18 APRIL – 23 APRIL

FAQ’s on IDP - IELTS

Q1. How much is the revised IDP: IELTS test fee?

A. The revised IDP: IELTS test fee is INR 7,600.

Q2.When does the revised IDP: IELTS test fee take effect?

A. Candidates, who register on or after 1st April 2011, will pay the revised IDP: IELTS test fee of INR 7,600.

Q3. What test fee is applicable to a candidate who registers before 1st April 2011 for an IELTS test date after

1st April 2011?

A. Candidates, who register for any IELTS test date before 1st April 2011, will pay the IDP: IELTS test fee of INR

7,200. Candidates must also ensure that the complete IELTS application and proof of payment reaches an IDP

office on or before 31st March 2011.If a candidate’s IELTS application and proof of payment reach the IDP office on

or after 1st April 2011, an additional payment of INR 400 will be required for confirmation of test seat.

Q4. Is there any other change in the IELTS test registration process apart from the revision in test fee?

A. The IELTS test registration process remains the same, only the IDP: IELTS test fee has been revised.

Q5. What happens if the test cancellation is done after the test fee has been revised; what would be the

amount deducted for cancellation?

A.. For any test cancellation done on or after 1st April 2011 and 5 weeks prior to the test date a deduction of INR

1,900 is made from the test fee amount and the balance is refunded to the candidate. For further information refer to

the IELTS Terms and Conditions Form.

Q6. What test fee is applicable to candidates who courier the IELTS application and test fee demand draft to

the IDP Gurgaon or any other IDP branch office?

A. Candidates need to be ensure that the complete IELTS application and test fee demand draft reaches the IDP

Gurgaon or any other IDP branch office on or before 31st March 2011 to avail the IDP:IELTS test fee of INR 7,200. If

a candidate’s IELTS application and proof of payment reach the IDP office on or after 1st April 2011, an additional

payment of INR 400 will be required for confirmation of test seat.

Reference: https://www.ieltsidpindia.com

The purpose of management accounting in the organization is to support competitive decision making by collecting, processing, and communicating information that helps management plan, control, and evaluate business processes and company strategy. The interesting thing about management accounting is that it is rare to find an individual within a company with the title of “management accountant.” Often many individuals function as accountants within the organization, but these individuals typically operate as financial accountants, costs accountants, tax accountants, or internal auditors. However, the ability to develop and use good management accounting (which covers a lot more ground than the product costing done by cost accountants) is actually an important ability for many individuals, including finance professionals, operational and marketing managers, top-level executives, and information technologists. Generally, in a very large company, each division has a top accountant called the controller, and much of the management accounting that is done in these divisions comes under the leadership of the controller. On the other hand, the controller usually reports to the vice president of finance for the division who, in turn, reports to the division’s president and/or overall chief financial officer (CFO). All of these individuals are responsible for the flow of good accounting information that supports the planning, control, and evaluation work that takes place within the organization. As should be clear by now, the process of management accounting is the process of creating and using cost, quality, and time-based information to make effective decisions within the organization. Many people in the organization play a role in this process. The internal audit department has the responsibility of ensuring that controls are followed and operations are efficient. Financial accounting, while providing information to outsiders (such as creditors, investors, and government agencies), must also provide relevant financial reports to decision makers within the organization. Systems professionals have the responsibility to process information so that it is available to management in formats useful for decision making. Tax department experts make sure that the organization complies with the tax laws and pays no more than its legally obligated tax liability, but these people also participate in good planning, control, and evaluation of processes and decisions that will affect future tax expense exposure. Finally, cost accounting obviously plays a key role in tracking and reporting relevant product and service costs. Overall, the controller works to bring together all this information as an integral part of the planning, controlling, evaluating, and decision-making activities that take place throughout the organization.

Reference: http://www.swlearning.com/

MARKS & SPENCER IN INDIA

Background

Marks & Spencer is one of UK’s leading retailers of clothing, food, home-ware and financial services,

serving 10 million customers a week in over 400 UK stores. The company owns and operates department

stores and retail general merchandise stores selling clothing, household goods and footwear. It also

provides financial advisory services like account cards, personal loans, unit trust management, life

assurance, personal insurance and pensions. The company has an annual turnover of around US$ 14.7

billion. It has over 500 stores in 30 countries worldwide.

