BUS528 Project Management: Final Presentation

BUS528 Project Management: Group project - Responsibilities Matrix


Created and post by Darren Tay:-

FINANCE: Chapter 10 - The Integrity of Financial Reporting


In the late 1990s U.S. stock markets soared to new highs on optimistic expectations. Few observers would have predicted the coming financial scandals that were soon to afflict U.S. financial markets.

1. Restatements of Previously Published Financial Statement
• The best indicator of possible accounting and auditing failure is when a corporation restates its previously issued financial statements.
• There were an alarming number of restatements in the late 1990s and early 2000s, often accompanied by accounting scandals involving huge sums
2. Asleep at the Switch
• There is plenty of blame from the corporate scandals for the abject failures of all the gatekeepers responsible for safeguarding the integrity of large corporations, namely:-
• Boards of directors
• Audit committes of the boards of directors
• Regulators (SEC)
• Bond rating agencies
• Major institutional stockholders
• CPA
• Independent audit firms
3. The Remedies
• In 2002 the U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (referred to as SOX) in response to the flood of corporate frauds.
• SOX strengthens existing law and significantly increase penalties for violations.

One thing has not changed. Our economy and our society are as dependent on rthical behavior as they ever were.  On the one hand, ethics cannot be forced upon the unwilling. On the other hand, unethical behavior can be punished with greater force. That is te main accomplishment of SOX.

BUS528 Project Management: Chapter 10

Building a High Performance Project Team

Building a positive environment begins he first time the team gets together.  begin establishing our team's culture by setting ground rules.

Team Values:

• Confidentially. We do not discuss project information with anyone outside the project team or the project steering committee.
• Team learning. Be open to new approaches.
• Respect. No personal attacks.
• Accountability. Follow through on commitments.

Meeting Behavior:

• Use active listening. Ask for clarification.
• Be solution focused. Don't just criticize, bring new ideas
• Limit distraction. No cell phones
• Begin and end on time.
• Challenge the group. Explore the pros and cons of all ideas.
• Be prepared

BUS528 Project Management: Chapter 9

Balancing the Trade-off among Cost, Schedule, and Quality

Balancing a project can take place at one of three different levels of authority in an organization, depending on the kind of change needed.

To understand why the decision to change the cost-schedule-quality equilibrium has to be made at the business level consider that:-

1. Cost goals are related to profitability goals. Raising cost targets for the project means reevaluating the profit goals.
2. Schedules are closely linked to the business case. Projects that deliver late often incur some profit penalty, either through missed opportunities or actual monetary penalities spelled out in the contract.
3. Changing the features and performance level of the product affects the quality - and therefore the value - of the end product.

BUS528 Project Management: Chapter 8

The Art and Science of Accurate Estimating

Estimating will never be a science that produces 100 percent accurate results. Complete accuracy requires the project manager to forecast the future and to be in control of all project variables. but estimates can be sufficiently accurate to support good business decisions. 

• It takes time and cost money to develop accurate estimates
• Every technique gives better result when it is used consistently
• Comparing actual performance to estimates is essential to refining the estimating model
• Many of the techniques work together. The art of estimating is knowing when to use which technique
• The variables that make estimates wrong are often beyond the control of the project team
• It's apparent that project managers working independently never create accurate, useful estimation processes.

Example: Calculate labor and schedule using the project plan with resource spreadsheet

FINANCE: Chapter 6 - Planning Capital Expenditure

1. The Objective: maximize Wealth (pg 165)
• For-profit companies, wealth is monetary
• A project creates wealth if it generates cash flows over time that are worth more in present value terms than the initial setup cost.
• The goal of any publicly-owned firm should be maximize the wealth of the investors.
2. Computing NPV: Project Cash Flows (pg 166)
• Cash is the monarch (king or queen, take your pick).
• Accounting profit can be changed by judgments, opinions, and management decisions.
• Cash flow is not so easy to manipulate because cash is visible and real.
3. Guiding Principles for Forcasting Cash Flow (pg 170)
• Principal No. 1: Focus on Cash Flow
• Principal No. 2: Use expected Values
• Principal No. 3: Focus on the Incremental
4. Computing NPV: The Time Value of Money (pg 172)
• The concept that future cash flows have a lower present value and the set of tools used to discount future cash flows to their present values are collectively known as time value of money (TVOM) analysis.