GLA and the Mayor Essay

GLA and the Mayor Essay Greater London Authority and the Mayor’s Environmental Policies Introduction London is of the greatest City in the world that has been successful in terms of production and competitive economy. Arguably, it is well known for its style, entrepreneurship, innovation, diversity as well as dynamism. The Greater London Authority (GLA) is a crucial managerial body for Greater London, which was formed in 2000 through a referendum. The body encompasses an executive Mayor who is elected directly, 25 members with inspection powers and a stuff of approximately 700 individuals. Most of its powers come from the Greater London Authority Act 2007 and Greater London Authority Act 1999, (Greater London Authority, 2006). The body has powers in various areas; such as, economic development, policing, transport, as well as emergency and fire planning in London. For effective functioning of Greater London Authority, four functional bodies were established to offer services for the above mentioned areas. The four bodies are: London Development Agency, Metropolitan Police Authority, Transport for London, and London Fire and Emergency planning authority. In terms of resources, this body is funded by the government, besides the money that is collected through taxation. Review of the powers and responsibilities of GLA and the Mayor As a matter of fact, London is one of the largest cities in the globe. Therefore, for the wellbeing of the people of this city to be observed, GLA under the chairmanship of the Mayor was given various responsibilities which could ensure that everything runs smoothly in London. In general terms, GLA has a strategic administration responsibility of the entire Greater London. Precisely, it has been given the responsibility of coordinating Greater London’s local authorities. The body has the same local government powers that have been granted to the City of London Corporation as well as the councils of thirty two London boroughs, (Greater London Authority, 2007). The Mayor was granted powers and responsibilities of making as well as influencing policies and strategies touching various areas in the entire city. To be more specific, the Mayor has about five major responsibilities. First, he has the responsibility of setting London’s strategic direction by formulating strategi es and plans for the entire city. Second, he prepares the budget and presents it to the Assembly for further discussion. Third, he represents London both at home and abroad. Fourth, he directs action to put into practice the strategies, in collaboration with other bodies in the GLA Group. Lastly, he has been given the responsibility of making appointments, to bodies that he heads and other pan-London bodies, (Dow, 2009), Literature review on Environmental strategies and policies by the Mayor in past five years According to the Mayor, London aims to be recognized as one of the leading cities both locally and globally in the world in improving the environment. This could be made possible through a reduction of pollution, dealing with climate change, consumption of fewer resources as well as development of a low carbon economy, (Andrew, Duncan, Jessica James, 2008). In order for this dream to be realized, the Mayor has proposed various plans and strategies; or rather policies, to be implemented to deal with environmental issues. The first strategy is the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions throughout the City. According to Dow (2009), about 75% of the world’s energy is utilized by cities and approximately 80.5% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world occur in these cities. London alone contributes to these emissions in the United Kingdom up to about 79.9%, which has been approximated to be about forty four million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide. This amount is expected to increas e tremendously due to the ever increasing population as well as economic development. Therefore, reduction of the emission Carbon Dioxide is one of the priorities of the Mayor. It is projected that, by 2025 carbon dioxide emission should have reduced by about 65% in this city. This could be done through three ways. Firstly, efficiency of energy will be improved. Secondly, supply efficiency would be increased; and lastly, there will be development of renewable energy sources. To further contribute to the reduction of emissions of carbon dioxide, plans have been made to ensure that construction of buildings in the city meet the standards of the changing climate, (Greater London Authority, 2010). The second strategy is the London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, (Greater London Authority, 2010). This strategy is concerned with three main things: identification of what and who is at risk in the current times within the city, investigation of how the change of climate will alter the risk of drought, flood and heatwave, and lastly, explanation of the actions that are required in order to manage this and those who will be responsible for it. According to scientists, it is expected that England would be experiencing hotter, drier summers and warmer wetter winters. This implies that, London is expecting to experience droughts as well as floods in the near future. As a precautionary measure, policies have been put into place to deal with these issues. For instance, the Drain London Forum has been given the responsibility of identifying areas at risk as well as coming up with plans of tackling the probable problem in these areas. A good of scholars assert that this is a visionary strategy and it will help London to be prepared for the uncertain future conditions based on the fact that climate conditions are changing fast. In fact, some parts of the world have already started feeling the impacts of Climate change. The third policy that was introduced by the Mayor which relates to the environment is the Waste Recycling policy. According to, Andrew, Duncan, Jessica andJames (2008), these policy