個案總覽

The CEO of a health spa is trying to determine the cost of each of the Spa's services to as to improve pricing.

The CEO of a supplier of parts to automobile and truck companies has three concerns about the companuy's present cost accounting system: (1) its adequacy for purposes of cost control, (2) its accuracy in arriving at the true cost of products, and (3) its usefulness in providing data to judge the supervisor's performance.

The CEO of a retail distributor is trying to decide whether to keep or discontinue a product line. Students must undertake a tricky differential cost analysis

The CEO of a multi-media company is trying to determine the cost of each of the company's products to as to improve pricing

The CEO of a manufacturing company is assessing the value of variable costing as opposed to full-absorption costing. The teaching note contains a simple exercise to assist students to understand the differences.

The CEO of a retail distributor is trying to decide whether to keep or discontinue a product line. Students must undertake a tricky differential cost analysis

During the night of September 14, 2008, a few hours before Lehman Brothers folded, Merrill Lynch declared defeat: it was acquired by Bank of America (BofA). Unsure of its ability to continue as a standalone entity, Merrill Lynch ended 90 years of independence. Before its buyout by BofA, Merrill Lynch was the world’s largest and most widely recognized stockbroker. It dominated retail stockbroking with its army of 16,000 brokers around the world. At the start of 2008, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns were the five largest standalone investment banks, with a combined total history of 549 years. But within a span of six months, they would all be gone as independent investment banks. Some observers wondered whether any early signs of the financial distress that the investment firm industry experienced in 2008 could be seen in the financial statements published in the years preceding the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. In addition, was there merit in evaluating the performance of the company from an angle other than that of operating results, which is typically used by financial analysts? Specifically, would there be value in an assessment of the company’s performance by scrutinizing the origin and use of its liquid assets for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007? Such an investigation would require focus on the statements of cash flows, including the need to: <ul><li>Evaluate the cash situation at year-end.</li><li>Analyze cash flows provided (used) by operating activities.</li><li>Analyze cash flows provided (used) by investment activities.</li><li>Analyze cash flows provided (used) by financing activities.</li></ul>

A young business student at a university in Ontario must decide whether to launch her entrepreneurial venture — selling women’s foldable flats — and how, in the Toronto market. Damn Heels (A) highlights the research done by the entrepreneur leading up to this decision, including the marketing (product, price, promotion, and placement) decisions she faces, consideration of the competitive retail shoe industry, and some of the first steps for a new business evaluation — unit contribution and financial profitability projections.

Crystal Anderson was evaluating her investment portfolio. She was searching for new equities to purchase before the end of the current RRSP season and wanted to diversify her current holdings by investing in the home improvement retail industry, specifically in Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Lowe’s, headquartered in the United States, was a major home improvement retailer and was currently undergoing an expansion into the Canadian market. She had just received the company’s annual reports with its last three years’ financial results. She wanted to assess the retailer’s past financial performance, including the risks and opportunities associated with the industry and the retailer’s corporate strategy. She would decide whether to invest in Lowe’s, based on her analysis.

A sophisticated technology company located in Mississauga, Ontario, began operations on February 1, 2011. Initially, the company raised funds through the issuance of common stock. In mid-2011, new software development was put on hold due to increased concerns over patent protections. In June 2011, the company sought appropriate investment vehicles for its excess cash, which would provide investment income over a set period of time.

Rob Hantziano, president and founder of Duffinbear Inc., must review the various financing and investing transactions that have taken place over the fiscal year 2011.

The sole shareholder of a national supplier of evergreen trees is expanding its product line. This expansion requires a $6.5 million investment. The company decides to finance this expansion through the issuance of bonds and must record the accounting entries involved with this issuance, along with the related interest payments and amortization of the bonds.

The accountant of a cargo shipping company must update the financial position of the company. He has a list of the company’s cash receipts and disbursements, the statement of financial position, and the bookkeeper’s detailed notes pertaining to transactions for the current year.

