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Timm Veizenburg is an entrepreneur who is reviving his family's tradition of dress-shirt making. He realizes that an issue that initially looked like a markdown management problem may, in fact, be rooted in procurement. Operating in the modern data-rich environment, Timm asks an associate to prepare data about one product line, and together they examine the company's current procurement practice, where the production is outsourced to supply chain partners in western Ukraine, as well as two alternatives, with local sourcing and supply chain flexibility. The case presents a realistic dataset students can work with to master their data-analysis and modeling skills, with an application to operations and supply chain analytics. The case works well in business analytics electives within an MBA program, in specialized business analytics programs, as well as in Executive Education, and is effective in demonstrating approaches to data-driven decision making in managing operations and supply chains.

Spreadsheet supplement for case UV7694.

Timm Veizenburg is an entrepreneur who is reviving his family's tradition of dress-shirt making. He realizes that an issue that initially looked like a markdown management problem may, in fact, be rooted in procurement. Operating in the modern data-rich environment, Timm asks an associate to prepare data about one product line, and together they examine the company's current procurement practice, where the production is outsourced to supply chain partners in western Ukraine, as well as two alternatives, with local sourcing and supply chain flexibility. The case presents a realistic dataset students can work with to master their data-analysis and modeling skills, with an application to operations and supply chain analytics. The case works well in business analytics electives within an MBA program, in specialized business analytics programs, as well as in Executive Education, and is effective in demonstrating approaches to data-driven decision making in managing operations and supply chains.

Spreadsheet supplement for case UV7699.

The Cost Variance Analysis note was written to provide students with fundamental concepts and methods for the analysis of cost variances. This note focuses on the decomposition of cost variances into price, quantity and mix variance components, an approach that allows students to identify the root causes of differences between expected and actual costs.

The owner and chocolatier of a small, chocolate manufacturing and retailing company in London, Ontario, was considering an expansion opportunity within Southwestern Ontario. The company's current production facility was sufficient for handling immediate demand; however, there was limited space for expansion in the same building, and the building’s administration had plans to prohibit manufacturing activities within the next five to 10 years. The owner wondered whether the time was right to purchase a new storefront and production facility in a small nearby city. Alternatively, should he continue operations in the present location while looking for other opportunities to expand? He planned to create projected financial statements and conduct internal and external analyses to inform his decision-making process.

MCA Technology Solutions Private Limited was established in 2015 in Bangalore with an objective to integrate analytics and technology with business. MCA Technology Solutions helped its clients in areas such as customer intelligence, forecasting, optimization, risk assessment, web analytics, and text mining and cloud solutions. Risk assessment vertical at MCA technology solutions focused on problems such as fraud detection and credit scoring. Sachin Kumar, Director at MCA Technology Solutions, Bangalore was approached by one his clients, a commercial bank, to assist them in detecting earnings manipulators among the bank's customers. The bank provided business loans to small and medium enterprises and the value of loan ranged from INR 10 million to 500 million. The bank suspected that its customers may be involved in earnings manipulations to increase their chance of securing a loan. Saurabh Rishi, the chief data scientist at MCA Technologies was assigned the task of developing a use case for predicting earnings manipulations. He was aware of models such as Benford's law and Beneish model used for predicting earnings manipulations; however, he was not sure of its performance, especially in the Indian context. Saurabh decided to develop his own model for predicting earnings manipulations using data downloaded from the Prowess database maintained by the Centre of Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Daniel received information related to earning manipulators from Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Lexis Nexis database. Data on more than 1200 companies was collected to develop the model. MCA Technology believed that machine learning algorithms may give better accuracy compared to other traditional models such as Beneish model used for predicting earnings manipulation.

Student spreadsheet for case IMB577.

One of the key roles of costing systems is to support the evaluation of performance and facilitate appropriate resource allocations. Through participation in a comparative cost study, management at Springfield Hospital, known for its heavy focus on operational excellence, become aware of opportunities for further improvement. Analysis of the differences in costs, uses, and allocations of resources will inform management in the decision and implementation of strategic plans. This case stimulates reflections on the importance of costing systems, in particular Time-Driven Activity Based Costing, and variance analysis as decision support mechanisms.

