4 UNIT THREE UNIT FOUR The world of moneyarthur.hpt.at/php/online_links/links/LP_21183.pdf · 1 Do you think Bill and Jean were disappointed by their tour? If yes, why? 2 What do

58 PEP – Personal Educational Professional

UNIT THREE

The world of money4 UNIT FOUR

TO DO

� Listening: a guided tour of London’s

Square Mile

� Finding out about central banks, the

World Bank, the IMF

� Listening to a discussion on salaries and

bonuses

� Reading about gold

� Sourcing gold- and tourism-related

information from the internet

� Talking and writing about employee

incentives

� Writing payment letters

� Reading and talking about problems

connected with money

PEP – Personal Educational Professional 59

UNIT FOUR: THE WORLD OF MONEY 4

�� Talking money

�The love of money is the root of all evil.��(St Paul’s letter to Timothy, 6:10)

�The lack of money is the root of all evil.� (George Bernard Shaw)

The one quotation comes from the New Testament, the other from a great Irish playwright.

Note that neither of the writers says that money in itself is bad but rather the love or lack of it.

How do you feel about these quotations? Are they both true? Is one ‘truer’ than the other? Which?

Walk / Talk Tour of the Square Mile of Money

Doug is a student of Culture and Arts Management but he works as a tour guide to help towards the expense of living

in London. His agency organises Walk / Talk Tours of various interesting parts of the UK capital: Westminster, Royal

London, South of the River, Mayfair and Kensington or the City of London.

Doug is meeting his latest clients at Monument Underground Station.

Listen to the CD and tick the sights that Bill and Jean saw in the list below.

Sights � Sights � Sights �

Monument County Hall The Bank of England

River Thames Covent Garden Market Buckingham Palace

Tower Bridge Leadenhall Market Mansion House

Lloyds Building Westminster Abbey The Guildhall

‘The Gherkin’ St Helen’s, Bishopsgate HMS Belfast

WORDS: to decommission – außer Dienst stellen / orb – (Welt)Kugel / narrow and poky – eng, verwinkelt /

cobblestones – Kopfsteinpflaster / superfluous – überflüssig / guild – Zunft, Gilde

8


4 UNIT FOUR: THE WORLD OF MONEY

�� Practice 1

Listen again and make a note of one interesting thing about each of the sights you ticked.

�� Talk about it. 1

1 Do you think Bill and Jean were disappointed by their tour? If yes, why?

2 What do you think they would have liked to see and do?

3 Do you think Doug does a good job as a tour guide? Why / Why not?

4 Have you been to London, perhaps, and taken a tour? If yes, did you see any of the things mentioned in the

Walk / Talk Tour?

5 Would you like to work as a tour guide?

INFOTEXT: The world of finance

The main function of the institutions which operate in the world of finance is to transfer funds from people who

have money to spare (investors) to people who need those funds (companies or individuals). Financial institutions

ensure that money keeps circulating through the economy.

�� Note taking practice

As you read the next passage, take notes on:

1 where the ECB is headquartered.

2 what is meant by the term ‘eurozone’.

3 three things the ECB is responsible for.

4 who is in charge of making decisions.

Central banks

Although the exact functions may differ from country to country,

central banks usually do the following:

area, euro area) with banknotes and coins

institutions

A special central bank

The European Central Bank (ECB), which is located in Frankfurt am

Main, is the central bank for Europe’s single currency. It is special

insofar as it is a transnational institution, in other words, its actions

have effects in all countries that have adopted the euro (eurozone or

euro area).

the Governors of the eurozone’s national central banks.




1 Find out which EU member countries are not part of the

Eurosystem.

2 The euro is also the sole currency in some countries outside

the EU. Some of those countries have even been authorised by

the ECB to mint their own euro coins. Do you know which?

3 Can you think of reasons why countries adopt another

country’s currency as their own?

WORDPOWER 1

As you read the next section, fill in the English terms for the following expressions.

nicht rückzahlbarer Kredit, Finanzzuschuss

unverzinsliches Darlehen

Darlehen mit niedrigen Zinsen

ehemalige Konfliktregionen

öffentliche Verwaltung

tasks.

The ECB’s supreme decision-making body is the Governing Council, which is composed of the Governors of the

NCBs in the euro area and the President and Vice President of the Executive Board of the ECB. The Executive Board

is responsible for the day-to-day running of the bank and has six members who are appointed by the eurozone

member states for a non-renewable eight-year term.

