Financial report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Financial report - Essay Example The process of determining the viable option entailed the application of mathematical techniques and models such as the regression analysis, the LM test and the decision rule to arrive at the most promising and viable investment option. Therefore, 50 countries were used to apply these tests, while using variables such as the GDP per capita, the inflation rates, the consumer price index and the secondary schools to modify the mathematical models and reach at a conclusive decision on the most promising investment opportunity that could be adopted. After the application of the mathematical models and the modification of these models with the above mentioned variable, a decision was reached that investing the 2 billion in secondary school education was more promising than investing the same in the banking sector, where the money could have been used to bail out the banks. Financial decisions are among the most difficult decisions to reach. This because, while making a financial decision, varied considerations should d be made, which call for a greater level of accuracy and precise estimations (Ingersoll, 1987 p47). Additionally, financial decisions are not hundred percent dependable, owing to the large number of factors that affect financial investments and savings. Most significant is the fact that the complexity of making financial decisions is added to, by the nature of the risks involved in the financial sector, where a slight mistake either in prediction or estimation could mean the success or failure of the investments made (Batyrshin, 2007 p23). Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that financial decisions are reached with the highest degree of precision possible, while at the same time putting into consideration all the factors that determine the viability of the decisions. This financial report presents the considerations that were

Laws and Regulations Essay Example for Free

Laws and Regulations Essay Introduction British Petroleum is the US’s largest corporation. One of the largest oil producers, BP services globally for billions of dollars each year. BP distributes oil and natural gas all over the world. British Petroleum has run into several problems with federal regulations over many years. Because of safety issues against the communities OSHA had to investigate many times for oil spills and natural gas leaks. Coca Cola is also one of the largest company beverage companies on the world. Coca Cola was used at first to cure addicts but the n it was revamped and used for making drinks for everyone. Like BP, Coca Cola had its issues with the law as well. They have been accused of violating human rights, pesticides in the groundwater, and finding cancer causing chemicals in the soft drinks. In 2008 it was concluded that Coca Cola was in direct violation FDA for health risk. We will compare and contrast the risks of safety regulations, OSHA violation, product safety and liability, workers compensation, and workplace data security and property protection from Coca Cola and British Petroleum. OSHA The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970 is a federal regulation that establishes and enforces health and safety policy in the workplace (Goetsch, 2008). It covers private sector employers and employees and encourages states to participate in health and safety programs. States that participate receive half of its funding from the federal government (OSHA.gov, 2011). In the advent of increasing awareness and training of health and safety, company safety representatives must be up-to-date on laws, regulations and liability. The OSH Act requires employers to maintain statistical health and safety records and to report occupational illnesses and injuries under certain conditions at each company location. The reporting conditions are the following: â€Å"Death of one or more workers, one or more days away from work, restricted motion or restrictions to the work that an employee can do, loss of consciousness of one or more workers, transfer of an employee to another job, medical treatment beyond in-house first aid (if it is not on the first-aid list, it is considered medical treatment), and any other condition listed in Appendix B of the rule† (Goetsch, 2008, p. 121). Employers are responsible for informing employees about health and safety practices, laws, and regulations. OSHA regulations apply to BP and Coca-Cola with some deviation because of the nature of the business. OSHA regulations include general industry standards and it provides health and safety training programs for employees and employers. In the last few years, BP has been under much scrutiny. OSHA fined BP $87.4m for safety violations that led up to the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion (Walter, 2009). In 2010, BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill is still under investigation by the government. Insiders blame the spill on BP’s decision to shortcut procedures and skip a quality test (Casselman Gold, 2010). Unlike BP, Coca-Cola received OSHA recognition in 2009 for having the highest employee safety and health standards at its Milesburg, PA site (OSHA.gov, 2009). Worker’s Compensation According to Goetsch (2008) â€Å" the concept of worker’s compensation developed as a way to allow injured employees to be compensated appropriately without having to take their employer to court† (Overview of Worker’s Compensation, p. 174). British Petroleum (BP) and Coca-Cola are large organization with locations around the world. Both organization have over 90,000 workers worldwide and have worker compensation plans to make sure injured employees are cared for. According to Ramos Law (2011), â€Å"workers at Coke suffer injuries similar to that of other factory employees. These workers suffer shoulder injuries from repetitive jobs such as mixing formula; knew injuries from loading product; or back pain from general warehouse jobs† (Hurt While Working at Coca-Cola or in the Beverage Industry?, para. 1). Coke needs to do a risk analysis and provide training to reduce the amount of workers’ compensation claims. British Petroleum (BP) had a massive oil spill in April of 2010 off the Gulf of Mexico in which BP hired over 20,000 people to help clean up the disaster. The care, training and protective gear for the cleanup crews was below safety standards. Training and protective gear