is expected to save approximately 90 pounds annually through a reduction of the waste that is being produced in the city currently. Studies indicate that, about fifty five tonnes of waste is produced in London in a single day and approximately twenty tonnes annually. Reduction of waste will be undertaken in two ways: the first one is through the implementation of the Municipal Waste Management Strategy and the second way will be through the implementation of Business Waste Strategy, (Greater London Authority, 2010). Foundations have already been implemented towards this objective. For example, in The London Plan, policies have been included which will ensure that waste reduction in London has been achieved within a given period of time. Some of the objectives that have been included in this plan are: mana gement of waste in London as much as workable, promotion of activities aimed at managing wastes which would lead to achievement of the possible environmental advantages in terms of climate change as well as determining new reprocessing and composting objectives. It is believed that through these programs, London will be made a better place for its dwellers by reducing wastes within the country as well as reducing the cost of managing these wastes. Air quality is also one of the environmental aspects that have taken into account by the Mayor in London. Attempts to make London clean as well as green incorporate cleaning the air within the city. Consequently, the Mayor has tried to come up with policies that would ensure that there is reduction in air pollution. Some of these policies affects transport sector, which contributes a significant share of air pollution in London. These will include investment of millions of pounds to ensure that these strategies turns out successively. One of the policies aimed at enhancing air quality is cleaning the fleet of buses in London so that they conform to the Euro IV emissions standards for PM10 and NOx. Secondly, is a policy that aims at cleaning Private Hire Vehicle and taxi fleet by introduction of age limits to eliminate older and perhaps more polluting motor vehicles from the road, (Dow, 2009). Thirdly, is the policy that is focused on including minibuses and vans which must conform to Euro 3 standard in the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) starting from 2012. Lastly, is the introduction of a new NOx for LEZ beginning 2015. According to ( ), there are also other policies which are aimed at reduction of air pollution which are not related to the transport sector. These policies include: implementation of new standards of emission for new biomass boilers and joint power and heat systems; increasing public awareness to enlighten the Londoners the importance of reducing air pollution; and lastly, updating the practices that should be used in reduction of emissions of dust from construction sites as well as developing a Supplementary planning Guidance to motivate its implementation across London. Lastly, Greater London Authority has categorized water conservation as one of its priorities in creating a sustainable environment for the Londoners. The Mayor once said that his major goal for London as far as water is concerned, is the creation of an environment that meets the standards of for the preservation and protection of the quality of life of the citizen. He further argued that, this could only be made possible if the water resources of the City could be safeguarded. However, he also agree that, this would be very challenging bearing in mind that the impacts of climate change have already started being felt in some parts of the major cities of the world, as well as the increasing population. The first policy in this case is concerned with water usage in London. According to the Mayor supply management will be undertaken through reducing water loss through leaking, efficient water use, usage of reclaimed water, and development water resources that contributes least to climat e alteration. The second policy is aimed at encouraging citizens to learn to store water for future use. The third policy focuses on how water should be disposed. According to Greater London Authority (2006 ), wastewater should be released to a â€Å"foul sewer† and in rare cases, to the â€Å"combined sewer†. The three policies have had a significant impact on water usage in the city. Lately, people have learnt the importance of preserving water, thanks to the initiatives that the Greater London Authority. Analysis of the gap between policy, public policy initiatives and general practice Arguably, the effects of the policies that have been introduced by the Mayor are yet to be fully experienced. In general terms, there seems to be a gap between policy, public policy initiatives as well as general practice among the public. To begin with, for these policies to be fully implemented, a lot of resources are needed. For instance, in order to achieve a reduction of emission of carbon dioxide by 6o% by 2025, about 60 billion pounds are required for the implementation of the proposed policies. The Greater London Authority expects that the government will cheap inn by offering some financial assistance which will enable this body to attain its objectives, (Greater London Authority, 2009). However, it is not certain that the central government will provide the additional resources to facilitate the plans. Actually, this has been one of the reasons why some of the plans are yet to be implemented; while others have already been implemented but challenges are being encountered in realizing the projected outcomes. Another thing is that, there is no enough public awareness as far the environment is concerned. Therefore, the body has a lot to do if at its policies are to have positive impacts or rather the intended objectives. For instance, the Mayor and his team should start with public awareness campaign with an objective of educating the public the importance of the environment in their lives. This will have a very significant impact