New Study on Hospital Costs

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

Twenty of the 50 U.S. hospitals that charge the most for their services are located in Florida — and all but one of them are for-profit, according to a study released Monday.

Questions:
1. Which facility is at the top of the list for charging the most and how many times more do uninsured patients pay as compared to insured patients?
2. Which corporations operate most of the for-profit hospitals on the “price gouging” list?
3. To determine the size of markups, researchers used what Medicare allows for the costs of care. What factors do these costs include?

Source:
Sun, L.H. (2015). 50 hospitals charge uninsured more than 10 times cost of care, study finds. The Washington Post, June 8 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/why-some-hospitals-can-get-away-with-price-gouging-patients-study-finds/2015/06/08/b7f5118c-0aeb-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html?hpid=z3)

College a Commodity?

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

Unfortunately, most everyone now evaluates college in purely economic terms, thus reducing it to a commodity like a car or a house. There is now a cottage industry built around such data.

Questions:
1. According to the author, what does the value of a degree depend upon and why should it be set apart from strict economic evaluations?
2. According to the author, What factors contribute to educational outcomes, thus differentiating it from a Best Buy purchase?
3. Discuss this statement: Education is the only commodity for which satisfaction decreases with the amount consumed. Do you agree or disagree? Use examples in your answer.

Source:
Rawlings, H. (2015). College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one. The Washington Post, June 9 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/09/college-is-not-a-commodity-stop-treating-it-like-one/?tid=trending_strip_4)
cdn-media_nationaljournal_com

Beware of Convenience Checks!

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

he price of tapping credit through a cash advance, which lets people borrow from their credit cards by writing a check or withdrawing money from an ATM, is much steeper than it would be for a traditional credit purchase. It’s also much harder to avoid fees when a cash advance is involved.

Questions:
1. What is the average amount of interest charged for a cash advance?
2. If you do take a cash advance, what advice does Matt Schulz, a senior analyst for CreditCards.com. give?
3. Besides interest, what extra amounts do credit card companies typically charge for cash advances?

Source:
Marte, J. (2015) The danger behind the ‘convenient checks’ you’re getting in the mail. The Washington Post, June 3 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/06/03/the-danger-behind-the-convenient-checks-youre-getting-in-the-mail/?tid=hpModule_a2e19bf4-86a3-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z14)
convenience checks

Loss-Prevention Profiling at CVS

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

Four former loss-prevention employees from the CVS chain in New York filed a class-action lawsuit on June 3rd against the drugstore chain, accusing their bosses of ordering them to target black and Hispanic shoppers. According to the detectives, they were fired after complaining about racial discrimination, against both customers and themselves.

Questions:
1. Why is this case considered to be the first of its kind?
2. What happened in the case of Macy’s?
3. In your opinion, what were some of the most surprising racial epithets mentioned in this article?
4. In addition to settlements with these discriminating companies, are there any other measures or penalties that you think should be enforced?
5. Do you think that any of these incidents are reported or reportable in the companies’ financial statements? If so, where? If not, why not?

Source:
Feuer, A. (2015). Ex-Workers Accuse CVS of Racial Discrimination Against Shoppers. The New York Times, June 3 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/nyregion/cvs-is-accused-in-lawsuit-of-racial-discrimination-by-ex-store-detectives.html?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well)

CVS-y-master675

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

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

Walmart’s board elected a new chairman at its annual stockholders’ meeting last week. As only the third chairman in the retail giant’s history, the post was passed on to a member of the founding Walton family.

Questions:
1. What type of background does Mr. Penner have that will be beneficial in this post?
2. Why has Walmart’s board been criticized?
3. What were some of the resolutions presented at the shareholders’ meeting and why didn’t they pass?

Source:
Tabuchi, H. (2015). Walmart Board Elects New Chairman. The New York Times, June 5 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/business/walmart-annual-shareholder-meeting.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=2
&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2F
www.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F06%2F06%2Fbusiness%2Fwalmart-annual-shareholder-meeting.html&eventName=Watching-article-click)

Team Disney – Its a Small World After All

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

Nothing could be worse than losing your job, except maybe being required to train your replacement. That is what happened in the Magical Kingdom when cheaper H-1B workers from an India outsourcing firm replaced about 250 U.S. employees at the end of January this year.

