While undertaking a project, different resources are required to be utilised to carry each task necessary to complete the project. There can be a wide range of required resources such as labour, infrastructures, hardware etc. to reach at the finish point of the project venture. The absence of any of the important resource can hamper the project’s work flow. Anything which a firm requires to ensure the viability of its operations and for the successful accomplishment of its goals and objectives, can be termed as resource. Both storable as well as non-storable resources can be utilised in the project. There are certain resources that are generally utilised for every project such as money, stock, vehicles etc. however some resources are used in the particular projects depending upon their nature and use.
To determine the resource requirement for a project, following points must be taken into account:
The ultimate requirement of resource requirement is dictated by the firm itself which is intended to undertake the project depending upon its goals and objectives.
Safe Hands Insurance Company has received a number of quotations for their new AIS. Calculate how much each system will cost per year and determine which of the quotes is most cost-effective.
Access IT Company has provided a quote of $84,000. The system will last for seven years. They provide free services and maintenance. They offer technical support for an additional cost of $6,000 a year. All the required hardware has been included in the cost of the quote.
The details of the services provided by the AIS and the quotations offered by the software provided are given below:
Cost of AIS is $ 84000 and the useful life will be 7 years.
Therefore, the cost can be evenly distributed to these 7 years.
Cost per year would be $12000.
No additional charges for after sale services and maintenance.
The provider will charge a fees of $6000 per year to provide the technical support.
Thus, the yearly cost per system will be $ 18000 ($12000+$6000).
Vision IT Technical Consultants has provided a quote of $105,000. The system will last for 10 years. Their quote includes technical support. The quote includes all the required hardware; however, the hardware must be checked and serviced by them, twice a year at a cost of $500 per service.
Quote offered by Vision IT consultants is detailed below:
Total quote= $ 105000
Useful life= 10 years
Cost distribution per year= $ 10500
Technical support fees= Nil
Hardware cost= Already included.
Maintenance and Service Charges= $ 1000 per year.
Total cost per year= $ 11500.
Total quote= $ 65000
Useful life= 5 years
Cost distribution per year= $ 13000
Technical support fees= Nil
Hardware cost= Already included.
Maintenance and Service Charges= Nil
Total Hardware cost (extra) = $22500
Per year allocation of Hardware cost = $4500
Total cost per year= $ 17500
From the above calculations it is quite clear that Total IT Solutions is quoting highest and therefore purchasing of AIS from it will prove to be expensive in comparison to other providers.
Hence, purchasing of AIS Vision IT Technical Consultants will be cost effective as its quote is lowest and also its software will serve the company for a longer term i.e. 10 years.
ACTIVITY 3:
It is quite necessary to confirm the scope and the nature, as well, of the budgetary planning activities of the project with all the significant partners working on that particular venture project so as to identify all the necessary areas where funds and other resources will be required. While preparing the financial plans, it is necessary to involve the colleagues as there are various factors that can affect the spending arrangements. Such as:
The above mentioned factors can directly or indirectly influence the firm’s representatives. Any change in the budgetary plans or the projections may require to train and monitor the executives working on the project. The proper communication of all the budgetary activities and plans will not only help them to be aware of the desired performance and objectives but also it will practically enable them to perform effectively and efficiently. Moreover, such involvement of all the colleagues will generate the confidence among them when their ideas and thoughts will be entertained in the overall project development. This will ultimately contribute positively to the project growth.
Cash flow budget is an important tool that can is used in project planning. It allows the firm to manage it cash flows in the most efficient manner. Both cash budgets and reports allows the firm to make sound and informed economic decisions with the use of relevant and necessary information provided in these budgetary plans and reports. It also helps the managers in evaluating its overall performance of the business. The report can offer the review of the functioning of the entity. These reports and budgets helps the business managers in formulating the necessary strategies and policies for the successful conduct of the business. These budgets enables the managers to assess the availability of resources with the business and the key areas whether they must be distributed to generate the desired results. Therefore, these reports provides the strategic direction and platform to the business.
An approximation of cost of a project or unit is called its cost estimation. The person who prepares the cost estimates is referred to as the cost estimators. The cost estimation process decides the value of the assets that are used in the project. There can be various cost estimators such as building cost estimator, electric cost estimator. The process of estimation of cost involves making judgements and guesses. This estimated cost is used to conclude the extended exercises. The process emphasises on determining the ideal cost of the projects by aggregating the individual element’s costs. This estimation enables the managers to determine whether the project will be profitable to be conducted or not. If following criteria are met the project can be called as profitable:
The scope of the project is developed on-budget and on schedule.
The expectations of quality are met.
The benefits that were expected are received by the stakeholders.
