Journal Entry Five

For Learning Plan 5 our competencies were to evaluate financial statements using analysis and evaluate professional growth. Through this learning plan I have learned how to make financial statements analysis' and finished with my goals and how I want to achieve them. http://www.ohiodominican.edu/uploadedFiles/Library/CoursePages/Courses/Bus/Bus498/Financial%20Statement%20Analysis%20Paper%20Example.pdf This website had an example of the analysis'. It helped to look at a well-known company to see how they made their statements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT1BVZPNfks This youtube video also helped when I was trying to do the book work, it helped me understand more than the book shows you. http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/06/21/creating-your-professional-development-plan-3-surprising-truths/ This website helped me with learning some things about professional growth plans. One thing the website taught me was that a professional growth plan is never done, because learning is a long-term process and if you want to further your career you have to continue your skills. We also talked about the importance of financial statement analysis. So this website just gives a few reasons of why they are important. I thought it would only be important to the company but there are other people who they are effected by. http://accountlearning.blogspot.com/2010/02/importance-of-financial-statement.html For the big assessment we had to work in a team and with it being online it is more difficult. And this website gave me some tips to help with that. http://moondaisy.hubpages.com/hub/Tips-for-Working-as-part-of-an-Online-Team Although the Movies Door to Door book does not show examples of how the company the friends created, after a few chapters in the discussion questions they ask: how would certain things affect these financial ratios. One of them we learned that they mention is, current ratio. Examples of this are on page 67, 80, and 91. With all of these new concepts I learned, if I ever have to do accounting or want to go into the accounting field, I will have already learned some of the key things that you will have to know to make company successful through financial statements.

Journal Entry Four

This was one of the first activities we had to do: THINK about the following? If you owned a business or were the manager, would you expect your employees to: 1.Work to achieve the business goals and objectives you establish? 2.Use business assets (such as machinery or automobiles) only for legitimate business purposes and avoid wasting business resources? 3.Record accurate data regarding business transactions so you could accurately judge how well your business is doing? 4.Refrain from stealing your cash or inventory? READ the following article at http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=479 to understand the importance of internal controls. I would most defiantly want my employees to work to achieve my business goals, and record accurate data, and of course refrain from stealing anything from my business. In Learning Plan 4 I learned a lot about internal controls and how they work and what they do. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Internal-Control.topicArticleId-21081,articleId-21006.html This link helped me learn a bit more information than the book. I learned about bank reconciliation statements and how they are an internal control. They help by determining if the employee is accurately putting in the right information and if they aren't they are most likely stealing money. We did some practice with a bank reconciliation which helped me understand the importance of one. By doing so I learned that what the bank stated and what the company states has to be the same. http://www.accountingtools.com/bank-reconciliation-procedure I did struggle with the assessment we had to do with determining how much money an employee stole through doing a bank reconciliation. I also mostly finished up my Goals Assessment, just waiting for feedback on it and then changing anything about it from there. I learned that I have to start working to achieve my goals and making sure I succeed in doing so. Going to college and getting a degree has been one of my biggest goals in life, I think this is so, because I will be the first to go to college and actually finish, and graduate. My family is very supportive and excited about this, and so am I. Doing the Goals Assessment helped me learn more about the goals I want to achieve and helped me eliminate questions or time frames. http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html This website was very helpful as I was continuing to finish this assessment. Although there was no specific talk of internal controls or bank reconciliations. One thing I think the Movies Door to Door book relates to this learning plan is about internal controls, specifically, control procedures. Not about fraud, but about rotating duties and making sure everyone is getting their share of personal time. On page 57, Courtney talks about talking to John about getting some personal time, this will help with internal controls because some time off can help an employee clear their mind and help them work better when they come back from some time off. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19079419/ns/business-careers/t/take-vacation-it-could-help-your-career/#.UKGz-IfAeSo This article talks about how vacations can help your career. With the new concepts from this learning plan, when I get my job if I ever have to make a bank reconciliation statement I will know how to, that's a plus. Also if I am ever having some troubles with a job, such as internal controls and what not, I will know about them and can talk with a manager to clear things up.

