Finance Problem Solving Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Finance Problem Solving - Assignment Example Therefore, Amber has a net working capital of $200 and a current ratio of 1.20. This indicates that the company will be able to pay any short term obligations that arise unexpectedly due to some investment in the working capital. On the other hand, Barbie has no current assets, but has $600 worth of current liabilities. Therefore, Amber has a net working capital of negative $600 and a weak current ratio. This indicates that the company will not be able to pay any short term obligations that arise unexpectedly due to no investments in the working capital. Amber Barbie Current Assets $1,200 $0 Current Liabilities $1,000 $600 Net Working Capital $200 ($600) Current Ratio 1.20 0.00 Therefore, it is important for a corporation to invest some of its funds in the financing of the working capital. A company must be able to pay its creditor when payment becomes dues, and possess ample inventory and cash to ensure the smooth functioning of the company. Question 4 A firm achieves optimal level of working capital only when the constituents of the working capital achieve optimal position. The company must have a favorable level of inventory determined by the economic order quantity. It must work upon optimal lead times that ensure no shortfall and no excess inventory at any point in time. This will ensure minimum costs association with the inventory handling. Likewise, the company must forecast future cash inflows and outflows, risk tolerance and borrowing capability to ensure an optimal cash level. An excess surplus must be invested in short term securities, whereas a shortage must be immediately handled with an overdraft with the bank. Similarly, the company could determine its advantageous day’s sales outstanding which will allow it to make an effective policy toward the management of its receivables. (Brigham and Gapenski 1988) Question 6 The matching principle of the working capital financing states that the non-current assets and permanent current assets must b e financed by long term debt; whereas fluctuating current assets must be financed by short term debt. (Brigham and Gapenski 1988) For instance: A retail store balance sheet shows inventory, cash, account receivable and fixed assets. At any point in time, this store has a minimum amount of all current assets which becomes a part of the permanent current assets. Therefore, according to this matching principle, these permanent current assets and fixed assets are to be financed by long term debt. There is low cost associated with this technique as most of the assets are finance low interest long term debt. Likewise, it results in a higher profitability as interest expense is low in this strategy. It also provides the company with more liquidity and a better current ratio. (Brigham and Gapenski 1988) Problem 17-3 Company A Company B Current Assets $1,400 $960 Current Liabilities $900 $600 Net Working Capital $500 $360 Current Ratio 1.56 1.60 Company A appears to be more liquid as compare d to company B. This is because it has a higher net working capital. Even though company A has slightly lower current ratio, it holds more of its assets in the liquid form. Problem 17-6 a. Working Capital = $160 b. Net Working Capital = Current Assets – Current Liabilities Net Working Capital = $160 - $170 Net Working Capital = ($10) c. The company is following a very aggressive approach to working capital financing. This is indicated by a low net working capital; which shows that all of the current assets –

The Work Life Management Social Work Essay

The Work Life Management Social Work Essay In today fast-paced society, finding a perfect balance between work and daily living is a very challenging task that every worker must face. Particularly, it is most affected to families lives, as some couples may prefer having more children, yet cannot see how they would afford to working lesser or stop working in order to look after their kids; while some other families satisfy with the number of kids they have, but still prefer working more to support their life styles. This typical problem somehow raises difficulty to the government in a sense that if parents could not achieve their desired work-life balance, it could affect their welfare and so directly impacts on the development of the country as a whole. As a matter of fact, it is said there is no such thing called perfectionism in this world. Even so, Work life balance is still very important for the healthiness of everyone employees and employers, so as for the good sake of the organization; presently it has also received attention from researchers, governments, management teams and employee representatives (Pocock, Van Wanrooy, Strazzari Bridge, 2001; Russel Bowman, 2000). In fact, most of us have all heard the term and simply complain that we do not have enough of it in our lives; so what is work-life balance, exactly? According to Kathleen Gerson, Sociologist, young people are searching for new ways to define Work-life balance that do not force them to choose between spending time with their children and earning an income. Yet, it is generally believed that parents should make more time to support their kids both economically and emotionally, as well as sharing labor equally, at the same time. Indeed, Work-life balance is not simply about working less or starting a family; it is also about learning how to truly liv e and enjoy our lives. In this paper, I would like to address the importance of work-life balance in the workplace; also, the challenges and solutions upon work-life balance. II. Body 2. a. Benefits Work-life balance describes an individuals work and personal life. It tries to prioritize between work (career and ambition) and life styles (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual meditation), so that people can maintain their leisure times with families and friends, and at the same time improving their potential performance at work. On that account, three main benefits are given to both employers and employees when organizations agree to adopt Work-life balance; firstly, embracing Work-Life balance helps attracting and retaining top talent