The Project manager is concerned about the internal control procedures currently in place. Why is it important that these be reviewed and, if necessary, modifications made?
Internal controls are the measures of ensuring the achievement of the goals of the business, the operational and financial effectiveness of the business, the appropriateness of the budgetary announcements, the consistency in complying with the laws and regulations and the sound financial reporting practices. In the wider sense, internal controls covers all the necessary controls that prevents the organisation’s functioning from being hampered due to the internal environment of the business. Internal controls facilitates the coordination among the critical elements of the business and their constant monitoring and checking process.
To continuously review the internal control procedures of the organisation is quite important because it helps in ensuring that the required internal controls exists and functions on the regular basis in the business of the entity. Review of Internal control procedures helps the managers to ascertain whether the controls that are in place are adequate and sound enough to safeguard the operational efficiency of the business. Evaluation of internal controls involves following activities:
The management of the company must make necessary efforts to establish appropriate internal controls in the organisation and they must ensure that employees at all the level are adhering to the controls in the most effective manner.
ACTIVITY 5:
Accounting is considered as the language of entities business. It helps in collecting, recording and maintain the necessary set of information regarding the business in the financial terms. However, the system of accounting supplies the administrative information to determine whether the business has earned sufficient profits or has faced the misfortunes during the normal course of its operations. Accounting system also contains the information regarding the amount of fund owed by the company to others and the amount of funds that is owed by the other parties to the business. However, accounting is undertaken on the basis of various assumptions and estimates that proves to be unrealistic for the business. Moreover, at times the accounting information provided by the management of the entity may be manipulated to mislead the readers of the information so as to hide the weak financial position of the business. The management accountants must use various advanced techniques and tools of trend analysis and estimations so as to promote their effectiveness and adequacy.
To improve the financial planning of the organisation, a model must be created to show the budgetary plans which must be achieved by the business of the firm. Following budgets must be prepared:
Budgets or the financial plans can be prepared taking into consideration the demand and spending of the organisation. Determining the cash inflows of the business and the sources of the inflow of funds in the business must be ascertained. The management must constantly monitor the funds requirement and must set up the reports accordingly on the regular interval basis.
ACTIVITY 6:
The variance that is indicated negatively shows that the results are adversely affected by the mismatching of actual and budgeted results. It shows two scenarios. First, lower actual income than the budgeted one and secondly, it may be due to higher cost incurrence than the budgeted one. The financial plans covers the desired results from the normal business operations in the given situation. However, there can be various circumstances under which planned performance cannot be undertaken and therefore the ultimate results deviates from the planned results. The report must quantify the deviations along with the reasons that has caused those deviations. Moreover, the impact of fluctuation of the results must also be shown in the report so as to enable the readers to assess the overall impact of changes in the situation or business environment. Along with the quantum of deviations and reasons thereupon, the report must also contain the recommended actions that needs to be taken to deal with the deviations and to minimise them.
While reporting it is quite essential to provide necessary evidences to support the points incorporated in the report. The evidences gives objective support to the arguments and claims made by the reporting entity about its report. It makes the information more reliable than the mere collection of data incorporated at the single place. Evidences includes statements as well as facts to support the content of the report. It increases the credibility of the reports in the eyes of the users and hence it makes easy for them to base their decision on whatever is incorporated in the reports.
You have been asked to provide an accurate and up to date profit and loss report on work in process for a particular job. What data might you draw on, what reports might you need to access and how would you ensure that the information you provide is error free and comprehensive?
The report of profit or loss which is also known as wage articulation, explains the business’s productivity over a period of time. The time period covered by such reports can be based on the monthly framework or quarterly or annually. The profit and loss report is an important document to check the business performance. To the business managers, the profit and loss report identifies the areas of key success of the business and the areas which are contributing negatively to the business success. The stakeholders of the entity uses the profit and loss report to access the financial health of the business. These reports helps the readers to identify the overall profitability of the project venture in which the entity is indulged.
As a basic rule, the report is bifurcated into 2 major parts: the income part and the cost part.
Income part covers all the elements that brings in revenue for the business whether directly or indirectly. All the monetary benefits are hence recorded on the income side of the report whether they are generated from the primary business exercises or the secondary exercises.
Whereas, the cost part covers all the elements that causes outflow of money from the business. It covers the aspects that consumes the business resources whether directly or in the indirect ways. This side also covers the losses incurred by the business due to basic essential activities or secondary activities.
With the use of report of profit and loss, following things can be calculated to understand the overall profitability of the business.
