Actuality In Tim OBrien's The Things They Carried

Actuality In Tim OBrien's The Things They Carried

In Tim O'Brien's shocking war story, "The Things They Carried", the author does a few things that would be considered odd in the modern world of literature, these include telling the readers beforehand whether or not the story will have a happy/ tragic ending, and the factuality. His habit of revealing the result of the story beforehand, is much like the prologue of Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare states, "Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which, if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend (p. 7). " This practice has been executed for centuries, and has the reader focus more on the story details to see how everything will play out, instead of getting wrapped up in how ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The purpose of this quote within the story, is to remind readers of the emotional journey and how war can affect people, years after it's all over these men won't be thinking of whether their friends died on a Wednesday or a Thursday, because it won't matter. Their friend will still be gone. Personally, I find his random tidbits of what is factual and what is O'Brien's imagination to be annoying and pointless, because the only people who could know the truth would be the people who lived it. As a reader, it'd be wise if he were to just write the stories and let his audience make up their own minds about what they read; that's what defines a story. He states, "War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead. (Pg. 76)." This excerpt from the text meant more to me than majority of this novel whether it fits his definition of a "true war story", because it's the most honest depiction I've read in awhile. When it comes down to it, it isn't about the factuality or even the small details, a true story is based on the way it made the reader feel.

In "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," Mark Fossie's suppression of Mary Anne Bell and her desire for survival transforms her into

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Activity-based costing in restaurants

Activity-based costing in restaurants

Activity–based costing in restaurants



1. Introduction

Interest in cost and management accounting practices in the restaurant industry is rising (Raab et al., 2009; Annaraud et al., 2008). Pavesic (1985) has initiated research in pricing and cost accounting for restaurants, introducing the concept of profit factor

(PF) in menu engineering (ME). Prior studies, such as the one presented in Chan and

Au (1998) investigate the implications of not incorporating overhead costs in menu–item profitability analyses in restaurants in Hong Kong. Since then, a number of researchers have examined the application of contemporary cost and management accounting techniques, and particularly activity–based costing (ABC) in a restaurant

environment ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...To this end Kaplan and Cooper (1998) suggest that service companies are ideal candidates for ABC. One reason for this is that in the services industry a great percentage of total cost is labour cost and processes are highly variant (Kostakis et al.,

2008). Studies have shown the possible use and potential benefits of ABC in the hotel industry (Kostakis et al., 2011; Berts and Kock, 1995; Noone and Griffin, 1999).

New techniques assisting large–scale ABC implementation have also been developed in recent years (Kaplan and Anderson, 2004).



The restaurant industry is facing great challenges today, mainly due to the highly competitive environment and the diverse needs of the customers. Restaurants have to achieve a balance between serving these needs, and pricing their menu items to achieve adequate profitability levels (Raab et al., 2009).Traditional costing systemsand simplistic pricing approaches were very popular within the restaurant industry. Overhead cost and operating expenses were usually excluded and prices were a function of food cost, as well as customer demand, historical prices and other factors. This method has the evident disadvantage of leading to misleading information about individual menu items.

Research

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Activity-Based Costing ( ABC ) Essay

Activity-Based Costing ( ABC ) Essay

Activity Based Costing ACTIVITY BASED COSTING AND MANAGEMENT : AN OVERVIEW



Activity Based Costing (ABC) is more relevant than traditional costing in companies, where product mix is diverse in; batch sizes, physical sizes, degree or complexity, and raw material characteristics. ABC will also provide more decision useful information for the service industry, characterized by diversity in range of services provided. If the products in a plant or services provided posses similar characteristics, wither volume based or an activity based cost driver will provide reasonably accurate costs. The strategic goal of ABC is to provide decision useful cost and profitability information for optimal pricing decisions, appropriate product mix, and ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The level at which activities are analysed can vary widely from the very aggregate to the very detailed. The level of detail should be matched to the level of analysis required to improve the decision–making within the organisation. Even within a single organisation, the level of detail can very from one part of the analysis to another, excessive detail will bog down the project and not provide any material benefit to the analysis. Too little detail will obscure the meaningful results that could be achieved.

