Posts Tagged: Costs

Think before you Speak

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

AOL recently altered its 401(k) program, by switching matching payments to one lump sum at year-end instead of throughout the year. The change was implemented, according to CEO, Tim Armstrong, because of soaring medical costs that arose in part from two families with “distressed babies.” Questions: 1. What is a 401(k)? 2. What was Armstrong’s… Read more »

Target hit by credit-card breach

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

On December 19, 2013, Target admitted that it was hit by an extensive theft of its customers’ credit-card and debit-card data over the Black Friday weekend. The theft was national in scope and happened in stores, not online. Questions: 1. When and what happened with respect to a card breach at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls… 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 »

Based on Projections, The Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) will Likely Benefit Hospitals

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to Fitch Ratings, the benefit for hospitals via enrollment in plans offered on the state health insurance exchanges starting Oct. 1 is uncertain, since participant numbers have yet to be disclosed. However, it is anticipated that as enrollment increases, hospitals’ ability to reduce bad debt will also increase and that would clearly be a… Read more »

A Dragnet for Astroturfing

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

As a result of a year-long investigation, New York regulators will announced on September 23, 2013 that they would crackdown on deceptive and fake Internet reviews on products and services. Agreements have been reached with 19 companies to cease their misleading practices and pay a total of $350,000 in penalties. Questions: 1. Where were some… Read more »

Biotechnology Firm, Amgen, Acquires Anti-cancer Drugs

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

Although Amgen is the world’s largest biotechnology company, they have not been in the anti-cancer drug market until now. Amgen, like other drug makers, is trying to refresh aging product lines through the acquisition. Questions: 1. What is the ranking of this takeover of biotechnology firms, in terms of historic purchases? What are examples of… Read more »

The Reinvention of Pawn Shops

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

The pawnshop industry is growing. In 2007, there were approximately 6,400 pawn shops nation-wide. Now there are over 10,000. The expansion in pawnshops is fed, in part, by the increased number of Americans with tarnished credit which often bars them from the mainstream financial system. This article explains some of the niche services now offered… Read more »

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – Who is the Most Expensive of Them All?

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It is hard to fathom but the newest British royal boy who was born in fanciest hospital ward in Britain cost $15,000. However, that is nothing compared to the average U.S. birth, where new parents are billed $30,000 and eventually pay $18,000. Questions: 1. What drives the high pregnancy health costs in the U.S. as… Read more »

Ring-around-the-Rosy

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Did you know that you are paying a fraction of a cent every time you open a can of soda (or other canned beverages)? Why? It is because Goldman Sachs and other financial players have maneuvered the price of aluminum. Each day, a fleet of trucks shuffles 1,500-pound bars of aluminum among 27 warehouses in… Read more »

Where are the Controls?: Corporate Ethical Breaches Identified by Auditors

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

According to a 2011 internal audit, executives at the British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline were warned about critical problems with the way the company conducted research at its drug development center in China. Potential financial risk and regulatory action are likely due to the sales practices that are currently at the center of a bribery and… Read more »