MA610 Stand-Alone Project Case Study in Managerial Accounting

Instructions

Stand-Alone Project: Case Study in Managerial Accounting (250 points)

You should begin working on the Stand-Alone Project early in the course. Each assignment provides a benchmark for completing the Stand-Alone Project in a timely manner while working through the course. You will find this information in the "Stand-Alone Project Benchmark" section of each assignment.

Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the project itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document them in a bibliography using APA style.

Each assignment in this course focuses on a different concept in managerial accounting. These concepts apply whether a firm is involved in manufacturing, merchandising, or service, as well as non-profit organizations. The purpose of this project is to help you understand the use and application of the concepts covered in the course. You are being asked to study an actual firm and to report on its use of the concepts covered in this course. (250 points) (A 20-page response is required.)

Part A	Select a firm that is publicly traded. This ensures you can access the needed data and information from published financial disclosures and articles found in various business journals such as Strategic Finance, Management Accounting Quarterly, etc.
	Note: For large firms, you may want to study only a segment of the firm. If so, ensure that you break down company data for the segment chosen.
	Provide the following background information on the firm you selected. (25 points)
	1.	Firm Name
	2.	Description of the Industry in Which the Firm Operates
	3.	Type of Business or Segment of the Firm (manufacturing, merchandising, service, or non-profit organization)
	4.	General Description of the Firm's Operations, Organization, Products, and Markets
	Note: The rest of the report will deal with the concepts covered in this course. Following are concepts that should be discussed in your report. Although some discussion relating to each concept is expected, please feel free to place a greater emphasis on topics of special interest to you. You may also want to place an emphasis on an area of weakness that may result in corrective action by the firm.
	Conversely, for your benefit, you may want to explore in depth a topic in which the firm has a real strength. Your study may find areas in which the firm needs improvement. A "no" answer for many of the questions would indicate a weakness in the firm's systems. In those instances, you should make recommendations. Provide complete details of the recommendations that you make, including why the recommendation is being made and the benefits to be gained. Each of the following components of your report requires a minimum of two (2) pages. This allows flexibility for you to emphasize your areas of specific interest.
Part B	Cost Behavior and Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) (Lesson #1): Assess your firm's use of these tools. (45 points)
	1.	Does the firm break down their costs by behavior?
	2.	Do they determine their break-even point?
	3.	Do they use these concepts in the decision-making process? Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part C	ABC, Job Order, and Process Costing and Cost Allocations (Lesson #2): Describe the cost system used by your firm. (45 points)
	1.	If your firm is not using ABC costing, do you think that it is a good candidate to do so? Why or why not?
	2.	Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part D	Budgeting and Variance Analysis (Lesson #4): Describe the budgeting process used by your firm. (45 points)
	1.	Does the process follow the responsibility concept?
	2.	Can you ascertain how employees view the process?
	3.	Is a flexible budget concept used? Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part E	Cost, Profit, and Investment Center (Lesson #5) (45 points)
	1.	Is decision making centralized or decentralized?
	2.	How is performance evaluated?
	3.	Does the firm follow the decision-making and evaluation concepts covered in this course?
	4.	Does the firm use a balanced scorecard?
	5.	Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part F	Decision-Making Policies (Lesson #6): You were given a number of examples showing how relevant financial information was used in decision making. Review the firm's policies regarding these decisions. (45 points)
	1.	Does it follow the concepts covered in this course?
	2.	Do you have any recommendations to make?

 

MA2260 Module 4 Mini- Study Part I

Mini- Study Part I

In this course you will conduct a mini study. You will survey 50 people through any method you choose to find out information on your topic. You will then calculate the statistics for your data. It is important to remember your mini study should use quantitative values since this is a statistics course so you can complete the required calculations. When you pick a topic, make sure it is something people are comfortable answering and that you only use adults. Complete this worksheet and then begin your survey once it is graded so that you can write up your results in Module 7.

State your topic
2	Who is the population for your claim? Justify your statement.
3	What question(s) will you ask in your survey to gather data on your claim? Explain the rationale for each question.
4	What variables will be in your study? What type of variable are they (ordinal, nominal, discrete, continuous, etc)?
5	Where will you post your survey and how will it reach your target population? (Facebook, email, in person, etc)
6	How will you collect your data? (Survey Monkey, Facebook Question, By hand/Excel, etc)
7	What type of sampling method will you use? Justify your choice and cite a reference supporting your decision.
8	What 2 types of graphs that you have learned about are the most appropriate for your data? Justify your statement and cite a reference supporting your decision. *Hint: think about if your data may have outliers, is quantitative, is categorical vs interval, etc.
9	What 8 descriptive statistics that you have learned about are the most appropriate for your data? Justify your statement and cite a reference supporting your decision. *Hint: think about if the data has outliers, is quantitative, is categorical vs interval, etc. *Note: if you have more than one survey question you can count statistics on EACH*

 

 

MCJ5390 Unit VIII Case Study

Instructions

For this assignment, consider the role, responsibility, and perspective of the criminal justice administrator (i.e., police chief or sheriff) in your municipality. You are tasked with identifying the plan and budget for the agency that accounts for threats of domestic terrorism.

