Deloitte Three Little Pigs Essay

The main goal of evaluating impairment of inventory is to provide users of financial statements an accurate assessment of how the company stands. PIGS has three categories of inventory – live hogs ready for sale, developing animals, and processed pork products. Within these categories, PIGS has inventory of live hogs and developing animals which are to be internally processed into pork products, and also live hogs and developing animals which are held for sale to third parties. The issue of holding inventory at lower of cost of market is with the hogs sold to third parties (PIGS feels that the internally processed products cover costs sufficiently and will not have a LCM issue). However, with the Big Bad Wolf being captured, market prices for lean pork have decreased due to the increased supply of pork. The carrying cost of the live and developing hogs is now (and for the next few months) more expensive than the market value. However, the CEO believes that this is just a seasonal fluctuation. I feel that the way to best represent periodic income is to evaluate for impairment of each end product category. Since the internally processed hogs do not have a LCM issue, the live hogs and developing hogs for sale to outside parties should be tested for impairment. This is supported by the FASB codification in section 330-10-35-8 as well as 330-10-35-10. 35-8 states: Depending on the character and composition of the inventory, the rule of lower of cost or market may properly be applied either directly to each item or to the total of the inventory (or, in some cases, to the total of the components of each major category). The method shall be that which most clearly reflects periodic income. I would classify the inventory into two categories, outside parties and internally processed. Section 330-10-35-10 states: Similarly, where more than one major product or operational category exists, the application of the lower of cost or market rule to the total of the items included in such major categories may result in the most useful determination of income. When no loss of income is expected to take place as a result of a reduction of cost prices of certain goods because others forming components of the same general categories of finished products have a market equally in excess of cost, such components need not be adjusted to market to the extent that they are in balanced quantities. Thus, in such cases, the rule of lower of cost or market, may be applied directly to the totals of the entire inventory, rather than to the individual inventory items, if they enter into the same category of finished product and if they are in balanced quantities, provided the procedure is applied consistently from year to year. By using these two operational categories, it seems that applying lower of cost or market will give the best valuation of income. 2)If the company determines that an impairment of inventory is necessary, should the impairment be recognized in an interim period if prices are expected to recover before the year end? Section 330-10-55-2 in the codification states the following: If near-term price recovery is uncertain, a decline in the market price of inventory below cost during an interim period shall be accounted for as follows. Paragraph 270-10-45-6 requires that the inventory be written down to the lower of cost or market unless either of the following conditions is met: a. Substantial evidence exists that market prices will recover before the inventory is sold. Â  In the case of last-in, first-out (LIFO) inventory, substantial evidence exists that inventory amounts will be restored by year-end. A write-down is generally required unless the decline is due to seasonal price fluctuations. When looking at the information provided, two things in particular catch my attention. The CEO says that total revenues for pork products and total revenues for sales to outside parties, based on current prices, will exceed the cost to complete the sales. Also, when looking at the futures prices (and considering Farmer Joe already stated that it was a seasonal fluctuation) it appears that the price drop is temporary. According to 330-10-55-2, a write down is required unless the decline is due to seasonal price fluctuations.

