At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Mayo investigators report that cancer in about two-thirds of 37 patients with aggressive differentiated thyroid cancer treated with the drug pazopanib either stopped growing, or quickly shrank.
The patient responses seen to date are promising, the researchers say, because all patients had fast-growing cancers that had spread to their lungs, with half involving lymph nodes and 39 percent thus involving bones.
"The benefits were striking in many patients to a degree we have not previously seen in thyroid cancer in response to other therapies, including the standard treatment of radioiodine," says Keith Bible, MD, Ph.D., a medical oncologist and researcher who led the multi-center clinical trial funded by the National Cancer Institute. Most of the patients enrolled were treated at the Mayo Clinic campuses in Minnesota and Florida.
Approximately one-third of patients achieved sustained and dramatic benefit from pazopanib, while another one-third experienced stabilization of their cancer or some tumor shrinkage. The remaining one-third of patients did not benefit from the drug. The agent was also well tolerated by the majority of patients, Dr. Bible adds.
What is not yet known, however, is the drug's effect on overall survival. "We need more time to establish definitively that," says Dr. Bible. "The trial has been going on for just over a year, and some of our patients are still maintaining a response, while others have not been in the study long enough for us to confirm duration of response." He notes that 37 of the original trial participants, two have died - one from cancer progression and another from other causes.
The National Cancer Institute estimated that 37.340 new cases of thyroid cancer would be diagnosed in 2008, with 1.590 deaths from the cancer. The cancer is much more common in women, it is the seventh most common cancer in women in the U.S. The occurrence of thyroid cancer has been rising recently.
Most thyroid cancers are of two major "differentiated" types - papillary thyroid cancer (the most common, accounting for 75 percent of cases) and Follicular thyroid cancer (15 percent).
Fortunately, most patients with thyroid cancer respond well to surgery and to follow-up treatment with radioiodine, even if the cancer recurs and spreads, the disease progresses slowly in most patients, Dr. Bible says. "Many patients do well for a long time without the need of additional therapy," he says. However, about 5 percent of these patients experience rapidly progressing life-threatening disease that is insensitive to radioiodine and other treatment approaches. "Until only recently, we have not had any effective therapies for such patients."
Pazopanib is an experimental agent that is also being studied in advanced kidney, Ovarian and other cancers. The drug, administered in pill form, targets proteins involved in Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels that has a critical role in the growth and spread of tumors. The proteins that pazopanib targets include vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), c-Kit and Ret.
Mayo investigators are also leading clinical trials to test pazopanib in two other thyroid cancer subtypes, medullary, which does not respond to radioiodine, and anaplastic, the most aggressive subtype.
Dr. Bible says plans are also under way to test pazopanib in a larger, controlled and randomized clinical trial of patients with advanced differentiated thyroid cancer. Researchers want to more accurately assess benefits and risks.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
How does the human brain work?
'Nature' journals are synonymous with the very best in research. Earlier this year, an article by University of Leicester professor bioengineer Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, not only appeared in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, but also featured on the magazine cover. In the article, Professor Quian Quiroga and co-author Dr. Stefano Panzeri discuss new methodologies that are enabling scientists to better understand how our brain processes information.
... more about:
> Age-old mystery> Bioengineering> Bird Communication> chemical process> chloride ions> electrochemical processes> human brain> Nature Immunology> nerve cells> neural coding> neural prostheses> neurons> Neuroscience> potassium> sodium
The human brain is perhaps the most complex of organs, Boasting between 50-100 billion nerve cells or neurons that constantly interact with each other. These neurons' carry 'messages through electrochemical processes; meaning, chemicals in our body (charged sodium, potassium and chloride ions) move in and out of these cells and to establish electrical current.
Scientists have, for a long time now, stimulated with different types of inputs individual neurons that have been isolated for study. To have enough statistical power, these experiments typically involved stimulating a single neuron over and over again, to get a general idea of how it responds to different signals. Although these studies have yielded a lot of information, they have their own limitations.
Professor Quian Quiroga, explains, "The human brain typically makes decisions based on a single stimulus, by evaluating the activity of a large number of neurons. I do not get in front of a tiger to make 100 times an average of my neuronal responses and decide if I should run or not. If I see a tiger once, I run ". Traditional studies thus undermine this complexity only by accounting for the responses single neurons.
Moreover, these studies take into account an "average response obtained by stimulating the neuron numerous times. The brain, on the other hand, acts based on single stimulus presentations. Therefore, the information given by an averaged response can often be insufficient.
Prof. Dr. Quian Quiroga and stress Panzeri, on account of these factors "it is important to shift from a single neuron, multiple-trial framework to multiple-neuron, single-trial methodologies." In other words, it is more beneficial to study numerous responses of neurons to a single stimulus.
Professor Quian Quiroga says, "A major challenge of our day is (thus) to develop the methodologies to record and process the data from hundreds of neurons and developing these is by no means a trivial task."
He adds, "Our brains are able to create very complex processes - just imagine the perfect harmony with which we move different muscles for normal walking - thousands of neurons are involved in this and to determine the role of each is complicated."
In his recent review paper, Professor Quian Quiroga and Dr. Panzeri discuss two complementary approaches that can be used to resolve this, namely 'decoding' and 'information theory'.
