Business Administration IV
THE FACTORY EXTENSION MEETING
(REUNION DE EXPANSION DE LA PLANTA INDUSTRIAL)
The Company is expanding, and the present factory is rapidly becoming too small to cope with the increase in production.Some months ago it was decided that the Company would have to build an extension to the present factory. An architect, Mr. Norman Phillipson, was called in, and given the job. He drew up the plans and the firm applied for an I.D.C., which is granted by the Board of Trade. This was granted provided that the Fuel and Paint Stores were put in a different position. The authorities are very strict in seeing that certain rules are obeyed. Possible dangers to health and safety are carefully considered. When Harper & Grant's new extension is built on to the existing area they will have three more bays, but the present Fuel and Paint Stores would be too near the new extension. As both these materials are highly inflammable, it was considered that a fire could spread to the new extension very easily. The proposed new Paint Store will be protected by the fireproof wall of the main factory. The County Planning Authority will also have to approve the plans.The present Managing Director, Hector Grant, has called a meeting of a committee who are dealing with the new extension, with the architect present, to discuss progress. Mr. Grant is the Chairman in charge of the meeting.Also attending are Peter Wiles, Production Manager; John Martin, Sales Manager, William Buckhurst, the Company Secretary, and Ian Hampden, who is the Personnel Manager. The meeting is just about to begin.
GLOSSARY:to cope with: to satisfy or fulfill (hacer frente a); extension: new building added to an existing one (ampliación edilicia);to call in: to ask to participate (llamar a alguien para presupuestar o realizar un trabajo); to draw up: composed the basic details for (esbozar, realizar un esbozo o plan de); to apply for: to ask for (solicitar); I.D.C.: Industrial Development Certificate (Certificado de Ampliación Industrial); to grant: to give (otorgar, conceder); to built on: to add (anexar una construcción); bays: divisions of a factory floor (bahías, plataformas); to spread: to extend (extenderse); fire-proof wall: a wall resistant to fire (muro incombustible, pared a prueba de fuego); Managing Director: a member of the Board of Directors who controls resources and expenditures in the Company (director gerente);to deal with: to occupy with, to manage a problem (ocuparse de, hacerse cargo de);Personnel Manager: a manager in charge of all the employees (the staff), employed by the Company (gerente de personal);just about to begin: starting in a few minutes (a punto de empezar).1.0 Enrolling in an Business Administration course.(Inscribiéndose para un curso de Administracion en Empresas)Paul: Good morning madam.( Buenos Dias Señora)Secretary: Good morning, how can I help you?( Buenos días, ¿En que le puedo ayudar?)Paul: When does the Business Administration course begin?( ¿Cuándo comienza el curso de contabilidad? )Secretary: It begins on September 5th. ( Comienza el 5 de Septiembre.)Paul: When are the regular meeting times for the course?( ¿Que días de la semana se reúne el curso? )Secretary: It meets on Mondays and Fridays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ( Se reúne los lunes y viernes desde la 7:00 P.M. a 9:00 P.M.)Paul: How long does the course run?( ¿Cuanto tiempo dura el curso?)Secretary: It runs for three months. ( Dura 3 meses.)Paul: When does it end? ( ¿Cuándo termina?)Secretary: It ends on December 8th. ( Termina el 8 de Diciembre.)Paul: How much does the course cost? (¿Cuánto cuesta el curso?)Secretary: It’s $150 a term. ( Son 150 Dólares el trimestre.)Paul: How can I register? (¿Cómo puedo registrarme?)Secretary: You can register in person, by mail, and by internet.( Usted puede registrarse en persona, por correo, y por el Internet.)Paul: Well, you have been very helpful…thank you very much. ( Bien, usted ha sido muy servicial… le agradezco mucho.)Secretary: You're welcome. ( A la orden.)
