Ethical Dilemma Product cost versus selling and administrative expense Emma Emerson is a proud woman with a problem. Her daughter has been accepted into a prestigious law school. While Ms. Emerson beams with pride, she is worried sick about how to pay for the school; she is a single parent who has worked hard to support herself and her three children. She had to go heavily into debt to finance her own education. Even though she now has a good job, family needs have continued to outpace her income and her debt burden is staggering. She knows she will be unable to borrow the money needed for her daughter’s law school. Ms. Emerson is the chief financial officer (CFO) of a small manufacturing company. She has just accepted a new job offer. Indeed, she has not yet told her employer that she will be leaving in a month. She is concerned that her year-end incentive bonus may be affected if her boss learns of her plans to leave. She plans to inform the company immediately after receiving the bonus. She knows her behavior is less than honorable, but she believes that she has been underpaid for a long time. Her boss, a relative of the company’s owner, makes twice what she makes and does half the work. Why should she care about leaving with a little extra cash? Indeed, she is considering an opportunity to boost the bonus. Ms. Emerson’s bonus is based on a percentage of net income. Her company recently introduced a new product line that required substantial production start-up costs. Ms. Emerson is fully aware that GAAP requires these costs to be expensed in the current accounting period, but no one else in the company has the technical expertise to know exactly how the costs should be treated. She is considering misclassifying the start-up costs as product costs. If the costs are misclassified, net income will be significantly higher, resulting in a nice boost in her incentive bonus. By the time the auditors discover the misclassification, Ms. Emerson will have moved on to her new job. If the matter is brought to the attention of her new employer, she will simply plead ignorance. Considering her daughter’s needs, Ms. Emerson decides to classify the start-up costs as product costs. Required a. Based on this information, indicate whether Ms. Emerson believes the number of units of product sold will be equal to, less than, or greater than the number of units made. Write a brief paragraph explaining the logic that supports your answer. b. Explain how the misclassification could mislead an investor or creditor regarding the company’s financial condition. c. Explain how the misclassification could affect income taxes. d. Review the Statement of Ethical Professional Practice shown in Exhibit 10.19 and identify at least two ethical principles that Ms. Emerson’s misclassification of the start-up costs violated.

Cost Information and Ethical Behavior, Service Organization Jean Erickson, manager and owner of an advertising company in Charlotte, North Carolina, arranged a meeting with Leroy Gee, the chief accountant of a large, local competitor. The two are lifelong friends. They grew up together in a small town and attended the same university. Leroy is a competent, successful accountant but is having some personal financial difficulties after some of his investments turned sour, leaving him with a 15,000 personal loan to pay offjust when his oldest son is starting college. Jean, on the other hand, is struggling to establish a successful advertising business. She had recently acquired the rights to open a branch office of a large regional advertising firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. During her first 2 years, she was able to build a small, profitable practice. However, the chance to gain a significant foothold in Charlotte hinged on the success of winning a bid to represent the state of North Carolina in a major campaign to attract new industry and tourism. The meeting she had scheduled with Leroy concerned the bid she planned to submit. Jean: Leroy, Im at a critical point in my business venture. If I can win the bid for the states advertising dollars, Ill be set. Winning the bid will bring 600,000 to 700,000 of revenues into the firm. On top of that, I estimate that the publicity will bring another 200,000 to 300,000 of new business. Leroy: I understand. My boss is anxious to win that business as well. It would mean a huge increase in profits for my firm. Its a competitive business, though. As new as you are, I doubt that youll have much chance of winning. Jean: Youre forgetting two very important considerations. First, I have the backing of all the resources and talent of a regional firm. Second, I have some political connections. Last year, I was hired to run the publicity side of the governors campaign. He was impressed with my work and would like me to have this business. I am confident that the proposals I submit will be very competitive. My only concern is to submit a bid that beats your firm. If I come in with a lower bid and good proposals, the governor can see to it that I get the work. Leroy: Sounds promising. If you do win, however, there will be a lot of upset people. After all, they are going to claim that the business should have been given to local advertisers, not to some out-of-state firm. Given the size of your office, youll have to get support from Atlanta. You could take a lot of heat. Jean: True. But I am the owner of the branch office. That fact alone should blunt most of the criticism. Who can argue that Im not a local? Listen, with your help, I think I can win this bid. Furthermore, if I do win it, you can reap some direct benefits. With that kind of business, I can afford to hire an accountant, and Ill make it worthwhile for you to transfer jobs. I can offer you an up-front bonus of 15,000. On top of that, Ill increase your annual salary by 20%. That should solve most of your financial difficulties. After all, we have been friends since day oneand what are friends for? Leroy: Jean, my wife would be ecstatic if I were able to improve our financial position as quickly as this opportunity affords. I certainly hope that you win the bid. What kind of help can I provide? Jean: Simple. To win, all I have to do is beat the bid of your firm. Before I submit my bid, I would like you to review it. With the financial skills you have, it should be easy for you to spot any excessive costs that I may have included. Or perhaps I included the wrong kind of costs. By cutting excessive costs and eliminating costs that may not be directly related to the project, my bid should be competitive enough to meet or beat your firms bid. Required: 1. What would you do if you were Leroy? Fully explain the reasons for your choice. What do you suppose the code of conduct for Leroys company would say about this situation? 2. What is the likely outcome if Leroy agrees to review the bid? Is there much risk to him personally if he reviews the bid? Should the degree of risk have any bearing on his decision?

