The nature of financial information analysis Essay

The nature of financial information analysis - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Financial Information Analysis reflects the developments by addressing the natural world and function of accounting information in the past and present society, with specific reference to technological change. The increasing focuses particularly primary accounting documents, analysis, presentation, and Annual Reporting which propels it to the justifiable level. The main aim apparently is to endow users with the skills required to fathom the information content relevant and other accounting related materials. These functions facilitate corporate governance on creative accounting, the relevant pronouncement in regulatory structures that have been rewritten to add new insight, and emphasis. Information analysis is an art which is highly subjective exercise where skills, experience, and intuition of users account the very critical factor of consideration. The core mandate of accounting reporting, therefore, is to gather information about a n organizations strategy, its operations, and future prospects in relation to commercial, environmental and social context. This is meant to be an organization's most important reporting tool addressing how the business activities are trading and to which extent is the state of affairs in regard to the financial position. In other words, the following performance areas of concern are addressed; what is financial efficiency, liquidity, and its gearing status as well as the expectation of the shareholder in return to their money invested. Its pertinent aim is to create a formula for accounting for sustainability, bringing together governance, social, environmental and finance in a cohesive way. Financial information need to achieve financial development, sustainability and improved performance while reporting on their overall performance. In fact, it exposed some businesses to their bare minimum since companies are able to reveal most of their financial details while yet they did not achieve better performance that they expected. This therefore necessitated the need for a new framework for critical analysis in reporting that would boost their performance through better modalities of information review. The process of creating an integrated management information system has been faced with a number of setbacks. This has been brought about by a number of challenges such as the existences of different rules and regulations governing the various jurisdictions in the international society. Therefore for a report to be standardized there is a need for such report or rules in reporting to be applied across the boards (PETERSON, & FABOZZI, 2012). This has been a problem because the international communities have a different set of laws that govern them and as such some reporting guidelines may not be acceptable to extents within a given jurisdictions. This greatly affects the process of creating an integral report since the committee has to compromise or look for alternative ideas or methods that can be generally accepted across the boards and one that is all inclusive. It may also mean that some jurisdictions may have to be guided by a different guideline on international reporting requir ements (SMULLEN, 1995). Since the idea of financial information analysis was relatively new, it goes without saying that

Read article A Pilot Program on Youth Engagement by Rachel Swaner and Research Paper

Read article A Pilot Program on Youth Engagement by Rachel Swaner and Elise White and describe 5 ethical, political or procedural challenges addressed in the report - Research Paper Example A Pilot Program on Youth Engagement by Rachel Swaner and Elise White gives some good examples ethical, political or procedural challenges that need to be addressed by researchers. One of the ethical challenges is that a program may fail to have the desired impact. This mainly arises if the target population is not given a chance to actively participate in designing the program or campaign messages. In order to address this, the programming of the youth ECHO was done in a way that it not only focused on serving the youths but also, it incorporated them as essential partners in its creation. For example, they helped to design semi-structured questionnaires for interviewing fellow youths and friends. The developers took time to listen to and learn from the community, especially the youth. They used findings from youth group to identify the issues that the Youth ECHO campaign should address. In this way, the program reflected on the experiences of the youths while providing a sense of connection between the youths and the community and, between the youths and adults. The program made the speaker an insider, speaking from their cultural context and the context of youth disconnected from the mainstream culture. Through a series of discussions, the youths had the chance to select the strongest elements of the message that would be used in the final campaign, â€Å"Dealing Drugs: It’s Not Worth It.† In this way, the messages were not perceived as suspect. This idea also helped to address the ethical issue of source credibility. By focusing on youths that are disconnected from the mainstream society, the program results are bound to be more reliable and valid. An example of a political challenge in research is that the research program or resultant campaigns could result to some unintended effects. For example, a research campaign on crime could increase crime prevention awareness but also, it could lead to a state of unwanted