staffs. Otherwise, negatively changing work environment like increasing working hours or lack of support and guidance from new employers are likely to force them to leave the place. Due to the fact that Work-life balance is compulsory toward the growth of company, The Yamaha Group, for example, is known to actively cooperate with labor for many years in its efforts to promote Work-life balance shortening total work hours and providing s upport for both work and family. The company then started introducing employee benefit programs and systems ahead of statutory requirements. Besides, The Yamaha also introduced childcare leave followed by a system of nursing care leave, hopefully eliminating the negative outside forces of their staffs while working for the company ( Initiatives for a Better Work-Life Balance , 2011). Secondly, work-life initiatives helps employees to reducing absenteeism, health costs, and stress even though they may have some distractions by family issues at work; it is known that people who are free of worry about what is going on at home can be more productive at work. According to the Australian data from the 2010 National Work/Life Benchmarking Study (Barbara Holmes, Work/life Balance International) found that thirty-seven percent (37%) stated that their work-life balancing strategy contributed to a reduction in absenteeism, while seventy-nine percent (79%) reported a positive impact on work productivity. Thirdly, work-life balance also allows changes in working flexibility. New research from Families and Work Institute (FWI) has found out that employers and employees benefit, when both partner in finding flexible ways to work. Working flexibly means due to shortages of talent and skills, many knowledge workers have the bargaining power to negotiate their working conditions, including working hours preferences and space available, as long as they can ensure the job will be done. That is to say, working flexibly can not only help employees to manage their work and personal responsibilities, but it can also enhance an employees effectiveness on the job, and thus benefiting employers as much as employees themselves. b. Challenges We live in stressful times, and each of us has to deal with stress everyday. In a society that filled with conflicting commitments and responsibilities, work-life balance is known to be a predominant issue in the workplace; thus, having better understanding the interface between work and family relation, it directly and indirectly affects the daily living and performance in the workplace. Regardless of above benefits, three major challenges of work-life balance are described here. Firstly, global competition describes the outside forces that bring about the work-life balance tensions. These days, due to the various demand of the national and international workplaces, employment experience is changing to get the jobs within todays business environment, workers need to obtain higher skills to compete with overseas workers, it is somewhat weaken the relationship between work and family life. Also, in this new global trend, in order to decrease the companys cost, most employers are sear ching for lower costs workers, resulting in pushing the wages lower and income insecurity higher for the individual workers. According to A Work-Life balance survey in 2009, it was stated that seventy percent (70%) of more than one thousand and five hundred (1500) respondents said they do not have a healthy work-life balance. Ageing population, secondly, impacts the staffs benefits directly. According to Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Older workers are those men and women who continue their employment after reaching age 50, or who during their fifties or sixties are seeking to re-enter the labor market. Therefore, to stabilize their job in old age, an individual has to work longer hours, thus forgoing personal leisure time as well as neglecting their health, to meet the excessive demands of work and life. In the United States, for example, healthcare does not provide to all citizens. Statistically, Berg disclosed that 15.7 percent out of a population of 46 million is said to have no access to healthcare, because it is mainly covered by their employers and for the expenditures on this healthcare have just rose by 40 percent. Likewise, since their society takes it as a private matter, there is no federal assistance for this child rearing and sickness, causing it to be very expensive for most workers to afford. Additionally, Berg also added that starting from 1997 until today, dual-earner couples has been increasing in US causing them to work by 10 hours per week and thus personal time has been dramatically reduced to an hour or less for men and women respectively. Thirdly, technology is said to have facilitated employees from pressuring and keeping themselves at work more than home; however, the increased technology allows individuals to work anywhere and at anytime. Berg again raises that men nowadays have less time off but working more, which pushing them to face higher levels of intensity at workplace. An increasing in ill health, both mental and physical, and stress then have become troublesome problem in the modern workplace as much for office staff, managers, and even shop floor workers, due to over-work. c. Solutions Since work life balance is rising to the top of many employers and employees consciousness, in today high-tech society, human resource personnel seek alternatives to positively impact the bottom line of their companies improve employee morale, retain employees with valuable company knowledge, and at the same time to keep pace with workplace trends. Â  There is no particular strategy of one size fits all; yet three possible solutions are given to deal with above challenges. To begin with, On-the-Job Training should be provided. Being able to take part in lots of seminars and training might allow employees to challenge themselves in a global market. Besides, it is also enabling them to learn how to better manage their workloads, eliminate unproductive work habits, get enough exercise and bargain for more flexible work conditions, which meet their needs. On top of that, it is important for line manager to be aware of