could be the cause of the worker’s compensation claims that BP has will continue to receive. According to Johnston Moore Thompson Attorneys at Law (2011), â€Å"seven oil spill workers were hospitalized on May 26 after experiencing nausea, dizziness and headaches. Four more were hospitalized on May 28, two of whom were admitted for chest pains† (First Workers Compensation Cases Building for Oil Spill Cleanup, para. 4). The fumes from the oil and the touching of the hazardous material to try and reduce the damage caused many to become sick. The safety standards of BP are being questioned for both the workers and the surrounding areas that were hit by this devastating oil spill. Product Safety and Liability Product safety and liability is a law that was created to hold distributors, retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers responsible for injuries caused from the product (Goetsch, 2008). This law was designed so that in the event injury occurs the consumer is protected. There are a number of different concepts that have laid the groundwork for the product liability law. The four major reasons that the laws were created were from, negligent manufacture, breach of warranty, strict liability in tort, and negligent design (Goetsch, 2008). Companies must take the time to ensure that the products that have been designed meet the safety standards to prevent potential instances from occurring. Coca Cola ensures that the product safety and liability is met by measuring the product and package requirements against the company standards. The company uses â€Å"The Coca-Cola Management Systems† which is a quality management system that maintains the company’s operations worldwide, maintain the Coca-Cola standards (thecoca-colacompany.com, 2011). BP has been under the analysis for quite some time since the oil spill occurred that caused millions of dollars in damage to the Gulf of Mexico. Since that time BP has created new ideas to monitor the waters that hold different oil rigs, these have been created to ensure quality monitoring. BP has created an observation program that will support constant monitoring. (BP.com, 2011) This will allow for the creation of quality monitoring preventing additional instances of the oil spill occurring in the future. This is important part of the product liability and safety program to ensure that the company follows the guidelines required to prevent future liability’s from occurring. This new quality monitoring will be able to â€Å"detect changes within the water quality, marine mammal vocalizations and weather and water temperature† (BP.com, 2011). Workplace Data and Property Protection In the workplace the most important option to the company is security and protection. Companies spend millions of dollars creating systems to protect all the assets and data that passed through a system. At BP, system security over their data tying global partnerships each refinery is a goal amongst the company. British Petroleum train each employee to keep information confidential and away from media if there is a minor incident. The risk of an employee breaking that code of silence about vital information is likely to happen. They have contracts to state employees cannot talk to media or there will be consequences that could ultimately lead to termination. Environmental Protection Agency protects the property and materials produced by BP. EPA keeps the regulation on what products are safe for BP to use to drill oil. Coke Cola has similar issues of security, but they are interested in keeping new products under the table so they can have the advantage over their competition once they launch a product. Their data protection requires a secure system as well. Both IT departments make sure systems do not get hacked by putting up server walls on the system. The security side of the results of companywide is an enterprise-level record of reference that becomes the official record for a given employee, customer, supplier, facility or other entity. Records of reference are the gold standard against which all other records in the system must be validated. These bind together the mass of company data and are at the core of the master data management approach to enterprise-wide integration (Goetsch, 2008). Although other large corporations are developing their own information frameworks, BP’s design is unique in that it specifically complements BP’s decentralized business structure. Casselman and Gold (2010) describes a situation in which a BP employee might have multiple records in one or more human resource databases, making it time-consuming to weed out the duplicate data. Conclusion There are many risks and contrasting information between the Coca Cola and British Petroleum. Both must follow rules and regulations of OSHA and federal laws in order to stay in business. Both companies had their share of setbacks when it came to employees and safety issues that made the public eye. Both companies continue to make billions of dollars and each year as the rules change they are learning to change with it. References BP.com. (2011) BP Deploying Advance Unmanned Water Quality Monitoring Vehicles in Gulf of Mexico. Retrieved from http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968contentId=7064711 Casselman, B. and Gold, R. (2010). BP decisions set stage for disaster. Current, 524,14-16. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. Goetsch, L. (2008). Occupational safety and health for technologists, engineers, and managers (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Johnston Moore Thompson Attorneys at Law. (2011). Hunysvills Pearsonal Injusry Law. Retrieved from http://www.huntsvillepersonalinjurylaw.com. OSHA.gov. (2009). U.S. Department of Labors OSHA recognizes Coca-Cola Danone Waters LLC for workplace safety and health success. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/ pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASESp_id=18137. OSHA.gov. (2011). United States Department of Labor. Occupational Safety Health Administration. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FAQs.html. Ramos Law. (2011). Ramos Law Firm Workers Comp Blog. Retrieved from http://www.ramoslawblog.com. Thecoca-colacompany.com. (2011) Product Quality: Coca-Cola Quality. Retrieved from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/quality.html Walter, P. (2009). BP handed 87.4m fines. Chemistry Industry, 22, 7. Retrieved from Business Source Complete.