The Estee Lauder Group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The Estee Lauder Group - Essay Example Estee Lauder Group was established in the year 1946 in New York by Estee Lauder and initially marketed four products along with a belief that â€Å"every woman can be beautiful†. The company operates in cosmetic industry and deals with luxury products. At present, it has many brands under its corporate authority (Estee Lauder Companies, 2011).Globalisation has made it possible for firms to expand their businesses in international market through extensive expansion of their products and services. The global expansion strategies of firms assist in gaining higher market share in the targeted markets within a short term period. Due to the global expansion strategy, the sales of the firms increase which result in increasing the profit of the firms.The Estee Lauder brands are well known and they have captured many markets. The global expansion will facilitate the existing brands to increase the sales that will assist in bringing more profits to the company with the existing product line.Mrs. Lauder had invented several products and brands. She had developed skin care solution and fragrance or scents that were accepted globally and gradually became famous.The Estee Lauder’s brand portfolio is diversified. The portfolio consists of classic, core brands, Lab Series, Aramis and Estee Lauder that have been able to set standards and has gained brand value in the entire prestige beauty industry. The origins, urban prescriptive and customized are the company’s category-defining lifestyle brand. ... The global expansion will facilitate the existing brands to increase the sales that will assist in bringing more profits to the company with the existing product line. Section 1: Estee Lauder: A Functional Domestic Structure 1.0 Internal & External Analysis 1.01 History Mrs. Lauder had invented several products and brands. She had developed skin care solution and fragrance or scents that were accepted globally and gradually became famous (Estee Lauder Companies, 2011). The Estee Lauder’s brand portfolio is diversified. The portfolio consists of classic, core brands, Lab Series, Aramis and Estee Lauder that have been able to set standards and has gained brand value in the entire prestige beauty industry. The origins, urban prescriptive and customized are the company’s category-defining lifestyle brand. From 2004, they had introduced several brands and have sold them through alternative distribution channels (Estee Lauder Companies, 2011). Aveda and Bumble and bumble, eac h in its own way, are foremost organisations in the prestige salon business. As men are more interested in grooming and treatment products, Lab Series Skincare and Clinique Skin Supplies for men are both balanced to confine a larger share of this emergent category (University of Pennsylvania, 2008). 1.02 Vision, Mission and Objectives The vision and mission statements of Estee Lauder is â€Å"bringing the best to everyone we touch†. By â€Å"the best† the company means the best products, ideas and people. These three foundations have been the trademark of Estee Lauder from the time it was established. These three pillars remain the foundation upon which the company has been able to succeed till date (Sample, 2006). The objectives of the

Read article A Pilot Program on Youth Engagement by Rachel Swaner and Research Paper

Read article A Pilot Program on Youth Engagement by Rachel Swaner and Elise White and describe 5 ethical, political or procedural challenges addressed in the report - Research Paper Example A Pilot Program on Youth Engagement by Rachel Swaner and Elise White gives some good examples ethical, political or procedural challenges that need to be addressed by researchers. One of the ethical challenges is that a program may fail to have the desired impact. This mainly arises if the target population is not given a chance to actively participate in designing the program or campaign messages. In order to address this, the programming of the youth ECHO was done in a way that it not only focused on serving the youths but also, it incorporated them as essential partners in its creation. For example, they helped to design semi-structured questionnaires for interviewing fellow youths and friends. The developers took time to listen to and learn from the community, especially the youth. They used findings from youth group to identify the issues that the Youth ECHO campaign should address. In this way, the program reflected on the experiences of the youths while providing a sense of connection between the youths and the community and, between the youths and adults. The program made the speaker an insider, speaking from their cultural context and the context of youth disconnected from the mainstream culture. Through a series of discussions, the youths had the chance to select the strongest elements of the message that would be used in the final campaign, â€Å"Dealing Drugs: It’s Not Worth It.† In this way, the messages were not perceived as suspect. This idea also helped to address the ethical issue of source credibility. By focusing on youths that are disconnected from the mainstream society, the program results are bound to be more reliable and valid. An example of a political challenge in research is that the research program or resultant campaigns could result to some unintended effects. For example, a research campaign on crime could increase crime prevention awareness but also, it could lead to a state of unwanted

New Product Development Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

New Product Development - Case Study Example It owns brands like easy Car, easy Money, easy Internet caf, easy Cinema, easy Pizza, easy Cruise, easy Mobile, easy Watch, easy Hotels, and easy Jobs etc. This strategy was called "diversification within diversification". This means that the company's individual business units become recession proofed by moving into as many diversified fields as possible, while enhancing the financial strength of the company. The Company follows the "easy" format of taking away the frills in something to make it cheaper overall. In the last few years the company has started to franchise the businesses to expand, and cut down costs. The easy Group profits by either selling shares in the businesses or by licensing or franchising the brand to reputable partners. easy Clothes has a range of apparels to cater to the taste and pockets of the young generation as well as the busy professionals. The easy Shirt comes in the price range 4, 18 and 75pounds. The high priced range is wrinkle free. The pullover also comes in three price range and the high priced one would cater to the older generation which prefers extremely soft clothes. Jeans also has three versions with the expensive one being more rugged. The low priced version of clothes would cater to the lower income group which is highly price sensitive. The market attractiveness could be analysed using Porter's model and the internal analysis could be done by value chain analysis. The market attractiveness varies with the market size, annual market growth rate, profit margins etc.The use of Porter's Five Forces mainly focuses on the industry structure analysis in the organisations external environment. It reveals the source of competition in an industry and external influence including the threats and opportunities of the industry that organisation has to face to obtain competitive advantage. Porter defines the rivalry of the organisation in relation to the industry where high rivalry leads to low profits. The threats from new entrants are heights of the barriers in place to stop them and define the profitability of the industry. Threats from substitutes is the threat by others to copy the product so the margin for guaranteed profit goes low and customers are more prone to change. The bargaining power of buyers depends on the price of the product and the leverage the customer possesses. Similarly the power of the suppliers is determined by how much the buyer needs the product and how much they are willing to pay. easyClothes is a company dealing with apparels. This industry is very competitive. There are some brands driven by quality and some only by price. Different companies have different target segments.easybusiness has been successful in creating a brand name in the market which caters to the price and brand/quality sensitive customers. Core Competence Matrix: -

