個案總覽

This case challenges students to review a series of corporate financial metrics and to match each of them with an industry in a list of 13 industries.

This reading covers the various market and regulatory institutions involved in the accounting rulemaking process in the United States and beyond.

Kroeker Farms Ltd. (Kroeker) had 500 acres of organic hemp in 2016 and planned to expand to 1,100 acres in 2017. Kroeker was one of the largest producers of potatoes in Manitoba, and hemp had become an important part of the crop rotation on its certified organic land. The agronomist responsible for all non-vegetable crops was looking at two equipment investment options because the equipment currently used for hemp was already at its maximum capacity. The first option was to invest in a new technology—a camera cultivator along with a new air seeder, which had to be imported from Europe. The second option was to simply invest in a larger version of the row-cropping equipment that had been used successfully for hemp on the farm. With the next seeding term approaching quickly, in Spring 2017, he needed to make this decision as he knew if he chose the new technology option, shipping from Europe would add additional logistical and timing concerns.

Instructor Spreadsheet for product 8B18B007.

This case examines Facebook's corporate governance by reviewing information in the company's proxy statement. Students become familiar with the nature and type of information in proxy statements. They also learn how to examine various facets of executive compensation and corporate governance such as the use of stock options and restricted stock to compensate executives, dual class share structures, board composition and characteristics, controlled companies, and classified boards.

On November 20, 2015, the chief financial officer of Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) was preparing to make a recommendation about whether to proceed with or stop merger talks between Pfizer and Allergan plc (Allergan), a pharmaceutical company with headquarters in New Jersey but tax residence in Ireland. Informal talks had been going on for almost a month, but both sides were rapidly approaching the pre-arranged deadline. The two teams had less than a week to either formally agree to proceed with a merger or walk away. Formalizing the agreement meant activating a US$400 million breakup clause that would make it costlier to call the deal off at a later date. Allergan's Irish tax residency made this merger both attractive and concerning. While it provided the opportunity to lower Pfizer's worldwide tax rate, the U.S. Treasury Department had recently announced regulatory changes targeting mergers that relocated a company's tax residence to a low-tax country (called "tax inversions"). Pfizer's legal team members were confident that the announced changes would not affect the proposed merger with Allergan. However, they were less certain about if-and when-the U.S. Treasury Department might make changes again.

Happy Ice, a Singapore-based startup, is a vending machine developer and ice-cream wholesaler cum distributor with an operation team of eight members. As of August 2017, Happy Ice operated 60 vending machines in the city-state to sell its healthier-choice ice cream, with less sugar, fat and calories, imported from Taiwan. With its successful operations in the Singapore market, the company planned to launch similar operations in Malaysia with a franchise model by the end of 2017. With the expansion plan in mind, the founder cum director of Happy Ice, Mr. Daniel Ma, wondered if anything could be done to improve the internal control system of the company, especially that of the working capital.

Destron Petroleum Services (DPS) was an oil drilling contractor that had just won a bid to provide a land drilling rig on a rental basis to a major oil producing company in Pakistan. The case outlines how the company projected all of its costs related to the project and finally quoted a price for the project to the client.

In late 2016, an analyst at Oliver Wyman (OW), was contemplating the high stakes of her new project. European riverboat company Temarca Group (Temarca) had just approached Duke Royalty (Duke) seeking €9.0 million to expand its riverboat fleet at the time. The analyst had to consider the first potential investment for the newly-formed partnership. If a financing decision was made, Temarca would be one of the first investments in Duke's portfolio. The analyst had to ensure this investment was aligned with Duke's investment mandate, met the financial criteria, and delivered the targeted returns essential to please keystone investors. Similarly, she knew this deal would be highly scrutinized by the OW partners because Temarca would be OW's first fully-financed deal with Duke. With all this in mind, the analyst's task was to make a preliminary recommendation to the chief executive officer of Duke and a founding partner of OW about the soundness of the opportunity. She had to decide whether Duke should invest in Temarca or pass on this opportunity.

Insigne Health is a fictional for-profit, integrated health insurer/health care provider whose leadership believes that by shifting members' focus from "sickness" to "well-being" it could increase the overall health of its insured population and decrease the resources it spent each year on delivering care. The case puts students in the role of design researcher charged with understanding the member segment about which Insigne Health leadership is most concerned: The "silent middle." This cohort represents 70% of membership. They are "neither sick nor well," and may, without changes in a range of behaviors, be quietly developing conditions that will evolve into costly chronic diseases. From interviews included in the case, students uncover insights into member behavior and, based on these insights, generate and develop concepts to help members change behaviors and lead healthier lives.

Beginning in fiscal year 2018, a new and relatively unnoticed accounting rule took effect that had the potential for a major impact on the reported earnings of companies holding financial assets or owing financial liabilities. Dubbed the Financial Instruments-Overall: Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities, or Accounting Standards Update 2016-01 (ASU 2016-01), the updated rule sought to increase financial reporting transparency and relevancy by changing how companies accounted for equity. Specifically, the update required recognition of changes in fair value in net income and affected the presentation and disclosure requirements for financial instruments. Entities across a broad range of industries were significantly impacted-specifically; companies holding minority passive stakes in other entities that had to be valued quarterly, whether that value had increased or decreased. This inherent volatility then flowed through a company's income statement, causing fluctuations in earnings per share, and calling into question the relevance of reported net income. This case describes the updated standards for equity investments under FASB's ASU 2016-01 and IASB's IFRS 9 and their impact on Alphabet Inc. By providing viewpoints from preparers, investors, and standard setters, the case allows students to appreciate the trade-offs of the different accounting methods for asset valuation.

This case addresses the transition from cash to accrual accounting. It also demonstrates some of the difficulties in comparing one firm's data with industry averages.

Discusses several aspect of the formal control structure of nonprofit organizations, distinguishing among the responsibility center structure, the program structure, the information structure, and a variety of administrative factors and behavioral considerations including the importance of addressing cooperation and conflict in a bureaucracy.

First discusses full cost accounting, its uses, and the managerial choices involved in setting up a full-cost accounting system. Then discusses differential cost accounting, addressing the nature of costs and the subject of cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis. Then examines a variety of special considerations that can complicate CVP analysis. Finally, discusses when differential costs, rather than full costs, should be used in an analysis, and identifies some of the complications involved in using them.

Outsourcing is a strategy used by many municipalities in an effort to provide high quality public services at a low cost. The underlying theory is that by having an external vendor provide a service, the city or town can take advantage of the vendor's experience and economies of scale. The result will be comparable or better quality services than could be provided by the municipality itself, at a reduced cost to the taxpayers, while still allowing the vendor to earn a profit. Unfortunately, theory and reality sometimes diverge. This note discusses why this can happen and what can be done about it.

A gerontologist in Kaiser Permanente's Colorado region is concerned with the high and growing cost of treating the elderly population. She introduces a new care model, Primary Care Plus, using an interdisciplinary team of a primary care doctor, palliative care specialist, nurse coordinator, clinical pharmacy specialist, and behavioral and social service specialists. The team focuses on the highest-risk patients to see if the new, pro-active care model can improve patient, family, and provider satisfaction and lower Kaiser Permanente's total cost of care for this patient segment.

Excel spreadsheet for instructors.