Experience in BPA Club

(Me with other members in Business Professionals of America)

As an American Foreign Culture Exchange student in the year of 2011, I went to Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls, Idaho. Still remember there was one time I was chosen to participate in school BPA (Business Professionals of America)’s activity. To be honest, I was not a member of BPA, the reason my accounting teacher Mrs. Bean wanted me to get involved is that I have great interests in accounting, and I did excellent in her class.

Clearly remembered, this was a fundraiser in business associated with Deb fashion show. Members of the Business Professionals of America (BPA) and few additional models handpicked from my school were helping model the prom dresses. I have to say this was a special experience for me to dress up as a model, and escorted by guys across the stage, with all flashlights blinking under the stage. Chris, the leader of BPA, he mentioned that the purpose for this event was to help out the club running, and it was also a chance for girls to see prom dresses of real models of all ages and sizes. In other words, “girls need to be checking out dresses and figuring our what would look best for their body type and shape. With many types of dresses to choose from, ladies need to see the dresses worn in person in order to get the correct perspective (Marsh).” In my opinion, it can be seen as a non-profit business event, but can still bring customers later after they saw hundreds of prom dresses that dressed on real models.

About this community, “BPA is the leading CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organization) for students pursuing careers in business management, office administration, information technology and other related career fields (Business Professionals of America). Thus, Canyon Ridge High School BPA club was able to practice the ability of students in business management. It is also a great opportunities and advantage for people who want to show their leadership and ability in society, and give chance to add more social experiences in later on resumes.

1. Marsh, Heaven. "BPA Fashion Show." Edition 2 Vol 5. Canyon Ridge High School, 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

2. "About BPA." Business Professionals of America. Business Professionals of America, 2012. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

Deep in Research

I have been noticed that writing an open blog post gets harder for me. As Kate mentioned in the class, after a period of practicing and writing blogs, we would realized that there are not much things we can talk about in the blog. Therefore, I will see this as my weekly study report, and provide as much information as I can.

In today’s WRA class, librarian Sara showed us around in the main library, and gave us many options to find sources for our next coming research paper. In detail, she assumed to take “Tattoos” as an example, let us brainstorming on the topic, and find websites, books, and scholar articles to support the topic. I have to admit this is my first time know how to use the school library web page. We can browse our topics, and find all related articles and books shown on the webpage. Also, one of the most awesome part is we can just click “cite” to create a MLA citation for the source. Moreover, Sara told us the ways to use this library source. Firstly, we need to get online, and type something related to our topic, browse the webpage and find relevant books. Then we can check the book’s call number and whether it is available or not. Lastly, we need to check the first letter shown in the call number, and find the book. Personally, I would never know this is so convenience that we can find a book so easy even we do not have any idea for choosing books.

Thus, I think this lecture really helps me with my further researching on my topic, and gave me more confidence for this project. In addition, I can use this convenience in any courses for my later on study.

Learning Perspective for Week Six

In this week open blog post, I would like to talk more about my learning progress in the writing class and response towards it. As we did in the class, Kate introduced us the second project in which is to write a five to seven pages of research paper associated with American Pop Culture. Before we start on our research paper, she let us to practice more about summary, paraphrase, quotations, and citation. In order to see the differences between them, she divided the class in groups of two. We are assigned to find an article about the Valentine’s Day, and use the article to do summary and paraphrase. In this way, I learned that paraphrase is a more specific task compare to summary, and direct quotes are words that exactly from the source. In addition, we need put in-text citation for all the direct quotations and indirect quotations that wrote in the essay. Furthermore, by taking notes and “My Response” near the “Notes form the Source”, I found it is really interesting to see how those notes can associate with my opinions.  Using this way, it is clearly to give my response either I agree or disagree about the issue.

Also, on Thursday’s class, I learned the structure to write a topic report. Basically, it requires us to give information about our next coming research paper. Firstly, we need to write the introduction paragraph, state the topic. Then in the body paragraphs, we need to specifically introduce the background information of your topic in multiple sources. Thirdly, recap and take away the topic sentences, and ask further questions and observations towards your research. Last but not the least, cite the works in a separate paper.

To conclude, it is handy that Kate taught us these writing strategies to help with our next coming research paper. Also, to make connections with specific days and our class make the class more insightful and joyful.

(picture links to:http://educationalstar.com/an-easy-way-to-write-research-papers/research-4/)

Exploring Writing Process

It has been a great opportunity for me to have Ms. Liu as my interviewer about accounting. Personally, she is an excellent accountant who works in a co-operation company in China. Also, many of other companies are willing to have her works for them, but she refused. Instead, she sometimes having speeches about finance management or house financial keeping all over the China. In this way, she writes her own speech drafts, annual financial announcement, and summary by herself.

In order to know how Ms. Liu writes on papers, she showed me step-by-step strategy, and provided me some examples towards writing major tasks. Firstly, as she mentioned, target audience is the first tasks need to find. For example, if she is giving a speech for families and households, what she writes is mainly towards how to manage their personal money safely and properly, and how important is to journalizing the daily merchandise expenses and revenue. Otherwise, as companies as the target audience, it is more important to talk about circulating fund and fixed funds in order to run the company steadily. Secondly, you need to find the main issues in the groups that you are talking to, and then lists its pros and cons as the solution. Thirdly, if it is an annual summary, the paper should be more likely like a report that talks about the trends during the year, when we met the big bumps and when we had a fluency periods. Also, to write the improvements in the future year is also an important task. Otherwise, companies and households would not have a target aims and high expectation for future years.

