Question

In this week's discussion, you will make connections between your chosen field (MARKETING)  and what you have learned about financial accounting up to this point. This discussion is important practice for the second part of your final project, in which you will analyze the practical applications of financial accounting in terms of how relevant it is to your own professional aspirations.

In your initial post, describe your current or aspiring professional identity, including your career and the field in which you work or hope to work. What sort of transactions would you encounter in that field? What are the impacts of those transactions on the business? List and describe several examples.

Answer 1

Please mentioned below the answer

The accounting department of a business monitors the financial condition of a company based on financial statements that are compiled on a regular basis. The marketing department is responsible for managing and developing the sales of a business. The accounting department must work closely with the marketing department to monitor trends in the business as well as manage the efficiency of sales promotions initiated by the marketing company. For example, a marketing might campaign might be successful in terms of gross sales, but the accounting department might determine that the cost of the campaign was too high.

Accounting Department and Financial Statements

All businesses must keep some form of accounting system to monitor the financial results of a business. The financial statements help management gauge the profitability of a business within a given period. The accounting department is responsible for the preparation and analysis of the financial statements. They can monitor sales trends and expense trends in the business that can provide management with the information it needs to make plans for expansion or cost reductions. Some of the most important expenditures a business can make are in the areas of marketing and advertising. A business must be able to market its goods and services, however they must also be able to manage the cost of the marketing and advertising efforts.

Ratio Analysis

Management is always looking at the relationship between sales and costs. These are called ratios. For example, a typical ratio is the gross-expense ratio. This measures the gross expenses of a company with the gross sales. For example, if the gross monthly expenses in a period are $100,000 and the gross income is $200,000, the gross expense ratio is 50 percent ($100,000 divided by $200,000.) The gross expense ratio can be further broken down into expenses related to important departments in the company, such as marketing. Accounting and marketing should work closely to monitor the ratios of advertising and marketing expenses to gross sales. For example, if marketing expenses are increased in a period, but sales remain constant, management may decide that the marketing expenses were inefficient. This is called ratio analysis.

Considerations

Marketing and accounting must work closely so that management can see where the marketing campaigns are successful. Another reason marketing and accounting work closely together is to prepare budgets for future expenditures in the fields of marketing and advertising. By looking at past financial results, management can budget future expenditures for the marketing campaigns. It’s then the accounting department’s role to measure the marketing departments adherence to budget limits and also the efficiency of the budgets that have been utilized.

Financial analysis can be used to serve many purposes in an organisation but in the area of marketing it has four main functions:

a) to gauge how well marketing strategy is working (situation analysis)
b) to evaluate marketing decision alternatives
c) to develop plans for the future
d) to control activities on a short term or-day to-day basis.

Methods involved in marketing financial analysis

There are a variety of methods used in each of the four functional areas. Some of these include the following:

a) Financial situation analysis

· Ratio analysis
· Profit and contribution analysis
· Sales and cost analysis.

b) Financial evaluation of alternatives

· Sales and costs analysis
· Break even analysis
· Profit contribution, cash flow analysis, profit projections
· Return on investment
· Return on capital employed
· Sustainable growth rates.

c) Financial planning

· Sales and costs forecasts
· Budgets
· Proforma income statements.

d) Financial control

· Sales and costs forecasts
· Actual results compared to budgets (analysis of variance)
· Profit performance.

Discussion: Professional Relevance of Financial Accounting

In this week’s discussion, you will make connections between your chosen field and what you have learned about financial accounting up to this point. This discussion is important practice for the second part of your final project, in which you will analyze the practical applications of financial accounting in terms of how relevant it is to your own professional aspirations.

In your initial post, describe your current or aspiring professional identity, including your career and the field in which you work or hope to work. What sort of transactions would you encounter in that field? What are the impacts of those transactions on the business? List and describe several examples.

Then, review your peers’ initial posts to find out who is working or plans to work in the fields or professions most closely related to your own. In your responses to those peers, compare and contrast your responses. Specifically, comment on how important financial accounting is within that field or profession. Before taking this course, would you have held the same view? Why or why not?

Current Field – Marketing

My ambition is to get my degree in business administration with a concentration on organizational leadership. Having an understanding of the many functions of business , helps me be able to provide valuable solutions to managers on how to effectively lead, train, motivate, and grow their subordinates. I currently work for the Dept. of the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command – Soldier Center. I fall under the human resources branch as a human research volunteer program coordinator. It is a customer based service for principle investigators with IRB approved research protocols, recruit volunteers, serve as an ombudsman, and schedule daily activity. This action does have an associated budget to feed, house, and pay the volunteers. The organization conducting the research is on an accounts receivable to pay for the usage of volunteers at no interest. These are tax payer dollars. I also serve as an equipment specialist for the Doriot Climatic Chambers. Organizations using the facility are billed a fee for the amount of usage. The usage can be an ever changing variable depending on types of conditions desired and current energy costs to operate. The facility also has multiple accounts for different types of routine maintenance. With this course I have a better understanding on the language of business and can assist the facility manager with the financial disciplines associated with the facility.