Financial Management Of The Tottenham Hotspur Plc Finance Essay

Financial Management Of The Tottenham Hotspur Plc Finance Essay Tottenham Hotspur is one of the famous Football clubs in England; the club had huge fan base reaching 20 million people worldwide and almost 2.1 million in UK, how ever the current stadium capacity is only 36,500 fans. The one Hotspur membership scheme the club created attracted over 70,000 fans. Since one of the revenues sources is attendance, the club starts thinking of expanding or building new stadium to increase the number of fans attending the games. The quality of the strikers are also critical, and usually clubs loses some of their players during the year, therefore need to replace them with better quality if possible and that costly too. The current Enterprise value of the club is 156 million, with Net Debt / EV of 0.12 and revenue of 75 million, in addition to that, the club Avg.net Goals ( 1998-2007) was -1.9 (December 31, 2007)  [1]   Such situation ranks the club 6 among other clubs. Mr. Daniel the chairman is about to take a very important business decisions which will drive the success of the club in the coming 13 years. The chairman has to decide if the stadium development plans made sense, and how best to proceed in the player acquisition market as well  [2]   It goes without saying that any further investment should be justify by the return on investment, therefore the chairman should take in to consideration all the financial aspects such as revenue and cost. As one of the most a manager can make is the capital decision. This key decision requires spending now in order to acquire long-lived assets that will be source of cash flow in the future a successful capital investment program will contribute to the firms financial performance for many years.  [3]   Executive Summary: In this case analysis I will try to answer three important questions which can be considered as the base of above mentioned capital investment program Mr. Daniel can set for Tottenham Hotspur club for the coming years. Is Tottenham at the current stock price of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤ 13.80 fairly valued? And to answer such question financial evaluation using DCF should be conducted assuming that Tottenham continues in its current stadium. What will be the value of the chairman decision to build new stadium? And also a DCF should be conducted taking in to consideration the increase on Revenues and capital expenditure. What will be the value of the chairman decision to sign a new striker? Taking in to consideration the cost to be paid to the formal striker club and the running cost of the striker him self once he join Tottenham. Since the purpose of an investment is to get more back, over time, than you put in. One of the most common valuation criteria, which satisfy the above condition, is called NPV. Net Present Value (NPV) (NPV =Present Value of Cash Inflows Present Value of Cash Outflows Decision Rule:  [4]   If NPV>0, then accept the project If NPV=0, then indifference position, go no go situation If NPV Based on the above, and my deep analysis my findings and recommendations are as follows: Tottenham Hotspur current stock price is over valued, Their Enterprise value as a result of DCF is 107.14 Million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤, therefore the Value per share is 9.73 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤,  [5]   Tottenham Hotspur Enterprise value of 107.14 Million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤, confirm its rank as No.6 Just after Newcastle United and before Everton,  [6]   Investing à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤250 million in building new stadium is not visible or profitable , DCF based on incremental increase in revenue and operating cost due to Stadium resulted in negative NPV (-60.12)  [7]   Investing à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤20 Million as a cost of acquiring new striker in addition to his high running cost also is not visible or profitable. DCF based on incremental increase in Broadcast and others, and operating cost due to acquiring new striker resulted in negative NPV (-23.5)  [8]   All these questions and comprehensive analysis and recommendations will be included in the main report. The main report and questions Answers : Part one: At its current stock price of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤13.80, is Tottenham fairly valued? To answer this question we should conduct a company valuation, and calculate the Enterprise value (EV) of the company then divide the EV on the total Number of shares. In addition to the available data mentioned in both the balance sheet (Dec.2007) and income statement of Tottenham  [9]  and in order to be able to calculate the change in working capital, the following major assumption has been taken during the evaluation, In order to calculate the change in working capital i calculate it for the first year, then calculate it as % or revenue then I apply the % for the remaining years,  [10]  using this assumption enable me to calculate the Free cash flow and then discount that cash flow using the discounted factor 10.25, to reach Enterprise Value (NPV) of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤107.14 million out of that the Terminal Value and the PV were calculated. Since the company under long term debt of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤43.08 million and having à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤26.29 million as Cash and equivalent their Equity value is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤90.35 million and accordingly their share value is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤9.73.  [11]   It is clear that Tottenham share value is over valued and may be that because of commercial issues related to stock market. As a recommendation the management should start looking to find solutions where by the revenue can be increased with a strict control in operating Expenses, in order to increase the cash inflow versus the cash outflow. This will be reflected on their Annual net Income, and consequently on their share price. Part 2: One of the major resources of Tottenham Revenue is the attendance, and their current stadium capacity is limited to 36,500 fans only, however they have about 2.1 million fans in UK, in addition to that they launch an incentive program to their fans One Hotspur Membership scheme which attract over 70,000 fans.  [12]  That is why the club start thinking to build a new stadium which will cost à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤250 million to be paid in two equal installments over two years, such a decision need to be challenged in term of the return as revenue and Net profit , therefore New stadium DCF analysis was conducted to obtain the NPV of the project. The whole scenario was built on the following assumption: Since the cash out (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤250) will be paid to generate cash in as revenue, so I only took in to consideration the INCREMENTAL increase in revenue( Attendance and Sponsorship only) and the INCREMENTAL increase in operating Cost using the forecasted growth as mentioned in the case  [13]  due to the new stadium. The (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤250) million were considered as cost of constricting new stadium distributed equally, 2008 and 2009; the increase in capital expenditure was taken as it is forecasted in the case. Since the construction will take two years, the cash in as revenue will start by (2010)  [14]   The DCF result was not satisfactory, NPV is negative (-60.2)  [15]  . My recommendation to Mr. Daniel is not to go with this option based on the given cost of construction, how ever he can think of other solutions to increase the capacity of the stadium at lower cost and I can suggest one of two options The first one is do some expansion to the current stadium if possible to increase the capacity to almost 60,000 fans and definitely this could be at lower cost, The other suggestion is to go in partner ship with one of the small size clubs as to share the cost and benefit from the revenue. Part 3: Do the club has to acquire new striker at the acquiring cost of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤20 million and salary of 2.6 million in the first year to reach à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤6.13 million in ten years or not? And what will be the impact of the new striker on Tottenham revenue and net income?. It goes without saying that answering these questions will depend on the financial analysis of the cash inflow as revenue versus cash outflow as cost. DCF To go with such Analysis I also took major assumptions in addition to what already mentioned in the case, the assumptions are: To consider only the Incremental revenue generated from Broadcast and others.  [16]   The new striker will enhance the team rank and then earned a greater share of league television broadcast revenue. The each moves up in the standings worth an estimated à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤670,000  [17]  . So The club will move one rank up during 2008 season and another move every three seasons due to the strong completions Based on the above data and assumptions, the result of the DCF was not encouraging and the NPV negative (-23.5) therefore the club should not sign with the new striker at these conditions and instead I have the following suggestions: Knowing the importance of acquiring professional strikers Tottenham should negotiate better deal with the formal club of the striker and the striker him self. They can spend some of that money in developing their current strikers and enhancing their performance. An aggressive incentive scheme based on profit sharing could be established to motivate the existing team to enhance their Avg. Net Goals which is currently (-1.9)  [18]  . Because Investment tie up cash, their value is based on the amount of future cash flows that will accrue to investors  [19]  

The Different Roles Of The Registered Nurse

The Different Roles Of The Registered Nurse Registered Nurses (RNs) provide many different services to health care consumers in a variety of settings. Some things nurses do on a daily basis offer a unique contribution to health care, whereas others can be done by other health team members. Professional nursing offers a specialized service to society. Professional nurses use a broad approach when considering holistic health need of the people they serve. Because of the broad nature of the discipline, nurses assume multiple roles while meeting health care needs of clients. For this reason, this paper would be discussing the role of the registered nurse in health care delivery. We would also discuss the professional standard and expectations for registered nurse. The quality assurance and confidentiality issues would then be discussed. In addition, this paper would explore the responsibility of the employers in hiring new health care staff. This would then include the employers expectation regarding competencies. Finally, a conclusion would be provided in order to highlight important details discussed in the paper. Different Roles of the Registered Nurse Primary Caregiver As a caregiver, the nurse practices nursing as a science. The nurse provides intervention to meet physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and environmental needs of patients and families using the nursing process and critical thinking skills. The nurse as a caregiver is skilled and empathetic, knowledgeable and caring. RNs provide direct, hands on care to patients in all health care agencies and settings. They also take an active role in illness prevention and health promotion and maintenance (Chitty, 2005; Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2006; Masters, 2009). Nurse Leader/Coordinator The Nurse Coordinator role is unique. It is a vital part of the multidisciplinary care team for patients and contributes to improved patient outcomes. The core functions of the Nurse Coordinator role centre around the patients physical and psychosocial assessment, care coordination, education and support, from coordinating the patients diagnostic work-up tests to assisting them to navigate the hospital system, and referring them to allied health professionals. The Coordinator is an important resource for the patient and family and acts as a focal point of contact throughout their time in the hospital (ANMC, 2006; Hood Leddy, 2006). Incorporated in this advanced practice role, the Nurse Coordinator is responsible for maintaining clinical competencies and participating in those activities that contribute to the ongoing development of self and other health care professionals. The Nurse Coordinator contributes to the educational needs of clinical nurses and participates in both informal and formal education programs at a national and international level (ANMC, 2006; Hood Leddy, 2006). Patient Advocate The purpose of this role is to respect patient decisions and boost patient autonomy. Patient advocacy includes a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship to secure self-determination, protections of patients right and acting as an intermediary between patients and their significant others and healthcare providers (Blais et al., cited in Masters, 2009). A patient advocate is mainly concerned with empowering the patient through the nurse-patient relationship. The nurse represents the interests of the patient who has needs that are unmet and are likely to remain unmet without the nurses special intervention. The professional nurse speaks for the patients interest as if the patients interests were the nurses own (Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006; MacDonald, 2006: Masters, 2009). Nurse Educator Nurse educators teach patients and families, the community, other health care team members, students and businesses. In hospital settings as patient and family educators, nurses provide information about illnesses and teach about medications, treatments and rehabilitation needs. They also help patients understand how to deal with the life changes necessitated by chronic illnesses and teach how to adapt care to the home setting when that is required (Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006). Nurse as Collaborator Collaboration is important in professional nursing practice as a way to improve patient outcomes. Multidisciplinary teams require collaborative practice, and nurses play a key role as both team members and team leaders. To fulfill a collaborative role, nurses need to assume accountability and increased authority in practice areas. Collaboration requires that nurses understand and appreciate what other health professionals have to offer. They must also be able to interpret to others the nursing needs of patients. Collaboration with patients and families is also essential. Involving patients and their families in the plan of care from the beginning is the best way to ensure their cooperation, enthusiasm and willingness to work toward the best patient outcome (Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006). Nurse Practitioner A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse educated and authorized to function autonomously and collaboratively in an advanced and extended clinical role. The nurse practitioner role includes assessment and management of clients using nursing knowledge and skills and may include but is not limited to, the direct referral of patients to other health care professionals, prescribing medications and ordering diagnostic investigations. The nurse practitioner role is grounded in the nursing professions values, knowledge, theories and practice and provides innovative and flexible health care delivery that complements other health care providers. The scope of practice of the nurse practitioner is determined by the context in which the nurse practitioner is authorized to practice. (ANMC, 2006; Carryer, Gardner, G., Dunn, Gardner, A., 2007). Professional Standards and Expectations for Registered Nurses Standards within a professional practice are known as statements of an authoritative nature through which the profession to which they relate to provide a unique description of the responsibilities of all practitioners within that profession (Campbell Mackay, 2001). Further, the standards and expectations are in place to ensure that all practitioners are also accountable for the work and duties they perform. When it comes to nursing, this is done in order to create boundaries and to provide a level of care that is