Through the Tunnel

Through The Tunnel In this story, Through The Tunnel, there are three settings that all symbolize something different. The safe beach symbolized him still being a child. On the safe beach, his mother was there to protect and be there for him. The wild beach was where Jerry wanted to go. It was taking a step out into the world to him. He wanted to be free and become a man. The journey through the tunnel symbolized Jerry going from a child to an adult.He challenged himself to go through the tunnel so he would feel accomplished and finally be a man, something his mother would never understand. Other than the settings, there are many different symbols in the story that help readers figure out the meaning of the whole story. One symbol from this story would be darkness. When Lessing writes, â€Å"He struggled on in the darkness,† the darkness symbolizes Jerry's lack of knowledge or the fear of the unknown.He doesn't actually know how far the tunnel will go or if it will become narr ow. Another symbol from this story would be light. While Jerry was swimming through the tunnel he saw light coming in through a crack. That symbolizes that he is really close to becoming a man. The big meaning of Jerry making it through the tunnel is the journey from boyhood to manhood. When Jerry first discovers the tunnel he can swim through it like the other boys, therefore, becoming a man. Jerry practices holding his breath over and over.Even though holding his breath for a long time caused him physical pain, Jerry still tells himself that he will overcome it and accomplish his goal. During the time it took him to go through the tunnel, Lessing writes that Jerry is panicking because he thinks he might not make it out of the tunnel. This shows that Jerry was somewhat scared to become a man. When Jerry finally comes out of the tunnel on the other side, he feels like he has become independent and mature. He finally has become the man that he wanted to be. The tunnel is a powerful s ymbol because it shows rebirth.

Casino Industry Essay

Find out why the Macau gambling scene is so important -The company intends to use the proceeds from this sale to pay off part of their debt -â€Å"The stock has traded significantly higher since the announcement of the deal, but we believe that this is a huge missed opportunity for the company in a new, booming market and will hurt the company over the long-term as competition continues to expand in this area† (2). -Caesars is the largest casino operator in the U.S -Properties include: Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and several other states More on the Macau opportunity, this may be a little outdated: -Only major casino company without a location Macau -â€Å"Caesars bought the 175-acre site in 2007 for $578 million, with plans to develop a hotel and casino, but the company did not apply in the early 2000s for one of the limited number of gambling licenses in Macau, and it never gained a gambling concession from the Macau government† (2) -â€Å"As of July 31, 2013, growth in Macau has increased to over 20% on a year over year basis boosted by an increase in the number of Chinese visitors to the country’s only legal casino gambling hub. July’s 29.5 billion patacas ($3.7 billion) revenue was the third strongest figure this year, according to government data, as more middle-class gamblers visited Macau, eclipsing the growth in the number of high rollers. The slowdown in China’s economic growth has kept away some wealthy customers, who often spend 1 million yuan ($160,000) per bet, but it failed to push away Macau’s appeal for China’s rapidly expanding middle-class and their higher disposable incomes† (2) →what are pacatas Why Maccau Is Attractive for Casino Industry -The number of visitors to Macau rose 4.2 percent during the first half of the year (in 2013) -â€Å"Visitors form mainland China, who account for two thirds of the total numbers, soared 20 percent in July year over year numbers. High rollers account for about 70 percent of gaming revenues, but the share of the middle-class gamers is growing at a much faster rate and Macau’s casinos are trying to diversity entertainment options to attract more of these visitors† (2) -Minimum table bets start at around 300 patacas  ($38), compared to a year ago when offering bets for 100-200 patacas ($20) -â€Å"In the end, investors should not have seen the sale of this property as a catalyst for the stock, but instead as the huge missed opportunity to diversify the company’s core business and expand into an explosive new market† (2) -because the stock price went up when they sold Macau location -Macau casinos and hotels are now showing strong September gaming revenue -à ¢â‚¬Å"At the current rate, gambling revenue for the month of September so far is tracking 25.7% higher than the same month a year ago. Macau generates annual gambling revenue topping $38 billion, larger than any other casino district in the world, about five times the annual take of U.S. gambling in Las Vegas† (3) -Macau, a special gaming district on China’s southern coast, is the only place in China where gambling is legal – -â€Å"We believe that the run up in CZR shares has been on the coattails of the other gaming and hotel companies and that the buying has been way overdone. Investors should loko for the stock to pull back substantially after the recent rally† →research if all of this stuff is still true The most Recent Quarter- Focusing On the Important Aspects of This Business -Most recent quarter is Q2, net revenue was reported by Caesars as $2.2 billion -A decline in casino revenue was â€Å"largely offset by increases in F&B, rooms, and managed revenue† -â€Å"The company attributes this decline to a combination of macroeconomic conditions, competition, and a shift in marketing strategy. The company has lost market share in gaming to competition, despite the company’s positioning with the World Series of Poker brand† (4) ^ this is about gaming competition -Alpha research believes that revenue and profits have peaked and will be on the decline next year (2014), they were correct -Income form operations: $125.3 million in 2013, down $63.8 million compared to the prior year, 33.7% decline was driven by higher asset impairment charges (learn more on this) -â€Å"Adjusted EBITDA declined 8.2% to $470.5 million and property EBITDA declined 4.9% to $492.8 million compared with the year-earlier period† (4) -Investors should focus on the lower gaming revenue -â€Å"Casino revenue in Las Vegas declined approximately 15.5% year-over-year, primarily due to loss of market share and visitors and weaker gaming volumes† (4) -The same trends are occurring in the Atlantic City region -Gaming revenue was down due to lower visitation driven by primarily new competitive threats -CZR market volume in Atlantic city has declined, and market share has declined overall →my suggestion is that they should look more to online gaming, because technology and internet are booming, maybe consider joining with another casino industry- why is competition doing better -The company is facing increased competition in certain areas like Louisiana/Mississippi, Tunica, and Las Vegas and Atlantic City -Find specific competitors -Problem: â€Å"The company’s investments in current properties and new construction may prove to be too little, too late, as the projects have become increasingly costly over the last two years† The Debt Burden→ get more up to date information -At the quarter end (Q2 2013) for Caesars Entertainment, Inc. was $23.7 billion. -Debt, net of $1.8 billion of cash, was $20.9 billion -Total debt repurchased was only around $275 million during last quarter -Reports of a possible bankruptcy, have been increasing since Moody’s downgraded the company’s credit rating to one of its lowest levels in April 2013 -Cash flow growth is not expected to increase in 2013, â€Å"as a result of a demand drop fueled by customers spending less at casinos† (5) -Major concern because competitors gaming revenue are continuing to thrive -â€Å"The company has consistently poured money into new construction and the remodeling of existing structures, but significant measures need to be taken in order to improve the company’s current capital structure. If the company cannot spur major cash flow generation over the course of the next year, the company will be facing some major problems in early 2015 -Why is January 2015 important? Because that is when $4.4 billion of mortgage-backed securities are scheduled to mature for CZR (figure out more what this means) â †’ opportunity, cash flow generation, how? Competitors are outbeating them -Recent report from July 2013, Caesars planned to beef up its product  offering in Las Vegas and enter in the Maryland casino market, breaking group in Baltimore Major Areas of Concern for the Future: (direct quotes) -No unique value proposition built on approach, scale, geographic reach, brands and loyalty -Not positioned to drive value creation and significant revenue upside -Huge investments made in trying to expand core of business—declining revenues in many areas of business will lead to serious problems if the capital structure is not re-vamped by 2015 -Not executing on development pipeline, expanding domestic distribution and social/mobile gaming platform—the company claims that social gaming has a bright future, but the uncertain regulatory condition on a state and federal level pose a serious threat to the future of this revenue source -Failure to capitilze on pipeline while competitors continue to thrive on an international level (failure in Macau and Korea are significant) -Failed focus on managing costs and improving capital structure -Sustained economic recovery has not provided an additional tailwind to the efforts of the company COMPETITORS: EPS Change (%), Sales growth % CZR: -92.74, .16 WYNN: -1.34, -2.19 LVS: 18.29, 18.28 MGM: -165.10, 16.71 →large concern is the significant decline in EPS and sales growth over the recent history for CZR and at such a fast rate -â€Å"Considering the country has been seeing an economic recovery, consumer spending on gaming and entertainment in Las Vegas has not kept up. With no exposure to Macau, CZR will continue to underperform its peers in the future. The company’s current strategy is failing domestically and trying to transition to anything internationally is impossible. The EPS Change of -92.74% and 0.16% Sales Growth is just the beginning of a negative trend for Caesars. With massive amounts of debt and important maturity dates approaching, investors should look for a significant decline in shares as nervousness continues to build.† (5) -Based on the cash flow and margins, the quality of the most recent CZR earnings quarter was very poor overall -Negative cash flow per share: company is borrowing a significant amount of money to keep operating, and at some point the banks will stop lending and want to be repaid –bad position -â€Å"Cash is king† and companies that don’t generate cash are not around for a long time Problem: no cash flow -major debt obligations are due in 2015 and they have no cash, running out of time USE ALL THE CHARTS FROM THIS PDF! Very good for 2013 competitors, etc Potential Bankruptcy: -Important to look to the Book Value/ Share of CZR -this indicates the dollar value remaining for common shareholders after all assets are liquidated and all debtors are paid Financial Strength -Look at PDF -Use of leverage can be a double-edged sword for companies -â€Å"In the case for CZR, it has tried to generate returns above its cost of capital, for investors benefits. However, with the added risk of the debt on tis books, CZR is a company that has been hurt by this leverage and is unable to generate returns above the cost of capital. The company’s losses have been and will continue to be magnified by the use of leverage in the company’s capital structure, while they continue to renovate existing properties and continue with new construction domestically. With $20.91 B of long-term debt and a large debt to equity ratio of 1.04, Caesars will need to significantly overhaul their capital structure if they want to compete and survive in this highly competitive industry† (6) →compute d/e current ratio for 2014, google their financial statements Problem: too much debt, no cash -ROA: -4.44%, the company cannot operate efficiently based on the firm’s generated profits from total assets

