Blog Summary

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6037098.ece


Summary:
This article is about companies giving cash discounts to homeowner because of a recent of burgulars. Many believe that the increase of people stealing is due to the recession. Companies such as B&Q are giving discounts to help make people's home more secure. In January, there was a 4% rise in domestic burglary, a 16% increase in fraud and forgery and and an 18% rise in street robberies committed at knifepoint. Ministers also believe that the burglarly will continue to rise because history shows that crime rises when economic times are hard. customers who buys securities equipment such as alarm, window locks and timer switch will get a 10% discounts and customers who purchase 50 euros will get a 15% discounts. Burglary victims will also get a 10% discount card.

Connections:
The connection that I'd made with this article to the accounting 12 is chapter 12 of the accounting text book. In chapter 12, I have learned about cash discount which are given to customers who pays before the bill is due. Terms of sales such as 2/10, n/30 and 1/15,n/60 gives the customers discounts if the bill is paid before the due date. This is somewhat similar to the article. The customers get discount if they buy security items and customers who buys over 50 euros gets 15 % discounts; therefore, they are similar.

Reflection:
I think giving the discount for security items will somwhat lower the burglarly a bit. It will make homeowners house more safe, but burglars will always find a way to break in. Since the economy is bad, burglar will take any risk just to get money. I also think that giving 10% is to less because 10 per cent discount is like nothing because of the tax. I think it will be more effective if they raised the discount to 20%. This might lower burglary even more, since more and more houseowners will buy new securities items.

Accounting 12- Chapter 16

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/11/ap6155146.html


Summary:
This article is about a resort that is planning to cut its employee wages. The name of this resort is Vail Resorts. They are playing to cut as much as 10 percent in order to reduce the cost to operate the resort. Seasonal employees will receive a 2.5 percent reduction and executives will take a 10 percent cut. This plan is expected to save resort $10 million annually. The wage reductions for seasonal employees will take effect after the current winter season and other employees will be on April 2. Vail Resort is also planning to increase the number of employees owning stock by giving them a stock-based bonus valued from 1.5 to 7.5 percent of salary.

Connection:
There is only one simple connection that I had made between chapter 16 and this article. It is wages. This article is basically talking about the wages; for example, cutting wages. The chapter that I am studying right now is on wages; therefore, there is a connection between the two. One difference between chapter 16 and this article is that chapter 16 never mentioned about cutting wages.

Reflection:
The recession had caused may business problem financially. Not just Vail Resort is cutting wages, but many companies in the world are doing the same, so they can reduce the amount of expense. If may even be a good thing for Vail Resort’s employees because at least they don’t have to lose their jobs. Many company in the world; especially car company, are laying off workers instead of reducing their wages. So I think Vail Resort’s employees are extremely lucky compared to the layoff workers. If the recession continues, more and more workers will have to reduce their wages.

Accounting 12 -Chapter 15 Article

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/02/23/retail.html

Summary:

The article “December retail sales Tumble” is mainly about the decline in sales in Canada. Retail activity in December tumbled to its biggest drop in over 15 years. During December 2008, there was a 5.4 per cent sales drop which surpassed the 4.5 per cent sales drop seen in January 1998. Some say the cause of this massive tumble is because of a massive ice storm that hit much of Canada. Among all the provinces and territories, Alberta was hit the hardest. It was hit with a 6.2 per cent drop in sales. During this month the automotive sector’s retail sales fell 1.8 per cent. Sales at clothing and accessories stores fell 3.7 per cent. Other sales such as sporting goods, electronics, furniture, etc declined by more than 2 per cent. It is also believed that this decline may continue.

Reflection:

One connection that I had made between this article and chapter 15 is comparing financial data (which I have learned in section 15.2). In section 15.2, I have learned how to compare financial data by comparing the financial data of a company on two different years and see the difference between them. This is similar to what is described in the article. The reporter of the article is using the financial data of the sales of two different months to see how much the sales of December 2008 had declined by; therefore, it is similar to what I am learning in section 15.2.

Connection:

I believe that the recession affect the decline in sale because many people are afraid of the unstable economy. I also believe that the ice storm may have played a role in this declining, but as a big of a role as economic storm. Comparing financial data is extremely useful to all businesses. This gives owners an idea on how well their business is doing and how much progress they are making. Comparing financial Data can tell owners whether their sales, profit, expense, etc have increased or decreased compared to the previous year or fiscal periods.

