Ferguson & Son Manufacturing Essay Example for Free

Ferguson Son Manufacturing Essay Ferguson Son Manufacturing company is attempting to increase efficiency and reduce cost by introducing monthly performance reports for each department. Robert Ferguson Jr is trying to introduce this new type of accounting system and when you try something like this you will always run into some problems, but Robert is creating a culture of resentment. Robert Ferguson is using a static planning budget to analyze the performance of each department. Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) define a planning budget as a budget â€Å"prepared before the period begins and is valid for only the planned level of activity (p. 385)† Robert is using a budgeted level of activity and comparing it to the actual level of activity as the basis for the evaluations. The information that is received from an evaluation done in this manner is going to be misleading. The budgeted level of activity is not always going to be the same as the actual level of activity, so a true comparison is impossible. For example my company manufactures safety belts for motor vehicles and the budget is based on an activity level of 5000 units for the period. The actual level of activity for the period is 4000 units and in result costs and revenue are lower than the budget amount. If our company compared the costs are going to be different simply because the activity level is different then the unchanged planned amount and the results will not provide conclusive data for performance and efficiency because there is no true controlled factor. Garrison, Noreen Brewer describe this as comparing apples to oranges. This type of system is going to provide incorrect data for performance, in result the company will not be able to understand their costs and true revenue potential. The planning budget system is going create discrepancies in the spending variance. According to Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) the spending variance is â€Å"the difference between how much a cost should have been, given the actual level of activity, and the actual amount of the cost (p. 91)† The spending variance can be evaluated as favorable or unfavorable, and this could effect how the product is priced or even purchasing new high tech equipment. You can not effectively utilize a spending variance in a planned budget system because you do not use the same activity level to compare cost. These are big decisions that can make a big impact on a companies revenue and if the system is not using the actual activity level and costs and comparing to the actual levels, the spending variance will be evaluated incorrectly. The planning budget system is going to effect the morale of the supervisors and employees dramatically. Robert Ferguson Jr is evaluating the performance of the supervisors and departments monthly based on amounts and activities that they have budgeted. This budget could be completely unrealistic and this will cause the entire staff to feel hopeless and bitter. Once people begin to feel hopeless, their work performance will fall, production and efficiency will naturally follow. Their work performance will take into consideration the quantity of their work, but more importantly the quality of their work. If your employees feel they have to cut corners to meet budget to keep their jobs, they will do so and the company could begin to alienate their customers. To continue the seat belt example, if my company had to produce 5000 units and this was impossible unless the workers cut a few corners; now the company has faulty seat belts going to car companies. This could cause a large recall on the cars that our clients produce and those clients are going to find a new company to work with for these products. In this example, my company just lost a tremendous amount of money due to an accounting system that demands so much of their workers that the quality of their work has to be sacrificed. This is all due to notion of increasing efficiency without comparing the activity levels and costs in the same manner. Ferguson Son Manufacturing should adapt a flexible budget system to improve efficiency. Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) define a flexible budget as â€Å"an estimate of what revenues and costs should have been, given the actual level of activity for the period(p. 385). Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) go on to say that â€Å"when a flexible budget is used in performance evaluation, actual costs are compared to what the costs should have been for the actual level of activity during the period rather than to the static planning budget (p. 385). † The activity level will change each period, through out the period as the business activity increases and decreases. Emory says, â€Å"those reports dont tell the whole story. We always seem to be interrupting the big jobs for all those small rush orders. All that set up and machine adjustment time is killing us. This is an example of the type of activity that is going to happen and needs to be taken into consideration when one is evaluating efficiency. The flexible budget will take into consideration this activity and compare the costs to the same level of activity. The current planned budget does not take this into consideration and these are issues that the supervisor has no power over. With the knowledge from the flexible budget, Robert Ferguson Jr may decide that if they purchase a new machine they could complete these rush orders, not have any idle time and in result increase efficiency. In the flexible budget system, Robert will be able to effectively evaluate the spending variance and assess the performance of his workers. The flexible budget is going to make the supervisors and other workers feel they are being measured fairly and can have a positive sense of accountability. During each accounting meeting supervisors like Tom and Jim will be able to walk in confidently, look at the activity of their departments, what their costs should have been based on the activity, what it was actually and see where they can improve. Tom and Jim have been working at Ferguson Son for a very long time and understand what they and their teams can accomplish. They have been praised for the quality of their work by Robert Ferguson Sr and their expertise can be the most efficient tool Robert Ferguson Jr has in the factory. Flexible budget system will create realistic goals for the workers and in turn relieve the negative stress being placed on them. The quality of work will not be sacrificed to cut costs, Tom and Jim will incorporate new work practices to increase efficiency. Activity-based costing could be a great tool for Ferguson Son Manufacturing f used properly. Activity-based costing is defined by Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) as â€Å"a costing method that is designed to provide managers with cost information for strategic and other decisions that potentially affect capacity and therefore â€Å"fixed† as well as variable costs. Activity-based costing is ordinarily used as a supplement to, rather than as a replacement for, a companys usual costing system (p. 273). † Activity-based costing takes into consideration all different types of costs as they relate to the activities, so managers can make more effective decisions. Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) state the implementation process for activity-based costing breaks down into five steps and these steps are define activities, activity cost pools, and activity measures; assign overhead costs to activity cost pools; calculate activity rates; assign overhead costs to cost objects using the activity rates and activity measures, and finally prepare management reports. The first step is going to require the company to interview supervisors of each department to understand the activities, activity cost pools and activity measures. This will involve the supervisors and give the company a better grasp of the activity, but make the supervisors feel they are a part of the process and team. This will in turn improve their confidence and overall morale. Once they have interviewed the supervisors and understand the activities, they will be able to assign overhead costs to activity pools such as the rent for the factory to production or the salaries of the marketing managers to the marketing department. The next steps will have them assign rates and costs to certain objects. Activity-based costing will allow Ferguson Son Manufacturing to become more efficient by giving them the ability to see what areas need the most improvement. Activity-based costing breaks down the costs for each department and activity in a way that Robert Ferguson Jr can assess the report and use the theory of constraint to locate the department that needs to improve and effectively take the steps to improve that department. As the system is continued to be used the company will see their efficiency rise and in results so will the company profits. Individuals are always working towards a purpose or some type of goal and that is what a budget can provide. I would utilize a budget to create a sense of urgency, competition and direction in the work place. I would utilize a responsibility accounting system. Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) define responsibility accounting as â€Å"a system of accountability in which managers are held responsible for those items of revenue and cost—and only those items—over which they can exert significant control. The managers are held responsible for differences between budgeted and actual results (p. 337). † This type system will allow the managers to be held responsible for the items they can directly control, by involving them in the process and not automatically penalizing them for not meeting their goals immediately. Everyone wants to feel there are part of a team and involved in the process of creating their own goals. I would implement a self-imposed budget system to help create a sense of control for all workers and managers of the organization. Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) define a self-imposed budget as â€Å"a method of preparing budgets in which managers prepare their own budgets. These budgets are then reviewed by higher-level managers, and any issues are resolved by mutual agreement (p. 338)†. I would create a budget committee that includes the managers to provide everyone in the organization this sense of unity. Once a budget is created and the workers have a sense of control and unity I would create an incentive program to encourage workers to accomplish and exceed their goals. I would implement a bonus incentive plan for my workers. This system would utilize the budget created by the organization and further inspire the workers to excel. People are motivated by many different things and most of them involve factors that are not directly related to the work place. People work to provide financial security for their family, prestige outside of work and pride for the work they do. A bonus program will give each individual the opportunity to accomplish any or all of these personal goals and contribute to the success of the organization. If each person in the organization is striving to surpass their goals, the organization will do the same and the results will be evident to the shareholders. Garrison, Noreen Brewer (2012) define return on investment as the â€Å"net operating income divided by average operating assets. It also equals margin multiplied by turnover (p. 475). † The return on investment is the profit of the organization. Activity-based costing allows larger companies to understand what their costs are, where they are coming from and how to effectively reduce them to create the largest return possible. Activity-based costing systems do have start up costs associated with them. The organization must train personal to understand the process and systems in order to properly accomplish these activities. The organization must interview staff to research their departments properly to get the accurate information vital to the success of activity-based costing. These costs are the reason many smaller organizations can not apply this system. Activity-based costing provides the organization with the ability to dissect their departments activities and costs. This will allow the organization to see what areas need improvement, what costs can be avoided, in result increase profits and free cash flow for possible expansion or upgrades. If Robert Ferguson Jr can see what departments are costing the company excessive amounts of money, he can lower or eliminate those costs. Once Robert reduces the cost of production, the revenue will rise and the return on investment will grow.

