A case study on Westmount Retirement Home

A case study on Westmount Retirement Home New information can be considered valuable in terms of decision making. From new information, the derivation of new and more applicable strategies can be utilized. In this paper, an analysis on how does new information becomes a valuable asset to transform Westmount Retirement home struggles with its current accounting system which affects its profitability to a more effective Activity-based costing system that can improve overall business operations. This paper outlined both the strengths and limitation of the current cost system by Westmount and at the same time provided new elements that support the proposed Activity-based costing system and its benefits. The study also showed calculated suggested new price rates on the room options for Westmounts current and potential residents together with its proposed new fees for additional services and medical needs. Introduction A 125 Unit retirement residence was established on the year 1997. It was called Westmount Retirement home. The core purpose of this retiring home is to cater to seniors of the community. Westmount Retirement home provides both assisted living and independent supportive living options to their clients. Their current clients are divided into two segments, one is the independent supportive residents which require no assistance with the tasks of daily living, the other are assisted living residents which basically requires additional assistance which varies depending with their medical needs and degree of frailties.There are thirty-one (31) employees on Westmount that is spread across all of the retirements home several departments. There is basically several staff employed on a department that specializes on recreational activities, housekeeping, management, building maintenance and nursing. With regard to prices offered to Westmounts residents, the pricing model is actually simple and uniform for all residents and the only variance or difference is fundamentally based on the size of each room. In this study, the author will dissect the case by providing a discussion on Westmounts poor financial results in 2005; this will be followed by analyzing the companys current costing model by highlighting its strengths and limitations. Next will be a computation of the new cost per patient using the data of the current pricing model to create a new costing system. And finally, a discussion on how valuable new information can assist Westmount into creating a more suitable pricing scheme on its residents. Statement of the Problem Westmount Retirement Home has been struggling due to low profitability of its business operations as well as its current accounting system (Shomair 2008). From the low profitability standpoint, Westmount has faced stiff competition, among other local key players on their industry. Westmount has currently three main competitors namely: Chelsea Park retirement, Central park lodge and Longworth Retirement residence. Heavy competition arose due to the increasing demand for assisted and supportive living options. Thus, due to the availability of several retirement homes, key industry trends shows that a lot of potential residents are basing their decisions on residence options on the factor of cost. Regarding Westmounts current pricing model and accounting system, the company offers a standard rate (price) on numerous services to various patients and at the same time attending to individuals specific needs. The issue here is that there is no system or a defined activity-based costing (Platt and Vaysman 2000) in place to account for those varying service needs required by different residents. The obvious result here is a low profitability which can be attributed to its high operating expense. Westmounts Current pricing model: Strengths and Limitations Strengths Based on industry trends, a lot of potential residents are focusing on the cost factor on deciding which retirement home they will get into. Westmount Retirement Homes offers a very attractive and competitive pricing package by having a basic and standard pricing scheme in which the only difference in prices are from room sizes and not other care services. This has attracted a number of residents to Westmount. Not only does Westmount have a uniform price rate across all their services, it also has the most affordable prices compared to its competitors. Westmounts Package or Deal Pricing or most commonly known as a Bundled Payment (Miller 2008) provides its target market a hassle free approach on understanding the total cost of being a resident. Limitations The current costing system of Westmount does not provide any valuable information more particularly on the cost of each their services, since the only method of differentiation with their costs are on room sizes. Potential variability in costs especially on specific services in relation to clients needs is disregarded, due to the limitation of the current costing model. Substantial revenue can be lost as well with this model. As an example, , resident couples can stay at their rooms with no additional cost and have the same care and services as long as they pay for the room rate only. The current costing system does not provide any avenue or room for improvement specifically on operating expenses. For example a lot of staff hours are still being paid even without services rendered. New Costing Model Design Activity-Based Costing This new cost model will definitely improve not only the current accounting system of Westmount but its overall profitability as well. The benefits of an Activity-based costing is that instead of costs assigned to fixed costs, are now can be utilized as variable costs depending numerous activity cost pools in Westmount (Weygandt, Kimmel, Kieso 2009).In essence, it controls the companys overhead costs and leads to a more effective decision making by the management on how to improve overall finances. Room Rates A new rate will be reflected on this new costing model. To acquire a more suitable and competitive rate for Westmount, New room rates will be the computed by getting the average cost per room of all the three main competitors (see Exhibit 1). The average