equitable for all patients. Further, the priorities and values of nurses must be common to each nurse within the profession, and the standards and expectations outlines this as such (Campbell Mackay, 2001; Pearson, Fitzgerald, Wash, Borbasi, 2002; American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2003; ANMC, 2006, 2008; Schiemann, 2007; Furaker, 2008). While standards will vary in specifics across nursing specializations, and across countries, there is a general mindset as to what is expected of nurses in terms of expectations and standards. They are intended to provide daily guidance to nurses as they practice. Accountability, ethics, competence, knowledge, and the practical application of knowledge are key elements that are common to all nursing standards and expectations (Campbell Mackay, 2001; Pearson, et al., 2002; AACN, 2003; ANMC, 2006, 2008; Schiemann, 2007; Furaker, 2008 ). Nurses are required to be held accountable for every action that they take on a daily basis. This requires constant documentation of every element of their daily job, and following a chain of command within their select position. They are also required to maintain ethical standards within their practice, and to follow all ethical guidelines as set forth by their governing body of nursing. Furthermore, nurses are expected to have a set amount of knowledge before they enter the field of practitioner work, and with that knowledge set come an expectation of competence and practical application. Nurses are expected to be competent in their knowledge base such that they know and understand what they are supposed to in the medical field, and also, are supposed to know how to apply that knowledge in a practical manner (Campbell Mackay, 2001; Pearson, et al., 2002; AACN, 2003; ANMC, 2006, 2008). Quality Assurance Quality Assurance is another issue that is common across all standards and expectations for nurses. Through this, quality assurance standards ensure that nurses are practicing with quality efforts which in itself promote their competence and practical applications. This will require continuous education on the part of the individual nurse, as quality assurance standards across many medical centers, cities, and countries are in a constant state of evolution. It is the responsibility of the nurse practitioner to understand their quality assurance expectations at all times (Ellis Hartley, 2004; Hood Leddy, 2006). Confidentiality Confidentiality is another element of most standards and expectations for nurses. This is a requirement that nurses do not have an option to practice or not. Legislation and privacy concerns are in effect all across the globe, and nurses have the expectation that they will maintain confidential and private information for their patients within the patient doctor realm. Patients use medical services under the understanding that their information and medical records are not being seen by the wrong person, or found in the wrong hands, and because nurses have the most contact between patient and doctor, these are standards of paramount significance to the nursing profession (Deshefy-Longhi, Dixon, Olsen, Grey, 2004, Ellis Hartley, 2004; Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006, 2008; Masters, 2009). Employers Responsibility in Hiring New Health Care Staff The employer of an organization has an inherent duty to employ competent staff. This is not only cost-effective on the part of the employer but also guarantee in some ways that the products and services provided by the organization are competently given to the end-users. In the context of health care employees, such as the RNs there is an accreditation scheme to ensure the capacity of the RNs to carry out his/her job. In this manner, the employers responsibility to screen the professional capacity of the RN is significantly simplified. Seeking only the certification of the newly hired RN will guarantee that he/she has satisfied the minimum requirements of training, licensure, and communication proficiency to carry out his/her role as health professional. Having the employer check the credentials of the newly hired RN as well as his/her certification with authorities will allow the employer to measure the RN capability to perform his/her jobs in the organization (Ellis Hartley, 2004; Hart, Olson Fredrickson, McGovern, 2006). Â   Employers Expectations Regarding Competencies Registered nurses should appraise their strengths, weaknesses and preferences. The RNs must ensure that there is a good match between their abilities and employers expectations. Ellis and Hartley (as cited in Chitty, 2005) suggest that RNs examine themselves in seven areas in which employers have expectations. Theoretical knowledge should be adequate to provide basic patient care and to make clinical judgments. Employers expect RN to be able to recognize the early signs and symptoms of patient problems, such as an allergic reaction to a blood transfusion, and take the appropriate nursing action, that is, discontinue the transfusion. They are expected to know potential problems related to various patients conditions. (p. 212) The ability to use the nursing process systematically as a means of planning care is important. Employers evaluate nurses understanding of the phases of the process: assessment, analysis, nursing diagnosis/outcome identification, planning, intervention and evaluation. They expect nurses to ensure that all elements of a nursing care plan are used in delivering nursing care and that there is documentation in the patients record to that effect. (p. 213) Self-awareness is critically important. Employers ask prospective employees to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. They need to know that new nurses are willing to ask for help and recognize their limitations. New graduates who are unable or unwilling to request for help pose a risk to patients-a risk that employers are unwilling to accept. (p. 213) Documentation ability is an increasingly important skill that employers value. Employers expect RN to recognize what patient data should be charted and to know that all nursing care should be entered in patient records. (p. 213) Work ethic is another area in which employers are vitally interested. Work ethic means that prospective RN employees understand what is expected of them and are committed to providing it. Employers expect new graduates to recognize that the most desirable positions and work hours do not usually go to entry-level workers in any field. In the nursing profession, a nurse cannot leave work until patient care responsibilities have been turned over to a qualified replacement; therefore, being late to work or calling in sick when not genuinely incapacitated are luxuries professional nurses cannot afford. (p. 213) Skill proficiency of new graduates varies widely, and employers are aware of this. Most large facilities now provide fairly lengthy orientation periods, during which each nurses skills are appraised and opportunities are provided to practice new procedures. In general, smaller and rural facilities have less formalized orientation programs, and earlier independent functioning is expected. (p. 213) Speed of functioning is another area in which new nurses vary widely. By the end of a well-planned orientation period, the new graduate should be able to manage the average patient load without too much difficulty. Time management is a skill that is closely related to speed of functioning. The ability to organize and prioritize nursing care for a group of patients is the key to good time management. (p. 214) Conclusion Through time nurses have advanced their roles into various spheres of practice, and this progression seems set to continue as healthcare continues to evolve. Whatever the reason, central to role extension should be the delivery of safe care to all patients, with the support of the multi- disciplinary team to ensure good standards of patient care. Nurses should ensure that each activity performed when advancing a role should complement the current job, one which they are competent in. Nurses should guard themselves against litigation and carefully consider what they really want to do, as each practitioner is accountable for their actions and should be aware of the legal implications of practice within the process of advancing professional practice.

