Vacation Care Services - Case Study Example

Vacation Care Services Name Institution Vacation Care Services VSC is a growing cleaning company as started by Dom who provided care services on vacation. The company has grown tremendously, and more clients are asking for their services and management has grown too. Dom has to pick mails, take care of the gardens, tends to pets and houseplants, and clean houses. The cleaning services are now on a daily basis, and therefore, the company needs a flowchart. A company gathers information using flowcharts as it shows the internal control structure of the company regarding the division of duties, responsibilities, and data flow. Flow charts are important in businesses as they make it easier for the management and the clients to see how the system works. Flowcharts are easy to understand and therefore magnificent for interpretation of business reports. Cash Handling and accounts receivable process flowchart At the beginning of every month, Vocation Care services, review their accounts to confirm payments. Dom and Dustie are required to conduct a follow up on the Accounts Receivable process flow to ensure that every employee and client receive and make their payments respectively. Below are the Cash handling and accounts receivable process flowchart for VCS. (Fung & GUL, 2014) Time scheduling process flowchart Accounts payable process flowchart Accounts payable flowchart is a representation of transaction flow process. Payroll process flowchart This flowchart shows the review, processing and printing reports of payroll process in Vacation Care Services. VCS is doing well, and that is the reason Dr. Evans is suggesting the expansion of the cleaning business to Dom. However, Dustie and Dom are having some hard times like class clashes and the hassle of sorting out equipment and supplies. With the right changes, Dustie and Dom can manage the company and still attend classes. Some of the suggestions include: Vacation Care Services is rapidly expanding, and the size of the workforce is increasing. Dom and Dustie might spend a lot of time putting schedules together, and it is advisable that the company use workforce management to reduce the burden of time scheduling. Using workforce management will improve the accuracy of the schedules because it uses in-depth calculations and historical date using logarithms. These systems will prevent human error such as class schedules conflict. WFM systems save time as it can auto approve requests for time-off or deny thus managing PTO. Besides, it becomes easier for the company to set up new schedules in few minutes especially when a cleaner calls off. The cleaning employees will also share an advantage of adapting to sudden shift changes, for example, to make a change in the work schedule, the employee does not require calling or emailing the manager, they just request online. However, WFT is costly comparing it with computer scheduling that Vacation Care services use. It is embarrassing for a growing company to shop for equipment every time a client asks for cleaning services. Rather, the company should have all their equipment and products at the storage facility where they are easily accessible. The company should purchase all the equipment that the company requires and have a rule that every employee should return the equipment they use, failure to that, and they receive a penalty. This rule will ensure well-handling of the cleaning and that Dom does not receive challenges when sorting out supplies and equipment. However, the company will incur a lot of cash purchasing all equipment and products. VCS should develop systems for every function in the company that is, cleaning, laundry, reporting, management, accounting, and customer service. Dom and Dustie seem to handle every single service, from cleaning, hiring, training, accounting, billing, and customer services which can be overwhelming considering they are students. Having a manager for every system will ensure that Dom and Dustie have enough time for their studies, and the company runs smoothly. Vacation Care Services should also include supervision in their system. The cleaning employee does his/her duty, collects the money and receipt, and takes it to the office. It saves Vacation Cleaning company money as they do not have to employ a supervisor but it is risky, and the cleaning employee should not be doing extra work which he/she receives no pay for doing. The supervisor will also be in charge of the travel costs, in case, an employee lacks money for transport. Dom’s mother, for example, should take over the accounting system, or they employ someone else who is qualified to perform the job. However, getting a manager for every system may be overwhelming to the company since that means the number of employees (excluding the cleaning employees) will increase. More employees may mean that the salary decreases for other employees to balance the services and the profit the company wants to accrue. VCS should not dispose off the receipts as they are still important for retrieval. All documents should be well-kept, and the company should keep originals ensuring the dates on the documents are legible. Dustie disposes off the deposit slip with the bank account statements immediately the deposit shows up online. Disposing of can be tricky if something goes wrong when making payments. If the company has to dispose of these documents, it should make sure that it has backup electronic documents. VCS is having different forms of payments where some customers use invoice while others make cash payments immediately after the work is done. Dustie uses BNZ’s online banking website to make payments to the employees; they should incorporate it that the customers use the services too. If the company uses online banking services for payments with every client, they will have a regular payment schedule. With online banking, the company will prevent the misplacement of time slips to avoid shorted pays and avoid a lot of work in compiling all the payments. However, not all online banking transactions are immediate. Besides, all clients should use bank payments rather than cash payments for money safety. Handing the employee money is not secure since money can get lost on the way, robbers can rob the employee, or worse things can happen. So as to prevent such accidents, the company should not accept cash payments; they should limit every client to bank payments. There should be a contingency when it comes to handling cash. However, the idea of cash payments is likely to promote debts from the clients who take time before making a deposit. Moreover, some clients may feel like the company is not putting their needs into consideration, that is, those who use cash instead of bank payments. Vacation Care Services might even lose some clients who are not comfortable with the idea of banking and are more comfortable with cash payments daily. It is advisable for the company to corporate bus transportation services, which will ensure that the cleaning employees reach their place of work fast. Company transportation will also ensure the importance of mobility of the cleaning employees and equipment. Every time a client asks for cleaning services and the company have to shop for equipment shows they are not serious at what they do. For the company’s operation efficiency, Dom and Dustie need to store all their equipment at the storage facility, and once they sign a contract to offer cleaning services, they transport all the products along with the staff to the job site. It saves time and provides efficiency. However, it is an extra cost to the company, since initially, the staff traveled to their job site with no help from the Company. The Company uses Pay-4-U services to calculating the employee payments, making all the necessary deposits, and withholding all taxes and insurance at a fee of $30.00 per payroll. The system has an advantage of taking care of tax deadlines but misplaces time slips which are important for confirmation of services. The company should take care of the payroll services and should not hire outside services to take care of their accounting. By doing this, the company will save the $30 per payroll; however, it will be tedious on the company’s side and may have to deal with tax deadlines. VCS is showing great improvement, and Dr. Evans is very pleased with the growth. If the company initiates some of the suggested advice, the business will expand attracting more clients. For example, developing systems for every function in the company will improve the business. The picture presentation of the company processes is important for Vacation Care Service since they make it easier for the management (Dom and Dustie) and increasing number of clients to portray how the system works. As from above presentation, it is clear that flowcharts are easy to understand and therefore, excellent for interpretation of business processes in the company. References Fung, S., & GUL, A.F. (2014). Hong Kong Auditing: Economic Theory & Practice (Third Edition). City University of HK Press: Hong Kong. Read More