The ECB and the NCBs of those countries that have introduced the euro are referred to as the Eurosystem.

Austrian achievements

was chosen from altogether 44 sets of competing designs.

the Vienna architects’ office Coop Himmelb(l)au. Their entry was chosen from a total of 26 in a design

competition.



The World Bank

Its motto ‘Working for a World Free of Poverty’ aptly summarises this institution’s main aim. The World Bank provides

low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing and post-conflict countries so that they can improve

their

The World Bank belongs to 186 countries which are represented by boards of directors. Its most senior officer is the

President of the World Bank. It employs more than 10,000 people worldwide and has offices in over 100 countries.

Its headquarters are in Washington D.C.

�� Practice 2

The section on page 63 about the IMF contains some useful verbs. After reading the text right through, look for

the verbs below and underline or highlight them. Then show that you know how to use them by completing the

sentences in a meaningful way. Make sure the verbs are in the right form and tense.

to allocate

to appoint

to consist

to determine

to facilitate

to promote

to pursue

to monitor

to reduce

1 The smart meter …………….. and reports the amount of energy used by each appliance.

2 In England the head teacher …………….……………… by the board of governors.

3 A commission was set up to ……………………….. the cause of the accident.

4 We have to decide how much money to …………………… to maintenance work.

5 The prime minister would like to ……………………. CO2 emissions by 10%.

6 The long-zip fastener is designed to …………………….. quick costume changes.

7 Our scheme is intended to …………………….. talented young cooks.

8 The starter pack ……………………. of a base station and two cordless handsets.

9 We shall have to …………………. our aims more vigorously.



Internet activity The work of the World Bank

Go to the official World Bank website at http://www.worldbank.org/tenthings/en and click on Europe & Central Asia

on Regional View on the right-hand side. Choose a country you are interested in, e.g. Macedonia or Tajikistan, and

take notes on the Bank’s activities there. Be ready to give a short simple explanation in your own words to your

classmates.

Of course, you may find it interesting to browse the Bank’s site some more. There are good slide shows and videos

that will tell you more about its varied activities.

Burning questions

This week the Business Brains Trust on Channel 6 is discussing salaries and bonuses.

Listen carefully and then match the concerns listed on page 64 with the initials of the appropriate panelists. In

some cases you may need to write more than one set of initials.

9

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF is a United Nations agency with headquarters in Washington D.C.

This specialised organisation is not so much a bank – although it helps out members in financial difficulties –

but rather promotes global growth and economic stability and tries to reduce poverty by giving policy advice and

providing technical assistance.

In order to pursue these aims, the IMF:

countries.

them.

trade.

and think tanks with the same aims.

When a country joins the IMF, it is allocated a quota which is based on the relative size of its economy. This quota

is very important because it determines the country’s voting power and how much it has to pay into the Fund but

also how much it can get out of it.

The highest decision-making body of the IMF is the Board of Governors. It consists of one governor and one

alternate governor appointed by each member country. They are usually the country’s finance minister or the head

of the central bank. Voting by the Board of Governors usually takes place by mail-in ballot.

The IMF’s day-to-day business is taken care of by a 24-member Executive Board, which is appointed by the Board

of Governors.



Panelists: CS = Clare Storey, SM = Simon Mead, JP = John Parry

managers should be properly rewarded for the responsibility they have ........................

equal pay for men and women ........................

recruiting the best possible people to work for you ........................

the future of the City of London as a financial centre ........................

not rewarding people for doing ‘bad’ things ........................

showing solidarity with employees .......................

pay cuts for the royal family ........................

Ann Wills: Good evening, welcome, and thank you for joining me on this week’s Business Brains Trust. With

me in the studio tonight are regular panelists Simon Mead, former Director of the Confederation of

British Industry …

Simon Mead: Good evening!

Ann Wills: Professor John Parry, of the Judge Business School, Cambridge …

John Parry: Hi!

Ann Wills: … and Clare Storey, economist and member of the independent think tank, the British Enterprise

Institute.

Clare Storey: Hello!

Ann Wills: Our topic is remuneration, or to put it another way, just how much is work worth? What a banker

does, an entertainer, a professional sportsperson? There are only 24 hours in a day and we do have

to sleep occasionally. Can anyone, however gifted they are, be good enough to merit millions in their

pay packet?

Simon Mead: I think this is one for me, don’t you?

Ann Wills: Right. Simon Mead, over to you.

