Category: Essays

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Scenario for Assignments 1-5<br>
For Assignments 1-5, you are the new budgeting and finance administrator for your local government agency. Your first responsibility is to become familiar with the agency, the budget, programs, and capital projects. As the administrator, you will be responsible for analyzing, examining, proposing, and preparing the agency�s budget for the next five (5) years.<br>
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Note: Students cannot use New York City as a selected local government<br>
Assignment 4: Implementing the Budget<br>
Due Week 9 and worth 125 points<br>
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Refer the Scenario for Assignments 1�5. Prepare a variance report for the selected agency. Refer to Table <a href=”https://8.4″ target=”_blank”>8.4</a> in Chapter 8 (page 133).<br>
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Write a three to four (3-4) page paper addressing the criteria below. (Note: Change the title of the report to reflect the selected agency�s name and the years to 2013-2014.)<br>
Find the variances for both the revenue and expenditures sides and then discuss two to three (2-3) problematic areas for the agency. Provide the results of the variances in a table (Excel or Word).<br>
Recommend two (2) policy actions for each problematic area discussed in criterion 1. Justify the recommendations.<br>
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Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:<br>
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.<br>
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student�s name, the professor�s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.<br>
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The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:<br>
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Recommend appropriate policy actions based on the evaluation.<br>
Evaluate a budgeting system at any governmental level.<br>
Analyze the scope and sequence of budgeting in terms of sources of revenues, purpose of government expenditures, budget cycles, budget preparation, and debt administration.<br>
Analyze the requirements for implementing a budget.<br>
Develop various budget charts that represent segments of the budgeting process.<br>
Write clearly and concisely about public budgeting and finance using proper writing mechanics.<br>
Click here to view the grading rubric for this assignment<br>
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MY AGENCY IS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

For this assignment, use the dataset eaef_as2.dta, which has 1200 observations, and is downloadable from SyD. The data contain information on wages and characteristics of workers in United States, in 2002. It includes a variable ‘catgov’ which indicates whether the person works for government. TASK: a) Build a model to estimate how much more or less workers on average earn when they work for government as opposed to private sector, holding the other determinants of wages constant. Interpret the findings. [80%] b) Assess whether government is a more ‘meritocratic’ employer. Do this by expanding the model in a) to test whether ability (asvabc) and years of schooling (s) have a larger effect on earnings in government than in the private sector. Interpret the findings. [20%] Practical notes: It may be sensible to use a do-file to avoid retyping the regression commands multiple times. If you however prefer to work from the command line, note that by pressing ‘page up/down’-buttons you can get the previous commands to the command line – this may be the quickest way to modify the your estimation. Points to keep in mind: -Are you controlling all relevant variables? -Could you improve by making transformations to variables / assume non-linearities? -Could interactions help you improve the model? -Are there outliers that distort your model? -Can you rule out endogeneity of your explanatory variables? -To tabulate 2 variables use tabulate. Example: tabulate female catgov -To look up how a command works, use help, such as help regress. -Are the key assumptions of OLS holding (note that some of them can’t be directly tested)? -Study the dataset and variables and think what you can and can’t do with it. -Do your results make sense to you? (No need for literature review or outside references!) How to submit an answer? The submitted answer should consist of maximum of 3 printed pages, using font size 10 or 12. To align stata output nicely use Courier 10 Pitch, or Courier New font, and font size 10 in Word. For estimations in part a) and b) only add the 4 sections as shown on next page. Nothing more, please. Longer answers will be penalised by at least 5 points. The next page is a simplified sample answer for part a). Answer should be in similar format in part b) Grading is based on the overall sensibility of the preferred models, and their correct interpretation and testing. There is no one right answer for this assignment. Finally, while this is an open-ended project, returns to further efforts diminish quickly after a certain point.

Requirements

Choose about six UK companies that have options written on them. You will need sufficient data to be able to adequately discuss and illustrate the issues developed in the assignment, so about six should be enough. However, if you find your results are limiting your scope for discussion you may need to run the techniques for a few more companies to get additional results.

Stock prices can be obtained from Yahoo Finance UK or other free website, DataStream or Bloomberg. Option prices can be obtained from the
from Bloomberg.

Step 1: For each of your companies compute the daily, weekly and monthly returns using 5 years of data. Also compute the daily, weekly and monthly returns for the FTSE100 index. This gives you 3 x 7 = 21 returns series altogether.

