Investment Portfolio Performance Assignment Example

Essays on Investment: Portfolio Performance Assignment The paper "Investment: Portfolio Performance" is an outstanding example of an assignment on finance and accounting. Stock A has a mean of 0.39 which is the expected return of investing in a single stock held by an investor. On the other hand, the standard deviation of stock A is 0.25 which implies that the risk of investing in stock A is 0.25. If the investors invest in stock B his expected return is 0.26 and the risk of investing in this stock is 0.28If the investor decides to invest in stock C his expected return will be 0.28 and the risk or the standard deviation will be 0.23 which is a risk of a stand-alone portfolio as compared to the diversification of his portfolio which has an effect of reducing the risk of a stock. Investing in stock D on the other hand yield a mean or expected return of 0.05 and a standard deviation of 0.37. This implies that stock D has a low expected return at high risk.Stock E has a mean of 0.25 and a standard deviation of 0.32. This implies that the sto ck will yield a low mean at a given high risk. Similarly, stock F yields a mean of 0.16 and a standard deviation of 0.15. The investor will prefer stock A which yields the highest mean with the given level of risk. Investing in a portfolio has the advantage of maximizing returns as well as minimizing the risk. (Risk diversification)It is worth noting that the standard deviation depends on the correlation coefficient if the proportion of investment is fixed. If the correlation is 1, it implies that two stocks are perfectly positively correlated and therefore their outcomes move in the same direction. A correlation of -1 implies that two stocks are negatively correlated and their outcomes are inversely related. That is, they move in the opposite direction simultaneously. For example, from the correlation matrix, the correlation between stock A and stock C is 0.30 which means that the two stocks are positively correlated, similarly, the correlation between stock F and stock D is -0.01 which means that the two stocks are negatively correlated. If stocks are perfectly negatively correlated then investing in them in a portfolio greatly minimizes their risk.Efficient portfolios are defined as those portfolios which yield the highest expected return at any given level of risk or the lowest level of risk for any expected return. Investors, therefore, tend to ensure that they hold those stocks which will minimize their risks. From the table of weights for optimal risky portfolio, the investor should invest in stock A which yields the highest expected return at a given risk.Beta is defined as the measure of volatility or sensitivity of a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. A beta of 1 implies that the stock is less volatile than the market. On the other hand, a beta of more than 1 indicates that the stock price is more volatile than the market. The betas of the six stocks are less than 1 and this means that they are less volatile or sensitive than the marke t.

Changing American Family Free Essays

Changing of the American Family Throughout the years we have seen families change from time to time. Not just in the actual household, but also in the media. From the nineteen fifties to present time, we can relate to the families in the media. We will write a custom essay sample on Changing American Family or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the nineteen fifties everything seemed to be more relaxed but strict at the same time. However, through the changes in time families have become a bit more chaotic at times and less strict. The families within the media have changed in many ways in whether it being as simple as becoming less strict or whether or not the father being in total control of the household. In the television sitcom Father Knows Best, everything seemed like a perfect family. The mother would stay at home and take care of the house and clean, while father would be at work and while the kids would be at school. The house would always be very clean and organized when the father and children would come home. The kids would never curse or back talk their parents due to respect. Every morning the family would sit together and eat a healthy breakfast and every evening the father and kids would come home to a dinner prepared for the family to eat together. The ideal of the American family in the nineteen fifties was more conservative. The family actually did stuff together and bonded. A few decades later, the media is still changing in time. In the television sitcom The Cosby Show, everything still seems like the perfect family to live in just a little more laid back and less strict. The family would still do stuff together, just not as often. The children would go to school during the day while both parents had to be at their jobs to provide for their family. When the kids would get home from school they would do their homework and then do what they wanted to do. Unlike in the sitcom Father Knows Best, the family did not always have breakfast together; it was more of a find what you want to eat and eat it ordeal. Each night the family would not necessarily have dinner together. In an episode we watched during class, a few of the children ruined a book of the fathers and so they made him dinner to try to make up for their wrong doing. The family had then eaten dinner without the mother and their brother. While comparing both shows and watching them both, you can see how the relationship between two American families have changed over a period of time even though it is in the media. In present time, we can still see much growth in the media. The American family is not so conservative. In the television sitcom George Lopez, many things have changed in the media from Father Knows Best and The Cosby Show. The family in George Lopez was a more chaotic family. The children misbehaved often and the mother and father would tend to get into arguments at times. George would always try to catch his children getting in trouble when they misbehave, whether it is by confronting them straight on, or trying to be sneaky by investigating the situation and then punishing them later. Usually at the end of every episode, it is always shown that George loves and cares deeply for his family. The article I am using to support with this essay is The American Family on Television: From Molly Goldberg to Bill Cosby written by Muriel G. Cantor. I felt most connected with this article because it relates to Bill Cosby and I am using The Cosby Show in my essay. This article is about the families within the media in comedy which all three television sitcoms I am using in this essay conduct with comedy. Comedy is one of the most popular choices to watch on television. The first section of the article concentrates on the background for the family life as portrayed in televisions comedies. The second section concentrates more on Molly Goldberg from the television series in the nineteen forties and then relates to Bill Cosby. The primary focus is on how gender, race, and class have been portrayed over time and whether the messages, issues, and themes about love and sex have changed and in what ways. After analyzing television from the nineteen fifties to present time period, the article concludes by noting that the family is not always presented as the perfect family. Family members often make fun of each other; sometimes they deceive each other to get their way; and often interact by putting each other down† (Canter, 1991). Like in the sitcom George Lopez, the family is basically the place where one goes for support and when you need someone to be there for you. Your family will always be there to support and help solve your problems and care for you. Throughout the media we have seen in most television shows how much families can be supporting. We have also seen how the American families have changed over the decades. In the nineteen fifties, the â€Å"father role† was being head of the household and the mother was to back him up with his every choice. If we were now to watch a television sitcom that was in the comedy genre, we would see how the mother does not sit back and let the father be head of the household. Most of the time the parenting role is equal between the mother and father now days. Sometimes the mother may be in charge of the household more than the father would be. I think if you were to watch television sitcoms throughout the decades then you will be able to identify how the American family has changed in time within the media. References James, E. (Producer). (1954, October 3). Father Knows Best. [Television broadcast]. Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers Burbank Studios. Cosby, B. (Producer). (1984, September 20). The Cosby Show. [Television broadcast]. New York City, NY: Carsey – Warner Company. Lopez, G. (Producer). (2002, March 27). George Lopez. [Television broadcast]. Los Angeles, CA: Warner Bros. Television. Cantor, Muriel G. (1991). The american family on television: from molly goldberg to bill cosby. 22(2), Retrieved from http://proxy. library. iue. edu:2359/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? sid=a6b2c5f6-1784-4b50-a2da-9bfef4ad923f%40sessionmgr104vid=6hid=107 How to cite Changing American Family, Papers

