Bonuses, Anyone?

Alan Johnson is among a small group of behind-the-scenes information brokers who help determine how Wall Street firms distribute billions of dollars to their workers. He operates as a compensation consultant in an obscure corner of the management consulting industry and in the shadows of high finance.

Questions:

1. What was the most interesting thing that you learned in this article?
2. How do this year’s bonuses compare to 2008?
3. What do Wall Street pay packages routinely include? Discuss how these bonus items are accounted for.
4. How does Mr. Johnson research his recommendations?

Source:

Roose, K. (2012).The Invisible Hand Behind Bonuses on Wall Street, The New York Times, Jan. 16 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/business/the-invisible-hand-behind-wall-street-bonuses.html?_r=1&ref=business)

Shadow Work: How does it affect the Economy?

Shadow work is a term coined 30 years ago by the Austrian philosopher and social critic Ivan Illich. For Dr. Illich, shadow work was all the unpaid labor — including, for example, housework — done in a wage-based economy. The conventional wisdom is that America has become a “service economy,” but actually, in many sectors, “service” is disappearing. Not too many years ago, a gas station attendant would routinely fill your tank and even check your oil and clean your windshield and rear window without charge, then settle your bill. Today, all those jobs have been transferred to the customer: we pump our own gas, squeegee our own windshield, and pay our own bill by swiping a credit card. Many examples exist, helping drive unemployment rates. As the article explains, shadow work can be paid or unpaid.

Questions:

1. Give some examples of shadow work that you perform each week and estimate how much it would cost a company to pay someone to do this as part of their job. How would this affect the Wages and Salaries Expense and profit for a company?

2. According to the article, what is the downside of shadow work? Give examples and discuss.

3. According to the article, what are the benefits of shadow work? Give examples and discuss.

Source:

Lambert, C. (2011). Our Unpaid, Extra Shadow Work. The New York Times, Oct. 29 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/our-unpaid-extra-shadow-work.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion)

Huge job cuts – Bank of America

Bank of America, trying to break free from a pile of bad mortgages and a sagging stock price, announced plans to lay off 30,000 employees over the next few years.

In a statement Monday, the bank said its goal is “not a given number of job reductions,” but to focus “all of its resources on serving individuals, companies, and institutional investors.”

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, the largest in the U.S. by deposits, said it will cut $5 billion in costs.  The bank, which has a workforce of 288,000, has already said it plans to cut 6,000 jobs by the end of the year.

According to analyst Paul Miller of FBR Capital Markets & Co., “we knew they were shrinking the balance sheet and cutting costs. Today, there is just an exact plan. If the bank got rid of Countrywide’s litigation expenses and liabilities, it could have a $10 to $12 stock price overnight,” Miller told ABC News.  But Miller added that he did not think bankrupting Countrywide would be politically and legally feasible.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, announced plans on Aug. 25 to buy $5 billion of Bank of America shares.

Questions:

1.  How will the plans presented in the article shrink the balance sheet?  Be specific.  Based on the video, where does the Wall Street analyst think that the money from the cuts will go?

2. Explain the recording of Countrywide’s litigation expenses and liabilities.  What specific types of liabilities will be affected?

3.  What do you understand Bank of America’s strategy to be at this point and what is Berkshire Hathaway’s role?  What is Bank of America’s current stock price and what has happened to it during 2011?

4.  What percent of jobs is the bank cutting this year as a percentage of its total workforce?  If you compare the 30,000 job cut against their current workforce, what percentage is this?

Source:

Kim, Susanna (2011) Bank of America Confirms 30,000 Layoffs. ABC News.com, September 12 (Retrievable online at http://abcnews.go.com/Business/bank-america-layoff-30000-workers/story?id=14500577)

 Gogoi, P. (2011). Bank of America will cut 30,000 jobs. Associated Press, Sep. 12 (Retriveable online at  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=14500592)

Fox News video, Bank of America to Cut 30K Jobs, Sep. 12 (Retrievable online at  http://video.foxnews.com)

The confused world of outsourcing

India’s outsourcing giants — faced with rising wages at home — have looked for growth opportunities in the United States. But with Washington crimping visas for visiting Indian workers, some companies such as Aegis are slowly hiring workers in North America, where their largest corporate customers are based. In this evolution, outsourcing has come home. At its U.S. sites, Aegis says, 90 percent or more of its workers are American.