Net Revenue
Less: Cost of goods sold
Gross profit x 100
Net Revenue
Gross profit
Less: operating expenses
Operating profit
Less: (taxes + interest)
To ensure whether the report provided by the management is free from any errors and is comprehensive, the report must be cross verified with the original data and the report must be kept in the simplest form so that it can easily be accessed by the users.
ACTIVITY 8:
For the purpose of writing reports, the checklist as given below can be referred as a guide:
The project managers requires accurate and timely reports so as to take informed economic decisions regarding their project. If the incorrect information is provided to the project managers through the means of reports, it can lead to incurrence of heavy losses because of incorrect decision making as a result of inaccuracy of information supplied. Also, if the adequate information is not supplied on time to the users it will result in delayed decision making from which the main purpose of the information loses its sense. Therefore correct and timely provision of reports to the project managers helps them by serving the base for the base on which necessary decisions can be made. The information regarding the availability of financial resources with the entity helps the project managers in making the most efficient utilisation and distribution of the resources among the key project segments.
Taking into account the ultimate goals and targets, the finance managers and project managers have to function in coordination. The financial information regarding the sources of the finances that are available with the entity, the creditworthiness of the entity as depicted by the last financial records, the interest rate available to raise the required funds, the cost involved in the project and incomes that are anticipated to be earned, the profitability of the project, the duration of the project, the cost to be incurred to set up the project etc. are required to be considered to manage the project’s finance.
What is net income for the Year ending June 30th 2015?
|
ORGANISATION |
|
|
INCOME STATEMENT |
|
|
JUNE 30TH 2015 |
|
|
SALE |
$825,000 |
|
INTEREST EARNING |
$15,000 |
|
COST |
$260,000 |
|
SALES EXPENSE |
$180,000 |
|
DEPRICIATION |
$65,000 |
|
INTEREST PAID ON LOANS |
$35,000 |
|
NETT INCOME |
$300,000 |
ACTIVITY 9:
Once the project comes to its end point, project management sections are involved in the exercises of settling and finalising the accounts. The project manager needs to report to the concerned party on the completion of project. The results that are arrived on the accomplishment of project are required to be analysed by the project manager in order to determine the effectiveness and the adequacy of procedures and tasks performed while undertaking the entire project. Finalising of the accounts and reporting thus helps in analysing the results achieved by the project venture and identifying the reasons of deviations that occurs in the desired results. The project management sections then recommends the business managers the courses of actions that needs to be taken to eliminate the reasons of deviations in planned and actual performance.
The senior administrator or the staff member can provide the information regarding the real costing issues of the project venture and the partners of the team or partners and other associates can provide the significant information regarding the key necessities of the project venture.
ACTIVITY 10:
The maintenance of accurate records is critical for the success of any business venture. These records must be precise enough so that reasonable and genuine conclusions can be drawn from them at the time of decision making. The records must contain the details of consumption and spending of the business funds and other resources. Records like receipts and invoices, solicitations and invoice orders, details of installations etc. must be maintained by the business. There is a wide range of documents and records that contains the necessary and relevant information regarding the business of the organisation which supports the business functioning. Hence, such data must be collected adequately and maintained accurately. The complete and correct records allows the business to make documentation of precise charges annually. It is of critical significance because of the fact that the back end duties can often get severely costly due to the intrigue owned by the administration. Also, the deliberate forces to access inability can also be counted as criminal offence.
The accuracy and completeness of the records maintained by the organisation allows the business managers to measure the performance of business from the standpoint of its critical elements so that any advancement in the performance can be facilitated. It also enables the business in achieving the targeted results. Firms can also have ready access to its inventory network and clientele details as and when required to formulate various strategies and policies. It can also help the managers in identifying the activities that needs to be shut down or suspended.
Moreover, if accurate business records of necessary and relevant information are maintained, it helps the stakeholders to access the performance of the entity. In the absence of these records, they would not be able to understand the scenario of resource availability and utilisation of the business. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the accurate records for the success and growth of the business
ACTIVITY 11:
The below table shows the comparison of costs and benefits involved in both the systems of accounting information software.
|
Costs and tangible benefits |
System 1 |
System 2 |
|
Project completion time |
1 year |
1 year |
|
Expected life of the system |
5 years |
5 years |
|
One-time costs |
$300,000 |
$140,000 |
|
Recurring costs incurred at beginning of years 1-5 |
$45,000 |
$55,000 |
|
Annual tangible benefits incurred at end of years 1-5 |
$170,000 |
$135,000 |
The system that gives higher profitability index will be chosen, given the financial data above of both the AIS systems.
System 1.
One time Investment = $300,000
Cash Inflows (PV) = $170,000 – $45,000 = $125,000
Profitability Index = Present value/Investment
I.E. $125,000 / $300,000= 0.4167
System 2.
