Posts Categorized: All Articles

Fueling Both the Upside and Downside

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

In the wake of the financial crisis, HUD established the Dirtressed Asset Stabilization Program. Unfortunately, this program has allowed many of these loans to be sold to hedge funds and private equity firms, rather than nonprofits. Questions: 1. What have the private equity firms done that Senator Warren is rallying against? 2. How many distressed… Read more »

New Mortgage Rules for Those with Student Debt

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

New rules could make it tougher to qualify for a low down payment mortgage from the Federal Housing Administration, particularly with respect to down payment gifts and deferments associated with student loans. Questions: 1. What is the role of debt-to-income ratios in this story, as they related to student loans? 2. What is the old… Read more »

It’s Too Late for I’m Sorry!

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

Volkswagen shares plunged more than 20 percent on Monday, their biggest one-day fall, after the German carmaker admitted it had rigged emissions tests in the United States, and U.S. authorities said they would widen their probe to other manufacturers. Questions: 1. Briefly explain the emissions data scandal. 2. What was the recent challenge to Volkswagen… Read more »

Tax Accounting Fraud – A Chinese Way of Life

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

This article describes how businesses in China have to give out invoices called fapiao in order to ensure that taxes are being paid. However, as you will learn from Mr. Ding’s experience, the fapiao or the very mechanism intended to keep businesses honest, is the key to cheating on taxes. Questions: 1. What was the… Read more »

New Student Loan Default Study

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

New data suggests that many popular perceptions of student debt are incorrect. The huge run-up in loans and the subsequent spike in defaults have not been driven by $100,000 debts incurred by students at expensive private colleges. Instead, they are driven by $8,000 loans at for-profit colleges and, to a lesser extent, community colleges. Borrowing… Read more »

Salary and Class Inequality at the World Bank?

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

As outsourcing has become more common, even the World Bank is seeing its share of employee discontent about contract employees. Roughly half of those that work for the World Bank are consultants, brought on for fixed contracts that often end up being renewed over and over again. Across the bank’s offices worldwide, there are currently… Read more »

Oh The Times They Are A-Changing!

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

Month after month, McDonald’s has shared that once again same-store sales have dropped in the United States. The routine has become so consistently depressing that the company decided to quit sharing monthly performance data altogether this past March. Questions: 1. How many stores will McDonald’s close this year and what percentage more was that than… Read more »

A Poor Recordkeeping System

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

The department’s inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that a total overhaul of the record-keeping system at the VA could take years. Questions: 1. In the scathing report, what was the estimate of the number of veterans that had already died waiting for treatment and why weren’t they removed from the… Read more »

Pace Yourself

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

Facebook announced on Thursday that it wants to transform education, similar to the way it transformed communication with its social networking service. Questions: 1. What does Facebook see as the benefit to the new software? 2. Why are critics skeptical of Facebook’s adherence to privacy issues? Give examples. 3. How much have Mr. Zuckerberg and… Read more »

A Model of Innovation or Intimidation?

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

According to the New York Times, white-collar workers at Amazon are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone directory instructs colleagues… Read more »