Auto World Inc Essay Example for Free

Auto World Inc Essay Auto World Inc. (AWI) is a leading automotive retail and service chain. They have many operating segments comprised of two different centers 10 miles apart from each other. Pit Stop Centers (PSC) offer service labor, installed merchandise, and tires while their Auto Boyz Centers (ABC) sells automotive merchandise. AWI has a plan to close their operating segment PSC to change their current operating structure to improve and efficiently deliver retail products and automotive services by providing their customers with a ‘one stop’ shopping for ‘do-it-yourself’ retail customers and ‘do-it-for-me’ customers† (PSC Case). AWI expects this change to enhance their ability to increase market share, improve sales, and company earnings. This change in restructuring will have an effect on current earnings and will need to be reported properly in their 2007 Income Statement. AWI must report this continuing activity properly under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC), commonly known as GAAP has specific standards that must be followed in order to classify the disposal of an entity as discontinued or continues operation of a component of an entity. Under the guidance of numerous ASC’s, AWI does not meet the two conditions to report their PSC closures as discontinued operations. The criteria used, assessment period, presentation, and disclosure for this retail company will be explained in detail when applying proper GAAP. A component of an entity comprises operations and cash flows that can be clearly distinguished, operationally and for financial reporting purposes, from the rest of the entity; it may be a reportable segment or an operating segment, a reporting unit, a subsidiary, or an asset group in which Auto World determined correctly under the first requirement that the PSC met the definition of a â€Å"component of an entity† (ASC 205-20-20). The two conditions for reporting the disposed transaction as discontinued operations are: The results of operations of a component of an entity that either has been disposed of or is classified as held for sale under the requirements of paragraph 360-10-45-9, shall be reported in discontinued operations in accordance with paragraph 205-20-45-3 if both of the following conditions are met: 1. The operations and cash flows of the component have been (or will be) eliminated from the ongoing operations of the entity as a result of the disposal transaction. 2. The entity will not have any significant continuing involvement in the operations of the component after the disposal transaction (ASC 205-20-45-1). Several steps below will be used to explain why the disposal of the PSC stores should be considered a continuation of operations rather than discontinue of operations (ASC 205-20-55-3). These three steps along with their respective answers are also depicted in a flow chart (see Appendix A). Step one asks are continuing cash flows expected to be generated by the ongoing entity? Yes, the continuing cash flows are being generated by ABC from transactions with customers from PSC. Step two asks if the continuing cash flows result from a migration or continuation of activities. The continuing cash flows are the result of a migration from the closed PSC’s to the â€Å"one stop† ABC. ABC sells products similar to those sold in the closed retail stores. After the closure of the Pit Stop Centers, Auto World estimates that there will be continuing cash flows from the sale of automotive services and tires by the ongoing ABC’s of approximately $600 million. Auto World estimates that the Pit Stop Centers would have generated approximately $700 million of sales absent the disposal transaction (PSC Case). Step three asks if the continuing cash flows are significant. Yes, the ongoing ABC estimates the continuing cash inflows will approximate 86 percent (see Appendix B) of that would have been generated by PSC’s absent the disposal transaction. AWI is expecting these actions to generate significant cash flow in 2007 and to increase free cash flow in 2008. AWI is also expecting to yield improvements in operating earnings of approximately $58 million in 2008 to be significant leading to the classification as a discontinued operation to be inappropriate (ASC 205-20-55-70). Since stakeholders rely on financial statements to base their decisions and to project future cash flows, current information presented must be accurate under GAAP Under the second requirement, one issue I have identified is the intentions of management’s decisions to improve their company’s net earnings. The professional literature I relied on are these two statements, â€Å"the actions we are announcing today will further enhance our ability to increase market share and improve sales and earnings at our company† and â€Å"in this regard, we remain committed to the automotive business and we expect to deliver significant additional profitable growth† were made by Mr. Bobby, chairman and chief executive officer. When considering the use and disclosure of restructuring charges, depending on the industry, there should not be re-occurring â€Å"restructuring cost† line item on the Income Statement year after year. Closing the PSC stores as of the second quarter in June 2007 is an event taking place in 2007 which can happen only once. If management continues to show this type of special/unusual charge in future periods, the question of integrity should be raised. Management does not want to give off the impression of possibly smoothing earnings by using restructuring charges. â€Å"Once a decision to restructure is made, GAAP requires companies to estimate the future costs they expect to incur to carry out the restructuring for such things as plant closings (AWI currently estimates it will incur restructuring and other charges totaling $52 million pre-tax). These estimated restructuring costs are then charged to an expense account with an offsetting credit to a liability account (Restructuring reserve) in the current period† (Revsine, pg 155). In developing my recommendation and conclusion for resolving this issue, management should make a foot note explaining these changes which will allow stakeholders to make better decisions. The new re-structured ABC will continue to sell automotive parts that were previously sold through the PSC’s, and under the ASC, PSC store closures are not considered and cannot be reported as a discontinued operation in AWI’s second quarter financial statements. The continuing cash flows are being generated by ABC from transactions with customers from PSC, given by the level of significance of 86 percent for this continuing cash flow subsequent to the disposal transaction.

