Accounting

What If NAFTA Goes Away? Case studies must be typed, single-spaced and 1-2 pages long (minimum of 700-800 words), not recapping the case history or repeating the material in the case. Answer the case study questions in the textbook (p. 137) one by one. Bullet points are acceptable as long as they are accompanied by a relevant explanation. Case Discussion Questions 1. Because the three NAFTA member countries had been trading for ages before NAFTA, what are the benefits of an FTA such as NAFTA? 2. ON ETHICS: Pick your role as (1) a consumer, (2) a manufacturing worker, or (3) a banker in one member country. What has NAFTA done to help or hurt you and your community? 3. Pick a firm from your state or country that is active in at least two (preferably three) member countries via trade and investment. How does it prepare for the scenario that NAFTA benefits are curtailed? Case study what If NAFTA Goes Away? In effect since 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has no shortage of controversies. As Trump has assumed power, the criticisms against NAFTA, potentially culminating in its repeal, force us to entertain a previously unthinkable scenario: What happens if NAFTA goes away? The answer to this question obviously boils down to what NAFTA has brought to the United States. In two decades, trilateral merchandise trade among three member countries grew from $290 billion in 1993 to $1.1 trillion in 2016—a nearly fourfold increase. Approximately $3 billion goods and services cross the border every day—an astonishing $2 million every minute. US trade with Canada tripled and US trade with Mexico increased by five times—while US trade with the rest of the world grew 280%. Canada and Mexico are, respectively, the second and third largest exporters to the United States (China is the first). Canada and Mexico are, respectively, the first and second-largest importers of US goods. Mexico alone imports more US goods than China and absorbs more US imports than Britain, France, and Germany combined. Canada imports even more “Made in USA” goods. What about jobs? In brief, no “giant sucking sound” has been heard. Approximately 300,000 US jobs—an average of 15,000 per year—were lost due to NAFTA in its first two decades, but about 100,000 jobs were added. The net loss was small, as the US economy generated at least 25 million new jobs during the same period. In 2015, the Congressional Research Service acknowledged some worker and firm adjustment costs brought by NAFTA. But overall, it reported conclusively that “NAFTA did not cause the huge job losses feared by the critics.” At present some eight million US jobs depend on trade with Canada and another six million on trade with Mexico. Even for every job lost, the economy gains $450,000 in the form of higher productivity and lower consumer prices, which benefit all. But a hard count on jobs misses another subtle but important benefit. NAFTA has allowed US firms to preserve more US jobs because 40% of the value of US imports from Mexico and 25% from Canada is actually made in the USA—in comparison, only 10% of the value of US imports from China is made in the USA. In 1994, US imports from Mexico only contained 5% of the value made in the USA. Clearly NAFTA has facilitated seamless supply chain integration, with goods, components, and parts crossing the border multiple times to be eventually assembled in one member country. Without NAFTA, entire industries may be lost rather than just the labour-intensive portions. So what if NAFTA goes away? First, relax: not all the benefits discussed above will be lost. As an institutional framework, NAFTA merely represents some relatively new rules of the game that are man-made and artificial. Given their natural geographic proximity and historical links, the three North American neighbours had been trading for ages before 1994. Their tightly-knit economies cannot and will not immediately stop trading. In a hypothetical post-NAFTA era, these three economies will still gain by trading, but the gains will be smaller. Americans and Canadians can still enjoy plenty of yummy avocados from Mexico (the world’s top avocado producer), but they will have to cough up more money for their beloved guacamole. Second, if the Trump administration unilaterally imposes high import tariffs, Canada and Mexico will certainly respond in kind. Given the reality of NAFTA supply chain, a tariff is like erecting a wall in the middle of a factory. Hard-fought export market share in Canada and Mexico will shrink. Thousands of jobs in manufacturing, logistics, and other services will disappear. For example, the Center for Automotive Research estimated that a 35% tariff on vehicles imported from Mexico, which would contain 40% “Made in USA” parts, would result in the loss of 31,000 US jobs. Third, because both Canada and Mexico have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the EU, the US withdrawal from NAFTA will significantly help increase EU firms’ market share there. In other words, EU firms, propelled by their own FTAs with Canada and Mexico, will be delighted to take over the market share vacated by US firms. Beyond those from the EU, strong competitors from China, Japan, and Korea, despite having no help from FTAs, will be elbowing their way into Canada and Mexico. In other words, reducing the preferential treatments (especially low or zero tariffs) enjoyed by US firms under NAFTA will clip their wings in the competition for export markets in Canada and Mexico. Ironically, gutting NAFTA will help enhance the competitiveness of America’s global rivals. Finally, shutting down NAFTA does not bring back a large number of manufacturing jobs to the United States. The recent crises facing US manufacturing jobs, falling from 17 million to 11 million between 2000 and 2010, have little to do with NAFTA. Instead, competition with China and technological changes have largely contributed to such a decline. Therefore, blaming Mexico and dismantling a beneficial FTA does not solve the problems associated with manufacturing job losses. There is a widespread belief that Trump’s nasty rhetoric on NAFTA is just “talk.” Procedurally, Trump is required to seek congressional approval if he merely wants to renegotiate NAFTA. Congress is unlikely to support a policy to throw away so many benefits and to spark retaliatory trade sanctions in America’s top two export markets—with so little gains. While NAFTA is not a panacea and has its problems, dismantling it would be “lunacy,” according to Texas Monthly. In summary, NAFTA is unlikely to be gone completely. But renegotiation is certainly possible.

