Автор: Пользователь скрыл имя, 12 Сентября 2013 в 21:58, доклад
Accounting shows a financial picture of a firm. It is the process of measuring and recording economic information about an organization. Accounting principles are applied in the preparation of financial documents. Bookkeeping is the first step of accounting. It deals with the record-keeping aspect. The analysis of these records is the primary function of accounting. Different financial statements prepared by accountants provide managers with the basis for further planning and control.
7.Money
Almost every society now has a money economy based on coins and paper notes of one kind or another. But this has not always been true. In primitive societies a system of barter was used. Barter was a system of direct exchange of goods. Somebody could swap a sheep, for example, for anything in the market-place that they considered to be of equal value. Barter, however, was a very unsatisfactory and wasteful system because people's needs seldom coincided. People needed a more practical system of exchange. Various money systems developed based on goods which, as people thought, had value. Cattle, grain, teeth, shells, feathers, skulls, salt, elephant tusks and tobacco have all been used as money. But precious metals took over because, when they were made into coins, they were portable, durable, recognizable and divisible into larger and smaller units of value.
A coin is a piece of metal, usually disc-shaped, which bears lettering, designs or numbers showing its value. Until the 18th-19th centuries coins were given monetary worth based on the exact amount of metal they contained in them. Nowadays the governments choose the face value to give to coins. Coins have been made of gold, silver, copper, aluminum, nickel, lead, zinc and in China even from pressed tea leaves.
Paper money is easier to handle and much more convenient in the modern world. But credit cards, cheques, banker's cards are increasingly replacing paper money and no wonder that in several years paper currency will no longer be used.
Money has 4 functions: a medium of exchange or means of payment, a unit of account, a store of value and a standard of deferred payment.
Money as the medium of exchange is used in one half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour for money, people buy or sell goods in exchange for money as well. People do not accept money to consume it directly but because it can be used to buy things, they wish to consume. Serving as a medium of exchange has for centuries been an essential function of money.
The unit of account is the unit in which prices are quoted and accounts are kept. In Britain, for example, prices are quoted in pounds sterling, in the USA in dollars, in Russia in rubles. It is usually convenient to measure the medium of exchange as well as to quote prices and keep accounts in. But the higher is the inflation rate, the greater is the probability of introducing a temporary unit of account alongside the existing units for measuring medium of exchange.
Money is a store of value, because it can be used to make purchases in future. For money to be accepted in exchange, it has to be a store of value. Besides money, houses, stamp collections, interest-bearing bank accounts serve as stores of value.
Money serves as a standard of deferred payment. When money is borrowed, the amount to be repaid next year is measured in units of national currency (pounds of sterling for the UK, rubles for Russia).
Thus, the key feature of money is its use as a medium of exchange. For money to be used successfully as a means of exchange, it must be a store of value as well. And it is usually convenient to make money the unit of account and standard of deferred payment.
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Every economic system tries to predict and then meet human needs through the production and distribution of goods and services. The economic system is the mechanism that brings together natural resources, labour supply, technology and necessary entrepreneurial and managerial resources. The type of economic system, used by a nation is a result of political decision. It is also a result of historical experience, over time it becomes a national culture.
Economics is a science that analyses for what purpose society produces. The central economic problem is to reconcile the conflict between people’s unlimited demands on the one side and society’s limited ability to produce goods and services on the other side.
In a command economy a central planning office makes decisions on what, how and for whom to produce. There was extensive planning in Soviet bloc countries. Everything belonged to the state and government was to organize all the production. The system was not regulated by prices. In recent years Russia and East-European countries moved away to more market-oriented economy.
In developed Western countries markets are to allocate resources. The market is the process by which production and consumption are coordinated through prices. Pure market economy has no government intervention. However, there are different forms of restrictions and regulations. Sometimes government limits profit of firms, controls prices and wages. In Britain, for example, eight basic industries are nationalized. Absolutely free market economy does not exist in the world, the level of economic regulation varies: in some countries it grew in recent years, in others more freedom was granted to firms and individuals. But in general, government regulation is kept on quite a high level.
