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Assessment 1Steps 2-6Step 2: 3: Annual Reports:2018: : : : Keller UK7334251306830447675013049251714500130175000Come Friday when I opened up the Excel spreadsheet and scrolled eagerly through trying to find my company, I must say I was a-bit challenged when I saw the words Keller UK. To begin with I had been crossing my fingers and toes that I would get an Australian company. As I had watched the video on Assignment 1 Getting Started and had decided that an Australian company would make the process of entering my data into the Excel spreadsheet easier. I was even more challenged when my eyes followed the page across and I discovered they were a construction company. But nevertheless, research was one of my favourite aspects of school and I was ready to collect a range of sources.73342576200447675076200My Company, Keller UK.The first thing I did was read the Annual Report (I know it shouldn’t be in this part but it is relevant). And found in 2018 three workers died in three separate accidents. I noted that down and when began research went straight and typed in “Keller UK three deaths” but noting came up even remotely related. I changed my key words, browsers tried the Library, old newspapers, videos and could not find anything. I say this as that reflects my whole research journey with Keller UK, apart from one construction magazine and newspaper, they seen to stay away from the media. Nonetheless their own website had information but even then, their policies were extremely brief and through taking away the adjectives I did not reach the facts. This tells me that this company is very strict and doesn’t share a lot of information regarding incidents for the general public. But still I wondered how could they keep the media away from three deaths in one year?However, I had to go on. I decided to start fresh and find some of the reviews from workers about their experience. These can be found through . Through this source I had to shift through the bias and only take from quotes and statements that weren’t made too obtuse. From here I found that in the eyes of past employees, which may be biased sources, Keller was a stress-full place to work. Many others also stated that it was poorly managed and they carried out a lot of job cuts sporadically. Other stated that the company didn’t assist employees to grow in their career and many felt the company lacked diversity. After this I had no choice but to again browse their site and found that Keller UK is a company in which deals with geotechnical solutions. Unsure what that meant I conducted a quick search. Through I discovered that geotechnical engineering is science that connects the mechanics of soil to how we can manipulate the earth for our own applications. It is based around making the soil erode slower and limiting building movement through limiting ground movement. I found that this has many applications including, landfills, transport in roads and highways and to protect buildings against earthquakes. Something Keller UK did allow the media to publicise was its awards. Keller has been awarded and shortlisted for a range of impressive awards including three shortlisting’s for the 2019 Ground Engineering Awards and achieved a silver award for health and safety through the RoSPA awards. The RoSPA or Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents began in 1916 and aim to provide awards that recognise companies improving the safety of work environments. From this I had to search their work, health and safety policies and produces. I was quite impressed; Keller UK has a zero-incident goal in which no accident is repeated. They have safety briefings each week which has led to a number of programs focused on lowering safety concerns. They also make their managers and supervisors accountable for safety issues, personally I believe this is a great idea as it means the managers encourage safety not just getting the job done as fast as possible. Keller UK have many markets including commercial, infrastructure, power, residential and government markets. Keller is based in the United Kingdom’s however has companies and groups in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, North America and South America. Keller’s range of solutions can be found at this includes:Ground ImprovementGroutingPiling (required when soil can’t handle the weight placed onto it)Earth Retention (helps stop earth movement)Another item I found in the reviews of workers was that one of the graduates included in a graduate program stated they hadn’t been moved around the company groups as promised and the management did not help them to succeed. I went straight onto their website and found two articles related to graduate programs these can be found at and .From these articles I learnt Keller does in fact have a specialised graduate scheme. Keller takes on students completing a university degree in either civil engineering, engineering geology or applied geology. It is a five-year course and the students attend university a week every month. The program is aimed at the students being incorporated with the Institute of Civil Engineering and learning hands on. They are assigned to a specific role and sector in the company, however after are promised to be moved around the company.From this research onto their site I have also decided Keller is aimed at providing share-holders maximum profit, which may be because of their need for the financial assistance. In many of Keller conduct codes and values included are ways in which the company try to maximise shareholder