Our Reliance on Computers :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"The society in which we live in has been so profoundly affected by computers that historians refer to the present time as the information age.† (Presley, 16) Comments like this show how computers have changed how we live, work, and play. For example, combined with the Internet, computers have incorporated many forms of communications into a universal one. The computer’s role in the world continues to grow in importance even as we sometimes take it for granted. We must realize how greatly computers have affected our lives. Computers have become such an integral part of our lives because we rely on them for numerical calculations, storage of data, communication, and technological processes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The idea of computing began at the start of civilization. The computer’s long history makes it, â€Å"†¦ one of the most interesting and important machines ever invented† (Anonymous). Computers are simply complex counting devices. The abacus was an ancient computer which used beads to solve math problems. The abacus was strictly manual and the desire for an automated machine grew. One of the earliest automated machines was invented in the nineteenth century when French weaver, Joseph Jacquard, created a loom that could be programmed. Large hole punched cards were used by the loom to create geometric patterns. Aside from producing beautiful patterns, the punched cards were later modified to become the main form of computer input. The system of punch cards led to the first successful semi-automated computer, a punch-card tabulating machine invented during the 1880s by American Herman Hollerith. It was used to tabulate the results of the U.S. censu s. Each punch card contained the data of each individual. Operators fed the countless cards into the computer. When the spring-mounted nails of the computer passed through the holes of the punch-card, an electric circuit was completed. As seen in diagram C, the results of each card were displayed on rows of dials. Hollerith’s company, the Tabulating Machine Company, was eventually sold and was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1911, which still exists today. The first electronic computers were very large and elaborate machines that required a lot of money to build and use. The entire computer industry might never have taken off without government funding. World War II created a need for the U.S. military to calculate missile trajectories quickly, so Dr. John Machly was hired by the military to build a machine for this task.

American civil revised

American civil war of 1861-1865 was the bloodiest war. The fight was between United States (the Union) and the Southern eleven slave states that proclaimed that they had their own rights to secession, thus, forming Confederate states of America which was headed by Jefferson Davis as the President. The United States termed as the Union was made up of Free States together with Border States that were under President Abraham Lincoln lead by the Republican Party. The republicans were against the spreading of slavery into regions governed by the United States (the Union); this increased the desires of secession by the Southern states.Nevertheless, the republicans refused to accept any secession rights from the Southern states. This then led to the civil war which broke up on April of 1861, when Southern States forces attacked a military installation of United States (union) located at Fort Sumter, in the South of Carolina, which was the very first state to secede. (Holt, 1978) Causes of t he civil war Many historians argue that the civil war was caused by slavery issues. However, there is no one simple cause of the civil war.The war was caused by complex issues including slavery, party politics, and sectionalism, misunderstandings of federalism, expansionism, economical differences and modernization during that period. All this issues contributed to the war. (Holt, 1978) Slavery Slavery is considered by many historians as the main issue that caused the war; other reasons were directly or indirectly related to slavery. Historian Holt (1978), said, as the 1850s went on, an exacerbating, exhaustive and basically pointless conflict about slavery continued to be the main topic excluding all other issues.As Abraham Lincoln a Northern politician by then pointed out, the issue of slavery was the most important issue than other issues, he further states that â€Å"indeed, so much more important has it become that no other national question can even get a hearing just at pres ent. † (Holt, 1978) The issue of slavery was in relation to competition by sections or states for the control of territories. The demand of the