Accounting

FDP Company produces a variety of home security products. Gary Price, the company’s president, is concerned with the fourth-quarter market demand for the company’s products. Unless something is done in the last two months of the year, the company is likely to miss its earnings expectation of Wall Street analysts. Price still remembers when FDP’s earnings were below analysts’ expectation by two cents a share three years ago, and the company’s share price fell 19% the day earnings were announced. In a recent meeting, Price told his top management that something must be done quickly. One proposal by the marketing vice president was to give a deep discount to the company’s major customers to increase the company’s sales in the fourth quarter. The company controller pointed out that while the discount could increase sales, it may not help the bottom line; to the contrary, it could lower income. The controller said, “Since we have enough storage capacity, we might simply increase our production in the fourth quarter to increase our reported profit.”Required1. Gary Price is not sure how the increase in production without a corresponding increase in sales could help boost the company’s income. Explain to Price how reported income varies with respect to production level.2. Is there an ethical concern in this situation? If so, which parties are affected? Explain.

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Amazon.com’s most recent annual report from www.amazon.com (Links to an external site.). In this discussion, we will determine how sales affect Amazon.com’s Income Statement. After opening its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995, Amazon.com seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. In each segment, Amazon.com serves its primary customer sets, consisting of consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, and content creators (Amazon.com, 2016 Annual Report).For your initial post:Go www.amazon.com (Links to an external site.), then select Annual Reports, Proxies and Shareholders Letters, and open Amazon’s most recent annual report.Read the income statement, which Amazon.com names as the “Consolidated Statement of Operations” and in “Note 1—Description of Business and Accounting Policies,” under Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements read the subsections titled “Revenues” and “Cost of Sales.”Then examine Amazon.com’s income statement by addressing the following:Estimate the percentage of Amazon’s Sales ending up as Net Income (Loss).Estimate the percentage of Amazon’s Sales going to pay for the costs of the goods being sold.Summarize the specific criteria necessary before Amazon will recognize a sale as having been completed, and record the related revenue.Discuss how Amazon accounts for (reports on its income statement) the shipping costs it incurs to ship goods to its customers.Guided Response: Review several of your peer’s posts. In a minimum post of at least 150 words

Please read the Graham et al. and discuss why  and how management forecast can destroy firm value.Why are managers willing to give up the options that increase firm value in long-term?  Is this behavior related to agency cost?How?

Assume that ABC Company is a small specialty retail store. Ratios are relevant when assessed over time or across companies. IBIS is a comprehensive resource containing market research and statistics, which can be used to compare ABC Company to the industry and leaders in the industry.I have uploaded the Income statement and the IBS sheets to base off ofShow the computation of the three ratios.Comment on the purpose and information conveyed by each ratio.What did you learn about ABC Company by reviewing the three ratios?What is your conclusion about the profitability of the company?How successful is ABC Company relative to the industry average and leaders in the small specialty retail store industry? Write two paragraphs or more. Include ratiosfound in the IBIS database to support your conclusion.Do not use an essay format

Using the Internet identify and research a company with an employee who was involved in corporate fraud. For the assignment you will determine how you would implement an investigation of the fraudster, discuss how you would collect evidence, identify red flags, and suggest key investigation practices. You will also recommend a fraud prevention plan for the organization and discuss how it might impact the organization and its employees.InstructionsWrite a 4-5 page paper in which you:1 ) Based on your research, assume that you are fraud investigator assigned to coordinate an investigation of the fraudster. Determine how you would implement this investigation without the fraudster’s knowledge. Provide support for your rationale.2.) Assuming you are the fraud investigator on this case, assess what types of surveillance and/or covert operations you would use to collect evidence related to the fraud. Analyze technological options for investigating fraud, indicating what you believe to be the most effective option. Provide support for your rationale.3.) During the investigation, assess the most significant red flags that would have been an indication of possible fraud needing corrective action by management.4.) Based on your research, suggest key practices the fraud investigator could have used in conducting interviews with the fraudster and the company’s employees. Assess the various interviews and interrogation questions available to you. Select the type of interview and interrogation questions that would have been most appropriate for this investigation. Provide support for your rationale.5.)Recommend a fraud prevention plan for this organization. Determine the positive or negative consequences that this fraud prevention plan might have on employees’ morale and the public perception of the organization. Provide support for your rationale. 6.)Use at least four quality resources in this assignment.