when the policies are being implemented, as people will be aware of the intentions of these policies as well as strategies. Moreover, through these campaigns, the general public will be taught to be responsible for their activities in relation to the environment. As such, the policymakers will have full support of the public in carrying out their activities. Undeniably, London is one of the developed cities technologically. However, a lot is needed in the implementation of these policies and it will need investing good amount of cash in acquiring or rather implementing the needed technology. For instance, according to the Mayor, all new homes which are to be constructed in the city as well as the current homes should be improved to become energy and water efficient. Additionally, certain types of vehicles such as the electric vehicle will be produced to lower carbon dioxide emissions. This would need application of advanced technology which will be considerably expensive. Therefore, enough study should be undertaken in order to establish how to effectively implement these policies based on the existing technology in order to reduce or rather cut down costs that will be incurred on technology. Lastly, it is true that there has been an improvement in the living standards of the Londoners in the recent years and it is expected to continue improving. However, it should be noted that, there are significant inequalities in many facets of life in this city, which impacts selective areas as well as groups more than others, and there are chances that the situation would continue. As such, some of the policies that are intended to be implemented to promote a better environment might negatively affect other groups, (Greater London Authority, 2009). For instance, policies that are intended to improve the efficiency of water in the future days by using meters may have a negative impact on low-income groups if these policies will result to an increase in average bills. Opinions concerning priorities and a particular policy Different opinions have been given by various individuals as far as the Mayor’s priorities of London are concerned. For instance, certain people agree that the priorities are good but some other things could be given more priority as compared to the execution of some â€Å"environmental-related† policies. For instance, lately, creation of more jobs should be given priority as the living standards have increased. The situation has been worsened by the recent global economic crisis. As such, what is really needed is creation of more jobs opportunities for the general public. However, generally, most individuals are supporting these priorities, (Andrew, Duncan, Jessica,James, 2008). They argue that, for a better future and the wellbeing of the people of London, development of the city should go hand in hand with preservation of the environment. Thus, environmental development policies should be prioritized as compared to policies in other areas. For instance, most people a gree that air pollution as been one of the biggest environmental problems in London. Therefore, the initiative that has been taken by the Mayor and his team to address this problem will have a significant impact in the lives of the Londoners. For example, it will contribute to health problems that are associated with air pollution. Effectiveness of GLA and the Mayor of London on environmental issues Despite of the minor setbacks that have been experienced by the GLA and the Mayor, it can be said that these body has been effective in tackling the key issues that are related to the environment. For example, some of the strategies that had been proposed have already been executed. For example, the objective of making London â€Å"a global point of reference for sustainable cities by 2020† is already being implemented by the London Sustainable Development Commission. Although, the plan to prevent the entry of high polluting vehicles to London was extended in by two years in 2010, some of policies that will enable reduction of carbon emission are already in place. For example, at one point the Mayor announced discounts on van with low emissions. This was an attempt to motivate the general public to prioritize low-emission vans to reduce emission of carbon dioxide in the City. The extension was necessary to

Financial Organization Analysis Example

Essays on Financial Organization Analysis Assignment Running Head: J.P. Morgan business; A Swot Analysis. J.P. Morgan business. College J.P Morgan is a U.S multinational with a heavy presence in the financial sector; it is particularly conspicuous in securities business, investment services as well as retail banking. The institutions history dates back to the year 1799 when its very first predecessor was chartered. It has grown over time acquiring new partners thus strengthening its position to withstand the test of time and become what it is today; Sir J.P. Morgan become a senior partner in the year 1895 and the firm was renamed J.P. Morgan and Co. It acquired Bear Stearns Companies Inc in 2008 which further strengthened its capabilities in the wide range of business. In 2010 it fully took over ownership of J.O. Morgan Cazenove making it even stronger in terms of assets and capital. J.P. Morgan has positioned itself strategically as an institution building relationships with its target customer thus the slogan â€Å"The right relatio nship is everything else.