GE Healthcare Essay

As is known to all, most successful medical equipment manufacturing companies like GE Healthcare satisfy customers’ need as possible as they can and they are still on the way to improve their supply chains to attract more customers and make themselves more competitive. From this, we can see that customer value which can be defined as â€Å"the customer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given† (Zeithaml, 1988, p. 14) plays a very important role in supply chain. In order to analyze the role of customer value and how this puts pressure on the supply chain, this paper will use GE Healthcare as an instance to specifically illustrate the market segment it targets, the nature of customer value, its market qualifiers and order winners and current pressures on the supply chain. GE Healthcare whose general headquarters in the United Kingdom is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company. GE Healthcare with about 46,000 employees is committed to serving healthcare professionals and its patients in more than 100 countries and it is always looking for innovations to cut down costs, increase access and enhance quality around the world. (GE Healthcare, 2012) GE Healthcare’s market target is roughly divided into two parts, namely medical products and service. This paper will mainly focus on its product market. GE Healthcare produces a wide range of products which can be specifically set off four primary parts. These are Diagnostic & Clinical Equipment, Information Technology, Life Sciences and Medical Diagnostics. Furthermore, each primary product is divided into several different kinds of functional products. For instance, Diagnostic & Clinical includes diagnostic imaging, clinical products and home health. The diagram below shows the other three primary parts of its product market. (Dineen, 2010) As we can see from the diagram, with different kinds of medical products GE Healthcare targets on not only the high-end market but also the low-end market. Therefore, it is able to take up more market share than its competitors. GE Healthcare is a medical equipment manufacturer, so its customer is more likely to be medical retailers rather than individual consumers. Customer value is related to quality, service, cost and lead time, so medical retailers want high-quality products, good service, low cost and short lead time. GE Healthcare improves its quality by reducing medical errors, enhancing diagnostic and remote monitoring and its quality level raised 15% from 2008 to 2010. (Dineen, 2010) Its products have been widely praised by medical retailers. Besides, â€Å"According to the 2010 ServiceTrak Imaging survey for PET systems, GE Healthcare has received a No.1 ranking in overall service performance in IMV’s annual ServiceTrak survey.† (GE Healthcare, 2010) This shows that GE Healthcare provides excellent service to its customers. In addition, the base cost of GE Healthcare decreased by 7% from 2008 which is $5.7 billion to 2009 which is $5.3 billion. (Dineen, 2010) The company is able to reduce its costs while maintaining profit. Thus, medical retailers get price reduction from GE Healthcare. For the purpose of shorting lead time, GE Healthcare optimizes its manufacturing supply chain constantly and keeps efficiency at a high level. So retailers receive products from GE more shortly than before. Among many medical equipment manufacturers, GE Healthcare’s main competitors are Johnson&Johnson, Siemens Medical Solutions and Philips Medical System. After looking for their common qualifiers, I find that these companies all possess strong financial support, advanced production lines, successful manufacturing supply chains, talent pools and mature innovation teams. For example, â€Å"in May 2009, General Electric announced that over the next six years it would spend $3 billion to create at least 100 health-care innovations that would substantially lower costs, increase access, and improve quality.† (Immelt etal, 2009, p.3) So we can regard these factors as market qualifiers in the medical equipment manufacturing field. Compared to other companies, GE Healthcare has its own unique ways to win business—order winners. The GE company has an in-depth understanding of end-user requirements and can also respond them efficiently. Besides, it optimizes its production line by means of leveraging products with the different prices and feature points required by the market. The GE company enhances its supply chain by optimizing packing, delivery, manufacturing and other value-added services. (GE Healthcare, 2008) It also invests in growth geographies and innovates disruptive technologies. These beneficial ways make a great contribution for GE Healthcare to winning business. GE Healthcare manufacturing supply chain consists of several processes. First of all, the company selects high quality raw materials around world. Secondly, before being used in biomedical applications, raw materials which are altered need a synthesis process. Thirdly, many individual components of different medical equipments are produced by using raw materials. This process requires specialized skills and procedures. Fourthly, components are shipped to different functional assembly point and finished products are ready to go here. Finally, after being packaged and sterilized, medical equipments are shipped to distributions or consumers. (Gevaert, 2009, p.5) Though GE Healthcare holds a successful manufacturing supply chain, it is still facing pressures. As consumers prefer to buy high-quality medical devices with less money, GE Healthcare has to cut down costs in supply chain while producing high-quality products. When GE buys raw materials, it takes much more time to look for cheap ones with high quality and purity than before. This results in increasing lead time directly. In order to enhance quality to meet consumers’ needs, GE has to use more specialized and skilled workers or more advanced machines in manufacturing. But this conflicts with its purpose of reducing costs. Besides, in the competition with other companies, GE has to make its supply chain more efficient and faster continuously and this is very difficult to achieve. Bibliography: Dineen,J.(2010). Healthymagination Investor Update. Lecture presented as part of GE Healthcare meeting,24/06/2010. GE Healthcare.(2008). 2008 European Cardiology Information Systems Product Line Leadership of the Year Award Recipient. GE Healthcare.(2010). You can’t put a number on trust. But IMV can. GE Healthcare.(2012). About GE Healthcare[online] Available at: http://www.gehealthcare.com/eueu/msabout/msabout.html [Accessed 13/11/12] Gevaert,M.(2009). Upstate South California’s Medical Device Cluster. New California, p.5. Immelt,J,R.Govindarajan,V. and Trimble,C.(2009). Harvard Business Review. How GE Is Disrupting Itself, p.3. Zeithaml, V.A.(1988). Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence. Journal of Marketing 52, p.14.