Southern states for a code of slave in the territories was an issue being used by the Southern politicians to divide the Democratic Party in to two. The division of Democratic Party ensured the election of Lincoln and also the secession.Though, Abraham Lincoln did not have immediate plans of abolishing slavery in the South, the Southerners all over the South conveyed fears about the slavery future in the South the moment Lincoln took over, leading to tensions that lead to war. (Holt, 1978) The Southerners were also concerned about economic loss and racial equality that they may loss. In accordance to the Texas Declaration of Causes for Secession, declared that those states that were not holding salves were proclaiming the degrading doctrine that all men were equal irrespective of color or race.According to this declaration, African peo ple were an inferior race. This issue of slavery contributed a lot to the civil war, the Southern states feared losing control of slavery to the federal government. On the hand the Union feared that the power of slavery was already controlling the government. This led to the civil crisis of 1850s. States disagreements about the moral issue of slavery; extent of democracy and the debate about economics of slave plantations labor over free labor caused political unrest in the states.This contributed to the Southern secession which triggered the civil war. (Levine, 1992) Political instability Political instability during that time was so fractured; this contributed a lot to the civil war. Cultural and economic disparities contributed to widen the political differences. Wars between the north and the south grew a lot more heated, particularly after 1850. Politicians and the judiciary of the two regions sent contradictory signals in trying to appease each other. However, all the two part ies were not satisfied.The Georgians (Southerners) felt that the Federal government which was mainly controlled by the Northern industrialists was not responding to their problems in their states. Thus, the Southern states started seceding, this could not be allowed by the Northern states led by President Lincoln. As a result the Southern states opted to use force by attacking the military installation of the United States (the union) the United States (Union) responded and the war began. Therefore, political instability was another cause for the American civil war. (Holt, 1978) Modernization fears by SouthernAnother cause of war was fear of modernization by the south, According to historian’s Foner (1970), when the North abolished slavery and started industrial revolution which resulted to urbanization, improved education and reform activities like abolitionism, the truth that out of eight immigrants seven settled in the North, added to the truth that the number of whites le aving South for North were twice as those leaving North to South, this contributed to aggressive- defensive political activities of the South. These political animosities enhanced the prevailing tensions between the two parts culminating in the civil war.(Foner, 1970) Other historians argue that, people who owned slaves were the highly modernized people in the South. Traditional people were the ones and this group included the middle class whites who had no slave or owned a few number of slaves. The South common people struggled for secession as they believed in a slogan of â€Å"freedom is not possible without slavery† they also believed that slavery led to social equality between whites. On the other hand the Northerners particularly the republicans did have a varied interpretation of the principle of 1776.This varied ideology is among the main causes of tensions between the Southern states and the Northern states and is among the many reason why the two regions had to figh t the civil war. (Foner, 1970) States’ rights The rights of states was another issue that contributed to the war, Debate on if the Union was the one older than states or the other way opposite fueled the on going debate on rights of states. The debate was on if the federal government was should have a lot of power over states or if the federation was just made up of sovereign states that had more powers than the federal, this argument added to the on going controversy.According to Stampp (1956), each part used rights of states arguments to their convenient position and changed positions when not convenient. Stampp (1956) points out that, Vice President Alexander Stephens of the South confederate as one example of the Southern states leader who termed slavery as â€Å"cornerstone of the confederacy† at the beginning of the war. The Vice President further said that, civil war was not in regard to slavery; it was about states rights when the Southern states were defeated. Thus, the issue of states rights created a lot of controversies that were among the many causes of the civil war. (Stampp, 1956) Who or what was to â€Å"blame† for the Civil War What to blame; Slavery The questions remains was the war about slavery? The answer is yes. So slavery was to blame for the war. Supposing that there was no slavery then the war could not have happened. Or supposing that, there was no disagreement about slavery issue, the South probably would not have felt that their culture was being threatened, and the Southern politician would not have sought to protect their â€Å"rights to secede.