Recent orders
This memo focuses on effectiveness of decentralization by giving attention to the growth and development of the Health and Hu
Memo on Decentralization
Name:
Institution:
Introduction
This memo focuses on effectiveness of decentralization by giving attention to the growth and development of the Health and Human Services Department. It provides a discussion on the political factors affecting the organizational structure of large agencies like the HHS while expanding on its outcomes. It also gives an account of the implications for future based on DHHS. The memo ends by giving an analysis and conclusion of how organizational structure affects DHHS.
Effectiveness of Decentralization
Attention was focused on the Health, Welfare, and Education Department’s operations when the federal government’s involvement in social programs increased. Since then, the department has operated much like a collection of separate entities with some describing the department as a feudal system where authority and power were found in separate components with the head of the empire working more like a titular leader than one with real control (Radin, 1999). As it grew in the span of time, the Office of the Secretary had to manage Decentralized departments by controlling the budget process and managing legislation. It grew and became the crucial force in the society playing a major role of reaching for a set of policy goals within the department and molding together the separate forces.
Effects of Political factors on organizational structure
Political factors have caused an impact on the balance between decentralization and centralization in the Department of Health and Human Services despite efforts by the Secretary to establish dimensions that emphasizes autonomy and decentralization. These factors can influence the selection of organizational structure since the structure that the organization chooses indirectly or directly will influence the changes in these factors (International Anti-Corruption Conference, n.d) Instances where political factors have influenced the organization structure of large companies include directives that come from the Department from the white house, the National Review Performance. There has also been an attempt by attention from the Congress and the White House that has always caused OpDivs to go to move to the department for help in strategizing an effective response to criticism and queries. Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Office of the assistant secretary for public affairs are offices that are sensitive to pressure from the external environment. These offices seek to protect the Secretary and the Department as a whole from political reactions and negative pressures.
Outcome of the Department of Health and Human Services
Management strategies employed by the Department of Health and Human Services have a clear distinction from the control approaches and command. Within the department, the focus is on substantive policy matters than formal management processes. Despite being relatively formal, the budget agenda does not communicate a central control agenda, that is, it is highly transparent and collaborative. Techniques of decision making employed invest in high levels of consensus and interaction model. Information exchanges has been emphasized and treated to be crucial that control in the Department and there is also a focus on substantive matters rather than on management practices. The office of the secretary, with few exceptions, highlights specific policy concerns. Specific number of teams that represent either administration has been established each year by the secretary. These initiatives in many instances call for collaborative efforts across separate program components (Shalala, 1998).
In many instances these initiatives call for showing the reality that several crucial issues across bureaucratic lines. In both FY 1999 and 1998, teams that had been proposed the year before were created with specific agencies charged with chairing the effort. Each team was called upon to describe the interagency cooperation required; the goals of the initiative and to signal matters that need the secretary to attend.
Implications for the future based Department of HHS
Under the leadership of Donna Shalala, HHS provides lessons for the future leaders as well as those that are faced by the management of decentralized departments. The style of management should be focused on the leaders’ predictions and strengths. The approach used will be distinctive to the person involved since it is impossible to establish a single measure of management effectiveness. Individual preferences cause an impact on the role of the top officials in the organization. For instance, the Chief Secretary and the Deputy Secretary are recognized by the background, personalities and interest of the secretary.
Selection of top officials with knowledge and expertise of the field for which they have responsibility is crucial, since those individuals are likely to be most effective in operating as a unified group. It also offers a base for management approaches that emphasize delegation and discretion to specialized units. The team approaches provides room for response and flexibility to emerging issues. The budget process can be employed to facilitate exchange of information and to realize approaches and cutting programs, while working within an environment of limited resources (Shalala, 1998).
In conclusion, the management approach employed in the Department of Health and Human Services is without doubt, one of a variety of administrative strategies used in public agencies. The choice of a strategy depends on a number of variables that include skills, experience and personality of the leader, and expectations of the players in the external environment. It is also crucial to acknowledge that many programs for which the Health and Human services department is responsible depends on others for implementation. The staff of Health and Human Services provides services contained in the Department’s portfolio while local, state and other organizations have significant levels of discretion over program implementation. In this case, any move to come up to expectation that any federal agency can control, can be seen as unrealistic. While the Health and Human Services may not be the only way to manage a large and diverse organization, it does not give an alternative to traditional control and command strategy as suggested for such agencies.
