Posts Tagged: Congress

The Bottom Line

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

More than 250,000 of Corinthian Colleges’ victims will be able to get out from under massive and fraudulent student loan debts, Education Secretary John King will announce Friday in Boston. Questions: 1. What is the big asterisk that the article refers to? 2. How many schools and how many states are involved in this scam?… Read more »

Investigating Integrity

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.

A U.S. watchdog agency is preparing to investigate the Federal Reserve and other regulators in order to determine whether they are too lenient on the banks they are meant to police. Questions: 1. What is the strategy to be used in this investigation? 2. Explain the “revolving door” concept that the article mentions. 3. What… Read more »

Will the Fed or won’t the Fed?

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Ms. Janet Yellen indicated in testimony before Congress on November 4, that an interest rate increase could come in December 2015. But she added that no decision had been made. Questions: 1. When was the last time that the Fed raised interest rates? 2. Where has the benchmark interest rate been since Dec. 16, 2008?… Read more »

Bye-bye Loopholes! You will be missed!

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Keep an eye out for three retirement loopholes that the government may close shortly. They have become increasingly popular as financial advisers have learned how to exploit kinks in the law. Questions: 1. Who benefits from the Back-door Roth IRA conversions and how does this work? 2. What bothers lawmakers about “the stretch IRA?” 3…. Read more »

Team Disney – Its a Small World After All

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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… Read more »

A Legalized Scam?

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Most people do not shop around for title insurance when they buy a home. Instead, they usually just go to the title insurance company that the real estate agent recommends.This article highlights the problem with this model. Questions: 1. Using the fraud triangle, discuss what factors are at work in the title insurance industry. 2…. Read more »

Repatenting for Profits and the High Costs of Breathing

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Unlike other countries, where the government directly or indirectly sets an allowed national wholesale price for each drug, the United States leaves prices to market competition among pharmaceutical companies, including generic drug makers. This has resulted in a vicious cycle of repatenting old drugs that use to cost pennies with new delivery systems and processes… Read more »

Numbers tell the story

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized, Video Updates.

Unless you have been vacationing on another planet, you have probably heard about the government shutdown this week. This video by the New York Times provides some quantification of the situation. Questions: 1. Which number in the video surprised you the most? 2. Explain why not reaching an agreement by Oct 17 on the debt… Read more »

Outlasting Resources: Unchartered Medicaid Territory

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, All Articles, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

The presidential election may decide the fate of Medicaid’s future. Faced with rising Medicaid costs and budget deficits, many states are already trying to cut the cost of long-term care by significantly changing Medicaid coverage, through the use of federal waivers. To be eligible for Medicaid, a person must spend down so that they have… Read more »

Helium Crisis

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, All Articles, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

There’s a severe helium shortage brewing in the U.S., thanks to a 1996 law set by Congress to force the government to sell off its helium reserves at bargain-bin prices. As this video explains, the nonrenewable gas is much more important for products other than balloons! 1. What products use helium? 2. What are the… Read more »