J.C. Penney Gift Certificate Concerns Essays - E-commerce

J.C. Penney Gift Certificate Concerns J.C. Penney Gift Certificate Concerns J.C. Penney Company, Inc. has recently introduced a new point of sale (POS) system developed by NCR Corporation into their stores. In the first six months of operation, it has become apparent that there are unanticipated problems with the accounting and control functions pertaining to gift certificates. The new POS system does not provide for adequate tracking or control of the certificates on the sales floor, store level sales audit has inadequate procedures or data capture capabilities in place to track sales accurately and assign responsibility for missing certificates, and corporate accounting has no control over the gift certificate accounting on the store level and are constantly struggling to reconcile gift certificate information. Problems on the Sales Floor At the POS terminals on the sales floor, gift certificates are being stored underneath the cash register in a drawer with no security or control. The security and control of gift certificates has been overlooked during the drafting of the procedures for the new POS system. As a result, the security and control on gift certificates on the sales floor that had been in place with the old system has simply stopped. Employees are purely on the honor system. When sales associates ring up a gift certificate sale they have to key 1) the appropriate twelve-digit SKU from a list of 3 choices, and 2) a dollar value for the gift certificate shown on the face. For example, SKU #1 represented the $25 gift certificate, SKU#2 represented the $50 gift certificate, and SKU #3 represented the $100 gift certificate. After the sales transaction is complete, the sales associate must manually record the dollar value of the gift certificate on their cash audit report. During times of high volume, sometimes this final step is overlooked. Typically, the cashiers are just keying SKU #1 for any gift certificate sale and keying in the appropriate dollar value from the face of the gift certificate. The SKUs are not electronically tied to a dollar value. This is a limitation of the previous POS system that was not addressed during the testing stage of the new system. Therefore, the error rate is very high and discrepancies in gift certificate sales are common. At the close of the shift, an electronic cashier report is generated on the register that just shows a total dollar amount tied to a SKU. This electronic cashier report is returned to the cash room along with the receipts and the hand-written cash audit report. Problems in Store Level Sales Audit When the cash audit report comes back to the office with the bag of receipts and the electronic cashier report, calculations are performed on the manual cash audit report to identify the amount of gift certificates sold. This is compared to the electronic cashier report. If there are discrepancies, sales audit clerks are required to use the electronic cashier report as the correct report for auditing purposes. The dollar amount of the gift certificates sold is recorded on a monthly gift certificate log and a new running monthly balance is calculated. Any new gift certificates received from the corporate office are recorded on another log and the acknowledgement of receipt (from inside the book) is signed by a member of management and returned to corporate accounting. At the end of the month, records of gift certificate receipts (disbursements from corporate), records of gift certificate sales, and other accounting records are forwarded to corporate accounting for verification after a n attempt on the store level for reconciliation. Problems in Corporate Accounting Store managers are responsible for calling and authorizing a book of gift certificates to be dispersed for their store. When this occurs, the gift certificates are retrieved from the vault, the book number is logged, and the dollar value of the book is tentatively charged to the store. When the acknowledgement of receipt from the store is received, it is compared against the stores records, the charge for the gift certificates is confirmed, and then the acknowledgement is filed away. Once a month, corporate accounting receive sales audit information from the stores and attempts to reconcile, but typically have no better luck than the store level audit clerks. Analysis of Problem It is very evident that there