A woman is evaluating her investment portfolio. She is searching for new equities to purchase before the end of current RRSP season and wants to diversify her current holdings by investing in the home improvement retail industry, specifically in Lowe's Companies, Inc. (Lowe's). Lowe's, headquartered in the United States, was a major home improvement retailer and was currently undergoing an expansion into the Canadian market. She had just received the company's annual reports with its last three years' financial results. She wants to assess the retailer's past financial performance, including the risks and opportunities associated with the industry and the retailer's corporate strategy. She will decide whether to invest in Lowe's, based on her analysis.

The accountant of a cargo shipping company must update the financial position of the company. He has a list of the company's cash receipts and disbursements, the statement of financial position, and the bookkeeper's detailed notes pertaining to transactions for the current year.

Korea Tobacco and Ginseng (KT&G) is a leading tobacco and ginseng company in South Korea, as well as one of the most successful cases of privatization in the country’s history. This case examines KT&G’s business operations during the process of privatization and afterwards in an environment of increasing foreign competition and investment. This case provides a valuable lesson for investors interested in the volatile process of privatization.

This case illustrates the implications of using stringent performance measurement systems to create performance pressure, motivate employee achievement, and sharpen a firm's competitiveness. It opens by describing the downsides of the ruthlessly competitive culture at Zynga, a young, successful online gaming company. A similar data-driven performance measurement system is employed at Dovernet, a Vancouver-based provider of enterprise communications and social-networking technologies. Dovernet's founder and CEO sees performance measurement systems as vital for cultivating the competitive, innovative workforce necessary for Dovernet to win in a fiercely competitive industry. Dovernet uses quarterly top-down reviews and stack ranking (with major implications for bonuses), as well as bottom-up reviews, to reward top achievers and put low performers on notice. The practical challenges of applying this system are illustrated in three brief vignettes. In the first two, students can assume the role of a manager charged with interpreting and acting on the negative reviews given to two employees with unique (but are they mitigating?) personal circumstances. The third vignette puts students in the role of an employee conducting a bottom-up review, as he struggles to balance honesty with the potential repercussions of giving his manager less-than-perfect feedback. The case allows students to consider the benefits and risks of different performance evaluation strategies and their implications for a firm's performance, culture, and employee morale. Are there certain types of firms or industries for which such systems are more appropriate? Do the integrity and effectiveness of a performance measurement system depend on managers' applying cold objectivity, or is there room for flexibility? In highly competitive industries, can firms lacking a strong performance emphasis beat competitors like Dovernet and Zynga?

The president and chief executive officer of Prelko, a firm that, among other services, provides personalized printing for large companies, must decide if a new printing software application from Europe is appropriate for use by the company. The company’s printing business has been in decline and the president must determine whether the company should cease offering printing services entirely to its customers, or if there is a profitable way to reinvigorate the printing line of the business.

Following the financial crisis of 2007/2008, HSBC CEO Michael Geoghegan saw a fundamental change in global opportunities and risks. With increasing regulation and fierce competition between banks, the Western hemisphere was going to be a tougher place to do business. Emerging markets, however, offered many opportunities. Geoghegan reasoned that in HSBC's case, a turn to emerging markets would be a return to its roots and to managing risks that it knew. But HSBC needed to understand what the implications of the new strategy-"moving to emerging markets"-were for its portfolio and overall risk profile. Especially, how should HSBC reallocate capital freeing up in the West across its diverse geographies and business lines?

This case describes the financial undertakings of Lehman Brothers Inc., which was once the fourth-largest investment bank in the world. On September 15, 2008, less than a year after the bank presented its largest profit ever, the world watched its decline. In terms of size of assets, Lehman is considered the largest bankruptcy in history, with assets totaling US$639 billion and liabilities of US$613 billion. The U.S. credit crisis had uprooted the strength of Wall Street, with Lehman announcing a petition it filed under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The bankruptcy raised some interesting questions, the biggest among them being: How could a large company such as Lehman, with a record of reporting huge profits, become so helpless that it had to file for bankruptcy?<br><br><br><br>Undoubtedly, the financial scenario in the United States had become dire, especially for those companies involved in mortgage banking. Lehman had some additional drawbacks. This case deals with a couple of these problems, one of them being the accountancy of its Repo 105 transactions. The modus operandi of the company has been unveiled to show how it managed to hide its true financial state through gaps in the financial reporting system and remain clean-handed for years.