Reading for Comprehension 2
APPOINTING THE NEW ADVERTISING MANAGER
(NOMBRAMIENTO DEL NUEVO GERENTE DE PUBLICIDAD)
As we saw in the Factory Extension Meeting, Harper & Grant is a growing company. A growing firm needs to advertise. Up till now, the Sales Manager, John Martin, has dealt with the advertising. He employs an Advertising Agency to design the advertisements and place them in certain newspapers or magazines. An Advertising Agency is an organisation which undertakes to handle advertising on behalf of the advertiser. It employs artists, copywriters, etc., who are specialists in the field. Its staff are also specialists in buying space in newspapers, or time on radio and television. They are usually able, therefore, to do a far more professional job than the Advertising Manager who belongs to a firm and who therefore has a limited experience. However, many firms now employ an Advertising Manager as well to liaise with the agency.At Harper & Grant, John Martin is now too busy on the sales side to be able to handle the work involved. He needs an expert to supervise an advertising campaign, check proofs, make sure that the agency use the media which best suit the company's interests. The media are the various means by which one may advertise, for example in newspapers, magazines, on television, and on hoardings, large display boards, etc.John Martin also cannot cope with the increasing public relations work. This side of the business involves contacts with the public at large through newspapers, magazines and television, giving editors correct information about the company and its products when such information is needed. Mr. Grant has agreed that they should appoint a new Advertising Manager, who will relieve John Martin of this work but still be ultimately responsible to him for advertising. In fact, the new department will be a branch of his Sales Department. However, Mr. Grant is very interested in public relations and insists that the new “ad man” will be responsible to him for this side of the job.An advertisement has been inserted in the “situations vacant” column of several appropriate newspapers, giving details of the new appointment and inviting applications for the job.John Martin has the work of going through the written applications and deciding which of the applicants have the right qualifications for the post. He will then interview the selected applicants from his short list and send his candidate, or candidates, to Mr. Grant for the final interview.
GLOSSARY:to advertise: to make known the goods or services you provide (publicitar, hacer publicidad);to deal with: to occupy with, to manage a problem (ocuparse de, hacerse cargo de);advertisements: the publicity material (avisos, publicidad); to place: to put (colocar); on behalf of: as the agent of, on someone's part (en nombre de); copywriter: someone who writes the words (also called the wording) for an advertisement (redactor publicitario); Advertising Manager: executive in charge of a firm's campaign to make itself known to the public (gerente de publicidad); to liaise / liéis /: to coordinate (coordinar; hacer de intermediario); advertising campaign: the whole plan of advertising for a particular product, usually planned a year in advance (campaña publicitaria); check proofs: when anything is to be printed it is customary for the printer to prepare a specimen copy first so that his client may examine it for possible errors. This copy is called a proof (revisar o verificar las pruebas de publicidad); to suit: to be suitable or adequate (convenir, adecuarse a); media: newspapers, radio, TV, etc (singular: medium) (los medios); hoardings: large display boards (carteles); to cope with: to satisfy or fulfill (hacer frente a); public relations: everything which concerns the contact a firm makes with the general public or with individuals who may promote their business in some way (relaciones públicas);to appoint: to name, to charge with a function (nombrar);inserted: put in (colocado, insertado); applicant: someone who applies for something, usually a job (candidato, postulante); post: position, job (puesto de trabajo); short list: when offering a new job, most firms select from the total number of applicants a small number who they think have the best qualifications on paper. Their names are put on a short list and they are subsequently interviewed (lista de candidatos o postulantes preseleccionados).
