Direct and Indirect Costs :: Economics

Direct and Indirect Costs Direct costs ============ An organisation can apportion the costs incurred in the production of products or services in either a direct or an indirect manner. The direct costs can be defined as being the amount materials actually cost plus any other directly linked costs, such as labour. (for Quirk, materials, electricity, labour employee and management, machine depreciation) Production materials, machine or assembly wages =============================================== 1. Labour and wages – the cost of obtaining, training and retaining labour is a significantly high cost which must be allocated to each unit of production. There are many legal obligations as well as social and welfare considerations, which add to this high costs total. In order to work out the exact labour and wages costs to be attributed to each unit of production, an organisation must take a careful study of the production process and allocate the appropriate expenses. If, for example, an individual earns  £10 per hour and processes 10 units during that hour, then  £1 of direct costs may simply be added to each unit. Unfortunately, things are not that simple. There are many other individual costs which an organisation must bear in the employment of individuals. These may include employer’s national insurance contributions, pension payments and insurance policy payments. In most organisations, labour and wage costs account for the majority of direct costs. 2. Materials – the costs of materials differ according to the sector in which an organisation operates. As organisation that operates in the primary sector has comparatively low material costs. At the other end of the scale, in the tertiary sector, the costs of finished goods to a retailer for example, will be extremely high. The principal elements that affect the costs of materials should be included in the organisation's overall budgetary controls. In addition, an organisation must also consider the cost of materials in relation to market demands, as these will inevitably cause periodic fluctuations in material costs. Only those materials that are actually used in the production of a product or service should be considered part of the cost of that product or service. Task 2 Page 2 Other consumables used by the organisation are classed as indirect costs and are considered under separate budgets. Indirect costs ================== (for Quirk, rent/rates, sales/ marketing/ insurance/ non-production depreciation management salaries) Indirect costs are costs incurred in the running of an organisation that cannot be easily apportioned to the production process.

Costco Ethics Essay

Costco wholesale follows a very strict code of ethics, which are strongly enforced with their compliance program. Costco’s ultimate mission is to provide their members with quality goods and services at the lowest price possible. In order for Costco to achieve their mission, they must abide by their simple code of ethics which consist of, obeying the law, taking care of their members, taking care of their employees, and respecting their suppliers. Upon success of these four codes, they have the ability to reward their shareholders, which is their ultimate goal. In order for Costco to implement their code of ethics, they must follow an austere compliance program. Costco must first appoint or retain a Chief Compliance Officer who directly reports to the Nominating and Governance Committee of Costco’s Board of directors. The Nominating and Governance Committee is made up of several independent directors whom have the responsibility to develop ideas, and give recommendations to the board corporate governance guidelines. In order for the Chief Compliance Officer to understand the whole process, and compliance program itself, he or she must retain their position for at least three years. Within these three years, he or she must report to the Governance Committee at least twice a year in regards to compliances issues, and the relay of information between the financial reporting department and the financial planning department. Also the Chief Compliance Officer must report to the independent accounting firm or law firm at least once a year. The Chief Compliance Officer’s initial duty is to coordinate and oversee the following areas: to improve Costco’s already set compliance program, revising the Code of Ethics to make it easily understood for their employees, spreading the compliance and ethical standards to officers and employees, improving the employee training program, to look for and address unethical behavior, enhancing the â€Å"whistle blower† program for anonymous accusations, to check on senior executives to ensure their participation in the ethics and compliance program, and lastly to ultimately oversee internal investigations involving financial fraud. To guarantee that information is properly shared between the internal departments responsible for Costco’s equity compensation program there is written procedures to be followed. The departments that are mainly responsible for following this procedure are the financial reporting department, and the financial planning department. These departments are mandated to meet for at least three years for quarterly meetings attended with the Chief Compliance Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, the Controller and the supervisors of both departments.