Simon Mead: Thank you. It’s important to understand that there are jobs and jobs. A financial or investment

manager has far more responsibility than a supermarket manager or an IT specialist. The fate of a

whole company, a whole industry even may depend on him …

Clare Storey: … or her …

Simon Mead: Just let me finish, if you wouldn’t mind.

Clare Storey: All right. I just wanted to point out that there are well over 1¼ million women working in the UK

financial sector alone and some of them have very responsible jobs.

Simon Mead: OK, granted. But how many female CEOs do you know? As I was saying …

John Parry: Actually, I’m with Clare on that. I don’t have the feeling that women managers come out particularly

well as far as bonuses – and salaries, actually, are concerned.

Ann Wills: I have to come in here, John. Could you let Simon make his point, please?

Simon Mead: Thank you! A performance bonus is only right, a reward for a job well done. How much the manager

gets will depend on just how successful the job was. It’s a scandal that the government wants to cap

bonuses and make them refundable, if things go wrong later.

John Parry: The idea is that bonuses should be for long-term success not short-term profit.

Simon Mead: Just a moment, John, I still haven’t finished. Fortunately, we’ve decided there’s another way to

handle this, for the time being.

Clare Storey: And what’s that?

Simon Mead: We put up the basic salary. Money is very motivating, you know. If you pay enough, you can

headhunt the best people on the market. That’s how you keep your competitive edge. Everyone does

it. Anyway, London won’t have much hope of staying the financial centre of the world if the salaries

paid in the City aren’t attractive.



John Parry: I sometimes get the feeling that companies, and that includes state enterprises as well, are prepared

to pay managers huge salaries for doing dirty jobs.

Simon Mead: I’m afraid I don’t quite follow.

John Parry: Nobody should be rewarded for destroying what has been built up, Simon. Running down

businesses, for example, making job cuts, closing down unprofitable operations, introducing short-

time work, cutting overtime.

Simon Mead: Somebody has to do those things even if they are unpleasant. The public and the press will see the

manager concerned as a villain, so it’s nice if the board of directors, at least, shows its appreciation

with a nice fat salary.

Clare Storey: Well, I think managers, and directors could show more solidarity with other employees. They could

take pay cuts, for instance.

John Parry: I’m completely with you on that point.

Ann Wills: Excuse me; I think that has happened in some cases, recently.

Simon Mead: Yes, and it earned the companies concerned a lot of positive publicity.

John Parry: A bit like the TV stars who took cuts in their fees recently.

Clare Storey: Yes. I haven’t noticed any footballers, or politicians taking pay cuts recently.

John Parry: (Laughs.) No!

Simon Mead: Nor members of the royal family …

(Panel all laugh.)

Clare Storey: But have you ever considered that, according to a recent official study by the Equality and Human

Rights Commission, females working in the financial sector earn 35% less than men, overall? And

as far as bonuses are concerned, they get 80% less. Surely there would be good reasons for paying

some women better basic salaries?

Simon Mead: Here we go again!

Ann Wills: Order now, time’s running out! You can read our panelists’ opinions and post your comments on our

online platform, bbt.c6.com

WORDS: concern – Anliegen / to merit – verdienen / gifted – talentiert / granted – zugegeben /

to cap – deckeln, nach oben begrenzen / refundable – rückzahlbar / to headhunt – (eine Spitzenkraft) abwerben /

competitive edge – Wettbewerbsvorteil / Here we go again! – Jetzt geht’s schon wieder los!

�� Practice 3Match the terms below with the definitions in the grid.

fee performance bonus positive publicity

remuneration short-time work villain

Definitions Terms

1 financial compensation for work done

2 extra payment for work done well

3 favourable reports in the media

4 working fewer hours / days than contracted in a working week

5 person who does bad things deliberately and with pleasure

6 agreed amount of money paid to an entertainer or professional such as a

lawyer, doctor, consultant



�� Practice 4

Mark the following statements true (T) or false (F).

T F

1 Simon Mead insists on speaking first. O O2 Clare Storey doesn’t mind too much about political correctness. O O3 There are well over 1¼ million women working in the City. O O4 The chairwoman has to intervene to help Simon Mead. O O5 Simon and his friends think that bonuses should be capped. O O6 Managers who run down business and lay off staff are not popular. O O7 Sportspeople and royals have taken pay cuts recently. O O8 A study has shown that, in the financial sector, women earn 80% less than men. O O

�� Practice 5

Some useful expressions you can use when arguing are italicised in the text of the Business Brains Trust. Put them

in the grid next to the phrases that mean approximately the same.

