Concepts of Throughput Accounting and Theory of Constraints

Financial Management

Kaizen – Understanding the Japanese Business Philosophy of Continuous Improvement

Operations Management

Role of Leaders in Shaping Organizational Culture

Management Principles

Organizational Culture – Development and Importance

Management Principles

Five Important Organizational Cultural Models

Management Principles

How Blockchain Transforms the Recruitment Process?

Recruiting is a complex practice that requires keen analysis of the data. In recruitment, various issues are put into consideration before the employer settler in a particular job seeker. Before a hiring decision is reached, there is a various measure that job seeker and employer go through. During this process, there is a lot of data exchange between the two the job seeker, and the employer that is the job seeker must provide a set of personal information that is essential during the recruitment process. When passing this sensitive information, the job seeker trust that the employer will handle this information with care and on the other hand, the recruiter is entrusting that all information provided by the job seeker is accurate. Failure of either party to uphold their end of bargain eventually lead to delay or to emerge of the issues that prohibit the candidates from filling this gap. Continue reading

Abey Francis

Case Study: WorldCom Accounting Scandal

Founded initially as a small company named Long Distance Discount Services in 1983, it merged with Advantage Companies Inc to eventually become WorldCom Inc, naming its CEO as Bernard Ebbers.WorldCom achieved its position as a significant player in the telecommunications industry through the successful completion of 65 acquisitions spending almost $60 billion between 1991 and 1997, whilst also accumulating $41 billion in debt. During the Internet boom WorldCom’s stock rose from pennies per share to over $60 a share  as ‘Wall Street investment banks, analysts and brokers began to discover WorldCom’s value and made “strong buy recommendations” to investors.’  During the 1990’s WorldCom evolved into the ‘second-largest long distance phone company in the US’  mainly due to its aggressive acquisition strategy. A cycle became apparent in the marketplace  where an acquisition was seen as a positive move by the analysts leading to higher stock prices of WorldCom. Consequently this allowed Continue reading

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Audit Theories – Theories of Demand for Audit

Audit refers to an examination of the financial reports of a firm by an independent entity. The separation of business ownership and management in modern society has created a need for accountability; causing the role of audit to change as the needs of stakeholders’ change. Audit, in itself, caters to the relationship of accountability; independent from other parts of the firm to provide a true and fair view of the financial reports of an organisation. Whereas, the ‘value relevance’ refers to the auditors’ ability and responsibility to provide reasonable assurance that financial statements are free of material misstatement, either due to fraud or error; or both. Audit theories provide a framework for auditing, uncovers the laws that govern the audit process and the relationship between different parties of a firm, forming the basis of the role of audit.  There are many theories which may explain demand for audit services in Continue reading

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Lease Financing in Lessor’s View Point

In normal situations, the lease decision has been evaluated from the point of the lessee in terms of the lease or buy decision. However, the lessor also has to evaluate the lease decisions from the point of view of his return. The lessor is financing the assets out of the funds procured from different sources, and obviously there is a cost of all these funds to the lessor. So, the lessor will like to provide lease financing only if the return from the lease is at least equal to the overall cost of capital of the lessor. The lease decision for a lessor is in fact a capital budgeting decision, where the lessor invests the funds in expectation of the returns in the form of lease rentals. The lessor will accept the proposal for the lease financing only if the NPV of the decision is positive at the required rate Continue reading

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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Banking: A Case Study of ICICI Bank

Focus on ICICI Bank’s Initiatives The use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in banking has gained importance with the aggressive strategies for customer acquisition and retention being employed by banks in today’s competitive milieu.   This has resulted in the adoption of various CRM initiatives by these banks to enable them achieve their objectives. The steps that banks follow in implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are: Identifying CRM initiatives with reference to the objectives to be attained (such as increased number of customers, enhanced per-customer profitability, etc.), Setting measurable targets for each initiative in terms of growth in profits, number of customers, etc. and Evaluating and choosing the appropriate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) package that will help the company achieve its CRM goals (a comparison of pay-offs against investments could be carried out during the evaluation exercise). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been deployed in retail banking. The challenges in Continue reading

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Defenses Against Takeover Bids – Anti Takeover Strategies

A firm having all or any of the following features may provide a temptation to an acquiring firm to take-over the former: The target firm has under performed other shares and the overall market in terms of return the shareholders in the preceding years. The target firm has been less profitable than other firms, and The promoter/owner group has lower shareholding in the target firm and the public has a higher portion. If an acquiring firm makes an offer for negotiated merger to the management of the target firm, it is up to the latter to accept or not to accept the offer. The target firm may not find the offer to be attractive and hence it may reject the offer. However, the acquiring firm may still persists with the idea either by making a tender offer or attempting a hostile take-over bid. In such a case, it is the Continue reading

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