reply post

classmate 1

I believe that Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) story as described in the discussion question took a brilliant decision when in 1995 it implemented what it called the Annual Impact Monitoring Evaluation System (AIMS). Users of Not for Profit Financial Statements includes, donors, members, creditors, and others who provide resources, for example governments provisions of grants have common needs.   These needs will among other things,  the ability to asses:

·  The services the organization provides

·   The organizational ability to provide these services.

·   The method the organization’s mangers use to discharge their stewardship responsibilities.

CCF developed a robust evaluation system that helped provide feedback that help the organization direct resources to programs in those areas that make a measurable difference in the lives of its target population. This strategy helped the organization to be more effective in the use of its dollars.

Another strength identified in the background is the fact that local program directors are give the free hand to customize the needs of the locality where they manage. This organizational architecture is correctly described in (Zimmerman 2016, p 139).  Here, Zimmerman described Organizational Architecture in terms of a three-legged stool. If one leg is  in bad shape, this will affect the health of the rest of the others. 

The three legs being:

·  A system that measures performance

·  A system that rewards and punishes performance

·  A system that assigns decision rights

Not only did CCCF provides a matrix for measuring performance through the AIMES model, it also provides the appropriate decision rights by allowing local program directors in about the countries it has presence to take decisions that works best in the local community.

 Also, moving on to the Financial aspect of  CCF. A close look at the Consolidated Statement of Activities in exhibit 1, the company recorded a $ 9.8m increase in revenue in 2003, a 7.4%  year-on-year compared to 2002. This is a strength. The ability of a company to continue to do the good work it has been doing since 1938, depends in parts to its ability to continue to raise funds to support its operations. Not only did the company increased it revenue, it also managed it expenses for the period. This is why CCF made a Net Increase in Net Assets (The equivalent of Net Profits in a for “Profit Financial Statement”) of $ 116,726 in 2003.

 A weakness I see from reading the background is that I did not see much mentioned about how rewards are tied to these matrices for the program directors who are involves in managing these programs. As mentioned earlier, Zimmerman 2016, described this as the second of the three-legged stool in what he titled Organizational Architecture.   Therefore, I will like to see the organization not only developed this great matrix but also use it to motivate the program directors who are in the field working hard to make good on CCF’s mission.

 References:

Becker Professional Education (2019) CPA Exam Review, Business.

Whittington, R. & Pany, K (2016) Principles of Auditing & Other Assurance Services

Zimmerman, J. (2016) Accounting for Decision Making and Control. Ninth Edition McGraw-Hill Education

Classmate 2

Strengths and Weaknesses of CCF’s AIMES

              Annual Impact Monitoring and Evaluation System (AIMES) as a tool for monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the CCF has by a great extent, contributed to the overwhelming performance of the project. The directors of the CCF project use the guidelines highlighted by this tool to provide better services to the children and families which they sponsor. 

Strengths

Enhanced evaluation of the sponsored children progress

              Adoption of AIMES tool by the project directors improved their evaluation process on how the little children are faring, because every child's data from the various families sponsored can quickly be taken and analyzed. This improves the project's ability to identify the areas that needed improvement and take action to adjust on them so that the children’s lives are maintained. Since the primary source of the revenue used to take of these children came from donors, this tool, therefore, has made it possible for the directors to form a close follow up of how these funds are used in the different countries. This makes them have confidence that funds used in the best way possible by those in charge of the states (Pratley, 2016).

Provision of a guide to the project staff and volunteers

              This guide is meant to provide direction so that the system is made more measurable and accountable within the project. The strategic move taken by the directors to make personal visits to the sponsored children in various countries has enabled them to update their health matters. This has enabled them to cover many countries which they work with to collect data about the children’s progress for evaluation purposes.

Improved utilization of resources for the betterment of the children's health

              AIMES as a tool guides the different countries where the children are based on ensuring that funds donated by the donors are put into good use by the directors. The system provides well-designed metrics for purposes of keeping track of how these resources are used. The AIMES tool also enabled customization of measures taken by the directors of the project based on the needs of the children and the families they work in. For example, if the need arose to improve the health conditions of the children due to high health crisis, then they would do precisely that to make their services more profitable to the children (Sarvet, et al.,2016).

Weaknesses

Lack of vision and mission statements

              Despite the excellent improvements in service delivery to sponsored children, it is crucial to have a mission and vision statement that clearly states its goals. This because a vision statement provides directives and strategies which can be used by the staff and volunteers to achieve the purposes of the system. Therefore, lack of these statements makes it difficult for the team to accomplish the same goal for the betterment of the project.

Unclear allocation of roles and responsibilities

              When duties are not properly allocated to the staff, it becomes chaotic in-service delivery to the children. Misappropriation of funds is also possible because the system does not provide transparent responsibility allocation to every individual.

Lack of planned strategy for all communities

              AIMES does not have a well-laid strategy for the communities they work in. Hence, these communities must have their own designed strategy on how best they can utilize the program to benefit the children. However, this may be difficult because they may implement a plan that can be rejected by the project directors, which can, in the long run, lower their morale in offering the best services to the children.

References

Pratley, P. (2016). Associations between quantitative measures of women's empowerment and access to care and health status for mothers and their children: a systematic review of evidence from the developing world. Social Science & Medicine, 169, 119-131.

Sarvet, B., Gold, J., Bostic, J. Q., Masek, B. J., Prince, J. B., Jeffers-Terry, M., ... & Straus, J. H. (2010). Improving access to mental health care for children: the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project. Pediatrics, 126(6), 1191-1200.

Classmate 3

Critically evaluate Eastern University’s costing of parking permits. What do you think accounts for the university administration’s reluctance to build a parking garage?

According to Eastern University, there is a shortage of parking and they are trying to come up with a resolution to resolve the issue.  Currently they are offering two areas to park in which have two different cost.  The two costs of parking consists of distance to the school.  The closer to the school the more costly for the parking space. 

The proposal to construct a multi-floor parking facility sounds like a great idea.  It appears the cost of construction and the longevity to retrieve the cost back is making the university reluctant to proceed with the parking garage.  Their reluctance comes with fear that many will not purchase a parking space due to the cost they will have to charge each individual.  By not knowing for sure who would be willing to pay for a parking space, the university has no plans to build a parking building.

I find it extremely unique that Eastern University is under the expectation to recover the construction cost quickly and that if it is not possible, then they are reluctant.  There should be a plan in place to make the spaces affordable but still have a positive reinforcement of return for the university. 

The university can start by having a plan in place to recover the funds of building the garage and all costs incurred to maintain it.  Although the university believes that they should charge $1200.00 or more per space, there may be an alternative solution.  A separate evaluation can be put in place where they determine how many spaces are needed, maintenance and any other costs incurred.  They could evaluate the growth of the university and determine a reasonable yearly fee based on that information.  The university could also take into consideration that they will be maintaining one area versus the two different areas prior. 

After analyzing and reviewing this multiple times, I feel the university could use the “Methods of Recovering the Cost of Capital Assets.”  The university can use this method to recover the construction costs over a period of time for a certain period.  This will ensure a visual plan of cost and recovery and they could re-evaluate to make a better decision of the need and size of the parking garage and recovery of costs incurred.

The one concern that I had is the limited information of the university.  Although the university has a shortage of parking spaces, the assignment left out whether or not is was due to consistent increase in enrollment or any other reasoning.  Other factors should be in place other than reluctance to recovering costs.