Importance of Annual Reports and Accounts Essay

Importance of Annual Reports and Accounts - Essay Example Generally enterprises use annual reports to express three major types of information and that are market information, financial information and information related to productivity. Tesco’s annual reports also hit the same purpose as they project information of market competencies, company’s fiscal growth and revenues with respect to output levels (Thomsett, 2007). Tesco’s Annual Reports on Market Analysis Tesco’s annual reports talk about the market situation in which the company operates. The reports indicate different market segments, those in which Tesco is successful and those where the company sets back. There is a summarized overview of different business constraints which Tesco highlights in its annual reports. Constraints include trading levels, profit and loss statements, revenues of a particular fiscal, growth, number of employees working, and number of stores operating in one particular fiscal. By giving the overview of all such constraints, Tes co is able to analyze its present market situation (Tesco, 2012). The report comes out at the end of each fiscal giving an overview of complete market statistics. This enables managers to assess present market in terms of future growth prospect. From Tesco’s annual reporting system it can be said that annual reports play a decisive role in market analysis. By having such event based information as in Tesco’s reports, the company is able to compare its past market with the relativistic present market (Tesco, 2012). Actually the reports are projections of periods allowing the planning to make true real assessment. This helps in creating market picture, which shows that how much there is stability and... This paper approves that there are different reasons of why annual reports are important to enterprises. Some of the reasons are clean market analysis, comprehensive growth assessment and comparative financial evaluation, which are helpful to prepare future plans for the company (Stittle, 2003). Annual reports mostly include three types of information, market information, financial information and information related to growth and productivity. By general assessment of the reports strategists are able to understand overall performance of the company on a particular. Annual reports play a decisive role in this respect as they project the key highlights of the company including new projects, day to day customer experience, employees stability and investors engagement, which are enough elements to understand the growth rate and productivity. This report makes a conclusion that Tesco an international retailing company also operates on annual reporting system. The company comes out deliberate with a year of year reporting where information is mostly based financials, market status and growth of the company. This type of information is important to both Tesco managers and investors as they have the idea on company’s real time progress by accessing the annual reported documents. Hence it is to conclude that annual reports hold a major importance for an organization, especially when the organization is on the international grounds and requires a comprehensive tool of expression like annual reports.

Harold Pinter Essay -- Biography Biographies Harold Pinter Essays

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter is one of the greatest British dramatists of our time. Pinter has written a number of absurd masterpieces including The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming, Betrayal, Old Times, and Ashes to Ashes. He has also composed a number of radio plays and several volumes of poetry. His screenplays include The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Last Tycoon, and The Handmaid's Tale. He has received numerous awards including the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear, BAFTA awards, the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize, the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or and the Commonwealth Award. Harold Pinter was born on October 10, 1930 in Hackney, East London. He was the sole child of Jack Pinter and Frances Franklin. His father was a ladies’ tailor whose family was among Jewish immigrants that reached the East End of London. Both sides of Harold’s family were Jewish, but they had different personalities and characteristics. His paternal side was Orthodox Jewish and they had an artistic background, whereas his maternal side was more secular and skeptical about strict rules of religion and were known for their entrepreneurial background. Although the Pinter’s were relaxed and music-loving, they got along well at family gatherings with the noisy and clamorous Franklins. Since Harold was an only child, he would imagine a life with brothers and sisters and would create imaginary friends and play out adventures and scenes in the backyard of his home. This isolated world created a place where Harold felt warmth and security. However, this childhood was interrupted by the outbreak of war in 1939. Harold had to leave his home in Hackney as part of a nationwide evacuation, and along with twenty four other children, Harold was sent to John Nash, a fabricated castle, from the elementary school. This was a traumatic and disturbing experience for all of the boys who were isolated from their homes and families, especially for nine-year old Harold. Some boys took advantage of this experience and were happy to be exposed to rural life. â€Å"For Harold, the disturbing experience blended with a magical eye opening encounter of rural life and his tendency to introspect blossomed† (Top Biography). At the same time, his awareness to sounds and images developed, and these permeated his later life and work. This encounter left a mark in Harol... ...lways isolated from something, whether it be from the lack of feeling of love from non-existing siblings and creating imaginary friends in his backyard, or being isolated from his parents during his evacuation throughout the war. Pinter’s life was filled with significant events, but he claims that his life is and was confusing and has had no influence through his works. In this case, his plays, like his life, are just a series of events that happen in real life, but are not supposed to mean a certain thing or express a certain thought. His most recognizable plays mostly take place in just a room filled with people dealing with a certain issue, but they mean so much more; or do they? These situations can be so awkward and silly at times that they are absurd enough to see humor in them and laugh at. This is the way Pinter wanted his plays to be looked at. He was never trying to get a message across and his plays are meant to show a situation at hand and how people deal with it. It is so easy to try and come up with a reason for his menace which causes critics to over-analyze his work. This is what makes Harold Pinter one of the greatest British dramatists of our day.