Cost Accounting Essay

Questions arise as to why ABC implementation is successful in certain companies and fails in others. Based on the contingency theory, researchers have argued that the reasons for different degrees of ABC success could be due to the different contextual factors faced by each firm. These have led researchers to recognize assessing factors that influence ABC success implementation as an important research area. The following are among the research that have been carried out to examine factors that influence ABC success: Anderson [18]; Shield [3]; McGowan and Klammer [19]; Krumwiede [20]; and Anderson and Young [21] This article has two main objectives; the first objective is to identify research gaps based on the revision of previous research and the second objective is to propose theoretical research framework for current research. This article is organized as follows: Section II presents a discussion of selected articles related to factors influencing ABC implementation and gaps or limitations of previous studies and suggestions for current research are stated in the section III and IV. The framework for current research is provided in section V, Section VI defines each research variable and the final section presents the conclusion. II. PREVIOUS RESEARCH In this section, selected ABC implementation empirical 144 Abstract—In today’s advanced manufacturing and competitive environment, accurate costing information is crucial for all the kinds of businesses, such as manufacturing firms, merchandizing firms, and service firms. Argued to be superior to the traditional volume-based costing system, Activity-Based Costing system (ABC) has increasingly attracted the attention of practitioners and researchers alike as one of the strategic tools to aid managers for better decision making. The benefits of ABC system and its impacts on companies’ performance have motivated numerous empirical studies on ABC system and it is considered as one of the most-researched management accounting areas in developed countries. Previous research on ABC have examined pertinent issues related to ABC implementation such as the levels of ABC adoption in various countries, the reasons for implementing ABC, the problems related to ABC and the critical success factors influencing ABC. This paper reviews the research on ABC carried out within the last decade, from 1995-2008, and from the review research gaps are identified. Specifically, this paper examines the selection of factors influencing successful ABC implementation, variables used by previous research and the definitions and operationalization of the variables. The review reveals that past research concentrated mainly on behavioral, organizational, and technical variables as the main determinants of ABC success but very little research have been done to examine the roles of organizational culture and structure. Based on the research gaps identified, a research framework for future research is provided. Index Terms—Advanced Manufacturing Activity-Based Costing, ABC Success Environment, I. INTRODUCTION In today’s competitive and continually changing business environment, firms need to be vigilant of the impacts of the changes in the business environment and devise appropriate strategies to survive and prosper. Advancements in manufacturing and communication technologies have drastically changed the ways businesses conduct their activities. Adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics and computerized manufacturing have resulted in significant changes in the manufacturing cost structure which have led academics and practitioners to argue that the traditional costing methods are no longer sufficient within this new manufacturing environment [1] (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987). This had resulted in the change from the traditional volume-based cost model to new costing methods such as Activity Based Costing (ABC) [2]. Due to its ability in providing more accurate costing information and enhancing firms’ performance, ABC is International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X studies, which spanned 1995-2008 periods, were collected from four prominent refereed accounting research journals, in management accounting field: Journal of Management Accounting Research, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Management Accounting Research and British Accounting Review. Factors used by previous research to investigate the effect on ABC success implementation are summarized, and stage of ABC implementation also is outlined. A. Technical Variables Early studies of ABC adoption and implementation undertaken by previous researchers concentrated on technical factors, such as identification of main activities, selection of cost drivers, problem in accumulating cost data. Example of these research are Cooper [9], Morrow and Connelly [22]. However, technical factors alone may not be adequate to explain the factors influencing ABC success implementation. Cooper et al. [23] argued that the key problem during ABC implementation stage is that companies only focus on technical factors. They suggested that to make ABC implementation more effective, non-technical factors such as involvement of non-accounting in ABC implementation process, top management championship, adequate training program to employees about the objectives and benefits of ABC should be emphasized as well. Similar opinions were expressed by Shield [3] and Shields and McEwen [14]. Shield (1995) found no significant relationship between technical factors and ABC success. Shields and McEwen [14] also highlighted that sole emphasis on the architectural and software design of ABC systems leads to the failure of ABC implementation. Therefore many researchers have suggested that new variables should be considered to investigate factors influencing ABC success. B. Contextual, Behavioral and Organizational Variables Recognizing the research gaps in identifying factors that may affect ABC success, academicians shifted their focuses from technical factors to other variables, such as contextual, behavioral and organizational, culture, as well as organizational structure. Anderson [18] conducted a longitudinal investigation of ABC process in General Motor (GM) from a period of 1986 to 1993. In his research, he examined the effects of organizational variables and contextual variables, and segmented ABC implementation into four major stages, initiation, adoption, adaptation and acceptance. He found that organizational factors, such as top management support and training for the ABC system affected various stages of ABC significantly, while contextual variables, such as competition, relevance to managers’ decisions and compatibility with existing systems produced different degree of impact on different stages of ABC. Shield [3] examined the relationships between diversity of behavioral, organizational and technical factors and the success of ABC implementation. She employed Shield and Young’s [24] framework and summarized behavioral and organizational variables as top management support, adequate resources, training, link ABC system to performance evaluation and compensation, non-accounting ownership, link ABC to competitive strategies as well as clarity of ABC objectives. She found that top management support, linkage to quality initiatives and to personal performance measure (pay/appraisal), implementation of training and resource adequacy were the significant predictors in explaining ABC success. She also found that technical variables were not associated with ABC success. Shield’s findings are supported by other researchers, such as Shield and McEwen [14], who argued that a significant cause for unsuccessful implementations of ABC of several companies could be due to the emphasis of architectural and software design of the ABC system and less attention given to behavioral and organizational issues, which were identified by Shield [3]. Krumwiede and Roth [25] also stated that barriers of ABC implementation can be overcome if firms could give importance to behavioral and rganizational variables identified by Shield [3]. Similarly, Norris [26] agreed with Shield’s [3] findings that the association between ABC success and behavioral and organizational variables is stronger than with technical variables. She further highlighted that the impact of behavioral, organizational and technical should be focused at individual level. McGowan and Klammer [19] conducted a survey of 53 employees from 4 targeted sites in the U. S. o examine whether employees’ satisfaction levels are associated with ABC implementation by They also measured their perceptions of the factors associated with the degree of satisfaction, such as top management support; the degree of involvement in the implementation process; objectives clearly stated; objectives shared; training; linkage to performance evaluation system; adequate resources; information quality and preparer over user. Their results indicated that employees’ satisfaction with ABC implementation was positively related with clarity of objectives and quality of ABC information. Gosselin [15] carried out a survey of 161 Canadian manufacturing companies to examine the effects of strategic posture and organizational structure on adoption and implementation of general forms of Activity-based costing. He segmented the ABC implementation stage into adoption and implementation. The research findings showed that a prospector strategy was associated with manager decision to adopt ABC, while centralization and formalization were significantly associated with ABC success implementation. Krumwiede [20] surveyed U. S manufacturing firms to study how contextual factors, such as the potential for cost distortion or size of firms; organizational factors, such as top management support, training or non-accounting ownership, affect each stage of ABC implementation process. His findings showed that the different factors affected the various stages of implementation of ABC and the degree of importance of each factor varies according to the stage of implementation. Contextual factors, such as usefulness of cost information, IT existence, less task uncertainty and large organizations were related to ABC adoption. Moreover, organizational factors, such as top management support, non-accounting ownership, and implementation training affect ABC success implementation. 145 International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010 2010-023X In another study by Anderson and Young [21], the relationship between organizational and contextual variables, such as organizational structures, task characteristics, management support, information technology and ABC success was examined. The result confirmed the importance of organizational factors (top management support and adequacy resources) during the ABC implementation stage. In South Africa, Sartorius et al. [27] carried out a mail survey to investigate the effect of organizational factors such as top management, adequate resources, coherence with organizational goals and strategy on ABC success. They found top management support and resources were the crucial factors in explaining ABC success. In the UK, Innes and Mitchell [4] and [12] surveyed the extent of ABC adoption among largest firms. The study aimed to find out factors influencing ABC success by using behavioral and organizational variables, and it was found that top management influenced ABC success significantly. In another study conducted by Khalid [28] using a questionnaire survey among the largest 100 firms in Saudi Arabia, ABC adoption was found to be positively related to diversity of products. In Malaysia, Ruhanita et al. [29] conducted a mail survey and a case study to examine that factors influencing ABC success, especially at adoption stage. They found the significant factors were cost distortion, decision usefulness, information technology and organizational factors. In addition, the findings showed that decision usefulness, top management support, link ABC to performance measure and compensation influenced the ABC success adoption significantly. A case study of one Chinese manufacturing firm was carried by Lana and Fei [30] in China. Their research aimed to examine some key success factors pertinent to ABC implementation within Chinese organizational and cultural setting. The research findings showed that top management support, hierarchical and communication structure and high proportion of dedicated professionals were the significant factors in determining ABC success implementation. Majid et al. [7] used a case study approach to describe the process of ABC implementation in a Malaysian service company and a Malaysian manufacturing company. In this research, they categorized ABC implementation into initiation and adoption, design, implementation and use of information. The purpose of the research was to find out the problems faced during ABC implementation, He found that the factors determining ABC success were top management support, suitable ABC software, and finally, ensuring that all affected employees understand and participate in the ABC implementation stage. And they also found that at different stages of ABC, the dominant factors influencing ABC success were also different. Colin et al. [31] adopted behavioral and organizational factors summarized by Shield (1995) to examine factors influencing the adoption and degree of success of ABC systems and determinants of that success. In their research, the targeted research population was manufacturing and service firms in the UK. They found that top management support, non-accounting ownership, adequate training provided to ABC determined the ABC success. Besides behavioral, organizational and technical variable, some researchers also indicated that the dimensions of national cultures could affect the level of ABC success [32, 33]. Brewer [32] used Hofstede’s taxonomy of work-related cultural values to examine the relationship between national culture and Activity-Based Costing system. In the study, Hofstede [34]’s work was applied to the case of Harris Semiconductor (HS), which has implemented ABC at plants in Malaysia and the USA. The results showed that the level of ABC success in Malaysia was higher than that of U. S due to high-power-distance and collectivist cultures in Malaysia. In addition, Supitcha and Frederick [33] also included national culture’s dimension into framework in a case study of one Thai state-owned enterprise’s budgeting system. They found that due to cultural differences, modifications were required when the organizations in Thailand tried to implement ABC system in Thai environment. Apart from national culture, corporate culture factors were also tested by prior research. Baird, Harrison and Reeve [17] conducted a study to investigate the relationship between the extent of ABC adoption and the organizational variables of size and decision usefulness of cost information and business unit culture. In their research, data were collected by a mail survey questionnaire and samples were randomly selected from business units in Australia. The research finding showed significant relationships between ABC adoption and decision usefulness, cultural dimensions of outcome orientation and tight verse loose control. Baird, Harrison and Reeve [16] examined the relationship between success of activity management practices and organizational factors (top management support, training, link to performance evaluation and compensation, and link to quality initiatives), and organizational culture (outcome orientation, team orientation, attention to detail, as well as innovation). They adopted a survey questionnaire method on randomly chosen business units in Australia. The findings showed that two organizational factors (top management support, link to quality initiatives) explained the variations in success of activity management practices, such as ABC, and outcome orientation and attention to detail of organizational culture were associated with ABC success. They also stressed that compared with organizational culture, organizational factors had stronger associations with the ABC.

