Green Marketing Strategies and Best Practices

Today there is a network of organizations or business entities manufacturing, or even marketing green products in an attempt to indicate safe environment concern. Green marketing involves the trading of products that are considered to be safe for the ecosystem or the environment. Activities incorporated in this process do not cause harm to the environment. Such activities may involve modification of advertisement, changes in packaging, production process, and product modification. However, the definition results in contradiction due to meanings intersections. Holistically, the nature of green indicates that in addition to retailers and suppliers, new stakeholders should be included. Such stakeholders include organizations such as NGOs, educators, community members, or regulators. Issues of the environment should equalize the principal requirements of the client. Green marketing has gained its popularity with time since there is an increasing trend in environmental appeals and the attractiveness of green products. In green marketing, consumers are Continue reading

Responsibility Centers

Responsibility accounting focuses attention on responsibility centers. A responsibility center is a sub-unit of an organization under the supervision of a manager who has the responsibility for the activities of that responsibility center. Each sub-unit has certain activities to perform and its manager is assigned the responsibility and / or authority to carry out those activities. Responsibility center is the segment of business with reference to which information will be communicated to pin point responsibilities. In the words of Anthony and Races, “A responsibility center is like an engine in that it has inputs, which are physical quantities of material, hours of various types of labor, and a variety of services; it works with these resources usually; working capital and fixed assets are also required. As a result of this work, it produces output, which are classified either as goods, it they are tangible or as services, if they are Continue reading

Types of Dividend Policies

The size and frequency of dividend payments are critical issues in company policy. Dividend policy affects the financial structure, the flow of funds, corporate liquidity, stock prices, and the morale of stockholders. The finance manager plays an important role in the dividend policy. The  objective  of  dividend  policy  is  to  maximize shareholder’s  return  so  that  the  value of his investment is  maximized. Shareholders’ return consists of two  components: dividends and capital gains. Dividend policies has  a direct impact on these components; A Low payout ratio  may produce higher share  price  because  it  accelerates earnings growth. Investors of growth companies  will  realize  their  return  mostly  in  the  form of capital  gains.  Dividend  yield – dividend  per share  divided  by  the  market  price  per share will be low  for such companies. The impact of dividend  policy  on  future  capital gains  is, however,  complex.  Capital  gains  occur  in  distant  future,  and  therefore,  are Continue reading

Reasons for the preference of VAT over Sales Tax

While theoretically the amount of revenue collected through VAT is equivalent to sales tax collections at a similar rate, in practice VAT is likely to generate more revenue for government than sales tax since it is administered on various stages on the production — distribution chain. With sales tax, if final sales are not covered by the tax system e.g. due to difficulty of covering all the retailers, particular commodities may not yield any tax.   However, with VAT some revenue would have been collected through taxation of earlier transactions, even if final retailers evade the tax net. There is also in-built pressure for compliance and auditing under VAT since it will be in the interest of all who pay taxes to ensure that their eligibility for tax credits can be demonstrated. VAT is also a fairer tax than sales tax as it minimizes or eliminates the problem of tax Continue reading

Cashless Economy – The Road Towards a Cashless World

A cashless economy is a system where payments are made by electronic means rather than using cash or check to pay for goods or services. In an economy that is “cashless”, a person would pay with plastic methods like credit cards, debit cards, or smart cards. This type of transaction electronically moves money from one account to another rather than using the traditional forms of exchanging printed currency or checks. Woodfords Model of Cashless Economy There has been much debate over Woodford’s model of a cashless economy by many experts in the field of economics. Most experts believe that although some of the ideas brought forth make sense, the model is still incomplete because, in real-world economics, central banks can affect nominal interest rates. In Woodford’s model, he assumes that this does not relate to the real-world economy. Woodford’s argument is that banks have committed themselves to straightforward objectives to Continue reading

Standard Costing as a Control Mechanism

Standard costing is technique of cost planning and control, based on scientific analysis of elements of cost in terms of standard input / output norms and standard rates / price per unit of input. The following process is involved in setting and practicing  standard  cost. Establish standard cost, component-wise, for each output Measure the actual cost, component-wise, for each output Their comparison with the actual costs and the measurement of variances. The location of responsibility for the variances and the corrective action to be taken. The analysis of variances for ascertaining the reasons for the same. Establishment of a Standard Costing System The installation of Standard Costing  System in a manufacturing concern involves the following steps: Standardization of Functions: All activities should be standardized and the technical processes of operations should also be susceptible to planning. Establishment of Cost  Center Classification of Accounts: The different accounts can be codified and Continue reading