ACC501 - Accounting for Decision Making, Mod 4 Session Long Project - Essay Example

ASPCA and its Treatment of Allocated Costs of the of the ASPCA and its Treatment of Allocated Costs Introduction The ASPCA is a non-profit organization that is concerned with the prevention of cruelty to animals as well as providing them with homes, care and shelter from the adverse elements of the natural environment. There are both natural and manmade dangers lurking in the streets, and animals need to be protected from these dangers. As a non-profit organization, the ASPCA has few sources of income other than grants and donations.

Its financial managers have very cleverly devised other ways of generating funds, such as pet insurance, Support an Animal and other schemes like the Bank of America/ASPCA joint credit card. In this assignment, we are going to look at how the ASPCA treats the allocation of costs in its financial statements. Discussion The financial statements of the ASPCA like the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet give an overall picture of their activities as of Dec 31, 2010. The following is the detail of one expense as of that date in 000’s of dollars: COST DESCRIPTION AMOUNT BASIS OF ALLOCATION Grants & Sponsorships: $7.

317 No. of Recipients per Region SOURCE: The ASPCA 2010 Annual Report BREAKUP FOR REGIONS: Region Amount Recipients Avg. per Recipient Pacific $951.4 86 $ 11,060 Mountain $242.0 50 $ 4,840 West North Central $595.0 34 $ 17,500 SOURCE: The ASPCA website While the total amount of over $7 million for the year (onlinedigitalpubs.com) looks a phenomenal sum, it makes more sense when we see the distribution of this amount in the different regions of the USA.

On the whole the amount was well spent as it kept a number of needy animals out of harm’s way and also helped in reducing the chances of them being let loose by their owners, with possible cruelty, malnutrition, ill health and accidents being some adverse consequences that have been avoided. Conclusion We have seen how the breakup of the Grant and Scholarships cost (donate.aspca.org) has resulted in the safety and ownership of animals kept as pets and also how this has helped in the prevention of cruelty, ill health and other consequences if these animals had to be let go by their owners.

Giving these recipients the grants definitely helps ASPCA in its worthy cause. References The ASPCA 2010 Annual Report. Accessed on 01 Sep 2011 at http://onlinedigitalpubs.com/publication/?i=76489 Your Dollars at Work Across the Country. Accessed on 01 Sep 2011 at https://donate.aspca.org/donate/your-dollars-at-work-2010