Human Child Growth and Development Essay -- essays research papers

From preschool into early elementary school, children have begun to develop their gross motor skills. They have developed a â€Å"mature pattern of walking† and are ready to test their physical abilities to the limits. Also fine motor skills have begun to develop, however more slowly. Along with motor skills children are developing their visual, tactile, and kinesthetic senses. A child’s sensory skills are helpful in learning language.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A child’s proper growth depends greatly on their nutrition and health. A healthy diet is essential to the developing child. Food should never be used to reward, punish, or bribe a child. Instead children should have three healthy meals with snacks in between. It is also important for children to have good self care behaviors (including bathing, washing hands, brushing teeth), and adequate sleep.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rapid growth of the brain and nervous system continues during the early years of a child’s life, however because of birth defects or health problems some children may be at a risk of cognitive delays. Problems such as Autism, where children may have a difficult time with language skills and sensitivity to touch, behavioral problems, or chemical exposures can all affect a child’s cognitive development. For most children though with a proper diet and plenty of stimulation cognitive abilities will develop rapidly, and by about 7 years ones cognitive skills have become â€Å"functionally related to the elements of adult intelligence.† Psychologists a...

A Critical Interpretation of Hans Kung?s Historical Analysis of the Dev

A Critical Interpretation of Hans Kung’s Historical Analysis of the Development of the Hierarchical Church   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The beginnings of the Christian church are shrouded in mystery. With the lack of evidence about that time in history, it is hard to draw conclusions of any type. However, the historical analyst, Hans Kung, has written a book to shed some light on the subject. In this book, Kung discusses his opinion on the development of the early church, and its hierarchical structure. In the following paper, I will address two of the chapters of Kung’s book, â€Å"The Beginnings of the Early Church† and â€Å"The Early Catholic Church†. The points that I will focus on are: The makeup and persecution of the early church community and why it was that way, and how, according to Kung, the founders of Catholicism went against how Jesus wanted the church to be governed by establishing a hierarchy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Christian church, according to Kung, began at Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came to the apostles and told them to go out and preach the teachings of Jesus it meant that the apostles could claim an identity separate from Judaism. The majority of the first Christians were Jews from Jerusalem that believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jews in the Hebrew Testament and they believed in the resurrection. â€Å"The earliest Christian community did not want in any way to part company with the Jewish community or nation, but to remain integrated into Judaism.†(P. 13). The differences in the beliefs of the Jews and the Jewish-Christians naturally created a separation in the two groups. When the Christian disciples started going out and preaching their faith to people, the Roman Empire saw them as a threat to their power and decided that Christianity would have to be stopped. Because Christianity and Judaism were one, the two most effective ways to persecute the Christians was to execute their leaders, and to destroy the Jewish places of worship. After the Romans burned the Temple of Jerusalem for the second time, a council of Pharisees decided that the Christians were to be excommunicated from the Jewish temple.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If not for the early connection to the Jewish faith, the Christian religion would never have established as a major religion. The idea of having one God, called monotheism, was too radi... ... what they thought, there would be no extravagance in the lives of the church officials. Likewise, if the church truly believed in what Jesus taught, they would not be shunning the participation of women in the church; rather, they would be embracing all the people that truly wished to participate in the vocation of a priest or any position in the church for that matter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, the early Christian church had its problems in who was accepted into the new faith and why they were persecuted for it. This was because, during the height of the Roman Empire, any group of people that could be dangerous to Roman ideology would not be tolerated, and the Romans would attempt to put a stop to it. These persecutions of the Christians, however, strengthened, not weakened the Christian church to a point that there would be no way to disperse the community of believers. The main reason that the church stayed together like it did was because of the early establishment of a hierarchy, which, while Kung speculates, would not be the way that Jesus would have wanted the church to be governed, worked in establishing the Christian community into a world religion.