MT217M2: Analyze financial statements ratios used to measure the financial performance of a business entity.GEL-1.03: Demonstrate college-level communication through the oral delivery of original materials in Standard English.GEL-6.05: Adapt research skills to discover and sort relevant sources to complete tasksFinancial statement analysis is the process of analyzing a company’s financial statements to make better economic decisions. The process for financial statement analysis includes specific techniques for evaluating risks, performance, and future prospects of an organization.DirectionsThis Assessment is separated into four parts. In Part 1 of this Assessment, you will begin by researching and summarizing four of the benefits of financial analysis and indicating which is the most significant to you. In Part 2  of this Assessment, you will define and properly classify the financial classifications and ratios listed below.  In Part 3 of this Assessment, you will calculate and explain the significance of the Liquidity, Profitability, and Market Value financial ratios, and provide a year to year comparison of assessed financial trends. In Part 4 of this Assessment, you will compose an analytical essay in a minimum of 350 words reporting the one financial measurement trend you find to be most significant.Use the Word template provided to complete your Assessment.Minimum Submission Requirements1.This Assessment should be in a separate Microsoft Word document. Use this template for your Assessment.2. Respond to the questions in a thorough manner, providing specific examples of concepts, topics, definitions, and other elements asked for in the questions. Your paper should be highly organized, logical, and focused.3. Your paper must be written in Standard English and demonstrate exceptional content, organization, style, grammar, and mechanics.4. Your paper should provide a clearly established and sustained viewpoint and purpose.5. Your writing should be well ordered, logical and unified, as well as original and insightful.6. A separate page at the end of your paper should contain a list of references, in APA format. Use your textbook, the Library, and/or the internet for research.Be sure to cite both in-text and reference list citations were appropriate and reference all sources. Your sources and content should follow proper APA citation style. Review the APA formatting and citation style resources found in the Writing Center. The Writing Center can be found in the Academic Success Center in the Academic Tools area of your course. (It should be in Times New Roman 12-point font, include correct citations, Standard English with no spelling or punctuation errors, and correct references at the bottom of the last page.)If work submitted for this competency assessment does not meet the minimum submission requirements, it will be returned without being scored.PlagiarismPlagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty. It violates the University Honor Code, and the offense is subject to disciplinary action. You are expected to be the sole author of your work. Use of another person’s work or ideas must be accompanied by specific citations and references. Whether the action is intentional or not, it still constitutes plagiarism.For more information on the Plagiarism policy, refer to the current Catalog.Directions for Submitting Your Course Assessment

Memo 1: Positive MessageAssignment: As the Human Resources Manager at XYZ Industries, Inc., it is your pleasure to announce the addition of annual performance-based bonuses for mid-level managers and above.  These bonuses will require annual performance reviews to discern the amount of the bonus.  Draft a memo explaining this scenario to this specific group of employees.The format of your memo tells your employees a lot about your sensitivity and professionalism. Since you do not want to upset any employees unnecessarily, you should also be conscious of your wording when explaining culturally-sensitive subjects.  Pay particular attention to your memo’s margins, line spacing, font type and size, and placement of memo parts such as the addressees, subject line, and body.•    Address the memo to all mid-level managers and above at your company. Recommended OrganizationHeader:  Begin your memo with the four standard memo heads (Date, To, From, Subject).   Body/Discussion:  In the first paragraph of the body, start off with the good news.  Memos do not begin with greetings or salutations.  Explain what factors could have contributed to this new development (i.e. increased sales, raising stock price, etc.) and why the decision was made to reward employees with the surplus funds.The second paragraph is where you explain the new process that the employees can expect.  Outline the way that reviews will be handled, and by whom.  Feel free to be creative (yet somewhat realistic) when outlining how the performance scores will translate into bonuses (i.e. tier system, seniority, contribution value).In the third paragraph, be sure to validate any anticipated concerns employees may have about this adjustment.  Explain the greater benefit in the long-term this decision provides and conclude your memo by indicating how the reader may contact you if he/she has any questions.  In general, this section should be “short & sweet,” making sure that the employees know what is expected of them. 

