Case 5-2: Lexsteel Corporation

What should the controller of Lexsteel do in order to address the potential problems within the corporation? †¢The controller became aware of the potential problems with the accounts payable system because of the discussion made with the external auditors. †¢Each branch manager is given the authority to order materials and issue emergency purchase orders directly to the vendors. †¢Physical counts of raw materials are not performed since there is a cost-effective computerized perpetual inventory system. †¢COMPUTER RESOURCES: The host computer mainframe at corporate headquarters is linked to the computers at each branch locations. Data transmission occurs between leased telephone lines between host computer and branch offices wherein it is maintained in an integrated database. The software also allows flexibility for managing user access and editing data input meaning there is no control over the software for it allows data editing without the proper authorization given. †¢PURCHASING PROCEDURES: The production orders and appropriate bills of materials needed are generated by the host computer at corporate headquarters. While the purchase orders for raw materials are generated by the purchasing function and is mailed to the vendors which contain an instruction to the vendor that the materials should be directly delivered to the manufacturing plant. There is a control between the generation of production orders needed and the purchase orders issued to the vendor but it is not an exception in the occurrence of fraud. At receipt, the manufacturing plant examines and verifies the count against the packing slip and transmits the receiving data to the accounts payable at corporate headquarters. Even though there is a proper segregation between custody and recording, still fraud may occur because of collusion. Also, each branch manager is given the authority to order materials and issue emergency purchase orders directly to the vendors. Fraud may also occur if collusion will be made by the branch manager and the vendor, with that proper control is a must. Since the company employs a cost effective computerized perpetual inventory system, physical counts of raw materials are not performed. With that, the generation of production orders and purchase orders may be deceived because the count of raw materials that are needed are not matched with the proper physical count on its ending inventory. †¢ACCOUNTS PAYABLE PROCEDURES: Vendor invoices are mailed directly to the corporate headquarters and entered by the accounts payable personnel when received. This often occurs before the branch offices transmit the receiving data so the recorded vendor invoices are not properly matched with the receiving report. Uncertainties of amount may exist. The checks and the payment listings are made by the accounts payable function and are transmitted to the treasurer’s office for signature and mailing to the payee. After validation, payment listings are returned to the accounts payable section for filing. In here, there is no proper control in the preparation and validation of checks and payment listings for the verification of it is not done which may result into collusion and creation of dummy payee made by the treasurer’s office and the accounts payable function.

Business Research Part

The fitness bands make is fairly ass for anyone with a weight loss or health goal to measure and track their exercise to include steps taken daily, and amount of energy and calories burned. N.B. has formed a team to research the accuracy and impact of wearing the fuel band. The primary benefit of the fuel band is intended to be to assist in helping consumers track their activity in order to lose weight. To ensure this is benefit is being achieved N.B. needs to show that as a person's activity level increases so does the number of calories they are burning. Hypothesis Statements 1 .The use of a fitness band to track activity will lead to increased activity (steps taken and distance covered) resulting in weight loss. 2. The accuracy of the fitness band will allow individuals a way to know the level of their daily output and input in order for them to reach their fitness goals. Research In preparing for this study there was a particular questions that guided the overall thinking. What i mpact does a fitness band have on a users overall general health? By displaying data concerning daily activity such as steps taken, distance covered, calories burned and hours slept can a user gain an wariness of their overall activity?With this is mind it is important to look back on the information that is currently available to us. There have been extensive studies conducted in this realm since the fitness band has emerged into the health and fitness industry. The team independently went out and reviewed this research to find what would be relevant to establishing this research plan. These range in review of the accuracy of the band on activity, the motivating factor it has on calorie counting, and the overall performance of the various bands on the market.In several of the articles it was evident that when aging walking activity fitness bands perform as desired. The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports (2014) published a study where a sample of adults used fitness bands whi le walking on the treadmill at various speeds. Upon completion of the study it was deemed the no â€Å"significant differences were noted† between the fitness bands count and that of the observer counts, therefore a high level of inter-device reliability was present (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports, 2014).Establishing that a fitness and has high reliability it accurately displaying activity solidified the choice of our dependent variable. Next we need establish that our independent variable were what we wanted to be based on the various other research out there. Mossier put forth a study in 2014 about the emerging importance technology would play in tracking activity (Mossier, 2014). The study discussed when a user accurately tracks activity and calorie intake it is an effective strategy for improved goal setting and overall health. This helped lead us in the direction of with increased awareness of activity does weight loss result?An article by Richards would say i t does but with modest results in short term use (Annals of Family Medicine, 2008). This article discussed the Cross- sectional studies show that individuals who walk more tend to be thinner than those who walk less. This does not mean, however, that the association between higher step counts and lower weight is causal or that encouraging sedentary individuals to increase step counts helps them lose weight. The study showed that 5 or more adult participants and at least 1 cohort enrolled in a pedometer-based walking intervention lasting at least 4 weeks.

WEEK3 - INTL 6000 - CLASSMATE PAPER CRITIC PAPER Assignment - 1

WEEK3 - INTL 6000 - CLASSMATE PAPER CRITIC PAPER - Assignment Example However, it would have been better also leading off with the aid given to the Free Syrian Army, which has fuelled the conflict even more and made peace even more difficult to attain (Daily Mail.com 1). The literature review also discusses the issue that the different author’s have formulated and briefly, talks about the author’s research orientation. However, it would have been better if the writer had commented on whether the author’s problem statement was clearly defined and whether the author had clearly established the relevance of the study to the issue within his literature review. However, the writer does indicate the specific problem and thesis that the author seeks to discuss in their research articles. For example, while discussing the article Intervention and Democracy by Bruno & George, the writer indicates that the authors are discussing the types of interventions that the United States should pursue in the conflict as a third party to achieve democracy in the region. The fact that the results are not new or surprising should have led the writer to comment on ways that the authors would have approached their problem or thesis differently. For exam ple, it would have been better if the writer had used the US’s threat of â€Å"consequences† if the Syrian government did not respect the wills of its people and used chemical weapons (Williams 1). The transition between different authors and articles covered in the literature review is well done. However, while the writer does cover some of the research designs and methodologies used in some studies, it is not done for most of the studies. The writer could also have indicated if the material had been written to appeal to the reader’s emotions, rhetorical, or one sided. For instance, it is clear that Gordon Hahn’s article Russia in 2012: from Thaw and Reset to Freeze is biased against the role of Russia in the conflict. The role played by President Putin, which is different from

Compare and Contrast a Big College Campus to a Small College Campus Essay

Compare and Contrast a Big College Campus to a Small College Campus - Essay Example These are probably the primary things that most new college students think about. But there are more factors that need to be considered. One of these important factors is the size of the college. Aside from a school’s academic reputation, the size of the student body may play the largest role in establishing the characteristics of a college. School size tends to determine everything from class size to cost of tuition. Then there are post-graduation considerations such as the size of the alumni support system and career placement services. When choosing between going to a large college or a small college, it is important to compare them side by side in some very important categories. Starting with academic considerations, class size seems to be a big factor in some student’s preferences for a small college. Attending beginning classes for a new student can be intimidating. At large state colleges, general education classes are often scheduled during the first semester fo r incoming freshmen. The problem with this is these classes often have horrible teacher to student ratios. Three hundred students in an auditorium with one professor for Psych 101 is not an ideal situation for many college freshmen. This first year is time full of conflicting emotions and difficult adjustments. Unfortunately, large schools seem to think that this is the perfect time to put students in classes where they have little or no chance of getting individualized attention from a professor because there are so many students that need help. Smaller colleges have small class sizes for even general education classes. This fosters an atmosphere of learning and growing together. Easy access to professors ensures that more learning can take place and answers can be given to student questions in a timely manner. Small colleges and small class sizes provide better spaces to achieve academic growth and potential. Socially, smaller colleges offer a more intimate experience than large c olleges. Big state funded schools tend to like spectacle and over-the-top extravaganzas. These can be truly entertaining at times. Homecoming parties, football tailgating and parades all mix with crazy fraternity and sorority fun at these schools on a grand scale. There is nothing wrong with having fun at school, but the type of fun and atmosphere that comes from it is different at a small school than it is at a large school. A small college gives the opportunity to do all of the things you can do at a large school on a smaller scale. There are plenty of parties, mixers and sporting events. What is not possible is to watch the football team play on ESPN for a national championship. But that doesn’t mean that sports are not important. If anything, the rivalries in sports like field hockey and rugby at smaller schools is even more intense than at large national schools because it is more personal. With small student populations, it is more likely that you actually know a person on the field that is competing in the event. They are more than some person you see on TV or on a poster in the school bookstore. They are more likely to be the person sitting next to you in English Composition class if you attend a small college. Another big difference between large schools and small colleges is the type of service you receive from administration. In a large school, each student is little more than a number. If there is any sort of problem that needs to be sorted out, going to the administration building can be a nightmare at

Opinion Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Opinion Paper - Essay Example To me, the idea seems to be okay, and I am for the increment in the reimbursements dues to the reasons discussed below. One of the reasons that I see it appropriate for the reimbursements to be increased is to enable both nurses and doctors to acquire the relevant medications and equipments to serve the large numbers of patients. The increase will result in better services being given by the physicians. Increasing the reimbursements may also lead to an increase in the participation of the physicians and the patients access to Medicaid (Bryan, 2004). The reason I prospect this is because most of the physicians have made it clear that caring for those patients who use Medicaid would become an important part of their mission and thereby a campaign for the increment must be carried out. Another reason for the reimbursement increase is to reduce the struggle that the doctors experience while giving their services to the Medicaid population and at the same time keeping their practices financially viable (Herbert, 2012). The main reason why I say this is because, I have had the chance to interact with some nurses and one of them put it clear to me that, they were in a position of accepting more Medicaid patients if they were in a position to afford all what they required finances and facilities and this usually meant an increase in the reimbursements was necessary. To conclude, it is important for the physicians and the nurses to have a clear understanding of the healthcare financial aspects so that they help their clients in understanding the meaning of increasing the existed reimbursements. The financial knowledge affects the nursing care of patients in the health care settings in that, they will have hands-on information on how their funds are used and how an increase in their reimbursements will improve the services offered to them at the hospitals. The responsibility of keeping