Journal Entry Three

One of the questions asked in the beginning of the Learning Plan 3 was: How does a company account for the wear and tear of their equipment? So I looked this up and found some resources that gave good information; such as using the depreciation method to provide this. http://www.ehow.com/how_7738233_calculate-wear-tear-landscaping-equipment.html We had to share one of our goals and mine was a long-term goal turned into a short-term goal because I want to get my Associate's Degree and I am very close to graduating. I used a website to help me start off by setting some goals and in the process of continuing to set my goals. I have used this website for numerous things as well in other classes. It's a great website for a lot of things. http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html During this learning plan, we learned how to do more transactions and then adjustments. I think that one of my strengths in helping me complete those is that I have previous experience in doing so. Another strength was that I asked classmates or others to try and help me, I believe that other people can greatly affect your life and help you in ways you never knew. (Plus I learned that in my new eight week class, there's an accountant student, and she said she could help me if I ever need it). I always find the discussion questions in the book to be extremely difficult. I think it is because they are worded weird and I never know how much to write or what you want, but I try to do my best. I also struggled with the problems we did in the book, I had troubles getting my assets to equal my liabilities + equity. But in the end I got my transactions to equal, and learned my mistakes and now I know how to fix it if it happens again. I learned that when an error like this occurs you can create a trial balance or divide the difference of the numbers by 2 or even 9. The website that you gave me helped me with learning that. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/The-Trial-Balance.topicArticleId-21081,articleId-21014.html For the Communicating Financial Information Assessment, we had to add adjustments then change the other financial statements. One thing I learned was the advantages and disadvantages of cash or accrual basis accounting. These are websites that helped me understand those. (Also this time around from learning my mistake earlier to get the assets to equal liabilites plus equity, I got it right the first time and everything equaled!) http://www.ehow.com/facts_5565824_advantages-cash-vs-accrual-accounting.html http://smallbusiness.chron.com/accounting-methods-cash-vs-accrual-3732.html In the Movies Door to Door book the friends talk about the importance of using categories to help with making decisions and making sure they are making money or recording expenses(page 19, 41). Although they did not directly talk about adjustments, they did work to revise some of the statements they made up when a new problem arose. With the new concepts I learned in this Learning Plan, I could now adjust my prepaid insurance or supplies (if i had them, but I'm using my imagination). Also learning this can help me in the future with my job if I ever have to record transactions, adjust them, and make financial statements for the company I work for.

Journal Entry Two

A lot of the information we learned in Learning Plan 2 I previously learned in my high school Accounting class. We learned how to create record transactions, then report an income statement and balance sheet. The one thing I did learn how to do was a retained earnings statement. I found doing the transactions and financial statements to be fun, that is something I find interesting how you can calculate all of that. A strength in learning this is that from this and my previous accounting experience I know calculate my own financial statements, like my revenues and expenses, it helps me keep my budget on track and to know how much money I could spend on miscellaneous things like going out or doing other activities. This website gave me some ideas on recording transactions. http://www.transtutors.com/accounting-homework/basics-of-accounting/recording-of-transactions.aspx One thing Movies Door to Door explains is estimating cash flows, that is not something we had to do in this learning plan. In the book page 41, they list expense categories, which we had to do when creating our own financial statements, the most common ones: Rent Expense, Utility Expense, Advertising Expense and Miscellaneous Expense. In the book they do not talk about a whole lot that we learned in this learning plan, like the accounting equation or any of the financial statements. I thought this website was helpful in expanding my knowledge of some accounting categories and things like that. http://www.accountingunplugged.com/2008/08/31/chart-of-accounts-more-on-accounting-types/ I found one of the hardest things during this learning plan, was the discussion questions. I had to talk to a friend who is a Business Major for some help, or other classmates. Another thing was doing team projects. Connecting and talking through email is hard, I know that it is part of the Core Abilities, but why do they do team projects for online classes? This is a link that talks about the core abilities. http://libs.morainepark.edu/docs/academic-affairs/programming-design/core-abilities.pdf THINK about the following? How does a happy workforce contribute to a company's net profit or bottom line? Can employees be classified as assets? If yes, can they be listed on the company's balance sheet? This question was asked in the beginning of Learning Plan 2 to think about. I looked up some websites to maybe answer it. http://blog.accountingcoach.com/employee-as-asset/ http://www.lce.com/Do_People_Count_As_Assets_227-item.html

