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Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Student’s Name:

Institution:

Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Promoting the Festival

The media and associations of entertainment in Abu Dhabi and Dubai came together at Canes, UAE Pavilion, to advance the United-Arab-Emirates developing film industry. The incredibly famous Film Festival happened in Abu Dhabi and the representatives of two-four-54, the business arm of the Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi came together to promote Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) as it is one of the areas most expected yearly social occasions. The aim is to uphold the improvement of Abu Dhabi’s film and TV industry and advance the emirate as a generation area territorially and globally in film (Abu Dhabi, 2014).

The pavilion was likewise facilitated by delegates of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) supporting and nurturing global ability and showcasing the absolute best of film from far and wide. Additionally, many stakeholders such as the Dubai Film Market (DFM), the business center of DIFF and the main stage in the Middle East was committed to the improvement, generation and circulation of Arab film. The DFM was at the heart of the Festival’s business activities and in the line to finding the best in Arab film. Additionally they intend to create the nearby and territorial film society in the Gulf and acquaint the universal film group with finding condition of the workmanship Gulf Cinema. Cannes was a fantastic stage employed to fabricate consciousness of what occur in the UAE, and through their cooperation one can demonstrate that the development of a provincial media and excitement center in the UAE is not simply a thought – but a big event. They take pride in highlighting to the world that the services and the whole nation are behind the talent generation, through the UAE Pavilion. Cannes is an extraordinary open door for crowds to experience Arab Film (Abu Dhabi Film Festival, 2014).

The Festival got promoted to a global level through the social media, and TV. Also, there was utilization of outdoor advertising that got portrayed in many forms ranging from fliers, roadshows and banners. The sprouting Arab film industry has made extraordinary advancement in the recent years of the foundation, and people were extremely eager to showcase the accomplishments and new abilities leaving the area in a joint effort with the accomplices. The promotion was conducted two months prior to the real event, and it was enough time as it ensured that a large coverage was made (Abu Dhabi Film Festival, 2014).

The sense of the Place

It is a mix of attributes that makes a spot unique and one of a kind. Feeling of spot includes the human involvement in the scene, the nearby information and legends. Feeling of spot likewise develops from distinguishing oneself in connection to a specific parcel on the surface of planet Earth (Hashem et al., 2013). Another technique for taking a look at feeling of spot is complexity: spots like strip shopping centers have little feeling of spot on the grounds that they pretty much all look fundamentally the same, regularly have no name and nobody who needs to invest at whatever time there or compose anything about them. While puts that show a solid feeling of the spot have a character and character perceived instantly by a guest and esteemed profoundly by inhabitants.

Scholars and geographers have been contemplating on the subject for quite a while. Hashem et al., (2013), broadly said ‘In the event that you don’t know where you will be, you don’t know who you are. Okech (2011) translates this as “… discussing the information of place that originates from working in it in all climates, bringing home the bacon from it, experiencing its disasters, adoring its mornings or night times or hot early evenings, esteeming it for the significant venture of work and feeling that you, your folks and grandparents, your everything except obscure predecessors have put into it. He is discussing the realizing that artists work in.” (Hashem et al., 2013).

That is a feeling that obliges time, vitality, and giving careful consideration to figure it out. Numerous individuals in the 21st century invest so much time at association with any special spot and it is the case with the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. It is the feeling of the spot turning into a useful sense. It is augmented with the sparkly replications of the Tower and skyscrapers (Hashem et al., 2013).

Additionally, there is a portion of the apparatuses for recording aspects of the feeling of spot incorporate maps, photos, virtual reality, biogeography locales, stories, sonnets, interpretive presentations, depictions, and other confirmation of the human involvement in a scene. Inspecting these section focuses can kick you off admiring the feeling of the spot, yet it is not moored until you encounter a spot by and by. So venture outside and develop your places remainder.

Visitor Experience

Creating a base to help and sustain a manageable film industry in Abu Dhabi. Promoting and saving the emirate’s different legacy and society. Attracting guests and speculation and enhancing the lives of occupants by creating Abu Dhabi as a world-class place of attraction. One of the important ways sense of place was enhanced was through a broad programmed billboards, putting on and stimulation occasions, attained through a system of sponsorships and associations with both the private and open divisions. Such occasions raised the profile of Abu Dhabi film festival and pull in neighborhood, provincial and universal categories of people. In particular, by giving a model of fabulousness they motivated the cutting edge to banners creating their own particular abilities in the fields of game, expressions of the human experience, amusement and society (Abu Dhabi Film Festival experience, 2014).

While consideration is, no doubt taken to ensure the emirate’s special archeological legacy and noteworthy regular scene, an entire new social quarter is continuously based on Abu Dhabi Film Festival offering world-class galleries outlined by a percentage of the world’s heading draftsmen. The Authority has executed an exhaustive manageable quality project intended to screen and uphold manageability best practice all through the film division.

Pulling in guests to Abu Dhabi with such a rich social offering is one obligation: verifying they have a pleasant and agreeable stay is an alternate. The Authority accepts that nature of services is a key component in the decision of voyagers of one goal over an alternate. It consequently met expectations nearly at the nearby level with providers of settlement, recreation offices and different attractions, giving inspiration and backing to every one of those working inside the part to guarantee that all vital administrations are set up and of the obliged standard of greatness.

Pine and Gilmores (1998) Experience Parameters

The theme of the festival is to uphold the improvement of Abu Dhabi’s film and TV industry with the aim of nurturing talents in Dubai and entire emirates nations. The positive cues get harmonized by a brand situated to create convictions or affiliations that exist around an item, terminus or spot. Marks in the Abu Dhabi Film Festival incorporate a state Film brand, territorial brands, business brands, and item or experience brands. The integrity of the client gets through integrating the experience. The experience gets incorporated by contemplating the four layers of experience:

Place and its key request and limit for guest association

Quality and kind of framework that is required

Quality, style and kind of administrations

Quality is adding to everything through significant understanding.

To amplify the effect of the experience, each of the layers conveys reliable quality, focused to the needs of the festival and hence negative cues get eliminated. The applicable brands, particularly the Abu Dhabi Film Festival brand and the local brand make guest encounters and the business get advantage from the brand mindfulness produced by an extensive variety of state and territorial promoting exercises. ‘Connecting’ to this brand mindfulness produce better esteem from the guest business sector while appointment to adjust to these brands is not missed open door for business (Okech, 2011).

