What’s going on with Walmart stock?

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

The four members of the Walton family controlling more than half the shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had $11 billion of their combined net worth evaporate Wednesday as shares of the retailer plunged on a lower earnings outlook for the coming fiscal year. Questions: 1. Who are the four Waltons that the article is talking… Read more »

Kaleil Tuzman: The Rest of the Story

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

Kit Digital Inc.’s former chairman and chief executive officer and its former chief financial officer were arrested and charged with accounting fraud at the software company. Questions: 1. What was the type of accounting fraud that Tuzman and Smythe are charged with committing? 2. According to the article, how much money was involved and who… 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 »

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 »

Well-Oiled Machine? Well – Maybe Not!

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

United and Continental closed their merger in 2010 and created what was then the world’s largest airline. After nearly 5 years, executives are still working to integrate United Continental Holdings into a single company—and struggling with some high-profile operational and customer service problems. Questions: 1. What types of customer service and employee problems have plagued… Read more »

The Reverse – Upside down Prosecution!

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

Despite the fact that bank officials uncovered a fraud, fired its mastermind, investigated and reported it to regulators, and then provided New York State prosecutors with over 900,000 pages of documents, a tiny Chinatown bank, Abacus Federal Savings Bank, was under put under indictment by a grand jury in New York State Supreme Court and… Read more »

Shaking up Pricing

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

Because the costs of health-care are rising, along with higher insurance deductibles and co-pays, the way medical services are being delivered is changing. unlike hospital ERs and urgent care centers, retailers, such as grocery and drugstore chains, who operate in-store clinics are displaying pricing information upfront for consumers paying cash. Questions: 1. What are the… Read more »

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… Read more »

College a Commodity?

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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… Read more »