'Decoding' essentially helps determine what must have caused a particular response (much like the "working backwards"). Thus, the response of a neuronal population is used to reCONSTRUCT the stimulus or behavior that caused it in the first place. 'Information theory', on the other hand, literally quantifier how much information a number of neurons carry about the stimulus.
Professor Quian Quiroga, explains, "Together, the two approaches not only allow scientists to extract more information on how the brain works, but information that is ambiguous at the level of single neurons, can be clearly evaluated when the whole 'population' is considered ". The review is an asset for anyone involved in the field, as it carefully considers and evaluates the two statistical approaches, as well as describes potential applications.
As part of his own research, Professor Quian Quiroga (in collaboration with Prof. Richard Andersen at Caltech) has been studying the 'decoding' of movement plans using activity of certain neuronal populations. This ability to predict intentions from movement activity of neurons has application in brain-machine interfaces, especially for development of neural prostheses (electronic and / or mechanical devices that connect to the nervous system and replace functions lost as a result of disease or injury) for paralysed patients.
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga is a professor in Bioengineering at the University of Leicester. His research interests include several visual perception (how the brain apprehends what our eyes see), memory and neural coding (how information is represented in the brain by neurons). He is actively involved in developing methods that analyze functioning of various neurons. He has published articles in several high-impact journals, including Nature, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Neuron and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
NOTE TO NewsDesk:
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga - Short Biography
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga graduated in physics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1993. After 2 years working at the Department of Physiology in the Institute for Neurological Investigations - FLENI, Argentina, and one further year at the Department of Epilepsy of the same institute, he moved to Germany and obtained his PhD in applied mathematics at the University of Luebeck in 1998. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research Center Juelich, Germany, from 1998 to 2001 and from 2001 to 2004 he was a Sloan fellow at the California Institute of Technology, USA. He was appointed as a Lecturer in Bioengineering at the Department of Engineering of the University of Leicester in 2004, was promoted to Reader in 2006 and to a personal chair in 2008.
Professor Quian Quiroga main research focus is on neuroscience and the analysis of electro physiological data. This research involves the use and development of advanced methods of signal processing. In particular, he developed at automatic method for processing the neural data that is currently used by several neurophysiology laboratories. The use of this method allowed the finding of a new type of 'abstract' (eg Jennifer Aniston) neurons in the human brain that was published in Nature, obtained the first prize at an international meeting in Madrid in 2005 and received world-wide media attention, including articles in The New York Times, Scientific American, Daily Mail, New Scientist, The Independent, etc. It has also been selected as one of the top 100 scientific stories of 2005 by Discover Magazine. In 2008, his follow-up work in this line of research was selected as one of the "Breaking news in neuroscience" by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).
Professor Quian Quiroga is a member of the editorial board of 3 international journals. He acts as reviewer for several international journals in the fields of Applied Mathematics, Physics, Signal Analysis, Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuroscience. He has given more than 30 invited lectures in the last 3 years, had published more than 50 refereed journal papers and currently holds 2 EPSRC grants, 1 MRC grant and 1 grant from the Royal Society.
... more about:
> Age-old mystery> Bioengineering> Bird Communication> chemical process> chloride ions> electrochemical processes> human brain> Nature Immunology> nerve cells> neural coding> neural prostheses> neurons> Neuroscience> potassium> sodium
The human brain is perhaps the most complex of organs, Boasting between 50-100 billion nerve cells or neurons that constantly interact with each other. These neurons' carry 'messages through electrochemical processes; meaning, chemicals in our body (charged sodium, potassium and chloride ions) move in and out of these cells and to establish electrical current.
Scientists have, for a long time now, stimulated with different types of inputs individual neurons that have been isolated for study. To have enough statistical power, these experiments typically involved stimulating a single neuron over and over again, to get a general idea of how it responds to different signals. Although these studies have yielded a lot of information, they have their own limitations.
Professor Quian Quiroga, explains, "The human brain typically makes decisions based on a single stimulus, by evaluating the activity of a large number of neurons. I do not get in front of a tiger to make 100 times an average of my neuronal responses and decide if I should run or not. If I see a tiger once, I run ". Traditional studies thus undermine this complexity only by accounting for the responses single neurons.
Moreover, these studies take into account an "average response obtained by stimulating the neuron numerous times. The brain, on the other hand, acts based on single stimulus presentations. Therefore, the information given by an averaged response can often be insufficient.
Prof. Dr. Quian Quiroga and stress Panzeri, on account of these factors "it is important to shift from a single neuron, multiple-trial framework to multiple-neuron, single-trial methodologies." In other words, it is more beneficial to study numerous responses of neurons to a single stimulus.
Professor Quian Quiroga says, "A major challenge of our day is (thus) to develop the methodologies to record and process the data from hundreds of neurons and developing these is by no means a trivial task."
He adds, "Our brains are able to create very complex processes - just imagine the perfect harmony with which we move different muscles for normal walking - thousands of neurons are involved in this and to determine the role of each is complicated."
In his recent review paper, Professor Quian Quiroga and Dr. Panzeri discuss two complementary approaches that can be used to resolve this, namely 'decoding' and 'information theory'.
'Decoding' essentially helps determine what must have caused a particular response (much like the "working backwards"). Thus, the response of a neuronal population is used to reCONSTRUCT the stimulus or behavior that caused it in the first place. 'Information theory', on the other hand, literally quantifier how much information a number of neurons carry about the stimulus.
