Cost Accounting Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cost Accounting - Case Study Example in the coordination of activities and functions within the corporate framework of the firm as well as helping administer each of the functional areas or activity centers of the company. The ability of internal managers to plan and control the activities within the company rely heavily upon the timeliness and quality of the financial and cost information provided by accounting. Cost accounting provides the necessary internal financial framework for management to plan and control the firm’s activities while providing feedback (Horngren & Foster & Datar). The concept of feedback refers to the ability of management to examine past decisions and financial performance in order to better formulate the companys strategy for the future. The three major functions of modern accounting systems are: To help internal management plan, control and make regular everyday decisions- This routine information helps managers better manage their firm resources, assist with strategic short and long term planning, and determining product/service cost or total costs by allocating the different direct and indirect expenses to the appropriate cost driver or activity. Non-routine internal reporting- There are many instances when a manager or internal decision maker needs to have specific internal financial information that is not normally reported under their standards accounting system which involve some new potential capital investment or activity. Financial external reporting to stakeholders- Investors, banks, government and other outside parties require information regarding the firms past financial performance and financial reporting provide the means for these parties to learn about the companys operations and overall financial performance. There are different approaches in modern cost accounting to help managers determine the total product service or service costs, as well as allocating expenses to the appropriate product or service within their business portfolio. The design of

Opioid Prescriptions for Chronic Pain and Overdose Research Paper

Opioid Prescriptions for Chronic Pain and Overdose - Research Paper Example The authors want to use this study to understand if there is a correlation between prescribed opioid therapy and opioid-related overdose. The authors have made it known that no such study has been previously undergone that evaluates the overdose risk in patients receiving prescribed opioids for chronic pain, which is why this study needed to be undergone. This study was conducted at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, Washington. The patients involved in the study were 9940 people who had received three or more opioid prescriptions no more than ninety days prior to the study for chronic noncancer pain between the years of 1997 and 2005. These participants had to be at least eighteen years of age, if not older, and had to have been diagnosed with any of the eligible pains, which consisted of back or neck pain, menstrual pain, headache, abdominal pain or hernia, osteoarthritis, and fractures, contusions, or injuries. Anybody seeking to participate in this study that had a pain other t han what was eligible was dismissed from the study. The participants in the study also had to be enrolled at Group Health Cooperative at least two hundred and seventy days prior to the onset of the study. ... Further automated health care data was used to obtain information about the patient, anything from their personal background to their pain diagnosis. Additional measurements were made in regard to the amount of sedatives that were dispensed to patients. Other medical records were perused to identify potential overdoses of opioids; reviews of medical records were also undergone to classify and validate cases of overdose. A Cox proportional hazards model was implemented into the study to determine the risk for overdose based on each individual and their average daily dose of opioids. Simple observation was also undertaken, which involved monitoring the participants of the study and the amount of opioids that were to take each day and their reaction to the medication. It was noted the previous opioid use prior to any given day during the study. Observations were used until individual patients became disqualified from the study, either from disenrollment from the facility or from their h ealth care provider, their first overdose, death, or the end of the observational period. The authors made it known that after the initial ninety days of the study, the patients were followed for an additional forty-two months to ensure complete results and to make sure that nothing was overlooked. Of the original 9940 people that were involved in the study, 61% had complete follow-up, most of which lasted until the end of the study period, 32% left Group Health Cooperative and were therefore unable to finish out the study, and 7% of the participants had died. The introduction of the the results section of the article also went into detail about the mean age of the participants and the mean dosage of daily opioids. A table was provided to