Reading for Comprehension 3
John Martin, head of the Sales Department, has an angry customer with a complaint to deal with. The head office of a large group of companies ordered twelve desks, and, according to their buyer, Mr. Brown, most of them arrived in a damaged condition. Mr. Brown knows John Martin and insists on speaking to him personally. He says that most of the desks have got deep scratches on the sides. He implies that they were not inspected properly before being despatched. He hints that future orders will be placed with another manufacturer. John immediately gets on the internal phone to the Works Manager to ask him to check the inspection records.All goods leaving the factory are inspected to make sure that the right standard of quality is maintained, and that no faulty, damaged or incomplete items go out of the factory. Most firms keep inspection records of their products. The inspector signs an inspection sheet with the details of the goods he has seen and passed as being fit for sale. The goods then go to the packing and despatch department. Here the components of desks, filing cabinets and cupboards are packed. They are then either packed in crates or loaded into containers. Home deliveries or deliveries sent by container normally require much less packing than goods which have to be sent overseas. The goods are then despatched to the buyer. Boxes and crates carrying goods usually show printed warnings such as: “Use no hooks”, “Handle with care” or “This side up”. Sometimes the firm's salesman, for the area where the buyer is situated, calls when the goods are delivered to supervise assembly.When John Martin has checked that the goods left the factory properly inspected and correctly packed he asks Mr. Shuttleworth, his sales representative in the area, to pay Mr. Brown a visit and see if he can solve the mystery of the scratched desks. Mr. Shuttleworth subsequently discovers that the goods have been handled badly by the men who unloaded the goods from the containers. Even though the parts were wrapped in strong cardboard, it was not strong enough to protect them, as hooks were used for unloading. In the end, even though Harper & Grant are not in the wrong, they agree to respray the desks. They consider that the time and money involved is small in comparison with the importance of keeping a customer satisfied
.
GLOSSARY:to deal with: to occupy with, to manage a problem (en este contexto, ocuparse de un problema); complaint: a statement you make to show that you are annoyed, not satisfied, or unhappy about something or someone (queja, reclamo); orders: a firm places an order when it wants to buy something (pedidos); Works Manager: factory or plant manager (gerente de planta); inspection records: before a firm sends out a product, this product is checked and inspected, looked at critically to make sure it is satisfactory; a note of the inspection, with the signature of the person responsible, is kept for reference (antecedentes de control o inspección);inspected: examined carefully (revisado, controlado, inspeccionado); packing and despatch department: where the finished products, or the components, are packed, wrapped up, in protective material ready for despatch, sending to the buyer (sección empaque y despacho); components: parts of a product (partes, componentes); crates: framework of light, narrow pieces of wood or metal for protecting goods (esqueletos de embalajes); to load (cargar): to put goods into a container, or into a vehicle for transfer from one place to another. To unload (descargar): to take them out. Loaders and unloaders (empleados de carga y descarga) are the men who do the putting in and taking out; containers: large metal box in which goods are transported by road, rail and ship. Containers are gradually replacing the wooden crates in which goods used to be shipped. It's a large framework or structure which completely encloses the goods to be transported. It can be loaded on to an articulated lorry, a railway truck or on board ship (contenedores); hooks: a steel hook with a wooden handle which dock workers, etc., often use in handling heavy packages (ganchos, garfios); supervise assembly: see that the components are put together correctly (supervisar el ensamble o montaje); representative = rep.: salesman or traveller. One who represents (or acts for) his firm. His main job is to promote sales, but he may also be responsible for dealing with complaints, servicing new machines, assisting with the assembly of machinery, gathering market information, collecting payments, etc. (representante o agente); cardboard = board: a material used for packing which is much thicker than paper but can fairly easily be cut or torn (cartón); to respray: to spray is to disperse liquid in small drops. It refers to paint applied by means of a spraying-machine. To respray means to paint again (repintar, barnizar nuevamente)
Reading for Comprehension 4
In the best organised businesses accidents sometimes happen. Today's accident happened to a worker who had been using a grinding-machine in the fitters' shop.Harper & Grant Ltd., like most engineering companies, has a fitters' shop where routine maintenance repairs and modifications are done on machine tools. Obviously it is in the management's interest to do everything they can to prevent accidents, but it is not always possible to foresee people's actions, in other words "the human factor". Two people react to the accident in a particular way. The first is Peter Wiles, who hopes that the accident is not fatal (a fatal accident is when someone is killed). But he is very concerned in case his company is sued for negligence.Negligence is lack of proper care; in this case, in the provision of safety measures, or safeguards, for the men working the machines. There are various forms of negligence for which a person or firm can be sued for compensation in a civil court action. In the event of an accident the injured person could sue for damages which he alleges are caused by the negligence of his employer. If it is also found that statutory regulations, for example, the laws regarding health and safety, have been broken, the local factory inspector (a government employee) might institute criminal proceedings against the company. If the company can be proved to have been negligent, Reg Arnold, the man who was injured, may be able to claim a lot of money in compensation. Compensation, in this case, means money paid to an employee who has had a serious accident which has reduced, or may reduce, his working capacity.The other interested person in the accident is the shop steward, Mr. Jack Green. He thinks the safety precautions are inadequate. A company can be held negligent even if it supplies goggles and other protective clothing and encourages their use. A court could rule that the management should see that its own instructions, or those of the factory inspector, are actually carried out. If Arnold were to make a claim against the company, he would almost certainly do it through his trade union. This is the main activity of a union's legal department. Incidentally, he will get money from the State while he is not able to work, and all the care he receives in hospital will be free under the National Health Service..