1 It’s your turn.

2 I agree with Clare.

3 In other words …

4 What exactly do you mean?

5 …, please!

6 That may be true, but …

7 Oh no!

8 I totally agree with you.

9 … with regard to bonuses

10 Please don’t interrupt me, John.


2 Do you think it’s right to pay performance bonuses?

3 Can you suggest good reasons why women in the financial sector might earn 35% less than men?

�� You write. 1

Draft a comment on one of the questions in ‘Talk about it. 3’ to post on the C6 online platform.



�� Make your point. 1

This is your opportunity to practise answering other people’s arguments and putting forward your own.

Decide which of the questions below you find most interesting, and then work out your position. Find classmates

who have chosen the same question as you and set up a Brains Trust in groups of 3 or 4. You may find the

expressions from Practice 5 and in the TOOLBOX useful for your discussion.

1 Tiger Woods was earning more than $1 billion dollars before the first financial manager did so. Many sports-

people, film or pop stars earn huge sums. Is this justified?

2 What do you think of the proposal that everyone who works should be paid the same salary, no matter what they

do?

3 It has been suggested in the past that housewives should be paid salaries for the work they do in the home. Do

you agree or disagree with this idea? Explain your position.

TOOLBOX

I think this is one for me, don’t you? das Wort ergreifen

I just wanted to point out that … Punkt betonen, wichtiges Argument wiederholen

As I was saying, … nach einer Unterbrechung weitermachen

Have you ever considered that …? neues Gegenargument einbringen

I sometimes get the feeling that … Argument, das für einen besonders wichtig ist

X-FILES: Gold, gold, gold (song of the dwarfs from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld™ series)

Work in groups of four. Decide who should read which text. Carry out the following tasks:

1 Take notes so that you can briefly explain to the rest of your group what the text is about.

2 Tell your group what your text is about.

3 As you read your text, you may have noticed one sentence that was a little strange. Go through your text again

and highlight the sentence that does not fit in.

4 After this, decide together where your odd sentence really belongs and put the sentences in the appropriate

spaces.

You will find an alphabetical list of the difficult words in all four texts at the end.

Text 1:‘Oh, my darling Clementine’You may know the first verse of the song about ‘a miner, forty-niner and his daughter, Clementine’. But why ‘forty-niner’? And what does the story have to do with gold?The year 1849 was when hopeful gold prospectors swarmed into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. In 1848 rumours of the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill, Coloma, had spread, and local farmers dropped their tools and



staked their claims in the wilderness. Later on, fortune-hunters came not only from all over the US but also from Europe, from Latin America, from Australia and from Asia, particularly China. The California Gold Rush lasted from 1848 until 1855 and has been described as the first ‘world-class’ gold rush.Some of the prospectors became rich and went into business, some lost everything, others became ill or even died as a result of the hardships of the journey to California and of prospecting life.Little towns sprang up to provide for the miners’ needs, with stores selling supplies, banks, saloons, and hotels and boarding houses. ……………………………………………............. ……………………………………………............. …………………………………………………. Then the town went from backwater to boom town: between 1848 and 1850 its population grew from approximately 1,000 to more than 25,000. The Gold Rush had other consequences, too. As it became more difficult to extract the gold, the mining techniques used destroyed the environment. The Native Americans who lived where the gold was found were attacked, driven away or murdered; violence, crime and racism escalated.As quickly as it had begun, the Gold Rush ended. Gold was discovered in other locations, however, both in the USA and overseas. The doors alone weigh 22 tons. Some prospectors who had been bitten by the Gold Bug moved on elsewhere. There were major gold rushes in Australia (New South Wales, 1850s), South Africa (Witwatersrand, 1880s) and Alaska (Klondike, 1890s). Not surprisingly, there was never a shortage of would-be millionaires ready to wash and pan gravel in a creek somewhere in the hope of making it big.

