MBA Course Knowledge Center: May 2012

Monday, May 28, 2012

Cost Management - Activities - Job Positions

Authors

Narayana Rao

Cost Management Organization or Setup

Activites of Cost Management Process

Cost Management - Decision Making and Implementation

Cost Analysis and cost estimation

Cost Management Information System

Cost Accounting

Cost Objective Statements ( Routine/Periodical and Adhoc/special purpose)

Cost Accounting Books

Cost Voucher Preparation

Operating managers, cost accountants, cost analysts and continuous improvement specialists (industrial engineers) are the four functional specialists involved in cost management process in organizations.

Operations persons take decisions and implement them in carrying out various activities related to operations of purchasing, producing and selling goods or services in which the organization is doing business. Costs are incurred in the process and revenues are earned. These transactions are recorded in vouchers by the operations personnel.

Cost accounting department has the specialist job of collecting all the vouchers and recording them in cost accounting books of account - journal and ledger. Using the information from the ledger, they develop cost statements for various objectives - departments or products or some other cost heads under which cost information is required by the organization for decision making.

Cost management information system will decide who will get access to the books of cost accounting and various statements prepared by the cost accounting department.

Cost analysis is a step conducted using the cost information. The reason for doing cost analysis is decision making. Cost estimating is a part of cost analysis and it is complementary activity. Cost analysis can be done by cost accountants, operations people and specialist cost analysts like cost estimators.

Operations persons which classification includes the CEO of the organization also, now takes decisions based on the cost information and analysis and implements the decisions. The implementation once again gives rise to vouchers and the cycle continues.

Different cycles of very short durations (even as small as an hour) and long periods (plant life cycle period) keep occuring in the cost management process. Certain costs are reported on monthly basis and actions are taken to be implemented over the next month.

Cost Accounting, Costing and Cost Management - Article Directory

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Digital Economy Trends

Authors

Narayana Rao

2010

Crowd Sourcing of Solutions to Classroom Problems

10.9.2010

http://dontapscott.com/2010/09/10/educators-to-crowdsource-solutions-to-classroom-problems/

June 2010

Digital Economy rankings Economist Intelligence Unit for 2010
http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/EIU_Digital_economy_rankings_2010_FINAL_WEB.pdf
Sweden ranked at 1, USA at 3, UK at 14 and India at 58. China is slightly ahead at 56. But out of Bric countries, Brazil is ranked at 42.

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A Summary of Blueprint to Digital Economy
by Don Tapscott, Alex Lowy, and David Ticoll (Eds)
http://www.successfromwithin.com/content/BookSummaryBlueprinttotheDigitalEconomy.pdf

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Digital Economy by Don Tapscott

McGraw Hill, 1996

1996

Convergence between Content, Computing and Communications

15 year old kid - New Information Age Author and Publisher (Dintermediation - No editor)

Beyond Reengineering

Reengineering is doing existing things in new ways using IT.

Transformation is doing new things in new ways by coming out with digital technolgy possible goods and services.

Twelve Themes of New Economy

1. Knowledge

Goods and services are more knowledge intensive.

2. Digitization

3. Virtualization

This trend forecasts what is slowing becoming available today. A kinesthetic sense will be stimulated by ICT devices. Ex: vibration of mobile.

4. Molecurization

More small organizations and productive individuals emerge.

5. Integration/Internetworking

6. Disintermediation

7. Convergence

8. Innovation

Sony introduced 5000 new products in a year

9. Prosumption

Consumers participate in consumption

10. Immediacy

Idea to implementation cycle times gets reduced.

11. Globalization

People collaborate across globe.

12. Discordance

The new technology and economic activity can bring up massive truama and conflict

Transformation of Businesses in Digital Economy

Broadcasting:

Customers are not going to wait for broadcaster to schedule the show and see. They will see the programs at their convenience. The content will be delivered very quickly over the net on demand to the customer. And customer will watch at his convenience. He will interact with the content and go to some other related content for some time and then come back and watch the original program.

