Describes a dispute between the owners of the major league baseball teams and the players' union about the profitability of the baseball teams. The issue is important because of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. A consultant is brought in to decide whether a representative team, the Kansas City Zephyrs, is making or losing money. He has to settle a number of accounting disputes about roster depreciation, signing bonuses, deferred compensation, and stadium costs.
Describes a company that had problems of fraudulent financial reporting. Provides an opportunity to discuss the roles of top management, financial management, internal and external auditors, and the audit committee of the board of directors in such circumstances. The problems relate to premature revenue recognition, inadequate reserves for inventory obsolescence, and possible insider trading.
The first in a series of cases that explores the causes and methods of fraudulent financial reporting and the lines between acceptable, unethical, and fraudulent behaviors.
Describes events occurring over a four-year period in one division of Graves Industries. The division goes through a business cycle and uses several methods of managing earnings to meet its budget targets. The purpose of the case is to allow the exploration of the causes of the unethical (or fraudulent) behaviors and ways in which they could have been prevented, or at least detected more effectively.
Describes events occurring over a three-year period in a division of Graves Industries. The division is being squeezed for profit, and managers in the division get involved in some fraudulent financial reporting schemes involving revenues and capitalization of expenses. A number of issues are raised concerning causes of the frauds and methods of preventing and/or detecting them.