The experience completely scripted. The topical understanding helps organizations shape the bond between their clients and the neighborhood place. A portion of the best conveyance gives the circumstances to clients to make their experience for themselves, frequently headed by an aide. While understanding can include an extensive variety of correspondence, vis-à-vis conveyance is reliably recognized by guests as the best approach as it empowers the creation of a relationship (Elgammal, 2012). Conveying successful guest encounters means giving careful consideration to each part of the involvement in a comprehensive manner, including dealing with the correspondence, even before clients arrive. The parts of every one of the individuals who have client contact are likewise critical. Individual’s – visit manages as well as all cutting edge staff – assume an imperative part in giving an experience. Each snippet of contact – whether up close and personal, in a leaflet or on a site – will upgrade the guest experience, reduce it or be a missed chance to have any effect whatsoever (Okech, 2011).

References

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (2014). Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

http://www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae/en/

Abu Dhabi Film Festival experience (2014). Experience.

HYPERLINK “http://www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae/en/festival/how-to-festival/experience” http://www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae/en/festival/how-to-festival/experience

Elgammal, I. (2012). The experience of organising folklore festivals: the case of Ismailia

International Folklore Arts Festival (IIFAF). Tourism Today, 8

Hashem, H., Abbas, S., Akbar, A., & Nazgol, B. (2013). Comparison the Concepts of Sense of

Place and Attachment to Place in Architectural Studies.Geografia: Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 9(1), 107-117.

Abu Dhabi (2014). Abu Dhabi Film Festival- Visit

HYPERLINK “http://visitabudhabi.ae/en/see.and.do/leisure/events/abu.dhabi.film.festival.2014.aspx” http://visitabudhabi.ae/en/see.and.do/leisure/events/abu.dhabi.film.festival.2014.aspx

Okech, R. N. (2011). Promoting sustainable festival events tourism: A case study of Lamu

Kenya. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 3(3), 193-202.

Name

Professor

CourseDate

Comparison of the Poems “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” by William Blake

The two poems that I chose to do a comparison was on “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” both written by William Blake. These two poems share quite similar themes hut are also different in the aspects of life that they address “The Tyger” concentrates on the dangers that one faces in nature as well as in life while “The Lamb” on the other hand portrays a celebration of nature as one can see it from the eyes of a child who is innocent. Using these two poems, Blake is able to explore the theme of nature, creatures as well as their creator in a different, almost contradictory ideas.

The nature in itself is a beautiful but yet a terrifying place. Blake realizes that while God may have made a gentle lamb he is also still the creator of a tiger which is a dreadful and a fearful animal. In the poem “The Tyger” he includes Satan as another creator and includes rhetorical question in passing this message. Blake states that “‘In what distant deeps or skies/ Burnt the fire of thy eyes?” (Blake, line 5/6). This statement is makes reference to both heaven and hell as he tries to establish if the tiger is a creature created by God or by Satan. In the second stanza of the poem “The Lamb”, William Blake unlike in “Tyger” establishes that the lam is an innocent creature just like a child as he states “I a child & thou a lamb” (Blake, line 17). This line may be interpreted as William Blake may have been restored to a state of innocence by Jesus. He does not question the lam as a creature that was created by someone else because of how good it is.

“The Lamb” just like children nursery rhyme has a very easy and simple structure. This poem creates a sweet a peaceful imagery that makes one see how good the lam is. We can visualize a little lamb in the field asking its mother question “Does thou know who made thee?” (Blake, line 2). He utilizes imagery in describing the lamb as woolly bright. Use of a lamb which is white gets a reader to think of heavenly colors thus one can contrast the point he is putting across that a lamb is a heavenly creation.

“The Tyger” is also a poem full of imagery. The stanzas which reads “Tiger! Tiger burning bright/ In the forest of the night” (Blake, line 1-2) creates a vision of evil that tends to happen in forest that is dark. Although it may be dark in the forest, the tigers glowing orange coat as well as black stripes can be seen in the dark. Use of tiger in itself is imagery as tiger is a predator animal and in the years that Blake wrote the poem, the tiger was seen as an evil animal. He uses contrast by using the tiger’s colors and the forest by stating that the tiger is burning bright.

Both of these poem take the shape of conversation but “The Lamb” contrasts in that Blake gives answers. While “The Lamb” is structured like a nursery rhyme, “The Tyger” has six stanzas and it does not have the answer to the question but the question is repeated throughout the poem and the question is left unanswered. This creates an imaginative effect to the reader as the reader tries to establish what kind of creation a tiger could be. Both poems also use repetition to put on emphasis. The line that seeks to know who created the lamb is repeated twice. There is also repetition in the first line in the first stanza as it also appears in the 6th stanza creating musical quality in the poem.

In conclusion, both of these poem explore different ideas of experience as well as innocence. While “The Lamb” shows the good in creation, “The Tyger” portrays the bad. He is also able to use literary devices including use of rhetorical question, imagery and repetition to bring out the themes.

Works cited

Blake, William, 1757-1827. The Tyger. [London] :[Spoon Print Press], 2002.

Blake, William. “The Lamb by William Blake.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43670/the-lamb-56d222765a3e1.

Erica N. HallProf AsratEn 111-Be24 Apr 2012

The Chrysanthemums

The Types of Frustrations That Elisa Experiences Partly Being a Woman in a Man’s World

Elisa Allen is a passionate, intelligent, and interesting lady who lives an under stimulated, and unsatisfied life. She is ignored or thwarted at each turn: having a professional occupation is not an option for Elisa. She does not have children of her own, her interest in the commercial part of the ranch is disregarded, and her offers of assistance to her husband at the ranch are accorded well-meant disdain. Elisa’s desire to see the world is dismissed as an unfit aspiration for a woman. Consequently, she dedicates all her vigor to taking care of the garden and house-keeping. Although she appropriately brags concerning her green finger, her connection with nature seems strained and does not appear to come as naturally as Elisa claims. Elisa has extensive knowledge concerning plants, most likely since, as a female, gardening remains the only thing that she thinks about.

She is so frustrated with living that she enthusiastically looks up to the tinker for inspiring conversation and also sex, two essentials that appear to be lacking in Elisa’s life. When the hope of mental and physical fulfillment vanishes with the tinker, her devastation implies how discontented Elisa is with her matrimony. She is too desperate to rise above the ensnare of being a woman, that Elisa seeks any flight, trying to tease her husband, requesting for wine with dinner, and also expressing concern in the bloody conflicts that only men typically attend. All of these do not truly gratify her, although, and it is cynical that she would ever get fulfillment.