profits, such as using cheaper material and practices. Shareholders are an important part to many businesses; however, shareholders only make money when the company does. Although in Keller’s justification for why they should use the cheaper products and practices they state it is because of the shareholders I do believe it may also have something to do with increasing the companies own profit. From, . From these I read a 2011 article, which stated operating loss in Keller went from 2.7 million pound in 2010 to 3. million-pound loss in 2011. Keller had to close down an office completely. It then compared the sectors of Keller and I found that my company sector, UK, in 2011 reported a 3.7-million-pound loss with a revenue of 54 million pound, in comparison the American sector in which reported a profit of 12 million pound and a revenue of 471 million pound. From this I then tried to find some type of information from the media about Keller, I found a great UK newspaper called CIOB Website of Chartered Institute of Building I read two articles from this site, the first article found at Keller had just won the largest of their contracts recorded in Algeria. This is a power plant and links to my initial research on their site as they stated one of their markets where power and now, I know why. The third article found at was the most relevant, 2019. It reported that Keller had again reported a loss of () 13.8 million in 2018 and had to cut 700 jobs. However, they were charged for the way they cut the jobs and fined, overall the job cutting cost the company, 61.4 Euro million. Another interesting thing I found was that my sector, UK, only represents 3% of the group revenue. If told this at the beginning of my research I would not have cared, however strangely I really do. I came into accounting wanting to focus on helping small businesses grow, however now I find I am also interested in larger businesses. KCQ’s on Keller’s 2018 Annual Report:Looking over the Keller UK’s 2018 and most recent Annual Report I though wow, this will be work. I knew I didn’t have to completely read what was the over 140-page document I had saved to around three places just in case, however I knew I would still need to read a fair chunk. I like to complete my KCQ’s through printing them off as that is how I had read the last three chapters. However, I was unsure how the library ladies would take me printing a document of that size. So, I did the single thing I had never done before, read a document (over 2 pages) on my laptop. Mine is touchscreen so I could highlight the document as I would a printed version. However, I was worried on how engaged I could really be with an Annual Report I was reading on my laptop. So, I began the first key concept poked its head out mainly due to its integration into chapter 1’s reading notes. My key concept is the “construction market is becoming more digital.” This concept relates to how the introduction of digital technologies is improving the efficiency of many sectors, especially business. These include the new accounting technologies of Xero In Keller UK’s financial statements. Also automated machines and programs would increase company’s efficiency, meaning less value lost in mistakes. Technology has the issues of taking away jobs and value essentially from our countries through workers, however gains value for the companies. This reminds me of the re-arranged accounting equation, Assets Expenses=(Equity+Revenue+Liabilities) where when we increase one side such as credits, we decrease the other, debits to balance the equation. This is what technology is doing in many businesses, taking away but gaining value in different sectors. I agree to this concept and was excited to how it relates to the re-arranged accounting equation. I do believe though with some regulation, negotiations could be made that balanced the use of technology and jobs. I believe we can all relate this concept back to our life experience, going through school, my generation were a part of the real transition phase of having technology take over how we were educated. We went through school not with-out technology but not with only technology. I did work experience for one week at a school and was amazed by how much technology was being in-cooperated into the education sector. Again, I also work at a local supermarket, where we do not have self-serve registered but I visited another town and was amazed that they had incorporated the self-serve technology into their sectors. I have read the articles and although these systems take away a lot of part-time jobs, value is gained in the business. “The committee is authorised to fulfil its duties,” by committee they mean the financial committee and this leads to my next key concept. The financial committee ensures that all records are kept carried out properly. This makes sense due to accounting having no over-all government regulations. This means accountants and the sector must ensure they are regulating them-selves and others to ensure our profession has credibility. As any accountants, Keller’s financial committee must correlate to of course the law, Australian (AASB) and International (IFRS) accounting standers. These standards include that the accountants must provide as accurate reports as possible. This may also include creating specific purpose financial reports which don’t have to comply with the above principles or general-purpose financial reports which do. I am challenged by this concept but also, I like how being an accountant isn’t about pushing rules but maintaining rules and standards to ensure credibility and