Text 2:‘... for all the gold in Fort Knox’

‘I wouldn’t do that for all the gold in Fort Knox!’ runs the saying. The US government constructed Fort Knox on a military base in Kentucky in 1937 in order to provide a safe depository for the nation’s gold reserves.The principle building material is granite, reinforced with steel and with some sections made of special concrete. ………………………… ……………………………………………............. ……………………………………………............. …………………………………………………………

According to the US Mint (2008), there are 147.3 million troy ounces of gold bullion (4,176 metric tons), in standard12.4 kilo ingots – the size of bricks, but six times as heavy –, stashed away for safe-keeping, as well as valuable historicaldocuments like the Declaration of Independence,the US Constitution or 3 volumes of the Gutenberg Bible. This was followed by overseas launches in Tokyo and New York.At various times foreign countries have also entrusted their valuables to Fort Knox: examples would be the Crown of St Stephen and the royal regalia (sword, sceptre, orb, cloak), which were returned to Hungary in 1978 or one of the 4 copies of Magna Carta in existence, which the UK sent for safe-keeping during WWII.Opinions differ about exactly how much gold there is in Fort Knox or whether there is actually any there at all. The Federal Reserve Bank in New York is certainly more interesting for would-be Goldfingers, because even more bullion is kept there, some of it on behalf of foreign governments or official international institutions.Fort Knox has been the focus of various conspiracy theories ever since it was built: some people claim that all the US gold was moved to the Bank of England during the Eisenhower presidency in the 50s, for instance.There is no way of proving or disproving this. The gold reserves are subject to review, but not by independent auditors. What exactly there is in the depths of the maximum-security facility and how much of it there is remain shrouded in secrecy.Perhaps the members of the general public and the US senators who press for more transparency here are right?

e US

e

of

tution or



Text 3:An Austrian Success Story

In 1989 the decision of the Austrian Mint to produce and to market a gold bullion coin for investment purposes caused considerable surprise on the world market. What was ‘little Austria’ thinking, to take on the big bullion producers like Canada, the USA and Australia? They had no gold mines or gold industry to support. Could they make the grade?

The new coin had to be particularly Austrian and at the same time universal in appeal. Just as gold is an international form of currency, music is an international language, and Austria is the ‘Land of Music’. So the coins were named ‘Vienna Philharmonic’ for Austria’s premier orchestra. It was also clear from the outset that the coins must be of pure gold (.9999 fine or 24 carat). As well as being a sound investment, gold is a romantic metal, a ‘warm’ metal compared to cold silver or platinum.The problem of depicting an orchestra on a coin surface was elegantly solved by the artist and engraver Thomas Pesendorfer. He represented the orchestra by a harmonious design of instruments. The other side bears the date, name of country, nominal face value, fineness and weight. The centre of the design is the great organ of the Golden Hall, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.The coin programme was launched in Vienna in October, 1989. ………..…………………………… …………………………..................................…………………………..................................

The ‘Vienna Philharmonic’ proved immediately popular, especially in the home market which for years had been ‘starved’ of tax-free means to invest in the precious yellow metal. So, too, is simple accommodation for the duration of the trip. As early as 1992 it topped world sales as number 1 among the bullion coins. In 1995 and 1996 it was again the world’s best selling gold coin. The ‘Vienna Philharmonic’ had established itself on the world gold market. ‘Little’ Austria was now one of the Big Four!Today the attractively designed coin is number 1 in Europe and Japan, and number 3 in the vast American market. In 2008 a silver one ounce coin was added to the programme, selling some 8 million silver ounces in Germany and America within 11 months.

Kerry R. J. Tattersall

Text 4:And now for something completelydifferent ...

You may think you’ve been everywhere and done everything in the area of adventure holidays, but chances are that you haven’t prospected for gold – yet. This may be a niche market, but several operators now feature trips to remote creeks in Alaska, for example, in the Rocky Mountains or in New Zealand, where you can spend your days washing and panning and sluicing and your evenings sitting round the camp fire eating food you have cooked (or even caught!) yourself and passing round the schnaps bottle.Yes, conditions are fairly Spartan: participants sleep in tents or primitive huts and cabins, do their own cooking, and may even hunt game for food. No previous experience of gold prospecting is necessary. Included in the price (which is usually quite steep) is basic equipment and instruction in its use, sometimes also ‘technical assistance’ like 2 days’ worth of bulldozer, or suction dredgers. Mind you, you have to rent the mask and the wetsuit for using one of those, if you don’t happen to have your own. The services of a local guide and expert and transfers from ‘civilisation’ (usually a town or fair-sized settlement) to the panning location, by 4x4 vehicle or small plane, depending on the distance, are also included. ……………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………



After a week or so’s back-breaking work prospecting, all the gold found, usually small nuggets or flakes, is shared out equally among the participants. Initially San Francisco emptied as everyone left for the gold seams. Organisers say that you can reckon with 1/2 ounce at least, though they give no guarantees, of course. It’s probably a good thing that today’s fortune-hunters

are more law-abiding and less violent than the gold miners of old! How many people catch Gold Fever after their first taste of prospecting, we wonder?Careful – there is a very limited choice of dates, in July (northern hemisphere) or February (southern hemisphere). Packages start at around $2,500 for 12 days. For further information, contact …

