A Comparative Analysis of Traditional Costing Method with ABC Costing Essay

A Comparative Analysis of Traditional Costing Method with ABC Costing Method - Essay Example (Charles T. Horngren p150) Manufacturing company only produced a few types and high quantities of products before, traditional costing method which focused on direct costs were much more important than the production overheads, traditional costing would be accurate before While the production structure has changed, the times demand that flexibility and love of change replaced absorption costing method in Manufacturing company. Our company is a Manufacturing company. The company has a processing system that is used to manufacture two products: Hinkels and Quirts. Cost drivers are the real factors that decide the cost incurred and the resource consumed. Unlike the traditional method plagued by inaccuracy in manufacturing overheads allocation, ABC need not adopt two-stage cost allocation process to figure out the each target cost, in order to achieve cost information accuracy. Therefore, ABC adopts multi activities to distribute costs. It demonstrates that choosing proper cost drivers i s the most important and key step. In practice the ABC system uses many drivers as allocation bases in the second stage of the cost allocation system whereas the traditional cost systems tend to use, at the most, two second-stage allocation bases. (Colin Drury, 2002, p298) II. ABC process: Activity-based costing has the following five steps: a. Identify the different activities performed by the business. b. Calculate the total cost of each activity over the financial period(cost pool) c. Identify a cost driver (i.e. a causation factor) for each activity. d. Calculate the cost driver rate(i.e. the average cost of one occurrence of the cost driver) e. Assign part of the cost each activity to different products based to the extent to which each product has caused the activity to occur (i.e.

Implementation and communication of a strategic plan Essay

Implementation and communication of a strategic plan - Essay Example ication could improve the effectiveness in the organization through enabling various stakeholders to be apprised of any significant changes in the strategic plan; especially those who would be most affected by the changes. When any transformations in strategies are made and not communicated, those who are expected to carry out the changes would not be able to effectively implement these. As such, the intended goals, which these plans are supposed to achieve, would not be effectively attained. Employees are considered one of the crucial stakeholders of the company. They ensure that the goals of the organization are achieved. Strategies are designed to provide the direction towards accomplishing these goals. As such, it is important for employees to know the strategic plan of a company to enable them to follow the guidelines and directions that would facilitate the achievement of goals (Green, 2011). Otherwise, much resources (time, money and effort) would be wasted if the strategic plan is not appropriately communicated to those who are expected to fulfill the goals of the organization. Green, H. (2011, March 16). Why Engaging Your Employees Is The Answer To Strategic Planning. Retrieved from Forbes:

The Mauritius global financial crisis

The Mauritius global financial crisis 3.0 Global Financial Crisis in Mauritius: Evidence from Macroeconomic Indicators The analysis below is based on some macroeconomic indicators namely GDP growth rate, some tourism components (arrival, receipts, number of hotels and room, employment rate, FDI inflows, BOP) of the Mauritian economy and Air Mauritius in the event of the crisis. 3.1 GDP growth rate Mauritius relies on three traditional pillars specifically agriculture, E.P.Z manufacturing sector and tourism but the market structure changes over time. From 2006 to 2008, the growth of GDP was constant but unexpected decline of 2.4%, from 5.5% in 2008 to 3.1% in 2009 as shown in figure 1 below. The main reason behind the decline was the impact of the financial crisis on Mauritian sectors. The GDP improved to 4.2% in 2010 compare to 2009 projecting a gradual recovery from the global crisis but this was not the case in 2011 as there was a drop of 0.7%. This means that global crisis has a continuous effect on the economy as it cannot be solved overnight. However, there was a slight increase by 3.5% in 2013. Figure 1: Real GDP Growth Rate 1994-2013 Source: CSO, National Accounts of Mauritius, 2012 3.2 Global financial Crisis and Mauritian Tourism Industry 3.2.1 Tourism Arrivals and tourism receipts In pre-crisis era, the tourism and travel industry has been the largest flourishing sector. Since the late 90s the tourism sector has experienced a boom. Since 1994, there was a rapid growth in the number of tourist arrivals in Mauritius that led to an increase in the tourism receipts as shown below in figure 2. The amount of tourist arrivals has increased from 400,526 in 1994 to 993,106 in 2013. The amount of tourism has boosted from Rs 6,415 million in 1994 to Rs 40,557 million in 2013 indicating an increase of Rs 34142 million over the past years. There has been around 532.2% increase in the tourism receipts the past 20 years. There was a very little increase in 2000 to 2001 in number of arrivals and the amount of receipts was quite the same in 2001 and 2002 due to the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York on the World Trade Center in 2001. Figure 2: Tourism Arrivals and tourism receipts for last 20 years Source: Central Statistical Office Mauritius For the past few years, Mauritius has experienced hostile impacts on the tourism sector due to the global financial crisis. The 930456 arrivals in 2008 indicated a growth of 2.6% but the rate decreased by 13% compare to the growth of 15.06% in 2007. However, the difficult times and global crisis started afflicting our shores by slowing down the growth. Eventually in 2009, the tourism industry was hardly hit as it showed a negative growth of 6.4% decreasing by 59,100 of arrivals between 2008 and 2009. There was also a heavy decline in tourism receipts around 13.4% between 2008 and 2009. During 2010, Mauritius maintained the highest arrivals growth of 7.3% due to the incentive taken by the government. The tourism arrivals rebounded by a growth rate of 3.2% in 2011 and 0.08% in 2012. The tourism receipts boosted up in 2010, 2011 and 2012 but there was a decline by 8.6% in 2013 although the number of arrivals increased by 2.9%. The disparity in 2013 would be explained as there was a decr ease in hotel price in order to attract European clients and the markets has been opened to Asian countries.The figures used are attached in Appendix A. 3.2.2 Number of Hotels and hotel rooms In Mauritius, the number of hotels and rooms has expanded along with the growth of tourist arrivals. In 2013, there were a total of 107 registered hotels and 12,376 rooms. There was a closure of 3 hotels in 2011 and 10 hotels in 2013 which led to a decrease in the number of rooms. The graph below shows the trend of hotels and room available in Mauritius over the past 10 years. Figure 3: Number of Hotels and hotel rooms for the past 20 years Source: Central Statistical Office Mauritius 3.2.3 Employment in Tourism Sector Figure 4: Employment in Tourism Sector, Mauritius Source: Central Statistical Office Mauritius The tourism sector has been creating plenty of jobs over the past years. From the figure above, GFC has shown its huge impact mainly on travel and tourism as there is a continuous decrease from 2006 to 2007 and only 2011 there was a slight increase. The restaurants have only been affected in 2011 with a slight decrease around 2.2%. Tourism sector was mainly touched in 2009 so the employment in hotels demonstrated it by a decrease of 1836 jobs and in 2012; there was only a small decrease. Overall, the total employment in tourism sector had a negative impact around 6.1% in 2009 and 0.38% in 2012. 3.2.4 Balance of payment (BOP) There are various components of the economy in Mauritius that contributes to the BOP namely tourism earnings, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and invisible exports. Since the plague of GFC, â€Å"the phenomenon of global imbalances à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  that is, the coexistence of large current account deficits and surpluses in the global† (Servà ©n and Nguyen 2010). The continuous deficit in the current account indicates a slowdown in the Mauritian economic activity and growth. Meanwhile, the surplus in the services account showed a decline of around 17.6% in 2008-09 due to a depression in our principal export markets in the EU and UK meant that services fell by 17.6% in 2009 (see Table 1 below). The service showed sustained growth to Rs 27,485 in 2011-12. However, this