connections 3

In chapter 17 we discussed accounting in a business. I did not know much about accounting before we started this chapter, but i know i lot more now. I was reading an article online the other day and saw a local business in Houston had failed due to poor financing (The former owner was talking about it). He was being interviewed saying it is really important to make sure your money is in the right places and planned where to be. This reminded me of how managers are SUPPOSED to use accounting to plan future business like taught in chapter 17. So maybe if this guy would have looked at his financing closer he would still be in business.....(He needs to take a intro to business class)...taught by the best teacher at blinn...Bethany Adams!!

Connections 3

I was in charge of the financial performance section for our group presentation. I found this hard at first but after I started applying some of the things i have learned I realized I could make sense of the tables and graphs I was looking at and figure out important information about a business. I found this pretty interesting and I plan to use it in the future to keep track of companies I may want to invest in and also to just entertain myself at times and see how the major corporations in the world are doing.

Connections 2

At work this semester I got to experience some interesting things with my job. I work at the movies and while cleaning a fellow employee dropped a booster seat on the head of another employee. It caused them to have to go to the hospital and get stitches. During all this i got to experience the plans the company I work for has in place for crazy situations like this. I do not think it ever had to go to federal laws and no one got fired over the ordeal but the one employee can no longer touch booster seats and will be fired for throwing things now. while i was not involved in the predicament I still thought it was interesting to see the different levels of management at work as they took care of the situation.

Connections 1

Since taking this class I have noticed myself picking out different things that we are talking about in class in my everyday life. Most recently, I found myself thinking about the different types of products around me. This started with me noticing all the convenience products by the register when I was paying for my gas at the store. The mall and car dealerships I passed on my way home also made me think about all the specialty and shopping products there are in the world too. After thinking about this for the rest of my way home it amazed me how oblivious I was, before this class, to how much thought goes into every product I see everyday.

Reflections 4

Since our last test we have been gone on break. We have been going over a lot of different details of a business and have recently been covering different business laws and the importance of accounting to a business. The laws we have been covering are ones that have shaped business to be they way it is today. One in particular, the civil rights act of 64, it is responsible for the end of discrimination in the business world. We have learned that accounting is important because it can be used by the different levels of management to see how the business is performing. It can be used by lower levels to simply keep track of stock and used by upper levels to see how the business is doing in a particular region.

Connections Post 3

Like most people, when I am paying a business for a service, I expect to be treated with respect and as though my business is appreciated. In this class we discussed a lot about company culture and how important employees are to the success of a business. I am constantly surprised at the lack of ability for some companies to higher employees with smiling faces or that are willing to help out the customer any way possible. This class has made me consider the attitudes of employees at business's I frequent and consider the company culture and it's effects on the personalities of employees.

Connections Post 2

The organization of a company is another aspect of business that I find myself connecting and considering when it comes to my day to day habits. When going to a restaraunt or using a service of some kind, I cant help but to consider ways the service I'm paying for can be done more efficiently. Im constantly noticing areas in which the business could improve by using techniques and strategies discussed in this business class.

Final Post

All the functions of business are important and they are all required for a business to produce to its capacity. While they are all important, I feel that the function that is the most important is human resources. My reasoning for this lies behind the fact that for a business to be effective it must relies on its employees to carry out the everyday tasks of the business. Effective human resources allows this to happen by first going through the trouble of making sure that all employees are in the jobs that fit there skills at the right time. It is also very effective because through HR, businesses can figure out how best to encourage and train their employees to be productive. I feel it is also important for the fact that HR is there to serve as a line of communication from employees to management about things going on in the business.

Final Post

After learning of all the different aspects of business, I have found that the most important is marketing. Successful marketing can truly change the face of a company. How the public views your company is the single most important issue concerning a successful business. Marketing can not only get your product out into the world, but also create an opinion about the company. If that opinion is a positive one than there will always be a sense of loyalty toward the business creating a solid customer base regardless of the product.