Individual Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Individual Assignment - Essay Example Based on the fact that the contract was worth $6 million and there was a possibility of obtaining a larger CRM contract from the company after completion of the contract it was in the company’s best interest to resolve the situation by negotiating directly with the client. A lawsuit at this moment would bring unnecessary legal fees and it would eliminate the possibility of retaining the client in the long run. There were four primary points that led to the dispute. The list below shows a summary of the reasons for the standoff. In round one of the simulation I was given five legal solutions to choose from. The decisions were the basis of an ongoing negotiation between both parties. The five legal solutions available were: a) Breach of contract under substantial performance of contract; b) Breach of contract under internal escalation procedure for disputes; c) breach of contract under requirement change; d) Breach of contract under communication and recording; e) Breach of contract under intellectual property rights. The simulation indicated that I was supposed to pick three alternatives. I choose options b, c, and d. In the scenario one of the claims was that C-S had been asking for too many changes without considering the timeline and budget implications of the change. The constant changes made it impossible for the firm to comply with the contract on a timely manner. I chose the option of breach of contract under internal escalation for procedures because the information in the simulation indicated there were no cons associated with this option. Also C-S had already indicated that rescission of contract violated contractual obligations. Option d was chosen because the change in management structure at C-S had hurt the communication process which caused delays. Due to internal escalation that occurred at C-S I was confident the client would reconsider their stance. Span Systems

STRATEGIC PLAN CRITIQUE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

STRATEGIC PLAN CRITIQUE - Essay Example The company’s strategic plan is formulated to address the current threats / issues concerning the industry as well as the company as a whole, such as its weaker presence in the social networking segment, low integration of the wide range of services provided, technical barriers resulting in outdated links, network scams, environmental issues etc. These issues are aptly tackled by the company management by using its internal strengths of manpower, intellectual knowhow and widespread popularity to leverage its brand value and maximize customer satisfaction at the same time working closely with the company’s vision, mission and values. This strategic planning process is vital for all organizations as it helps them in identifying the various threats and opportunities in the industry as well as provides them with adequate data about its internal strengths and weaknesses to address such issues posed by the macro economic environment. This paper discusses the various problems, issues as well as threats concerning the industry as well as the company as a whole and assesses the strategic planning process identified by the management to address those issues. The Pedigree Grooming and Boarding Company based in New Mexico, is dedicated to providing value based services to the dog show competitors. The various issues concerning the company currently, includes the change in ownership, economic distress of the customers, high competition, pricing policies and relative inexperience of the new owner in this field. These problems are intended to be addressed by adopting new pricing policies, expanding its service line, employee development through rigorous training, and setting achievable yet competitive targets. This strategic plan is designed appropriately that seeks to target the most crucial aspects of the business and is in line with the overall goals, vision and mission of the

Character analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Character analysis - Essay Example Scout, at the initiation of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird is depicted as an innocent and naà ¯ve girl who is only five years old. She knows nothing about the malevolent acts of people and is deprived of any knowledge pertaining to evil aspects of the world. When she listens about Boo Radley along with her brother Jem and her friend Dill, she gets frightened and considers him criminal minded as she narrates in her story, She shows a prejudiced attitude related to Boo Radley, who continuously shows kindness and care to her, Jem and Dill. She is able to end her fear because of frequent experiences with Boo as in chapter 26, Scout mentions, With Scout’s maturity, she is able to see Boo according to his true personality. She has lost her fear in him. She knew that Boo was innocent and has a kind personality, as he has done nothing bad to anything and is only a victim of rumors and false information. Scout is quite an intelligent child and is better than her class fellows in terms of her learning. Before getting admission in her class, she is well equipped with knowledge, as she is always interested to accompany her father in reading. When she shows her learned knowledge in her class, in place of being appreciated, she is insulted as her teacher in spite of her constant refusal related to her knowledge acquirement by the help of her father asks her to stop getting education from her father because it is erroneous. Scout endures the distaste felt by Mrs. Caroline and still shows concern towards her as at her upsetting, she says: Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white woman was considered as an innocent person by Scout due to which, she tried to support him in the court. Although, Tom Robinson was announced guilty but Scout knew that it was only due to racial prejudice by the white people. She says, She knows that Tom Robinson is wrongly found guilty and will be

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

Report - Essay Example The following report is going to discuss two companies and their growth – Lazy Oaf Company and Bay & Brown Company. These two companies are major UK textile and apparel manufacturers. This report examines the growth prospects for the two companies trends in fashion have been listed at the close of the report. The aim and objective is to analyze the growth of the industry as a whole with the two companies presenting the model for growth behavior. A company with a vision to originate unconventional, vibrant outfits and frills was well established back in 2001 in East London. It initiated its work by printing t-shirts in a different style called â€Å"Screen Printed T-Shirts† This innovation got great appreciation and got famous in no time. The brand for its quality and uniqueness became reputable and spread its network in Japan, Paris and Italy. Creative designs and distinct style distinguish it from other brands. The company has mission to en light your day with it diverse product range, catering to all ages (Lazy Oaf Company, 2009). Witnessing the current economic downfall throughout the world the company has done remarkably well to maintain its place in the market by taking timely initiatives and launching campaigns and promotional offers that helped it securing its share in the market (Lazy Oaf Prices, 2009). The prices of products have been kept in accordance with the buying ability of masses, not to deprive them their right to buy quality brand. At this critical juncture the performance in terms of growth is uphill with innovation in Fashion stands as essential standpoint. A UK design studio that promotes exclusive compilation of ideas, print designs and notions fabricate for UK and various international fashion industries. Bay and Brown is playing a key role in boosting the image of the company all over the world in terms of setting a benchmark regarding the fine prints and designs famous for their innovation and cost effectiveness (Bay &

Managing Sport Venues & Facilities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Sport Venues & Facilities - Assignment Example A year after the official opening day, they will check to see if they reached their goal of establishing a customer base of 3,750. At least 2,000 of the memberships should be those people ranging from 29 to 45 years of age. They also plan to monitor the changing demographics of their consumers by means of the marketing surveys and membership forms they plan to distribute. The marketing strategy that will be implemented to accomplish their objectives is a market-penetration strategy. In the marketing setting of this facility, they are trying to penetrate an existing market with an existing product. Initially, their strategy will take on the sole dimension of attracting customers and then become more of a repeat-purchase strategy; however, they will continually give effort toward increasing the consumer base. The most difficult aspect of this marketing strategy will be to attract customers to their first visit. In order to establish a consumer base, they plan to initiate a promotional campaign during the first month of operation. This campaign will be geared toward the entire target market with the incentive that if someone brings a friend, he or she can buy two, one-year memberships for the price of one. They will also facilitate this promotion by launching an advertisement campaign using a large banner on the front of the Average Pim's Gym Health and Fitness Club to introduce the idea and local advertising in the newspaper to broadcast it. This campaign will foster word-of- mouth and bring-a-friend types of advertising, which is very cost-efficient. To meet the challenge of establishing a consumer base of 2,000 from the baby boomers' segment of the market, they will target them specifically with some promotions and programs. They plan to initiate exercise and aerobic programs geared only toward them because people enjoy exercising with people their own age. There are also plans to promote social gatherings like holiday parties on their behalf to foster friendships. Finally, they plan to conduct a market research survey targeted at customers. The aim of these surveys will be specific to their needs and wants, in order to help generate ideas and solutions to increase the consumer base and service level. 5. Do you think that they have missed anything important in their marketing strategies If we

