Archive for May 2011
Career Clusters Close the Gap Between Schools Subjects and Careers
A wealth of information exists that explains the relationships between school subjects and careers. Across the nation, children, teens, teachers, and counselors use Career Interests Areas or Clusters to explore careers and to make school study plans. There are sixteen (16) Interests Areas or Clusters:
1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources
2. Architecture & Construction
3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication
4. Business, Management & Administration
5. Education & Training
6. Finance
7. Government & Public Administration
8. Health Science
9. Hospitality & Tourism
10. Human Services
11. Information Technology
12. Law, Public Safety & Security
13. Manufacturing
14. Marketing, Sales & Service
15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
States and federal agencies across the nation have created career cluster web sites and resources. We have reviewed three (3) of the best state or federal agency web sites.
Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA)
One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. Using the Lisa, you can do the following tasks:
Assessment: Explore career options using the Work Importance Locator.
I Enjoy: Find careers based upon the things that you enjoy.
Cluster: Find careers from Career Cluster Groups.
Search: Search for jobs based on knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Best Match: Use your current job to find knowledge, skills, and abilities to identify a new career.
Compare: Compare current job to potential new job.
Profile: Use this feature to create a profile from a selected career.
There are 3 steps in the LISA program. In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will read the description of the cluster. When you select a career cluster in Step 2, you can select a career group. In each career group, you will see a lot of different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see additional occupational information, such as:
Job descriptions
Educational and training requirements
Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
Abilities
Knowledge
Skills
Tasks
Work Values
Labor Market Information
There is detailed information in each job profile:
Description
Crosswalk
Abilities
Knowledge
Skills
Tasks
Work Values
Occupational Characteristics Narrative
The Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA) is an excellent tool for students to do career cluster exploration.
Accounting Ethics Courses: Optional or Necessary
Ethics and high morality are in high demand today especially among corporate America, and specifically within the accounting profession. After the ethical failures of Enron and WorldCom, a public outcry for future preventative measures resonated throughout the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the accounting community at large. Consequently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the overseeing government board of the AICPA, released the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, otherwise known as SOX. The act requires a higher performance standard for accounting firms and the audits they perform to prevent future accounting scandals. SOX, which has been extremely beneficial, doesn’t change the ethical standards of an individual but instead takes away most of the opportunity to commit a scandalous act. The basic character of the fraudulent individual remains corrupt, even with legislation in place. The question is then posed: Can ethics be taught, and if so, what accounting or business ethics courses are available? The answer is not ironclad as the word ethics describes the morality of an individual, which is hard to measure. There are also very limited courses offered on ethics, however ethical education should be a required course in college and a prerequisite to new employment for all accounting firms.
Most higher education institutions, and some high school level institutions, are implementing brief ethical materials into their curriculum, but very few offer courses on the subject. The basic argument against incorporating a required accounting ethics course is that there isn’t any proof that individuals who take a course would be any more ethical than they already are. If this is truly the singular obstruction to imposing an accounting course in ethics, than why aren’t other courses in the curriculum subject to examination from proof. Many audits, specifically those at Enron and WorldCom, have failed because of poor functional accounting knowledge, not just ethical queries. Most other curricular accounting courses would fail a proof assessment required by those who oppose an accounting ethics course. It is necessary to have an accounting ethics course to properly prepare students for any future ethical temptation they may experience within the field. Without experience in fraud recognition or ethical righteousness, many new timid accountants are susceptible to fraud or ethical dilemmas. A recommendation would be to add not just one course on ethics into a curriculum, but possibly three or four. A course in ethical theory could tie into another ethics course involved in spotting frauds and ethical dilemmas while a third course could focus on answering these ethical uncertainties.
The Pros and Cons of Starting a Home Business
It’s no surprise that in the 21st century, a time when the internet is the world’s information center, working from home is becoming more popular and much more feasible to the masses. Thanks to the internet, the home business industry is booming. Like any business, a home business offers both the good and the not so good.
“Do You Like Your Job?”
If you are one of the few people in the world that actually really like what they do for a living then great. However, most people would agree that if they could make a living without going to work, then they would do just that. A home based business provides the personal freedom that a traditional job just can not offer. Having a home business puts you in control of you. You decide when you want to work and when you want to vacation. You decide how you are going to spend your day. Having the personal freedom to come and go as you please without the restraints of job is a definite pro of owning a home based business.
“How Much Money Do You Want to Make?”
The are many reasons that people want to become home business owners. One reason that makes the top of the list for most people is financial freedom. It is no secret that millions of people in the world today are making a very decent living from home. Many people seek the home based business option because of the earning potential. So whether you need a few extra hundred dollars to get you through the month or you are looking to completely replace and increase your full time income, a home business could be the best solution.
“Yes, You Will Have to Spend Some Money!”
This is not really a con but more of a fact. It is unreasonable to think that you can have a business with no initial investment. Do you know of a business that cost nothing to start up? When some people hear that they have to put money into their businesss it is a turn off. Those are the people that are not ready to explore this business model because they do not recognize it as a real business. Sure, you have to be careful of where you invest your money and what you invest in, but the idea of a free business is ridiculous.