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in The Great Gatsby Essays -- F. Scott

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is an important theme in the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. These eyes watch over the events and characters of the novel like the eyes of God. Many things happen in front of the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, like the vehicular manslaughter of Myrtle. There is one quote in particular that describes the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg. This quote has many different meanings to the reader, depending on which way you pick it open. This quote goes '†¦ above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic – their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no ...

Micro Baterial Morphology Lab

Bacterial Morphology Part 1: Viewing Prepared Slides of Common Bacterial Shapes Familiarize yourself with each morphological type to use as a comparative tool for the remainder of the activity. Record your observations. Part 2: Disinfecting Your Area to Use Live Organisms: Part 3: Viewing Live Organisms – Wet Mount Preparation There was several amoeba shaped cells that varied in size. There were five somewhat darker areas that were circular in shape. There were also three large, oddly shaped areas that had very distinct edges. Part 4: Direct Staining: Slide One: There were two clusters that were fairly easy to recognize.All of the cells were cocci. Some of the cells were large while others were practically nonexistent. Slide Two: There were different layers of cells. The cells were rectangular in shape and varied in size. A nucleus was visible in each cell. Slide Three: This slide was a mixture of different shapes. Nothing was recognizable. Part 5: Indirect Staining: Chains of both cocci and bracillus cells were both visible and identifiable. The chains varied in length. The cheek and yeast smear was clearer. The same shapes were seen as before just with sharper outlines.The cells were much easier to see with more detail. Questions: A. What are the advantages of using bleach as a disinfectant? The disadvantages? The advantages of using 70% alcohol? The disadvantages? B. List three reasons why you might choose to stain a particular slide rather than view it as a wet mount. C. Define the following terms: †¢Chromophore: †¢Acidic Dye: †¢Basic Dye: D. What is the difference between direct and indirect staining? E. What is heat fixing? F. Why is it necessary to ensure that your specimens are completely air dried prior to heat fixing? G.Describe what you observed in your plaque smear wet mount, direct stained slide, and indirectly stained slide. What were the similarities? What were the differences? H. Describe what you observed in your cheek sme ar wet mount, direct stained slide, and indirectly stained slide. What were the similarities? What were the differences? I. Describe what you observed in your yeast wet mount, direct stained slide, and indirectly stained slide. What were the similarities? What were the differences? J. Were the cell types the same in all three specimen sets: yeast, plaque, and cheek? How were they similar? How were they different?