Prescriptive and Emergent Strategic Planning Essay

Prescriptive and Emergent Strategic Planning - Essay Example The paper throws light on strategic planning process as part of strategic management that has been applied by business managers over the years. The process involves a formal analysis of the market forces and developing an operational plan to be adopted by the organization in terms of resource allocation and the control mechanism. Strategic management will involve formulating the mission, vision, values, roles, responsibilities, goals, and objectives of the organization and developing policies to be implemented to achieve these objectives. Strategic planning is one of the management tools. It involves making principles, decisions, and steps to define what an organization will do and how it will be done in relation to the expected future trends in a given market. Planners often use economic theories to formulate the operational strategies to be adopted by the organizations. Nonetheless, the future may not fit these economic models and the intended patterns according to these strategies may not be realized finally by the organization. The traditional approach to strategic planning did not consider the dynamics in the business operations. In theory, the operations of an organization can be fully planned whereas in practice it is not possible. Essentially a strategic planning process should involve developing a mechanism to respond to the circumstances that will be encountered in a business environment regardless of whether or not the conditions were known to the planners during the planning process. (Management FAQs, n.d). Since the contemporary market is dynamic and the strategic models that are developed based on economic theories may not apply, alternative approaches to strategic planning are often used by organizations. Business organizations operating in the dynamic business environment may often encounter situations that require quick responses that cannot be made through the formal strategic planning processes (The Open University, 2012). An emergent strateg y is a situation where the realized pattern is different from the pattern that was expressly intended by the planners (Mintzberg, 1994). The essence of the emergent strategic planning approaches is to manage the dynamics that is observed. The emergent strategic planning does not originate fully from the minds of the planner. Much of it is determined by the factors that are prevailing at a given time that may not favor the realization of the intended objectives and goals. This paper provides an evaluation of the effectiveness of the traditional prescriptive strategic planning in relation to the current economic climate. Another category of alternative strategic planning approaches are also considered with an emphasis on the emergent strategic planning. Prescriptive strategic planning Strategic planning is one of the tough managerial tasks in business operations since it is at times complex and very challenging. It has been pointed out that planning is ‘a formalized procedure to produce an articulated result in the form of an integrated system of decisions’ (Mintzberg, 1994, p.12). The organizations are faced by a series of decisions to make. The organizations have several needs to be accomplished, and which may not be accomplished at the same time owing to the limited resources that these organizations have. The strategic planning will involve making decisions and actions that are more significant towards helping the organization achieve some if not all of the objectives (Management FAQs, n.d). Planning involves bringing mediation and some kind of compromise/agreement between the business and the environment. It involves forecasting into the future and meditating what should be done long before the situation is realized. The prescriptive thoughts to strategic pla

Ethics and Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethics and Social Responsibility - Essay Example The company also owes the duty of care to every single person or region that it operates from thus bringing in the issue of corporate social responsibility. This paper aims at assessing the ethics and corporate social responsibility at Starbucks Corporation. Ethics and Social Responsibility: The Case of Starbucks Farmer Loans According to Washington (2010), Starbucks coffee processer understands the financial positions of its collaborate farmers, which at times lures the farmers into borrowing high interest loans to finance their activities. Starbucks also understand that financial shortage could make farmers opt for premature harvest of coffee that they sell at lower prices thereby cutting their profit margins (Washington, 2010). To cushion the collaborate farmers from the effects of financial depravity, Starbucks has established pioneering programs designed to provide access to credit to help farmers in managing risks and stabilize business. In 2008, Starbucks offered $12.5 million as loans to collaborate farmers. In 2009, Starbucks coffee company launched Small farmer Sustainability Initiative (SFSI) in collaboration with the TransFair USA and Fair-trade Labeling Organization International with projections to help in thriving of small scale farmers (Washington, 2010). ... Starbucks relies on water for making coffee beverages and washing of containers. In that line, Starbucks coffee processors have prioritized measures to introduce new water conservation strategies. Starbucks have set strategies of sanitizing the coffee handling equipments to reduce excessive wastage of water (Washington, 2010). In 2008, Starbucks made clear their intentions to reduce water consumption in their operations. Starbucks coffee processors have set targets of reducing water consumption by 25% by the end of 2015. So far, Starbucks have made commendable achievements after having managed to reduce its rate of water consumption by 4.1% during its financial year 2008 to 2009 (Washington, 2010). Statement and codes of ethical responsibilities of Starbucks Company The operation of Starbucks coffee company recognizes and embraces diversity as an essential component o its business activities. Starbucks Company also operates under the vigils of providing ample working environment by s howing abundant respect of personal dignity to all of its employees (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2007). In addition, Starbucks Company operates with the basic missions of providing high quality coffee under fair prices. Starbucks coffee company operates towards all time satisfaction of its customers’ expectations. Moreover, Starbucks missions and objectives entail positive contribution to community and environmental protection. Starbucks also recognizes the purpose of operation as basic profitability for future survival. Starbucks accountability on ethical and social responsibilities Starbucks have an established Business Ethics and Compliance program that provide guidelines that help partners in ensuring the business operates

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Microeconomics - Essay Example 4. Features of monopoly Various features of monopoly are explained with the help of diagrams in this section. The question like how monopolistic firms attain the capability to increase the prices of their product and services is explained with the help of other economic terms. 5. Conclusion The major points discussed in this paper were summarised in this section. 6. Suggested areas of further research The question; how to protect the interests of the consumers in monopolistic market should be researched further. 7. References The references used for this research were cited in MLA style in this section. Abstract Monopoly is one of the major microeconomic terms which refer to the total domination of a firm in the market. The monopolistic firms face less competition in the market and they can control the market activities more effectively than other firms. Monopoly is beneficial to the firms whereas it is against the interest of the public. Monopolistic firms can increase the prices of their product and services far more than the actual prices because of lack of competition they may face in the market. Monopoly has different forms like natural, geographic, technological, and government. This paper briefly explains various features of monopoly according to the principles of microeconomics. ... Monopoly is a good market condition for an organization; but it is not so good for the consumers. The ability to fix prices of products and services is the main advantage of a monopolistic firm. For example, Microsoft is enjoying monopoly in the operating system market in the world at present. They are charging heavily for their Windows operating system because of the absence of any other competitive products. Types of monopoly Based on the nature, monopoly can be classified into different categories like; natural, geographic, technological, governmental etc. An industry is said to be a natural monopoly if it produce a desired output at a lower cost than two or more firms. Public utilities like railways, telecommunications, water services, electricity, and mail delivery etc are examples for natural monopoly. These public utility services are mainly controlled by the government and private competition is not allowed in these sectors. A natural monopoly and monopoly are entirely differ ent concepts since natural monopoly describes a firm's cost structure whereas a monopoly explains market share and market power. It is difficult for small firms to invest in areas with natural monopoly. For example, it is not easy for small firms to invest huge amounts needed for setting up a public transporting system like railways or public utility like water supply. Because of globalization, governments now permit private investments in natural monopolistic areas. In other words, the term natural monopoly is going to lose its significance since private companies may challenge the governments in these sectors. For example, BSNL (a public company) was the only telecommunication company in India till two decades before. At present many private companies like

Menu planning and product development (Unit 25) Essay

Menu planning and product development (Unit 25) - Essay Example The product development aspect is denoted to be one of the reasons for promoting the existing and new products, which mainly falls into the procedure of recipe testing. This could be the other basic principle of recipe development. Apart from the above discussed principles, evaluation is also regarded as the other prime principle of recipe development. Justifiably, recipes are mainly evaluated to observe the responses and the ways these can be improved for obtaining better results (Butler, 2014; Cole, 2011). The below depicted pictorial illustration provides a better idea about the varied principles of recipe development. The aspects influencing the decisions related to menu planning are often viewed to play imperative role for hotel and restaurant industry. In recent years, it can be ascertained that the taste of the customers/individuals has greatly changed and is incessantly transforming. Thus, it is to be ensured that nutrients and balanced diets are incorporated within a menu to serve customers efficiently. Nowadays, the customers are much concerned towards calorie food contents that require to be taken into concern while making decisions relating to menu planning (Hodder Education, 2014). There lay broad assortment of factors that may influence the menu planning decisions. In recent years, children, elderly people and teenagers have different dietary needs and thus it is necessary to make effective menu planning decisions. In this regard, the diverse kinds of meals, their respective texture and taste are noted to be influencing the decisions of menu planning at large. Apart from these, food gar nishing, kitchen type and capability of staff members are also considered to be the imperative factors influencing menu planning decisions by a considerable degree. Price must also be kept on top most priority as it mainly affects the menu

Parting The Waters Essay Example for Free

Parting The Waters Essay The book â€Å"Parting the Waters† by Taylor Branch not only highlights the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. , but also shows the parallel course Kings life took with the civil rights movement and even before it. This book provides a historical look at the Civil Rights Movement from 1964 to 1963. The first half of the book shows the origins of the civil rights movement parallel to that of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Some of the significant points raised by branch were as follows: The â€Å"birth† of the black preacher, John Rockefellers endowment, Kings early education and the immediate cause of the civil rights movement. Following their emancipation from slavery, the African-American peoples journey to freedom has actually begun. Despite the complete abolition of slavery, segregation took its place as most whites, especially from the South, found it hard to accept former slaves as equals and still sought to marginalize the black people. It was only in the church that blacks found leaders who were of strong character and would be the launch pad on their crusade for equality. As W. E. B. DuBois put it, the preacher is â€Å"the most unique personality developed by the Negro† (quoted in Branch 3). Next would be a footnote in the history of origins of the civil rights movement with the involvement of tycoon and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller whose involvement in the advancement of the African-Americans was attributed to his wife, Laura Spelman whose family were known abolitionists of the antebellum and civil war era. Because of this, Rockefeller provided an endowment for the creation of a school for blacks which would be named after his wifes family (Spelman College) in Atlanta, once the heart of the Confederacy. The significance of these two circumstances would be that Martin Luther Kings maternal grandfather, and his father were preachers and his maternal grandmother Jennie Parks and his mother Alberta were students of Spelman College, therefore, a beneficiary of Rockefellers philanthropy (Branch 30). The education of his parents enabled the younger King to live a relatively comfortable life compared to other blacks who were not as fortunate as his family and lived in virtually a hand-to-mouth existence because segregation denied them the opportunities to better their lives. Kings education took him to Pennsylvania where he was exposed to liberal education that made him feel like an equal. He began his first public ministry at the age of 25, at the time the Supreme Court, the the Brown vs. Board ruling outlawed segregation in schools. But this was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The catalyst of the civil rights movement began when Rosa Parks, a seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat at the bus. This incident had prodded King to take the lead in the civil rights movement and thereby set the course he took which would irrevocably change his life (Branch 150). In the second half of the book. It covers the crusade Martin Luther King had now taken up and led following his political baptism of fire, from the twilight of the Eisenhower years , the advancement of John F, Kennedy and eventually the dawning of the New South. Taking a leaf from Gandhis passive resistance approach, King endured sufferings and humiliations yet he took it in stride in the same manner as Christ and persevered. Under such conditions the U. S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which ensures that all people born in the United States are accorded equal protection law and that race could not be used as a condition to deprive them of their civil rights (Branch 303). All in all, Parting the Waters proved to be an excellent start in the 3-volume history of the civil rights movement by Branch who would follow it up with â€Å"Pillar of Fire† and â€Å"At Canaans Edge. † One would notice that the titles allude to the history of the Hebrews as told in the book of Exodus in the Bible. Branch was somehow able to draw a parallelism of the odyssey of the Hebrews to that of the African-Americans on their quest for real freedom and equality. Works Cited Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters. America in the King Years: 1954-63. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989.