Marks & Spencer in India

Marks & Spencer began operations in India in December 2001, through its exclusive franchisee - Planet

Sports. By 2003 the company had two stores, one at Ansal Plaza in Delhi and the other at Crossroads in

Mumbai. Today, Marks & Spencer has a total of 7 stores in India with 3 in Mumbai and 1 each in Delhi,

Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Leveraging the India Advantage:

• Large and growing domestic market India has a growing economy and a large middle class. Income levels have also been rising and the

consuming class forms the bulk of the population today. This offers Marks and Spencer significant

potential for growth in retailing in the domestic market.

• Low cost sourcing base The company is leveraging India’s capability in textile manufacturing and the availability of good quality,

low cost products, by developing India as a sourcing base for apparel.

• Future Plans Planet Sports, the M&S Franchisee in India, has aggressive expansion plans that include rolling out, up to

50 new M&S stores in India over the next 5 years.

REFERENCE: http://www.ibef.org/

Learning to speak fluent English requires patience, time and dedication. It may take some time but with

some knowledge of the best study techniques and daily practice, you'll gradually improve your English and

your confidence in your speaking abilities.

Practice Daily

Achieving fluency in English requires daily practice. Start by focusing on improving vocabulary, learning

grammar, listening skills and speaking skills. If possible, find someone that you can practice with daily. If

you cannot find someone to practice with, make sure that you read things out loud by yourself. It's

important to get that speaking practice. You may want to split up your study time throughout the day.

Instead of studying for one hour, study for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. This

helps you to stay focused.

Watch TV

Increase your practice by watching TV shows which allows you to gain experience listening to what real-

life English sounds like. Once you find one that you like, try watching the same episode over and over. As

you become used to it, pause the show and try to repeat what the character said. Pay attention to

pronunciation and inflection in order to sound more like a native speaker.

Talk with Friends

Practice what you are learning with native English speakers. Having other people to speak English with is

essential for building your skill level. Look for friends that you can practice English with. Native English

speakers are the best for gaining fluency. If you can, try to find a friend that only speaks English. This will

force you to use your English instead of falling back on your native language.

Think in English

Achieve real English fluency by thinking in English. While this takes skill, when you are able to think in

English instead of in your native language, you'll know that you've really mastered the language. As you go

throughout your day, try to think about what you're doing in English. Don't translate from your native

language. Actually use English as a starting point. The more you do this, the closer you will get to fluency.

Reference: http://www.ehow.com/

Indian Retail Scenario

Retail in India is still at a very early stage. Most retail firms are companies from other industries that are now entering the retail sector on account of its amazing potential. There are only a handful of companies with a retail background. One such company is Nilgiri’s from Bangalore that started as a dairy and incorporated other areas in its business with great success. Their achievement has led to the arrival of numerous other players, most with the back support of large groups, but usually not with a retail background.

New retail stores have traditionally started operations in cities like Mumbai and Delhi where there has been

an existing base of metropolitan consumers with ready cash and global tastes. The new perspective to this

trend is that new entrants to the retail scenario should first enter smaller cities rather than focusing entirely

on the metro’s. Spending power in India is not concentrated any more in just the 4 metros (Delhi, Mumbai,

Chennai, Kolkata). Smaller but upcoming cities like Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Baroda,

Trivandrum, Cochin, Ludhiana, Simla etc will fast be catching up to the metro’s in their spending capacity.

Cities in south India have taken to the supermarket style of shopping very eagerly and so far the maximum number of organized grocery and department stores are in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The north has a long way to go to come up to par. International stores now prefer to gauge the reaction of the public in these cities before investing heavily in a nation-wide expansion.

In the past decade, international companies entering India (Levi’s, Pepe, Tommy Hilfiger, Marks and Spencer, Mango) have generally offered moderately priced to expensive items. They have aimed for the upper-middle and rich classes of Indian society. These are consumers who travel abroad often and can buy these items overseas quite easily. Instead, international companies should be focusing on the lower and lower-middle classes of India. This is where the real potential is, the aspirational class of consumers who want to lead a better lives and believe in education, hard work and absorb knowledge from every possible angle. The phenomenal success of Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, is a proof that there is enormous potential in providing products and services to this class of consumers.

Reference: http://www.chillibreeze.com