Advertising Agencies:

The dominant model is the payment of 15% commission of advertisement price paid to media. This will change and advertising agency may paid a service fee for designing the advertisement and media planning, but even this model may change and advertising is paid a commission depending on the sales generated by their advertisements though digital ordering channels. The digital channel makes such measurements possible. This may even mean simultaneous employment of two or three advertising agencies.

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Comments

Short Urls

http://knol.google.com/k/-/digital-economy-trends/2utb2lsm2k7a/2931#

Narayana Rao - 13 Sep 2010

Roadblock Advertising - Paper, Radio, TV, Online

Authors

Narayana Rao

Buying all the advertisement space at a point in time of all TV channels is termed as "roadblock" in advertising parlance. It can be done in newspapers if say, the last page in all newspapers carrries the same ad. The concept is extended to online when all homepage inventory of major sites and portals was booked by a single buyer and used to promote his product or service.

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Roadblock for Real Estate Brand Crossing Republik on Radio One, 1.6.2010

http://www.lintasmedia.in/news/news14.html

Volkswagen's roadblock leaves its im-print on Indian media, 25.11.2009

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/auto/automobiles/Volkswagens-roadblock-leaves-its-im-print-on-Indian-media/articleshow/5266556.cms

Road block a strategy to create or avoid TV traffic jams?, 14.10.2009

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5122109.cms

Creativity in Roadblock Ads, 28.5.2009

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1693918/creativity-roadblock-ads

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Auditing Computerized Accounting Systems

Authors

Narayana Rao

Auditor needs to have sufficient understanding of the computer hardware, software and processing systems.

The auditor may have to ask for special printouts to reconstruct an audit trail and verify the transaction from voucher.

Comments

Short urls

http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/auditing-computerized-accounting-systems/2utb2lsm2k7a/474

Narayana Rao - 10 Nov 2011

Auditing - Classification of Revenue and Capital Expenditures

Authors

Narayana Rao

The auditor should first acquaint himself with the nature of the business of his client organization to make a right decision regarding classification of expenditures into revenue and capital.

Only expenditure which will benefit future years should be capitalized.

Comments

Short urls

http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/auditing-classification-of-revenue-and/2utb2lsm2k7a/472

Narayana Rao - 10 Nov 2011

Auditing - Depreciation Provisions

Authors

Narayana Rao

1. Auditor should examine whether the estimated wroking life of the assets has been determined by a technical expert or not.

2. He should examine whether method of charging depreciation is followed consistently year after year. If there is a change in method, it is to be highlighted in the auditor's report.

Auditing - Introduction

Authors

Narayana Rao

According to Dickesse, auditing is an examination of accounting records undertaken with a view to establishing whether they correctly and completely reflect the transactions to which they purpose to relate. In addition the auditor expresses his opinion on the characther of the statements of accounting prepared from the accounting record so examined whether they portray a true and fair picture of the state of affairs of the organization to which they relate.

Spicier and Pegler have defined auditing as "examination of the books, accounts and vouchers of a business, as will enable the auditor to satisfy himself that the balance sheet is properly drawn up, so as to give a true and fair value of the state of affairs of the business, and whether the Profit and loss account gives a true and fair view of profit or loss for financial period, according to the best of his information and the explanations given to him and as shown by the books; and if not, in what respect he is not satisfied."

Career Planning

Authors

Narayana Rao

Everyone is primarily responsible for one's career growth.

Every person to have a systematic career growth plan, needs to first create self-awareness about likes, aspirations, and capabilities. Based on these one can formulate goals.

Career goal guides a person in undertaking various activities to achieve the set goal.

General guidelines for a successful career

Enhancing knowledge in general

Widening perspectives

Building competence in areas one likes

Building competence in areas organization wants a person to develop

Having a reasonably long tenure in a company

Positive relationships with people

Visibility

Creating the right climate around you yourself

Openness and flexibility

Action and result orientation

References

Kumar, Priyaranjan, "Career Planning in the New Era of Professionalism" , Self Development, Annual Number 2004, pp. 21-23 (Kumar Priyaranjan was Head Hr, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories in 2004).