Street Children in Egypt

Street Children in Egypt Street Children Phenomena in Egypt The street children phenomenon in Egypt as known for most people is one of Egypts serious problems. Egypt is one of the countries with the highest number of street children. I decided to research this topic because it is one of the long lasting problems Egypt is facing. There are a lot of misunderstandings regarding the meaning of the word street children, according to the UNICEF; children must fall under one of these two definitions in order to be called street children. First, Children who are engaged in some kind of economic activity ranging from begging to stealing. Most go home at the end of the day and contribute their earnings to their family. They may be attending school and retain a sense of belonging to a family. Because of the economic fragility of the family, these children may eventually opt for a permanent life on the streets. Second, Children of the street actually live on the street (or outside of a normal family environment). Family ties may exist but are tenuous and are maintained only casually or occasionally.†I aim by this research to evaluate the situation of street children in Egypt and to know their priorities, activities and problems. Also, identify the actions done by the governmental and non-governmental organizations regarding the problem of street children. Finally, raise awareness to the street children problem in Egypt. In Egypt, government legislation and rules relating to street children remains primarily disciplinary to the street children who are viewed as criminals and a threat to the society. Generally, the society looks at delinquents and street children as a disease that should be treated by isolation. Despite the lack of conclusive information about street children, many socio-economic indicators show that the phenomenon of street children is growing, especially in large cities. â€Å"The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a Rapid Situation Assessment of street children in the two biggest cities in Egypt: Greater Cairo and Alexandria. According to this study, Poverty, family breakdown, and child abuse and neglect, seem to be the leading causes of the problem of street children. â€Å"Eighty percent of the children are exposed to real or constant threat of violence from employers, hostile-abusive community members, and their peers. Ignorant about health, hygiene, a nd nutrition and deprived of services to protect them, street children are a malnourished sub-population subsisting on an inadequate diet. Functionally illiterate (70 percent of the sample were school drop-outs, 30 percent had never attended schools in the first place), economic survival means working at the most menial tasks, or worse, begging, or thieving†. A lot of efforts have been made to try and estimate the number of street children in Egypt, but it is said that they all lack accuracy and reliability. Sedik (1995), based on the records of Al-Amal Village in Cairo, estimated that the number of street children in Egypt, both males and females, is 93,000. Data show that the reasons for the lack of valid and dependable information on the magnitude of the problem of street children are because it is hard to carry out surveys on the number of street children because of they dont live in one place. Another reason is because the police records dont keep record except on the children who are caught and sent to the corrective institutions by a court order. Through my research I found out a lot of causes for the street children phenomena. Children run away from their homes in Egypt because of child abuse, sensation seeking, neglect, existence of other brothers and sisters on the street and peer pressure. Children say that they were kicked out of their homes and forced to live in the streets and abused by their family or the people they work for. There are a lot of ways for abuse. Abuse usually takes the form of severe beating and insults for small mistakes. A lot of children choose to live on the streets because they feel they are free from any boundaries. A huge number of children said that one of the main reasons for moving to the street life is neglect. It could happen due to the illness of one of the parents, or the presence of a large family, or neglect because of divorce. The existence of other brothers and sisters especially older ones affect their younger siblings to follow their lead and move to live on the streets if their fa mily is facing the problems that they cant handle. Sometimes they move together and look for one another on the streets. Peer pressure acts as one of the most effective methods to increase the street children phenomena. Children explain that peers help them adjust to the life on the streets during their early days on the streets by providing food, entertainment, shelter and protection. Street children are usually there for each other. They help each other cope with the street life by explaining where to live, how to earn money and what should be done in case a problem happens. Street children usually do work that doesnt require any technical skills but they do marginal jobs that could provide them with money to survive only. Some of the work done by street children according to UN reports include â€Å"Begging, washing cars or shop windows, selling paper tissues on the streets, working temporarily in shops or factories informally, collecting plastic from wastes to sell to recycling factories, fishing and selling the catch, shining shoes, carrying luggage in the markets for people for money, selling newspapers and finally prostitution. Street children usually carry out their work every day, working in a range of â€Å"4 to 18 hours a day whether in doing one activity or a number of activities consecutively. They usually earn from 3 to 20 Egyptian pounds per day.à ¢â‚¬  Street children are exposed to problems everyday because of the life on the street with no elder supervision or protection. One of the problems is violence. Street children could face violence in many ways. For example, violence inside the children groups where older street children abuse younger children violence from the surrounding community which dont approve of their presence, Violence in the environment where employers exploit street children. Violence is often associated with sexual abuse which younger street children and street females are exposed to. Another problem that street children face is the community disapproval. Street children are rejected by society. They are not accepted due to their appearance and behavior. People generally tend to drive street children away as a result of fear and disgust. A third problem is the police arrests. Street children are always exposed to being arrested by police and returned to their families or committed to correction institutions. This process does not involve any efforts to change the original reason for escape from homes leading to the escape again to the street and the repetition of the vicious circle. The final problem is substance abuse. Street children are facing a serious problem which is free usage of drugs and substances that lead them to lose consciousness, suffer from continuous disorientation and spending all their daily earnings. Absence of good model and refusal of society lead to prevailing frustration of the street children and losing of hope in any good future. Government used to completely ignore the problem of street children who represented to the government a source of shame and embarrassment. The reaction was to ignore and hide the problem rather than face it and try to find solutions to the causes that lead to the spread of this problem. Sometimes the government may use law enforcement forces (police) to gather street children and put them into juvenile correctional institutes where they mingle with criminals and eventually the children escapes back to the streets with criminal background. NGOs, on the other hand, have dealt with the problem in a more consciences way. Programs have been developed and funded to admit the street children to houses and orphanages and try to fit them in the society and enroll them in schools. NGOs have several angles to approach the problem. They use the media to advocate the rights of street children and to promote their fight to protect these children and to treat them as victims rather than criminals who must be locked up. NGOs try to partner with the Government to conduct studies to establish laws to protect the rights of these children. NGOs also have programs that help street children in their own environment which is the streets. NGOs provide food medical care and financial assistance to the street children. NGOs also try to reunite as many street children as possible with their families and provide psychological therapy and social consultations to the children and their families to reach to the bottom of the problem and find a solution to the problems that drive children away from their homes. To conclude, everyone would agree on the magnitude of the problem of street children. The government and the NGOs have exerted many efforts to face the phenomena of street children but more work is needed if they want to achieve their target which is eliminating or at least reducing this problem in Egypt. Laws and legislations should be made to protect street children and help them fit in the society. As to the society I think that more awareness campaigns are needed to get people involved in this problem. We interact with the street children everyday but we always unintentially neglect them. Sometimes people treat street children as if they are something disgusting. Other times people treat street children as if they dont exist. Thats the reason why awareness campaigns should take place to explain to people that nearly all these children were forced to live on the streets and they didnt choose this themselves. Every person should feel that they have an obligation towards these chil dren and want to help them and provide them with a better life. Works cited: â€Å"Street children in Egypt: from the home to the street to inappropriate corrective institutions† by Iman Bibars- Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 10, No. 1, 201-216 (1998) DOI: 10.1177/095624789801000108 Article: â€Å"EGYPT: Street children worst hit by violence, experts say†19 Nov 2006 Source: IRIN SPAAC (1993), Street Children in Egypt, UNICEF, Cairo. Street Children in Egypt: Group Dynamics and Subculture Constituents.by Nashaat Hussein Article: Uncountable Figures Of Street Children Create New Worries By Michaela Singer First Published: February 24, 2008, Daily News EGYPT Mehdi, Ali. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 17th of November, 2009 . Sedik, A. Experiences with Street Children in Egypt. Center for Child Rights and Protection, Cairo, 1995. Abu El-Nasr, A., 1992; Abdel Nabi, A., 1994; Sedik, A., 1995; and Koraim, A., 1998. Hussein, N. 1998; Azer, A. The Problem of Child Labor in Egypt, 1996.

Essay --

Product means a good or service that most closely meets the requirements of particular market and yields enough profit to justify its continued existence. Our company Ez-iron Shn Bhd.’s cordless automatic smart iron is the latest product to enter the market, so we will put in high effort to promote, educate and encourage our consumer to buy or use our product. Cordless automatic smart iron has its name implies that our electronic iron is cordless which using a charger to charge it, the function is that we could just plug the iron towards the socket to charge the iron and the power could be able to last for 2 hours without having any break interval. The iron designed with no power cord getting in the way is easier for us to store, convenient to bring it and the most important is there is no cord to get tangled on the end of the ironing board, so ironing become fast and easy. We also designed a reflective cloth to be placed underneath the clothes to replace ironing board and to prevent our automatic iron to go beyond the clothes and fall down from the ironi...

Charles Franklin Kettering :: essays research papers

Charles Franklin Kettering Charles F. Kettering : Doing the right thing at the right time By Richard P. Scharchburg, Thompson Professor of Industrial History The Man... Charles Franklin Kettering was born on a farm near Loundonville, Ohio, August 29, 1876. After graduation from high school, he accepted a teaching position in a one-room rural school. Although highly successful as a teacher, his mind was set on going to college. In the summer of 1896, he entered the College of Wooster (Ohio). As a result of long and intense hours of study, his eyesight deteriorated to the point that he was forced to leave college and return to teaching. In 1898, he entered the engineering school at Ohio State, but again his poor eyesight forced him to drop out during his freshman year. For the next two years he worked on a telephone line crew, and then once again entered Ohio State, finally completing his electrical engineering degree in 1904. After graduation, Kettering took a job in the inventions department at the National Cash Register Company (NCR) in Dayton, Ohio. There he developed an electric motor for cash registers, the OK Charge Phone for department stores and several other contributions to a revolution then taking place in business machines. In 1909, Kettering and Edward A. Deeds, his associate at NCR, formed their own industrial research laboratory, the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (later known as DELCO). Within three years, they had produced a new all-electric starting, ignition and lighting system for automobiles. The system first appeared as standard equipment on the 1912 Cadillac and as its use spread, women could conveniently become drivers without the assistance of a chauffeur. DELCO was eventually sold to General Motors and became the foundation for the General Motors Research Corporation of which Kettering became vice president in 1920. The list of innovations and inventions that are credited to Charles F. (nicknamed "Boss") Kettering is impressive. His book of patents contains more than 300 separate applications that range from a portable lighting system for farms to coolants for refrigerators and air conditioners. Other patents included a World War I "aerial torpedo," a device for the treatment of venereal disease, and an incubator for premature infants. Duco paint and Ethyl gasoline were also his ideas and he was instrumental in their development.

Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars Essay -- Psychology Space Sc

Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars The importance of psychology in space flight has been well documented and addressed by NASA and other organizations conducting space exploration. A manned mission to Mars has no precedent. The Apollo missions to the moon are the most similar attempts at space exploration, but these were significantly shorter in duration, did not have the difficulties in communicating with earth that the huge distance between Earth and Mars poses, and the experiments performed were not nearly as complex as those that would be done on Mars (ie. tests for life, carbonates, and underground ice). These new variables leave us with unknown psychological and physiological threats that no one can truly predict â€Å"expertly†, and as a result leadership and how well the crew works together will be more important than ever. In the novel Red Mars, characters each have different personalities, which end up strongly influencing their behavior and attitude on the flight to Mars, as well as once they se t up their community on the surface of Mars. While no character possesses an ideal personality for the mission, each exhibits personality traits that are beneficial to the mission, and others that become obstacles to success. The identification of positive and negative personality characteristics in these hypothetical characters allows the development of ideal standards for the personalities of each crew member based on their function. Michel clearly begins to succumb to some of the basic psychological difficulties associated with life in an isolated environment. The conditions on Mars are described well in Red Mars_The bleak plain surrounding the base was a vision out of some post-holocaust desolation, a night mare... ...ed likelihood of success is worth the additional funds that might be needed to do so. Works Cited Gleitman, Henry et al. Psychology. 5th edition. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. New York. 1999 Holland, Al. Psychology of Spaceflight. In: Human Spaceflight. Mission Analysis and Design. Larson and Pranke Eds, McGraw hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-236811-X. Chapter 7 Mabry, Edward A. et al. The Dynamics of Small Group Communication. Prentice Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1980 Morris, Larry Wayne. Extraversion and Introversion: An Interactional Perspective. Hemisphere Publishing Co. Washington, D.C. 1979 Payne, John W., et al. The Adaptive Decision Maker. Cambridge University Press. New York. 1993 Rasmussen, John E. Ed. Man in Isolation and Confinement. Aldine Publishing Company. Chicago. 1973 Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. Bantam Books. New York. 1993 Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars Essay -- Psychology Space Sc Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars The importance of psychology in space flight has been well documented and addressed by NASA and other organizations conducting space exploration. A manned mission to Mars has no precedent. The Apollo missions to the moon are the most similar attempts at space exploration, but these were significantly shorter in duration, did not have the difficulties in communicating with earth that the huge distance between Earth and Mars poses, and the experiments performed were not nearly as complex as those that would be done on Mars (ie. tests for life, carbonates, and underground ice). These new variables leave us with unknown psychological and physiological threats that no one can truly predict â€Å"expertly†, and as a result leadership and how well the crew works together will be more important than ever. In the novel Red Mars, characters each have different personalities, which end up strongly influencing their behavior and attitude on the flight to Mars, as well as once they se t up their community on the surface of Mars. While no character possesses an ideal personality for the mission, each exhibits personality traits that are beneficial to the mission, and others that become obstacles to success. The identification of positive and negative personality characteristics in these hypothetical characters allows the development of ideal standards for the personalities of each crew member based on their function. Michel clearly begins to succumb to some of the basic psychological difficulties associated with life in an isolated environment. The conditions on Mars are described well in Red Mars_The bleak plain surrounding the base was a vision out of some post-holocaust desolation, a night mare... ...ed likelihood of success is worth the additional funds that might be needed to do so. Works Cited Gleitman, Henry et al. Psychology. 5th edition. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. New York. 1999 Holland, Al. Psychology of Spaceflight. In: Human Spaceflight. Mission Analysis and Design. Larson and Pranke Eds, McGraw hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-236811-X. Chapter 7 Mabry, Edward A. et al. The Dynamics of Small Group Communication. Prentice Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1980 Morris, Larry Wayne. Extraversion and Introversion: An Interactional Perspective. Hemisphere Publishing Co. Washington, D.C. 1979 Payne, John W., et al. The Adaptive Decision Maker. Cambridge University Press. New York. 1993 Rasmussen, John E. Ed. Man in Isolation and Confinement. Aldine Publishing Company. Chicago. 1973 Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. Bantam Books. New York. 1993

How and why is surveillance used in cities?

To be able to discuss the issue of surveillance, it is necessary to understand what is meant by surveillance. Surveillance literally means ‘keeping watch over, guarding or supervising'. In the field of sociology, the word surveillance has a much more technical meaning, writers such as Foucault (1977), have often discussed how surveillance is a way to impose social control and order upon society. In society today, surveillance is widely used, particularly to monitor behaviour. In the city, the use and different forms of surveillance has increased immensely over the last thirty years. The use surveillance within the city dates back to the 19th century in the form of police surveillance. The police began walking ‘the beat' in order to reduce crime and in the hope of being more accessible to the public. The practise of ‘pounding the beat,' has continued to modern times, in cities such as Manchester, policing the streets is used for a variety of reasons. Primarily, the police is used for detecting crimes, deterring criminals from offending, and also to reduce the publics' fear of crime. Another reason of ‘pounding the beat,' is to observe suspicious characters. It has been contended that as well as giving a community a sense of security, some have argued that the police can cause tension within a community, especially in communities where there is a distinct lack of social stability. The term ‘suspicious characters' is also too ambiguous, the definition is unclear, do the public know what constitutes a suspicious character; there is no official guideline of what actually represents a suspicious character for the police to follow. The police may consider one certain group more suspicious than another. Due to this lack of formal guidelines, it is possible for one group, e.g. young black males, to be classed as more suspicious, and be targeted more than middle aged females. Policing the streets is a form of surveillance that dates back to the early 1800's, another form of a similar type of surveillance that has increased over the last 20 years, would be the introduction of private security firms. Private security firms are common use today within shops, pubs and clubs, car parks and even in residential buildings. A good example of private security firms being used would be the Manchester Arndale Centre, where there are a large number of overt security guards who are there to monitor the public. Critics of employing the private security firms for surveillance have suggested that, firstly, the companies are a public limited company, therefore, there interests lie in earning profit as opposed to the interest of the public. A second criticism would be about the employees, there are no procedures on the qualification that a security guard needs. How does the security firm decide on who is competent to perform surveillance. These private firms are also used to keep under observation of the closed circuit television (CCTV), but is this infringement on the publics civil liberties this will be discussed shortly. Firstly, consideration of what is the utility of CCTV will need to be analysed. CCTV is probably the most widely used form of surveillance within cities today; an increasing number of streets, building, car parks and more recently, people are putting CCTV in there homes. Manchester is a prime example of using CCTV; Manchester has invested in a multi million pound, state of the art surveillance system. CCTV is used throughout the city and is used to monitor behaviour and detecting criminality. This most up-to-date technology that is in place, can match known criminals to the images that the CCTV captures. Again this is quite controversial, it goes back to the monitoring of certain groups, is it really fair that this group should be monitored more than others, just because they are known criminals, what about the individuals that do not get caught? Research has shown that the use of CCTV within the UK, that because there are no clear objectives of who should be observed, people who look ‘peculiar' or deviant are targeted more than others. In 1992, the city of Newcastle installed CCTV into the city centre after ram raiders and street crime turned the city centre into a ‘no-go area.' The police monitored the CCTV system, the public approved of this, so long as the police and no outside agencies that were the observers. The system worked in Newcastle; the city was opened up by a newfound security that was felt through the CCTV. More arrests and conviction were made as a direct result of the CCTV.1 More recently, forms of ‘hyper-surveillant control' have been developed; Boggard (1996) originally coined the term hyper-surveillant control. As a definition, hyper-surveillant control means, â€Å"Not just an intensification of surveillance, but the effort to push surveillance to the absolute limit.† Boggard was referring to modern day society and included all types of surveillance, including the previously discussed and methods of surveillance, which are more recent, including monitoring consumption patterns when using credit or debit cards. When people use credit or debit cards, banks can monitor where, when, time, what they bought, and all this information is logged and stored. Moreover, every time a form is completed, information is given on all aspects of a person's life, once the form has been completed, the individual can never be clear what happens to the information. Furthermore, in this day of increasing consumerism, where more and more people are using the Internet, websites that have been viewed are stored and then tailor made advertising will appear on screen. The previously mentioned â€Å"absolute limit† that Boggard discussed, is an imaginary line beyond which control operates. This leads to the second part of the question on social control and to what extent is surveillance a just means of social control. Parsons (1951) defines social control as, â€Å"the process by which, through the imposition of sanctions, deviant behaviour is counteracted and social stability maintained.† Is surveillance a means to ensure that these sanctions or rules, which Parsons discussed, are adhered to? Some writers have argued that by attempting to achieve social control, by the increased use of surveillance, of particular crimes or social groups, could lead to the deviancy to be amplified rather that deterring. Does this mean that surveillance is not a just means of social control? Initially consider the moral issue of closed circuit television, some groups have suggested that CCTV impinges on peoples' civil liberties. It is questionable that it is right to watch people, especially if they do not know they are being watched. There is little regulation over CCTV and people are not sure who is accountable when it extends to civil liberties. Some writers have argued that surveillance is not generally a necessity in achieving social control, but social stability of groups within society, community groups and shared values are all more important than surveillance. For example, if there is tension between police and particular minority within a city, when the police are considering increasing the number of police on ‘the beat,' concern over this instability within the community should be taken into account. Surveillance is widely used within all aspects of society and whether people it is right or wrong that someone else has the right to watch over another person, this is not always the issue. There are both advantages and disadvantages of surveillance and these have been discussed, however, to use surveillance as a form of social control will need careful deliberation. If surveillance is made excessively intense, it may be possible that a society where the public are constantly under surveillance could be created, it may be possible that this ‘hyper-surveillant control' that Boggard mentioned, and the absolute limit will be achieved. Surveillance could be classed as a just means of social control, and on the whole, society is willing to except that surveillance is a necessary to ensure that the norms and values are accomplished. The only time that surveillance is not just means of social control, is usually when the form of surveillance intrudes upon people's civil liberties, or intrudes in people's private affairs. Take for example celebrities in the public eye; these people are constantly being watched by the media and paparazzi, is this use of surveillance justifiable? It could be contested that this is intrusive into the lives of the celebrity. When surveillance is concentrated on particular groups within society, this could be considered prejudiced and unfair. Crime may reduce in a specific area of the city, but it is possible that the crime is not simply stopping, it is just being moved to another part of the city. In the late 18th century, Jeremy Bentham came up with the idea of a Panopticon, this idea was a prison, where surveillance enforced complete social control. This prison had no bars, but observation was the key to control, the wardens would be able to see every part of the prison, but the prisoners would not be able to see the wardens. Foucault suggested that the Panopticon worked because â€Å"it induced a state of conscious and permanent visibility that ensures the automatic functioning of power.† As the prisoners are aware that they are being watched, it is said that their behaviour alters because of this. The Panoptic prison was never developed, however, Foucault does argue that the idea did have an influence on other institutions such as hospital, schools and factories. The Panoptic idea was an idea that social control could be enforced through complete surveillance. To conclude, surveillance is crucial within cities in order for social control to be maintained, but contrary to what some have argued, surveillance is not always the most essential ingredient in sustaining social control. Surveillance is a useful tool in the prevention and prosecution of crime, moreover, surveillance gives people the security that they require for them to feel safe from crime. People are willing to except that surveillance is inevitable, but are not will not except surveillance to encourage the extremes of social control where the ‘all seeing eye' is developed and all aspects of social behaviour is controlled through the use of surveillance.