Gender Inequality. The Chrysanthemums is a simple but pointed analysis of a society that disregards intelligent females. Elisa is ambitious, energetic, smart, and attractive, but all these characteristics go to waste. While the two main men in the narrative are less talented and interesting than Elisa, their lives are depicted as far more busy and fulfilling than Elisa’s. Henry is not as smart as Elisa, but he manages the ranch, supports his wife and himself, and makes the business deals. Elisa is frustrated since all she is expected to do is observe him from a distance as he performs his work. She feels frustrated as a woman in a man’s world since whatsoever information she obtains concerning the running of the ranch comes obliquely from Henry, who talks only in indistinct, condescending language instead of granting his wife the status of an equal spouse. According to Elisa, the tinker is more intelligent than her husband but does not have Elisa’s passion, spirit, or craving for exploration. According to Elisa, the tinker cannot match her skills as a tinker, but since he is the man, it is he who is allowed to ride all over the country, and having an adventurous life that is believed to be unfit for the female gender. The author uses the tinker and Henry as symbols of the paternalism existent in patriarchal societies in that just as the two men disregard women’s potential, so does society.

CONCLUSION

Elisa feelings of frustration with her life as a woman ensnared in a patriarchal society are also symbolized in the lack romance and children in her matrimony with Henry. In addition, her husband does not appreciate her feminine qualities as well as her sentimental needs. The experience with the tinker rekindles her sexuality and triggers hope to Elisa for an increasingly romantic and exciting marriage. On the contrary, her awareness that her life is not bound to transform is crystallized on seeing the flowers sprawled on the way. This devastates her totally to have to settle for a frustrating life.

Abu Dhabi Financial Market

Name

Affiliation Introduction

Abu Dhabi Financial Market (ADFM) is the primary stock trade in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and was shaped on November 15, 2000 to help in exchanging shares of the UAE organizations. It was at first known as Abu Dhabi Financial Market before change to the current name (Awartani & Maghyereh, 2013). Development of ADFM has been recorded in the course of the most recent decade from the time it was framed. Aside from the UAE organizations, there have been more global organizations being secured in the UAE showcase accordingly including the quantity of the organizations with their shares being exchanged, and a volume of around US$ 1 trillion. Accordingly, Abu Dhabi Financial Market has secured various focuses in different urban areas inside UAE, other than Abu Dhabi, to help in its productivity (Awartani & Maghyereh, 2013).

The quick development that has been recorded at ADFM can be ascribed to the capacity to make dependable anticipating of costs in the residential and the global budgetary markets. It ought to be noticed that anticipating assumes an essential part in the association, particularly in the determination of the value projections (Awartani & Maghyereh, 2013). This enormously impacts the quantity of shares that organizations are willing to exchange at a given time. For ADFM, the most ideal approach to do guaging would be the subjective strategy the way things are to deliver better results attributable to the constantly changing economic situations. Subjective guaging includes the utilization of the specialists and different chiefs who take a seat to survey the money related circumstance to think of a conclusion (Balcilar, Demirer & Hammoudeh, 2013). Likewise, deals persons and other solid clients are additionally used to concoct the future costs. Because of the numerous organizations included in the ADFM, a great subjective investigation would give the best conjecture at the offer costs of the securities (Heyl 30-34).

Mission and objectives

The Abu Dhabi Financial Market’s first market producer started operations on Tuesday, with the bourse foreseeing a support in exchanging volumes and a lessening in the recurrence of sharp value swings (Balcilar, Demirer & Hammoudeh, 2013).

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index has declined by more than 10 every penny since October, when Brent oil costs were at US$80 a barrel. Unrefined exchanged at about US$56 a barrel on Tuesday.

Activities

The value record lost as much as 23.8 every penny from October to mid-December, before a bounce back took after by a time of sharp good and bad times. National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s business making business, at a paid-up capital of Dh30 million, will stand prepared to make liquidity accessible on four stocks (Balcilar, Demirer & Hammoudeh, 2013). They are: Aldar, FGB, Waha Capital and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. A business creator is an intermediary merchant who adjusts supply and interest for shares by ensuring to hold a specific number of them to encourage purchasing and offering “in all economic situations

Operations

Operations services is crucial in guaranteeing that all the exercises are all around composed in any generation process for the acknowledgment of the best yield. The best esteem for the products delivered must be acknowledged when the arrangement of exercises included in the creation methodology are very much overseen (Beck & Fidora, 2008). Operations services consequently involves great arranging of the exercises, sorting out the work constrain as obliged, and guaranteeing that the right exercises are embraced. On the same note, services additionally envelops satisfactory measures put set up to guarantee that money related operations are very much checked for more responsibility. Thinking of the satisfactory quality control measures is likewise piece of the operations services that guarantees that nature of the items is kept up.

ADFM is one of the effective organizations regarding the operations services as reflected in the sort of services conveyance they have (Beck & Fidora, 2008). The services of this organization have effectively put set up all the important operations that are needed in any aerial shuttle industry. They have figured out how to put set up legitimate and very much kept up ground bolster types of gear that have upgraded wellbeing of the travelers. Also, the client servicess amid the flights are likewise flawless (Beck & Fidora, 2008). This is seen in the shrewd and obliging flight orderlies who give phenomenal providing food servicess. Correspondence anytime recently, amid, and after the flight is obviously finished with guidelines surely knew by individuals from diverse foundations. Work timetables are additionally done well because of the way of the servicess gave, particularly long separation flights (Abu Dhabi Financial Market and International Standards 23-40).

Product/services

ADFM secured a permit for business making in the UAE last April from the businesses controller, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). Its presentation took after weeks of testing and months, building IT base and verifying that the whole operation was proportionate with SCA agreeability and reporting principles, said Galen Moore, official executive for Mena values business making at ADFM. This is going to prompt more prominent liquidity and profundity in the business,” said Mr Moore (Maghyereh & Awartani, 2012). “Our commitment to the trade is to be there if the business sector is going up or down and will decrease unpredictability in some cases.

Exchanging volume on the ADFM has for the most part declined since oil costs started to fall. The busiest exchanging day in November saw 479 million shares change hands. Only 192 million shares were exchanged on Tuesday. This contrasts and April, when the busiest day enlisted a volume of 804 million shares. The bank arrangements to extend its extent of scope of stocks over the UAE’s three trades including the Dubai Financial Market and the Nasdaq Dubai. Crosswise over UAE value markets, a great part of the liquidity is thought somewhere around 10 and 12 stocks out of more than 80 recorded organizations (Maghyereh & Awartani, 2012). Exchanging movement is basically commanded by retail speculators, which can irritate value swings amid both bull and bear markets. In December, Sultan Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and administrator of the SCA, encouraged financial specialists to settle on choices in view of reason and not feeling. Wadah al Taha, the boss venture officer at Al Zarooni Group in Dubai, said that ADFM’s turn to start business making operations is “a great venture in which there’s a promise from the business sector creator to safeguard the stock which will add more certainty to the brokers on these chose offers. The timing is trying indeed. I would say its a fearless move from ADFM as a great deal of worldwide variables may influence the business sector, however it would seem that a message from the bank that they have trust in the UAE market. The ADFM is right now in chats with different banks and financiers to increase the early market producer business (Maghyereh & Awartani, 2012)

Regulations and Rules

The trade is presently taking perspectives from overseer banks and others in the monetary servicess industry and would require the backing of powers before any move could be taken, Mr Al Baloushi included (Zarour, 2006).