Professor Quian Quiroga, explains, "Together, the two approaches not only allow scientists to extract more information on how the brain works, but information that is ambiguous at the level of single neurons, can be clearly evaluated when the whole 'population' is considered ". The review is an asset for anyone involved in the field, as it carefully considers and evaluates the two statistical approaches, as well as describes potential applications.
As part of his own research, Professor Quian Quiroga (in collaboration with Prof. Richard Andersen at Caltech) has been studying the 'decoding' of movement plans using activity of certain neuronal populations. This ability to predict intentions from movement activity of neurons has application in brain-machine interfaces, especially for development of neural prostheses (electronic and / or mechanical devices that connect to the nervous system and replace functions lost as a result of disease or injury) for paralysed patients.
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga is a professor in Bioengineering at the University of Leicester. His research interests include several visual perception (how the brain apprehends what our eyes see), memory and neural coding (how information is represented in the brain by neurons). He is actively involved in developing methods that analyze functioning of various neurons. He has published articles in several high-impact journals, including Nature, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Neuron and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
NOTE TO NewsDesk:
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga - Short Biography
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga graduated in physics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1993. After 2 years working at the Department of Physiology in the Institute for Neurological Investigations - FLENI, Argentina, and one further year at the Department of Epilepsy of the same institute, he moved to Germany and obtained his PhD in applied mathematics at the University of Luebeck in 1998. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research Center Juelich, Germany, from 1998 to 2001 and from 2001 to 2004 he was a Sloan fellow at the California Institute of Technology, USA. He was appointed as a Lecturer in Bioengineering at the Department of Engineering of the University of Leicester in 2004, was promoted to Reader in 2006 and to a personal chair in 2008.
Professor Quian Quiroga main research focus is on neuroscience and the analysis of electro physiological data. This research involves the use and development of advanced methods of signal processing. In particular, he developed at automatic method for processing the neural data that is currently used by several neurophysiology laboratories. The use of this method allowed the finding of a new type of 'abstract' (eg Jennifer Aniston) neurons in the human brain that was published in Nature, obtained the first prize at an international meeting in Madrid in 2005 and received world-wide media attention, including articles in The New York Times, Scientific American, Daily Mail, New Scientist, The Independent, etc. It has also been selected as one of the top 100 scientific stories of 2005 by Discover Magazine. In 2008, his follow-up work in this line of research was selected as one of the "Breaking news in neuroscience" by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).
Professor Quian Quiroga is a member of the editorial board of 3 international journals. He acts as reviewer for several international journals in the fields of Applied Mathematics, Physics, Signal Analysis, Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuroscience. He has given more than 30 invited lectures in the last 3 years, had published more than 50 refereed journal papers and currently holds 2 EPSRC grants, 1 MRC grant and 1 grant from the Royal Society.
Lack of capital not a 'death sentence' for start-ups
"Our research shows that undercapitalization is not a death sentence for start-up ventures," says Dr. David Townsend, assistant to professor of management, innovation and entrepreneurship at NC State who co-authored the study. "There are things a venture can do to survive and succeed." Basically, Townsend says, start-ups that fall short of their fund-raising goals can take steps to minimize their cash outflows in order to stay viable.
Undercapitalized ventures need to engage in management strategies focused on reducing their costs. For example, outsourcing certain development tasks and accounting responsibilities or exchanging services with other companies - saying we'll build your Web site in exchange for a year's worth of accounting services, etc., "Townsend says.
The study also found that there is little evidence to support the long-standing Tenet that a great management team is the most important part of a venture company when it comes to securing investment in a start-up. The study shows that a venture with an "A," or top notch, management team and an A technology is likely to meet its capitalization goal. But the researchers were surprised to find that the combination of a "B," or less than ideal management team with a B technology was also quite successful in meeting goals capitalization. Ventures that had an A management team but a B technology, or vice versa, were usually under funded.
Townsend explains that management teams with B B technologies are probably more successful at meeting their capitalization goals because they are aware of their shortcomings, and capitalization modify their targets accordingly. For example, these B teams may minimize management salaries or restrict their marketing budgets.
Similarly, Townsend says the evidence implies that A management team with B technologies, or vice versa, often falling short of their capitalization targets because they have not modified their fund-raising goals - and as a result investors do not buy in at a sufficient level to fully fund the venture's intended strategies.
The study, "Resource complementarities, trade-offs, and Undercapitalization in Technology-Based Ventures: An Empirical Analysis," was co-authored by Dr. Townsend and Lowell W. Busenitz of the University of Oklahoma. The study will be presented June 5 at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference in Boston and Brown at the International Advanced Research Institute in Providence, RI, on June 18
The research was supported by North Carolina State University, The University of Oklahoma, and i2E - a non-profit corporation focused on wealth creation by growing the technology-based entrepreneurial economy in Oklahoma.
Undercapitalized ventures need to engage in management strategies focused on reducing their costs. For example, outsourcing certain development tasks and accounting responsibilities or exchanging services with other companies - saying we'll build your Web site in exchange for a year's worth of accounting services, etc., "Townsend says.
The study also found that there is little evidence to support the long-standing Tenet that a great management team is the most important part of a venture company when it comes to securing investment in a start-up. The study shows that a venture with an "A," or top notch, management team and an A technology is likely to meet its capitalization goal. But the researchers were surprised to find that the combination of a "B," or less than ideal management team with a B technology was also quite successful in meeting goals capitalization. Ventures that had an A management team but a B technology, or vice versa, were usually under funded.
