Saturday, October 5, 2019
An arguement for the use of Natural Gas as a replacement for Fossil Essay
An arguement for the use of Natural Gas as a replacement for Fossil Fuels - Essay Example One of the reasons why natural gas should replace fossil fuels is that the former is relatively cheaper. In fact, according to a report by OilPrice.com, the cost of oil today is over $14 to get a million BTU [or British Thermal Unit]†¦but only $2.30 if you were willing to use natural gas as an alternative†(Hamilton, 2012). That means savings of $11.70 per million BTU, which translates to an astronomical value in reality. Although petroleum once had the same cost as crude oil, from 1997 to 2007, the trend has now changed in favor of the former (Hamilton, 2012). The cheap cost of natural gas is attributed to the fact that America produces â€Å"three billion more cubic feet [or 85M cubic meters] of natural gas a day out of the ground than it can consume†(â€Å"Natural Gas Difference Engine,†2012). Moreover, when compared to coal, it would cost 12 cents or more per kilowatt-hour to produce electricity from dirty coal compared to 6 cents only from clean natura l gas (â€Å"Natural Gas Difference Engine,†2012). ... Without responsible stewardship, one would not seek ways to use the most efficient means of producing electricity and just be content with what is expensive. Another reason why natural gas should replace fossil fuels is that the former is cleaner compared to the latter. According to a report in the New York Times concerning energy sources, natural gas has become more popular as a major international commodity because â€Å"it burns cleaner than oil and coal and produces less greenhouse gases†(Krauss, 2012). These greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. Moreover, natural gas does not leave any carbon deposits in the engine, thus reducing the natural wear of the engine and so there are fewer oil changes (â€Å"Natural Gas Difference Engine,†2012). Natural gas is actually only methane, or CH4, which is merely a one-carbon compound with four hydrocarbons, thus it is relatively less harmful than chemicals with long carbon chains. Besides, the use of natural gas would hypothetically reduce â€Å"sulfur dioxide emissions by 55% and mercury emissions by 30% and greenhouse gas emissions by 15%†because natural gas emits virtually no sulfur dioxide and mercury, and only 22% less greenhouse gases compared to diesel (â€Å"Environmental Benefits,†2012). In fact, natural gas is 28% cleaner than petroleum and 40%-100% cleaner than coal (Stevens, 2012). Another reason for the proposal that the United States should replace fossil fuels with natural gas is the added benefit of boosting the country’s economy especially if the United States sells natural gas to other countries. Several energy companies in the country announced the
Friday, October 4, 2019
The effects of poverty on the educational system of children Research Paper
The effects of poverty on the educational system of children - Research Paper Example The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Legislation of 2001 was signed into law to bridge the gap between what President Bush called, â€Å"the haves and have nots†(Hess and Rotherham, 2007, para. 10). The focus of the Act became the â€Å"have nots†which were minority students. Many of these children live in poverty and go to schools in impoverished areas (Wolk, 2011). Most states interpreted this Act as saying that there must be standardized tested on specific curriculum. Each year, millions of children in elementary and high school must take the tests and pass them in order to show that they have achieved the specific scores that teach state has decided upon. Unfortunately, a child who is hungry and who lives in difficult situations that can include violence in the home, malnutrition, neglect and homeless (Aldridge & Goldman, 2007) is still being left behind. Demographics of Poverty in Education In the early 20th Century, the number of children who were living in poverty was lower than it is today. As an example statistics from the U.S. Department of Education show that between the years 2007 and 2009 (most recent statistics) the incidence of children living in poverty rose to 19%; In 2000, this statistic was only 15% (Avd et al., 2001). In 2010, the poverty rate for children rose to 22% which meant that one in five children under the age of 18 is living in poverty in America (Censky, 2011). The poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites was the lowest in 2010 at 9.9%. Blacks had the highest rate for poverty at 27.4% and other Hispanics were at a poverty rate of 26.6%. Men and women also faired differently. For men, about 14% were below the poverty line and single fathers were at a 15.8% poverty rate. Women were at a 16.2% poverty rate, but single mothers had a 31.6% poverty rate (Censky, 2011). In today’s economy, when so many families have lost their jobs and their homes , there are many reasons why there is a rise in these statistics. In the past, it was possible that certain situations produced poverty and the families in poverty were concentrated in certain racial backgrounds. Today, any family of any racial group can find themselves in poverty. In fact, â€Å"about 46.2 