№ 4 экономисты

Контрольное задание № 4

для студентов экономических специальностей

Вариант I

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Forms of ownership

I. A business may be privately owned in three different forms. These forms are the sole proprietorship, the partnership, and the corporation.

2.The sole proprietorship is the simplest organizational form. There is one owner, who usually takes the title of president. He or she can make decisions without consulting anyone. The sole proprietorship is the most common in many western countries. More that 80 % of all businesses in the USA are sole proprietorships. They are service industries such as Laundromats, beauty shope, different repair shops, restaurants.

3.A partnership is an association of two or more persons to carry on a business for profit. When the owners of the partnership have unlimited liability they are called general partners. If partners have limited liabilities they are limited partners. Any business may have the form of the partnership, for example, in such professional fields as medicine, law, accounting, insurance, stockbrokerage. Limited partnerships are a common form of ownership in real estate oil prospecting, quarrying industries, etc.

4. Partnerships have more advantages than sole proprietorships if one needs a big capital or diversified management. They are easy to from and often get tax benefits from the government. But partnerships have certain disadvantages too. One is unlimited liability. It means that each partner is responsible for all debts and is legaly responsible for the whole business. Another disadvantage is the fact that partners may disagree with each other.

5. A business corporation is an institution established for the в of making profit. The shares of ownership are represented by stock certificates. A person who owns a stock certificate is called stock-holder.

6. There are several advantages of the corporation. The first is the ability to attract financial resources. The next advantage is that if the corporation attracts a large amount of capital it can invest it in plants, equipment and research. The third advantage is that a corporation can offer higher salaries and attract ta­lented managers and specialists.

7. The privately owned business corporation is one type of a corpo­ration. There are some other types too. Educational, religious, charitable institutions can also incorporate. Usually such corpo­ration does not issue stock and is nonprofitable. If there is a profit it is reinvested in the institution rather than distributed to private stockholders.

Answer the following questions:

1. What are three different ways that a business can be privately owned?

2. What forms do most European countries have?

3. Name some businesses that are likely to be sole proprietorships. Why do you think so?

4. What is the difference between general partnership and partnership?

5. In what professional fields are the partnerships found?

6. In what businesses is the partnership a common form?

7. What are the advantages of the partnership?

8. What are its disadvantages?

9. Who can own a corporation?

10.What are the advantages of the corporate form of ownership?

11.What kinds of corporations don't issue the stock usually?

12.What world-known corporations do you know?

Контрольное задание № 4

для студентов экономических специальностей

Вариант II

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Accounting

1. Accounting shows a financial picture of the firm. An accounting department records and measures the activity of a business. It re­ports on the effects of the transactions on the firm's financial condition. Accounting records give a very important data. It is used by management, stockholders, investors and creditors, indepen­dent analysts, banks and government.

2. Book-keeping is a procedural element of accounting as arithmetic is a procedural element of mathematics. Most of the material in this book discribes business situation, but the principles of accounting apply to financial consideration of Individuals as well. Most businesses prepare regulary the two types of records. That is income statement and balance sheet. These statements show how money was received and spent by the company.

3. One major tool for the analyses of accounting records is ratio analysis. A ratio analysis is the relationship of two figures. In finance we operate with three main categories of ratios. One ratio is with profitability, for example, the Heturn Investment Ratio. It is used as a measure of a firm's operating efficiency. The second set of ratios deals with assets and liabilities. It helps a company to evaluate its current financial position. The third set of ratios deals with the overall financial structure of the company. It analyses the value of the ownership of the firm.

4.There is a general classification of accounting. Public accounting and private accounting. Private accountants are those who serve the general public and collect professional fees for their work, much аs doctors and lawyers do. Their work includes auditing, tome tax, planning and preparations and management consulting.

Public accountants are a small fraction (about 10 %) of all accountants. Those public accountants who have art certain professional requirements are designated as Certified Public Accountants (CPA).

5.Private accountants work for a single business, such as a local department store or the Mc Donald's restaurant chain. Charitable mizationa, educational institutions and government agencies also employ private accountants. The chief accounting officer usually has the title of controller or treasurer. This person usually fleshes the status of Vice-President.

Answer the questions:

1.what ia the purpose of accounting?

2.who uses the data provided by accounting firm?

3. What are the two types of records which most businesses prepare?

4.What can you know analysing the income statement and balance shett of a company?

