Analyze the effect of the management accounting practice that you Essay

Analyze the effect of the management accounting practice that you identified on the firms activities and financial performance - Essay Example In this accounting practice, raw materials and the finished products are at minimum. A firm that adopts this practice applies total direct labor to overhead. Moreover, continuous production, high-quality product, minimum labor utilization, and batch size, flexible and effective systems characterize just-in-time accounting practice. The practice is very popular and effective in the manufacturing industry (Investopedia, LLC 1). Just-in-time accounting practice has both positive and negative impacts on firm’s activities and financial performance. The practice reduces inventory costs but firms incur costs in inventory management. The firm can invest its savings derived from inventory costs in other ventures that will boost the firm’s growth and development in the accounting and finance sector (Kokemuller 1). A firm experiences continuous development and growth in its production process. Just-in-time accounting practice enhances quality in a company. For a firm to succeed in its production process with minimum costs, it must focus on quality. After customers order their goods and get receipts, a firm that adopts this accounting practice investigates any case of defective goods in a given sample size. In case the number of defects is more than a given range, the whole sample size is not accepted to maintain quality. In a just-in-time accounting practice, a firm should buy raw materials from a spe cific supplier and not several suppliers that promotes confidence in their suppliers and ensures that what they offer is of good quality. Just-in-time accounting practice aims at improving the productivity of a firm. The system eliminates any equipment that is not operating in the firm or the production process. The firm reduces waste by promoting the conversion of all the raw materials into finished products. A reduction in inventory errors minimizes reworks and time wastage that enhances efficiency. Low

Public international law, problem question Essay

Public international law, problem question - Essay Example The scope of the Convention is restricted. It applies only on those countries that are signatories under the Vienna convention. However, treaties under Vienna convention has nothing to do with the agreements executed between the states and the international organizations and vice versa. Further, under the said convention, unwritten agreements are not enforceable 3. In total, there are one hundred and eleven states which had signed and ratified the convention whereas 15 states though signed the convention but did not ratify it. Among those countries are Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ghana, El Salvador, Iran, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, Pakistan, Trinidad, Tobago, United States, and Zambia 4. According to Law on Treaty in Vienna Convention, no responding State can extradite a person to the requesting state for trial and punishable under the law for a period of one year or above besides more severe penalty if they are not executants of the treaties under the Vienna Convention. Moreover, no extradite agreements are in place between the requesting and the responding country5. Under the extradition treaty of 1994 which, allows responding country to refuse extradition of a person if that offense culminates to death in the requesting country provided the requesting state assures to the responding country that the man or woman required for trial will not be executed. Further, the treaty has a standard procedure to deal with such issues e.g. the language of documents, procedure under which the documents are to be submitted to the requested country, how an individual can be handed over to the requested country and other relevant issues6. According to the definition of Article 2 of mentioned treaty â€Å"an offense is extraditable if it is punishable under the laws of both countries by a prison term of at least one year. Attempts and conspiracies to commit such offenses, and participation in the commission of such offenses, are also