Questions:

1.  Using the amounts given in the article (pay runs $12 to $14 an hour with bonus checks of up to $730 a month), use an average per hour amount of $13 per hour plus a bonus of $730 to calculate what a call center’s gross pay would be for an individual who works a 40-hour week.

2.  How would you make the journal entry for the bonus?

3.  According to the article, about 5,000 people work at nine U.S. call centers and Aegis aims to triple its U.S. head count to more than 15,000.  Based on this information:
          a. How many people on average work at each call center in the U.S.?
          b. What percentage increase in workers is anticipated?
          c.  From a managerial accounting perspective, what issues would you be concerned with regarding
               this growth?

Source:

Glader, P. (2011). As Indian Companies Grow in the U.S., Outsourcing Comes Home, The Washington Post, May 20 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/as-indian-companies-grow-in-the-us-outsourcing-comes-home/2011/05/17/AFZbrp7G_story.html?hpid=z2)

Elizabeth Taylor: A Life of Profits

On March 23, 2011, Elizabeth Taylor died at the age of 79. She was synonymous with glamour and class,  won two Oscars and at the pinnacle of her career, was the highest paid actress in the world. In later life, Taylor also distinguished herself as a businesswoman with her own line of perfume and became an activist in the fight against AIDS.

Questions:

1.  What was Elizabeth Taylor’s salary for the movie Giant, which was her biggest paycheck by 1956?  How does this compare to the paycheck of your favorite actress in a recent movie? 

2. In 1944, Elizabeth Taylor’s breakout film was National Velvet.  How much did the film earn in the U.S. and how much is that today, according to the article?

3.  Assuming the box office gross was $57 million on the film Cleopatra, what was Elizabeth Taylor’s paycheck for the film?  What percentage increase was this as compared to her salary for Giant?  What was the problem with the film, Cleopatra? 

Source:

Bukszpan, D. (2011). The Profitable Career of Elizabeth Taylor. CNBC.com, March 23 (Retrievable online at http://www.cnbc.com/id/42235186?slide=1)

What is the cost of a bad hire?

In this article, Goltz helps you understand the importance of a bad business decision, action or behavior, within the hiring process that can have long lasting monetary results. The hidden costs of a bad hire can result in increased recruitment costs, increased training costs, possible increases in the rate of unemployment taxes due to increased claims paid out to a company’s former employees, the costs of losing customers, and the costs of inefficient business processes.

Questions:

1. What is the federal unemployment rate? Are there credits toward this rate?
2. What is the unemployment rate in your state? Can states borrow from the Federal government to pay unemployment insurance?
3. What is the journal entry to record unemployment tax? Does the employee ever pay unemployment taxes?

Source:
Goltz, J. (2011). The Hidden Costs of Bad Hiring. The New York Times, March 1 (Retrievable online at http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-hidden-costs-of-bad-hiring/?ref=business)

Bank of America CEO: Sorry no Raise.

Bank of America Corp. is not giving its top executive a raise for 2011, unlike some rivals in the financial services industry. Over the past year, the nation’s largest bank by assets saw its stock fall 11 percent. While President and CEO Brian Moynihan didn’t receive a raise in his base salary or any cash-settled stock units, which are payable in cash based on the share price over the course of the year, he was granted $9.05 million in restricted stock units that are contingent on the bank meeting certain performance goals over the next five years. Moynihan’s base salary will remain at $950,000. The stock has changed hands between $10.91 and $19.86 in the past 52 weeks. Three other senior Bank of America executives are getting salary bumps of 6.25 percent, to $850,000 from $800,000, in addition to stock awards.

Questions:

1.   How should the company record the restricted stock units? How should they record the salaries?

2. What additional information do you need to know before writing a footnote disclosure about the restricted stock unit award?