The usefulness of an ABC analysis can be further enhanced by including a value analysis of every activity.



When constructing an ABC model, activity costs can be either traced directly to a cost objects. Examples of enabling activities include " paying employees" and "supporting PC users". We can then generate reports for these activities in various formats that show both the direct resources as well as those supports activities that form part of the total cost. Reports generally list the activities from highest cost to lowest cost. Management can then evaluate these activity costs in terms of whether they are too high, too low, or in the expected range. This is again a focusing mechanism for management in evaluating it

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Activity Based Costing

Activity Based Costing

Activity based costing

Definition and concept

'An approach to the costing and monitoring of activities which involves tracing resource consumption and costing final outputs. Resources are assigned to activities, and activities to cost objects based on consumption estimates. The latter utilise cost drivers to attach activity costs to outputs.'

Activity–based costing (ABC) is a costing methodology that identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activity with resources to all products and services according to the actual consumption by each. This model assigns more indirect costs(overhead) into direct costs compared to conventional costing.

CIMA Official Terminology, 2005

A development of the principles of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Activity analysis is the process of identifying appropriate output measures of activities and resources (cost drivers) and their effects on the costs of making a product or providing a service.

ABC systems have the flexibility to provide special reports so that management can take decisions about the costs of designing, selling and delivering a product or service. The key aspect is that ABC focuses on accumulating costs via activities, whereas traditional cost allocation focuses on accumulating costs within functional areas.

The main advantage of ABC is that it minimises or avoids distortions on product costs that might occur from arbitrary allocation of overhead costs.

Steps in development of an ABC System

ABC uses cost drivers to assign the costs of resources to activities and unit cost as a way of measuring an output.

There are four steps to implementing ABC.

1. Identify activities

The organisation needs to undertake an in–depth analysis of the operating processes of each responsibility centre. Each process might consist of one or more activities required to produce an output.

2. Assign resource costs to activities

This involves tracing costs to cost objects to determine why the cost occurred. Costs can be categorised in three ways:

i. Direct – costs that can be traced directly to one output. For example, the wood and paint that it takes to make a chair. ii. Indirect – costs that cannot be

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How To Write A Critique Essay

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Activity Based Costing Vs Traditional Costing Case Study

Activity Based Costing Vs Traditional Costing Case Study

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING II EPGP BATCH 08 IIM – KOZHIKODE 2015–2017
Submitted By:– Aditiya Prasad EPGP–08–001
Faculty:– Prof. K.K.Ramesh
Table of contents Title Page Number
Activity Based Costing Vs Traditional Costing 03–05 References 06–06
Question 1: Compare activity based costing (ABC) with traditional costing. Is it an improvement? If so why? Explain with a case (numerical).
Answer: Comparison between Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Traditional Costing are as follows:–
SL Pointers ABC Traditional 01 Benefit Factor The Activity Based Costing is an accurate product costing. The Traditional Costing is inexpensive. There is a possibility for elimination of non value based activities at ABC. The Traditional ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...With Traditional Costing the focus is on managing the cost of Responsibility Center. The Activity based Costing focuses on managing the activity. With Traditional Costing the focus is on managing the cost of Functional Department. The Activity based Costing focuses for solution pertaining to cross Functional issue. –– 04 Pool Cost The Activity Based Costing reflects many cost pools in order to reflect different activities. The Traditional Costing reflects limited number of cost pools i.e. One. 05 To whom it Suits The Activity Based Costing suits companies having high overhead. The Traditional Costing suits to low over head companies. The Activity Based Costing suits capital intensive companies. The Traditional Costing suits labor intensive companies. The Activity Based Costing suits to companies having more diverse set of operating activities –– The Activity Based Costing suits companies having diverse products –– The Activity Based Costing suits companies having the variation in number of production run. –– 06 Assigning the Cost Firstly Activity Based Costing shall assign the cost to activity cost pool. Firstly Traditional Costing shall assign the overhead cost to

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Activity Based Costing Systems

Activity Based Costing Systems

Activity–Based Costing Systems

Research Paper



|Matthew East |

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| ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...What is the motivation for ABC implementation? (Agbejule, 2006, p. 42)