Step 2: Test the random walk hypothesis for each series using the runs test on SPSS.

Step 3: Carry out a serial correlation test on the series using SPSS (or some other computer statistics package).

Step 4: Carry out a normality test on the daily, weekly and monthly returns of each company and of the index.

(Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 are worth 25% of the assignment grade)

Step 5: Critically discuss the results you obtained in steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Relate the results you have obtained to the underlying assumptions made in option pricing theory, namely that stock returns follow a random walk and that stock returns are normally distributed.

Interpreting statistical results is a matter of judgement and organised commonsense. It is not a technical matter of applying another formula.

(Step 5 is worth 25% of the assignment grade)

In this part you are testing some of our basic assumptions about stock returns. You are testing whether stock returns really follow a random walk in (2) and (3), and in (4) you are testing whether stock returns really are normally distributed. In other words, you are testing whether Brownian motion is a good model for stock returns.

Step 6: Compute the theoretical value of a selection of calls and puts written on your stocks using the Derivagem options pricing software. Also compute the theoretical value of one call option and one put option using the Black-Scholes formula.

Compare the theoretical values and current market prices of the options. On the basis of this (limited) piece of empirical research, do market prices appear to be consistent with theory? Critically discuss.

(Step 6 is worth 25% of the assignment grade)

Step 7: Calculate the volatilities implied by the market prices of the options, using Derivagem. By calculating implied volatilities on selected options, do you find evidence of mispricing in the options market? If so, explain at least two strategies for exploiting this apparent mispricing. Critically discuss.

(Step 7 is worth 25% of the assignment grade)

Written report

Write a report. Your report should contain:
(1) A clear summary of your results.
(2) A brief and clear explanation of how you carried out the calculations.
(3) A critical discussion of your results and conclusions.

The requirements (1), (2) and (3) are very important. Make sure you try to achieve these in your written report.

For example, using clearly presented tables to summarise your results in (1) is good. Spending pages and pages describing in detail what the reader can clearly see from the tables is bad.

If you write a poorly structured report with a bunch of spreadsheets/printouts attached at the end, it is very difficult for the examiner to know what your results are, whether you have carried out the calculations correctly, what your conclusions are, and in general, whether or not you understand what you are doing.

Your aim in writing your report must be to convince the reader that you have complete confidence in applying these techniques, that you understand the ideas behind these applications, and that you can critically discuss the results and form reasonable conclusions.

Hints and mistakes to avoid

In general, we will give help and feedback in showing how to use the techniques, but the discussion, explanation and interpretation required in the report is mostly up to you. If you add up the marks you will see that around 50% of the assignment grade is for explanation, discussion and interpretation. This should be reflected in your report.

Try to do the statistical tests first yourself, and then come to see us if you get stuck.

When discussing the results from the statistical tests and from the option pricing calculations, it is important that your report does not simply describe the results you get. Simply listing the results is something that is best done by putting them in a table.

When interpreting the results of statistical tests, you need to consider what the results say overall. This is an art, not a science. Some people think that interpreting statistical results means applying another formula. It isn’t. It is a matter of judgement, on which experts themselves often disagree. So, don’t be concerned that you do not know enough statistics to interpret the results. A lot of it is just looking at the results as a whole and using common sense.

You must interpret the results of this assignment by looking at them as a whole, and forming a judgement

Maximum word length

Your report must be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length

As a general rule, shorter is usually better. In this kind of material it is possible to say all the important things concisely, briefly, simply and clearly.

Requirements

Choose about six UK companies that have options written on them. You will need sufficient data to be able to adequately discuss and illustrate the issues developed in the assignment, so about six should be enough. However, if you find your results are limiting your scope for discussion you may need to run the techniques for a few more companies to get additional results.

Stock prices can be obtained from Yahoo Finance UK or other free website, DataStream or Bloomberg. Option prices can be obtained from the
from Bloomberg.

Step 1: For each of your companies compute the daily, weekly and monthly returns using 5 years of data. Also compute the daily, weekly and monthly returns for the FTSE100 index. This gives you 3 x 7 = 21 returns series altogether.

Step 2: Test the random walk hypothesis for each series using the runs test on SPSS.

Step 3: Carry out a serial correlation test on the series using SPSS (or some other computer statistics package).

Step 4: Carry out a normality test on the daily, weekly and monthly returns of each company and of the index.

(Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 are worth 25% of the assignment grade)

Step 5: Critically discuss the results you obtained in steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Relate the results you have obtained to the underlying assumptions made in option pricing theory, namely that stock returns follow a random walk and that stock returns are normally distributed.

Interpreting statistical results is a matter of judgement and organised commonsense. It is not a technical matter of applying another formula.

(Step 5 is worth 25% of the assignment grade)

In this part you are testing some of our basic assumptions about stock returns. You are testing whether stock returns really follow a random walk in (2) and (3), and in (4) you are testing whether stock returns really are normally distributed. In other words, you are testing whether Brownian motion is a good model for stock returns.

Step 6: Compute the theoretical value of a selection of calls and puts written on your stocks using the Derivagem options pricing software. Also compute the theoretical value of one call option and one put option using the Black-Scholes formula.

Compare the theoretical values and current market prices of the options. On the basis of this (limited) piece of empirical research, do market prices appear to be consistent with theory? Critically discuss.

(Step 6 is worth 25% of the assignment grade)

Step 7: Calculate the volatilities implied by the market prices of the options, using Derivagem. By calculating implied volatilities on selected options, do you find evidence of mispricing in the options market? If so, explain at least two strategies for exploiting this apparent mispricing. Critically discuss.

(Step 7 is worth 25% of the assignment grade)

Written report

Write a report. Your report should contain:
(1) A clear summary of your results.
(2) A brief and clear explanation of how you carried out the calculations.
(3) A critical discussion of your results and conclusions.

The requirements (1), (2) and (3) are very important. Make sure you try to achieve these in your written report.

For example, using clearly presented tables to summarise your results in (1) is good. Spending pages and pages describing in detail what the reader can clearly see from the tables is bad.

If you write a poorly structured report with a bunch of spreadsheets/printouts attached at the end, it is very difficult for the examiner to know what your results are, whether you have carried out the calculations correctly, what your conclusions are, and in general, whether or not you understand what you are doing.

Your aim in writing your report must be to convince the reader that you have complete confidence in applying these techniques, that you understand the ideas behind these applications, and that you can critically discuss the results and form reasonable conclusions.

Hints and mistakes to avoid

In general, we will give help and feedback in showing how to use the techniques, but the discussion, explanation and interpretation required in the report is mostly up to you. If you add up the marks you will see that around 50% of the assignment grade is for explanation, discussion and interpretation. This should be reflected in your report.

Try to do the statistical tests first yourself, and then come to see us if you get stuck.

When discussing the results from the statistical tests and from the option pricing calculations, it is important that your report does not simply describe the results you get. Simply listing the results is something that is best done by putting them in a table.

When interpreting the results of statistical tests, you need to consider what the results say overall. This is an art, not a science. Some people think that interpreting statistical results means applying another formula. It isn’t. It is a matter of judgement, on which experts themselves often disagree. So, don’t be concerned that you do not know enough statistics to interpret the results. A lot of it is just looking at the results as a whole and using common sense.

You must interpret the results of this assignment by looking at them as a whole, and forming a judgement

Maximum word length

Your report must be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length

As a general rule, shorter is usually better. In this kind of material it is possible to say all the important things concisely, briefly, simply and clearly.

Answer

1.Consider that a management and tracking system developed for marathon runners is going into production tomorrow. The runners will begin using the site in the morning to sign up and track their entries into multiple races. Data was entered for racers that had signed up prior to the system going live. There is a race in four weeks, which allows friends to login and track where the runner is on the course. The season ends in six months and full reports are provided to each runner with their statistics.

In your initial response, provide examples of post implementation items you will need to manage and support in the first five days, the first four weeks, and the first six months for the marathon runner management and tracking system.

2.”Rachel’s Day off swimwear
Rachel’s Day Off Swimwear is a successful chain of high end swimsuit boutiques. In the last six months, the firm added several new lines and opened a dozen new stores. The downside is that the company has outgrown its accounting software. The original accounting system was a package from Peachtree Soft- ware, which ran on a stand-alone PC and later on a network. Now, the firm is ready to install a new ac- counting package that can support current and future operations. You have been asked to implement the new system, which is called Sage 50.
tasks
1. Who should receive training on the new software, and what topics should the training cover? 2. Go online and investigate the Sage 50 product to learn whether it can import and upload
existing data. 3. What changeover strategy would you suggest for the new accounting system? Explain your answer. 4. When should a post-implementation evaluation be conducted? Explain your answer.”
(Rosenblatt 494)

Rosenblatt. Systems Analysis and Design, 10th Edition. Cengage Learning, 2014. VitalBook file.