The North American Continent :: History

The North American Continent There is tremendous difference in the way the native Indians used to live off the land and the way American Settlers are destroying the land even as we speak for the purpose of profit. The author of this story is trying to convey the damage and destruction wrought on by the Europeans in the relatively few years of habitation of the lands of America. The difference is not only cultural but also spiritual. While Native Indians viewed the land on which they lived as sacred, the European settlers arrived with the aim of exploitation, not only of the land but also of the native people. When you think about the creation the continents, beginning with Pangaea, how the landscape must have been very beautiful in its most natural setting. Imagine the great mountain ranges and the incredible forests and natural hillsides and plains and prairies that make up the countryside. It must have been breathtaking to be able to see the landscape of present day America in its natural state. As the water table began to recede, the first humans began to cross the Bering Straight to inhabit North America and South America. Travel to South America was made possible thought the Isthmus of Panama. Only now are we beginning to appreciate what the Native Indians were trying to convey to us. Native Indians have been living off the land and had not desire for industry or great wealth. They did not have a significant impact on the landscape. Europeans consumed the land away from the Indians starting with gold and silver. Vegetables such as potatoes and squash and tomatoes found their way back to Europe as did plants for medicines. Some of the more impressive aspects of the native Indians were the creation of many languages and many cultures. They expressed their creativity in their poetry and dance and rituals and ceremonies. Some rituals could last for days. The first Europeans had to be amazed to witness the exotic rituals that had never been seen before. Some Indians had tried diplomatic approaches to the intruding Europeans. One had formally spoken to the United States senate and another had negotiated with the French and the British. The significance is that the Indians lived off the land where there is no industry, no air pollution, no water pollution, and no deforestation. On the contrary, the Europeans came to establish colonies for the purpose of exploiting the land and people too.