† Swot Analysis. J.P. Morgan as an institution targets mostly affluent investors who are both enterprises and individuals. It enjoys a strong brand, visibility and a stable financial base as well as a great presence across the world. It in fact has employed more than two hundred and fifty thousand people in the whole world. Strength involves its excellent services offered to customers owing to its extensive retail branch network. Products offered include agent lending, custody services, depository receipts, clearing, collateral management, financing prime brokerage and fund management services. Its brand is heavily present in the business to business segment and this is a real plus on its image. More importantly it’s the biggest bank in America considering its sales, the market value, profitability and asset base. Weaknesses are also there despite its many strengths; it has continued over time to depend on the American units for profitability. There is also a growing amount of competition fr om other firms providing financial services and the market in the financial services keeps fluctuating thus not easy to forecast. Competitors include, ING, Prudential and wells Fargo groups. Opportunities for J.P Morgan include; expanding into other markets in foreign countries with its strong brand as well as stable capital position. There is also a very great opportunities in diversifying product portfolios for the customer. This will reduce dependence on traditional products and business models thus check the threat posed by competitors. They also have an opportunity to have investments across the world under the auspices of the global stature. Opportunity also exists in increasing the commercial banking business and entering into more joint ventures. Two major threats are there to the business of J.P Morgan. These involve the ever changing industry regulations by government financial crises in the form of recessions. The ever unstable market for mortgage business in the United States and across the world is another important threat to the business. How J.P Morgan could capitalize on strengths to minimize weakness. The corporation has a very firm financial base and this can be taken advantage of to minimize weaknesses by expanding and investing in foreign markets. Being the largest bank in the United States by profitability and asset base it should take advantage of this position to acquire more small firms and enter into more joint ventures so as to further consolidate the capital position. Diversifying products range will also help J.P. Morgan stand strong in the ever fluctuating market place as a well performing line will be leaned on incase another line is hit. The greatest asset lies in expansion and diversification as this will remove the complacency of depending on traditional products and banking models thus remain relevant in the fast changing global market as well as weather the ever increasing competition. Existence of many regulations such as the home mortgage disclosure act, Equal Credit opportunity Act and lending limits put a heavy burden on financial institutions to comply. This threat is compounded by the fact that these regulations are ever changing and a financial institution may easily find itself in a legal suit. During the company’s announcement of its third quarter results the most important message was that it was not going to be profitable as should have been. This is majorly due to government regulations as well as the legal problems the company faces. The structure of the American government places financial institutions under regulation by many agencies. J.P. Morgan for instance is subject to regulations by OCC, SEC, CFTC, and FDIC at various levels putting in a huge burden that sometimes leads to losses (Murphy, 2013). Capital requirements, antimony laundering responsibilities and many other government regulations make it difficult financial institutions to sm oothly carry on their business. The Volcker Rule which is part of Dodd-Frank Financial reform law places limits on how much one investment back may fund its own privately owned equity funds. It also puts restrictions on risky though profitable trading in which institutions use their internal funds to fund trades. These requirements forced the company to let its private equity ranch to become independent (Scott, 2013). Financial institutions such as JPMorgan Co. can minimize the impacts of regulation by ensuring strict adherence to the existing policies so as to avert possible legal suits that affect their capital positions. The pressure exerted by capital requirements can be weathered by holding an excess of the requirements as they did in anticipation of tough economic times ahead in the periods before recession. (Murphy, 2013). This is a very prudent step as for instance it assisted JPMorgan come out of the recession unaffected hence applied to requirements of government could be a very apt cushion. Another way to avert negative impacts of regulation is for JPMorgan working together with other financial institutions engage and negotiate with government to implement policies that make the business environment favorable. Reference. 1. Daniel Darst et al. (2009) Journey: Retirement Insights and Solution from J.P. Morgan. 1st Ed. 2. Edward V. Murphy. (2013). Who Regulates Whom and How? An Overview of U.S. Financial Regulatory Policy for Banking and Securities Markets. Congressional Research Service. 3. Scott Gamm. (2013). JPMorgan To Spin Off Private Equity Business As Volcker Rule Comes To Life. Forbes. Retrieved at http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottgamm/2013/06/14/jpmorgan-to-spin-off-private- equity-business-as-volcker-rule-comes-to-life/ 4. Sital S. Patel. (2013). Superstorm of Regulation and Capital rules Forces J.P. Morgan to Retreat, Experts Say. The Wall Street Journal, retrieved at http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/10/11/superstorm-of-regulation-and- capital-rules- force-j-p-morgan-to-retreat-experts-say/

Papoer Free Essays