Integrative Problem Samantha Sampson retired a few years ago at the age of 55. Because she is bored with retirement and still relatively young, Samantha has considered starting a business of her own. However, she doesn’t know anything about business. As a result, Sam has hired the consulting firm for which you work to give her a brief tutorial on business and finance. To begin her lesson, Ms. Sampson has asked you to answer the following questions: What is lean manufacturing? How is the goal of value maximization related to lean manufacturing?

Ms. Faye Santos is an accounting major at a Midwestern state university located approximately 60 miles from a major city. Ms. Faye Santos is an accounting major at a Midwestern state university located approximately 60 miles from a major city. Many of the students attending the university are from the metropolitan areas and visit their homes regularly on the weekends. Faye, an entrepreneur at heart, realizes that few good commuting alternatives are available for students doing weekend travel. She believes that a weekend commuting service could be organized and run profitably from several suburban and downtown shopping mall locations. Faye has gathered the following investment information. Five used vans would cost a total of $75,000 to purchase and would have a three-year useful life with negligible salvage value. Faye plans to use straight-line depreciation. Ten drivers would have to be employed at a total payroll expense of $48,000. 3. Other annual out-of-pocket expenses…

Scenario Much like the decision to start a business, the decision to attend college is fraught with risk; however, the risk of entering the job market with only a high school diploma is just as great. As the U.S. transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy based on knowledge, high school graduates are often unable to obtain the number of high-paying jobs that were once available. College graduates earn more-some suggest as a much as 60% more over a lifetime than those without a college degree, and have a lower divorce rate, lower blood pressure and stress levels, and higher rates of job stability and satisfaction. However, a college education may not be the right choice for some. There may be a glut of college-educated workers in our workforce, and many careers, including those in cosmetology, do not require a college degree. The U.S. Department of Labor projects jobs for hairdressers, hairstylists, cosmetologists, and skin care specialists to grow 9-17% through the…

Question 3 Please provide a very detail answer for the below question:- Asma is a junior management accountant at Flower Cloth Ltd. Asma is given the task of compiling a cost-benefit analysis report on whether the company should purchase an expensive new machine from Radi Ltd, where her brother is the new sales manager. Asma did not tell anyone in Flower Cloth about her brother’s new job. In preparing her report, Asma overstates the qualitative benefits and understates the costs associated with this new machine to help her brother make his first sales as the new sales manager. Required: Discuss why and how Asma has deviated from the standards of ethical conduct.