Marriage versus Living Together Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Marriage versus Living Together - Essay Example For one thing, both marriage and cohabitation involve two people in a committed relationship living together for a definite or unlimited time period with mutual agreement. While husband and wife live together after honoring the value of marriage, both partners live together in cohabitation also with complete harmony and peace of mind. Cohabiting people live without the presence of a legal bond called marriage so there are no legal formalities to be handled if any problem in the relationship ever occurs. In contrast, a married couple more often than not starts facing many problems soon after living together as marriage may not be the right kind of thing for everyone which is exactly why â€Å"some couples choose to live together without the benefit of a legal union† (FindLaw). However, both marriage and living together are similar in this sense that in both trends, people share an intimate relationship, there is a fair amount of love, commitment on both sides, sexual interest, and trust on one another. Both married and cohabiting people often enjoy very serious relationships though differences may exist depending on the situation. Both married and cohabiting people have to share finance or at least, they have to lose something should the relationship get rocky and fail. In both types of relationships, partners share rent and each is required to pay half of it. Basically, it only depends upon the two people living together if the very significant differences between marriage and living together appear on the surface or not and which may include divorce or simply walking out on each other.  Ã‚  

A Strategic Plan to Involve School-Family-Community Partnerships via Essay

A Strategic Plan to Involve School-Family-Community Partnerships via Service Learning - Essay Example An example of this is when students in a math class volunteer to tutor younger students in a poor community, they are able to harness their mathematics skills and improve on it. If they impart the lessons that they have learned and teach it to younger kids who have no knowledge of the skill, they tend to repeat it and eventually master the skill. The mastery comes from practice rather than just having examinations or drills inside the classroom. Their retention rates also improve. Service-learning fosters social growth. Students can contribute to their community by actively participating in community projects. This could be illustrated when a group of students who just studied about recycling wastes to protect the environment initiate a project in the community and collect wastes, segregate them and recycle those which are recyclable. This project will promote the students’ social growth because they are able to interact with the members of the community and at the same time h elp make their environment clean. Students are not only the ones benefitted by service-learning. Even their parents can take part in the service-learning activities to show their support for their children. It then becomes a collaborative effort between students, school administrators, parents, community leaders and members. A specific activity where parents can show their support is by assisting their children collect old clothes, books or shoes among the affluent members of the neighborhood and distribute them to the underprivileged ones. These types of projects will foster community involvement. For those who participate in the activity, it gives them a sense of self-fulfillment because they know that they are sharing their time and effort to the poor members of the community. Students use their skills in real-life situations rather than just learning about them in the classroom. They become critical thinkers and may even suggest solutions regarding problems in their communities. One important advantage of incorporating service-learning into the curricula of students is that it hones the leadership skills of students. Students do not have to rely on their teachers to take the lead in partaking in community activities; they themselves can think of projects which they know can benefit the community. There are several service-learning activities that have been undertaken by students from different schools. One worthy project which may serve to supplement a middle-grade school class in biology is the setting up of vegetable gardens in vacant lots within the community near the school. Since the students learn how plants grew, they can try their hands at planting. What better way to practice what they learn but through creating their own vegetable gardens. In that way, they are able to put into productive use the vacant lots that are just idle. The vegetables that will be produced will then be distributed among the poor people in the neighborhood for their own co nsumption. Truly, in this type of activity, students become involved in the community and at the same time they get to learn their biology in a more interesting approach. â€Å"From Coffee to Compost† is another worthwhile project implemented by students in Bozeman, Montana (United States Environmental Protection Agency,

