Accounting

Q1
General Electric (GE) is the biggest company by assets and capitalisation worldwide.  It has interests in the finance, construction and media and is at the forefront of innovation. .  It continually shapes the world with ground breaking innovations.  GE is a giant with operations in over 100 countries and a work force in excess of 320,000 people (GE 2010).

In an effort to maintain its market leadership while at the same time ensuring growth in all its different aspects, GE employs an improved form of matrix structure that allows for the matching of both functions and products for success.  This has been designed so as to a support GEs focused strategy of imagination at work.  At the same time its organizational structure is aimed at maintaining coordination among products, functions and geographic area.  Some have called this a multinational design.

In line with GEs complex organizational structure is its organizational strategy.  It desires and strives at all times to encourage and reward imagination at work.  This is best captured in GEs devotion to availing quality and affordable health to all a possibility  Healthymaginanion, and its commitment to economic growth but not at the expense of the environment  Ecomagination (GE 2010).

This is captured in its famous mantra that What we can imagine, we can make happen (GE 2010).  With its huge work force, in an effort to nurture this strategy, it constantly engages in training and career development of its staff and is ever looking for ways to improve its organizational processes.  These have allowed GE to continue maintaining its aggressive commitment to leadership development across the world while providing utmost quality.  Its mission, vision and values are all designed and geared towards attaining this strategy.
Just like any other company operating in the world presently, GE is influenced by diverse external factors which are both environmental and cultural in nature.  Among the key environmental factors is GEs carbon footprint in the world.  This makes GE expend extra effort in developing processes that reduce carbon emission both in production of products and their utilization.  Additionally, in an effort to turn back the clock of environmental degradation, GE in its diverse operations, does take part in initiatives that are designed towards environmental regeneration.

GE is committed in its culture of continues improvement of mans opportunities at enjoying life.  In line with this, it encourages its employees to take time and volunteer in projects within the communities they operate in.  It is GEs considered opinion that it can grow economically even as it takes the lead in environmental conservation.  To further nurture this, GE operates a self financed foundation (GE 2010).  In it, GE strives to connect with people and make a positive difference in the communities it operates in.  Among its employees, GE has designed learning and leadership to be a continuous process of coming together to embrace change, developing skills to change things for better while getting energized about it all (GE 2010).

Q2
Mintzberg looks at an organization from the perspective that it is created by the unique avenues it takes in aligning its labour demands to desired results and gaining synergy from this. (Proven Models 2010). In his view of the organization, he perceives organizational ideology as the traditions, beliefs norms, values and culture that make the organization unique.  The organizational ideology thus cascades to the whole organization and offers guidance and leadership to all.  It thus sits at the top in the organizational structure.

Lean Six Sigma is a method of describing business processes.  It is a combination of the Lean and Six Sigma processes.  In combination, they enable the cost attributed to the complexity of functions to come down.  Lean seeks to maximize process velocity  achieving results in a much faster manner, while Six Sigma seeks to eliminate defects as defined by the consumer of the finished product  raising the level of quality of the final product (Pexton 2009).

Individually, they can not achieve much.  However when blended together  seen as complementary instead of as competitors, they are able to achieve a balance between quality and speed.  The Return of Investment Capital is faster as a result of using boths Lean and Six Sigma simultaneously and in combination.  The organisation adopting them is able to focus its energies on raising the quality of service delivered to the customer and this is measured by customer feedback.  Similarly, the company is able to achieve the enhancement within a set time limit.

In order to achieve a continuous process improvement with GE as envisioned by Lean Six Sigma, information gleaned from customers must be passed on to the relevant departments with speed and accurately.  With this information, the affected aspect of the product must have its quality improved.  With the knowledge of this, the front line GE employees, will confidently, promise to relay the customer feedback to the relevant people and in addition promise the customer to expect an improvement of the product.

This promise will be made in the knowledge that it will be fulfilled.  On their part, the manufacturing will be confident that they do get the right feedback from the customers via the customer service staff.  They will be confident as they act on the feedback that, that is exactly what the consumers want and desire of the particular product.  For both sets of employees, they will each play their part in improving the quality in a timely manner  Lean Six Sigma (Barnes  Walker 2010).

Q3

A
In every organization, information abounds.  Raw information may be useless to an organizational department until it is acted upon by another department then it gains value to the first department.  The Sourcing department will deal with information on vendors, suppliers, material delivery, quality performance, inventory, production schedule and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).  From this information, they will transmit to finance, information regarding to payments to be effected to suppliers and vendors for deliveries.

Also, any payments due to OEMs for any upgrades or repairs done to any equipment.  As the name suggests  Sourcing, they will be the keepers of all data regarding to any goods or services that has ever been used and where to get.  Additionally, they will from time to time act as the contact point between suppliers and vendors in case of any changes in the pricing and state of materials used in any form by the organization.

The finance department is the main consumer of financial information.  They will daily track engines within the overhaul process, track key business drivers, analyze and evaluate main drivers of engine profitability, report weekly labour issues, reconcile engine profitability performance to total business performance, monthly labour hour analysis and total profitability by month, quarter and year and cost and revenue accruals for engines.