Industry professionals perceive that the notoriety of the subsidiaries business has been discolored as a consequence of the money related emergency, when dreary regulation and danger services rehearses from monetary firms – particularly for credit subordinates – prompted trillion-dollar citizen subsidized bailouts and capital infusions from national banks.

The UAE’s move up to “developing markets” status by the record supplier MSCI alongside Qatar this month has left trade authorities plotting the following course of development. The ADFM is likewise as of now considering whether it can give more subsidiary items including fates contracts, nearby depositary receipts and trade exchanged stores, with an end goal to add to the advancement of neighborhood markets, Mr Al Baloushi said (Zarour, 2006).

Benefits and usage

Abu Dhabi Financial Market goes for guaranteeing that the nature of a given item or items is kept up or made strides. Attaining to nature of a given item obliges exertion keeping in mind the end goal to understand the expected result. This incorporates arranging, controlling, and keeping up the quality confirmation with a point of enhancing the item’s quality. Much of the time, attaining to this would include keeping in see any problems certain rule that help give the center towards the obliged quality. To start with, the Abu Dhabi Financial Market operations must be coordinated towards fulfillment of the client, as they are a definitive buyer who decides the interest of the item (Zarour, 2006).

Services likewise assumes a real part in the Abu Dhabi Financial Market operations, as they can be hindrance to the accomplishment without a typical reason. The operations that are gone for guaranteeing the consistent change of the current item work to deliver better results. Besides, choice making on the Abu Dhabi Financial Market operations ought to be affected by the information that has been examined to give right data, and inability to do this may prompt the wrong choices that may further disintegrate an item’s quality. As indicated by Cianfrani and West (5), quality must be successfully overseen when it is drawn closer as a procedure whereby the entire framework is situated in a manner to create the fancied quality change. All the above standards are gone for guaranteeing that nature of the items is all around kept up and enhanced with time as arranged by the services of the procedure (Zarour, 2006).

References

Awartani, B., & Maghyereh, A. I. (2013). Dynamic spillovers between oil and stock markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries. Energy Economics,36, 28-42.

Balcilar, M., Demirer, R., & Hammoudeh, S. (2013). Investor herds and regime-switching: Evidence from Gulf Arab stock markets. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 23, 295-321.

Beck, R., & Fidora, M. (2008). The impact of sovereign wealth funds on global financial markets. Intereconomics, 43(6), 349-358.

Maghyereh, A., & Awartani, B. (2012). Return and volatility spillovers between Dubai financial market and Abu Dhabi Financial Market in the UAE. Applied Financial Economics, 22(10), 837-848.

Zarour, B. A. (2006). Wild oil prices, but brave stock markets! The case of GCC stock markets. Operational Research, 6(2), 145-162.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

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Table of Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241464” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc408241464 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241465” staff Profile PAGEREF _Toc408241465 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241466” Emiratis Employment Strategy PAGEREF _Toc408241466 h 2

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241467” Department PAGEREF _Toc408241467 h 2

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241468” Functions and activities of ADIB PAGEREF _Toc408241468 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241469” Project Counseling: PAGEREF _Toc408241469 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241470” Management of debt and equity offerings PAGEREF _Toc408241470 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241471” Issue Management PAGEREF _Toc408241471 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241472” Managers, Consultants or Advisers to the Issue: PAGEREF _Toc408241472 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241473” Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc408241473 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc408241474” References PAGEREF _Toc408241474 h 4

IntroductionAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank was created in 1997 through Emiri Decree and started business operations in 1998. All agreement, operations and exchanges are done as per Islamic Shari’a standards. The Bank is a main territorial Islamic budgetary administrations bunch and has a wide circulation system, with 75 extensions in the UAE. ADIB will keep on focusing on its center client portions to develop its entrance by drawing in more clients and cross-offering more items while ADIB’s solid capital and liquidity positions extraordinarily position it as a top-level UAE bank that keeps on growing quicker than the business sector normal. Notwithstanding the testing conditions, ADIB kept on delivering sound budgetary results through the viable execution of its vital vision, with the concentrate on clients securing the Bank the top positioning in client administration for the second continuous year (Yudistira, 2004). This perfection in client administration kept on being upheld by best practice hazard administration, progressive credit strategy and recruitment of world class ability. A further essential center was on establishing the frameworks of the Bank’s next stage employment method with a critical piece of this being the amazingly fruitful USD 1 billion Hybrid Tier 1 Capital issue. Besides, ADIB Group, which incorporates both the budgetary administrations and land organizations, reported net benefit of AED 1.2 billion for 2012, an increment of 4% over the earlier year and Group net incomes for 2012 were AED 3.6 billion, while forceful expense administration implied that costs expanded by just 8.1% year on year, regardless of interests in 89 new ATMs and six new limbs in the UAE, and the extension of ADIB’s local and universal capacities.

Mission

The bank is there to offer Islamic financial solution to the local and international community

Vision

To be a leader in Islamic Financial services group around the world.

STAFF PROFILEIt is noted that the bank has more than 1000 staff members who are responsible to work and undertake the mandate or the functions of the organization. Currently the organizations also has more than 100 branches around the word with the latest being opened in Egypt. The organization is being run by 8 board of directors who hold the obligation of running the bank’s branches in the world. The next are the financial services group that is being managed by Tirad M. Mahmoud who is the CEO of the group. This means that he is the leader of the financial group of the organization. Under him are more than 100 managers who are responsible for each ADIB bank. In addition there are other 100s of employees working as bank attendants. In addition, the bank has three associates; the National Bank for Employment, Abu Dhabi national Takaful and Bosna Bank International (Ika & Abdullah, 2011). Down the business structure are other employees. The below organization structures indicates the group’s breakdown:

Emiratis Employment StrategyThe ADIB employment strategy looks to make more and better employments all through the Abu Dhabi. It takes its spark from the UAE 2020 employment strategy (Iqbal, 2001). The UAE business strategy gives a structure (the “open strategy for coordination”) for UAE Emirates to impart data, examine and coordinate their work strategies. It is situated in the yearly employment review (AGS), which sets out the EU’s needs for the nearing year to support employment and employment creation and opens the yearly UAE semester, which advances closer coordination by national legislatures of their monetary and financial arrangements. Because of the abnormal state of unemployment in UAE, the UAE Commission dispatched in April 2012 a set of measures to help employments, the purported “Livelihood package”. The UAE job strategy additionally expands on the UAE 2020’s Agenda for new aptitudes and employments and is underpinned by the UAE Employment Observatory (EEO) and the Mutual Learning Program (MLP).

