Mcdonalds in India – Case Study

WALMART Group GMITE – Batch 6 Abhishek Agrawal Ajit Varghese Brijesh Chauhan Karthikeyan Palani Manendra Jain Nalukurthy Rajeshbabu Satish kumar Dosapati Sushma GN McDonald's India A Locally Owned Company: McDonald's is the world's leading global foodservice retailer with more than 33,000 locations serving approximately 64 million customers in 118 countries each day. More than 80% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women. In India, McDonald's is managed by two Indian entrepreneurs. Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. owns and spearheads McDonald's operations in West & South India. Hardcastle Restaurants was appointed Development Licensee for McDonald's in India in 2010, a progression from Joint Venture partner. Vikram Bakshi, MD and Joint Venture Partner, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited, owns and operates McDonald's in North and East India. Celebrating over 15 years of leadership in food service retailing in India, McDonald's now has a network of over 235 restaurants across the country. Local Sourcing Is Key for Truly Indian Products: McDonald's India is committed to sourcing almost all of its products from within the country. Prior to its launch, the company invested six years to develop its unique cold chain, which has brought about a veritable revolution in food handling, immensely benefiting the farmers at one end and enabling customers to get the highest quality food products, absolutely fresh and at a great value. McDonald's India today has developed local Indian businesses, which can supply the highest quality products required for its Indian operations. Respect for Indian Customs and Culture: McDonald's worldwide is well known for the high degree of respect to the local culture of each market it operates in. In line with this respect for local culture, India is the first country in the world where McDonald's does not offer any beef or pork items. McDonald's has developed a menu especially for India with vegetarian selections to suit the Indian palate and has also re-engineered its operations to address the special requirements of vegetarians. Special care is taken to ensure that all vegetable products are prepared separately, using dedicated equipment and utensils. This separation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food products is maintained throughout the various stages of procurement, cooking and serving. So much so that the mayonnaise and soft serves are also 100% vegetarian and McDonald's uses only vegetable oil as a cooking medium in India. An Employer of Opportunity: McDonald's India is an employer of opportunity, providing quality employment and long-term careers to professionals across the country. The average McDonald's restaurant employs 60-80 people from crew to restaurant manager. McDonald's invests in its employees, leveraging world class-training inputs to create ambassadors of the brand and creating food service professionals with global attitudes. The brand currently has over 8000 employees in India. Quality, Service, Cleanliness & Value McDonald's is driven by the philosophy of Quality, Service, and Cleanliness & Value for Money. This translates into a commitment to provide customers high quality products, served quickly with a smile, in a clean and pleasant environment at an affordable price. This effectively means that the McDonald's menu is priced at a value that the largest segment of the Indian consumers can afford while at the same time ensuring that quality is not sacrificed for value – rather McDonald's leverages economies to minimise costs while maximizing value to customers. Major issues ? NUTRITION Type of high fat, low fiber diet promoted by McDonald's is linked to serious diseases such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes. The sort of diseases that are now responsible for nearly three-quarters of premature deaths in the western world. McDonald's respond that the scientific evidence is not conclusive and that their food can be a valuable part of a balanced diet. Some people say McDonald's are entitled to sell junk food in exactly the same way that chocolate or cream cake manufacturers do: if people want to buy it that's their decision. But should McDonald's be allowed to advertise their products as nutritious? Why do they sponsor sports events when they sell unhealthy products? And what on earth are they doing opening restaurants in hospitals? ? Ecological Sustainability Vegetarians and animal welfare campaigners aren't too keen on McDonald's – for obvious reasons. As the world's largest user of beef they are responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of cows per year. In Europe alone they use half a million chickens every week, all from windowless factory farms. Is it acceptable for the food industry to exploit animals at all? Again, McDonald's argue that they stick to the letter of the law and if there are any problems it is a matter for government. They also claim to be concerned with animal welfare. ? Deep Market Penetration In order to grow McDonald’s needs to expand to other cities and towns in India rather than concentrating in Delhi. Mumbai & few other cities, For expansion to succeed, McDonald’s can no longer depends on its processing & distributions centers in and around Delhi & Mumbai, Given India’s poor transportation and road facilities, the logistic bottleneck of transporting food item from one place to other will add to the cost of its products, it needs to build new processing & distribution centers in other cities for operational efficiency, this would require additional investment and cost can not be easily passed on to the consumers. Price increase is the last thing that McDonald’s can afford if it wants to succeed in India, Already for most of the people McDonald’s is associated with high proices. ? Adaptability of portfolio towards local needs Given India’s fragmented regional culture where no single food preference predominates, McDonald’s need to develop new product on regular basis. Developing new products adds complexity & cost and raises the risks of errors. It also runs counter to McDonald’s culture and history. Yet if McDonald’s does not do it on regular basis, Company’s popularity will be short lived. It will be difficult for company to meet the range of different competitors, most notably the homegrown food chains which offers a variety of products at reasonable prices. ? CULTURAL SENSITIVITY( I feel this is a major issue) India is country with varying cultural diversity. The diversity reflects in eating habits with majority of population is vegetarian still a section of people with non-vegetarian food preference. India is land of spices. Indians like spicy food and prefer satellite joints as roadside food stalls. Usually home cooked food is preferred and dining out option is primarily reserved for special occasions. The food habits are also driven by the religious sentiments. In May 2001, a class action lawsuit1 was filed against the world's largest fast-food chain McDonald's, in Seattle, US. The lawsuit alleged that the company had, for over a decade, duped vegetarian customers into eating French fries2 that contained beef extracts. Minor issues ? ADVERTISING McDonald's spend over two billion dollars each year on advertising: Using collectable toys, television adverts, promotional schemes in schools and figures such as Ronald McDonald the company bombards their main target group: children. Many parents object strongly to the influence this has over their own children. McDonald's argue that their advertising is no worse than anyone else's and that they adhere to all the advertising codes in each country. But others argue it still amounts to cynical exploitation of children – some consumer organizations are calling for a ban on advertising to children. Why do McDonald's sponsor so many school events and learning programs? Is their Children's Charities genuine philanthropy or is there a more explicit publicity and profit motive? ? ENVIRONMENT One of the well-known and sensitive question about McDonald’s is: are they responsible for the destruction of tropical forests to make way for cattle ranching? McDonald's say no. Many people say yes. So McDonald's sue them. Not so many people say yes anymore, but does this mean McDonald's aren't responsible? They annually produce over a million tons of packaging, used for just a few minutes before being discarded. What environmental effect does the production and disposal of all this have? Is their record on recycling and recycled products as green as they make out? Are they responsible for litter on the streets, or is that the fault of the customer who drops it? Can any multinational company operating on McDonald's scale not contribute to global warming, ozone destruction, depletion of mineral resources and the destruction of natural habitats? Recommendation for Growth New Business Channels – Home Delivery, breakfast, extended hours and Drive-Troughs. As per estimates, home delivery can increase store sales about 15% and drive troughs by 50%. Attract College Crowd (Youth) – Similar to KFC â€Å"StreetWise† menu, which offers products to college students at affordable price. Employees and Customers – In India, McDonald’s employ 5,000 people and serves half a million customers a day via its 169 family restaurants. McDonald’s has 85,000 employees and serves 2. 5 million customers a day in the UK. Local Vegetarian Menu: In India, McDonald’s does not offer pork or beef-based products. Its menu is more than 50 per cent vegetarian. The fast food retail chain has separate production lines and processes for its vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings. McDelivery Online – In India, McDonald’s first launched home delivery of meals in Mumbai in 2004. McDonald’s now has plans to launch web-based delivery service in India (across 75 McDelivery cities) in 2010, a pilot for which has already been tested by it in Hyderabad. The company hopes to add 5 per cent to sales via Web delivery. McDonald’s web-based delivery model will be based on serving the customer quickly wherein the drive time does not exceed seven minutes because its food has to be eaten within ten minutes of preparation. The footfalls in India are amongst the highest in the world, but the average bill is amongst the lowest. At present (March 2010), Domino’s Pizza (operated by Bhartia Group-promoted Jubilant Foodworks under a master franchise agreement) has a 65% market share in the home delivery segment. MFY (Made for You) food preparation platform – MFY is a unique concept (cooking method) where the food is prepared as the customer places its order. All new upcoming McDonald’s restaurants are based on MFY. This cooking method has helped McDonald’s further strengthen its food safety, hygiene and quality standards. McDonald’s has around 10 MFY restaurants in its portfolio.

Television Broadcast News: Credible information or Merely Entertainment?