overwork, because only managers are able to manage the error rates, absenteeism and stress-related burnout of their employees, by simply offering employee-assistance programs. Moreover, a manager should also guide them on how to prioritize their works in case lower level workers do not have related-knowledge; otherwise workload and stress are likely to exist amongst them. Next, both men and women in ageing society mainly like in US, are found to be very crucial for the development of organization in terms of the knowledge they have, the role they can play in mentoring or coaching younger colleagues, and for the experiences they offer; so organization should consider creating strains on retirement pension budgets and education on retirement healthcare, prompting governments to encourage older employees to remain in the workplace with flexible time contracts. Otherwise, those young talented staffs will urge to retire more and enjoy early retirement stage, while other older and experiential senior workers insisting on retirement due to the need of spending more time with family and friends. Plus, government also plays important role in eliminating age discrimination in the workplace either upon promotion or recruitment. According to Margaret Collins from Bloomberg.com/news, once they lost their jobs, older workers in the age of 55 years old tend to stay out of work longer about 41 weeks on average in 2010, compared to 35 weeks of those age 25 54 years old. Last but not least, with unlimited access to information and technological advances, it seems to serve both of our personal and business matter at the same time, faster than expected. However, when technology could be accessed everywhere people seem to be busier than they used to; it is suggested that if one is really addicted to web surfing, so to better balance this typical work-life, an individual should limit their working time (checking email, and work on it) and start focusing on family life, while getting some other times for leisure, as well. Besides, it is suggested that all workaholic should adopt the single idea of work will never be finished . It is true that there are some certain people, who try to please everyone (boss, customers, family) by holding multi-tasking at the same time, but they may forget that it could make them less productive and inefficient if they still continue with their workloads. People are not computer, there are times to be productive and times t o be not, so entertainment is a must in this sense, to help them relax or re-focus on their job after a short while. III. Conclusion To sum up, in todays sophisticated life, although money is not everything, people have to work harder to support their infinite demands. Meanwhile, they have to distinguish between working and family time while earning money. So it is the responsibility of all the managerial levels of organizations to ensure that they provide positive working environment for their employees by taking Work-Life Balance into consideration. Employees tend to feel more motivated when they feel appreciated and respected, thus boosting up their morale and productivity levels. In my opinion, efforts should be made to balance personal life and professional life, for the reason that if employees tend to pay more attention on personal life, then professional life will be more disturbed which resulting in losing the job and income. Nonetheless, if employees would give more importance to professional life, it is more likely to affect their nerve causing higher stress levels and thus negatively affecting their wo rk performance.

Essay --

Change For the Better Life changes in an instant. One day you’re just playing with your friends and the next your whole life is ending. The events that happen in a person’s life changes how they are as a person; it can either make them a better person or destroy them. In the novel The Separate Peace Finny grows as a person as the story progresses on, he faces tough situations that reveal he’s inner self. In the beginning of the novel, Finny is an outstanding athlete, friendly, and he is able to talk his way out of any tough situation he gets himself into. He is a type of person who will do anything he wants when he wants; he’s carefree. â€Å"I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything† (Knowles 18). Finny is adventurous, he comes up with things knowing the risk of him getting in trouble is high. â€Å"Finny’s life was ruled by inspiration and anarchy, so he prized a set of rules†(Knowles 26). He almost lived by his own rules, he did what he wanted, what made him happy. He is also quite innocent making him naà ¯ve. â€Å"Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies† (Knowles 45). He doesn’t do anything intentionally; he actually thinks so highly of his friends, that they could never do any harm to him. â€Å"No I just wanted to see if I could do it. Now I know. But I don’t want to do it in public†(K nowles 35). In the quote stated, his athletic skills really show and so does his innocence. He didn’t need the whole school to know that he beat a swimming record; him knowing was the best satisfaction he could have. In the midway of the novel, Finny’s life takes a turn and goes downhill from there. Sports are a big part of his life, without it, half of him is basically gone. â€Å"Sports are finished for him, after an accident li... ...ly achieved; when one is able to forgive someone who was set out to ruin their life. All in all, tough situations that a person goes through either make them or break them. In the novel The Separate Peace innocence vanished from Finny. The situations he went through made him understand life better. That life isn’t always full of happiness; there are bumps in the road. He had a harder time accepting that because his life was amazing in the beginning and he didn’t expect it to take a turn that he nearly lost himself. Along with the things he went through he grew as a person; the lost of his innocence made him see things clearer; that there was bad sides to some situations. Finny saw that when Gene confesses that it was his fault that he fell off the tree, but he is mature about it because he was able to forgive Gene. That’s one thing he never lost though, kindness.