Journal Entry One

In Learning Plan 1 I learned about the forms of business, whether it is a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or limited liability company. Another thing I learned was about the types of businesses, whether it be a service, merchandising, or manufacturing business (Warren, 2007). We made a concept map which really helped me understand these businesses and what their assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, and equities are. I also learned about some new technologies to be used when doing assignments. Prezi was my favorite, it's like PowerPoint but you can make it look more fun and do other things to it. For the assessment, Accounting in Business, I learned more about the things we learned about in discussions, but putting all of the information into a project helped me learn a bit more because of doing research. Here is a link to my Prezi I made. Throughout the book Movies Door to Door, the three friends decided upon making a website for movie rentals. As they start thinking about how many movies they will have to have available they get into talking about cash flow and outflows. Brad's dad kept addressing the issue of the idea of a partnership almost because what if Courtney has a relationship with one of them and the liabilities that come with that and how it might affect the business. But now that them and their parents are going to be up fronting the money to start the business their will be more ownership than just the friends. In the book all of their expenses come up, and other accounts like we learned in Learning Plan 1. Throughout the book they have major problems that they keep working through, the business, relationships, Brad's out of town trips, a server crash, a car accident involving one of their delivery drivers and then the discussion about who's car to use caused friction between Courtney and John and the fact that the other driver would be seeking compensation. The biggest problem they have was not having a CPA to keep up with the business transactions and reports they need. Also the idea of compensating each of the partners differently comes up because of the liabilities each of them took when the other couldn't. Overall the book just talks about how they start the business and all of the things needed and then the difficulties of the business with three people and the liabilities along with that. Resources Beasley, M. S., & Buckless, F. A. (2002). Movies Door to Door: How Accounting Helped Make The Difference. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Warren, C. S. (2007). Survey of Accounting: Special 6th Edition.

Webinar Contribution Document

We created our invitations in a word document and then sent them via email. We then created the survey using surveymoney to be sent out after our webinar. (Emily and Bobbie) We answered the questions and the 15 Content keys in a blog post. (All) Prepare slides or visuals, powerpoint. (All) Create an e-book, and outline to share (All) And this is the online document explaining how each member contributed to the project. (All) Bobbie, Emily, and Tammy

Innovative Web Technology- Video Assessment

1. I am creating the content I am creating to reach out to people with information about business training courses that are available whether in a small group or an actual business wanting training. 2. My audience is anyone or company that wants to look into taking business courses; or my classmates and instructor. 3. I want the content to achieve clear information, and for anyone to understand it. 4. I created the content on my camera as a video; it is meant to be viewed on anything that is capable of showing videos. 5. I will be publishing my video on blogger.com. I selected this option because it will be the easiest for viewers to see it. *Know your equipment; I know how to use my camera very well that's why I selected it to film the video. *Get away from noise; I secluded myself in the office and did it at a time when no one else was home. *Be aware of lighting; I made sure of the lighting and the brightness on the camera. *Beware of shadows; I helped that I filmed it inside and not in the dark, I took many pictures and sample clips before actually video taping. *Camera's built-in microphone; I made sure that the camera was close enough to hear me talking but not too close where you can still see my whole head when I'm talking. *Make sure the camera is stable; I used a tripod when I taped it so I wasn't holding the camera or having it move all over. *After you film; I watched and watched the video to make sure it was okay, there were some words I messed up on but I wasn't going to redo it because of that. *Consider perspective and framing; if the video was more professional I would've picked a different spot, but I tried to focus it mainly on me and not the background behind me.