That’s Billion with a “B!”

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

According to the Washington Post, the IRS paid $3.1 billion in bogus tax refunds in 2014 due to ID theft. Yes, that’s billion with a “B.” Questions: 1. How many individual tax returns did the IRS process in 2015? 2. What percentage and amount did the IRS identify as fraudulent claims before it paid them?… Read more »

All Lawyer’d Up and No Where to Go!

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

While demand for other white-collar jobs has grown substantially since the start of the recession, law firms and corporations are finding they can make do with far fewer in-house lawyers than before, squeezing those just starting their careers. Questions: 1. What do the data show regarding new law graduates getting jobs? 2. Discuss the costs… Read more »

Beat the Clock!

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

Due to the slow transition to chip credit cards by U.S. retailers, counterfeit credit card fraud will likely rise to $4.5 billion this year. Questions: 1. What percentage rise will this year see as compared to last year’s credit card fraud? 2. Why are these thefts hurting retailers rather than issuing banks? 3. According to… Read more »

Tax Dodging Clusters?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

According to Stacy Cowley of the New York Times, only around 1.5 percent of self-employed taxpayers are audited each year. Audits are not random, because the IRS has a secret algorithm that calculates how likely each taxpayer is to have unreported income. In looking at sizing up the honesty of small-business owners, the Taxpayer Advocate… Read more »

Walmart vs. Amazon: A Grocery War?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

Questions: 1. Do you see this as a competition between Walmart and Amazon? Why or why not and are there any other players in the grocery war? 2. According to the video, why didn’t Walmart just create their own logistical team rather than use Uber and Lyft? 3. Would you be willing to pay $7… Read more »

Who’s asset is it?

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

If a person who uses a prepaid debit credit card gets pulled over in Oklahoma, he/she now runs the risk that police can take all of the money loaded onto the card without arresting the person or even obtaining a warrant. Questions: 1. What do the devices purchased by the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety… Read more »

Mutual Funds Extinct?

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According to Matt Turner at Business Insider, passive investing is taking over the money-management world through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which simply track an index. Questions: 1. What are some of the advantages of ETFs for investors? 2. During April in the U.S., what amount of money was tied up in ETFs? And according to Credit… Read more »

Here we Go Again? Another Enron?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

Short-seller and hedge fund manager, Jim Chanos, contends that the Alibaba Group is as problematic in its accounting positions as the now-defunct, corrupt energy giant, Enron. Questions: 1. What part of the company’s operations are most problematic and why? 2. What does cash flow have to do with this story? 3. What does Chanos claim… Read more »

Arbitration Smack-Down

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According to the New York Times, a federal appeals court ruled last week that companies cannot force their employees to sign away their rights to band together in legal actions. In doing this, they delivered a major victory for American workers and opened an opportunity for the Supreme Court to weigh in. Questions: 1. What… Read more »

Moving on up from Counterfeiting

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

This article explains the latest spate of attacks on banks in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, which security researchers say is the first time that a nation has used malicious code to steal purely for financial profit. The country is North Korea. Questions: 1. Security researchers and American government officials have tied thousands of attacks to… Read more »