Compare the Lutheran and Calvinist Reformations

Like the family and the economy, religion is a universal and pervasive phenomenon, a part of the cultural system, because it is assumed to meet some basic need of human being. Religion is an integrated part of human experience and shows remarkable continuity through time. Even in the modern secularized societies in the West, religion has persisted and still exerts a great influence in the lives of people. Almost all known peoples in all places and times have some set of specific cultural patterns made up of beliefs and codes of conduct, tinged with emotional views, an explanation or justification of human behavior and social organization regarding the distribution of power between the leaders and the governed, the moral code, the distribution of wealth, or the success of some and failure of others may be found in religion. Religious, beliefs and practices have been debated by various religious sectors and it includes the Lutheran and Calvinist reformations. This paper compares and contrasts the doctrines and beliefs between Lutheran and Calvinist Reformations. II. Discussion A. Calvinism and its beliefs The theology and system of church practices based on the teachings of the protestant Reformation leader John Calvin. It is the doctrine of the Presbyterian and the Reformed churches and is part of the heritage of Baptists, the Congregationalists, and certain other Christian groups. Calvin’s thought is most completely expressed in his Institute of the Christian Religion (1536). Other significant documents of Calvinism are the Canons of Dort (1619), the doctrinal basis of the reformed churches; and the Westminster Confession (1646), the traditional Presbyterian creed. Fundamental to early Calvinism was the belief in God’s absolute sovereign will over the affairs of man. To do God’s will was man’s first duty. According to the doctrine of original sin, Adam, the first man, was created pure and did God’s will. Adam’s sin, however, resulted in man’s fall from this state. Thus, all mankind was infected with â€Å"a total depravity,† leaving man free to sin but not to do good. All were rightfully damned (R. Po-Chia Hsia & Henk Van Nierop, pp. 234-236, 2002). The strict Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement held that Christ’s death atoned for the sins of a limited few, not all mankind. The limited few, called the elect, were thus saved. According to predestination, Calvin’s most widely known doctrine; God decreed eternal life for the elect and eternal damnation, or reprobation, for the rest. According to the idea known as irresistible grace, individuals elected by God to be saved by his grace could not choose to resist it. Calvinist, like most other early Protestants, emphasized the doctrine of justification, which dealt with the condition of man’s salvation. A saved individual was made righteous by God’s grace, and by God’s judgment was declared just, or acceptable. Good works by an individual could not achieve his salvation or justification: he had to live by faith alone. However, his faith was expressed outwardly in strict moral and righteous conduct and good works. To a Calvinist, the ability to base one’s life in faith was probable evidence that one was saved from sin and numbered among the elect (Kingdon, p.45, 2006). In Calvinism, Scripture became the supreme authority in faith and life. Calvinists believed that the Bible designated only two sacraments—baptism and Holy Communion. Calvin’s notion of the church government in which the church elects elders, or presbyters, to govern its affairs came from the Bible and was adopted by the Presbyterian and the Reformed Churches. This idea of representational church government was an important influence on the development of modern democracy. In the 17th century, some Dutch theologians and the English Puritans added to Calvinism the covenant theology. The covenant was a contractual relationship between the Christian and God. The sacraments were given as seals of the covenant. There were two covenants that God made with man—the covenant of works was made with Adam; the covenant of grace was made in Jesus Christ (Van Bruaene, pp.481-489, 2004). The covenant theology, which became central to Puritanism in England and America, softened the doctrine of predestination by giving recognition to human cooperation in achieving salvation. B. Lutheran and its beliefs These are Protestant Christians who follow the teachings of Martin Luther, the leader of the German Reformation. Lutherans form the largest group of Protestants. The Lutherans are the largest religious group in Germany; they claim more than 95 percent of the people of the Scandinavian countries; and they have strong minorities in many other countries. Lutherans in the United States number about 8,460,000 and are the nation’s fourth largest religious