† (Stampp 1956) However, the war was not only about slavery it was also about the constitutional rights of the states, if it had powers to leave the Union. Though, the North never went to the war to stop slavery, nor did president Abraham Lincoln have an agenda of stopping the war ones he became president, it is clear the differences in understanding of the slaver y issue was a major contribution to the civil war. Being moral issue slavery caused division in political leaders of the South and the North and created the tensions that existed by then leading to the war.(Stampp, 1956) Who to blame; Politicians The main blame of the war goes to the politicians who were political leaders on both sides of the North and the South. The South depended on economic system that relied heavily on slavery, their leaders such as William Lowders Yancey of Alabama and Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina who was known as â€Å"fire eaters† knew that supposing the South lost its slaves, then, it would undergo hard social and economic effects that will ultimately break the economy of the South.(Stampp, 1956) Hence, any political activities that threatened the end of slavery in the South received the whole attention of political leaders of the South many of whom owned slaves and who were ready to go for war to ensure that their â€Å"rights† were protected. These political leaders were able to influence many Southerners that it was important to fight, in convincing the people their mainly justified the war by arguments which indirectly referred to slavery issue. The politicians of the North states were divided concerning the slavery issue and did not intended to go on war over that issue.However, they took a political stand of fighting when war came, similarly they can also be blamed for the war. (Stampp, 1956) Could the war be avoided? Ever since the end of the American war, there have been arguments on whether the war was inevitable or could be avoided. The question illicit different answers according to the perspective one is looking the issue from. The war was inevitable and was bound to happen. This is because the ideologies being held by the South and the North were different.In a situation where political differences are so pronounced it becomes hard for the two opposing sides to solve their differences amicable. Bas ing in mind that, what was at stake was a lot; economic consideration, freedom, democracy and the issue of slavery it could have been hard to avoid the war. In addition the politicians especially from the south felt threaten and had to assert the power. Basically unless there was change of ideology on either side war was inevitable. Conclusion The civil war of America basically occurred because of differences in political ideology brought about by slavery.Slavery was a moral and economical issue that created a big rift between the Southern states and the United States (union). Before the war, fractured political system resulted in widening of the rift. Another reason that caused the war was the need of states to have more freedom by seceding from the federation this coupled with other complex issues especially economic ones were the major reason why the war occurred. In addition politicians particularly from the South who felt that their culture was being threaten also contributed a lot to the war.As mention before slavery was the main cause of this who as one historian puts it â€Å"without slavery there would not have been a civil war. † (Stampp, 1956) Though, the war resulted in a lot of loss of life, damages and injuries, it greatly helped to correct the historical mistake of slavery and to emancipate the slaves, and bring equality and freedom to many slaves. References Foner, E (1970); Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men; Oxford press Holt, M. F. (1978): Political Crisis of the 1850s; Wiley, Levine, B (1992). Half Slave and Half Free; Hill and Wang, Stampp, K (1956): Peculiar Institution. Knopf