In today’s journalistic world it is sometimes difficult to decipher between news broadcasts rendered as credible information as opposed to merely entertainment. It is safe to say that the media does have a responsibility in reporting the news truthfully and with honesty. As we begin to look more closely on the role of the News Media, local and national, we will find many interesting facets of the broadcasts to be analyzed. It is also expected that the media deliver news that is detailed, informative and credible.Unfortunately the content of the information sometimes broadcasts has other insignificant focuses such as, news regarding celebrities, entertainment (especially here in Los Angeles so close to Hollywood) and other tragic but unnecessary news. The content seems at times unimportant, weak, and falsely dramatic rather than a factual honest and necessary report of important occurrences local, national and international. At times the news seems more like a dramatic soap ope ra rather than news. Competion and monetary gain seems to drive the media to serve information that can be sometimes manipulated or sometimes just simply inappropriate.Another facet of the news media is the status of female anchors and reporters on network and local newscasts, which will be examined in this paper. It is important to note that the media has been known to be a field influenced by gender, racial and ethnic biases. These important topics will also be examined. It seems that the News Media is not very particular in choosing quality journalism these days. Some exceptions do exist although it seems that shows which function as informative shows are merely just entertainment and tabloid-like journalism.Such shows include, â€Å"Entertainment tonight†, â€Å"The E channel† programs, â€Å"Inside Edition†, and â€Å"Access Hollywood† to name a few. Even reality shows like â€Å"Cops† which are credible and reflect real life experiences are p ackaged for entertainment and sensationalist viewing. Also, when analyzing the role of local and national television broadcast news we still need to view the content of these programs with a grain of salt. News broadcasters are more influenced by events that will cause an immediate impact and sensational effect on the viewers than actual, credible and significant news. It is common for news broadcasters to begin the news  with such broadcasts covering such events as a â€Å"Wild Pursuit† or freeway car chase.Or, other such glamorized topics may include the arrest of famous actors or musicians whom have committed crimes. The O. J. Simpson case was a perfect example of such media frenzy or, the famous pop musician George Michaels being arrested for masturbating in the Beverly Hills Park restroom. How can the media choose to cover such insignificant events when the local areas, the nation or the international community has so many other important social, economical, political and humanitarian problems and events that are hardly addressed.Also, when we pursue to analyze the credibility of broadcasters, how are we sure that the information given to us is factual? Are we to believe everything that CNN reports is untainted and free of excessive nonfactual events and information? It would be justified to question the source of reported events and news stories. There has been so many times in which different views and different versions of the same story have been reported by varying news channels. Therefore it is sometimes difficult to decipher between fact or fiction and credible information or merely entertainment.It is also interesting to note that the media tries to maintain an air of social and political correctness when it comes to choosing its journalists although certain biases still due exists in the journalistic field. It is only in recent times that the news media has decided to hire more ethnically diverse journalists. Also in a field that had bee n mostly dominated by men, in recent times we have seen the hiring of more female anchors, reporters and journalists. Sometimes broadcasters use attractive journalists to gain the interest of the viewers.One of the most important TV news personalities of the last 40 years has been the famous Barbara Walters. She is one of the first women to gain acceptability and credibility from television news viewers. Also Christian Amanpour remains the first female TV broadcaster in our history who commands the same kind of respect as the long line of father figures that started with Murrow and continues with Rather, Brokaw and Jennings. Women journalists such as Walters and Amanpour have gained respect and stardom through many years of hard work and struggle through journalism.Nowadays, historic news stories have become the journalistic fast track to celebrity. And this happens so routinely that the search for the new media stars automatically built into coverage of the events themselves. Withi n hours of the attack on the World Trade Center, you could already hear people in the media world asking, â€Å"Who’s going to be made by this one? † Such celebrity came to female anchorwoman Ashleigh Banfield, a 33-year-old Canadian-born journalist when on September 11, Banfield covered groundzero in New York for MSNBC.Standing firm as she became coated with ash, network executives were so dazzled by her on-camera savvy that, although she had almost as little international knowledge as our president, they jetted her off to Pakistan, where she began anchoring the week-nightly news show â€Å"Region in Conflict. † Since then, she seems to have been everywhere for the cable channels covering a variety of important news stories and issues. A similar story occurred when Andrea Thompson made headlines when she recently revealed that she was quitting ABC’s â€Å"N. Y. P.  D Blue† to do a three-month tryout at the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, N. M. to become a TV anchorwoman.Shortly after Andrea Thompson was hired by the CNN as an anchor. The 39-year-old actress and model has said that she believes her skills as an actress are transferable to TV news, even though she does not have any background in journalism. Although it’s not a matter of acting the news, it’s hard to fake a journalism background if you do not have one. Again this proves how today’s news media functions more as entertainment than credible responsible journalism.Some may say that it does not take any journalism skill to read a news script, and most stations want an appealing person, so why not have a pretty person reading a copy of the news? Personally I believe that this is unfair to other journalists male or female who have pursued a career studying and experiencing modern journalism. It is unfair to hire â€Å"sexy† or â€Å"sexual –attractive† journalists to report the news when the most important factor is the conten t and truthfulness of the news itself. It may be appropriate to flaunt ones sexuality in the fictional soap opera or fictional TV show arena, but not in the modern journalistic forum.Gender and sexuality should not be a factor. It would be hopeful to expect the News Media to cover more events with greater importance and significance to all people rather than to use journalism as a form of entertainment for the masses. Furthermore, it seems to me that the actual event and truth in media shouldn’t be tainted by such factors such as gender, ethnicity, age or how one presents him or herself physically, the events and news topics covered should speak for themselves, not the other way around.

Challenges of Harmonization of Accounting System

Accounting Standards in other words can be stated as rules which govern the preparation of financial statements. They are the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Where by accounting practices are the actual used practices by accountants. They are influenced by Accounting Standards, which govern the preparation of financial reports. Harmonization of accounting standards† can be defined as the continuous process of ensuring that the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are formulated, aligned and updated to international best practices (GAAPs in other countries) with suitable modifications and fine tuning considering the domestic conditions. Harmonization is the process of increasing compatibility of accounting practices by setting bounds on their degree of variation. Harmonization can be defined as â€Å"the process of bringing international Accounting Standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements from different countries are prepared according to a common set of principles of measurement and disclosure† (Haskins et al. 1996:29). According to Wolk et al. described harmonization of Accounting Standards as â€Å"the co-ordination or similarity among the various sets of national Accounting Standards and methods and formats of financial reporting†. (Kleekamper et al. , 2002) Kleekamperet al. xplain, that the aim of the international harmonization process of Accounting Standards is to reduce or overcome differences world-wide, in order to reach a better international Comparability of financial statements. International accounting harmonization can be defined as â€Å"the process of bringing international Accounting Standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements from different countries ar e prepared according to a common set of principles of measurement and disclosure† (Haskins et al. 1996:29). This harmonization is needed due to the globalization of businesses and services and increase in cross-border investments and borrowings and academicians, regulators and governments have been constantly striving to harmonize the local/domestic Accounting Standards(AS), also referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), with the International Accounting Standards (IAS) issued by the UK based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (formerly the International Accounting Standards Committee-IASC). The IASB has been trying to harmonize international accounting principles since 1973. Further, the IASB and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have been jointly working on harmonization since July 1995, and in May 2000 the IOSCO finished its review of the IAS and recommended usage of certain IAS, supplemented with reconciliation, disclosure and interpretations. Some benefits of harmonization of accounting practices is as follows * It ensures reliable and high quality financial reporting and disclosures. In certain cases, it can prove to be crucial to the economic and financial development of a country * It enables a systematic review and evaluation of the performance of a multinational company having subsidiaries and associates in various countries wherein each country has its own set of GAAP * It makes the comparison of the performance of a company against its domestic and international peers easier and more meaningful * It is a precursor for accessing international capital markets which can, in turn, reduce the capital cost and consequently, improve the performance of a company * Multinational companies, the multinational companies benefit from closer harmonization for the following reasons a) Access to international finance is easier, the international financial markets understand the financial information presented to them more easily. If the information is provided on a consistent basis between companies irrespective of their country of origin. b) Improved management control, in a business operating in several countries management control is improved. Internal financial information is more easily prepared on consistent basis if externally required financial information is required on a uniform basis. c) Consolidation of financial statement is easier ) A reduction of auditing cost due to harmonized accounting practices and standards. e) A transfer of accounting staff across national borders would be easier f) It would be easier to comply with reporting requirements of overseas stock exchanges. g) Appraisals of foreign entities for take over and mergers would be more straightforward. * International economic groupings, international groupings like EU (European Union) could work more effectively if there were international harmonization of accounting policies. Part of the function of international groupings is go make cross-border trade easier. Similar to accounting regulation would help this process. Government of developing countries would save time and money if they would adopt international standards and, if these were used internally, governments of developing countries could attempt to control the activities of foreign multinational companies in their own country. These companies could not hide behind foreign accounting practices which are difficult to understand. * Tax authorities, it will be easier to calculate the tax liability of investors, including multinationals who receive income from overseas sources. * Large accounting and auditing firms would benefit as accounting and auditing would be much easier if similar accounting practices existed throughout the world. Despite the importance of harmonizing accounting standards, there still challenges facing harmonization of accounting standards between the member countries using IFRS (international financial reporting standard) and also between United States using US GAAP. These challenges are brought about different tax laws, different culture, different legal requirement, nationalism and different needs of financial statements. Speaking of harmonization we should put in consideration of International accounting standard board (IASB) based in UK and Financial accounting standard board (FASB) based in US. The  International Accounting Standards Board  (IASB) is the independent,  accounting standard-setting body of the  IFRS Foundation. The IASB was founded on April 1, 2001 as the successor to the  International Accounting Standards Committee  (IASC). It is responsible for developing  International Financial Reporting Standards  (the new name for  International Accounting Standards  issued after 2001), and promoting the use and application of these standards. The  Financial Accounting Standards Board  (FASB) is a private,  not-for-profit organization  whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles  (GAAP) within the  United States  in the public’s interest. The  Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U. S. It was created in 1973, replacing the  Committee on Accounting Procedure  (CAP) and the  Accounting Principles Board  (APB) of the  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants  (AICPA). The FASB’s mission is â€Å"to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information. † To achieve this, FASB has five goals. * Improve the usefulness of financial reporting by focusing on the primary characteristics of relevance and reliability, and on the qualities of comparability and consistency. * Keep standards current to reflect changes in methods of doing business and in the economy. Consider promptly any significant areas of deficiency in financial reporting that might be improved through standard