Serology International Employee Training Case Study

Serology International Employee Training - Case Study Example The human resource director, Dr. Tom Turblin has been assigned the role of selecting the most qualified employee to lead the new division that is going to be charged with the production of the kit. Dr. Tom will also be in charge of training him for the role. Dr. Tom decides that he will first begin with a re-evaluation of the academic qualification of all the employees that are employed by the firm. The exercise is going to be undertaken by an outsourced firm that deals with analysis and auditing. The exercise is going to cost Serology International around 60,000 US dollars. In addition, the outsourced auditing firm has notified Dr. Tom that the exercise will take three weeks. However, Dr. Tom wanted it completed as soon as possible, but he has already agreed to the deal. The firm identifies Scott Dickson as the most qualified employee. Thus, Dr. Tom decides to go through his file and record. He notes Scott has been the head of the Pipette production unit for the firm for a long time. His records show that in his tenure, there has been a considerable rate of return and innovation; hence paints him as an innovative individual. What about his leadership skills? After inquiring from the workers under his jurisdiction. They indicate that he is a leader who is always willing to listen and take part in the production stages. Moreover, he seeks to understand each employee on a personal level and gives credit where it is due. However, Scott has some shortcomings. One is that Scott has no prior experience in the production of DNA assessment kits. An aspect that worries Dr. Tom a lot. He has since decided to help him and work as his guide. His hope is that doing so will give Scott the confidence that is required to run the new division successfully. Scott is also be said to be high-tempered. He is emotional and has losses control easily.  

Managing Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managing Human Resources - Essay Example The purpose of any team work is to work toward a valued and common goal of an organization. The most important aspect of effective work teams is communication between members of a team in an efficient manner. It involves the ability of each member to understand what the other member is thinking and to determine his/her intentions in an effective manner. There are numerous team development theories and this concept is not new in the modern world. These theories create an effective framework by which the contribution of each member of a team to the team’s performance and development can be evaluated and analyzed. Belbin’s theory in this regard can be considered as an important theory in the development of work teams (Napier and Gershenfeld, 1999, p. 79). Belbin suggests that there is existence of nine team attitudes that are considered as important to success. The nine team attitudes are divided into three major categories by Belbin such as thought oriented roles, people oriented roles, and action oriented roles. Action oriented roles comprise shaper, implementer, and finisher. The shaper refers to an individual who is considered to be a highly motivated leader and possesses sound capabilities in handling pressure (Parker, 1994, pp. 33-37). He is considered to have high competence with regard to handling obstacles and c hallenges. His dynamism plays a huge role in encouraging others to accomplish their tasks. The Shaper is considered to display a high level of aggression which may at times hurt the feelings of others. It is necessary that work teams have a shaper for achieving the desired results but the existence of more than one shaper may be detrimental to the interest of the team as it can lead to face offs between the two shapers. Implementer refers to those individuals who are reliable, disciplined, and works very hard to fulfil the obligations of the team (Robbins and Finley, 2000, p. 65). They are

The Boston Beer Company Essay Example for Free

The Boston Beer Company Essay Overview The Boston Beer Company has had amazing success in its transition from a small scale microbrewer to a large scale national brewery. Almost all of the company’s success is due to the Samuel Adams Lager product line, which has hardly changed from the founding of the company in 1984, to the IPO in 1995, to the present day. In fact, much of the appeal of Samuel Adams comes from its microbrew image and the founder, Jim Koch’s, commitment to the brewing process and a premium beer. In recent years, however, the company has implemented a new strategy for growth which has included introducing a light beer that will have more mainstream appeal. While this has increased profits for the company, it has also left the company vulnerable to entry by diluting its brand name. For this reason, the company’s strategy for the immediate future has to make a significant shift, from a strategy of growth to a strategy of protection. It must focus on maintaining its current profits by preventing entry both from small breweries looking to copy the BBC’s strategy and from large breweries looking to use their expansive resources to steal some of BBC’s market share. History of Boston Beer The Boston Beer Company began as a microbrewery in Boston, Massachusetts in 1984. Its first cases of beer were only sold to Boston bars, but the company quickly branched out geographically. Fueled by awards and recognition from prestigious beer festivals, Samuel Adams Boston Lager was available on much of the East Coast by the late 1980’s and nationally by 1992. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995. The Boston Beer Company’s strategy for growth was one of differentiation. The company created a higher quality beer than the majority of American beers by using more expensive ingredients and less water, and it used its packaging and its commercials to advertise this commitment to quality. In fact, because of its use of only barley, hops, yeast, and water as its ingredients, Samuel Adams won the honor of being the first American beer to be sold in Germany, a distinction that helped its image in America even more. One business strategy that the company employed as it started to grow was using extra brewing space in other company’s breweries to brew their beer. Since the company was growing at a double digit rate, it didn’t have a lot of extra capital to build its own breweries, so this was a good strategy for them during their period of growth. And, since these breweries were distributed throughout the country, this strategy allowed the Boston Beer Company to maximize the freshness of the beer it sold. In fact, the now famous practice of printing a freshness label on bottled beer was started by the Boston Beer Company on its Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The company ensured quality production in these disperse breweries by hiring experienced brewmasters to oversee the contract brewing. The company also brewed some beer on its own property, both in Boston and later in a plant they purchased in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2002, the company took a risk by introducing Sam Adams Light, a light beer version of their Samuel Adams Lager. They had never produced a light beer before, and it was Koch’s stance that the company couldn’t brew a light beer that would be up to their standards of flavor. The expanded customer base that the company would target with the sale of a light beer was too lucrative a market to ignore, however, and the light beer market was almost devoid of any Better Beers, so after three years of development Sam Adams Light was born. The advertising expenditures for 2002 increased by 25. 7% or $20. 6 million over 2001 due to the promotion of Sam Adams Light2, which magnified the financial risk of producing and selling it. The new beer had the short term effect of attracting new consumers to the Samuel Adams brand, although the long term effect has yet to be seen. The growth of the Boston Beer Company was very impressive, and can be attributed to a superior product, good business strategy, and an unsaturated market for high-quality beer. But now there are new challenges facing the company. There are always new fads in the beer industry; current trends are low-carb beers and fruityflavored malt beverages. The Boston Beer Company needs to decide which of these trends to respond to, and how to respond to each. Above all the company needs to continue its strategy of differentiation that allowed it to achieve its current profitability. It is its image for quality above major American beers like Budweiser, Coors, and Miller that allows it to keep its prices, and its profits, high. Current Industry Analysis The Boston Beer Company’s product is a â€Å"better† beer. A better beer is defined as either a craft beer or an import, and is characterized by higher prices and quality. A craft beer is defined as one which is brewed with 100% malted barley as its grain. The major American beer companies typically use a mixture of malted barley along with other grains such as rice or corn, since these are less expensive and have less full-bodied flavors. Rivals in the better beer industry include such foreign companies as Corona, Heineken, and Guinness, as well as domestic companies such as Sierra Nevada, Pete’s, and a number of microbreweries around the country. While the beer industry overall is very rivalrous, the better beer industry is not so, as evidenced by high profit margins (the Boston Beer Company routinely posts profit margins of over 50%). The rivalry that does exist tends to revolve around quality competition rather than price competition. There are numerous substitutes for better beer. All alcoholic beverages are substitutes for the Boston Beer Company’s product, although the two closest substitutes are major American beers and flavored malt beverages; wine and spirits are less relevant substitutes for the purposes of this analysis. Budweiser, Coors, and Miller are all large brand name beers which have low prices and low quality compared to better beers. Price sensitive consumers typically buy these beers. Smirnoff Ice, Skyy Blue, and Bacardi Silver are all similarly priced to the better beers, but they have fruitier flavors and therefore appeal to consumers with a different taste preference. The suppliers for the Boston Beer Company are similar to the suppliers for any brewery. Supplies that must be purchased include the ingredients like water, barley and hops, the equipment for brewing, and the transportation for distributing beer around the country. The ingredients are actually very inexpensive compared to the other two costs, and suppliers of barley and water don’t have a lot of bargaining power since these industries are fragmented. The hops industry, however, is more centralized. In order to ensure adequate hops supplies at prices known in advance the company regularly purchases hops futures. The company also employs an aggressive contract brewing strategy. Under this policy almost 60% of the company’s products are brewed at noncompany owned breweries. By utilizing the excess capacity of geographically distributed breweries, the company can keep equipment and transportation costs low while providing a fresher and thus higher quality product. This brewing approach carries inherent risks by giving potential rivals some control over the company’s production capacity. Indeed the company is currently involved in a lawsuit with Miller after Miller’s attempt to back out of a brewing contract early. To protect itself