Assume you are the internal controls expert for your company. Your boss has read about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme described in our textbook. Your boss is now worried that your own company, which invests a significant amount of retirement funds for its employees, could fall victim to a similar scheme. He has just sent you a memo asking: "Which specific internal controls should our company adopt to avoid falling for a scheme like this?" Respond with a memo to your boss detailing at least three internal controls that you would recommend implementing at your company, assuming none are in place right now, to minimize the risk of becoming the victim of an investment fraud. For each internal control you recommend provide: A detailed description of the policy or procedure to be implemented. An explanation of how specifically it would mitigate the risk of being defrauded. A description of any disadvantages the internal control may have. After submitting your own initial post, change hats! Now assume you are the boss; read your classmates recommendations and question/challenge them as an effective boss would.

Answer:

There are many measures a company can undertake to uplift the standards of internal controls, however few of those are enumerated as under -

1. Due Diligence - almost everyone would suggest it but the implementation differs from company to company. The term encompasses wide activities i.e. from improving quality of internal audit to upkeeping of financial records etc. Keeping a check on existing & old investment pattern would certainly help in analyzing the response of investments as per prevailing market condition. Disadvantages of the process include involvment of additional manpower and cost.

2. Choosing right Investment firms and/or Fund Manager - In the complex business market which prevails today, finding the right guy seems to be a difficult job. It is important that we carefully study not only the investment patterns and subsequent returns of the Investment firms / Fund Manager but also background, qualifications and previous legal records to arrive at suitable guy for suitable job. Sometimes we choose a skeptical but a honest guy, which may lead to sacrifice in short term gains but particulary in retirement funds with long term goals, security of funds assume priority.

3. Selecting the financial products - Today there are numerous financial products available in the market, many of them offer fancy returns but the goals of such financial products must be re-aligned to the goals of the company and its employees. For the company a decent return over long run with high degree of security is the objective when it comes to retirement funds. The financial product must have an appropriate mix of debt, equity and liquid funds and particularly the component of debt must increase with the age of an employee which will ensure security of funds by the time he attains superannuation. Disadvantage majorly includes loss of returns due to less investment in equity during the final stages of career.    

Explanation:

Calculate the required rate of return for Mudd Enterprises assuming that investors expect a 5.0% rate of inflation in the future. The real risk-free rate is 1.5%, and the market risk premium is 5.0%. Mudd has a beta of 1.5, and its realized rate of return has averaged 13.5% over the past 5 years. Round your answer to two decimal places.

1. Which one of the items below is NOT a reason why CASH does not equal PROFIT?
A. Credit Sales
B. Credit Purchases
C. Cash Sales
D. Prepayments

Luzadis Company makes furniture using the latest automated technology. The company uses a job-order costing system and applies manufacturing overhead cost to products on the basis of machine-hours. The predetermined overhead rate was based on a cost formula that estimates $1,152,000 of total manufacturing overhead for an estimated activity level of 72,000 machine-hours.During the year, a large quantity of furniture on the market resulted in cutting back production and a buildup of furniture in the company's warehouse. The company's cost records revealed the following actual cost and operating data for the year:,Machine-hours 67,000Manufacturing overhead cost $551,000 Inventories at year-end: Raw materials $13,000 Work in process (includes overhead applied of $37,520) $139,300 Finished goods (includes overhead applied of $101,840) $378,100 Cost of goods sold (includes overhead applied of $396, 640) $1,472,600Required: 1. Compute the underapplied or overapplied overhead. 2. Assume that the company closes any underapplied or overapplied overhead to Cost of Goods Sold. Prepare the appropriate journal entry. 3. Assume that the company allocates any underapplied or over appliedoverhead proportionally to Work in Process, Finished Goods, and Cost of Goods Sold. Prepare the appropriate journal entry. 4. How much higher or lower will net operating income be if the underapplied or overapplied overhead is allocated to Work in Process, Finished Goods, and Cost of Goods Sold rather than being closed to Cost of Goods Sold?