5. What is the purpose of ratio analysis?

6. What categories of ratios in finance do you know?

7. What is the general classification of accounting?

8.What atc public accountants?

9.What activities does their work include?

10. Who are private accountants?

11. Who employ private accountants?

12. How is the chief accounting officer called?

Контрольное задание № 4

для студентов экономических специальностей

Вариант III

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The Stock Exchange

1. The Stock Exchange is a world market where the shares and se­curities of public companies, the State government, local govern­ments, foreign governments and other organizations are bought end sold. There are about 3000 members of the Stock Exchange who are involved daily in the buying and selling of these shares and se­curities. The main British Stock Exchange is in London and was founded in 1773. It has 22 branches in the main towns of the country.

2. Before October 1986 shares were bought and sold by Stock Ex­change members called brokers and jobbers. The brokers bought or sold shares for members of the public and acted on their behalf. The jobbers bought or sold the shares from the market or other dealers and then sold them to the brokers.

In October 1986 there was a major reorganization of the way in which the Stock Exchange members conducted their business. These changes were referred to as the 'Big Bang'. Each member is now allowed to buy or sell shares on behalf of a member of the public, or buy and sell shares on his own behalf. The members are now called broker/dealers,

3. Recently there has been an increasing use of computers and visual display units on the Stock Exchange. These keep the members in constant touch with the changing state of. the market prices of securities and shares and help them to make the best decision that is possible at the time. These facilities make the Stock Exchange a more perfect market.

4. The broker/dealer will send to his client the contract note, which shows:

1. the price at which the business wes done;

2. the type and class of share or security;

3. the date and time of the deal;

4. the amount of commission charged;

5) the cost of the transfer fee;

6)dititails of the registration fee, charged for changing the names n the old owners of the shares into the new owners (in the books of the company).

5. There are "speculators" working, on the Stock Exchange and they i often called bulls, bears and stags.

A stag buje and sells newly issued shares and securities.

A bull is an optimist who buys the shares at a low price and that in the future the price will rise.

A bear is a pessimist who agrees to sell shares he doesn't have, hoping that by the time settlement day arrives he will be able to buy the shares at a lower price than he has agreed to sell hem at.

6. If there is a large demand for shares, then the price of the shares will rise. If there is a small demand for the shares, their price will fall.

Instead of buying shares directly via the Stock Exchange, members of the of the public may invest in unit trusts. These are organi­zations that take money from the public and invest it for them in a range of stocks and shares. Investing in this way may be safer than buying shares in a single company, because falls in the value of some of the stocks held by the unit trust may be balanced by tiaes in the value of others.

Answer the following questions

1. What is the Stock Exchange?

2. Where is Britain's main Stock Exchange and when was it founded?

3 .What is the approximate number of members of the Stock Exchange?

4 . How do broker/dealers work on the Stock Exchange?

5.Explain briefly, what happened in October 1986 in the event referred to as the "Big Bang'.

6. Explain why computers and visual display units have been found useful on the Stock Exchange.

7. Give some examples of the names of shares or securities which у be bought or sold on the Stock Exchange.

8. Describe the activities of bears, bulls and stags.

9. What happens to the prices of shares when there is an increase inmand for the shares or a decrease in demand for the shares?

10 What are unit trusts busy with?

Контрольное задание № 4

для студентов экономических специальностей

Вариант IV

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On Management and Managers

1. Management, by definition, is a function of planning, organizing, coordinating, directing and controlling. Any managerial system, at any managerial level, is characterized in terms of these functions.

2. Management is revealed in a variety of specific activities. Marketing management refers to a broad concept covering organi­zation of production and sales of products, which is based on consumer reqirements research. All companies must look beyond present situation and develop a long-term strategy to meet chan­ging conditions in their industry. Marketing management, there­ fore, consists of evaluating market opportunities, selecting markets, developing market strategies, planning marketing tactics and controlling marketing results.

3. Strategic planning includes defining the company's long-term as well as specific objectives, such as sales volume, market share profitability and innovation, and deciding on financial, material and other resources necessary to achieve those objectives.

4. In problems of market selection and product planning one of the key concepts is that of the PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE. That products pass through various stages between life and death (introduction- growth-maturity-decline) is hard to deny. Equally accepted is the understanding that a company should have a mix of products with representation in each of these stages. Companies can make far more effective marketing decisions if they take time to find out where each of their products stands in its life cycle.