nobility in our profession. The main questions I have about this concept are how could we create more accounting bodies that have government power to keep up the credibility. Although I am sure Keller’s committee uphold all the principles companies can always place pressure on accounting groups to have certain outcomes. I work in a small business, where we aren’t continually monitored but you still carry-out your work to the best of your ability. This isn’t only because me doing my job effectively leads to a successful outcome for the owner but also it leads to a better outcome for myself. As the bigger the business is the more workers that are employed and the easier my job becomes. This is the same as accounting by carrying out our profession to high standards and applying it to all principles to lead to higher credibility in our practice which leads to that needed trusts where a business will trust that we will help them to grow. From here I found some interesting figures that were not key concepts but I believed they are a reflection of how successful my company is. I have found that my company is dropping in total equity. In 2015, the equity of the company as 334 Euro million to 103.7 Euro million in 2018. I find this interesting and I need to research why this company is losing so much throughout the years. I know that in business there are a lot of profit and losses throughout different years, however the continued inclined in my companies’ profit is worrying to the company’s future. After this I decided to continue through my KCQ’s. With my next key concept being the importance of communication. I found this on p 39 where Keller UK state that they collaborate across different boards to bring what they describe as “the best of Keller” (Keller UK 2019). Collaboration is all about bringing people and resources together from different fields to fix a limitation. We do this collaboration to be able to bring together resources and knowledge not able to be accessed through only one entity. Collaboration also brings in that communication as in many instances collaboration of these different companies doesn’t include face to face collaboration. From here we bring in the communication technologies and the importance of this unit for our future career success in being able to collaborate with different groups. I am excited by this concept as I know through completing this unit at school, I have these skills that will be applicable in my career life. My main questions would be whether Keller UK’s communication would be just in its own company or also with other companies in this sector. In my own life and the reason why, I refer back to communication when talking about collaboration is that for all sciences, we have to complete a Science as a Human Endeavour Task (SHE). This task makes students cover four scientific aspects, one being collaboration and communication. I had to go out and talk to teachers from different subjects when it came to many of the parts I needed to do to complete my assignment. The tasks were affected and really engaged us as active leaners to complete the four aspects and work together to do so. As a part of this I learnt how not all resources I would need to complete my projects could be given to me by my science teachers. As I was doing all the sciences my SHE assignments I found that I got those four aspects permanently carved into my head. collaboration is important as it is something all of us are not just doing now because it is a part of the assignment but because it is going to help with our professional careers. After doing finalising this key concept I decided to complete my research on my company. After completing my research, I posted about my company here . I also looked at other blogs who had posted about their company and found companies such as Loreal Paris, other construction companies, companies that use chemistry and a range of others all around the world. Through this I got a grasp of how varied business really is and how many different businesses there are. The main difference between my own company and others is that mine is the leading geotechnical solution company and isn’t a very common business. Many others businesses fall into the same categories but mine is completely difference. Semilattices I found were that many others businesses were in the United Kingdom as well as mine. I would have preferred to be given an Australian company as I am concerned that it will be difficult to change the currency in Excel.The next key concept I found was that the company stated in financial reports that they included in the reports liabilities that had not loss cash in that period as a loss to value. Taking from Chapter 2’s notes and my lecture I believe this links back to accrual accounting. This accounting is when we record a change in value in that period and take into account every aspect that was taken to make that value. This may not include when cash moves through accounts but instead includes when value is used or transferred. For Keller may not have to pay their electricity bill every week or day but they do record the (loss) change of value that using the electricity would use weekly and daily. This is done so that financial reports can be made that reflect the true change in value in a business for the general public. My main fresh insight is that we should as accountants make guidelines as without a physical bill (contract) a business cannot be certain. This is fine for businesses that are stable due to having the years of experience to make those assumptions but these assumptions can be very difficult