Predator Prey Lab Report Essay Example

Predator Prey Lab Report Essay Example Predator Prey Lab Report Paper Predator Prey Lab Report Paper Essay Topic: Catching Fire The Bean Eaters An adaptation aids survival by either decreasing a preys chance of being eaten, or y increasing a predators chance of obtaining food to survive and reproduce. Predators must fight for food. They face density-independent factors which are factors that limit resources, but they cannot be controlled; an example would be bad weather or wildfires. Density-dependent factors are things that can be controlled such as the amount of competition in an environment. For example, if a preys traits allow it to run faster, the predator must also have the characteristics to allow it to run fast enough to catch its prey. Many people confuse adoptions with evolution, but they are not the same. Adoptions are changes in an animal that happen in one generation, while evolution occurs over many generations (Modern Biology, 2006). Charles Darwin had a theory that was the opposite of adaptations. Charles Darnings theory of natural selection was basically survival of the fittest. When organisms reproduce and exceed the carrying capacity, the competition in the environment increases. Because of this, some organisms will not survive (Theory of Natural Selection). It was then that Darwin realized those organisms who were most suited for the environment were the ones who will live on and produce (Darnings Theory of Evolution). For example, picture two birds in an environment. One bird has a long beak and the other has a short beak. The bird with the long beak is able to reach into the holes in the ground and eat the seeds, but the other cannot. The bird populations with the long beaks will be able to survive and reproduce while the population of birds with the short beaks will thin out and eventually go extinct (Modern Biology, 2006). Problem: Which predators will be able to survive and reproduce based on their characteristics, adaptations to the environment, density-dependent factors such s competition for food, and density-independent factors such as bad weather or wild fires? Hypothesis: The spoon will be the predator that survives, reproduces, and dominates the population. If there is a competition between predators over a prey, then the spoon will easily be able to use its bowl-like shape to easily scoop up the prey. If the prey is hidden in the grass, then the spoon will be able to slide through the grass and scoop up any prey hiding. Materials: . 300 pieces of corn 2. 300 pieces of black beans 3. 300 pieces of lima beans 4. 100 pieces of pinto beans 5. Plastic forks with one tongue removed (Broken Forks) . Plastic forks 7. Small plastic knives 8. Plastic spoons 9. Tweezers (forceps) 10. A grass field approximately 15 meters square or a carpeted area about the same size. 11. Styrofoam 6-8 oz. Cups 12. Stop watch Procedures: 1. Distribute 100 pieces of corn, lima beans, and black beans onto the field. 2. Divide the class into 5 groups that are as close to equal as possible. . Give each member of one group forks, of another group spoons, of another group broken forks, of another group knives, and the last group forceps. (If there are no forceps available, the lab can be demonstrated with only 4 groups. 4. Every student gets a Styrofoam cup. 5. Instruct the students that they are individual predators with structural variations. The beans and the corn are the prey. The prey must be picked up with the feeding mechanism (forks, knives, spoons, broken forks, and forceps) and placed in the model mouth (cup). No scraping or pushing of the prey in the mouth is allowed the cup may not touch the ground area. The predators may, however, dash in and pick up any prey being pursued by another predator. Do not hesitate to intrude, any hungry natural predator would not. Hunting time will be 5 minutes. When the teacher or the wildfire comes around and touches any of the students, they must step out of the playing area for fifteen seconds. When told to stop, each student will tally up his kills. If a predator is in the process of capturing a prey when told to stop, he must drop it. 6. Repeat this process for each generation and make the proper adjustments required for each. 7. At the end of the lab, share your data with the class and add up the number of prey killed. Observations: In certain parts of the field, the grass was very tall and the prey that were in that area were very difficult to find. Because of this many predators ignored the grassy areas which caused a lot of competition for prey in the other areas of the field. Certain prey such as the corn was easily concealed in the grass because of its small size. However, in the dirt area, the color of the corn really made it stand out. Therefore, the spoon population was able to reproduce while the other populations began to thin out because they were not as well adapted to the environment, and they were not able to reproduce. Their populations decreased steadily and we can infer that they will eventually go extinct. Fig. 5 shows predator consumption. This graph corresponds to the Predator Population graph. In both graphs the spoon population increases while the others decrease steadily. Again, this is because the spoons were well adapted to the environment and they were able to get more food and reproduce. Another reason was the fact that when some predators starved to death or consumed fewer than five preys they became part of the spoon population. This was done to show how populations that cannot get enough food die off, and those who can continue to live and reproduce. It proves the theory of natural selection. Fig. 6 shows the population of prey. In all cases except for the lima beans, the populations increased. This is because the lima beans were the easiest prey to catch and all the redactors went after them in the first generation. Their population immediately decreased at a drastic level. Because of this, no more lima beans were thrown on the field to show they were no longer able to reproduce. However, for the second generation, the black beans and the corn population increased by one- hundred. This is because there were enough of them left to reproduce. In the third generation you see the corn population increase by one-hundred once again. This is because they were able to reproduce again. However, the black bean population did not increase, but a pinto bean population started at one- hundred. This was because the pinto beans were an invasive species and took over the black bean population. This caused the black beans to not be able to reproduce and their population size stayed the same. Conclusion: This lab was done to show how natural selection affects a predator-prey relationship. Only the strong and most adapted species can survive. The hypothesis was correct because the spoon population was the most adapted and over time became the dominate population. The spoon population was best adapted because it was able to easily scoop up and hiding prey and it was able to scoop up the prey easily in a competition. The spoons were the best adapted at capturing prey as well. The knife and broken fork populations went extinct because they were not well adapted to the environment or catching prey. It can also be inferred that all but the spoon population will also go extinct because they are declining steadily. In human examples, men are able to adapt to the heat by air condition and water. They can adapt to the cold by wearing heavy clothing and heaters. There should be funding to continue to save certain species because there are many species that cannot fend for themselves, but they are incredibly important to the environment. Letting natural selection wee out these species could cause great harm to humans and other animal. Reproduction allowed the spoon population to grow and dominate. It also allowed the corn survive and provide food for the predators. In this lab the experimental group was the predator and prey populations decreasing and increasing based on natural selection. The control variables was the area because it was not tested, as well as the time, and the fact that when you died you became part of the spoon population. The independent variables were the changes in population and prey consumption for each generation.

