Accounting Methods for LeadersIntroductionThis portfolio work project will help you to not only better understand commonly used accounting tools, but it will also give you the opportunity to use your skills and experience by preparing training materials to train someone else. ScenarioYou work for an organization that is seeking growth and recently has hired new district managers to assist in this growth. In talking to other regional managers, you have heard that some district managers do not have a thorough understanding of commonly used accounting tools including an income statement and balance sheet. You have a new district manager hire, John, and see the need to do some training with him so he has a solid understanding of income statements, balance sheets, and the elements that go into them including advertising costs, Web development costs, and store opening costs.In preparing to train your new hire, you have determined that the use of examples (a picture is worth a thousand words) can be a great approach to use. So, you have decided to gather some examples from the company’s summary of significant accounting policies from its latest financial statements.You may apply this scenario to either Option 1 or Option 2, described in Requirements below.Your RoleYou are a regional manager for Urban Outfitters or your selected organization and oversee a number of districts. You have recently brought a new district manager on board and want to ensure he has the knowledge and tools needed to effectively do his job.RequirementsOption 1:The organization you work for is Urban Outfitters. Use the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission site linked in Resources to find the Urban Outfitter’s 2016–2017 financial statement’s summary of significant accounting policies. Look at the data for 2015, 2016, and 2017 for the following examples of essential elements you need to cover with John and ensure his understanding.Advertising. Examine the criteria used to expense and capitalize advertising costs and where these costs appear in the financial statement.Store opening costs. Examine how store opening and organization costs were handled and where these costs appear in the financial statement.Website development costs. Examine the approaches taken during the application and infrastructure development stage and the planning and operating stage.Option 2:Use a firm or scenario of your choosing.Before choosing a company, read the assignment thoroughly to ensure:The company fits the assignment requirements.You have access to the financial statement’s summary of significant accounting policies and the Note disclosures from which you are drawing your materials. Include this information in the appendix for instructor reference.You can distribute the data without disclosing confidential company information.Contact your instructor with questions.Training MaterialsAs you prepare your training materials for John, use the examples you collected from the company’s Notes to financial documents to illustrate how you address the following items:Explain how one or more of the following costs are captured:Advertising.Store opening. If store opening costs were capitalized, over what time period would you amortize them? Explain why you selected this time period.Website development.Analyze the importance of Notes to financial statements in interpreting financial statements.Explain how the accounting method the company uses affects the financial statements.Explain how the financial statements would differ if another method were used to capture the costs.If you have a preference for capitalizing or expensing these costs, explain why it is your preference.Deliverable FormatLeadership has asked that you develop either a training deck or a training manual that you will use with John and that can be deployed with other new hires as well. Regardless of the format selected, the information should address the points identified above and with detailed explanations within the notes areas of slides or within the training manual text. It will also be helpful to include information in regard to why each item is important to the organization as well as the success of the new district manager.To use your time and John’s time wisely, be conscientious about providing thorough yet concise information. These materials are expected to be used by others for future training needs, so make sure they are well organized and clear.Training materials requirements:12–15 slides for a training deck. Include additional details as slide notes.3–4 pages for a training manual.Related company standards for either format:The training manual is a professional document and should therefore follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines, including single-spaced paragraphs.To learn more about creating presentations, click "MBA Program Resources" and then "Presentation Skills."In addition to the training deck or manual materials, include:Title (slide or page).References (slide or page).Appendix with supporting materials. If you are using a firm or scenario of your choosing, ensure your instructor has sufficient information to understand how you reached your recommendation.At least two APA-formatted references.EvaluationBy successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies through corresponding scoring guide criteria:Competency 1: Explain how accounting concepts and practices impact financial reporting.Explain how the accounting method the company used affects the financial statements.Compare how two accounting methods differ in their effects on the financial statements.Competency 4: Communicate financial information with multiple stakeholders.Communicate accounting information clearly.Your course instructor will use the scoring guide to review your deliverable as if they were your immediate supervisor. Review the scoring guide prior to developing and submitting your assignment.ePortfolioThis portfolio work project demonstrates your competency in applying knowledge and skills required of an MBA learner in the workplace. Include this in your personal ePortfolio.Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.ResourcesTraining—Accounting Tools and Practices Scoring Guide.

