Unit I Essay

Using at least your textbook and a minimum of two additional sources, answer the following questions. Your paper should be at

least two pages in length, excluding title and reference pages. Follow APA style guidelines.

.You are the CEO of XYZ manufacturing company. You have decided that you would like to market your product to Turkey.

Consider the following points in your paper; you can make assumptions, but support your work with facts and scholarly references:

. Discuss the reasons why your company would want to expand overseas.

. Discuss what your mode of international business would be and how moving abroad will expand sales.

. How will you minimize risks and acquire resources?

. What are the factors you may face expanding into a foreign market? How might you mitigate those barriers?

 

Write a 1050- to 1400-word essay comparing the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. Include the following in your essay:

• A description of the differences in how each theory addresses ethics and morality
• A personal experience to explain the relationship between virtue, values, and moral concepts as they relate to one of the three theories

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines

1. What are three methods used to control health hazards in the workplace, and in what order should they be used?
2. What is general ventilation, and what is the major disadvantage of using general ventilation?
3. What is a smoke tube and how is it useful?
4. What are three processes required for proper operation of an HVAC system?
5. A written respiratory protection program must be established when respiratory protection is needed. What are five of the elements required by OSHA to be in such a program?
6. In addition to the written respirator program, what three things must be done for each employee before they should be allowed to wear a respirator?
7. Employers are required to put engineering and administrative controls in place before issuing respiratory protection. Should this hierarchy of controls be required, or should employers be able to skip controls and go straight to respirators? Why is implementing engineering controls a difficult issue for employers? As an industrial hygienist, what can you do or say to encourage employers to do the right thing?

You’ve just been hired onto ABC Company as the corporate controller. ABC Company is a manufacturing firm that specializes in making cedar roofing and siding shingles. The company currently has annual sales of around $1.2 million, a 25% increase from the previous year. The company has an aggressive growth target of reaching $3 million annual sales within the next 3 years. The CEO has been trying to find additional products that can leverage the current ABC employee skillset as well as the manufacturing facilities.

As the controller of ABC Company, the CEO has come to you with a new opportunity that he’s been working on. The CEO would like to use the some of the shingle scrap materials to build cedar dollhouses. While this new product line would add additional raw materials and be more time-intensive to manufacture than the cedar shingles, this new product line will be able to leverage ABC’s existing manufacturing facilities as well as the current staff. Although this product line will require added expenses, it will provide additional revenue and gross profit to help reach the growth targets. The CEO is relying on you to help decide how this project can be afforded  Provide details about the estimated product costs, what is needed to break even on the project, and what level of return this product is expected to provide.

In order to help out the CEO, you need to prepare a six- to eight-page report that will contain the following information (including exhibits, but excluding your references and title page). Refer to the accompanying Excel spreadsheet (available through your online course) for some specific cost and profit information to complete the calculations.

Final Paper Spreadsheet

I. An overall risk profile of the company based on current economic and industry issues that it may be facing.

II. Current company cash flow

a. You need to complete a cash flow statement for the company using the direct method.

b. Once you’ve completed the cash flow statement, answer the following questions:

i. What does this statement of cash flow tell you about the sources and uses of the company funds?

ii. Is there anything ABC Company can do to improve the cash flow?

iii. Can this project be financed with current cash flow from the company? Why or why not?

iv. If the company needs additional financing beyond what ABC Company can provide internally (either now or sometime throughout the life of the project), how would you suggest the company obtain the additional financing, equity or corporate debt, and why?

III. Product cost: ABC Company believes that it has an additional 5,000 machine hours available in the current facility before it would need to expand. ABC Company uses machine hours to allocate the fixed factory overhead, and units sold to allocate the fixed sales expenses. Bases on current research, ABC Company expects that it will take twice as long to produce the expansion product as it currently takes to produce its existing product.

a. What is the product cost for the expansion product under absorption and variable costing?

b. By adding this new expansion product, it helps to absorb the fixed factory and sales expenses. How much cheaper does this expansion make the existing product?

c. Assuming ABC Company wants a 40% gross margin for the new product, what selling price should it set for the expansion product?

d. Assuming the same sales mix of these two products, what are the contribution margins and break-even points by product?