Connections post 1

Before this business class, the commercials that interrupt my favorite tv shows were nothing more than an annoyance. After taking a more in depth look at marketing and the different ways it can be utilized, I found myself paying much more attention to commercials and the different strategies used in each. Even walking down Northgate or through the mall, I am constantly analyzing the marketing techniques of the business's i see and using what I have learned in this class to determine weather or not the advertisement is effective.

connection 2

Happiness and motivation in the work place can be a key to having successful employees which lead to a successful business. I know this is not a good example to some people. Over the summer i worked for my dad and while working for him he could be a pain in the butt. Sometimes it was just to prove a point to me or something not to serious, but it would get so annoying and old i would just want to quit....even though i couldn't. And this would make me not want to work as hard. So i believe making employees happy or treating them with respect will make a business a better place and possibly more successful.

Connections Post 3

While Christmas shopping at the mall, I was bombarded by the usual in your face obnoxious kiosk worker.  The guy tried to force some mediocre random junk into my hands as I was walking by.

In class we learned that personal selling is the most effective form of the promotion mix because of the ability to adapt a "pitch" to a customer.  It also happens to be the most expensive form of promotion, if an employee can not recognize that I am not part of their target market, and fails to adapt a pitch well enough for me to even pretend to take interested in the product he is selling...  They are probably wasting their money. 

Connections #2

Our group project was over Google, and I thought it was something that related to what students do daily, look something up. For me it is cool to know just how Google works, and they go about getting the things made that they come up. When looking things up for our project I came across a website just on how to search things better with Google. It has a list of words and phrases and symbols that makes it easier for your search. The next time I searched something and used that informaton it made it a lot easier to find what I was looking for.

Last Reflection

The past few weeks we have been going over accounting, and I am also in an accounting class right now. When we went over chapter 17 it was nice to know what was going on completely and not be unaware of some of the terminology. The basic accounting equations that we went over in class is something that I use all the time when I am doing homework in my other class. It makes it so much easier for me to understand it in class.

Connections #1

In our group project the financial performance was my part that I worked on. I am also in an accounting class so the things I was looking for had a lot to do with what I have already learned this semester in accounting, so it helped a lot.

Final Post

I think the most important part of a business is marketing. I find marketing to be to most important part of business because marketing shows what product you have and how it is used. Through marketing businesses build relationships with people and other companies. If a company has a good marketing strategy their product has a high chance of selling well. Promotion is a big part of marketing, and with good promotion comes a good business name.

Connections Post 2

While speaking with the warehouse manager at my job, I noticed some odd products I had never seen before.  I spoke with our marketing director who explained that they are modified existing products that have been reformulated and repackaged for foreign markets.  Each foreign market looks for different qualities of the same product, so quite a bit of modification is required to adapt our products successfully in a foreign market.  But not all products labels were changed for each market.  In Brazil, people actually prefer our products that are still labeled in English, because they believe that products from U.S. are superior to local products or products that have been relabeled in Portuguese. 

Connections Post 1

The further into the semester we dove, the more I started to recognize some of the things we have learned about in class at my own job.  My job requires me to have a thorough understanding of things I can and can not say in regards to the contents and purpose of the products we sell.  This reflects on the consumer movements, with product safety, the right to be informed, right to be heard etc.  If customers or clients ever call in with any concerns or complaints, by law we have to document and report each incident.

Reflections Post 4

Last week we covered the last chapter of our semester, Accounting information CH 17.  Although it may not be the most fun or interesting of the topics we have covered, it is probably one of the most important.  I now have a better understanding of my companies financial reports, and why auditors are necessary.  We also went over depreciation, Equity, income, revenue, etc. 

Reflections Post 4

Last class we went over Chapter 17 which is about accounting. In class we learned several different basic equations for accounting worksheets. We also learned what these equations are used for and how to get specific information for a balance sheet. This is something that I find helpful in every day life, wheather you own a business or are just trying to balance your checking account.