was not reflected on the financial statement of listed hotel groups which showed a declining profit. Table 1: Balance of payment Source: Bank of Mauritius In relation to FDI inflows, present to the changeable economic environment, many companies have postponed their investment schemes. While some projects in the tourism sector have been deferred and there was also delays in the construction of airport project. Tourism industries have responded to the crisis by reducing costs, cutting the accommodation price in hotels, changing work methods and prolonging investments and recruitments. Figure 6 below, shows the deterioration in FDI in tourism sector from 2007 to 2012 and only 2009 there was an increase of USD 10.5 million. Figure: 5: Foreign Direct Investment by tourism Sector Source: photos.state.gov *Figure for 2012 is for the period Jan-Sept only 3.3 Air Mauritius Air Mauritius is the national airline of Mauritius. Ujooha, the CEO of Air Mauritius (annual report, 2008/09) mentioned that GFC would be remembered as the ‘worst in its history’ of airline industry. Air Mauritius was badly affected by the GFC as it faced huge losses on fuel hedging where they hedged on fuel for USD 104 a barrel for 2 years until August 2010 but fell to USD 33 a barrel in 2008. With the worldwide recession, the number of passengers carried has declined around 9% in 2008/09 and 4.9% in 2009/10 as shown figure 6. In 2012, due to the reduction in seats on European markets so there was a termination of flights to Rome, Munich and Vienna and it had an impact on 2012/13. Hence, the GFC really had a negative impact on Mauritian tourism sector and airline industry as Air Mauritius is still trying to overcome that crisis. Figure 6: Passengers carried Revenue Source: Air Mauritius New Mauritius Hotels (NMH) NMH is also known as Beachcomber Hotels, is one among the largest and oldest of hotel in Mauritius. It consists of eight hotels operating in Mauritius under its brand name: Royal Palm Dinarobin Hotel Golf Spa Paradis Hotel Golf Club Trou Aux Biches Resort Spa Shandrani Resort Spa Le Victoria Le Canonnier Le Mauricia NMH had an amazing year in 2007 which has reported a profit reaching around Rs 1,969m. This profit fostered NMH to invest immensely in the development of the companies. Consequently the financial chaos put a cessation to the ascendancy of the business in 2008. Nevertheless the incomes of company for nine months boosted by 8% ending on June 2008, the company’s profits for the similar period compared to last year fell dramatically. Since the arrivals in tourism dropped by 7.6 % at national level, receipt for the group declined by 16.2% for the following year and revenues plummeted by 8.6% in the year 2009. There was no exception in 2010 as the group showed another decline in revenue of 7.7%. The company also reported this fall because of the shifting and fluctuation in demand towards low-priced accommodation and huge discounts by some hotel operators. The main reason behind it was due to fragile and weak conditions that overcame Europe. The year 2012 had a harsh trading conditio n as there was a drop in the average of guest night spending because the exchange rates were unfavorable but the total revenue improved by 6.4%. In 2013, there was a negative drop of -3.5% in total revenue due to the heavy discounting rate provided by their competitors. Sun Resorts Sun Resorts is a luxury and deluxe hotel group that owns five hotels in Mauritius namely: Le Touessrok (5-star resort) Long Beach (5-star resort) Sugar Beach (5-star resort) La Pirogue (4-star resort) Ambre (4-star resort) Sun Resorts began to get worse in terms of both rates and volume by the end of year 2008, as the current turmoil in the world financial markets had affected our core source markets. While the decrease in occupancy rate persisted, the group’s profits kept on decreasing severely also and in the end of 2009, Sun Resort showed a deficit of Rs105m. The company reported Rs133m loss in 2010 as the market disorder that is staying uncertain and difficult and to predict. In 2011, there was a decrease of 2 % in the group’s revenue so in order to lessen these risks; the company has diversified its approach towards some emerging markets of Asia and Russia. Naade Resorts The luxury hotel group, Naade Resorts owns one-villa in Blue Bay at Ile des Deux Cocos and 6 hotels in Mauritius namely: Beau Rivage Legends Les Pavillons Tamassa Merville Beach Le Tropical It started to experience a decrease in terms of both revenue and volume in 2008, as the decline in the rate of occupancy continued and Naade Resorts’ profits kept on falling sharply. The group reported a negative increase of 4% in the revenue in 2009. The average revenue per room decreased by 41.5% in 2008 and decreased by 0.8% in 2009. As the group itself reflected the impact of the GFC in their annual report, it ended with a deficit of Rs367m in 2009. The overall hotel group’s performance was extremely affected by the destructive effect of the GFC on the arrival of tourists for both the Maldives and local operations and together with an elevated gearing influenced harmfully on the performance of the hotel. Naade Resorts ended its 2012 with an increase of 19% in the average revenue per room compare to 49.9% in 2006. 3.4 Conclusion The chapter 3 shows that GFC has afflicted the GDP and tourism sector in Mauritius. Moreover measures have been taken by government to overcome it and to increase the amount of tourist arrivals. The next chapter will analyse the impact of GFC on tourism sector and different steps of analyzing.

