Cost allocation and activity based costing Essay

Cost allocation and activity based costing - Essay Example Cost allocation is a concept that refers to the determination of the expenses incurred to offer a service. Costs can be allocated as direct, indirect and incremental costs. In the production process, manufacturers should be able to determine what costs fall under direct, indirect and incremental, in order to facilitate the ascertainment of cost of production. Activity based Costing is a concept that refers to the ascertainment of various activities involved in the production of goods and services. Thereafter, the overhead costs are allocated to each activity and then assigned to the products and services. Traditional costing on the other hand, allocates overhead costs using predetermined rate. That is, there is no allocation of costs on activities prior to the products and services. According to Vercio and Shoemaker, the most accurate method of cost allocation is Activity-Based. Unlike traditional costing method, Activity Based Costing recognizes the fact that, during a production pr ocess, not all costs are attributed to the volume of products and services produced. Therefore, Activity Based Costing determines the cost drivers associated with the customers, batches, products and administration related costs directly connected to the units produced. In order to ensure accuracy in cost measurements to facilitate informed decision-making during the production process, the costs that are not related to unit production should be secluded. In batch processing, the fundamental idea is to reduce the cost of production.

Parents vs. the Media Essay Example for Free

Parents vs. the Media Essay Due to childrens fascinations with violence, recent massacres at schools have been linked to media influence. Often troubled children use the news to gain attention. Many of the children committing these crimes are children that are being teased in school. Most of the children involved in school shootings have never had a past criminal record. Psychologists believe that these troubled children are using the media merely because no one else will listen to their problems. The reoccurrence of copycat crimes is on the rise, and it seems at times we overestimate how much violence is really occurring. The constant struggle between the media and those who feel it is saturated with violence continues on. However, it is difficult to determine whether there is a strong correlation between the two. Parents are uniting around the country to form groups against violence in the media. They believe that the violence in entertainment and the media is to blame for the copycat syndrome. Psychologists believe that children are vulnerable to feelings of psychological injury. Therefore, when children are being tormented they feel a sense of rage and worthlessness. This feeling causes them to look upon society as an enemy. For instance, The Trenchcoat Mafia was a group of teenagers that formed a violent gang, and turned against killed their classmates after seeing the movie Basketball Diaries. They felt isolated from the rest of the school, and believed the only way to gain popularity was through displaying acts of violence. This type of behavior has drastically increased and is seen all over the media. Parents blame the media for over-exposure of school violence. The parents see the media lacking in follow-up stories. These stories should show how it affected the lives of the killers, the victims and their families. Furthermore, the follow-up stories can present a better understanding of the consequences. Rather, the news seems to be showing their viewers almost how to carry out such crimes. On the other hand, the media is simply providing the public with current events. The media reports both positive and negative events. The news provides coverage on the issues that are most appealing to the public. For example, the first school shooting at Columbine began a major controversy. The public became extremely concerned, and safety in schools became a hot topic. The media simply reports on these events, they are not to be held responsible for violent occurrences. Their responsibility is to give coverage on events that affect our society as a whole. Parents should not view the media negatively, but see it as a source of information. Such information can give parents reasons for teaching their children morals. Children that come from broken homes may have been exposed to violence, and use this as a solution to their problems. Parents of these children should provide special psychiatric help to prevent them from becoming violent. If teachers are aware a students extreme misconduct, they should inform the childs parents as well as the schools counselors. Therefore, the school can solve the problem before it gets out of hand. Different approaches have been used to prevent these shootings from reoccurring. The most obvious solution has been increasing the security in schools, such as metal detectors and surveillance cameras. Some schools are simply educating their students about respecting each other, and have seen an improvement in the conduct of the students. When these issues improve, a healthier school will prevail.

Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre - The Relationship between Jane and Roches