IV. Potential investments to accelerate profit: ABC company has the option to purchase additional equipment that will cost about $42,000, and this new equipment will produce the following savings in factory overhead costs over the next five years:

Year 1, $15,000

Year 2, $13,000

Year 3, $10,000

Year 4, $10,000

Year 5, $6,000

ABC Company uses the net-present-value method to analyze investments and desires a minimum rate of return of 12% on the equipment.

a. What is the net present value of the proposed investment (ignore income taxes and depreciation)?

b. Assuming a 5-year straight-line depreciation, how will this impact the factory’s fixed costs for each of the 5 years (and the implied product costs)? What about cash flow?

c. Considering the cash flow impact of the equipment as well as the time-value of money, would you recommend that ABC Company purchases the equipment? Why or why not?

V. Conclusion:

a. What are the major risk factors that you see in this project?

b. As the controller and a management accountant, what is your responsibility to this project?

c. What do you recommend the CEO do?

Writing the Final Paper

1.    Must be six to eight double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

2.    Must include a title page with the following:

a.    Title of paper

b.    Student’s name

c.    Course name and number

d.    Instructor’s name

e.    Date submitted

3.    Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.

4.    Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.

5.    Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.

6.    Must document at least three, but no more than five sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

7.    Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

USE THIS BOOK FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS IN GENERAL. McDavid, C., J., Huse, Irene, Hawthorn, L., L. R. (10/2012). Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement: An Introduction to Practice, 2nd Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf Online].

Assignment 1: Ethical Dilemma
This module taught you that ethical practice during the evaluation process is vital to the reliability of the evaluation that is produced. As in most areas of the helping professions, the ethical principles are not absolute, leading to an evaluator’s careful consideration of the actions he or she takes and the strategies he or she employs.
Tasks:
Using the University online library resources and the Internet, research and read about the assignment topic. In a minimum of 200 words, respond to the following:
Analyze Fiona’s case from your textbook. What are the ethical issues that you believe she is facing?
What are the “benefits and costs” from Fiona’s perspectives?
What are the “benefits and costs” from the agencies’ perspectives?
If you were Fiona, what would be your decision (conduct the evaluation in-house or contract out)? What is your rationale for this decision?

Write paper of 700- to 1,050-words in which you analyze the sexual harassment issues presented in scenario.

• Analyze each of the elements of this case: the applicable defenses and the basis for the court’s ruling.
• Analyze the possible liability in this case if the sexual harasser(s) were an independent contractor versus an employee.

Cite to at least three peer-reviewed sources.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

 

Here is the required reading:

 

Can vulgar language, even if it is not specifically

directed at an individual, be actionable as sexual

harassment under Title VII? Yes—according to the

11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiff, Ingrid

Reeves, worked at a sales company, C.H. Robinson.

Reeves alleged that she was subjected to hearing her

male co-workers call other women names such as

“b***h,” “wh**e” and “c**t” on a daily basis. She also

claimed that there were repeated vulgar discussions

about female body parts and a pornographic image

of a woman in the office. Reeves complained to her

co-workers, her supervisor, and top company executives,

but the offensive conduct was “accepted and

tolerated.”

According to the 11th Circuit, “if Reeves’s account

is to be believed, C.H. Robinson’s workplace was more

than a rough environment—indiscriminately vulgar,

profane, and sexual. Instead, a just reasonably could

find that it was a workplace that exposed Reeves to

disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment

to which members of the other sex were not exposed.”

Moreover, the court stated that it was no defense to

assert “that the workplace may have been vulgar

Running head: Marine Biology

Marine Biology
Student Name
Allied American University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for Marine Biology, Module 4 Homework Assignment         taught by [INSERT INSTRUCTOR’S NAME.

Part I

Directions: For this homework assignment, you are required to answer one of the following two critical thinking questions.  Please provide strong responses that demonstrate critical thinking skills.  In this case, short responses may not demonstrate the level of critical thinking skill required for full credit.