Between Logic and Heuristic :: Calculus Mathematics Essays

Between Logic and Heuristic* ABSTRACT: This article aims to construct a new type of logical calculi-logical heuristic calculus which contains the means of reducing complete search. Such a heuristic component of calculus is reached with the help of meta-level means. The principal means for reducing search is structural information about information about contrary literals of formula. There are two major approaches to studying the process of reasoning ( «problem-solving »). On one hand, it is necessary to discover and investigate correct modes of reasoning in which the property of  «truth » is preserved. This task which can be formulated as the question  «what is a correct reasoning (proof)? » is considered in Logic. In order to decide this problem, Logic is based upon the concept of  «logical form ». There is a special syntactical method to deal with this concept—the method of construction of a logical calculus. In this respect, the calculus in question is a  «black box » which guarantees the  «true » conclusion under the  «true » premisses. Thus, Logic (logical form) gives the answer for the question about correct reasoning—  «the correct reasoning is a proof ». But logical syntax, as a  «black box »Ã¢â‚¬â€ calculus, isn’t interested in the real process of derivation building, in studying the question about methods of proof-search, in studying and construction a more manageable and efficient machin ery of  «truth » preserving. Availability of any method of exhaustive (complete) search, e.g.  «British museum algorithm », is quite enough for Logic (logical form). On the other hand, the process of  «problem-solving » can be investigated in the light of the following question:  «how is it possible to build a piece of correct reasoning? ». This task is considered in Heuristic. Heuristic investigates general principles and methods of  «problem-solving ». Computer Heuristic (computer heuristic method) is a system of rules (a rule) for essential reducing the complete search, i.e. heuristic methods are opposed to exhaustive search methods. The area of intersection of Logic and Computer Heuristic is proof-seach theory (PST), which investigates possible methods of  «problem-solving » ( «how is it possible to build a proof? ») in some calculus. PST deals with the heuristic component of proof systems. More precisely, the aim of proof-search theory can be defined as follows:  «discovering, on the basis of a calculus and an entity in the calculus in question of the structure of a possible derivation of this entity, a derivation which is interesting in some respect ».(1) Thus, proof-search theory can be included into the logical pragmatic (look at Fig.

DH Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner Essay

Tormented family relationships stem from a number of occurrences. Jealousy, death, abuse, and many other factors can stress relationships to the point of demise. They can often originate from an individual’s character and personality, or further affect it. Much of Lawrence’s writing contains the common theme of tormented family relationships. This theme can be seen in the short story The Rocking-Horse Winner through: â€Å"the terrible mother† Hester, â€Å"the anti-wise man† Oscar Cresswell, and â€Å"the sacrificial scapegoat† Paul. Hester is portrayed as cold and shallow, accurately demonstrating the terrible mother archetype. Thus, she is a perfect example of the theme of tormented family relationships, present in the short story The Rocking-Horse Winner. When the authour describes what, â€Å"Everyone else said of her: ‘She is such a good mother. She adores her children.’ Only she knew herself and her children themselves this was not so† (Lawrence 19). Hester’s character is simply more concerned with wealth and her social image than her own children. She is very corrupted by society, and what society thinks of her. As a result of this, she neglects her children, and pays little attention to their needs. Hester proves to fit the terrible mother archetype, and this shows the present theme of tormented family relationships. Also, Hester’s brother, Oscar Cresswell, advances the theme of tormented relationships by portraying the â€Å"anti-old man† archetype. It is evident that jealousy and family issues are present based on Oscar’s relationships with both his nephew Paul, and his sister Hester. The authour explains, â€Å"The Uncle was delighted to find that his small nephew was posted with all the racing news† (Lawrence 22). Oscar inherited the family fortune, as Hester was left with her husband to depend on. Oscar does make an effort to help Hester’s financial situation, although he is also very concerned with wealth and social status, neglecting to realize the near trouble Paul is faced with. Oscar uses his nephew, by exploiting Paul’s â€Å"gift† for his own personal wealth, while Hester is struggling to meet her own desires. Oscar is portrayed as the opposite of a saviour, and more as a selfish man. This character archetype further proves the theme of tormented family relationships in the story. As well, Paul, Hester’s son and Oscar’s nephew, is the young protagonist, who is searching for â€Å"luck†, but proves to be the â€Å"sacrificial scapegoat†, further proving the present theme. Neglected by his own mother, Paul is desperately trying to get her approval and her love. This is shown in the short story when Paul asks, â€Å"Do you think I’m lucky mother? I knew Malabar, didn’t I? Over eighty thousand pounds! I call that lucky, don’t you mother† (Lawrence 33)? Even on Paul’s deathbed, he is desperately scrambling to finally get his mother’s approval. His luck ran out, and his quest as a hero was not fulfilled. Paul simply wanted to be enough for his mother. To finally prove himself, and win her love. His character can be classified as the â€Å"sacrificial scapegoat† archetype. Paul’s desperate attempt for his mother’s love proves the theme of tormented family relationships present in this story. Through the character archetypes of Hester, Paul, and Oscar Cresswell, the theme of tormented family relationships is proved to be shown in many aspects of the short story The Rocking-Horse Winner. Hester’s lack of care and compassion towards her children, Oscar’s greed, and Paul’s desperate attempt to prove himself to his mother, are only a few examples of this clear theme. This theme is not only present in the story, but in the lives of many. These tormented family relationships are often looked over, rather than interpreted as a part of an individual’s personality.