Writing Academic Papers

How do you feel about writing academic papers? If you have enjoyed writing in the past, what did you like about the process of writing? If you have not enjoyed it, why not? Did you have any of the misconceptions about writing discussed in Chapter 1 of the text? What did you learn in the chapter that you think might be helpful to you in writing papers here at Ashford University? I do not like writing academic papers. It is very time consuming and some require doing a lot of research on the topic.I don’t like write papers because the subject is not of interest to me sometimes. I also find it a little difficult to do a thesis statement. In reading Chapter 1, â€Å"many writing experts suggest keeping a personal journal or a diary to help you understand what you have read and to sharpen your writing skills† (Sole, 2010). I’m going to start journaling at least twice a week to help improve my writing skills. Sole, K. (2010). Essentials for College Writing. San Diego, B ridgepoint Education, Inc. ttps://content. ashford. edu After studying the active reading strategies in Chapter 2 of the text, read Chapters 1 and 2 and your Instructor’s Guidance for Week One again, applying the SQ3R strategy as you reread the materials. Discuss how this reading strategy is similar or different from the way you read the material previously. Do you think this strategy improved your comprehension of the course materials? Discuss whether the strategy will or will not be helpful to you in your college courses?SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. â€Å"Survey means to skim headings, subheadings, chapter summary, charts, and tables in text; Question the headings and subheadings into questions; Read to find the answers to your questions and record the answers by highlighting, underlining, or taking notes; Recite and summarize what you learned by telling someone else or writing it down; and Review by going back and reading your notes or infor mation that you highlighted or underlined to einforce learning and to commit the information to memory† (Sole, 2010). After reading Chapters 1, 2, and the Instructor’s Guidance for the second time and applying the SQ3R process, I can say that I follow this guideline as I’m doing school work. I think it is a good and helpful strategy to follow and will improve how you comprehend whatever you’ve read. Sole, K. (2010). Essentials for College Writing. San Diego, Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content. ashford. edu