This is an introductory case with a simple narrative designed to teach students the basics of designing a simple financial spreadsheet. The follow-up B case may be used to teach the basic steps for creating pivot tables. The topic is based on a new student trying to budget for the academic year expenses.

Supplement to case KS1202. This is an introductory case with a simple narrative designed to teach students the basics of designing a simple financial spreadsheet. The follow-up B case may be used to teach the basic steps for creating pivot tables. The topic is based on a new student trying to budget for the academic year expenses.

Student spreadsheet for cases KS1202 and KS1203.

In 2015, Toshiba, a conglomerate best known throughout the world for its electronics products, announced to the world that it has overstated profits by 151.8 billion yen (US$1.2 billion) over a seven-year period. The conduct of Toshiba's management and employees left a deep stain on Japan that threw corporate culture and corporate governance practices into turmoil. This case presents a comprehensive overview of the Toshiba accounting scandal. It examines how the accounting irregularities in evidence at Toshiba spread from a relatively minor case of accounting misrepresentation to corporate-wide deception ingrained in the cultural fabric of the organization. The research highlights how issues of corporate culture can undermine even the most robust corporate governance strategies, and examines some of the challenges Toshiba faces in its attempts to recover from the biggest accounting scandal in contemporary Japanese history.

David Hamilton has opened Hamilton's Electronics Services, Inc. During the first year, he was too busy to keep much in the way of accounting records. Early in January of the following year, he hired a local CPA to reconstruct, in summary form, all the transactions that had occurred in his business during the previous year.

In August 2015, an intern at Asante Teaching Hospital, a prestigious not-for-profit hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, wanted to organize the cost data she had gathered from staff interviews into clear recommendations for the hospital's chief executive officer. Asante Teaching Hospital's maternity ward competitors had begun offering bundled pricing for natural births, and the intern wondered if Asante Teaching Hospital should do the same. In order to calculate the costs of the service, she planned to employ both activity-based and time-driven activity-based costing techniques. With this information, she could present the results of her analysis and recommendations for a pricing strategy.

In August 2015, an intern at Asante Teaching Hospital, a prestigious not-for-profit hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, wanted to organize the cost data she had gathered from staff interviews into clear recommendations for the hospital's chief executive officer. Asante Teaching Hospital's maternity ward competitors had begun offering bundled pricing for natural births, and the intern wondered if Asante Teaching Hospital should do the same. In order to calculate the costs of the service, she planned to employ both activity-based and time-driven activity-based costing techniques. With this information, she could present the results of her analysis and recommendations for a pricing strategy.

In 2014, the master distiller from an established Scotch whisky producer founded McPhee Distillers on Vancouver Island, Canada, hoping to capitalize on the growing demand for whisky in the Asia-Pacific region in particular. Rather than competing with larger producers selling by the bottle, McPhee planned to sell whisky exclusively by the barrel, hoping to differentiate McPhee Distillers in the industry. As a first-time entrepreneur, the master distiller was surprised by the amount of overhead costs, but she was determined that there were no costs she could cut without compromising the quality of the whisky. Was her business model profitable, or had she made an error by focusing on barrel sales? Could she improve her operations?

A writer of computer code, who bought and sold tech company stocks, is asked by one of his friends, who was contemplating buying some Microsoft stock, to help him understand the Microsoft/Nokia deal.

In May 2015, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a small social enterprise was trying to decide how to expand its business. Textbooks for Change collected used texts from universities and supported African entrepreneurs and universities by donating text sales proceeds or through the distribution of donated materials to deserving schools. The CEO was considering expanding the business to collect textbooks from universities outside its region, and wanted to assess the potential financial viability of three targeted universities.

On September 9, 2015, Apple Inc. announced the "iPhone Upgrade Program," a new way to purchase iPhone models 6s and 6s Plus in Apple's retail stores throughout the U.S. Next to the strategic implications of the Upgrade Program, financial analysts tried to understand the accounting implications, especially the recognition of revenue, which the Upgrade Program could have on Apple's financials. Analysts' reactions to the disclosure were mixed. Was Apple's accounting system "right" for the iPhone Upgrade Program introduced in 2015?