Townsend explains that management teams with B B technologies are probably more successful at meeting their capitalization goals because they are aware of their shortcomings, and capitalization modify their targets accordingly. For example, these B teams may minimize management salaries or restrict their marketing budgets.
Similarly, Townsend says the evidence implies that A management team with B technologies, or vice versa, often falling short of their capitalization targets because they have not modified their fund-raising goals - and as a result investors do not buy in at a sufficient level to fully fund the venture's intended strategies.
The study, "Resource complementarities, trade-offs, and Undercapitalization in Technology-Based Ventures: An Empirical Analysis," was co-authored by Dr. Townsend and Lowell W. Busenitz of the University of Oklahoma. The study will be presented June 5 at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference in Boston and Brown at the International Advanced Research Institute in Providence, RI, on June 18
The research was supported by North Carolina State University, The University of Oklahoma, and i2E - a non-profit corporation focused on wealth creation by growing the technology-based entrepreneurial economy in Oklahoma.
Microsoft Small Business Accounting does not come to Europe
In the USA product "Office Small Business Accounting" or its successor will not appear in Europe. This was announced Satya Nadella, head of business Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) of our sister publication Computer Week.
With Office Small Business Accouting, Microsoft has long been a simple accounting software for small companies. This will however also in the future only to the U.S. market only. For the European business plans Microsoft, however, the product "Dynamics NAV" to small firms more attractive. While the former as "Navision" known ERP product in Germany bebreitet far, there is in the U.S., only a few installations.
Lange was not clear whether the Office Small Business Accounting and outside of the U.S. market to be sold. On a binding statement, the Group had in the past, not down. Now it is clear that the global product strategies differ ahead with them.
Since the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics Nav, the new interface ( "Dynamics Client") easy to operate and to meet the needs of different users was to be adjusted, the size of the company play no role. "Flexible, user-friendly systems are both large companies as well as in small businesses demand."
The Dynamics Client, Microsoft with Dynamics NAV 5.1 "later this year wants to give the manufacturer combines features of the ERP backend with office, business data and document management. The necessary building blocks - in addition to business management software, these are the database "SQL Server Reporting Services along with" SharePoint "and the Office suite - provides the software company itself.
In the USA product "Office Small Business Accounting" or its successor will not appear in Europe. This was announced Satya Nadella, head of business Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) of our sister publication Computer Week.
With Office Small Business Accouting, Microsoft has long been a simple accounting software for small companies. This will however also in the future only to the U.S. market only. For the European business plans Microsoft, however, the product "Dynamics NAV" to small firms more attractive. While the former as "Navision" known ERP product in Germany bebreitet far, there is in the U.S., only a few installations.
Lange was not clear whether the Office Small Business Accounting and outside of the U.S. market to be sold. On a binding statement, the Group had in the past, not down. Now it is clear that the global product strategies differ ahead with them.
Since the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics Nav, the new interface ( "Dynamics Client") easy to operate and to meet the needs of different users was to be adjusted, the size of the company play no role. "Flexible, user-friendly systems are both large companies as well as in small businesses demand."
The Dynamics Client, Microsoft with Dynamics NAV 5.1 "later this year wants to give the manufacturer combines features of the ERP backend with office, business data and document management. The necessary building blocks - in addition to business management software, these are the database "SQL Server Reporting Services along with" SharePoint "and the Office suite - provides the software company itself.
With Office Small Business Accouting, Microsoft has long been a simple accounting software for small companies. This will however also in the future only to the U.S. market only. For the European business plans Microsoft, however, the product "Dynamics NAV" to small firms more attractive. While the former as "Navision" known ERP product in Germany bebreitet far, there is in the U.S., only a few installations.
Lange was not clear whether the Office Small Business Accounting and outside of the U.S. market to be sold. On a binding statement, the Group had in the past, not down. Now it is clear that the global product strategies differ ahead with them.
Since the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics Nav, the new interface ( "Dynamics Client") easy to operate and to meet the needs of different users was to be adjusted, the size of the company play no role. "Flexible, user-friendly systems are both large companies as well as in small businesses demand."
The Dynamics Client, Microsoft with Dynamics NAV 5.1 "later this year wants to give the manufacturer combines features of the ERP backend with office, business data and document management. The necessary building blocks - in addition to business management software, these are the database "SQL Server Reporting Services along with" SharePoint "and the Office suite - provides the software company itself.
In the USA product "Office Small Business Accounting" or its successor will not appear in Europe. This was announced Satya Nadella, head of business Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) of our sister publication Computer Week.
With Office Small Business Accouting, Microsoft has long been a simple accounting software for small companies. This will however also in the future only to the U.S. market only. For the European business plans Microsoft, however, the product "Dynamics NAV" to small firms more attractive. While the former as "Navision" known ERP product in Germany bebreitet far, there is in the U.S., only a few installations.
Lange was not clear whether the Office Small Business Accounting and outside of the U.S. market to be sold. On a binding statement, the Group had in the past, not down. Now it is clear that the global product strategies differ ahead with them.
Since the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics Nav, the new interface ( "Dynamics Client") easy to operate and to meet the needs of different users was to be adjusted, the size of the company play no role. "Flexible, user-friendly systems are both large companies as well as in small businesses demand."