million people are now considered in poverty, 2.6 million more than last year†(Censky, 2011, para. 4). According to Aldrige & Goldman (2007), every region and every type of family can find themselves in poverty. This means that family circumstances can change at any time, putting children more at risk. Defining Poverty as it Relates to Education Jensen (2009) defines poverty as â€Å"a chronic and debilitating condition that results form multiple adverse synergistic risk factors and affects the mind, body, and soul†(p. 6). Jensen (2009) also identifies six types of poverty: Situational poverty that happens because of a crisis, or loss. This type of poverty is usua lly temporary. The events could be â€Å"environmental, disasters, divorce, or severe heath problems†(Jensen, 2009, p. 6). Generational poverty where more than one generation is born into this situation and family members do not have the tools to move out of poverty. In other words, this is all their family has ever seen or known. Absolute poverty were the basic needs of food and shelter are not available (rare in the United States according to Jensen, 2009). Relative poverty exists when a family’s economic situation does not meet the standard of living that the rest of the society experiences. Urban poverty happens in cities of 50,000+ people
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Customers Switching Behavior Essay Example for Free
Customers Switching Behavior Essay Relationships and individuals bank switching behavior Abstract We examine the role of relationships between individuals and their banks in determining bank switching behavior. Using data from a survey questionnaire from a random sample of bank customers in the United States, we find that the variables measuring the various dimensions of a relationship significantly lower an individuals propensity to switch banks. These include the duration of an individuals relationship with her bank, whether or not she has had problems with her bank in the past, and aspects of the quality of the service relationship. An innovation of the current paper lies in incorporating finance/economic aspects of relationship with the various dimensions of service quality relationship collectively as determinants of an individuals propensity to switch banks. The attributes capturing whether or not an individual feels that her bank is responsive, is empathetic and is reliable to her needs, are all significantly negatively correlated with her propensity to switch banks. Our results demonstrate just how relationships may help in limiting bank switching behavior and deliver a strong message to banks about the importance of relationships in retaining loyal customers. Our findings also underscore the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate disciplines to better understand the behavior and decision making of individuals and their banks. Author Keywords: Bank switching; Relationships
Data Analysis Chapter Analysis
Data Analysis Chapter Analysis Part One: Based on my NTU username (N0687816), my data set is: (0,6,8,7,8,1,6) Section A) Forming a 99% confidence interval for my data set:   Our confidence interval is: We can therefore say with 99% confidence that the mean number of tattoos per student for the population of all students at NTU is between 0.54 and 9.74 Using Minitab for a 99% confidence interval for data set (0,0,0,1,3,3,7): Section B) Looking for evidence at the 97% confidence level of a difference between the samples: Sample 1 (0,6,8,7,8,1,6) Sample 2 (0,0,0,1,3,3,7) Sample sizes Sample means Sample variances I am going to use a two-sample T test to analyse this data as there are two small samples formed from data that is not paired. We can say with 97% confidence that there is no difference between the two samples. Using Minitab: Section C) Testing data from trialing a new inhaler Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4 Person 5 Person 6 Person 7 Before 0 6 8 7 8 1 6 After 0 0 0 1 3 3 7 To analyse this data, I will use a paired T-test as there are two sets of data for the same group of people (before and after using an inhaler). It is also unknown if the data is normally distributed and the sample is small which are both other factors which suggest the use of a T test. This test could be one or two tailed depending on whether you were looking for an improvement/reduction or a general change. In this case, however, we want the inhalers to have improved the peoples lung function so we will do a one tailed test. Null hypothesis Alternative hypothesis. (The data is for recovery time in seconds so a reduction in the mean recovery time shows an improvement in lung function). Decision Rule: Performing the test: Let So There is not a specified confidence interval so I will use a 95% confidence interval so: Therefore:   We can therefore say with 95% confidence that the inhaler did improve the lung function of the people who used it. Testing the Manufacturers Claim I am going to use a one tailed hypothesis test. This is because it does not matter if the inhaler improves lung function in over 80% of cases, only if it does not reach this claim. I will take to be that and to be that . The lung function recovery time reduced in four of the seven trials so 4 events