2. What are the stated objectives when ABC is designed and how does the actual design and implementation of ABC conforms to these stated objectives? (Agbejule, 2006, p. 42)

3. How does the ABC implementation become institutionalized over time? That is, how do external legitimating functions become internal reality? (Agbejule, 2006, p. 42)

4. What role did ABC play in practice within the organization? (Agbejule, 2006, p. 42)

Mr. Agbejule states that the "main reasons for empirically studying these questions are as follows": First, the four questions deal with the conditions and consequences of the use of ABC within organizations. Second, the reason for studying these four questions is that they attempt to cover events before and after the introduction of ABC, thus capturing the dynamic characteristics of change over time. Most of the studies of ABC implementation deal with the overall process of implementation without examining the events after implementation. Third, the research question can help in highlighting factors that are important at different implementation stages (Agbejule, 2006, p. 42).

The implementation of an Activity–Based Costing system would in many ways help a company due to the simplistic process for which it accounts for materials and direct labor. According to James D. Tarr, MBA "Activity Based

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Activity based costing in manufacturing

Activity based costing in manufacturing

Activity based costing in manufacturing: two case studies on implementation

The Authors

Amrik S. Sohal, Department of Management, Monash University, Australia

Walter W.C. Chung, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Financial Controller at MelCo and to Mr Richard Siu, now Deputy General Manager of Ciba Specialty Chemicals (China) Ltd. They are also thankful to the Hong Kong Government Industry Department and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) for providing the funding to complete this paper and to Jimmy Ho who worked as a Research Assistant/Student on the ABC project at PolyU.

Abstract

This paper presents two case studies ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Slightly over 50 per cent of the respondents had not seriously considered ABC and around one–third were vetting it.

In 1995 the Australian Society of CPAs initiated a major survey on ABC amongst Australian manufacturers. This survey, which was conducted by the University of Technology, Sydney, involved 213 firms covering all aspects of Australian manufacturing (Corrigan, 1996; Wood, 1996). This survey showed that 45 per cent of the surveyed firms had never considered adopting ABC (although 88 per cent of those surveyed acknowledged awareness of activity–based costing), 29 per cent were still in the process of considering adopting it, 14 per cent had considered and rejected it and only 12 per cent of the firms surveyed had actually implemented it. The highest adoption rates of ABC were found amongst the food, beverage and tobacco industry with 25 per cent of this group using this method.

Of those companies which had adopted ABC most had implemented it within one to two years after making their decision to adopt it and the majority of these companies believed that they had achieved five goals: more accurate product costing; better cost management; better cost control; better allocation of overheads; and more accurate cost information.

The Australian survey found that those companies which rejected ABC claimed that the uncertainty of benefits and the high cost relative to perceived benefits were the main

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acct450 ch3

acct450 ch3

1. award: 0 out of 0.00 points
Willkom Corporation bought 100 percent of Szabo, Inc., on January 1, 2011. On that date, Willkom's equipment (10–year life) has a book value of $472,500 but a fair value of $629,500. Szabo has equipment (10–year life) with a book value of $283,000 but a fair value of $440,000. Willkom uses the equity method to record its investment in Szabo. On December 31, 2013, Willkom has equipment with a book value of $330,750 but a fair value of $530,250. Szabo has equipment with a book value of $198,100 but a fair value of $409,100. What is the consolidated balance for the Equipment account as of December 31, 2013?
rev: 10_01_2012
$685,850.
$528,850.
$939,350. → $638,750.
Willkom's equipment book ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Consolidated retained earnings (initial value method) $ Consolidated retained earnings (partial equity method) $
Under each of the following situations, what is the Investment in Rambis account balance on Herbert's books on January 1, 2013?
b–1. The parent uses the equity method.
Investment $
b–2. The parent uses the partial equity method.
Investment $
b–3. The parent uses the initial value method.
Investment $
Under each of the following situations, what is Entry *C on a 2013 consolidation worksheet? (Leave no cells blank. If no entry is required, select "No Journal Entry Required" in the account field and zero (0) in the amount field.)
c–1. The parent uses the equity method.
Date General Journal Debit Credit January 1, 2013 No Journal Entry Required
No Journal Entry Required
c–2. The parent uses the partial equity method.
Date General Journal Debit Credit January 1, 2013 Retained Earnings, 1/1/13
Investment in Rambis
c–3. The parent uses the initial value method.
Date General Journal Debit Credit January 1, 2013 Investment in Rambis
Retained Earnings, 1/1/13
rev: 02_07_2013_QC_26416 Explanation: a. Consolidated retained earnings–equity method
Herbert (parent)