group. Lutherans places strong emphasis on doctrine. It affirms that the Bible is the sole rule of faith and accepts all traditional Protestant Christian doctrines. Distinctive Lutheran beliefs are defined in Luther’s two catechisms, the Augsburg Confession, the Schmalkaldic Articles, and the Formula of Concord (Anderson, pp.121-125, 2001). The chief Lutheran tenet is justification by faith alone. Salvation, according to this belief, does not come through food works. Rather, it comes by the faith of believers that God has forgiven their sins through the Sacrifice of Christ, and that by Gods grace they have been justified (become righteous). Lutheranism has two sacraments, baptism and the Lords Supper. Lutherans believe that in Holy Communion there is no physical change in the bread and wine, but that Christ is truly present to forgive sins and to renew the spiritual life of believers. Lutheran churches make greater use of liturgy the most Protestant churches, but there are differences in forms of public worship among Lutheran bodies (Braaten, pp. 83-86, 2004). There are differences also in church government. The Lutheran churches in Europe have bishops. In the United State the local congregation is the unit of church organization and the source of authority. During the 19th century congregations combined in synods, or regional groupings (Arnold, p.47, 2002).   After 1900 many synods united to form national denominations. Some synods are advisory bodies while others have a considerable amount of authority. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was form in 1987 by a merger of the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The denomination has 5,300,000 members, two of the denomination that make up the church were born out of mergers; and one, the association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, was a group that seceded from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (Braaten, pp. 83-86, 2004). The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod believes in strict adherence to the Bible and to all Lutheran confessions. This denomination, of German origin, was founded in 1847 by the Rev. Cal F. W. Walther. The Missouri Synod has about 2,630,000 members. It has many congregations in Canada (Rogness, pp. 364-366, 2000). The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is one of the conservative Lutheran bodies, holding without reservation to the Lutheran confessions and the infallibility of the Bible.   The church was organized in Milwaukee in 1850. It has congregation in most states of the Union and has some 400,000 members. Other Bodies. There are several small Lutheran denominations. Thy include the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America (6,000 members), Association   of Free Lutheran Congregations(19,000 members), Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America (12,000 members) Church of the Lutheran Confession (9,000 members), Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (7,000 members), Evangelical Lutheran Synod (20,000 members), Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (14,000 members), Protestant Conference (Lutheran), Inc. (1,000 members), and World Confessional Lutheran Association (1,300 members) (Nelson, p.17, 2002). III. Conclusion In conclusion, by the early 20th century, only a few Protestant churches held to the strict Calvinism of the 16th and 17th centuries. Most churches characterized as Calvinist have either greatly modified or rejected such doctrines as election, predestination, and irresistible grace to give man a free will to determine his salvation. Moreover, there was much rivalry between Lutherans and the Reformed Church, which was founded by John Calvin. The reformed faith gained considerable support in some German states. During the 19th century the Lutheran and Reformed groups formed union churches in many of the states. Reference: Anderson, C.S. Faith and Freedom: The Christian Faith According to the Lutheran Confession, pp.121-125, (Augsburg, 2001). Arnold, D.W. The Way, the Truth, and the Life: an Introduction to Lutheran Christianity, p.47 (Baker Book House, 2002). Braaten, C.E., editor. The New Church Debate: Issues Facing American Lutheranism pp. 83-86, (Fortress Press, 2004). Kingdon, Robert M. The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe.   Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 59, p.45. 2006 Nelson, E.C. The Rise of World Lutheranism, p.17 (Fortress Press, 2002). Rogness, A.N. The Story of the American Lutheran Church, pp. 364-366, (Augsburg, 2000). Van Bruaene, Anne-Laure. Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age. Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 57, pp.481-489, 2004. R. Po-Chia Hsia, Henk Van Nierop. Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age.   pp. 234-236, Cambridge University Press, 2002      

