Answer: b.segregation of duties
Explanation:
Segregation of duties as an internal control ensures that there are multiple people doing activities that if left to one person can leave the company at the risk of fraudulent activity. It also helps to reduce the incidence of errors in reporting because more than one person will be cross-checking transactions.
There should be more segregation of duties in this small-town retail store. For instance, the sales clerk should not be responsible for both the counting and comparison to the cash register tape because they could have omitted sales from the machine and then simply taken the money from the cash when counting. A different person should count the cash to see if it tallies with the cash register tape.
Answer:
b.Experience-rating plan
Explanation:
Experience rating is a method of evaluating used by insurance providers to adjust premiums up or down. The rating reflects your previous loss experience. It is based on the presumption that your historical loss experience predicts your future loss experience. In other words, your future losses are likely to be similar to those you incurred in the past. The Experience Rating Plan is mandatory for all eligible insureds. Any action taken in any form to evade the application of an experience modification determined in accordance with this Plan is prohibited. The object of the Experience Rating Plan is to recognize the differences between individual insureds through the use of the individual insured's own loss experience. The experience rating process serves as a means of using a history of past losses to predict the future losses of an insured.
This is done by comparing the experience of an individual insured to the average insured in the same classification. Therefore, using the insured's past experience, the experience modification is determined by comparing the actual losses to expected losses. An insured with better than average experience will produce a credit experience modification factor, while an insured with worse than average experience will produce a debit experience modification factor. A credit experience modification factor, less than 1.00, results in a premium reduction. A debit experience modification factor, greater than 1.00, results in a premium increase. An experience modification factor of 1.00, or unity, does not change premium.
The equilibrium price is the only price where the desires of consumers and the desires of producers agree—that is, where the amount of the product that consumers want to buy (quantity demanded) is equal to the amount producers want to sell (quantity supplied).
When two lines on a diagram cross, this intersection usually means something. On a graph, the point where the supply curve (S) and the demand curve (D) intersect is the equilibrium.
What Is a Demand Schedule?
In economics, a demand schedule is a table that shows the quantity demanded of a good or service at different price levels. A demand schedule can be graphed as a continuous demand curve on a chart where the Y-axis represents price and the X-axis represents quantity.
An example from the market for gasoline can be shown in the form of a table or a graph. A table that shows the quantity demanded at each price, such as Table 1, is called a demand schedule.
Price (per gallon) Quantity Demanded (millions of gallons)
$1.00 800
$1.20 700
$1.40 600
$1.60 550
$1.80 500
$2.00 460
$2.20 420
Table 1. Price and Quantity Demanded of Gasoline
Supply schedule
again using the market for gasoline as an example. Like demand, supply can be illustrated using a table or a graph. A supply schedule is a table, like Table 2, that shows the quantity supplied at a range of different prices. Again, price is measured in dollars per gallon of gasoline and quantity supplied is measured in millions of gallons.
Price (per gallon) Quantity Supplied (millions of gallons)
$1.00 500
$1.20 550
$1.40 600
$1.60 640
$1.80 680
$2.00 700
$2.20 720
Table 2. Price and Supply of Gasoline
Equilibrium price
gallon) Quantity demanded (millions of gallons) Quantity supplied (millions of gallons)
$1.00 800 500
$1.20 700 550
$1.40 600 600
$1.60 550 640
$1.80 500 680
$2.00 460 700
$2.20 420 720
Table 3. Price, Quantity Demanded, and Quantity Supplied
Because the graphs for demand and supply curves both have price on the vertical axis and quantity on the horizontal axis, the demand curve and supply curve for a particular good or service can appear on the same graph. Together, demand and supply determine the price and the quantity that will be bought and sold in a market.
The equilibrium price is the only price where the plans of consumers and the plans of producers agree—that is, where the amount of the product consumers want to buy (quantity demanded) is equal to the amount producers want to sell (quantity supplied). This common quantity is called the equilibrium quantity. At any other price, the quantity demanded does not equal the quantity supplied, so the market is not in equilibrium at that price.
In Figure 3, the equilibrium price is $1.40 per gallon of gasoline and the equilibrium quantity is 600 million gallons. If you had only the demand and supply schedules, and not the graph, you could find the equilibrium by looking for the price level on the tables where the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied are equal.
The word “equilibrium” means “balance.” If a market is at its equilibrium price and quantity, then it has no reason to move away from that point. However, if a market is not at equilibrium, then economic pressures arise to move the market toward the equilibrium price and the equilibrium quantity.
Imagine, for example, that the price of a gallon of gasoline was above the equilibrium price—that is, instead of $1.40 per gallon, the price is $1.80 per gallon. This above-equilibrium price is illustrated by the dashed horizontal line at the price of $1.80 in Figure 3. At this higher price, the quantity demanded drops from 600 to 500. This decline in quantity reflects how consumers react to the higher price by finding ways to use less gasoline.
Moreover, at this higher price of $1.80, the quantity of gasoline supplied rises from the 600 to 680, as the higher price makes it more profitable for gasoline producers to expand their output. Now, consider how quantity demanded and quantity supplied are related at this above-equilibrium price. Quantity demanded has fallen to 500 gallons, while quantity supplied has risen to 680 gallons. In fact, at any above-equilibrium price, the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded.