5. However, the concept of the product life cycle seems frequently forgotten in marketing planning, which leads to wrong de­cision-making. This may well be seen in the following story: A supplier of some light industrial equipment felt that the decline in the sales of his major product was due to the fact that it was not receiving the sales support it deserved. In order to give extra sales support to this problem case a special advertising campaign was run. This required cutting into marketing budget of several products that were still in their "young" growth phase. In fact, the major product has long since passed the zenithot its potential sales, and no amount of additional sales support could have extended its growth. This became quite clear in the " ond-of-year sales which showed no improvement. The promising pro­ducts, however, went into gradual sales decline. In short, manage­ment has failed to consider each product's position in its life cycle.

6. A number of different terms are used for "manager", including "director", "administrator" and "president". The term "ma­nager" is used more frequently in profit-making organizations, while the others are used more widely in government and non-pro­fit organizations such as universities, hospitals and social work agencies.

7. What, then, is a manager?

When used collectively the term "management" refers to those people who are responsible for making and carrying out decisions within the system.

An individual manager is a person who directly supervises people in an organization.

8. Some basic characteristics seem to apply to managers in all types of organization: they include hard work on a variety of activities, preference for active tasks, direct personal relation­ships. Almost everything a manager does involve decisions. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists. In decisionmeking there is always some uncertainty and risk.

9. Managing is a hard job. There is a lot to be done and relatively little time to do it. The engineer can finish a design on a particular day, and the lawyer can win or lose a case at a certain time. But the manager's job is like "OLD MAN RIVER" – it just keeps going.

1. Collectively - в собирательном значении

2. "OLD MAN RIVER" - the name of a aong

3. in term of - с точки зрения

Answer the following questions:

1. What is Management?

2. What does marketing management consist of?

3. What does strategic planning include?

4.What are the stages of the Product Life Cycle?

5.Why is the Product Life Cycle considered one of the key epta in marketing?

6.What concrete activities is a production manager responsible for?

7.What basic characteristics do apply to managers?

8.Why is managing a hard job?

9.What does the term "manager" mean?

10.What people does the term "management" refer to?

Контрольное задание № 4

для студентов экономических специальностей

Вариант V

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Financial Institutions in the USA

1. Businesses that distribute or deal in money are called financial institutions. The most familiar institutions are commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, mutual sa­vings banks, credit unions, investment banks, and so on.

2. A commercial bank is a privately owned profit-making corpora­tion. It serves both individuals and businesses by offering che­cking and savings accounts, loans and credit cards. It also deals in some brokerage, insurance and financial advice. The commercial bank is the most important source of short term loans for busi­nesses. Sometimes the borrowers pledge collateral to back up the loan. Such loan is a secured loan. Companies with a good financial position are given the prime rate of interest which is the lowest commercial interest rate.

3. The commercial bank offers its customers accounts of two types; demand deposits and time deposits. A demand deposit mekee the money in it available to depositors immediately, while a time re­quires depositors to leave their money within the bank for a ateted period of time. Most banks offer their customers various sa­vings certificates, called certificates of deposit. Savers may put their money into thirty day, six month or two and a half year cer­tificates. The highest interest is paid to the customers who depo­sit their money for a longer period.

4. There is a central bank for all states in the USA called the Federal Reserve System ("the Fed") which controls various finan­cial institutions. The government and member-banks Jointly own the Fed. Member-banks have a right to obtain funds by borrowing from their district reserve bank, to use various service which the system provides, to obtain financial advice and assistance and to receive a dividend on stock that the district bank owns.

5. The Fed. controls the money supply and prevents the economy from crises. The Fed sells and buys governmental securities (bonds). When it buys government securities, it increases the mo­ney supply by putting more money in circulation. When the Fed sells government securities, it decreases the money supply. The Fed is "the banker's bank" because it lends money to member banks.

The interest that the Fed charges is called the discount rate. The Fed also clears checks by moving them from the bank where they wore deposited to the bank on which they are drawn. The check travels electronically from one bank to another through the Fed Reserve Bank.

Answer the following questions:

1.What are the financial institutions in the USA?

2.What way does a commercial bank serve its customers?

3. What is a secured loan?

4. What is the prime rate? Whom is it given?

5.What is the demand deposit and time deposit?

6. What certificates may customers put their money?

7. How is a central bank of the USA called?

8. Who owns the Fed?

9. What are the rights that member-banks have?

10. What are the function of the Fed?