GLOSSARY:grinding-machine = grinder: a machine used to cut or grind metal (esmeriladora); fitters' shop: where routine maintenance repairs and modifications are done on machine tools (taller de armado o montaje); shop: a department of the factory (taller); machine tools (máquinas herramienta): apart from presses, there are three basic types of machine tool: 1) A lathe (torno), where the piece of metal to be machined revolves and is cut by a single-point tool. The tool itself does not revolve. 2) A grinding-machine or grinder in which the tool itself revolves. The metal removed is in the form of dust. 3) A milling-machine (fresadora) which works rather on the principle of a carpenter's plane. Material is removed by a stroking operation. The cutting-tool can be fixed or rotating; to sue: to bring a legal action against someone, to bring them to court and make an accusation against them (demandar, entablar juicio); to allege: to report, to inform (alegar, aducir, declarar, afirmar, sostener); shop steward: elected representative of members of a trade union working in a particular shop, or group of shops, in a factory. A shop steward represents union members (representante o delegado del gremio); goggles: necessary protection, or shield, for the eyes used when working with lathes, grinding-machines, etc. They are like a large pair of spectacles with side pieces (antiparras, anteojeras); to encourage: to give hope or courage to (animar, alentar, estimular); to carry out: to fulfill, to accomplish (llevar a cabo, cumplir, realizar).
Reading for Comprehension 5
Joanna Harvey, who got the job as Advertising Manager, has had plenty of time now to settle down. How is she handling her new job? Does she justify the faith placed in her by the management? Today she goes along to John Martin's office to have a word with him about the firm's publicity programme (including the stand at an office equipment exhibition), and also to discuss the new advertising campaign. Publicity is all about getting a company and its products known and talked about by the public. For example, Joanna's scheme to have a big launching party to unveil the new executive-type desk is a publicity stunt. She plans to invite a number of journalists to the launching ceremony of the new desk range. She hopes they will print photographs and give the desks a good write-up, write articles in their papers or magazines praising the goods. Harper & Grant are also going to rent a special area in an exhibition hall to display the new desk range, and some of their well-tried and well-known products as well. Joanna has already booked a site for this display stand through the exhibition organisers. She then has to find an exhibition contractor to build the stand. These are special firms who design and manufacture stands to suit their client's requirements. Sometimes these stands are pre-erected. This entails getting the work done earlier, erecting the stand and assembling and fitting all the furnishings required, such as lights, carpets, curtains, etc., and the cost is therefore higher. Joanna has authorised expenditure for the quarter in excess of her budget, so she decides not to have the stand pre-erected, with nearly disastrous consequences. The contractors are working on a number of stands which they have to put up as soon as the exhibition hall is available. There are very often last-minute hold-ups and difficulties, with the result that quite often an exhibition opens with the paint hardly dry on some of the stands and a lot of hammering still going on as the doors are opened to the public.For her advertising programme, Joanna has an overall plan for the coming year showing exactly where she plans to spend the advertising budget, or money set aside for buying space in newspapers, magazines, or (for larger firms) buying time on television or on the cinema screen. In connection with launching the new desk range, Joanna has an idea for a teaser campaign to promote the product. This is a form of advertising in which a mystery is first created in the minds of the public, with the explanation, or complete advertisement, following later. Joanna planned to show a beautiful secretary in an ideal office, including everything except the desk, the desk she was actually selling.