The citation provided is a guideline. Please check each citation for accuracy before use.

Answer

1.Consider that a management and tracking system developed for marathon runners is going into production tomorrow. The runners will begin using the site in the morning to sign up and track their entries into multiple races. Data was entered for racers that had signed up prior to the system going live. There is a race in four weeks, which allows friends to login and track where the runner is on the course. The season ends in six months and full reports are provided to each runner with their statistics.

In your initial response, provide examples of post implementation items you will need to manage and support in the first five days, the first four weeks, and the first six months for the marathon runner management and tracking system.

2.”Rachel’s Day off swimwear
Rachel’s Day Off Swimwear is a successful chain of high end swimsuit boutiques. In the last six months, the firm added several new lines and opened a dozen new stores. The downside is that the company has outgrown its accounting software. The original accounting system was a package from Peachtree Soft- ware, which ran on a stand-alone PC and later on a network. Now, the firm is ready to install a new ac- counting package that can support current and future operations. You have been asked to implement the new system, which is called Sage 50.
tasks
1. Who should receive training on the new software, and what topics should the training cover? 2. Go online and investigate the Sage 50 product to learn whether it can import and upload
existing data. 3. What changeover strategy would you suggest for the new accounting system? Explain your answer. 4. When should a post-implementation evaluation be conducted? Explain your answer.”
(Rosenblatt 494)

Rosenblatt. Systems Analysis and Design, 10th Edition. Cengage Learning, 2014. VitalBook file.

The citation provided is a guideline. Please check each citation for accuracy before use.

Student name:
Module code: LC4S041
Title: Legislative and Professional Issues
Submission date:
Module Lecturer: Rob Wilks
Word count:
How far does the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) manage health and safety in workplace? Use case law to illustrate your answer.

List of figures:
Figure 1. Hierarchy of Case Law/Court Structure – England and Wales (SOAS, 2012) 6

Introduction:
The enclosed report is aimed exclusively to discuss about Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 that is practised in the UK at workplace. For the effectiveness of discussions on workplace safety two companies based in the UK are chosen to demonstrate how Health and Safety Act 1974 are applied and evaluated how the act is applied on daily basis.
Further the discussions are based on the UK case law in the context of workplace safety. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (abbreviated as HASAWA) is a legislation that is related to Occupational Health and Safety in Great Britain. As a part of this act local authorities and enforcement executives are responsible in order to bring and apply acts at workplace in order to keep and maintain required amount of health and safety required .
The underpinning aims of this act are to ensure health, safety and welfare of workforce at work place who are exposed to wide range of working conditions. Wide range of aspects within health and safety aspects are covered as a part of this act such as use of harmful substances, gases, emissions related issues etc. Employees and employers of every organisation are the key stakeholders of this practice for safe working conditions.
With the use of case law and health and safety acts the author has aimed to demonstrate how far this act is adapted in the workplace. Finally under the conclusion and recommendations individual view is presented and future actions that are needed to make this act more effective and to ensure effective health and safety act is practiced.
Background research:
To quantify how case law can help to employee as per HASAWA it is realistic to apply this on a particular incident on any industry along with use of Case Law to demonstrate the actions that is required from both parties (employee & employer). To account for this a situation is utilised on an employee who is facing significant challenges and poor working conditions at workplace. Based on the facts and figures of the incident the Case Law UK at the magistrate’s court is utilised to demonstrate how law can help.
The overview of The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974:
HASAWA act 1974 sets out framework on health and safety for all employees in their work activities. This act covers educational institution, professionals, manufacturing sectors, suppliers and self-employed . It is the responsibility of both employee and employer to comply with the law and a brief summary is provided below,
Section 2 – It is the duty of employer to ensure health, safety and also welfare at workplace and should be to reasonably practicable. Trade unions and employers are expected to be working together in order to promote better workplace health and safety.
Section 3 – This section particularly aims at young pupil (ex. educational institution) who may be affected by work related activities. Employer should ensure there are no risks on their health and safety.
Section 4- Applicable to places where machinery within manufacturing plant does not endanger the personnel using them.
Section 5 – It is the duty of the employer to prevent and control harmful emissions to the atmosphere.
Section 6 – Related to designers, manufacturers to ensure the substances are safe to use.
Section 7 – Employees will require co-operation with their employers to maintain good health and safety issues.
Section 8 – Employees shall not misuse not interfere with anything do to with health and safety .