Accounting Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting - Coursework Example Our analysis will cover the main factors that may encourage unethical accounting practices at the managerial level. Greed for money appears to be the most convenient explanation. Personal gain is probably why malpractice is performed in the first place. With accounting being a practice revolving entirely around money, greed is likely to strike at any level, whether it be an individual accountant or at a member of the executive board. Financial information is manipulated as managers and accounting specialists search for loopholes in standards either for misrepresentation or for direct monetary benefit. Pressure to meet profitability targets is another important factor as to why management may choose to enter the grey area of accounting. In certain scenarios meeting analysts’ expectations regarding company performance becomes more important than contractual obligations, as the company is reputed to adhere to its market predicted growth trends. Therefore, capital market pressure may just be significant enough for managers to resort to unethical means to financial reporting. (Serwer, et al., 2002) have construed in a similar context: â€Å"over time so much focus has been placed on levitating companies stock prices that many executives will do almost anything--legal or otherwise--to make it happen† (Rosen, Al, 2009) regards executive compensation as the key to the dubitable practice of misrepresentation in financial reporting. Executive compensation can occur either via share-based compensatory benefits (as share prices rise) or inflated profitability by over-stating revenues. Corporate culture plays a significant role in devising managerial ethics. If in order to achieve ‘company’ gains the executive management is known to practice manipulation with financial information, subordinate staff is likely to use unethical means for personal benefits too (StrategicDirection,

Recovery Period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recovery Period - Essay Example The institute of law enforcement runs on the basis of mutual respect; the civilian respects the officer and the officer respects the civilian, not considering him/herself superior because of his uniform. An officer must, at all times, remain unbiased so as not to obstruct his judgement during his duty. The above stated behaviors are, to me, the most likely to incite the opposite feelings. Biases arise because there is no respect for one’s fellows. Prejudice leads to hatred, which then manifests itself into hate crimes. And these crimes simply grow in magnitude. An automatic termination would set an example. The second behavior shows a lack of respect for the very job. By not respecting the profession of law enforcement, one cannot be considered an officer – it becomes contradictory in nature. This sort of behavior leads to bullying and taking advantage of others. The â€Å"recovery phase provides a ‘window of opportunity’ for risk reduction† (Christoplos). The recovery period simply refers to the phase, after the occurring of any crime, where the victims involved recover from their losses. This does not necessarily mean emotional losses. If, for instance, a theft took place in a shop, the recovery phase/period would include the recovering from the financial loss, the traumatic experience of being held at gun point (perhaps), and the relief and rehabilitation (not necessarily in mobile terms) of the victims. This period is often called the window of opportunity for risk reduction. Risk reduction refers to the actual trimming down of the risk of any crime. What this statement, thus, means is this: when a crime occurs, a situation arises in which the involved actors (victims, civilians or the cops) are given an opportunity to reduce risk for future such happenings. Mr. Christoplos wrote a report on the window of opportunity

Discuss the relationship between film score and narrative (story) Essay

Discuss the relationship between film score and narrative (story) - Essay Example It gives the feeling of the narration and helps carry along with the narrative the audience. Giving the feeling and tone of a narrative is very necessary to help the audience realize the message that the narrative is relaying to them. All narratives have their role which is supposed to educate and entertain the society. They try to remind people of the lost values that should be sort for proper cohesion of the people. In traditional societies before the coming of formal education, narratives were a source of education to young people. They were used to drive order and instill discipline in the young ones. This art has currently been perfected into different genres to include movies, dramas and other theatrics. With these improvements to modernize the field of art came music which has proved to be an integral part of narratives and movies and without music there could as well be no narratives or movies. An appropriate music has to be selected to accompany the narration. This will help to give meaning to the different scenes and themes that the narrator may want to pass across. Just by the background music, the audience may be in a position to predict what is likely to come next in the narration. Therefore, film score or film music helps in a great way to build a story in a narrative. The plot of the narration will basically be based on the content of the narration and the music that plays along the story (Green, 81). Film score also helps to catch attention of the audience hence breaking the monotony and boredom that may prevail were it for a mere narration without any support from music. Calm music often brings about somber moods in the narration, indicating that there could be a bad incident taking place in the story. A lively song gives an impression of a happy occurrence in the story. Therefore the choice of music should be correct to prevent a misleading incident where the audience may think about an occurrence

The Role of Men in the Society Essay Example for Free

The Role of Men in the Society Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Men were particularly known as the supreme gender in the human society. As the population belonging to the supreme gender, men are expected to have special responsibilities as well as advantages with regards the activities that they are able to do. Men were expected to have responsibilities of providing for those that belong to them. This includes their families and other people that are living around them. On the other hand, they benefit form the authority that is given to them. The power to control others, especially women has naturally given them pride when it comes to the thought of being able to rule over several sectors of the human society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through the pages of the human history, men of different races and different ages have primarily been able to change the ways by which humans perceive their purpose in living. Indeed, men have naturally drawn the different demarcation lines of limitations and possibilities that identify each human individual’s capability of living. Most likely, the powerful sense of being of the appearance of man has naturally affected the characteristic and the attitude that he perceives upon others. Within the paragraphs that follow, the different roles of men within the American society shall be outlined in clarity to be able to assist in the understanding of what actually is the important part that men plays in the advancement of the human civilization towards progress. Men as Key Agents of Family Strength   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The family is one of the basic units of social relationship within the human generations. It could be observed that men are appointed as head of the family. As head of the family, a man has the responsibility of providing the guidance that the members of the family need to be able to get through with the challenges of life. Aside from this, men also stand as the basic source of spiritual and intellectual aspects of life when it comes to taking care of the younger generations of the family. Not to mention, men are also viewed as the major providers of the needs of the family in terms of finances, shelter, food and clothing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From this particular point of view, it could be observed that men are indeed given high regards by the human society especially in terms of the role that they play in the family. At some point, they work as complimentary personnel to the fulfillment of the dream of their wives and their children. They are the primary source of strength for their family members and from them comes the most valuable advices of life that would naturally help the members of the family get along with the ups and downs of living in a more eased and controlled procedure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Certainly, men are given the chance to handle the most complicated responsibilities within the family arrangements. The challenges are really not that easy to face. However, with the strong conviction and determination of men to succeed in this particular responsibility shall give them the reputation that they need to be able to earn for themselves the respect that they are due. Their identification of themselves and as the major source of guidance for others shall help them understand the truth that they are made and are appointed to perform certain complicated yet important roles in the human society. Men as Agents of Social Progress   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The mental ability of men in becoming strongly convicted in whatever they believe in particularly sets the line by which they are able to continuously proceed in attaining what they want to attain. This is primarily the reason why there are larger number of men who were able to produce worthwhile inventions that are now of good use in the society. The different technological innovations that were pursued through the history of the human civilization have been particularly assisted by men who were brave enough to risk their time and efforts, as well as their finances in creating something new and innovative for the sake of social progress. Men have also assisted women in realizing their potentials in creating change in the human society. The motivation that they imply upon those who are living around them is indeed infectious and results to more productive aspects of human living.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Truly, men have been a source of inspiration and the main idea of social progress within the human community. This has resulted to a more positive response to the male gender of the population. However, meeting the roles that the men play in the society is not that easy to take and face especially when there are different challenges to the said roles. Particularly, the challenges make it harder for them to attain the best possible results from the acts that and decisions that they make everyday. Liberalization of Women and the Role of Men as Social Equalizers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sadly, not all men are able to meet the challenges of their roles. Instead, when they fail, they are implying much chaos within the human relationship and the ways by which women and children view life as a whole. The impact that they make in the lives of the said sector of the human population indeed makes a great difference on how they particularly deal with the challenges that they themselves deal with everyday. As a result, there came the different movements that were established by women to help men remember their roles in the society. The liberalization of women has actually created difference in the role that men particularly play within the progress of the human civilization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As for now, women are already able to take the place of men in terms of authority over people within certain human organizations, and they are also capable of taking care of their family members alone as individual parents especially when men fail to do their responsibilities to the family. Hence, the changes in the role of men certainly are heightened in terms of power and the stiffness of the decisions that they make in creating possibilities to motivate others as they are expected.   Most likely, the pressure on men who are aiming to reach the best possible ways of attaining and completing their roles in the society is heightened as well. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Men are indeed an epitome of humans who are able to stick to whatever they decide upon. They are known to have a strong conviction when they totally believe on a certain idea. These characteristics of men have led them to becoming the primary foundations of human developments through the history of humankind. Their determination to make a change certainly helped them in assisting the entire human community in aiming for further progress in living.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, because of the pressures given upon them, their capabilities of meeting their roles have been challenged particularly because of their own shortcomings. As a result the liberalization of women has naturally challenged the ways by which men try to achieve the roles that they are supposed to meet for the sake of social equality. This particularly means that the gender differences have been set in a more distanced situation, whereas the men are being strongly questioned with the way they complete their responsibilities to the human community. References: Enhancing Mens Roles and Responsibilities in Family Life. Empowering Women. (2001). http://www.unfpa.org/intercenter/role4men/. (May 29, 2007). The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality. Written Statement Prepared for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women at its 48th Session Item 3a of the Provisional Agenda. (2004). http://statements.bahai.org/04-0312.htm/. (May 29, 2007). Impact Lab. The Confusing Role of Men. (2001). http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=Newsfile=articlesid=5760. (May 29, 2007). The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality. R. W. Connell. http://www.ashanet.org/focusgroups/sanctuary/articles/Connell-bp.pdf. (May 29, 2007).