Connection Post 3

In chapter 9 we discussed "attracting and retaining employees," I was able to connect to this chapter in that, that is what I am currently being trained to do in my job. I am learning how to determine what people are right for each specific job. In doing that I have become familiar with the motto, getting the right people, with the right skills, in the right job, at the right time. I have also become familiar with job analysis, I like the concept of thinking of new ideas to retain employees as well as keeping them happy.

To Earn Scribe Post Points

If you have not been chosen as a scribe yet this semester, to earn your Scribe Post points (50 points possible) you will need to create a new post on the blog with your response to the following question:

• Which function of business (management, marketing, accounting, human resources, finance) do you consider the MOST IMPORTANT to the business and why? 

All final posts will be due Thursday, December 9th.  All posts must include the label "Final Post" - NOT the label "Scribe Post".  Your post must also be labeled with your name.  Like all other posts, if your post is not labeled correctly, you will not receive credit!

 

Connections Post 3

Chapter 2 relates to me in the fact that when my coworkers and i were due for a raise, they made more than i did. I know employees shouldn't talk about how much they make, but I was angry. The first raise I ever got was .5% of my salary. I think it was about 2 cents or something. I feel like that is wrong, because nobody deserves a 2 cent raise when they work for a company for over a year.

Connections Post 2

I connected to chapter 1 very well because I had taken an economics class at a community college during high school. The class and this chapter related in a lot of aspects. Economics taught me a lot of the basics of business and related things, which is what chapter one was about.

Connections Post 1

Chapters 9-10 were about motivating employees. I can relate to this because I worked in retail outlet stores at a mall for about 2 years. I never reallt felt motivated because I felt like I was the one doing all of the tough work. Every day I had to work I didn't want to go. Another problem I had was that they would always schedule me to work the day after they knew I was going to party. For instance, after prom and after New Years. Motivation is a key aspect in business.

Reflections Post Numero 4

In the last class, we learned about accounting. We learned what is is used for, who uses it, and why it is important in everyday business. During the lecture, we were taught the equations for assets and many other things. We had a worksheet to use to help us understand the equations and to prepare us for the final exam.

Connections post 3

Current assets are assets that will be used up in less then year. These kinds of assets range from cash to stocks to accounts. Then we also learned about fixed assets. Fixed assets will be used or held for a period longer then a year. Looking at fixed and current assets and i was looking at my job. Recently i found out that the heb i now work at will be getting scanning guns for each register. I had scanning guns at the old HEB i worked at and they were quite useful. Scan guns would be classified as a fixed asset since it will be used for longer then a year. To me this is a great investment for this HEB.

Reflections Post 4

During our shortened lecture of accounting we learned the basic equation for accounting which is Assets=Liabilities+equity. Then we also learned several other equations of accounting. Also we had a practice worksheet our class worked on during the lecture to practice the math based stuff over accounting. Then we also learned how accounting is important to managers, investers, suppliers and the government. All in all this class was quite interesting and i know accounting will come in to my life later on.

Connections Post 4

I connected to this last chapter over Accounting because this is what my major is. I have done accounting work for the past 8 years and lost my job to someone who had a degree. I really connected with this Chapter because there is so much more to Accounting than I ever thought. I am looking forward to learning more and hope that I will excel in accounting once I finish my degree program.

Reflections

I found the Accounting extremely interesting. This is what I am getting my degree in and I have done accounting work for the past 8 years. You would think that I would have the terminology and formulas down but no. I love accounting and working with numbers and found this chapter very interesting. I have really enjoyed this class and know that I will use all the information we learned throughout my life.