Essay --

X can be seen as high on the openness scale. â€Å"The personality dimension that includes imagination, wit, originality, and creativity; people low on this dimension are shallow, plain and simple† (Friedman). X was very musically talented, having been acknowledged as the â€Å"King of Pop† by Elizabeth Taylor. (Interview with Oprah Part 2) In 1982, he produced the best-selling album of all time, Thriller. He is exceptionally imaginative as he wants to â€Å"bring out the child in everyone.† He constructed the Neverland Ranch which is equipped with candy, magic shows, carnival rides, and film. X worked with the Make a Wish Foundation in order to occupy terminally-ill children who would come every three weeks and he would entertain them with his child-like and spark. X was so generous and loved giving back to the world, and therefore he was also involved with the Heal the World Foundation. With regards to this foundation, the objectives for Heal LA division were f or the vaccination of children, having a mentoring big sister/ big brother program together with a teaching program on drug abuse (Interview with Oprah Part 5). X was also certainly open to experience by being a singer who toured the world. He showed his openness to different individuals through his numerous marriages and management with different performers on several albums. Being an artist, a singer and dancer, X was unsurprisingly imaginative by writing his own lyrics and designing his own dance moves. Michael seemed fairly high on openness. (Friedman, H.B., Schustack, M.W 2009). While X aimed for precision in his music he appears to be fairly low on the conscientiousness scale. â€Å"The personality dimension that includes dependability, cautiousness, organization, and responsibility; pe... ...t just by seeing the sight of his own father (Interview with Oprah Part 3). Owing to the fact of his violation as a child, X had many issues with his physical appearance, as well as sleeping problems. These factors presented him with great amounts of concern, which would position him high in neuroticism. X felt exposed and therefore had numerous amounts of plastic surgeries in order to fix his appearance according to his criteria. At the end of his life X was using potent sleeping medicines called Lorazepam and Midazolam in order to help with his insomnia by bringing about peacefulness, as well as Propofol, which was a sleep-inducing medicine used for general anaesthesia. The fact that X had use such potent medicines to help deal with his insomnia revealed how much it affected his life and indicated his emotional unsteadiness. (Friedman, H.B., Schustack, M.W 2009).

Is China A World Power?

A world power may be defined as a country, which has great political power, great military, great economy et cetera. The People's Republic of China may have completed some of these criteria itself but it may not be considered a world power as some of the small factors are holding them behind. China may be a big country with large population, which face inequality, corruption, social stability and the Chinese environment that is not very grand for the health and also with it limited supplies and energy. China claims that they are a communist state but they are just capitalist, under their current government. A lot of discrimination is there in the nation. Health for the Chinese isn't very pleasant either for the country lack proper medication care and doctors. China is a capitalist state under the â€Å"SOCIALIST REPUBLIC† government. This has made many things difficult in China such as Human rights, freedom and equality. The Chinese government are very tolerate people as they closed its door towards people, yet they declare an open door policy in the late 70's and 80's which is not true in all cases. The new Chinese settlers have created an alternate society: a Chinese apartheid which, denying Tibetans equal social and economic status in our own land, threatens to finally overwhelm and absorb us. † was quoted by the Dalai Lama in 1991. Groups who fought for political freedom to be heard were jailed without trial and have been forgotten imprisoned. Religious freedom is another problem in China, as religions don't get any freedom. All religions have to be within the communist party (they have to register within the government) and must be loyal to the Mainland. This have caused many affairs with some religion for example Catholicism who is led by the Pope in Rome, China doesn't allow that and they created the Chinese Patriotic Catholic- Association to replace Roman Catholic. Another unfair factor is that religious people aren't allowed to work with the government as they say being openly religious can affect the economy. Other rights that people should have are No child policy where people can have as many babies, so no girls are being abandoned, Labour rights, as people should not have small wages for long hour of work. China also has problems with the whole of African continent as they treated those Africans poorly during the 1990's and in 2005 it still happen as Manfred Nowak (human rights lawyer) visited China to observe the country. He complained the officials for not letting him interview people and say what he want to say, he also said the discrimination can be seen widespread. The economy of the PRC has increased so much during the past 10 years. Their economy is fourth largest in the world. The value of their Gross National Product was 2. 3 trillion in 2006, which is extremely high, but there's one thing we shouldn't be forgetting; they also have the largest population, which average the GDP per capita to roughly i1,000 whilst it's around i25,000 in countries like Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark. As economy in China is rapidly increasing, it's also facing labour shortage, wages demand and less service. Workers are quitting agricultural jobs to get industry job. The wages of worker have been raised to an average of i 55 a month but as Industry increase, pollution increases. China emits 19% of the world CO2 emissions that is a real shame. The Kyoto Protocol does not require China to reduce its emission, as their status is â€Å"Developing Country â€Å"not† Developed. A world health organisation reported that seven out of the ten most polluted are in China. 30% of acid rain falls on the country. It is estimated that 7% of the GDP per annum must be spend to control the environmental problem so far only 1% is spent on this trouble; this show China's lack of environmental concern. Main economic area for China is it's eastern coast where most of their economy rely. This also create another problem, the equality of income isn't same throughout China as it should be, City such as irimqi, Piking, Shanghai, Canton, Shenzhen et cetera receives most of the high income when city such as Lanzhou, Lhasa et cetera receives a lot lesser. Health of the Chinese can be considered as very poor at the moment that they were ranked 144 out of 191 by The World Health Report. The life expectancy for China s of 2006 is 73, this have been a huge improvement since 1950 when it was 32 but can still be considered low compared to countries like Sweden, Switzerland and Japan whose expectancy is over 80. Their infant mortality currently is 23 per thousand people, which aren't very bad compared to others for example Singapore and Japan (2). Health Development Index of the PRC is medium as it stood at 0. 768 as of 2007. As Chinese economy has grown rapidly, health problems also have. Some of the problems they face now are Air pollution (this killed 760,000 people per annum alone), cigarette smokers is also another problem as the number increases each year and Urban youngster can also be overweight as Chinese at average take in 2,940 calories a day (25% more than what Food and Agriculture Organisation suggested). China lacks doctors, 680 people per one doctor doesn't sound too bad but they still need more doctors so that those with sickness could be attended and cared for more. Schizophrenia are suffered 7. 