cost per room will provide an essential perspective on how much does the competitors charge per room (studio, one bedroom and two bedroom models) in this type of industry. Also, it can be used as the new room rate for Westmount. The purpose of which is for the discerning buyer would not only look at the room prices but also other features: such as quality of services, facilities etc. This is possible since the difference between the New Westmount prices compared to its competitors are relatively insignificant, in fact the new rate on average is cheaper than the other two competitors (Central and Longworth). Except for Chelsea Park in which Westmount can compete via other methods: for e.g. Marketing high quality services and facilitie s. Price differences because of room size will still be applicable with the new rates. Regarding the current issue with having couples share the room and services, Westmount can utilize their two bedroom units. Only one competitor has this residential type (Chelsea Park). Westmount can have the option of selling those units to couples with the new room rate without an additional charge. This will provide Westmount the ability to attract more potential residents and have those clients focus on getting a two bedroom if they want to consider being with their spouses. With these new rates alone, Westmount can generate more revenue out of its projected client base of 160 residents and in effect will increase profitability. Identifying and Matching Residents Needs Each resident may have different or special needs, contrary to the previous system in which these differences are barely nonexistent. This can be done by Westmount using proper segmentation of all its current residents, more particularly to those residents require additional services or different levels of care. This can be segmented by using a three modelled option for service fees. First are the residents with no medical needs, then with moderate medical needs and lastly those with intense medical needs, for the last two groups, they could have the option to purchase nursing and medical support at an additional cost. This also follows the activity-based costing model proposed for this company. New Prices for Additional Services and Medical Needs For those living residents with no medical needs rates, the new room costs will be the base price to be applied. On the other hand, those on the other group which require added services and medical needs would pay additional costs for each service and medical need (see Exhibit 2 for Activity-Based costing) The price of each service will be determinant to its operating cost plus 15% mark-up, to ensure adequate return to Westmounts shareholders and enough funds for necessary capital requirements. Utilization of Labor Availability As in any organization, some employees are more productive than others (Platt, and Vaysman 2000:19). With this new model the author allocated cost of each staff members compensation-related costs among the several activities in which he or she is responsible. Since a lot of man-hours are consistently wasted with the current costing system, the new system approach would be almost the exact opposite. Each resident group will now have staff available to them only when they really need them. Examples of these are dieticians employed for those patients with serious medical conditions; their hours now will be spent entirely to this resident group, in effect decreasing their total work time. And since they will now be paid on an hourly basis it will drive down costs on this support service. These hourly basis of work schedules will be applied across the board to ensure that all time spent will be productive and useful. This is also a win-win suggestion especially the extra time given to these staff members will create a much more balance in their work-life relationship. As for Westmount, obviously this will help drive down operating costs, by eliminating its current fixed costs of labour and transforming it into a variable costs which can either be seasonal depending on the demand for staff availability. Value of New information In any facet of economics most particularly in enterprise, new information that can be used to apply new strategy and other development are all considered essential and valuable. Cohen and Leviathan stated that The ability to exploit external knowledge is thus a critical component of innovative capabilities (1990:122). In this case, Westmounts administrator Helen Roswell, have noticed the low profitability of the firm and analyze what could be the causes. She acknowledges external factors could contribute to it, but her main concern was on their pricing model and total operating expenditure. This realization made Roswell think of other alternatives apart from the current cost model, especially when this current model has a direct impact on the firms overall profitability. To continue to attract more clients and still remain profitable, a new pricing model was needed to reflect the level of medical care and service required by each individual patient. Roswell has also decided that she would need to assess the true cost of each Westmounts services, and then use this information to develop a new pricing model. The price schemed for room rates specifically as aforementioned in this study will be the monthly average price of all industry players. The added or special service or medical need will be on a case to case basis in which the price will be service operational cost plus 15% mark up. This new pricing scheme can definitely alleviate Westmounts overall profitability and decrease operational expenses. Calculations: As an example for Supportive Services: Number of Employees:17 Total Cost amounted to $548, 573. Total wages is at $538, 392 Total Supplies used cost $10,181 Two (2) dieticians is compensated $18.50/hour each. 37 hours/week 48 weeks Total costs for Dieticians Wages per year: $65, 712 Estimated. Number of residents with intense medical need for dieticians 50.The total cost of the two dieticians wages for this scenario will now be allocated on an hourly basis or 25% allocation example, in which the demand for their services ( in this case the 50 residents) will be applied.

