Last
mod I also had two classes - two accounting classes. I still don't understand the language, but I
actually did well in both classes. That
is amazing considering what torture it was trying to get into a live lecture or
(in most cases) listen to the recording . . . as it wasn't just one or two
instructors having issues with Zoom; the
entire school was affected. That is what
Roland had told me anyway. Not only is
he a full time student at the same online school as I am, but is employed with
them as well.
This
mod I am taking only one class (hooray) again in accounting (boo) and I don't
know if Zoom has been fixed or not. Thus
far it does not look promising. No one
in the class appears to have been contacted by our instructor - usually he or
she will introduce self or remind us of upcoming lecture or something. There was supposed to be a live lecture
yesterday, which starts at the same time as the children's summer reading
program. I had already made a commitment to summer reading. In addition, it seems I have been recruited
to be the story lady - for the last two weeks anyway.
Yesterday
the library (or the one in charge of the program rather) decided to celebrate
SpongeBob's birthday and shared some trivia while children were coloring. I shared Allison Jackson's "There was an old lady who swallowed a pie"
- only I changed the wording a little bit and used SpongeBob as the character
instead of an old lady, asking the children between each item of food, "do
you think he'll die?" they would
always answer "No" and they
were right.
I
like Allison Jackson's version better than the original "There was an old lady who swallowed a
fly" because (with the
exception of one item) her story deals with real food and no one dies.
Neither
Jenna nor I are avid SpongeBob fans - in fact we'd be okay with knowing that he
had croaked. But the idea of a sponge
and some of Allison Jackson's rhymes gave me an opportunity to educate rather
than just read or tell.
So
back to my accounting - I was hoping to watch the lecture before posting my
discussion to perhaps get a better idea of what is expected. As of now, I don't even know if my instructor
tried to give the lecture or if he has started working for the university this
week or is on sabbatical or what. His
discussion post was created on Saturday before the class had even started.
Our
topic is on importance of accurately accounting for costs in Job Order Cost
Accounting. Also, discuss the consequences of errors in this area. From what I understand, overhead charges and cost of labor that must
be paid by the company is figured in the cost that a consumer must pay.
The
video example that had been given is building a burger and breaking down the
cost of said burger. There is the
obvious cost for the meat, the bun and other ingredients, but the breakdown
also includes the employee's wage. Just
suppose he was getting paid 10.00 an hour and it takes 3 minutes for him (or
her) to build each burger. That is 3
minutes to every 60 or 5% of 10.00. and
a predetermined overhead cost.
The
cost of electricity (for instance) is not figured into each burger, per
se. Utilities, indirect labor [that
would be the supervisor making certain the employees are working, or the time
spent cleaning (or idling) after all the customers have been served], indirect
materials [someone has to pay for the cost of that grill] and property taxes or
rent) are all part of that predetermined rate.
All of those costs are all added up together for the year and then more
math is deducted and combined and made into a percentage that is also added to
the cost of the burger.
One
of my class mates used auto labor as an example which I was actually able to
understand a little more and have been trying to come up with my own examples
using my false lawn care service from my former management class, or the cost
of labor that we have seen (and will expect to see more) for the demolition and
restoration of our floor, walls and spaces in between. Thus far we've had to dole out checks for the
plumber, the electrician and the pest control.
All with overhead costs - though we don't understand why on the
electrician.
Roland
had asked for a card and wondered if he would be able to make a deal with
trading services for a future project.
Wiring in the front room to put in a ceiling fan for new cards and
marketing. This area really needs to be
educated in marketing. They either don't believe about it or know about it or
care. The font on the business cards was
very hard to read. Roland thought the
shape of the font looked like an anchor.
I thought it looked like an open mouth - like perhaps a dentist would
use. I don't know what the overhead
would be. There is no sign on the
truck. I don't know how their pricing
breaks down. I suspect they can charge
what they want as there doesn't seem to be any competition.
I
personally am not impressed with big vans and trucks bearing fancy names -
especially now that I know it is part of my cost and I don't wish to support
brand names when they have so many employees that the company has lost sight of
them as well as the consumers. Let me
give a "for instance" which I wasn't planning to call by name, but because
of my dissatisfaction, I want to warn others about why I stopped using the
services of a certain company.
Whipple
Plumbing and Heating is a chain in Utah (Salt Lake/Ogden areas) which I believe
has gotten too big for its breeches. I
don't know how many employees it staffs nor do I understand why we tried their
services several times. We ALWAYS had to
call them to return to finish or correct a job and then ended up calling
someone else to permanently fix it.
I
think they were called three times while we lived in Kearns and twice in West
Valley. For the poor plumbing issues
(one project, never resolved by Whipple) we had three different guys, none
which corrected the mistake of the other, we finally called an elderly man that
Roland had been in contact through some clients of his.
Elwin
Shipley arrived in his unmarked truck and fixed the problem. He was awesome! He fixed problems one time. If you were to contact him again, it would be
for a different problem. Unlike Whipple,
who got it right only one time (which will be my next paragraph), Elwin didn't
charge an arm and a leg. He didn't need
to. He didn't have the extra overhead
cost. I wasn't paying for the logo on
his truck. (Whipple had definitely
figured a LOT of overhead expenses - had I continued to use them, I would have
probably ended up paying for an entire fleet of trucks)
Whipple
had a promotion on toilets and as ours had to be replaced, we gave them another
try (first one in WV). The plumber who
came out was very friendly toward Jenna and the dog and just a down to earth
wholesome guy - or so it appeared. He
said that when I called, I could ask for a specific plumber. That was our exception. That was the only thing that we didn't have
to have work redone on.
Because
I had liked the plumber, when another situation we had required plumbing
services, I called Whipple with another opportunity and the name of the plumber
who seemed to have the attitude "I've got you in my snare now, I don't
have to be nice to you."
Perhaps
he was just having a bad day - perhaps there had been a recent death in the
family or someone in his flipped him off on his way to work . . . who knows.
The point is he just rubbed me the wrong way. That was the last time we used Whipple.
My discussion
post was about Gil's heating and air conditioning - a business that relies on
word of mouth. I just thought of
another. Remarkable Rooter also gets the
job done. WITHOUT THE OVERHEAD! Why pay more?
Really? Because the competition
has a brand name and drive a fancy van? My
consumer attitude may get me into trouble with my classes . . . although they
haven't so far. Did I mention that I
LOVE living in a small town with an ignorance to marketing? Well, I do.
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