Problems: Balance Sheet and Financial Statements

THE PROBLEM OF THE BEE: PROBLEMS IN FINANCIAL REPORTING OF JOLLIBEE FOODS CORPORATION’S 2005 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS A Paper Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course ACT515M (Problems in Financial Reporting) MC REYNALD SIMBAJON BANDERLIPE II Candidate for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ACCOUNTANCY Mr. WILFREDO BALTAZAR Professor De La Salle University – Manila Term 2, SY 2006-2007 THE PROBLEM OF THE BEE: PROBLEMS IN FINANCIAL REPORTING OF JOLLIBEE FOODS CORPORATION’S 2005 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Mc Reynald S.Banderlipe II College of Business and Economics, De La Salle University Company Background This paper aims to perform an analysis of the 2005 financial statements of Jollibee Foods Corporation. Before such presentation, this chapter intended to present some information about the company, and how Jollibee became the leading company in the Philippine fast food industry. After graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Tony Tan Ca ktiong decided not to compete with fellow new yuppies at his time searching for jobs after graduation.Having gained first-hand experience in managing a family eatery in Davao during his childhood years, he decided to pursue a food business that would be simple to operate. Thus, he borrowed P200,000 from his father to commence a Magnolia ice cream franchise beside Coronet Theater in 1975. With his ingenuity and passion to satisfy the cravings of his customers, the idea of serving American foods such as hamburgers and fries that is quick, tasty and affordable (Acuna, Bernardo, Dy, Malabanan, and Young. , 2004) became his vision that he never thought would be one of the entrepreneurial successes in the Philippines.In 1978, the vision became a reality when Tony and his family decided to incorporate and saw the birth of Jollibee Foods Corporation. One year after, the company posted P2 Million peso sales. It also marked the establishment of a first Jollibee franchise in Sta. Cruz, Manila and its first TV advertisement. Jollibee entered the list of the Top 1000 Corporations in 1981. Since then, the company continues its unprecedented growth as it enters the Top 500 in 1984, the Top 250 in 1986, and Top 100 in 1987. Meanwhile, in 1983, JFC launched flagship motto of JFC, known as the â€Å"Langhap Sarap. The year 1986 signaled the start of branching out in the international market by putting an international outlet in Taiwan and Brunei Darussalam. In 1989, the company posted very remarkable sales of P1. 3 Billion, while expansion efforts continued when they acquired 73% share in the Hamburger segment of the fast food industry in 1991. Jollibee became a public corporation in July 14, 1993 with its initial offering of P9. 00 per share. The expansion of JFC came when they acquired Greenwich Pizza Corporation in 1994 and Delifrance, a popular French patisserie shop, in 1995. This led to the increased variety of food items served by JFC.In 1996, the Far Eastern Economic R eview cited Jollibee as one of the leading companies in Asia. At the end of the year, more and more Filipinos abroad trooped down to their Jollibee stores in Guam, the Middle East, and Hong Kong. In 1997, Jollibee opened another branch in Xiamen, China. A year after, the company marked its 300th store in Balagtas, Bulacan, together with an international branch in Daly City, California. The following years thereafter saw the P20 Billion sales and recognition of Jollibee as the Most Admired Company in the Philippines and third overall in Asia.Jollibee opened its 400th store in Intramuros, Manila, while sales continuously shoot up to the P27 Billion mark. In the same year, Jollibee opened its 500th store in Basilan, Isabela Province. At present, Jollibee continues to expand its network of stores, after acquiring Chowking in 2000, an 85 percent share in Yonghe King in 2004, and Red Ribbon Bakeshop in 2005. Table 1 Timetable of Selected Jollibee Products from the Years 1978 – 2005 Jollibee Foods Corporation Timetable of Selected Products 1978 – 2005YEAR 1978 1979 1980 1982 1985 1986 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1999 2000 2001 2004 2005 PRODUCTS Regular Yum, Yum with Cheese Spaghetti Special Chickenjoy, French Fries Palabok Fiesta Breakfast Meals Chunky Chicken Sandwich Jollytwirl soft sundaes Coleslaw, Jolly Hotdog, Peach Mango Pie Pancakes Fruit-flavored ice cream sundaes Greenwich Pizzas and Pastas Delifrance French Pastries, Burger Steak Amazing Aloha, Chili Wings Cheezy Bacon Mushroom Burger Chowking Products, Pepper Crazy Burger, Shanghai Rolls, Pocket Pies, and Swirly Bitz Glazed Chicken Rice, Honey Beef Rice, Chicken Sotanghon Soup, Jolly Meat Pies, Yonghe King Products Super Meals, Jolly Chicken Tocino, Red Ribbon Cakes and Pastries As of 2005, the company’s store count estimated 552 Jollibee stores, 239 for Greenwich, 344 for Chowking, and 37 for Delifrance, 101 for Yonghe King, and 156 for Red Ribbon, the newest in the Jollibee family. Continuous expansion in terms of the number of food items and outlets is still underway. Table 1 below shows the timetable of elected Jollibee Products sold in the Philippine market starting from its inception in 1978. Standards Used by the Company Prior to analyzing the 2005 financial statements of Jollibee Foods Corporation, it is noteworthy to make a comparison of the standards to be adopted by the company as indicated in the 2004 financial statements in contrast with those standards actually applied in its preparation of the 2005 financial statements. Table 2 presents the comparison of accounting standards to be used in 2005 as per 2004 financial statements and the accounting standards actually used in 2005 per examination of the company’s 2005 financial statements.As can be seen, eight standards were not identified by the company in its 2004 financial statements that were actually adopted in 2005. Moreover, by looking at the 2004 financial statements, there has b een noted a difference in the presentation of the financial information. This was noted because although the year 2004 signifies the transition year towards adopting the Philippine Financial Reporting Standards and Philippine Accounting Standards, the 2004 financial statements still has presented the information in accordance with the superseded generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Table 2 Comparison of Standards to be used by JFC in 2005 as indicated in its 2004 Financial Statements and Standards actually used in 2005 Standard No. / NamePAS 1 â€Å" Presentation of Financial Statements† PAS 2 â€Å"Inventories† PAS 8 â€Å"Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors† PAS 10 â€Å"Events After the Balance Sheet Date† PAS 14 â€Å"Segment Reporting† PAS 16 â€Å" Property, Plant and Equipment† PAS 17 â€Å"Leases† PAS 18 â€Å"Revenue† PAS 19 â€Å"Employee Benefits† PAS 21 â€Å" The Effe cts of Changes of Foreign Exchange Rates† PAS 24 â€Å"Related Party Disclosures† PAS 27 â€Å"Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements† PAS 31 â€Å"Interests in Joint Ventures† PAS 32 â€Å" Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation† PAS 36 â€Å" Earnings per Share† PAS 36 â€Å" Impairment of Assets† PAS 37 â€Å"Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets† PAS 39 â€Å"Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement† PAS 40 â€Å"Investment Property† PFRS 1 â€Å"First Time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards† PFRS 2 â€Å"Share-Based Payments† PFRS 3 â€Å"Business Combination† PFRS 5 â€Å"Noncurrent Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations† PFRS 7 â€Å"Financial Instruments† 2004 * * * * * * * * * * * * 2005 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This paper will elaborate the compliance of Jollibe e Foods Corporation in their adoption of the PFRS and PAS as indicated in their 2005 financial statements. It will also include a discussion of other problems in financial reporting noted in the analysis of the company’s financial statements.Discussion of Compliance with the Standards In analyzing the financial statements of Jollibee Foods Corporation for the year 2005, the researcher delved on the disclosure requirements of the Philippine Accounting Standards PAS and PFRS published by Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2005). These standards assess whether the company has complied with such requisites in preparing the PFRS financial statements for the year 2005, the year where PFRS formats became applicable in Philippine companies. In this case, the paper used the annual report released by the company in its corporate website in 2004 and in 2005. I. Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) PFRS 1: First Time Adoption of Philippine Financial Reportin g Standards Paragraph 36 of PFRS 1 requires the inclusion of at least one year of comparative information under the IFRSs.JFC was able to follow such requirements since the financial statements presented 2005 data and 2004 restated data. The Note 2 of the company’s 2005 financial statements highlights such explanation. Paragraph 36A applies to entities that will choose to present comparative information that does not comply with IAS 32, IAS 39, and IFRS 4, which delves on financial instruments and insurance contracts, under certain conditions presented in the standard. In resolving the issue, Jollibee complied with the accounting policies set forth in IAS 32 and IAS 39. Nevertheless, the company applied for exemption in adopting the standards retroactively as permitted by SEC, applicable for the year ended 2004.Hence, the standards will be applied prospectively beginning January 1, 2005. Paragraph 37 presents the standards on historical summaries of selected data for periods before the first period for which they present full comparative information under the IFRSs. This is not applicable to JFC’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2005. Paragraphs 38 – 46 delve on the explanations regarding the transition to previous GAAP to IFRS financial statements. Accordingly, reconciliations of the company’s equity, profit and loss, and impairment losses should have appropriated disclosures. The company’s financial statements have presented supporting schedules for equity and profits and losses.With the adoption of PFRS 3 and PAS 36, JFC presented a disclosure under Section 2. 3. 1 (Reconciliation of Equity). Moreover, the same section also exhibited an expose on the designation of fair values on financial assets or liabilities and valuation of investment properties under paragraphs 43A – 44 of PFRS 1. Required disclosures such as the fair value of financial assets per category and the aggregate fair values and adjustment to carrying amounts under previous GAAP are also shown. The company has therefore complied with such requirements for first time adoption of Philippine Reporting Standards since it complied with its minimum requirements.PFRS 2: Share Based Payments Major provisions regarding disclosures in compliance with PFRS 2 necessitated information that enables users of the financial statements to understand the nature and extent of share-based payment arrangements that existed during the period. This includes disclosures such as description of each type of share-based payment arrangements; the number and weighted average exercises prices of share options and the weighted average share price at the date of exercise for options exercised during the period. Moreover, the range of exercise prices and weighted average remaining contractual life for share options outstanding at the end of the period, more than the option pricing model used.In addition, information should be accessible to enable users of financial statements understand the determination of fair values of goods or services received, and equity instruments granted. This includes disclosures such as weighted average fair value of share options granted and other equity instruments granted during the period and information on how the fair value was measured. Information on share-based payments that were modified during the period should also be disclosed, if any. Lastly, disclosures that enable users of financial statements to understand the effects of share-based payment transactions on the entity’s profit and loss and financial position should be provided.This includes disclosures on the total expenses recognized for the period arising from share-based payment transactions in which goods or services received but did not qualify for recognition as assets, and carrying and intrinsic value of liabilities arising from share-based payment transactions at the end of the period. JFC was able to comply w ith this standard, following the compliance of PFRS 2, including the provisions set forth in paragraphs 25B to 25C of IFRS 1. Required data to understand its effects are also indicated. Such indicators were presented in Note (b) of Section 2. 3. 1 and Section 2. 24. 2 of the company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2005.A more detailed discussion about share-based payments is presented in Note 23. Here, the company disclosed basic information on each type of share-based payments such as Tandem Stock Purchase and Option Plans I and II, and Management Stock Option and Incentive Plans. It can be said that JFC has complied with the requirements on Share-Based Payments. PFRS 3: Business Combinations Required disclosures for PFRS 3 were information that enables users of financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effect of business combinations that were effected during the period and after the balance sheet date but before the financial statemen ts are authorized for issue.It should also disclose, as in the case of the acquirer, information that enables users of financial statements to evaluate the financial effects of gains, losses, error corrections, and other adjustments recognized in the current period that relate to business combinations that were effected in the current year or in previous periods. In addition, data that will enable users to evaluate changes in the carrying amount of goodwill, if any, during the period should be disclosed. The company’s financial statements complied with the provisions of PFRS 3 for which the date is on or after March 31, 2004, the agreement date for all business combinations to be considered as stipulated in paragraph 78 of PFRS 3. Under Note (d) of Section 2. 3. 