setting. * Promote  international convergence of accounting standards  concurrent with improving the quality of financial reporting. * Im prove common understanding of the nature and purposes of information in financial reports. The two boards have been making efforts to harmonize the accounting principles, as of September 2011, there was a push to harmonize, or integrate, the accounting standards of the United States, which operates under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), with International Accounting Standards (IAS). The rationale is that it would level the playing field for global businesses by providing regulators, auditors and decision-makers (investors) uniform information based on the same accounting methodologies. Supporters believe that this would improve accountability, reduce international transactional and exchange rate risks and improve information transfer to enhance economic policy decision-making. The difference between IAS and US GAAP is that the former is more principle based and the later is rule based. The following are Challenges to harmonization of accounting systems. Licensing and Enforcement, Individual accountants, CPAs and tax lawyers worldwide would need to comply with and obtain licensing through an internationally accepted rules-making body. If he international body lacks enforcement authority, there is no prosecutorial authority for breaking international laws. However, if the international body does have prosecutorial authority over a U. S. citizen, there would arise jurisdictional and constitutional issues regarding the rights of an international body’s rights to prosecute an American under international law. Finally, issues arise from the perspective of U. S. -only based businesses regarding forced compliance IASB standards are principles-based. Thus the countries that have rules-based standards are expected to experience considerable difficulty in harmonization of their standards with IFRS. There are challenges that IASB and nations adopting IFRS need to address in the coming days. One big challenge for countries adopting IFRS is the shortage of manpower and more particularly, IFRS-trained manpower. For case in point, with just six months to go before China’s listed companies adopt IFRS, demand for accountants is rising and could run into millions in the coming years, if the new standards are rolled out for all of the country’s companies and not just the listed ones. Accountants say that the challenge for China, as it scrambles to meet the accounting shift deadline, will lie in getting its over-1,100 listed companies to establish the appropriate financial reporting systems and in training enough qualified accountants by January. The risk is that some of these companies may fail to make the transition on time. Estimates reveal that China has a shortfall of 300,000 qualified accountants and is likely to require a further three million over the coming years to keep pace with its current rate of economic growth Difference purpose of financial reporting, in some countries the purpose is solely for tax assessment, while others it is for investor decision making, Different legal systems, these prevent the development of certain accounting practices and restrict options available. The Accounting world can be divided into â€Å"those countries which have a ‘legalistic’ orientation toward accounting and those with a ‘non legalistic’ orientation† (Nobes et al. , 1997:8). The non-legalistic approach can be found in countries, which use common law. In Common law countries, Accounting does not depend upon law. Accountants (professional organizations) arrange accounting rules. Hence, it is the private sector, which determines Accounting and not the law (Choi et al. , 200 2). The task of the legal system is to give an answer to a specific case rather than to formulate general rules for the future (Choi et al. 2002). The legalistic approach can be found in countries, which use the so called code (or codified) law. In contrary to the common law, the codified law system needs to develop rules in detail for the Accounting and financial reporting (Nobes, 1994). This means that â€Å"Accounting rules are incorporated into national law and tend to be highly prescriptive and procedural† (Choi et al. , 2002:43). In these countries the role of law is to describe behavior, which isconsidered to be acceptable in the society (Choi et al. , 2002). Different user groups, countries have different ideas about who the relevant user groups and their respective importance. In USA investor and credit groups are given prominence, while in Europe employees enjoy a higher profile. Provider of finance, there three main sources for external capital are shareholders, banks and government (Hill, 1999). It varies from country to country, which of these three provides most of the financial capital to companies. In countries like Germany and Italy banks provide companies with capital. In countries like England and the United States shareholders provide companies with capital. The government is the provider of capital in countries like France and Sweden. (Hill,1999) This diversity of capital providers means that Accounting Practices differ in order to satisfy needs of capital providers. In the case of shareholder ownership, (e. g. in the U. K. and the U. S. ), information disclosure will be more important than in countries, where capital is raised from banks or governments. This is explained by the fact that in the latter countries information will be transmitted more directly. (Radebaugh and Gray, 1997) It is impossible for a company to inform each shareholder with its specific information needs, because they are a big and unorganized group. Therefore financial statements in the US and UK are â€Å"oriented toward providing individual investors with the information they need to make decisions about purchasing or selling corporate stocks and bonds† (Hill, 1999:593). Tax laws, the key question here is to ask, how much taxation regulations determine Accounting measurements. In countries like the U. S. , U. K. and Netherlands there is no interplay between tax and Accounting law. When Accounting Standards are developed, the only focus is how to conduce the information function. Questions about taxation are not considered in those countries (Achleitner, 2000). In contrary, in nations as France and Germany, tax and Accounting Systems are ruled equal (Nobes and Parker, 2000). There is the principle of decisiveness in continental European countries. This means that the profit of the balance sheet is at the same time the foundation to snap income taxes (Achleitner, 2000). In Tanzania income tax act is in dis agreement with some accounting procedures like computation of depreciation, Bad debts and therefore disagree on how accountant compute organization profit and therefore in Tanzania should prepare to set of financial statement one for tax purposes and the other for other users of accounting information. Cultural differences result in objectives for accounting systems differing from country to country for example Islamic laws does not recognize the use of interest rate. The lack of strong accountancy bodies, many countries do not have strong independent accountancy or business bodies which would press for better standards and greater harmonization. Unique circumstances, some countries may be experiencing unusual circumstances which affect all aspects of everyday life an d impinge on the ability of companies to produce proper reports, for example hyperinflation, civil war, currency restriction. Nationalism is demonstrated in an unwillingness to accept another country’s standard. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the U. S. is responsible for setting accounting standards based primarily on â€Å"Federal securities laws and state CPA licensing laws. † All countries have specific securities laws, tax laws and banking and financial regulations that dictate accounting principles. Furthermore, in the United States, there are individual state laws that govern business, banking and insurance activities. Adopting international accounting standards would not only conflict with U. S. tatute law, but also constitutional law associated with â€Å"states’ rights. † Stable Platform, Beginning in 2005 , all 7,000 EU publicly traded companies are required to apply IFRS in the preparation of their consolidated financial statements. This represents yet another challenge as preparers of financial statements from Latvia to Portugal and from Poland to Sweden grapple with unfamiliar requirements. In preparation for this sweeping change, the IASB completed its â€Å"stable platform† of standards in March 2004. New and revised standards included five new IFRSs and 17 amended IASs, resulting from the IASB’s Improvements Project and Phase I of its Business Combinations Project. Some of the more significant revisions to IFRS that resulted from these projects include: * The LIFO method for costing inventories is no longer allowed; *   The concepts of â€Å"fundamental error† and â€Å"extraordinary items† are eliminated; *   Trading securities are now included in a larger defined category of financial instruments â€Å"at fair value through profit or loss† and entities may designate any financial asset or liability into this category (commonly referred to as â€Å"the fair value option†); *   Fair value hedge accounting may now be used more readily for a portfolio hedge of interest rate risk; *   Guidelines for share-based payments have been added;   The pooling-of-interests method for business combinations is no longer allowed; *   Goodwill is no longer amortized, and negative goodwill is not recorded in a business combination World wide acceptance, National accounting standards are highly politicized and there is ofte n a natural tendency to place the interests of the national economy ahead of those of the global economy. Private sector businesses and professional accounting bodies also have a vested interest in accounting practices and financial reporting. Pressure from these groups to change or reject certain standards can carry a lot of weight with political decision makers. Adopting international financial standards is met with additional challenges in developing countries. They often lack the resources and infrastructure to adapt national legal and legislative frameworks in which to house the standards, making proper implementation difficult. Training and Retraining, When a country decides to harmonize with the international standards, its companies, accountants and auditors need to be retrained in the new standards and reporting procedures for financial statements. College and university programs in this field also have to undergo significant changes in order to educate new people entering the profession. Before any of this can happen, trainers and professors will require training so they can instruct professionals and students. This will require the development of new learning materials and curricula, new examinations for professional licensing and new accounting software and reporting systems. To further complicate matters, the adoption of harmonized standards has to be phased in, so for a number of years, two different systems are in operation. Such a omplex transition requires a lot of safety mechanisms to ensure it achieves uniform results. To sum up with, Harmonization of financial statement is very crucial for acc ounting profession and also for the global business growth especially for multinational companies which will now find easily in preparation of parent and subsidiary financial statement since have to be prepared according to IFRS. IFRS IS very important to developing countries like Tanzania such as increasing confidence of investors, reduce cost of doing business, facilitate smooth operation of international groupings like EAC and the countries accountant become competitive worldwide. REFERENCES WORD LENGTH: 3517 words Arbnor, I. Bjerke, B. (1997): Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge, Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks, 2nd edition. Ghauri, P. ; Gronhaug, K. (2002): Research Methods in Business Studies, Prentice Hall, London. Choi, F. ; Frost C. ; Gary, K. (2002): International Accounting, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 4th edition. Choi, F. ; Mueller, G. (1992): International Accounting, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2nd edition. Epstein, B. ; Mirza, A. (2001): IAS, Interpretation a nd Application, John Wiley ; Sons, New York. Ghauri P. ; Gronhaug, K. ; Kristianslund, I. (1995): Research Methods in Business Studies: A practical guide, Prentice Hall, Bodmin. Gummesson, E. 2000): Qualitative Methods in Management Research, Sage Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, 2nd edition. Helgesson, T. (1996): Culture in International Business: an Introduction, Academia Adacta, Lund. Hill, C. (1999): Competing in the Global Marketplace; Irwin McGraw Hill, Boston, 3rd edition. Hofstede, G. (1991): Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York. Howard, K. ; Sharp, J. (1983): The Management of a Student Research Project, Gower Publishing Company Ltd. , Aldershot. Johansson, L. (2000): Introduktion till Vetenskapsteorin, AIT Falun AB, Stockholm. Kam, V. (1990): Accounting Theory, John Willey and Sons, New York, 2nd edition. 70 Kleekamper, H. ; Kuhlewind, M. ; Alvarez, M. 2002): Grundlagen, Ziele, Organisation, Entwicklung und Bedeutung des IAS B, in: Rechnungslegung nach International Accounting Standards (IAS), editedy by Baetge, D. ; Kleekamper, H. ; Wollmert, P. ; Kirsch H. (2002), Schafer-Poeschel, Stuttgart, 2nd edition. Naciri, A. ; Hoarau C. (2001): A comparative analysis of american and french financial Reporting philosophies: the case for international Accounting Standards, in: Advances in International Accounting, edited by Sale, J; Salter, S; Sharp, D. (2001), Elsevier Sience Ltd, Oxford. Nobes, C. ; Parker, R. (2000): Comparative International Accounting, Financial Times – Prentice Hall, Hartlow. Nobes, C. 1999): Towards a General Model of the Reasons for International Differences in Financial Reporting, in: International Accounting and Comparative Financial Reporting, edited by Nobes, C. (1998), Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham. Nobes, C; Mueller, G; Gernon, H; Meek, G. (1997): Accounting an International Perspective, Richard D. Irwin, Inc; Chicago, 4th edition. Nobes, C. (1994): Accounting Harmonisation in Europe: Process, progress and prospects, FT Business Information Ltd, London. North, D. (1990): Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Miles, M. ; Huberman, A. (1994): Qualitative Data Analysis – An expanded source book, Sage Publications, Inc, Thousands Oaks, 2nd edition. Mueller, G. 1997): Harmonization Efforts in the European Union, in: International Accounting and Finance Handbook, edited by Choi, F. (1997), Wiley and Sons, New York, 7th edition. Mueller, G. ; Gernon, H. ; Meek, G. (1991): Accounting – an International Perspective; Richard D. Irwin, Inc; Homewood, 2nd edition. Radebaugh, L. ; Daniels, J. (2001): International Business, Environment and Operations, Prentice Hall, London, 9th edition. Radebaugh L. ; Gray S. (1997): International Accounting and multinational enterprises, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 4th edition. Remenyi, D. ; Williams, B. ;Money A. ; Swartz E. (1998): Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method, SAGE Publications, London. 