GLOSSARY:to settle down: to become settled or established, usually in a new position (establecerse, organizarse); stand: the area occupied by a firm for display purposes at an exhibition (local o puesto en una exposición); publicity stunt: publicity to get special attention (truco publicitario); write-up: an article drawing attention to a product written by a journalist and appearing in a newspaper or magazine (crónica de prensa, crítica favorable); well-tried: tested and proved useful or correct (bien probado); well-known: famous (reconocido, famoso); to book: to make a reservation (reservar un espacio); exhibition contractor: sometimes called a "display contractor", is a firm which specialises in constructing stands for display purposes. They also design illuminated moving display units, supply a window-dressing service for shops, etc. (contratista de exposiciones); pre-erected: put up at the place of manufacture to show the client exactly how they will look in the exhibition hall (previamente armado para clientes); to put up: to construct, build, or erect (armar, levantar); last-minute: just before a deadline; at the last minute (imprevistos de último momento); hold-up: the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time (demora, interrupción de actividades);hammering: noise of hammers being knocked (martilleo, sonido de martillos siendo golpeados); teaser-campaign: a series of advertisements which catch the eye but "tease" the reader into wondering exactly what they are advertising. When the problem is solved the whole puzzle is likely to leave a greater impression than a straightforward advertisement (campaña publicitaria seriada).
Reading for Comprehension 6
Every year the accounts of a limited company must be approved by auditors, usually qualified accountants who belong to a Chartered Accountants or Corporative Accountants association. They act on behalf of the shareholders. Their duty is to ensure that the directors are reporting correctly on the state of affairs of the company and, if so, give a certificate to the company. They do not judge whether the directors are managing the company efficiently or not. That is something the shareholders must judge for themselves.Harper & Grant have their accounts audited by independent auditors in no way connected with the firm. William Buckhurst, as Company Secretary, is responsible for seeing that the books and records for the period in question are ready for checking. And, of course, it could make a bad impression if the accounts department was not able to supply immediately any information wanted by the auditors.There exist several important account books, such as: the ledger, the cash book and the petty cash book. What precisely do the auditors check? They have to be satisfied that everything which goes into making up the Profit Statement, the Balance Sheet and the Directors' Report is correct. The Profit Statement (sometimes called a Trading and Profit and Loss Account) shows how the profit for the year is arrived at. It starts with net sales or income, and deducts the cost of materials, work and overhead charges. This leaves a trading surplus, from which charges, such as depreciation on plant and buildings, auditors' fees, and administration and selling costs must be deducted to produce the net profit (or loss). The Balance Sheet is a summarised statement showing the amount of funds employed in the business and the sources from which these funds are derived. On one side is listed the capital employed, which usually consists of the issued share capital plus reserves and retained earnings. This starts with the total cost of its fixed assets (land, buildings and machinery) and any trade investments (interests in other companies), followed by a breakdown of net current assets (that is, cash and stocks, plus what the firm is owed by its customers, less its liabilities, or what it owes to others). The totals on the two sides of the Balance Sheet must agree; that is, come to the same figure. The total dividend to be paid for the year is a current liability, and is therefore an item in the compilation of net current assets.One of the most difficult jobs in preparing accounts is stock valuation; that is, putting a value on all goods in the hands of the company. It may seem easy, as goods could be counted, and then the price paid for them could be checked against the suppliers' invoices. But the value of commodities (e.g. copper) often fluctuates. Furthermore, much of a company's stock will consist of work in progress or finished stock, and the volume of all stock is changing daily, if not hourly. The rule for stock valuation is that it should be taken at cost price or market price, whichever is the lower.So far we have seen only one case of dishonesty in Harper & Grant, when a clerk in the Sales Department took some cash left lying on a desk. Unfortunately, there is always a temptation to people handling money all the time to attempt, in a weak moment, a fiddle which they feel will not be noticed. If they get away with it they may well be tempted to do it again, or make a regular practice of it, perhaps on a larger scale.
