Sunday - May 22, 2011

In the morning Mr. Amir Kolahzadeh, the Business Development manager of ITWorks, gave us a presentation about Converged Technologies. The lecture started with an overview about ITWorks where he explained its objectives, mission and vision. It was a really interesting and energetic lecture where Mr. Kolahzadeh introduced the concept of smart technologies and how it can be implemented in our everyday life. He explained that these technologies can be and are being used to create smart homes, hotels, hospitals and even cities in the near future. In addition to this Mr. Kolahzadeh stressed the impact which such technologies could have on education where many alternatives for traditional ways of teaching were proposed.

Our afternoon lecture was an introduction to economics and accounting in the construction industry. Keeping track of your expenses and income is very important. We learned about the three financial statements used to track spending. These were income statements, balance sheets and cash flow. We also learned about financial tools that clients and contractors use. These include guarantees which are promises from someone to pay, bonds which are commitments to pay or perform works, and letters of credit.
Tracking your costs and income can be very difficult in the construction industry. Due to retention and bonds, you are never receiving the full amount of your payment until the end of the project. This can make it hard to be able to cover all of your bills without pulling from your own account. It is also important to track your profit margin as you go. This is done using a “cost value reconciliation sheet”. This is used to track your overall costs and expected returns throughout the project.