Ethnicity and Police Essay

Understanding the usual representation of law enforcement among individuals in a neighborhood provides a meaningful indicator of support for the establishment between his government. Require knowledge of how people as a whole describe the application of law is a critical first step in increasing the connections between police and communities. This is why studies are distinguished ward movement of factors of policing. Furthermore, the rules of public representation of the application of the law can be compared. The production of this representation, establishments can learn if your printing is increasing or decreasing overtime, or if he or she is held in high esteem or lower estimates on people living in a neighborhood compared to other law enforcement in other neighborhoods. General versus specific measures argue that inconsistencies in the enforcement picture revealed in public opinion polls as a result of questioning format. The number of people living in a community that reported a positive law enforcement image presented general questions ranged from 75 % to 80 %. However, the decisive answer about one – sixth one half when individuals were given studies. They have evaluated different universes of meaning and are not just artifacts of meaningless comparisons of these measures. Factors that influence the overall image of the police and some of the causes that determine the overall image of law enforcement. Although it is unfinished several factors believed to influence the overall image are factors other than law enforcement people looked not over yet.One of the most compelling discussions on the general image of law enforcement is the way it is determined by the final result. Law enforcement makes, for example, control of crime, and enforcement methods used to create those results with equity and other views of the methods of enforcement. The processes are discussed further in the remainder of this paper, but the focus is on three types of power in the general image of the police: distinctive personal traits of people living in a neighborhood when asked to make a assessment , the nature of the contract that citizens have recently had with the police, and the media portrays of law enforcement and serious offenders. One of the most current findings of opinion polls about law enforcement is white individuals are happier with the police than other breeds. This information has been used for the past 40 years, leaving dozens of surveys in the United States and in other areas. An example of people living in a neighborhood are satisfied with law enforcement in 12 different areas. In fact , this information was retrieved by the Bureau of Justice Statistics , in 1998 , 90 % of whites were satisfied with law enforcement compared with 76% of African Americans and other races. In addition, Wisconsin 97 % of whites were happy with the police, while 91 % of African Americans were satisfied with the implementation of the law. Much of the data shows a positive relationship between age and attitude toward law enforcement. People under 18 who show less satisfaction with the police than adults. In a survey has not been reported for adolescents, insinuates that age can make a difference when older individuals compared to adolescents. However, this is only based on a survey conducted in a city, and another study reported that older people had a less favorable attitude towards the law enforcement adolescents. In other words, a teen does not mind the age of the adults, but decreases satisfaction and increases with age adolescents. The ratio of male or female satisfaction with the implementation of the law is not clear. Two surveys found that males have a more positive attitude concerning women just law enforcement. However, another study found that, as the male or female gender made no difference. Therefore, these two conflicting studies on gender does not make a big difference when it comes to law enforcement, but men are known to have a much better attitude toward law enforcement than women. Other influences such as color, what age is a man or woman are more familiar distinctive hesitate to police. However, many researchers found that people living in the middle class areas have a better attitude with the police. In fact, people who use scientific methods do not check that differences are different. There are two different aspects of influences. One is that people have different and distinctive relationships with law enforcement characteristics. Teenagers are more likely to be impartial because of  constant arrested, searched, given an input, placed under arrest, and given a warning over elderly. Two people coming from different backgrounds have different views on law enforcement and different ways to view events. Blacks and whites descriptions are similar, but African Americans have more selfish motives to the police for the reason African Americans are known to live in the slums and poor areas where violent crimes occur. Was to found people living in an area qualifies the process more generally, and seem to be more satisfied with the police, but . However, they found different demeanors are stronger when it comes to judges, lawyers, the courts and the legal system. Behavior towards the police are also related to the degree of participation in the political system. From the information mentioned herein are black people or white both have similar but