The IT department will mainly require information on database maintenance, information systems design, implementation and documentation, usage of various packages within and without GE for both in-house and external task performance, organizational communication, production of data base reports, determining key business requirement in liaison with other levels of business, intranet development and improvement, hardware and software support and profile security and management of SAP system.

The HR on its part will require information on absence reports in order to better manage it, interns recruitments, contribute to the recruitment fair by amending job description and taking part in the selection process, work experience planning for students, arranging for mentorships and induction, updating employees on company events and news, taking the lead in the companies charity component, dealing with all aspects of the starter inductions, and administrative assistance to all employees leaving and joining the company.

In regards to the specific information required by different departments, the source will be in one of the other departments either as raw data or as processed data.  The finance department will report on the weekly labour figures from data given from HR department.  The sourcing department will source for goods and services once they are informed of the budgetary allocation from the HR department and what is available at a particular time.  The IT will require feedback from all departments communication in-house open and maintain and improve on the intranet.

 Similarly, the HR will require to know the amount available for charity work in order to make decisions on which areas to focus on and how much to give. There HR will require information on division of labour and job design, the finance will require information on cost centres and their consumption, the IT department will require information on the flow of information via the intranet and internet while the sourcing department will require information on consumption of resources.

B.
A Junior Financial analyst key objective will include, taking an active role in dealing with the accounts component in the job.  Ensuring that administrative roles are attended to adequately while making time to contribute in the daily business forecasting.  Contributing actively towards managing the TL expense process, while ensuring the balance sheet account is reconciled every month.  Tracking the profitability and reporting to business team while working with planners to adjust invoices when the need arises (Webber 1998).

Q4
The finance department in organizations is increasingly acquiring a very prominent and integral role in its daily operations.  It is no longer focused primarily on posting of entries in the system and preparing final accounts at the end of a financial period, rather this department contributes immensely to the overall value enhancement of the organisation.  Financial executive increasingly have to provide data that will assist the management make decision that will impact the organisation in a positive manner (Wunder  Mueller 2008).

Where accounts counts money, finance controls the money.  The finance department is in-charge of creating and clearly demarcation avenues the organisation will take in getting and spending funds.  In this it will use and rely on raw data from the accounting department, forecast on future expenses and sales.

Financial executives must expand their horizons and look at the financial information in totality.  Not necessarily relying on the traditional sources of financial information, they must as a point of professional development learn to widen their information source with the main aim of offering to the management operations and ways of arriving informed and strategic choices for organisations operating in complex and dynamic environments like GE.

As the economy has evolved so has the role of the finance function in an organization.  In GE, the management has chosen to reap the benefits that accrue using enterprise resource planning (ERP) in the operations of the company.  Since the system is designed to capture the inputted information and cascade its effect through out the organisation, it is no longer absolutely necessary to have totally dedicated financial department.  Critically, with ERP, it is increasingly easy for any user to undertake the updating function without them necessarily having a financial background and be anywhere in the world to do so.

Financial executives have seen a widening of their roles.  They are increasingly relied upon by other employees to offer guidance and avenues that will assist them produce bottom line enhancing effects in their endeavours (Wunder  Mueller 2008).  It is to be expected that in the long run especially as a result of the increased use of ERP systems, different functions in the organisation will capture their individual financial aspects.  In line with this, information previously captured in the formal fiscal-year reports will find a convergence and greater use in the management of GE.

Q5
An Accountant working as a Junior Financial Analyst (JFA) for GE is guided by ethical obligations that guide the industry players and workers.  These obligations will include those that guide

Competence
The JFA will have a responsibility to
Continually purse knowledge improvement in line with changes happening in the professional so as to perform duties better.

Follow strictly the rules and regulations as laid down while in the cause of performing the allocated duties.

After analysing the information availed and satisfactorily ascertaining as to its reliability, prepare comprehensive and straight forward reports with recommendations inline with ones mandate. (CFA 2005).

Confidentiality
The JFA will have a responsibility to
Avoid disclosing information that they may have come into contact with in the cause of their work unless on legal grounds or with authority from ones superiors.

When put in a position of responsibility and supervision, ensure those under ones supervision clearly understand the confidentiality concept and strictly adhere to it at all times.

Take great care not to use or be seen to use sensitive and confidential information that they may have come across in the cause of their work to gain financially or otherwise.  This applies to third parties who come into contact with the JFA. (CFA 2005)

Integrity
The JFA has a responsibility to
Declare any or perceived conflict of interest to performing duties well in advance.  Similarly, take extra effort to avoid such situations.

Take great care in their daily activities in and outside the office to keep away from activities that may compromise or be seen as compromising them and impeding them from properly performing their duties.

Decline any gift, favour or hospitality that would influence to would appear to influence their actions.

Go to great lengths to ensure the attainment of the organisations goals and objectives are not impeded by ones activities in any way.

Recognize and communicate professional limitations or other constrains that would preclude responsible judgment or successful performance of an activity.

Communicate unfavourable as well as favourable information and professional judgments or opinions.

Hold in high esteem and fight for the integrity of the profession at all time and by all means possible (CFA 2005).

Objectivity
The JFA has a responsibility to
Communicate information fairly and objectively.

Disclose fully all relevant information that could reasonably be expected to influence an intended users understanding of the reports, comments and recommendations presented (CFA 2005).