One of the primary duties of an accountant is to prepare written reports. Accountants today must be able to research, interpret, and communicate complex accounting subjects in an easy-to-understand manner. The subject of your research may be any auditing, financial reporting, or tax-related issue that you can research in the FASB Codification database. Your final paper should meet the following requirements: seven (7) page minimum length (including cover page and references page) body of the paper (content) must be a minimum of 5 pages, double spaced utilize and cite AT LEAST two outside sources (other than the course text) include citations using APA guidelines include a cover page and a bibliography page (not included in the content minimum) VeriCite score of 25% or fewer Submissions will be checked for authenticity using VeriCite. VeriCite generates a similarity score comparing your writing to online resources and the work of other students.

You are an accountant in the budgetary, projections, and special projects department of Fernetti Conductor, Inc., a large manufacturing company. The president, Richard Brown, asks you on very short notice to prepare some sales and income projections covering the next 2 years of the company’s much-heralded new product lines. He wants these projections for a series of speeches he is making while on a 2-week trip to eight East Coast brokerage firms. The president hopes to bolster Fernetti’s stock sales and price.  You work 23 hours in 2 days to compile the projections, hand-deliver them to the president, and are swiftly but graciously thanked as he departs. A week later, you find time to go over some of your computations and discover a miscalculation that makes the projections grossly overstated. You quickly inquire about the president’s itinerary and learn that he has made half of his speeches and has half yet to make. You are in a quandary as to what to do.a. What are the consequences of telling the president of your gross miscalculations?b. What are the consequences of not telling the president of your gross miscalculations? c. What are the ethical considerations to you and the president in this situation? For more information read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_(accounting)

https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_mcknett_the_investment_logic_for_sustainability?source=email#.VGS_pxLLkKF.email Watch the Investment Logic for Sustainability video. Then perform a few internet searches on terms such as the following: Sustainable funds Socially responsible investing ESG Environmental, social, and corporate governance Using resources found in your internet searches, as well as your module resources, respond to the following questions: What is sustainable investing? Do you think investors should be concerned with ESG? Do you think ESG investments can perform better than non-ESG investments? Why or why not? What type of socially responsible fund would you invest in? Why? When replying to your classmates, you may disagree with them, but it must be done in a respectful and polite manner. Use APA-style citations.

mike, one of the marketing strategists on your team, stops at your office door wanting to talk. “We use fabrics that are made domestically; however, there are issues with using these same fabrics globally. There are laws and regulations that prevent us from shipping these fabrics to other countries. This is a huge concern. One of our primary selling points is the consistency of the quality of our product.” You confirm Mike’s concern, “That’s an excellent point,” you say. “Now you’ve just given yourself and our team more work for the presentation. I’m sure that will come up. One of the board members used to run a textile plant in China.” Mike nods his head in agreement. “I imagine textiles will not be the only resource concern,” he says. Consider the following in your response: Why should resources be a concern in a global strategy? What resources may be a concern in the country you selected? How will this impact the decision to move to the country that you selected? How will this impact your competitive strategy in your global market? Review the reference materials on global strategy as there is information that may assist with the assignment.

Compare and contrast the views of management and accountants regarding the changes required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on internal controls and how these changes have affected corporations, accounting firms, and investors. Your paper must be formatted according to APA 6th edition guidelines, and you need to use at least one external reference.

Discussion on the importance of managerial accounting as a “decision-making tool” in your organization. 