The Impact of Music on Language Early Literacy: A Research Summary In Support of Kindermusik’s ABC Music Me The Impact of Music on Language Early Literacy: A Research Summary In Support of Kindermusik’s ABC Music Me Introduction Early childhood classroom teachers believe in the power of music to engage children. What scientifically based research supports the use of music and musical instruction to build early literacy skills? This research summary answers that question, providing support to educators who wish to integrate music and musical instruction into their early language and literacy programs in schools. This research summary reviews high-quality experimental studies conducted in classrooms with young children receiving music education, plus relevant brain research that focuses on the impact of musical instruction on the brain. We will write a custom essay sample on Papoer or any similar topic only for you Order Now The impact of music and musical instruction on early language and literacy development for young children is examined in the following areas: †¢ ReadingComprehensionandVerbalMemory †¢ ListeningSkills †¢ Vocabulary,includingforEnglishLanguageLearners †¢ PhonologicalandPhonemicAwareness †¢ WritingandPrintAwareness †¢ ImpactonChildrenwithDisabilities †¢ FamilyInvolvement The research summarized below provides strong support for including music and musical instruction in the earlychildhoodclassroom. Importantly,thisrecommendationismadenotjustforthevalueofthemusical experience itself, but also because of the impact music and musical instruction can have on young children’s development of language and early literacy. Music Instruction Reading Scores Linked Readingcomprehensionisseenasâ€Å"theessenceofreading†(Durkin,1993)andthedesiredoutcomeof reading instruction, including the focus of assessment on standardized reading tests starting in third grade. Comprehensionisdefinedasâ€Å"intentionalthinkingduringwhichmeaningisconstructedthroughinteractions betweentextandreader†(HarrisHodges,1995). Anumberofresearchstudieshavefoundthatchildrenwhoparticipateinmusicinstructiontendtoscorehigher on tests of reading comprehension than children who do not participate in musical instruction. †¢ Ameta-analysisof25correlationalstudies,someinvolvingsamplesizesofover500,000students, foundaâ€Å"strongandreliableassociation†betweenmusicinstructionandscoresontestsofreading comprehension(Butzlaff,2000). Astudyof4,739elementaryandmiddleschoolstudentsinfourregionsoftheUnitedStatesrevealed astrongrelationshipbetweenelementary(third-orfourth-grade)students’academicachievementas measuredbytestscoresandtheirparticipationinhigh-qualitymusicprograms(JohnsonMemmott, 2006). While these studies are appealing, one cannot conclude from correlational studies alone that the music instruction was the cause of the gains in reading scores. To a nswer that question, we turn to the experimental studies that involved pre- and post-testing of young children receiving classroom music education. Theauthorsofaclassicstudy(Hurwitzetal,1975)askedwhethermusictrainingimprovedreading performance in first grade children. The experimental group received musical instruction including listening to folk songs with an emphasis the listening for melodic and rhythmic elements. The control group consisted ofchildrenwhowerematchedinage,IQ,andsocioeconomicstatusandwhoreceivednospecialtreatment. Aftertraining,themusicgroupexhibitedsignificantlyhigherreadingscoresthandidthecontrolgroup,scoring inthe88thpercentileversusthe72ndpercentile. Moreover,continuedmusicaltrainingwasbeneficial;afteran additional year of musical training, the experimental group’s reading comprehension scores were still superior to the control group’s scores. These findings provide initial support for the view that musicinstructionfacilitatestheabilitytoread. More recent research focuses on the specific impact of music instruction on the subprocesses involved in successful reading. Researchersbelievethatmusicinstruction impacts a student’s brain functioning in processing language, which in turn impacts reading subprocesses like phonemic awareness and vocabulary. These subprocesses ultimately impact a student’s ability to read with comprehension. Music Instruction Improves Verbal Memory Research Into Practice: ABC Music Me Kindermusik’sABCMusicMehelpsteachers engage young children in language- and literacy-rich musical activities that include playful instruction in foundational music skills andinstrumentexploration. Researchsuggests that engaging young children in these types of musical activities are correlated with later success in reading comprehension. Anotherwayinwhichmusicinstructionmaypositivelyimpactreadingabilityisthroughincreasedverbal memory. The findings linking music training to verbal memory are important because verbal memory is essentialforreadingprintedwordswithcomprehension. Asreadingprogressestosentencesandtextsof greater lengths, verbal memory allows a child to retain material in memory as it is being read so that syntactic andsemanticanalysesnecessarytocomprehensioncanbeperformed. Verbalmemoryisessentialforall childrenlearningtoread(Brady,1991;StoneandBrady,1995),andpoorperformanceinverbalmemoryhas beenassociatedwithreadingdisabilitiesforyoungchildren(AckermanandDykman,1993;Cornwall,1992; Scarborough,1998). Recentbrainandpsychologicalresearchshowsthatmusicinstructioncanhaveapositiveimpactonverbal memory. †¢ Astudyofninety6-to15-year-oldboysfoundthatthosewithmusictraininghadsignificantlybetter verbal learning and retention abilities. The longer the duration of the music training, the better the verbalmemory(Ho,Cheung,Chan,2003). Afollow-upstudyconcludedthattheeffectwascausal. The authors suggest that the cause of the increase in verbal memory was neuroanatomical changes in the brains of children who were playing music. †¢ Anotherstudyfoundthatlearningtoplaya musical instrument enhances the brain’s ability Research Into Practice: ABC Music Me torememberwords. â€Å"Adultswithmusictraining ABCMusicMeengageschildreninactive in their childhood demonstrate better verbal music-making with a variety of musical memory,†accordingtostudyauthorChan. instruments both in the classroom and at Thisbrainresearchwith60adultsshowedthat home. Researchsuggeststhatthisearly musicians have enlarged left cranial temporal experience may improve children’s verbal regions of the brain, which is the area involved in memory, an important factor in successful processingheardinformation. Asaresult,people text comprehension for later stages of reading withmusictrainingcouldremember17%more development. verbal information than those