8 million Chinese and only 60% is being cared for properly. Male also outnumber female in China as they have the superstition of boys are better than girls, this leaves hundred of thousands baby girls orphaned. 2. 3 million is the number of the People's Liberation Army, the largest force in the world plus it's 500,000-reserve force. The number have actually decreased from 4 million from 1980 compared to another emerging super power such as India who has an armed force of 1. 3 million from 500,000 in 1960s. Military personnel should not be all that counts but reserves should also be taken into account, China has a reserve force of five hundred thousand compared to Taiwan which has 1. 5 million. The result from 1980 is that their army have decreased twice the number from 1980 (from 120 divisions to 60). The spending on military have also decreased. China can defend itself from foreign occupation and remain a regional status-quo power, but it is not a rising or threatening power† James H. Nolt, 2006 Chinese military use to create it's own weapons but this stopped in 1980's when their weapons were made of the very worst quality and workmanship. An Incident occurred when it sold Thailand and Burma what they claimed to be â€Å"A NEWLY MADE CHINESE FRIGATES† after the delivery both discovered that the vessels were purely rubbish that can't float properly. The Thais later demanded they give them a new one with an empty hull, as they'll modernise it themselves. After all the Chinese military doesn't seemed to be very strong as it's viewed. Professor James H. Nolt even says it can't even beat those of Vietnam, Taiwan or India. Their possession of nuclear weapons may fill them in for the nuclear criterion. They have never launched one before and stated it themselves that they will never use it, this have put them off for being a nation with nuclear power. Resources that China lacks can be a huge problem. It produces 6. tonnes of oil equivalent per capita and it consumes 7. 3, this is a huge problem they found a way to dealt with the way which is not very reliable. In 2004 Wen Jinbao the prime minister offered Russia almost i 6,000,000,000 for energy purchase. China therefore rely on Russia for energy, Russia could use this as a weapon and they did but not to China, In 2005 Vladimir Putin cut off energy supply to Ukraine as it wants higher price for energy. Russia may not be very reliable for this source either. Some of the other things they lack off may be public transportation where there s an average of 2 buses per one thousand people. Some of the children in China still lack education, as 10% of the children under age 15 are literate. With all these weaknesses revealed, does China fit in the definition of â€Å"World Power†: The answer is resounding no. Not now or anywhere in the future like others who say China will someday be a world power. Their current government won't last longer than 30 years, when they collapse the idea of China being a world power will start to fade away and a more favourable China would be reality.

Performance Evaluation Using Accounting Information

What is performance evaluation? o Performance evaluations are formal review processes designed to encourage the informal day-to-day practice of performance management, while providing a framework in support of merit pay adjustments, promotion and employment decisions. Evaluating staff performance and helping employees develop their skills are important duties associated with performance management. Performance management begins with supervisors and employees collaboratively setting goals and standards, clearly communicating performance expectations and evaluating the results during the performance evaluation process. o A performance appraisal is a systematic and periodic process that assesses an individual employee’s job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives. o o Performance evaluation tools are quantitatively and qualitatively based. They utilize a scoring system that assesses numerical data relative to prod uctivity, as well as characteristic data that measures the quality of the employee's work.The indicators on performance evaluations include items such as business ethics, innovation, motivation, job knowledge, skills and expertise, communication, teamwork, work quality, professionalism, task management and project completion. Benefits of performance evaluation: †¢ Facilitation of communication: communication in organizations is considered an essential function of worker motivation. It has been proposed that feedback from performance evaluation aid in minimizing employees’ perceptions of uncertainty.Fundamentally, feedback and management-employee communication can serve as a guide in job performance. †¢ Enhancement of employee focus through promoting trust: behaviors, thoughts, and/or issues may distract employees from their work, and trust issues may be among these distracting factors. Such factors that consume psychological energy can lower job performance and caus e workers to lose sight of organizational goals. Properly constructed and utilized performance evaluation has the ability to lower distracting factors and encourage trust within the organization. Goal setting and desired performance reinforcement: organizations find it efficient to match individual worker’s goals and performance with organizational goals. Performance evaluation provides room for discussion in the collaboration of these individual and organizational goals. Collaboration can also be advantageous by resulting in employee acceptance and satisfaction of appraisal results. †¢ Performance improvement: well constructed performance evaluation can be valuable tools for communication with employees as pertaining to how their job performance stands with organizational expectations. At the organizational level, numerous studies have reported positive relationships between human resource management (HRM) practices and performance improvement at both the individual and organizational levels. †¢ Determination of training needs: â€Å"Employee training and development are crucial components in helping an organization achieve strategic initiatives†. It has been argued that for performance to truly be effective, post-appraisal opportunities for training and development in problem areas, as determined by the appraisal, must be offered. Performance can especially be instrumental for identifying training needs of new employees.Finally, performance can help in the establishment and supervision of employees’ career goals. The Role of Accounting Information in Performance evaluation Accounting information consists of all data that a company records from operating activities and reports to the public at the end of a month or quarter. Accounting information is important for investors, analysts and regulators, management, employees, creditor and debtor. This information is also critical for a firm's management because it provides insight in to the company's financial robustness and profitability in the short and long terms.Accounting data frequently is used in performance evaluations, because it is seen as an objective method to evaluate performance. While there are many advantages to using accounting information for this purpose, small-business owners should be careful to understand that there are drawbacks as well. Knowing the pros and cons of using accounting metrics can help business owners choose the right data to use for evaluating employee performance. Budget to Actual Many businesses expect employees to achieve budget targets as part of their overall performance.While the specifics requirements of each employee differ with the position and nature of the company, it is common for employees to be expected to sell a certain number of items, control costs versus a budgeted amount or reduce waste compared with a benchmark. A potential downfall of using budget information for performance evaluation is that employees may be so concerned with making budget targets that they may do so at the cost of other parts of the business. Sales Growth Sales employees and business management