Organization: Finances, Mission and Vision Essay (Essay Sample)

Finances
Name
Institution
Date
Mission and Vision
The department of homeland security has got five core missions. These missions are
Manage and secure our borders
Enhancing security and preventing terrorism
Administer and enforce our immigration laws
Secure and safeguard cyberspace
Ensure resilience to disasters
These missions are the responsibility of thousands of people including state, local government, federal government, private sector and many non-governmental organizations. These people are charged with various responsibilities and duties all geared towards attaining the missions outlined by the department of homeland security. These duties include but are not limited to development of technology, research, public security and safety, response to emerging security threats among others.
The vision of the department of homeland security is to ensure a secure, safe and resilient homeland against terrorism and all other hazards (Mikesell, 2011). Three key concepts have been established as the foundation for the strategy applied to achieve this vision. These concepts are resilience, security, and customs and exchange.

Ethical considerations related to finance and budgeting within the organization
The department of homeland security requires a huge budget to run effectively. The financing and budgeting process usually is complex because the department involves various different activities in different locations (Alperen, 2013). As a result, finances are handled by different people and internal controls are forced to delegate the allocation of resources to different people within the department in different locations. Ethical considerations during this process include but are not limited to honesty, transparency, responsible use of resources, proper monitoring and accountability for spending. Ethical conduct usually is outlined in the business conduct of the department. It is important to remember that ethical conduct has to come from within the people and is best practiced if the people have ingrained moral values.
Ethical budgeting, especially in cases where the public is involved, steers clear of conflicts of interest. In order for the department of homeland security to successfully steer clear of conflicts of interest, decision making needs to be mandated to people whose intentions and motives are not likely to be clouded by personal issues. There also needs to be a lot of transparency during decision making with emphasis on the good of the public as opposed to the decision makers’ personal gain.
Improvement of Efficiency
The department could consider using technology to ensure improved efficiency and effectiveness of finance and budgeting processes. For one, they could install software that supports the storage and analysis of financial transactions in order to ensure more transparency, better data storage and more accurate computation of numbers. Accuracy especially comes in handy during the computation of financial statements and auditing processes. The use of technology ensures that as long as data input is accurate and clean then the output is bound to be just as accurate (Bullock, 2012). Technology could also be used to monitor trends over time, measure profitability and plan well.
Technological considerations therefore include information technology software, technological gadgets for security searches, technologically advanced surveillance equipment, communication equipment among others. Security maintenance would be greatly aided by ensuring the latest technology is applied in all the systems and equipment relied on for security use.
Laws, Regulations and Policies
One of the main laws especially in the finance processes is public auditing. This usually is done with the intention of ensuring transparency especially to all stakeholders. In this case, the public whose taxes are used during budgeting are often pretty curious about the allocation of monetary resources. The law also requires that transparency and total honesty be practiced in the publication of financial statements for the public. Falsified information is an offence and can lead to law suits and consequently ill reputation. In addition to this, the organization suffers huge costs in rectifying such a problem.
The law also requires that resources and prudently and sustainably allocated. Deliberate misappropriation of funds and wastage is also considered an offence according to the law and the organizations needs to guard against this. It is important to note that, information could appear falsified due to a genuine mistake, an oversight or ignorance. Even then, while the penalty may not be as severe as that of deliberate falsifying, it is still punishable by law. It also could lead to loss of trust from the public and cast the organization in negative light.
Evaluation of the organization's budget process and revenue sources
A sustainability performance plan has been outlined to define metrics, goals and to track progress across the organization. The budget process usually draws from this plan which informs the allocation process and strategizing. In addition to this, key players and decision makers are expected to present performance and accountability reports every so often to the president. This enables the president as well as the public to assess the stewardship of resources as well as mission performance.
The department of homeland security is continually devoted to open government which advocates for transparency, a culture of participation and government operations collaboration. The efficiency review, popularly known as the DHS review introduced by President Obama has also enabled a more responsive, leaner, smarter and better equipped department in the protection of the nation. The department continually takes on more efficient processes and seeks to ensure prudent stewardship of resources (National Research Council, U.S., 2010).
Internal factors impacting successful strategic financial planning
One of the internal factors that affect strategic financial planning includes workforce level of skill and exposure. While experience is important, the workforce in charge of financial planning needs to possess analytical skills especially in relation to emerging trends, threats and opportunities. This can be achieved by having finance personnel trained regularly. The other obvious factor that is bound to affect strategic financial planning is the amount of resources available especially monetary resources (Chertoff, 2009). Resources affect the quality of equipment and tools used as excellent quality can be quite expensive.
Other factors include technological capacity, financial management and organizational culture. The department’s technological capacity is especially important as it affects the amount, quality and intensity of data collected, processed and stored. The capacity needs to be such that it can handle the amount of data that needs to be collected every so often and have the ability to analyze it as accurately as possible. Given the important and delicate nature of this department, technological capacity needs to be improved as often as possible so as to comfortably handle the intensity of the work in this department.
Employee morale, which is often understated, is one of the most important factors affecting strategic planning, financial and otherwise. A demoralized employee is unlikely to be very productive and may actually overlook important things during planning. It is important that the organization ensures that their employees are motivated and encouraged to maximize their potential. The level of productivity affects the time taken to complete tasks as well as the quality of work which in turn directly affects costs incurred.
A motivated workforce is more likely to have less costs and is likely to be more productive that a demotivated one. Ethical conduct also needs to be cultivated as a culture. Systems that govern ethics need to encourage employees to want to be ethical as opposed to forcing them to be ethical by threatening them with punishment. Positive reinforcement goes a long way in ensuring an ethical workforce.
The organization's usage of cost-benefit analysis
Cost benefit analysis is important especially during financial planning. The analysis is computed by subtracting the negative outcomes from the positive outcomes of a proposed plan. The net outcome determines whether or not the plan is advisable. The department of homeland security could use this analysis to determine whether the costs incurred are worth the benefits they result in. Sometimes, the costs and benefits cancel out resulting in wastage while in other cases, huge costs result in great benefits. Financial planners could also use this analysis to come up with the most sustainable financial plans given the scarcity of resources (Stalcup, 2005).
Cost benefit analysis’ accuracy is dependent on how well it is done. The trick usually is to ensure that all the benefits and costs are included in the analysis. The more accurately costs and benefits are determined the more accurate the results are. They could help determine such things as whether or n...