Where in the world is Catalonia?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, International Accounting, Video Updates.

Under a separatist plan, the Catalan government has claimed a mandate for independence. Two million votes or so have been counted in support of a split with Spain.

Questions:
1. Where is Catalonia located?
2. What is the history of this separatist plan?
3. Why should accounting and business students know about this?
4. According to the article, what economic impacts does this suggest for the business world and the world?

Source:
White, T., R. Orihuela, and B. Sills. (2017) How Far Can the Catalan Rebellion Go? Bloomberg, Oct. 2 (Retrievable online at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-02/how-far-can-the-catalan-rebellion-go)

Has your credit information been stolen?

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

As you probably already have heard, Equifax, one of three major credit reporting agencies, revealed that highly sensitive personal and financial information for around 143 million U.S. consumers was compromised in a cybersecurity breach that began in late spring. Later we learned of a second breach, that included about 100,000 Canadians and up to half of the people in the U.S.(As reported by NPR).

Questions:
1. What was the potential reason for this breach? In other words, why did it happen?
2. What type of information did the hackers get?
3. What was the recent finding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about Equifax?
4. What should you do if your credit was breached?

Source: White, G. (2017). A Cybersecurity Breach at Equifax Left Pretty Much Everyone’s Financial Data Vulnerable. The Atlantic, Sep. 7 (Retrievable online at https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/09/equifax-cybersecurity-breach/539178/)

More Blues for College Borrowers in the For-Profit College Environment

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According to the Associated Press, tens of thousands of former students who say they were swindled by for-profit colleges are being left in limbo as the Trump administration delays action on requests for loan forgiveness.

Questions:
1. Why is the Department of Education sitting on the claims? How many claims are there?
2. Who has Education Secretary Betsy DeVos selected to enforce these claims? What is this person’s background?
3. What happened to Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute?
4. If you had a claim, what could you do at this point?

Source:
Danilova, M. (2017). Big hold-up for borrowers claiming for-profit college fraud. APNews, Sep. 12 (Retrievable online at https://apnews.com/057b28074e0348538177a7c7dff1db72/Big-holdup-for-borrowers-claiming-for-profit-college-fraud)

Now you see it, now you don’t! The disappearing down payment!

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Because many real estate markets across the U.S. are in the middle of an affordability crisis, the trend of rising home prices, tight access to credit, and slow homebuilding has resulted in a group of millennials that cannot find enough rentals, but do not have a downpayment for buying new homes. That’s where Unison Home Ownership Investors comes into the picture.

Questions:
1. Who are the typical Unison Home Ownership Investors?
2. What happens if the homeowner wants to buy out of their obligation with Unison Home Ownership Investors?
3. What has been the trend in prices of new homes?
4. What was the most interesting part of this article to you?

Source:
Matthews, C. (2017). The incredible, disappearing home down payment. Axios, Sep. 21(Retrievable online at https://www.axios.com/the-incredible-disappearing-home-down-payment-2487175423.html)

Big Business for Kids’ Sports

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According to Time, a range of private businesses are mining deep, do-anything parental love for kid’s who want to train to pursue sports at the national level. The U.S. youth-sports economy–includes everything from travel to private coaching to apps that organize leagues and livestream games; it is now a $15.3 billion market, according to WinterGreen Research, a private firm that tracks the industry.

Question:
1. According to the article, how much does Joey’s private baseball coaching cost?
2. At the high end, what percentage of their income do families spend to help their children pursue sports?
3. According to figures that WinterGreen provided exclusively to TIME, how much has the nation’s youth-sports industry grown since 2010?
4. According to Gregory, this sports boom has given rise what types of entrepreneurial efforts?

Source:
Gregory, S. (2017). How Kids’ Sports Became a $15 Billion Industry. Time, Aug. 24 (Retrievable online at http://time.com/4913687/how-kids-sports-became-15-billion-industry/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod)

Hurricane Harvey cruises

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

As Hurricane Harvey begans to bear down on Texas, thousands of vacationers aboard cruise ships were left stuck at sea until the storm passed.

Questions:
1. Approximately how many vacationers were stuck at sea near Galveston, Texas?
2. If guests wished to terminate their cruise, where were they taken to dock?
3. If you were on the cruise what would you do?
4. What type of additional costs will the Cruise companies incur as a result of this storm and what journal entries will be required?

Source:

Gajanan, M. (2017). Hurricane Harvey Has 20,000 Cruise Ship Passengers Stuck at Sea. Yahoo News, August 25 (Retrievable online at https://www.yahoo.com/news/hurricane-harvey-20-000-cruise-204242315.html)

Bachelor Parties and Millennials

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According to Time magazine, millennials spend an average of $1,532 to be a guest at a single weekend for a bachelor party.

Questions:
1. How much on average do millennials spend to be a guest at bachelorette parties?
2. How much on average do millennials spend on the big day of the wedding?
3. Does Bruner suggest that these numbers will rise and by approximately how much?
4. Suggest some types of businesses that will benefit from this spending and what types of journal entries will they record?

Source:
Bruner, R. (2017). Study Says Bachelor Parties Are the New Scourge of Millennial Bank Accounts. Time, August 10 (Retrievable online at http://time.com/4896221/millennial-bachelor-parties/)

Let’s Eat with Amazon!

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According to Reuters, “Amazon.com Inc is exploring a technology first developed for the U.S. military to produce tasty prepared meals that do not need refrigeration, as it looks for new ways to muscle into the $700 billion U.S. grocery business.”

Questions:
1. What are some of the dishes that Amazon plans to offer?
2. What is the acquisition that Amazon plans in this area and how much is the proposed acquisition?
3. How are these foods going to be different than those already out there?
4. What is MATS technology?
5. Discuss the pros and cons of Amazon’s plan.

Source:
Dastin, J. (2017). Amazon looks to new food technology for home delivery. Reuters, Aug. 11 (Retrievable online at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-food-idUSKBN1AR11X)

Is this fraud?

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According to Bloomberg, “CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. were sued by California customers who accused the drugstore operators of charging co-payments for certain prescription drugs that exceed the cost of medicines.”
Questions:
1. What do Schultz’s and Grabstulz’s lawsuits claim in specific terms?
2. Cases have also been filed against which health insurance companies?
3. What is a clawback?
4. Where have the cases been filed?
5. What is a co-pay and how should each pharmacy account for just one of the prescriptions mentioned?
6. Do you consider this to be a fraud?
Source:
Feely, j. and J.S. Hopkins. (2017). CVS Health Is Sued Over ‘Clawbacks’ of Prescription Drug Co-Pays. Bloomberg, August 5 (Retrievable online at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/cvs-health-is-sued-over-clawbacks-of-prescription-drug-co-pays)

What would you do?

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According to the Washington Post, the residents of Presidio Terrace, which is an oval-shaped privately owned street commonly known as one of the most exclusive communities in San Francisco, learned the that someone could buy their entire street.
Questions:
1. Why was it possible to own Presidio Terrace?
2. How many bidders did Ms. Lam and Mr. Cheng outbid?
3. How much was the asking price of a house on the street and how much did they pay for the street and its commons?
4. What was the debt owed for the street?
5. As legal owners, what options are available for the couple to pursue?
6. What would you do with the property?
7. Do you think the property owners will prevail with their litigation?
Source:
Horton, A. (2017). Residents of an exclusive San Francisco street didn’t pay their taxes. So someone bought their street. The Washington Post, Aug. 8 (Retrievable online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/08/08/residents-of-an-exclusive-san-francisco-street-didnt-pay-their-taxes-so-someone-bought-their-street/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_mm-sf-1215pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.49592efffef6#comments)