from these risks the company enters into contracts with a diverse set of brewers for a much larger amount of beer than they actually produce. This redundant capacity is meant to shield the company from any number of contract brewers defaulting on their contracts. Buyer bargaining power doesn’t have significant influence on the Boston Beer Company since their buyers are grocery stores and bars. The grocery industry and the bar industry are both fragmented, so each store or bar that buys from the Boston Beer Company comprises a very small amount of total company sales, and the loss of any one buyer won’t significantly hurt the company. Complements in the better beer industry include the popularity of bars, snack foods like pretzels and nachos, and sporting events like football games. While the Boston Beer Company doesn’t provide any of these complements, they do provide some amount of customer education. Customer education includes advertising awards the company has won, advertising their brewing processes, and calling attention to their premium ingredients. This serves to convince people of the superior quality of Samuel Adams, thereby convincing them to pay a premium price. Customer education is a fairly clever and successful strategy for a number of beer companies, but it benefits better beers more than lower quality beers, so the Boston Beer Company could probably take advantage of this by focusing more on customer education. The BBC also has an advantage over small high-quality breweries because its economy of scale allows more customers to be reached per dollar spent on customer education. Any company in the beverage industry has the potential to enter Samuel Adams’ market, and it is always crucial for a company to be aware of possible entry from all sides. Companies that make wine, spirits, or malt beverages could all enter the market, and we have actually seen in recent years that spirits companies have been expanding into new markets by producing malt beverages under the name of the parent spirits company. However, the most dangerous potential entrants would be other beer companies. Other craft breweries that sell their beer on a small scale might attempt to copy the BBC’s strategy to grow into a national brand and steal some of BBC’s market share. Also, major American breweries could use their expansive resources to brew high quality beers that could compete with Samuel Adams on a national level. A third, and even more threatening possibility, would be the combination of these two forces; a major brewery could buy a high quality microbrewery and use their national advertising and distribution infrastructure to market the microbrew to the public on a large scale. Given the Boston Beer Company’s high profit margins and the relatively low level of rivalry within their market, it is very likely that entry will occur and erode away at BBC’s profits if BBC is unprepared. We believe that responding to this possibility should be at the forefront of the company’s business strategy for the immediate future. The Boston Beer Company’s Strategy: Using Reputation as an Entry Barrier The BBC’s initial strategy was one of growth. This was fitting for it when it was a microbrewery looking to gain national and international sales. During its expansion in the early 1990’s, the company took advantage of the fact that consumer demand for craft beers was increasing, while there were few other companies doing the same. Since the new market was unsaturated, the Boston Beer Company was able to earn an inexpensive reputation for its Samuel Adams brand name by being the first large scale mover into the national craft beer market. By the late 1990’s, the BBC’s growth rate had begun to decline. In an effort to keep up growth, the company switched to a strategy of trying to increase the demand for craft beer. It did this through large scale advertising, and most significantly through the introduction of a light beer that brought light beer drinkers over to the better beer market. The Boston Beer Company’s strategy was an effective one for many years, and enabled it to become the profitable national company that it is today. However, if the BBC wants to maintain its profitability, it will need to find a way to protect its market share from entrants, and this will require a shift in the company’s strategy back to increasing its share of the Better Beer market rather than of the mainstream market. The biggest threats to the BBC are the major American beer companies, which have massive resources that would allow them to compete with the BBC. The BBC’s two advantages over these major companies are experience and reputation, and the major companies could easily gain experience by buying an existing craft beer company and utilizing its brewing procedures. Therefore, the BBC must protect its reputation at all costs, since its reputation is the only formidable entry barrier preventing Budweiser, Coors, and Miller from successfully invading Samuel Adams’ market. The company’s best strategy would be to slow their growth in order to work on strengthening their Samuel Adams Boston Lager brand name. Additionally, if the BBC diminishes its focus on growth, it could very well have the effect of reducing the incentive for these three major companies to enter the craft beer market, since the BBC will not be seen as so significant a threat. While there is a risk that slowing growth will leave the company vulnerable to entry by smaller companies, it is the large companies that have the most resources to compete with the BBC, so reducing the incentive for large companies to enter is worth the possible risk that more small companies will enter. The uniqueness and integrity that allowed the Samuel Adams brand to gain popularity are starting to be overshadowed by the