6 steps decision making Essay

In addition to time pressures that we encounter when searching for evidence to support care decisions for individual patients, it may be difficult for clinicians to apply the evidence that we find. The rate limiting step may not be doing the search, but the steps needed in â€Å"setting evidence-based medicine (EBM) in motion.† We present an example of a search for evidence by a Physician Assistant (PA) student that highlights this challenge. PAs receive accelerated training in the medical model and work in teams  under physician supervision. Approximately 40 000 PAs currently work in the  US in a wide range of settings and specialties.  Practising EBM has become an important component of training for PAs.  During an internal medicine rotation, a PA student encountered a common clinical practice unsupported by current  evidence—administration of nebulised albuterol in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP). While this practice may  be justified in patients with underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also present with CAP, this student  questioned the grounds for its use in patients with CAP who do not have COPD. Clinical scenario A 68 year old man presented to the emergency department with fever, chills, and a non-productive cough of 1 week’s duration. He had fatigue, headache, rhinorrhoea, and mild nausea, but  denied dyspnoea. He had no history of smoking or COPD. He  had atrial fibrillation and was taking warfarin for stroke prevention. On admission, his temperature was 38.4  °C, heart rate was  108 beats/minute, respiratory rate was 24 breaths/minute,  blood pressure was 156/88 mm Hg, and oxygen saturation was  86% by pulse oximetry on room air. Rales were heard in both  lung bases and in the right middle lobe. Chest radiography  showed a diffuse infiltrate in the right middle and lower lobes. Complete blood count showed a white blood cell count of  22 000 cells/ml with a left shift, and arterial blood gases showed mild respiratory acidosis.  One dose of ceftriaxone was administered parenterally, and a course of azithromycin was started. Albuterol, 5% solution,  delivered by n ebuliser 3 times daily was also ordered, in addition to a combination of inhaled ipratropium and albuterol,  delivered by metered dose inhaler every 4 hours as needed.  During the hospital stay, his pneumonia resolved, but his heart rate increased to 150 beats/minute and his blood pressure rose from 156/88 to 200/110 mm Hg. Clinical question Although there was no institutional protocol for use of  nebulised albuterol for treatment of CAP, the house staff often ordered it.  The PA student queried: In a 68 year old man with CAP and no underlying COPD, does use of nebulised
2 agonists improve symptoms? What is the risk of harm in this  patient? Search strategy Firstly, a treatment guideline was sought to clarify recommendations regarding use of nebulised albuterol for treatment of CAP.  The American Thoracic Society guidelines for management of  CAP1 were rapidly retrieved through PubMed, UpToDate, and  MD Consult. The British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines for the management of CAP in adults2 were also found in PubMed.  Both sets of guidelines were relevant to our patient, but neither guideline discussed the use of nebulised albuterol in the  treatment of CAP. The BTS guidelines had a section on general management, which discussed the use of adjunctive therapies  for CAP, but nebulised albuterol was not mentioned. Evidence from controlled clinical trials was mentioned in the guideline for â€Å"bottle blowing,†3 but not for physiotherapy.  Having not fully answered our question with a review of  relevant guidelines (and having not attracted the attention of anyone who could change the patient’s treatment p lan), we  searched PubMed again, this time specifically for studies on the use of albuterol in patients with CAP. No relevant trials were found on the use of nebulisers for CAP.  To identify evidence about harm with the use of albuterol,  PubMed was searched using the terms nebulised albuterol, cardiac arrhythmias, and randomised or controlled clinical trials.  No trials were found. When just the content terms were  searched, 9 articles, not directly relevant to our patient, were found. One prospective, open label study on the effect of  nebulised albuterol (for treatment of asthma) on cardiac rhythm was found.4 10 patients were studied, and although no adverse effect on cardiac rhythm or blood pressure was found, the study did not convince the team that no potential for harm existed in this, or other patients, especially when there  was no clear indication for use of albuterol. Recognising that searching and appraising the literature are not the only important aspects of practicing EBM, we consulted an experienced pulmonologist, who practises and teaches using the EBM model. In addition to reviewing treatment plans for  multiple cases of CAP requiring hospital admission with the  Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant service, he recommended review of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine  website at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada  (www.cebm.utoronto.ca/), which suggested bubble blowing as a method for helping clear secretions.2–3 This served as an  excellent, rapid approach to finding good information on treatment of CAP, and confirmed the evidence previously found in  the literature search.  Application of the evidence to this, and future  patients  The treatment plan for this patient was not altered by the  student’s rapid search for evidence. Changes in usual care for a common illness required a compr ehensive search and discussion among all clinicians in our institution caring for patients  with CAP. The clinical team reviewed the results of the search and because no evidence was found to support use of albuterol in patients like ours, changes were made to future practice. As a result of this process, which took a few hours and evolved over several weeks, orders for bronchodilators for patients with CAP are now made on an individual basis, depending on the  presence of patient comorbid illnesses, such as COPD. 164 Volume 8 November/December 2003 EBM www.evidence-basedmedicine.com EBM notebook Downloaded from ebm.bmj.com on 10 August 2009 Conclusion The need for a rapid search for evidence is sometimes, but not always, important to the care of an individual patient. In this case, the speed of the search did not affect the ability of the PA student to apply the  evidence to the patient. Setting the evidence in motion may require communication of search results to other members of the clinical team and may affect the care of future patients. Although the catalyst for setting EBM in motion was a student, the evidence, including the results of further research, along with the judgment of the experienced pulmonologist,  convinced the clinical team to make changes to usual care and to base future treatment of this common condition on the best available evidence. The basic concept of evidence-based medicine proposes to  make health related decisions based on a synthesis of internal and external evidence. Internal evidence is composed of knowledge acquired through formal education and training, general  experience accumulated from daily practice, and specific  experience gained from an individual clinician-patient relationship. External evidence is accessible information from research.  