3.  During the year, Goldman Sachs more than tripled the salary of CEO Lloyd Blankfein to $2 million, not including stock awards, and also granted raises to four other top executives. Citigroup Inc. gave its top executive, Vikram Pandit, a salary raise to $1.75 million, from just $1 the previous year.  Why do you suppose BoA has limited its salaries to less than $1 million? Discuss.

Source:

Baron, M. (2011). No Raise for Bank of America’s Moynihan, The Street.com, January 31. (Retrievable online at http://www.thestreet.com/story/10990807/1/no-raise-for-bank-of-americas-moynihan.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN)

Connelly, E. (2011). Bank of America CEO Moynihan Salary Flat for 2011. Huffingtonpost.com, January 31 (Retrievable online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/01/bank-of-america-ceo-pay_n_816789.html)

Mickey D’s in the News: Which story is right?

According to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.  However, less than an hour after that release, ABC News  and Reuters reported that McDonald’s and the Obama administration said the claims of the  Wall Street Journal are false, regarding the dropping of its “mini-med” health insurance for hourly workers because of the new health care reform law.

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Question:

1.  Why do you think the stories are so different and why do you think there was such a quick response from McDonalds and the Obama administration?

2.  What is the medical loss ratio in the new legislation?

3. What effects do you think the new legislation will have on the financial statements of companies?

4.  What do you see as the costs and the benefits of this new legislation?

Sources:

 Adamy, J. (2010). McDonald’s May Drop Health Plan, Wall Street Journal, September 30 (Retrieved online at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575522413101063070.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird)

Arnall, D. and H. Khan. (2010). McDonald’s Fights Back Against Report It Will Drop Health Care Plan, ABC News, September 30 (Retrieved online at http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/mcdonalds-fights-back-report-drop-health-care-plan/story?id=11764596)

Reuters. (2010). McDonald’s Denies Its Cutting Health Insurance, MSNBC, September 30 (Retrievable online at http://www.cnbc.com/id/39435771)

WSJ Video. (2010). AM Report: McDonald’s May Drop Health Plan, September 30.  (Retrievable online at http://online.wsj.com/public/page/0_0_WP_3001.html?currentPlayingLocation=37&currentlyPlayingCollection=The%20News%20Hub&currentlyPlayingVideoId={088AC31E-1087-428F-AD84-62AA9E6D5EA6})

Saving for the Future

Did you know that roughly 50 percent of employees have no retirement savings at all?  In an effort to increase the number of Americans who are saving for retirement, a bill known as the Automatic IRA Act of 2010 has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and in the House by Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA). The bill establishes IRA accounts for all employees and sets up automatic payroll deductions. The rationale for the legislation is based on the success of the automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans of a few years ago. When these accounts were established by law, there was a dramatic increase in participation, by about 90 percent of eligible employees. The belief is that, by establishing automatic IRA accounts, tens of millions of workers will be eligible for these plans, and an expected $15 billion will be added to savings annually.

 

Questions:

1.  According to the article, will there be any exemptions for the new Act, if passed?

2. According to the article, will there be any incentives for businesses to promote this?  Do you see this as a weak or a robust plan? Explain.

3. Based on the article, what types of journal entries will accountants have to make with respect to the features of this legislation, if passed?

 

Source:

 

Staff (2010) Democrats seek to legislate retirement savings, AccountingWeb, August 31.

(Retrievable at http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/accounting-auditing/democrats-seek-legislate-retirement-savings)

New Revenue Recognition Standards on the Way for Contractors

Contractors should be educating themselves on the impact of the new proposed revenue recognition standards and the recently published (June 24, 2010) exposure draft pertaining to revenue from contracts with customers. Public comments are due October 22, 2010, and it is expected the standards will be finalized in 2011.

Questions:

1. What are some of the significant changes in this standard that will affect contractors?

2. How will the proposed standard define the economic unit of measure?

3. Explain what the new cost of capitalization rules will mean for contractors.

 

Source:

Henderson, J. (2010). Proposed Revenue Recognition Rules Would Significantly Affect Contractors, BKD Alerts, June (Retrievable online at http://www.bkd.com/industry/Construction-RealEstate/Insights/2010/2010-06alertsCRE-1.htm)

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