Photo Manipulation Essay

Image manipulation is everywhere on are daily life. It is a type of digital art. It is a unique way to describe editing photos and adding filters and special effects to photographs in order to make an illusion or define through digital means. Photo manipulation has been commonly used to deceive or convince viewers. It can be simply a photo which colors have been converted, or a photo that has been painted over, usually they use photoshop, but there are other softwares what can we use for manipulating images, image manipulation is an art as well. Photo manipulation is done for a number of purposes. More infamously, it is for political or sensational purposes. However, photo manipulation is also an art form in its own right (www. brightclub. com). The photographs have been manipulated in darkrooms for decade. Before computers, photo manipulation was achieved by retouching with ink, paint, double exposure, piecing photos or negatives together in the darkroom, or scratching Polaroids. Airbrushes were also used, whence the term â€Å"airbrushing† for manipulation. The first recorded case of photo manipulation was in the early 1860s, when a photo of Abraham was altered using the body from a portrait of John C. Calhoun. The 1980s saw the advent of digital retouching with Quantel computers running Paintbox, and Scitex imaging workstations being used professionally Silicon Graphics computers running Barco Creator became available in the late 1980s which, alongside other contemporary packages, were effectively replaced in the market by Adobe Photoshop (wikipedia).

How to Make Your Own Baking Powder at Home

You can make baking powder yourself using other common kitchen ingredients. Heres a simple homemade recipe you can use in place of commercial baking powder for cooking. Baking Powder Ingredients 2 teaspoons cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate)1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) Using Baking Powder Baking powder produces bubbles that cause baked goods to rise by making carbon dioxide gas as soon as the dry and wet ingredients are mixed. Ensure success by preheating your oven. Dont overmix your ingredients or wait to bake your recipe or the bubbles may have a chance to dissipate, causing your recipe to fall flat. Storing Homemade Baking Powder The homemade baking powder will clump together if it isnt used right away, but you can prevent this by adding 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to the baking powder mixture. Store the baking powder in an airtight container. Commercial baking powder preparations often contain undesirable ingredients (such as aluminum compounds). By making your own baking powder, youll have complete control over your ingredients. You can test the baking powder before using it to make sure it is still fresh.