71 Riahi-Belkaoui, A. 2000): Accounting Theory, Thomson Learning – Business Press, Padstow, Cornwall, 4th edition. Roberts, C. ; Weetman, P. ; Gordon P. (1998): International Financial Accounting – a comparative approach, Financial Times Pitman Publishing, London. Samuels, J. ; Piper, A. (1985): International Accounting: A survery, Croom Helm, London. Wolk, H. ; Tearney, M. ; Dodd, J. (2001): A Conceptual and intestinal Approach: Accounting Theory, South-Western College Publishing, 5th edition. Wollmert, P. ; Achleitner A. (2002): Konzeption der IAS: Rechnungslegung, in: Rechnungslegung nach International Accounting Standards (IAS), edited by Baetge, D. ; Kleekamper, H. ; Wollmert, P. ; Kirsch, H. (2002):, Schafer-Poeschel, , Stuttgart, 2nd edition. Challenges of Harmonization of Accounting System Accounting Standards in other words can be stated as rules which govern the preparation of financial statements. They are the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Where by accounting practices are the actual used practices by accountants. They are influenced by Accounting Standards, which govern the preparation of financial reports. Harmonization of accounting standards† can be defined as the continuous process of ensuring that the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are formulated, aligned and updated to international best practices (GAAPs in other countries) with suitable modifications and fine tuning considering the domestic conditions. Harmonization is the process of increasing compatibility of accounting practices by setting bounds on their degree of variation. Harmonization can be defined as â€Å"the process of bringing international Accounting Standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements from different countries are prepared according to a common set of principles of measurement and disclosure† (Haskins et al. 1996:29). According to Wolk et al. described harmonization of Accounting Standards as â€Å"the co-ordination or similarity among the various sets of national Accounting Standards and methods and formats of financial reporting†. (Kleekamper et al. , 2002) Kleekamperet al. xplain, that the aim of the international harmonization process of Accounting Standards is to reduce or overcome differences world-wide, in order to reach a better international Comparability of financial statements. International accounting harmonization can be defined as â€Å"the process of bringing international Accounting Standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements from different countries ar e prepared according to a common set of principles of measurement and disclosure† (Haskins et al. 1996:29). This harmonization is needed due to the globalization of businesses and services and increase in cross-border investments and borrowings and academicians, regulators and governments have been constantly striving to harmonize the local/domestic Accounting Standards(AS), also referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), with the International Accounting Standards (IAS) issued by the UK based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (formerly the International Accounting Standards Committee-IASC). The IASB has been trying to harmonize international accounting principles since 1973. Further, the IASB and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have been jointly working on harmonization since July 1995, and in May 2000 the IOSCO finished its review of the IAS and recommended usage of certain IAS, supplemented with reconciliation, disclosure and interpretations. Some benefits of harmonization of accounting practices is as follows * It ensures reliable and high quality financial reporting and disclosures. In certain cases, it can prove to be crucial to the economic and financial development of a country * It enables a systematic review and evaluation of the performance of a multinational company having subsidiaries and associates in various countries wherein each country has its own set of GAAP * It makes the comparison of the performance of a company against its domestic and international peers easier and more meaningful * It is a precursor for accessing international capital markets which can, in turn, reduce the capital cost and consequently, improve the performance of a company * Multinational companies, the multinational companies benefit from closer harmonization for the following reasons a) Access to international finance is easier, the international financial markets understand the financial information presented to them more easily. If the information is provided on a consistent basis between companies irrespective of their country of origin. b) Improved management control, in a business operating in several countries management control is improved. Internal financial information is more easily prepared on consistent basis if externally required financial information is required on a uniform basis. c) Consolidation of financial statement is easier ) A reduction of auditing cost due to harmonized accounting practices and standards. e) A transfer of accounting staff across national borders would be easier f) It would be easier to comply with reporting requirements of overseas stock exchanges. g) Appraisals of foreign entities for take over and mergers would be more straightforward. * International economic groupings, international groupings like EU (European Union) could work more effectively if there were international harmonization of accounting policies. Part of the function of international groupings is go make cross-border trade easier. Similar to accounting regulation would help this process. Government of developing countries would save time and money if they would adopt international standards and, if these were used internally, governments of developing countries could attempt to control the activities of foreign multinational companies in their own country. These companies could not hide behind foreign accounting practices which are difficult to understand. * Tax authorities, it will be easier to calculate the tax liability of investors, including multinationals who receive income from overseas sources. * Large accounting and auditing firms would benefit as accounting and auditing would be much easier if similar accounting practices existed throughout the world. Despite the importance of harmonizing accounting standards, there still challenges facing harmonization of accounting standards between the member countries using IFRS (international financial reporting standard) and also between United States using US GAAP. These challenges are brought about different tax laws, different culture, different legal requirement, nationalism and different needs of financial statements. Speaking of harmonization we should put in consideration of International accounting standard board (IASB) based in UK and Financial accounting standard board (FASB) based in US. The  International Accounting Standards Board  (IASB) is the independent,  accounting standard-setting body of the  IFRS Foundation. The IASB was founded on April 1, 2001 as the successor to the  International Accounting Standards Committee  (IASC). It is responsible for developing  International Financial Reporting Standards  (the new name for  International Accounting Standards  issued after 2001), and promoting the use and application of these standards. The  Financial Accounting Standards Board  (FASB) is a private,  not-for-profit organization  whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles  (GAAP) within the  United States  in the public’s interest. The  Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U. S. It was created in 1973, replacing the  Committee on Accounting Procedure  (CAP) and the  Accounting Principles Board  (APB) of the  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants  (AICPA). The FASB’s mission is â€Å"to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information. † To achieve this, FASB has five goals. * Improve the usefulness of financial reporting by focusing on the primary characteristics of relevance and reliability, and on the qualities of comparability and consistency. * Keep standards current to reflect changes in methods of doing business and in the economy. Consider promptly any significant areas of deficiency in financial reporting that might be improved through standard setting. * Promote  international convergence of accounting standards  concurrent with improving the quality of financial reporting. * Im prove common understanding of the nature and purposes of information in financial reports. The two boards have been making efforts to harmonize the accounting principles, as of September 2011, there was a push to harmonize, or integrate, the accounting standards of the United States, which operates under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), with International Accounting Standards (IAS). The rationale is that it would level the playing field for global businesses by providing regulators, auditors and decision-makers (investors) uniform information based on the same accounting methodologies. Supporters believe that this would improve accountability, reduce international transactional and exchange rate risks and improve information transfer to enhance economic policy decision-making. The difference between IAS and US GAAP is that the former is more principle based and the later is rule based. The following are Challenges to harmonization of accounting systems. Licensing and Enforcement, Individual accountants, CPAs and tax lawyers worldwide would need to comply with and obtain licensing through an internationally accepted rules-making body. If he international body lacks enforcement authority, there is no prosecutorial authority for breaking international laws. However, if the international body does have prosecutorial authority over a U. S. citizen, there would arise jurisdictional and constitutional issues regarding the rights of an international body’s rights to prosecute an American under international law. Finally, issues arise from the perspective of U. S. -only based businesses regarding forced compliance IASB standards are principles-based. Thus the countries that have rules-based standards are expected to experience considerable difficulty in harmonization of their standards with IFRS. There are challenges that IASB and nations adopting IFRS need to address in the coming days. One big challenge for countries adopting IFRS is the shortage of manpower and more particularly, IFRS-trained manpower. For case in point, with just six months to go before China’s listed companies adopt IFRS, demand for accountants is rising and could run into millions in the coming years, if the new standards are rolled out for all of the country’s companies and not just the listed ones. Accountants say that the challenge for China, as it scrambles to meet the accounting shift deadline, will lie in getting its over-1,100 listed companies to establish the appropriate financial reporting systems and in training enough qualified accountants by January. The risk is that some of these companies may fail to make the transition on time. Estimates reveal that China has a shortfall of 300,000 qualified accountants and is likely to require a further three million over the coming years to keep pace with its current rate of economic growth Difference purpose of financial reporting, in some countries the purpose is solely for tax assessment, while others it is for investor decision making, Different legal systems, these prevent the development of certain accounting practices and restrict options available. The Accounting world can be divided into â€Å"those countries which have a ‘legalistic’ orientation toward accounting and those with a ‘non legalistic’ orientation† (Nobes et al. , 1997:8). The non-legalistic approach can be found in countries, which use common law. In Common law countries, Accounting does not depend upon law. Accountants (professional organizations) arrange accounting rules. Hence, it is the private sector, which determines Accounting and not the law (Choi et al. , 200 2). The task of the legal system is to give an answer to a specific case rather than to formulate general rules for the future (Choi et al. 2002). The legalistic approach can be found in countries, which use the so called code (or codified) law. In contrary to the common law, the codified law system needs to develop rules in detail for the Accounting and financial reporting (Nobes, 1994). This means that â€Å"Accounting rules are incorporated into national law and tend to be highly prescriptive and procedural† (Choi et al. , 2002:43). In these countries the role of law is to describe behavior, which isconsidered to be acceptable in the society (Choi et al. , 2002). Different user groups, countries have different ideas about who the relevant user groups and their respective importance. In USA investor and credit groups are given prominence, while in Europe employees enjoy a higher profile. Provider of finance, there three main sources for external capital are shareholders, banks and government (Hill, 1999). It varies from country to country, which of these three provides most of the financial capital to companies. In countries like Germany and Italy banks provide companies with capital. In countries like England and the United States shareholders provide companies with capital. The government is the provider of capital in countries like France and Sweden. (Hill,1999) This diversity of capital providers means that Accounting Practices differ in order to satisfy needs of capital providers. In the case of shareholder ownership, (e. g. in the U. K. and the U. S. ), information disclosure will be more important than in countries, where capital is raised from banks or governments. This is explained by the fact that in the latter countries information will be transmitted more directly. (Radebaugh and Gray, 1997) It is impossible for a company to inform each shareholder with its specific information needs, because they are a big and unorganized group. Therefore financial statements in the US and UK are â€Å"oriented toward providing individual investors with the information they need to make decisions about purchasing or selling corporate stocks and bonds† (Hill, 1999:593). Tax laws, the key question here is to ask, how much taxation regulations determine Accounting measurements. In countries like the U. S. , U. K. and Netherlands there is no interplay between tax and Accounting law. When Accounting Standards are developed, the only focus is how to conduce the information function. Questions about taxation are not considered in those countries (Achleitner, 2000). In contrary, in nations as France and Germany, tax and Accounting Systems are ruled equal (Nobes and Parker, 2000). There is the principle of decisiveness in continental European countries. This means that the profit of the balance sheet is at the same time the foundation to snap income taxes (Achleitner, 2000). In Tanzania income tax act is in dis agreement with some accounting procedures like computation of depreciation, Bad debts and therefore disagree on how accountant compute organization profit and therefore in Tanzania should prepare to set of financial statement one for tax purposes and the other for other users of accounting information. Cultural differences result in objectives for accounting systems differing from country to country for example Islamic laws does not recognize the use of interest rate. The lack of strong accountancy bodies, many countries do not have strong independent accountancy or business bodies which would press for better standards and greater harmonization. Unique circumstances, some countries may be experiencing unusual circumstances which affect all aspects of everyday life an d impinge on the ability of companies to produce proper reports, for example hyperinflation, civil war, currency restriction. Nationalism is demonstrated in an unwillingness to accept another country’s standard. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the U. S. is responsible for setting accounting standards based primarily on â€Å"Federal securities laws and state CPA licensing laws. † All countries have specific securities laws, tax laws and banking and financial regulations that dictate accounting principles. Furthermore, in the United States, there are individual state laws that govern business, banking and insurance activities. Adopting international accounting standards would not only conflict with U. S. tatute law, but also constitutional law associated with â€Å"states’ rights. † Stable Platform, Beginning in 2005 , all 7,000 EU publicly traded companies are required to apply IFRS in the preparation of their consolidated financial statements. This represents yet another challenge as preparers of financial statements from Latvia to Portugal and from Poland to Sweden grapple with unfamiliar requirements. In preparation for this sweeping change, the IASB completed its â€Å"stable platform† of standards in March 2004. New and revised standards included five new IFRSs and 17 amended IASs, resulting from the IASB’s Improvements Project and Phase I of its Business Combinations Project. Some of the more significant revisions to IFRS that resulted from these projects include: * The LIFO method for costing inventories is no longer allowed; *   The concepts of â€Å"fundamental error† and â€Å"extraordinary items† are eliminated; *   Trading securities are now included in a larger defined category of financial instruments â€Å"at fair value through profit or loss† and entities may designate any financial asset or liability into this category (commonly referred to as â€Å"the fair value option†); *   Fair value hedge accounting may now be used more readily for a portfolio hedge of interest rate risk; *   Guidelines for share-based payments have been added;   The pooling-of-interests method for business combinations is no longer allowed; *   Goodwill is no longer amortized, and negative goodwill is not recorded in a business combination World wide acceptance, National accounting standards are highly politicized and there is ofte n a natural tendency to place the interests of the national economy ahead of those of the global economy. Private sector businesses and professional accounting bodies also have a vested interest in accounting practices and financial reporting. Pressure from these groups to change or reject certain standards can carry a lot of weight with political decision makers. Adopting international financial standards is met with additional challenges in developing countries. They often lack the resources and infrastructure to adapt national legal and legislative frameworks in which to house the standards, making proper implementation difficult. Training and Retraining, When a country decides to harmonize with the international standards, its companies, accountants and auditors need to be retrained in the new standards and reporting procedures for financial statements. College and university programs in this field also have to undergo significant changes in order to educate new people entering the profession. Before any of this can happen, trainers and professors will require training so they can instruct professionals and students. This will require the development of new learning materials and curricula, new examinations for professional licensing and new accounting software and reporting systems. To further complicate matters, the adoption of harmonized standards has to be phased in, so for a number of years, two different systems are in operation. Such a omplex transition requires a lot of safety mechanisms to ensure it achieves uniform results. To sum up with, Harmonization of financial statement is very crucial for acc ounting profession and also for the global business growth especially for multinational companies which will now find easily in preparation of parent and subsidiary financial statement since have to be prepared according to IFRS. IFRS IS very important to developing countries like Tanzania such as increasing confidence of investors, reduce cost of doing business, facilitate smooth operation of international groupings like EAC and the countries accountant become competitive worldwide. REFERENCES WORD LENGTH: 3517 words Arbnor, I. Bjerke, B. (1997): Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge, Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks, 2nd edition. Ghauri, P. ; Gronhaug, K. (2002): Research Methods in Business Studies, Prentice Hall, London. Choi, F. ; Frost C. ; Gary, K. (2002): International Accounting, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 4th edition. Choi, F. ; Mueller, G. (1992): International Accounting, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2nd edition. Epstein, B. ; Mirza, A. (2001): IAS, Interpretation a nd Application, John Wiley ; Sons, New York. Ghauri P. ; Gronhaug, K. ; Kristianslund, I. (1995): Research Methods in Business Studies: A practical guide, Prentice Hall, Bodmin. Gummesson, E. 2000): Qualitative Methods in Management Research, Sage Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, 2nd edition. Helgesson, T. (1996): Culture in International Business: an Introduction, Academia Adacta, Lund. Hill, C. (1999): Competing in the Global Marketplace; Irwin McGraw Hill, Boston, 3rd edition. Hofstede, G. (1991): Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York. Howard, K. ; Sharp, J. (1983): The Management of a Student Research Project, Gower Publishing Company Ltd. , Aldershot. Johansson, L. (2000): Introduktion till Vetenskapsteorin, AIT Falun AB, Stockholm. Kam, V. (1990): Accounting Theory, John Willey and Sons, New York, 2nd edition. 70 Kleekamper, H. ; Kuhlewind, M. ; Alvarez, M. 2002): Grundlagen, Ziele, Organisation, Entwicklung und Bedeutung des IAS B, in: Rechnungslegung nach International Accounting Standards (IAS), editedy by Baetge, D. ; Kleekamper, H. ; Wollmert, P. ; Kirsch H. (2002), Schafer-Poeschel, Stuttgart, 2nd edition. Naciri, A. ; Hoarau C. (2001): A comparative analysis of american and french financial Reporting philosophies: the case for international Accounting Standards, in: Advances in International Accounting, edited by Sale, J; Salter, S; Sharp, D. (2001), Elsevier Sience Ltd, Oxford. Nobes, C. ; Parker, R. (2000): Comparative International Accounting, Financial Times – Prentice Hall, Hartlow. Nobes, C. 1999): Towards a General Model of the Reasons for International Differences in Financial Reporting, in: International Accounting and Comparative Financial Reporting, edited by Nobes, C. (1998), Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham. Nobes, C; Mueller, G; Gernon, H; Meek, G. (1997): Accounting an International Perspective, Richard D. Irwin, Inc; Chicago, 4th edition. Nobes, C. (1994): Accounting Harmonisation in Europe: Process, progress and prospects, FT Business Information Ltd, London. North, D. (1990): Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Miles, M. ; Huberman, A. (1994): Qualitative Data Analysis – An expanded source book, Sage Publications, Inc, Thousands Oaks, 2nd edition. Mueller, G. 1997): Harmonization Efforts in the European Union, in: International Accounting and Finance Handbook, edited by Choi, F. (1997), Wiley and Sons, New York, 7th edition. Mueller, G. ; Gernon, H. ; Meek, G. (1991): Accounting – an International Perspective; Richard D. Irwin, Inc; Homewood, 2nd edition. Radebaugh, L. ; Daniels, J. (2001): International Business, Environment and Operations, Prentice Hall, London, 9th edition. Radebaugh L. ; Gray S. (1997): International Accounting and multinational enterprises, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 4th edition. Remenyi, D. ; Williams, B. ;Money A. ; Swartz E. (1998): Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method, SAGE Publications, London. 71 Riahi-Belkaoui, A. 2000): Accounting Theory, Thomson Learning – Business Press, Padstow, Cornwall, 4th edition. Roberts, C. ; Weetman, P. ; Gordon P. (1998): International Financial Accounting – a comparative approach, Financial Times Pitman Publishing, London. Samuels, J. ; Piper, A. (1985): International Accounting: A survery, Croom Helm, London. Wolk, H. ; Tearney, M. ; Dodd, J. (2001): A Conceptual and intestinal Approach: Accounting Theory, South-Western College Publishing, 5th edition. Wollmert, P. ; Achleitner A. (2002): Konzeption der IAS: Rechnungslegung, in: Rechnungslegung nach International Accounting Standards (IAS), edited by Baetge, D. ; Kleekamper, H. ; Wollmert, P. ; Kirsch, H. (2002):, Schafer-Poeschel, , Stuttgart, 2nd edition.

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APN leader project - Assignment Example She could not find time to set up a meeting with me so the interview was done over the phone while writing down the responses. The APN should be able to act accordingly as a leader, coordinate activities in the nursing fraternity and make relevant changes coupled with providing guidance to junior employees. The APN should conduct the leadership in a way that attracts other partners and per takers in the field, for example, the society and the patients, they serve. The leadership basis should be on the ability to think reflectively and critically in a way that focuses on the future and addresses current problems. Advocating for improved healthcare in terms of cost effectiveness and quality is also a key aspect of competency. Finally, the APN should be able to advance effective communication on matters to do with the practice (Mirr & Zwygart-Stauffacher, 2010) The Nursing practitioner should have the relevant knowledge of critical data analysis and in this way be able to improve the nursing practice. The nurse should also be able to incorporate scientific knowledge and the aspects of humanity in the course of the provision of nursing services. Finally, t integration of experimental results and formulated theories in the practice is important. These reflect on the ability of the APN to deliver quality results in the practice. The APN should constantly be seeking ways of improving nursing services to raise the standards of service provision. He or she must also evaluate the relationship between the costs incurred in the course of practice and the quality of the output generated. The practitioner should be able to integrate successfully new practice methods into the field. From experience, the practitioner should also be able to improve various aspects of the practice that need improvement. Investigation and research is vital in the nursing industry, thus, ii is essential for an APN to have adequate investigative skills. Technology is an important

American History 2020 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

American History 2020 - Essay Example 2). This principle reconciled American democratic ideals with its colonialist tendencies for which it fought against former mother country of Great Britain. It was used to justify territorial acquisition and transfer or absorb people of other nationalities. American businessmen wanted new markets for their manufactured products so Manifest Destiny emboldened American political leaders to pursue expansionism. The expansionist strategy went on for a century and continues even today in its foreign policy (Kinzer 552) by sometimes acting unilaterally in matters of international concern. American imperialism snared for the country various overseas territories such as Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico but a key distinguishing feature of this imperialism was its benevolence, unlike European imperialism that merely exploited the people and resources of the colonies they had grabbed and colonized (Conrad 72). Unlike what Great Britain did to India or Portugal to parts of Africa as the foremost proponent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America tempered its imperialism with the ideals of democracy, freedom, liberalism, and progressivism by spreading the benefits of democracy, capitalism, assimilation, and universal free education to all its colonies (Miller

USA Drug Policy approach on Colombia and Afghanistan Essay

USA Drug Policy approach on Colombia and Afghanistan - Essay Example The first part of this paper will therefore focus on the US drug policy in Colombia and the second part of this paper will evaluate the US drug policy in Afghanistan. The final part of this paper will provide a comparative analysis of the US drug policy toward the two countries and will offer key findings and explain how these two different policies are designed to achieve the same goal, although influenced by different political considerations. As the paper declares the US Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that Colombia is the source of more than 90 percent of the cocaine that infiltrates the US. Likewise the US identifies Colombia as a significant source of heroin in the US. Liang-Fenton characterizes the US drug policy toward Colombia as one of â€Å"eradication, interdiction and extradition†. Eradication is aimed at the crop and invariably involves â€Å"aerial herbicide†. Interdiction involves interdicting the drugs either in the source country or en route to the US and requires cooperation with the security personnel of the source state. Extradition is motivated by eliminating and/or immobilizing drug traffickers on a state to state cooperation basis. The US response to a Colombian judge’s release from prison of Jorge Ochoa, a â€Å"notorious cocaine capo† in 1987 illustrates the point. The Colombian government’s jurisdiction over the judge was entirely limited. The US re sponded by criticizing and ridiculing Colombia and in addition subjected Colombian travelers and Colombian products to intensive checks by US Customs at entry ports into the US.