Branding Essay

â€Å"As a consuming population we have formed deep emotional bonds with our brands, to the extent that they now determine who we are and how we are perceived†. (Isaksen and Roper, 2008). Brands are everywhere we look. They are simply unavoidable. We wake up in the morning: brush our teeth with a brand of toothpaste, use our branded shampoo, put on several brands of clothes and then eat our branded toast. We simply cannot escape from them. So the questions I pose are: Why do we choose the brands we do? What do our brands say about us? Brand ersonality â€Å"refers to the set of human characteristics associated with a brand† (Aaker, 1997). When I talk about brand image or brand personality I am basically asking if this brand were a person who would it be? Or else when we buy these brands what do they represent? Our modern culture has become obsessed with brands so what do they mean? If you buy a BMW people will assume you are rich, if you are seen walking around with a pair of Beats you are seen to be cool. Every product we buy or service we use says something about us whether we want it to or not. Everything comes with an age or has a stigma attached to it. Even the music we listen to and the celebrities we admire have become brands in themselves. Take Kim Kardashian as an example she wasn’t heard of up until 2007 and now she is one of the most famous women on the planet with business ventures such as perfume, clothing stores, a T. V show and over 16 million followers on Twitter she has completely made a brand out of herself. Aaker (1997) suggests that â€Å"the personality traits associated with a brand, such as those associated with an individual, tend to be elatively enduring and distinct†. Such as when you hear Mercedes you think luxury, Guinness is tradition and Chanel is elegance. In colleges all across the country every student not only has the burden of exams and QCA’s but also how they look and it’s the brands they buy that decide this. You will be questioned if you’re not wearing the latest ‘Hollister’ gear or carrying a shiny new ‘iPhone 5’. ‘Hollister’ originated in California in 1922 and is a brand associated with the beach and surfing yet in most schools and colleges it has been turned into popularity contest of who can have the ost or the best or the newest. Brands are completely consuming us and it’s not Just spoilt teenagers anymore it is ranging from everyone from young kids of 5 years old right through adolescents up to adults. Primary school kids are coming home crying because they don’t have the latest brand of lunch box like their friends and middle aged men are going out buying ridiculously expensive phones and cars Just to stay feeling young because they believe that’s what those brands can offer them. They are willing to pay for Just a couple more years of feeling young and on trend. This leads into Bhat and Reddy (1998) and their theory of how brands can be functional, symbolic or both. â€Å"Functional brands satisfy immediate and practical needs. Symbolic brands satisfy symbolic needs such as those for self-expression and prestige, and their practical usage Is only incidental† (Bhat and Reddy,1998). People have taken a brand that was originally meant as functional such as clothing, phones and cars and turned them into something so symbolic that they actually covet them. You keep certain clothes for â€Å"good wear†; spend hours cleaning your car and people Jump ore now to save a talling phone than a talling baby. Bhat and Reddy ( 8) were able to prove this theory through different research groups and methods â€Å"For example, to owners of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, their motorcycle is not Just a mode of transportation†. (Bhat and Reddy, 1998). They have said â€Å"It is an experience, an attitude, a lifestyle, and a vehicle to express who one is† (Aaker,1996). Adolescents are influenced the easiest when it comes to symbolic positioning of brands. â€Å"As cognitive development progresses, adolescents are able to understand the complex ymbolism of brands and their role in defining the self†. Chaplin and Roedder-John, 2005) They want everything theyre friends have and are surrounded by images of celebrities showing off the latest fashions and technology. Several brands are even endorsed by the celebrities they look up to. Young girls are influenced so easily by the â€Å"beautiful people on television† so why wouldn’t they want to buy shampoo that will make their hair look like Cheryl Cole’s hair or make up that will make them look like Beyonc © or even clothes that will make them look like Rihanna. Even teenage boys are seeing images such as David Beckham sprawled across a billboard half naked so why shouldn’t they buy ‘Armani’ boxers to look like him and why shouldn’t they want to drive the luxury car brands like soccer players? Companies continuously aim products at teenagers through different mediums such as television, music, and celebrities. Isaksen and Roper (2008) suggests â€Å"brands which are placed in popular teenage television programs are likely to benefit from a positive image and be popular among adolescent consumers†. Teenagers have become walking brands but t isn’t their fault it is what they are surrounded by. In summary brands have completely taken over our lives. Everyone buys into them whether they mean to or not and we can all pretend to hate them yet they are such a big part of our everyday lives there is no escaping them. Companies have realised this and know exactly how to market their brands to the different markets so we have to accept them. We are influenced by them in ways we don’t even realise. They are part of our society and culture and the fashion of brands is only growing stronger so my final question is which brand are you?