company’s attempts to gather more mainstream consumers, and this is hurting the company’s brand name. The strategy for the future needs to focus on building back customer loyalty for the company’s core product line, i. e. Samuel Adams Boston Lager. First and foremost, the Boston Beer Company needs to continue reducing its expenditures on Sam Adams Light. During the introduction of Sam Adams Light in 2001-02, revenues and gross profit increased, but expenditures on advertising Sam Light were extremely high, and much of the sales of Sam Light were thought to be due to cannibalism of Samuel Adams Boston Lager. In 2003 when advertising of Sam Adams Light was decreased, sales of the light beer dropped significantly. Although Samuel Adams Boston Lager sales increased during the period between the fourth quarters of 2002 and 2003, overall shipments dropped 6% during this period3 because of the lowered demand for Sam Light after the decline of the Sam Light marketing campaign. However, even though sales were lower, net income was higher after the end of the marketing campaign4. The company should therefore continue to keep its advertising levels for Sam Adams Light low. In addition to the high financial cost of advertising Sam Adams Light, it is likely that the large-scale marketing of Sam Adams Light could hurt the company in the long run by diluting the Samuel Adams brand name. The purpose of Sam Light is to appeal to mainstream beer drinkers, but the company’s consumer base is comprised of individuals who pride themselves on drinking a beer that is not mainstream. With potential entrants looming from above and below, the Boston Beer Company can not afford to lose its reputation for uniqueness. Still, Sam Light is a good revenue stream as a supplement to Samuel Adams Boston Lager, but it should cease to be the company’s main focus. The â€Å"Twisted Tea† and â€Å"Hard Core† products are malt beverages that the company produces on a small scale. These brands are unnecessary for the company’s success, and if the company adopts a strategy to focus on Samuel Adams Boston Lager then it would be advantageous to eliminate these products. While the products dilute the company’s brand name in a similar way to Sam Adams Light, they don’t provide nearly the revenue that Sam Light does. By either selling or closing down these brand names, the Boston Beer Company can distance itself further from the malt beverage industry and improve its positioning as a Better Beer company. Dumping these products would help the BBC’s image of integrity in the eyes of their consumers, and this image will be crucial if the company is to protect its market share from entrants. There have been a number of attempted entries into the Sam Adams market which demonstrate the need for quality and reputation. Coors owns Killian’s Irish Red and Anheuser-Busch owns Michelob and has a stake in Red Hook, all brands that have had poor success in the Better Beer Market. Most consumers are well aware of the fact that Michelob is just another domestic beer sold at a high price, and so it’s a brand without much of a quality image. On the other hand, it’s not well known that Coors owns Killian’s since it’s brewed in Canada and has an import label. While this label might signal some quality in many consumers’ eyes, Killian’s has no reputation and no customer base. Finally, Red Hook was a quality microbrew ale with a good reputation and customer base that was bought by AB. Since this purchase in 1994 the stock price of Red Hook has plummeted from ~30 to 2 and sales have been poor. While the reason for this is not exactly clear, it’s possible that this failure is due to a loss of integrity that occurred when the microbrew became owned by a major domestic brewer, or that AB simply wasn’t able to operate that type of brewery. AB’s failure in this attempt doesn’t indicate that they will give up on entering the craft beer industry, however, especially if craft beers grow to be more of the national market. With such high profit margins and a strong market position, the BBC might be tempted to increase sales by decreasing prices, but this strategy should definitely be avoided. The high prices for Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Sam Adams Light signal to consumers and other companies that these beers are of higher quality, and since demand in the Better Beer market is relatively inelastic, there would likely be no increase in net income if prices were reduced. Reducing prices would cause the BBC to appear more of a threat to the three major American beer companies, and could therefore expedite the entry of one of these companies into the market. Due to the nature of the Better Beer industry, the company needs to strive for quality competition over price competition. With the introduction of Sam Light in 2002 the percentage of BBC’s sales comprised of bottles vs. kegs increased since most Sam Light is sold in bottles, and since Boston Lager sales declined slightly. While revenues are lower per barrel of draft beer, profit margins are higher due to lower costs per barrel. Additionally, beer served on tap is usually able to retain a higher quality than beer served from a bottle. For these reasons and others, it would be a good strategy for the Boston Beer Company to increase its emphasis on selling its beer in kegs to bars. While most grocery stores already carry Samuel Adams Boston Lager, there are still a large number of bars that don’t have Boston Lager on draft, and this deprives many consumers of being able to drink the beer in its highest quality form while also depriving the company of the added revenue that bar sales bring in. Since the company’s new focus needs to be on emphasizing the quality of its beers, increasing the availability of its draft beer is in line with its