Verifying the Variance
Order Description
Application: Verifying the Variance

THIS IS A TWO PART ASSIGNMENT THAT NEEDS TO BE SUBMITTED SEPARATELY. I AM PAYING FOREXCEL AND THE 2 PAGE PAPER.

Submit to the Assignment Part 1″ area your excel spreadsheet which includes your answers in the “Variances” tab and the Proportional Allocations” tab.

Submit your 2- to 3-page paper to the “Assignment Turnitin Part 2- submission area.
To prepare for this Application Assignment, review the Northeast Health System 2011 Annual Report. As you review, analyze the concept of variance. Consider what factors influence variance and how organizations control these factors in a real world setting. Analyze how the economic environment in which the organization operates influences the means of adjusting expenditures to meet financial goals.
To complete this Application Assignment, you will calculate: 1) the variance for selected items from the annual report and 2) the percentage that each expense item contributes to the overall expenses. Next, you will write a 2- to 3-page paper that explains how the variance and expense percentage calculations are used to monitor and control the budget.

You will submit both the excel spreadsheet and the 2- to 3-page paper as follows:
1. Using the provided Excel spreadsheet, calculate the variances for each line item under the tab labeled “Variances.” A guideline for calculating the variances is located in the Weekly Resources.
2. Using the provided Excel spreadsheet, calculate the expense proportion of each line item under the tab labeled “Proportional Allocations.”
3. After completing the spreadsheet, please address the following in a 2- to 3-page paper. The first paragraph should address the first two elements. The bulk of the paper should address the remaining elements.
• Explain the concept of variance. Cite your sources.
• Briefly describe the Northeast Health System from the information found in the annual report.
• Summarize the key variances (positive or negative) you uncovered during your analysis (data only). Focus on the most significant variance items.
• Summarize the key findings from your proportional allocation analysis. Focus on the most significant proportions.
• What observations can you make about the Northeast Health System based on the variances and proportional allocations that you calculated?
• What do you believe led to the variances you identified?
• Since certain line items in a budget are more controllable than others, what actions might you recommend to the Northeast Health System to either decrease or increase their significant variances and proportional allocations?
Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning.

Submit to the Assignment Part 1″ area your excel spreadsheet which includes your answers in the “Variances” tab and the Proportional Allocations” tab.

Submit your 2- to 3-page paper to the “Assignment Turnitin Part 2- Week 2” submission area.

Required Resources
Media
• Interactive Media: Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive producer). (2011). Good Samaritan Hospital organizational chart—Week 2: Finance in health care. Baltimore, MD: Author.

This week, Vice President of Finance Deana Stout explains how finance integrates with hospital strategic planning and the hospital goals; Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development Jennifer Weiss Wilkerson shares the challenges health care administrators face in having their expenses met; and President Jeff Matton speaks about the MedStar family of health care settings and the way it allocates resources to satisfy the marketplace needs for health care.
Video Transcripts (zip file)
Readings
• Course Text: Introduction to Health Care Economics & Financial Management
o Chapter 3, “Financial Reporting in Managed Care Settings”

In this chapter you will apply the concepts of managed care to analyze and evaluate utilization and costs for a sample pediatric office.
o Chapter 4, “Types and Components of Budgets”
Budgets are a way to review, monitor, and plan the production of goods and services. This chapter focuses on the descriptive function of various types of budgets commonly encountered in health care settings.
o Chapter 5, “Budget Monitoring and Control”
This chapter shows how budgets are used to monitor resource use. Budget information helps to identify performance problems, investigate their sources, and suggest opportunities to take corrective action.

o Chapter 6, “Budget Preparation”
In this chapter, you will see how budgets are used to plan for the future and to prepare budgets for the following year or more. The concepts relevant to budget preparation for operating and capital budgets are discussed. Considerations in preparing a cash flow budget and zero-based budgeting are included.
Article: Northeast Health System. (2011). Strength upon strength: Northeast Health System annual report 2011. Retrieved from http://www.beverlyhospital.org/media/548871/nehs_2011annualreport_web.pdf
Article: Powell, A., Davies, H. & Thomson, R. (2003). Using routine comparative data to assess the quality of health care: understanding and avoiding common pitfalls. Retrieved from ttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1743685/

This article discusses the ways in which quality of care is currently assessed is by taking routinely collected data and analyzing them quantitatively. It also touches on the fact that the use of routine data has many advantages but there are also some important pitfalls. It also covered how collating numerical data in this way means that comparisons can be made—whether over time, with benchmarks, or with other healthcare providers (at individual or institutional levels of aggregation).
You use the following document for this week’s Application assignment:
o Course Document: Instructions for Calculating Percentage of Variance
o Course Document: Week 2 Application Assignment spreadsheet
Websites
• Healthcare Financial Management Association
http://www.hfma.org/
• The Healthcare Financial Management Association is a membership organization for health care financial management executives and leaders. The association is considered a respected thought leader on top trends and issues facing the health care industry. The HFMA website provides a knowledge center with useful supplemental information on a number of health care financial topics, publications, news, and a career center.
• Healthcare Financial Management Association Knowledge Center
http://www.hfma.org/BrowseTopic.aspx

The Healthcare Financial Management Association provides a wide assortment of current articles, seminars, and other breaking news about various aspects of health care financial management.

Optional Resources
• Accounting Financial Tax. (2012). How to calculate cost variance [8 Types]. Retrieved from http://accounting-financial-tax.com/2008/12/how-to-calculate-cost-variances-8-types/