out of 7 trials, leading to and Part Two: Section A) The Lady Tasting Tea Experiment The lady tasting tea experiment was a statistical experiment conducted by Ronald Fisher. As explained in The lady tasting tea experiment (Winkler, 2015), a lady claimed she could tell whether milk or tea was poured first in a cup of tea she tasted. Ronald Fishers book The Design of Experiments (see Winkler, 2015) outlined the ideas behind this test: [It] consists in mixing eight cups of tea, four in one way and four in the other, and presenting them to the subject for judgement in a random order. The subject has been told in advance [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] that she will be asked to taste eight cups, that these shall be four of each kind Fisher, 1935. According to Imai (2016), Fisher introduces the idea of a null hypothesis, which in this case, is the idea that the woman is guessing and cannot actually distinguish between the cups. Fisher then used the ladys answers to work out the likelihood of her getting this result whilst guessing. From this, he found that there were 70 ways to choose 4 cups out of 8 and that from these, there was 1 way of getting none and four correct, 16 ways of getting one and three correct and 36 ways of getting two correct, as shown by Inglis-Arkell (2015). Although pioneering, however, the test itself was not powerful. As explained by Stark (2010), the small sample size caused the probability of her guessing randomly only coming out less than 0.05 (the condition required to reject the null hypothesis) if she got a perfect score. This is because guessing all four correctly carried a probability of whereas guessing three out of four correctly carried a probability of . This issue would have been reduced with a much bigger sample size. For another mathematical example, we will look at the following question: Suppose the lady samples 10 cups of tea, among which 5 had the teapoured first and 5 had the milk poured first.a. What is the probability she correctly identifies all five cups which had the tea poured first? Sloughter, 2006. Following the logic displayed by Stark (2010) for the lady tasting tea problem, there would be only 1 way of choosing all five correctly. Using the formula (Simmons, 2016), we get ways of choosing five cups of tea out of the ten. This means that the probability of getting all five correct is . As stated by Inglis-Arkell (2015), the number of cups that the lady guessed correctly is unknown. Despite this, the lady tasting tea experiment is still extremely influential and led to Ronald Fisher being praised for his book The Design of Experiments due to how clearly he explained why randomisation is important and how he decided what would be acceptable evidence to accept or reject a statement. Reference List Imai, K., 2013. Statistical Hypothesis Tests [online]. Princeton University. Available at: http://imai.princeton.edu/teaching/files/tests.pdf [Accessed 9th January 2017]. Inglis-Arkell, E., 2015. How A Tea Party Turned Into A Scientific Legend [online]. Io9. Available at: http://io9.gizmodo.com/how-a-tea-party-turned-into-a-scientific-legend-1706697488 [Accessed 9th December 2016]. Simmons, B., 2016. Combination Formula [online]. Mathwords. Available at: http://www.mathwords.com/c/combination_formula.htm [Accessed 9th January 2017]. Sloughter, D., 2006. Mathematics of a Lady Tasting Tea [online]. Furman University. Available at: http://math.furman.edu/~dcs/courses/math15/lectures/lecture-19.pdf [Accessed 9th December 2016]. Stark, P., 2010. StichiGui [online]. Available at: https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/Teach/S240/Notes/ch3.htm [Accessed 9th January 2017]. Winkler, A. 2015. The lady tasting tea experiment [online]. Brainder. Available at: https://brainder.org/2015/08/23/the-lady-tasting-tea-and-fishers-exact-test/ [Accessed 5th December 2016]. Declaration: 1. I am aware of the Universitys rules on plagiarism and collusion and I understand that, if I am found to have broken these rules, it will be treated as Academic Misconduct and dealt with accordingly. I understand that if I lend this piece of work to another student and they copy all or part of it, either with or without my knowledge or permission, I shall be guilty of collusion. 2. In submitting this work I confirm that I am aware of, and am abiding by, the Universitys expectations for proof-reading. 3. I understand that I must submit this coursework by the time and date published. I also understand that if this coursework is submitted late it will, if submitted within 5 working days of the deadline date and time, be given a pass mark as a maximum mark. If received more than 5 working days after the deadline date and time, it will receive a mark of 0%. For referred or repeat coursework, I understand that if the coursework is not submitted by the published date and time, a mark of 0% will be automatically awarded. 4. I understand that it is entirely my responsibility to ensure that I hand in my full and complete coursework and that any missing pages handed in after the deadline will be disregarded. 5. I understand that the above rules apply even in the eventuality of computer or other information technology failures. Sign                                                                                                  Date Georgia Mold09/01/2017 _______________________________                                        ________________________