strategy. An added benefit of increasing prevalence in bars is the opportunity for bartender education and consequent consumer education. The company should seriously consider providing literature about their beer along with the kegs that they sell to bars, since educating bar owners and bartenders about the premium ingredients and freshness standards that the company holds will have a trickle-down effect to the beer drinkers. Continuing with this strategy of edging away from the mainstream, the Samuel Adams line should switch back to its original label. The current label is simple with few colors, similar to the major company labels, while microbrew labels typically have a more complex picture that distinguishes the brand. Switching back to the â€Å"BrewerPatriot† label would signal to both new and old customers that the BBC is committed their roots and to quality. Putting Excess Capital to Use If the BBC continues to be successful in fending off potential entrants and if it maintains its high profit margins while staying away from a growth strategy, then it needs a plan for investing its profits. In the past, profits have been invested in growth or in stock of other companies, but in line with the new strategy of slow growth, there might be areas in which their money could be better invested. Some of the money could be used to fund the customer education programs mentioned earlier, but it might also be wise to start owning more breweries. Contract brewing proved to be efficient and successful during their growth phase. Up until the late nineties they were increasing sales by double digits each year. At this time it would have been difficult to impossible for production capacity to keep up with sales, not to mention for the company to secure the necessary capital. However, in the past 5 years growth has slowed, and consistently high profits have led to large amounts of excess capital. BBC has been keeping some capital liquid in short term bonds and mutual funds and using the rest of the capital to buy back company stock4. There are several reasons why contract brewing makes less sense now. First, the BBC has run into situations in which being a contract brewer has hurt the company’s reputation. Anheuser-Busch used a dateline interview and ran a series of attack ads claiming Samuel Adams Boston Lager was no different from other domestic beers since much of it was made in the same breweries as these domestic beers5. The ads were eventually dropped when an advertising watchdog group found the ads to be factually incorrect, but the damage had been done6. Brewing all of their own beer would insulate them from such claims, reinforcing their reputation. Additionally Miller tried to back out of a large brewing contract7. BBC won in arbitration, but millions were lost in legal expenses and backup contracts which were never realized. The dispute also brought more attention to the fact that some Samuel Adams is made by the majors, diluting their brand name more. BBC already produces half of their own product, and sells excess capacity to other brewers. This indicates that the company already has the experience and know-how that it needs to operate their own breweries on some scale. With so much capital available and sales growth slow, BBC should purchase a few local breweries around the country to produce all of its product. Excess capacity in these breweries can be contracted out as is currently done in the company’s Cincinnati plant. By owning and operating their own breweries, the BBC can avoid the damage to its reputation as well as the contract disputes that it has to incur by operating as a contract brewer. Conclusions The Boston Beer Company has shown that it has a successful business strategy for growth. The company’s management now needs to show that it can maintain its profitability at its current level by adopting a strategy that creates barriers for entry into the national craft beer market. Many conventional entry barriers can be overcome by either regional microbreweries, which have the experience necessary to brew quality beers, or by major American breweries, which have the resources to market a new beer nation-wide. The one significant entry barrier that the Boston Beer Company still holds on to is its good reputation, which it gained both by being an early mover into the national craft beer market and by maintaining strict quality controls. As the company has matured it has drifted away from its reputation of uniqueness. In order for the company to maintain its hold on the American craft beer market, it will need to revive its reputation at all costs. Because the company’s growth has slowed, it has an opportunity to use its excess capital to fund programs that help bolster its image as a high quality, high integrity brewer. If it continues to differentiate itself from major American breweries like Budweiser, Coors, and Miller, then despite the Boston Beer Company’s smaller resources, it should still be able to hold its consumer base and protect its profits from entry into its market. References 1. â€Å"Samuel Adams – Company Background. † 2. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. 2002 Annual Report 3. â€Å"Boston Suffers Tough Fourth Quarter. † Modern Brewery Age. http://articles. findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3469/is_8_55/ai_114921347 4. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. 2003 Annual Report 5. Contract Brewing. Lew Bryson. Copyright 2000. http://www. beveragebusiness. com/art-arch/mmbryson0201. html 6. â€Å"A-B to modify ads attacking Boston Beer. † Copyright 1997, Chautauqua Inc. http://www. allaboutbeer. com/news/industry/ab_ads. html 7. â€Å"Brewery addition may be on tap. † Copyright 2003, Cincinnati Post. http://www. cincypost. com/2003/04/02/brew04-02-2003. html.

