Budgeting and Cost Control Health Care
Budgeting and Cost Control in Health Care:

hat is Present Value Analysis and how is it useful in determining the most cost effective choice among purchase-lease alternatives?

Strictly from the point-of-view of a businessperson, the net present value method, or NPV, of evaluating a potentially major project allows the businessman or woman to consider the time value of money. The time value of money is the value of money of a particular endeavor, in today's dollars. Thus, the calculation of NPV or net present value, gives the present value of the future cash flow, allowing a comparison of the amount of a project's yield or profit, with the amount of money needed to implement the potential project. "If the NPV is greater than the cost, the project will be profitable...NPV analysis is generally used to evaluate the project's cash flows, rather than the income from the project."…...

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Works Cited

Net Present Value Analysis." (2004). Business Owner's Toolkit. Retrieved on February 27, 2004 at http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P06_6530.asp

udgeting and Cost Control in Healthcare
One of the most critical issues facing healthcare facilities and organizations is the rapidly increasing cost of providing services. Cost control and budgetary issues are the first consideration for many healthcare facilities. According to statistics, the "single most important thing on the minds of healthcare decision makers is cost management and containment." (Lawson, 2004). In fact, more than 95% of respondents to a survey concluded that cost containment and budgetary issues were among the most pressing issues in the healthcare industry. Yet budgetary issues within the world of healthcare are among the most difficult to address, as most healthcare facilities vary greatly in the level of services they provide to consumers, and the amount of resources readily available to serve those consumers.

Healthcare facilities face increasingly and rapidly rising costs in the face of a poor economy and rising costs associated with providing healthcare services. Healthcare…...

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Bibliography

Berger, Steven. (1999). "The fundamentals of healthcare financial management" Boston: McGraw Hill.

Lawson. (2003). "Taking Action to Control Costs: Healthcare Financial Management." Retrieved February 20, 2004:

Medlink. (2004). "Cost Analysis and Control for Healthcare Facilities."

Available:

Budgeting and Cost Control Health Care
Budgeting and Cost Control in Health Care: Significance of Diagnosis-Related Groups and Defenders and Critics of the Current DRG system

Diagnosis-related groups, otherwise known as DRGs, are considered to be one of the building blocks of the modern healthcare and hospital system, for better or, some would say, for worse. DRGs are present in America as well as Australia, and the United Kingdom and are thus compatible with various systems of public and private funding of hospital services. Such hospitals provide individual healthcare consumers with the ability to receive hospital reimbursement under the Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS), so long as their treatment is commensurate with the reimbursement guidelines outlined by that system.

Currently, DRGs are seen as a potential but problematic solution to rising health care costs. They offer the ability to combine quality and specific diagnostic services that target individual suffers with specific medical conditions.…...

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Works Cited

History of DRG." From the nursing home page of Pittsburgh State University. Retrieved on February 27, 2004 at  http://www.pittstate.edu/artsc/diagnosproced.htm

The cost driver for Underwriting costs are "review hours' in the form of labor costs and the cost driver for Technology cost is 'IT hours'" (Kren 2008). In the scenario, some costs involve committed resources that cannot be easily adjusted while others do not. ABM provides guidance as to how to adjust the flexible aspects of the enterprise. For example, the average cost per hour for the Underwriting input at the plan level of activity is $44.13 but when the organization is operating at full capacity, the average cost per hour falls to $38.00, "because the cost of resource that is not needed is being spread over the service that is needed. Thus, one could argue that $38.00 per hour represents the 'true' cost because there is no excess capacity cost to burden the resource that is needed" (Kren 2008). Reducing non-full capacity operations is deemed critical to reducing…...

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Works Cited

Kren, L. (2008). Using activity-based management for cost control. Journal of Performance

Management, 21(2), 18-28. 2008. July 16, 2009. ABI/INFORM Global. (Document

ID: 1629981791).

