Wal-Mart would replace its current one-size-fits-all benefits package for a flexible offering that allows employees to choose which benefits each wants. Although this seems like a good idea, the total number of benefits offered would probably be reduced. Health clinics in stores is another suggestion with "innovations to create lower cost visits." All these changes would involve little risk and/or expense for Wal-Mart.
The author then presents five "bold steps" that would make a big impact. Her use of the word bold is interesting. Bold implies courage, something everybody wants to have. Bold also sounds safer than risky. The use of the positive word bold shows the attitude the author wants the reader to take toward the recommendations. The first bold step is to get rid of the present insurance plan and establish Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) -- bank accounts "for health expenses...similar to...401(k). Wal-Mart would contribute annual seed money to fund it, employees would contribute annually, and Wal-Mart would match the employee's contribution. With no deductible, the employee would pay for medical care from the HSA account. If the account ran out, the employee would have to cover his own expenses until co-insurance kicked in. This time when the employee has to pay from his own pocket is referred to as a "bridge," but there is no explanation how long the bridge would be. All employees would participate. A healthy employee could build up an account from $600 to $2,100 in three years time. The author remarks that a program like this would be harder to sell to the employees than an insurance plan, but it would be more beneficial to everyone involved.
The team sees retirement as the wrong place to put their money, as employees don't think it is very important. Instead of investing 4% of the employee's wages into a 401(k), Wal-Mart would only invest 3% of the employee's wages. "Giving them what they want" seems rather unethical in this case, since younger people don't realize the importance of a pension until they near the age of retirement and realize...
That this case has emerged internally gives us an opportunity to ensure that situations like this do not arise out of our control, i.e. discovered by a customer. We have the opportunity to built our compliance and audit procedures from scratch, so that the level of oversight these departments have on the firm's operations is complete, and insulates the firm against further risk. An investigation should be conducted into
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One other new thing brought to the attention of companies by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is the fact that, under this law, every public company is supposed to prove strong internal systems designed to catch an employee intending to commit fraud or flag accounting errors before a company has the opportunity to make its profits official. An addendum to this rule is the obligation of a company knowing about problems with
Roles of Directors and Duties of an Audit Committee The Board of Directors is an organization's or company's governing body that is mandated with the task of ratifying all major decisions. Generally, the Board of Directors handles all issues of major strategic importance to an organization or company. This implies that the Board of Directors needs to be involved, engaged, and supportive in all issues of strategic importance, especially with regards
January 21, 2011 -- All contracts must be signed and returned by this date. January 21-Feb 1 -- interview caterers, hotels, limo services to make certain that they are appropriate. Visit all vendors and sites. February 1-4, 2011 - book all hotel, limo and catering reservations. Pay all deposits necessary. February 7-11, 2011 -- Find backup caterer and limo service in case of problems May 2-6, 2011 -- meet with caterer, choose menu, make
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