To accomplish this, you will need to research your local (i.e., city, county, or state) law enforcement agency and the applicable fusion center to determine the connection that exists between budget allocation and the threat of terrorism. Use this information to analyze the threats that your agency plans and prepares for, and determine how training and response to these threats are budgeted. Most law enforcement agency budgets and fusion center budgets are public record and are easily obtained online; however, you may need to do some deeper research to obtain all of the information needed for this assignment.

Your case study should address the items below.

1. Identify your location and the law enforcement agency that you selected.
2. Discuss the terrorist or homeland security threats that apply to your area and how they are specifically addressed through department policy, procedures, and training.
3. Examine the role of the law enforcement administrator or leader (e.g., sheriff, police chief) in protecting the community from a terrorist incident. Address his or her potential concerns regarding the safety of the community and his or her officers in a terrorist incident.
4. Identify the external resources (fusion center resources and others) that could be tapped by law enforcement leadership in the event of a terrorist incident.
5. Determine how terrorist incident response, preparation, and training are budgeted. Are these items specifically allocated, or do they fall under the general category line items such as overtime and training? What other factors must an administrator consider when creating the fiscal budget that could possibly interfere with terrorism budget allocation?
6. Finally, take into consideration everything you have learned in this course about the role and responsibilities of a criminal justice administrator, the value of community policing, and the importance of the agency leadership having a positive influence on personnel and policy. With this in mind, propose two changes to the current way in which the threat of terrorism is handled and budgeted for in your local agency. Support your recommendations with a strong argument and evidence.

Your case study must be a minimum of three pages in length, not counting the title page and references page. A minimum of three sources will be used and must be properly cited. The case study, including all references, should be formatted in APA Style.

 

 

 

MCJ5390 Unit VII Assessment

Question 1

Explain the differences between general civil liability, tort liability, and vicarious liability, to include the potential civil and criminal ramifications for a law enforcement administrator. Use an example involving a police chief, sheriff, or warden to illustrate your explanation.

Your answer must be at least 500 words in length.

MCJ5390 Unit VI Case Study

Instructions

For this assignment, you will utilize the CSU Online Library to locate an article that discusses a specific incident of ethical violations on the part of a police or corrections officer. The article must include a real case relating to an officer who did not adhere to his or her agency's code of ethics.

The article should be no more than 5 years old, and the article should have been published via a reputable source (e.g., peer-reviewed journal, law enforcement organization, or industry source). Once you identify the article, you may need to do further research as you complete the following two parts for your case study.

1. First, provide an analysis of the case, to include a summary of the circumstances, suspected ethical violations, and the final outcome of the case. Your analysis should include how non-law-enforcement personnel or organizations in this case influenced the ethics of the officer.
2. Second, assume that you are a criminal justice administrator, and a similar incident happened under your command. Discuss any changes or actions that you would take regarding implementing and enforcing the code of ethics as well as the communication you would have with your subordinates to ensure this does not happen again in your agency. Discuss how to prevent non-law-enforcement personnel or organizations from influencing the ethics of your criminal justice professionals.

Your case study should present an insightful and thorough analysis with strong arguments and evidence that incorporate concepts learned in this unit. The case study must be a minimum of three pages in length, not counting the title page and references page. A minimum of three sources will be used, one of which must come from the CSU Online Library. All sources used should be properly cited. The case study, including all references, should be formatted in APA Style

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MCJ5390 Unit V Essay

Instructions

To achieve transparency, law enforcement agencies should have clear and comprehensive policies. Write an essay in which you address the information below.

• Identify three specific uses-of-force policies that could help provide for transparency within the criminal justice organization.
• Explain the expected impact of the policies in the community.
• Discuss how you, as a law enforcement leader, would communicate these policies to your personnel.
• Discuss the pros and cons of how the policies might influence an officer's behaviors and actions while on the job.
• Discuss the kind of training you think is required to ensure the policies are effective in lowering the number of excessive use-of-force incidents. Include your rationale for the selected training.

Your essay should begin with an introduction. It must be a minimum of two pages in length, not counting the title page and references page. A minimum of two sources should be used to support your essay, and they must be properly cited. Your essay, including all references, should be formatted in APA Style.

 

MCJ5390 Unit IV Essay

Instructions

There are three parts to this essay assignment. For the first part, click here to access the organizational chart for California's Department of Corrections (DOC) and Rehabilitation.

Second, review the organizational charts on pp. 251, 252, 267, and 272 of your textbook (Tables 10-1, 10-2, 10-4, and 10-6). In essay format, compare and contrast the organizational chart examples from the textbook and the organizational chart for California's DOC by addressing the areas listed below.

• How might the differences in models contribute to each agency's overall organizational effectiveness?
• Argue the value of having numerous organizational models for corrections as opposed to having a universal organizational model.
• Consider what you have learned about the roles and functions of corrections personnel. How might the roles and functions of corrections personnel vary given differing organizational structures? Give specific examples.

For the third and final part of this essay assignment, address the questions below.

• If you had to choose an organizational structure for corrections that would be universally applied in the United States, regardless of demographic, population, or location, which would you choose for maximum organizational effectiveness, and why? What specific factors do you believe would lead to greater organizational effectiveness?