Compare to Ms. Liu’s writing process to others we have discussed in class, there are some similarities and differences. Speaking widely, both writing process that I learned is to find the target audience and the facts. Also, it is important to brainstorming and draw conclusion after you find your specific audience. However, in Ms. Liu’s reports and speech drafts, she rarely uses other’s words as part of her paper, and what she does always is to speak to her own experiences and opinions. Oppositely, when we learn how to write the research paper, it is improper to have our own opinions and experiences in the paper. Instead, it would be better if we use information and data that are from official websites, people in profession, and textbooks.

To sum up, Ms. Liu taught me variety of information about her field of working, and strategies to write reports. Also, it is incredible to see how differently and similarly our type of writing process compared to the type that people in profession uses.

Blog Post vs. Literacy Devices

By reading the post Don’t Compete with Your Customers found at AxiomCPA blog page, it is clearly to see how this post is related to the delivery and style. The post is basically talking about how business should be focus on to make success. Specifically, take laundry services as an example: regards to majority of families have laundry room in their house, people can basically do their laundry at home, however, there are still many clothes have to dry clean, and usually people do not have the facility to do this. In this situation, most people would pay money and take their clothes to the laundry services. Therefore, what laundry services business should do is investing better facility to do best on dry clean rather than focus on regular washing and drying. Moreover, take tax return as another example: be an accountant can provide people put together a plan of attack and accountability to meet your 5 and 10 years goal. Oppositely, software like TurboTax can prepare a business tax return for you, but it can never suggest you about further planning. In this way, society requires accounting and some of them are professional on this area.

Now considering the delivery and style of the post, the author uses formal language to develop his personal opinion, and then provides examples to persuasive the audience to consider his understanding. Also, it is clearly to see who is the target audience in this post. By reading the examples he provided, his uses business companies, as the primary audience, and speaking in a friendly way to give reason why do not compete with your customers. Thus, it is the best way to use blog to express his opinion to companies who are still struggle with the management.

In conclude, it is obvious that author target on a specific groups of people, and using examples to make his opinion persuasive. Personality, I think it is a useful strategy for companies and businesses to know what they should focus on and an understanding of “ do not compete with your customer”.

My Weekly Report

(Related link:http://eatinggoodfeelinggood.com/2012/09/29/documentary-reviews-6-days-to-air-south-park-happy/)

In this week, our WRA class assigned us to watch a documentary film called Six Days to Air: the Making of South Park. At the beginning, I do not have any idea why we need to watch this movie. The movie basically was talking about how one episode can be made in six days and the process of producing. However, after Kate let us list the steps to make the episode, she compared this list with our Literacy Memoir “How to” list, see how similar it could be to make one project, and I found the connection between those two.

Firstly, by watching Six Days to Air: the Making of South Park, the first thing they do is choose the target audience, then gathering all the animators together, have conversations and take jokes, in order to come up with funny ideas. Secondly, Matt and his co-operator writes the scripts and get it approved. After that, they will sent the writing scripts to the storyboard room, finish the records, and lastly, finalize it and out on the air. To find the similarity, when I wrote my Literacy Memoir, I generally brainstorming first and choose my target audience. In this way, focus on developing my story and related pop culture can roughly come up with a draft Memoir. Also, RAIDS (revision, arrangement, invention, delivery, style) are the five most important literacy devices can help to develop the story line.

To sum up, it is incredible to see how similarly the movie making and writing process can be compared, and how useful the lesson that Kate taught us. Thus, I would always remember the way to developing a paper.

Q & As in Accounting

(Picture links to: http://qeaconsulting.com/homepage/accounting)

As to explore my field of study, I read the textbook called Financial Accounting. This book generally introduces the basic structure of the worksheet and journal entries when we record a transaction. Also, it provides me a great amount of information in understanding basic equations and rules of recording journal entries. In order to find answers to my list of questions, I took some important parts from the textbook into my Q & A lists.

Here are my ten questions and answers provided that about my major in Accounting:

1. As I know, long-term objective for all business is to use cash to make more cash, in this circumstance, what can be the definition for operating cycle?

The operating cycle are also known as cash-to-cash cycle, it is the time that takes for a company to pay cash to suppliers, sell goods and services to customers, and then collect cash from customers.

2. What sources can be includes in cash expenditures?

There are three kinds of expenses are included in cash expenditures: debt payments, asset purchases, and expenses.

3. What means gains (or loses) on sales of assets?

Gains are increases in assets or decreases in liabilities form peripheral transactions; loses are decreases in assets or increases in liabilities form peripheral transactions. For example, in 2008, Papa John’s sold restaurants costing $12 million for $9 million, recognizing a Loss on restaurant sold of $3 million.

4. In which circumstance, cash can be paid either before, during, or after an expense is incurred?

Cash is paid before the expense is incurred to generate revenue; cash is paid in the same period as the expense is incurred to generate revenue; cash is paid after the cost is incurred to generate revenue.

5. What is a balance sheet?

Assets= Liabilities + Owner’s Equity

Specifically, it reports the amount of assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity of an accounting entity at a point of time.

6. What is net income?

Net income is the excess of total revenues over total expenses.

7. Is it possible on an income statement that total expense are greater than the total revenue to make it negative number?

It is possible to have a negative number that expenses are greater than the revenue, and it can be called net loses.

8. Why is the statement of cash flows important?

It reports inflows and outflows of cash for a stated period of time classified into three categories: operating, investing, and financing activities.

9. When you analysis a transaction model, which side is debit (or credit) belongs to?

Debit is on the left side of an account, and credit vice versa.

10. When we record a transaction, do we have to write it in chronological order?

Yes, it is required to record transaction in time order in the journal entry.