The definitions of Financial Management in Business - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1990 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Compare and contrast essay Did you like this example? Financial management can be defined by: The management of the finances of a business/organization in order to achieve financial objectives. Taking a commercial business as the most common organizational structure the key objectives of financial management would be as follows:- Create wealth for the business. Generate cash and Provide an adequate return on investment bearing in mind the risks that the business is taking and the resources invested. There are three keys elements to the process of financial management:- Financial planning Financial control and Financial decision making FINANCIAL PLANNING: Management need to ensure that enough funding is available at the right time to meet the needs of the business. In the short term funding may be needed to invest in equipment and stocks pay employees and fund sales made on credit. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The definitions of Financial Management in Business" essay for you Create order FINANCIAL CONTROL: Financial control is a critically important activity to help the business ensure that the business is meeting its objectives financial control addresses question such as:- Are assets being used efficiently? Are the businesses assets secure? Does management act in the best interest of shareholders and in accordance with business rules? FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING: The keys aspects of financial decision-making relate to investment, financing and dividends:- Investments must be financed in some way. However there are always financing alternatives that can be considered. For example it is possible to raise finance from selling new shares, borrowing from banks or taking credit from suppliers. If dividends are too high, the business may be starved of funding to reinvest in growing revenues and profit further. KINGFISHER AIRLINES: INTRODUCTION: Kingfisher airline is one of the seven airlines to be ranked as a five-star airline by the independent research consultancy firm Skytrax. They operate more than 375 daily flights to 71 destinations, with regional and long-haul international services. In May 2009, they also carried more than a million passengers, giving it the highest market share among airlines in India. They also the sponsor of F1 racing outfit, which Vijay Malaya also owns. Kingfisher airlines serve 63 domestic destinations in 8 countries across Asia and Europe. Their short haul routes are mostly domestic apart from some cities in south Asia, Southeast Asia and western Asia. All short haul routes are operated on the airbus A320 family aircraft ATR 42S and ATR 72S are used mainly on domestic regional routes. They have its medium, long haul destination in East Asia, South Asia and Europe. Its first long haul destination was London, United Kingdom. This was launched in September 2008. It has plans to launch new l ong haul flights to cities in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania with deliveries of new aircraft. All long haul routes are operated on the airbus 330-200. DEPT. FINANCING FOR A MEDIUM SIZED FOR BOTH THE SHORT -TERM AND LONG -TERM: SHORT TERM FINANCING: Short-Term Financing referring to any investment, financial plan, or anything else lasting for one year or less. Short-term investments and financial plans usually involve less uncertainly than long term investments and financial plan because generally speaking, markets trends are easily predictable for one year than for any longer period likewise, short term financial plans are more easily amendable, as a result of the short time frame short-term financial plans usually involve investing in short term securities, such as T-Bills or Commercial Paper. LONG-TERM FINANCING: Long-Term financing is describing a plan, strategy, security or anything else with a term of longer than one year, the exact number of year varies according to the usage. For example a long term financial plan outline investment and other financial goal for any time more than one fiscal year, while a long term bond has a maturity of 10 or more years. Anything long term involves more uncertainly than anything short-term because generally speaking, market trends are more easily predictable in the short-term. Thus, while planning for the long-term is necessary, ones plan must be flexible to account for its inherent uncertainly. EQUITY FINANCING: Equity financing is a term used for companys issuance of shares of common or preferred stock to raise money. It is also commonly done when its per share prices are high the most money that can be raised for the smallest number of shares. Equity financing also known as capital structure As we can see the equity financing or you can say capital structure of kingfisher airlines as shown in the