The Dynamics Client, Microsoft with Dynamics NAV 5.1 "later this year wants to give the manufacturer combines features of the ERP backend with office, business data and document management. The necessary building blocks - in addition to business management software, these are the database "SQL Server Reporting Services along with" SharePoint "and the Office suite - provides the software company itself.
The main criteria are flexibility, safety and sound economic growth.
Exactly two years after the end of the boom are the myths of the New Economy definitively passé - in 2002, present new products, new customer relationships and changing employment demands. The "crash on rates" began in March 2000, when the first investors through the bankruptcy of the Dutch Internet retailer Boo.com textile concern were. This was followed by death lists, profit and revenue warnings, the barrel to overflow said. On 23 March 2000 reached the Neuer Markt and Nasdaq its peak and the "salami crash began before us to date currently remains.
Just as the bubble of the New Economy has also the structure of the variable content in the form of stock options into thin air. Wanted are now more successful forms of mobile payment. This is Germany's biggest alternative IP carriers mediaWays for example, on a quality index, whose value is the "variable 20 percent" of the content. The quality objectives of each employee as the total value of the main parameters, stability and overall network availability, quality and availability of server systems, accounting and customer satisfaction, which contribute equal to the total value. Every employee from each department is responsible for his own and the success of the company. The index can be every day in the intranet page. He motivates and helps with personal and professional career progression, especially biannual evaluation talks between heads of department and team employees pending. The feedback is dual: supervisors are also evaluated by staff and evaluated.
mediaWays was the first IP-business provider with the quality index is a lively and convincing system created by the market position and quality of mediaWays as a leading Internet service provider secures. The achievement of the quality index provides a 20prozentige difference in improving the overall grade for the last best possible value. This index is valid for 6 months and is then based on the results achieved and the new higher fixed. Based on customer satisfaction, through regular surveys is evaluated, provides the customer the performance potential of their own mediaWays from the customer perspective. All available data are collected by the competent departments of the week and are reported in detail to all employees transparent. The quality index mediaWays guarantees customers set high standards for the parameters total availability / stability, accounting and customer satisfaction.
Just as the bubble of the New Economy has also the structure of the variable content in the form of stock options into thin air. Wanted are now more successful forms of mobile payment. This is Germany's biggest alternative IP carriers mediaWays for example, on a quality index, whose value is the "variable 20 percent" of the content. The quality objectives of each employee as the total value of the main parameters, stability and overall network availability, quality and availability of server systems, accounting and customer satisfaction, which contribute equal to the total value. Every employee from each department is responsible for his own and the success of the company. The index can be every day in the intranet page. He motivates and helps with personal and professional career progression, especially biannual evaluation talks between heads of department and team employees pending. The feedback is dual: supervisors are also evaluated by staff and evaluated.
mediaWays was the first IP-business provider with the quality index is a lively and convincing system created by the market position and quality of mediaWays as a leading Internet service provider secures. The achievement of the quality index provides a 20prozentige difference in improving the overall grade for the last best possible value. This index is valid for 6 months and is then based on the results achieved and the new higher fixed. Based on customer satisfaction, through regular surveys is evaluated, provides the customer the performance potential of their own mediaWays from the customer perspective. All available data are collected by the competent departments of the week and are reported in detail to all employees transparent. The quality index mediaWays guarantees customers set high standards for the parameters total availability / stability, accounting and customer satisfaction.
Deloitte study investigates the application of IFRS 3 in practice, its problems and potentials
The last year introduced the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have partially drastic jumps in corporate profits led. From 2005/2007, the application of IFRS for a large part of German companies mandatory. Similar changes in the company results are again expected. The IFRS accounting figure used for purchases of companies and a resulting goodwill or goodwill.
Although the companies concerned, nor the recent amendment to implement the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) again together with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) additional changes in the accounting of goodwill decided. The goodwill balance is therefore continuing in motion.
A Deloitte study the accounting practices of German firms is investigating the problem and the current balance of political maneuver, by which companies could use the innovations. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Pellens, Chair for International Management Accounting at the Ruhr-University Bochum and Deloitte refers in its wide-ranging empirical study on the Prime Standard listed company. Investigation was the subject of the affected companies dealing with the new standards. A comparison with the experience of U.S. GAAP balance sheet, with a similar amendment has already few years ago were confronted concludes the study.
Representatives from science and practice had already before the adoption of the rules expressed fears that the comparability of company accounts by the existing valuation options decrease and the auditable by the Auditor is restricted.
"A large part of the German company creates new opportunities for companies from inadequate control. Primarily, they want to meet the legal requirements," says Peter Ruhwedel, CFO Services Senior Manager at Deloitte. "The detailed view of our findings shows that the new rules positive potentials, particularly in the acquisition of controlling, for the company."
Deloitte Germany
Deloitte is one of the leading auditing and consultancy companies in Germany. The wide range of services includes audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance advice. With over 3,200 employees in 18 offices Deloitte for more than 90 years, companies and institutions of any size and legal status of nearly all sectors of the economy. About the composite is Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Deloitte with 120,000 employees in nearly 150 countries around the world.
Deloitte refers to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms affiliated with these companies. As a Swiss Verein liable neither Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as an association nor its member companies for the actions or omissions of each other. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent legal entity, even when operating under the names "Deloitte," "Deloitte & Touche," "Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu" or other related names occurs.
Although the companies concerned, nor the recent amendment to implement the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) again together with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) additional changes in the accounting of goodwill decided. The goodwill balance is therefore continuing in motion.
