates. All of the above financial products individuals residing in the United Kingdom is used throughout the life cycle. At the same time, depending on the stage of the life cycle of an individual uses certain financial products, inherent to its needs relevant to this stage. At the first stage of the life cycle, so from birth to 25 – 32 years, United Kingdom for individuals most relevant is the use of such financial products, such as long-term and Short-term loans, particularly mortgages, compulsory insurance, in particular, Medical insurance, pension insurance and liability insurance, in addition, quite common in the above-mentioned period of the life cycle of an individual is the UK property insurance. At the second stage of the life cycle, so from 25 – 32 years and 54 – 62 years of the United Kingdom most individual relevance use financial products such as stocks, options, futures and swaps , as well as commodity contracts and interest rates. At the same time, so it should be noted that at this stage of life do not lose relevance and financial products such as compulsory insurance and property insurance, as well urgent to use life and health insurance. Thus, considering all of the above it should be noted that the second phase of the life cycle of an individual residing in the UK, today used the widest range of financial products than during other stages. The reason for this state of affairs is the fact that it was during the second stage of the life cycle, as a rule, most individuals who living in the UK reach a peak of career, have a family, get a certain amount of real estate and other property, as well as characterized by the highest level of wages for all life cycle. In the third stage of the life cycle, the most relevant financial products used by individuals of the United Kingdom are the deposits, most types of insurance, especially with regard to life insurance, as well as the most reliable stocks and other securities. As seen from the above, in the third stage of the life cycle most individuals are trying to best protect their use of financial products, reducing the risks to minimum that is logical, given that the reporting stage of the life cycle lasts from 54 – 62 years until his death. Analyzing the life cycle of an individual United Kingdom, as well it should be noted that the only financial product that is gaining relevance for UK citizens at the stage of formation, and does not lose so for productive and efficient life-cycle stages is insurance. In this case, depending on the stage of the life cycle are added only certain types of insurance and insurance objects. This situation is related not only to the existence of the United Kingdom of compulsory insurance, which in itself suggests the beginning of the use of insurance to meet individual age and continues until death, but also the factor that the whole life cycle of the individual accompanies a number of risks of varying complexity and specifically, these risks relate to most other financial products used by individuals throughout life. Of course, the actual separation of the above financial products for individuals residing in the United Kingdom is far from ambiguous, since it depends not only on the age group that falls under one or another individual, but also on other factors, for example such as the scope of activities, family status, presence of children, average salary, and others. For example, the likelihood that students will benefit from the mortgage insurance or property is extremely small, but if the stage of formation (in the second half of the stage) the individual is enrolled in higher educational institution (for example in postgraduate) has a wife and / or children, the probability of acquiring such individual mortgage and other long-term loans, as well as property insurance, increases dramatically. Along with this, there is an example of a large homeowner or just an entrepreneur and working diner, which are on the second stage of the life cycle. Range of financial products an individual representing the first and second class will be significantly different. For the first and most urgent is to use various tools to expand their existing business, by finding additional sources of joining the capital, one of which is the acquisition of commodity contracts, options, futures and swaps, as all of these financial products can not only increase the capital of the individual, but and to do this in the shortest possible period of time in comparison with other financial products. For an ordinary worker, all financial products relevant to a wealthy individual would not be as relevant for a given individual will acquire greater relevance compulsory insurance and the use of shares and promissory notes. However, at this graduation, presented earlier are the most widespread and the most relevant classification of financial products such individuals regarding the use of the United Kingdom. Reference List 1. Alpheus, H. (1902) Cycle in the life of the individual (Ontogeny) and in the evolution of its own group (Phylogeny).