chart. IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: The management of the finances of a business/organization in order to achieve financial objectives. Taking a commercial business as the most common organizational structure the key objectives of financial management would be to as follows: Create wealth for the business. Generate cash, and Provide an adequate return on investment bearing in mind the risks that the business is taking and the resources invested. IMPORTANCE OF CREDIT CONTROL WITHIN A FINANCE DEPARTMENT: A strategy employed by manufacturers and retailers to promote good credit among the creditworthy and deny it to delinquent borrowers. This will both increases sales and decrease debts, thus improving a companys cash flow credits control is an important component in the overall profitability of many firms also known as credit management. Financial control is a critically important activity to help the business ensure that the business is meeting its objectives, financial control addresses question such as Are assets being used efficiently? Are the businesses assets secure? Does management act in the best interest of shareholders and in accordance with business rules? VARIABLE AND FIXED COSTS DURING ECONOMIC DOWNTURNS IN KINGFISHER AIRLINES: Buying the big jets: fleet planning for airline FLEET SIZE ECONOMICS: Fleet size economic alliance due to a major shift in their strategic direction. Although it was not the case, it could have been disasters if Aer lingus had allowed their fleet strategy to be driven by their alliance partners only to find themselves compromised upon leaving the alliances. Airline undoubted reap revenue benefits due to alliance membership but true cost savings in big tickets items such as fleet acquisition may be out of reach for all but a handful of airlines. There will always be institutional obstacles, such as union issues and manufacturing pricing strategies, to airline reaping the fleet cost savings that might be apparent on paper. THE PROBLEM OF EXTERNAL FACTORS: Airline economics have always been affected by external factors, some of which are conditioned of the geographical area in which airlines operate and some of which just conspire to make difficult. The huge fuel price increases of the 2000s affected the entire industry and even those airlines able to hedge the majority of their fuel bill were simply postponing the moment when the higher fuel prices ate into profit margins. INVESTING SPECIFIC AMOUNT OF MONEY IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: There are three keys elements to the process of financial management:- Financial planning Financial control and Financial decision making FINANCIAL PLANNING: Management need to ensure that enough funding is available at the right time to meet the needs of the business. In the short term funding may be needed to invest in equipment and stocks pay employees and fund sales made on credit. FINANCIAL CONTROL: Financial control is a critically important activity to help the business ensure that the business is meeting its objectives financial control addresses question such as:- Are assets being used efficiently? Are the businesses assets secure? Does management act in the best interest of shareholders and in accordance with business rules? FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING: The keys aspects of financial decision-making relate to investment, financing and dividends:- Investments must be financed in some way. However there are always financing alternatives that can be considered. For example it is possible to raise finance from selling new shares, borrowing from banks or taking credit from suppliers. If dividends are too high, the business may be starved of funding to reinvest in growing revenues and profit further. PAYBACK AND DIVIDEND RATIO FOR KINGFISHER AIRLINES: PAYBACK RATIO: The amount of time taken to break even on an investment. Since this method ignores the time value of money and cash flows after the payback period, it can provide only a partial pictures of whether the investments is worthwhile. DIVIDEND RATIO: Five fundamentals reasons I am positive on dividends: Corporate earnings have significantly rebounded from their recessions level and are now approaching record levels low interest rates. Corporate cash on hand stands at an all time high payouts remain low, partly due to the speed of earnings improvements and the slower rate of dividend increases. Coverage rates, earnings dividends are very high. DIVIDEND AND PAYBACK RATIOS OF KINGFISHER AIRLINES: Dividend and payback ratios in RS.CR. JUNE 2007 MARCH 2008 MARCH 2009 MARCH 2010 Adjusted EPS -55.05 -18.64 -60.67 -48.5 Adjusted Cash EPS -51.81 -15.94 -54.22 -40.33 Reported EPS -30.97 -13.85 -60.5 -61.95 Reported Cash