This Class

I have learned a great deal of information in this class that I will take with me beyond my college years. I love business, and this class confirmed/strengthened that passion. Accounting was a great deal of help, because we applied the formulas to real life situations on a worksheet. Chapter 9-10, atrracting and motivating employees was a great chapter to apply to my job, especially since I am currently training in interviewing possible employees. Creating organizations was more of an informative chapter for me, because I really didn't know much about it until we went through the powerpoint. The management process and HR were awesome chapters that were so useful to learn about. I feel like we learn so much in college, but most of it we won't take past college with us. I know that these chapters will stick with me.

Management

Chapter 6 was an interesting chapter for me. I work in management, so I was able to see the bigger picture more clearly. Chapter 6 also made me consider, if I did work in management beyond college, which layer I would want to be in/ why. I really liked in class when we talked about how the higher up you are, the least amount of technical skills you have. I remember when I first started working my job, a DM came into the store, and barely knew how to use a register. I remember it sort of bothered me, because I took alot of orders from her on how to suggestive sell, ect. This chapter made me realize though that my DM has a wider span of stores to look over, and operating a register is a small detail in her lists of responsibilities.

Human Resources in the Work Place

Chapter 9 was my favorite chapter to learn about in this class, and inspired me to look into a future career in human resources. I feel like where I work, they make us believe what they want us to believe, rather than teach us by the rule book (if that makes sense). I was told if I told someone how much I make, I could be written up or fired. I have been told mutiple things along these lines, and learning about HR polices helped me realize that the people I work under don't call as many shots as they make it sound like.

Work, Work, Work!

In Chapter 17, we learned several formulas that I have been able to apply to my job. If I close, I have to send my district manager an e-mail, that explains our sales for the day in depth. My DM is very picky about what numbers she wants, so I have to be careful. I calculate net sales and send her that #, plus our comp. percent for the day. She gets VERY angry if you send her gross sales, because gross sales includes sales tax, and gift card purchases, which aren't money that we technically made that day. Formulas for net sales, gross sales, and return on sales from Chapter 17 can all be applied to my job.

Reflections Post Ch. 17

During this brief, but important lecture the class discussed some of the basic principles of accounting.

-Always note that equation of acct. is Assets=Liabilities+Stock Holder's Equity

Accounting is important to help determine the health of a company and organizations. It allows the following to perform their task:

Managers: to plan and control

Investors: to evaluate health of business

Suppliers: to evaluate credit risk

Government: to confirm tax liability and moderate business

There are other equations to interpret certain useful data of a firm such as:

Return on Sales: Net Income / Net Sales, to figure money made per item sold

Working Capital: Current Assets - Current Liabilities, how much cash firm is using

Debt to Equity: Total Liabilities / Equity, to figure how much of your worth is from debt

Connections Post III

Looking back on how our country was developed and comparing it to the new stage of production and technology there are obviously drastic changes. To be an entrepreneur or a businessman didn't demand as much as it does today. Being in this business class helped me recognize how diverse and technical the world of business is today. With complications like human resource management, distribution, and the whole marketing mix business today can seem intimidating and difficult to manage. The lectures and our discussions in class have given me perspective on all basic business subjects. With what I have learned I have already generated ideas, and put them to use. This class has made me realize what I am capable of.

Connections Post 3

This post is about productivity within my company recently we had only part time workers and only one delivery driver and one person in ther wearhouse to pull orders going out and recieve all incoming orders. Well this worked for awhile but then we started getting backed up in reciving and we had to hire another full time worker for either delivering and wearhose help. Since we have made this change we havent been backed up at all and our wearhouse looks better now than it ever has. It just shows that with two people running a big wearhouse and being productive throughout the day can keep up with everything and we didnt need the 2 extra people the manager thought we would need.

Conections Post 2

The company I work for has a nice breakroom setup where we have a big screen TV and a PS3 when we go on break we play madden and we also ahve a basketball goal where we will play pick up games. This is kinda like our company culture we have fun things to do when we go on break to were it isn't just work all day and it keeps us as workers happy and I think more productive.