A leader must have followers

A leader must have followers It is a relationship through which one person influences the behavior or actions of other people. A leader must have followers. Leaders create a vision and then communicate the vision to his followers. Leader energies, inspire and motivate others to translate the vision into achievement. A good leader must have qualities, personality, characteristics or traits. Leadership traits include personal magnetism or charisma (gift from GOD), interpersonal skills, analytical thinking, imagination, decisiveness, trustworthiness, persuasiveness, self motivation, flexibility and vision. There are some styles of leadership: Autocratic: The manager makes all the decisions and issues instructions which must be obeyed without question. Advantages: Quick decisions can be made when speed is required It is most efficient type of leadership for highly programmed, routine work Disadvantages: Communication between the manager and subordinate will be one way. There may be lack of helpful feedback It does not encourage contribution or initiative from subordinates Persuasive: The manger still makes all the decisions, but explains them to subordinates, and attempts to motivate subordinates to carry them out willingly. Advantages: Selling decisions to staff might make them more willing Staff will have a better idea of what to do when unforeseen events arise in their work, because the manager will have explained his intensions. Disadvantages: Subordinates will not necessarily be committed to decisions in which they have not been involved There is no contribution or feedback of subordinates Democratic: Leader and followers make the decision together, on the basis of consensus, or compromise and agreement. Advantages: It can provide high commitment to the decision reached It takes advantage of the knowledge and expertise of individuals in different areas, for high quality, flexible decision making Disadvantages: The authority of the manager might be undermined Decision making might become a very long process Clear cut decisions might be difficult to reach Participative: The manager confers with subordinates and takes their views and feelings into account, but retains the right to make the final decision. Advantages: Employees are involved in decisions. This encourages motivation through greater interest and involvement. Employees can contribute knowledge and experience, to help in solving problems related to their work. Disadvantages: it might take longer to reach decisions subordinates might be limited in their viewpoint on organizational issues if the manager does not take employees advice, they might perceive the process to be meaningless P7: explain the different motivational theories and their application within the workplace Motivation: Motivation is the driving force which causes us to achieve goals. Motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. F.W. Taylor: Taylor made the first serious attempt to analyze worker motivation in order to advise management on the best ways to increase worker performance or productivity. The techniques he used of establishing an idea or an hypothesis, studying and recording performance at work, altering working methods and re-recording performance are still used in modern industry. This approach has become known as scientific management due to the detailed recording and analysis of results that it involved. His main aim was to reduce the level of inefficiency that existed in the US manufacturing industry. The scope for efficiency gains in early twentieth century manufacturing plants was huge. The vast mass of workers were untrained and non-specialized. They were poorly led by supervisors and managers with little or no formal training in dealing with people. There was usually no formal selection or appraisal system of staff and many were recruited on a daily or weekly basis with no security of employment. How to improve productivity (Taylors scientific approach): Select workers to perform a task. Observe them performing the task and note the key elements of it. Record the time taken to do each part of the task. Identify the quickest method recorded. Train all workers in this quickest method and do not allow them to make any changes in it. Supervise workers to ensure that this best way is being carried out and to time them to check that the set time is not being exceeded. Pay workers on the basis of results (based on the theory of economic man) The theory of economic man was widely held, and Taylor himself supported this notion. The view was that man was driven or motivated by money alone and the only factor that could stimulate further effort was the chance of earning extra money. He always maintained that workers should be paid a fair days pay for a fair days work and that the amount should be directly linked up to output through a system known as piece rate. This means paying workers a certain amount for each unit produced. To encourage high output a low rate per unit can be set for the first units produced and then higher rates become payable if output targets are exceeded. Elton Mayo: Elton Mayo is best known for his Hawthorne Effect conclusions. These were based on a series of experiments he and his team conducted over a five year period at the Hawthorne factory of Western Electric Co. in Chicago. His work was initially based on the assumption that working conditions (lightning, heating, rest periods and so on) had a scientific effect on workers productivity. Experiments were undertaken to establish the optimum working conditions at all. The results surprised all observers, as lightning and all other conditions were changed, both improved and worsened, so productivity rose in all groups including the control group. This forced Mayo to accept that: Working conditions in themselves were not that important in determining productivity levels Other motivational factors needed to be investigated further before conclusions could be drawn. Subsequent experiments were carried out with a group of assembly line workers. Changes to rest periods, payment systems, assembly bench layout and canteen food were made at twelve week intervals. Crucially, before every major change, the researchers discussed the new changes with the work group. At the end of the experiments the working conditions and work hours were returned to how they had been before the start of the trial. Output rose far above the original level. Maslow hierarchy theory: Maslows hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in 1943. Then in 1954 this theory was fully expressed in his book Motivation and Personality. Maslows hierarchy of needs is often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest and most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization at the top. The most fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called deficiency needs or d-needs: esteem , friendship and love, security, and physical needs. With the exception of the most fundamental (physiological) needs, if these deficiency needs are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. Maslows theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs. Maslows hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom: This hierarchy was interpreted by Maslow as follows: individuals needs start on the lowest level once one level of need has been satisfied, humans will strive to achieve the next level self-actualization or self-fulfillment is not reached by many people but everyone is capable of reaching their potential once a need has been satisfied it will no longer motivate individuals to action, thus when material needs have been satisfied the offer of more money will not increase productivity Herzberg and the Two factor theory: Despite basing his research on just 200 professionally qualified workers, Herzbergs conclusions and famous two factor theory have had the greatest impact on motivational practices since Taylors work almost 60 years earliest. His research was based around questionnaires and interviews with employees with the intension of discovering: those factors that led to them having very good feelings about their jobs and those factors that led to them having very negative feelings about their jobs. His conclusions were that: Job satisfaction resulted from five main factors: achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility and advancement. He called these factors the motivators. He considered the last three to be the most significant. Job dissatisfaction resulted from five different factors: company policy and administration, supervision, salary, relationships with others and working conditions. He termed these hygiene factors. These were the factors that surround the job itself (extrinsic factors) rather than the work itself (intrinsic factors). Herzberg considered that the hygiene factors had to be addressed by management to prevent dissatisfaction, but even if they were in place they would not, by themselves, create a well-motivated workforce. Vrooms theory: Vrooms theory assumes that behavior results from conscious choices among alternatives whose purpose it is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. The key elements to this theory are referred to as Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence. The Expectancy Theory of Victor Vroom deals with motivation and management. Vrooms theory assumes that behavior results from conscious choices among alternatives whose purpose it is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Together with Edward Lawler and Lyman Porter, Vroom suggested that the relationship between peoples behavior at work and their goals was not as simple as was first imagined by other scientists. Vroom realized that an employees performance is based on individuals factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities. The expectancy theory says that individuals have different sets of goals and can be motivated if they believe that: There is a positive correlation between efforts and performance, Favorable performance will result in a desirable reward, The reward will satisfy an important need, The desire to satisfy the need is strong enough to make the effort worthwhile. P8: Assess the relationship between motivation theory and the practice of management. Payment or financial reward system: Hourly wage rate: This is the most common way of paying manual, clerical and non-management workers. An hourly time rate is set for the job perhaps by comparing with other firms or similar jobs and the wage level is determined by multiplying this by the number of hours worked. This total is usually paid weekly. Piece rate: A rate is fixed for the production of each unit, and the workers wages therefore depend on the quantity of output produced. The piece rate can be adjusted to reflect the difficulty of the job and the standard time needed to complete it. These issues are determined by work study. The level of the rate can be very important. If set too low it could demotivate the workers but if too high it could reduce the incentives, because workers will be able to meet their target wage level by producing relatively few units. Salary: This is an annual sum that is usually paid on a monthly basis. It is the most common form of payment for professional, supervisory and management staff. The salary level is fixed each year and it is not dependent on the number of hours worked (time rate) or the number of units produced (piece rate). The fixing of the salary level for each job is a very important process because it helps to determine the status of that post in the whole organization. Job evaluation techniques may be used to assist in deciding the salary bands and the differences between them. In most organizations, all jobs will be put into one of a number of salary bands and the precise income earned within each band will depend upon experience and progress. It is always possible to gain promotion to another job in a higher salary band. Firms that are interested in creating a single status within their organization are now increasingly putting all staff manual and managerial on to annual salaries to give the benefi ts of security and status to all employees. Example of salary bands: Job grade Salary band (per year) Regional heads Rs.100000 Rs.200000 Departmental heads Rs.50000 Rs.75000 Office managers Rs.30000 Rs.40000 Secretaries Rs.15000 Rs.25000 Junior clerical staff Rs.5000 Rs.10000