without music training(Chanetal,1998). Music Helps Build Listening Skills â€Å"Learningtolistenisaprerequisitetolisteningtolearn,†stressesresearcherMayesky(1986). Listeningisthe first language mode that children acquire, and it provides a foundation for all aspects of language and reading development. Listeningisaverylargepartofschoollearning,withstudentsspendinganestimated50to75 percentofclassroomtimelisteningtotheteacher,tootherstudents,ortomedia(Smith,1992). Despitethefrequencyoflisteningactivityinclassrooms,listeningskillsarenotfrequentlytaughtexplicitly (HyslopTone,1988;Newton,1990). â€Å"Mostteachersteach,assumingthatbecausetheyaretalking,their studentsarelistening†(Swanson,1996). Asaresult,manychildrendonotacquirethelisteningskillsnecessary to acquire new knowledge and information. Too often listening is thought to be a natural skill that develops automatically, but in fact developing good listeningskillsrequiresexplicitinstruction. â€Å"Ifweexpectchildrentobecomegoodlisteners,†¦weneed to teach them to become activelisteners†(Jalongo, 1995). Directinstructioninlisteningskillsshouldinclude â€Å"lessonsdesignedtospecificallyteachandmodelthe skillsnecessaryforactivelistening†(Matheson,Moon Winiecki,2000). Anexperimentalstudywithyoung English language earners showed that focused listening instruction can benefit listening comprehension for childrenlearningasecondlanguage(GohTaib,2006). Musicalactivitiesarecitedbyresearchersaseffective experiences for building listening skills in the classroom (Hirt-Mannheimer,1995;Wolf,1992),forbothmainstream classrooms and classrooms with children who have disabilities. (HumpalWolf,2003). Research Into Pract ice: ABC Music Me EachunitofABCMusicMegiveschildren not only the opportunity to listen actively to music, but also includes focused listening activities using music, non-musical sounds, andlanguage. Classroomroutineshelp teachers focus children’s attention on listening todirections. Read-aloudstoriesandsongs give children opportunities to practice listening to extended discourse. Recentbrainresearch(Flohretal,1996)showsthatmusictrainingchangesandimprovesbrainfunctioning relatedtolistening. Anexperimentalstudywithchildrenages4to6providedmusictrainingfor25minutesfor 7weeks,andthenmeasuredbrainactivity. ThosechildrenwhohadreceivedmusicaltrainingproducedEEG frequencies associated with increased cognitive processing and greater relaxation. Music Can Build Vocabulary, including for English Language Learners Manyeducationalresearcherspromotemusicasawayto enhance vocabulary acquisition and comprehension, and emphasize music’s ability to engage children in instruction (FountasPinnell,1999;MillerCoen,1994;Page,1995; Smith,2000;Wiggins,2007). Accordingtoeducationalresearchers,thereissubstantial evidence that children acquire vocabulary incidentally byreadingandlisteningtooralstories(Krashen,1989). Duringthepreschoolyearsbeforechildrencanread, children rely exclusively on the oral language they listen to in order to acquire How to cite Papoer, Essay examples

Accounting and Finance for Managers

Questions: 1. Explain the different forms of business units(sole proprietorship, partnership, limited company) available, highlighting the benefits and limitations of each.2. Explain financial accounting and management accounting, highlighting the differences between the two strands of accounting.3. Assuming that you have not been given any information about the inheritance of the brothers. Explain the sources of finance available to a business owner, looking at Short-term sources, Medium-term sources and Long-term sources of finance giving examples of each. Answers: Introduction In starting up a business, there are various important decisions that are required to be undertaken. The most important decision is mainly with respect to the selection of appropriate business units. The type of business unit that must be considered in starting a business is crucial and there could be the selection of different important formats that could be possible such as sole proprietorship, partnership and limited company. Apart from the selection of sources of financing, it is also essential that appropriate decisions should be made with respect to the sources of financing that are available to the business. In starting a business, it is essential that appropriate financing sources should be selected so that the business operations can be managed in a highly efficient manner. This report is therefore aimed at analysing the different form of business units that are available to the two brothers that have considered for setting up a business. The analysis will focus on providing an in-depth analysis on the differences between financial accounting and management accounting so that the two brothers could understand its importance and apply them efficiently in managing organisations operations. Finally, the report will include an analysis of different important sources of financing that these two brothers would consider in performing the management of their business operations (Needles, Powers and Crosson, 2013). 1. Different forms of Business Units and their Benefits and Limitations There are different forms of business formats that are available to a business to consider. However different business formats are applicable in different situations depending on the nature of the business. There are mostly three different forms of business units that are available to an organisation to consider. These are mainly categorised as sole proprietorship, partnership and limited company. The role and importance of these different forms of business unit is crucial and it is therefore essential that a proper understanding of all such business formats including their advantages and limitations is essential. An analysis of all these important business formats including the analysis of their advantages and limitations is performed as follows: Sole Proprietorship: Sole proprietorship is an important business format which mainly implies the conduct of the business activities