Strategy and Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Strategy and Human Resource Management Essay 1. What is the difference between Corporate Strategy (or strategy formulation) and Business Unit Strategy (Strategy Implementation)? The strategy formulation is about making choices, decisions and plans for the organization. Strategy Implementation is about the ways and means to achieve those plans, decisions and choices. How to execute the strategy decisions or plans. Strategy formulation comes before strategy implementation. Strategy formulation talks about business strategy which determine how should the organization compete with others, and corporate strategy which determines where should the organization compete with others. Global strategy which determines where and how should the organization compete with others around the world. Strategy implementation talks about organizational design which determines how should the organization organized and put the formulated strategy into practice, and corporate governance, business ethics, and strategic leadership which determines what type of strategic leadership and corporate governance does the organization need and how to anchor the decision in business ethics. 2.Why is that distinction important for a firm that operates in different product markets? These distinctions can help the firm gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. In every competitive situation the winners are always those firms with better strategy. â€Å"A firm that formulates and implements a strategy that leads to superior performance relative to other competitors in the same industry or the industry average has a competitive advantage.†(Chapter 1 Strategic management) and these advantage could lead firm to success in their business. 3. What role does (or should) HR play in Strategy Formulation? HR people play in a role that clarify future management performance expectations and figure out the methods to achieve the expectations. Furthermore, HR people should help the organization to make right decisions and determine business  missions, plans and resources. Finally, ensure the objectives and action plans fit the business strategy. 4. What role does (or should) HR play in Business Unit Strategy? HR people should play in a role that help the organization to develop the means and methods to achieve the organizational change, developing employment relations, cultural learning, and ensure the execution of strategy. Ultimately, HR helps the organization to increase their ability in business action and changing and finally achieve the goal of gaining and sustaining competitive advantages.