WORDS: auditor – Buchprüfer, Revisor / back-breaking work – Knochenarbeit /

backwater (town) – kleines (verschlafenes) Städtchen / bullion – Feingold; Goldbestände /

cloak – Mantel / conspiracy – Verschwörung / creek – kleiner Fluss, Bach / currency – Währung /

depository – Aufbewahrungsort, Depot / to entrust sth to sb – jdm. etw. anvertrauen /

to extract – gewinnen / flake – (Gold)Korn / fortune-hunter – Schatzsucher, Glücksritter /

game – Wild / (gold) seam – (Gold)Ader / gravel – Kies / hardships – Strapazen /

ingot – Goldbarren / law-abiding – gesetzestreu / to make it big (coll.) – sehr erfolgreich sein /

to make the grade – etw. schaffen, mithalten / mint – Münzamt / niche market – Nischenmarkt /

nugget – Goldklumpen, Nugget / orb – Reichsapfel / to pan – Gold waschen /

precious metal – Edelmetall / premier – wichtigst / to prospect – schürfen /

prospector – Goldsucher / regalia – (Reichs)Insignien / safe-keeping – sichere Aufbewahrung /

secrecy – Geheimnistuerei / shrouded in secrecy – geheimnisumwoben / to sluice – spülen /

to stake a claim – ein Anrecht (auf Land) anmelden / to stash away (coll.) – beiseiteschaffen /

suction dredger – Saugbagger / supplies – Vorräte / to top world sales – die Nummer 1 der Welt sein /

troy ounce = measure for precious metals, 31.1035 g – Feinunze / valuables – Wertsachen /

would-be – Möchtegern…



Internet activity extension activities

Try one or more of the following tasks.

1 Find out if recreational gold prospecting is possible in Austria. If yes, make a note of where the gold can be

found.

2 Go to YouTube and search for “Alaska Gold Rush 2006 – 1st part”. This gives an idea of what recreational

prospecting is like. See if you can catch the words of the song, too! If you want to listen and check, type in “North

to Alaska Johnnie Horton”.

3 State Highway 49 is a main road which links various places that are associated with the California Gold Rush.

Visit http://www.historichwy49.com, click on Hwy 49 Map and browse one of the topics in the side bar. ‘We

The people’, ‘(Historic) Photo gallery’, ‘Gold Facts’ and ‘Ghosts’ are particularly interesting. Jot down 3 interesting

things you discover.

4 We find the idea of special roads or highways in Europe, too. There is the ‘romantic road’ in Germany, for

example (die Romantische Straße). See if you can find an Austrian holiday route (Themenstraße, Ferienstraße)

that is scenic or of local interest and be ready to explain where it is and what its attractions are.

�� Make your point. 2

This is your opportunity to practise answering other people’s arguments and putting forward your own.

You are working for a small company that cannot afford expensive financial incentives but would like to increase

job satisfaction among its staff. The HR manager has come up with the following proposals:

a Public recognition of outstanding individual achievements on the bulletin board as well as in meetings.

b Offering the employees more autonomy and authority in the form of flexible work schedules (work-at-home

opportunities and flexitime).

c Introducing the principle of job rotation: at regular intervals employees will have to change jobs with other

members of the staff.

d Organizing fun activities to enhance morale, for instance ‘bring-your-pet-to-work’ days, dance classes,

‘dressing-down days’ or ‘get-to-know-your-colleague’ exercises.

1 In pairs discuss the four proposals and assess the advantages and disadvantages (or risks) of each. Complete

following grid with your notes:

Advantages Disadvantages and Risks

Public recognition

More autonomy

Job rotation

Fun activities

2 When you have completed the grid, talk to other students in the class and exchange ideas.

3 Which of these proposals do you think would be the best one(s)? Can you think of any other ways of

motivating staff that do not involve financial incentives?

�� You write. 2

The HR manager has asked all the employees of the company in ‘Make your point. 2’ for feedback on his / her

ideas. Write an email to the HR manager in which you comment on his / her proposals and say what you think

would be the most suitable way of increasing job satisfaction among the staff.

72


Communication at work

�� Payment letters

As financial institutions, banks play an important role in facilitating international trade. Payment is largely

made through them in order to keep the credit risk low. The safest form of payment both for the supplier

and the buyer is by letter of credit (L/C). Other forms are documents against payment (D/P) or documents

against acceptance (D/A). Of course, the buyer can also instruct his bank to transfer an amount of money to

the supplier’s bank account.