The Relationship between Jane Eyre and Rochester   Ã‚  Ã‚   Each of us carries within us the seed of a unique plant. When circumstances conspire to caringly nourish that seed in the manner most appropriate to its true nature-- circumstances which, sadly, are as rare as they are fortunate--the germ of our original selves is likely to flourish. When, however, this tender seed receives attention which is insufficient or antithetical to its essential inclination, growth is inevitably blighted in some way. Weaker or more sensitive seedlings may wither outright; others will be irreparably stunted. Stronger plants may yet grow to imposing heights, but they will be bent and twisted at the places where their needs were unmet, and may well feel eternally compelled to somehow loosen the knot of those deforming deprivations, so as to come closer to their originally intended shapes: Jane Eyre and Rochester are two such plants; driven by an indomitable will to find and follow their essential selves, they discover in each other a vital key to t he realization of that end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As every conscientious parent knows, a child needs both roots--love and security--and wings--belief in, and encouragement of, his autonomy--in order to mature. While gifted with the latter--the drive for self-realization previously mentioned--Jane and Rochester have been severely deprived of the foundation of the former. They are both outsiders. The identities they have succeeded in forging for themselves thus have a quality of rare integrity, for they primarily have come from within, not from the outer prompting to please and emulate others. At the same time, these characters lack the sense of security and connectedness which is the vital prop of such gifts. When the tw... ...r love: like two trees in a dense, dark forest, bending, twisting and inter-twining to reach an aperture of warm, bright sunlight, more beautiful to my mind than their unblemished brothers. Works Cited and Consulted Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Penguin, 1985. Gordon, Lyndall. Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life. New York: Norton, 1994. Michie, Helena. The Flesh Made Word: Female Figures and Women's Bodies. New York: Oxford UP, 1987. Poovey, Mary. "Speaking of the Body: Mid-Victorian Constructions of Female Desire." Jacobus, Keller, and Shuttleworth 24-46. Rich, Adrienne. "Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman." Gates 142-55. Roy, Parama. "Unaccommodated Woman and the Poetics of Property in Jane Eyre." Studies in English Literature 29 (1989): 713-27. Sullivan, Sheila. Studying the Brontes. Longman: York, 1986.

Operations Function Essay

This therefore implies that Operation Management decisions are not made in isolation. Rather, each decision is intertwined with other organizational functions following the strategic direction developed at the top level of the organization. In a nutshell, many of the decisions made by operations managers are dependent on information from the other functions. At the same time, other functions cannot be carried out properly without information from operations as detailed below: 1. Finance: The finance function ties all departments together with monetary measurements that tell whether the company is making money. They also regulate the acquisition of funds to keep the business operations going, and investing money received wisely. Finance managers need to work closely with the operations function to be able to determine the need for capital investments, make-or-buy decisions, plant expansions, or relocation of business operations. On the other hand, operations managers cannot make large financial expenditures without understanding financial constraints and methods of evaluating financial investments. It is essential for these two functions to work together and understand each other’s constraints. . Sales and marketing: The sales and marketing function focuses on maintaining and attracting customers to the company’s products and services. To be able to satisfy customer needs, the marketing function needs to understand what operations can produce, what due dates it can and cannot meet, and what types of customization operations can deliver. The marketing function can develop an ex citing marketing campaign, but if operations cannot produce the desired product, sales will not be made. In turn, operations managers need information about customer wants and expectations. It is the responsibility of the operations function to design products with characteristics that customers find desirable, and they cannot do this without regular coordination with the marketing department. 3. Information and Communications Technology (ICT): ICT is the function that enables information to flow throughout the organization and enables the operations function to operate effectively. The ICT function must understand the needs of operations and endeavour to meet those needs as regards timely provision of required information.

The Impact of Social Networking

Since the new millennium occurred, social networking sites have been popping up everywhere, from Friendster, to MySpace, to Facebook. Setting apart the old way of communicating, by telephone, letters, and in person is having a negative impact on us. People young and old have found themselves addicted to well, basically themselves. People post pictures of themselves, update their status constantly and write blogs hoping someone else will credit it. With all of that said, these social networking sites seem to be causing more bad than good. Teenagers are a vast majority of those using these sites. Do social networking sites hurt teenagers? People of all ages use social networking sites to keep in touch with friends and family. Not everyone can see someone on an everyday basis, nor call them every day. Being able to talk to people in your life all at one time is a great idea. Meeting new people is an advantage also. Finding those who have the same qualities and hobbies as you can make an instant friendship. â€Å"Researchers say social-networking sites are shortening attention spans, encouraging instant gratification, and making young people more self-focused. (What Impact) By being on the internet so often teenagers are accustomed to caring more about themselves than anything else. â€Å"A large majority of teens (71%) have established online profiles† (Teen Internet). If 71% of teenagers have an online profile, and researchers say it is shorting their attention spans, what is that to say about our future? Social networking sites are more about me me me than keeping in contact, as if the whole thing was just a popularity contest. This constant attention battle takes a toll on the brain, â€Å"A British neurologist warns that extended use of the sites actually rewires the brain, causing teenagers to require constant reassurance that they exist† (What Impact). Thus why they check and update their profiles multiple times a day. Social networks in a way make it seem like your living in a small town or village, where everyone around you knows every aspect of your life. But because we purposely want that, it is making us more concerned with ourselves. Most of these people teenagers talk to in the irst place are people they see almost every day at school, work, and etc. Even if they conversed with someone during the day, they still continue to talk to them on the internet. Being able to keep in contact with friends and family is very important. Right now in our time people use the internet all of the time to talk to friends and family â€Å"The current generation is never unconnected. They’re never losing touch with their friends† (Thompson). With the fast pace life style teenagers and young adults face, the internet is an ideal way to keep up to date with all the things happening around you. Especially for college students does this come in handy, being able to contact someone with the click of a button, while also writing a paper or doing homework. Multi tasking plays a large role in the success rate of social networks. While on the telephone with on person, it can be hard to focus on doing something else but when you are on the computer you can talk to multiple people at once while still doing other activities. Socal networks can also help you to find people you have not seen in years. They have search engines within, so finding an old class mate or an old friend from your kindergarten class is not a problem.