Utilization And Case Management At A Hospital

Utilization And Case Management At A Hospital Sierra View District Hospitals (SVDH) utilization review (UR) process originates in the Case Management (CM) department. They are responsible for the case review and obtaining social services for those patients in need of services. This paper will describe how this process works and how SVDH compares to another facilitys UR structure. There will also be a discussion about the weaknesses of the SVDH program. Utilization Management at SVDH The CM department is responsible for the UR process at SVDH. This department, which has 13 employees, is staffed as follows: four Case Managers; two licensed clinical social workers; four social services worker; a Department Analyst; and a Wound Care Specialist. An Administrative Director oversees the department. The CM department follows a Utilization Review Plan (Appendix A) which establishes how the CM department will review cases and address potential discrepancies from established best practice guidelines like McKessons InterQual Criteria (McKesson, 2010). The four Case Managers are to conduct concurrent reviews on all Medicare admissions. They evaluate the patient chart and documentation to ensure the correct medical care status of Inpatient or Observation Services is assigned to the patient. If the patient is assigned the correct status then the Case Manager will flag the case for review in three to four days to ensure the status of the patient has not changed to such a degree that either a higher or lower service level is required. If that is the case, the manager will contact the primary care physician and seek an order changing the service level. If the physician does not agree, and the documentation in the case ceases to support the current level of care, the case manager will forw ard the case to the physician advisor for review. If the physician advisor agrees that a new level of care is called for then he/she will contact the physician to seek further clarification as to why the patient needs continued services at the current level. Depending on this conversation, there are four possible outcomes for the patient status. One, the patient status will remain at the current level of care because the initial physician has informed the physician advisor of extenuating circumstances regarding the case. Two, the physician will agree to the conversion of the patient status to either a higher or lower level of care. Three, the physician will not agree with the physician advisor, and the advisor will refer the case for the UR committee for a panel decision, which can overrule the original physician; or Four, the patient can be discharged from the hospital. While Case Managers are working the UR of a patient, the Social Workers are concerned about any after-care the patient may require. The Case Managers and Social Workers work together to come up with a discharge plan beginning on the first day of admission. The Social Workers make sure the patients have all the contact information they may need once discharged, and the Case Managers work to ensure placement of the patient in an extended recovery care facility if needed. SVDHs UR Program Compared to Other Hospitals SVDHs UR program is comparable to that of Jewish Hospital (St. Louis). Prior to 1985, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursed hospitals for services rendered. Due to increasing costs to the Medicare Trust Fund, the Diagnostic Related Group (DRG) system was developed to reimburse hospitals based on what the average cost of a particular surgery. UR programs at both hospitals began to change to meet the new challenges instituted by CMS. Utilization Review became Case Management at SVDH, while Jewish Hospital named their program Case Coordination. The staff members at both facilities became more involved in complete patient care, from admission to post-discharge. SVDH experienced the same growing pains that Jewish Hospital did when Observation Services became a new cost savings service line instituted by CMS. The next challenge arose in 1990, when quality initiatives arose. These initiatives have only increased since that time, with the establishment of Quality Initiative Organizations (QIO). The QIOs review hospital data and report results back to CMS. The goal of these organizations is to locate services that do not meet their (CMS) standards. When found the QIO will deny payment for the services. While Jewish Hospital attempts to complete a 100% review for quality indicators on all cases, either concurrent or retrospective, SVDH chose to focus 100% on Core Measure cases only. While Jewish Hospital might be ensuring that all cases have a minimum standard of quality, SVDH complies with Joint Commission standards by only reviewing the Core Measure cases. Weakness of the Program There is a major weakness in the SVDH Case Management program, and it has been a weakness for some time. SVDH CM is not a 24/7/365 program. The Case Managers work Monday through Friday from eight to five. One Case Manager works from eight until noon on Saturday in the emergency room, but there is no coverage on Sunday. This means that the one Case Manager only reviews the cases that were admitted from Friday at 5:00 PM until 8:00 AM Saturday morning. If she has time she will also pick up any additional cases she can prior to leaving at noon, but there is no guarantee of that happening. The entire CM staff will review any cases not previously reviewed on Monday, if the patient is still in-house, or the case will undergo a retrospective review. This can cause continuing care problems for patients. An example of one of these problems recently occurred when a patient was not reviewed due to no CM personnel on staff on Friday evenings. The patient presented to the Emergency Room on Friday, and was subsequently placed in Observation Services at the hospital, This case was not reviewed by the weekend case manager. On Monday morning, the CM personnel started reviewing the Medicare admissions and saw this patient on the CM list. In reviewing the chart, the patient plainly met Inpatient criteria. The attending physician could not be contacted so the case was referred to the physician advisor, who agreed the patient should have been classified as Inpatient. The status was changed as of Monday morning. CMS guidelines state that a status can only be changed upon the presentation of an order, and at no point can an Observation Services case be converted to an Inpatient status retroactively. The patient needed additional therapeutic services that would be provided in a long term care facil ity, but CMS guidelines state that Medicare will only pay for those services if the patient has had a qualifying Inpatient stay in a hospital for a minimum of three calendar days (Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services, 2009). Since this patients status converted to Inpatient on Monday morning, the time spent in the hospital from Friday until conversion on Monday did not count towards the qualifying stay. The quandary then is to either discharge the patient to the care facility without a qualifying stay, thereby making the patient responsible for the entire cost of the care, or keeping the patient in the hospital for an additional two days in order to meet the qualifying stay requirements. The obvious answer is to keep the patient in order for them to obtain the necessary time to earn the qualifying stay. This, however, places a bed out of circulation that could have been used by another patient, and might incur costs that do not meet reimbursement criteria for the hospital. Had a CM staff member been on duty Friday night, the case could have been caught earlier, and the qualifying stay could have begun on Friday instead of Monday. The major obstacle to hiring more Case Managers is, frankly, the cost of salaries. Any additional overhead costs are scrutinized closely in these times of shrinking reimbursements. Prior to bringing on new staff, in any area, the return on the investment is reviewed for a profitability margin. If a profit margin cannot be realized then the likelihood of incurring that additional expense is small. Other projects that bring a greater profitability margin have taken priority over additional staff in the CM department. Conclusion The CM Department administers SVDHs UR program. The CM Department encompasses several different services, all dedicated to providing total care to the patient while in the hospital and post-discharge. SVDHs program mirrors common practices within the industry. Like Jewish Hospital (St. Louis), CM at SVDH has evolved and changed over the years to meet the new demands placed on it by regulatory agencies. The CM Department constantly works with physicians to ensure patients receive the appropriate level of care based on physician documentation and InterQual guidelines. The major weakness in the CM program at SVDH is that it is not a 24/7/365 department. This flaw sometimes places the continuum of care for the patient at odds with the regulatory guidelines, and SVDH has to forego reimbursement for services in exchange for better overall patient care and patient financial security.