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Activity Based Costing Essay

Activity Based Costing Essay

Numerous articles have been written about Activity–Based costing (ABC) system since it was first introduced back in mid 1980's. It was generally characterized as the only costing system that could accurately depict and represent product cost in a highly relative complex and complicated business environment. Combined with Activity–Based Management (ABM), ABC aligns the company's strategic objectives with its product costing system as it distinguishes non–value added activities and determines areas where costs can be possibility reduced (Hughes & Gjerde, 2003).



As aforementioned by Ness and Cucuzza in their article, activity–based management helps organizations to overpower and outperform other existing organizations. Making them the company ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Critical analysis of the weaknesses of the model revealed that ABC system led to over–precision in processes in collecting the data, which resulted in comparably expensive maintenance. To save costs, the figures were not always updated. As a consequence of this weakness, there is a build up of the lack of trust to the system. Hence, managers established their decisions on marginal thinking and good intuition that were scarcely fostered by data and information. In conclusion from the interviews, senior managers are convinced that ABC system did not provide them sufficient support for strategic decision–making and instead resorted to implementing the global decision–making methodology (GDM); a simple practical method for organizational decision–making (Geri & Ronen, 2005).

In contrast to the fall of activity–based costing system as stressed above, some may still find it as a beneficial tool that accountants can use to promote better management reporting and decision– making. Nonetheless, one must understand the intrinsic underlying assumptions of ABC, from which it assumes "homogenous cost drivers drive the costs in each pool" and "the costs in each pool are strictly proportional to the activity", and how contravening these assumptions might result to cost distortions that may negatively affect management decisions (Latshaw & Cortese–Danile,

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Activity Based Costing Assignment

Activity Based Costing Assignment

Activity Based Costing Assignment

a) Define activities

Mitali Sheth: Active Wear Sales Specialist

Cost Pool and Activity description Cost Pool Description

1).Analyze customer needs wants and deliver excellent services It refers to wide range of activities that focus on customer needs, what are they specifically looking for and giving the best suggestion for the outfit they are thinking to wear for any occasion. Develop a high level of product knowledge for the merchandise in the particular department.

Cost Pool drivers: per month



2).Measure the rate of their satisfaction with telephonic and oral communication, surveys It refers to the amount of time spent for measuring the rate of satisfaction in areas such as active wear clothing, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...It refers to the specific sale goals and star rewards goal for a particular month that would add value to the overall profit of the store and are to be achieved as being the sales specialist of that specific department.

Cost Pool drivers: per month



7).Responsible for maintaining inventory and display mannequins on the floor It refers to the display attractiveness and maintaining inventories on the shelves and appropriate arrangement of clothing on the floor. Also, making sure that fitting rooms are not flooded with clothes and put them back on the floor as soon as possible. Be aware of back inventories as well.

Cost Pool drivers: per month



8).Determine the weakness and strengths of the products being offered, based on that data suggest the management to bring additional merchandise and brands that would compliment customer selection and differentiate the company It refers to the demonstrating the management about the strengths and weakness of the products we have in the store, making suggestions if needed any and explain the results in the meeting conducted by monthly. Communicate with regional and district offices for support on driving more sales.

Cost Pool drivers: per month



b) Calculating hourly rate

Hourly rate: $ 9.50

Activity % of time Hours Hours*rate #ofactivities Costper unit

1 45.00% 800 $ 7,600.00 30 $ 253.33

2 10.00% 180 $ 1,710.00 12 $ 142.50

3 10.00% 180 $ 1,710.00 12 $ 142.50

4 10.00% 180 $ 1,710.00 12

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