Modern economies in the West are mixed – they rely mainly on the market but with a large dose of government intervention. The optimal level of it is a problem which is of interest to economists. Government does not regulate consumption, production and exchange of goods. Government and market are both of importance, but play different roles.
The economy of the USA proved to be a success for half a century. It is usually described as a capitalist economy. But this term meant the concentration of control over the most important parts of economy by a small group of capitalists. By contrast, most Americans perceive modern economic system as one which benefits millions of people not just a few. It is “free enterprise system”. Still government played an important role in American economy in different periods – it intervened to stimulate depressed industries, provided protection in the form of tariffs and sometimes even redistributed wealth. Government’s role ebbed and flowed according to the needs of the time.
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Trade is as old as history itself. In the beginning, people exchanged goods such as food and clothes. Later, they began to use money for buying and selling. But international trade only became important in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when many modern countries were formed.
In the seventeenth century, most governments had a very simple idea of trade. They wanted to sell as much as possible to other countries; at the same time, they wanted to buy as little as possible from other countries. This was called mercantilism, and it helped successful countries to become rich. For example, in 1651, the government of England made a new law called the Navigation Act: this meant that English ships controlled all the trade with countries in the British Empire. The French made a similar law.
In the eighteenth century, economists began to see disadvantages of mercantilism. Because every country was trying to sell more than it bought, countries were not working together. French and English economists told their governments that a trade agreement would be bеtter for both countries. In 1786, France and England made an agreement. Other countries made similar agreements, and trade became easier and cheaper over the next hundred years or more.
The beginning of the twentieth century was a bad time for trade. Many countries in the world were at war between 1914 and 1918. Later, the Great Depression of the 1930s made trade difficult. Countries no longer wanted to work together – they were only interested in their own economies. This “new mercantilism” made the Depression last longer.
In the 1940s, many countries decided that they needed to make trade agreements to help the world economy. In 1947, twenty-three countries made an agreement called GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). This made it easier and cheaper for countries to buy and sell goods.
Since 1947, the GATT countries have met every few years, often in Geneva in Switzerland, to talk about any problems they have with trade GATT played a very important part in the development of world trade for fifty years.
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(Additional topic)
Management plays an important role in any business. Management is composed of a team of managers who are responsible for organization at all levels. Their duties are: to make sure that company objectives are met and to see that the business operates efficiently. Most managers perform four basic functions:
1) planning;
2) organizing;
3) directing;
4) controlling.
Planning is the first management function because the others depend on it. Planning is determining all company objectives and deciding how these goals can be achieved.
Organizing, the second management function, is the process of putting the plan into action. This involves allocating resources, especially human resources. In this phase managers decide what positions to create and determine duties of employees. Staffing or choosing the right person for the right job, is also a part of the organizing function.
Direction and day-to-day supervision of employees is the third management function. In directing, managers guide, teach, and motivate workers so that they reach their potential abilities and achieve the established company goals. Effective direction or supervision requires constant communication with employees.
Controlling, the last management function, means that managers evaluate how well company objectives are met. In order to complete this evaluation, managers must look at the objectives established in the planning phase and at how well the tasks are completed. If managers have problems and organization goals are not achieved, then they make changes in organizational or managerial structure of the company. Making changes, managers go back and replan, reorganize, and redirect.
In order to perform these management functions efficiently, managers need interpersonal, organizational, and technical skills. Although all four functions are managerial duties, the importance of each may vary, depending on the situation. Effective managers meet the objectives of the company through a successful combination of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
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Answer the questions.
1. Does management play an important role in any business?
2. What is management?
3. What are the main duties of managers?
4. What are the four basic functions most managers perform?
5. What is planning?
6. What does organizing involve?
7. Describe the third management function.
9. What do managers do if organization goals are not achieved?
10. What do managers need to have to perform their functions efficiently?