Liquidity Ratio Analysis

Liquidity Ratio Analysis Liquidity ratio is a measure of the ability of the company to transform immediately of its assets into any other asset and pay their short term obligation due on time. This is among the important measurement which involve planning and controlling the current assets and current liabilities. Cash is among the very liquid assets compare to fixed asset which is illiquid. Liquidity ratio analysis of the company must be done first in analyzing the companys financial position. This is due to the serious problems that might arise such as potential insolvency and mismanagement by the manager. The commonly liquidity ratio used are current ratio and quick ratio for a quick check of liquidity, but there are also another component to have better understanding of companys ability to make payments to other parties such as cash cycle, working capital, accounts receivable, inventories, current liabilities. Besides the use of the liquidity ratio as determinant of firms ability to pay for short term debt, it also can be used to avoid of excessive holding of inventory. The financial analysts commonly used the specific liquidity ratio such as current and quick ratios, which allow them to make temporal or cross sectional comparison which is within the company itself or other companies in the industries. As part of it, another concept that also commonly used to identify the liquidity of the company is working capital which is calculated by deducting the current liabilities of the firm from the current liabilities. The working capital is very important measurement in determining financial stability for the company. It is health for the company to have more current assets over its current liabilities suppose to be practiced by the company. The company needs to stress on the liquidity management because from the previous research on companys balance sheet composition in Spanish found that 69 percent of the assets is current asset and 52 percent of liabilities represent current liabilities (La Porta et al, 1997). According to Petersen and Rajan (1997), the high percentage of current liabilities due to the reason that the current liabilities become one of their main external financial loans because the company failed to obtain the long term fund from the bank and other creditors. This is also supported by other researcher such as Whited (1992), Petersen and Fazzari (1993) that stated that current liabilities become one of resources due to their financial constrain. Also research done in US by Elliehhausen and Wolken (1993), Petersen and Rajan (1997) found that the US small and medium firm size depend on current liabilities when they have financial problems. The efficient liquidity management is particularly important for the big companies as well as small companies. It is rather important in small companies as highlighted by Peel and Wilson (1996). If a companys current liabilities exceed the amount of current assets, the company will face the problems to pay back the creditors in the short term. If this problem persists, the company could end up into bankruptcy. As stated by Nicholas (1991) that companies that did not concern to improve liquidity management until it was too late and reaching crisis conditions or end up on the verge of bankruptcy. Furthermore, it is important to have liquidity management in good times and it takes further importance in troubled times. The useful of liquidity ratio Liquidity ratio as part of accounting ration is important tools in financial analysis. Basically, these ratios used to identify the ability of the firm to pay it debt, to evaluate company performance as well as to access company value. According Palepu et al (2003) analysis done may be within company itself, or for the particular firm but compare for several years, compare the same ratio for the different company in same industry. From previous studies, they found that accounting ratio also useful in providing information for decision making process (Houghton, and Woodliff, 1987, Thomas and Evanson (1987, Lewellen, 2004). For some instant, liquidity ratio also useful in predicting business failures (Beaver, 1966; Altman (1968). The excess in working capital represents a safety cushion for providers of short-term funds of the company such as creditors, bank. This is also viewed positively the availability of excessive levels of working capital and cash. However, from an operating point of view, this excessive of working capital has been looked as a restraint on financial performance because these assets do not contribute to return on equity (Sanger, 2001). A lot of techniques could be applied to improve liquidity and cash positions, at the same time it can increase the efficiency of their management. At the end it would result in high profitability. These include credit insurance (Brealey and Myers, 1996; Unsworth, 2000; and Raspanti, 2000), factoring of receivables (Brealey and Myers, 1996; Summers and Wilson, 2000). The effect of liquidity management The efficiency of liquidity planning and control which include liquidity management, working capital and cash management have significant effect towards the profits. Actually, the most important is to have efficient liquidity management and the next, profitability will follow as well. The important of companys liquidity can be seen from different perspectives. Basically the idea of companys liquidity laid on the going concern concept which not involved any default in near future. The first party who interested on companys liquidity is short term lenders. These lenders interested on payment made on the debt and short term obligation because they can reasonably expected to be paid. For their own security, lenders would prefer the company with a high liquidity as their protection. For the investors and management, holding large cash balances is not the benefit activities in the company. Besides the problem due to the existence of the cash, this cash also become as extra cost to the company. The company actually has forgone the interest income from short term investment if they hold a lot of surplus cash. On the other hand, it is also necessary for company to hold cash to make immediate payments in the case to undertake rapidly the most desirable projects, and to deal without major disruptions with unforeseen problems. The amount of cash depend on expected growth and faces risk, the higher the expectation, the more the company must have a cushion of ready cash. The surplus cash on hand allow company to take advantage of new opportunities quickly. A healthy cash position helps stemming from new products, changing customer tastes or changing market conditions. Another factor to be considered for keeping on hand other liquid assets such as receivables is as a part of sales strategy of the firm. Companies usually offer their customer to take 30, 60, 90 days or more to pay for their purchases. This is to encourage immediate purchase of the customer in the big amount. Account payables are a major element of corporate finance. According to Rajan and Zingales (1995) the aggregate amount of payables in American firms was a significant part (17.8%) of total assets for all in the early 1990s. Other country such as Germany, France and Italy, also shown the very significant amount of payables which represents more than a quarter of total corporate assets, in United Kingdom payable also show significant value which represent 70% of total short-term debt (credit extended) while 55% of total credit received by firms is made up of account payables(Kohler et al., 2000; Guariglia and Mateut, 2006). In fact, payables are also important factor in emerging economies, like China, due to limited support from the banking system. The companies depending more on credit on purchases compared to other forms such as bank loans as highlighted by Ge and Qiu, (2007). Similar to Atanasova and Wilson (2004) find that smaller UK companies tend to increase their reliance on inter-firm credit to avoid bank credit rationing. However, account payable does not need fully attention for the company since it does not consumes resources but serve as short term of source of finance. The benefits arise that it could reduce the cash gap. Previous researchers have viewed the relationship trade-off between inventories and payables such as Nadiri (1969), Schwartz (1974), Ferris (1981) and Emery (1987)). Only Emery (1987) considers explicitly the trade-off between trade credits and inventories but his study does not include the deterministic variable demand framework. More recently, the study from Daripa and Nilsen (2005) has theoretically investigated how this trade-off could affect the terms of credit agreements. In their model, suppliers offer trade credit as an incentive to buyers to hold higher inventories. Normally, managements concerned with liquidity but they cannot only concern liquidity as single element because when there are shortage or excessive in receivables or inventory it usually will reflected to production, sales efforts, fixed assets or other management decision parameters, not liquidity alone. As highlighted before, receivables and inventory reflected to sales and production strategies. Working capital is also important factor in liquidity management due to its effect on the profitability and risk of the firm. Specifically, the investment in working capital is highly related with tradeoff between profitability and risk which means that if the company decides to increase the profit, they have to face the increase in risk as well as stated by Smith (1980). There are a lot of determinants of working capital such as stated by Chiou and Cheng (2006) in their study: 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. factor influence working capital such as business indicators, industry effect, operating cash flows, growth opportunity for a firm, firm performance and size of firm. The study has clearly identified that determinant of working capital 1. To represent in a picture or sculpture. 2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. consistent results of leverage and operating cash flow Operating cash flow Earnings before depreciation minus taxes. Measures the cash generated from operations, not counting capital spending or working capital requirements. for both net liquid balance and working capital requirements. However, Capital requirements Financing required for the operation of a business, composed of long-term and working capital plus fixed assets. some variables unable to produce consistent conclusions for net liquid balance and working capital requirements of firms like business indicator, industry effect, growth opportunities, performance of firm, and size of firm. Similar study has been done by Nazir and Afza (2008) which have used both external and internal factors to explore the determinants of working capital requirements of a firm. They identified internal factors were operating cycle Operating cycle The average time between the acquisition of materials or services and the final cash realization from that acquisition. operating cycle , operating cash flows, leverage, size, ROA, Tobins q and growth while industry dummy Sham; make-believe; pretended; imitation. Person who serves in place of another, or who serves until the proper person is named or available to take his place (e.g., dummy corporate directors; dummy owners of real estate). and level of economic activity were recognize as external macroeconomic n. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the overall aspects and workings of a national economy, such as income, output, and the interrelationship among diverse economic sectors. factors. From the study, they found that operating cycle, leverage, ROA and q had a significant influence on the working capital requirements. Their finding further revealed that working capital management practices are also have significant related to industry and different industries are following different working capital requirements. Another study has been done on impact of the different variables of working capital management by Rehman (2006). The study have recognize that the variable including Average Collection Period, Inventory Turnover in Days, Average Payment Period and Cash gap on the Net Operating Profitability of firms has a strong negative relationship between above working capital ratios and profitability of firms. Another element of liquidity management that is also important is cash gap which has high relationship with working capital. This is supported by Gitman (1974) that mentioned that cash gap is among important factor in working capital management. Cash gap or cash gap can give significant effect towards companies profitability. The shorter the period, companies could generate high volume of profit. The value of the firm also increase with the reduction on number of days for which the account are outstanding (Teruel and Solaano, 2007). Investment in inventory and trade debtor which customers still owe to the company are not being able to pay off any of the companys obligations. It will affect as an increase in the working capital if a company is not operating in the most efficient manner. The slow collection as cash will affected the cash collection cycle. Uyar (2009) examined the relationship between types of industry with cash gap. The study is done on merchandising and manufacturing companies and found that merchandising industry has shorter CCC than manufacturing industries. He also investigate the relationship between the length of the CCC and the size of the firms and the findings indicated there is a significant negative correlation Noun 1. negative correlation a correlation in which large values of one variable are associated with small values of the other; the correlation coefficient is between 0 and -1 indirect correlation between the length of CCC and the firm size, in terms of both variable net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight and total assets. Furthermore, the study by Uyar(2009) investigate the correlation between the length of CCC and the profitability of the company. The finding showed there is a significant negative correlation between these two variables. In addition, the study by Rehman (2006) stated that managers can create a positive value for the shareholders by reducing the cash gap up to an optimal level To underline the importance of managing liquidity, Loeser (1988) mentioned the extreme way in order to reduce the cash cycle. Loeser recommended interest to be charged at the prime rate to outstanding accounts receivable and unbilled revenue. This is to encourage responsible employees and particular departments within companies to put every effort necessary to collect receivables, and thus reduce Cash gaps. Similarly, study by Fraser (1998) who argues that liquidity and Cash gap management starts with a simple task for financial managers by making certain that their billings, collections, and payables systems are operating efficiently. Management must be certain with the procedures of collecting the payment so that the cash collecting process will organized eventually. Critics and disadvantages on liquidity ratio Besides the benefit in liquidity management and working capital, it also arise some critics such as stated by Hawawini et al. (1986) argue that in order to get the relevant analysis result, it is a better for the firm to apply the concept of working capital investment in its operating cycle rather than the usage traditional concept of net working capital. This argument also supported by Finnerty (1993) which mentioned that the current ratio and quick ratio calculated in traditional liquidity ratios include both liquid financial assets and operating assets in their formula. This is according an ongoing concern point of view that identified inclusion of operating assets which are tied up in operations is not useful. Subsequently, Kamath (1989) argues that both current and quick ratios are static analysis in nature because the usage of past performance. These two ratios have the lack of information on the future cash flows and liquidity. There was suggestion by Gitman (1974), Richard and Laughlin (1980), Boer (1999), and Gentry et al., (1990) to replace the use of liquidity ratio with cash gap as a measure of available liquidity. This is due to the dynamic nature of cash cycles and also involved tradeoffs. As suggest by Kamath (1989) the Cash gaps (cash gap) can be used to replace or s liquidity ratios in measuring and predicting the nature and pattern of future cash flows. The Cash gap measures the length of time between actual cash payment on productive resources especially from the raw material and actual cash receipts from the sale of products or services. It is good for the company to have a short Cash gap because the longer the gap the longer company has to rely on the external financing. T he result was company will suffer of increasing interest cost. In Saudi Arabia the interest cost is more expensive in due to the absence of tax savings. Instead of paying taxes, national companies incorporated in Saudi Arabia are not required to pay zakat (level or fixed percentage tax required by Islamic shariah). This is due to the characteristic of borrowing cost which is as a cheap basis of financing loses its tax advantage since there is no tax on Saudi companies profits. Likewise, reducing cash gaps by any number of days will add equally to the pretax and after-tax profits. Although the liquidity ratios is a very useful mechanism to analyze financial position of the companies, the usage of these ratio must be with discretion and caution especially in making comparison among company and across industry as mentioned by Abdullah and Ismail (2008) . The reason is because the different of accounting method and treatment used by the different companies, also different in ratio definition. Subsequently the mislead comparison be made. To avoid the mislead use, the standardize guideline is required. According to Gibson and Boyer (1991), without the standardize guideline, companies will only disclose the ratio that only benefit them. Due to the lack of guideline and standard, study done in Malaysia found that only some of the company disclosure a comprehensive of financial ratio. The study also disclosed that there are differences in choice of ratio, method of calculated the ratio among the companies. This situation doesnt allow for any comparison among the company. The researcher also found that the good performance companies tend to disclose more information as signal of their good quality to attract attention of investors. Gibson (1982) the lacks of ratio disclosure discourage the information user to know about the financial position because most of the important financial ratios were not discloses. Furthermore, most companies disclose the ratios that only favorable to benefit their position Liquidity and profitability There are a lot of research done to identify the significant relationship between liquidity management and companies profitability. Evidence from previous studies supported the fact that aggressive working capital policies could increase the profitability of the company. Jose et, al (1996) proved that the US companies incurred high profit which benefit from aggressive working capital policies. In addition, Shin and Soenen (1998) identified that there is strong negative relation between the period of the firms net trade cycle and various measures of profitability. The study was done using a large sample of American firms during 1975-1994, found that reducing the net trade increase companys profitability. The study also includes market measures, such as stock returns, and operating profits. Previous research evidence that aggressive working capital management that heavily invested in high inventory level could enhance profitability of the company as highlighted by Wang (2002) who done the research for Japanese and Taiwan companies and found that the less cash gap period, the better operating performance. The research also had done in any other country such Deloof (2003) in Belgian companies which find the company could improve the profitability by reducing the number of days of account receivable outstanding as well as at the same time reducing their inventories. However, according the study by Uyar (2009) examined the relationship between types of industry with cash gap. The further finding showed there is significant negative correlation between the length of CCC and the profitability. Similar to Ramachandran and Janakiraman (2009) also found negative relationship between Earnings before Interest and tax (EBIT) EBIT See: Earnings Before Interest and Taxes EBIT See earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). and the cash gap. The study revealed that calculation EBIT shows how to manage the working capital of the firm. The negative relationships reflect to the lower gross EBIT was related with an increase in the accounts payable days. Thus the study identify that less profitable company will take advantage to pay for a longer to pay their bills. At the same time company also taking advantage of credit period granted by their suppliers. The study also found that there is the positive relationship between average receivable days and firms EBIT that suggested that less profitable company will try to pursue a decrease of their accounts receivable accounts receivable n. the amounts of money due or owed to a business or professional by customers or clients. Generally, accounts receivable refers to the total amount due and is considered in calculating the value of a business or the business problems in paying days in order to reduce their cash gap. The advantages of high inventory level are reducing in cost of possible interruption in the case of scarcity products. It can overcome the problem of price fluctuation; reduce supply cost (Binder and Maccini, 1991). The other advantages associated with high level inventory that allow trade credit which act as effective price cut (Brennan et. al, 1988; Petersen and Rajan, 1997), also encourage customer to purchase their resources at the lower price. As highlighted by Emery (1997). The company also could benefit long term relationship with the customers as mentioned by Ng et, al (1999). On the other hand there is contrary argument on aggressive policies that minimize on working capital which state that it would affect the profitability of the company as stated by Wang (2002) that if the inventory level is least, the company could face reduction in its sales. Similar to Ganesan (2007) that done the research on relationship of efficient capital management and profitability in telecommunication company that he identified that the efficiency working capital management was negatively associated to the profitability and liquidity. From the finding, it shows that when the working capital management efficiency was improved by decreasing days of working capital, there was improvement in profitability of the firms in terms of profit margin. Padachi (2006) examined the trend in working capital requirement and profitability of firms. This study is done to identify the causes for any significant differences between the industries. The finding reveals that high investment in inventories and receivables was associated with lower profitability. It has a significant negative effect between the inventories investment and profitability. The findings also recognized that an increasing trend in the short-term component in the short-term component of working capital financing. This finding also agreed by Raheman and Nasr (2007) also studied on the effect of working capital on liquidity towards profitability of the company. Further the study done also recognize that there was a negative relationship between liquidity and profitability of the company. Also, they find that there is a positive relationship between size of the company and its profitability and significant negative relationship between debt used by the firm and its profi tability. The similar study also done by Afza and Nazir (2007a) and they also found the same finding as previous research. In line with the study Afza and Nazir (2007b) further investigated the relationship between the aggressive/conservative working capital policies profitability as well as risk of public limited companies. The finding reveals that a negative relationship between the profitability measures of companies and degree of aggressiveness of working capital investment and financing policies. The companies will occur negative returns if they follow an aggressive working capital policy. Another study by Lazaridis and Tryfonidis (2006) that investigated the relationship of profitability which measured through gross operating profit and working capital management. The results of the study showed that there was a negative relationship between profitability and the cash gap which was used as a measure of working capital management efficacy. In order to generate can create profits for their companies, the management must handling correctly the cash gap and keeping each component like accounts receivables, accounts payables, inventory to an optimum level. Samiloglu and Demiraunes (2008) analyzed the effect of working capital management (which highlighted accounts receivable period, inventory period and leverage) on the profitability of the firms. The study depicted working capital has a negative effect on profitability of the companies profitability . Conclusion It is very important and first step taken to study the role of liquidity management policies on profitability of a company. Normally, the company decision whether they can face higher risk due to achieve higher profit. Iif a company desires to absorbed a greater risk for bigger profits and losses, it could reduces the size of its working capital in relation to its sales. If the main interest of the companies is improve its liquidity, it increases the level of its working capital. Therefore, a company should identify a balance between liquidity and profitability (Vishnani . Shah, 2007). . Before the companies adopt any method to increase the profitability, they should evaluate the tradeoff between expected profitability and risk on inventory investment. They have to make sure that the increase in profitability is more than the risk involved.