Correspondence connected with these forms of payment will usually consist of covering letters or letters

advising of or confirming payment.

WORDS: letter of credit – Akkreditiv / documents against payment – Dokumente gegen Bezahlung /

documents against acceptance – Dokumente gegen Akzept / to transfer [trænsˈfɜː] – überweisen /

to advise – hier: benachrichtigen, verständigen, avisieren / to confirm – bestätigen

WORDS: to take delivery of sth – etw. in Empfang nehmen / gold pan – Goldpfanne / shovel [ʃʌvl] – Schaufel /

in payment of your invoice – zum Ausgleich Ihrer Rechnung

Dear Ms Humpelstetter,

Last Friday I took delivery of my Order No. 254 of 16 May (gold pans and shovels).

As all items were in perfect condition, I am now happy to inform you that I have instructed my bank to transfer $1,567.85 to your account with the Central State Bank in Fairbanks in payment of your invoice.

I am looking forward to doing business with you again soon.

Yours sincerely

Cliff Dawson

PEP – Personal Educational Professional



SENTENCE BANK

prompt deliveryThank you for your

careful execution of our Order No. … of …

the invoice

We have checked the consignment and found it in order.

the statement

advised with

I have instructed my bank today to transfer (sum) to your account (bank).

directed at

As instructed we have

accepted your bill and shall honour it at maturity.

As agreed opened a L/C to the amount of … in your favour.

Please credit this amount to our account.

let us have a credit memo for this amount.

We would ask you to send us a receipt.

doing business with you again in the not too distant future. We look forward to

placing further orders with you soon.

WORDS: statement – hier: Kontonachricht / to advise – hier: anweisen / to remit – überweisen /

to pass – hier: übermitteln / bill (of exchange) – Wechsel / to honour – hier: einlösen /

at maturity – bei Fälligkeit / in your favour – zu Ihren Gunsten / to credit – gutschreiben /

credit memo (credit note) – Gutschrift / receipt [rɪˈsiːt] – Empfangsbestätigung

�� You write. 3Draft a letter to a supplier.

Bedanken Sie sich für die sorgfältige Erledigung Ihres Auftrages Nr. 589 über Kristallvasen vom

13. Oktober.

Sie haben die Ware und die Rechnung sorgfältig geprüft und in Ordnung befunden. Sie haben Ihre Bank

angewiesen, den Betrag von 2.562,89 € auf das Konto des Lieferanten bei der County Bank, Waterford, zu

überweisen.

Ersuchen Sie um eine Gutschrift über diesen Betrag und stellen Sie weitere Aufträge in Aussicht.

�� Confirmation of paymentIn business it is customary to confirm any payment made to you. Such a confirmation of payment also

offers you an opportunity to thank your customer for his / her trust and to ask for further orders or

commissions.

political campaign. It too follows the standard pattern of acknowledging receipt of payment and thanking.



K Note

Cheques (AE: checks) are still widely used both in the UK and the USA.

SENTENCE BANK

your $50 donation to our animal shelter project.

We acknowledge with thanks your transfer of €299.60 to our account.

receipt of your International Money Order for $600.

remittance of €1,783.35

Thank you for your cheque to the value of £34.50 in settlement of our Invoice No. 435 of …

check for $5,888.30

a credit memo

We enclose our official receipt for the above amount.

a credit note

We have credited the amount to your account.

used the amount to balance your account.

We look forward to your further orders.

serving you again soon.

�� You write. 4

Draft a letter confirming payment.

Bestätigen Sie einem Kunden, dass seine Überweisung über 1.675,30 € zum Ausgleich Ihrer Rechnung vom

30. März auf Ihrem Konto eingetroffen ist.

Bedanken Sie sich für die prompte Bezahlung und geben Sie Ihrer Hoffnung Ausdruck, dass er Ihnen bald

wieder einen Auftrag erteilen wird.

Dear Caren Olsson,

Senator Rogers has asked me to pass on his thanks to you for your generous contribution to his Re-election Campaign Fund, and is grateful for your appreciation of his congressional work up to now.

Your check for $250.00 has been duly credited to our Campaign Account.

Thank you again for your donation. It will help us make sure that Senator Rogers returns to Capitol Hill and will be able to continue his work on behalf of our state and its people.