GLOSSARY:accounts (or books): the detailed record of a firm's business, transactions. Nominal accounts usually refer to the record of the various kinds of expense (rent, wages and salaries, advertising, etc.), income, profit or loss, or to the general division of accounts into separate groups. Real accounts relate to tangible things, ie. land, buildings, machinery, furniture, vehicles, cash. Personal accounts are the record of business with firms or people, ie. the suppliers (who are called creditors) and the customers (or debtors) (cuentas o libros contables); auditors: qualified accountants who are called in on behalf of the members (shareholders) of a company to examine and report upon the accounts of the company (auditores); accountant: someone who maintains and audits business accounts (contador); chartered (or qualified) accountant: an accountant who is a member of a professional body that has a royal charter (contador público, perito contable); shareholders (UK) = stockholders (US): those who own shares in a company (accionistas);certificate: a formal declaration that documents and figures in the company are correct (certificado); ledger: the most important account book, since all transactions are recorded in it. It is often divided for the sake of convenience into: a sales ledger, list of goods or services supplied; a bought ledger, a list of goods or services purchased; a general ledger, list of property, such as machinery, vehicles, buildings, etc. (real accounts) and expenses, income, etc. (nominal accounts); and a private ledger, which is confidential and records items such as capital, loans, mortgages, directors' salaries and awards, etc. (Libro Mayor); cash book: where all cash transactions are recorded (Libro de Caja); petty cash book: the record of payments made from a small cash float, which is used to pay for such items as stationery, stamps, cleaning, taxis, etc. (Libro de Caja Chica o Gastos Menores); Profit Statement (also called Trading and Profit and Loss Account): a summary of all the income and expense accounts (nominal accounts) at the end of the accounting period. The balance of this account represents the net profit or loss for the period (Estado o Cuadro de Ganancias y Pérdidas); Balance Sheet: a statement of the company's position on a certain date. It shows the assets and the liabilities, and the capital on that date (Balance General); Directors' Report: this comments on the profit or loss made during the accounting period and makes recommendations on the dividend to be paid. This has to be approved at the annual general meeting of the shareholders (Informe de Directorio); trading surplus: excess; a quantity much larger than is needed (excedente o superavit operativo); depreciation: reduction in value owing to use. For example, the value of furniture, lamps, wall lights, etc., in a home (known as fixtures and fittings) depreciates in value every year (depreciación, reducción del valor de origen); assets: property, stock, cash in hand (activo, bienes); liabilities: money owed, debts, ie. what one is liable to pay (pasivo, obligaciones a pagar);dividend: the sum distributed to the members of a company out of profits of the company (dividendo); valuation = appraisal, assessment: process of deciding the value of something; the value of the store of goods available for sale (tasación, avalúo); a fiddle: a slang term for a small cheat or dishonest action (estafa); get away with it: be successful; to do something without being caught or punished (lograr su objetivo, salirse con la suya).
SOME ADDITIONAL ACCOUNTING TERMSbook-keeper: the person responsible for keeping the records day by day (perito mercantil, tenedor de libros, contable). book-keeping system: the way in which the details of all business transactions are recorded (contabilidad, tenduría de libros). book-keeping entry: a written record of a commercial transaction (asiento contable). debits: items recorded in an account book, on the left-hand side, recording receipts, assets, losses and expenses (débitos, partidas registradas en el Debe).credit items: also called entries, made in an account book recording payments, liabilities, profits and income. These entries are written on the right-hand side (créditos, partidas registradas en el Haber, entradas, ingresos).credit note: a summary of a credit which the supplier agrees a customer is entitled to. The most frequent reason would be return of goods which the supplier sent in error. The value of a credit note is credited to the customer's account with the supplier (nota de crédito).double entry: a method of showing that every business transaction has two aspects, ie. materials or goods purchased on credit are a liability on the firm to pay the supplier later, but at the same time they are an asset, as at some time the materials will be used for manu-facture and then sold, or the goods purchased will be resold (partida doble, en contabilidad). float: a sum of money which is kept on hand, easily available (disponible, "flotante"). single entry a record of only one side of a business transaction, as used in day books, sales books, etc., showing the single item of debit or credit (registro único). to post in book-keeping to post means to transfer items from subsidiary account books to the ledger, or ledgers (asentar, contabilizar en el Libro Mayor).