Exploring career prospects for accounting graduates

Exploring career prospects for accounting graduates Accounting graduates have a healthy career prospect which makes them land lucrative jobs right after college. In fact it is said that, an accountant is a man who watches the battle from the safety of the hills and then comes down to bayonet the wounded. The jobs range from working in a small business, an individual client, to working for a large organization. Market standards for accounting students are high. Individuals with BA degrees and the required course work are more likely to find employment in smaller firms, but individual strengths and abilities will have an impact. This makes someone without accounting qualifications to have very slim chances of finding a job in accounting. Every business major in college must take accounting classes just so that they have some brief knowledge in the subject. This paper will discuss the career prospects of students graduating with an accounting degree. It will explain where accounting graduates end up working. In addition, the paper will e xplain whether any certification, licenses or experience are required. Accounting students develop an extensive range of vital skills for their prospect career. They study the use of popular accounting software, writing financial reports, and interpreting different kinds of financial information. They also learn on how to advise organizations and individuals on financial planning and understanding state and federal tax laws. In addition, they acquire skills in customer service and become recognizable with ethical trade practices. Most prospect jobs require a minimum of an accounting degree or any related field. Opportunities must be favorable. Accounting firms hire plenty of students out of college through internships. Those with professional recognition, for instance certification or licensure like CPA, enjoy best prospects. The main advancement for an accountant fresh out with a business degree is a CPA, this is a certified public accountant, however there is also a CMA, and this is a certified management accountant. A CMA is recognized worldwide, wh ere a CPA is generally recognized in North America. There is a wide range of duties in the four major accounting fields namely; management accounting, internal auditing, public accounting, and government accounting. Management accountants, also called managerial, corporate, private, cost, or industrial accountants, record and analyze companies financial information. Their other duties include budgeting, cost management, asset management, and performance evaluation. Management accountants, being among executive teams, involve themselves in strategic planning and new products development. Analyzing and interpreting monetary information desirable by corporate executives in making sound business decisions is among their duties. Other duties include preparing financial reports for groups like stockholders, regulatory agencies, tax authorities, and creditors. There will be more competition on work for smaller private businesses. We understand that. We welcome it and we think we are in a good position to be the market leaders. We have a long history of brand recognition. Within accounting departments, the management accountants may do financial analysis, cost accounting, planning and budgeting. Public accountants execute a wide range of accounting, tax, consulting and auditing activities for their customers. The clients may be individuals, government organizations, or corporations. For instance, some public accountants contemplate on tax matters, like advising companies on advantages and disadvantages of tax on certain business decisions. They also prepare individual profits tax returns. Others may offer advice on employee healthcare benefits or compensation, data processing systems and design of accounting, and selection of controls for safeguarding assets. Public accountants can also be called external auditors. A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he does not particularly feel like it. These accountants, of whom many have qualified as Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), normally work for accounting firms or own businesses. Some public accountants focus in forensic accounting. They investigate and interpret crimes like securities fraud and misapp ropriation, contract disputes and bankruptcies, and other criminal financial transactions, for example money laundering. Technology is hastily changing the work nature of most accountants. Special software packages help accountants to summarize transactions in financial records using standard formats. Accounting packages reduce the tiresome work linked to record keeping and data management. Being an accountant is much harder than taking a few classes, but the payout in the end comes in handy when becoming wealthy. This is because the average income for an accountant straight out of college with a BS in accounting is around fifty thousand dollars. Computers enable accountants to be mobile and to make use of computer systems of their clients in extracting information from the internet and databases. Consequently, many accountants with broad computer skills may specialize in correcting software problems or developing software to ensure unique analytical and data management needs are met. Accountants also execute technical duties like developing technology plans, and auditing, implementing, and controlling computer systems. Most accountants work in a distinctive office setting although some may work partly from home. Working