frequently are evaluated on the basis of sales growth.Sales growth usually is calculated as the percentage that sales have increased over the prior year. While this metric is commonly used to gauge performance, it does not come without drawbacks. If the general economy changes from year to year, then sales may naturally be increasing or decreasing. For example, if the economy is in decline, then employees may be modeling the correct behaviors, but sales may still be slow. In contrast, if the economy is growing, employees may be receiving the benefits of increasing sales while developing habits that will keep this sales growth from being sustainable in the future.Net Profit In many small businesses, net profit is used as a performance benchmark for the company's manager. Condensing the operations of a business into its sim plest form, net profit measures the amount of profit left after deducting expenses. While profit is important to businesses, focus on profit can have adverse effects on the company in the long term. For example, cutting advertising expenses will grow net profit in the short-term, but in the long-term, potential customers may not know about the company's products. Expense ReductionFor employees in charge of spending, it is common to evaluate performance based upon cost reduction. This can be a useful metric, as each dollar of expense saved translates into a dollar of profit. However, caution must be exercised, because this performance metric does not account for differences in quality. For example, if a purchasing manager is evaluating on reducing the expense of purchased metal for production, he could be rewarded for buying cheaper substandard material. As such, small-business owners should be cautious when using this metric in isolation. Profitability Analysis: Management analyzes profitability by reviewing the statement of profit and loss, also known as statement of income. This statement indicates a company's revenue and expense items. Profit Margin Profit margin measures a company's business performance over a quarter or month and equals net income divided by total revenue. Return on Equity o Return on equity provides an assessment of profitability on owners' capital and equals net income divided by shareholders' equity. Working Capital Working capital is a gauge of a firm's cash availability in the next 12 months and equals current assets minus current liabilitiesBudgeting o A budget helps a business know where money comes in and where it goes out. With accurate accounting, a business owner can make decisions to cut back in certain budget areas to improve the profit potential of the business. Without accounting data, the company would be forced to guess how much money should be allotted to each department or line item. A budget that is updated quarterly g ives a clear picture of where the business stands financially so that smart money management decisions can be made. Investor Relations A public company has a responsibility to report the company's financial standing to stockholders. The accounting department of the business creates a public report for investors with the intent of disclosing all financial data. Good accounting practices helps investors trust the management team as they know exactly the points of financial strength and weakness of their investment. A company that does not maintain accounting information would be in danger of lawsuits, claims of fraud and lose access to relationships that provide capital necessary to running the business.Employee Retention Providing employees with accounting information helps them to make responsible decisions regarding their futures. A business that does not disclose or maintain accurate accounting information would gradually lose credibility with its employees. Employees with retirem ent accounts managed by their employers rely on the financial stability of companies to ensure their employers follow through Planning o Before most businesses even start operations, some level of planning is done to determine the level of success that can be achieved from operations.Businesses will examine current economic trends like consumer demand, market size, and number of competitors. This analysis helps companies determine which industry best suits their goods and services and then focuses on planning for the necessary plants and equipment needed to create successful business operations. Management Decisions o Once a business starts producing goods and services, executive managers must review each level of the company to ensure that each department is functioning at its peak.Some departments may need to be overhauled to re-create a competitive environment that produces high-quality goods and services. Additionally, management will use accounting information to decide if thei r company could improve operations by purchasing a competitor or enter a new market with their existing production facilities. Profitability o The biggest need for accounting information is to determine overall profitability. Sales, costs of manufacturing, inventory, and expenses are all recorded and presented to company management so the company's profit levels can be determined.Financial statements like the balance sheet or statement of cash flows may also be prepared so executive management can assess the value of the company and the cash-generating functions of business operations. Investing o Once companies have a solid understanding of their profitability, they begin to make decisions on investing their cash and retained income from business operations. Executive management will decide what amount of cash should be reinvested into the business and what amount should be invested in interest-bearing securities.Companies will use these securities investments to generate cash outs ide business operations, giving them higher cash flows. Accountants must track these investments to ensure that the company does not take on too much investment risk. Performance Analysis o After the financial transactions of a company are properly recorded and presented in financial statements, accountants will review the information to determine the strength of business operations. Accountants use financial ratios to break down the financial statements and compare them to the industry or competitors.This analysis will help management find weak areas in the company and help allow them to find solutions for strengthening these operations. Accounting Performance Measurement Tools Budgets o Budgeting initiatives help department heads discuss steps to limit the decision-making authority of specific personnel. These include employees running inefficient operations or segment chiefs unable to whittle away at runaway budget deficits. Top leadership may not strip ineffective segment leader s of their operating prerogatives, but budgeting certainly limits how much they can spend.A budget is a list of planned expenses and revenues, a plan that organizations use to spend and save. 2. Pro Forma Statements o Pro forma or projection-based, accounting reports rely on hypothetical data to illustrate how a firm's operations may fare under specific scenarios. These include â€Å"best,† â€Å"average† and â€Å"worst†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ with these concepts indicating the state of the economy or conditions in the company's competitive landscape, among other factors. For example, worst-case-scenario pro forma statements show whether a business could generate enough revenues to sustain itself if economic conditions deteriorate. . Accounting Reports o Management accountants and corporate leaders use accounting reports to measure operating performance. By doing so, they help prevent the dismal financial situation that arises when a firm consistently posts negative numbers. Department heads rely on accounting statements to determine operating weaknesses and prescribe the right medicine to fix ineffective mechanisms. The most important accounting statements are balance sheets, income statements, cash-flow reports and equity statements. Balance heets are also called statements of financial position or statements of financial condition. 