The following appeared in a memorandum from a member of a financial management and consulting firm:
“We have learned from an employee of Windfall, Ltd., that its accounting department, by checking about 10 percent of the last month’s purchasing invoices for errors and inconsistencies, saved the company some $10,000 in overpayments. In order to help our clients increase their net gains, we should advise each of them to institute a policy of checking all purchasing invoices for errors. Such a recommendation could also help us get the Windfall account by demonstrating to Windfall the rigorousness of our methods.”Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counter examples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
Answer:The argument presented in the memorandum from a member of a financial management and consulting firm states that Windfall, Ltd., saved $10,000 in overpayments by checking and rectifying errors in nearly 10 percent of last month's purchasing invoices. Further, it says that the method should be recommended to all clients of the financial management firm but is flawed for several reasons.
Firstly, it assumes that a small sample of the population, which in this case is 10 percent of the invoices, represents the status of the set as a whole. The remaining invoices may have fewer errors or incosistencies. Furthermore, what worked for Windfall may not be applicable to other firms as their invoices may have a negligible number of errors.
Secondly, the argument fails to consider that the costs saved in overpayments may not be worth the hassle as the paychecks of the employees rectifying the errors may cost more than the amount saved by the process. Also, for companies generating massive profits, saving on overpayments may not be a big deal.
Finally, the argument lacks several details which are necessary to reach a proper conclusion. Were the invoices made during a time of peak sales, as such time period might be stressful and lead to more clerical errors? Hence, more details are needed to strengthen the argument.
Therefore, the argument is flawed for above reasons. It can be strengthened by considering client specific conditions and not misrepresting a small sample to indicate trend of the overall population.