One time Investment= $140,000
Cash Inflows (PV) = $135,000 – $55,000 = $80,000
Profitability Index = Present value/Investment
i.e. $80,000 / $140,000 = 0.5714
Decision: System 2 will be preferred over system 1 as it has higher profitability index.
The table that has been provided above in the problem contains almost every necessary data that can be used to evaluate the selection of appropriate system. There are certain points to be kept in mind while selecting the best and suitable framework of alternative selection. Such points are: the relevance and reliability of data, the essential viewpoints of individual’s choice etc. The data must be surveyed before reaching on to any concrete conclusion or decision. After completing the required survey procedure, the techniques like cost benefit analysis can be undertaken. Another technique of comparing both the alternative frameworks is to compute the benefits of both the systems. A profitability index can be explained as the true proportion of present estimates of the inflow of money for the underlying speculation. It is clear from the table that the initial outlay is the one time cost of investment made in purchasing the asset for undertaking the project. The inflow of the money could be controlled through the ascertainment of aggregate benefit after the payment of all the auxiliary costs which are genuinely known and this cost can be deducted from the benefits to reach at the true value of investment.
By concluding the outcome of Question 1 it can be identified which framework is appropriate.
ANSWER 1.
|
TRIAL BALANCE SHEET |
||
|
CASH |
60,000 |
|
|
ACCOUNTS RECIEVABLE |
185,000 |
|
|
INVENTORY |
85,000 |
|
|
PRE-PAID EXPENSES |
17,000 |
|
|
EQUIPMENT |
60,000 |
|
|
DEPRICIATION |
95,000 |
|
|
GOODWILL |
15,000 |
|
|
ACCOUNT PAYABLE |
15,000 |
|
|
EXPENSES PAYABLE |
20,000 |
|
|
PAYG TAX WITHHELD |
15,000 |
|
|
LOANS PAYABLE – SHORT TERM |
25,000 |
|
|
LOANS PAYABLE – LONG TERM |
42,000 |
|
|
CAPITAL STOCK |
15,000 |
|
|
PAID IN CAPITAL |
35,000 |
|
|
RETAINED EARNINGS |
50,000 |
|
|
TOTAL |
422,000 |
312,000 |
|
NET PROFIT |
422,000 – 312,000 = 110,000 |
ANSWER 2:
Various researches have been used to decide the real expenses that can be incurred in providing the services to the clients and to create a wide client base. In the case of vitality business, several analyses regarding the cost of service are undertaken at different phases of inventory interwork. The utilities uses the reviews from the analysis to identify which working capital method they require and what rates can be afforded to be set for the administration activities.
The cost of service analysis is not only undertaken to demonstrate that these utilities offers the estimates of cost of administration. These studies are usually undertaken as a standard working methodology for the administrative ventures carried by the organisations. The surplus or deficit information extracted from the budgetary statements or booking of non-profit organisations, is going to use the specific cost assignments to veil the monetary well-being of the movement or action. To figure out whether any activity or action is achieving the break even, it is necessary to assess what it expensed out to offer that administration. There can a wide set of technologies to be used in order to determine or set the administration cost. Each of those techniques has its own strengths and limitations. Some of the terms that are generally used in such studies are direct or indirect costs, overhead costs etc.
ANSWER 3
Budgets and forecasts can be used as the effective tools to conduct the variance analysis. It is the process of comparing the actual and budgeted results or performance so as to identify the reasons of any deviations between the two. It can be used as a factual or bookkeeping tool to analyse the causes of differences in the financial or operational results of the business. In the accounting areas, variance analysis can be used to evaluate the profitability of the business. It enables the managers to deal with differences by allowing necessary recommendations. At each milestone of the project, variance analysis is undertaken to enable the managers to figure the reasons of deviations between the planned and actual results. Also, it provides necessary information regarding the costs and income associated with any particular aspect of the business. There can be various types of variances such as material variances, labour variances, overheads and sales variances.
ANSWER 4
Cost benefit analysis is a technique used in management accounting. It is used to understand the cost and benefits involved in a particular project. If the benefits exceeds the costs involved in the project, then such project is accepted. It enables the managers to make informed decision making regarding continuation of the existing venture or adopting a new venture. As it is straight-forward technique it is mostly favourable in all types of business ventures. It takes into account the monetary and time duration factor of the project. Moreover, the results of the cost benefits analysis are generally found to be quite reliable and hence it adds up to its strengths.