Controlling Construction Cost:
It is seldom that the initial bid estimate to carry out a specific construction activity is the same as the actual cost of doing the work. Generally, the estimate cost tends to be higher or lower due to the various unforeseeable factors that contribute to the differences. Therefore, it is increasingly essential for the project manager and contractor to keep current on the costs of a project through maintaining an accurate and reliable cost control system, especially if a contractor is to make a profit. However, the project manager has an overriding role of providing the project management team with necessary strong and proactive leadership during the construction period. This overriding role and task includes ensuring that the most effective approach to control construction has been adopted and tracking construction activities and costs.

Since the construction phase of a project is usually affected by various external factors that hinder…...

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References:

Chartered Institute of Building 2010, Code of practice for project management for construction and development, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.

Olawale, Y.A & Sun, M 2010, 'Cost and time control of construction projects: inhibiting factors and mitigating measures in practice,' Construction Management and Economics, vol. 28, no. 5, pp.509-26.

Controlling Costs
The question does offer some good ideas and thoughts to keep in mind when it comes to controlling costs. Indeed, having internal employees as opposed to external employees like contractors and the like that cannot be directly controlled in all aspects by the project management team is usually advantageous. However, these exterior employees and their associated costs can be controlled via an agreed price in advance that will not vary based on the acumen (or lack thereof) of the people working on the project unless something unforeseeable changes or is revealed. In that case, the costs are going to go up regardless of whether the costs are internal or external.

As it relates to electricity being a "hidden cost," it has to be expected that a construction project that uses any electricity from the site/client itself is going to cost money. As such, there should be an expected blip when…...

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References

PMI. (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (R) Guide (5th

ed., pp. 1-589). New York: Project Management Institute.

Rodriguez, F. (2010). Impact of revenue recognition methods in project cost control through earned value. PMI Virtual Library. Retrieved from  http://pmqlinkedin.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/impact-of-revenue-recognition-methods -

in-project-cost-control-through-earned-value.pdf

Controlling Benefit Costs
One of the most serious dilemmas facing organizations today is how to maximize profits in an extremely competitive global environment. Of course, organizations need employees, and there is a cycle that has been growing over the past three decades or so in which employees and other stakeholders are expecting greater benefit packages in order to stay with their employer. The reality of 21st century organizational environments is so competitive for some positions that employers are faced with the issue of having to increase benefits or lose top employees. Governmental regulations are now encroaching into this paradigm as well, and employee costs are now almost always one of the top two expenses for the organization. For most employers, managing these costs has a direct relationship to profitability, the ability to remain competitive in the marketplace and even new business development. However, over the last few years these benefit costs…...

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REFERENCES

Effron, M., & Goldsmith, M. (2008). Human Resources in the 21st Century. New York: Wiley.

Harrison, J.D. (2013). Health care law's aggregation rules pose a compliance nightmare. The Washington Post. Retrieved from:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/health-care-laws-aggregation-rules-pose-a-compliance-nightmare-for-small-businesses/2013/12/09/87b2dcc6-611d-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html 

Nather, D. (2013). How Obamacare affects businesses -- large and small. Politico. Retrieved from:  http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/how-obamacare-affects-businesses-large-and-small-97460.html 

Walker, J. (2004). What's a Strategic HR Leader to Do? Human Resource Planning. 27(4): 61-9.

Then, in the case of just cause, these mechanisms are employed only when necessary, such as the identification of unethical of illegal behavior on the part of an employee. When severe disciplinary action has to be taken, such as the dismissal of an employee, this would have to be supported by due process and just cause (Sison, 2010).
2) Free speech and individual's rights

Employers might strive to limit the free speech of their staff members in order to prevent the spreading of any fact of perception that might damage the reputation of the entity. While this attitude might have some benefits at the business level, it would also raise some concerns at the level of individuals' rights.

In this order of ideas, the business gains would materialize in the control of the information which impacts employee motivation as well as the image of the firm (Daft, 2009). Still, it would conflict…...