A world of intoxification essays

A world of intoxification essays Screams pierced the midnight air and students ran wildly about the campus. Police cars whizzed by with their sirens blaring in the night. Glass was being broken and girls were being defiled. Confusion was all around and no one could stop it. This is an average night at any given university in America. The similarities between a horror story and a story about a college party are too many. At an average college party where alcohol is being served there is the possibility of fights, rape, death, destruction, and jail time. The common opinion in America is that all of these things are bad. So why do college students continue to engage in these activities? There are three reasons. First, if students have not been exposed to alcohol or drugs previously, when they get into that kind of environment, they will experiment. Secondly, if everyone else who is important, i.e. fraternities and sororities, does it, then to be important, you must drink. Finally, without parent instilling morals and good judgment into their children, the students do not think that it is wrong to participate in these activities. All in all, the biggest problem on college campuses is the consumption of alcohol and drugs. If a person was never exposed to the heat of a flame their whole life, and then was thrown into a family barbeque, where they asked this person to cook, how well would they do? They would probably put too much lighter fluid in the grill. Or, they would light the grill while looking at it to see what it did. Or, they would light the grill and then put their hand on it to see what it felt like. All of these things would cause extreme pain to the person who did this. But, would it be their fault? Would it be their fault that they didnt know how combustible lighter fluid was? It wouldnt be their fault if they put t ...

How to Identify the Subject in French

How to Identify the Subject in French The subject  is the  noun or pronoun in a clause or sentence that performs the action of the verb. To find the subject, ask who or what is performing the action of  the verb. It is crucial to recognize the subject because  French verbs are  conjugated according to the number, person and gender of the subject noun or the subject pronoun. David lave la voiture.  / David is washing the car. Who is washing the car? David is, so David is the subject. Subject Pronouns Subject pronouns replace the specific names of people or things: SINGULAR      1st person  Ã‚  Ã‚  je  Ã‚  I  Ã‚  Ã‚  2nd person  Ã‚  tu   you  Ã‚  Ã‚  3rd person  Ã‚  Ã‚  il   he, it / elle   she, it /  on   one PLURAL   Ã‚   1st person  Ã‚  Ã‚  nous  Ã‚  we  Ã‚  Ã‚  2nd person  Ã‚  vous   you  Ã‚  Ã‚  3rd person  Ã‚  Ã‚  ils   they (m) /  elles   they (f) The French subject pronoun  on is an indefinite pronoun that means one, we, you and they. Its often equivalent to the English  passive voice.      On ne devrait pas poser cette question.  Ã‚  Ã‚  One shouldnt ask that question. / You shouldnt ask that quesiton. Note that, unlike the English I, the French  je  is only capitalized when it begins a sentence; otherwise it is lowercase. Subjects in Sentences Whether sentences be statements, exclamations, questions, or commands, there is always a subject, either  stated or implied. Only in a command is the subject not explicitly stated; it is implied by the imperative conjugation of the verb. Sentences can be separated into a subject (un sujet)  and a predicate (un prà ©dicat). The subject is the person or thing performing the action, and the predicate is the rest of the sentence, which usually begins with the verb.Je suis professeur.  Suject:  Je. Prà ©dicat:  suis professeur. I am a teacherSubject: I. Predicate: am a professor. La jeune fille est mignonne  Sujet:  La jeune fille.  Prà ©dicat:  est mignonne.   The young girl is cute.Subject: The young girl. Predicate: is cute.