A Judgment in Stone, by Ruth Rendell Essay -- Literary Analysis, Ruth

As human beings, our personalities determine our actions. In the novel, â€Å"A Judgment in Stone† by Ruth Rendell, Eunice Parchman and Joan Smith both possess two distinct personalities that fuel their hatred of the Coverdale family. Because of Eunice’s illiteracy and Joan’s insanity, they develop a mutual friendship that proves to be fatal for the Coverdale family. Eunice Parchman’s illiteracy drives her to kill the Coverdale family and leads to the discovery of her crime. Eunice is accused by Rendell of killing the Coverdale family because she cannot read or write (1). Because of the war, Eunice never learned to read, and as a result, she has shut herself out of the world. Rendell states at the opening of the novel, â€Å"Literacy is one of the cornerstones of civilization. To be illiterate is to be deformed. And the derision that was once directed at the physical freak may, perhaps more justly, descend upon the illiterate† (1). Eunice’s feeling of embarrassment in regards to her illiteracy causes her to misjudge the Coverdale famil. She insensitively prejudges their gestures of friendliness towards her as mockery of her illiteracy. Not only does her inability to read cause her to misjudge her victims’ sociability, but it also causes her to have a very limited imagination and little regard for others. Rendell states , â€Å"Illiteracy had dried up her sympathy and atrophied her imagination. That, along with what psychologists call affect, the ability to care about the feelings of others, had no place in her make-up† (42), in reference to Eunice’s heartlessness. Eunice’s hatred for literacy intensifies throughout the novel as she is faced with several tasks that require literacy, the ability that she does not possess. Rendell describes suc... ...ed of the upper class society and by extension the Coverdale family causes them to form a mutual bond which they both benefit from. Rendell describes their relationship, â€Å"Without letting on Eunice thought Joan brilliantly clever, to be relied on for help whenever she might be confronted by reading matter†¦ Without letting on, Joan saw Eunice eminently respectable, a possible bodyguard too if Norman (her husband) should ever attempt to carry out his feeble threat of beating her up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (87). Fate is what brings Eunice and Joan together, and fate is what ultimately brings about the deaths of the Coverdale family. Works Cited Rendell, Ruth. A Judgement in Stone. Vintage; January 4, 2000