by a single owner of the firm. The sole proprietor is the single owner of a firm and he/she is responsible for the overall management of the organisation. As a result, the introduction of capital is also performed by the sole proprietor and he/she is responsible for the entire profit and loss from the firm. In simple words, the entire management of the firm is carried out by the sole proprietor and the responsibility for the results as achieved is therefore with the owner of the firm i.e. sole proprietor. There are certain important advantages associated with sole proprietorship. As for instance, the main advantage with the sole proprietor is that the sole proprietor is responsible for the entire management of the business. As a result, the entire control is mainly with respect to the sole proprietor. The sole proprietor can take decisions without any b urden, and there is no one to stop him/her from doing so. The disadvantage with sole proprietor is that the entire loss has to be borne by the sole proprietor himself, and there is no any division of risk (Brigham and Daves, 2015). Partnership: Partnership is another important form of business unit that could be utilised for the purpose of starting a business unit. In respect to partnership form of business, there are two or more than two partners that are responsible for the management of the entire business. Partnership business unit can be followed when there are two owners ready to perform the management of a business, and in this business form, the partners are responsible for the entire management of the business. However the share as contributed by each partner mainly determines their stake in the partnership firm and their share in the profits. Since there are two or more persons responsible for the management of the entire business, it provides flexibility in performing the management of the entire business. As a result, the main advantage associated with partnership is that it provides good flexibility in taking important decisions and the involvement of two or more persons allows for better ability i n taking important decisions. However, the disadvantage associated with partnership is that it leads to dilution of control, and secondly, the profits of the firm need to be shared. The individual partner cannot take decisions freely which they could undertake in respect to sole proprietorship firm (Longenecker, Petty, Palich and Hoy, 2011). Limited Company: Limited company is also an important form of business unit that could be considered by businesses in setting up their business. A limited company can be defined as a company whereby the liability of member is limited to the extent of investment as made by them in the company. The limited companies can be limited by shares or limited by guarantees. The companies limited by shares can further be divided into public companies and private companies. The limited companies are available all across the world and this is an important form of business unit that could be utilised by businesses in starting up their ventures. An analysis of the advantages of limited company indicates that this business format has the advantages such as the liability of the company is limited, but it is only to the extent of the investment as made by each individual contributor on the company. Another major advantage is that it is limited company has separate legal entity from its owners. This fo rmat of the business has advantage in the form of tax saving advantage, as it offers opportunities to save taxes over the profit. However, in respect to the disadvantage is concerned, this format of business unit can be considered as highly complex and there is limitation in respect to limited company which is in the form of restriction over the raising of capital. There has also been the dilution of power in respect to such limited company which can be regarded as another major limitation (Kieso, Weygandt and Warfield, 2011). On the basis of analysis of different business format and their advantages and disadvantages, the business format that is recommended to the two brothers is partnership form of business unit. 2. Financial Accounting and Management Accounting Financial accounting and management accounting are the important types of accounting and their knowledge is crucial in performing the efficient management of the business. An analysis of the concept of financial accounting and management accounting is that financial accounting is concerned with providing information to different stakeholders of the business such as creditors, shareholders, investors, and others. Financial accounting is concerned with assessing the overall performance of the business whereby the focus has been towards recording and measuring the financial performance of the business. It involves recording the business transactions, preparing financial statements so that the stakeholders of the company are informed about the entire performance of the business (Besley and Brigham, 2011). Contrary to the concept of financial accounting, the concept of managerial accounting is also an important concept and it is concerned with providing information regarding the organisations performance to the internal managers within organisation. Management accounting provides relevant information to the managers inside the organisation so that relevant decisions can be taken by them in leading the organisation to higher success levels. Management accounting is therefore the field of accounting that is concerned with analysing and providing information to the internal management with the main purpose of allowing them in planning, controlling and decision making process. In simple words, management accounting can therefore be defined as the identification, measurement, analysis, preparation, interpretation and communication of information so that management can make use of such information in taking relevant decisions (Needles, Powers and Crosson, 2012). An analysis of the differences between financial accounting and