Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Public Sector Budgeting - City of Long Beach, California Assignment

Essays on Public Sector Budgeting - City of Long Beach, California Assignment What is the budget process at the of Long Beach, California that is surprising It is quite surprising that after the city manager has proposed the budget, it has to be verified by the mayor, who then proposes changes in the budget if there is any. The budget after release is reviewed by the city council, which takes a maximum of 45 days. Finally, the mayor will have a period of five days to make final changes. The Long Beach budget has many processes before it is finally adopted. 2. Steps in the budget process that are noteworthy The mayor is going through the budget after the city manager has proposed it to be practical. The mayor understands what the locals are missing and what should be improved or removed from the budget. It is, therefore, an advantage on the side of ordinary people. The budget being subdued to long processes before it is adopted is beneficial. This is because by going through long verifications, it prevents hasty decisions being made that may affect people negatively. 3. How to strengthen the overall budget process as a public administrator As a future public administrator, I will make it my priority to employ only people who understand the value of a dollar. This is by only letting people with the knowledge in accounts handle the budget (Erie, 2004); by doing this, no money will be left unaccounted for and every single penny will be put in use. 4. Categories that account for the most of public expenditures, and the City of Long Beach expenditure and the skills that administrators need to manage this category In the categories of public expenditure, the category of public education accounts for the most of the public budget. For the City of Long Beach, health and welfare category accounts for the most of its budget. For administrators to manage the health and welfare category, they need to have knowledge of how the category affects individuals, and the areas that can be improved if there is enough money. 5. Major revenue sources in the public budget of the City of Long Beach, California, and skills administrators need to manage the resources. The sources of revenue in the City of Long Beach are (Lee, Johnson, Joyce, 2004): levy taxes paid by tourists who visit the city’s beaches, Levies paid on imports and exports Tax deducted from public workers salaries. For administrators to manage these funds, they need to know the amount lost or gained by the government. Administrators should know the measures to take in case the amount of money gained by the government relapses. The administration should be made of individuals who are not corrupt to prevent cash embezzlement. 6. General skills one can gain from a public sector budgeting course Not everyone is a good planner when it comes to budgeting. Taking a budgeting course enables one to learn how to spend money wisely and how to avoid being an over spender. A budgeting course helps people know what should be their most priority when budgeting and what should be their least priority. 7. Skills one can take back to the working place from a public sector budgeting course In a work environment, there are different people. There are the groups that are aware of how to be wise spenders, and their counterparts who are clueless. Having some knowledge in budgeting enables one to assist his or her acquaintances in managing their incomes (Kanters, 2003). One can start by teaching one person in the office environment; as time goes by, others will be interested and then the idea can be implemented. This is if the majority at the work place supports the idea. 8. Identify at least one budget area that one should gain some additional hands on experience in order to be a better public administrator and how one can gain experience This will be the area of allocation of funds, which enables one as a public administrator to know where funds are needed to be allocated most. This can be attained through taking courses in accounts. 9. Public area budgeting issues of the City of Long Beach, California and ideas to manage these issues The budget on education is adversely affected every year. To help culminate this, the public revenue should prioritize public education funds before seeking to attend to any other public area. 10. Redevelopment has been important in the City of Long Beach, California, discuss the particular issues affecting the city as a result of the elimination of redevelopment agencies and how this will affect the processing of the integrating of the budgets for the city The City of Long Beach faces the challenge of scarce resources, and some public employees had to be laid off because they could not be paid. These challenges will affect the integrating of the budget because the budget will not be able to cover all the needed areas. Learning in schools will be interfered with as some lessons will have to be cut off from the curriculum. References Erie, S. P. (2004). Globalizing L.A: Trade, infrastructure, and regional development. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. Kanter, R. M. (2003). Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the frontiers of management. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School. Lee, R. D., Johnson, R. W., Joyce, P. G. (2004). Public budgeting systems. Boston, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

The Fast Food Industry of Australia-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Write a reflection on the research work done on impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Franchise on the Fast Food Industry of Australia. Answer: Introduction This paper presents a reflection on the research work done on impact of foreign direct investment and franchise on the fast food industry of Australia. Learning experience in the research studies facilitates growth of knowledge in course programme as well as in real life. All the sub parts of the research paper teach different aspects such as knowledge over multiple subjects, data collection and data analysis methods. Research process increases self-confidence of the learner. Learning experiences in the entire research method is described in the paper. Evaluation of the learning experiences The learning experiences I have achieved in my course is enriched with new experiences. I have invested both time and for the learning, which has intangible values. Those values are helpful in my future learning and career growth. Several tools and techniques have been used. I have learnt the research process, research gaps those may arise at the time data collection and analysis. During the course, I have done literature review and research proposal, which is the small outline of the research paper. I have learnt how to start a research paper and its proceedings and how to approach towards research outcome. Data collection method is seemed to be the most interesting part of the research as this is the practical part where I have to apply my knowledge acquired in the literature review chapter. Self evaluation is a key aspect to improve the research outcome (Myers 2013). Usefulness of the learning experiences The research proposal has been prepared based on the franchising in food sector of Australia. The literature review section has explained the significance of the foreign direct investment and the nature, trend of the Australian food market. Literature review helps the research to move forward (Polonsky and Waller 2014). This section is necessary for enhancement of understanding regarding key variables. This factual analysis also enhances critical review skill as different scholarly literatures have been studied in this section. Review