Short Story - 1998 Words

Madison Knight read the insignificant bank balance for the second time. Dead broke. Until now, holidays in the Colorado Rocky Mountains had always been her favorite time of the year, but that was before the money ran out—before the likelihood of eviction. Her one chance to pay her bills rested on the New Year’s bonus from Once Again Antiques. Today, December 24th, starting at 9 a.m. until the close of business, twenty percent of all sales generated from the client wish list contributed to the bonus—if she held on to her job until the end of the year. One more misstep, one more unsatisfied customer, and there’d be no ifs, ands, or buts—the owner, Savannah Charm, would terminate her employment. Madison slid a quilt over her shoulders and†¦show more content†¦Let me check our records.† She placed the phone on the table next to the laptop and as the inventory screen opened, her stomach muscles tightened bit by bit. Seller’s remorse represented an undesirable side of the business. Certain heirlooms were too precious to part with, and now and then, the previous owner realized it too late. â€Å"My grandmother had an estate sale last week, and she didn’t want it sold, unfortu—† â€Å"Oh?† She should’ve kept quiet. Run-ins with greedy family members happened in the antique business, and a judging attitude didn’t increase revenues. â€Å"It wasn’t on purpose,† he said. â€Å"The day was chaotic and someone had shuffled around the artwork. We didn’t realize it was missing until a couple of days ago, and it took this long to sort out the mix-up and discover your shop bought it.† She felt guilty for jumping to the wrong conclusion. â€Å"I see how that could happen. It’s obvious the piece is important to your grandmother. If it becomes necessary, we have the resources to find a similar style. Is there a special artist or significance?† Held hostage by the slow computer response and trying not to rush him, she picked up one of the hand weights, intending to fit in a few curls. â€Å"Keep in mind Gran’s ninety-two, and she thinks . . .† â€Å"Uh-huh.† With her free hand, she grabbed the latte and took a sip. â€Å"Gran thinks it holds a special power.† Madison chose that moment to swallow and the creamy espresso went down the wrong pipe. 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