References
International Anti-Corruption Conference. (n.d.). International Anti-Corruption Conference. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from HYPERLINK “http://iacconference.org” http://iacconference.org
Radin, A. (1999). Managing Decentralized Departments. The Case of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: State University of New York at Albany, from HYPERLINK “http://www.businessofgovernment.org” http://www.businessofgovernment.org
Shalala, E. (1998). Are Large Public Organizations Manageable?, Public Administration Review, July/August, Vol. 58. No. 4.
This memo evaluates the report evaluates the options that you have in investing $80,000 additional cash to expand Blue Grass
MEMORANDUM
TO: Ms. Sara, Client
FROM: XVZ , Analyst
SUBJECT: Taxation Advice
DATE: October 12, 2014
Introduction
This memo evaluates the report evaluates the options that you have in investing $80,000 additional cash to expand Blue Grass Corporation, with a view to advising on the most secure option in the event that Blue Grass Corporation condition worsens to the extent of resulting into a bankruptcy. We explore the situations from the perspective of tax law, including the legal position and implications of various options that you may have.
1. Facts:
The present scenario relates to one Sara, who solely owns a corporation, Blue Grass Corporation, valued at $100,000. She is full employed in the corporation and now contemplates adding $80,000 to help run operational expenditure, following austerity. She contemplates three possible options to structure the transfer of the money from her personal account to the company’s account, namely: (1) channel it as a capital contribution to Blue Grass Corporation; (2) as a loan Blue Grass Corporation as a means of protecting her investment in stock; or (3) as a loan to protect her job.
2. Question Presented: Which of the three alternative solutions should Sara pursue as the most preferable option, from tax law perspective, in the event that Blue Grass Corporation is declared bankrupt?
3. Short Answer: Ms Sara should channel it as a capital contribution to Blue Grass Corporation, because contribution of capital does not give rise to a debt, as so in the event of bankruptcy the $80,000 will not be included in Blue Grass Corporation taxpayer’s gross income thus increasing tax liabilities. The alternative options will be considered debts and so be included as part of Blue Grass Corporation taxpayer’s gross income.
4. Analysis:
4.1 Issue:
The primary tax law issue in this case is:
Are the contemplated options amount to the creation of a debt, as to be classified as part of Blue Grass Corporation‘s gross income in case of the corporation’s discharge of indebtedness?
4.2. Rule:
Pursuant to Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S. Code § 61, taxpayers may have a duty to bill their gross income for tax consequences in the event that their debts have been canceled , under a doctrine referred to as Cancellation of Debt (COD) Income. Section 61(a)(12)of the Internal Revenue Code specifically classifieds the discharge of indebtedness as part of a taxpayer’s gross income for purposes of computing one’s gross income in the event of insolvency . Compensation for services such as fees, commissions are also part of gross income. Taxpayers are bound to report such income in statutory forms, which will then be reviewed to and form part of differed tax obligations of the taxpayer.
4.2 Application:
The starting point for the discussions here is to acknowledge that Blue Grass Corporation and Ms Sara are two different legal entities (Berk et al., 2010). Blue Grass Corporation is a corporate person, capable of owning properties in its own name, and also bearing liabilities as well as being entitled to its rights just as a natural person, Ms Sara (Jean-Philippe, 2011). Thus, if she provides finance to Blue Grass Corporation, on an understanding that it is a loan to take care of any activity or operations of the company, then a reallocation of such cash (as an asset ) occurs , where the cash (asset ) remains Blue Grass Corporation’s for a specified duration of time. Blue Grass Corporation will be bound to pay back the principal (plus interest if that is the terms of loaning). Under these circumstances, should Blue Grass Corporation run into bankruptcy before the cash is paid back (reallocated) to Sara, then the Corporation will be discharged from indebtedness, and as such the debt will have to be treated as part of the Corporation’s gross income. Thus, in the circumstances where Sara decides to structure the additional funds as a loan to Blue Grass Corporation as a means of protecting her investment in stock; or as a loan to protect her job, it will remain to be a loan susceptible to discharge of indebtedness.