Connetions Post 1

Recently my company i work for did our yearly inventory where we had to specificly count out each item in our wearhouse and see how our numbers matched to what our system showed we have in stock. This connects to class because it shows how well our company did in sales for the year and how much our net worth/loss was.

Refletions Post 4

In class we have went over the accounting portion of a business and learning some of the accounting equations for thins like assets and owners equity. We have also been preparing for our group project and spending some class time to get everything ready for presentations.

connections post

In class we have previously talked about fairness in the work place and one issue or law is the equal pay act. Even though the equal pay act was put into place so ppl who are (females/males, possibly color) can not be treated unfairly with different pay for the same job. Companies find many ways to get around this act and i think it does not do much, but i can not blame the government for this because ppl do live in different situations where the same job say in a different state should be payed differently. I read in a newspaper article the other day of someone suing because she had the same job as a male working but they worked 5 miles away from each other and the male had a higher wage. Like i said this is unfair but it is very hard to stop companies from doing this.

Reflection 4

In class we have only covered one chapter from the last test. I missed class during this lecture but this is what i got from the book. Accounting in a business is extremely important. The accounting aspect of a business can be used to determine how mistakes were made in the past and how things will look in the future. It will telll you if something makes financial sense. Audits in a company have to meet standards of the generally accepted accounting principles or GAAPS. Sarbanes Oxley Act was put into place to make sure accounting was done right. The accounting process involves 5 steps 1)documents analyzed, 2)transactions recorded, 3) appropriate ledger accounts, 4) accounting equation in balance, 5) finacial statements prepared for trail balance. Accounting is a major role in the success of a company and the success of its possible stock buyers. Accounting can be used to make judgements on business in the future.

Reflections Post 4

Sense the last test we have covered chapter 17 dealing with accounting. We discussed audits which are financial statements and accounting practices, GAAP which stands for generally accepted accounting principles, and Sabanes-Oxley which are accounting firms restricted in services they can provide to companies they audit they also protect whistleblowers. We also looked at the summary of what a company owes owns and their overall net worth, which fall under assets, liabilities, and equity. There are three types of assets; current assets which are used in one year, fixed assets which are held or used for a period longer than a year, and intangible assets which are assets that don't physically exist but have value. There are two types of depreciation, which is apportioning the cost of a fixed asset over its useful life. The two types are straight-line depreciation and salvage value. The two different types of liabilities are current and long-term, both are debts that need to be returned. Retained earnings fall under equity, the company's net worth. The cost of goods sold falls under revenue, which is the amount earned for the goods and services. Most of the above having equations to figure financial transactions, losses, gains, worth, debt, etc. The final section covered was financial ratios, including three; return on sales, working capital, and debt-to-equity ratio.

Connections 3

In class today we looked at accounting and the different ways to collect, analyze, and report financial information. A fixed asset are assets that will be held or used for a period longer than one year. At my job this would be the land the property is on, equipment that the employees are using; such as ovens, microwaves, and other equipment used to cook and keep a restaurant working, another fixed asset would be the store itself. At the place I am currently working the sales revenue is high resulting in a good net income to keep the business going, pay their employees, and make a profit.

Connections Post 2

I have been able to relate to some of the labor laws, most importantly being the Eual Pay Act of 1963. I am a woman who works full time and has quite a bit of banking experience and I had a coworker who was a male with not much experience to speak of. He transferred to another branch within the same company with the same title, but was given a $1.50 raise. This is very interesting to me. Given that different areas of the country hive a higher cost of living while other areas have a lower cost, the work should match the cost of living. Though I feel that companies can always find a way around the labor laws, that is if they would want to. To keep this male employee happy, they transferred him so he could get his pay raise. In chapter 9 we learned about what is leagal and what is illegal when it comes to the work place, this incident seems to be entirely leagal.

Scribe post: 11/29

Last class, we went over our Test, and worked on out group projects.  Next class we will be covering out last chapter. 

The next scribe will be Dee.