DepartmentI was very concerned with the Human Resource department of ADIB Bank. The department is related to my area of expertise. The reason for choosing this organization are varied but the following are the main reasons: The organization is one of the biggest financial organization in Abu Dhabi hence I expected high experience returns. The other issue is that wanted a competitive department hence the bigger the ADIB department offered me a good practice that I wanted. In addition I wanted to become an international HR leader hence, the vision of the company of being an international recognized organization helped me with this haste. I plan to study Human Resource management and the reason for that is to offer credible information that brings the success of an HR leader. My skills that matches the needed ones is that I can be able to communicate effectively. In addition, I have past management experience that I attained after managing our family business.

Functions and activities of ADIBProject Counseling:Project counseling incorporates arrangement of undertaking reports, settling on the financing example to fund the expense of the task and evaluating the undertaking report with the monetary organizations or banks. It likewise incorporates topping off of use structures with pertinent data for getting stores from budgetary foundations and acquiring government endorsement.

Management of debt and equity offeringsThis forms the main capacity of the ADIB. He helps the organizations in raising trusts from the business sector. The principle ranges of work in this respect include: instrument planning, evaluating the issue, enrollment of the offer archive, guaranteeing help, and showcasing of the issue, designation and discount, posting on stock trades.

Issue ManagementManagement of issue involves promoting of corporate securities viz. value offers, inclination imparts and debentures or bonds by offering them to open. Dealer banks go about as a middle person whose principle occupation is to exchange capital from the individuals who own it to the individuals who need it. In the wake of making a move according to SEBI rules, the vendor investor organizes a gathering with organization delegates and publicizing specialists to finish game plans identifying with date of opening and shutting of issue, enlistment of outline, dispatching reputation crusade and altering date of executive gathering to favor and sign plan and pass the fundamental resolutions. Estimating of issues is carried out by the organizations in advisor with the shipper brokers.

Managers, Consultants or Advisers to the Issue:The managers to the issue support in the drafting of outline, application structures and consummation of conventions under the Companies Act, arrangement of Registrar for managing offer applications and exchange and posting of shares of the organization on the stock trade. Organizations can delegate one or more offices as administrators to the issue.

ConclusionI like to work with ADIB is that is offers me the chance to showcase my skills. The am honest and with excellent communication skills and ability needed in the bank. I one time would like to be the president of the bank or an international HR manager.

ReferencesAlkassim, F. A. (2005). The profitability of Islamic and conventional banking in the GCC countries: A comparative study. Journal of Review of Islamic Economics, 13, 5-30.

Ika, S. R., & Abdullah, N. (2011). A comparative study of financial performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks in Indonesia. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(15), 199-207.

Iqbal, M. (2001). Islamic and conventional banking in the nineties: a comparative study. Islamic Economic Studies, 8(2), 1-27.

Yudistira, D. (2004). Efficiency in Islamic banking: an empirical analysis of eighteen banks. Islamic Economic Studies, 12(1), 1-19.

The Trouble with Wilderness,” by author William

In the book “The Trouble with Wilderness,” the author William could have done great if the book was based on a fictional story that did not need any research. The author either got his facts wrong; he was not thorough on his research, he just chose to ignore the facts, or he has no knowledge of historical events. The author’s work has focused on historical events, which involved the disagreement involving Muir, and Pinchot. The other one involved the Hetch Hetchy dam, and the Yosemite National Park. The author as an historian should have done better than this. Some of his historical analysis are wrong, and cannot be supported by any historical fact.

In his book William criticizes the “Endangered Species Act”. He suggests that the act which was put in place to protect the landscapes is not the best strategy in the preservation of species. William terms the act as a “poor strategy” which is not “holistic”. This statement by William shows the historical ignorance of the Author. The author should have researched about the history of the Act, when it was put in place, the reasons why it was put in place (Arundhati, 240). The act was put in place after some environmentalists saw the importance of protecting the whole ecological systems, and not just a single species. The species depend on one another preserving one and ignoring the other one does not make any ecological meaning. The endangered species as is today focuses on a single species is what was legislated, but it was not what was intended by the environmentalists (Arundhati, 260).

William goes into analyzing how some places such as Yellowstone, and Mount Rainier should have been parks, but were reduced to sceneries. William alleges that the conservationists did not take into consideration less scenic areas, but took into consideration areas with more biological importance (Arundhati, 230) . His reasons for the allegations are that, from his observation he has not seen any grassland parks, or desert parks. William concludes by saying that the environmentalists were only interested in preserving nice places for vocational and recreational purposes, he furthermore says that the environmentalists did not have any clue in biology (Arundhati, 250) .

The argument’s by William goes on to show his ignorance, had he done his research properly then , William should have noticed that the areas he regards as highly scenic were identified severally as areas worth protecting. The power to place an area under protection is for the congress to decide, some areas which now form parks, such as the glaciated peaks become parks as a result of politics. The areas were not developed; the areas that had “no use” were turned into parks as the congress took lack of development as a reason for designating san area as a protected area (Maathai, 200).

In his book William criticizes environmentalists such as Muir for not being broad minded, which is not true. For an area to be protected there must be a reason as to why the area should be put under protection. When writing his essay on the sublime scenery, Muir did so not because the importance of the area was the scene, but it was the only reason that could have attracted the political support (Arundhati, 220). There were other reasons for the area to be put under protection, but Muir knew that was the only one that could have attracted attention at the time. Muir could have talked of conserving the various animal species in the area, but back then the animals were very many that they were considered a nuisance (Arundhati, 210).

Many environmentalists have given various for preserving certain areas. The first time Muir was proposing that Yosemite be put under protection, his intention was not just to put the Yosemite, but the whole of Sierra Nevada, alpine, and walker. In the 1930’s an environmentalist by the name of Bob Marshall had proposed that the northern part of the Yukon area be protected.

At the time the area was mosquito ridden.wet all through, and was a flat land (Maathai, 180). The area was not attractive in any way but Marshall had his own reasons. Other environmentalists such as, George Catlin proposed that the whole of the northern part of the Great Plains be preserved in the 1830s, later in the year 1890 a similar proposal was made by Wesley to protect the plains (Maathai, 220).