It is the explicit use of valid external evidence (eg, randomised controlled trials) combined with the prevailing internal evidence that defines a clinical decision as â€Å"evidence-based.† To realise this concept in day to day clinical practice, the Evidence- Based Medicine Working Group proposed a 5 step strategy,  corresponding to step 1 and steps 3 to 6 shown in the left hand column of the table. In teaching this 5 step approach, we encountered several difficulties. We noticed a growing hesitance to accept this strategy  as students advanced in their medical training. In the presence of well established methods of treatment or diagnosis, this  resistance rises even more, regardless of the level of training.We assume that this barrier is associated with the process of socialisation into the health professions. Throughout medical  education students are virtually â€Å"trained† to make decisions under the condition of uncertainty. Advanced students and to a greater extent clinicians lose some of their ability to differentiate between scientific evidence and what seems to be evident. If we intend to implement evidence-based medicine more efficiently, we need to modify the way students and clinicians learn to make decisions. Therefore, an additional step was introduced in our evidencebased medicine teaching programme (step 2 in the table).  Students were to provide answers to their clinical questions based on their current knowledge (internal evidence) before  continuing with the remaining steps of the evidence-based  process.2 Our collective experience concerning this additional step was extremely positive. The students using this new step were satisfied that their pre-existing knowledge had been  integrated into the evidence-based approach. By explicitly  documenting their internal evidence, students used the remaining steps of the process to evaluate not only the best evidence in making a clinical decision but also to assess the accuracy of their internal evidence, the grounds upon which their preconcep- The 6 steps of evidence-based decision making Step Action Explanation  1 Transformation of the clinical problem into 3 or 4 part question (a) relevant patient characteristics and problem(s), (b) leading intervention, (c) alternative intervention, (d) clinical outcomes or goals. 2 Additional step: answer to the question based on â€Å"internal evidence† only Internal evidence: acquired knowledge through professional training and experience (in general and applied to the patient). Should be documented before proceeding to step 3. 3 Finding â€Å"external evidence† to answer the question External evidence: obtained from textbooks, journals, databases, experts. The value of the external evidence will be highly variable, see step 4. 4 Critical appraisal of the external evidence Should answer 3 questions: (1) Are the results valid? (2) Are the results clinically important? (3) Do the results apply to my patient? (or is my patient so different from those in the study that the results do not apply?) 5 Integrating external and internal evidence The 2 sources of information (external and internal) may be supportive, non-supportive, or conflicting. How the decision is made when non-supportive or conflicting will depend on multiple factors. 6 Evaluation of decision making process Once the decision has been made, the process and the outcome are considered and opportunities for improvement are identified. The health authority of Alto Adige in northern Italy initiated and supported a project, the â€Å"Bressanone Model,† in which the effects of implementing evidence-based medicine on the quality of health care were to be shown. In this model we used the six step approach, which proved to be successful in the student  project to teach experienced clinicians.3 The participants were asked to name problems of their day to day practice that lacked either an effective or an efficient solution. The evidence-based medicine support group helped participants to phrase the 3 or 4 part questions. Subsequently, the physicians were asked to submit their individual answers to the questions before continuing with steps 3 to 6. Agreement between internal and external evidence varies. Completing the full process could result in finding evidence that confirms the internal evidence, validating and strengthening the clinician’s or student’s confidence in the decision. The process could also reveal that little evidence exists to support the decision or that the available evidence is equivocal. In such cases, other factors such as cost or inconvenience to the patient may need to be given greater consideration. Possibly, the best external evidence found is not in agreement with the internal evidence. This represents a particularly valuable experience for the clinician or student because it may avoid an ill advised decision. It also shows the fallibility of making decisions on  uncertain ground based on internal evidence alone. This in turn will hopefully promote the routine assimilation of external evidence in clinical decision making. The documentation and  comparison of steps 2 and 5, used as a research tool or quality assurance outcome measure, coul d provide valid information  on the effects of evidence-based medicine on clinical decision making. In case of conflicting internal and external evidence, clinicians have several options. They may change their mind and align it with the external evidence. They may determine that the external evidence is not sufficiently convincing and remain with the  original decision. Or, they may choose to discuss with the  patient the conflict between the internal and external evidence in a manner that enables the patient to take part in the decision making process. This last approach is recommended because  patient preference is considered an essential part of the  evidence-based decision making process1 and decisions often  need to be made in the absence of clear research findings.

Chinese Vocabulary Banking

You may need to do some banking when visiting a Mandarin-speaking country, no matter whether you are traveling for pleasure or for business. For instance, you may need to exchange money, withdraw funds, or even open an account.   Banks in larger cities may have English-speaking staff, but dont count on it. This list of common banking terms will help. Click on the links in the Pinyin column to hear the audio. Practical Tips You can always bring a Mandarin-speaking friend or colleague to act as translator. For many transactions, you will need to present some identification. Always bring your passport (è ­ ·Ã§â€¦ § / æŠ ¤Ã§â€¦ §, hà ¹ zhà  o) or ID card (è º «Ã¤ » ½Ã¨ ­â€° / è º «Ã¤ » ½Ã¨ ¯ , shÄ“n fà ¨n zhà ¨ng) to the bank. Vocabulary List Vocabulary Pin Yin Traditional Simplified bank yn hng counter gu ti window chung ku teller ch n yun manager jng l account zhng h open an account ki h deposit (into an account) cn kun withdraw money t kun cash a check du xin exchange money hun qin exchange rate hu l cash xin jn check zh pio cashiers check du hun zh pio travelers check l xng zh pio credit card xn yng k passport h zho ID card shn fn zhng visa qin zhng