Orginal writing Essay

      He had relied on stray sheep and animals as he knew he couldn’t go past the village as he’d die, he decided to wait to see if anyone comes back he’d use his brother killing him with the knife he’d been given my his late master, exchanging his brothers soul for his own freedom to travel beyond the borders. He also knew the only other thing that could send him to his ultimate fate was also the knife; he also knew that the opposite to what he wanted to happen could happen. He could if struck by the knife be killed also. In the air the very essence of evil hung in the air, the endless darkness sweeping forward devouring everything in its path. Cobwebs hung everywhere filled with decaying flies; the only light came in from the holes in the walls piercing the darkness. The small of centuries of decomposition stung the nostrils and the throat. The only sound was the drip of water and the occasional settling of giant spiders; the cobwebs snared the skin hoping to catch the person as if he was a fly. It was startling the in contrast with the cold air in the hills. He was anxious, he’d reached his objective, and half knew the old man was right. It was suicide. The man with jet black hair stooped low moving surprisingly quickly and quietly for a man his age following David to stop the worst thing that could ever happen, happen by doing he risked the worlds safety. David’s worst fears were realized stood in front of him but facing the other was the monster, he was like a huge upright wolf with huge black eagle like wings. The dark hair that covered his body was like needles, he looked that he could destroy anything. He flew out of the window, looking for stray sheep or so he thought. He ran through endless rooms and corridors before finally stopping in a room. A room filled with gold it gleamed newly polished beyond perfection. A room that within its walls tucked into a corner was a blood red handled knife. He took it just incase and ran until he came across someone, or something. The old man with jet black hair stumbled in agony; the monster had just caught him! Breathing both of his legs unable to move he sat and waited, waited for the inevitable for the knife to pierce him. He knew he was making a mistake, but if he did die, the worst possible thing couldn’t happen, this thought calmed him, as he slipped into unconsciousness. The monster searched and searched for thee knife knocking over wall after wall trying to find it. He was excited the time had come and the world would pay. He saw out of the corner of his eye he saw David stooped low shaking in fear. He snatched the knife off him. Then slammed him into one of the castle walls, not killing him but David were wise enough to pretend to be. David waited till the monster as a distance away then thought of what he had just seen. The monster had big red inflamed eyes, razor like teeth and two gleaming fangs. He stood on two legs not all fours and looked as powerful as he was deadly. David decide to get out while he could, he sprinted to the exit. The monster loomed over the old man with the knife. Stabbed him. His blood splashed on the ground forming a crimson puddle. The knife itself seemed to glow, the blood on the blade instantly congealed. A wisp of grey crossed from body to blade, sealing the world’s fate. David saw this hiding in one of the corners. He knew he should run but his legs would not allow it he wondered why the monster never had the time to kill him. Now he knew. He was taken over by something he sprinted over to the monster that was taken by surprise. He then reached out a hand a jumped almost horizontally through the air. In all one move he took the dagger and plunged it deep into the monsters neck. He landed. The ground below him started to shake soon the ground gave way but not before the monster erupted into an inferno instantly killing David. His last thought was one of relief that the monster was dead and pride that it was he that had done it. The castle collapsed into itself. The knife and the two bodies buried under the ruins with them the knife, waiting for a new master to control it.