management accounting indicates that financial accounting is concerned with providing information about the organisations performance to the external stakeholders of the organisation whereas management accounting is concerned with providing information to the internal managers of the organisation. The objective of financial accounting is mainly to present the end results of a business such as its profitability or the financial position as at a particular date whereas the management accounting has the objective of providing information with a view to plan and set goals of the organisation. Further, there is no such legal requirement in respect to managerial accounting whereas in respect to financial accounting, it is legally required to disclose the financial performance of the organisation. These are the basic differences in respect to managerial accounting and financial accounting (Needles, Powers and Crosson, 2013). 3. Sources of Financing Businesses require adequate level of financing from different sources in meeting out their short term, medium term and long term need. The different financing sources along with their examples are analysed as follows: Long Term Financing Sources: Businesses need funds for long term purposes, and the important sources available to them can be classified as equity capital, debt and retained earnings. Equity is mainly the funding raised by way of inviting public to subscribe to the shares of the company and become its owners. Debt financing is mainly a kind of borrowing which could be done by businesses in the form of loans from bank or it could also be in the form of private lenders. Retained earning is known as the earnings of the firm that has been retained in the business, and it could be utilised in meeting out the long term business requirements for funding. These are the important financing sources in meeting out the business requirements for long term needs (Needles and Crosson, 2013). Medium Term Financing Sources: Apart from the long term financing sources, there is medium term financing sources that could also be utilised. The medium term financing sources as available to businesses are classified as term loans and leasing. Term loans are taken usually for period ranging from 2 to 5 years, and this medium term financing source is quite crucial in allowing organisation to meet out their business requirements efficiently. Apart from this, leasing is another important medium term financing source that could be utilised by businesses, and in this mode, the financier would purchase the equipment and it would then be leased for regular payments (Needles and Powers, 2013). Short Term Sources: There is funding needed by businesses in meeting out their daily business requirements, and this can be appropriately addressed through the application of short term financing sources. The important short term financing sources available to businesses include bank overdraft, trade credit etc. Bank overdraft is mainly the raising of funds from banks for the short term purpose whereby the business agrees to pay interest to the bank for the purchases. Apart from this, trade credit is the daily credit obtained from debtors whereby the funds from the credit purchases are being utilised in meeting out the business requirements (Bamber and Parry, 2014). These are the important sources of financing that are available to businesses in meeting out their short term, medium term and long term funding requirements. Conclusion In this report, a critical assessment has been carried out with respect to different forms of business, and also the sources of financing as available to business. The performance of analysis indicated that there are different important formats of business that could be considered by businesses and these include sole proprietorship, partnership and limited companies. These business formats have different roles and importance, and they are suitable under different circumstances. The analysis indicated that these sources have their own advantages and disadvantages. The different between financial accounting and management accounting is evaluated and it is identified that financial accounting is concerned with the financial performance of the organisation and it aims at meeting out the needs and expectations of the external stakeholders of the organisation whereas management accounting is aimed at providing information to the management within organisation for the purpose of allowing th em in making important decisions, and it is therefore considered as focused towards internal department of the organisation. Finally, different important sources of financing are identified which includes short term, medium term and long term financing, and they also have their own specification and importance. Recommendations: It is recommended that the two brothers should consider partnership format of starting business, and they should make use of the above identified financing sources in meeting out their long term, medium term and short term financing needs. References Bamber, M. and Parry, S. (2014), Accounting and Finance for Managers: A Decision-Making Approach, Kogan Page Publishers. Besley, S. and Brigham, E. (2011), Principles of Finance, 5th ed., Cengage Learning. Brigham, E. and Daves, P. (2015), Intermediate Financial Management, 12th ed., Cengage Learning. Kieso, D.E., Weygandt, J.J. and Warfield, T.D. (2011), Intermediate Accounting, Volume 1, John Wiley Sons. Longenecker, J., Petty, J., Palich, L. and Hoy, F. (2011), Small Business Management: Launching and Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures 16th ed., Cengage Learning. Needles, B., Powers, M. and Crosson, S. (2012), Principles of Accounting, 12th ed., Cengage Learning. Needles, B. and Crosson, S. (2013), Managerial Accounting, 10th ed., Cengage Learning. Needles, B. and Powers, M. (2013), Principles of Financial Accounting, Cengage Learning. Needles, B., Powers, M. and Crosson, S. (2013), Financial and Managerial Accounting, 10th ed., Cengage Learning.