Individuals Differing in Gender Statistics Project

Individuals Differing in Gender - Statistics Project Example Relation with mother Satisfaction with self Max 4 5 3rd Quartile 4 4.25 Median 3 4 1st Quartile 3 3.75 Min 2 2 Table 2 displays the calculations required to be done to plot a box plot of the variable data. The calculations are done using standard formulae in Excel 2007 Table 3 Frequency Distribution of the variables Variable Key Frequency Relation With Mother Not in touch/no mom (1) 0 Not very close (2) 3 Somewhat close (3) 13 Very close (4) 12 Like The Way I am FALSE(1) 0 Mostly false(2) 1 Sometimes false sometimes true(3) 6 mostly true(4) 14 true(5) 7 Death of Someone Close Yes= 1 11 No= 0 15 Considered suicide last yr Yes= 1 2 No= 0 24 In Table 3, a frequency distribution of scores of various variables is provided. Thus it can be observed that no individual is observed to have no contact what so ever with their mother. Some or the other form of relation is maintained in all the individuals. Also most individuals are somewhat or very close with their mother. Table 4 Values of statistical calculations of the variable scores Variable Standard DeviationRange Interquartile Range Relation With Mother 0.816496581 4 1 Like The Way I am 0.792658109 5 1.5 Death of Someone Close 0.816496581 2 2 Considered suicide last yr 0.817862341 2 3.75 The standard deviation explores the spread of scores which is calculated by looking at the differences between individual values and the mean. Thus, with a small SD we would known that a lot of values are close to the average value. Whereas, a large SD would indicate that values...Thus an idea about the shape and distribution of the data is obtained. Hence for the variable of relationship with mother the clustering around score 3 corresponds that most individuals share "somewhat close" relationship with mother whereas a clustering around score 4 for satisfaction with self implies that most individuals are at most times satisfied with their own selves from the legend. In Table 3, a frequency distribution of scores of various variables is provided. Thus it can be observed that no individual is observed to have no contact what so ever with their mother. Some or the other form of relation is maintained in all the individuals. Also most individuals are somewhat or very close with their mother. The standard deviation explores the spread of scores which is calculated by looking at the differences between individual values and the mean. Thus, with a small SD we would known that a lot of values are close to the average value. Whereas, a large SD would indicate that values are generally further away from the average value. Here in Table 4 we observe a more or less uniform standard deviation of around 0.8 which indicates that all variables have scores distributed comparably. The range gives us an idea of the limits in which the spread of the scores is occurring.