Film Essays - Comparison of the Movie, Life is Beautiful and the Bible

A Comparison of the Film, Life is Beautiful and the Bible Many elements of the film Life is Beautiful can compare to the Bible. For example, Guido, the main character, acts as a Christ figure in that he saves his son, Joshua from the evils of the Holocaust. Another example that compares with the Bible is the tank that is promised to Joshua. Finally, Guido’s death eventually saves Joshua from his own death. Such examples in the movie are comparable to examples in the Bible. In the film, Guido is a Christ figure to his son. During their imprisonment in the concentration camp, Guido explains things to his son in a way that shelters his son from the reality of what is happening. Guido loves his son and he protects his son from being hurt, even if doing so involved breaking rules and getting in trouble himself. In such a way did Jesus Christ love his followers. Jesus suffered to protect His people. Jesus loved his followers and was not selfish toward them. He always did what was right for the well being of His people, even when it was considered wrong or unla...

Cybercrime Law

Cybercrime Law: Is Now the Right Time for It? Issues about a certain bill, which was passed by our President Aquino, have grown since before the its implementation. This became a mainstream issue on the cyberworld and other media. Some were happy about the law’s provisions, but others, mostly, disagreed with its rules. The law’s called the Cybercrime Prevention Law which was proposed by Senator Tito Sotto, who was accused of plagiarism in two of his recent speeches. This law has a bright side, but it’s not enough to cover its ugly side. We have a right to freely say what we want, but with limitations. Freedom is not absolute.We must still be conscious on what we’re saying, or even posting on our Facebook walls. In the cyberworld, freedom is welcomed– playing, watching, reading, commenting, liking, sharing and even buying, what we want. Internet has been a jar of our hidden personalities. An individual’s attitude is changing when entering the cyberworld. And because of that, many became abusive of that freedom and use it to harm other people. This led the government to pass a law concerning the said emerging cyberproblem. The cybercrime law has many obvious disadvantages for netizens– almost all Filipinos are netizens. This law envisions a safe internet world.In line with that, the law contains very heavy punishments for the â€Å"abusive† netizens. The problem with that is the way the law considers an internet action abusive. Even liking a libelous content is counted as an abusive action? That’s ridiculous! Many would say that it’s for the safety of the Filipino people, but didn’t they think that it’s a way of depriving a democratic country of its freedom to express thoughts. That’s totally ironic. I’m not saying that that the deprives Filipinos of the freedom of speech totally, but mostly. That’s because Filipinos usually became more brave to express their thoughts on the internet.The law is a threat to proper justice. The law says that you can be imprisoned for almost 12 years if you are caught red handed on doing something in the internet that is abusive, but if you raped an innocent person, you’ll just be jailed for 3 years! That’s not right. Another thing , the law will be using 50 million pesos a year to successfully implement it, but don’t they know that more hungry stomachs need that amount? Surely, this will be an issue on the proper allocation of our national budget. Lastly, the Philippines has more alarming problems that should be thought first than the cybercrime.Shortage of food and water, poor shelter programs, overpopulation, growing unemployment and underemployment rate, and global warming are just some them. Why don’t they focus on those things? Cybercrime is a very controversial issue with the government this time, but they haven’t solved yet non-cyber crimes in the Philippines which are more life damaging. It’s funny that the government is keeping on acting that they can handle complex and new issues, even though they can’t manage to solve the common ones. The government and our country need to grow more before we go to that â€Å"cyber† matter.

Being A Student Of The Jewish Bible And A Disciple

Being a student of the Jewish Bible and a disciple in Jesus’ day was for the very few. Boys and girls went to school and began memorizing and studying the Torah from ages 6 - 10. By the age of 10, most children would have memorized the entire Torah the first five books of our Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Imagine! At 10, formal education ended for girls and many boys. Most children began to apprentice the family trade or learn how to manage a household. The best students though continued their education at the next level. During their training, they would memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, so they knew Genesis – Malachi by heart. At 15, the best of those best students would continue to the next level of education while the rest began to learn their family’s trade. These best of the best students would go to a Rabbi and apply to become one of his disciples. And the Rabbi would choose the best of the best of the best, ones he thought might be able to follow him. Being a disciple involved more than â€Å"head† knowledge; they sought to become like the Rabbi. They wanted to do what the Rabbi did. Only the â€Å"cream of the crop† we might say, the very best of the best of the best were allowed to become disciples -- until Jesus. Today our Gospel in Disney sermon series is a movie that doesn’t quite fit the Disney mold. In most Disney movies, the heroes are clearly good even if their circumstances are poor, and the villains are clearlyShow MoreRelatedGospel of Matthew Essay example1396 Words   |  6 Pageshis teachings. It is believed that the Gospel originated with Matthew, one of Jesus disciples, and it circulated anonymously (Harris 149). The message in this gospel was compiled to minister to a Jewish and Jewish-Christian community when tensions between early Christians and postwar Jewish leaders aggravated bitter controversy. 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