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
The True Meaning Behind That Layer Of Blue Nail Polish :: essays research papers
The True Meaning Behind that Layer of Blue Nail Polish When the red-based shades such as pink and orange were the only type of nail polish females dared to wear, I remember wondering if in the near future they'd dare switch to completely new shades such as blue or green. Now that day and age has come when all different shades of blue can be seen painted on teens' nails. Yet, this new choice of blue isn't just another craze of the moment. Rather, it symbolizes something slightly deeper. This latest trend of â€Å" blues†not only broke the barrier of â€Å"reds only†, but broke the limits of society each girl felt she had when it came to choosing a simple shade of nail polish. Before, the â€Å"rebels†and the â€Å"freaks†were the only ones who had the guts to wear what it took to get attention and to shock the world. For them shades of nail polish whether they were blue, black, or glitter have never been an issue of inappropriateness. Those who were less eccentric when it came to expressing their exterior image stayed with the â€Å"acceptable†red tones. Now that blue nail polish is the latest manicurean craze, both the tamest and the wildest adolescents together are donning the shade. When asked why they choose to wear this latest cerulean shade of nail polish, many give back similar responses such as: â€Å"It looks cool†; â€Å"If I wore red I would just feel like another ordinary person, but if people see your blue nail polish, they do a double-take†; â€Å"It's a little new, something different†. Unfortunately, many youths have been raised in a society where they have been conditioned to fear doing anything that will have them come across as a freak to others. In today's society, nail polish is one of the few things that come between the limits of someone who may be considered a â€Å"dull dresser†or a â€Å"freak-show†. It is understandable why the more all-around fashion-conscious youths might be attracted to a new trend of accessory. A theory can evolve, however, from the other kind of youths who don't express their inner-selves fully through their apparel. It is possible that these girls may feel more at ease leaking out their wild streak through the most subtle way they know how - nail polish. You can dress normally and still wear wild nail polish, yet no one will consider you a freak because of your flashy nails. â€Å"My parents hate it.†This factor alone may be an invitation for youths to wear blue nail polish.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
History of the Periodic Table :: essays research papers
Things are very different from each other, and can be broken down into small groups inside itself, which was then noticed early by people, and Greek thinkers, about 400BC. Which just happened to use words like "element', and `atom' to describe the many different parts and even the smallest parts of matter. These ideas were around for over 2000 years while ideas such as `Elements' of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water to explain `world stuff' came and went. Much later, Boyle, an experimenter like Galileo and Bacon, was influenced much by Democritus, Gassendi, and Descartes, which lent much important weight to the atomic theory of matter in the 1600s. Although it was Lavoisier who had divided the very few elements known in the 1700's into four different classes, and then John Dalton made atoms even more believable, telling everyone that the mass of an atom was it's most important property. Then in the early 1800's Dobereiner noted that the similar elements often had relative atomic mass es, and DeChancourtois made a cylindrical table of elements to display the periodic reoccurrence of properties. Cannizaro then determined atomic weights for the 60 or so elements known in the 1860s, and then a table was arranged by Newlands, with the many elements given a serial number in order of their atomic weights, of course beginning with Hydrogen. That made it clear that "the eighth element, starting from a given one, is a kind of a repeat of the first", which Newlands called the Law of Octaves. Then both Meyer and Mendeleyev built periodic tables alone, Meyer more impressed by the periodicity of physical properties, while Mendeleyev was more interested in the chemical properties. Then Mendeleyev had published his periodic table and his law in 1869 and forecasted the properties of the missing elements, and chemists then began to be grateful for it when the discovery of elements was predicted by the table that had taken place. Although, periodic tables have always been related to the way scientists thought about the shape and structure of the atom, and has changed over the years exactly for that reason. The modern periodic table is very much like a later table by Meyer, but arranged, by Mendeleev’s, but it had to be according to the size of the atomic weight. The only thing though that was made by Mendeleev’s was Group 0, which was then added by Ramsay.
