INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING - Group Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING - Group Project - Essay Example Australia is an independent nation within the Commonwealth, and the powers of the Commonwealth are clearly stated in the constitution. At the same time, residual powers rest with the state. (Background Note: Australia, Nov 24, 2010). It is interesting to note that the literacy rate of Australia is over 99%, and this higher rate is achieved by the effectiveness of Australian education system. The Australian population was 22.3 million in 2010 and surveys indicate that the country maintains a population growth rate of 2.1% (ibid). Although the major part of Australian culture is derived from European roots, the country possesses its own cultural features also. In addition, as reported in Australian Immigration News (n.d.), immigration has played a crucial role in the development of Australian culture. The Australian political spectrum is dominated by three political parties, among which the Liberal Party (LP) and the National are more conservative (Shipping Australia). While the former represents urban business interests, the latter mainly deals with rural interests. Australian accounting system Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) is responsible for developing and maintaining financial accounting standards in Australia. In Australia, traditional manual accounting system is largely replaced by accounting software or Accounting Information System (AIS). AASB timely makes amendments to the existing acts and rules so and forces certain industries to compulsorily comply with these proposed accounting standards. â€Å"The AASB’s policies and processes support the implementation of the AASB’s strategies relating to its international role and domestic topics and priorities† (AASB). Since the AASB has formulated separate accounting standards for, non-profit organizations and public and private sector organization, it assists the firms to prepare final financial statements effectively. It also gives considerable significance to domestic requir ements also and thereby contributes to the overall development of the country. Business environment Australia features a work force of 10.8 million, out of which manufacturing industry represents 9.1% and retail trade indicates 10.7% (Background Note: Australia, Nov 24, 2010). This data indicates that Australia could successfully distribute its workforce among manufacturing as well as retail sectors. As per the World Factbook statistics, the Inflation rate of Australia in March 2010 was 2.9% per year and this low inflationary level indicates that the nation could employ its different monetary tools successfully. In 2010, Australia earned $210.7 billion from trade exports, and the main export items include coal, iron ore, wool, alumina, meat, and wheat. At the same time, the country spent $200.4 billion on imports in 2007, and machineries, transport equipments, crude oil, and other petroleum products are the main elements of import trade (CIA, World Factbook). Dimensions The AASB tak es all efforts to merge Australian accounting practices with global financial reporting standards. Many business entities are forced to follow Australian Accounting Standards while preparing their books of accounts. This provision is mandated by Australian Corporations Act 2001. Factors

Business Strategy Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Strategy Questions - Essay Example In many companies and organisations, however, this area of social responsibility is often not identified as a major or separate functional area; instead the responsibility is vested on an individual or managing staff, which frequently performs within the human resources management area. (Anderson, 1989, p. 15) Most companies find it no simple matter to formulate and implement socially responsible actions and programs; however, all companies must become concerned and involved in this area. To operate without major disruptions, a company must at all times be in compliance with legal requirements international, federal, state, and local. It must develop, establish, implement, and police a code of ethical and moral conduct for all members of its organisation. In the area of implementing activities on behalf of CSR, where there is considerably more latitude of operations in how, when, where, and even if the company or division wants to contribute money or other resources to 'worthy causes', the firm must deliberate about and resolve many questions prior to establishing fair and workable guidelines. Gone are the 'showing damn to public' attitudes once held by some companies. With a more active government and populace, company social responsibility in each of the three major areas has continued to gain greater concern and prominence over the past several decades. Social responsibility will continue to take more time, money, consideration, and concern in all future management decisions and actions. Diverse managerial skills, ranging from simple to highly complex, are required in all of these areas of social responsibility. It is the social and moral responsibility of an organisation to consider and recognise the rights or interests of various stakeholders first, not only stockholders and employees but also outsiders affected by the company's actions. Among outsiders include customers, suppliers, governments, unions, competitors, local communities, and the general public whereas stakeholder groups justifiably expect and often demand that the firm satisfy their claims in a responsible manner. In general, stockholders claim appropriate returns on their investment; employees seek broadly defined job satisfactions; customers want what they pay for; suppliers seek dependable buyers; unions seek benefit for their members; local communities want the company to be a responsible citizen; and the general public expects the company's existence to improve the quality of life. To be successful in today's business environment, which is dynamic and complex at the same time, organisations must attempt to incorporate t he interests of these groups when defining their strategy or making business decisions. (Sims, 2003, p. 40) To build an enduring and resilient competitive advantage, an organisation must establish strong relationships with all of its key stakeholders due to the fact that no organisations in today's infrastructure can afford to ignore certain other specialised and highly influential groups which include government agencies that look at organisation compliance with regulatory standards, financial-ratings

Section I of the Capital Project Research Paper

Section I of the Capital Project - Research Paper Example With every capital purchase, an organization aims to meet a set of organizational needs. A capital purchase would not benefit an organization unless it contributes to the organization’s productivity or overall performance efficacy. This paper will discuss a software purchase a healthcare organization made for filing patient records properly. The paper will give particular focus on managerial, organizational, and economic benefits of this capital purchase. Capital purchase To define, â€Å"a capital purchase is defined as any purchase of $1000 and over† (Novak, 1996, p.335). Capital purchases are considered as long term assets of an organization. Generally, capital purchases are viewed as capital investments, capital assets, or capital acquisitions. The process of capital acquisition can benefit a healthcare organization in a number of ways. In the view of Gitman and McDaniel (2008, p.434), capital acquisitions add to an organization’s asset strength, which in tur n contributes to the firm’s value chain efficiency and service efficiency. In the case of healthcare organizations like hospitals, a capital purchase is mainly intended to improve the quality of care delivery and thereby promoting patient safety. ... The planned software purchase for filing patient records costs more than $5,000, and therefore, it is a capital purchase. This capital acquisition may assist the healthcare environment to deliver improved patient care services at affordable costs. Management goals of the purchase This capital acquisition would support many management goals including revenue growth, operational efficiency improvement, improved productivity, quality assurance, performance evaluation, reduced employee hiring and training costs. Loretz (2005) says that filing patient records manually is a difficult task because a large number of patients visit a healthcare institution every day. Hence, a healthcare institution needs to employ a large workforce to manage patient records appropriately. Evidently, an organization is forced to spend huge amounts on employee hiring and training in order to file patient records manually (p.2). This situation would probably reduce the firm’s profitability. However, compu terized patient records handling system would assist a healthcare environment to manage patient data effectively and inexpensively. A software-based patient information filing system is beneficial for the organization to minimize the level of employee hiring because such a program may be capable of handling patient data more accurately and quickly. Even though this purchase may cost huge money initially, this acquisition would benefit the organization to trim down employee hiring and training expenses in the long term. Consequently, this may aid the firm to reduce its operating expenses and thereby improve profitability. As we discussed earlier, a software-based program can more quickly and accurately manage patient information;