A Deloitte study the accounting practices of German firms is investigating the problem and the current balance of political maneuver, by which companies could use the innovations. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Pellens, Chair for International Management Accounting at the Ruhr-University Bochum and Deloitte refers in its wide-ranging empirical study on the Prime Standard listed company. Investigation was the subject of the affected companies dealing with the new standards. A comparison with the experience of U.S. GAAP balance sheet, with a similar amendment has already few years ago were confronted concludes the study.
Representatives from science and practice had already before the adoption of the rules expressed fears that the comparability of company accounts by the existing valuation options decrease and the auditable by the Auditor is restricted.
"A large part of the German company creates new opportunities for companies from inadequate control. Primarily, they want to meet the legal requirements," says Peter Ruhwedel, CFO Services Senior Manager at Deloitte. "The detailed view of our findings shows that the new rules positive potentials, particularly in the acquisition of controlling, for the company."
Deloitte Germany
Deloitte is one of the leading auditing and consultancy companies in Germany. The wide range of services includes audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance advice. With over 3,200 employees in 18 offices Deloitte for more than 90 years, companies and institutions of any size and legal status of nearly all sectors of the economy. About the composite is Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Deloitte with 120,000 employees in nearly 150 countries around the world.
Deloitte refers to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms affiliated with these companies. As a Swiss Verein liable neither Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as an association nor its member companies for the actions or omissions of each other. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent legal entity, even when operating under the names "Deloitte," "Deloitte & Touche," "Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu" or other related names occurs.
How Business Accounting Works
The people are their own business every day. If you're thinking about them, you probably have a vision of what you want the company to be. What inspires you about your business is the product or service that you have to offer, the success that you imagine the freedom and lifestyle that you are sure they will come - in time. What hole or even frighten you is the plethora of numbers that you have to fight. You will be asked to elicit business issues, the starlings than an empty answer. Cash accounting? Accrual accounting? Profit and loss account? Projections? Huh?
Whether it's fine oil paintings and selling of pork belly on the road, your company is in some form of accounting. The word alone can cast a glaze over the brightest eyes, but in this article we show you that the accounting process is greater than crunching your numbers. It is a tool that helps you "for" what your company has done, is doing, and hopes to do in the future. Accounting can be a bit like a picture, and a little like a puzzle to solve. Despite the bad press, it can actually be fun.
Key to Success
The first step to making accounting fun to get to grips with the terminology. If your heart skips a beat when someone on your balance sheet, you can calm down by learning exactly what a record is and how it can help you. We 've a glossary of accounting at the end of this article to you over the hump.
Secondly, that accounting is more than numbers. It includes databases of your customers, your suppliers and your employees if you have them. The information you keep on these people and businesses will help you plan your business and your future. With proper accounting, you may discover that the people in the Florida Keys to buy a barrel in February pork bellies. You have every right to plan a travel sales for the entire month. See? It is always interesting.
Thirdly, the key to a successful accounting is in setting up your accounting records and reliable data entry. It is a system that is uniquely yours. Recording of transactions and accounting information, and it must be regularly reviewed. It is not a good picture of your company, if the color (data) are in boxes in the basement. There is nothing more difficult than the task of going back to find and enter reams of old information. If you do, you stand a good chance to make something wrong.
Do you need a CPA?
CPA can be a wide range of services, from setting up and managing your accounting consulting and tax preparation.
If for no other reason than tax planning, it is a wise decision to consult an accountant. Accountants, you can generate the reports and accounts, you must manage your business, as well as you, with tax laws and taxes.
You need to find an accountant that you can create a friendly and trusting relationship with. Here are some things to look for when setting accountants or CPA:
Are they licensed to practice in your state?
Do they have experience with your size and type of business?
Do they have good references? (Please ask for recommendations from your bank, employees or colleagues.)
Are they accessible at all times and promptly return your calls?
Can you insight into other areas such as personnel or operations?
Are they in the community?
Do you trust and feel comfortable with them?
If they are in a professional manner?
It also helps you to manage your accounting and taxes for you with the planning and preparation, you may also want to set a bookkeeper or CPA to:
compile financial statements
Review of statements by you and you to find problems or questionable article
an annual audit of the books to make sure everything is accurately maintained
For help in finding an accountant or CPA, there are many databases on the Internet, but the best way to recommendations from friends, business partners, your legal adviser, banker or other trusted sources.
Software or Shoe Box?
An early question you should answer is whether the establishment of a manual system or a software program. You think your small sideline business does not deserve a software program developed by the splashy field, as running the government of the District of Columbia. Think again. Let's say you find weddings at the weekend, a week. The maximum you have events in one year will be 52nd That sounds manageable from a shoebox. But you can buy meat, cheese, and wine is in. use for Sally's wedding, the rest of Sue's. Sally's mother to pay in three installments, and you have become so busy we can not remember when the last check came in. Did you write it? Where?
Software, you can simplify your bookkeeping, by avoiding the double-(or triple) input of data. You log in here and the system will be where you need it another day. It will tally totals and groups for you, saving endless hours on the machine to add. Software will help you understand the procedures for dealing with the endless flow of paper that your business generates. But you need a system which ensures that Sally's payment, irrespective of whether this system in a shoe box or in the computer.