Leading Global Workforce Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Leading Global Workforce - Assignment Example Unlike the past era of unitary entrepreneurship practices, the present day business in the international level requires a wide range of resources and quality management to ensure profitable business. Globalization has opened the doors for investors to set up their business at preferred locations without the worries about conventional barriers of language, culture and political differences as experienced in the past. As a result, more and more companies are coming forward with their share of interest in the international economic arena and are enthusiastic to experiment all possible methods to expand their business across potential regions of the world. Even though outsourcing provides a lot of opportunities to the leaders to find and test new talents at regular intervals, it carries the risk of inconsistent performance challenge at the macro level. As Hook (n.d.) points out, the new observations of business focus on outsourcing much beyond the traditional cost-cutting benefit and fin d it as a strategic device to ensure forceful impact on economic stability and growth. As a result, the companies in America have shown a steady growth in the share of their investment in outsourcing during the past two decades. By realizing the fact that the core competency of the company’s outsourced human resource depends upon its capacity to produce the quality result within the stipulated time, managers can convert outsourcing for competitive advantage. According to Forbes report by Mourdoukoutas (2011), the instability concern about outsourcing is primarily due to the unlimited expansion possibilities before companies to find new resource destinations, which eventually creates fear among the existing employees. Thus the insertion of vision and virtues of loyalty and relationship values can guarantee the success of outsourcing to a great extent. Outsourcing is vulnerable to operational issues such as differences due to changing managerial standards, chances of

The New Face of Poverty Essay Example for Free

The New Face of Poverty Essay Most people describe poverty as a lack of essential items, such as food, clothing, and shelter. When individuals are not able to afford nutritious meals, attend school regularly, or have access to health care, regardless of their income, they can be considered to be in poverty. The new face of poverty involves many people who are homeless because problems that arose, or unforeseen circumstances occurred, forcing them into these situations. In the essay, â€Å"The Untouchables,† Kozol wrote about the struggles and hardships Richard Lazarus and others encountered because of homelessness. Jo Goodwin Parker wrote a vivid first hand description about living in poverty in the essay, â€Å"What is Poverty? †. Lazarus lived on the street struggling to survive, where as, Parker lived in a house struggling to support her family. In New York, Lazarus either slept in a park or in a dilapidated hotel operated by a shelter organization. Other homeless people, unable to find room in a shelter or afraid of something within the shelter, seeked sanctuary in public transportation buildings, subway tunnels, or church doorways. Parker struggled to provide anything but the bare essentials for her family. She lived without hot water, soap, shampoo, hand cream for cracked red hands, or materials to do any repairs on the unkempt, decrepit house. Each night, she washed all the clothes her school aged children possessed, in cold water, hoping they would be dry for the next school day. Lazarus felt the American public looked at homelessness as â€Å"the rejected waste of society†(263). He feels the homeless were useful when performing menial tasks or donating blood. He thinks people living in regular homes may not complain about their current situation if they see homeless people and fear they could be in the same state of affairs. In the same way, Parker said, â€Å"Poverty is looking into a black future†. She feared for her children’s future imaging them being behind bars because they could steal for things they wanted. She also feared her children could turn to drugs and alcohol to escape the grip of poverty. She also feared her daughter may end up in the same poverty lifestyle. Parker also felt poverty eroded away one’s pride and honor. Both Parker and Lazarus landed in these situations because of circumstances beyond their control. Parker married young and moved to another town with her new husband. Losing his job forced them to move into a small rundown house in her old hometown. Parker’s husband worked a few odd jobs, but most of their money went toward food. After three years, and three babies, he left, leaving her to support the family. Lazarus received an education from a private military school, and then held a job in data processing for seven years. Lazarus then lost his job, his wife, his children, his home, and then became homeless. These two people exemplifies the new face of poverty. The attitudes of the American public toward helping Lazarus and the homelessness, and people like Parker living in poverty, have eroded. Kozol writes, â€Å"So from pity we graduate to weariness; from weariness to impatience; from impatience to annoyance; from annoyance to dislike and sometimes to contempt† (265). Treatment of the homeless in most cities have became harsh. An anti-homeless activist in Phoenix stated he was â€Å"tired of feeling guilty about the homeless†(Kozol 262). A columnist from a major magazine wanted the homeless evicted from the streets. When Parker asked for help, she received seventy-eight dollars a month to clothe, feed, and provide shelter for herself and three children. Attitudes toward the poor have evolved into indifference, or worse, hatred. In contrast, these essays are about the asperities of a man and a woman. The essay about Lazarus recounted the plight of a homeless man and the public negativity toward homelessness. Although this story portrayed one of misfortune, compassion for the fellow man was buried by those holding bias toward homelessness. The essay about Parker summarized the misfortunes of the life of a woman. This woman struggled to provide for her three children. Most of the people living in poverty are currently in this situation due to unfortunate circumstances.