Man made Surface water drainage settling lagoon Literature review

Man made Surface water drainage settling lagoon - Literature review Example On the other hand, artificial, sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) for the collection and temporary storage of surface runoff, are constructed for the purpose of attenuation or reduction of released water flow volume as well as water purification. These include Basins, Ponds and alternative forms of attenuation. Thus, Basins are of two types: detention basins and extended detention basins. Ponds are of five types: lagoons, balancing or attenuating ponds, flood storage reservoirs, retention ponds and wetlands. Alternative Forms of Attenuation include the use of over-sized pipes as in rainwater harvesting, tanks, and green roofs. Combined infiltration/ attenuation systems consist of swales and filter strips (SUDS, 2011). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different types of lagoons. The naturally formed coastal lagoons will be examined, followed by a study of the artificial surface water drainage settling lagoon, and the various types of surface run-off storage water bodies, legislation, their management, purpose and concept. Coastal Lagoons are Natural Formations Coastal lagoons are found on all continents, particularly in the low latitudinal zone. They occupy 13 percent of the world’s coastline. These lagoons â€Å"occupy shallow coastal depressions and are separated from the ocean by a barrier† (Kjerfve, 1986 p.63). They are at risk of being completely infilled by sediments, or separated from the sea by littoral drift. In the British Isles there are comparatively few examples of this type of habitat. The coastal lagoon’s physical characteristics and differences are predominantly based on the nature of the channel connecting the lagoon to the adjacent coastal ocean; they are classified as choked, restricted, and leaky systems. Choked lagoons have a single entrance channel which is proportionately smaller in cross-sectional area as compared to the surface area of the lagoon; they are commonly found in coastlines with medium to high wave energy. On the other hand, leaky lagoons have several entrance channels, and have a n aturally large ratio of entrance channel cross-sectional area in relation to the surface area of the lagoon. They are strongly influenced by the ocean’s salinity and tidal variability, and have an occasional significant wave energy. Restricted lagoons form the middle of the spectrum, between the choked and leaky extremes (Kjerfve, 1986). Coastal lagoons are similar to and also different from Manmade surface runoff water collection and storage systems such as ponds, basins and lagoons. Coastal lagoons are characterised by their salt water, and by being impacted by features such as the sea’s tides, the extent of build up of the reefs separating the lagoon from the adjacent sea, and other factors relating to oceanic conditions. These conditions do not affect manmade lagoons. However, natural coastal lagoons as well as manmade lagoons are similarly influenced by rainfall. At the same time, they differ in the surface runoff water that drains into them. Coastal lagoons are m ostly polluted by the soil and other natural debris. On the other hand, the surface runoff that enters ponds, lagoons and basins frequently contains waste materials and sewage from industry, agriculture or other human activities besides soil impurities and natural deposits. Artificial Surface Runoff and Waste Water Drainage Settling Lagoons Ponds constructed for