Ring Me Up Inc. has net income of $143,100 for the year ended December 31, 2019. At the beginning of the year, 36,000 shares of common stock were outstanding. On May 1, an additional 18,000 shares were issued. On December 1, the company purchased 4,300 shares of its own common stock and held them as treasury stock until the end of the year. No other changes in common shares outstanding occurred during the year. During the year, Ring Me Up paid the annual dividend on the 9,000 shares of 4.65%, $100 par value preferred stock that were outstanding the entire year.

Required:
Calculate basic earnings per share of common stock for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Management at the Flagstaff Company currently sells its products for $250 per unit and is contemplating a 40% increase in the selling price for the next year. Variable costs are currently 30% of sales revenue and are not expected to change in dollar amount on a per unit basis next year (the company will still pay the same variable cost per unit). Fixed expenses are $120,000 per year. If fixed costs were to decrease 10% during the current year and the new selling price goes into effect, how many units will need to be sold to breakeven

Dwayne Wade Company recently signed a lease for a new office building, for a lease period of 10 years. Under the lease agreement, a security deposit of $12,000 is made, with the deposit to be returned at the expiration of the lease, with interest compounded at 5% per year.
What amount will the company receive at the time the lease expires?

A mining company is evaluating when to open a gold mine. The mine has 100,000 ounces of gold left that can be mined and mining operations will produce 10,000 ounces per year. The price of gold from the mine will be guaranteed for the remaining life of the mine through the gold futures contracts. If the mine is opened today, each ounce of gold will generate an after-tax cash flow (= total or net cash flow) of $1,300 per ounce. If the company waits one year, there is a 70 percent probability that the contract price will generate an after-tax cash flow of $1,550 per ounce and a 30 percent probability that the after-tax cash flow will be $1,200 per ounce. The required return on the gold mine is 15 percent and it will cost $30,000,000 to open the mine regardless of whether the mine is open today or in one year. Compute the value of the option to wait today.

Consider the following limit order book for a share of stock. The last trade in the stock occurred at a price of $130. Limit Buy Orders Limit Sell OrdersPriceShares PriceShares$129.75400 $129.80150129.70700 129.85150129.65400 129.90300129.60200 129.95150128.65500 a. If a market buy order for 150 shares comes in, at what price will it be filled

In the extended Labor CAPM, the CAPM measure of systematic risk, beta, is replaced by an adjusted beta that also accounts for covariance with the portfolio of aggregate human capital. Despite the complications inherent in any extension of the CAPM with a labor component, labor is an important consideration in explaining the systematic risk of financial securities.
a. True
b. False

Eastman Publishing Company is considering publishing an electronic textbook about spreadsheet applications for business. The fixed cost of manuscript preparation, textbook design, and web-site construction is estimated to be $150,000. Variable processing costs are estimated to be $7 per book. The publisher plans to sell single-user access to the book for $49. Through a series of web-based experiments, Eastman has created a predictive model that estimates demand as a function of price. The predictive model is demand

Lo-crete produces quick setting concrete mix. Production of 200,000 tons was started in April, 190,000 tons were completed. Material costs were $3,152,000 for the month while conversion costs were $591,000. There was no beginning work-in-process; the ending work-in-process was 70% complete. What is the cost of the product that was completed and transferred to finished goods

Bramble Company has the following equivalent units of production for July: materials 30200 and conversion costs 23500. Production cost data are:

Materials Conversion
Work in process, July 1 $6400 $2600
Costs added in July 54000 35000

The unit production costs for July are:

Materials Conversion Costs
a. $1.79 $1.60
b. $1.79 $1.49
c. $2.00 $1.49
d. $2.00 $1.60

What are out-of-order rooms? How do they differ from out-of-inventory rooms

Senff Corporation uses the following activity rates from its activity-based costing to assign overhead costs to products: Activity Cost Pools Activity Rate Setting up batches $ 89.00 per batch Processing customer orders $ 79.41 per customer order Assembling products $ 14.11 per assembly hour Data concerning two products appear below: Product V91Z Product V21I Number of batches 70 13 Number of customer orders 21 10 Number of assembly hours 493 698 How much overhead cost would be assigned to Product V91Z using the activity-based costing system? (Round your intermediate calculations to 2 decimal places.)

