Less Chemicals and New Recipes

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This article discusses moves by Campbell soup to make its soups with more natural ingredients rather than chemical flavoring. Questions: 1. What is the most recent trend in soup sales? 2. What type of acquisitions has Campbell made recently to obtain toeholds in new markets? 3. What type of retooling changes have been made to… Read more »

Asset Forfeiture Followup

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During 2014, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did. This was a new record. Questions: 1. What was the source of these data? 2. Why aren’t the asset forfeiture deposit amounts necessarily good indicators of the rise in the use of forfeiture? 3. Why are the net assets of the… Read more »

Corporate Challenges to Workman’s Comp

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For quite a while, the state of Texas has allowed companies to opt out of workman’s comp and write their own benefit plans. As a result, benefits for the same body part can differ dramatically depending upon which company you work for. Questions 1. Who is Bill Minick and what corporate movement is his firm… Read more »

Amazon goes “brick and mortar”

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In an unusual move, Amazon opened a storefront bookstore in Seattle’s University Village mall. Questions: 1. What are the characteristics of the books sold in the “brick and mortar store”? 2. In addition to books, what other products does the store carry? 3. What do you see as the costs and benefits of this new… Read more »

A Disturbing Trend

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A controversial law enforcement known as civil asset forfeiture allows police to seize and keep cash and property from people, who are suspected of wrongdoing but may never be charged. Despite public outcries, the use of this procedure has increased in the past decade. Questions: 1. The figures in reports show “the size of the… Read more »

File and Suspend is No Longer Available

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A strategy to increase lifetime Social Security benefits by up to roughly $60,000 for some high-earning couples was eliminated by the Obama Administration on Nov. 2. The strategy, known as file-and-suspend, allowed one spouse to file for Social Security retirement benefits and then suspend the payouts, so that the other spouse could collect spousal benefits… Read more »

Contagion in Earnings Manipulations

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A new study shows that after one company in an industry is found to have misstated its earnings, others in its industry often followed suit and began massaging their own numbers; this ultimately results in their own restatements. Questions: 1. Why were the regulatory actions in the study so intriguing and what did they indicate?… Read more »

Gentrification Ignites Deed Theft

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White-collar criminals are employing a variety of schemes in New York City to snatch properties from their owners. Often, they use the secrecy afforded to shell companies to rent out vacated properties until they are caught or sell them to third parties. Questions: 1. What are some of the signs of forgery on the fraudulent… Read more »

Incredible Law School Debt

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The median LSAT score of students admitted to Florida Coastal School of Law was among the lowest 25% nationwide. Despite the fact that the average debt of the 2014 graduating class had $163,000 in debt, may not pass the bar, and probably cannot repay the debt, this school is one of six for-profit law schools… Read more »

To PIN or not to PIN?

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

Some big U.S. retailers are stepping up efforts to use personal identification numbers, or PINs, with new credit cards embedded with computer chips in a bid to prevent counterfeit card fraud. Questions: 1. Why is this being resisted by banks? 2. Which retailers are leading the movement? 3. Discuss the costs and benefits of the… Read more »