Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

Fraudster, Shamoon Rafiq, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud after a scheme to sell fake pre-IPO equity in Airbnb.

Questions:

  1. Who did Rafiq claim to be?
  2. What amount of money was swindled from investors?
  3. What companies were included in the stock Rafiq was pitching to investors?

Source:

Goswami, R. (2024). Fraudster who peddled fake pre-IPO Airbnb stock falsely claimed to represent Egypt’s Mansour family. CNBC.com, Feb. 27 (Retrievable online at https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/27/fraudster-impersonated-mansour-family-to-peddle-fake-airbnb-equity.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to CNBC, Harvard Business School graduate, Vladimir Artamonov lured fellow alumni into a Ponzi investment scheme.

Questions:

  1. How large were the projected returns promised to alumni?
  2. In total, how much did these alumni lose?
  3. How many alumni were in the scheme?
  4. What is a Ponzi scheme?

Source:

Nova, A. (2024) Harvard Business School grad’s Ponzi scheme swindled alums out of $2.9 million, New York attorney general says. CNBC.com, Feb. 29 (Retrievable online at https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/29/harvard-business-school-grad-allegedly-swindled-alums-with-ponzi-scheme.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized, Video Updates.

According to CNN, the struggling Family Dollar discount chain will close nearly 1,000 stores as parent company, Dollar Tree, has struggled to integrate Family Dollar.

Questions:

  1. What was Dollar Tree fined more than $40 M for recently?
  2. How many Family Dollar Stores will be closed?
  3. From a competitive standpoint, why is Dollar General doing better than Family Dollar?

Source:

Meyersohn, N. (2024). Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will close 1,000 stores. CNN, March 13 (Retrievable online at https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/investing/family-dollar-dollar-tree-closing-stores/index.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to the New York Times, financial giants are trimming their climate pledges amid Republican attacks.

Questions:

  1. Which firms pulled out of the group called Climate Action 100+, an international coalition of money managers that was pushing big companies to address climate issues?
  2. Does this mean that the firms are changing their commitment to climate issues? Explain.
  3. What states are mentioned as banning banks from doing business with the state if the firms were distancing themselves from fossil fuel companies?

Source:

Gelles, D. More Wall Street Firms Are Flip-Flopping on Climate. Here’s Why. The New York Times, Feb. 19 (Retrievable online at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/business/climate-blackrock-state-street-jpmorgan-pimco.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Income Taxes, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to the New York Times, “natural asset companies” would put a market price on improving ecosystems, rather than on destroying them.

Questions:

  1. When did this view of the future nearly happen?
  2. What prevented the natural asset companies from developing?
  3. What is Natural Capital Accounting?
  4. What is the most common way to get to natural capital accounting?
  5. Why isn’t socially responsible investing making the progress needed to stem the loss of nature?

Source:

DePillis, L. (2024). Nature Has Value. Could We Literally Invest in It? The New York Times, Feb. 18 (Retrievable online at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/business/economy/natural-assets.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Income Taxes, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized, Video Updates.

According to the New York Times, the era of the 400-square-foot subdivision house is upon us.

Questions:

  1. Why did Mr. Lanter want a single-family home?
  2. What has accelerated the downsizing of homes?
  3. What percentage of new homes built in America have less than 500 square feet in floorspace?
  4. Why is the great compression being encouraged by state and local governments?
  5. According to the New York Times, what state has essentially banned single-family zoning rules?

Source:

Dougherty, C. (2024). The Great Compression. The New York Times, Feb. 17 (Retrievable online at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/17/business/economy/the-great-compression.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to CNN, the Fed is “fed up” with economic revisions.

Questions

  1. What effect does the data mentioned in the article have on Fed policy to slash interest rates?
  2. How do labor market increases or decreases affect Fed policy on interest rates?
  3. How is the Consumer Price Index affected by data revisions?
  4. Even though the BLS, Census Bureau and other government agencies that conduct surveys that inform economic reports do rigorous work to make the best possible estimates with the information they gather, why are they imperfect?

Source,

E. Buchwald. (2024) The Fed is fed up with data revisions. CNN.com, Jan. 31 (Retrievable online at https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/economy/data-revisions-fed-rate-changes/index.html)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to Forbes, the net worth of the world’s wealthiest woman, Francoise Bettencourt Meyer fell greatly on Friday as shares of L’Oreal, the French beauty company, registered their worst single-day performance since the Great Recession.

Questions:

  1. What amount of L’Oreal stock did Ms. Meyer hold?
  2. What is her net worth now?
  3. Who is the world’s second richest woman?
  4. Why is L’Oreal stock falling?
  5. How would you explain net worth to someone that is not familiar with accounting?

Source:

Derek, Saul (2024) World’s Richest Woman Loses $7 Billion On L’Oreal’s Worst Day Since 2008. MSN.com (Retrievable online at https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/world-s-richest-woman-loses-7-billion-on-l-oreal-s-worst-day-since-2008)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to ABC News, Meta will begin labeling images created by artificial intelligence products.

Questions:

  1. What social media platform will these labels be posted on?
  2. What are two AI products that are listed in the article and will be targeted?
  3. If Meta cannot identify AI-generated audio and video produced using outside tech platforms, how are they going to create the labels?
  4. Based on this article, how successful do you think these efforts will be?

Source: Staff (2024). Meta will begin labeling AI-generated images, citing ‘blurred’ reality online. ABC News, Feb 6 (Retrievable online at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/meta-will-begin-labeling-ai-generated-images-citing-blurred-reality-online/ar-BB1hS8ho)

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Behavioral and Social Issues Related to Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to Market Insider, Estee Lauder announced in conjunction with its quarterly results that it would be laying off between 3% and 5% of its staff in order to reduce its expenses.

Questions:

  1. The bad news was the layoffs, but what is the good news?
  2. For the current year, what did the company predict its EPS would be?
  3. How does this EPS compare to the planned EPS?

Source:

Ramer, L. (2024). Estee Lauder Layoffs 2024: What to Know About the Latest EL Job Cut. Market Insider, Feb. 5 (Retrievable online at https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/estee-lauder-layoffs-2024-what-to-know-about-the-latest-el-job-cut-1033030846)