Questions:
1. What explanation did Disney executives give for this move?
2. Why are these layoffs at Disney and other companies raising new questions about H-1B visas?
3. Discuss the costs and benefits of the H-1B program as a continuing business model.
4. What do you think Congress should do to improve the federal guidelines of the H-1B program?

Source:
Preston, J. (2015) Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements. The New York Times, June 3 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html?
action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article&_r=0)

Spies Everywhere!

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

A U.S. District Judge ordered Yahoo Inc to face a nationwide class-action lawsuit and accused the company of illegally intercepting email content sent to Yahoo Mail subscribers from non-Yahoo Mail accounts. Subsequently, Yahoo used the information to boost advertising revenue.

Questions:
1. Which subscribers and non-subscribers does this class-action allow to file suit?
2. What Acts were violated for subscribers and non-subscribers?
3. What percentage of Yahoo’s advertising revenue was generated in 2014 from these illegal interceptions?
4. According to the article, what are the benefits of filing a class action suit in this case?

Source:

Stempel, J. (2015). Yahoo must face email spying class action: U.S. judge. Reuters – U.S., May 27 (Retrievable online at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/27/us-yahoo-email-classaction-idUSKBN0OC22F20150527)

When Will They Ever Learn?

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

Bank of America (BoA) is in the news again. This time, Bank of America must pay a $30 million fine after a financial regulator found numerous violations related to the accounts of 73,000 military service members.

Questions:
1. What actions did the bank take against military service members that were illegal?
2. What steps did BoA say were taken to prevent further violations?
3. What other bank was found to have violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act in 2013?

Source:
Corkery, M. (2015). Bank of America Fined for Violations of Military Relief Law. The New York Times, May 29 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/business/dealbook/bank-of-america-fined-for-violations-of-military-relief-law.html?mabReward=CTM&moduleDetail=recommendations-1&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&region=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=false&src=recg&pgtype=article)

View of a Bank of America branch on June

Bye, Bye to Tens of Thousands of Dollars of Debt for a Certificate

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

Despite intensive lobbying efforts and lawsuits by the Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC), a U.S. District federal judge denied a challenge to the Obama administration’s rules limiting the amount of debt students can carry in career-training programs. This decision delivers a blow to the deteriorating for-profit college industry.

Questions:
1. What are the new rules issued by the Department of Education in October 2014 regarding student loans?
2. Discuss the 2014 lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Which institution(s) was it targeting?
3. How is the Securities and Exchange Commission now involved in litigation against the industry?

Source:
Douglas-Gabriel, D. (2015) For-profit colleges lose bid to scuttle government rules. Washington Post, May 27 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/05/27/for-profit-colleges-lose-bid-to-scuttle-government-rules/?tid=hpModule_a2e19bf4-86a3-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z14)

Douglas-Gabriel, D. (2015) SEC charges executives at for-profit college ITT with fraud. Washington Post, May 12 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sec-charges-executives-at-for-profit-college-itt-with-fraud/2015/05/12/d3bb5c24-f8c5-11e4-a13c-193b1241d51a_story.html)

SEC

Good News for the Class of 2015!

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

According to the Washington Post, the New York Federal Reserve found that the demand for college-educated workers has picked up over the past year after flatlining in 2013. Additionally, it has risen more than 10 percent in the first few months of this year.

Questions:
1. How many people were unemployed at the peak of the Great Recession that began in 2008?
2. What type of jobs over the last year have accounted for more than 80 percent of the net job growth?
3. Do you think this is good news for the accounting profession? Why or why not?
4. Does this translate into only good news for college graduates? Discuss.
5. What is the current unemployment rate for new college grads? Do a little research and compare this to the most recent general unemployment rate? How does it compare?
6. Explain the difference between unemployment and underemployment.

Source:
Mui, Y.C. (2015). Why the era of college grads working at restaurants and cafes is coming to an end. The Washington Post, May 18 (Retrievable online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/18/the-class-of-2015-is-the-first-in-years-that-wont-have-to-worry-about-working-at-coffeeshops/?tid=pm_business_pop_b)

Fastfoodjp-master675