Chalcolithic Period The Beginnings of Copper Metallurgy

The Chalcolithic period refers to that part of Old World prehistory wedged between the first farming societies called Neolithic, and the urban and literate societies of the Bronze Age. In Greek, Chalcolithic means copper age (more or less), and indeed, the Chalcolithic period is generally--but not always--associated with wide-spread copper metallurgy. Copper metallurgy was likely developed in northern Mesopotamia; the earliest known sites are in Syria such as Tell Halaf, about 6500 years BC. The technology was known considerably longer ago than that--isolated copper axes and adzes are known from Catalhoyuk in Anatolia and Jarmo in Mesopotamia by 7500 cal BC. But the intensive production of copper tools is one of the hallmarks of the Chalcolithic period. Chronology Pinning a specific date on the Chalcolithic is difficult. Like other broad categories such as Neolithic or Mesolithic, rather than referring to a particular group of people residing in one place and time, Chalcolithic is applied to a broad mosaic of cultural entities located in different environments, which have a handful of common characteristics. The earliest recognized of the two most prevalent characteristics--painted pottery and copper processing--are found in the Halafian culture of northeastern Syria about 5500 BC. See Dolfini 2010 for a thorough discussion of the spread of Chalcolithic characteristics.   Early (5500-3500 calendar years BC [cal BC]): began in the Near East (Anatolia, the Levant,  and Mesopotamia)Developed (4500-3500 BC): arrived in the Near East and Central and Eastern Europe in SE Europe, followed by Carpathian basin, East-central Europe and SW Germany and Eastern SwitzerlandLate (3500-3000 cal BC): arrived in Central and Western Mediterranean (North and central Italy, southern France, Eastern France and Western Switzerland)Terminal (3200-2000 cal BD): arrived in the Iberian peninsula The spread of Chalcolithic culture appears to have been part migration and part adoption of new technologies and material culture by local indigenous people. Chalcolithic Lifestyles A main identifying characteristic  of the Chalcolithic period is polychrome painted pottery. Ceramic forms found on Chalcolithic sites include fenestrated pottery, pots with openings cut into the walls, which may have been used for burning incense, as well as large storage jars and serving jars with spouts. Stone tools include adzes, chisels, picks and chipped stone tools with central perforations. Farmers typically raised domestic animals such as sheep-goats, cattle, and pigs, a diet supplemented by hunting and fishing. Milk and milk by-products were important, as were fruit trees (such as fig and olive). Crops grown by Chalcolithic farmers included barley, wheat, and pulses. Most of the  goods were locally produced and used, but the Chalcolithic societies dabbled in some long-distance trade in figurines of laden animals, copper and silver ores, basalt bowls, timber, and resins. Houses and Burial Styles Houses built by Chalcolithic farmers were constructed of stone or mudbrick. One characteristic pattern is a chain building, a row of rectangular houses connected to one another by shared party walls on the short ends. Most of the chains are no more than six houses long, leading researchers to suspect that they represent extended farming families living close together. Another pattern, seen in larger settlements, is a set of rooms around a central courtyard, which may have facilitated the same sort of social arrangement. Not all houses were in chains, not all were even rectangular: some trapezoid and circular houses have been identified. Burials varied widely from group to group, from single interments to jar burials to small box-shaped above-ground ossuaries and even rock-cut tombs. In some cases, secondary burial practices included the disinterment and placement of older burials into family or clan vaults. In some sites, bone stacking--the  careful arrangement of skeletal materials--has been noted. Some burials were outside of the communities, others were within the houses themselves. Teleilat Ghassul The archaeological site of Teleilat Ghassul (Tulaylà ¢t al-Ghassà »l) is a Chalcolithic site located in the Jordan Valley about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the Dead Sea. Excavated first in the 1920s by Alexis Mallon, the site contains a handful of mud-brick houses built beginning about 5000 BC, that grew over the next 1,500 years to include a multiroom complex and sanctuaries. Recent excavations have been led by Stephen Bourke of the Unversity of Sydney. Teleilat Ghassul is the type site for the local version of the Chalcolithic period, called Ghassulian, which is found throughout the Levant. Several polychrome murals were painted on the interior walls of buildings at Teleilat Ghassul. One is an intricate geometric arrangement which appears to be an architectural complex viewed from above. Some scholars have suggested it is a drawing of the sanctuary area on the southwestern edge of the site. The schematic appears to include a courtyard, a stepped pathway leading to a gatehouse, and a brick-walled thatch-roofed building surrounded by a stone or mud-brick platform. Polychrome Paintings The architectural plan is not the only polychrome painting at Teleilat Ghassul: there is a Processional scene of robed and masked individuals led by a larger figure with a raised arm. The robes are complex textiles in red, white and black with tassels. One individual wears a conical headpiece that may have horns, and some scholars have interpreted this to mean there was a priestly class of specialists at Teleilat Ghassul. The Nobles mural shows a row of seated and standing figures facing a smaller figure positioned in front of a red and yellow star. The murals were repainted up to 20 times on successive layers of lime plaster, containing geometric, figurative and naturalistic designs with a variety of mineral-based colors, including red, black, white and yellow. The paintings may have originally also had blue (azurite) and green (malachite) as well, but those pigments react poorly with lime plaster and if used are no longer preserved. Some Chalcolithic Sites: Beer Sheva, Israel; Chirand (India); Los Millares, Spain; Tel Tsaf (Israel), Krasni Yar (Kazakhstan), Teleilat Ghassul  (Jordan), Areni-1 (Armenia) Sources This article is part of the About.com guide to History of Humans on Earth, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology Bourke SJ. 2007. The Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Transition at Teleilat Ghassul: Context, Chronology, and Culture. Palà ©orient 33(1):15-32. Dolfini A. 2010. The origins of metallurgy in central Italy: new radiometric evidence. Antiquity 84(325):707–723. Drabsch B, and Bourke S. 2014. Ritual, art, and society in the Levantine Chalcolithic: the ‘Processional’ wall painting from Teleilat Ghassul. Antiquity 88(342):1081-1098. Gilead, Isaac. The Chalcolithic period in the Levant. Journal of World Prehistory, Vol. 2, No. 4, JSTOR, December 1988. Golani A. 2013. The Transition from the Late Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze I in Southwestern Canaan - Ashqelon as a case for Continuity. Paleorient 39(1):95-110. Kafafi Z. 2010. The Chalcolithic Period in the Golan Heights: A Regional or Local Culture. Paleorient 36(1):141-157. Lorentz KO. 2014. Bodies Transformed: Negotiations of Identity in Chalcolithic Cyprus. European Journal of Archaeology 17(2):229-247. Martà ­nez Cortizas A, Là ³pez-Merino L, Bindler R, Mighall T, and Kylander ME. 2016. Early atmospheric metal pollution provides evidence for Chalcolithic/Bronze Age mining and metallurgy in Southwestern Europe. Science of The Total Environment 545–546:398-406.