The Edge by Dick Francis (Novel) and Stingers (TV Drama) Essay Example for Free

The Edge by Dick Francis (Novel) and Stingers (TV Drama) Essay Rationale The texts I am studying are The Edge, by Dick Francis (Novel), and Stingers (TV Drama). The Edge is about an undercover agent working for a Jockey Club. His job is to rid the racing world of its biggest villain. The agent goes undercover on a racing train as a waiter. The episode of Stingers I refer to is titled Payback. The main character, Peter Church, is investigating the murder of a man. He goes undercover as a personal assistant to a man who is working for a prominent businessman and also the main suspect of Peters investigations. These texts are both based around crime, with the familiar themes of ridding the world of corruption, and also the triumph of good over evil. I chose these texts because they both present an insight into the minds of an undercover agent and the procedures and processes they follow to stay undetected, which I find very intriguing. The link between these texts is their themes. They both attempt to rid the world of corruption and make good triumph over evil. I chose this link because it comes through very strongly in both texts. They both centre on their themes and the processes and techniques that are used by the characters. Describing my views on this link become easier because it is the themes of the texts. I believe that a lot of troubles of the world would not come about if there were no corruption in the world. Things such as corrupt police officers, and even whole police forces in some countries, make the running of society a harder job for the people responsible for the smooth running of a society than it already is. I believe that evil never triumphs. Anyone that goes down the path of evil will never go far. There will always be something to stop them eventually. Journal A TV Drama: Stingers Episode 119 Payback. Directed by Kevin Carlin Stingers is a TV drama about a group of undercover agents. They disguise themselves as a particular identity to go into a crime group and found out inside information on the group. Plot Outline In this particular episode, Peter Church, the main character, is investigating a number of suspects involved with the killing of a man. Peter is sent in undercover as a personal assistant for a man named Rick Tyson. Peters jobs involve doing personal deeds for Tyson. On one occasion, his job is to take a briefcase full of money to a man as payment for trying to kill someone who was not doing as Tyson asked. The man, named Conrad, told Peter that he was a rich businessman named Stig Endquists hit man. All through this investigation, Peter has had suspicions about his Head of Special Investigations, Detective Harris, but has never been able to figure out how he was involved. Peter later figures out that there is a circle of people involved, and they all revolve around Stig Endquist. Tyson is Endquists personal messenger, Conrad is his hit man and Harris is using his position in the police force to keep Endquist out of trouble. The plot is continued into the next weeks episode, so this is all that has been discovered for the moment. Generic Techniques There are a few techniques used in most TV dramas to help shape character. In Stingers, there were techniques such as camera angles and the most obvious technique of dialogue. Camera angles can be used to show emotions and feelings visually, while the dialogue can get those feelings across verbally and elaborate for the viewers. In some cases, setting can also help to shape a character. If they are seen in a particular place with certain surroundings, it shows viewers a little bit about their attitudes and life. For example, in this episode, Peter is seen a lot in a quiet local pub. This shows me the viewer that he is a quite, personal man that likes some casual time to himself or with a partner. Themes and Values I believe that the themes of this TV drama are based around ridding the world of corruption. All the episodes are about stopping the criminals of society and keeping society safe. The main example of this theme is Harris. He uses his position of power to help the criminals. This is corruption within the police force. This is what the undercover agents in Stingers aim to rid society of. Television Drama Essay The episode of Stingers Payback, directed by Kevin Carlin, explores the themes and values of ridding society of its corruption and letting good triumph over evil. Peter Church, an undercover operative for the Australian Police, goes in disguise to gather inside information about crime groups and use the information to rid society of the groups evil deeds. In this particular episode, Peter is gathering information on suspects that may be involved in the killing of man. Every text, no matter what form it may take, will always have some theme or value behind it. No text is ever just a rambling, which has no meaning behind it at all. With the use of camera angles, setting and dialogue, the characters in this drama present the values and themes of the drama. Camera angles are the most prominently used technique in any visual text to show certain things within the text. Close ups, long shots, low angles and high angles are all examples of how the camera angle is used. In the episode of Stingers, all these are used at some point, especially to help display the themes and values through the characters. Peter Church is the main character, so he would be the one that the camera angles are concentrated on most of the time. He has a range of emotions throughout the episode. At times hes confused, others angry, and others quiet. But one thing that he is always is working as hard as he can to solve the crimes and stop the corruption. Peter is a very determined person, and the camera shows that in one scene with a close up. He is studying the whiteboard with a list of suspects on it. The camera closes right in on his face and the viewer can see the concentration and determination on his face as he tries to make some sense of the information on the whiteboard. In another scene, Peter is delivering a briefcase for his employer while he is undercover. While doing this, he meets a man who killed his former partner in a previous episode. He confronts the man and is on the brink of shooting him and ridding society of another villain. The camera gets a close shot over the villains shoulder of Peters face as he is close to shooting him. His face shows anger at the villain who caused so much harm to an innocent person. This anger and emotion that is shown from the use of the camera angles in the drama has helped to let the viewers know how determined the character is to solving the problems of corruption in society. This can have an effect on the viewers because it will show them that the text stands for something and is not just a bit of dialogue and a few actors thrown together to make a TV show. Setting is another element of a TV drama that can show values and theme through characters and is also shown through the camera angles. Setting helps to show a lot of things in any form of text. It is a lot easier to show things with setting using a visual text as there is less description needed. Setting helps to show values and themes as well in some cases. In Stingers, it is shown quite easily. Being an undercover police unit, most scenes are shot in the offices, so there are always things around the setting of the rooms showing the theme of ridding corruption. For example, in the main room where Peter does all his planning of the cases, he has things such as boards with suspects pinned on them, certificates showing the achievements he or a member of his team have made while stopping crime in society, and police uniforms, which all give the viewers the impression that the characters are supporting the themes and values of the drama. The other main setting that is used throughout the drama is out at the battle scene. This setting will usually show a contest between good and evil (police and criminal) and a majority of the time, it will be the good that comes out on top, and once again, backing up the view that the corruption of society is slowly diminishing due to the works of the characters. While setting shows the themes and values visually, dialogue can be used in conjunction with setting to show viewers verbally. Dialogue is obviously a very important part of any text whether it is print or non-print and probably the easiest way to get a message across, or in this case, show a theme or value through a character. Unlike with the setting, dialogue makes the theme or value come across easier because it can be said straight out rather than the viewer have to analyse the setting to find out. Although the theme or value can be shown easier, there is more to the dialogue than just the words. The way it is spoken can get it across stronger because it may have the ability to make the viewer sit up and listen and realise what the character is saying straight away. For example, in the scene where Peter is confronted by the man who killed his friend and former partner, the man says you wont kill me. Blokes like you need a reason and Peter replies very strongly saying Ive got a reason. and his name is Oscar Stone!! It comes across to the viewers very strongly that Peter is committed to not only the reveng e of his friend, but also to ridding corruption from society. These three techniques work well together to set the viewers mind and thoughts to show them that the characters in the text are committed to the themes or values that are trying to be brought across. They convince the viewers that the text has meaning, so the viewers are more willing to believe and support the text. Journal B Novel Analysis: The Edge, Dick Francis Dick Francis The Edge explores the life of Torquil Kelsey, an undercover operative for a Jockey Club in England. Torquil is assigned to be the invisible needle in the haystack. He wonders around the racecourses like any other racegoer, but in doing so, listens in and explores all business that goes on inside the courses. His main objective is to rid racing of one of its notorious villains, the successful but dodgy Julius Apollo Filmer. For months the Jockey Club have been trying to find some dirt, any dirt, on Filmer and have so far been unsuccessful. Torquil later takes a train ride in which Filmer will also be on. Torquil knows all too well that Filmer will be up to something. Filmer is later found guilty of paying someone to sabotage the train ride and Filmer himself of wilfully attempting to kill Daffodil Quentins horse. Torquil Kelsey: Torquil, or Tor as some characters call him as a nickname, is an undercover operative for an English Jockey Club. He has been assigned to go from course to course and find out any illegal deals going on. He has an inquisitive nature. Being an undercover operative, he has the ability to be in a crowd without being noticed. He is very cluey. He can guess that certain things are going to happen before they do. Hes your typical good guy. Hes not the mean cop who beats people up to get information. He has the good guy charm with women. Julius Apollo Filmer: Filmer is the major racehorse owner around the area that the Jockey Club operates in. They have tried to get him warned off the course in the past but have never caught him. He is smart and smug. He never does his tasks evil deeds himself; he will always have a hired goon to do his work. He always has some evil deed planed out in his mind and does whatever he can do complete it. He associates with dodgy people, such as Daffodil Quentin. Themes The main themes of this novel are based around the triumph of good versus evil. Its really your typical police story. Police get a suspicion that the bad guy is going to do something evil, police try catch the bad guy doing it, police do a lot of investigating, bad guy eventually gets caught. Beliefs One major belief that I got out of this text was that the world should be rid of corruption. The aim of Torquil Kelsey is to rid the racing world of Julius Apollo Filmer and inturn ridding the racing world of the corruption he brings. Oral Task Based On Novel I believe the target audience of this novel is probably adults. Although I enjoyed reading it myself, I think the majority of the readers will be older. Also, the novel, like most other Dick Francis novels, has an element to do with horseracing, so this may also appeal to anyone interested in horseracing. If this interview were real, it would probably be broadcast on an AM radio station such as 720, which the station itself is aimed at the older part of society. The tape of this interview will be included with the rest of this assignment. Transcript Presenter: Im privileged to have a great author in the studio with me now. He has written such books as Smokescreen, Risk and High Stakes just to name a few. He is in Australia to promote his new novel The Edge. Good Afternoon, Dick Francis. Francis: Thankyou. Its great to be here. Presenter: So, your new novel The Edge. It has just been released here. How do you expect it will sell? Francis: Well I certainly hope it will sell very well. I have worked long and hard perfecting it. Presenter: I recently read this novel in preparation for this interview. I thought it to be a very good read. Me being 36, is that the age of audience you were intending this novel to be aimed at? Francis: Yes, thats about what I was thinking. Its definitely too complex for anyone below maybe 16, but middle school onwards was the target. Its really a matter of choice though. No matter what age you are, if youre just not into crime novels, which this novel is, then you just wont like it. Presenter: Yes. Now on that, would you like to fill our listeners in on the plot of this novel? Francis: Certainly. The Edge is about a young man named Torquil Kelsey working as an undercover operative for an English Jockey Club. He is required to be the invisible needle in the haystack if you like. He must roam around various racecourses in England and investigate any odd activities that take place and any odd characters to go with it. His main target is a villain named Julius Apollo Filmer. Filmer is a leader of corruption amongst the racing world. He is a bit like a King of Evil. He never completes his dirty deeds himself, but gets hired goons to complete them for him. He is in suspicion of a number of offences, so it is Torquils task to nail Filmer. He gets his best opportunity on a racegoers train around Canada, which Filmer is attending. Ill stop there as to not ruin the story for anyone by giving too many details. Presenter: Thats probably a good idea. You were formally a jockey before you turned to writing. Are any of the characters in the novel based on people youve come across in your time as a jockey? Francis: There is always a certain amount of truth involved in some parts of every novel, but nothing is an exact copy of the truth. Presenter: Tell us about our two main characters. Torquil the hero and Julius the villain. Francis: Well, Torquil has been brought up by his Aunt Viv, an avid racegoer. He has always been associated with horses and horse racing since he was a wee boy, so his knowledge of horses has helped him with is job around the racetracks. He is very inquisitive, very cluey, is able to spot things that most people would simply turn a blind eye to. He is a charmer also. Very good with the ladies. Julius is your typical villain. Seems fine on the outside, but you know that on the inside, theres evil brewing and his mind is devising a plan. He is an evil mastermind. Has the ability to devise the plans, but will never execute them himself. He must keep a clean look with the public otherwise his plans will be given away, so the hired goon is his way of going about getting that done. Presenter: I found it interesting to note that you always made the story continuos. You would rarely jump from scene to scene, instead you always describe exactly where your characters where going. I recall a part where Torquil must go from one end of the train to the other, and you describe exactly where he is walking, instead of just jumping straight to where he was heading to with a new paragraph. Was this deliberate? Francis: Yes, I believe that you must be very descriptive when writing a novel. Its not like a film where you can show viewers visually, so you must describe the exact surrounding very thoroughly. I find that if you jump straight to it, you can sometimes confuse readers and miss important details of the surroundings. Presenter: Well, thankyou Dick. I hope all goes well with the release of the novel and Ill look forward to reading more of your future novels. Francis: Thankyou Journal C I received a very insightful view into the industry of undercover policing after studying both the texts I chose. They showed a set of values that I had never really dwelled on before. The triumph of good over evil is something I am regularly exposed to, but ridding the world of corruption and the reasons for doing so had never really been considered. I realised from these texts that corruption in any industry can ruin the industry completely for society if untreated. The racing industry for instance, I was shown in The Edge that if the villain Julius Apollo Filmer had gone on with his evil deeds forever without anyone ever even trying to stop him, he would have eventually taken control of that industry and injected so much corruption into it that the public would eventually lose out. For example, if he had taken control of every horse in some way, he would be able to dictate races and the public would lose in some way or another. These texts both support my views and in some ways su pport them more than I do. A majority of the people in society would not support corruption of any form and I am no different, but it never really meant much to me. I support the views of the texts but I have never realised the effects corruption can have until I studied these texts. Like the texts, I believe corruption should be stopped at all costs. I would hate to be in a society where things can happen like they did in Stingers. If the chief of a police unit was corrupt and letting crime go and even going to the extent of helping the crimes be committed, then I would be horrified because I put my trust in that unit only to find out it is supporting the things it is supposed to be protecting me from. I support the view of good triumphing over evil. To drop this view down to an example at my level, it would have to be bullying in schools. It always brings a smile to my face when I see a bully getting what he deserves in return for his wicked deeds he has performed on an innocent student. Another example of this would be in a game of football. When an opponent tries to pull off an illegal move on someone but cant fool the umpire, it is always rewarding to see the player who was doing the right thing get rewarded the free kick. In The Edge, it was rewarding when I read at the end that Julius Apollo Filmer is caught and convicted of his crimes after the determination of Torquil Kelsey to find that last ounce of information that would put Filmer away. So I very much support all values identified in these texts. The episode of Stingers that I refer to in my studies is not a complete story. It just focuses on part of an ongoing story that has continued from previous episodes, so the villains have not yet been caught. I enjoyed studying these texts, because they challenged and changed my views. Although they didnt have a different view to what I already had, they allowed me to explore the views with more depth than I had before.