The Viewpoint Of Developers Background Of Study Construction Essay

The Viewpoint Of Developers Background Of Study Construction Essay Nowadays, building quality has been one of the important factors to satisfy customers. The priority of the customer is mainly based on quality rather than cost. In todays economy competition, it is getting more fierce and cruel than before. Products with good quality can attact buyers to purchase, therefore the pressure has been formed from customers leads the developers to provide the building product with excellence quality (Connections Magazine 2003). Connie (2001) acknowledges that facilities, exterior and interior design are included in building quality. Due to the inconsistency in construction quality, the naissance of Construction Quality Assessment System or CONQUAS by the Construction Industry Development Board Singapore (now known as the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)), in conjunction with major public agencies and some leading industry professional bodies and organisations, had been designed to measure the construction quality level in construction industry in year 1988 (The National House Buyer Association 2008a). The CONQUAS has been evolved in seventh edition which renamed as CONQUAS 21. Although having the different name, but still, QLASSIC aka Construction Industry Standard (CIS:7) serves the same objectives as CONQUAS 21. Quality Assessment System in Construction or QLASSIC was developed by Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia together with various professional bodies, association, universities and government agencies to resolve the inconsistency construction quality. It is designed to standardise the quality standards in construction, to evaluate the performance of the construction, to have a proper standard of assessment system as well as to collect data for statistical analysis to continually improve quality of construction (The National House Buyer Association 2008a). In other words, QLASSIC can be served as a quality yard stick for the construction industry and is able to let outsiders to compare relatively and quantitatively the quality of workmanship between construction projects. Furthermore, some developers can set a CONQUAS score as a target for contractor to achieve (Building and Construction Authority 2008). Once the contractor has reached the targeted score, he will be awarded, but if the contractor is below the base line, he will be penalised. This will encourage the contractor to provide a superior building product. Both CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC are an independent assessment which is conducted by inspectors from BCA Singopore or CIDB Malaysia. Sample of building will be selected randomly and inspected to represent the quality of overall project, means that the inspection will not evaluate and measure every single unit in the project (The National House Buyer Association 2008a). Problem Statement Recently, people are more concerned about quality achieved in building project. So, many people will hesitate whether the property is up to the standard and worth to purchase with the amount of money that they pay (The National House Buyer Association 2008a)? Building project with high quality can ensure future marketability and enhances the clients confidence to the building (Building and Construction Authority 2008). Therefore, developers should deliver the final building product with high quality standard to the purchasers. Quality is always being emphasized in a construction project, the establishment of CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC is an additional assurance for the developers to ensure the quality of the workmanship in the project is infallible. Moreover, the result of the assessment can present impartially the overall quality of the completed project as well as represent the performance of the building by the developer and the contractor. Furthermore, the higher score of the building can give a great sense of confidence to the house buyers to purchase the houses. However, some developers in Malaysia are adopting either CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC to ensure the quality of the product. There is no study being conducted regarding the preference of application of these two assessment methods. Therefore, a study on preference of application between CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC will be proposed to find out the preference of developers. At the meantime, the researcher also wants to compare the application between CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC and to determine the advantages of applying CONQUAS or QLASSIC. Finally, the researcher also wants to find out the constraints when implementing CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC. Project aim and objectives Aim The aim of this research is to study the preference of application between CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC from the viewpoint of developers Objectives In order to achieve the aim mentioned above, several objectives are created. To compare the application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC; To determine the advantages of applying CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC in construction projects; To examine the problems or constraints when implementing CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC in construction projects; To find out the preference of developers in the application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC and the reasons. Key Questions The following key questions are formed in order to achieve the objectives: What are the differences between application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC? What are the advantages of applying CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC? What are the constrains or problems to be faced when implementing CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC? Which type of construction quality assessment system is more preferred among Malaysian developers? Importance and benefits of study This study is to find out the preference of developers on application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC. This can gather the opinions from developers in order to determine which construction quality assessment system is more preferred among Malaysian developers. Besides, this study also can increase the level of awareness for the Malaysian developers who do not apply either CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC. Other than that, the research also focuses on the advantages and constraints in applying CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC. The benefits of this study provide better understanding to the developers about the advantages when applying CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC and encourage them to apply either system for further improvement in the quality aspects of construction projects. Besides, this study highlights the constraints when implementing CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC so that developers are aware of these issues and able to avoid or mitigate them for effective application of the aforesaid construction quality system in their construction projects. Scope of study To achieve the objectives mentioned, this study will just focus on two construction quality assessment systems, namely, CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC. This research does not include other construction quality assessment system such as European Association for Quality Assurance (ENQA), Project Quality Performance in Hong Kong developed by Chan (2001) and Blueprint in United States developed by the Quality Performance Measurement Task Force (QPMTF) of Construction Industry Institute (CII) (Stevens 1996). Additionally, the researcher will conduct an in-depth study on the advantages and constraints of applying CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC. The researcher will also cover the preferences of application between CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC from the viewpoint of developers. Data collection will be done by conducting a structured interview among developers in Malaysia to ascertain the advantages and constraints of applying CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC and to find out the preferences of developers in the application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC and the reason. Due to time constraint, the structure interview will be conducted on developers, which are registered under Construction Industry Developer Board (CIDB) within Selangor and Kuala Lumpur area only. Thus, the contractors as well as developers from other states will not be considered for this study. Methodology In order to achieve the objectives of this study, there are two methods to be used to collect data, they are respectively the primary data sources and secondary sources. Primary Data Sources The second, third and fourth objectives, which are determining the advantages of applying CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC, problem or constrains when implementing CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC and preference of the developer in application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC and the reasons, can be obtained by conducting structured interview. Structure interview will be conducted with developers who adopted both CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC in the previous or current projects. The interview mentioned will be conducted within Selangor and Kuala Lumpur area. Secondary Data Sources Literature review is an essential material for researchers to enhance basic knowledge regarding to the research topic. Journal articles, government articles, newspapers, journals, books, magazines and internal research are used in secondary data sources. The review from those sources would complement the information for the first, second and third objective, which are compare the differences between application of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC, advantages and constrains of applying CONQUAS 21 or QLASSIC. Besides, information can also be obtained from library at TARC, National Library and the resources centre of CIDB. Figure 1. Outline of research proposal Literature Review Quality Philosophy Definition of Quality The word of quality has a wide definition and it is an elusive concept, because different people view it differently (Joel E.Ross 2009). It can be further proven by Kerzners (2009, p.875) study, he indicated that quality cannot be defined accurately, the major reason for quality depends on the view of the customer. Quality is always treated as a complicated term, the explanation is inadequate to help a quality professional fully understand the concept. However, quality experts define quality in a different way as well, which is based on the customers perspective, speciafication-based prespective (Assignment Expert n.d.). However, there is a modern definition derived by Prof.R.K.Gupta (2008) that quality is fitness for intended use. It can be explained as meeting or exceeding customer expectations. It can be further defined as the degree of fulfillment of customer needs and expectations by a supplier or service provider. Undoubtedly, quality is an essential element in a series of activities that has been preceived and value much by end users, not the suppliers. There are seven essentials of measuring quality, they are Functions, Safety, Aesthetics, Reliability, Longevity (product lift and maintenance), Service-delivery (effectiveness of marketing channel) and customer communication (effectiveness of communication channel). Those are the main elements to cover customers satisfaction and developers preception about quality of product (Prof.R.K.Gupta 2008). Davids study (cited in Joel E.Ross 2009) stated that quality can be summarised into five principal approaches, which are transcendentel view of quality, product-based view, user-based view, manufacturing-based view, and value-based view. The explanation of each view is shown as below: Transcendental view of quality cannot be defined, but it can be differentiated by looking product. For instance, advertisement. Product-based view quality is deemed as quantifiable and measurable characteristics. For instance, measure products durability or reliability (e.g. mean time of failure or finish) and design the product to the benchmark. Although this approach has a lot of benefit, but it has restriction as well. In fact, quality is mostly based on individual taste or preference, therefore the benchmark for measuring may be misleading. User-based view products that meet customers preferences are esteemed as highest quality. This may lead to two problems, one is the differences of customers preferences and the other is the difficulty of unifying the different preferences of customers. This approach can identify the products that meet the needs of major customers. Manufacturing-based view products are complied with the requirements, or specification. This concept applies to both services and products. Good quality product is not necessary in the eye of end-user but in the standards or specification set by the organisation. Value-based view quality is defined in terms of costs, prices and other attributes. Therefore, the materialization of customers decision mostly depends on the quality at an acceptable price. Evolution of Quality There is a changing view of quality during the past twenty years, so improvement of quality is occured from time to time. Quality improvement not only focused in product but also services (Harold kerzner 2009, p.875). Additionally, Harold kerzner has introduced a changing view of quality from past to present as shown in table 2.1. Table 2. Changing views of quality Past Present Quality is the responsibility of blue-collar workers and direct labour employees working on the floor Quality is everyones responsibility, including white-collar workers, the indirect labour force, and the overhead staff Quality defects should be hidden from the customer (and possibily management) Defect should be highlighted and brought to the surface for corrective action Quality problems lead to blame, faulty justification, and excuses Quality problems lead to cooperative solutions Corrections-to-quality problems should be accomplished with minimum documentation Documentation is essential for lesson learned so that mistakes are not repeated Increased quality will increase project costs Improved quality saves money and increases business Quality is internally focused Quality is customer focused Quality will not occur without close supervision of people People want to ptoduce quality product Quality occurs during project execution Quality occurs at project initiation and must be planned for within the project (Source: Harold kerzner 2009, p.875). Importance of Quality There is no doubt that quality is extremely important because it will bring benefits. The benefits can be divided into two, they are internal benefits and external benefits. The figure 2.1 below shows the internal benefits and external benefits from good quality. (Source: Abhiman DasMulmi 2009, p.7) Figure 2. Internal benefits and external benefits from good quality Historical Perspectives of Total Quality Management There are four stages of evolution of Total Quality Management, they are Quality Inspection, Quality Control, Quality Assurance and Total Quality Management (TQM) (UTM 2003). Figure 2.2 shows the four stages of Quality Management. Abhiman DasMulmi (2009) recogonised that quality management is also a hirarchical process which is initiated with rough inspection and then developed through quality