EPS -27.73 -11.16 -54.65 -53.78 Dividend Per Share 0 0 0 0 Operating Profit Per Share -19.37 -23.95 -20.8 -35.71 Net Operating Income Per Share 132.89 107.24 198.16 190.59 Free Reserves Per Share 15.46 2.68 -94.05 -167.98 Operating Margin -14.57 -22.32 -10.49 -18.75 Gross Profit Margin -15.55 -23.58 -13.02 -21.94 Net Profit Margin -22.92 -12.5 -27.43 -31.25 Adjusted Cash Margin -38.34 -14.38 -24.58 -20.34 Adjusted Return On Net Worth -209.52 -147.04 0 0 Reported Return On Net Worth -117.87 -109.29 0 0 Return On Long Term Funds -36.27 -36.52 -7.9 -23.99 Long Term Debt / Equity 0.98 3.54 0 0 Total Debt 2.38 4.95 0 0 Owners Funds 29.56 16.8 -63.14 -99.65 Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio 5.37 4.61 2.85 2.47 Current Ratio 2.33 1.71 1.09 1.34 Current Ratio (inc. st loans) 0.79 0.96 0.64 1.34 Quick ratio 2.2 0.87 0.52 0.57 Inventory Turnover Ratio 28.8 0 5,738.39 30.74 Dividend payout Ratio (net profit) 0 0 0 0 Dividend Payout ratio (cash profit) 0 0 0 0 Earning Retention Ratio 0 0 0 0 Cash Earning Retention Ratio 0 0 0 0 Adjusted Cash Flow Time Total Debt 0 0 0 0 Financial Charges Coverage Ratio -0.49 -0.63 0.02 -0.68 Financial Charges Coverage Ratio (post tax) 0.19 0.65 0.29 -0.3 Material Cost Component 2.55 3 0.97 0.8 Selling Cost component 0.99 5.83 12.97 0 Exports As Percent Of Total Sales 18.56 3.42 4.54 13.79 Import Comp. In Raw Materials Co nsumed 0 0 0 0 Long term Assets/Total Assets 0.01 0.03 -0.01 0 Bonus Component in Equity Capital (%) 20.14 20.09 10.26 10.26 PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT OF KINGFISHER AIRLINES: profit and loss account in RS.CR. JUNE 2007 12 MONTHS MARCH 2008 9 MONTHS MARCH 2009 12 MONTHS MARCH 2010 12 MONTHS INCOME SALES TURNOVER 1,800.21 1,456.28 5,269.17 5,067.92 EXCISE DUTY 0 0 0 0 NET SALES 1,800.21 1,456.28 5,269.17 5,067.92 OTHER INCOME 342.1 113.62 598.9 -333.3 STOCK ADJUSTMENTS 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL INCOME 2,142.31 1,569.00 5,868.07 4,734.62 Raw materials 45.94 43.79 51.19 40.89 Power and fuel costs 979.5 889.3 2,602.62 1,802.99 employee cost 247.72 244.96 825.42 689.38 Other manufacturing expenses 617.56 408.21 1,112.85 1,108.82 Selling and admin expenses 148.78 180.39 1,062.74 1,067.54 Miscellenous expenses 25.11 14.81 167.55 108.58 Preoperative exp capitalised 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL EXPENSES 2,062.61 1,781.46 5,822.37 4,818.20 JUNE 2007 MARCH 2008 MARCH 2009 MARCH 2010 12 MONTHS 9 MONTHS 12 MONTHS 12 MONTHS OPERATING PROFIT -262.4 -325.18 -553.2 249.72 PBDIT 79.7 -211.56 45.7 -83.58 Interest 466.05 434.44 2029.33 2,243.39 PBDT -386.35 -646 -1,983.63 -2,329.17 Depreciation 17.67 18.28 133.2 162.8 Other written off 26.25 18.31 38.39 54.49 Profit before tax -430.27 -682.59 -2,155.22 -2,546.46 Extra ordinary items 14.09 -0.97 0 31.28 PBT(post extra ord items) -416.18 -683.56 2,155.22 -2,515.18 Tax 3.4 -494.45 -546.38 -770.69 REPORTED NET PROFIT -419.58 -188.14 -1,608.83 1,647.22 Total value addition 2,016.67 1,737.67 5,771.17 4,777.31 Preference dividend 0 0 0 0 Equity dividend 0 0 0.00 0.00 Corporate dividend tax 0 0 0 0 PER SHARE DATA (ANNUALIZED) Shares in issue(lakhs) 1,354.70 1,357.99 2,659.09 2,659.09 Earning per share(Rs) -30.79 -13.85 -60.5 -61.95 Equity dividend (%) 0 0 0 0 Book value (Rs) 28.4 13.9 -83.88 -150.54 CASH FLOW OF KINGFISHER AIRLINES: Cash flow account in RS.CR. JUNE 2007 12 MONTHS MARCH 2008 9 MONTHS MARCH 2009 12 MONTHS MARCH 2010 12 MONTHS NET PROFIT BEFORE TAX -416.18 -682.59 -2155.21 -2417.92 Net cash from operating activities -552.58 -541.52 -645.78 -1665.09 Net cash from investing activities 119.48 13.82 206.63 235.13 Net cash from financing activities 993.68 -9.23 290.11 1964.55 Net(decrease)/Increase in cash and cash equivalents 560.57 -536.93 -149.04 34.6 Opening cash and cash equivalents 256.47 817.05 -320.91 171.87 Closing cash and cash equivalents 817.05 280.12 171.81 206.47 CONCLUSION: After doing a study of this project representing on Kingfisher Airlines, I have come to a conclusion that Kingfisher Airlines is one of the largest and most widespread airlines of the country providing its services not only in India as well as outside India also. It has alliance with many other airlines in this sector. Kingfisher Airlines offers world class services to the customer at a nominal rate. The national carrier takes immense pride in having successfully played a pivotal role in making various facets of India popular with the people of the world and acting as the countrys cultural ambassador. The airline uses the services of one of the advanced plans been operated in the world. To sum up I would like to say that Kingfisher Airlines is serving its customer in an appreciated way and going to be in the list of best services providers in coming years