The overview of Case Law UK:
The UK Case Law is used to reprint full text of a judgement that mainly comprises of statements of facts and judicial reasoning that are made by the judges in the court. Further the law comprises of additional material that are summary documents of legal issues, comprehensive list of cases cited and other key facts.

South British Company is a solar energy company located in the southern part of the United Kingdom. The company specializes in generating electricity, which is then sold to local towns and villages. Due to the global decrease in oil prices, the demand for solar energy is very limited and as a result there are very few companies worldwide that specialize in solar energy production. Recent technological advances have led South British Company to consider replacing its exiting solar panels with high-tech micro-wafer panels that produce five times the amount of electricity as the old panels. On January 1, 2015, South British Company decided to lease 2,500 of the new high-tech panels from EuroLease Company. The two companies decided that the lease term is 5 years with yearly lease payments of $1,291,326 starting on January 1, 2015 and then each December 31 thereafter. The details of the agreement indicate that the interest rate agreed upon by the two companies is 8%. Additional details suggest that the useful life of the solar panels is eight years with no residual value. Although, EuroLease had just recently purchased the solar panels for $8,500,000. On the date of signing the contract between the two companies, the directing manager of EuroLease told the representative from South British Company the following:
“It is interesting that you would want to lease these high-tech panels at this time. As you know these are specialized equipment that only a few companies worldwide can use. However, an American company called New York Solar leased the exact same panels today. Their lease term agreements are the same as yours. The only difference is that South British Company is located in the United Kingdom, while New York Solar is located in the United States.”
Required:
1. Discuss some of the challenges that face accountants worldwide when conducting international transactions.
2. Discuss the major difference GAAP and IFRS.
3. With respect to leasing the high-tech panels, describe the amount and nature of expense that South British Company and New York Solar will record for the year 2015.
4. If South British Company and New York Solar had the choice to select accounting standards to use for this lease transaction, which standards would provide the most benefit to each company? Your discussion should focus only on how choosing a set of standards would affect the leasing situation that is mentioned above.

INSTRUCTIONS:

The four questions below require considerable thought and mulling over. Remember that your task, above all, is to demonstrate your learning and application of your learning, especially since the midterm. Integrate material from the reading liberally and often.

1. Empirical article critique.

In chapter one of the Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy (Gurman, Lebow & Snyder, 2015), Gurman (2015) discussed the necessity of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) to answer such important questions as how powerful and durable the effects of change from couples therapy are.

Conduct a library search to find one empirical study published in the last five years on some aspect of couples or family therapy. The most prestigious journals in the field are Family Process and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, though an empirical article from any peer-reviewed journal will do as long as it addresses some aspect of couples or family therapy. Feel free to ask me about the article you’ve chosen, if you are unsure of its suitability.

A. Provide a reference for the article in APA-format. (3 pts.)

B. Label and address the following sections:
a. Hypotheses–in one-two sentences (5 pts.)
b. Method (5 pts.)
c. Results (5 pts.)
d. Discussion–your critique of the merits of the research as informed by your learning this term and especially since the midterm. (7 pts.)

NOTE: If you are unable to address these sections, then your article is most likely not an empirical one. Theoretical articles, in other words, are not acceptable. Neither will write-ups of case studies be, with rare exception.

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Part I: Introduction. From a design point of view, the introduction to a paper is one of its most important parts. A reader that is confused by the introduction or who fails to see that the paper deals with an important or interesting issue is not likely to read the rest. And, if she does read on, she is less likely to get the main point. As a consequence, every introduction must consist of four parts: (a) State the problem to be solved. (b) Discuss the state of the art (i.e., previous work) and explain why, despite/because of this literature, there remains: (i) confusion; (ii) misunderstanding; (iii) errors; or (iv) some unresolved problem. Alternatively, present an empirical puzzle that the existing literature fails to explain. (c) State the essence of your contribution, that is, your solution to the problem or puzzle. Give the reader a sense of how you solve the problem; provide some confidence that if she reads the rest of your paper, she has a chance of learning something. (d) The last paragraph of your introduction should always be a “road map” paragraph; for example: “This paper proceeds as follows. In section 1 …” “The references should be done in Harvard system.