The Core Objective Of JWD Organisations

The Core Objective Of JWD Organisations The case study that we are going to cover is of JWDs consulting project management intranet site project, the objective of this case is to identify and to recognize the critical assumptions and constraints of project management. The core objective of JWD is to provide world class project management services related to project management to various organizations that is in need for better project management services. According to the CEO of JWD, Joe Fleming the company can streamline its services and also can increase and maintain its business opportunities and services by providing all the informations related to project management and its services on the companys intranet site, to make the services and products informations available to its current and potential clients. Objectives The business objective of JWD is to formulate strategies to find new opportunities and to continue their growth in the market along with increasing the profitability of the company. The major objective of the company in formulating the project management intranet site is to support the objectives as defined by the company in its strategy and to increase the visibility of the expertise of the firm to its internet. The company will not only achieve their strategic objectives but also help in reducing the organizations internal costs by presenting standard tools, techniques, templates, and project management knowledge to all the internal consultants that are associated to the company. The project management intranet site will give a threshold to the company in meeting those objectives finally. Current situation and problem/opportunity statement JWD currently has a fully functioning web site as well as a corporations intranet; the organization uses the website to provide information about the company. And the intranet is basically used for providing human resource information to the employees such as let know the employees about the hours where they have to put their efforts on various projects and also let know the employee about their benefits and other assets and also allowing them to change certain informations about them at times. The other major advantages of the intranet for the employees is that they can access the online directory related to the company and its clients, the intranet also provides the employees with the benefit of using the web based e-mail system where they can read and compose mails from their ID that is given to them from the company. The firm also uses an enterprise-wide project management system where the firm can track the progress in the projects and other reports and processes that is going on in the organization. The major focus of the enterprise-wide project management system is that it can focus on the status of deliverables and other meetings scopes, time and cost goals. The opportunity that the company has about including a new section on the companys intranet is that of sharing the consultants project management information and knowledge across the organization. The main point about the JWD consultancy is that it recruits only professional and experienced consultants that have wide knowledge and an area of expertise in the field of consultancy and gives them freedom to work on projects that they feel feasible according to the corporations requirements, and which they think might fit in the structure of the organization. However even the most experienced and the most talented professionals is seeking for advice in the company on how to work effectively and efficiently as the business is growing exponentially and the projects are becoming more and more complex. Critical assumptions and constraints The intranet site that is proposed should be a valuable asset to the company as the company had invested a huge amount and resources in the project. For the success of the project many factors plays a major role such as the consultants and the clients should actively support the project to give a threshold and a sense of satisfaction to the company as it is very important for the company to keep their morale up. The intranet site must have the capability of generating back the amount that was invested in the project by reducing the internal costs of various other processes that were going on in the organization before the introduction of the project of intranet site, and also to provide new business opportunities to the company. The main part that is to be played in the success and the initiation of the intranet site project should be that of the project manager who should make sure that all the processes related to the project is successfully implemented and is of worth. Secondly there should be an active participation in the project by expertise from various sections of the company as well as from the clients organization. The new system should be capable of running on the existing softwares and hardwares of the company so that no extra cost of implementing new hardware and software should be faced by the company. One more thing that the software should be capable of is that the software should be very handy to use i.e. there should be no complexity in operating the software by the client and other user form the public so that no extra cost should be faced by the company in providing the training and knowledge about the software. But the main thing is that the software should be secured enough so that no unauthenticated user can access the data that is not meant for him. Analysis of options and recommendations There are three options before the company to address the opportunity The first option before the company is to do nothing i.e. any need for any new software or service solution as the business is doing well, new service can only make the job more complicated for the company. The second option before the company is to buy new specialized software rather than building one and to make a little development about the software to increase and to maintain its capability in the company. The third option before the company was to design and develop new intranet capabilities in the company itself using mostly the resources that they already had with them like the existing hardwares and softwares and the human resource that they have in the organization. Based on the discussion that was done with the stakeholders the ultimate conclusion that JWD arrived to is to use the third option. 6. Preliminary project requirement The major features and services that the intranet site promises to provide are: The intranet site will give user an access to several project management templates and tools. I.e. the user must be able to use the templates and tools and also get have access to the instructions of how to use these templates and tools along with the examples to use these templates and tools on real time projects and services. One more feature that is included is that the user will be able to submit new templates and tools that can prove to be beneficial for the company and also reflects the users ability. The submission of templates and tools are subjected to be first edited and screened from the project management office. The user will have an access to related project management articles that will help them in working on their own project. The clients and consultants will feel as there is an information overload when they will research on the project management information. This results in the wasting of precious time that they should be spending with their clients. The new intranet facility will include an access to all the project management articles that will prove to be very important in the project management, the articles will be made available to be searched by the topic name, this will save the precious time of the user and hence results in high productivity. The user can also send a command to the project management office requesting them to find additional articles that will meet their needs. The intranet site will also have links to other main web-sites that will help the users in gaining important knowledge about the subjects. The site will also have a brief description about the external web-sites. The site will have a very important feature named ask the experts that will help in building relationship with the current and the future clients, this feature will also help in sharing knowledge with the internal consultants. The intranet will have appropriate security measures so that only authenticated persons can get the informations and no person can get that information that is not meant for him, only the internal consultants and the authenticated persons can have access to the required information. The site must have a feature to charge for the premium services to the internal members and the internal consultants. The site must also have a feature to charge the external users for some features. The payment option should have a credit card option along with other payment options. The user should be able to download the required information and data only after the verification of the payment. The other features that should be included in the site should be suggested by the users. 7. Budget estimates and financial analysis The JWD consultancy estimated the cost for the entire project to be $1, 40,000. The estimate that the consultancy arrived at is based on the factors that the project manager has to work for 20 hours per week in a total for about 6 months, and the other internal staff that is estimated to be working for 60 hours per week for a total duration of 6 months. The customer representatives were not considered to be paid under the project, the staff project managers pay will be $50 per hour, the pay of other members of the project management staff was considered to be $70 per hour, some initial cost were also estimated to be $10,000 for purchasing softwares and services from suppliers. After the completion of the project JWD estimated that the cost for the management and the maintenance of the software thereafter is estimated to be $40,000 per year by the company, this cost that was estimated were primarily to update the ask the expert feature and the online articles. The projected benefits were based on the reduction of hours that the consultants will spend on doing the research on the project management information, tools and templates and other related features. The projected benefits that the consultancy estimated were of the profit and new services that the project will develop for the country and hence will count in the companys revenue. The company estimated that if 400 consultants will save 40 hours per year and if they could bill that time span to other projects that have generated a profit of $10 per hour, then it is estimated by the company that they could earn a profit of $1, 60,000 per annum, and if the intranet produces new business by 1% then it is estimated that the profit generated by the new project would be at least $ 40,000 per annum. Therefore the total profit that the company estimated would be around $ 2, 00,000 per annum. 8. Schedule estimate The sponsors of the company were hoping to see the project completed within six months, but there were flexibility in the schedule. The estimated life cycle of the product was assumed to be around 3 years by the company, and the product is considered to be very useful in its lifetime. 9. Potential risks Several risks were involved with this project. The first and the foremost risk that was assumed by the company was that of the internal consultants and the external clients, as they dont have any idea about the interest of the clients and the internal consultants in the new system i.e. the clients and the internal consultants were not satisfied that if the project will be proved to be fruitful and will be profitable for the organization. User input also has a great significance and is very crucial for the system to be successful as the users are the ones that populate the data into the system, and the users were the ones that could tell the efficiency of the system and also realize the potential benefits of using the system. The technical risks that were involved in the system were the searching method that was used to search the data on the intranet, and the security risks that were involved in the system like that of hacking into the system and the failure of the payment system. But the system were using only that technologies that are technically proven by the experts therefore, there is a very little chance that the system will fail because of the technical failure. The major business risks that were included in the system are the risk of the investment of money and time along with the investment of human resource. One more major business risk associated with the system is that of the projected benefits of the system i.e. not realizing the projected benefits of the system would be a great business risk for the organization as the organization would suffer a huge loss if they couldnt identify the potential of the software. 10. Exhibits (Budgeting) Exhibit A: financial analysis for the project management intranet site Table : financial exhibit Project charter Project title The title of the project was project management intranet site project Project start date The project was scheduled to be started on May, 2, 2008 Project finish date The project was scheduled to be ended on November, 4, 2008 Budget information The budget that the firm allocated for the project management intranet site was $ 1, 40,000. The initial estimate that the project manager estimated was a total of 80 hours per week work and that work was estimated to be done by internal labors majorly. Project manager Erica bell was appointed as the project manager for the whole project. Project objectives The objective before the firm was to develop a new capability that is accessible on JWD consulting intranet site, the main task of the site will be to help internal and external customers in managing new projects effectively and conveniently. The main features of the site is that the site will contain several tools and techniques that can be downloaded by the authenticated users and the outside users after paying some amount, the site will also contain examples of completed projects and templates that will be based on real time projects and that can be used by the internal consultants and clients for detailed understanding and completion of their projects effectively, the site will also contain important articles based on project management topics and that can also be used for gaining knowledge and understanding about the project management related topics, the site will also have an article retrieval service that will allow the user to send their query for the related article to the project management section and the project management section will made available those articles to the user. The intranet site will also have links to various other useful sites with a brief overview of the contents and the usefulness of the site, this feature will help the user in getting all the information about any related topic that they are unable to find on the companys intranet site. The intranet site will also have an ask the expert feature on the site that will help the users to post questions and queries that they have about any project, after asking the advice from the experts about a related project the user will get an expert advice on how to tackle that