control, followed by quality assurance under the wider management approach of TQM. Figure 2.3 shows the different characteristics of different stages in TQM. The concept of TQM has been developed since 1950 by various American experts. Among the experts, W Edwards Deming, Joeseph Juran and A.V.Feigenbaum have contributed significantly in developing the concept of TQM. Quality Inspection Abhiman DasMulmi (April 2009) has stated that in order to ensure the basic level of quality to be accomplish, the most suitable use of quality control will be quality inspection. Once the inspector found out the poor quality product which is separated from the acceptable quality product, the product would be scrapped, reworked or sold as lower quality. Therefore, the method of inspection mainly sorts out the conformance and non-conformance of the product, it usually is done by visual inspection or testing (UTM 2003). (Source: Dale 1994) Figure 2. Four stages of quality management Quality Control (QC) Due to industrial advancement, it came to second stage of TQM development. Quality control is a stage above inspection (Abhiman DasMulmi April 2009). The quality was controlled through supervised skills, written specification, measurement and standardisation (Prof. Alessandro Brun 2010-2011). The process of QC involves monitoring and then utilizing statistical techniques to make decision. Quality standard of products and services can be improved and maintained through QC (Abhiman DasMulmi April 2009). Quality Assurance (QA) Quality assurance (QA) is the third stages of quality evolution. It is aim to provide products and services that fulfill customers expectations and needs (UTM 2003). QA can be defined as a process of checking, correcting and controlling is conducted in such a manner that the manufacture/ service providers are aware that all stages of the process are being conducted correctly with the specified standard (Abhiman DasMulmi April 2009). Other activities such as comprehensive quality manuals, use of cost of quality, development of process control and auditing of quality systems are also developed in order to progress from quality control to the quality assurance (UTM 2003). Total Quality Management (TQM) Total Quality Management is the last stages of this development, it involves the understanding and implementation of quality management principles and concepts in every aspect of activities. (Prof. Alessandro Brun 2010-2011) The purpose of TQM is to fully utilise these activities to provide customers with best quality products or services at the lowest cost. Additionally, continually improve quality is the main aim of TQM to become a winning strategy to gain customer loyalty (UTM 2003). (Source: Chew 2000) Figure 2. Different characteristics of different stages in TQM 2.2 Quality Assessment System in Construction (QLASSIC) Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS 21) Introduction In current scenario in Construction Industry, performance of completed product can be measured by implementing either QLASSIC or CONQUAS 21. Both of them are an independent assessment carried out by assessors to inspect, evaluate and measure the quality of workmanship. QLASSIC Quality Assessment System in Construction or QLASSIC is an independent method that developed by CIDB Malaysia to assess and evaluate the construction work which done by workman based on the approved standard (CIDB n.d.). On other hand, QLASSIC also act as a benchmark for contractor to achieve and maintain the quality of construction work (CIDB 2011) According to Ali Faizal (n.d.), QLASSIC is a standard which expected to reduce contentious disputes between relevent parties such as architects, engineers, developers, purchasers, contractor regarding on constitution of acceptable quality and to ensure that the interest of buyers or purchasers is secured. CONQUAS 21 Since year 1989, Construction Quality Assessment System or CONQUAS is introduced in Singapore to serve as a standard assessment system on building project. In year 1998, several features was added into CONQUAS by BCA, therefore, CONQUAS has evolved in a new edition which renamed as CONQUAS 21 (Building and Construction Authority 2008). Comparison Both quality assessment systems served as a same function to assess and evaluate the quality of workmanship of building project based on the approved standard. Besides, both of them are carried out through site inspection by assessors that have no any relationship with that particular project. Marks will be given after the assessment system is completed. Additionally, regardless of QLASSIC and CONQUAS, both of them are act as a benchmark for contractor to achieve and maintain the quality of construction work. Objective CONQUAS 21 was designed with three objectives while the QLASSIC was designed with five objectives. Those objectives was designed and developed for the users to achieve. QLASSIC (CIDB 2006) To standardize the level of quality of the construction industry in Malaysia; To measure the quality of workmanship of building project by implementing standard quality assessment system; To measure quality of workmanship of a building project based on approved standard; To appraise the performance of contractors based on quality of workmanship; and To collect data for statistical analysis CONQUAS 21 (BCA 2008) To have a standard quality assessment system to assess quality of workmanship for construction works To make quality assessment objective by Measuring constructed work against workmanship standard and specification Using a sampling approach to suitably represent the whole project To enable quality assessment to be carried out systematically within timeframe budget Comparison On the whole, most of the objectives between CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC are same, just present in different wording. The similarity of the objectives between both quality assessment systems is having a standard quality assessment to evaluate the quality of workmanship and measure construction work against workmanship standard and specification. There are some differences between CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC. Firstly, one of the objectives of CONQUAS 21 is to enable quality assessment to be carried out systematically within time frame and budget. Secondly, QLASSIC is designed with another two objectives, they are to appraise the performance of contractors based on quality of workmanship and to collect data for statistical analysis. Scope In general, scope has been defined as the area or extent of an activity (Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary 2010). CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC have set out their scope or the covered area of the assessment. Therefore, both of the quality assessment systems set out the standards for various aspects of construction work (BCA 2008). Assessment on the quality of workmanship is carried out based on the various construction elements in the project and marks awarded are then summed up to give a total quality score for the building project (CIDB 2006). QLASSIC (CIDB 2006) Main elements to be covered in Quality Assessment System are as follows: Structural works Architectural works Mechanical Electrical works External works The above mentioned components can be further broken into different items such as internal finishes, external finishes, roof, sanitary work, electrical work and so on. However, the works such as piling, heavy foundation and sub-structure works which are heavily equipment-based and called under separate contracts or sub-contracts are excluded. Undoubtedly, assessment is primarily based on workmanship standard through site inspection and field testing. Therefore, assessment on structural work and ME works is carried out during the construction process, while for completed building project, assessment on architectural, ME fitting and external works is executed to measure the quality of workmanship. Other than site inspection, test on the material and the functional performance of selected services and installation also will be included in the assessment. Those tests can protect the interest of occupants in term of safety, comfort and aesthetic defects which will be surfaced only after some time. CONQUAS 21 (BCA 2008) Main components to be covered in CONQUAS are as follows: Structural works Architectural works Mechanical Electrical works The above mentioned components can be further broken into different item such as internal finishes, external finishes, roof, sanitary work, electrical work and so on. However, the works such as piling, heavy foundation and sub-structure works which are heavily equipment-based, buried or covered and called under separate contracts or sub-contracts are excluded. Undoubtedly, assessment is primarily based on workmanship standard through site inspection and field testing. Therefore, assessment on structural work and ME works is carried out during the construction process, while for completed building project, assessment is only carried out on architectural work to measure the quality of workmanship. Other than site inspection, test on the material and the functional performance of selected services and installation also will be included in the assessment. Those tests can protect the interest of occupants in term of safety, comfort and aesthetic defects which will be surfaced only after some time. Comparison It is obviously shown that there are four components covered in the QLASSIC while three components for the CONQUAS 21. The only difference between them is QLASSIC has an additional component, which is External works. In fact, the external work of CONQUAS 21 is grouped together with structural work. Due to the additional component of QLASSIC, there are slightly differences on the quality assessment. For better understanding, the following table shows the differences of the quality assessment between them. Table 2. Comparison of Components to be Tested Between QLASSIC and CONQUAS 21 Components to be tested QLASSIC During Construction process Structural works and Mechanical Electrical works. Completed Building Architectural works, Mechanical Electrical works and External works. Components to be Assessed QLASSIC (CIDB 2006) For the QLASSIC, the assessment is divided into 4 components: Structural works Structural is always deemed as an importance element of whole building because it might incur big amount of failure and repair cost once it failure. Therefore, the assessment of structural work comprises: Site inspection of formwork, steel reinforcement, prefabricated or pre-cast elements, etc during construction. Laboratory testing of compressive strength of concrete and tensile strength of steel reinforcement. Non-destructive testing of the cover and the uniformity of hardened concrete. Architectural works Architectural works are mainly deal with the finishes. The quality and standards of workmanship can be showed obviously through the finishes. Floors, ceiling, window and door and internal wall, fittings and fixtures, external wall, roofs, driveway, apron and porch are works under architectural. Mechanical and Electrical (ME) works The quality of ME works is also important because it might impact the performance of the building once its failure and high cost is involve in rectification works and installation works as well. Electrical works, air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation works (ACMV), fire protection works, sanitary and plumbing works, lifts, escalator and other basic ME fittings are covered under the assessment. External works Lastly, the external works cover the general external works elements in building construction such as the link ways/shelter, drains, road works, car parks, footpaths, turfings, playgrounds, gates and fences, swimming pools, hardscapes and electrical substation. CONQUAS 21 (BCA 2008) For the CONQUAS 21, the assessment is divided into 4 components: Structural works Structural is always deemed as an importance element of whole building because it might incur big amount of failure and repair cost once it failure. Therefore, the assessment of structural work comprises: Site inspection of formwork, steel reinforcement, prefabricated or pre-cast elements, etc during construction. Laboratory testing of compressive strength of concrete and tensile strength of steel reinforcement. Non-destructive testing of the cover and the uniformity of hardened concrete. Architectural works Architectural works are mainly deal with the finishes. The quality and standards of workmanship can be showed obviously through the finishes. The assessment covers the following: Site inspection of floors, internal walls, ceiling, window and door, fittings, roof, external walls of the building. Material functional tests such as window water-tightness, wet area water-tightness and adhesion of internal wall tiles. Installation of waterproofing for internal wet areas also included in the process of assessment. Mechanical and Electrical (ME) works The quality of ME works is also important because it might impact the performance of the building once its failure and high cost is involve in rectification works and installation works as well. Electrical works, air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation works (ACMV), fire protection works, sanitary and plumbing works, lifts, escalator and other basic ME fittings are covered under the assessment. The stages of the assessment include: Site inspection of installed works before they are concealed such as the concealed pipes Site inspection of final installed works such as the Air-Handling units (AHU), cooling tower, fire alarm control panel, etc. Performance tests on selected works such as earthing test, dry riser test and water pressure test, etc. Comparison The components of CONQUAS 21 and QLASSIC are quite similar. However, there is only one difference, it is CONQUAS 21 does not have external works. In fact, the external works was grouped together with structural works. The following tables are the comparison of sub-components to be assessed between QLASSIC and CONQUAS 21: Structural works Table 2. Comparison of Sub-Components to be Assessed between QLASSIC and CONQUAS 21 (Structural Works) Sub components to be assessed QLASSIC CONQUAS 21 Part 1: Reinforced Concrete Structures Formwork à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Reinforcement (Cash in-situ and Precast) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Finished Concrete (Cash in-situ and Precast) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Precast Specific Requirements à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Structure Quality à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Non-Destructive Testing à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Part 2: Structural Steel Works Main Member/ Partial Assembled Component à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Metal Decking à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Erection Tolerances à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Corrosion and Fire Protection à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Welding Test Reports à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Part 3: Pre-Stressed Concrete Condition of Tendons Anchorages à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Installation of Sheathing à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Stressing Grouting Process à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Debondling à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ (Source: CIDB 2006 and BCA 2008) Architectural works Table 2. Comparison of Sub-Components to be Assessed between QLASSIC and CONQUAS 21 (Architectural Works) Sub-components to be assessed QLASSIC CONQUAS