How to Calculate Commissions Using Percents

How to Calculate Commissions Using Percents Percent  means per 100 or of each hundred. In other words, a percent is a value divided by 100 or a  ratio  out of 100. There are many real-life uses for finding the percentage. Real estate agents, car dealers, and pharmaceutical sales representatives earn commissions that are a percentage, or part, of sales. For example, a real estate agent might earn a portion of the selling price of a house that she helps a client purchase or sell. A car salesperson earns a portion of the selling price of an automobile that she sells. Working real-life percentage problems can help you better understand the process. Calculating Commissions Noel, a real estate agent, aims to earn at least $150,000 this year. She earns a 3 percent commission on every house she sells. Whats the total dollar amount of houses that she must sell to reach her goal? Start the problem by defining what you know and what you seek to determine: Noel will earn $3 per $100 in sales.She will earn $150,000 per (what dollar amount)  in sales? Express the problem as follows, where s stands for total sales: 3/100 $150,000/s ​ To solve the problem, cross multiply. First, write the fractions vertically. Take the first fractions numerator (top number) and multiply it by the second fractions denominator (bottom number). Then take the second fractions numerator and multiply it by the first fractions denominator, as follows: 3 x s   $150,000 x 1003 x s $15,000,000 Divide both sides of the equation by 3 to solve for s: 3s/3 $15,000,000/3s $5,000,000 So, to make $150,000 in annual commission, Noel would have to sell houses that total $5 million. Leasing Apartments Ericka, another real estate agent, specializes in leasing apartments. Her commission is 150 percent of her clients monthly rent. Last week, she earned $850 in commission for an apartment that she helped her client to lease. How much is the monthly rent? Start by defining what you know and what you seek to determine: $150 per $100 of the monthly rent is paid to Ericka as a commission.$850 per (what amount) of the monthly rent is paid to Ericka as a commission? Express the problem as follows, where r stands for the monthly rent: 150/100 $850/r Now cross multiply: $150 x r $850 x 100$150r $85,000 Divide both sides of the equation by 150 to solve for r: 150r/150 85,000/150r $566.67 So, the monthly rent (for Jessica to earn $850 in commission) is $556.67. Art Dealer Pierre, an art dealer, earns 25 percent commission of the dollar value of art he sells. Pierre earned  $10,800 this month. What was the total dollar value of the art that he sold?   Start by defining what you know and what you seek to determine: $25 per $100 of Pierres art sales is paid to him as commission.$10,800 per (what dollar amount) of Pierres art sales is paid to him as commission? Write the problem as follows, where s stands for sales: 25/100 $10,800/s First, cross multiply: 25 x s $10,800 x 10025s   $1,080,000 Divide both sides of the equation by 25 to solve for s: 25s/25 $1,080,000/25s $43,200 Thus, the  total dollar value of the art that Pierre sold is $43,200. Car Salesperson Alexandria, a salesperson at a car dealership, earns 40 percent commission of her luxury vehicle  sales. Last year, her commission was $480,000. What was the total dollar amount of her sales last year?  Define what you know and what you seek to determine: $40 per $100 of the car sales is paid to Ericka as a commission.$480,000 per (what dollar amount) of the car sales is paid to Ericka as a commission? Write the problem as follows, where s stands for car  sales: 40/100 $480,000/s Next, cross multiply: 40 x​ s $480,000 x 10040s $48,000,000 Divide both sides of the equation by 40 to solve for s. 40s/40 $48,000,000/40s $1,200,000 So, the total dollar amount of Alexandrias car sales last year was  $1.2 million. Agent to Entertainers Henry is an agent for entertainers. He earns 10 percent of his clients’ salaries. If he made $72,000 last year, how much did his clients make in all?   Define what you know, and what you seek to determine: $10 per $100 of the entertainers salaries is paid to Henry as a commission.$72,000 per (what dollar amount) of the entertainers salaries is paid to Henry as a commission? Write the problem as follows, where s stands for salaries: 10/100 $72,000/s Then, cross multiply: 10 x s $72,000 x 10010s $7,200,000 Divide both sides of the equation by 10 to solve for s: 10s/10 $7,200,000/10s $720,000 In total, Henrys clients made  $720,000 last year. Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Alejandro, a pharmaceutical sales representative, sells statins for a drugmaker. He earns a 12 percent commission of the total sales of the statins he sells to hospitals. If he earned $60,000 in commissions, what was  the total dollar value of the drugs that he sold?   Define what you know and what you seek to determine: $12 per $100 of the value of the drugs is paid to Alejandro as a commission.$60,000 per (what dollar value) of the drugs is paid to Alejandro as a commission? Write the problem as follows, where d stands for dollar value: 12/100 $60,000/d Then, cross multiply: 12 x d   $60,000 x 10012d $6,000,000 Divide both sides of the equation by 12 to solve for d: 12d/12 $6,000,000/12d $500,000 The total dollar value of the drugs that Alejandro sold was  $500,000.

Music Essay

Music Essay Music Essay Vocally I am trying to develop a richer timbre, improve breath management and extend my range. I am doing this via my selected exercises and study. My first exercise is Messa Di Voce. This exercise involves a gradual crescendo and decrescendo on one single note that can be used on a variety of instruments but is most commonly known for voice. This can be a hard piece to master, as the singer must only change in volume, not pitch or timbre. Yet this exercise helps my pieces as it creates more natural dynamics in the voice. I have also made the exercise to suit my piece â€Å"I’m beginning to see the light† (Ella Fitzgerald) by making the exercise in the same key, Eb. My second exercise is a standard exercise from Bob Tasman Smith’s Vocalises, known as ‘Trilling’. This exercise involves the fluctuation of the larynx by varying a pitch of a semitone in width, similar to a bird’s call. This can be a difficult exercise to master, as the tempo is very important. A way to overcome this is to start at a slow rate and become faster as you get more comfortable with the rhythm. Yet with difficulty comes more skills; this exercise focuses on the skill of agility and control. These two skills are helpful with my pieces for performance. My third exercise is an â€Å"Ah† sound exercise. It is classed as a back vowel as the tongue tends to be long and the mouth is large and open. Sometimes the tongue, especially as notes get higher in range, can cause problems by pushing on the larynx. To overcome this, hold the tongue out, either with or without your hands. This exercise maintains chest quality by working the â€Å"deep down† part of the vocal fold. This