Psycho Movie Paper Essay

One of the best aspects of Psycho is the outstanding camera work. The movie is full of unexpected surprises that makes the audience jump, gasp or scream in surprise and fright. Hitchcock uses constant shadow and â€Å"pop out† techniques that enhance the suspense and give rise to tension that build and builds until it is unleashed in startling ‘pop out’ scenes that leave the audience gasping. The film effects, especially during the murder scenes, I believe made the movie. The scene where Arbogast decides to investigate the Bates household while Norman is away and Norman’s â€Å"mother† pops out from the room and seemingly murders the unsuspecting detective is a great example of this kind of camera work. The film also incorporates elements of the unknown using shadows to keep up the mystery and suspense. The infamous shower scene where Norman Bates stalks into the bathroom as a shadowy figure that has come to murder Janet Leigh gives the audience a spine tingling feeling of fear and keeps the audience guessing as to who the real murderer is. The movie was also shot in black and white which adds to the eerie feeling. Hitchcock uses close ups of the actors, shot from odd angles to crete an uneasy feeling for the viewer. The scene when Marian is on her way down the highway after buying her used car, she is filmed driving towards destination but the camera angle is mostly a mid-shot of her view driving the car. After the murder of Marion Crane, the camera zoomed up close to the face of the victim giving the viewers a frightening view of a dead person. The bottom line is that a curtain flying back and a helpless women in the shower being slashed to death while violins screeched violently in the background made many young teens of the time fear their bathtubs and showers. One of the greatest aspects of the movie was the endless string of plot twists and turns. Not only is the plotline immense, but it is full of unexpected events, 360 degree turns and a myriad of suspenseful situations that keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Unexpected events keep the plot rolling along like Marion Crane running away and stealing money. The police officer that questions Marion when she was on the run built up suspense as it led the audience to believe that she might get caught with the 4000 dollars that she stole. The dinner with Marion and Norman before she was murdered gave the sense that Norman was a weird guy who stuffed birds. Plot twist such as Marion Crane being suddenly murdered and Arbogast, the detective, who was close to solving the case being unexpectedly murdered kept the audience guessing. The movie ended with the huge surprise of Norman Bates’ mother, the leading suspect in the murders, turning out to have been dead for two years while her son, Norman committed the murders. Janet Leigh plays an excellent role as Marion Crane, who is on the run with 4000 dollars in search of a new life. The fact that she makes a stop at the Bates Motel adds blood and gore to the movie to make the must-see horror flick of its time. Another thing that made Psycho stand out from other horror movies before it was the type of conflict that the film Horror films up to then had been mostly about man battling oversized or bigger than life monsters. This was just man against a little nerdy man. Hitchcock’s Psycho was inspired by the real life notorious serial killer, Ed Gein. The horror movie audience was used to seeing people battling oversized, non-human creatures such as Godzilla, Dracula, Frankenstein or the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Psycho was one of the first movies to use a psychotic person as the bad guy in a horror context. Psycho inspired movies such as; Friday the 13th with Jason Forgees and Halloween with Michael Myers. Both of these classics followed Psycho’s storyline using the concept of a crazed man with maternal issues killing people with a large knife. The movie, Psycho is a classic film that used innovative camera work combined with a fantastic plot full of unexpected twists and turns and a new type of villain to create a movie that would be used as a horror model for decades. Alfred Hitchcock was a genius who was not afraid to take chances and step outside the box to keep the audience on their toes, or under their seats. Psych has stood the test of time. It was widely considered one of the best horror movies of all time when it came out and it has served as a model and stood up favorably since then.

Culture Bound Syndrome

Cultural-Bound Syndrome Yasenta Newman Immaculata University July 31, 2012 Dr. Sudol-Regan PSY 608 The term culture-bound syndrome was included in the fourth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The term cultural-bound syndrome is said to be recurrent with specific patterns of abnormal behavior that can be linked to a particular DSM-IV-TR diagnostic category. Many of these patterns is said to be considered illnesses. The particular symptoms, development, and social responses are influenced by limited cultural factors. It is also limited to specific cultures.The knowledge about the culture-bound syndromes could help address the relationships between the syndromes and the disorders in DSM-IV. Researchers call this the comorbidity question on the assumption that studying the culture-bound syndrome's patterned relationship to psychiatric diagnoses is a more productive approach than attempting to include it prematurely into the DSM diagnostic categories. S ystematic research has identified strong correlations between culture-bound syndromes and criteria for a psychiatric disorder. But, there is rarely a one-to-one relationship between a culture-bound syndrome and a psychiatric disorder.The culture-bound syndromes is said to coexist with a range of psychiatric disorders and the comorbidity question brings culture-bound syndrome research in with current approaches in the psychiatric research. The differences in the symptomatic, emotional, and contextual aspects of cultural syndromes are said to signal different relationships with psychiatric diagnoses. The extra addition of culture-bound syndromes in DSM-IV provides the opportunity for improving the need to study this syndrome and the chance for developing a research to study it.The growing ethnic and cultural diversity of the U. S. population presents a challenge to the mental health field to develop truly cross-cultural approaches to mental health research and services. This addition can give researchers the chance to study the relationship between culture-bound syndromes and psychiatric diagnoses. In my opinion, a research program based on key questions goes one-sided. By understanding the culture-bound syndromes within the cultural context can help analyze the relationship between these syndromes and the psychiatric disorders.