for small businesses and new accountants to decide on. Such as for Keller UK as they have been around for years, their assumptions would be based on guidelines that would mean their assumptions and financial reports should have high accuracy to the realities of the business. This concept is in my electricity, power and gas bills and whenever I pre-pay for my bus ticket. However, I guess we all have experience of not having to make assumptions about our financial; positions. We all have it think ahead about how much we are paid how much we need to put away for bills, insurance and just everyday costs. When my sister moved out of home, she struggled with trying to assume how much she would need to put away on a weekly schedule for things like power and assurance, but after a while she can know effectively make those assumptions. Accrual accounting is just about knowing the realities of a business value at that single point in time, even if it means making assumptions. Well with the Key Concepts and Questions all finished off I feel ready to finish of the rest of this assignment and look further into others companies.Studiosity:I was actually extremely glad when I found out we where able to use these sorts of additional help with our drafts. I guess that still being in school I found it odd to not send the teacher/lecturer a draft of my work, this is something I did and do throughout school for as long as I remember. I guess that is because I am always afraid my work is not going to be what it needs to be. So, I did like how we got that little extra help in which was incorporated into our assignment.So, after a quick edit of my step 3 I decided to send in a draft. I was surprised by how easily the system was to use. AI also liked how I could select the areas for the reviewer to look at, so they were to wasting their time looking at an aspect not relevant to this assignment, like detailed referencing. I was surprised at the quickness as well as I sent in the document at 9:00pm on a Sunday, 9:30pm in Queensland, and got my document back at 6:30 am on Monday. Whilst scrolling through the document I was surprised at the level of detail and explanation in which occurred in my draft. I especially liked how my reviewer, Roxanne, explained the why to these points. She gave a high level of detail and clarity in the different ways I could improve my documents fluency. I decided to post about my experience with Studiosity found here . This was extremely helpful for myself but I know some others found it stressful trying to finish off a draft with time to send to the Studiosity team and then comment about their experience. I did find that those that did send in their drafts appreciated the help.I would use the writing feedback support in Studiosity and plan to send in a lot of drafts throughout this unit. I believe support services are amazing and if you are organised enough you should take advantage of these free support services. I am doing a university two years before most do and even more before than many others begin university. I know this has the positives of I don’t have kids or real family commitments but I need all the help and support I get. I come from a small community school and I understand how hard finding these sorts of support services are, I know how hard it really is to do your lessons alone and try to find help when no teacher knows anything about your lesson. If I am given a free support service in which will not only improve my assignments but also my skills, I will use it. I appreciate that the University has gone out if its way to support its students in so many ways and this is one. Comments on Others Blogs:I decided to look over others blogs during a lunchbreak as I wanted to ensure I visited all listed in the blog forum section in Moodle before I chose my favourites. Looking over the blogs was a great way for myself to begin communication with many distance students like myself. I believe this step was a great for my-self as a distance student as I cannot have any face-to-face communication and was daunted to post a lot on the Facebook page. I also made myself review my own blog and changed how I saw my blog from just being a medium to receive drafts from to a medium where we can give advice without being afraid of being copied. To choose my favourite three blogs I had a system. I decided to judge on set-up and how easily I could reach points in the sights (blogs), design and the quality and quantity of information. Favourite Blog no.1: soon as I went onto this blog, I was amazed, it ticked every box. Not only had the author paid close attention to detail in which was portrayed through her blog, she had her main information broken up into easily accessible links in Home, About and Blog. This made it easy for myself to find the content, and her content was amazing. Every section has some catching subtitle that immediately draw in your attention whether you were having lunch or a quickly reading during a lesson break. And after those titles came the such high quality and high quantative information. You can tell the author, Louise, had put not only effort into her blog but herself. This is so important as through reading her blog I was engaged enough to keep reading it no matter where I was or what I was doing. I felt as if she really put her emotions into her writing in which was fantastic. Even in her about she includes the mornings daily activities and we get a glimpse of what her life is like. It is remarkable as through this paragraph you feel as if you are meeting this person whom you have never even seen. It is amazing how she