Harnischfeger Corporation

8) What would BV's 1988 earnings per share be after all of the above adjustments?

Describe clearly the accounting changes Harnischfeger made in 1984 as stated in Note 2 of its financial statements.

1. Describe clearly the accounting changes Harnischfeger made in 1984 as stated in Note 2 of its financial statements.

6. Note 8 states Harnischfeger’s allowance for doubtful accounts.  Compute the ratio of the allowance to gross receivables (receivables before the allowance) in 1983 and 1984.  What would the allowance have been if the company maintained the ratio at the 1983 level?  How much did the pre-tax

9. How did the pension plan changes affect Harnischfeger’s financial statements in 1984? Are these changes likely to affect future profits?

Note 9 indicates that Harnischfeger decreased its R&D expense considerably in 1984 relative to the previous two years. Do you think this change was motivated by business considerations or accounting considerations? How did this change affect the company’s reported profits in 1984?

Medford University is up against a financial crises and the management have found the need to tackle the crises on high priority. The primary focus is to tackle the considerable cost of fringe benefits and retirement benefits offered by the university to its employees. A whooping $100 million is spent annually by the management towards the fringe benefits for the employees (Brickley, Smith, & Zimmerman, 2009). In an attempt to find a solution for reducing these costs, the management could have approached the Human

For pensions and post-retirement accounting methods to recognize the benefit costs, estimates and assumptions on future events ascertaining the timing and amount of benefits payments must be sought first. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the early historical accounting for pensions and post-retirement healthcare and life insurance benefits with the rules and guidance applied today in addition to the changes to such guidance and rules that would improve the accounting and reporting of such benefits depending on the business and political changes and as such, predict the effect of such changes on financial reporting and accounting practices.

It would also reduce the risk of price increases by negotiating future prices. As shown previously, Harnischfeger was able to successfully reduce its cost to sales ratio. Through targeting new growth, emphasizing the high technology portion of its business and developing the Industrial Technologies Group, would create new business and ultimately increase sales for the company, which is shown in its financials, a 24% increase in sales from 1983 to 1984.

The purpose of this article written by Jon Ostrower is to inform the public of the changed Boeing is making to the current pension and retirement plans of its employees. The article states, “Boeing Co., following other U.S. companies moving away from traditional pension plans, said Thursday that it would freeze the pension benefits of more than 68,000 nonunion employees, and will shift those workers to 401(k) retirement-savings plans, starting in 2016” (Ostrower, 2014). The change from a prior pension plan is directly associated with incurring costs for the company to continue to pay employees retirement after they have left the workforce. Ostrower explains the statistics of company’s who currently provide pension plans and explains the reasons

The comparison of Lilly’s days receivables with changes in their valuation allowance reveals an unusual pattern. During 2009 Lilly’s days receivable increased, but its valuation allowance decreased. This was a year after the company incurred losses, this could have been a management attempt to increase net income to help demonstrate company’s recovery. During the year 2011, Lilly’s days receivable fell slightly while its allowance increased by 0.8 percentage points. However, this pattern is inconsistent

In 1984, Harnischfeger made some significant changes to its accounting policy that had effect the corporation’s reported profit. They have reported profits during each of the four quarters, ending the year

Pensions are company-sponsored funds aimed to provide a firm’s employees income after retirement but are not offered by all employers. With the uncertainty of the future of the Social Security program in the United States and its inadequate benefits for many, a lot of people find themselves having to rely on their own savings to prepare for income beyond retirement through savings and retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs. In order to lessen the burden of finding their own source of post-retirement income, employees need to consider not only wages and other current benefits when choosing between employment opportunities, but should also consider post-retirement benefits such as pensions and healthcare when calculating total compensation. From a company’s perspective, firm-sponsored pension plans and other post-retirement benefits are additional ways to attract employees and retain them, reducing costs associated with turnover and being able to keep talent within the company. In response to the implementation of post-retirement benefit plans, standards were established outlining the guidelines for accounting in US GAAP and IFRS. However, different accounting issues exist with regards to pensions that are due to different causes.

Pros: FASB proposed changes seem to be beneficial to employers that use the benefit pension or other postretirement plans. They would be cost effective and operable, and they would result in more effective, useful information to the users of financial statement (Stoler and Klein, 2016). The new changes will better meet users’ needs, by separating elements of pension cost that are distinctly different in their predictive value.

Inventory is known as the single most important item on a balance sheet. Every business contains inventory, and Ruckman, Inc. is no exception. With the concept of inventory come the different types of cost methods, including: last in first out (LIFO), first in first out (FIFO), and the weighted average cost. With such an important item, it is understandable that both standards allow and prohibit different types of costing methods due to certain reasons. The major difference between the two is the allowance of the LIFO method, which is only allowed by GAAP. This method allows companies to highlight