However, even after great strengths possessed by the cost benefit analysis, it has some downsides which are discussed further. This analysis demands the recognition and measurement of all the benefits and costs of the projects. However, there are certain benefits and costs that cannot be measured quantitatively and also the human mistakes in identifying the true value of benefits and advantages of the project often leads to blunders in making sound decisions. It is not always possible to establish the casual connection between the savings and expenses of the project.
ANSWER 5:
In the cases where decisions are to be made regarding the acquisition of things, the business purchasing policy makes relevance for all the business executives, representatives and the supervisors. The individuals are obliged to hold on the buying policy in all the circumstances because in the otherwise cases it may involve serious disciplinary offence. Buying includes all the acquirement exercises such as renting, transfer of merchandise etc. As per the business purchasing policy, the individuals or their association must be financially strong and stable, responsible and lawful and the buying must be socially or morally acceptable by its legality. It must be capable of constant improvement and up-gradation.
The arrangement addresses the main goals and objectives of acquiring capacity and also it characterises the scope of various purchasing levels. Moreover, where more itemised strategies are used, it fills in the general articulation. The main motive behind the purchasing strategy is that the buying made by the individuals does not even slightly undermine the buying deal between the dealer and the purchaser.
To organise and plan a long Indian wedding so that all the customs and ceremonies are included following activities will be involved:
Assignment of roles and responsibilities for all the events and functions to the arrangement team in accordance with their skills and competencies.
Successful and smooth completion of the entire wedding event without any errors or failures.
A joyous and memorable event for all the guests and main stakeholders i.e. the couple.
Standard: Standard setting is the initial most activity of any planning. The standard of quality of services desirable to the clients is the most important thing to be considered before initiating the planning of the entire wedding event. It not only involves taking into consideration the decorations and festivities of the rituals and ceremonies but also includes other things such as dressings, catering services, sound system arrangements etc.
Assignment of roles: All the members of event management team must be appropriately be assigned the duties for their respective functions so that all the events are responsibly management by the team members.
The planning process must be further taken by allocating and distributing the funds to all the segments based on their roles and functions so that the resources are utilised in the most economic and efficient manner without excessive wastage or shortfall.
Different ideas can be extracted from the previously arranged or attended wedding and related functions so as to understand what are the critical areas where mismanagement of functions can happen and what could be the reasons of such mistakes.
The areas of mistakes or inefficiencies identified in past events must be emphasised on the constant basis since the initiation of management of a particular event so that any last minute haphazardness of the functions can be avoided which could result in costlier solutions to deal or minimise the mistakes.
It is of the utmost importance to regularly review the work undertaken by all the team members to avoid any irregularities. The checklists enables the event manager to identify promptly which activities have been undertaken so far and which activities are now pending to be undertaken.
It covers the detailed information regarding the process or methodology to be used for the implementation of quality policies framed by the event manager. It includes the data of members to be contacted to confirm about the quality of the inputs used and also the information of events that are chronologically required to be organised.
As soon as the events starts to take place and the project has been initiated, the most necessary task is to ensure that everything goes in accordance with the plans and all the processes are undertaken to ensure the quality of services provided in the entire wedding function.
Tools used:
The audits are undertaken to determine as to whether the project activities and tasks are going in the direction of policies framed for the project. Quality audits helps the event managers in identifying the areas where improvements are needed so as to achieve the desired level of satisfaction from the services offered.
The conformance of the plans is not enough to be maintained all the time. Rather the plans must be continuously updated and modified by regularly monitoring them. The process analysis is helps in recommending the immediate actions that can be taken in case of any incidences or to eliminate the reasons of unsatisfactory performances.
With the help of quality assurance tools, the overall quality of services provided can be kept on track and further improvement, if any required, can be made on time so as to achieved the desired outcomes.
Quality control:
This process involves the observing of outcomes of all the tasks and project activities to check whether the standards are met or not and how to eliminate or minimise the undesirable results. The process of quality control must be kept ongoing throughout the life of the project. All the factors whether it is poor quality of food items or decorative items or any other factor, which can lead to the performance failure, must be considered and eliminated within the reasonable time in order to deliver the best possible output of the services to the customers.
There are various tools which can be used in this reference such as cause-effect diagram, flow charts, statistical sampling methodologies or the control charts etc. The other methods can be various inspections or review takings for the purpose of fact finding to identify and eliminate the root causes of performance deviations.
The results of processes of quality control are then fed to the quality assurance processes so as to make the re-evaluation and analysis of the standards of the quality. For instance, it is identified that the main reason of non-delivery of the desired satisfaction to the clients was the mismanagement of activities undertaken by the decoration department. Therefore while undertaking the other wedding arrangement projects, the event management company may hire other personnel for the decoration department and fire the existing personnel in this department in order to minimise the risk of disruption again in the case of new client.
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