Sincerely yours

Senator Rogers Re-election Campaign

Mabel ThorpeSecretary



In the course of the financial crisis of 2008/09,

the largest investment fraud ever committed by

a single person came to light. Bernard L. Madoff

[ˈmeɪdɒf], whom friends used to call ‘Bernie’,

had been defrauding

investors of almost

$65 billion.

How did he do it?

In 1960 he started

a firm with $5,000

he had earned as a

lifeguard and sprinkler

installer. Over the

years he became one

of the most respected

figures on Wall Street,

with an impressive list

of clients including

celebrities from stage and screen, charitable

foundations and academic institutions. When you

let Bernie look after your money, you could be sure

of a 10% return per annum. One woman said that

she was ‘literally begging’ him to take her money.

Another investor stated ‘You can doubt God, but

you don’t doubt Bernie.’

What his clients did not realise was that the

10% they received so

punctually were not

earned on Wall Street

as they assumed

but came from the

money new clients

had entrusted with

Madoff. During the

financial crisis of

2008/09 many of

his clients asked for

their money back.

Imagine their shock

and horror when they

discovered that there

was actually no money there at all!

On June 29, 2009, Bernard L. Madoff was

sentenced to 150 years imprisonment and $170

billion in restitution.

CRIME SCENE

Bernard Lawrence Madoff

WORDS: investment fraud [frɔːd] – Kapitalanlagebetrug / to defraud – betrügen / sprinkler – Berieselungsanlage /

charitable foundation – wohltätige Stiftung / to entrust [ɪnˈtrʌst] sb with sth – jdm. etw. anvertrauen /

restitution – Rückerstattung

CRIME SCENE

K Note

The type of fraud Bernie Madoff was convicted of is known as a ‘Ponzi scheme’ in the USA; we call it

Pyramidenspiel.


1 Have you, or has somebody you know well, ever been the victim of fraud?

2 Do you know any other tricks fraudsters use (e.g. dressing up as policemen)?



�� Fact or fiction?

MOUSE NEST REPOSSESSED

Picture a gas station on a summer’s day in La Grande, Oregon. Suddenly a scream

rings out. A hold-up? A hi-jacking? No, Millie Taylor has come face to face with

a mouse. She wanted to top up the ATM on the forecourt but upon opening the

machine she caught sight of a long tail and a pair of beady black eyes peeking

out at her. Horrified, she slammed the machine shut again.

Mousie had built herself a cosy nest out of $20 bills. Two of

them had been shredded into tiny pieces to make a soft lining.

14 other twenties had been chewed and nibbled to enhance the

comfort of Mrs Mouse.

No-one at the gas station had the slightest idea how the mouse

got into the cash dispenser in the first place. She was evicted and let loose

in the fields next door to the gas station. The bank replaced the 14 bills that

had not been extensively damaged. The ATM has been working just fine ever since.

WORDS: to picture – sich vorstellen / gas station – Tankstelle / to slam – zuknallen

T F

Do you think the story is true or false? O O

WORDWISEWhen talking about various aspects of the world of money, you will probably need the English equivalents of the

following expressions. They have all been used in this unit. See if you can find them.

Akkreditiv

Geldautomat,

Bankomat

Anleger Geldmittel

Darlehen

Internationaler

Währungsfonds

Europäische

Zentralbank

prägen

Eurozone überweisen

Finanzpolitik Währungsreserven

Gehalt Wechselkurs

Geldbetrag Wettbewerbsvorteil

Geldschein Zinsen



CHECKLIST REVIEW OK

I can check if specific items are mentioned in a spoken text.

I have discussed what visitors to London expect to see and what makes a good tour

guide.

I am familiar with important financial institutions and the work they do.

I can work out the concerns of various speakers when listening to a discussion.

I can check the accuracy of statements about a discussion by listening for gist and for key

words and phrases.

I know some useful expressions to use when taking part in a spoken discussion.

I can express my opinion on pay and bonuses using appropriate language.

I can take useful notes on informative text and sum up its contents afterwards.

I have used the internet to find out further information about gold and tourism.

I have read about and discussed ways of motivating staff and can express my opinion orally

and in writing.

I am familiar with the most common methods of payment in business.

I can write covering letters and advice / confirmations of payment.

I have read and talked about some money-related problems.

Documents

4 UNIT THREE UNIT FOUR The world of moneyarthur.hpt.at/php/online_links/links/LP_21183.pdf · 1 Do you think Bill and Jean were disappointed by their tour? If yes, why? 2 What do