Assume that a $1,000,000 par value, semiannual coupon US Treasury note with four years to maturity has a coupon rate of 3%. The yield to maturity (YTM) of the bond is 11.00%. Using this information and ignoring the other costs involved, calculate the value of the Treasury note: $746,617.36 $634,624.76 $470,368.94 $895,940.83

In 2013, Chirac Enterprises issued, at par, 75 $1,060, 8% bonds, each convertible into 200 shares of common stock. Chirac had revenues of $19,100 and expenses other than interest and taxes of $8,860 for 2014. (Assume that the tax rate is 40%.) Throughout 2014, 2,530 shares of common stock were outstanding; none of the bonds was converted or redeemed.(a) Compute diluted earnings per share for 2014. (Round answer to 2 decimal places, e.g. $2.55.)(b) Assume the same facts as those assumed for part (a), except that the 75 bonds were issued on September 1, 2014 (rather than in 2013), and none have been converted or redeemed. (Round answer to 2 decimal places, e.g. $2.55.)(c) Assume the same facts as assumed for part (a), except that 25 of the 75 bonds were actually converted on July 1, 2014. (Round answer to 2 decimal places, e.g. $2.55.)

Marketers competing on product attributes and image are said to be participating in:

When we grow in relationship with ______________, we grow in relationship with God.

The Fabricating Department started the current month with a beginning Work in Process inventory of $11,600. During the month, it was assigned the following costs: direct materials, $77,600; direct labor, $25,600; and factory overhead, 80% of direct labor cost. Also, inventory with a cost of $117,000 was transferred out of the department to the next phase in the process. The ending balance of the Work in Process Inventory account for the Fabricating Department is:

High owns 60% of Low. In 2019, Low sold inventory (cost $70,000) to High for $100,000. 40% of this inventory was not sold to third parties by High until 2020. In 2020, Low sold inventory (cost $72,000) to High for $120,000. Of this inventory, $50,000 was not sold to third parties by High until 2021. In 2020, Low reports $70,000 of net income. What is the noncontrolling interest in 2020 income of Low. $24,800 $31,200 $37,200 $46,800

Which resources would be classified as a land factor of production?
A)
milk
B)
petroleum
C)
timber
D)
tractor
E)
workers

Ataxia Fitness Center is considering an investment in some additional weight training equipment. The equipment has an estimated useful life of 10 years with no salvage value at the end of the 10 years. Ataxia's internal rate of return on this equipment is 8%. Ataxia's discount rate is also 8%. The payback period on this equipment is closest to (Ignore income taxes.):

In 2020, Bertha Jarow had a $28,000 loss from the sale of a personal residence. She also purchased from an individual inventor for $7,000 (and resold in two months for $18,000) a patent on a rubber bonding process. The patent had not yet been reduced to practice. Bertha purchased the patent as an investment. In addition, she had the following capital gains and losses from stock transactions:
Long-term capital loss ($6,000)
Long-term capital loss carryover from 2019 (12,000)
Short-term capital gain 21,000
Short-term capital loss (7,000)
A. Bertha has a net long-term capital loss of $___. Bertha has a net short-term capital gain of $ 14000. As a result, Bertha has an overall net short-term capital gain of $___.
B. Complete the letter to Bertha explaining the tax treatment of the sale of her personal residence. Assume Bertha's income from other sources puts her in the 28% bracket.