You must answer all the questions in the proposed business case.Formalities:Submission file format: Excel document with all the answers, clearly identifying all steps, results, journals and including comments besides each answer. Submission date: The assignment must be submitted on Turnittin no later than 20th January at 23:59 CEST.It assesses the following learning outcomes:• Critically understand the different unusual events that affect the retained earnings. • Knowing how to elaborate an income statement • Knowing how to properly elaborate a statement of cash flow.Part 1: changes in retained earningsChester is a company dedicated to the transports.On 1st of March 2019, Chester sells its unprofitable segment, a restaurant activity.This segment generated in 2019 a net loss of $92,000 and its assets sold at a loss of $80,000.On 1st of May 2019, an earthquake destroyed one of Chester’s offices. The company suffered a loss of $230,000.On 31st of December 2019, the board of managers decides to change the depreciation method from straight line to 200% declining balance method for the fleet of trucks acquired the 1st of January 2016.The effect of the change is an additional expense of $96.000For the while year 2019 Chester reported an income from continuing operations of $1,950,000.Applicable tax rate is 30%.Chester had 200,000 shares of capital stock outstanding throughout the yearQuestion 1: Prepare a condensed income statement including proper presentation of the discontinued restaurant operations and the extraordinary loss. Include all appropriate earnings per share figures. (50 points)Part 2: Statement of cash flowsShown below is information from the financial statements for 2019 of Robbe’s Inc:Accounts Beginning of the year End of the year Accounts receivable $139.000 $100.000 Inventory $160.000 $150.000 Prepaid expenses $12.000 $21.000 Accounts payable $101.000 $97.000 Accrued liabilities $32.000 $30.000 Net sales $1.272.000 Cost of the goods sold $637.000 Expenses (inlcuding depreciation of € 68,000) $302.000

FASB CodificationThe Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is a domestic, not-for-profit organization based in Connecticut. For more than 40 years, the FASB has helped set reporting standards within the accounting trade. Visit the FASB website and read About the FASB to learn more about its history.One of the FASB’s major contributions to the accounting profession is the FASB Codification. Codification content is organized by subject matter in a hierarchy. Think of it as an outline structure that you can drill into to get information regarding your specific topic of interest.The codification’s hierarchy begins with the following four highest levels:Area.Topic.Subtopic.Section.As you research, you will drill down in the hierarchy, beginning with the Area of interest, then picking the Topic within the area, then the Subtopic, then the Section. Areas, Topics, and Subtopics are simply landing pages that contain tables of contents. Sections are the only pages that have codification content.For example, if you wanted to research costing inventory, you would drill down by clicking on the following: Assets > 330 Inventory > 10 Overall > 30 Initial Measurement > General > 30-1 Cost Basis.You would then see the detailed codification specific to costing inventory.Although there are literally thousands of sections within the hundreds of subtopics, once you practice and get used to moving around in the codification, it is easy to research your accounting topics. You may find yourself utilizing it not only for class research, but also for topics you are working on in your professional life and topics that you may simply find interesting.Note: Once you have drilled down to your subtopic, you may find it useful to click Combine Subsections. This will show the different subsections and their content on one page, allowing you to quickly scan and review areas of interest to you.The codification is organized within the following nine areas:General Principles.Presentation.Assets.Liabilities.Equity.Revenue.Expenses.Broad Transactions.Industry.The Industry area identifies 32 industries that have specific items unique to them. These industries range from five different areas of Entertainment to Mining, Financial Services, Airlines, Agriculture, Franchisors, Software, Health Care Entities, and many more.To complete this assignment, you will need to access the FASB Codification. (Note: A login and password are required to access this site and are available from your professor.)For this assignment, write a 2–4 page paper in which you:Select one of the industries that interests you, and briefly explain why.Identify how many subtopics are in the industry you selected.Pick two subtopics within your selected industry that are applicable to a balance sheet (something to do with assets, liabilities, or equity).Identify your chosen subsections by number and title. Explain what they mean in your own words.Identify what accountants in your selected industry might be focused on as an area or areas of concern.This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:Examine industry research as it relates to a balance sheet.

The Excel file for this assignment contains a database with information about the tax assessment value assigned to medical office buildings in a city. The following is a list of the variables in the database: FloorArea: square feet of floor space Offices: number of offices in the building Entrances: number of customer entrances Age: age of the building (years) AssessedValue: tax assessment value (thousands of dollars) Use the data to construct a model that predicts the tax assessment value assigned to medical office buildings with specific characteristics. Construct a scatter plot in Excel with FloorArea as the independent variable and AssessmentValue as the dependent variable. Insert the bivariate linear regression equation and r^2 in your graph. Do you observe a linear relationship between the 2 variables? Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis of FloorArea and AssessmentValue. Is FloorArea a significant predictor of AssessmentValue? Construct a scatter plot in Excel with Age as the independent variable and AssessmentValue as the dependent variable. Insert the bivariate linear regression equation and r^2 in your graph. Do you observe a linear relationship between the 2 variables? Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis of Age and Assessment Value. Is Age a significant predictor of AssessmentValue? Construct a multiple regression model. Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis with AssessmentValue as the dependent variable and FloorArea, Offices, Entrances, and Age as independent variables. What is the overall fit r^2? What is the adjusted r^2? Which predictors are considered significant if we work with ?=0.05? Which predictors can be eliminated? What is the final model if we only use FloorArea and Offices as predictors? Suppose our final model is: Assessed Value = 115.9 + 0.26 x FloorArea + 78.34 x Offices What wouldbe the assessed value of a medical office building with a floor area of 3500 sq. ft., 2 offices, that was built 15 years ago? Is this assessed value consistent with what appears in the database? For more information on Tax Assessment Value read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_assessment