Easy Clean, Co: Evaluation of Internal Control Environment Essay
LEARNING OBJECTIVES Evaluate a new audit client’s control environment. Provide an initial evaluation of certain components of the client’s control environment Appreciate the judgment involved in evaluating the overall internal control environment based on interview data Provide support for your internal control assessments Ted is a manager in the Business Advisory and Assurance Services division of a national public accounting firm. He has been given the job of managing the audit of Easy Clean, Co., which provides industrial and domestic carpet steam-cleaning services. Easy Clean has never been audited. Thus, Ted does not have any prior-year working papers to review. Ted recently conducted a preliminary interview with Doug Dosio, who along with his brother, Phil, owns Easy Clean. Ted’s objective for the interview was to establish an understanding of the control environment. To prepare for his interview, Ted reviewed professional auditing standards. Those auditing standards (AU 319) indicate that the control environment â€Å"sets the tone of an organization, influencing the control consciousness of its people. It is the foundation for all other components of internal control, providing discipline and structure.†The standards state that control environment factors include the following: 1. Integrity and ethical values 2. Commitment to competence 3. Board of directors or audit committee participation 4. Management’s philosophy and operating style 5. Organizational structure 6. Assignment of authority and responsibility 7. Human resource policies and practices Based on the interview dialogue provided below, you will be asked to evaluate the seven components of the client’s control environment noted previously in order for you to make an evaluation of the overall internal control environment. Before reading the interview information, please spend a couple of minutes reviewing the assessments you will make. Based on the information provided in the interview that follows, you are to evaluate Easy Clean’s overall control environment. To assist you in making this overall assessment, you will find detailed descriptions of factors noted below that may weaken or strengthen each of the seven components comprising the overall control environment. INTERVIEW WITH CLIENT Ted:Doug, can you give me a little information on the background of Easy Clean? Doug: Easy Clean provides both a domestic and industrial carpet steam-cleaning service and sells a relatively small amount of inventory, such as spot removers and carpet fresheners. Our company provides this service throughout three counties, which cover over 40 townships in a densely populated area. Easy Clean is completely owned by Phil and me. Our business has grown steadily over the course of several years after starting out with just one car-pulled trailer over five years ago. Over the years, the business has gradually added 12 fully equipped vans, worth about $30,000 each. Now in our sixth year of business, we plan to purchase approximately one new van each year to meet the growing demand for our services. The company grossed just over $1,650,000 in revenues last year, about half of which was collected in cash. We feel our continuing success is due in large part to â€Å"word of mouth.†Ted: Can you tell me something about the day-to-day operations? Doug: Well, Mr. Day, our office manager, and I are in charge of a small sales force that goes out on leads to give estimates for new jobs. Mr. Day is paid a salary plus a percentage of the total sales each month. My brother, Phil, is usually out in the field managing the 20 employees who work as cleaners for Easy Clean. Phil also helps with managerial and operating decisions. Salespeople are paid on a commission basis, selling both the domestic and industrial jobs based on standard prices established by the owners. Salespeople may sometimes negotiate special cut rates during the slower spring and fall seasons. Of course, these are almost always subject to approval by me or Mr. Day. Large industrial jobs are typically booked well in advance of the actual work. The job commitments obtained by the salespeople are normally submitted to Mr. Day, who signs them to indicate his approval and then returns them to the salespeople. Sales people then forward job commitments to one of two data input clerks for processing. The computer processes each commitment by extending the number of jobs by the standard price stored on the pricing file, or in specially negotiated situations, by the price on the input document. The sales, accounts receivable, and commitment files are updated and invoices are produced. An exception report of special prices is produced and sent to the salespeople to ensure that the specially negotiated commitments to jobs were processed correctly. Mr. Day developed this sales system himself and it’s working