You manage an equity fund with an expected risk premium of 10% and an expected standard deviation of 15%. The rate on Treasury bills (risk-free rate) is 5%. Your client chooses to invest $60,000 of her portfolio in your equity fund and $40,000 in a T-bill money market fund. The expected return and standard deviation of your client's overall portfolio is:__________ a. 11.0% and 9.0% b. 10.0% and 8.4% c. 15.0% and 9.0% d. 5.0% and 15.0%

Sole Purpose Shoe Company is owned and operated by Sarah Charles. The company manufactures casual shoes, with manufacturing facilities in your state. Sarah began the business this year, and while she has a great deal of experience in manufacturing popular and comfortable shoes, she needs some help in evaluating her results for the year, and asks for your help.

Sarah’s first questions for you have to do with the general ideas and terminology used to evaluate variances.

1. Why might Sarah want to use standard costs to compare with her actual costs?

a. Management can evaluate the differences between standard costs and actual costs to focus on correcting the cost variances.
b. Standard costs give management a cost structure for products that is applicable for the entire life of the business.
c. Standard costs allow management to motivate employees by comparing their performance to what it would be under perfect conditions.

2. What are some possible drawbacks to using standard costs that Sarah might consider? Check all that apply.

a. Since standards are impossible to attain, they are a distraction from the work at hand.
b. Since standards never change, they do not reflect reality.
c. Standards limit operating improvements because employees may be discouraged from improving beyond the standards.
d. Employees may focus only on efficiency improvement and their own operations rather than considering the larger objectives of the organization.
e. Standards may become "stale" in a dynamic manufacturing environment.

Apedwa Inc. recently purchased a new delivery truck. The new truck costs $25,000 and is expected to generate net after-tax operating cash flows, including depreciation, of $7,000 at the end of each year. The truck has a 5-year expected life. The expected abandonment values (salvage values after tax adjustments) at different points in time are given below. The firm's cost of capital is 10 percent. What is ithis project's optimal economic life?

Year Annual Operating Cash Flow Salvage Value
0 ($20,000) $20,000
1 7,000 16,000
2 7,000 14,000
3 7,000 12,000
4 7,000 8,000
5 7,000 0

Uptown Bank provides lockbox services. They estimate that you can reduce your average mail time by 2.2 days and your combined clearing and processing time by .75 days by implementing their system. Your firm receives 65 checks a day with an average value of $298 each. The current T-Bill rate is .01 percent per day. Assume a 365-day year. The bank will charge your firm $.15 per check. What is the annual net savings from installing this system?

Multi-Level-Marketing is a quickly growing industry in the United States. Many men and women are deciding to work from home, selling various goods to their friends and family due to the convenience and possible salary that can be made. Multi-Level-Marketing consists of a hierarchy of workers and customers and is sometimes referred to as a pyramid scheme

a disgruntled customer will tell how many people about their experience

Portsmouth Company makes upholstered furniture. Its only variable cost is direct materials. The demand for the company's products far exceeds its manufacturing capacity. The bottleneck (or constraint) in the production process is upholstery labor-hours. Information concerning three of Portsmouth's products appears below: Recliner Sofa Love Seat Selling price per unit $ 1,270 $ 1,750 $ 1,190 Variable cost per unit $ 850 $ 1,200 $ 850 Upholstery labor-hours per unit 7 hours 10 hours 4 hoursRequired:
1. Portsmouth is considering paying its upholstery laborers additional compensation to work overtime. Assuming that this extra time would be used to produce sofas, up to how much of an overtime premium per hour should the company be willing to pay to keep the upholstery shop open after normal working hours?
2. A small nearby upholstering company has offered to upholster furniture for Portsmouth at a price of $44 per hour. The management of Portsmouth is confident that this upholstering company’s work is high quality and their craftsmen can work as quickly as Portsmouth’s own craftsmen on the simpler upholstering jobs such as the Love Seat. How much additional contribution margin per hour can Portsmouth earn if it provides the raw materials to the nearby company and then hires it to upholster the Love Seats?
3. Should Portsmouth hire the nearby upholstering company?