PROJ 595 Individual Risk Management Plan (RMP) Objective The goal of the Individual Risk Management Plan (RMP) is to select a project and then to create and detail a risk management plan that would support that project. Guidelines The Individual Risk Management Plan is due by the end of Week 4 and should be 10 to 15 pages long without counting cover page, reference page, or appendix. The Individual Risk Management Plan will be graded on quality of research topic, quality of paper information, use of citations, grammar, and sentence structure. Papers must be in 12-point font, double-spaced, and must include a cover page, table of contents, introduction, body of the report, summary or conclusion, and works cited. All DeVry University policies are in effect, including the plagiarism policy. Even though this is not a scientific-type writing assignment, and is mostly creative in nature, references are still very important. At least six authoritative, outside reference citations are required in APA format (anonymous authors or web pages are not acceptable). These should be listed on the last page, titled References. Any questions about this paper may be discussed in the Course Q & A Forum. You will create Individual Risk Management Plan for a project of interest to you, defining how to conduct risk management activities for the project. When selecting a project, avoid picking one that is either too big or too small. For example, do not decide to build a new stadium for your local sports team (too big) or to plant your summer garden (too small). For this course, you should select a project that has 4 to 6 milestones with 15 to 25 tasks or activities in total. If you have any questions about the suitability of your project selection, please follow-up with your professor for his or her guidance. If you are confident in your project selection and feel that you will not have any problems creating the deliverables mentioned below, you are not required to submit your project idea to your professor or obtain approval to proceed. The Individual Risk Management Plan for your project must apply risk management processes learned from both of your textbooks, describing how risk management activities will be structured and performed. The document may include the following points: Risk Strategy: Describes the general approach to managing risk on your selected project.Methodology: Define the specific approaches, tools and data sources that will be used to perform risk management on the project.Roles and Responsibilities: Defines the lead, support and risk management team members that may be required for each type of activity described in the RMP and clarifies their responsibilities.Funding: Identifies the funds needed to perform activities related to Project Risk Management. Establishes protocols for the application of contingency and management reserves.Timing: Defines when and how Project Risk Management processes will be performed throughout the project life cycle and establishes risk management activities for inclusion into the project schedule.Risk Categories: Provide a means for grouping individual project risks.Stakeholder Risk Appetite: An expression of measurable risk thresholds that provide the level of overall acceptable project risk exposure.Probability and Impact: Definitions of probability and impact levels for both negative and positive risks.Reporting Formats: Define how the outcomes of the Project Risk Management process will be documented, analyzed and communicated.Tracking: How risk activities will be recorded and how the Risk Management process will be audited. Sample Outline of Typical Paper Title PageTable of ContentsIntroductionProject Management Plan ComponentsConclusionReferences in APA format

Many discussion opportunities come up where you need to respond to other people’s opinions and comments. Respond to your Discussion topic after you have completed your Reading.ForecastingSuccessful organizations are also those who are able to make relatively accurate forecasts about the future needs (inventory, facilities, capacity, manufacturing, manpower) for the products produced or the services delivered.Forecasting is an uncertain science since it calls for predictions but current theoretical and mathematical models (quantitative and qualitative) make it possible for organizations to predict with an acceptable margin of error. Think about it this way: Without forecasting, organizations would always be responding rather than acting.Select one industry from the list below: Bank, restaurant, health clinic/hospital, airline, or university.What specific variables would be needed by that organization in order to forecast? Be sure you explain why you selected each variable and why it is important to forecasting.Which variables are used for short-range forecasting, long-range forecasting, or for both. Make sure you support your selections.