1.    Two species of sea urchins live practically side by side on sandy bottoms.  The two species appear to have the same diet (drift seaweeds and other bits of organic matter).  They are able to live in the same environment without competing with each other.  How might they be able to share their habitat and food resources?
2.    It is not always easy to categorize a particular case of symbiosis.  Suppose a certain species of snail is always found living on a certain coral.  No one has found evidence that the snail harms the coral, so the relationship is classified as an example of commensalism.  How would you go about testing this hypothesis?  What kinds of observations might lead to the conclusion that the snail is a parasite, or that it has a mutualistic relationship with the coral?

Part II

Essay

Write a 3 page essay on a the different physical adaptations seen in bony fish, cartilaginous fish, and tooth whales to adapt with the marine environment.  Describe and discuss the physical and physiological adaptations for the following: temperature, salinity, and pressure.  Look at respiratory and circulatory systems to help identify these adaptations.  The essay will be written in third person and have at least three outside sources.  At least two sources must be peer reviewed journal articles.  Please use the school online library to help in your research.  The essay should also encompass a thesis statement, proper support in the following paragraphs, and end with a conclusion.

Melody Rempe spends much of her day telling people who are about to go into the hospital how much they’ll have to pay. As a patient financial counselor at Nebraska Methodist Health System, she calls patients about a week before they go in for procedures with estimates of their bills and what portion insurance will cover. Although many are grateful, some cry or yell. “Sometimes you’re talking to them about the biggest thing in their life,” she says. Rempe says most calls end well when she walks patients through the hospital’s payment-plan options or other financial assistance.
Hospitals have good reason to be concerned about their patients’ finances: Even people with insurance are increasingly responsible for a big portion of their medical bills. Among Americans who get health coverage at work, 41 percent have deductibles of at least $1,000 they must meet before insurance starts paying. That’s up from 10 percent in 2006, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those with employer coverage are joined by 7 million new enrollees in Obamacare plans, which typically make patients share a large chunk of costs. The average deductible in the most popular “silver” tier of coverage is $2,267, according to an analysis by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Raising deductibles helps employers and insurers limit premium hikes. It also shifts more of the risk onto individuals. That in turn boosts the chances that doctors and hospitals won’t get paid. If a patient has a $2,900 deductible, “it’s far more difficult to get that $2,900 from an individual patient than it is from the Medicare program or from Blue Cross Blue Shield,” says Richard Gundling, vice president of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, a trade group. A March report on hospitals from Moody’s (MCO), the credit-rating firm, was blunt: “Today’s high deductibles are tomorrow’s bad debt.”
Hospitals’ total cost of uncompensated care reached $46 billion in 2012, equal to about 6 percent of their expenses, the American Hospital Association says. Large for-profit chains such as LifePoint Hospitals (LPNT), which operates more than 60 medical centers in 20 states, have felt the impact of rising deductibles. LifePoint’s bad debt related to copays and deductibles is running at $25 million per quarter this year, up from $15 million per quarter in 2013, Leif Murphy, the company’s chief financial officer, said on an earnings call in July. He blamed the increase in part on the growing prevalence of high-deductible plans.
As the mechanics of insurance policies become more complicated, Americans are having a harder time understanding how their plan choices will affect their finances. Only 14 percent of insured adults correctly understand insurance jargon such as deductibles, coinsurance, copays, and out-of-pocket maximums, according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Health Economics.
Many Americans aren’t prepared for a medical emergency. Dr. Marilyn Peitso, a pediatrician in St. Cloud, Minn., says parents often can’t afford $300 to $400 for antibiotics to treat an ear infection. “For young working families, this can get to be a real financial burden, and it can make them less likely to seek needed care,” she says. About 44 percent of households have less than three months of savings, according to an analysis by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, an antipoverty group. “Tell me what 28-year-old is going to be able to provide, especially in this economy, $6,000 of their own money?” says Jan Grigsby, chief financial officer at Springhill Medical Center in Mobile, Ala.
Like Nebraska Methodist, Springhill reaches out to patients before scheduled procedures with an estimate of what they’ll owe, Grigsby says. For those who can’t pay immediately, the hospital works with lenders to arrange no-interest payment plans of as long as two years. Staff members also check whether patients are eligible for charity care from the hospital or if they qualify for Medicaid.
Many hospitals try to get patients to pay upfront 30 percent to 50 percent of what they’ll owe and some offer discounts for paying early, says Yaro Voloshin of health-care consultant MedAssets (MDAS). One reason is that they want to avoid the damage to their reputations that accompanies aggressive debt collection practices. “Over the years there’s been some stigma about collecting from patients,” says Zac Stillerman, an executive with the Advisory Board, which sells software and consulting services to hospitals. “It’s a bit of a third rail.”
Managers at Nebraska Methodist noticed payment problems getting worse about seven years ago, when a large employer in the Omaha area introduced a plan with a $5,000 deductible. “We would bill a procedure for a patient; the entire amount would be applied to the deductible,” says Bob Wagner, the hospital’s director for revenue cycle. “We actually got no money.”
Now any patient scheduling a procedure expected to cost more than $500 out of pocket gets a call from Rempe or another of Nebraska Methodist’s five financial counselors. The hospital tries to get some payment in advance, but it doesn’t turn away those who can’t pay.
Even simply identifying the indigent can help, says Gundling of the Healthcare Financial Management Association. “For both the patient and the facility,” he says, “trying to collect a debt that can’t be paid just wastes everybody’s time.”
The bottom line: Some of the 17 million U.S. residents covered by high-deductible health plans are racking up medical debt.