On the contrary, in the event that she structures the cash as a capital to the Corporation, then the capital will be considered to be part of the corporation’s assets (Admati et al., 2011; Edwards & Shevlin, 2011). Since there is no duty to pay back the capital, the money cannot be added to the gross income of the company as would have been done in case of discharge of indebtedness. That is, the issue discharge from indebtedness does not arise in the case of capital, as there is no debt in the first place. Upon an insolvency, the money will be considered to have been consumed by business operations.
Conclusion :
All forms of loans does not transfer ownership of the $80,000 from Ms Sara; it only vests the asset temporarily on Blue Grass Corporation and in case of insolvency and so the corporation will have to add it to its gross income for tax consequences. However, if the money is structured as a capital, the money will remain an asset of the corporation and thus no obligation to add it to as part of gross income for tax purposes in case of insolvency. Structuring the money as capital is, therefore, the best option.
References
Admati, A. R., DeMarzo, P. M., Hellwig, M. F., & Pfleiderer, P. C. (2011). Fallacies, irrelevant facts, and myths in the discussion of capital regulation: Why bank equity is not expensive. MPI Collective Goods Preprint, (2010/42).
Berk, J. B., Stanton, R., & Zechner, J. (2010). Human capital, bankruptcy, and capital structure. The Journal of Finance, 65(3), 891-926.
Edwards, A., & Shevlin, T. (2011). The value of a flow-through entity in an integrated corporate tax system. Journal of Financial Economics, 101(2), 473-491.
Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S. Code § 61
Jean-Philippe, R. (2011). The legal structure of the firm. Accounting, Economics, and Law, 1(1), 1-88.
This journal Netflix CEO Keeps Focus on Expansion, Price offers an insight into the feasibility of Netflix model in the curre
Journal Analysis
Name
Institution
Date
This journal Netflix CEO Keeps Focus on Expansion, Price offers an insight into the feasibility of Netflix model in the currently competitive market. It can be seen that this firm is increasingly gaining popularity across the world. Initially, it was operating in United States but has since moved to UK. The empirical analysis of its marketing strategy as illustrated in this journal gives better information on its future plans. The author of this journal explores various marketing strategies with more emphasis on the foreign market. The increasing emergence of video streaming and Video on demand poses a real threat to sustainable survival of this firm. The question that should to be adequately answered in this journal is basically what research concepts have been used to warrant its reliability and validity. The author gives a clear introduction that explains the facts surrounding Netflix. In a bid to show Netflix operation model, an abstract is given that gives a general overview of the critical concepts under study. This gives clear information on the key words and concepts that prevail in the journal. Most authors make small omissions on critical research papers, but this article has been refined to meet the required standard. The structure of the paper takes a research format with background information that centers on the topic and divulge relevant marketing strategies and competition threats for this company. This article represents an empirical research study of the performance track of Netflix and how this will influence its performance in the UK and Ireland. Being the world top video distributor, it has several issues to grapple with as far as international market is concerned. As can be noted from the article, technological advancement poses a real challenge to its consistent performance. The format of the paper is flowing with a clear hypothesis which emphasizes sound management aspect and research into the technology for the competitive advantage of Netflix.
In analyzing and evaluating possible bottlenecks in Netflix efforts to make it big outside United States, the author gives hypothetical data on the previous performance trend and this form the basis for the literature review on the paper. It matters to any reader to note the methodology as it serves the central role in ascertaining the reliability and validity of data. On the format perspective, this journal follows APA as it begins with abstract before proceeding to introduction which has background information within it. APA formatting also requires in-text citation which is properly indicated in their relevant places. This gives a better referencing approach and improves the accuracy of information with strict adherence to academic principles of honesty. The references of the article give a complete picture of all contentious issues addressed within the article.
The issues of central concern in this article are the technological revolution that now streams videos online. If the provided statistics on Netflix holds true, it would be paramount for the management team to do more marketing in UK and Ireland where other competitors are already taking position. The foreign market entry strategy in this case is a fully owned subsidiary. The business model of Netflix which is focused on low production cost and high sales projections is the motivation behind it adventure in European markets. This journal is one among several others that concentrates on important prediction on future market trends for Netflix amidst rising competition. The problem statement is extensively covered in the entire work.
Article link:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444083304578017312128187852