Accounting 12- Chapter 14

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/09/08/consumer-behaviour.html

Summary:

This article is about a Marketing Professor named Priya Raghubir talking about credit cards. Raghubir says that credit card removes the “pain of paying” which means that consumers did not have to pay purchases by cash, but with credit. He also said that credit card could also be bad because they can cause people to underestimate purchase cost when buying many things at once. Raghubir also said that credit cards cause people to become vulnerable to huge amount of debts. In the end of this article, Raghubir stated that credit card may seem to remove the “pain of paying”, but it actually increased it.

Connection:

The connection between chapter 14 and this article is bank credit card (section 14.2). In this article, it states that people use to remove the “pain of paying”, but actually increase it. It somewhat connects with this 14.2 because people not only had to pay back the credits they had used to purchase goods with their credit card, but the bank also charges a annual fees and interest fee to cardholders; therefore, the “pain of paying” had increased for the cardholders.

Reflection:

I think credit cards are very useful because it helps people expensive goods without them carrying a whole bunch of cash. Even though it is very convenient, people still have to watch out for how much they are spending with the credit card or else they can get into a massive debt. That is why people should pay attention to their monthly credit card bill to get a general idea of how much they are spending. It is always good to remember not to over use credit cards.

Accounting 12- Chapter 12

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/10/29/pe-gas-discounts.html

Summary:

A gas bar in P.E.I called Wilson Fuel has been told by the provincial regulator to stop giving a two-cent-a-litre discount to consumers who pays cash for gasoline. The Regulatory and Appeals Commission complained that Wilson Fuel was charging less than the regulated minimum price for gas. The area manager for Wilsons Fuel saw the offer as being similar to incentives offered at other gas station such as Petro-Canada and Esso. He said that they are offering the money back to consumers because credit card charges two per cent when it is used. This mean they are trying to rebate back what consumers would usually pay to Credit Card Company. In the end, IRAC ordered Wilsons Fuel to stop the cash discounts.

Connection:

The connection between this article and chapter 12 is cash discount. Wilsons Fuel is offering two-cent-a-litre discount which is similar to what I learned in chapter 12, which are 2/30,n/30 and 1/15,n/60. Just like Wilsons Fuel discount, 2/10,n/30 and 1/15,n/60 gives there customers discounts if they meet a certain requirement. Wilson Fuel only gives discount if its customer pays cash and 2/10,n/30 and 1/15,n/60 that only gives customer discount if they pay early. The difference between then is the transaction differs.

Reflection:

I do not think the IRAC should stop Wilsons Fuel to stop giving discount to the consumer because it should be their choice to stop or not to stop the discount. Even if they are charging below minimum gas price, it is their decision to earn or lose money. All they are doing is helping consumer get back the money from all the time they had paid the extra money when using credit cards. The way Wilsons Fuel is giving discount is similar to what Petro and Esso are doing, so I think it is unfair that they are not allowed to do this.

Accounting 12- Chapter 11

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=04512417-9379-4436-9e35-27e59a63f325

Summary:

This article is about a small business that makes $500,000 in profit. The name of this store is Wilkinson’s Automobilla. This store has been around for 20years and Ted Wilkinson (the owner) and his brother started it up. Today Ted Wilkinson and his wife own the store. During 1989, this business only makes around $75,000 a year, but today, this business makes around $500,000 a year. This Store has about 25,000 magazines, 5,000 manuals and roughly, 9,000 items that are featured in his store and website. Wilkinson’ Automobilla has only three employees, but makes $500,000 profit.

Connection:

The connections I made between the article and Chapter 11 are merchandise inventory and sales. In the very beginning of chapter 11, I learned about merchandise Inventory. This relate to this article because the article states that Wilkinson Automobilla has about 25,000 magazines, 5,000 and 9,000 items that can be featured in his store, which means that this is his store’s merchandising inventory. This article also somewhat relates to the cash sales in the text because Wilkinson’s store revenues are mostly cash sales.

Reflection:

This article reminds people with small business that not only big businesses can earn large amount of profit, but small businesses can too. I think this article can help inspire small businesses to work harder in order to earn the small amount of profit as the Wilkinson’s do. It is great that this article stated the items that can be featured in this store because it is important for any businesses to know the amount and kind of merchandises that they have on hand. If a business does not know what they have on hand, they might buy too of one item and not restocking another. By doing a business like this, the consequence will be bankruptcy.