problem and the related strategies about that project. Some sections of the intranet site will be made available to the user so that they can access for free of cost, the other features of the site will be paid for the external users. But most of the section of the intranet site will be accessible to current customers and the internal consultants of the company, but there could be some features for which the internal consultants and the clients would have to pay, that features would be the value added or the add-on features of the site. Approach The approach applied by the firm on the project is: The first thing that the project management team does is that they conducted a survey among the consultants and the customers to determine the critical features of the new intranet site. The second approach that the project management team applied is to review the external and internal templates and to review the project management documents thoroughly. The third approach by the project management team is concerned with the security and the accessibility features of the intranet site i.e. the project management team researched on the softwares that will provide the security features, manage user inputs in a corrected and well accessible mode, facilitate the articles, and to use and to implement the ask the experts feature. The fourth approach that had being taken by the project management team is to use the iterative approach to develop the intranet site i.e. to continuously feed suggestions from descent users and to make the changes accordingly if applicable anywhere in the site like that related to the security features, and the applications. The fifth approach that the project management team has taken is related to the financial aspects of the project intranet site i.e. the team is developing approach to determine the ways to measure the value of the intranet site in terms of reduced costs and in terms of finding ways to generate new revenues, both of these strategies is being monitor during the project and for one year period after the completion of the project. Roles and responsibilities Table : role and responsibilities of the team Comments: I will support this project as time allows, but I believe my client project take priority. I will have one of my assistants support the project as needed-Michael Chen We need to be extremely careful testing this new system, especially the security in giving access to parts of the intranet site to the public and clients.-Kevin Dodge and Cindy Dawson Project management planning Planning phase in the project management process is considered to be the most difficult phase as it consists of various processes and often is an unappreciated process. As planning is not always facilitated therefore many peoples assume that project planning is a vein process and view it in negativity. The main purpose of the project planning is to guide the project in executing successfully. And to successfully execute the project it is necessary that the planning for the project execution should be realistic and useful i.e. it should be feasible, therefore a fair amount of time and process is required for the project planning process. In the project planning process peoples who is knowledgeable with the project planning phase should work on the project planning process. The planning and processes table explains all the areas of project management planning like knowledge area of the project, planning process of the project, and the outputs that the team was getting after executing each and every task. In view of the fact that the project management intranet site project was relatively small therefore, the project manager Erica believes that the most important planning documents that the team should consider should be the: A team contract that will bound the team to their responsibilities. A project scope statement that will clarify the scope and other aspects of the project A work breakdown structure i.e. WBS should also be included. The team will also need to formulate a Gantt chart analysis that will cover all the dependencies and the resources that is entered. All the documents that were discussed and other information that is related to the project will be available to all the team members so, that the team members would have a detailed understanding of all the processes that is going on and will have a chance to make suggestions wherever applicable. JWD consulting had already used project websites for quite a few years and had been very successful in facilitating communications and document related informations. JWD consulting had also created project organization charts, along with a formal communications management plans, quality management plan, a detailed cost estimate plan, procurement plans, and other planning documents that is really helpful for the company in formulating strategies and other plans. As soon as the project team had signed the charter, the project manager Erica organized a team-builder meeting related to the project management intranet site, the purpose of calling the meeting was that she wants each and every person of the group to get comfortable with each other i.e. she wanted that each person in the group should not be shy of any other person of the group and should feel comfortable with working with them, Erica herself had talked and met other members of the team personally and shared her professional experiences with them, this was the very first time that the whole project team is spending much time together. The team members consisted of Jessie faue who worked with Erica in the project management office, therefore they knew each other very well, but as Jessie was new to the company therefore she needed a team gathering to interact with others, Michael Chen was the senior consultant for the firm and had been involved in highest priority projects for the exte rnal clients, Michael attended the meeting with his assistant Jill Anderson who will support the project in the absence of micheal, michaels involvement in the project was a double benefit for the team as he is very straightforward in dealing clients and is very experienced in his field, Michaels assistance would also be a great benefit for the team as Michael knew both of the client representatives from past projects. Kevin dodge was JWDs intranet guru who had a great insight of technical aspects and had a very good experience in this area. Cindy Dawson was also from the IT department of JWD and she also had a good experience in working as a business consultant and has remarkable negotiating skills. Kim Phuong and page miller was the two client representatives, and they were very excited about the project, but they were cagey of sharing sensitive information about their company with the team of JWD. Erica had used certain techniques to let the team members get to know each other, she asked everyone about their dream vacations and where they want to spend most of their time, this activity proved to be an ice-breaker activity for the team as everybody felt relaxed after sharing their thoughts with each other. After the session, Erica explained each and every aspect related to the project to the team and also explained the importance of the project and other major aspects, she also explained that the most important thing in working as a team is an effective teamwork therefore she then asked everyone to sign a contract that every person in the group felt comfortable in signing the project. Contract signing between the team members for all projects had always been the key strategy of JWD to help in promoting the team work and to clarify the communication between the team. Erica then explained the major aspects of the contract explaining all the details and aspects related to the contract, and then showed the team a sample template related to the contract. Erica then divided the project management team into a group of two, the first group is the group consisting of all the members from the consulting department and in the other group she departs all the members of the information technology department. This strategy of Erica helped the team as all the members are now related to a particular group where they expertise their field, now everyone can provide their ideas and contribute to the knowledge related to the project in their fields. Table : planning processes and output Scope statement Project name: project management intranet site project Date: may 18, 2008 Prepared by: Erica bell, project manager Project justification The CEO of JWD consulting, requested this project to support the company in meeting its strategic goals. The main features of the intranet site is that the site would increase transparency of the companys products and services to the current clients and to the potential clients, with the help of the intranet which would be available to the clients and potential clients. The intranet site will also help the company in reducing its internal costs and also help in streamlining the processes and operations that is going on in the company, the intranet site will also help the company to increase the companys profitability by providing new opportunities, standard tools, new techniques, templates for assistance in project development, and will also provide project informations and knowledge to internal clients. The budget passed for the project is $ 1, 40,000. An additional amount of $ 40,000 per year will also be required after the completion of the project for the maintenance of the site and to include new features in the site. The benefits that are estimated that the site would produce per year would be $200,000 per year by generating new businesses. It is very important to keep focused on the system paying for itself i.e. the amount that is invested in the development of the project, within one year of the completion of the project. Project management related deliverables Business case, charter, team contract, scope statement, WBS, schedule, cost baseline, status report, final project presentation, final project report, lessons-learned report, and other related documents are important for the management of this project. Project execution Executing any project involves taking necessary actions to ensure all the processes are executed and is complied in the project management plan. Project execution also includes the work that is required to include any new hardware or software or any new process to include into normal operations. Most of the products that the project had promised to deliver had been completed in the project execution phase and usually requires most of the resources to accomplish most of the processes. All the processes are like knowledge area, executing processes, and the output of the project execution phase is listed in the planning process and outcome table. The main focus of many customers and project sponsors is the outcome that is related to providing the products, services, or the particular result that is desired from that project. Besides the outputs that are listed below other outputs are equally important like change requests, corrective actions. As the project was relatively smaller project, therefore it was very much possible for Erica to work closely with other team members on the project to make sure that they all are working correctly and in the right direction. Erica had a very good networking with peoples across the world that can help her whenever there is any problem related to the project, through networking Erica can well take advantages of her networking skills by getting the work done through other peoples in the firm and external peoples without any additional cost. She assured everyone that whoever uses the intranet application will also understand that they were producing as part of the project and assured them that this project will surely help each and every one of them in the future. Erica knew that providing a strong leadership and using excellent communication skills will surely help in the project execution in a much better way. that the firm majorly uses to outsource the portions of the projects. Erica knew that Joe the CEO of the company and other project sponsors would like to see project reports and progress made in the project through milestone reports therefore Erica formed a milestone report based on that. Joe also wanted Erica to alert him to any potential issues and problems whichever arrived in the project, Erica used to meet all the project team members to talk on the issue quite frequently and also use to give Joe review about the ongoing in the project on a regular basis like once in a week or after completing a particular milestone. Instead of using the project management software, Erica used the word processing software to create milestone report because the project was a relatively low level project, and she can very well manipulate the report format easily in the word processing software. Table : milestone report as of June 17, 2008 Gantt chart Network Diagram Note: Path shown in red color is critical path. Many conflicts did arrive in several meetings like conflicts on human resource and other issues. Sometimes it often happened that Michael seemed a little bored and Erica did noticed that thing, Michael often left the room in the middle of the meetings to talk to other clients, seeing that Erica asked Michael about the situation and found that though Michael was supportive for the project but he told Erica that he can only spend a little time for the project. Erica saw that Michael was much more productive outside the meetings, therefore Erica thought that Michael should attend minimal time for team meetings and should concentrate on other issues like project development and related issues, Erica saw that Michael was contributing to the team by contributing to the team by providing the feedbacks and also through his leadership on the ask the expert feature for the intranet site. Therefore Erica adjusted his communication style and allowed Michael to manage the things as he would like to manage. Another major conflict arose when Cindy was contacting the potential suppliers for asking assistance on ask the exert feature and related user request features. Kevin wanted to develop and write all the software for the project itself but instead Cindy insisted on purchasing the softwares and thought it would produce more business sense to buy all the softwares from a reliable source. Cindy had to convince Kevin to buy the software requirements and that it would be more effective if we purchase the required softwares from reliable sources. Cindy discovered that their estimate of $ 10,000 to buy the software was only half of the amount that were needed for the project, she therefore discussed this problem with Erica explaining the need for custom development of the softwares no matter which supplier they choose for the project. Erica therefore agreed on to buy the softwares from some outside source, and therefore asked the suppliers to approve the additional funding that is required for the software. Joe did agree on to allocate additional amount but he still emphasized on the fact that the project should pay for itself within one year of completion of the project. Erica also had to ask Joe on the matter that the project team were receiving low responses from the user on the surveys and requests. Therefore Joe sent out an email to all the JWD consulting consultants and other employees requesting them to provi