Raising a puppy can be hard work. It turns out that some companies sympathise with this transition and now offer what’s known as “pawternity leave.” In fact, research from Petplan found that 5% of owners have been offered paid leave from their job to adjust to their pet owning duties. Questions: 1. How much time… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Advanced Accounting
The Top Frauds of 2017
Monica Vaca, the Associate Director of the Division of Consumer Response and Operations at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just released the results from last year regarding the top frauds of 2017. Topping the list of reported frauds are the imposter scams, with nearly 350,000 reported. Questions: 1. How many people fell for someone pretending… Read more »
Big Time Food Stamp Fraud
Sheriff Mike Williams of Jacksonville, Florida, announced Tuesday the results of a multi-agency, undercover investigation into the exchange of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for cash and, in at least one case, cocaine. Questions: 1. From 2012 to 2017, how many food stamp transactions were fraudulent in Jacksonville and what was the dollar amount?… Read more »
Cyclic Component of the Labor Force Participation Rate
According to Bloomberg, U.S. central bankers seem to feel that when it comes to employment, they’ve done about as much as they can. As a result, the Federal Reserve’s Monetary Policy Report (released last week) concluded that the labor market was “at or a little beyond full employment.” Questions: 1. If you boil the whole… Read more »
Bitcoin Investment Fads
According to Bloomberg.com, Bitcoin began the week on a down note, declining as much as 8.7 percent and pushing the biggest cryptocurrency’s decline for March to about 25 percent. Questions: 1. Who has confirmed that it will ban Bitcoin offering advertisements? 2. How is the SEC involved with Bitcoin in recent weeks? 3. Why have… Read more »
Facebook Woes
According to Bloomberg, Facebook Inc. is heading toward its worst month since May 2013 after an analyst report warned of a temporary pullback in advertising and the FTC confirmed it’s investigating the social network’s privacy practices. Questions: How much market value for Facebook stock has been erased in the last 10 days? What is the… Read more »
Rise up and REBEL!
According to the New York Times, after many employee complaints, United Airlines said it was “pressing the pause button” on a plan to replace its modest monthly bonuses with a lottery system that would have offered large rewards to a few workers at random. Questions: Why were the employees furious and what did they do… Read more »
Hidden Blacklist
According to Politico, the new tax law includes a little-noticed blacklist barring people working in certain fields, and earning more than $157,500, from claiming a new 20 percent deduction for unincorporated businesses called pass-throughs. Questions: Why did the Congressmen decide that pass-throughs should be limited? Who ultimately gets to make the decision? According to Acting IRS… Read more »
Massive Fraud Femme Fitale
According to Masunaga and Peterson, four years ago, the Silicon Valley firm Theranos Inc. was valued at $9 billion and its founder and Chief Executive Elizabeth Holmes was hailed as a potentially revolutionary force in the blood-testing industry. Today, she is deemed a fraudster. Questions: Theranos’ proprietary analyzer could only perform __________ of the… Read more »
Branson
In a ballroom of a mountain lodge, diversity coach Miguel Joey Aviles, asked whether anyone knew how to merengue. Only two replied: Yes. These were Branson Missouri managers, who said they’re desperate for employees and are paying $50 each for the workshop. They came from hotels, hospitals, hardware stores and banks. The goal of “Hispanics… Read more »