1 of JFC’s financial statements, the notes also depicted information about the financial effects of gains, losses, and other adjustments that were effected in current or previous periods.Moreover, the financial statements presented the changes in reversal of goodwill amortizations and recognition of goodwill in accordance with PAS 21. It included several notes in relation to the commencing testing for impairment losses, and reflected effects of changes of these policies to goodwill account of JFC. This can be best explained in Notes 8 to 10, where information regarding their investments in subsidiaries, interests in a joint venture, and goodwill arising from such transactions were designated. PFRS 5: Non-Current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations PFRS 5 specifies the accounting for assets held for sale and presentation and disclosure of discontinued operations.It requires assets that meet the criteria to be classified as held for sale to be measured at the lower carrying amount and fair value less costs to sell, and the depreciation on such assets to cease. Furthermore, assets that meet the criteria as held for sale should be presented separately on the face of the balance s heets and the results of discontinued operations to be presented separately in the income statement. Disclosure requirements include information that will enable users to evaluate the financial effects of discontinued operations and disposals of non-current assets (or disposal groups). Since the company believes that this will have no material effect on the company’s financial position and results of operations as indicated in the 2004 financial statements, this has never been an issue in the 2005 financial statements.PFRS 7: Financial Instruments Revised disclosures on financial instruments provided by the standard will be included in consolidated financial statements when the standard is adopted in 2007. II. Philippine Accounting Standards (PAS) PAS 1: Presentation of Financial Statements PAS 1 provides a framework within which an entity assesses how to present fairly the effects of transactions and other events; provides the basic criteria for classifying liabilities as cu rrent or non-current; and prohibits the presentation of income from operating activities and extraordinary items as separate line items in the income statement. Disclosure requirements include the measurement basis (or bases) used in preparing the financial statements and other accounting policies used that are relevant to an understanding of the financial statements.It also requires disclosures of judgments management has made in the process of applying the entity’s accounting policies that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognized in the financial statements. Additionally, it also requires disclosures as to key sources of estimation uncertainty and other disclosures if not disclosed elsewhere in information published with the financial statements. In 2004, JFC’s financial statements noted the probable change in the presentation of minority interest in the balance sheet and income statement will be effected in 2005 in addition of restating prior years ’ financial data to conform to the 2005 presentation.However, in 2005, the company believes that this standard will have no effect on equity on the reporting periods presented. In other aspects of the standard, the company’s financial statements also complied with the inclusion of significant accounting judgments and estimates made by the company’s management, in addition to the disclosure of key estimation uncertainties. The Note 2 of the financial statements indicates such compliance. Corporate information was also included in Note 1 of the Notes to Financial Statements (including the description of the entity’s operations and the name of the parent company), together with the basis of preparation and consolidation of the financial statements.Details of dividends are located in Note 15 and Note 17(b) of the financial statements. In general, the company’s financial statements complied with the requisites of PAS 1. However, the company should also include in Section 2. 3. 5 the additional disclosures regarding capital management that are not yet effected by the company until January 1, 2007. PAS 2: Inventories Disclosure requirements in PAS 2, as shown in paragraphs 36 to 39 are the accounting policies adopted in measuring inventories and cost formula used, the carrying amount of inventories carried at fair value less costs to sell, and the amount of inventories recognized as expense during the period, the amount of any write-downs.In addition, the notes should indicate reversal of inventory write-downs, circumstances that led to the write-downs and the amount of inventories held as security or pledge. In the adoption of PAS 2, the company has no foreseen significant changes in its accounting policies; thereby PAS 2 will not be an issue for JFC. As indicated in section 2. 11 in Note 2, the company disclosed the accounting policies and cost formula used in the inventory items of Jollibee, both food and non-food items. In Note 6 of the financial statements, the presentation of the carrying amount of inventories was in accordance with the lower of cost or net realizable values as indicated in the standard. Hence, the financial statements complied with the requirements of the standard.PAS 7: Cash Flow Statements As can be seen, the financial statements were presented classified by operating investing, and financing activities. While is it encouraged to adopt the direct method in accounting for cash flows from operating activities, JFC used indirect method, which is still acceptable in practice because of its easy application. On the other hand, almost all disclosure policies stated in PAS 7 have complied by Jollibee such as those regarding interest, income taxes, cash flows related to the acquisition of a subsidiary, and components/reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents in the financial statements and in the notes. This means that the company was able to meet the requirements of PAS 7.PAS 8: Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors Under PAS 8, requisite disclosures as to changes in accounting standards or policies include the title of the standard or interpretation, the note that signifies that the change is in accordance with transitional provisions, its descriptions, the amount of adjustments, and certain conditional disclosures and how the standard addressed the disclosure, the nature of the changes in accounting policy, and reasons why this new policy will lead to a more reliable and relevant information. It should also divulge information when a voluntary change in accounting policy has an effect on the current period or any prior period that would have and effect on that period except that it is impracticable to determine the amount of the adjustment, or might affect future periods. Moreover, it should also present information as to the standards issued but not yet effective to the company. In terms of hanges in accounting estimates, the financial st atements must depict the nature and amount of change in accounting estimate and its effect on current and future periods when it is practicable to estimate the effect. If not possible, the fact should be disclosed. With regards to errors, disclosures should include the nature and amount of the errors, and the circumstances that led to the error and how it will be addressed by such correction. The company does not expect any significant changes in the accounting policies when it adopts PAS 8 and accordingly, in the 2005 financial statements, it also exhibited no effect on equity at January 1 and December 31, 2006. With regards to standards issued but not yet effective, section 2. 3. 5 of Note 2 depicted such disclosure.Still, the company should also have included the disclosures regarding capital management in compliance with PAS that will be applicable in 2007 to fully disclose all standards issued but not yet effective. PAS 10: Events after the Balance Sheet Date PAS 10 provides a limited clarification of the accounting for dividends declared after the balance sheet date. Disclosure requirements include the date when the financial statements were authorized for issue and who gave the authorization. It should also disclose the fact that the entity’s owners or others have the power to amend the financial statements after the issue. Moreover, if the entity receives information after the balance heet date about that conditions that existed at the balance sheet date, the entity should update disclosures in the light of new information. The company does expect any significant changes in the accounting policies when it adopts PAS 10 and accordingly, in the 2005 financial statements, it also exhibited no effect on equity at January 1 and December 31, 2004. Compliance with this standard is stated in Note 1 with regards to the date of authorization for issue of the financial statements and section 2. 30 of Note 2 and Note 29 regarding subsequent events. Furtherm ore, disclosure on dividends may not be an issue since the company annually declares and pays dividends to its stockholders, as evidenced by the cash flow statements for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2005.For this reason, the company was able to comply with the disclosure requirements set forth in PAS 10. PAS 14: Segment Reporting This standard establishes the principles for reporting financial information by segments about the different types of products and services an enterprise produces and the different geographical areas in which they operate. Reportable segments should present the segment’s results of operations, carrying value of total assets and liabilities, contingencies, expenditures, depreciation, share in profits or losses, and other requirements mentioned in the standard. It also provides secondary reporting format requisite disclosures for segment revenues, expenses, results, assets, liabilities, and accounting policies.Accordingly, this standard has no effect on equity at January 1 and December 31, 2004 and as such, is not an issue for the company’s financial statements as of December 31, 2005. As can be seen, the company maintained the same format in segment reporting for the presentation of segment information in Note 3 of both 2004 and 2005 financial statements. Disclosures are generally in compliance with PAS 14. The company focused on using the primary reporting format, since the use of geographical segment reporting is not feasible due to a non-substantial portion of revenues earned by international operations, which are still few in number. In addition, the company disclosed information for inter-segment sales and transfers and the basis of pricing these transactions.PAS 16: Property, Plant, and Equipment Disclosure requirements on property, plant and equipment are the measurement bases to determine gross carrying amounts; depreciation methods and useful lives used; gross carrying amounts and accumulated depreciatio n at the beginning and end of the period; reconciliations of carrying amount of PPE assets pertaining to additions, reclassifications, and other increases or decreases; the recognition of impairment and reversal of impairment losses; restrictions on title of PPE assets, PPE assets pledged as security for liabilities; expenditures related to property, plant and equipment; and changes in accounting estimate as to residual values. Furthermore, the entities should disclose contractual commitments for acquisition of PPE assets; compensation to third parties rising from impairment of PPE items included in profit and loss; information regarding the revaluation of property, plant, and equipment as to effective date of revaluation, involvement of third parties for revaluation, assumptions in estimating fair values, carrying value of assets under cost models, and revaluation surplus; and information on idle properties. The company believes that there is no significant effect on equity upon ad option of PAS 16. Similar formats were presented, with differences in the probable restatements done in the 2005 financial statements. This is evidenced in note (c) of section 2. 4. 2, which depicted the management’s estimation uncertainty assumptions regarding PPE assets. In section 2. 9, the policy on accounting for PPE assets was presented, including compliance with general disclosures in accordance with PAS 16; while in Note 11, the financial statements showed the reconciliation of carrying amounts of PPE assets pertaining to additions, retirements, reclassifications, and transfers, including the disclosure regarding a fire that damaged the company’s commissary. It also included compensation from the insurance company for the damage of the property. No disclosure is necessary on revaluation of properties, as the company had not yet hired appraisers to revalue their properties. Disclosures regarding derecognition on PPE assets and idle and fully depreciated property are not of greater importance, since all properties have found its usage in the company.PAS 17: Leases PAS 17 prescribes appropriate accounting policies and disclosures to apply in relation to finance and operating leases. It also prohibits expensing of initial direct costs in the financial statements of the lessors. Under this standard pertaining to operating leases, which the company have adopted (as can be seen in section 2. 3. 1 reconciliation of equity in the company’s financial statements, in letter (c) in note 2. 4. 1, and section 2. 26 in Note 2 of the financial statements), disclosures should include total future minimum lease payments under non- cancellable operating leases for periods within one year, within after one year but not more than five years, and after 5 years (for both lessors and essees); future minimum sublease payments under non-cancellable subleases; lease and sublease payments recognized as expenses (for the point of view of lessees); disclosures r egarding contingent rents recognized as income, general description of leasing arrangements, bargain purchase options or renewal options, and restrictions involving lease arrangements as lessors or lessees (for both lessors and lessees). JFC does not expect any significant changes in accounting policies when it adopts PAS 17. In Note 26, the future minimum rental receivables and payables were presented, including the general details of lease arrangements entered by JFC (both positions are renewal options), and legal issues normal to its operations. The company did not entered into sale and leaseback transactions. The Company complied with the accounting rules in accordance with PAS 17.However, as a lessor, the company did not classified assets subject to operating leases according to the nature of the assets in the balance sheet. This is on the assumption that the firm’s lease transactions involve only commercial properties. Information on such classification was aggregated i n the financial statements, which ensured its compliance. PAS 18: Revenue Disclosure requirements to comply with this standard includes accounting policies adopted for the recognition of revenue; methods used in accounting for stage of completion of service transactions; the amount of significant categories of revenue recognized during the period, which includes sale of goods, rendering of services, nterest, royalties, and dividends; and the amount of revenue arising from exchanges of goods and services included in each significant category of revenue. The policies adopted for revenue recognition is presented in section 2. 