rather well. He’s currently in the process of creating the user manual for the system. I’ve also noticed that he sometimes makes adjustments to improve the system, which makes the accounting process more efficient. We’ve agreed that he’ll reevaluate the process at least once every eight weeks. Ted: And how about your accounting department? How big is it, and who oversees the accounting process? Doug: The accounting department of Easy Clean consists of seven part-time clerks, including the two data input clerks, who are all paid an hourly wage. All except one are college students working toward their accounting degrees. Mr. Day trains all new accounting help when they are hired. Typically, they stay on with us until they graduate, which usually covers two full years. We keep them pretty busy around here, but everyone helps each other out and they always get the job done. Ted: What are your brother Phil’s responsibilities? Doug: Phil manages the service component of the business. He usually trains all newly hired cleaning employees and explains their specific duties and responsibilities. When he feels sure that the employee is ready, the new hire is teamed up with a more experienced worker and assigned to a truck unit. When additional help is needed, Phil places ads in the local newspaper. Phil is the expert at running that end of the business. Ted: What about employee turnover? Doug: We haven’t had a problem with employee turnover. Phil expects some turnover in this type of business and knows how to deal with it. We try to prevent any employee concerns by maintaining an open door policy and encouraging employees who have questions or concerns about their responsibilities to ask for help or to come talk with us. If a problem should arise that might affect others, Phil or I will immediately address the problem at the monthly office meeting, making all employees aware of the issue. Both Phil and I work hard to ensure that any problem is resolved promptly. Doug leaves to give an estimate and Ted continues his observations of the business. Later that day, after spending time with the accounting staff, Ted has a moment to ask Mr. Day a few questions. Ted:Mr. Day, I’m wondering if you could help me clarify some things regarding my brief observations of the accounting staff? Mr. Day:Sure, I’d be glad to. What can I do for you? Ted: I got the impression from the staff that they’re not always certain about their assigned functions. Are job responsibilities clearly defined? Mr. Day: In assigning office responsibilities, Doug says the main considerations are that work should be done by the people who are familiar with a task and who are capable of doing it. But, he also admits that availability has to be a consideration. Although this does lead to some overlap in duties, it doesn’t create any confusion in responsibilities. I carefully assign the daily duties and overview each day’s accounting records. This keeps the office running smoothly and in a well-organized manner. Ted: The staff mentioned that they’ve occasionally had problems processing collections of trade receivables. Do you prelist cash receipts before they’re recorded? Mr. Day: Well, we haven’t really experienced any need to. The system is set up so that we collect all of the checks at the end of the day, making it possible to record them all at one time. This way, we can be more efficient by avoiding the need to write them down twice. On those rare occasions when there is a collection processing problem, we resolve it immediately. Ted: Do you ever run into accounting policy problems? Mr. Day: Not very often. I usually handle any policy problems that do arise, although Doug will handle the situation if he feels strongly about the issue. Ted: Well, thank you Mr. Day. I need to talk to Doug before he leaves for the day. A few moments later, in Doug’s office†¦ Ted: Are you satisfied with the processing of trade receivables? Doug: Yes, definitely. Mr. Day is meticulous in his clerical operations, which is well systematized. He has excellent control over the trade receivables. In fact, it’s been over a year and a half since the bank accepted a list of pledged receivables as security for a loan. From then on, we’ve had access to a continually renewable loan based on a list that’s updated weekly. The loan is relatively small, and the contract allows the bank to access Easy Clean ‘s checking account in the unlikely event that collection of the loan seems doubtful. Perhaps I should add that although Phil and I have no formal accounting training and we have given Mr. Day full responsibility for the accounting duties, Phil and I are the only people allowed to sign company checks. Ted: One of the accounting clerks mentioned that you’re thinking about making a change in the accounting system. Doug: As a matter of fa ct, Mr. Day has been looking into using a new accounting software package that should make the bookkeeping