for a firm creates different opportunities for college graduates because it helps build a portfolio, and in return the portfolio will be used to attract new customers. Accountants employed by government agencies, public accounting organizations, and firms with various locations may take trips frequently to do audits at government facilities or places of business for their clients. A survey conducted in 2008 showed that half of the accountants worked a typical 40-hour week. Many who worked longer hours were either self-employed or had many clients. Accountants with tax specialization often worked longer during taxation period. It is said that there are endless career choices for an accounting degree, because people will always have their taxes done. Fresh accountants may work under close supervision of an experienced accountant before becoming independent. Enough working experience at a high enough level as determined by the CGA point system is required. Usually it is two to three years of full time work. The hours are counted so if you work part time it would take much longer to get this piece completed. There are about 20,000 CGAs in Ontario and 8,000 graduate students working towards the designation Toronto star. Any accountant who needs to file a report with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Senior accountants working in public companies registered with SEC may be included among Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Helpful for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) to have as it gives a person a better rounded accounting understanding. State Board of Accountancy licenses CPAs. Any accountant, having passed a national exam can become a CPA. Very few people opt to start with a CA and then move on to other designations as the CA is a field in itself. The Ca designation is in no way less than the CMA or CGA. The CA employees are likely to be recruited right out of university. Large firms like KPMG and others do so and have the ability to pick the BComm graduates with the top marks. In summing up, there are endless opportunities that lie ahead of an accountant. In addition, there is a lot of money to be made in the business, and the knowledge of how to stay wealthy should make people want to become an accountant. There is a wide range of duties in the four major accounting fields namely management accounting, internal auditing, public accounting, and government accounting. Management accountants, also called managerial, corporate, private, cost, or industrial accountants, record and analyze companies financial information. Internal auditors verify internal control effectiveness in their organizations. They check for waste, fraud, or mismanagement. Public accountants execute a wide range of accounting, tax, consulting and auditing activities for their customers. Government accountants work in public sectors. They maintain and examine government agencies records, audit private businesses including individuals whose activities must be regulated by the government. S tate Board of Accountancy licenses CPAs. Any accountant, having passed a national exam can become a CPA. This is in addition to having met all the other state requirements in their area of practice.

Resource Journals :: essays research papers

Entry# 1 Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of just about everything. He is the national saint of Russia and Greece and churches named after him number in the thousands - more than 400 in Great Britain alone. He is the patron saint of judges, murderers, pawnbrokers, thieves, merchants, paupers, scholars, sailors, bakers, travelers, maidens and poor children. Saint Nicholas was born in the Middle East about 350 miles northwest of Bethlehem in the fourth century. Perhaps the most famous story of all tells how he helped three unfortunate young sisters who all had suitors but had no dowries because their father, a poor nobleman, could not raise the money. So they could not marry. Now the bishop Nicholas was a shy man and did not like to give money directly, so he thought of a way to give it anonymously. When the first daughter was ready to marry, the good bishop tossed a bag of gold into the house at night. Later, when the second daughter and third daughter prepared to marry he did the same thing . But when the third daughter prepared to marry, the poor nobleman was determined to find out who had been so generous. So he kept watch and saw the bishop drop another bag of gold into the house. It has been said that Saint Nicholas climbed on the roof and dropped the third bag of gold down the chimney where it landed in a stocking hung to dry, giving us a reason to hang up Christmas stockings today. Nicholas begged him to keep the secret, but, of course, the news got out. From then on, whenever anyone received an unexpected gift, they thanked Nicholas. Six hundred years later, the Russian Emperor Vladimir visited Constantinople and heard all the wonderful stories about Bishop Nicholas and decided to make him the patron saint of Russia. The stories even spread to the Lapland’s - to the people of the reindeer sleds. Statutes and pictures had shown him holding the three bags and when taken as the patron saint of the merchants, the bags became gold balls, representing moneylend ers and today, pawnbrokers in Italy. The anniversary of Nicholas' death, December 6th, either 345 A.D. or 352 A.D., is so close to Christmas that, in many countries, the two merged. I think Saint Nicholas is the helper of all that lives; from criminals to babies. Anyone who needed help he would help.