Accounting vs. Bookkeeping
On the terminology: We have already said, the word "accounting" and "accounting". Accounting is the big picture, the system remembers that the data (including humans), save your transaction history, gives you the reports - the all - important, pictures of your company. Accounting and Payroll, an area of particular importance, since large fines may be small errors. Of equal importance is the tax status of your company. Accounting is the system which reports and information that you need.
Accounting is the tedious part - the systematic collection of the amounts, dates and sources of revenue and costs of each of you. Think of accounting as a huge sieve, and the bookkeeping, because the process of pouring things into it. Stirred by the things and you get the information you need for your business.
Cash or Accrual
Somewhere along the line, you will be asked whether your system is on a cash or accrual accounting. If your sales are cash sales, and all your purchases to be paid if you elect them, then the answer is simple - this is cash accounting. If on the other side, then the supply of goods or services, and will sometime later, or if the supply of goods and for them at another time, an accrual-based accounting could usefully for you.
These two bases of accounting produce completely different results. If you are already doing business, and it is not necessarily money, it can be in both directions. Choose a month (or quarter if you do not have many transactions) and for the month, included in cash and cash-out - the actual payment you receive and make. Add the columns (in and out) and move the smaller of the larger. You have just created a cash-based profit and loss account (income statement) for the month (or quarter). Well, the numbers again, but this time list all invoices and cash sales (but not the payment of bills), and the list of bills that you have received from your suppliers and your cash. But don 't list of payments made on invoices. Add the columns and not the mathematics. You get a different result. Accountants usually recommend the accrual accounting basis in order to get a better picture of how your company is doing. This is one of the first questions you have to decide when your books.
Breaking the System Down
Now here are the steps that follow:
Select a starting point. Many new companies as a sideline before they are placed in a bona fide company. If this is your situation, you must select a starting point for your accounting. Remember that you need to complete all business from that date forward, so do not go too far back, unless absolutely necessary. If you close your fiscal year, wait and run the new system with the new year.
Select your accounts. Think of this in terms of assets and liabilities. Assets include checking and savings accounts, accounts receivable (money due from customers), inventory, and also devices that are converted into cash. Liabilities include the money you owe to others (payables), your credit card balance, and all other liabilities that are expected to be paid in the following fiscal year (This could include sales tax, payroll taxes, insurance, etc.) .
Collect the following information:
Company Name
Employee Identification Number (EIN) or your Social Security Number
The dates of the year
The type of forms that you use for your taxes (Accountant assistance may be needed here.)
Sales tax rates, if applicable
A list of items you will sell (products and services) is also an ID number or the name, price or the rate of what you sell, and whether what you sell is taxable (sales tax)
How you would like sales - of items, type of article, etc. (The officer, with accounting software is helpful in this regard.)
(If you decide to inventory) The cost of your inventory and the quantity on hand
A list of customers, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses
A list of vendors with names, addresses, telephone and e-mail
The list of categories you use to save costs - Some categories are fairly universal, such as utilities and postage. Others are primarily for your company. If you already have with your business as a sideline, look at the costs you have incurred and the categories into which they fall.
There are other questions you have before, in connection with accounting, but not necessarily in the field of setting of your books. We already have the task of the paper trail available. Filing an art - and a real sore spot if you do not do well. You need to ask how you plan to unpaid bills. How will you collect the money that your customers owe you? Remember, the bride, Sally, in our early example. What if her mother does not mean that the final payment and ignored your statements and calls?
This decision does not sound like fun, and perhaps also the other decisions you face and to collect all this information you still afraid. Most people on this task with some sort of fear. But think of it as a creative process. After you are born a company. If your business buzzing with sliding transactions into their correct slots, you can click a button on the screen of your computer and get a picture, hopefully in black. You can smile and say, "Hey, this is my business!"
Whether it's fine oil paintings and selling of pork belly on the road, your company is in some form of accounting. The word alone can cast a glaze over the brightest eyes, but in this article we show you that the accounting process is greater than crunching your numbers. It is a tool that helps you "for" what your company has done, is doing, and hopes to do in the future. Accounting can be a bit like a picture, and a little like a puzzle to solve. Despite the bad press, it can actually be fun.
Key to Success
The first step to making accounting fun to get to grips with the terminology. If your heart skips a beat when someone on your balance sheet, you can calm down by learning exactly what a record is and how it can help you. We 've a glossary of accounting at the end of this article to you over the hump.
Secondly, that accounting is more than numbers. It includes databases of your customers, your suppliers and your employees if you have them. The information you keep on these people and businesses will help you plan your business and your future. With proper accounting, you may discover that the people in the Florida Keys to buy a barrel in February pork bellies. You have every right to plan a travel sales for the entire month. See? It is always interesting.
Thirdly, the key to a successful accounting is in setting up your accounting records and reliable data entry. It is a system that is uniquely yours. Recording of transactions and accounting information, and it must be regularly reviewed. It is not a good picture of your company, if the color (data) are in boxes in the basement. There is nothing more difficult than the task of going back to find and enter reams of old information. If you do, you stand a good chance to make something wrong.
Do you need a CPA?
CPA can be a wide range of services, from setting up and managing your accounting consulting and tax preparation.
If for no other reason than tax planning, it is a wise decision to consult an accountant. Accountants, you can generate the reports and accounts, you must manage your business, as well as you, with tax laws and taxes.
You need to find an accountant that you can create a friendly and trusting relationship with. Here are some things to look for when setting accountants or CPA:
Are they licensed to practice in your state?