process an easier task for the clerks. This package includes a budgeting system that should help control costs and identify those areas that need attention. Although I’ve always monitored the company’s expenses, I didn’t previously see the need for a formal budgeting system. If something didn’t seem right, Phil or I would bring the problem up at the informal monthly office meeting between all the employees and try to resolve the issue. Given our current success, the implementation of a more sophisticated budgeting system seems like a wise investment. Ted: I’m also interested in your security measures. How do you protect your accounting records and physical assets? Doug: After hours, the office door and windows are heavily bolted. Only Phil, Mr. Day, and I have keys to open the office. Although there haven’t been any problems, we’re considering locking up the file cabinets where the hard copies of the accounting records and data disks are stored at night. I’ve also be en meaning to see about having the computers bolted down to the desks. As for the vans, they’re kept in a fenced-in lot behind our office. Each driver gets a key to the gate lock so they can let themselves in or out for work. We have to do this because a lot of the commercial cleaning is done after hours, when the office is closed. As a precautionary measure, we change the lock regularly. Ted: That should about do it for now, until I can get in to do some preliminary audit work. But before I leave, I’d like to ask you a few more general questions. To start with, can you tell me what you feel is responsible for Easy Clean’s recent success? Doug: Well, Ted, because Easy Clean is using the newest steam-cleaning procedure, we provide a much better result than the traditional rotary shampoo methods used by our competitors. And, our customers can tell. Plus, Phil and I understand the business well, we are personable, and we pride ourselves on doing good work. Ted: Having an audit performed by our firm is a big step. Why did you decide to have an audit now? Have you ever been audited before? Doug: Phil and I are confident that Easy Clean is a truly viable concern. We feel that audited financial statements will corroborate our claim. We’re eager to learn what suggestions your firm can give us regarding the most professional way to record and present our financial statements. We also have an interest in learning how to increase the company’s credibility with the local business and banking community. Both Phil and I are excited about the success of our company and we’re motivated to continue strengthening the organization with the eventual goal of pursuing additional business opportunities and endeavors. We’ve never been audited before, although we have used a local tax preparer to fill out our tax returns ever since Easy Clean has been in business. We did ask another firm, about two years ago, to come in to do an audit. We decided not to have the audit performed, though, because the company’s fees were too high. Although I’d have to look up the audit firm’s name, Phil and I decided that Easy Clean would have to wait for an audit until we could reasonably afford the fees. We’ve come to the decision that now is the time. Ted: Are there any issues of concern that you have regarding the audit? Doug: Not really. I’m proud of Easy Clean. The company has had no record of serious problems and has rarely had a problem with bad debts, since most of our receivable balances are collected within two to three weeks. Ted: I understand that Easy Clean does not have an audit committee, which is typical of an organization this size. Can you tell me if Easy Clean has a board of directors and, if so, who serves on the board and how active the board is in overseeing important issues at Easy Clean? Doug: We do have a board of directors. It is somewhat informal, but Phil, I, and our wives function as directors. We do have at least one regularly scheduled meeting each year and we have met on other occasions as necessary. Obviously, Phil and I have a pretty good idea of what is happening at Easy Clean on a daily basis. We do not believe our company is yet at a stage that could effectively support a separate board comprised of outside directors. Maybe we’ll do that in a couple of years, if we keep growing. Ted: One final thing I’d like to askâ€â€have you and your brother Phil set out any goals for the future? Doug: Phil and I have spent a lot of time talking about our goals and objectives, but we’ve never formally recorded them anywhere. Our long-term goals are fairly uncertain, but we’re hoping to build our nest egg to the point where we can potentially retire early. We both agree that our future plans include expanding our sales territory, increasing advertising, investing more help and additional equipment, and, I have to admit, taking a well-deserved vacation in Hawaii.
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