Portrayal of Latinos in Film Essay -- Movies Films Latino spanish Essa

From the late 1800's to the 1960's, Puerto Ricans began to rise to recognition as a dominating influence, creating chaos in American society. This comment is based on the immigration of Puerto Ricans to America, and the problems it caused. Most of it began in the 1980's, when a great influx of Puerto Ricans flooded urban American cities in large numbers, creating chaos in the White House. This immigration happened to coincide with the downfall of inner cities as well as the youth, who began to show delinquent behavior paralleled by the decline in the inner city's stable structure. A general social decay was in the works, and a distressed Ronald Reagan staged one of the most endurable campaign stops against Carter in front of the run-down, burned down city of the Bronx. To compensate for the unknown disorder of American cities at this point in time, Reagan and many others assumed that the rise of the ghetto of Hispanic immigrants was synonomous with the deterioration of our cities. So it became Hollywood's task to create false images that linked society's decline ...

India’s Unsung Heroes of the Sports World

The games are starting. It's time to forget the roofs, the bridges and the crap – whether it's coming from dogs or the organizing committee. Indian sports fans can probably tell you Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday, hobbies and favorite music. But ask fans to name more than 5 people who are representing India at the Commonwealth Games and they will struggle. We all know Saina Nehwal and Lee-Hesh. Here are a few more that you may not know. Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis) – The 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner seems to be in a good position to bring home another gold. He's been in good form this year and has displayed the maturity and confidence that all winners possess. Let's also not forget he has been Indian number one for the past seven years. Pictured right. Ananya Panigrahi (Swimming) – She is not old enough to drive a car or even had her sweet 16th birthday for that matter, but this 14 year old will be the youngest athlete representing India in this years games. A medal may be difficult at her age, but you never know. Sushil Kumar (Wrestling) – If you don’t know this man then you need to read the sports pages more often. He just won a gold at the World Championships in Moscow a few weeks ago and seems like a dead cert to win the 66 kg category. A medal is there for the taking, let's hope it’s a shiny gold one. Vijender Singh, Akhil Kumar and Jai Bhagwan (Boxing) – This could be a gold rush for India. In the Commonwealth Boxing Championships in March our boxers picked up 6 gold medals, and there are three guys in the frame to do us proud this time. Top of the pile is superstar and crowd favorite Vijender Singh (Beijing bronze medal-winner), followed by Jai Bhagwan and Akhil Kumar, the Commonwealth 2006 Gold winner and infamously, the athlete whose bed collapsed at the CWG village. One final note: I’ve heard some talk of fans boycotting the games. That would be a disaster. If there was ever a time for fans to get together and support our athletes it's now. The first impression of the CWG has not been good, so let's make sure the lasting impression is a memorable one.