Select one enterprise you are familiar with. It can be your past, current or future employer OR you may interview someone who has worked or currently works in the accounting/finance field. When writing your paper, do not use any real names. The enterprise shall be called “123 company” or “123 nonprofit”. If you interview someone, please use the fictitious name “Sam Smith”. IMPORTANT: At no time should you reveal the true name of the enterprise or any individual in your paper. Anonymity is paramount because many enterprises have confidentiality agreements with their accounting/finance employees. Research and submit a minimum of a 1,000-word written analysis of no more than two situations where the finance/accounting department presented information to managers or upper management and there was a communication gap (e.g.: only a few or none understood the ideas or concepts the finance/accounting department was trying to get across.)

While recognizing the non-finance/accounting staff as experts in their field, explain how you would handle a similar situation using concepts learned in the course. Provide a brief background (example below) and incorporate course concepts into your meeting with the company president.

Example only – Do NOT use this example in your paper. Come up with your own situation. The purchasing department orders excess product each time they order because they order custom product and to not have enough product on hand would significantly delay the manufacturing process and add cost to an order. The purchasing department sees the situation as “we don’t want to short our customer.”

The accounting department sees there has been a buildup of excess inventory due to over ordering by purchasing and this excess has become significant. The excess inventory takes up valuable space, is old and should be written off as obsolete (affecting net income), and it ties up cash that could be put to other uses.

Senior management becomes involved and asks finance/accounting what is going on. You are invited to a meeting with the VP-Purchasing and a sales-oriented company president to discuss the situation. Apply the concepts learned in this course to your discussion. Value of this project: To adapt your communication and managerial accounting concepts to non-accounting/finance colleagues while understanding and appreciating their contributions to the enterprise. Refer to the concepts and break them down so others understand them.