23 as to how they recognize revenue from various categories. Its compliance with standards related to revenue recognition from royalty and franchise fees are delineated in Note 18. Though the financial statements do not present the breakdown of revenues according to significant categories, they believe that the use of segment information is already sufficient enou gh to present the revenues of the company. In this case, such segment information suffices compliance with PAS 18.PAS 19: Employee Benefits Disclosure requirements under PAS 19 include the policy for recognizing actuarial gains and losses; general description of the types of plans; reconciliation of assets and liabilities regarding defined benefit obligations; actuarial gains or losses; fair value of plan assets; reconciliation of movements in the next period of net assets or liabilities, total expenses related to employee benefits such as current service costs, interest costs, expected actuarial returns on plan assets, past service costs, effects of curtailment and settlement; actual return on plan assets and actual return on reimbursement right recognized as an asset; and principal actuarial assumptions used at balance sheet date such as discount rates, expected rates of returns, expected rates of salary increases, medical cost trend increases, and other assumptions all expressed in absolute terms. The company was able to comply with the rules set on PAS 19. As can be seen in Note (a) of Section 2. 3. 1 of the Notes to Financial Statements, the policies on actuarial gains, losses, past service costs, plus its effect on the retained earnings and net income were depicted. Moreover, such information was also presented in the reconciliation of equity. In section 2. 4, the company disclosed their policy on employee benefits, both pension and share-based payments. Accordingly, the company uses defined benefit accounting. They also used defined contribution accounting to some extent for employees of Chinese domiciled subsidiaries of the company, as seen in Note 22; only a limited disclosure regarding the use of this plan was indicated. It also provided information as to actuarial gains, actual returns on plan assets, plan liabilities, reconciliation of movements in the present value of obligations and fair value of plan assets, fair value of plan assets, the date o f actuarial valuation, the actuarial assumptions such as salary increase rate, rate of return on assets, and discount rates.Termination benefits and other long-term benefits are not considered issues to the company. Other disclosures such as medical costs, schedules of contributions by employers and employees, and the recognition of actuarial gains and losses not presented in the financial statements will not affect the company’s compliance with the standard. PAS 21: The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates Disclosure requirements under PAS 21 referring to functional currency of the parent includes the amount of exchange differences recognized in profit or loss except for those arising on financial instruments measured at fair value through profit or loss in ccordance with PAS 39 and net exchange differences classified in a separate component of equity, in addition to the reconciliation of the amount of such exchange differences at the beginning and end of the period. Moreover, reasons for using presentation currency rather than functional currency should be indicated if such is the case; or if there is a change in the functional currency of either reporting entity or a significant foreign operation, that fact and the reason of change should be disclosed. It will only be deemed complying with the IFRS if all the requirements of each applicable accounting standard and interpretations are followed including the method of translation. The company disclosed its adoption of PAS 21, and they will be applying it prospectively.They also noted that goodwill arising from acquisition of a foreign operation and any fair value adjustments to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities arising on the acquisition are now treated as assets and liabilities of the foreign operation and are to be translated at a closing rate. However, this new policy will have no significant impact to the company. As seen in letter (d) of note 2. 4. 1, the company has determine d the Philippine peso as the functional currency of the company. Additional information regarding functional currency and translation method is provided in section 2. 5. There is no issue as to the use of functional currency, since both parent and subsidiaries will use the Philippine peso.But as can be noticed, although there is a presented amount of exchange differences resulting from translation as indicated in the Statement of Changes in Equity, there is no reconciliation of the amount of such differences at the beginning and end of the period. PAS 24: Related Party Disclosures Relationships between parents and subsidiaries shall be disclosed irrespective of whether there have been transactions between those related parties. An entity shall disclose the name of the entity’s parent and, if different, the ultimate controlling party. If neither the entity’s parent nor the ultimate controlling party produces financial statements available for public use, the name of the next senior parent that does so shall also be disclosed. Moreover, disclosure requirements include key management personnel ompensation in total and per categories presented in paragraph 16 regarding short-term employee benefits, post-employment benefits, other long-term benefits, termination benefits, and share based payments; the nature of related party relationships and information on the amount of transactions and outstanding balances, provisions for doubtful debts, and expenses recognized during the period in respect of bad and doubtful debts. The parent shall make separate disclosures, in addition to their interests in a joint control or significant influence over the entity, information regarding the parent company’s subsidiaries, associates, joint ventures, key management personnel, and other related parties.JFC finds this standard to have no effect on its equity but they are amenable to adopt the new standard. In note 24, the company noted that the transactions with members of the Jollibee group are eliminated while intercompany advances are major transactions with joint venture. They complied with the presentation of outstanding balance of advances as indicated in the standard. The company was able to justify such presentation in Notes 8 and 9. Yet on the other hand, there is no information regarding key management personnel and their compensation schedule. Accordingly, since JFC, as a parent, runs its business independently of its subsidiaries and other related parties, there is no dependence on the company’s related parties.PAS 27: Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements In this standard, the entity’s compliance of the standards depends on their disclosure of the nature of the relationship between the parent and the subsidiary, reasons that will not constitute control of an investee in the entity, differences in reporting dates, and a listing of information regarding significant investments in subsidiaries, jointly cont rolled entities or associates. In note 8, the company’s financial statements presented its required disclosures of investments in subsidiaries, although information with their compliance to paragraphs 41 and 42 of the standard is not that material for their presentation regarding separate financial statements. Hence, the company managed to comply with the disclosure requirements of PAS 27.PAS 31: Interests in Joint Ventures PAS 31 delineated several disclosure requirements such as the aggregate amount of specified contingent liabilities, unless the probability of loss is remote; the aggregate amounts of capital commitments of the parties with respect to their interest in the joint venture; a listing and description of their interests in joint ventures; and accounting methods in recognizing interests in joint ventures. JFC was able to comply with the disclosure provisions of the standard, having presented its description of their interest in a joint venture and the accounting method for its joint venture, as seen in section 2. 18 in Note 2 and the entire Note 9 of the financial statements. The first two items are not applicable in the company at the moment. In this case, the company was able to comply with the requirements of PAS 31.PAS 32: Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation To enhance the understanding and significance of financial instruments of the entity, the firm should describe its financial risk management objectives and policies, including hedging policies for each main type of forecast transaction for which hedge accounting is used. The firm should also disclose a description of the hedge; financial instruments designated as hedging instruments including their fair values, nature of risks being hedged, and for cash flow hedges, the period in which cash flows are expected to occur. Information about the nature of financial instruments and basis for accounting recognition must also be divulged.The firm should disclose the amount of gain or loss on a hedging instrument recognized in equity, removed from equity, and the amount removed from equity and was included in the initial measurement of acquisition cost or carrying amount of non-financial assets or liabilities. Information about their exposures to credit risk and interest rate risk are also mandated. Furthermore, the standard requires information regarding fair valuation of financial instruments, de-recognition of financial instruments, financial assets held as collateral, compound financial instruments with multiple embedded derivatives, reclassification and presentation of income, expenses, gains, and losses resulting from financial assets and financial liability transactions, and impairment and defaults/breaches. Under Note (c) of section 2. 3. of the notes, JFC has embedded information on how the company identified its financial assets, and how they valued those financial assets. These pertain to their investment in stocks, refundable deposits on leas es and noninterest bearing car loans. These financial assets were explained in full detail in section 2. 6 of Note 2. In section 2. 16, information on de-recognition of financial assets and liabilities in accordance with PAS 32 were presented. Under Note 27, the company expressed its compliance with PAS 32, showing their risk management objectives and policies, and information on how JFC addresses the financial risks discussed in the standard.In Note 29, the financial statements presented the valuation of financial assets and liabilities, in accordance with the valuation set by PAS 32, together with the information of multiple embedded derivatives. However, detailed information about the maximum degree of risk exposure must be presented. PAS 39: Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement PAS 39 has no disclosure requirements since they were moved to PAS 32. However, to comply with IAS 39, information about the decrease in retained earnings and carrying amounts of financial a ssets was disclosed. In note (c) of Section 2. 3. 1, they also disclosed unrealized loss in the company’s AFS financial assets as part of compliance with the standards. Section 2. 6 provided a description of financial instruments held by JFC.In Section 2. 10 the company disclosed information on the impairment of financial assets in accordance with the requirements of PAS 39. Section 2. 22 presents information on the impairment of non-financial assets. Information on Notes 27 and 28 are still applicable in compliance with PAS 39 regarding measurement of financial assets and liabilities. PAS 33: Earnings per Share In presenting the financial statements in accordance with PAS 33, the standard requires the presentation of amounts used as numerators in calculating basic and diluted earnings per share and its reconciliations to profit or loss attributable to the parent entity for the period.It should also disclose the average number of ordinary shares used to calculate basic and di luted EPS, instruments that could dilute basic EPS in the future, and a description of ordinary share transactions that occur after balance sheet date. Jollibee’s compliance with the standard was indicated in section 2. 27 of Note 2 and Note 25, which presented the Earnings per share computations. As indicted in section 2. 3. 4, comparative information and disclosures have been presented as required. However, the adoption of PAS 33 has no effect on equity of JFC. The presentation of Earnings per Share of Equity Holders of the Parent was indicated in the Income Statement of JFC.PAS 36: Impairment of Assets Disclosure requirements in accordance with PAS 36 include the amount of impairment losses recognized in profit or loss during the period in each class of assets and revalued assets, the reversals of impairment losses in each class of assets and revalued assets. For material impairment losses, disclosures as to the events that led to the recognition or reversal of impairments losses in assets, cash generating units and information on aggregate losses should be indicated. Such compliance by JFC’s 2005 financial statements is indicated in letter (b) of section 2. 4. 2, section 2. 