Dutch Treat?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

According to the New York Times, “Dutch pensions are scrupulously funded, unlike many United States plans, and are required to tally their liabilities with brutal honesty, using a method that is common in the financial-services industry but rejected by American public pension funds.” This article discusses the Dutch belief that each generation should pay its… Read more »

The Dirty Little Secret of “Cramming!”

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

On July 1, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused wireless carrier T-Mobile of adding bogus charges to customers’ accounts without their consent, in U.S. District Court. Questions: 1. How long did T-Mobile use the practice of “cramming” on customer mobile phone bills and what is the estimated amount of the total fraudulent charges? 2…. Read more »

The worth of an employee?

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

CEOs talk about what valuable assets employees are, but these assets do not show up on the company’s balance sheet. Why? Because the company does not and cannot own its employees, even though it may seem so at times. However, employers can put a value on your life through company-owned life insurance (COLI). Questions: 1…. Read more »

Barclay’s Dark Pool

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, 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.

Despite Barclay’s private and public assurances to investors in its pool that they were continually shielded from high-speed trading, the bank is being sued for actively attracting high-speed traders to its venue, as well as bolstering high-speed trader strategies with privileged information about the pool. Questions: 1. Summarize why the article essentially called this a… Read more »

The Untouchable Alaska Bypass

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

Under a federal program exclusive to Alaska, the Postal Service is responsible for shipping more than 100 million pounds a year of apples, frozen meat, dog food, diapers and countless other consumer items to off-road villages in the sparsely populated outposts known as the bush. Over three decades acting as freight forwarder, the agency has… Read more »

How much do you have to make to get a checking account?

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

Zikomo Fields makes more than $100,000 a year in his job as a software engineer in Kansas City. However, he cannot get a bank account because of a little-known database that tracks financial transgressions, known as ChexSystems. Financial institutions who subscribe to this service view it as fraud prevention. However, New York Attorney General Eric… Read more »

Something doesn’t add up

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Financial Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

As more companies become aware of the tax opportunity that Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands offer, more are taking advantage of it. According to the I.R.S. in 2004, companies with foreign income said 8 percent of that income came from those remarkable islands. But in 2010, the figure was 11 percent…. Read more »

Maybe not such a good business plan.

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

In Crumbs Bake Shop’s most recent Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, the company disclosed that its auditors, Rothstein Kass, “expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.” Questions: 1. Since the IPO of Crumbs, how much has the stock dropped? 2. Explain the statement that Crumbs published in its 10-Q… Read more »

IBM Guards Age Data

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

For approximately a decade, IBM has been giving fired employees information detailing a severance package that asks them to waive age-discrimination claims. This package also included a page listing the job titles and ages of workers being let go, until recently. Now IBM is withholding the information and instead offering the workers with the option… Read more »