By looking back at the history of Environmentalists, their proposals, one cannot conclude that their reasons were not sufficient or biased. The reasons that the environmentalists back then do not seem valid today, but they were back then. Some environmentalists are calling out for some areas to be protected to protect some animal species from becoming extinct. Back then this could have not been a reason as the animals were not extinct, but were very many that they had to be hunted. With that in mind William could have known as a historian that back then the land was not as it is today.

In his book William states that the idea of wilderness was created by civilization, which is absurd because actually wilderness came first before civilization. The wilderness movement was actually created to counter the fast pace at which industrialization was spreading (Maathai, 200). Williams argues by saying about 250 years ago people were not going around looking for wilderness, which is true. The observation that William failed to take into account is that 250 years ago people did not go around looking for wilderness because it was every where.

Today people are wandering looking for Wilderness because it is not in plenty as it was back then, thus the more reason to protect it before it disappears completely. Such an argument should not come from an historian as he should know the effects of industrialization to the modern world (Maathai, 190).

The weather pattern change is as a result of depreciating forest cover, in most countries in Africa that rely on rain to do their farming is finding it hard to prosper (Maathai, 210). In Kenya most rivers originate in forests, the Mau forest in the rift valley is a source of several rivers. The destruction of the forests due to activities such as logging, and charcoal burning, has brought some weather changes, and drying of the rivers (Maathai, 150). As a result of the destruction many people who depend on the rivers from the forests have to walk very far to find water, rain patterns has also changed leading to starvation as the crops are not doing as well as they were doing because of the unpredictable rains (Maathai, 160).

William plunges into the issue regarding Hetch Hetchy, without first doing proper research, and looking at the vital issues of the issue. Muir was not entirely against the putting up of a dam to supply water to Francisco, he was just proposing that the dam could be built at a different place. Muir was looking at the effects of building the dam at the Canyon, even though Mir worry was the destruction of the beauty of the Canyon. Mir argument was valid as the beauty of the Canyon was irreplaceable, while the dam could have been built at a different site. At the same time Muir was trying to defeat the notion that a park was open to development, which could have affected other parks. From that point the significance of Muir’s effort can be seen (Arundhati, 160)

William in the book is not honest when giving Pinchot’s view from historical perspective. Pinchot supported the construction of the dam, because at the time the water of San Francisco was being controlled by private companies (Arundhati, 200). Pinchot even proposed that the government should acquire all land under forest, even those belonging to private people. Pinchot felt that private developers could not do much. Looking deep into the argument between Muir, and Pinchot one can make a conclusion that both men had valid reasons for their argument. Both Pinchot and Muir had no selfish interests (Arundhati, 240).

Conclusion

In summary, William should have done more to prove his points, conservation of the wilderness is important as much stands to be gained from preserving the wilderness. If the wilderness is not conserved, in the future children will have to be taken to the zoo to see animals even as common as rats. The heading of the book should read “The benefits of Wilderness”

Work Cited

Maathai, Wangari. The challenge for Africa. New York: Pantheon Books, 2009. Print.

Roy, Arundhati. Walking with the comrades. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. Print.

The truth about JAY-Z & Beyoncé’s vegan diet recommendation

BEEF MAGAZINE

Emerging trends from plant-based companies, celebrities and activists are putting greater pressures on the animal agricultural industry.

Amanda Radke | Jan 04, 2019

Not to sound alarmist to the meat-loving crowd, but many are predicting that 2019 will be the “Year of the Vegan.”

In fact, John Parker for The Economist claims that one in four Americans in the ages between 25 and 34 years old consider themselves to be vegans.

What’s more, Davide Banis for Forbes claims that “ending animal farming, or substantially reducing it, would indeed bring huge benefits to the planet, our health and the lives of the 56 billion animals slaughtered every year for meat consumption.”

Of course, the industry is contending with emerging alternative proteins such as cell cultured proteins and plant-based protein patties.

Then there’s a new company from the Netherlands called The Vegetarian Butcher, which aims to become the “largest butcher in the world” while making plant-based meats “the standard.”

Yes, really.

On top of all this, you have some of the biggest celebrities on the planet endorsing a vegan diet. Most recently, JAY-Z & Beyoncé have challenged their fans to join in their vegan journey in 2019.

The musical powerhouse couple wrote an introduction for Marco Borges’ (Beyoncé’s personal trainer) new book, “The Greenprint: Plant-Based Diet, Best Body, Better World.”

The duo says, “Having children has changed our lives more than anything else. We used to think of health as a diet—some worked for us, some didn’t. Once we looked at health as the truth, instead of a diet, it became a mission for us to share that truth and lifestyle with as many people as possible.”

They add, “We all have a responsibility to stand up for our health and the health of the planet. Let’s take this stand together. Let’s spread the truth. Let’s make this mission a movement. Let’s become ‘the Greenprint.’”

Are you nauseous yet? I must admit I am.

To be clear, it’s not that I care if people abstain from eating animal fats and proteins.

Quite frankly, it’s none of my business.

Well, actually as a beef producer, I guess it is my business to sell beef, and I have no qualms about my bias when I’m promoting the nutritional, environmental and ethical benefits of eating beef.

When Beyoncé and JAY-Z talk about veganism as “truth,” like it’s some sort of religion, cult or the “only” way we should be eating, that’s when warning bells start to ring in my head.

This “truth” ignores an overwhelming amount of science to the contrary. In fact, no society in the history of our planet has proven that a vegan diet is healthy or sustainable for the long term and from generation to generation.

However, it’s important to note that many civilizations in our history — Inuit and North American natives come to mind — who have thrived largely on meat-based diets. Think seal blubber and whales in the Arctic and bison and other wild game on the Northern Plains.

What’s more, I worry that if plant-based becomes “the truth” or “the standard,” our freedom of choice will be taken away. Sin taxes will be slapped on beef. The government’s nutritional guidelines will reflect plant-based recommendations. Regulations will burden producers until it’s no longer feasible to operate. Consumers will place great burdens on companies to move to plant-based menus. The list goes on and on…

I don’t mean to sound doom and gloom, but I write this to wake us all up. We’ve got a real challenge headed our way, and the threat to our way of life and our freedom of choice is tangible and growing larger each day.

I’ve been writing about consumer trends on this blog for 10-plus years now, and never before have I seen the movement as strong as I’ve seen it at this point.

However, the one thing that reassures me that beef cattle producers will still be relevant in the years to come is this — Americans consumed record amounts of meat in —a whopping 218 pounds per capita, according to the National Chicken Council. Of that, 57 pounds was beef.

Beef demand is stronger than ever. Our export markets are incredible. People love our product and are willing to pay for it. It tastes great, and despite the abundance of misinformation out there, it’s good for us and good for the planet, too.