has done this as I myself struggle to be comfortable to include the necessary information.However, through this source I have learnt the importance of personal stories through understanding their effect on the reader. This then made me realise the importance of including these personal stories in KCQs, in which I struggled to includeNo.2 second favourite blog had to be Sarah’s. Her blog had a great design and I appreciated her colour and theme along with her incorporation of the visual aids such as the images. It would be illiberal to state Sarah hadn’t put any effort into her blog due to the amount of high qualitive writing on her company and introduction.I also felt as a reader engaged with the author’s writing due to the authors willingness to draw on life experiences. This could be found when she talked about her company and that she used the products. That simple sentence engaged you as a reader as if the author didn’t include her own personal stories you would be lost in the words not engaged with the words. The only improvement would be to implement side bars/ hyperlinks to separate pages to make the blog easier to use. Overall though, Sarah’s blog was amazing and made myself go back and review my own blog and work to try and heighten its quality. This is why I liked this blog, because it helped myself who had never made a blog understand key components. No.3 My third favourite blog was Gemma’s. Her layout was well done and she even had side bars in which you could leave a comment or subscribed. She just didn’t have as much on her blog as the two bloggers above. I also liked how she had the assessment due dates and the number of days left as it acts as a constant reminder to her readers. This was a useful visual aid in which drew the reader’s attention. Other visual aids she included were images of a boat, which I liked as it made the myself understand her feelings about the course and how she sees it as a journey. Her introduction was engaging and thoughtful. I also liked how she included her experience with blogging and used metaphors drawn through images and quotes of a boat. This engages the reader as I am reading more than just a basic introduction with key points but instead a part of the authors life. After writing these I then went on the blog links forum in Moodle and posted replies on their blogs.-29527525908000Louise:-29527528898200Sarah:Gemma:-2952759144000Other Communication:95250157670500Being a distance student, I had to use many mediums to carry out communication through. As I was researching my company, I was having difficulty finding information so I posted who my company was on Facebook and asked if any-one had other ideas of places I could get information. It was actually successful as someone said to try UK newspapers. So, I found key times and dates that Keller outlined on their website and searched those dates on the UK newspaper. I then found a few articles on different points of views on those events. This communication assisted and drove my research from being a process focused on really only what the company’s website stated. To the place I was able to use a range of sites and from that knowledge critically analyse Keller’s financial statements.I also posted on my blog about my company, this is shown in . 359791064770000-7620064706500I also replied to a lot of posts and queries as I knew through posting on the page and my blog the value of others information. I commented on a few posts on Facebook and a few that were on the blog link’s forum. I did this as I believe it is important to help one another succeed. Step 5 KCQ’s:Glancing over this week’s readings I was a bit worried about having to write a another set of KCQ’s. Feeling a-bit behind due to technical issues based on Chemistry enrolments and formal. However, I opened up the chapter and prepared the highlighters and the sicknotes and opened the Tim-Tams, feeling ready to go:I don’t usually include the introduction part of the chapter in this writing. As usually it is only a summary of the main parts. However, I opened up Chapter 2 and what I read just made sense to me. The key point was how many different people want to know the business value. This doesn’t only include those who earn the right to know the businesses value such as managers, or those whom need to know due their own financial security such as workers or the bank. Those that may assist the business to grow through shareholders or certain investments. Even government bodies want to know to ensure that the company is paying tax. Also, from my own experience I know that people whom don’t even need to know also like to know the economic and value of a business. Mainly because, especially in a small town, strong businesses and essential businesses are wanted to be kept by town members. Because business isn’t just a simple transaction or numbers of a page it builds communities through its own business. Businesses grow communities through sponsorship of clubs and donations to charities and programs. I strongly agree to this concept and how the concept is portrayed to use. By listing the vast number of groups, the reader gains the understanding of the amount of people effected by business. The main questions I have are how could we make accessing information more suitable for both parties. For instance, if I was a bank, I would want to know the average of the equity of the business as well as its liabilities and expenses. As if I was a member of the general community, I may just want a basic summery of the yearly equity. My main relations back to everyday life is through when a person who rented