Computers and The Increase of Labor and Wage Inequality in The 1980’s :: History Technology Essays

Computers and The Increase of Labor and Wage Inequality in The 1980’s Although computer technology dates back to at least the 1940’s, microprocessors were first introduced on a wide scale in manufacturing in the 1970’s. It has been noted that mainframe computers started to be used in business in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Computers have seemed to grow more rapidly ever since the Apple II was born in 1977 and the IBM PC in 1981. PC (personal computers) spread rapidly in the 80’s and 90’s and have been upgrading ever since. It has been said that during this increase in popularity and use of computers the labor inequality and wage difference has been increasing as well. Throughout this paper we will discuss reasons why computers are to blame and why computers have had nothing to do with economic increase of skilled educated workers and a decrease in need for unskilled and uneducated workers. Increase in the growth rate of the demand of more skilled workers due to the pace of the technological work from 1970 to the present has been one of the arguments against computers causing inequality. From the 1970’s the pace of work has been faster, the work load has been greater because demand has gone up, and many jobs have become more difficult to learn. There are no longer mills where education and much knowledge was needed to get the job done. Work has gotten much more involved and complex. The employment of high school drop outs have fallen from 64.4% in 1940 to 9.8% in 1996, and the employment of college graduates have risen from 9.3% to 41.6%. Although computers have been around that whole time there is no way they caused a 54.6% decrease in the employment of high school drop outs. It has also been said that there has been an expansion slowdown from what the country was used to in the beginning half of this century from the 1970’s, so this has allowed companies to pay one educated worker rather than paying two of three uneducated workers that did the same job. Over the years unions have also began to disappear causing some of those unskilled workers how were once protected by contracts to a given union to become no longer demanded. Many of those unskilled workers who escaped being unneeded have noticed a dramatic pay decrease. Many people might think, â€Å"What are you talking about, in the 1940’s they were making like five to ten dollars a day.

A History of God : The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Armstrong, Karen

The writing of Karen Armstrong actually notes the human views of the existence of God in three major designs of religious belief in the society today, namely that of the Judaism, Christianity and Islam.One reason is that the roots of the Jewish religion go back some 4,000 years in history and other major religions are indebted to its Scriptures to a greater or lesser degree. Christianity, founded by Jesus (Hebrew, Ye†§shu†²a‛), a first-century Jew, has its roots in the Hebrew Scriptures. And as any reading of the Qur’Ä n will show, IslÄ m also owes much to those scriptures. (Qur’Ä n, surah 2:49-57; 32:23,  24) Thus, when we examine the Jewish religion, it could be noted that the roots of other religions are well examined just the same.Simply put, Judaism is the religion of a people. Therefore, a convert becomes part of the Jewish people as well as the Jewish religion. It is a monotheistic religion in the strictest sense and holds that God interv enes in human history, especially in relation to the Jews. Jewish worship involves several annual festivals and various customs. (See box, pages 230-1.) Although there are no creeds or dogmas accepted by all Jews, the confession of the oneness of God as expressed in the Shema, a prayer based on Deuteronomy 6:4 (JP), forms a central part of synagogue worship: â€Å"HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.†This belief in one God was passed on to Christianity and IslÄ m. According to Armstrong: â€Å"This sublime pronouncement of absolute monotheism was a declaration of war against all polytheism .  .  . In the same way, the Shema excludes the trinity of the Christian creed as a violation of the Unity of God.† The three major monotheistic religions of the world are Judaism, Christianity, and IslÄ m.But by the time Muá ¸ ¥ammad appeared toward the beginning of the seventh century  C.E., the first two religions, as far as he was concerned, had wandered from the path of truth. In fact, according to some IslÄ mic commentators, the Qur’Ä n implies rejection of Jews and of Christians in stating: â€Å"Not (the path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.† (Surah 1:7, MMP) Why is that?A Qur’Ä nic commentary states: â€Å"The People of the Book went wrong: The Jews in breaking their Covenant, and slandering Mary and Jesus .  .  . and the Christians in raising Jesus the Apostle to equality with God† by means of the Trinity doctrine.—Surah 4:153-176, AYA. The principal teaching of IslÄ m, for utter simplicity, is what is known as the shahÄ dah, or confession of faith, which every Muslim knows by heart: â€Å"La ilÄ h illa AllÄ h; Muá ¸ ¥ammad rasÃ… «l AllÄ h† (No god but Allah; Muá ¸ ¥ammad is the messenger of Allah). This agrees with the Qur’Ä nic expression, â€Å"Your God is One God; there is no God save Him, the Beneficent, the Merciful.†(Surah 2:163, MMP) This thought was stated 2,000 years earlier with the ancient call to Israel: â€Å"Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.† (Deuteronomy 6:4) Jesus repeated this  foremost  command, which is recorded at Mark 12:29, about 600  years before Muá ¸ ¥ammad, and nowhere did Jesus claim to be God or to be equal to Him.—Mark 13:32; John 14:28; 1  Corinthians 15:28. Regarding God’s uniqueness, the Qur’Ä n states: â€Å"So believe in God and His apostles. Say not ‘Trinity’: desist: it will be better for you: for God is One God.†(Surah 4:171, AYA)However, we should note that true Christianity does not teach a Trinity. That is a doctrine of pagan origin introduced by apostates of Christendom after the death of Christ and the apostles.