Bmw Films Essay

Where the BMW films a good idea? How successful was the campaign? In my opinion, the BMW films where a great idea at that specific moment in time. The company had no new product launches to promote. Furthermore, budget was available in order to â€Å"experiment† new ideas and innovative advertising and promotion actions. With this pure branding exercise BMW had little to lose (mainly money) and a huge deal to win. The campaign proved to be an incredibly successful one. In order to measure and justify this effectiveness I have chosen to highlight the following reasons: †¢Number of people who watched the BMW films: The films reached a great amount of people (aprox. 9 million viewers) in the early stages of the campaign. Furthermore, BMW had managed to capture the audience they were targeting †¢Feedback from the viewers: The positive feedback received proved to the marketing team that the campaign had been a success. Comments showed enthusiasm and in some cases even led to action. Feedback from the media: BMW achieved to generate the sufficient interest in order to receive praises from media publications that gave the initiative a â€Å"Hollywood movie† status. †¢Press activity: The marketing team was overwhelmed when they saw that the press activity was 10 times higher than expected. †¢Viral Campaign: One of the most unexpected achievements of the campaign was to produce a massive chain reaction amongst the viewers. 94% of viewers recommended the films to others. †¢Increase in sales: After the BMW films campaign, sales in 2001 increased almost 12% from the previous year. In this year BMW surpassed the 200,000 sold units barrier for the first time in North America. What was the motivation behind the idea? Given the opportunity to do pure branding the marketing team aimed at achieving through non-traditional promotion a memorable campaign that would remain in people’s minds for years to come. The motivation behind the campaign was to â€Å"refresh† the BMW brand by attracting the interest of a younger demographic segment and leave behind the traditionally yuppie customers related to the brand in previous years. The fact that the campaign was distributed through the Internet shows the commitment of the company to attract these younger customers. The key concepts that the campaign was trying to communicate were the excitement of driving, the performance of the BMW cars and the excitement related in driving the â€Å"Ultimate Driving Machine†. A key issue for the marketing team was also to explore new possibilities in terms of promotion and to achieve the highest impact possible amongst the target audience. The first mover advantage had been at the core of BMW’s campaigns and the BMW films were to be no exception to that rule. Who was the target market? What was the typical North American BMW customer? Is it the same as its competitor’s typical client? The â€Å"typical† BMW customer was about 46 years old with an average income of $150,000, well educate, married and with no children. Most importantly, 85% of BMW’s potential buyers were on the Internet before buying a BMW. Their customers saw driving as a pleasure and tended to be leaders. They enjoyed being in control. The competition was targeting different types of clients. The Japanese manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan for example, were mainly targeting lower income level customers. As for the higher end brands such as Mercedes, Porsche and Jaguar they were targeting older customers with higher income level more focused on luxury and comfort. How healthy is the brand in the US compared to previous years? What are the weaknesses? At this point in time the BMW brand was healthier than ever before in the US market. In this period, out of the people that intended to buy a luxury brand, 16% said they would buy a BMW against 11% that intended to buy a Mercedes. This represented a significant turning point in BMW’s operations in the US. The strongest weakness I perceive in the BMW brand is the fact that it relates to people who are passionate about driving and look for the excitement of being in control of a car. Furthermore, I believe it is people who tend to be willing to maximize the cars attributes in order to experiment the whole experience the car can provide. In this sense, the brand is perishable, as customers tend to look for other attributes such as comfort; reliability and prestige tend to focus on other brands such as Mercedes or Jaguar. What should McDowell do? Which option is the correct one? In the short term I would recommend McDowell to produce a few more short films in order to take advantage of the momentum created by the previous films. However, this strategy would not be sustainable in the long term as the competition would start copying this format and the effectiveness of the campaign would be diluted. What I would suggest in the long term would be to organize events in the major US cities that would reinforce the BMW Films concept but more personalized towards the customers. The idea behind this would be to create a lasting bond between both parties. In order to achieve a good segmentation of customers to attend these special events I would use the www. bmwfils. com web page to select (through the previously provided information by the customers) the ones that perfectly fit the brands criteria and the ones that have the most potential of becoming BMW customers. Assuming that BMW in the short term will have new products to launch and that the advertising budget will still be low in comparison with competitors, I believe that these events would be a perfect follow up to the BMW films campaign and that expectation would be created amongst the specialized media. Furthermore, not only would BMW be innovating in non-traditional advertising and promotion formats but they would also have the capability of specifically targeting potential customers. In this way BMW would continue to expand on the BMW Films idea but in this case the customers will perceive that they are the ones at the wheels of the â€Å"ultimate Driving Machine†.

Which you would classify as art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Which you would classify as art - Essay Example While any object can qualify as an object of art, every human being has different personal values and beliefs that make them qualify the same item as an object of art. Following an ancient definition of art, any object or activity that requires skills to assemble is artistic work (â€Å"Art and Appreciation†). In this regard, plays that people watch in theatres, artistic portraits hanging on peoples walls, and the well-crafted tables they use at work and home qualify as objects of work. In my living environment, the best illustrations of art are placemats that I use on my table made of hyacinth. First, these placemats qualify as objects of art because it required artistic skills to produce the final object. It is important to point out that the placemats are usually on the top of a table, which is also an object of art. However, the placemats stand out from the table since their form, or appearance is more satisfying than the table. As earlier indicated, the placements mats are made of hyacinth weed, which is a major threat to sea life as the hyacinth mat clogs the waterway and makes any water activity impossible. Hence, the placemats, made of hyacinth, highlight the importance of controlling the spread of the weed. In this case, the placemats qualify to become objects of art since they communicate an idea and they have a sentimental meaning (McFee and Degge). Personally, I value environmental conservation, and I believe that creating awareness on the importance of conservation efforts is the first step towards conservation. Hence, the placemats, made of hyacinth, remind me of the dangers that the weeds posed on the environment, more so the ecological dangers. According to Dissanayake, people’s limited and narrow perceptions construct art, which implies that art will never be universal. For this reason, different people will define aestheticism in different ways. Therefore, what will be beautiful to one person might not