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References:

Daft, R.L., Lane, P., 2009, Management, 9th edition, Cengage Learning

Daft, R.L., 2009, Organiztaion theory and design, 10th edition, Cengage Learning

Hosier, F., 2010, Top 10 dos and don'ts for OSHA inspections from 2 OSHA inspectors, Safety News Alert,   / last accessed on May 2, 2012http://www.safetynewsalert.com/top-10-dos-and-donts-for-osha-inspections-from-2-osha-inspectors 

Manzoor, M.M., 2011, Relating emotional intelligence, compensation and motivation with employee's performance, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing

Control Charts
Operations Management for Managers

Control charts: Wal-Mart

How control charts might be used to monitor a process

"The control chart is a graph used to study how a process changes over time. Data are plotted in time order. A control chart always has a central line for the average, an upper line for the upper control limit and a lower line for the lower control limit" (Tauge 2004). Wal-Mart can use control charts, for example, to monitor the quality of a particular product produced by supplier, the efficiency of a supplier, the costs of procuring the same type of good from different suppliers, or even to engage in quality control of employees and managers by measuring the number of customer complaints at a particular facility.

Q2. How to possibly improve quality at specific levels from doing research on your organization?

Wal-Mart has been known to try to tightly control its suppliers: "Often companies browbeat…...

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References

Clark, Andrew. (2010). Wal-Mart, the U.S. retailer taking over the world by stealth.

The Guardian. Retrieved July 27, 2011 at  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/12/walmart-companies-to-shape-the-decade 

Gregory, Sean. (2009, September 14). Wal-Mart vs. Target in recession: No contest.

Time Magazine. Retrieved July 27, 2011 at  http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1885133,00.html

Control Mechanism: Advance Financial Management
Real corporate governance and financial control comprise of the utilization of monitoring and inducement mechanisms to bring into line different interests that are between managers and shareholders and urge the creation of shareholder value. Monitoring is not just a simple mistake, nor a conventional control, but founded on the control monitor. The United States, orld, Com Enron, Lam Tin, China's Guangxia, came from magnificence into ashes, weak in-house financial control is one vital reason. ' Theoretically, China's accounting auditing and profession it seems that there is management and disrepairs the worth controlled by, or would like to state control of mistake to evade such a propensity of thinking' (CAI Chun 2001). It is this propensity exists, that makes surveillance and controls the activities that are within the company fundamentally stop at the levels of supervision, fail to have control of the height.

Company's in-house financial control mechanisms…...

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Works Cited

Anon., 2004. Chinese commentator calls for mechanism to prevent, control AIDS.. BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific, 32(4), pp. 1-1.

Anon., 2004. internal control mechanism and in-house management were both improved. Almanac of Chinas Finance and Banking, 7(9), p. 24.

Anon., 2011. FM for strict budget control mechanism.. Kashmir Times, 7(6), p. 34.

Campbell, K. & . M.-v. A., 2008. Gender diversity in the boardroom and firm financial performance.. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(2), pp. 435-451.

In terms of human relations skills, some examples in this sense include the ability to understand human behavior or the abilities to communicate and motivate.
c) Organizing

Similar to control, the organizing function is addressed through the gradual completion of four distinct processes: identification of activities, departmentally organizing the activities, classifying the authority and coordinating authority and responsibility. In the case of organizing the resources for instance, it would be necessary to identify the overall and departmental requirements. Then, the responsible people would be assigned and their tasks would be outlined.

Each of these actions requires several special skills. For instance, at the level of activities identification, the manager has to possess the ability to identify necessary activities and prioritize them. At the level of departmental organization of activities, there is the need for the ability to combine similar activities and form groups with them, but also the ability to divide groups…...

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References:

Colenso, M., 1998, Strategic skills for line managers, Butterworth-Heinemann

Erven, B.L., Planning, Ohio State University, 1999, last accessed on November 16, 2010http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Planning.html

Gitman, L.J., McDaniel, C., 2008, the future of business: the essentials, 4th edition, Cengage Learning

McShane, S.L., Travaglione, T., 2005, Organizational behavior on the Pacific rim, McGraw-Hill

Rather, he believes that sometimes human beings have to go against nature to survive and to preserve their culture. However, some of the attempts he chronicles seem so quixotic, like an attempt in Iceland to cool the magma of an erupting volcano, the hubris of humankind borders on the ridiculous.
Many of McPhee's examples, like the potential for natural disasters in California, specifically the attempts of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District against avalanches in the San Andreas, seem prophetic. But ideologically, one substantial lacking is the book's refusal to reflect more seriously on how nature sustains human life, as well as threatens it. The threat of greenhouse gases show how, even in an era where technology seems to allow us to circumvent the pressure of nature -- from the need to be in darkness, to remain in one place, or to eat limited foodstuffs -- nature's demands will…...

