AMcarParts, Inc., a midsize manufacturer of after-market automotive parts, has had an unexpected amount of turnover in its leadership staff, leaving the owners in need of someone who can help them understand accounting concepts, such as strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting. You have been hired as a consultant to help the owners understand this information for future planning and to assist them with some immediate budgeting needs and concerns.
The product of your analysis will be a business report on using accounting information for decision making that would be delivered to the owners of a midsize manufacturer. In addition to the requirements that follow, be sure to incorporate references to appropriate academic sources, such as those found in this week’s Learning Resources or those in the Walden Library.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Download the Week 1 Part 1 Assignment Template.
Download the Week 1 Part 2 Assignment Template.
Your Instructor will provide part of the data to complete the calculations for the “Budget Preparation” part of this week’s Assignment. To access that information, refer to Doc Sharing:
To participate in Doc Sharing:
Doc Sharing
By Day 7
Submit your completed business report and accompanying Excel file. Your report should be 4–5 pages in length (excluding title page and references) and should address the following:
Financial Information for Decision Making
For this part of your business report, you are to provide an analysis on financial statements, strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting. In the context of this Assignment, the organization’s leaders would use this information to develop their draft budget, which they would then provide to you for the budget preparation. In your analysis, address the following:
Describe the four basic financial statements—income statement, statement of stockholders’ equity, statement of financial position (also known as a balance sheet), and statement of cash flows—and the purpose of each.
Compare the concepts of strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting for an organization. Specifically:
Describe each concept and the ways they are interrelated as well as their differences.
Analyze the role that each concept plays within an organization. In your analysis, be sure to include how strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting are used to improve organizational performance.
Be sure to include citations and references to support your work.
Explain what responsibility centers are (in general) as well as the three types of responsibility centers: cost centers, profit centers, and investment centers.
Identify the decision rights assigned to each type of center, being sure to include examples for each type of responsibility center.
Budget Preparation
For this part of your business report, you will prepare a budget in Excel and demonstrate how it was developed. You will use the organization’s year-end income statement and ideas the company has for the upcoming year. Be sure to address the following:
Using the Week 1 Part 2 Assignment Template and the data provided by your Instructor in the Doc Sharing area, prepare a budget of the upcoming year for the organization.
Illustrate to the organization how each line item in the budget was prepared. (Note: You will include these notes in the indicated cells within the Assignment Template.)
Note: In addition to submitting your work in Excel, you will insert your budget and your notes into your main document. For information on inserting data from Excel into Word, refer to the following:
Microsoft. (n.d.). Insert a chart from an Excel spreadsheet into Word. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-a-chart-from-an-excel-spreadsheet-into-word-0b4d40a5-3544-4dcd-b28f-ba82a9b9f1e1
Please see the attached instructions and chapters provided from the course textbook. Please note citations from the chapters are
Please see the attached instructions and chapters provided from the course textbook. Please note citations from the chapters are required. The link to the article for discussion 1 is provided in the instructions. Once you access the website, the article is 5-6 pages long so please be sure to click “read more.” Citations are also required from the article.
Thank you!
Location • Discuss specific sites for your business • Discuss zoning requirements • Use census and demographic reports to
For this Assignment, you will take on the role of a consultant and provide two reports on using accounting Business Assignment Help
Location
• Discuss specific sites for your business
• Discuss zoning requirements
• Use census and demographic reports to support why this location was selected
Pricing
▪ Discuss the costs associated with producing or deliver your product or service
▪ Discuss your pricing strategy: Cost leader, lowest cost, cost differentiation
▪ Discuss if the strategy will allow for the company to be profitable
▪ Discuss price of similar product/service
▪ Discuss if customers are sensitive to price
▪ Will you accept credit?
▪ Will you sell on credit?
Please cover the What are the barriers and supporting conditions – including financial requirements section of the project. An Essay
Please cover the What are the barriers and supporting conditions – including financial requirements section of the project. An example of a previous project is attached for reference.
Situation:
I worked in a local real estate management office that comprised of one Sr. Real Estate Manager (my boss), one Real Estate Manager (me), one Chief Engineer, a team of 3 Engineers managed by the Chief and myself, and one Real Estate Services Administer (my direct report).
We were a local office than managed three different real estate portfolios for three different clients and worked under the umbrella of a larger real estate investment corporation. Our Sr. Manager was responsible for directly reporting to our clients and director level management from corporate.
The Chief and I developed recommendations for the clients regarding building maintenance and tenant projects. We would put in an abundance of effort into creating informative and clear presentations. It was then left to the Sr. Manager to present. Overtime, it seemed like information was not flowing accurately or in a timely manner from Sr. Manager to client. This resulted in delayed maintenance and tenant projects which led to increasing frustrations for the Chief and I as our job performance felt as if it was slipping below corporate and our own personal standards of performance. We felt as if our efforts were going unheard. We also had the same experiences with issues presented to corporate about understaffing. Our Sr. Manager insisted on holding meetings with clients and corporate behind closed doors and then he would relay the information later.
I became so frustrated that I left the organization for another opportunity. I later found out that our Sr. Manager was not performing his job functions fully and it resulted in a bottle necking of information between our team and the client/corporate. They let him go shortly after I left.
Looking back, I believe I probably acted a bit hastily by leaving and should have worked harder at seeking counsel with our corporate Directors. At the time it was difficult to see what was causing the real issue as the Sr. Manager had the skill at appearing hard at work but in fact was not. The Chief and I thought the issue was a result of an uninclined client or unconcerned directors.
Solution:
Let’s go with a three-level approach to solving this issue.
1) Team Collaboration Check-ins, HR representative
a) Assess the current level of collaboration that is happening at each satellite office
b) Provide training opportunities for collaborative working and interpersonal skills that will fill in the gaps and provide continued education to better hone these skills
c) Allow for confidential feedback
2) Director Level Check-ins
a) Provides connection to corporate and allows for confidential feedback
b) Review individual and portfolio annual objectives to ensure they are on track
3) Enhanced recruitment and retaining functions
a) Ensure the right people are chosen for the position (review job descriiption, targeted recruitment processes, etc.)
b) Provide an additional process to follow up with those that have decided to leave the organization to determine the real reason they want to leave and if there is anything that can be done to retain high-quality talent. This may also uncover weak links that need to be addressed.