out a business space in the main street that had a business close down got told that she had to find someone to fill the space by a member of the community whilst ordering her coffee in front of me. This exposed me to the way many in communities believe business need to work for them to improve their community. My next key concept was found in 2.2 on page 2, the concept is “there are too many shades of grey in the real world for rules”. As soon as I saw the “shades of grey” reference I was hooked. There are too many different aspects of the world to treat everyone the same. To have equality in rules doesn’t necessarily mean having the same rules for everyone but instead having the right rules for everyone so they are equal. For instance, in accounting we have Reporting Entities in which due to their size and ability for that respectable difference between mangers and the accounts/accountants. Because of this ability they must complete general purpose financial reports that comply with the principles and standers including the Australian Accounting Standers and International Finical Reporting Standards. As smaller entities that don’t have such a distance between the mangers and accountants, they are not expected to produce these reports. This is fair not because the rules are the same for everyone but because the rules are equal for everyone. I am in such agreeance to this concept and I love how it isn’t something idealist but something in practice. I am also excited as I get this concept. My main questions from this concept are what are the other differences experienced from smaller entities/firms to those larger entities/firms. I also think this concept is important as it brings in the real-world side where life isn’t a list of rules, rules change all the time to be fair. For instance, the rules about voting were changed to be made equal even though it meant they didn’t apply to everyone in the same way. I firstly relate the above “shades of grey” concept to Jodie Picoult. I began reading her books at 13 and I loved all of them and mostly because of how she emphasises this concept. I never believed in “shades of grey” before reading her novels I believed rules should be followed and equal for everyone. However, Jodie Picoult taught me fairness did not mean equality. Equality so important in many scenarios however no-one is ever treated the same in the real-world. For instance, in my part-time job at a take-away store when I was training a new worker, we did not do equal levels of work but that didn’t mean it was un-fair. However, when working with some-one fully trained it was oily fair we did equal levels of work, which again didn’t happen. But fairness and equality aren’t rules, there not something you can gather the world leaders and write down on a piece of paper. Both are almost alive; they change and bend and break difference for everyone if every different situation. The next key concept was accrual accounting in 2.3 found on page 7. Let’s just say as soon as I gazed on the title, I knew that this reading may be an a-accrue-al process, sorry couldn’t help myself. Accrual accounting relates back to our week 1 reading as it is all about the real value of a business. It isn’t about cash changing hands but instead the real value of a business at that time or in that period. Accrual accounting is assumptions about costs involved and lacks accuracy due to that aspect. Accrual accounting is necessary to record more accurately the realities of the firm in a period to those interested in the value and realities of the firm. For instance my company Keller UK throughout their geotechnical construction work would have to record different costs based on assumptions in period even if they haven’t had to pay them yet This would include workers’ pay, electricity, water and other fees they would have to include as liabilities/losses in their accounts even if they haven’t yet paid the company and loss the funds. I am challenged by this concept but getting more excited about it as I begin to understand the concept more. My main questions were how do businesses make these assumptions, are there a list of rules or regulations. I also wonder whether there could be guidelines for newel beginning businesses so they understand the different rough costs. In my own experience I have had a lot more experience with this concept as I had first believed. This concept sis used throughout my life where businesses cannot ensure equity when I have pre-paid for something such as a bus until I physically use the service. The final key concept had to come from 2.4 on p9. “Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out… what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality”. This quote from Peter Drucker explains that we only help our customer and give them the product and service they value. Just giving a customer a product or service isn’t enough, we need to give them the product or service they want and need. For instance, in accounting we can complete tax reports and superannuation, but we need to use those reports to give the business the information they need to grow. Only then is our service as accountants valuable. I am in agreeance to this concept, as accountants we need to not only provide those reports but use them to guide the businesses growth. The main questions I have are how could we better train accountants to give this service of advice over reports. In my own experience I have been on both ends of this chain. Living in a small town especially you naturally expect more than the product and when you don’t get that extra you just feel as if