If this issue isn’t on your radar in 2019, you better peak out from underneath the rock you’re hiding under. It’s never been more important than right now to share the positive word about beef with our consumers. Let’s get to work, everybody. Only collectively can we make a difference!

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Farm Progress.

& Pulido-Fernández

ABP Post Graduate Diploma In Business Management

1.0 Introduction

This report identifies and critically evaluates the costing techniques used by Morrison and the role of such costing techniques in setting prices. The report will also analyse the last three years of the financial statements of the company to evaluate its performance and recommend possible ways to improve the financial performance of the company. Lastly, the report will cover a flexible budget for the actual production of 48,300 units in a small hypothetical electronics company called Safety First Limited, calculate the variances between the flexed budget for 48,300 units and the actual costs for 48,300 units, write an email to the Finance Director Mr. Mike Kenny, evaluating the budget out turns and reasons for these variations and then offer recommendations on how the company’s cost control activities could be improved.

2.0 Company Profile

Morrison Supermarkets PLC is the fourth largest retail chain in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The company forms part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies with a market share of around 12 percent after Tesco (31 percent), Asda (17 percent), and Sainsbury’s (16 percent). The company started as an egg butter outlet back in 1899 but today it has over 450 outlets across the UK. Its current market share was however, boosted in 2004 when it acquired Safeway (Carollo, 2012). Today the company sells thousands of brands under the “own brand” banner. Some of these own brands include M Savers for all range of low-cost products, M Kitchen for all range of kitchen products, NuMe for all range of health products, and VM Morrison for all range of high-end products (Morrison, 2012).

Over the last three years, the company has however experienced a 0.2 percent drop in market share while the other three largest retail chains expected Tesco have experienced a growth of almost the same margin. This was a time when the market grew by about 4.5 percent, with smaller retail chains such as Waitrose registering huge gains perhaps due to the increasing perception that high-end retail chains are for high-end customers while low-end retail chains are for low-end customers who form the greatest portion of the UK grocers (Carollo, 2012). Again this could be because low-end retail chains tend to open up stores near neighbourhoods unlike high-end retail chains which target customers with cars.

The company registered one of the strongest financial performances in recent years in the 2011/12 financial year – a 7 percent growth in sales (£17.7billion), 8 percent growth in EBIT (£947 million), and a Net debt of £1,471million. This shows the company has been utilizing sound costing techniques especially in creating high returns on equity and reduction of unnecessary costs (Morrison, 2012). Morrison was selected to be the case study for this report because of its ability to achieve huge profits (as shown above) in a highly competitive and unpredictable industry where small players are slowly winning the hearts of the consumers.

3.0 Costing Techniques Employed by Morrison

Morrison utilises the activity-based costing technique. The company utilises this costing technique because it is flexible and allows managers to reduce redundancy by eliminating costly processes in favour of efficient and cheaper ones. Activity-based costing is in line with the company mission to create value for its customers and employees (Morrison, 2012). Though complex, the technique can be broken down into two broad steps. The first step entails the identification of cost drivers (activities) involved during the production of a commodity. The second step entails the assigning of costs (indirect and direct) to each specific activity. A combination of these two steps gives a manager an opportunity to set a reasonable and responsive commodity price while factoring in past, current and future cost indicators (Kaplan & Anderson, 2007).

For instance, when calculating the costs of say, pork, a manager should allocate all direct and indirect costs incurred in acquiring the product in two different pools/stages. The first pool will comprise of distinct sections (the number will be determined by the activities involved) such as procurement, acceptance, processing, delivering, packaging, as well as shelving. The second pool should include the actual cost drivers for each of the specified activities. Such costs should be calculated based on past, prevailing, and future indicators such as the average costs of labour for slicing and packaging pork into one kilogramme packages or even the average costs of transporting pork from the farm to the store. Here, the manager can decide to split the costs into major categories, say, direct and indirect costs. The bottom line is that the cost of every activity (cost drivers) should be clearly established and noted for costing (Baker, 1998).

3.1 Role of the Activity-based Costing Technique

The activity-based costing technique helps Morrison to keep its costs of selling at manageable levels. According to Sibun and Hall (2008), retail chains employ activity-based costing technique when entering into contracts with supplies of critical supplies such as groceries. In fact, when it comes to choosing suppliers, the retail chains try as much as possible to get the lowest bargain so as to keep the cost of selling at relatively low levels compared to their competitors. As it will be demonstrated in the financial analysis section below, Morrison has succeeded in keeping its profitability at low and stable levels because the activity-based costing technique makes it easy to predict costs and therefore make the necessary plans for less costly alternatives.

The activity-based costing also helps Morrison to make future strategic plans. Recent industry statistics show a decrease in consumer purchasing power yet the costs of manufacturing has escalated. This has made it hard for prices of critical household commodities to remain low. To mitigate this adverse scenario, retail chains always look for the best deal so as to keep their shelf prices at relatively low levels. An activity-based costing enables retail chains to approach each product line independently as determined by the cost of producing it (Baker, 1998). At Morrison, for example, the activity-based costing helps the company to distinguish between commodities for both high-end and low-end – M Savers versus VM Morrison.

By using an activity-based costing technique, Morrison gets an opportunity to set responsive prices for its products as well as to constantly review its product prices in order to make align with the prevailing economic standards. This is in line with the company mission to be a unique grocer that delivers to its customer’s fresh, high quality, accessible, and affordable groceries. Specifically, the company believes its futuristic strategy is based on its clear view of the future of the retail industry (Morrison, 2012). Arguably, such clear view of the industry cannot be achieved without getting a clear glimpse of the trends of key cost drivers.

2.0 Analysis of Financial Performance of the Company in the Last Three Years

2.1 Profitability

Profitability 2012 2011 2010

Morrison

GP 6.9% 7.0% 6.9%

NP 3.9% 3.8% 3.9%

ROCE 9.7% 9.7 % 9.4%

ROE 12.8% 11.7% 12.1%

Tesco

GP 6.1% 6.4% 6.1%

NP 4.4% 4.4% 4.1%

ROCE 13.3% 12.9% 12.1%

ROE 15.81% 16.07% 15.91%

Morrison has a “healthy” GP that beats the industry leader, Tesco for the three years but it has a smaller NP than Tesco for the same period of time as the table above shows. Even so, Tesco seems to enjoy strong and stable profitability than Morrison given, its GP has the smallest change for the three years. This is an indicator that Morrison costing techniques are not as efficient as Tesco’s.