Questions

With this case, you are provided a sample of patient data for your analyses. The provided link in Blackboard to the Excel workbook contains data on patients in a particular hospital. The dataset contains the following variables:

Income: Patient’s annual household income
Past Due Amount: Amount of debt or money owed by the patient to the hospital.
Insurance: Type (if any) of medical insurance.
Years since last visit: Number of years since the patient’s last appointment.
Year born: The year in which the patient was born
Gender: Patient’s gender
Hospitalizations: Lifetime hospitalizations of the patient
Ethnicity: Patient’s Race
Marital Status: Patient’s Marital Status

Hospitals are concerned about patients’ ability to pay their medical bills. It is suggested that there a relationship between type of medical insurance and medical debt. Write a concise report answering questions 1-6. Using past due amount as the dependent variable and all other variables as predictors (independent variables), run appropriate statistical analyses in Excel to mine the data. Label sections of your report to correspond to the questions. Insert tables and graphs from Excel in your report as appropriate.

⦁ Summarize the issue(s) and/or problems from the case in your own words. Support your answer(s).
⦁ Identify strategies for solving the problem.
⦁ Propose one or more solutions/hypotheses which address the problem(s).
⦁ Evaluate potential solutions to the problem(s). Analyze own and others’ assumptions.
What inferences can you make from your dataset? Some suggestions are listed below; however, conduct additional analyses as deemed appropriate.
⦁ Create a frequency table of insurance types.
⦁ Construct a bar chart, a pie chart, and a Pareto diagram of insurance types.
⦁ Which graphical method do you think is best to portray these data?
⦁ Based on this data, what conclusions can you make about the insurance status of the patients?
⦁ Choose a solution.
⦁ Evaluate outcomes by reviewing the results relative to the problem(s) defined.

White-Collar Crime

 

For this assignment, we will focus on the various tools and techniques available to the security professional in order to mitigate white-collar crime.

 

Select two of the white-collar crimes listed below.

 

(a) Computer crimes

(b) Credit card fraud

(c) Embezzlement

(d) Workman’s Comp fraud

(e) Environmental crime

(f) Securities fraud

(g) Healthcare fraud

 

Discuss (a) how these crimes are committed, (b) their impacts on organizations, and (c) the tools a security professional has available to reduce opportunities for such crimes to occur.

 

Locate an example of one of your two white-collar crimes. Please make sure it is current, that is, within the past 2 years. Analyze the crime and how it was discovered, then discuss possible measures that could have deterred those found guilty.

 

For this assignment, you are required to prepare a report of three to five pages (excluding title page and reference page), and post it in the respective Dropbox for this week.

 

Remember to include at least two authoritative references. They must be cited within the paper as well as listed on a reference page. See the APA citation tutorial in the Course Syllabus.