Accounting Software Globalization and Industrialization

Question: Describe about the Accounting Software Globalization and Industrialization. Answer: Introduction In todays world of globalization and industrialization, the organizations have adopted the Information Technology for almost every sphere of business. One of the organizational areas is Finance and Accounting in which software technology is currently making its mark. In Australia, there are a variety of organizations that use different software to support the accounting function. It also depends upon the scale and size of the company as to which accounting software would suit it the best (Jadhav Sonar, 2009). Accounting software helps in automatic process, storing and analysis of all the Accounting and financial statements of the company such as cost sheet, balance sheet, receivables, payables etc. It uses and Information System that is based on a code and it analysis the data automatically that is fed into it. This literature review will cover various Accounting Software being used in Australia and what challenges they pose. Analysis Just like any other industry, Accounting software industry also has a similar history. With small companies starting to provide different solutions different organizations. Gradually the consolidation of companies leads to the rise of a few big giants that control the whole accounting industry industry (Gujarathi, 2005). The history of accounting software industry is dated back to 1990s when computer systems were the new things. In initial few years the large players like Microsoft dominated the market. In the current environment also, Microsoft is the market leader with its Microsoft Dynamics product. The companies like SAP and XERO also have a good market presence. The sheer size and the scale of the company could explain the competitive advantage of Microsoft. At this point, it is very difficult for any small company to compete with a big giant on the technology front. Since big organization would like their data to be secure and in safe hands, they would always go for big payers since they have the deep pockets to pay them. Thus, all the big companies use Accounting software provided by Microsoft (Microsoft Dynamics ERP is one example), Working Point Accounting Software etc. On the other hand, there are Accounting software companies like Myob, Saasu etc. that cater to relatively small organizations. Big organizations instead of buying one or two solutions buy the entire software support for their company that is known as the Enterprise Resource Planning software (ERP). As all the industries are moving ahead with cutting edge inventions and technologies everyday, one of the latest and most widely used technologies is Cloud. Cloud technology lets the companies keep their data at a secured cloud service providers database. From that database, services can be accessed on the fly and must faster. This has been a revolution as earlier the same services were given in house through personal databases and installations. In a similar manner, Australia also evolved by accepting the cloud based software solutions. All the big organizations such as Microsoft, working Point etc. have a bundle of services that include cloud services (their cloud management is cutting edge), personal installations etc. in the Accounting software space. Cloud has really added to their piggy bank since the investment in cloud development is only one time and then the services can be provided to huge number of customers at the same cloud and thus not incurring any additional cost (Cr eed, Daly, Dowdle Stevens, 2008). Also the investment is mostly in research and development and not on hardware or operational and overhead expenses. This also proves to be helpful for a longer period of time as is not in the case of hardware. All the organizations are getting more and more interesting since if they have the initial investment to do, it helps in reducing overall operations costs in the long run. The most interesting thing about the cloud services is that an organization can choose easy customizations based on their budget and scale. Thus, the services are not just limited to big organizations and this was a clear case in Australia. Earlier small organizations were not using accounting software since they could not afford conventional Accounting software services offered by big players (Mouritsen, Hansen, Hansen, 2009). Cloud services has led them to use these services at optimum costs and also reducing their future expense and gradually shifting to a process based operations But the use of accounting software in organizations in Australia can be compared with the organizations across of parts of the globe through the mentions in various theories. Frederick Winslow Taylor was an engineer and an inventor that combined his scientific knowledge into management principles to understand the affect of changes in the organizational operations that are brought by technology (Budhwar,Crane, Davies, Delbridge, Edwards, Ezzamel, Harris, Ogbonna Thomas, 2002). His Scientific Management Theory can be applied to Cost accounting in the following four aspects Collecting and gathering all information from the changes and converting them into principles and formulas to complete everyday tasks Always following a scientific approach towards achieving any goal and for that training of employees is required Closing the distance between technology and employees so that they can gradually use technology for the daily work To better adopt the technology and service, the work should be