Control and the AIS
Control and the Accounting Information System

This paper discusses the process of integrating controls into the accounting information system (AIS) using enterprise risk management (EM) components. EM is defined as "a process, effected by an entity's board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives." (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, COSO, 2004, p.2).

According to COSO, EM encompasses:

Aligning risk appetite and strategy

Enhancing risk response decisions

educing operational surprises and losses

Identifying and managing multiple and cross-enterprise risks

Seizing opportunities

Improving deployment of capital (COSO, 2004, p. 7).

EM integrates concepts of internal control and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Internal controls of accounting systems are intended to protect a company from fraud, abuse, and inaccurate data recording, as…...

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Reference List

Enterprise Risk Management Framework. (2010). Retrieved on April 6, 2011 from  http://www.emrisk.com/2010/12/20/enterprise-risk-management-erm-framework/ 

Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. (2010). Enterprise Risk Management -- Integrated Framework Executive Summary . Retrieved on April 6, 2011 from  http://www.coso.org/Publications/ERM/COSO_ERM_ExecutiveSummary.pdf 

Karimi, Sabah. (2011). About Internal Controls of Accounting. http://www.ehow.com/about_4571081_internal-controls-accounting.html

Sarbanes-Oxley Essential Information. (2006). SOX-Online.  http://www.sox-online.com/basics.html

Control Function of the Management
The management of any organization has critical roles that they need to play in the smooth running of the organization. The daily function could be held as a function of the management or devolved to the junior levels of the organizational structure. One of the central roles that often remain in the hands of the top management is the function of control. There are various reasons for this function of control remaining in the hands of the top management, some being that it is very vital in shaping the operational and strategic future of the organization, it also needs total neutrality and fairness to implement. It also anchors of the source of authority to ensure given control aspects as will be discussed herein are correctly implemented.

Control in management of organizations can be said to be the systematic effort by the leadership of any organization to give…...

Allocation
Keeping track of the costs is a crucial part of running a business. Cost allocation is assigning common costs to several cost objects. Cost allocation methods are used as a management accounting tool that helps in getting an accurate idea of costs that are associated with various departments in an organization. Proper cost allocation is an important element in making sure that any organization is run efficiently and cost effectively. There are different cost allocation methods that can be used in an organization. The common cost allocation methods are direct allocation method and the step-down method (Monico, & Fiertz, 2002).

Direct allocation method

This is the most popular method that is used for cost allocation. It involves the allocation of all service departments cost to the production department and does not factor in the fact that the service department offers services to other departments. The costs of manufacturing service department are…...

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References

Audit IT. (2014). Direct Allocation Method. Retrieved July 26, 2014 from  http://www.readyratios.com/reference/accounting/direct_allocation_method.html 

Monico, C. & Fiertz, R. (2002). Cost Allocation. Retrieved July 26, 2014 from  http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/000/400/481/costallo

Below is an example essay to help give you ideas when writing your own paper.

Title: Bridging the Skills Gap in the South African Supply Chain Industry

Introduction:
In today's rapidly evolving global economy, the supply chain industry plays a vital role in ensuring the efficient flow of goods and services. However, South Africa's supply chain sector faces a significant skills gap, hindering its growth and competitiveness. To address this challenge, it is essential to identify and cultivate generic, transferable, core, or key attributes that can bridge this gap effectively. This essay will discuss the different forms of such attributes....

Efficient Budgeting and Financial Management in Building Finance Departments

Ensuring efficient budgeting and financial management is crucial for the financial health and operational success of buildings. Finance departments play a vital role in implementing strategies and processes that optimize financial resources and ensure accountability. Here are key measures employed by building finance departments to achieve this objective:

1. Strategic Budgeting:

Finance departments develop comprehensive budgets that align with the overall building strategy and prioritize capital investments.
Budgets are created using detailed forecasts and historical data analysis, considering factors such as occupancy rates, maintenance costs, and market trends.
Scenario planning and sensitivity analysis....