Music Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Music Study - Essay Example Recorded on a piano, roll the â€Å"Maple Leaf Rag† was named after a short-lived Sedalia social club and â€Å"he gave the genre its iconic masterpiece. It was also ragtimes biggest hit. The phenomenal success of the Maple Leaf Rag sparked a nationwide ragtime craze.† (Levang) â€Å"Three Dances† by Susato, the Renaissance Flemish composer, instrumentalist and publisher, celebrates dance music. The three pieces include simple but artistic arrangement of dance music. â€Å"Tielman Susato...established himself in Antwerp, c. 1529, as music copyist, flutist, and trumpeter, and later as publisher. In 1543, he produced the Premier Livre des chansons à   quatre parties. . ., including eight chansons by himself.† (Reese, 290) Thus, this paper makes a comparative analysis of the two celebrated musical pieces of different period and category. â€Å"Maple Leaf Rag† (1916) by Joplin has been celebrated as a multi-strain ragtime and it is adorned with athletic bass lines and upbeat melodies. There are four parts in the piece and each of them has a recurring theme striding bass line with abundant seventh chords. The piece, which has a single movement or section, belongs to the genre piano piece with the instrumentation of piano and has a romantic genre piece style. â€Å"The explosive popularity of the Maple Leaf Rag...was founded on fortuitous circumstance... It was in all ways an unlikely combination. And yet it happened... Joplin wasn’t the only composer of ragtime in the 1890s, or even the first one.... But Joplin was the decisive ragtime composer, the one whose musical imagination gave ragtime its finest expression.† (Levang) The music combined march tempos, minstrel-show songs, and the ‘ragged" or syncopated rhythms. The syncopation of the rhythms is especially evident in the transition betwe en the first and second strain and it was impressively original at the time of its composition. The careful construction of the ragtime tune in the piece excels all

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights With Information Assurance Research Paper

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights With Information Assurance - Research Paper Example Thus, information assurance was given birth as a response to the threat of hacking and stealing vital information, especially data from particular high-profile government or institution. The definitions and practices pertaining to information assurance, on the other hand, are multifaceted and multifarious. Like the complicated Web and its laws, if there are any, the information assurance is an intricate field of human knowledge. This paper discusses the numerous and various definitions of the concept called information assurance (hereinafter IA). It also examines the security services prominent in the information assurance. Of Definitions There are numerous definitions or categorization to the concept of â€Å"information assurance.† Most of these definitions are defined or categorized by various U.S. government institutions such as the U.S. Air Force, the National Defense University, the Pentagon, among other institutions. The U.S. Air Force, for one, categorizes the term inf ormation assurance as a representation of â€Å"measures to protect friendly information systems by preserving the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the systems and the information contained within the systems† (as cited in Curts & Campbell, 2002, pp. 1-2). What is peculiar in this definition of IA is the description of the information systems as something friendly. ... (The emphasis of Curts and Campbell’s IA is on the protection through preservation.) On the one hand, the Pentagon’s Office of the Secretary of Defense categorizes IA in this fashion: â€Å"Informational assurance is the component of information operations that assures the Department of Defense’s operational readiness by providing for the continuous availability and reliability of information systems and networks† (as cited in Curts & Campbell, 2002, p. 2). Here, the definition of the phrase â€Å"information assurance† centers on, as the phrase implies, the assurance of readiness via the provision of availability and reliability of information systems or networks. In contrast to the U.S. Air Force’s, the Pentagon views IA as an assurance -- not as a protection of authenticity -- for availability and reliability of the systems and/or networks. Further, Pentagon’s concept of information assurance is contextualized -- that is, the praxis of IA largely belongs to certain operational activities or transactions by its Department of Defense. The National Defense University (NDU), on the other hand, describes IA as â€Å"information operations (IO) that protect and defend information systems by ensuring their integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation† (as cited in Curts & Campbell, 2002, p. 2). Like the Pentagon’s IA, NDU’s information assurance is synonymous or attributed to the information operations. This similarity is grounded on the fact that both institutions, by nature of their office or function, are military in orientation. But unlike the Pentagon’s, IA as outlined by the National Defense University is perceived in terms of protecting and defending the systems or networks through ensuring or ascertaining not only their CIA but