different views of law enforcement based on the individual near also puts a live different perspective of how each race application views of the law, because African Americans are known to live in the slums and poor areas compared with white individuals living in areas of high middle class. Age also has some aspects in this because adolescents are compared to older adults. None of them should make a difference all people should be treated equally, regardless of race, gender, age and the district he or she resides and application of the law must be respected. In conclusion, there are several factors that are mentioned in this document illustrating African Americans and whites and how these two races are law enforcement. Age, gender, race, social statutes, economic, neighborhood effects and other influences play an important role in how individuals look to law enforcement. However, in some cases, African Americans are stopped, searched, cited, arrested, and given warning over elderly. Therefore, one can say that, under the law there is a difference in how it treats individuals. References Brown, K. & Coulter, P.B. (1983, January – February) ‘’Subjective and Objective Measures of Police Delivery† Public Administration Review, Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (1999). Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Policing, 22 Hindeland, R.J. (1994) â€Å"Citizens Preference and Perceptions Concerning Police Pursuit Policies† Journal of Criminal Justice 22 ()

The Hospitality in the Odyssey

In the epic, by Homer, â€Å"The Odyssey†, hospitality is demonstrated at various points. It is never really genuine, but forced upon due to circumstance. Throughout the entire epic Odysseus finds himself stranded on many islands and is greeted by a being that either dwells or has control over the island, and at one point or another they display some form of hospitality. Kyklops, Aiolos, and Kirke have self-motivated reason for showing hospitality, but never the less they are hospitable. Kyklops, a one-eyed giant that consumes humans, showed very little hospitality. The only time that he was hospitable to Odysseus is when he was drunk, and asked Odysseus for more wine. In return for the wine, the Kyklops promised him a gift. The gift was that he would eat Odysseus last. Even though it does not seem like much of a gift, Kyklops felt like it was a great honor. The only reason that Kyklops was sociable at all was because he desired the wine and Odysseus was the only one that could bring him the wine. The act of kindness had absolutely nothing to do with the idea of being kind, it was all to gain something greater in return. The Aiolia Island belonged to Aiolos Hippotades, the King of the wind. When Odysseus arrived he welcomed him with great hospitality, but made him stay for one month and tell him the story of his journey in great detail. Odysseus then requested that he be granted leave so that he could sail home. Aiolos Hippotades granted his leave, and upon Odysseus requests was allowed to replenish his supplies. Hippotades was extremely generous and added a bull's hide and bottled storm winds to guide his ship to Ithaca swiftly and safely. Hippotadoes actions not out of generosity, but rather Odysseus had brought him news from Troy and entrained him with a great journey from the world beyond his island. The wind king enjoyed such things because he did not have access to them, and he felt he had to be extremely hospitable to Odysseus in order to repay him for the great gift that he had brought, which he could not receive any where else. They made the departure, but the bottle was accidentally opened, and they were forced back to the island. Hippotades turned them away telling them that the gods cursed their journey. The wind king was using Odysseus as a form of a newsletter. He had no other way of knowing what was going on in the world. Once Odysseus was unable to give him what he wanted, his hospitality quickly faded. After exploring the island, and some of Odysseus' men were eaten by giants, his men came across Kirke's house. All of the men entered the house except one, Eurylochus, and Kirke turned them into pigs. Eurylochus returned to Odysseus and told him what had happened. While Odysseus traveled to Kirke's house he was visited by Hermes who gave him an amulet and had him consume a flower that would make him immune to her potion that turned men into pigs. Upon meeting Kirke she was so impressed with Odysseus because he was immune to her poison, that she assumed he was a man of the gods, and she invited him into her bed. In return Odysseus made her swear that if he would go to bed with her that she would not be able to harm him. Kirke transformed the pigs back into men and kept Odysseus as her mate for one year. She was fixated on a more superficial way of thinking, Kirke was only hospitable to Odysseus because of the fact that he was immune to her potion and he was man of the gods. She was attempting to improve her status and how she felt about herself. Throughout the epic there are numerous acts of hospitality, but they all derive from an alternative motive. During this time people did not have a conventional way of knowing about other lands, so they would use the new comers as newspapers in order to know what's going on. No one does anything for anyone out of the kindness of their heart. Perhaps there is no such thing as genuine acts of hospitality.