4. Financial Ratios o Corporate executives and business-unit chiefs analyze financial ratios to determine processes to tear up and those to keep or expand. Inefficient processes may drive away profit opportunities and jobs, especially if a company must shed its workforce to maintain solvency. Management accounting metrics include net profit margin and return on equity. ROE equals net profit divided by shareholders' equity. Net profit margin equals net income divided by total sales. 5. Technological Tools Organizations rely on various tools to tackle the often thorny issues of management accounting, performance monitoring a nd regulatory compliance. In the modern era, computer systems play a key role in the way firms record and analyze accounting data. Tools used to evaluate management accounting performance include financial analysis software, project management applications and enterprise resource planning programs. Other tools include industrial control software, calendar and scheduling programs, mainframe computers and computer-aided manufacturing applications. 6. Gap AnalysisA gap analysis is a useful method of measuring performance when there are already fixed performance standards. For example, you may have a goal of producing a certain number of units per month. This could be a performance standard. A gap analysis starts with the established performance measure. After looking at the established performance measure, a manager assesses the current performance level. Finally, the manager will calculate the difference between the performance standard and the actual standard. This provides the gap, which is an indication of how close a company has come to its performance standards.The smaller the gap, the better the company's performance. An advantage of this performance measure is that it provides an indication of what needs to be overcome in order to achieve the desired level of performance. LIMITATIONS OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION IN PERFORMANCE EVALUATION (i)  Ã‚  Ã‚   Accounting information is in terms of money. Accounting provides information on events and transactions that are of financial nature or can be expressed in terms of monetary unit. It does not give information in quantity or size terms of in qualitative matters like usefulness or efficient.Non-monetary events or transactions are completely ignored however important these may be. (ii)  Ã‚  Ã‚   Accounting information is expressed in monetary terms and it is assumed that a monetary unit is stable overtime. This is not true at all with the result that the impact of price level changes is not taken into consider ation. The assets remain undervalued in many cases especially land and building. The direct outcome of this practice is that balance sheet figures of assets are not helpful in measuring the true financial positions of the enterprise. iii)  Ã‚  Ã‚   Accountancy is as yet a inexact science and depends sometimes on a number of estimates, personal judgment etc. Estimates are inherently inaccurate and personal judgments introduce bias in the accounting information. It is not possible to predict with any degree of accuracy the actual useful life of an asset which is done for calculating the depreciation charge. The same is true about provision for doubtful debts. (iv)  Accounting information cannot be used as only test of managerial performance. The focus of the financial information is on profit or income which is only ne small aspect of the annual story of business. Profits for a period of one year can readily be manipulated by suppressing such costs as advertisements, research and development, depreciation and so on. (v)  Ã‚  Accounting information is not neutral or unbiased. Accountants measure income as conventionally defined: revenues less expenses. But accountants consider only selected revenues and expenses. They fail to give recognition to the benefits received by their efforts to clean up the environment, improve community welfare and introduce safety measures for the workers. vi)  Accounting like other disciplines has to follow certain principles which in some cases are contradictory. Current assets are valued on the basis of cost or market price whichever is less following the principle of conservatism. Accordingly the current assets may be valued on cost basis in some year and at market price in another year. In this manner, the rule of consistency is openly violated. (VII) The historical perspective of financial accounting: In order to obtain a recent estimate of an entity’s financial performance, the corporate managers carefully scrutin ize financial accounting information.In retrospect, this information is based on past performance. The information does provide clarity on the monetary issues but does not provide a definite insight into the strategic future; as the future holds various changes in terms of technology, economic situations as well as political scenarios etc. Such factors in relation to accounting are unpredictable. Therefore, a careful balance between historical accounting as well as the future forecasted outlook is required. (VIII).Inability to reflect the true value of strategic management: Various factors such as goodwill and natural circumstances influence the operations of an enterprise; however, these elements are difficult to measure thus, leading to their unavoidable exclusion from financial reports. For example companies depend upon their shareholders, who in turn depend on the performance of the Chief Executive Officers. Although the CEOs may have been hired by the company based upon prior p erformance, their future performances are not reliably measurable as they may continually vary.In the initial stages, it may be impossible to measure whether the CEO’s presence will deter or appeal to the shareholders, which in turn will influence the profitability of the enterprise. (VIX). Measuring Volatility of external factors: Financial accounting information does not take into consideration volatile and ever increasing changes in the natural and commercial environment. Although scarcely measurable in monetary terms, their unstable nature may have adverse effects if included within the financial reports and have a volatile and cosmetic impact upon the earnings of the firm.For example, tariffs on trade, duties and other environmental issues can have significant short-term volatile effects on the organization Conclusively, In order to obtain a recent estimate of an entity’s financial performance, the corporate managers carefully scrutinize financial accounting infor mation. In retrospect, this information is based on past performance. The information does provide clarity on the monetary issues but does not provide a definite insight into the strategic future; as the future holds various changes in terms of technology, economic situations as well as political scenarios etc.Such factors in relation to accounting are unpredictable. Therefore, a careful balance between historical accounting as well as the future forecasted outlook is required. References: El-Shishimi, H. and Drury C. (2001) : Divisional Performance Measuring in UK companies, paper presented to the annual Congress of the European Accounting Association, Athens Esptein, M and Ray, M. J (1997):Eniromental Management to improve corporate profitability, Journal of cost management , November-December, pp 26-34 Kaplan R. S and Norton D.P (2001) â€Å" Transforming the balance scorecard from performance measurement to strategic management : part 2’, Accounting Horizons March, pp87 Kaplan, S. E. , and J. T. Mackey. 1992. An Examination of the association between organizational design factors and the use of accounting information for managerial performance evaluation. Journal of Management Accounting Research (4): 116-130. BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISAN, OGUN STATE Performance Evaluation uses accounting information, limitation reconsidered Emerging issues Assignment BY ADEYEMI EBENEZER ADESUJI MATRIC NO NS/4270