How might a rights-informed approach to social care provision and Essay

How might a rights-informed approach to social care provision and delivery result in better outcomes for users of social care se - Essay Example For instance, the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities encompasses rights to: participation in decision making; physical integrity and personal mobility; participation, dignity, and non-discrimination; and to live independently and actively within the community. A rights-based approach facilitates the realization of human rights by: fostering the inclusion of marginalized, socially excluded, vulnerable, or at-risk groups of people; addressing and challenging the barriers, inequalities, and injustices that are prevalent within the society; pursuing policies and programs that facilitate the well being of the service users. In most case, a rights-based approach gives services providers a stronger role to play in the manner in which services are designed and delivered. As a result, social care service users are rendered recipients of services that transform their lives and safeguard them against discriminatory treatment (Great Britain 2007, p.177). A right-based approach highlights the significance of empowerment and participation of parties impacted on by decisions to claim the rights, and accountability and capability to deliver from those responsible for social care service provision and delivery. ... need to reform institutions and transform power relations via enhanced participation, accountability, and participation and via compelling organizations to meet their rights obligations. A rights-informed approach to social care delivery and provision rests on guaranteeing that health and social care is provided and made accessible to all persons on a fair basis (Chapman 1994, p.4). Human rights represent the fundamental and irreducible rights for all individuals, which represent the moral and ethical principles that are critical to a democratic society. Human rights are grounded in a framework of fundamental values such as dignitary, equality, autonomy, respect, and fairness. The relevant human right instruments referred to in the paper entail: Human Rights Act, European Convention on Human Rights, especially Articles 2, 3, and 8; UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and, UN Conventional n Rights f Personas with Disabilities, especially Article 19. The European C onvention on Human Rights articles entail: the right to life (Article 2); the right to respect for private and family life (article 8); and, the right of not to be subjected to discrimination with relation to any of the rights within the Act (article 14). With regard to values, a rights-based approach highlights PANEL principles, namely: participation, accountability, non-discrimination, empowerment of individuals, and legality (appreciation of legal principles) (Steiner, Alston and Goodman 2008, p.300). Human rights apply to all, but are especially significant for persons who are at enhanced risk of poor treatment. Human rights can avail practical guidance to the formulation, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring of social care provision and delivery. The rights-informed approach

Political Scandal - Power and Visibility in the Media Era Literature review

Political Scandal - Power and Visibility in the Media Era - Literature review Example In contemporary politics and wider society, the story of a reputation or career undone by the publication of a scandal is familiar, but a key question is whether or not this phenomenon should be left to the tabloid journalists. I am inclined to agree with Thompson that the field deserves serious study. He was writing in the aftermath of the Bill Clinton sex scandal, and given the huge implication of that affair on American confidence in the President, and the way in which it gripped the attention of readers and watchers worldwide, the presence of the political scandal as a cultural phenomenon is worthy of study. Thompson acknowledges that for many academics, scandal constitutes ‘the froth of social and political life’ (2009, p.5), and can obscure the ‘real’ political and social events – the things really worthy of study. As he goes on to argue, scandal is one of these events, and should be considered ‘a social phenomenon in its own right’ (2000, p.6). From this solid starting point, Thompson embarks on a survey which ranges widely chronologically, if not, and this is to be regretted, geographically, and raises important questions about the role of media outlets in shaping contemporary political and public debate, and the changes in communication media that have brought scandals to the forefront on political life. What could have dissolved into an encyclopaedic treatment of notable political scandals ends up as a tight and thoughtful analysis, as the author undertakes a thorough analysis of the nature and importance of political scandals, and develops some theories as to their consequences. In the first three chapters he deals with the nature of scandal, and for the duration of the work he analyses scandal as a phenomenon and tries to explain their prevalence. In doing so, Thompson is to be commended for the wide range of sources used. His research was clearly exhaustive, covering not only traditional print media, bu t also biographies and autobiographies of key players in scandals, and television broadcasts, committee reports, and historical works. His scholarship is formidable and evident throughout. Thompson openly concedes that his account is limited, by and large, to scandals in the Anglo-American world, but gives little justification for this. He certainly remains within his area of expertise at all times, but this study could have benefited from parallels drawn between scandals in the UK and America and those which have unfolded elsewhere. Certainly, the Anglo-American political scene seems peculiarly susceptible to political scandal, perhaps because of the nature of its intrusive media. However, the second part of this book, in which Thompson develops an analytical framework and reflects on the issues raised, would have benefited from some comparisons with scandals elsewhere. Perhaps the role of scandal in post-war Italian political instability, or its role in discrediting some African p residents, would have been pertinent subjects for further exploration. Nevertheless, within the parameters he sets for himself, Thompson produces an effective and comprehensive work, and the framework he sets out for classifying, identifying and theorising about political scandal could doubtless be applied beyond the Anglo-American experience. Thompson traces back the etymological origins of ‘scandal’ to its Judaeo-Christian roots, and carries it through to its first appearances in English in the 16th