Instruction:Briefly answer the seven questionsRequired:What is a loss contingency, and why is it disclosed in financial statements? Which of the preceding examples represents a recognized loss contingency?Borden has a $26 million liability on its 2000 balance sheet for “probable environmental remediation and restoration.” But the company says actual remediation and restoration costs could be up to $16 million more than this amount. Why doesn’t Borden’s balance sheet liability include the additional $16 million?Why doesn’t Exxon report a dollar amount for its litigation cases? Does the lack of a specific dollar amount in Exxon’s cases mean that stock analysts will just ignore the litigation when valuing the company? Why or why not?In its 2002 annual report, Exxon (now ExxonMobil) had more to say about the Exxon Valdez incident:[O]n September 24, 1996, the United States District Court for the District of Alaska entered a judgment in the amount of $5.058 billion. The District Court awarded approximately $19.6 million in compensatory damages to plaintiffs, $38 million in prejudgment interest on the compensatory damages, and $5 billion in punitive damages. . . . The District Court stayed execution on the judgment pending appeal. . . . ExxonMobil appealed the judgment. On November 7, 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the punitive damage award as being excessive under the Constitution and remanded the case to the District Court for it to determine the amount of the punitive damage award. . . . On December 6, 2002, the District Court reduced the punitive damages from $5 billion to $4 billion. . . .page 4-47Was Exxon required to accrue a liability after it lost the case in the district court in 1996?In October 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Exxon should be required to pay $2.5 billion in punitive damages to oil spill victims.Explain how the Court’s willingness to hear the Exxon appeal affects the company’s accounting for this contingent liability.Why does Visa Inc. sometimes record litigation accruals (loss contingency provisions) at the present value rather than the full amount to be paid?Explain the accounting purpose behind the $11 million item labeled “Interest accretion on settled matters” recorded in 2011.Explain why Visa Inc. increased its accrued litigation liability from $425 million to $4,386 million in 2012.”

Week 7 Assignment: Final Project, Financial Analysis of a CorporationPurposeThe purpose of the research paper is to demonstrate your grasp of the concepts you have learned throughout the course and your ability to analyze the financial standings and history of a company. You should be comfortable with choosing a company and:1. Read and understand the five basic financial statements2. Read and understand the financial components of an Annual Report3. Know how to interpret and calculate key financial ratios4. Evaluate and form an opinion on the value of a company5. Evaluate and explain the risk/reward trade-off of investing in that companyDescriptionProvide a brief company description (publicly traded company of your instructor’s choosing, OR one of yours with instructor approval): The company will be Facebook.The financial ratio analysis for a minimum of 3 years, including:• An industry comparison• The Cash flow analysis.• Look at the Annual report, the news, and the company website. Use as many sources as possible and tell me in your own word about the company.Discuss the cash flow in detail. Talk about investing, operating and financing decisions. Include a final summary of the firm’s financial condition. Make sure to include the Balance Sheet , Income statement, statement of cash flows and any other portion of the annual you used in order for us to check your calculations. You do not need to send the entire annual report.Submission Instructions• Your paper is a 12-15 pages or so including a cover page and references. Use APA formatting (12pt font, double-spaced).

What are the steps of the accounting cycle? Describe each in your own words using specific examples. ? What are the outputs of the accounting cycle? Why are they important? Identify and explain the purpose of each financial statement, including how they are interrelated. ? Why is the accounting cycle important to a business? Evaluate the significance of the accounting cycle in terms of its practical relevance for businesses. In your response, be sure to give specific examples of why certain steps are necessary. Address at least three different steps in your evaluation.  Your paper should follow the formatting guidelines in the Module Two Short Paper Template. It should be a 2- to 3-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and references to the textbook content cited in APA format.