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C.A.'s comments on student exemplars Synchronized swimming project Presenting information in a manner that makes sense to the end users The bottom part of this project provides context for every thing that precedes it; it was difficult to interpret and understand what was being presented here. One of the big challenges in the accounting profession is communication; we need to put accross our ideas, to our end users and parties who rely on our information, in some form that makes sense. What we saw here, to be honest, looked like a consolidation of numbers and figures that probably made sense to the people who were assembling the data, but they were difficult for someone else to come in and understand right away. Information has to be consolidated and presented in a manner that makes sense to your end user, to the person who is going to be using this, whether it be the teacher, or a shareholder who reads the annual report. It's very critical, when you're presenting your information at the end of the day, to step back and ask, "is this going to make sense to the person reading it?" Talking right upfront about what the end goals In the discussion at the bottom they started off by saying what the cost would be for a synchro team to a competition in Regina. That is great, they talk right upfront about what the end goals are. They found out what the different costs are, for separate individuals; again, it was hard to see what those costs were. It wasn't clearly defined. Definitions are good, especially to someone who is not as familiar with the subject matter as yourself. It would have been useful for this group to talk up front about how they came to the determination of what those different costs are. What were the references to their costs? Combining qualitative and quantitative points One thing that might have been considered as part project is to consider this trip in the context of overall operations. It is a combination of qualitative-quantitative points. Qualitatively, it's good for the club to go to the competition, but is there something else, nearby that is going to give us the experience and that competitive atmosphere that we need to be better swimmers? Is it financially feasible for the context of greater club that we've gone? And those kinds of things. So, enlarging the perspective would be useful there. Stepping back from those costs and numbers to take a bigger appreciation is useful. For such a project, as a C.A., I would start off by stating the goal. How much is it going to cost us to take a team to Regina? Identifying the cost factors involved with taking a team to regina: what do we have to pay to travel? - to eat? - to stay? - to compete? This is probably an inter review of some sort; honorarium for the coaches for coming along with us; and incidental costs on the way; plus that emergency fund that we have talked about; and that comes from knowing synchro. I don't know syncro. If I was coming in independently, I would go to a club. I would go to the swimmers themselves, go to their parents and the club treasurer--who probably have a very good idea of the cost factors. Range of costs, fixed and variable costs Also, I would figure out the range of things that need to be paid, the range of costs that might be incurred on each of the things. The fixed and variable costs-- again, you can talk here about, the fixed costs like renting vans to go to Regina unless you want to fly. You can talk about, certain fixed cost like the entry fee. If it is going to be a set fee for the club, great! If it is going to have a small variable portion, that is going to be addressed as well. Look at the costs that appear to be unique to different groups.
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