Creative Problem Solving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creative Problem Solving - Essay Example They are much more creative and would solve issues on their own. Category B of employees involves the individuals who face challenges and fairly offer solutions to these challenges. They always involve their fellow employees who they perceive could be having more experiences and expertise than them in finding solutions to their issues. They are less independent and rely on external solutions to some extent. Category C and D employees are hardly different exhibit almost similar characteristics as far as provision of solutions to their challenges. They have a habit of avoiding the challenges altogether. They would rather not face the challenges; instead they leave them to other stakeholders in the system. ____10_____ C. Assume other challenges and pretend as though nothing wrong has occurred in the system. They tend to be less concern and seem to expect others to be responsible in solving the challenges. The results indicate that half of all the employees have the capacity to face the challenges and provide solutions on their own. Thirty percent face the issues that come before them but would rather engage other individuals in the solving of these problems. Twenty percent of these individuals would either assume the challenges or avoid them completely. The paper under study is ‘conceptualizing assessment for employee performance in terms of problem solution’ and what the strategic managers think about this trend. In the recent past, there has been an increased number of strategic managers that have relied on this assessment style as a creative way to evaluating a larger number of employees as compared to the old style of evaluation. An analytical study conducted reveals that the growth of creative management practices has been captivated by the adoption of other systems of management. Creative skills can be improved through the training to expand the ways of categorizing the various events and

Proving God's Existence is Not Quite a Necessary Task - Love, the Research Paper

Proving God's Existence is Not Quite a Necessary Task - Love, the Strongest Argument, is a Key - Research Paper Example Apparently, even faith which is immaterial by nature is put to intense questioning merely because scientific endeavors have answered and fulfilled most of man’s quest for improving the quality and meaning of life. So no matter how strong God is perceived through faith, still, science is made to require evidence to support a spiritual conviction that there is God, the creator of all things including men, science, philosophies, and other fields of knowledge. By inductive reasoning, no belief may be established until concrete specific proof is met but, is this really necessary for God whose divine nature is rather inclined to reveal Him in abstract yet special ways of conveying the truth of his being? To me, it occurs that experiencing the physical world is adequate for an intimate sense of the beauty of nature is itself an inexplicable wonder though vividly seen, heard, and felt. Faith may not speak to me in philosophical terms to understand a moment of awe that has struck me so mewhere, heart and mind, but it certainly speaks to me with love – that is the most common language in any context and in all areas of knowledge regardless of man’s race, creed, color, and ideological upbringing. How is it possible to hold God’s existence in disbelief when the universe, with all the heavenly bodies, is kept in perfect order by forces known as the pull of gravitation? Can these forces alone think as rational human beings do and act accordingly, knowing their worth in effecting harmony across the interstellar expanse? Surely there is supreme entity, a rational and exceedingly intelligent one who, with immense powers and wisdom, is able to design and command a non-living system of planets and stars to play their part whether in maintaining or transforming a galaxy. I am particularly fascinated about ‘symmetry’ in several things and the concept of order and symmetry is tangibly made known to us in view of biological forms and anatomies of life. Simply running an imaginary vertical axis down the center of the human body is like creating a mirror where we see one half reflect the other that our set of eyes, ears, arms, and legs in pairs mirror each other exactly. How often do we ever ponder on this and the reason for symmetry as well as regularity in shapes everywhere? Then we are led to consider thought on balance, on the idea of equilibrium which is very closely associated to order. Imagine a situation in which one of our eyes is at the back of the head while the other lies in front of the knee. Could this account for a picture of regularity and balance? If not, how could humans and other creatures evolve by such regular fashion in the absence of an impeccably systematic, profound scheme? How can God be not part of this if we completely acknowledge the spontaneous function of nature from which to realize that not all natural activities are seen by the naked eye? At this point, if we have learned to regard the unse en behavior within nature then we must learn to acknowledge beyond doubt too the invisible presence of an unseen worker who is above every form of existence. Albert Einstein expresses that though he rejects the notion