Apart from Budgeting and cost volume profit analysis, use one managerial accounting concept to develop a summary of the implications of the podcast below for an area of HRM, and how the selected concept might be applied to the benefit of an organization. (25 marks)

Structure Of Assignment or Rubric

1. Students should choose a Managerial Accounting concept, summarize, and explain the concept and how it is used. (10 marks)

2. Explain the relevance of the concept in the context of the podcast. (8 marks)

3. Develop an example based on a real company and use it to illustrate the concept in action. (7 marks)

4. Students should write a brief reflection (no more than a paragraph) to describe how their understanding of the role of a non-financial manager (Human Resources) has been changed because of the work they have done in the course. Using the baseline set in Assignment#1 and comparing it to the work completed in this Assignment#2, is a useful means of summarizing understanding.) (5 marks)

NB: This section is an individual submission.

Note: Six (6) or more APA references are required and should be in good form. Correct in-text citation is also expected.

Marks will be deducted for grammatical and spelling errors. (3 marks)

See rubric for more detail on how this evaluation will be graded.

Part 1: Podcast Brief

Title of Podcast: How to Manage Inconsistent Income

Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ng/podcast/financial-feminist/id1566054936?i=1000605132826

Introduction

Tori Dunlap is a financial expert, an author and the host of a podcast platform known as Financial Feminist. On this 78^th episode of her podcast, she hosts a guest known as Barbara Sloan who is also an author and personal finance specialist with two decades of experience advising service industry workers, as well as managing a construction company in Manhattan, United States of America.

Just as hinted by the title of the podcast, the discussants talked about how managing finances can be challenging when one's income varies from one payday to the other, especially if you work in a profession where tips constitute the bulk of what you earn. Dealing with inconsistent income can make budgeting and financial planning daunting, and so the podcast provides strategies for effectively managing finances, when faced with the reality of an unpredictable income. From creating a realistic budget to building an emergency fund, it covers everything to be known to stay on top of finances and achieve financial goals, no matter what the income looks like.

Summary of Podcast Content

The host begins by setting a tone for the conversation, which allows the guest speaker to let us in on her personal experience getting into the service industry. As we will come to realize, the sector is attractive to people who want to have flexible work routine, those in debt and want to be paid in cash, or those who want to work more hours to earn more for whatever reason. Still on her personal experience, she talked about trying to own a home at age 19 and dealing with loans at interest rates that were high. Payday loans in America is said to have an interest rate of 400% and credit cards between 18 and 30%. We learn that owning a home as an American, gives you home equity because liquid assets are difficult to acquire especially when you are not a business owner.

Furthermore, the discuss pivots to the benefits that a 9 to 5 job affords that the service industry worker does not have access to including savings retirements account (401-K), health insurance, paid time off, social security and human resources. The benefits of the access to the human resources are brought to light for a moment in the sense of offering that guidance and literacy required to make informed decisions that will lead to financial freedom early in once career. Ultimately, a 6-month experience in the financial service sector, the task to build a benefits system for a construction firm which she now owns and the research into benefits and human resources was the eye opener into budgeting and investment which is a sure road to building wealth and financial freedom.

Again, the host sets a different tone that opens the discussion of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the service industry. The fact that service workers of color get paid less tips, the history of tips being a product of slave trade and the fact that service workers tip is a kind of sub-minimum wage tied to performance.

Most importantly, the guest idea for the service industry worker to gain financial freedom is to make budgeting an important part of their lives. To be successful in budgeting, you will need to change your association or social network, start to separate wants from needs, set boundaries and be discreet with your finances. Budget in this sense is defined as income and expenses, and for service industry or off the book workers, it might make sense to keep track of the expenses since the income is unstable and make the necessary adjustment to ensure that you save. Emergency savings plan and life insurance is something service industry workers should consider in terms of planning for kids, health emergencies, shortfalls, or financial freedom. This might seem nearly impossible in consideration of how much one makes, but this is going to be your life saver or bridge the financial imbalance in comparison to workers with great benefits. So, the way around it is to gamify your savings by making the decision that a table out of five or a week's shift will go to the emergency savings fund. The Individual Retirement Savings Account (IRA) is something off the book workers need take advantage of because it is tax deductible. Moreover, service industry workers are W-2'd (an Internal Revenue Service form used by persons whose taxes are withheld when paid wages). Claim enough unearned income from those taxes, write off all your taxes with the help of an accountant or financial adviser to fill up your IRA pocket and when that is full, consider the brokage account (any after tax account or investment account that allows you to buy and sell a variety of investments, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and Exchange Traded Funds - ETFs) and high yield savings account with different financial institutions in case a bank you use get shut down.

On the question of what the tipped worker would like to see in terms of regulation to improve their finances. The guest speaker was very direct in saying that the sub-minimum wage must change. As one who has worked in the industry, the solution is not to eradicate tipping as a way of earning which some wage advocates have suggested, but to improve the wage itself to balance the power imbalance between off the book workers and their employers.

Finally, on the question of what the guest would like to see change in the service industry. She admitted that it might be difficult for the service industry employers to provide the ideal compensation, benefits, and human resources because they are mostly small businesses owned by entrepreneurs who are passionate about food and service. But should be mindful of the wages of their workers especially when they become profitable going concern. There could also be all forms of philanthropic support for these kinds of workers because the community/society needs them. Each student in the group must choose one managerial accounting concept learned in the course. They should develop a summary of the implications of the podcast for an area of HRM, and how the selected concept might be applied to the benefit of an organization, with an example.