Top 3 blogs!

My Top 3 Blogs

Here's the list of my top three blogs. It was surprisingly hard to choose my favourites, but these three definitely deserve it! :)

1. Matthew Gatt Walters: http://mgattwaltersacct11059.blogspot.com.au/

Matt also has an airline company and I found a lot of his posts really helpful towards my own understanding of my company. He put a lot of great information about his company on his blog which he obviously put a lot of effort into. I almost couldn't believe his blog was made by another student, it was so professionally set out! He was also really helpful towards me and gave me some good feedback for my own blog. 

2. Evelyn De Lange: http://evedelange.blogspot.com.au/

Evelyn has an interesting colour scheme that instantly drew my attention. Her blog was also fun to read and easy to navigate. She also obviously put a lot of effort into her posts, which was great to see. 

3. Gemma Civill: http://gemmacivill.blogspot.com.au/

Gemma also has a unique background that drew my attention immediately. Her blog had some information about her company that was easy to read and genuinely interesting. She genuinely seems interested about her company and I found that great to see.

Annual Report: KCQs

Key Concepts

For Aegean Airlines, the annual report’s year ends 31 December, therefore the latest annual statement for 2013 has not yet released. As such, these findings have been based on the reports from 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

   Aegean Airlines has invested greatly into extending their broad network of international routes. They worked towards international expansion in 2012 by strengthen their market of Germany, France, Russia, Israel and Belgium. While also incorporating new flights to Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine and Georgia.

      In just 2 years, the following routes were launched:

2011

§ Athens – Moscow

§ Athens – Bologna

§ Thessaloniki – Moscow

§ Thessaloniki – Paris

§ Larnaca – London Heathrow

2012

§ Heraklion – Moscow

§ Heraklion – Brussels

§ Heraklion – Munich

§ Corfu – Brussels

§ Corfu – Milan

§ Corfu – Rome

§ Thessaloniki – St Petersburg

§ Rhodes – Moscow

§ Athens – Budapest

§ Athens – Prague

§ Athens – Tbilisi

§ Athens – Mariupol

     Social responsibilities are seen as an integrated part of Aegean Airlines’ rationale and try to use them to convey their main values. They focus on a range of aspects such as Culture, Education, Environment, Local communities and Tourism.  

They sponsor a multitude of organizations and programs such as:

Culture

§ Museum ofCyladic Art

§ The AthensConcert Hall

§ The ThessalonikiConcert Hall

§ The HellenicFilm Academy

§ The ThessalonikiDocumentary Festival

§ The OnassisCultural Centre

§ The NikosKazantzakis Museum

§ The Festival“Milano incontra La Grecia”

§ The CentreCulturel Hellènique in Paris

Education

§ SOS Children’s Villages Greece 

Local Communities

§ HelenicRescue Team 

§ Nifalioli 

§ The SaniFestival 

§ SaniGourmet 

§ RethymnoAegean 

§ VAPKolossos B.C. 

Tourism

§ GreekNational Tourism Organization 

      Aegean Airlines also strives to have good relations with other airlines. In 2001, they formed a merger with Cronus Airlines and, in 2008, they formed a code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines. They joined the STAR ALLIANCE on 30^th June 2010, as one of 28 currently affiliated airlines.  

Questions

•  Despite having the 'Goodwill' asset in 2004 & 2005, Aegean Airlines has not listed any 'Goodwill' assets in the years following. Why is this? Does it affect the firm? Does this mean they are not interested in selling the company so they don't calculate 'Goodwill'?

• Until 2012, the company had no listed 'Advances for investing activities'. What might have caused the change? Is this a positive or negative change for the company?

• Until 2012, the company also had no listed 'Long term liabilities'. Could the two be connected? What might be a reason for the sudden change?

• The 'Total Revenue' for the past 4 years have all been negative numbers. How does this affect the company? Is it a serious issue for the company? Or is this a regular occurrence that shouldn't be worried about?

•  Are there any other students who have a company in the STAR ALLIANCE? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Do you think it's a good move for your company? 

I personally believe STAR ALLIANCE is a good opportunity for Aegean Airlines to further their relationship with other airlines :) 

Please tell me your opinions or ideas on my KCQs or let me know your KCQs in the comments :D 

Annual Reports

Since I've seen a few other people posting links to their company's Annual Reports, I thought it couldn't hurt to follow by their example.

For those interested, you can find all Aegean Airlines Annual Reports from the years 2007-2012 here:
http://en.aegeanair.com/investor-relations/annual-reports/

These are all on pdf files for quick and convenient download :)

Study Guide, Chapter One: Question 1.2

Question 1.2 

For your firm, identify three Assets, three Liabilities and three items of Equity.  Describe what each item means to you (you may find some footnotes in your firm’s financial statements may help you to make more sense of these items). 

Assets
1. Goodwill: When the company is sold, this amount will be added to the company's market value. This is calculated based off the company's established reputation.
2. Inventories: This is the inventory or stock that the company has available at the time.
3. Cash and cash equivalents: This is the cash on hand, and cash equivalents such as checks received but not yet deposited, that the company has at the time.

Liabilities
1. Suppliers: This is a liability because a company is obliged to pay a supplier for their services.
2. Liabilities from tickets sold but not flown: This one is pretty self explanatory, it is the loss that occurs when a ticket is purchased but not used.
3. Income tax liabilities: This is tax that the company is legally obliged to pay the government.

Equity
1. Share capital: This is the money invested into the company by shareholders.
2. Share premium account: If a shareholder pays more than the cost of the share, the extra money is credited to this account.
3. Retained profit / (loss): Also referred to as retained earnings, this refers to the income the company retains rather than distributing it to the shareholders.

In all honesty, some of these terms meant absolutely nothing to me when I first saw them. However, after a little research on Google (I don't know where I would be without it), I was eventually able to grasp a better understanding of what they meant :)