Do they have experience with your size and type of business?
Do they have good references? (Please ask for recommendations from your bank, employees or colleagues.)
Are they accessible at all times and promptly return your calls?
Can you insight into other areas such as personnel or operations?
Are they in the community?
Do you trust and feel comfortable with them?
If they are in a professional manner?
It also helps you to manage your accounting and taxes for you with the planning and preparation, you may also want to set a bookkeeper or CPA to:
compile financial statements
Review of statements by you and you to find problems or questionable article
an annual audit of the books to make sure everything is accurately maintained
For help in finding an accountant or CPA, there are many databases on the Internet, but the best way to recommendations from friends, business partners, your legal adviser, banker or other trusted sources.
Software or Shoe Box?
An early question you should answer is whether the establishment of a manual system or a software program. You think your small sideline business does not deserve a software program developed by the splashy field, as running the government of the District of Columbia. Think again. Let's say you find weddings at the weekend, a week. The maximum you have events in one year will be 52nd That sounds manageable from a shoebox. But you can buy meat, cheese, and wine is in. use for Sally's wedding, the rest of Sue's. Sally's mother to pay in three installments, and you have become so busy we can not remember when the last check came in. Did you write it? Where?
Software, you can simplify your bookkeeping, by avoiding the double-(or triple) input of data. You log in here and the system will be where you need it another day. It will tally totals and groups for you, saving endless hours on the machine to add. Software will help you understand the procedures for dealing with the endless flow of paper that your business generates. But you need a system which ensures that Sally's payment, irrespective of whether this system in a shoe box or in the computer.
Accounting vs. Bookkeeping
On the terminology: We have already said, the word "accounting" and "accounting". Accounting is the big picture, the system remembers that the data (including humans), save your transaction history, gives you the reports - the all - important, pictures of your company. Accounting and Payroll, an area of particular importance, since large fines may be small errors. Of equal importance is the tax status of your company. Accounting is the system which reports and information that you need.
Accounting is the tedious part - the systematic collection of the amounts, dates and sources of revenue and costs of each of you. Think of accounting as a huge sieve, and the bookkeeping, because the process of pouring things into it. Stirred by the things and you get the information you need for your business.
Cash or Accrual
Somewhere along the line, you will be asked whether your system is on a cash or accrual accounting. If your sales are cash sales, and all your purchases to be paid if you elect them, then the answer is simple - this is cash accounting. If on the other side, then the supply of goods or services, and will sometime later, or if the supply of goods and for them at another time, an accrual-based accounting could usefully for you.
These two bases of accounting produce completely different results. If you are already doing business, and it is not necessarily money, it can be in both directions. Choose a month (or quarter if you do not have many transactions) and for the month, included in cash and cash-out - the actual payment you receive and make. Add the columns (in and out) and move the smaller of the larger. You have just created a cash-based profit and loss account (income statement) for the month (or quarter). Well, the numbers again, but this time list all invoices and cash sales (but not the payment of bills), and the list of bills that you have received from your suppliers and your cash. But don 't list of payments made on invoices. Add the columns and not the mathematics. You get a different result. Accountants usually recommend the accrual accounting basis in order to get a better picture of how your company is doing. This is one of the first questions you have to decide when your books.
Breaking the System Down
Now here are the steps that follow:
Select a starting point. Many new companies as a sideline before they are placed in a bona fide company. If this is your situation, you must select a starting point for your accounting. Remember that you need to complete all business from that date forward, so do not go too far back, unless absolutely necessary. If you close your fiscal year, wait and run the new system with the new year.
Select your accounts. Think of this in terms of assets and liabilities. Assets include checking and savings accounts, accounts receivable (money due from customers), inventory, and also devices that are converted into cash. Liabilities include the money you owe to others (payables), your credit card balance, and all other liabilities that are expected to be paid in the following fiscal year (This could include sales tax, payroll taxes, insurance, etc.) .
Collect the following information:
Company Name
Employee Identification Number (EIN) or your Social Security Number
The dates of the year
The type of forms that you use for your taxes (Accountant assistance may be needed here.)
Sales tax rates, if applicable
A list of items you will sell (products and services) is also an ID number or the name, price or the rate of what you sell, and whether what you sell is taxable (sales tax)
How you would like sales - of items, type of article, etc. (The officer, with accounting software is helpful in this regard.)
(If you decide to inventory) The cost of your inventory and the quantity on hand
A list of customers, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses
A list of vendors with names, addresses, telephone and e-mail
The list of categories you use to save costs - Some categories are fairly universal, such as utilities and postage. Others are primarily for your company. If you already have with your business as a sideline, look at the costs you have incurred and the categories into which they fall.
There are other questions you have before, in connection with accounting, but not necessarily in the field of setting of your books. We already have the task of the paper trail available. Filing an art - and a real sore spot if you do not do well. You need to ask how you plan to unpaid bills. How will you collect the money that your customers owe you? Remember, the bride, Sally, in our early example. What if her mother does not mean that the final payment and ignored your statements and calls?
This decision does not sound like fun, and perhaps also the other decisions you face and to collect all this information you still afraid. Most people on this task with some sort of fear. But think of it as a creative process. After you are born a company. If your business buzzing with sliding transactions into their correct slots, you can click a button on the screen of your computer and get a picture, hopefully in black. You can smile and say, "Hey, this is my business!"
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