BUSINESS CASE: COMPETITIVE BUSINESS PLANAbiba is a young woman who works in a Tie & Dye Factory. She has worked with the company for eight years. She has been working at the same spot in the value chain since she started work and is responsible for ironing. She does not know anything about any other aspect of the business except for the ironing function she plays. She has however always fancied herself as a business owner one day and with each day, she becomes disinterested in her factory work. She is unhappy all the time and anxious to start her own business. She has always thought of being a fashion designer and had a moment of awakening! However, she had not saved enough money and a friend advised her to submit a business plan to a Venture Capitalist that would assess the economic potentials of the business and possibly assist her. Abiba initially submitted a business plan which consisted of six parts: an executive summary, a business description, a manufacturing segment, a…

All else being equal, if an average family's income were to decrease because of the elimination of a marginal source of income like weekly overtime work, what types of goods might be more in demand? Choose any that apply A. Gasoline B. Cheaper varieties of food C. Off-brand jeans D. Fine dining at expensive restaurants

Frank Pepe’s Restaurant and Pie Shop needs help defining the costs for his business. Frank also wants to know which costs are relevant or irrelevant to his decision making. Identify each cost as relevant or irrelevant. Then identify the type of cost (sunk, fixed, variable, or opportunity). Cost Relevant or irrelevant sunk, fixed, variable, or opportunity Rent baker wages franks culinary school tuition Berries for pies paiting dining area last year franks decision not to attend graduate school

Beverly Moore is struggling to pass her introductory accounting course. Beverly is intelligent but she likes to party. Studying is a low priority for Beverly. When one of her friends tells her that she is going to have trouble in business if she doesn’t learn accounting, Beverly responds that she doesn’t plan to go into business. She says that she is arts-oriented and plans someday to be a director of a museum. She is in the school of business to develop her social skills, not her quantitative skills. Beverly says she won’t have to worry about accounting because museums are not intended to make a profit. Please answer the following questions: -explain whether you agree or disagree with Beverly's position regarding accounting and not-for-profit organizations. -Distinguish between financial accounting and managerial accounting -Identify some of the stakeholders of not-for-profit institutions that would expect to receive financial accounting reports. -Identify some of the…

Alex runs a small farm shop which she set up 2 years ago. She is finding that the shop gets very crowded at times which means that she loses potential customers. She is therefore looking for ways to expand her business. She has come up with two separate options to help her to overcome this problem: Build a small extension to her existing shop OR Invest in new shelving which will allow her to stock the same produce, but more efficiently, freeing up some space She has researched these two options and has worked out the costs that are associated with each. Alex reaches her planned retirement age in 5 years time so plans to sell the business at that point. Assume that all cashflows occur at the end of the year. You can ignore all cashflows that might occur after the end of the 5 year period as Alex plans to retire at this point. Alex uses a discount rate of 15%. £'000 Extension Shelving Now Cash outflow (235.2) (134.4) Year 1 Cash inflow 71.4 42 Year 2 Cash inflow 78.4 56 Year 3 Cash…

i-Case One Running and Growing a Business Sherri has always loved to fix healthy snacks for family and friends and about a year ago she started to sell boxes of them at the local farmer’s market. Last week she heard from a local grocery chain that also wants to stock them. When Sherri was treating her snacks as a hobby, she never paid attention to the costs. Now, she needs to get a better understanding of the costs and cost behavior patterns. At this point she plans to rent a small space for the snack operation and to store inventory. She also has arranged for some part time help to support the snack making operation. These part-time workers will be paid a flat amount per box of snacks and will only be called into work if the volume of business makes it necessary. She also plans to hire someone to help stimulate additional sales. This salesperson’s compensation will include a small salary and a commission of a $1.00 for each box of snacks sold. For question 1-3 determine the most…

Shanice works in finance for a small manufacturing company and is working on next year’s budget. She has been doing research to compare the cost of outsourcing some upcoming jobs versus the cost of purchasing the equipment to keep the jobs in-house. In what step in financial planning is Shanice involved?

Solution Summary: The author explains the logic behind Person E's beliefs that the product sold will be equal to, less than, or greater than the number of units sold.

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