you have been ripped-off. For instance, I use to go to the towns doughnut van and they always gave me an extra cold doughnut fir my dog. So, I became to expect that is what gave me value to keep going there. One day I didn’t get that free doughnut and even-though I had entered the contract of buying the donut and they had filled the contract by supplying me the donut what I saw as value wasn’t given. On the other hand, in my job at Foodland we give handouts of groceries to cars. If we don’t offer a handout many will complain as they feel we have not fulfilled that value. I then began to flick through chapter three, feeling ready to go. My main key concept was one of Martins statements, here he stated how the balance sheet will fit one page but the footnotes will take up more space. In one of his examples a balance sheet statement took up not even two lines in a column but the footnote took up around two pages. This states the single facts only take up a small part of our understanding. Anyone can read numbers on a page, but it takes a lot more understanding to comprehend the true value of the numbers. I believe this concept was so important as it is a focus of this unit the why is the footnotes in this scenario whilst the basic facts are the statements in the balance sheet. The balance sheet statement understanding is rote and passive learning, whilst the footnotes are the active learning and the comprehension parts. My reaction to this concept is excitement that I was able to link this statement to the Rote and Active learning concepts. This concept gave me the question of how many other aspects in life can also be connected to the two Active and Rote learning. Throughout my own life, and of course school I have mostly Rote learnt without any issues or questions. I guess I also rote learnt many aspects of my job, I never really cared for my we do things but instead I just did as I was told. I had always I guess just went along without really taking the time to engage or even read a lot of material. For instance, every single discount club, social media or game platform that I sign up to has a terms and conditions section we, us agree to. I rarely only read the first page and click sign up. Because that is what we are all use to, we don’t ask why we have to do an assignment we just do it. Intern we don’t ask why or read through what is a contract, we just sign up. We as a society have lost our ability to question, to engage with material and intern in many scenarios we don’t really know what is happening. I could have just typed in the numbers but I chose to read the footnotes and suddenly those numbers became paragraphs and meant something to me as I was filling in my different financial statements.The last key concept, from 3.2, and what I believe to be one of the most important is that a balance sheet doesn’t represent business movement. A balance sheet is a snapshot alike to a picture it only can and will capture a single day of business. Usually this day is the last or beginning day of the calendar year or the end of financial year, however it can be any day. The balance sheet doesn’t show movement or changes that occurred throughout the year but instead the statements and figures that occurred on that day, for my company that was the 31st of December. The balance sheet is an important aspect of the firm since it includes the three main components of the accounting equation. These are assets, items that are believed to create future value, liabilities which are items believed to lessen future value and equity which is essentially the left over. The balance sheet incorporates these three components through balancing to find either the total assets equity+liabilities=assest. Or to find the net assets through the equation equity=assets-liabilities. Here the Assets are classed as debits, or things owed and liabilities and equity are classed as credits, or things the company is entrusted. My reaction to the concept is that I was relieved to understand the balance sheet. And this understanding helped me to improve on my spreadsheet as I began to understand the different concepts. My main questions about this concept is why isn’t the balance sheet comprised of a few days throughout the year, to give shareholders and all interested in the business more snapshots and a higher understanding of how that business works. Just having a single day could mean that companies ensure they organise their balance sheets to portray a successful business. As if there were random dates that were given to companies a few weeks in advanced they would have to portray the reality of their business at that point in time. I guess everyone can relate back to the balancing of the accounting equation. We all have to balance, balance school, work and family. We cannot let one thing take over our lives. When I began this course, I had to re-balance my life to fit all this work into my study schedule. Like many others the work load seemed overwhelming at first but it just meant whilst my study increased (debits) to counter and keep balance I had to decrease my Netflix watching (credit). This movement balances out my schedule as I cannot increase a debit without decreasing a credit or increase a credit without decreasing a debit. Balance must and will occur in both sides of any equation and that balance is what we use to create our companies balance sheet. Well with my key concepts and questions done concludes my step 5. I feel ready to move onto step six and see everyone else’s work and a few new companies. ................
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