22 of Note 2, Note 3 regarding segment information on impairment losses, Notes 10 and 11. The company provided disclosures of their assessment of impairment losses on non-financial assetsPAS 37: Provisions, Contingent Liabilities, and Contingent Assets PAS 37 requires disclosures regarding contingent assets, liabilities, and provision. Contingencies are disclosed except when the possibility of an inflow or outflow of resources is remote. Information regarding the nature and estimated amount of such contingency, its financial effects, the uncertainties relating to the outflow and amount of reimbursements are also noted. Obligatory disclosures for provisions include carrying amounts, additions of provisions, provisions used, and unused amounts reversed during the period. Mor eover, brief descriptions on each class of provisions are due for presentation in the financial statements.The company was able to provide information regarding the company’s provisions, as stated in Note 14. While information on contingencies is not substantial, still, the assumptions are still presented in Note 2 of the financial statements. PAS 40: Investment Property PAS 40 identified the presentation requirements for investment properties. Disclosures under this standard are and extension of the requirements presented in IAS 17 (or PAS 17, â€Å"Leases†). Entities shall disclose whether they apply the fair value model or cost model in valuing investment properties. Should they apply fair value model, firms should indicate the circumstances property interests held under operating leases are classified and accounted for as investment property.If the classification is difficult, they should distinguish investment property from owner-occupied property and from propert y held for sale in the ordinary course of business. In addition, entities have to identify the methods and significant assumptions in valuation of investment properties. Amounts recognized in profit or loss such as rental income, operating expenses incurred from properties that are income and non-income generating, existence of restrictions on realizable characteristic of investment properties upon disposal, and contractual obligations regarding investment properties should be disclosed. Because JFC elected to use cost model in the valuation of investment properties as shown in note (e) of Section 2. 3. of Note 2, disclosures require the depreciation methods used, useful lives or depreciation rates used, gross carrying amount and accumulated depreciation, a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances showing additions, assets classified as held for sale, depreciation, transfers, impairment losses, and fair value of investment properties. In the same notation, JFC presented t he effects of adopting the policy in the financial statements, as evidenced by the reconciliation found in the same note. Here, the changes in retained earnings and net income were presented, in addition to the expressed carrying value of the property. In Section 2. 20, the company presented their significant accounting judgments and policies regarding the adoption of the new standard. In Note 10, since they are using the cost method of valuing investment properties, reconciliation was presented showing the cost and accumulated depreciation of investment properties.Moreover, it also showed information regarding any transfers; retirements; impairment losses; and depreciation were depicted. Yet, they did not disclose the accounting methods used and the estimated useful lives of investment properties subject to depreciation. Table 3 Financial Reporting Issues Presented in the Analysis of Jollibee’s Financial Statements for the Year 2005 Standard No Financial Reporting Issues Pre sented The non-inclusion under Notes 2. 3. 5 regarding disclosure standards regarding capital management that should be indicated even though the provisions are not yet effective The classification of Judgments a-c in Notes 2. 4. 1. Is that considered a judgment, or an estimation uncertainty? PAS 1 PAS 8 PAS 24 PAS 40 ADDITIONAL NOTESSame as the problem of application in PAS 1 regarding disclosure standards on capital management Information about key management personnel was not indicated in the notes to financial statements. Information about the persons, their salaries, etc. is found in the 2005 SEC Form 17A. Only the disclosure regarding accounting methods used and estimated lives of investment properties subject to depreciation were not described. The release of the financial statements in the annual report has produced several encoding errors in the production of the financial statements. In summarizing the entire discussion, Table 3 highlights all financial reporting issues no ted in the analysis of Jollibee Foods Corporation’s 2005 financial statements. As can be seen, there has been an issue regarding the adoption of ten Philippine Accounting Standards.In addition, there was noted some encoding errors in the financial statements per examination of the annual report. Referencing regarding the reconciliation of equity upon adoption of the new standards is one example. Such errors, if noticed, may lead to some confusion in understanding the financial statement information. Other Problems in Financial Reporting This section tackles the problems that might have encountered by Jollibee in their preparation and presentation of the financial statements other than disclosure requirements. In addition, this paper will address how the company may have resolved such setbacks to achieve a fair presentation of the financial information.Functional Currency and Translation This problem arose for the reason that Jollibee has been maintaining international operati ons in the United States, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Brunei, Guam, and Saipan. In addition, its Chowking stores are located in Dubai, while their Yonghe King restaurants situated in China. Red Ribbon had also expanded in the US even before it was acquired by Jollibee. Because these countries uses different currencies in their daily operations and in the preparation of financial data, it is wondered how Jollibee will address such problem in their consolidated financial statements, whose parent company is situated in the Philippines.The problem was resolved in Note 2. 5. As can be said, the company’s management determined its functional currency to be the Philippine peso. In this case, the company measured these international transactions in Philippine peso at the transaction dates. Monetary assets and liabilities were measured using the exchange rate at balance sheet date. Non-monetary assets and liabilities wee measured at historical cost using the exchange rate at the date of initi al transaction. Its foreign subsidiaries’ financial statements were translated into the presentation currency of the company. Exchange rate differences were presented in the financial statements, though in aggregate form.Receivables Although the company’s main business is the development, operation, and franchising of Quick Service Restaurants (QSR), the company also maintains other operations in support of their QSR restaurants like franchising and leasing of facilities to other companies, it can be inferred that the company does not only depend on cash sales brought about by their restaurant operations. Receivables arose because franchising and real estate are also revenue-generating areas of the organization which also forms part of their trade receivables. Moreover, they also have dues from the joint venture and other related parties, which were aggregated as loan receivables. To prevent confusion, the company presented in its segment information the operations of such segments and as such, users can find out those transactions under franchising and real estate operations may primarily cause such receivables recognition.Inventory Valuation Because the primary operation of Jollibee is the operation of QSRs, it is noteworthy that the major bulk of their investments are food supplies, novelties, packaging, store supplies, and processed inventories. The perishable nature of food supplies and processed inventories, and the obsolescence of other supplies due to the release of new packaging designs, the lapse of periods where Jolly Kiddy meals come with novelties, and other time-based factors are the problems that Jollibee encounter in the valuation of its inventories. As such, the company maintained the policy of the First-In, First-Out (FIFO) basis of inventory system and in their valuation of inventories as of the balance sheet date.This is to prevent the deterioration of goods that may be harmful if not used within a certain amount of time, and to maximize the usability of these items. Though designs change, its utility value is the same for packaging all Jollibee products. Cost valuation using FIFO allows the firm to value its unsold or unused inventories at more recent dates of acquisition, which is acceptable under the new standard. Revenue Recognition Jollibee recognizes revenue from various sources such as from sale of goods, royalty fees, franchise fees, dividend income, rental income, and interest income. While the policy of revenue recognition was presented in the notes to financial statements, certain question on how they recognize revenues from franchise fees.Accordingly, such revenues are recognized when all services or conditions relating to the transaction have been substantially performed. Substantial may not be the total performance demanded to the company in providing such services. The question lies regarding new franchisee transactions that the company’s services commence at one period and terminat es on the other period. How will the company assess their substantial performance on such franchise services to its new franchisees on the first period? Segment Reporting As can be seen, Jollibee has presented its segments on the basis of the nature of operations. Specifically, the company presented the food service, franchising, and real estate segments of its business.Knowing that Jollibee has international operations in the USA, East and Southeast Asia, and even in the Middle East, it is of question why did the company did not presented information related to geographical segments. Be it noted that of the more than 1,000 outlets of the Jollibee Group, less than 140 of them were located outside the Philippines, including the 101 Yonghe King restaurants in China. Based on the combined performance of these stores, the international operations has yet to contribute more in the total operations of Jollibee, as approximately 90% of their stores are located in the Philippines. Again, it should also boil down on the notation that Jollibee has other major operations.That could be the reason for segment information to be reported that way. Admission of Red Ribbon into the Jollibee Group In 2005, the company bought Red Ribbon, a company that sells cake products to Philippine consumers. Red Ribbon’s financial statements prior to acquisition are prepared for the fiscal year ending June 30. Since Jollibee and Red Ribbon have time differences in financial reporting, the stockholders and the Board of Directors agreed that the reporting period of the company should follow the calendar year presentation of Jollibee. Hence, the notes presented the summative position and performance of Red Ribbon for the fiscal year endedJune 30, 2005 and for the six months ended December 31, 2005, following the calendar year. Financial Instruments Due to the applicability of PAS 32 and 39, the company classified certain investments in shares of stocks as available-for-sale financial as sets and valued at fair value, though these has been measured at lower of aggregate cost or market value in the previous GAAP. Refundable deposits on leases and non-interest bearing car loans were re-measured at fair value at initial recognition and subsequently at amortized value under the effective interest method. Prior to such adoption, these are carried at cost, less impairment in value under previous GAAP.Such adoption resulted in a decrease in retained earnings for the company, which may have brought adverse effects to the company from the point of view of layman financial statement reader. Realizations After analyzing the financial statements of Jollibee Foods Corporation’s 2005 financial statements to identify the issues and problems in their financial reporting in accordance with the PFRS and PAS, this paper presents some realizations about the state of the company struggling to ensure compliance with the Philippine accounting standards under issue in the preparatio n of the financial statements. In addition, an insight regarding problems in financial reporting is presented. 1. Some judgments may not be considered judgments at all.While the company may have a point in identifying several issues to be as accounting judgments, it may be preferable if such judgments like impairment, leases, and asset retirement be presented under estimation uncertainties. This is because this transactions or events normally require estimations rather than judgments. 2. Keep abreast with the release of new standards. It can be assumed that the newest release of PAS 1 standards relating to capital management may not yet noted by the company. Jollibee must continuously upgrade its awareness of these new standards since it might have a significant bearing on how they will present the information to comply with such new standards. Such can be achieved through attendance to seminars on PAS and PFRS, and continuous training and research. 3. Redundancy can lead to fair pr esentation.Standards have the say. Sometimes, the notes have to be redundant in stressing out the emergence of applications, measurement, and valuation of items that are covered by a particular accounting standard (e. g. PAS 14, â€Å"Segment Reporting† and PAS 18, â€Å"Revenue,† where both standards require the presentation of similar information related to reportable and non-reportable segments). In such case, preparers of financial information have no option but to present the information more than once, as per accord with the standards. 4. Show reconciliations, when necessary. The use of such reconciliations may lead to a better understanding of the financial statements.Showing the movements in the beginning and ending balances may already be an important tool to understand the information related to such reconciliation. 5. Encode information with accuracy and with precision. Preparers of financial statements must exercise due care in encoding of information in th e soon-to-be published financial statements. Errors resulting from such carelessness may mislead users of financial information in making economic decisions for the company. 6. Problems are immortal. New policies, new standards, new conventions. These lead to problems especially in dealing with the preparation of the company’s financial statements. Instant compliance maybe difficult. Sometimes, resolving these problems might have adverse effects.It really depends on the company on how they are motivated to face these situations and eventually gear itself to imminent financial reporting problems in the future. References Acuna, C. , Bernaldo, R. , Dy, L. , Malabanan, R. , & Young, L. (2004). A comparative study on the performance and financial position of Jollibee and McDonald’s for the years 1999 – 2006. Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Manila, Philippines: De La Salle University. Jollibee Foods Corporation (2004). Jollibee Foods Corporation Annual Report 2004. Pasig City, Philippines. Jollibee Foods Corporation (2005). Jollibee Foods Corporation Annual Report 2005. Pasig City, Philippines Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2005). Philippine Accounting Standards Vol. 1-5. Mandaluyong City, Philippines.