What went up has come down

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting.

Facebook’s stock price has been cut in half since the fanfare of the IPO hit the market three months ago. With this drop, both employee morale and employee stock issues have plummeted. This article provides some insight into what the future holds for those holding Facebook stock. Questions: 1. What is an employee lock-up release?… Read more »

Spreading money on your skin

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

What are the most often prescribed drugs written for by dermatologists? They include generic creams and ointments that are used to treat skin rashes, scabies, and athlete’s foot. So aren’t generics suppose to be inexpensive. Unfortunately, not any more’; significant price increases in these generics are stumping doctors and patients. In a world of prescription… Read more »

Robo-Signing Redux

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Debt collection practices focusing on erroneous documents, incomplete records and generic testimony from witnesses in lawsuits by credit card companies is mirroring problems similar to those in the mortgage foreclosure process. According to Noach Dear, a civil court judge in Brooklyn, about 90% of the cases he sees are flawed and cannot prove who the… Read more »

Angie’s list

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By now you have probably heard of Angie’s List. Angie Hicks started the company in 1995 after a friend moved and had trouble finding reliable contractors. Originally started in Columbus, Ohio, the company has expanded to other national markets. There is a subscription fee to belong to this list that includes personal recommendations. Questions: 1…. Read more »

How much do you think the largest U.S. Corporations pay in taxes?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, All Articles, Cost Accounting, IFRS, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

In a year of presidential politics, many of America’s biggest corporations complain that they pay too much in taxes. But, how much is that? A recent analysis shows that many are actually getting off pretty easy. It turns out that the 10 most profitable U.S. companies only paid an average federal tax rate of 9… Read more »

Whistleblower Identifies Unnecessary Heart Procedures

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In the summer of 2010, a troubling letter reached the chief ethics officer of the hospital giant HCA, written by a former nurse at one of the company’s hospitals in Florida. In less than two months, an internal investigation by HCA concluded the nurse was right. Unnecessary cardiac procedures were being performed to boost HCA’s… Read more »

LIBOR Scandal Widens

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Bank of America, the second largest U.S. bank, has received subpoenas from the U.S.Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and U.K. Financial Services Authority requesting information about the company’s possible role in the rigging of a key international lending benchmark, LIBOR. Regulators have queried at least a dozen banks worldwide about their roles in… Read more »

Computers are great when they work……

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting.

The Knight Capital Group announced that losses they sustained on Wednesday, August 1, were the result of a computer glitch and now threaten the stability of the Jersey City firm. At the heart of this, the firm lost $440 million when it sold stocks that it accidentally bought Wednesday morning. Questions: 1. On Thursday, what… Read more »

Online Gambling Settlement

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Poker Stars, the world’s largest poker company and its rival, Full Tilt, agreed to settle federal money laundering and fraud charges by paying hundreds of millions of dollars to reimburse online gamblers. Questions: 1. Who were the founders of these companies and what charges do they face? 2. Through what means did the companies deceive… Read more »