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 – $10 to have your groceries delivered? What kind of problems do you see associated with this service?
4. How many markets will be serviced? How large a market (in dollars) is the grocery delivery market estimated to be?

Source:
BBC Staff (2016). Walmart to test food delivery with Uber and Lyft. BBC.com, June 3 (Retrievable online at http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36443107)

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 allow police to do?
2. Discuss why asset seizure criteria may be a bit fuzzy.
3. T. Jack Williams, president of ERAD Group, the company that makes and sells the card readers, argue that seizure is not the primary goal of the readers. So what is it?
4. What types of frauds are associated with gift cards and can police seize your gift cards?

Source:
Covert, B. (2016). Oklahoma Police Just Made It Easier Than Ever To Seize Someone’s Money. Think Progress, June 9 (Retrievable online at http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/06/09/3786458/oklahoma-cards-asset-forfeiture/)

shutterstock_326490722-1024x683

Mutual Funds Extinct?

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

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 Suisse analysts, what percentage of investments is this in the U.S.?
3. What was the advice in the article about how active traditional, mutual funds managers can fight back?
4. Explain the new kind of ETF.

Source:
Turner, M. (2016). Mutual funds are facing extinction. Business Insider, June 5 (Retrievable online at http://www.businessinsider.com/etfs-are-killing-mutual-funds-2016-6)
1203vanguard02

Cher sues to recover from financial firm over “rosy projections!”

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

Cher claims Sail Venture Partners and several of its principals defrauded investors to rake in millions in management fees, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in L.A. County Superior Court.

Questions:
1. When did this happen?
2. What did the managers do with the money?
3. Based on the information in the article, what do you anticipate that Cher will receive from the once $200 million empire, if she is successful in her suit?
4. What has happened to the 10 initial portfolio companies?

Source: Collins, A. (2016). Cher Sues Financial Firm for Fraud After $1.3 Million in Investments. MSN.com, June 9 (Retrievable online at http://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/cher-sues-financial-firm-for-fraud-after-dollar13-million-in-investments/ar-AAgOK6v?ocid=spartanntp)

Cher

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 is the problem with off-balance sheet entities and why is this like Enron?
4. As the video shows, this is not the first time that Alibaba has had problems with its accounting. What was the issue in the previous situation?

Source:
Gandel, S. (2016). Here’s Why Alibaba’s Accounting Is As Alarming As Enron’s. Fortune, May 12 (Retrievable online at http://fortune.com/2016/05/12/jim-chanos-alibaba-accounting/)

Arbitration Smack-Down

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

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 company is at the heart of this ruling? Discuss the specifics of the case and why the judges feel that the company violated the laws.
2. Why have arbitration issues increased over the last 10 years? Discuss both benefits and costs.
3. What decisions in 2011 and 2013 by the Supreme Court blessed the widespread use of arbitration? Discuss whether you think this appeals case is different.

Source:
Silver-Greenberg, J. and N. Scheiber. (2016). Court Rules Companies Cannot Impose Illegal Arbitration Clauses. The New York Times, May 26 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/business/dealbook/court-rules-companies-cannot-impose-illegal-arbitration-clauses.html)

criminal-justice-logo-md

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 nations in the past, but why were these different?
2. How have security researchers tied several attacks together and point to them being from the same group?
3. What is Swift and how does it figure into this story?

Source:
Perlroth, N. and M. Corkery. (2016). North Korea Linked to Digital Attacks on Global Banks. The New York Times, May 26 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/business/dealbook/north-korea-linked-to-digital-thefts-from-global-banks.html).

money_ball

Barriers to Board Positions

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.

A recent report about the composition of Boards of Directors over the last seven years indicates that the greatest obstacle for minorities in gaining entry to the boardroom is the lack of operating or financial experience. According to the report, networks of white men who connect through college, work and social activities feel more comfortable with people who look like themselves and this results in similar board replacements for open seats that rarely turnover.

Questions:
1. According to the article, which minorities are losing ground on the boards? Discuss the specifics and percentages.
2. When does the group writing the report predict that women will achieve parity with men on the boards?
3. The article proposes ways to correct this barrier situation. What measures do they propose?
4. What do you see as the benefits in diversity on Boards?

Source:
Olson, Elizabeth. (2016). Barriers to Board Positions Persist for Minorities and Women, Report Shows. The New York Times, May 16 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/business/dealbook/corporate-boards-minorities-women.html)

Proxy fight

Say it ain’t so, Phil.

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

Professional golfer Phil Mickelson was recently named in an SEC complaint regarding insider trading information that he received from William Walters, a sports gambler.

Questions:
1. During what period did the insider trading take place?
2. Phil has been named as a “relief defendant.” What does that mean?
3. What shares did Phil buy and how much profit did he make? What was the information that he acted upon?

Source:
Bonesteel, M. (2016) Phil Mickelson earned $1 million from insider trading. The SEC wants it back. The Washington Post, May 19 (Retrievable online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/05/19/phil-mickelson-earned-1-million-from-insider-trading-the-sec-wants-it-back/)

Phil

A Fraud Caught by a Channel-Surfing Judge!

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

Dance Moms, a show on Lifetime TV is in its 6th season. The host is Abby Lee Miller, who is facing 20 counts of fraud due to allegations that she fudged specifics when it came to a bankruptcy filing. If found guilty on all counts, Ms. Miller is facing $5 million in fines and five years in prison.

Questions:
1. What specifics were omitted or fudged in her bankruptcy filing? What was the relationship between the show Dance Moms and the bankruptcy filing?
2. What is the latest news about the trial, since the initial indictment came back in October 2015? How many delays have there been so far?
3. What is the link between channel surfing and the specifics that were fudged? Detail as much as possible.

Source: Carey, S. (2016). Dance Moms’ Star Abby Lee Miller’s Court Case Update: Star Gets Additional Extension From Court, Makes Plans For International Tour. Inquisitr.com (Retrievable online at http://www.inquisitr.com/2847952/dance-moms-star-abby-lee-millers-court-case-update-star-gets-additional-extension-from-court-makes-plans-for-international-tour/)