of literatures identified the research method used in previous literature, which is helpful for current study. Reviewing articles, I have understood which methods I need to apply in my study along with my ability and limitations. Research proposal is the outline of the research along with research objectives and hypothesis. Therefore, research proposal evaluates the feasibility of the research (Mena-Marcos, Garca-Rodrguez and Tillema 2013). The time line presented in the proposal provides an idea about the time and expense of the research. It also analyses how the present research can be helpful for the society or education field. This study is useful for future career as I can relate the learning with practical scenario. In the learning process my analytical skill has developed significantly, which is not only useful in my current course, but also for higher studies. Details of the learning process I have started the research proposal with literature review. I have reviewed the literatures, which have examined the effect of franchising in business, market competition, internal and external factors affecting the food sector. Effect of foreign direct investment, role of multinational corporations have also highlighted in this section. Research questions have been developed from the knowledge of literature review. In order to conduct the entire study, online sources have been used. Business websites, government official websites to study legal requirements for franchising and online newspaper have been used. I have heard lectures of professor and online videos on FDI and franchising, observed market statistics to gather knowledge. Evaluation of the observation and learning In the literature review section, I have gained knowledge of benefits of business research. A cost effective research is helpful for the long-term success of the start up, medium size or large business. I have come to know the legal requirements that a franchise needs to follow. Company looks for information regarding customers, market trends or competitors. Internal and external strength, weaknesses are important factors for the success of the business (Horn 2012). Research methodology is the important part of the proposal, which covers entire process and methods of the research. In my research proposal, I have chosen descriptive research design. Although descriptive, both qualitative and quantitative research method have been mentioned to be applied later. Both primary data and secondary data will be required for the study. I have gained an idea about how to conduct the primary research. Development of questionnaire, method of interview, sampling techniques all are part of primary research. Interview is mostly effective for the qualitative study, where the research needs to apply own understanding, problem solving skill to explore the result. I have divided the research strategies into primary and secondary data analysis. Quantitative research has been designed for from primary data and qualitative analysis has been designed from secondary data. Secondary data that are needed for the research is market competitors, trends, amount of FDI in the country and in the food sector of Australia. I have designed open ended questions. However, this is a limitation of my research proposal. Close-ended questions would be most helpful for quantitative study, where I can use sampling techniques effectively along with statistical data analysis tools. Explanation of the learning process While doing the research plan, I have observed some limitation of the study. Both cost and time are major constraints for the study at the student level. Primary data collection through survey and using questionnaire is complex for a student. Due to time contrasts, it is not possible to conduct the research directly on the field. Hence, I have decided to carry out the research online, which is more feasible. Interview to the franchise in the Australian food market would be effective for the present research. It is not possible to provide enough time to more than 3 franchises within the time frame. Therefore, there is possibility of the sampling error. I have studied different methods of qualitative and quantitative data analysis procedure, which is very helpful for my future study. I had little knowledge over statistical analysis and its application. The knowledge has increased while reviewing literatures. I have learnt to analyse hypothesis and their acceptance, rejection criteria. I have experienced two distinct view of the project, one as a student and one as a researcher. As a student, I had to perform the task weekly. The task of researcher is more challenging. The first challenge I faced during formulating research questions. Research questions are crucial part to proceed with the final solution. Right research questions direct towards right findings (Dean et al. 2012). I now understand that the best research questions are those, researcher does not have any answers. Answers are obtained at the end of the data analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative studies direct towards robust results. Application of learning Learning experience is effective for my future business studies. I want to work as an business analytics or market researcher, which requires strong problem solving and decision making skill, good statistical knowledge exploratory skills. Presentation of report is essential skill for a researcher. As I have learnt various aspects of research, I am now confident to apply theses knowledge in my future study and career. I have studied the legal aspects for business and ethical issues, while conducting the research. All these skills are helpful in personal and professional development. The research limitations teach how to improve the outcome of future research. I will try to overcome those limitations during real life research. Project plan that is Gantt chart presents an expected timeline, from where I can get an insight of total time required to complete each task, resources and the projected expense. I have learnt time management, which is crucial not only for student life but also f or my entire life. Conclusion This reflection analysis highlights the learning experiences on literature review and research proposal. My thoughts on research process have changed over the last few weeks. As a part of my degree course, I have conducted a research proposal, where literature review is a part. At the initial stage, I had little knowledge over the writing style of a research proposal. However, I started the proposal by a designed based study. Later I learnt that mere description of the study could not lead to the desired outcome. As per advice of my supervisor and literature review section have helped to design an exploratory study. I have developed research questions after studying few articles on methodology. I can conclude that along with development of knowledge in different areas of my subjects, I have learnt several cognitive skills such as decision-making skill, patients, time management and resource management. These skills are essential for future development. References Dean, B.A., Sykes, C., Agostinho, S. and Clements, M., 2012. Reflective assessment in work-integrated learning: To structure or not to structure, that was our question. Horn, R., 2012.Researching and writing dissertations: A complete guide for business and management students. Kogan Page Publishers. Mena-Marcos, J., Garca-Rodrguez, M.L. and Tillema, H., 2013. Student teacher reflective writing: what does it reveal?.European Journal of Teacher Education,36(2), pp.147-163. Myers, M.D., 2013.Qualitative research in business and management. Sage. Polonsky, M.J. and Waller, D.S., 2014.Designing and managing a research project: A business student's guide. Sage Publications.