well divided between managers and workers so that everyone is on the same page regarding the technology. Some of the challenges and gaps that currently exists in the use of accounting software in organizations are Lack of depth to Small organizations In Australia, the use of accounting software is not increasing in small organizations at a good rate. The futuristic planning by small companies is lacking. A company would not invest if they were not futuristic and confident about the technology use (Mistry, Sharma Low, 2014). The decision on whether or not the investment should be made takes far too long because of which the companies looses on an opportunity to catch up with the industry growth The overall technology implementation must be done within an organization in a consolidated manner. All the functions of the organization must be connected using an ERP system and thus Accounting software must not be used as a separate service. This is required in order to use the accounting service along with other services in order to fully utilize and improve the functions end-to-end It is highly important to install and use accounting services in order to reduce the changes of human errors that are made intentionally or by mistake. It will mainly protect the company from fraudsters who are trying to game the system for their unsolicited use. A software service will be hard to break into and can be regulated much more easily Adopting accounting software along with other technology services will ensure a holistic organizational approach and understanding and thus the company would be able to move forward and compete other companies in a better way (Baldvinsdottir,Burns, Nrreklit Scapens, 2010). As the technology is surely going to improve and thus big companies in Australia will be adopting those, small companies have to start integrating accounting services with there core business as the competition in future would be immense. But since the technology costs are becoming lower and lower, small Australian companies have a good sign going forward and thus it is further more imperative to adopt new technology in account services Conclusions Recommendations The conclusion lies in the fact that the actual important of accounting software is un-ignorable. If a company wants to compete, cut on losses, stay in the business for a long run and grow at a higher growth rate than ever, technology and accounting service adoption is imperative. Also it is required internally for the growth of all the stakeholders as if the industry is moving forward, the company has to move forward also for its employees as the work satisfaction would exists if the employees are feeling themselves in the race or ahead of competitors (Cahill, 1998). If the company lacks in adopting technology services, the internal stakeholders satisfaction will also be lower. For deciding the accounting services a company want to adopt, a fair amount of industry research would be required, also taking reference from the bigger companies in terms of their adoption and implementation strategy will be of great help. At this point in time, Microsoft offers the best cloud solutions in the area of accounting. Also Working Point Accounting software would be a close competitor with good solutions. The major worry for Australian companies should consider is the growth and adoption of accounting services by smaller companies and thus players like Saasu and Myob will come into picture. Also it is important to understand where exactly the company needs improvement and decide the set of services to proceed with. Post vendor selection, the integration and adoption of the technology within the culture of the organization is important. A company should not only adopt the technology but also urge and educate every for its use. Thus, for a long-term vision and business, technology adoption must not just be a stepping-stone but should be imbibe within the values and culture of the company and an organization should strive to adopt new technology all the time in all the business spheres possible. References Baldvinsdottir,G., Burns, J.,Nrreklit, H.,Scapens, R. (2010). Professional accounting media: accountants handing over control to the system.Qualitative Research in Accounting Management, 7(3), pp. 395 414 Budhwar,P., Crane,A., Davies,A., Delbridge,R., Edwards, T.,Ezzamel,M., Harris, L., Ogbonna,E., Thomas, R. (2002). Organizing/theorizing: developments in organization theory and practice. Management Research News, 25 (8/9/10), pp.1 - 193 Cahill, D. (1998). Key Account Management: Using key accounts as partners to get to the learning organization.International Marketing Review, 15(3), pp.205 - 214 Creed, D., Daly, D., Dowdle, P., Stevens, J. (2008). A roadmap to help your organization become process-based. Journal Of Corporate Accounting Finance (Wiley, 19(5), 77-83. doi: 10.1002/jcaf.20420 Gujarathi, M.(2005). Use Of ERP Software In Accounting, inBill N. Schwartz,J. Edward Ketz(ed.).Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations 7(1), pp.207 220 Jadhav, A.S. and Sonar, R.M., (2009). Evaluating and selecting software packages: A review.Information and software technology,51(3), pp.555-563. Mistry, V., Sharma, U.,Low, M. (2014). Management accountants' perception of their role in accounting for sustainable development: An exploratory study.Pacific Accounting Review, 26 (1/2), pp.112 - 133 Mouritsen, J., Hansen, A. and Hansen, C.., (2009). Short and long translations: Management accounting calculations and innovation management.Accounting, Organizations and Society,34(6), pp.738-754.