Again, Morrison does not perform well in managing costs of sourcing capital given its low NP during the three years – Tesco score well on this front too. Since Morrison has low ROCE and ROE ratios than Tesco it can also be argued that the company does not fare well in investing its capital – its investing activities yield more expenses perhaps because it is in a period of laying down a strong foundation for competing with Tesco, Asda, and Sainsbury’s.

2.2 Liquidity Ratio

Liquidity 2012 2011 2010

Morrison

Current Ratio 0.57 0.55 0.51

Acid Ratio 0.24 0.24 0.24

Tesco

Current Ratio 0.67 0.68 0.71

Acid Ratio 0.48 0.50 0.54

Though most retail chains have liquidity ratios of less than 1 as they tend to rely more on inventories in cushioning short-term debt, it is clear that Tesco beats Morrison in paying its short-term debts – as it has a relatively higher current ratio and acid ratios when compared to the case of Morrison as shown above in the table. Nevertheless, Morrison has a more stable liquidity ration than Tesco, an indicator that the company relies on long term than short term financing and that it in deficit of short term assets and liabilities.

2.3 Asset Management

Asset Management 2012 2011 2010

Morrison

Stock Turnover 21.67days 24.03days 24.87days

Asset Turnover 3.27 3.04 3.1

Tesco

Stock Turnover 16.48days 17.50days 19.17 days

Asset Turnover 3.67 3.69 3.87

Morrison converts its stock at a slower rate than the industry leader, Tesco. Tesco seems to be improving its rate of converting stock, moving from 19.17 days in 2009 to 16.48 days in 2012 compared to Morrison which seems to have a stable but slower stock conversion rate, at 24.87 days in 2009 and 21.67 days in 2012.

Again, Morrison scores low in terms of converting assets into revenue, at 3.1 in 2009 and 3.27 in 2012 when compared to Tesco, at 3.87 in 2009 and 3.67 in 2012. Nevertheless, Morrison rate of converting assets into revenue has improved while Tesco has experienced a reducing asset conversion rate. Morrison long-term strategic plan seems to be slowly yielding fruits.

2.4 Gearing Ratio

Gearing 2012 2011 2010

Morrison

Debt Ratio 27.25% 15.07% 18.67%

Interest Cover ratio 33.58 times 30.13 times 18.51 times

Tesco

Debt Ratio 38.41% 40.85% 54.0%

Interest Cover ratio 16.54 times 11.76 times 11.09 times

Debt Ratio 38.41% 40.85% 54.0%

Morrison gearing ratio can be described as future-oriented in nature when compared to the case of Tesco. They are future-oriented because they portray a company that is keen to keep its short-term liabilities at low levels while relying much on long-term funding. Nevertheless, this situation can be interpreted to indicate that the company relies so much on its inventories to cushion its short-term debts as the higher interest cover ratio indicates when compared to Tesco.

2.5 Investment Ratio

Investment 2012 2011 2010

Morrison

Dividend pay-out ratio 1.6% 1.5% 0.9%

Dividend per share 10.70p 9.60p 8.20p

Earnings Per share 78.31p 70.36p 65.67p

Price/earnings ratio 11.40 11.60 14.10

Tesco

Dividend pay-out ratio 0.5% 0.5% 0.6%

Dividend per share 14.76p 14.46p 13.05p

Earnings Per share 110.91p 105.13p 90.32p

Price/earnings ratio 8.50 11.10 13.20

Compared to Tesco, Morrison has registered low dividends per share for the last three years, yet it has a higher dividend pay-out ratio than Tesco. This situation can be interpreted to mean that Morrison has lower net income, earnings per share and price earnings ratio than Tesco – these are all indicators that Morrison offers a lower value to its shareholders than Tesco. Even so, both companies can be described as stable investments whose actual value is in the long-term rather than short-term.

3.0 Hypothetical Company Costing

3.1 Flexible Budget for the Actual Production of 48,300 Units

Actual Budget Variance

Materials £410,550 £361,776.7 (£48,773.4)

Labour £320,800 £331,386.4 £10 586.4

Overheads £346,430 £339654.5 (£6,775.5)

Fixed costs £200,000 £200,000 0

Total costs £1,277,780 £1,232,817.6 (£44,962.4)

3.2 Variances between the Flexed Budget and the Actual Costs

Variance for material costs = £410,550 – £361,776.7 = (£48,773.4)

Variance for labour costs = £320,800 – £331,386.4 = £10,586.4

Variance for overheads costs = £436,430 – £339654.5 = (£6,775.5)

3.3 Evaluation of the Budget

From: HYPERLINK “mailto:financeassistant@safetyfirst.co.ke/” financeassistant@safetyfirst.co.ke/

To: HYPERLINK “mailto:financedirector-kenny@safetyfirst.co.ke/” financedirector-kenny@safetyfirst.co.ke/

Subject: Evaluation of the Budget for Producing 48,300 units of Secure

Dear Mr. Kenny,

I am writing to respond to the attached flexible budget. The overall cost for producing 48,300 units of Secure is £1,232,817.6. This is actually a favourable variation given the actual cost for the same was £1,277,780.0. It is a favourable variation because the overall cost has reduced by £44,962.4. The favourable variation can be broken down as follows: Materials costs reduced by £48,773.4; Labour costs increased by £10,586.4, and; Overheads costs reduced by £6,775.5. As expected, the fixed costs did not change.

This is actually a good situation for the company given it has succeeded in reducing production costs and that it can use the £44,962.5 for other productive activities such as increasing the number of units of Secure it produces. However, the company needs to work on reducing the labour costs as they have increased when other costs were on downward trend. For instance, the company should consider hiring fewer employees who are more qualified – those with necessary skills in operating high-tech equipments. The company can still consider sourcing less costly materials as well as durable office equipments to reduce on overhead costs.

It is my hope that the budget captures the actual situation at the ground and that it reflects the set financial goals of the company. I will be looking forward to making any additional interpretation of the flexible budget if required.

Yours sincerely

XXXXX XXXX

Finance Assistant

References

Baker, J.J. (1998). Activity-Based Costing and Activity-Based Management for Health Care. Aspen Publishing, Inc.

Carollo, B. (2012). Audit Report for Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC. Scholarly Research Paper. Grin Verlag.

Kaplan, R.S. & Anderson, S.R. (2007). Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing: A Simpler and More Powerful Path to higher profits. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.

Morrison PLC (2012). Annual report and financial statements 2011/12. Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC.

Sibun, J. & Hall, J. (27 April 2008). Supermarkets & suppliers: Inside the price war. Available at: HYPERLINK “http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/2789020/Supermarkets-and-suppliers-Inside-the-price-war.html/” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/2789020/Supermarkets-and-suppliers-Inside-the-price-war.html/ (accessed 13 July, 2012).

Petrillo